You've already seen Coldplay frontman Chris Martin mixing it up with a photographer the other day as Martin took his famous wife, Gwyneth Paltrow, out of a New York hospital where she’d gone for some tests.

Threatened violence isn’t always applauded, and the photographer, naturally, feels he wasn’t doing anything wrong. But posters at TMZ and other blog sites are giving Chris high marks for “acting out” and protecting his wife. Even some of the most rabid lovers of gossip have had it with invasive, glamour-shattering snapshots and film, as well as the confrontational paparazzi tactics.

It’s one thing to enjoy gossip and chat; it’s another to put lives in danger by chases at high speeds and relentless intrusion and brutal use of cameras. So maybe this most ruthless era of showbiz is coming to an end.

But I doubt it.Source: http://www.nypost.com/

The new owner of record label EMI is enforcing tight restrictions on new artist signings and marketing budgets in a bid to get the firm back on track.

There are also fears that job losses could happen among the 5500 workforce at EMI, which is home to artists including Kylie Minogue, Lily Allen and Coldplay.

Guy Hands' private equity firm Terra Firma completed the takeover of the record label for £4 billion including debt in August. In the same month as the takeover first-quarter revenues had slipped by 5.1 per cent.

Should Coldplay leave EMI? Vote here

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Guy Hands, the chief of Terra Firma, is planning to tell the staff of EMI in mid-January what he sees in the company that the legions of doubters do not.

Some of his plans have already emerged from presentations to potential co-investors and from the memos that have been e-mailed around a gossipy industry.

At the heart of his optimism is an analysis that EMI is an asset-rich but poorly managed business that is ready to make fundamental changes precisely because of the turmoil in which the music industry finds itself.

Many analysts agree, but some have been startled by the aggressive assumptions that Terra Firma has made.

According to one presentation, it expects EMI's recorded music business to deliver £528m ($1bn) in earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation by 2012, up from just £61m in 2007.

The projection assumes a huge increase in online revenues, a rapid take-up of mobile subscription and download services, and heavy cost cuts. To get there, Terra Firma will step up EMI's use of social networking sites to find acts, shift its marketing towards digital sales and digitise more of its catalogue.

Mr Hands has also let it be known that he is looking to acquire independent labels, and has left open the prospect of a more transforming deal - such as a move into touring and artist management or a revival of merger talks with Warner Music.

Even in the steadier publishing business, Terra Firma expects to more than double ebitda, from £107m to £221m over the period. Much of this will come from catalogue acquisitions, which could add £40m to EMI Music Publishing's net publisher share.

Less headline-grabbing group-wide initiatives such as centralising procurement, back office and IT functions could also save tens of millions of pounds.

The ambition is to reinvest some of the savings into developing new talent.

The challenge will be to ensure that artists are not scared off by the turmoil.

Source:

http://www.ft.com

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Nick Clegg today unveiled Roxy Music star Brian Eno as an advisor – and immediately bombed as he tried to show off his pop credentials.

Despite becoming, at 40, the youngest leader of the three main political parties, new Liberal Democrat chief proved he knows little about youth culture, making two embarrassing gaffes in as many days.

During his victory tour of broadcasting studios in the hours after being crowned yesterday, Mr Clegg was asked for his views on the hot topic obsessing pop fans – Radio 1’s decision to censor the much loved Christmas ditty Fairytale of New York.

The Pogues and Kirsty MacColl hit is regularly voted the nation’s favourite Christmas tune, and BBC bosses’ U-turn over the bleeping out of its ruder lyrics has been a pub talking point for days.

But as listeners to Radio 4’s PM programme learned, it was all a mystery to Mr Clegg. “Er, I don’t know the song,” he mumbled.

This morning the Liberal Democrat leader was given the opportunity to redeem himself when he appeared on Radio 5Live’s morning show. He was tossed an easy question – his favourite album - and plumped for “Changes” by David Bowie.

As every Bowie die-hard knows, however, while the singer’s 1972 single Changes is one of his most famous songs, the only album of that name is the 1990 Changesbowie – a compilation collection.

Outraged listeners immediately began telephoning the show to protest, as hosts Nicky Campbell and Shelagh Fogarty joked that Mr Clegg could not possibly be a true fan. It was a poor start for a new leader with a self-declared mission to “reach out beyond Westminster”.

Announcing Mr Eno as his advisor, he said the singer, currently recording with Coldplay and U2, had been given a brief to bring in ideas on reaching out beyond the London beltway. In particular, and despite being 59 himself, Mr Eno has been instructed to advise the Liberal Democrats on how to appeal to young people.

Mr Clegg said: “I’m delighted Brian Eno, whose whole life has been outside politics, will be advising me on how we can reach out beyond Westminster to people who don’t get a say in politics.”

Source: http://www.telegraph.co.uk

Career-defining albums are both a blessing and a curse.

No artist would turn down the opportunity to put out a mega hit. But there is no denying many long-lived careers have come to be characterized by one recording. Nothing that follows will ever be as good, as important, or as meaningful to as many as "the big one" was. That can damn your inspiration, even as the money keeps rolling in, particularly if you peak on album No. 1. We look at other albums that reached the same pinnacle -- studiously avoiding the whole boring "our music was better in the 1960s" routine. Leave that to the next "Bestest Albums Ever" issue from Rolling Stone. In order of year released.

