Led Zep and Metallica aren’t just for classic rockers anymore. Coldplay and Radiohead aren’t just for the musical cool. US record label Baby Rock Records is taking the music to the kids.

And by kids we don’t mean teenagers. The Rockabye Baby albums cover all of the above as well as Bjork, No Doubt, Queens of the Stone Age, Pink Floyd, Smashing Pumpkins, The Beatles, The Beach Boys, The Cure, The Eagles, The Pixies and Tool.

At the Baby Rock website, the label is described as “transforming timeless rock songs into beautiful instrumental lullabies, sending your little one to a slumberland of sweet dreams. Delicate instruments such as the glockenspiel, vibraphone, mellotron, harp and bells create a soothing atmosphere of sound. These charming recordings are sophisticated enough for everyone to enjoy, yet gentle enough for your little angel. This is cherub rock for a new generation”.Coldplay, for example, has been reinvented for kids with “the soothing sounds of the glockenspiel, vibraphone, mellotron, and other instruments will lull your baby into a sweet slumber”.

Again the website states “using Coldplay’s gorgeous melodies and imagery, these gentle recordings are sophisticated enough for everyone to enjoy. Introduce the apple of your eye to these essential masterpieces of rock’n’roll”.

Check it all out including samples at babyrockrecords.com

Anyone who thinks Gwyneth Paltrow is perfect, should think again.

"They should see the cellulite on my thighs right now," the actress says in the new issue of Harper's Bazaar.

The mother of two and wife of Coldplay frontman Chris Martin, Paltrow says she's been on hiatus from acting for more than two years and has enjoyed every minute of it. She spends many a day in her garden, in sweatpants, with her children. Motherhood, she says, "it's so incredible and rewarding, a total joy." "With Apple (her 2-year-old daughter) I kept the extra 20 pounds on until she was 3 months old, and then it came off. And that's exactly what's happening now," says the Oscar-winner. Paltrow, whose second child, son Moses, was born in April, says she is exercising "but not dieting, because I am a milk machine!"

The actress says she gained 40 pounds with each of her pregnancies, losing 20 of them after childbirth.

But she admits that pregnancy and dealing with the subsequent baby bulge is tough.

"The first time (you are pregnant), you are horrified," she 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 think, How is this ever going to go back? But it does. If you do a lot of working out."

What are her beauty secrets? "Drink tons of water, and wear sunscreen. And I really do think that if you eat fresh, organic, good food, you look like it."

As for her flowing locks, Paltrow chalks it up to vitamins. "Take New Chapter Organics' Perfect Prenatal. It doesn't matter if you are pregnant, I swear to God," she says. "I have double-processed blond hair, and it's so long and not damaged. Those vitamins, they are the trick."

Audiences will soon see Paltrow's famous face in the new film "Running With Scissors," alongside Annette Bening and in her brother Jake's directorial debut, "The Good Night."

"For a long time, I thought, 'I've done it. I've done what I wanted to do. I'm not interested. I just want to be home with my family.' I had no spark for work, but I feel the feeling back," she tells Bazaar. "And I'm excited about the prospect. I want to do something kind of fun. I don't want to do anything depressing or mad. I want to do a really great, funny, weird character."

Any new acting gigs may take her away from her family and her London abode, where the actress says they aren't hounded by paparazzi. "We have a gate and a car. It's easier to control it a bit more," she says.

Paltrow takes a breather from mommy duty with California and New Zealand pinot noirs.

"In the evening, when I've gotten them both down, I come downstairs, pour myself a glass of red wine, and sit in the garden," she says. "I love it so much. I used to have the odd cigarette at a party, but I don't do that anymore, so that vice has gone."

The September issue of Bazaar is available Aug. 22.

Source: Showbuzz

Movie star GWYNETH PALTROW has revealed her biggest style secret to aid bloated and pregnant girls - stick with female designers.

The fashionable actress has discovered a trick that allows her to look good in designer gear - even when she isn't in tip-top shape.

She says, "If you're 20 pounds heavier than you normally are, go for women designers because they cut clothes that are forgiving."

EMI MusicUK has signed a deal with Ukash to accept cash as an online payment option when buying merchandise on its artist websites.

Ukash, the UK-based company that introduced cash payments to global online transactions, can now be used to buy a wide range of merchandise from CDs and books to posters and T-shirts, featuring EMI artists such as Coldplay, Gorillaz, Queen, Paul McCartney, Kylie and The Chemical Brothers.

Ukash is building up strong partnerships online with several lifestyle, gaming and communications websites including Ladbrokes, Entropia Universe, Habbo Hotel, Skype, Raw Urban Talent, SpeedDater, CD Wow, ringKerching, gossiptel and Friday-ad, with Roma Victor coming soon.David Gould, Commercial Manager, Digital Media at EMI Music UK, comments: “Ukash gives us a unique opportunity to reach a massive untapped market roughly a third of UK consumers are reluctant to use credit cards in online transactions as they are concerned about fraud, and there are millions of consumers who have no option but to use cash exclusively for all purchases, as they are without the facility of a bank account.”

Justin Lunny, Director of Sales at Ukash says: “We’re really delighted to have the confidence of such a big music label in the scope for cash payments, and the EMI relationship is a great kick start to Ukash’s move into all areas of online music.”

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

Researchers say many teenagers are emulating celebrity idols like Mischa Barton, Lindsay Lohan, Hilary Duff and Chris Martin (the lead singer of Coldplay), some scarcely out of their teens themselves, to cultivate an impression of maturity. “Kids are going more covered up and more sophisticated, and the girls are more traditionally feminine,’’ said Rob Callender, the trends director at Teen Research Unlimited. “It’s a question of trying to look more adult. Teenagers today are 12 going on 25.’’

