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The British music industry lost about £165m last year due to CD piracy, the British Phonographic Industry (BPI) said.   The losses amounted to more than the combined sales of the top 13 albums last year, including James Blunt, Coldplay and Robbie Williams.   The BPI says about 37 million pirate CDs are sold across Britain each year. According to an independent study of 2,000 people aged 15 years and above, 45 per cent would have bought the original if fakes had not been available. The survey wa

The pressures of performing live for solo artist Jamelia has proved far too much. The singer who was performing tracks from her new album at the AOL Sessions forgot her lyrics nine times – and those were from her old songs.   The singer, who hasn't performed live in two years, was playing at London venue The Hospital. The gig started well but soon went pear-shaped when she came to perform, Beware of the Dog. The singer had to stop in the middle after forgetting the lyrics. She gave the song a s

She wasn't even born when her fellow countrymen The Beach Boys released California Girls.   But it seems the spirit of the band's most famous track is alive and well on Gwyneth Paltrow's current beach holiday.   The 33-year-old actress swopped the breakers of her birth place California for some rather more tame water near the home of her husband Chris Martin's parents in Cornwall. Not only were the waves smaller, but the sky was surely a little greyer and the air a spot colder than back home.

Its sort of hard to imagine the current crop of bands still going strong 25 years after their debut. Can you picture Coldplay in 2022? Or The Kaiser Chiefs in 2028? Or even Orson in 25 years (where they will mostly be in their sixties I should imagine). Can you see these bands still releasing albums of new material in the whizzy exciting twenty-twenties?   Well, Sonic Youth can still manage it, and are at the stage where new records just slip out, with little fanfare. The beauty of their career

It's the age old question, how to follow up a critically acclaimed album? For The Dears, that time is now. Breaking through with 2004's "No Cities Left", a swirling Brit-influenced album full of the joys of Britpop and the sorrows of Morrissey, they captured the imagination - dragging you kicking and screaming into their dark and heavily layered world. "Gang of Losers" however, is a very different beast. Instead of treading the same paths created by "No Cities Left", they've found a different ro

Aaaah, don’t they make great dads. Showing yesterday that they’re up for a spot of fun with their kids are Chris Martin and Michael Douglas.   Coldplay frontman Chris, in trademark black combats, treated daughter Apple to a day at London Zoo. Dressed all pretty in pink, she was soon playing on the climbing frames.   But I hope Chris doesn’t get in trouble when mum Gwyneth Paltrow sees this pic of Apple with a lollypop in her hand – I can’t imagine they sell macrobiotic ones at the zoo.   Source

Gwyneth Paltrow has hailed London life for the benefits it affords her young children.   The Shakespeare In Love star is married to Coldplay frontman Chris Martin and loves spending time in her garden with the couple's children, Apple, two and Moses, four months. She explains, "Most days I'm in my garden, in sweatpants, with the children. It's so nice to have a big garden with a lawn in the middle of the city.   In New York, we just don't have that sort of thing. "I love the idea that I can get

The 2007 Brit awards will be broadcast live on TV for the first time in almost two decades, it has been revealed.   The ceremony was shown live until 1989, when a shambolic show hosted by Mick Fleetwood and Samantha Fox led to the decision to tape the awards in advance. "British music is in one of its most exciting phases," said Peter Jamieson from the Brits committee. "So what better time to take the show live?"   Organisers have dropped the best rock and best urban act awards for 2007. The be

Armin Van Buuren is one of the forerunners of the modern dance music scene. Consistently voted by fans to the top 5 in DJ Mag's annual DJ Poll, Armin has gained popularity through his relentless touring, top-notch original productions, as well as his weekly syndicated radio show, A State Of Trance.   Q. What are some of your favorite non-dance albums or artists? Or what music from outside your given genre do you draw inspiration from?   AVB: I'm a music addict and when I'm not in the studio I'm

Jack Johnson, Queens of the Stone Age and Coldplay all donated items to be auctioned off Thursday at 12 Galaxies for a fundraiser for the 911 Power to the Peaceful Festival.   Michael Franti and Spearhead's annual, daylong call for peace is Sept. 9 at Speedway Meadow in Golden Gate Park and will feature Franti, Blackalicious, Los Mocosos and New Monsoon. Thursday's fundraiser will feature beatboxer extraordinaire RadioActive and the JP Cutler Band.   Go to powertothepeaceful.org for details.On A

The country's poshest residents are paying the price for their affluent ways. Environmental monitors have revealed that Chelsea is suffering serious damage - from pollution by Chelsea tractors.   The discovery that the borough - which has generated more 4x4s than it has spawned Gianfranco shops or Joseph outlets - has been hailed as poetic justice by environmentalists.   Chris Martin, the frontman of British band Coldplay, a supporter of fair trade and all things 'green', got people talking last

Gwyneth Paltrow admires single parents. The Hollywood star - who has two children, two-year-old Apple and Moses, four months, with Coldplay frontman Chris Martin - says she doesn't know how one parent families cope.   She told Harper's Bazaar magazine: "I do not know how single mothers have more than one child with no help. It requires so much of my life, and I don't have to change sheets and clean toilets, you know. My hat goes off... no, my clothes go off to the single mother with no help. I s

