News archive items listed by month below.
BRITTNEY TO SUE OVER SEX TAPE CLAIMS 22/12/05
Brittney Spears is to sue over claims in a magazine that she made a sex tape with husband Kevin Federline. The claims in celebrity gossip magazine US Weekly are fiercly contested by Spears. She is asking for $10 million in damages as well as punitive damages.
DARKNESS HEADLINE CONCERT TO FIGHT CLIMATE CHANGE 22/12/05
The Darkness, The Strokes and The Super Furry Animals have been lined up to headline a concert at Cardiff's Millennium Stadium to pursuade people to fight back against climate change. The One Earth Concert will be on January 28th and will urge peole to switch to renewable energy sources. The US Government has recently announced that it expects carbon dioxide emmissions to increasxe by 45% in the next 20 years. The US is not a signatory to the Kyoto treaty which was designed to slow climate change.
PEOPLE AND PLACES 22/12/05
The UK's Daily Telegraph names Guy Ruddle as its first 'Podcast editor'. Chris Evans is confirmed as the host for the 2006 BRIT Awards on 15th February and Chrysalis names Michael Connole as its new Finance Director replacing Nigel Butterfield. And good news in the Stefani-Rossdale camp. No Doubt's Gwen and ex-Bush frontman Gavin are expecting their nfirst sproglet. Now thats a lovely bit of Christmas cheer! 36 year old Gwen is due to give birth in June.
CRAZY FROG GETS £40,000 FINE
The Independent Committee for the Supervision of Standards of Telephone Information Services (Icstis is the UK regulator for the premium rate telecoms sector) has fined service provider MBlox £40,000 over the Crazy Frog ringtone. Some 338 customers complained to Icstis over the 'excessive' bills they received when they signed up for the mad-eyed amphibian's phone-tone. On securing the tone, they then found themselves signed up to a series of premium-rate reverse charge texts from Jamba that cost them up to £5 a week. Icstis argued that insufficient information was included in the adverts although agreed that there was no malicious or fraudulent intent. The 338 people who formally complained will be refunded and it is expected that thousands of others will follow their lead and seek their money back. The ringtone has generated an estimated £10M for MBlox and Jamba and the single of the tone reached number one in the UK singles charts, stopping Coldplay reaching the top of the charts. Britons now send 93 million texts each day according to the Mobile Data Association.
CHRISTMAS
MUZAK DRIVES SHOP STAFF TO DISTRACTION 20/12/05
Shppers
may find the odd rendition of White Christmas or Sir
Cliff's 'Misteltoe and Wine' or even Slade's Merry Christmas uplifting
and just the thing to get them into the 'Christmas spirit' but workers
in shops and stores can find the endless looped music 'acoustic torture'.
In the UK the RNID (Royal National Institute for the Deaf) estimates
that some shops play Jingle Bells up to 300 in the
runup to Christmas, reducing unfortunate staff to gibbering wrecks admindst
claims that the repetitive plays amount to psychological torture . Two
years ago in an effort to fight back the Austrian shopworkers
union threatended stores with legal action under health and safety
legislation. But faced with unyielding store-owners, union lawyers agreed
to a voluntary code of practice limiting festive music to peak shopping
hours... with limited success. Now Pipedown, a new pressure
group, is campaigning for the UK government to legislate against
unwanted muzak, be it in stores, hospitals, airports or swimming pools,
claiming it raises the blood pressure and depresses the immune system.
Bah, humbug. Talking of muzak - the race is on for the UK's christmas
number one which looks like a run off between the quirky folky 'JCB
song' from Nizlopi which hit number one this
week, The Pussycat Dolls, Westlife with Diana
Ross and ex-Shoe Shop Salesman Shayne Ward who
won the X-factor. Who will win? Does anyone really
care - except JCB drivers? Bah Humbug again. But in a moment
of rare audience sanity, VH1 viewers have voted the Pogues and Kirsty
MacColl's 'Fairytale In New York' as
their favourite ever christmas song. But what about after the 300th play
....... will even this Fairytail turn sour? Well the sage and
considered advice from the experts at the ILMC has to be - all
things in moderation - and if you believe that you will
believe anything!! Happy Christmas!