Paradoxically, their desire to look older is stoked in part by designer fashions — baby-doll dresses, shrunken blazers, schoolgirl jumpers and the like — that have an emphatically youthful demeanor. Often on the runways, “there is no real delineation of what is ‘child’ and what is ‘adult’ anymore,’’ said Gloria Baume, the fashion market director of Teen Vogue.

There are practical reasons, too, why fashion has become seductive to both teenagers and their parents. “Many of them rationalize that it’s less expensive to buy clothes than it is to buy a new computer, calculator or phone,’’ said Robert Passikoff the president of Brand Keys, a market research company. “And they haven’t bought clothes for a while, so there is a real market need.’’ Brand Keys is forecasting a 15 percent increase in back-to-school apparel sales this year.

Read the full article here

Gwyneth Paltrow is getting worried about what all these babies are doing to her figure and is considering going under the surgeon's knife.

The wife of Coldplay frontman Chris Martin recently gave birth to the couple's second child and is beginning to notice the effect. She has reportedly complained that her breasts are sore and her stomach is showing the bulge and has been advised by a close pal to undergo post-pregnancy plastic surgery.

Gwyneth, who had baby Moses by caesarian section four months ago, is also unsure about having any more babies because rearing kids is "such a lot of work".The star of Shallow Hal, when she had to play the part of an enormous girl using a 'fat suit', is now mulling over a trip to New York to get surgery away from the prying eyes of the British press.

From where we're standing the yoga-loving 33-year-old looks just great, but then who are we to say what's too fat or too thin in Hollywood.

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

Glastonbury organiser Michael Eavis has said he knows some of the big names who will play at next year's festival - but is keeping them to himself for now.

"We do have acts confirmed but I can't tell you," he said, adding that reports of Bruce Springsteen headlining the event in June were "absolute rubbish".

Mr Eavis remained "really hopeful" that Kylie Minogue, who pulled out last year after her cancer diagnosis, would play. Organisers have said they hope to let up to 20,000 more fans attend in 2007. This would take the festival's capacity close to 175,000. Mr Eavis told the BBC News website he was "surprised" to see newspaper claims that Springsteen was in line to play at the event.

But he was "really reassured" by the erroneous reporting because it meant nobody had worked out who the real headliners would be. Certainly we hope for Kylie to do the Sunday headlining slot," he said. "We're really hopeful she'll do it but it's not confirmed."

In April, Mr Eavis conceded the Australian singer did not necessarily fit the traditional image of his event. But he added that her theatrical shows were "almost like a circus in a way, which really fits in with Glastonbury".

Last year's festival - with Coldplay, Basement Jaxx and the White Stripes among the stars on the main stage - was the most popular in its 35-year history. Some 112,500 tickets were sold in three hours, with 40,500 more set aside for staff, media, artists, crew and locals. The event took a break in 2006 but is due to be held from 22 to 24 June next year.

Source: http://news.bbc.co.uk

Warner Music has drawn up a shortlist of agencies to pitch for its £18m media planning and buying account, inviting MindShare, PHD, ZenithOptimedia and the incumbent Media Campaign.

ZenithOptimedia will pitch for the account along with specialist entertainment agency Media Mix. Contrary to reports, Interpublic Group's Universal McCann has not made the shortlist. Warner Music controls record labels Atlantic Records and Warner Bros Records. Artists on Atlantic include James Blunt, Hard-Fi and Missy Elliott while Red Hot Chilli Peppers, Muse and Gnarls Barkley are signed to Warner.

Richard Hinkley, marketing director at Atlantic Records, and Adam Hollywood, general manager of Warner Bros Records, are overseeing the review process. Media Campaign has held the business for the last six years. The result of the pitch for the Warner Music business is expected by the end of September. This year Warner Music has been involved in a bid and counter-bid takeover battle with rival music firm EMI Group, which represents artists including Coldplay and Robbie Williams.In June, EMI rejected a £2.5bn approach from Warner Music at the same time as Warner Music turned down a similar offer from EMI.

EMI's media account, estimated at £9m, is currently part of a review process. The incumbent on the business is Aegis-owned agency Carat.

The battle between the two recording giants is the latest attempt to unite the music companies in a bid to rival market leaders Universal Music, owned by French media conglomerate Vivendi, and Sony BMG, a joint venture between Japan's Sony Corporation and Bertelsmann.

An attempt to merge Warner Music and EMI in 2000 was rejected by European anti-trust regulators.

The AAR refused to comment on the shortlist for the business.

Source: http://www.brandrepublic.com

He is the powerhouse producer behind some of the biggest acts around. Will Timbaland's new collaborations with Björk and Chris Martin push him higher? By Angus Batey

Tim "Timbaland" Mosley, the most in-demand music producer in the world, is tired. But the task of staying awake is made easier because, right now, Mosley is doing something he really enjoys: talking about how great he is.

"I don't think about other people," he says, with supreme diffidence when asked which other producers he might compare himself to. "If I did, I'd wanna compete. But I don't think like that, because I'm above everybody. My music is on a whole 'nother level. I'm up here," he says, grinning, his left hand waving around high above his head. "And everyone else," his left hand scrapes the floor, "is over there."It's hard work being the world's pre-eminent rap music producer, particularly when the tracks you make - skittish, minimal, at once supremely commercial and creatively cutting edge - are both popular and credible. It means everyone wants a piece of you: not just rappers, but pop stars, rock stars, even movie stars.

Since he made his name building backing tracks for R&B singer Aaliyah, and in his widely acclaimed partnership with his high school friend, rapper Missy Elliott, Timbaland has been one of hip-hop's most adventurous manipulators of sound and melody. According to the online resource, the All Music Guide, he has produced, remixed or appeared on records by at least 82 different artists, although this list is likely to be incomplete.

