Video sharing site stops UK access to official music videos

09 March 2009 - YouTube are in the process of blocking all access to “official” music videos on their website.

It is only UK users that are affected, and the ban involves a very complicated legal row, but for now, the video sharing network say "premium music videos" are off limits.

The internet giant described it as a "painful decision" which it knew would cause "significant disappointment".

It comes after the expiration of its licence agreement with PRS, who pay songwriters and composers the revenue from the hits the site gets. The agreement expired last year, and the two sides were in the middle of re-negotiating a new deal, however, Google says the new licence fee is too high.

"We have been unable to come up with reasonable economic terms with the PRS for music,” says Patrick Walker, YouTube's director of video partnerships. “Not only are the fees they want us to pay unreasonable in our opinion, we don't know exactly from them what we are having to pay for. So it is the equivalent of being asked to purchase a CD and not knowing what music is going to be on it, and so it's difficult to put an associated value to that.""If you use more music you should be prepared to pay more for your music."Andrew Shaw, PRS

However, PRS spokesperson Andrew Shaw, who is Managing Director of broadcast and online for the group, says they are shocked by Google's "drastic action" which will "punish" music lovers and songwriters.The licence fee's increased bacause of the rise in the number of videos being viewed on the site, which has gone up from somewhere in the region of 75 to 80 million at the beginning of last year, to almost 300 million at the end of last year.

This says Mr Shaw is why YouTube needs to pay more, “like with any product that you use when you’re putting together your service, if you use more electricity, you pay the electricity board more for your electricity. If you use more music you should be prepared to pay more for your music to ensure the creators of that music get paid and can go on creating.”

But the row doesn’t look like it will be nearing an end anytime soon, and PRS have even branded it a “publicity stunt” to try and bring the dispute into the commercial domain. They highlight the fact Google made $5.7 billion in the last quarter of last year, which they feel makes their request a tiny teardrop in a very large pool of cash the internet giant is generating.

YouTube say they are, “committed to music, and to working with the labels and the artists to reach out to users and drive revenues going forward.”

Watch this space.

Jo Youle

Neil Young confirmed

Three headline acts for Glastonbury festival 2009 completed

09 March 2009 - Glastonbury Festival organisers have officially confirmed Neil Young as the third Pyramid Stage headliner.

The 63 year-old joins Blur and Bruce Springsteen for Michael Eavis' event in Pilton, Somerset from 24-28 June.

"This is big news for us," said the festival organiser about the line-up.  "I think he's better than ever at the moment, it's one hell of a show."

Neil Young has recorded over 60 albums, as a solo artist and as a member of Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young.

Speaking to The Guardian, one of the official sponsors, Michael Eavis explained: "Neil Young to play this year is a dream come true for me personally. He is one of my all-time favourites and we have always wanted him to play."

"I think he's better than ever at the moment, it's one hell of a show."

Michael Eavis

The Canadian singer-songwriter released his first solo album,Harvest, back in 1972 and also had three consecutive number one hit albums with his band, often labelled 'the American Beatles', Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young.

Eavis added: "With Neil on the bill we are close to completing our best ever line-up."

As for another addition to the Worthy Farm bill, it has also been announced the Seattle folk outfit Fleet Foxes will be performing.

Meanwhile Franz Ferdinand and Lily Allen have also self-announced their appearances.

Tickets for the festival have sold out but there will be a resale of a small amount of tickets on 5 April 2009 from 9am.

Read more onat the BBC.

Camden Crawl adds

Echo And The Bunnymen, Little Boots, Billy Bragg and more for city festival

09 March 2009 - Echo and the Bunnymen, Idlewild and Mumford and Sons are just three names that have been added to the Friday 24 April line up of the Camden Crawl 2009.

Kitty, Daisy & Lewis, The Von Bondies, The Whip, Wire are also lined-up for the opening day.

They'll join the already announced General Fiasco and VV Brown for the two day festival, which spans 40 venues in London's Camden.

Meanwhile Little Boots, King Creosote, Ipso Facto, Golden Silvers, Toddla T and Billy Bragg have been added to the bill of Saturday 25 April.

As an official partner to the event, 6 Music will be bringing listeners the best of the festival with live music, selected shows at the venues and of course all the latest music news.

There will be another big Camden Crawl announcement on 13 April.