Google launched a new Labs project called Music Trends. The site shows popular songs based on Google Talk data (aggregated from the US, for now – note that Google Talk has been updated to ask for permission to send your data). Google on their help page says:   When Google Talk users opt in to Music Trends, we’ll capture information about the music they’re listening to from their music player. We then anonymize the information and add each musical vote to our Music Trends page. The more users tha

There are sad songs — like Sarah McLachlan's "I Will Remember You" or "The Scientist" by Coldplay — and then there are songs that induce such melancholia they make Kurt Cobain sound more like Jack Johnson.   Author Tom Reynolds analyzes the latter variety in his recently released book, "I Hate Myself and Want to Die: The 52 Most Depressing Songs You've Ever Heard."   Both popular hits (à la Whitney Houston's "I Will Always Love You") and nearly forgotten songs (think Richard Harris' version of

EMI, the British music group behind Coldplay and Gorillaz, has confirmed it is holding talks with YouTube, which could see it offer its content on the popular social networking website.   YouTube said yesterday that it has held discussions with a number of record labels in a bid to offer music video downloads. Warner Music Group, which was earlier this year involved in a takeover battle with EMI, also confirmed it is talking to the website.   YouTube co-founder Steve Chen said the site hopes to

Perth music fans are not giving up on the Red Hot Chili Peppers coming to Perth next year, despite WA being left off the band's Australian tour schedule.   Radio station Nova 937 has launched a petition to bring the American rockers to Perth. Nova promotions and marketing manager Rachael Speight said there was still hope.   "There's no date, but signing a petition will help,'' she said. "It worked with Coldplay, and we had a (successful) Robbie Williams petition for a second concert. "We hope

Brit pop outfit Keane made grown men weep in its Bangkok concert last week. Edward Gomez was in the crowd with tissues in hand.   Keane, so detractors continue to claim, has enjoyed tremendous success by shamelessly nicking Coldplay’s sound.   But why merely wag the accusatory finger at the band for the thematic and chordal similarities between Somewhere Only We Know and Yellow?   Read the full article here

John Lee Hooker once came up with a nice slice of pop wisdom that few students can afford to leave home without these days. The best things in life are free, he opined, but you can leave it to the birds and bees, just give me money. A degree is certainly not free anymore. Most students try and fill the gaping hole in their overdraft with the old favourites of bar work and retail. But beyond the minimum wage lies the strange, hopeful wild west of well-paid student work.   Coldplay once said that

It’s all about the music, thanks to special hearing aid technology   When Troy Spracklin opened Switch computers in September 2004, the South Surrey resident must have thought he was living the dream.   Then, a few months later he received a call that would change his life. That call was from Etymotic Research Inc., an Illinois-based firm specializing in hearing-aid technology for scientists, people with hearing impairments and musicians. The company needed someone to meet with U2 – at the tim

New York rock act Interpol has parted ways with indie home Matador Records and will sign a new deal with Capitol, sources say. The group is now being managed by Dave Holmes, whose clients also include Capitol flagship artist Coldplay.   Billboard.com understands the group will hit the studio in the fall to begin recording its third album, which is tentatively due in mid-2007. In July, the group wrote on its Web site that it had already spent six months crafting material but had yet to begin reco

VH1 Classic has acquired the exclusive U.S. TV rights to the final episode of the BBC’s long-running music series Top of the Pops, which aired in the U.K. at the end of last month.   The one-hour special features performances by Madonna, The Rolling Stones, Beyonce, Jackson 5, David Bowie, Wham, Sonny & Cher, Coldplay, Robbie Williams and the Spice Girls.   It also includes rare footage never before seen in the U.S. of The Bee Gees, the Supremes, Stevie Wonder, Cliff Richard, John Lennon, Ro

After a couple of years off the shelves the 1st Merz album is to be re-issued by Gronland Records. Originally released by Sony in 1999 in UK & France it will shortly be available across Europe and other shores. The new release will be a double CD with the original album on one and a selection of extra songs and remixes on the other. In addition to the original artwork the booklet will also include all the single artworks.   A bumper value package of Merz music from the last century!   "Merz

Blueline Medic was on Fueled by Ramen Records back when the label wasn’t just an incubator for the majors. Their first EP, A Working Title in Green, was a catchy little four-song exercise in Bad Religion and Jawbreaker-influenced indie rock and emo. Their last full-length, Text Bomb, was terrible. But The Apology Wars, which came out the same day as blink-182’s Take Off Your Pants and Jacket, is phenomenal.   But this album’s strength is not just in its poetic lyrics, though that is quite clearl

Hollywood hot mama Gwyneth Paltrow tells September’s issue of Harper’s Bazaar she was “horrified” by her post-baby pudge after giving birth to daughter Apple, but with her new son, Moses, her body is “much less frightening.”   “The first time, you are horrified,” the Oscar winner says. “It’s all lovely when you are pregnant. But when you are not pregnant - and you haven’t been for a couple of months and you are still carrying tons of extra weight and everything’s all hanging and sagging - you t

Mud. Mushrooms. Men on stilts. Mad mantronics breathing fire... it's safe to say there's nowhere like Glastonbury. Those who saw the Julien Temple film of the festival when it came out earlier this year probably watched it with a weird and awkwardly visceral feeling of nostalgia. Old memories are evoked, smiles creep on to our faces and a muddy spliff is raised to Michael and family. While the film, and now this accompanying CD, fill the void, they remind us how great the gathering is but also t