If Mosley has a fault, it is not a lack of confidence. Half an hour in his company would convince even the most hardened sceptic that, at least in his own head, 34-year-old Timbaland is the single greatest creative force currently active in popular music. It would be easy to laugh at such arrogance - were it not for the fact that, by most of the available means of measurement, he is probably right.

And the Timbaland empire is growing. He has added to the state-of-the-art studio he built at his first home in Virginia Beach, Virginia (where he, Elliott and fellow locals the Neptunes have been honoured with a Recording Arts and Sciences Day, inaugurated by the town's mayor), with property in Miami and on the west coast of the US. Today, we have met to talk about his new label, Mosley Music Group, and its first release, Loose, the third album from Canadian singer Nelly Furtado. The record, which he produced most of, entered the US album charts at No 1. Instead, his restless mind is already on to the next thing.

"I don't really like to look back," he shrugs. "I've got a vault full of, like, a thousand reels of music that's never been touched that I've made over the years. I just like to do fresh stuff. Once it's done, it's done."

Making music isn't work, he reckons: at least, it shouldn't be, and it certainly isn't in the case of his most recent and highest-profile release, SexyBack, the new and decidedly odd Justin Timberlake single.

"When you're working with somebody, you're just trying to create something, to see if it does work," he says. "Me and Justin is different: it's not work, it's magic. Magic is when you just don't think about it: you go in there and the magic is so strong and it just comes out. The magic, the combination, is so powerful you don't have to think about it."

Timbaland contributed tracks to Justin's first solo album, Justified, in 2002, and SexyBack, as sparse and uncompromising as it sounds, is clearly the work of two men finding some strange common ground. It is telling that Mosley talks of the art of production in terms of matrimony.

"Good production is like a beautiful marriage," the bachelor says. "It makes a happy home. Think about it: Quincy Jones and Michael Jackson - that was a beautiful marriage. And they shoulda stayed married: Michael lost it after he left Quincy. He coulda got it back. Still could! Michael needs to do what I'm doin' with Justin right now."

Mosley seems to define the term "driven". His relaxation of choice is working out. He attends the New Jerusalem Church of God in Christ when he is in Virginia Beach. Inspiration comes from within - "from the heart, then the head" - and definitely not from listening to the competition.

"I don't really like where music is at right now," he scowls. "It's boring, too watered-down. Nobody's takin' chances. It's all in the box, and the box gets too tight. Somebody's gotta break the box, bust it open. To me, making music is about taking risks. The Justin single is a risk - it's a different record. Some people say they like it, some people don't know. But when you hear it the second time, that's when it starts to hit you. A record like that will stay around longer than a record that hits you right away."

The queue of artists beating a path to Timbaland's studio door is lengthening. Jamie Foxx not only worked with Mosley on his US chart-topping album, Unpredictable, he borrowed the producer's mobile studio so he could finish the record while filming Miami Vice. After Coldplay's Chris Martin turned up at a Nelly Furtado session - he co-wrote All Good Things (Come to An End) with her and Mosley - another collaboration beckoned.

"We did some songs, just playing around in the studio," Mosley says airily of his sessions with Martin. "Just regular stuff." There are no plans, as yet, to release any of these tracks.

He is also working with Björk ("Whoo! The marriage, it's beautiful. You gotta hear it! A lot of people think it's weird her working with me, but I think it's how she sings on top of my beats that make it") and, after some prodding, admits to having begun work with Jay-Z on the supposedly retired rap star's comeback album.

Mosley is full of cocksure bravado, and likes to make out that his music happens without tangible effort. But it is clear nobody could sustain the sort of career he has purely by accident and, in the end, he admits as much.

"You have to socialise," he says, allowing a momentary glimpse at his working process. "You've got to be involved with the energy of the artist, and if they don't have no energy you've got to make it for 'em. It's like being a doctor, you know? You've gotta look after 'em, always be on call, always just understand and learn about them. That's how you produce somebody."

Explicit and irresistible: Timbaland's greatest hits

Ginuwine: Pony from Ginuwine the Bachelor (Sony, 1996)

R&B titans Jodeci introduced 21-year-old Ginuwine to aspirant producer Mosley. Pony was the first track they crafted together, its low-slung slouch featuring what would become the producer's trademark skittering top-end percussion and a lyric that wasn't so much innuendo as explicit. Ginuwine got his deal, and Tim launched his own career.

Aaliyah: Are You That Somebody? single (Universal, 1998)

After helming Aaliyah's second LP, Timbaland created this monstrous hit as part of his soundtrack to the 1998 Eddie Murphy vehicle Dr Dolittle. The lurching beat urges the song along rather than simply providing the singer with a backdrop, while a rap from Timbaland - another incipient trademark - is given prominence. Rock band Maroon 5 rewrote the riff for their Not Coming Home.

Missy Elliott: Get Ur Freak On from Miss E ... So Addictive (Elektra, 2001)

In Missy, Tim found his ideal foil - a vocalist as ready to try something different as he was. Perhaps the definitive Timbaland track, Get Ur Freak On still sounds alien and otherworldly. Based around a three-note Indian sitar figure, the only drums are a whoomping bass and the occasional tabla, yet its dynamism is irresistible.

Jay-Z: Hola Hovito from The Blueprint (Def Jam, 2001)

Proving he could also do straightforward hip-hop, this subtly bizarre track was Mosley's sole contribution to Jay-Z's acknowledged masterpiece. Mariachi horns joust with anachronistic analogue synth doodles, while a harp lists through what sounds like the coda of a late 1960s funk track, looped back on itself in an uneasy stumble.