See below for the line-up so far:

Friday 24 April:

Baddies

Bleech

Brakes

Danny & The Champions Of The World

De Tropix

Drums Of Death

Foy Vance

Goldheart Assembly

Kissy Sell Out

Kitty Daisy & Lewis

Little DeathPulled Apart By HorsesS.C.U.M

Skint & Demoralised

Sleepercurve

The Author

The Barker Band

The Chapman Family

The Cordelier Club

The Jim Jones Revue

The Temper TrapThe Von Bondies

The Whip

Your Twenties

Saturday 25 April:

Alan Pownall

An Experiment On A Bird In The Air Pump

Banjo Or Freakout

Billy BragBlk Jks

Broadcast 2000

Cherbourg

Die! Die! Die!

ElviinEverything EverythingFrankmusik

Gold Teeth

Golden Silvers

HeartbreakHexesIpso FactoJosh WellerKing CreosoteLion ClubLittle BootsMan Like MeNewham GeneralsPlugsTelevised CrimewaveThe Dead FormatsThe Laurel CollectiveThreatmanticsToddla TAlso taking place on Saturday 25 April, is X-Crawl 09, an event for under 18 year-olds.This will see the likes of thecocknbullkid, Dananananaykroyd, Howling Bells, Left With Pictures, Future Of The Left and Eugene McGuinessperform.In the same vein as the main event, bands will perform across Camden in venues between 12-8pm.See the line-up so far.

Keith Moon honoured

Late drummer given blue plaque in central London

08 March 2009 - The infamous drummer from the Who - Keith Moon - has been honoured today with a blue plaque in central London.It was organised by entertainment charity the Heritage Foundation - after English Heritage rejected an application for Moon, who died in 1978, to be given a plaque.

The blue plaque was unveiled at the site of the legendary 60s Marquee Club, by the late drummer's mum and sister, along with band mate Roger Daltrey.

“It's just great to see Keith's family. We go back so far. Keith was always the last one I had to pick up to go to gigs. Keith's mum, she was really all of our mums, because she put up with him. We had to put up with him too, but I mean what a lady - and a lovely family.”

He thinks the recognition for Moon is justified:

“Well done to the fans who have got him a blue plaque, cause some people say 'Well does he deserve one?'

Well just for the fact that he invented a new way of drumming in popular music, I think he deserves it for that.”

English Heritage, who oversee who gets a blue plaque, initially deemed Moon unworthy of the honour. Private organisation, The Heritage Foundation, side-stepped the decision and made a deal with Westminster Council – to Roger's delight.

“Just for the fact that he invented a new way of drumming in popular music, I think he deserves it for that.”Daltrey on Moon

“I'm kind of sad that the Marquee itself has gone, considering what that produced for an enormous part of British history. It’s quite disgraceful that it was ever pulled down. That bit of it, it should have been protected. That place where all those bands played. But it’s great that he's got it here.”Wardour Street was turned into a mini-Mod reunion as fans lined the street with scooters, decorated with union jacks and other 60's iconic band stickers. Roger told 6 Music he thought Who fans had done Keith proud.“It's wonderful to see the scooters. Wonderful to see the scooters. Its not good to smell them,” Daltrey said, laughing. “Look at all the smoke. But its great to see them.”That's the point where Who fans took the opportunity to mob Roger to sign old vinyl records, pictures and other memorabilia that they'd brought.“If there's any place, where else would you put it in London. Because he didn't really have a house in London, he moved from flat to flat. It wouldn't be nice to have it on the place where he died. This is where he lived and he lived at his height. It is brilliant.”Chi Chi Izundu

Jacko confirms tour

'This is really it', says King Of Pop of final London live performances

05 March 2009 - Michael Jackson has announced that he will be performing his last ever London shows in July at the 02 Arena.

He appeared at a press conference today (5 March) but gave no more details in his speech on how many dates he will be doing on his first tour for 12 years.

It's since been confirmed he will play 10 shows from 8 July with tickets priced between £50 and £75.

They go on public sale at 7am on Friday 13 March and will be available throughMichaelJacksonLive.com1,000 fans and media were gathered at the venue; Jackson arrived at over an hour and a half past his scheduled time.

He took to the microphone, addressing a swarm of screaming, devoted fans and said: “Thank you very much. Thank you all. This is it. I just wanna say that these will be my final shows, performances in London. This will be it and when I say this will be it, I really mean this is it.”

He went on: “I’ll be performing the songs my fans wanna here. This is it, I mean this is really it, this the final curtain call okay, and I’ll see you in July.“I love you. I really do you have to know that I love you so much, really from the bottom of my heart

This is it and see you in July.”

'It's absolutely exciting'

Rising talent VV Brown performed in theyesterday (4 March) and she was thrilled by news of a possible London residency from the Thriller star.

