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Is it me, or is indie rock getting bigger? Surely we can all agree that there is a lot of it about. In naked sales terms alone, dishevelled types with guitars have been shifting very nicely of late. Snow Patrol sold the most albums in the UK last year - 1.6 million - narrowly edging out Arctic Monkeys. The year before, Coldplay's X&Y led the sales chart.   These popularity contests so often used to be the preserve of pop acts, like Robson & Jerome or the Corrs; light entertainers with ni

Mary J. Blige, with a successful comeback, a best-selling album and a leading eight nominations, looks poised to emerge from the Grammy Awards as the night's big winner.   But then again, Mariah Carey was in much the same boat last year. And look what happened to her. Carey led the nominations in 2006 for her "The Emancipation of Mimi" album, yet won only in the R&B categories, not the coveted Record of the Year, Album of the Year and Song of the Year categories. U2 was instead the big winn

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - The biggest stars of the music world are gathering in Los Angeles for Sunday's Grammy Awards, while the business slides deeper into the abyss.   Every day brings more bad news for the $21 billion (10 billion pound) industry, which cannot work out how to get fans to pay $18 for a CD instead of stealing music from the Web.   Just this week, Grammy-winning jazz singer Norah Jones' much-anticipated new album opened at No. 1 on the U.S. pop charts, but its sales were less than

It's probably hard to imagine someone who's won two Grammys, dated Hollywood's hottest ladies and brought sexy back being a little, well, insecure.   But Justin Timberlake wasn't so sure of himself when he embarked upon FutureSex/LoveSounds, an album now up for four Grammy nominations, including a coveted Album of the Year nod (see "Mary J. Blige, Chili Peppers Top Grammy Nominations List").   For starters, he thought he had lost his voice — not in a medical sense, but in regards to knowing wh

The EMI Group, the British music giant, has been considering a plan to offer a broad swath of its recordings for sale online without anti-copying software, executives involved in discussions with the company said.   EMI, which releases music by artists including Coldplay and the Beatles, has discussed various proposals to sell unprotected files through an array of digital retailers, including Apple, Microsoft, Real Networks and Yahoo, said the executives, who spoke on condition of anonymity.  

David Bowie has been getting arty in the name of charity, designing a personalised mug for charity artwork project, Whatever It Takes.   The singer's artistic, personalised mug features a self-portrait and his interpretation of a symbol of hope conveys his message of 'Peace Thru Art.' Monies raised will be donated to Bowie's choice of charities, including Trade Plus Aid and Save The Children.   Bowie is a supporter of Whatever It Takes, whose aim is to "sell merchandise with a meaning." The char

Rare FM DJ Adam Freedman recently conducted his annual survey asking Rare FM DJs and listeners to determine Rare FM's unofficial Record of the Year 2006. No prizes, it's just for fun. In case you missed his two-part countdown of the Top 20 tracks, never fear, part one of the results is here, with part two due soon:   20 - Lily Allen - LDN 19 - Justin Timberlake - SexyBack 18 - Arctic Monkeys - When The Sun Goes Down 17 - The Feeling - Fill My Little World 16 - Black Eyed Peas - Pump It 15 - Nell

Pub has played host to Oasis and Coldplay   Bands including Razorlight and Klaxons have paid tribute to a legendary music venue that hosted early gigs by Oasis, Suede and Coldplay. The Joiners in Southampton, which has been a fixture on the national gig circuit since the 1960s, is now being celebrated in a BBC documentary.   First hosting live music in 1968, the venue has also seen live appearances from Radiohead, Manic Street Preachers and The Libertines. Klaxons bassist and singer Jamie Reynol

Further to our earlier news story, Technology giant Apple has reached a deal with the Beatles to end the dispute over the use of the Apple name.   Apple Inc will now take full control of the Apple brand and license certain trademarks back to the Beatles' record company Apple Corps for continued use. The two companies have been wrangling over the use of the Apple name and logo for more than 25 years. The legal battle over the trademark will now end.   Apple chief executive Steve Jobs said the co

Coldplay's next release, a vinyl-only box set collection of singles, proves that this format will persist while CDs depart for that great big stereo in the sky.   Firmly rooted in a classic songwriting tradition, today even multi-platinum-selling bands such as Coldplay can seem stuck in time. But last week the big wigs at EMI appeared to consign them to the pre-Jurassic era when they announced that Chris Martin and co's next release would be a vinyl-only box set collection of 15 singles. "Vinyl?

He created the rom-zom-com with 'Shaun of the Dead' and breathed new life into British comedy movies. Can he repeat that success with 'Hot Fuzz'?   Jonathan Ross once remarked that Simon Pegg had a "head like a tennis ball". The description of his close-cropped yellow fuzz, complemented by fashionably unshaven cheeks on a perfectly spherical bonce was so accurate that it made me laugh out loud. Strange to relate, Pegg, whose stock-in-trade is making people laugh at him, was not amused.   In Lon

EMI Music has announced an agreement with AOL Europe to run ad-supported music video streaming.   The deal will allow consumers to stream EMI music videos for free via the AOL portal. Consumers across the UK, France and Germany will have access to both new releases and content from the extensive EMI back catalogue.   AOL will also run editorial content such as 'Artist of the Month' and 'Breakers' to promote EMI artists including Lily Allen, Coldplay and Corinne Bailey Rae.Chris Kennedy, chief fi