Nelly Furtado: All Good Things (Come To An End) from Loose (Mosley Music Group/Geffen, 2006)

Based around a cloud of acoustic guitars and pan pipes, only the jittery drum programming marks this end-of-the-affair rumination as a Timbaland track. Co-written with Furtado and Chris Martin (who also recorded a vocal track, removed after contractual problems), it could signal where his collaboration with the Coldplay frontman might head.

Justin Timberlake: SexyBack from FutureSexLoveSounds (Jive/SonyBMG, 2006)

Containing all the trademark Timbaland tics - daringly minimal instrumentation, determinedly abstract sound, vague Eastern influence, a rap from the producer - SexyBack is certainly, as Mosley maintains, "a risk". The jury is still out on Emperor Timberlake's new clothes, but his tailor seems very pleased with himself.

· Nelly Furtado's single Promiscuous produced by Timbaland, is out on September 4; the album Loose is out now. Justin Timberlake's single SexyBack is out on August 21.

Source: http://arts.guardian.co.uk

This rock band, Mew: They might not be “cool.” I mean, they’re Danish, and they’re pretty, and they wear natty blazers and scarves, and they play great music, all of which is pretty cool. But if you see them perform, there will come a point when Bo Madsen is playing metal-style power chords, while the long-haired 1970s-prog keyboard player unleashes his “epic” wash settings, and singer Jonas Bjerre soars up into his sappiest, most atmospheric register, and you’ll notice that they’re good with hair gel and look like soap stars, and it’ll all come clear. These guys are not “cool”-- these guys are like Queensryche. Queensryche meets Sigur Rós, but still.

And maybe that’s the pinnacle of style in Denmark (what do I know), but over here it’s uncool, and that uncoolness is part of what makes And the Glass-Handed Kites, now released in the U.S., one of the better rock records of the year. The band’s reference points are normal enough in the indie world-- Radiohead, My Bloody Valentine-- but the ambitions they draw out of them are not: These are some of the only guys around who still believe in hard-rock Valhalla, the kind of lavish, stratospheric, fairy-tale prog that’s less about making aging boys geek out and more about making young girls swoon. Who else does this-- would Stars ever rock out like this? Even a grandiose pop band like Coldplay wants to act down-to-earth, and here are these guys with their dreamy thunderstorm pop.

Read the full review here

You get the impression that not too many people want to ask Blythe Danner about the episode of M*A*S*H she made back in 1976.

Everyone wants to talk about her daughter Gwyneth Paltrow, her son-in-law Chris Martin from Coldplay, her grandchildren Apple and Moses and even her life after the death of her producer husband Bruce Paltrow back in 2002.

But when the subject of her role in The More I See You is raised, which was made during the fourth season of M*A*S*H and saw Danner playing Hawkeye’s long-lost love, the actress is clearly surprised.“Oh, my goodness, my son had just been born when I did that,” Danner says of her now 30-year-old younger child Jake Paltrow.

“I had worked with Alan (Alda) on film before that so it was a wonderful reunion as well as a great experience, but when you have worked in the industry as long as I have there are so many wonderful reunions.”

But there were no reunions on Danner’s latest television project Huff, because she collaborated with a band of actors she had never worked with.

The drama, which the actress described as a black comedy, stars comedian Hank Azaria playing troubled psychologist Craig “Huff” Huffstodt, who is dealing with personal problems as well as a dysfunctional family.

Danner plays his mother Izzy while Paget Brewster plays his wife Beth and Anton Yelchin fills the role of his son Byrd, with the cast rounded out by Oliver Platt as Huff’s best friend Russell.

Danner says she was initially surprised to learn that Azaria, a respected comedy performer who gives voice to a stable of characters in The Simpsons, would be playing the lead in a drama series.

“Hank is really very courageous for doing Huff and he takes his character on a fascinating journey,” she says.

“There is a lot of humour in the show so he’s able to bring something that, say, an actor who only has a background in drama couldn’t, he is the hub of the wheel and all the other characters gravitate around him.” Danner plays Huff’s formidable mother, who is not only the matriarch of the Huffstodt clan but the person who causes much of the drama.

The actress has described Izzy as her favourite character in a career that has already spanned 40 years.

“You are going to think I am making that up but Huff was the most wonderful opportunity for me because it was the chance to play a three-dimensional character on television rather than on stage,” she says.

“I love Izzy because she’s such a nutty girl and a handful – she’s funny, completely unreasonable and insulting – but she was unlike any character I have ever played.

“She has so much emotion and depth, even though she initially seems like a royal pain, and I always said the badder she was the better I liked her.

“Huff has humour and a bit of darkness which is fascinating for me, I think of it was being a black comedy because it deals with the human elements that are going on with a dysfunctional family so comedy and drama go hand in hand.”

Danner’s peers also recognised that Izzy was something special and awarded her the supporting dramatic actress Emmy in 2005, which was her first mainstream television award in a career that yielded a Tony Award in 1970.

She was actually nominated for three Emmys last year, also receiving nods as a lead actress in a miniseries or movie for her role in Back When We Were Grownups and as a guest actress in a comedy for Will & Grace.

“After 40 years, winning the Emmy was the icing on the cake for me, I was very grateful to get the acknowledgement from my peers that they liked what I was doing,” she says.

“But the awards are not what has driven me, being an actress was always about my passion for getting under the skin of someone else and that element of self examination.

“(Hollywood has) gotten carried away with awards but the Emmy is the premier one for television, as the Oscar is for motion pictures, it is the grand daddy of television awards so it will always be nice to get a nomination.

“The SAG (Screen Actors Guild) awards are also important, because that is coming from our fellow actors, and the Golden Globes is also a lot of fun because it’s so glitzy.”