DOHERTY
ARRESTED AGAIN 20/12/05
Babyshambles and ex-Libertine
Pete Doherty has been arrested again, this time in the early
hours of Sunday morning. The car he was driving was stopped by police
and BBC Radio 1 reported that Doherty and three other
occupants then tried to leave the area but were followed and Doherty was
arrested by police on suspicion of driving whilst over the prescribed
limit (of alcohol) or driving under the influence of drugs. Substances
found in the car were siezed and sent for examination. Doherty was bailed
until February 2006
CALLS
FOR CHAIRMAN TO RESIGN AT THE ENGLISH NATIONAL
OPERA 17/12/05
Leading
lights of the arts world have put their names to an open letter criticisng
the chairman of the English National Opera, Martin
Smith and calling for his resignation. Smith, an investment
banker, has presided over the ENO in a period when it has lost its
Chief Executive (Sean Doran who has just resigned),
music director (Paul Daniel who left in June 2005)
and artistic
director (Nicholas Payne who left
in 2002). The Times (17 December 2005) reports that
the ENO is now facing a strike over working hours and pay alongside
a slump in tickets ales.. The ENO has appointed internal candidates
to the roles of CEO and artistic director without externally advertising
the jobs to further outcry. Members of the House of Commons
Culture Select Committee including MPs Adrain
Sanders (LD), Nigel Evans (Con) and Derek
Wayatt (Lab) have called for an enquiry. The ENO has received
more than £150 million (E210 million) in state funding
in the last decade.
FINE IMPOSED
AS IGGY BREACHES
SWISS NOISE LIMITS 17/12/05
Lucerne's Blue
Balls Festivals have been fined £670 approx (US$1,150)
after the headline peformance of Iggy & The Stooges exceeded
the noise limit of 100 decibels. The level had been raised for the
Festival from the usual city limit of 93 decibels. Officials
in the Swiss city of Lucerne claim the band exceeded
the maximum volume of 100 decibels by playing at 102.5 decibels.
TV SHOW SETS RECORD BUSINESS
A CHALLENGE 17/12/05
The
UK's leading TV talent show the X-factor has
set SonyBMG a
challenge by agreeing to allow the release of the winning act immediately
after the 18th December live final. 750,000 pre-orders are
believed to have been received. Each of the three finalists (Shayne
Ward, Journey
South and Andy Abraham) have recorded
a version of Thats My Goal and the winner
will pick up a £1 million (E1.4 million) record deal with
Sony BMG. Sony will then have to rush the winning version of the
single with CD pressing plants beginning the manufacturing process
just one minute after the result of the final is announced at 22.00.
Downloads of the winning version will be available from 22.15 that
night. Sample discs will
be at SonyBMG by 0.600 on Sunday 18th ZDecember, physical product
should be at distribution centres by Monday 19th December, in shops
by Tuesday
20th December and on sale in the shops by Wednesday 21st
December. The Christmas number one will be annunced on the 25th
December on BBC
Radio 1.
GUBBAY
OFFERED MONEY IN 2003 TO CLOSE SAVOY OPERA 17/12/05
Raymond
Gubbay has said to the Times that he was offered £250,000
(E350,000) in October 2003 to abort his plans to set up his Savoy
Opera as a stand alone private company operating in London (at
the Savoy Theatre) in competition to state subsidised
companies such as the ENO at the London Coliseum and
the Royal Opera House. The approach, from an unidentified
man, came to nothing. Gubbay later closed the Savoy for financial
reaons.
MTV
LAUNCH NEW DOWNLOAD SITE WHILST BRITISH TOP MUSIC USERS CHART
MTV has partnered with Microsoft to
launch the Urge music download service. It is expected
to debut early next year. Urge will be built into Microsoft's Windows
Media Player and have 2M tracks on offer either as a la carte or as
part of a subscription package. No details of pricing have been issued
so it is not clear if MTV will compete aggressively on price or use
its brand values and wide catalogue to break into what is now a
very crowded market headed by Apple's iTunes. The service will not be
Mac-compatible. And in the week that Apple announced
that it had sold 100 million downlaods in Europe Motorola, has
announced results of a survey which say that Brits top the chart when
it comes to legally down,loading music in Europe. The UK spend an average
of 75p per month (or buy approximately one iTune) three
times that spent by the Germans, French and Italians. A quarter of Brits
surveyed said that they owned a digital music player. And in another
survey in the US,the Berkman Center for Internet & Society
at Harvard Law School and Gartner Inc. have
found that file-sharing encourages people to buy more music. It argues
that the ability to make and share recommendations will drive sales
and benefit the industry/artists
VERTIGO
TOP OF THE MOUNTAIN
U2's
Vertigo tour was the top-grossing tour of the year according to Boxscore.