It is now the done thing for climate-conscious companies and consumers, but carbon offsetting is by no means straightforward and its effectiveness is far from certain.   A romantic trip to Barbados would probably make most Londoners’ Valentine’s Day. And now couples can enjoy their visit to the Caribbean with consciences as clean as the water washing tropical beaches. Why? Because just £14 buys something very special – a holiday that promises not to harm the planet.   The company behind this at

Football dominates the play on TV today, but cable TV channels and networks other than CBS are pressing hard to provide alternatives for viewers who just aren't that into gridiron goings-on, Prince or no Prince.   Will Ferrell, the former "SNL" star, is back again tonight. (Last night, ABC ran Ferrell's movie "Anchorman: The Legend of Ron Burgundy.") He joins Vince Vaughn and Luke Wilson in the 2003 comedy "Old School" (9 p.m., ABC, TV-14, D, L, S), about a group of men approaching middle age wh

Arcade Fire aren't playing Toronto's Phoenix Concert Theatre from Feb. 24 to 28, as speculated on the internet on Friday, but it's a fact that frontman Win Butler got into a minor scuffle with security guards at a concert in England.   Arcade Fire did, however, play their fourth straight show in London on Thursday night, and Butler got involved in a minor dispute with security officials when he extended the group's concert in Porchester Hall by performing an encore in the venue's foyer.   Butler

Gwyneth Paltrow is struggling to find a balance between family and work and wants advice from other actresses in the same situation.   The 'Shakespeare In Love' star is married to Coldplay singer Chris Martin and the couple have two children, Apple, two, and Moses, 10 months. The 34-year-old is slowly getting back to work and wants to call her colleagues in the industry to find out the how they handled the transition.   She explains, "I'm not going to work like I did before I had kids. I want to

LONDON • A new pre-registration system for music fans wanting to go to this year's Glastonbury Festival starts yesterday to ensure that every ticket features a passport-sized photograph of its owner.   "It's a much fairer system," said Michael Eavis, who owns the farm in southwest England where the festival has been held since 1970. "It means unscrupulous people won't be able to sell their tickets on for a profit. I assure you that your details will not be used for any other purpose."   Those

That species of star known as the celebrity altruist is a creature in whom the British comic Ricky Gervais seems to have absolutely no faith. The actors, directors and rock singers who give money to Holocaust foundations and adopt babies from impoverished places and expound before the United Nations General Assembly on the crisis of African debt — these people simply do not figure in his consciousness, one consumed by a brilliantly uncharitable view of fame.   “Extras,” midway through its second

A registration system for Glastonbury Festival tickets has opened.   The system - designed to stop touts - requires fans to submit a passport photograph to go on their tickets. Fans will be able to register their interest online or by post and those registered will be able to apply for the £150 tickets from 1 April. The Who, The Arctic Monkeys and Bjork are the only acts so far confirmed for the 22-24 June festival. Some 137,000 tickets will be sold to the public.   The registration website -

Thumbplay Inc., www.thumbplay.com, a leading online retailer of mobile entertainment content, today announced an agreement with EMI Music, one of the world's leading music companies, to sell music from EMI’s extensive portfolio of artists to mobile users.   Members who sign up for Thumbplay’s direct-to-consumer mobile content offering will have access to ringtones from EMI’s vast catalog of current and catalogue artists, including 30 Seconds to Mars, Babyshambles, The Beach Boys, Beastie Boys, D

As previously reported, the Paltrow-Martin family has purchased the last unsold River Lofts penthouse in the New York City area TriBeCa.   Fans were surprised about the purchase, as the family already has a home in the same area - but the New York Times now reports that they have appearently put their old 7,000-square-foot house on Harrison Street back on the market for a stunning amount of $14 million (after buying it for $8 million).   Gwyneth's publicist Stephen Huvane said of the huge amount

Norah Jones' Not Too Late becomes most pre-ordered album of all time on Amazon.ca   SEATTLE - Amazon.ca has announced that Norah Jones' third album, Not Too Late (pictured) has become the most pre-ordered album of all time on Amazon.ca.   Not Too Late will be released on January 30, 2007 and is currently available for pre-order on Amazon.ca for $12.97. Earlier this year, Amazon.ca began offering the critically acclaimed singer's throng of fans an exclusive first listen to her third studio album

As the Dryburgh lads partied into the wee hours, they revealed organisers of the Balado festival had been in negotiations with the band to headline the July festival.   Bassist and songwriter Kieren Webster said, “Playing T in the Park will be the highlight of the year — a lot better than getting to No.1 in the charts.”   Last year, the band were late additions to the T-Break stage for unknowns. A mid–afternoon slot in the often empty tent saw chaotic scenes as hundreds clamoured to get a piece

Brit funnyman Ricky Gervais may keep writing more episodes of his show, Extras, if he can get his idols, Meryl Streep, Dick Van Dyke and Governator Arnold Schwarzenegger, on board.   Whether they will appear in a third series or a Christmas special is still unclear.   ABC-TV will air the star-studded second series next month, with hilarious cameos from Chris Martin of Coldplay, Orlando Bloom, David Bowie, Germaine Greer and Harry Potter's Daniel Radcliffe, sending himself up as a horny teenager

Ricky Gervais, who famously only made two series of The Office plus a two-part Christmas special, has indicated he may keep writing more episodes of his successful BBC follow-up show, Extras, if he can get his idols Meryl Streep, Dick Van Dyke and Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger on board.   Whether they will appear in a third series or a Christmas special is still unclear.   ABC premieres Extras’ star-studded second series in mid-February after Spicks And Specks, with hilarious turns from Sir Ian