Danner has been nominated in the supporting actress category again in 2006 for her work on Huff as well as getting another nod for her guest role playing Will’s mother Marilyn Truman in Will & Grace, which is a part she has filled since 2001.

“Being nominated again this year for both Huff and Will & Grace was lovely but it wasn’t the blood-rushing-through-the-veins experience that it was last year,” she says. “Working on Will & Grace was like going to summer camp every day, it was an absolute festival of fun.

“You know how they say that the hormones released when you laugh make you feel good, well I realised that was so true when I was working on Will & Grace and constantly laughing.”

While Danner will celebrate her 64th birthday in February she isn’t showing any signs of slowing down.

The actress has three new movies in production, but the fact that she’s still working so hard comes as a surprise to a woman who says she was always a mother first and an actress second.

“My first allegiance was always to my family and my children, and I did act a bit while I was raising them but not so much as I have done in recent years,” she says.

“When I first started in the industry after graduating college I always hoped that I would still be working at this stage of my life but I thought it would be as a member of a small theatre company, which is where I started out.

“I never dreamed it would be in television or movies.”

Source: http://www.news.com.au

Dealing with personal tragedy is something we all must do at some point in our lives. The reflective nature of pop culture inevitably forces us to relive whatever pain we've endured. If your father died of a heart attack, it's going to hurt anytime you see a movie character clutch his chest and fall to the ground. It's not only impractical, it's politically correct to the extreme to expect that any film should take the feelings of every potential patron into consideration.

But with a collective tragedy like 9/11, do the honchos behind big pop-cultural projects need to be more careful? Perhaps "World Trade Center" would feel less crass had it been given a more poetic title, something underscoring the theme of courage and survival — too bad "The Lord of the Rings" already claimed "Two Towers," which could've served as a metaphor for the courage of the WTC cops while retaining that all-important immediate name recognition.

And don't get us started on the use of Coldplay music in its advertising and the "WTC" MySpace page.

Read the full article here

Our view: Buy

Share price: 250.5p (+2p)

At the end of last month, EMI and Warner Music abandoned their merger plans after a European court ruling annulled the 2004 regulatory clearance of the Sony BMG music merger. The court move cast serious doubt on whether competition regulators would allow more consolidation in the music industry so EMI/Warner Music's decision to call off their marriage is understandable.

Nevertheless, the effect it has had on EMI's stock market valuation looks to be excessive. In the wake of the news, shares in the music group behind Robbie Williams and Coldplay slumped from 315p to close at 250.5p yesterday. However, EMI shares are unlikely to remain so cheap for very long. The auction of Bertelsmann Music Publishing is heading towards its final stages and should be completed in the not too distant future.Reports suggest that there has been significant interest in the business from both trade and private equity buyers. Early indications point to the company being acquired on a multiple of up to 19 times earnings.

At EMI's current share price, its Music Publishing division (which accounts for around 75 per cent of the group) is valued at a substantial discount to this valuation. If it were to match the value being placed on Bertelsmann Music Publishing, its shares would have to rise to 310p. Hence, the completion of Bertelsmann's auction should act as a catalyst for a major re-rating of EMI stock.

There is also a good chance that Europe re-approves the Sony/BMG deal over the next six to twelve months. Such a decision would almost certainly lead to a resumption of merger talks between EMI and Warner Music, with EMI's share price once again heading to the 315p level.

The cost savings alone that such a tie-up would generate are worth tens of million of pounds, so it makes a lot of sense for both parties. The combined company would create a rival on par with market leader Universal Music, owned by France's Vivendi.

All this makes EMI a great long-term bet for investors.

Management Consulting Group

Our view: Worth a punt

Share price: 54.5p (-0.5p)

No prizes for those who work out what line of business Management Consulting Group (MCG) is in. The company is at present busy integrating an acquisition (unveiled last month) which when completed next month will double its size.

MCG bought the former French consulting operations of Deloitte, called Ineum, for £81m. The business is a leading financial management practice and will be folded into MCG's existing operation in France and will be headed up by Didier Taupin, Ineum's chief executive.

The cost savings associated with the deal are small. The real benefits of the tie-up come from revenues synergies - that is, selling MCG's existing services into Ineum's client base, which includes many of France's biggest companies.

Partners at Ineum are certainly well incentivised to make the deal work. They have all been given substantial equity stakes in MCG and cannot sell any of their shares for at least three years. Meanwhile, the risks associated with integrating Ineum into the MCG fold are small because of the limited direct overlap between the two businesses.

Yesterday, MCG posted interim results which showed a rise in pre-tax profits to £7.3m from £4.7m. Analysts forecast that Ineum will boost the group's profit by 9 per cent in 2007, leaving the shares trading at just 10 times earnings for that year and making them worth a punt.

Source:http://news.independent.co.uk

After 10 years as Rolling Stone's chief photographer, Texas-born Mark Seliger is used to getting the right shot by giving explicit instructions to his famous subjects. But some are harder to direct than others.

His new book and exhibition, In My Stairwell, offers a rare peek into his celebrity-studded career and underlines his ability to get famous people to let their guard down in front of the camera. His subjects, a who's-who of the art and entertainment scene, include celebrity artists Jeff Koons, Chuck Close and Matthew Barney, Hollywood stars Adrien Brody, Woody Allen and Susan Sarandon and rockers Lou Reed, David Byrne and Chris Martin."When I shot Nirvana in Melbourne once, I asked Kurt Cobain to a wear a T-shirt without writing on it because he was always writing the names of his favourite bands on his T-shirt," says Seliger. Instead, Cobain coolly reached for his Texta.