10. Coldplay: A Rush Of Blood To The Head (2002): How many bands wound up sounding just like Chris Martin and Co., after its second CD? If Parachutes presented a band with a complete sound, this was the one that made its music stadium-ready. And its was the disc that the singer wasn't sure he could complete. While many hardly remember X&Y, they're still spinning In My Place. The Clocks" keep ticking as to whether the group can ever come close to this again.

of course, if it happens to be a release that is both a career-high and also of such significance that it becomes a turning Ooint in popular music history, deal with it. Spending the rest of your life performing songs that actually matter and that people want to hear isn't so bad. Perhaps you'll get enough mileage out of it to put out a few more important gems, as the Beatles, Rolling Stones, Led Zeppelin and those classic-rock types were able to do.

Doubtless, that's what U2 thinks about The Joshua Tree. When the 1987 album arrived, it was heralded as one of the greatest albums of all time right out of the box. While the band has gone on to produce other works of genius, it will never be able to skip over songs such as "Where The Streets Have No Name" or "I Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For." The 20th anniversary deluxe re-issue of the group's seminal and highly influential CD arrives on Dec. 11. Today, the remastered version of the original release is on sale.

Source: http://www.canada.com

In 2004...

Paul McCartney, Coldplay’s Chris Martin, Robbie Williams, Keane, Snow Patrol, Travis, The Darkness and others took part in the recording of a new version of “Do They Know It’s Christmas?” A highlight of the session was U2’s Bono reprising his immortal line, “Tonight thank God it’s them instead of you.”

Bono, Paul McCartney and George Michael were the only artists from the original Band Aid who had been asked back to lend their voices to Band Aid 20. There was a reported dispute over the line 'Tonight thank God it's them, instead of you', which Bono sang on the original version. Justin Hawkins, of The Darkness, laid down a version of the line, but Bono insisted on re-recording his version, which was eventually used on the record.

Although he wasn't invited, Blur's frontman and songwriter Damon Albarn, wanted to assist. Bono advised him to make tea. 'I asked him to make the tea,' the U2 frontman explained to Xfm, 'I saw him on Thursday night. He said "I don't know what to do." I said, "Make tea." He said "You really think so?" I said, "Yeah, make tea!"' Albarn quite happily responded, and thus served biscuits and tea for the participants, as well as appearing briefly in the video, at which Bono 'fatherly' commented: 'Good on him. I always knew that boy would turn out good in the end.'

The single sold 72,000 copies in the first 24 hours when it was released on 29 November 2004, and went straight in at No. 1 in the UK charts on 5 December 2004. It stayed at No. 1 for Christmas and the week after, all in all holding onto the top spot for four weeks, one week shorter than the original had done in 1984.

While this version also sold many records, and raised a lot of money for famine relief, most still considered the original version of the song superior.

Solo girl Nicole Scherzinger [pictured] is praying Chris Martin can complete a holy trinity of Brits writing songs for her, report the Daily Star.

The Pussycat Doll has already worked with Snow Patrol’s Gary Lightbody, 31, and Keane’s Tim Rice-Oxley, 31, since going it alone. Now she wants the Coldplay singer, 30, to finish the set. Nicole, 29, said: “I just need to work with Chris Martin to complete my British songwriting mission. That would be amazing.”

Nic recorded Lightbody’s gorgeous song Just Say Yes for her own album and his broad Bangor accent seems to have rubbed off on the girl from Hawaii. She explained: “If I’m lucky enough I have a slight Irish accent on the record. I felt the song so much. “He said his mom cried when she heard me singing it. That meant everything to me.”

Read the full article here

But Nicole had to practically beg chief Keane songwriter Rice-Oxley to work with her. The Baby Love singer said: “I’ve always been a fan of Keane and followed them for a long time. So one day I physically put myself in front of Tim and said to him: ‘Get in the studio with me or else’. So we found a piano and began to write.”

The result is a song called American Girl which Nicole is saving for another project.

She obviously has a thing for British men. Her solo debut My Name Is Nicole also features a duet with Sting, 56, and she’s even been romantically linked with Formula One ace Lewis Hamilton, 22.

Nic declined to confirm any romance but did admit: “I like nice men. The British have good manners and I always go for that in the end.”

There’s hope yet lads.

Source: Daily Star

The new issue of Rolling Stone (issue 1039) features a Chris Martin interview, where he talks about the future of releasing music, and who to look out for in the world of music producers. Find out where he thinks Coldplay will be in 10-15 years time!

How has new technology helped music?

I don't know if "democratizing" is the right word, but its definately levelling the playing field regarding who can hear what.

Has it changed your approach to how you release your music?

We think it's all about quality over quantity now, because there's so much noise everywhere, there's no point in putting anything out unless it's fucking amazing. I still think there's incredible merit in making albums. pieces of work that are the same length as Beethoven's symphonies used to be. There's something pleasing about that amount of music from one artist.