Across 90 shows, it grossed $260M and attracted 3M fans. Their Croke
Park gig in Dublin was the biggest single draw of
the year - attracting 247,000 fans and generating $21.1M. The Eagles had
the second most successful show ($117M over 77 shows) followed by Neil
Diamond ($71M): source www.billboard.com
COACHELLA
LINES UP DEPECHE MODE AS HEADLINER
The seventh Coachella Valley Music & Arts Festival will
return April 29th to 30th at Empire Polo Field in
Indio, Calififornia and the first night will be headlined by legendary
electro-pop act Depeche Mode according to Billboard. In
the meantime, the festival will be the subject of the two-hour retrospective
documentary "Coachella," which will premiere Jan. 19 at Los Angeles' Orpheum
Theatre and roll out Jan. 24 to additional U.S. theaters. Coachella" rounds
up some of the most iconic performances from throughout the fest's history,
stretching back to Morrissey at the inaugural 1999 show
up through a 2005 clip of the Arcade Fire. In between is
footage of such acts as Bjork, Radiohead, Iggy & the Stooges,
the Red Hot Chili Peppers, Kool Keith and Beck,
among many others.
SMITHS
LINE UP FOR REUNION
Smiths guitarist Johnny Marr and bassist Andy
Rourke will perform together for the first time since the legendary
UK act split up in 1987 at the benefit Manchester v. Cancer,
to be held January 28th at the Manchester Evening News (MEN) Arena.
Rourke is overseeing the lineup for the show, which will also feature New
Order, Doves, Badly Drawn Boy, Stephen Fretwell and
other acts to be announced. Rumors have circulated that former Smiths
frontman Morrissey will be involved in the show but
at present there's no indication he will participate. http://www.manchestervcancer.co.uk/home.asp
QUO
TOUR CANCELLED AS PARFITT FACES THROAT CANCER SCARE
Status Quo have cancelled the remainder of their UK
tour after singer and guitarist Rick Parfitt was found
to have a growth in his larynx. The band called a halt
to the tour after the problem was found the day they were due to play
to 3,000 fans at Plymouth's Pavilions venue. The
decision was taken after Parfitt was seen by doctors at the Plymouths
Nuffield Hospital on Thursday. Band manager Simon Porter said
that regretfully all nine shows on the current sell-out UK tour
have been cancelled. The band were due to appear in: Brighton, Birmingham,
Harrogate, Manchester, Telford, Bournemouth, Wembley Arena,
Glasgow, Aberdeen and Edinburgh.
PRINCE
SIGNS TO UNIVERSAL FOR NEW ALBUM
The Artist first known as Prince, the formerly known as
Prince and know known as ... Prince .... has inked a deal with Universal for
the release of his next album, "3121." This album is the
follow-up to Prince's 2004 studio set "Musicology," which
was issued via a one-off deal with Sony's Columbia label.
The album debuted at No. 3 on The Billboard 200.That release
was supported by a lavishly praised tour which drew nearly 1.5 million
people and grossed $90.2 million, according to Billboard Boxscore.
Prince is expected to return to the road sometime next year.
QUEEN
REACH NO 3 IN UK ALLTIME CHART OF CHARTS
Queen have have overtaken the Beatles
to move into third place in thre chart of the most successful UK chart
artists ever. Elvis Presley tops the chart with 2574
weeks in the British charts and Sir Cliff Richard is
second with 1982 weeks. Queen roll up with 1755 weeks compared
to The Beatles 1749. Madonna is fith with 1660 weeks,
Big climers include Kylie up 13 places to 42 and
the Stereophonics also up 13 places to 71. Eminen and Britney
Spears were the only two new entries.