"He wrote 'Corporate magazines still suck' on the shirt. And he wouldn't take it off."

Seliger's life is a series of encounters with famous actors, musicians, comedians and models of the past 20 years. During his stint at Rolling Stone - a period in which he "really found my legs" - he shot more than 100 covers. Not all of them were successful.

"One time I shot this cover which was supposed to be the titans of metal. I built this big set with fire and a huge iron cross, and got the lead singers from Anthrax, Megadeth and Slayer. I had fire bursting out all over it," he says enthusiastically. "I guess the fire was too hot for my camera, though. It changed the focus, none of the shots came out and I had to re-shoot the whole thing."

Seliger paid $US15,000 of his own money to restage and reshoot it, flames and all. "The sad part is they never ran it."

The project began when Seliger bought a building in Manhattan and began renovations. When the builders removed a lift they revealed a "beautiful light-drenched shaft" which was turned into a stairwell.

Seliger began using the area as a backdrop for magazine shoots and other freelance work. The first person he photographed there was David Bowie.

"We were shooting another job, a picture for the MTV Awards and we had him [bowie] dressed as a character from an opera scene," says Seliger. "I said, 'Why don't we run upstairs and take a quick picture in the stairwell.' We just did maybe 20 shots top and that was the picture that he liked.

"He was just an amazing, amazing guy. He was extremely generous and always moving into character. He was sort of the ultimate artist, he's very aware of film and photography and he has a great sense of what it involves."

The stairwell soon became one of Seliger's favourite backgrounds. He believes the unchanging background of exposed brick leaves room for the subject's personality to shine.

Another subject, Jackass star Johnny Knoxville, stares deadpan into the camera, suspended by two meat hooks inserted into his chest.

"Knoxville was great. He had a couple of early morning cocktails," says Seliger. The actor vomited seven times during the shoot.

"You learn a lot about the subject's personality during a shoot, the way people look and move and what those gestures mean. Everything has a little discovery," he says. "In the stairwell, even though the time is short, those nuances they let off really became the design of the photograph."

Are actors harder to shoot than musicians?

"A little bit. I think a lot of musicians have a kind of a specific attitude in terms of who they are and what they are, while actors have the ability to be chameleons, to transfer or be directed. Conceptually, they can take an idea and move it into something that becomes visual," he says.

Comedians are almost always in character, says Seliger. His shot of Jerry Seinfeld shows him sprawled in a slapstick fall, his keys and phone spilling onto the stone floor. Mel Brooks stares intently at the lens, using his comb to imitate a Hitler moustache. "Doesn't he look great? He literally just took his comb out and did that."

Seliger has shot the cream of the arts and entertainment world - singer PJ Harvey is the only one he's still chasing - and says he hasn't had a disappointed customer. Well, none he knows about. "Probably that happens. But I think people are too nice to tell me."

In My Stairwell is at Sandra Byron Gallery, 11/2 Danks Street, Waterloo, until September 9.

The stairwell soon became one of Seliger's favourite backgrounds. He believes the unchanging background of exposed brick leaves room for the subject's personality to shine.

Another subject, Jackass star Johnny Knoxville, stares deadpan into the camera, suspended by two meat hooks inserted into his chest.

"Knoxville was great. He had a couple of early morning cocktails," says Seliger. The actor vomited seven times during the shoot.

"You learn a lot about the subject's personality during a shoot, the way people look and move and what those gestures mean. Everything has a little discovery," he says. "In the stairwell, even though the time is short, those nuances they let off really became the design of the photograph."

Are actors harder to shoot than musicians?

"A little bit. I think a lot of musicians have a kind of a specific attitude in terms of who they are and what they are, while actors have the ability to be chameleons, to transfer or be directed. Conceptually, they can take an idea and move it into something that becomes visual," he says.

Comedians are almost always in character, says Seliger. His shot of Jerry Seinfeld shows him sprawled in a slapstick fall, his keys and phone spilling onto the stone floor. Mel Brooks stares intently at the lens, using his comb to imitate a Hitler moustache. "Doesn't he look great? He literally just took his comb out and did that."

Seliger has shot the cream of the arts and entertainment world - singer PJ Harvey is the only one he's still chasing - and says he hasn't had a disappointed customer. Well, none he knows about. "Probably that happens. But I think people are too nice to tell me."

In My Stairwell is at Sandra Byron Gallery, 11/2 Danks Street, Waterloo, until September 9.

Source: http://www.smh.com.au

AUSTRALIAN indie band Youth Group's career so far can be easily divided into two distinct eras -- before and after Forever Young.

Before its hit cover version of the '80s Alphaville song went through the roof, the Sydney quartet had two albums under their belt, a support slot lined up with mega-band Coldplay and a solid, if not spectacular, live following.

But when the band was commissioned to record the song for use in Channel 10's teen drama The O.C., doors started to open.

Read the full article here

On Friday afternoon, under the blistering Illinois sun, responsible for a heatwave that has killed 24 Chicagoans this summer, 3,000 people paid $25 apiece (plus $5 parking) to watch Chelsea train and listen to the announcer’s words of love. Chelsea manager Jose Mourinho was less ecstatic: “This is a training session where not much will happen.”

And so, to the ear-splitting backdrop of Coldplay being blasted through the stadium’s clearly perfectly functioning PA, the lovestruck 3,000 watched Chelsea’s squad minus Claude Makelele (with his agreement, Chelsea decided he was in need of a rest), William Gallas (to Chelsea’s chagrin, he decided he was in need of a rest) and Hernan Crespo (both parties agree he needs a transfer more than a rest) limbered up, played a gentle, non-contact game of handball and a football game without goalkeepers or goalposts, and warmed down, before signing a few autographs.