Read and discuss the full article here [thanks Awhisper21]

Compilations, covers and live tracks can often make for cringe worthy, unadventurous and nostalgia fuelled listening and all three elements rolled into a double CD containing 40 tracks is a potential marathon yawn inducing shocker that could have you scrambling for the off button.

But following on from the success of ‘Live Lounge: Volume 1’ is ‘Volume 2’ and Radio 1 have got it pretty much bang on.

But it’s with the cover versions that the most fun can be had. But there are some tracks that should be left well alone. Unfortunately Avril Lavigne doesn’t seem to realise this and has a go at Coldplay’s ‘The Scientist’, leading her to spectacularly crash and burn.

Read the full review here

He may be accustomed to the luxuries afforded to millionaire rock stars, but Chris Martin left behind five star comforts during a recent trip to Scotland.

The exhausted Coldplay frontman was seen sleeping on the deck of a ferry travelling back from the funeral of his uncle Angus Fleming, 55, in Arran.

Wearing a thick black jumper, and a scarf wrapped around his trademark curly hair to protect him from the elements, a clearly exhausted Martin slept on the deck of the ferry between Brodick and Ardrossan. The millionaire Coldplay star made the journey to St Molio's Church in Shiskine, Blackwaterfoot without his actress wife Gwyneth Paltrow and children, daughter Apple, 3, and 19-month-old son Moses.

Not home and alone: Martin travelled without his actress wife Gywneth Paltrow to the emotional event

He told the Sunday Mail: "I'm very upset. My uncle has just died and I've been to his funeral. It's very difficult."

He had travelled from his north London home to attend the emotional event, and the rock frontman's hit song Fix You was played during the funeral ceremony. Martin was reported to have been close to Angus, 55, who died last Monday, months after being diagnosed with cancer.

A family friend told the Sunday Mail: "Chris had a strong bond with his uncle and he was devastated to hear of his death. He made a huge effort to get to Arran, taking time out from his hectic schedule, and it was well appreciated by everyone. He looked totally exhausted going back to the mainland on the ferry."

Chris's uncle Angus, a chartered accountant, had lived in Blackwaterfoot, on the west coast of the island, with wife Caroline. He leaves two sons, James and George, and a daughter Lucy, who married in the same church last July.

Sleepyhead: Coldplay star Chris Martin was in dire need of a nap and bedded down on a ferry as he travelled home from the funeral for his uncle Angus Fleming in Arran on the weekend

Wide awake: The singer said he was 'very upset' at the death of his uncle who he was very close to

More on this here

Alessandro Copetti is a veteran of the London paparazzi scene and is always on the lookout for a picture that could earn him up to £20,000 for a few seconds' work.

Mr Copetti, 37, who works for the Matrix picture agency, is rarely far away from the thick of the action when it comes to snatching a photograph of the rich and famous at play.

Born in Tolmezzo, a town in north-east Italy, he has been a photojournalist for 17 years. He moved to Britain in 1998 and married a Scottish woman, but the couple have since separated. Mr Copetti is adamant that he was not one of those pursuing Prince William and Kate Middleton in the early hours of Friday. However, he has had his own run-ins with celebrities in the past.

Two years ago, Mr Copetti alleged that he had been attacked by Coldplay's Chris Martin after trying to photograph the musician's actress wife, Gwyneth Paltrow [both pictured].

Last year, Jay Kay, the Jamiroquai frontman, was arrested after allegedly drunkenly attacking Mr Copetti and other photographers outside a London nightclub.

When Mr Copetti is not photographing the stars he enjoys travelling and is studying for a BSc in anthropolgy, which he describes as "my passion".

Like all paparazzi photographers, Mr Copetti can often spend hours or even days waiting in vain to get a money-making photograph.

Source: http://www.telegraph.co.uk

In October 1979, photographer Anton Corbijn, the son of a rural Dutch Protestant minister, set out for England in pursuit of Unknown Pleasures. That was the title of the dark, expansive debut album from the Manchester post-punk band Joy Division, and to Corbijn it was an artistic clarion call.

"I thought, 'I want to be where that music comes from,' " says Corbijn, now 52. "It was my mission to photograph Joy Division." Within two weeks he took an iconic picture of the band that showed singer and lyricist Ian Curtis turning back toward the camera, with unwitting portent, while his bandmates faced forward; six months later, Curtis killed himself at the age of 23.

Now Corbijn, whose photographs and videos have since defined the unadorned aesthetic of a generation, has retold Curtis' tale in his first feature film, Control, released on — Oct.5. Corbijn says making the film has served to "round off a certain part of my life," in which music has been his prime inspiration; it also offers a powerful new outlet for the narrative gift that has always been his artistic trademark.

But in fact most of us own a Corbijn: his artwork covers more than 100 records or CDs, and anyone who has watched MTV or VH1 will have seen one of the 80 or so music videos Corbijn has directed for acts such as Depeche Mode, Nirvana and Coldplay (Talk).

Read the full article here

EMI Music inked a deal with PlayPhone Inc. to allow the mobile entertainment company to distribute ringtones from its catalog. Artist from the Beach Boys and the Rolling Stones to Joss Stone, Norah Jones and Coldplay can now be heard in cell phone renditions that PlayPhone customers can customize.