ALL
TOMMORROW'S PARTIES SCHEDULE IN 'USA' DATES
All
Tommorrow's Parties have scheduled in two 'USA' weekenders which
will be held on May 12th -14th and May 19th - 21st 2006, at the ATP festival
UK home at Camber Sands in East Sussex, England. A different
band will curate each day, with the Shins, Mudhoney, Sleater-Kinney,
Devendra Banhart and the Yeah Yeah Yeahs all
committed. Dinosaur Jr. is stepping in for Ween, who
has pulled out of the festival for undisclosed "personal reasons." Says
a post on the band's Web site, "We want to focus on finishing our new
album before we do any more touring." http://www.atpfestival.com/
ATTENTION KAZAA USERS IN AUSTRALIA - THE USE OF KAZAA IS NOT PERMITTED!!! 08/12/05
The many Australians who woke up this Tuesday morning and wanted to join the network of file sharers using Sharman Networks, Kazaa software were cordially greeted with the message "The
download of the Kazaa Media Desktop by users in Australia
is not permitted" writes Andrew Evans. At first sight this would appear to represent a triumph for the 30 Australian music labels follwing the Federal Court of Australia ruling in favour of in September finding that, pending an appeal, Kazaa was guilty of encouraging its users to infringe copyright laws. However, such a triumph is yet theirs. The court ordered a revision of the software, by November 5th, so as to encompass a keyword filtering system that would prevent users from accessing copyrighted material through the network. This deadline was extended to December 5th but since this date has now past, it is clear that rather than using such a filter, Sharman Networks has instead shut down the website that Internet users previously obtained the Kazaa software arguing that in doing so they are complying with the courts orders.
However on Tuesday the Music Industry Piracy Investigations (MIPI) pointed out that such a measure would only stop new users from attaining the software and did not deal with the problem of current users continual usage. While Sherman Networks have programmed pop-up warnings to users reading, "To comply with orders of the Federal Court of Australia... If you are Australian you must not use the Kazaa Media Desktop", it seems that the effect is to simply provide the aesthetics of compliance rather than the substance. The Record Labels, represented by the head of the Australian Recording Industry Association (ARIA) Stephen Peach, are said to view this move as skirting the court orders with Peach stating, "They were given the chance to do the right thing and they've ruined it. They cannot be trusted to even take the simplest steps towards complying with the court's orders and again have shown they intend to do nothing about the illegal activities occurring on a massive scale on their system." The Sharman Network appeal is due to start in February.
BILLBOARD HONOUR MARIAH, GREEN DAY AND 50 CENT 08/12/05
Green Day and 50 cent were the toast of Las Vegas last night (Dec. 6), as each
nabbed six trophies at the 2005 Billboard Music Awards. 50 Cent, who was
the top finalist with mentions in eight categories, was honored as artist
of the year and took the album of the year prize for "The Massacre," while Green Day earned rock artist of the year and won rock song of the year for "Boulevard of Broken Dreams". Mariah Carey left the show with 5 gongs including femaLe R&B
artist and Hot Song of the Year (We Belong Together). Tom Petty won Billboard's
century Award whilst Kayne West won Artist Achievement Award.
SANCTUARY SEEKS REFINANCE 07/12/05
The UK's Sanctuary Music Group shares tumbled down to just 2.65p as it was announced that the Group is
seeking a £100 million plus (E145 million) rights issue. The rights issue
will dilute current shareholdings. The share price has collapsed 95% since
the start of the year after four profit warnings and a failed takeover bid
for the Group. At the end of October the Group admitted gthat its balance sheet showed net liabilities. The Group has instigated cost cutting plans and is selling non core assets.
LABELS AIM TO PLEASE WITH PODCASTING 06/12/05
AIM , the UK's Association for Independent Music Record Labels has said it will try and address the problem podcasting is causing. Copyright restrictions mean that almost all podcasts (internet deliveries of radio shows to subscribers) are stripped of the music content. OK if it is a chat show, bizarre if it is a music show. AIM's 900 members are now preparing to issue a licence allowing radio stations to include music in internet podcasts. The deals will still be subject to music publishers agreeing (the MCPS-PRS Alliance need to consent on behalf of songwriters and publishers) but AIM has said that it wants to 'kick start' the process. The BPI which represents the four majors in the UK (Warners, EMI, Universal, Sony BMG) has no firm policy as yet on podcasting.
DEADHEADS REGAIN NET ACCESS 06/12/05
For all of their illustrious career the Grateful Dead encouraged 'bootlegging' - the making of recordings of live shows, and even encouraged fans to swap their tapes. But when it came to the internet and downloads, the band seemed a little more conventional, ordering a free download site to stop offering Grateful Dead tracks. In response 5,200 fans signed a petition against the decision and called for all fans to stop buying mercahndise in protest and after what appears to be a heated internal debate the band has now relented and said that the not for profit Live Music Archive can continue its service.