It was less than riveting, and after a desultory hour, few accepted the announcer’s offer to “cheer Chelsea Football Club off the pitch”. Love does not always run smoothly.

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

Police are warning music fans to watch out for forged Glastonbury tickets after touts were arrested for allegedly selling them near the site of the music festival.

Avon and Somerset Police said two people were arrested in Pilton village on Wednesday, the day camping opened at the site.

Many of the 100,000-strong crowd of music fans are pitching their tents for the UK's biggest music festival - which has sold out - with the main event starting on Friday.

Coldplay, The Charlatans and Rod Stewart are among a host of acts performing.Police said the forged tickets lacked the security features - a sandwich of bright red paper in the middle if torn, and the word "Glastafari" showing under ultraviolet light.

Organiser Michael Eavis has already said his campaign to persuade ticketless fans to stay at home has worked because there were only six outside the fence on Wednesday morning.

About 2,000 would have already broken in by the same stage in previous years, he said. He has erected a new £1m "super-fence" after up to 100,000 gatecrashers at the last event, in 2000, put the festival's future at risk.

"It's working perfectly. The campaign [to urge people] to stay away has worked perfectly well," Mr Eavis said. Another security cordon is letting only those with tickets get within five miles of the site. One group of travellers did break through the outer cordon on Tuesday and gain access to one of the car parks, but left peacefully.

Police also broke up an attempted illegal party four miles away from the festival site. Officers dispersed a gathering of more than 100 people who had camped on a field, in Cinnamon Lane, just outside Pilton. They left peacefully after having the sound equipment seized, with two arrested for conspiracy to cause a public nuisance.

Mr Eavis said he did not expect the new security measures to ruin the festival's atmosphere. "It will be safer, there will be less crime, it will be more fun. That's what we hope," he said. A total of 140,000 people will legitimately be on Mr Eavis' 800 acres of farmland by the end of Friday. Some 100,000 tickets, which cost £100 each, have been sold, and the remaining 40,000 places were reserved for artists, crew, traders, media and locals.

Mud is likely to be absent from this year's festival, with forecasters predicting a dry weekend, except for the chance of showers on Sunday. The line-up includes rock and soul veterans and contemporary pop acts - as well as children's entertainer Rolf Harris.

Friday's line-up will feature Coldplay, Faithless, Ash, Nelly Furtado, Doves, the Dandy Warhols, Bush, Alabama 3, Spiritualized, Garbage, and Mercury Rev.

On Saturday festival-goers will see mystery headliners, rumoured to be the Stereophonics, as well as The Charlatans, the White Stripes, Starsailor, Ian Brown, No Doubt, Jools Holland, Orbital, Mis-Teeq, and Kosheen.

And the last day of the festival will include Rod Stewart, Roger Waters, Isaac Hayes, Badly Drawn Boy, Rolf Harris, Air, Groove Armada, and Belle and Sebastian.

This year's event almost did not go ahead after concerns over safety with such huge numbers. The deaths of nine rock fans in a crush at a Danish festival, Roskilde, in 2000 has also focused attention on safety. But Mr Eavis enlisted live music promoters Mean Fiddler - who stage the Reading and Leeds festivals - to look after security.

He said he deliberately avoided booking raucous rock groups like The Offspring and Green Day, whose fans jump around violently in "mosh-pits" and go "crowd-surfing" over the heads of the audience.

The original version of Snow Patrol's "Chasing Cars" (the latest single from their new album, Eyes Open), is plenty beautiful, but there isn't really anything to distinguish it from heaps of other pretty, soaring love songs.

This remix, courtesy of a mysterious entity called the Hey Team, turns the track into something else. It's even more beautiful, but it's also kinda fucked up. It begins with fluttery beats and a wisp of ambient background noise, swells on a pulsing undercurrent, and then, around the three-minute mark, starts to break down. Little jagged shards cut in and out, attacking the song with computer-game-rebooting noises and stop-start stutters. It all gets more and more confusing until it just stops, falling away to reveal a curtain of strings.

Expertly crafted and extremely satisfying, this is up there with Röyksopp's take on Coldplay's "Clocks" in the sad-sack remix Hall of Fame. I don't know who the Hey Team are (related to the Go! Team?), but I'm looking forward to hearing more from them.

Download the track here

LONDON - When Hollywood's golden couple, Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie, had their first child, it was a girl. When Tom Cruise and Katie Holmes had a baby, and Gwyneth Paltrow and Chris Martin had a baby, they also were girls.

Coincidence? Perhaps not.

Research from the London School of Economics indicates that physically attractive couples are 36 percent more likely than unattractive couples to produce a girl as their first child.

Read the full article here

While its creator cites recent inspiration for its inception, "The Eraser," the new solo album by Thom Yorke of Radiohead, has been long in its genesis.

Yorke made it clear that the album was an individually conceived and entirely computerized venture. The piano, the guitar, even his own angelic vocals were all run through a computer before they reached wax. Statements like this tempted skepticism. As powerful a front man as Yorke is, he shares a creative burden with multi-instrumentalist and lead guitarist Jonny Greenwood, a man whose credits include a composer's position for the BBC.

This skepticism diminishes significantly at the introduction of the title-track opener. An elegant and rhythmic piano drone ushers in the metronomic bliss of Yorke's vocals, as he hits highs and lows with a casual brilliance that rivals Coldplay vocalist Chris Martin's work.

Read the full article here

Bertelsmann AG is getting closer to sealing a deal to sell its music publishing business, saying Thursday (Aug. 3) it expects to have a short list of potential suitors by month's end.

Last month, the German media giant narrowed the bidders for its BMG Music Publishing division for its BMG Music Publishing division to 15. By month's end, the company said it plans to have whittled that number down to a mere handful.