“The team at PlayPhone has the know-how and technology to ensure consumer-friendly download experience,” says Lauren Berkowitz, senior vice president of EMI Music’s newly beefed up digital team.

The deal is just one of several that EMI Music—the New York City-headquartered North American division of the London-based giant—has been forging to reshape itself as a predominantly digital entertainment company.

EMI now has hundreds of agreements with digital partners to distribute music around the world, including its DRM-free offerings to Apple iTunes and Amazon.com. Similar new deals continue even as EMI undergoes major restructuring following the recent $4.9 million takeover by private equity firm Terra Firma. EMI delisted from the London Stock Exchange last month.

Separately, EMI’s new chief executive, Guy Hands, will be hitting New York next week to hold a series of team meetings with the music group’s various label divisions.

Idol’s resident hunk Mark Da Costa was booted from the talent show last night after deviating from the niche he had carved for himself as the show’s rocker.

Idol watchers claim his demise was also connected to his recent sleazy antics at a Sydney nightclub where he reportedly spent the evening name-dropping himself in an attempt to pick up women. Viewers voted the 28-year-old out of the show after panning his blues arrangement of Coldplay’s hit ballad “Yellow” on Sunday’s acoustic themed show.

During the show 23-year-old Daniel Mifsud was awarded a coveted Touchdown for his performance of the Kiss rock classic “I Was Made For Loving You.”

Mifsud managed the feat despite his favourite football team the Manly Sea Eagles being resoundingly defeated on the same night in the NRL Grand Final.

Meantime, last year’s Idol winner Damien Leith has released a book called “One More Time” about a man with obsessive-compulsive disorder who climbs the Himalayas.

In a big week for Idol sees season one favourite Cosima De Vito to release her second album entitled “This Is Now”. De Vito will be signing copies of the album at Hum Records on Sydney’s Oxford St at 7pm, Thursday October 4.

Online retail giant Amazon.com has launched a DRM-free music store with 2 million songs from 180,000 artists and 20,000 labels.

The music is encoded in 256Kbit/s MP3 format, and Amazon says most songs are priced from US89 cents to US99 cents ($AU1.02 to $AU1.14), with more than 1 million of the 2 million songs priced at 89 cents.

The top 100 best-selling songs are 89 cents, while most albums are priced from $5.99 to $9.99 ($AU6.89 to $AU11.49). The top 100 best-selling albums are $8.99 ($AU10.35) or less. Amazon did not announce when its MP3 store would be made available outside the US.

It is the biggest challenge to Apple's iTunes Music Store yet. Although Apple recently started offering DRM-free downloads, they are considerably more expensive than the DRM-protected versions and are only available from one music label so far.

Amazon counts two of the four major labels -- Universal Music and EMI -- among its suppliers, meaning that a large amount of popular music will be available in the DRM-free format. However, Sony and Warner are still absent from the line-up, and they're not commenting on whether they're interested in getting into bed with Amazon without protection.

"This new digital music service has already been through an extensive private beta, and today we're excited to offer it to our customers as a fully functional public beta. We look forward to receiving feedback from our customers and using their input to refine the service," said Bill Carr, Amazon.com's Vice President for Digital Music.

Amazon was keen to point out that music purchased from it would workon PCs, Macs, iPods, Zunes, Zens, iPhones, RAZRs, BlackBerrys, many car head units and all sorts of other devices, and the music can of course be organised in iTunes, Windows Media Player, Winamp, Linux, or customers can simply burn songs to CDs.

Amazon is offering purchasing with its patented 1-Click system, which allows purchase and download of an entire album with a single click once the customer has signed up to an account. Amazon is also making available software called the Amazon MP3 downloader to make it easier to get the files.

The artists Amazon will be selling music from include 50 Cent, Alison Krauss, Amy Winehouse, Ani DiFranco, Arcade Fire, Beastie Boys, Coldplay, Creedence Clearwater Revival, Ella Fitzgerald, Feist, John Coltrane, KT Tunstall, Keith Urban, Koko Taylor, Lily Allen, Madeleine Peyroux, Maroon 5, Marvin Gaye, Miles Davis, Morrissey, Nelly, Nickel Creek, Nirvana, Norah Jones, Paul McCartney, Philip Glass, Pink Floyd, Pixies, Radiohead, Ray Charles, Rod Stewart, Spoon, Stevie Wonder, The Chemical Brothers, The Decemberists, and The Rolling Stones.

29 September – Fans of Coldplay can get up close to a cracking tribute to Chris Martin and co, as Coldplace play to a packed crowd at the Subscription Rooms in Stroud.

Billing themselves as ‘the UK’s finest tribute to Coldplay’, cover band Coldplace have played to a 20,000-strong crowd at Liverpool’s Mathew Street Festival, have toured extensively in the UK and have headlined in Malta during the last three years.

And now the four guys (and a girl), will be bringing their uncannily similar sound and passion for playing live with them when they head to the county this September, to perform to a packed Subscription Rooms crowd in Stroud.