BIG IMPROVEMENT IN WARNERS YEAR END FIGURES 05/12/05
Warner Music has issued figures for its first fiscal year under new management (after the Edgar Bronfman led buy out from Time Warner Inc.). The company has closed its losses from $137M to $30M. Part of the turnaround is attributed to big-name releases from the likes of Green Day and Eric Clapton. The company claims that the growth in digital revenues now offsets the decline in physical sales. Digital sales of $53M now make up 6% of the company's business. This is slightly ahead of recent figures from EMI (where digital makes up 4.9% of revenues) and Universal Music (5.3%).
Source: Five Eight magazine
COWELL AND FULLER SETTLE IN FORMAT WARS 05/12/05
Just as things were getting interesting in the TV format wars between 19 Management's and ex-Spice Girl manager Simon Fuller and record industry heavyweight, X-factor and Pop Idol judge Simon Cowell it has been reported that the parties had settled. In the UK a High Court appearance was eagerly anticipated after Fuller accused Cowell of copying the format of his Pop Idol show to create the X-factor. UK lawyers were wondering whether if Fuller succeeded then would the Australian owners of the first UK popstar talent search Popstars and Popstars the Rivals join the fray? The current law in the UK is based on a 1989 case ( Green v Broadcasting Corporation of New Zealand) which said that on the facts of that case there was no copyright in law in a television gameshow format.
However recent decisions in Holland and Brazil have suugested that this may now need revisiting. Cowell has also agreed to be a judge for the next five years on American Idol after agreeing terms with the Fox network. Still looking at TV formats and for those of you interested in where the next big live touring superstar will come from (only joking) there appear to be three star celebrity singing shows planned for the UK - Cilla Black is hosting a new ITV1 show called Soapstar Superstar - a singing competition for soap stars. Meanwhile a new BBC1 show called Just The Two Of Us will see celebrities learning and performing duets in a week. And back to that man again - Simon Cowell is launching a similar show on ITV called Star Duets.
SOUTH AFRICA'S LEADING OPERA STAR SHOT DEAD 01/12/05
Deon van der Walt , South Africa 's leading opera star, has been found shot dead at his home aged 47. His father, Charles (78), was found shot dead in a separate room with a single gunshot would to his temple. Police are investigating what appears to be a family dispute. Deon was the first South African to do the 'grand slam' of performing at all of La Scala in Milan, Covent Garden in London, The New York Met and the Vienna State Opera House.
Deon and his brother Marcel also ran a very successful award winning wine estate, Veenwouden, 35 miles from Cape Town.
WORRIES AT WEMBLEY STADIUM AS SUB-CONTRACTOR FORCED INTO ADMINISTRATION 01/12/05
The construction company behind London's new Wembley Stadium, Multiplex, has received notice that pipe work company SGD Engineering has called into the Administrators. The Guardian (01/12/05) says that the Stoke based specialist engineering company blamed Multiplex for
the crisis after a contractual dispute allegedly left it £2 million out
of pocket - something Multiplex refutes. Multiplex expects to hand over the Stadium on the 31st March 2006. SGD was fitting pipework for the 2618 toilets planned for the Stadium. The FA (football) cup final is scheduled for the 31st May and The Rolling Stones and Bon Jovi have dates booked at the Stadium for live shows.
SHADOWS DRUMMER TONY MEEHAN DIES 01/12/05
Tony Meehan has died in hospital aged 62 after an accident at his home. Meehan was the Shadows drummer alongside fellow members Hank Marvin, Bruce Welch and Jet Harris. Meehan contributed to hits like 'Apache' and 'Man of Mystery' before leaving to form his own bands and act as a record producer. he is survived by his wife Sue, five sons and two daughters.
STONES UNVEIL EUROPEAN DATES 01/12/05
The Rolling Stones have unveiled a string of 20 UK and European dates in 2006 including dates at the new Wembley Stadium in London (August 20th), in Glasgow (August 25th), Sheffield (August 27th) and Cardiff (August 29th). Tickets in the UK are being handled by Ticketmaster with priority booking for fan club and American Express cardholders.
THE REVOLVING DOOR - NEW FACES IN NEW PLACES 01/12/05
Thomas Kaurich is named as Head of EMI Classics UK with effect from January 2006 and at MTV Networks India names Amit Jain as the new MD.
The English National Opera faces a crisis after reports that artistic director and CEO, Sean Doran, has stepped down with immediate effect following reports of a clash with the ENO's vide-chairman, Vernon Ellis. Doran, who has been in the hot seat since 2003.
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