“He’s amazing,” she said. “It’s really sad that his face has got like that and stuff, but I mean, he’s Michael Jackson. He’s inspired everyone really. Some tracks that he’s done are just fantastic so it’s absolutely exciting. I might go and see him.”

TheQuicksandsinger La Roux, who like VV Brown was in the BBC’s Sound Of 2009 top 10, also loved the prospect of getting to see her idol live.

“When I was a kid I used to flick through theHistorydisc leaflets and look at those pictures,” she explained. “I’ve wanted to see him live all my life but I just fear it might be disappointing because he’s pretty old.

“I think most people will just go because they’ll be so intrigued to see whether he’s completely gone or not. He hasn’t really come out into the limelight since all the court case stuff. I’m definitely gonna go, no question.”

His legacyAmanda Ghost heads up Michael Jackson’s record label Epic.Speaking about his place in history, she said: “He’s our artist. Why does he mean so much? He’s the consummate artist. He is so talented, as a writer, as a dancer, as a singer, as a performer and he’s a star. We don’t have them anymore.”Michael Jackson shot to fame as a youngster, when he joined his brothers and sisters in the Jackson 5 at 5 years-old.He went on to make 10 studio albums as a solo artist with countless number one hits.Speaking about the former child star, Ghost continued: “He paid a heavy price to be Michael Jackson, as they all do. As Elvis did, as Madonna has, as Prince has.“They pay prices to be icons and I think it’s important ultimately because he made great music. I don’t know anyone in the world that hasn’t got a Michael Jackson song that they love, it’s universal.”Epic currently look after the likes of Beyonce, Modest Mouse, Tenacious D and Editors, but Ghost said it is rare to find such raw talent in the league of Michael Jackson.“That’s my challenge again to develop those,” she said. “Rock ‘n’ roll is all about aspirations and dreams. We’re selling rebellion, we’re selling fantasy and we don’t do that any more. We’re selling Lily Allen and that’s sad for me.”Stand out tracksBillie Jean, Black Or White, Smooth Criminal, Man In The Mirror, This Girl Is Mine are just a few of the King Of Pops hits.We asked the artists which particular Jacko songs they would love to see him perform.Epic label boss Amanda Ghost said: “I used to dress up as Michael Jackson as a kid. My favourite song has got to be Human Nature. It comes on and I feel like I’m 11 again, soundtrack to my youth.”Meanwhile VV Brown, who is currently putting the final touches to her debut album Travelling Like The Light, revealed: “There’s loads. I love Dirty Diana though. I dig the sort of, turn, kick, grab the groin, woo hoo, thing.”

Lily Allen - It's Not Me, It's You

Lily Allen - It's Not Me, It's You Download MP3
Release type : Studio album Record label : Capitol Genres : Pop music Release date : Feb 10, 2009

1	Everyones At It	lyrics
2	The Fear	lyrics
3	Not Fair	lyrics
4	22	lyrics
5	I Could Say	lyrics
6	Back To The Start	lyrics
7	Never Gonna Happen	lyrics
8	F**k You	lyrics
9	Whod Have Known
10	Chinese	lyrics
11	Him	lyrics
12	He Wasnt There

its words not wurds
(;. I just love this song!!! :)

Lily gets personal

Allen reveals all on new album

20 January 2009 - Lily Allen's second record features stories about unsatisfying relationships and her absent father, but the singer's not worried about giving away too much about her personal life:

"I don't know how else to write. I wish I could be more vague in what I write and then they'd get played in adverts, but they don't," Lily said.

It's Not Me It's You is out on February 9th, and closes with the song 'He Wasn't There' about her absent father Keith Allen, the actor who once formed part of novelty act Fat Les with artist Damien Hirst and Blur bassist Alex James.

"I was very aware of what was going on. He had a lot of fun in the nineties, and he wasn't around much. It's as simple as that," she says. Lily continued that she won't lose sleep over the public knowing a lot about her life: "A song is only two minutes of someone's life, and then they're thinking about something else. Things don't linger.""When I listen to that record I cringe"- Lily Allen on Alright, Still

Lily appeared on George Lamb's show on 6 Music this morning and played two tracks from her new album, It's Not Me It's You, 'The Fear' and 'He Wasn't There'.

But Lily admits she isn't keen to revisit her debut album Alright Still: "When I listen to that record I cringe. I am five years younger on that record. I can't bear listening to it."

Lily plays a one-off gig at London's Koko on 28th January before kicking off a UK tour in Glasgow on 14th March.

On the tour she'll be supported by the hotly tipped electro-pop Act La Roux, aka Elly Jackson, who was number five in this year's BBC Sound Of poll.

Rodrigo Davies