Fans of the melancholic, Grammy award-winning Coldplay can expect to hear a full concert of hits including ‘Yellow’, ‘Speed of Sound’, ‘Clocks’, and ‘The Scientist’. Prepare for an emotional, heartfelt and uplifting gig from a talented tribute act and you won’t be disappointed.

Event: Coldplace tribute band

Venue: Stroud Subscription Rooms

Date: Saturday 29 September 2007

Time: From 8pm

Tickets: Cost £10 in advance by calling the Subscription Rooms box office on (01453) 760900, or £12 on to door.

After a three year long sabbatical, Hollywood actress Gwyneth Paltrow is returning to her film career.

Paltrow had taken a long break from movies to look after her two children that she has from her husband British pop star Chris Martin. Having stayed away from limelight for so many years Paltrow is now on a comeback trail.

The 34-year-old actress has made a comeback with latest movie ‘The Good Night’, directed by her younger brother Jake. “I really stopped working for three years and I really wanted to be at home with my kids, and I still do. But there’s also part of me that is an artist. But it’s hard, it’s always hard to get the balance of it all right,” she is quoted as saying in a Reuters report.

However, Paltrow added that she won’t work as much as before. “I won’t do three, four films a year, it’ll be more like one, one-and-a-half films a year,” she said.

She also admitted that she was nervous about being shunned by the industry after staying away for too long. Reports say Paltrow is also slated to act in ‘Iron Man’ with Robert Downey Jr.

Source: http://www.apunkachoice.com/scoop/hollywood/20070920-0.html

The head of the private equity owner of EMI, the home of Robbie Williams and Coldplay, yesterday unveiled his vision for turning around the famous music label amid challenging industry conditions.

Guy Hands, chief executive and founder of Terra Firma, vowed to retain the group's recorded music division and to invest in artists big and small to restore the company's fortunes following its £2.4bn buyout.

The deal ended months of speculation over the future of EMI - which had endured a rollercoaster period of several years - and had led to the departure of chief executive Eric Nicoli.

Some analysts predicted Terra Firma would sell the recorded music side and retain EMI's profitable publishing division, but yesterday Mr Hands said that he was confident of overhauling EMI's model to make it less reliable on huge selling artists. "We're determined to keep that part of the business and we're determined to make it viable," he said, following a speech at the Royal Television Society media convention in Cambridge.

EMI was a "classic example" of Terra Firma's strategy to "look for the worst businesses we can find in the most challenging sector", and the firm was "just hoping EMI is as bad as we think it is".

Terra Firma made its name with several high profile turnaround stories. Its plan for EMI is expected to create a structure in which lower selling artists with more niche appeal can still be profitable. "The independent record labels are a lot livelier," said Mr Hands. "The vision of EMI is to be big enough to do everything we can for every artist, but small enough to care for every artist."

Mr Hands, who attended the Mercury Music prize and has been touring artists and their managers, added: "What you've got is an incredible history. It's extraordinary. They have a real love for EMI. But they need EMI to serve their artists in a way that is better than any of the other majors."

As well as the general malaise surrounding the industry due to the increase in digital piracy, EMI was hampered by a poor release schedule in 2007 and an over-reliance on a handful of big name artists.

Earlier at the RTS convention, Rupert Murdoch's most senior lieutenant had warned British broadcasters they must adapt to the digital landscape or wither on the vine.

Peter Chernin, the News Corporation chief operating officer who oversees large swathes of the company's media empire, told senior executives they must be willing to undergo a huge cultural shift and not be afraid of failure.

"There are huge rewards for those who innovate, and death to those who do not," he told delegates in Cambridge. The age of "dictatorship" was over for major media groups.

"Right now there are more than 300 million people around the world watching video content online. It's a fundamental shift that completely democratises our business. And democracy can be scary, especially when we've been used to living in a totalitarian state," he said.

Broadcasters have been wrestling with the challenge of maintaining revenues and viewers in the face of exploding choice and fragmenting media options. But, said Mr Chernin, media groups were well placed to benefit from an unprecedented period of technological change.

"The kneejerk reaction is to take potshots at what you don't understand. To dismiss user-generated content as crap, and blogs as unauthoritative, is not only unproductive but a waste of time," he said.

Fragmentation was having a positive effect on creativity, he believed. "The middle is dead, and that's the greatest thing that has ever happened. The bland, safe, central middle is never coming back."

And Mr Chernin echoed Mr Hands by saying companies should concentrate on big blockbusters at one end of the market and high quality niche offerings at the other.

Daily Telegraph editor Will Lewis has attacked what he called the the "leftwing bias" of broadcasters and said his newspaper intended to challenge them on the internet.

Mr Lewis, speaking at the RTS Cambridge convention yesterday, said he had been "staggered" by the amount of bias he had found in broadcasting.

"There is a lack of choice despite the amount of programming in terms of the leftwing bias we have in broadcasting which has staggered us," he said. "We are providing a different sort of programming for the millions of people in the UK who don't believe in the leftwing prism. The internet is incredibly liberating in that respect."

He said the Telegraph had decided not to follow the traditional broadcasters' way of doing things in its move into television with its partner ITN.