In addition to private equity groups, the bidders are expected to include such music firms as Vivendi's Universal Music Group, EMI Group and the Warner Music Group.BMG Music Publishing is the world's third-largest music publisher. It generated €370 million ($468.5 million) in revenue last year from the copyrights to songs from artists including Coldplay, Robbie Williams, Christina Aguilera (pictured) and Justin Timberlake.

Some have put the likely price tag at about €1.5 billion ($1.9 billion). In an interview published Aug. 3 in Germany's Borsen Zeitung, Bertelsmann chief financial officer Thomas Rabe declined comment on that figure.

Rabe said he did not think the sale would be influenced by last month's surprise European Union ruling that tossed out the 2004 merger between Bertelsmann and Sony Corp.'s recorded music divisions (HR 7/14).

"Music publishing is a different business entirely and is not part of the (EU) ruling," he said.

Rabe added that he thought the Sony-BMG deal would be supported by the EU Commission in the fall after the companies' resubmission of the merger blueprints.

Bertelsmann is selling its music publishing unit, which accounts for 17.5% of its music business revenue, to help raise cash for a €4.5 billion ($5.7 billion) deal to take back the 25.1% stake held in Bertelsmann by Belgian investor Groupe Bruxelles Lambert.

Bertelsmann said Aug. 3 that it is setting up a bond issue to cover part of the cost of the buyback. Rabe signaled that it likely will amount to €500 million ($638 million) or more.

Source: http://billboardradiomonitor.com

Pod living is coming to Liverpool at the new-look Parr Street Studios hotel.

The new owners, who rescued the studio complex from being sold off to property developers last month, have ambitious plans for the city centre site, starting with an upgrade of the hotel including a 21st century version of Japanese-style pods, which new boss Gary Millar says will "make a bit of a splash internationally".

Pod hotel rooms were invented by the Japanese in the 1990s due to lack of development space in the capital Tokyo. They were synonymous with so-called "love hotels" frequented by Japanese businessmen.But Mr Millar, chief executive of Parr Street Studios Ltd, said: "They will be more sophisticated than the Japanese 'love hotels' and their use will be purely for affordable sleep and relaxation - we'll leave the love to the Japanese."

The pods will be installed early next year to extend capacity beyond the current 12 rooms which have largely been used by musicians recording in the adjacent studios, including chart topping bands Echo and the Bunnymen and Coldplay.

Mr Millar said the rooms will be refurbished first, followed by installation of at least five pods. He said St Helens-based Starbank Panel Products will build the pods which he is designing. He anticipates each pod will include a single-level soundproofed sleeping chamber with a single bed, storage, internet connection, LCD screen/DVD player, iPod connection, speakers, LED daylight light, air cooler and showerwhere possible.

He said overnight charges are expected to be £25+VAT and support services like laundry, meal deliveries and business services will be offered.

Source: http://icliverpool.icnetwork.co.uk

Muse was born with a bad rap.

In all fairness, the British power trio’s 1999 debut, Showbiz, bore more than a few stylistic similarities to the shambolic, arena-ready moments of guitar-era Radiohead. But despite reasonable charges of copycatdom, the album was a strong collection of anxious rock songs, drawing influence not just from The Bends, but from black metal, baroque classical music and straight pop.

Nowadays—situated next to the fallout of post-Y2K ‘head-rippers—the band’s early Yorkian similarities seem pretty innocent. Matthew Bellamy’s is an insistent bawl, one that borrows from TY’s cock-eyed, edge-of-cliff force, but gets by on its own character. The guitars on Showbiz and Origin of Symmetry squall and shout like a

meat heady Greenwood, but do way too much rocking to pass for anything on the smarty pants OK Computer. In retrospect, the rip-off hullabaloo is kind of silly. Especially when there’re records by Keane and Coldplay (plus a host of other shit) to charge with swindling.

Read the full article here

Summertime is here, but the living is far from easy. It’s sticky. And sweaty.

Usually a little Sly Stone can fix anything, but not this week. Right now “Hot Fun in the Summertime” is probably the last thing you want to hear.

With temperatures climbing close to 100 over the next few days, it’s time to erase all those hot tunes from your iPod and download something more chill. Put your Red Hot Chili Peppers and Hot Hot Heat on the backburner in favor of something a little more calm, cool and collected. Too hot to even know where to begin? Thanks to some good AC and a 64 oz. iced coffee, we were able to put together a starter list of songs to remind you the long, cold winter is only three months away.

1. “Winter Wonderland,” Bing Crosby

2. “Shiver,” Coldplay

3. “When The Sun Goes Down,” Arctic Monkeys

4. “Hazy Shade of Winter,” Simon & Garfunkel

5. “You Could Be Happy,” Snow Patrol

6. “Easy My Pain,” Johnny Winter

7. “Frosti,” Bjork

8. “I Don’t Hurt Anymore,” Hank Snow

9. “Pink Frost,” The Chills

10. “Escape (The Pina Colada Song),”Rupert Holmes

Bonus track: “Cold as Ice,” Foreigner

Source: http://theedge.bostonherald.com

I give Gwyneth Paltrow a lot of crap because she refuses to walk the red carpet with hubby Chris Martin. But she's actually smart. Now, any little nugget she does share about her marriage makes headlines.

And if they split, she really hasn't revealed anything and there aren't a billion pictures of them sucking face on the press line. She learned from bitter bust-ups with Brad and Ben. And you'd think that Lance would know better. After all, he's the one who gushed about his first wife, Kristin: "If you ever hope to meet someone and fall in love, it should happen just as it did for us -- blissfully, perfectly."

Or not.

Source: http://dailyblabber.ivillage.com