Mr Lewis said the changes he had implemented at the Telegraph, including a move to a new integrated newsroom in London's Victoria, had given an added focus to its website.

Source: http://business.guardian.co.uk/story/0,,2169767,00.html

Rapper Kanye West is winning the chart battle with 50 Cent on both sides of the Atlantic, early sales figures show.

West's Graduation, which was released on the same day as his rival's third album, Curtis, could top the charts in both the UK and US. 50 Cent, real name Curtis Jackson, has vowed that he will retire from making solo albums if he is outsold by West. According to record sales executives in the US, West's album is projected to shift up to 700,000 copies this week.

Meanwhile, West has said that Britney Spears' comeback performance was used as a ratings ploy by MTV. The musician told a radio station in the US: "Man, they were trying to get ratings. They knew she wasn't ready and they exploited her."

Read the full article here

Hollywood couple CHRIS MARTIN and GWYNETH PALTROW have chosen comedian SIMON PEGG to be godfather to their three-year-old daughter APPLE.

But the Shaun Of The Dead star has no intention of providing moral guidance to the celebrity offspring - and insists he wants his young charge to have fun. He says, “I’d like to think I’m a really great, fun godfather. “It’s much more interesting than trying to be a good influence on her. I’m a comedian - it’s what they expect.”

Source: ContactMusic

In a few short years, Simon Pegg has gone from jobbing stand-up to friend of the stars. The 37-year-old Shaun Of The Dead star is godfather to Chris Martin and Gwyneth Paltrow’s daughter Apple, report The Mirror.

You are now friends with the likes of Tom Cruise and Gwyneth Paltrow. Do you sometimes pinch yourself?

It’s always surprising and I hope it continues. I am certainly very aware of how lucky I am and how much fun it is to work with these people. I dread the day when I am not impressed with all that stuff. These are people who I respect and you are very fortunate to get to work with them. I hope it remains surprising forever.

Do you hang out a lot with Chris and Gwyneth?

Yeah, but that’s not really relevant.

More on Simon Pegg here

EMI’s Chief Executive, Eric Nicoli, is to quit his position at the record label prior to the companies takeover next month.

As we previously reported, EMI agreed to a $2.4 million takeover by private equity firm Terra Firm earlier this month. Nicoli has agreed to step down from his position at the company prior to the completion of the deal - which is expected to be on September 18th when the company is de-listed from the London Stock Exchange.

Both Ashley Unwin and Chris Roling, managing directors for Terra Firma, have also been awarded with seats on EMI’s board as part of the shake-up, reports the BBC. EMI is home to such artists as Coldplay and The Beatles.

A 9-hour edition of the station's influential 'Morning Becomes Eclectic' on Labor Day will feature past hosts Tom Schnabel and Chris Douridas along with Nic Harcourt.

Singer-songwriter Gary Jules is something of a pilgrim as he walks unannounced into the state-of-the-art Santa Monica College studios of KCRW-FM (89.9), an offering in hand. Nic Harcourt, who is at the console from which he hosts the station's flagship music show, "Morning Becomes Eclectic," leaps to his feet; big grins are on both faces as the two embrace.

Jules has popped in to this bustling hive just to say hi and drop off very early advance copies of his next album, something no other station will have for a while. After all, this is of one of the most influential music programs in the nation, instrumental in hundreds of artists' careers, not to mention in helping to create a whole aesthetic reflected in today's movie, TV and advertising music selections."That's why I'm here," says Jules, who himself went on to national recognition and even a No. 1 song in Britain after Harcourt championed his version of the Tears for Fears '80s hit "Mad World," which he'd recorded for the soundtrack of the cult film "Donnie Darko."

Jules is merely the latest in a steady parade of visitors -- from rank unknowns to international superstars -- who in the course of the last 30 years have come by the station to visit, chat and often perform on-air for one of the three men who have held the "MBE" helm as the show has grown to national prominence: Tom Schnabel (who took the chair in 1977 after a three-year stint by founding host Isabel Holt), Chris Douridas (who came from Dallas in 1990) and England native Harcourt (hired in 1998 after working at a Woodstock, N.Y., commercial station).

Each of the three will be choosing from among those visits segments to feature in his portion of a nine-hour Labor Day special Monday celebrating the three decades of "MBE" covering their collective stewardship. Like the regular weekday program, the special begins at 9 a.m.

It was quite a different scene the first time Schnabel welcomed a guest 30 years ago. KCRW was housed in a cramped basement at an elementary school across the street from the sponsoring college.

The equipment was a makeshift hodgepodge and there was no staff to speak of. And whereas today KCRW is carried on several signals throughout Southern California and has a global reach via its Internet channels, back then the signal faded out around Robertson Boulevard, just a few miles to the east. And the studio was not exactly presentable.

"My first interview was Ravi Shankar," Schnabel, 60, says as the three chat one day recently in a tiny meeting room after Harcourt finishes his show. "I had to scrub down the studio because it was so dusty!"

Shankar, it turns out, is one of the handful of artists who have had on-air sessions with each of the three.

"One of the most amazing moments for me was sitting in there with him three or four years ago with his daughter, Anoushka," Harcourt, 49, says. "I was sitting on the floor cross-legged, just watching him. When you sit with people like him or Willie Nelson, sitting as far away from me as Tom is now, it's amazing."

The "MBE" legacy, though, is mostly tied to the championing of fresh artists and unknown sounds. Schnabel is perhaps best known for opening doors in the U.S. for a wave of world music figures, notably Nigerian Afrobeat stars King Sunny Adé and Fela Kuti and Pakistani Qawwali giant Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan. Douridas, 44, is famously associated with introducing the world to Beck. And Harcourt is credited with being among the first to put the spotlight on Coldplay and Norah Jones, to name just two.

An illustration of the unique "MBE" approach came on a recent show in which Harcourt made a distinctive segue from "Another Go Around," a frothy Doris Day track from the early '60s, to an equally giddy and romantic song, "Whisper," by new L.A. act A Fine Frenzy (the nom de pop of young L.A. singer-songwriter Alison Sudol). The latter was embraced by Harcourt before the recent release of the act's debut album, and he has booked an in-studio performance for Sept. 11.

"It gives a stamp of approval that is unimpeachable," says Jason Flom, chairman of Capitol Music Group, which has released the A Fine Frenzy album. "People know that you can't do anything to influence Nic, other than have great music that he responds to. It's watched by lots of people throughout the industry."

There are, though, complaints that the spectrum of sounds has narrowed over the years.

"There is that criticism of people who ask is it as eclectic as it used to be," says Keith Caulfield, analyst for Billboard magazine, who follows radio trends. "Some think it conforms to more what commercial radio sounds like. But no, you don't hear much of what they play on commercial stations."

The definition and scope of eclectic has certainly changed over the years. Schnabel would sometimes play whole symphonies and often programmed 15- or 20-minute pieces by John Coltrane, Kuti and other jazz and world music figures. Douridas brought in a stronger song orientation, leaning more to alternative-rock and pop outsiders. Harcourt continued the trend, his jazz and world forays generally coming in electronica remix versions.

"I think that reflects our tastes," Douridas says of the move away from lengthy pieces. "I don't think Nic would enjoy playing something like that on his show. And my attention span would not support playing a full symphony."

Schnabel confesses that when Douridas took over, "I was like the jealous ex-wife. 'How can he play this?' But he got better and better. Chris' and Nic's strength, and I don't have this, is they can find a great band or artist. I don't have ears for that. If I had gotten the Beck cassette, I wouldn't have known it was that good."

Whatever one feels about the shifts, it's hard to argue with the success. Audience growth has been steady, rising more than 40% in the last 10 years (158,000 weekly listeners on average today, up from 112,000) -- not counting the 270,000 times the show is accessed via the Internet each month, with 200,000 podcast downloads.

And each of the personalities remains a KCRW presence. Douridas, who in recent times has gone through legal and personal difficulties, including the death last year of his teenage daughter after an epileptic seizure, hosts the show "New Ground" noon to 3 p.m. Saturdays. Schnabel continues to explore his tastes with "Café L.A." in the same time slot Sundays. Both also do daily online versions of their shows.

One of the areas on which they've had the most profound influence has been Hollywood.

"I remember getting the first 'O.C.' soundtrack album and said, 'That's my playlist!' -- right down to the unsigned artists, like [L.A.-based singer-songwriter] Alexi Murdoch," Harcourt says.

"I used to get calls in the car, [director] Michael Mann would call and say, 'What was that song? I've got my assistant on the phone taking notes,' " Douridas says.

Jeff Antebi, founder and CEO of the Waxploitation label and management firm, credits the station for giving crucial exposure to his client Gnarls Barkley, whose "Crazy" became the biggest hit of 2006. "Very few programs have as big an impact as 'Morning Becomes Eclectic' on the film and TV industry, which is one of the few growth areas for music," he says.

David Chase, creator of "The Sopranos," has said that it was while driving around L.A. listening to KCRW that he first heard "Woke Up This Morning" by little-known English band Alabama 3 and realized instantly that he'd found the perfect theme song to capture the sense of dark paranoia central to his depiction of modern mob life.

And the influence has been at times more direct. All three hosts and many of the other on-air music staff members at the station have served as music supervisors for major TV and film productions. Douridas, who hosted the 1997 PBS music series "Sessions on West 54th," ultimately worked as a consultant for Mann and went on to a thriving music supervision career, with "American Beauty" and the first two installments of the "Shrek" and "Austin Powers" franchises among his credits, while Harcourt has worked on various projects, including the upcoming films "Gone Baby Gone" and "Pride and Glory."

That, though, has been a source of controversy, with charges of at least the appearance of conflict of interest in a situation where the hosts stand to profit from jobs in the very music world they promote from a platform of a station funded by listener donations and tax-derived public moneys. Harcourt says that he has been very conscious of keeping his two worlds separate.

"I've worked on movies and the publicity department has called and said, 'Can I get the director or star on the show?' And I always say no," he says. "I will always err on the side of caution."

As they prepared their memories and highlights for Monday's special, each of the three -- when pressed -- was able to single out one moment that stood above the others, defining his time as "MBE" host.

"I got to sit down with Paul McCartney a few weeks ago," Harcourt says. "Just blew me away. I wasn't nervous until I sat down and then, uhhhhh. But he was very casual, he's like [imitating the Liverpool accent] 'Oh, me and the boys . . . .' "

For Douridas, the standout happened at the end of his run.

"Tom Waits came in and performed live on my last show," he says. "He sang 'Can't Wait to Get Off Work.' That was the last song that aired on the show. Tom is my biggest music figure."

And Schnabel chose an emotional session with a giant of the jazz world:

"If I had to pick one, it's Nina Simone," he says. "She broke down crying talking about her life. She started sobbing and I just let it be. Didn't cut her microphone or do anything. Then after about 30 seconds, I asked, 'Do you want to go on?' And she said she did. A professional therapist wrote in, said, 'That was one of the most beautiful things I ever heard, and the way you handled it was perfect.' That meant a lot to me."

Source: http://www.calendarlive.com

Wal-Mart said Tuesday it will begin offering MP3 tracks from its music download service through arrangements with labels EMI and Universal.

Tracks will be priced at 94 cents and albums at $9.22 USD. Artists at launch include The Rolling Stones, Coldplay, and Maroon 5, among others.

As a promotion, certain classic albums will be offered at a discounted price, including Slippery When Wet by Bon Jovi and Get Rich or Die Tryin' by 50 Cent at $5.88 per album, and Come Away With Me by Norah Jones, Be Here by Keith Urban and Barrio Fino en Directo by Daddy Yankee at $7.88 per album

The move makes Wal-Mart’s online music store one of the first major retailers to offer MP3 tracks.

Universal had announced earlier in the month that it would be making some of its catalog available to select retailers in MP3 format. Wal-Mart was one of those mentioned in the initiative, which is said to be a test to see if selling MP3 tracks is viable.

Wal-Mart will continue to offer songs concurrently in its PlaysForSure compatible store, which retail for 88 cents for 128kbps and 94 cents for 256kbps tracks.

"As we consistently strive to help our customers shop smart at Wal-Mart, our new 'DRM-free' MP3 digital tracks give them the ease and flexibility to play music on virtually any device at a great value," the company’s digital media head Kevin Swint said in a statement.

Source: Various

Kanye West’s 3rd album, Graduation is locked and loaded for a September 11, 2007 release on Hip-Hop Since 1978 / Roc-A-Fella Records. One of the most anticipated albums of the year, Graduation features the smash singles “Stronger” and “Can’t Tell Me Nothing,” accompanied by the groundbreaking videos co-directed by West and acclaimed director Hype Williams.

As “Can’t Tell Me Nothing” – the DJ Toomp banger featuring a newly remixed verse from Young Jeezy and an unlikely alternate video from comedian Zach Galifianakis – heats up in the streets, the clubs, and urban radio stations across the country, its synth-heavy, Daft Punk-sampling counterpart “Stronger,” is blazing trails at Rhythmic Top 40 and pop radio.

On Graduation, West continues to break rules and obliterate boundaries, pushing the music and the genre forward as only he can. Heavy synth patches surface throughout, as the influence of global pop culture and a retro-future aesthetic seeps into Kanye’s signature, soulful, sample-laden sound. Lyrically, West vacillates between the contemplative and the irreverent.

On “Good Life,” Graduation’s third single, Kanye and T-Pain encourage us to “throw ya hands up in the sky” over a lazy, irresistible, PYT-sampled beat. On “Homecoming,” a sparse, piano-and-drum driven track co-written by and featuring Coldplay’s Chris Martin, Kanye continues to pay homage to his native Chicago as Martin asks “Do you think about me now and then? Well, I’m comin’ home again….maybe we can start again.” On the strength of a 5 week pre-order campaign launched on August 7, Graduation is already the #2 album on iTunes, and “Stronger” has reached #2 on the iTunes singles chart. Last week, MTV announced Kanye as a VMA performer and multiple nominee, taking away 5 nods including “Video Of The Year” for “Stronger.” The VMAs air live on September 9th.

More on this and Kanye West's collaboration with Chris Martin here

LONDON - EMI Group PLC, the British music publisher whose roster includes The Beatles and Coldplay, said Friday its shares will no longer be listed for trading after Sept. 18 as it goes private.

EMI is being acquired for 2.4 billion pounds ($4.9 billion) by private equity group Terra Firma Capital Partners. As of Thursday, Terra Firma, run by financier Guy Hands, held 94 percent of EMI. EMI shares rose nearly 0.3 percent to close at 264 pence ($5.24) on the London Stock Exchange.

Terra Firma won EMI after the company's on-again, off-again suitor Warner Music Group Corp. (nyse: WMG - news - people ) ruled itself out of the bidding for the London-based company. Music companies have been looking to consolidate as the market for CDs declines rapidly. EMI has struggled more than most and has cited disappointing North American CD sales. Analysts say the industry's overall woes do not entirely explain EMI's performance, pointing out that Warner and Universal have weathered the storm better. They highlight EMI's persistent weakness in the United States, lack of promising new tunes and internal control problems.

Source: Various