Wednesday 30 September 2009

Glasgow Gets Ready for Tonight’s MOBO Awards

Excitement is building as the city of Glasgow gets ready to host this evenings 14th annual MOBO Awards, the biggest urban music award ceremony in Europe.

The ceremony, which celebrates music of black origins, has never ventured outside of London since it was launched in 1996, until now. A move that has seen the event subjected to criticism in the last few weeks, with some claiming the change of location has put some big names off appearing.

Acts such as Beyonce, Eminem, Jay Z, Lady Gaga, Mariah Carey, Akon and Kanye West will not appear at the SECC - despite being nominated.

However, CEO and Founder of the MOBO’s Kanya King denied this and defended the decision to move the ceremony, by complimenting the Glasgow’s passion for music.

King said: "The fact that we are holding the awards in Glasgow this year is testament to the fact that MOBO music is the sound of Britain as a whole. The reception from Scotland has been great and we cannot wait to put on our show up there."

There will be a tribute to Michael Jackson this year, with family members Latoya and Jermaine performing in memory of their brother.

The event, co-hosted by Radio 1's Reggie Yates and US R'n'B act Keri Hilson; will be shown live on BBC Three this evening at 9pm.

Friday 25 September 2009

Producers to Tell All at Seminar in Edinburgh

Edinburgh music social night Born To Be Wide is to host a seminar looking into the role of the producer.

Born To Be Wide Presents – The Producers will take place on October 1 at Edinburgh’s Voodoo Rooms, with Oasis / The Verve producer Owen Morris, Alextronic Studios’ Paul Croan, Echo And The Bunnymen producer John McLaughlin and Teenage Fanclub drummer Francis Macdonald all taking part.

The event is intended to give an insight into the producer’s role and provide tips on how to become a producer. It will be supported by the Musicians’ Union.

“I’m extremely excited about this seminar and it is great that we can draw on such a wealth of experience without having to look further than Edinburgh and Glasgow,” says Born To Be Wide co-organiser Olaf Furniss.

“Collectively these producers have worked with an extremely diverse range of artists and I look forward to hearing some of the stories they have to tell.”

McLaughlin and Morris will both DJ after the panel event.

The Surface Unsigned National Showcase, This Weekend

The IndigO2 London will play host to one of the major events in the unsigned music calendar, The Surface Unsigned National Showcase, this Saturday 26 September and Sunday 27 September.

The two day festival will be showcasing the best 16 up-and-coming unsigned bands from the Surface Unsigned Festival 2009. It is the climax of over 250 nights of live music in 7 months with the best 16 bands chosen from over 12,000 applications.

The Surface Unsigned Festival is the only national live music event that brings unsigned bands and artists to the attention of all aspects of the music industry. Surface Unsigned is a festival of new music held throughout the country in aid of discovering and promoting new talent.

The 16 bands chosen to perform in front of a committee of music industry experts are:

Santiago Sound
Sox
Primitai
Invalid Confessions
Kopperhed
Loaded Dice
Fantastik 4
Nothing Sinister
Kakuzi
Televox
The Heroes
Fundamental Skillz
Slaine
Skinless Finger
Cryostorm
Under The Driftwood Tree

The prize winners of the festival will be decided by a combination of text votes and by the committee of industry guests.

For information, go to www.surfaceunsigned.co.uk

Thursday 24 September 2009

‘Three Strikes’ Law Approved by France

New anti-piracy measures look set to become law in France, despite numerous setbacks and redrafts.

The Creation and Internet law has been passed this week by both the Senate and the National Assembly, the latter clearing it by 258 votes to 131.

It requires the signature of President Sarkozy to become law, but considering his very public campaigning for tougher anti-piracy measures this is a mere formality.

The bill could, however, still face a challenge from the Constitutional Council. Consumer bodies are also expected to lodge opposition to its progress, arguing that it infringes civil liberties and the right to a fair trial.

Under the measures, persistent infringers who ignore two warnings will have their internet connection terminated for a year. They could also face fines of up to €300k (£273k) and a 12-month prison sentence.

The Minister of Culture in France has suggested the first warning emails under the new law could be sent as early as January next year.

Friday 18 September 2009

Arctic Monkeys lead the nominations for the 2009 Q Awards

Arctic Monkeys have received the most nomination for the 2009 Q Awards with four mentions. They are up for best track, best album, best band in the world today and best live act.

The Sheffield band will compete with Kings of Leon, Oasis, Coldplay for the Best Act in the World Today, along with Muse, who are also up for Best Track for their new single Uprising.

One of the most prestigious events on the music calendar, the Q Awards 2009 will take place at Grosvenor House, Park Lane, London on Monday 26th October.

Other acts that will battle it out for a gong on the night include, Dizzee Rascal La Roux, Lily Allen, Florence and the Machine, Friendly Fires and Pixie Lott.

The full list of this year’s nominees:

Best New Act:
White Lies
Friendly Fires
Empire Of The Sun
Passion Pit
The Dead Weather

Breakthrough Artist:
Florence & The Machine
Lady GaGa
La Roux
Mr Hudson
Pixie Lott

Best Track:
Kasabian - Fire
Muse - Uprising
Arctic Monkeys - Crying Lightning
Dizzee Rascal - Bonkers
Noisettes - Never Forget You
Lily Allen - The Fear

Best Video:
The Dead Weather - Treat Me Like Your Mother
Dizzee Rascal – Holiday
Florence & The Machine - Drumming Song
Mika - We Are Golden
Lady GaGa - Just Dance

Best Live Act:
The Prodigy
U2
Oasis
Kasabian
Arctic Monkeys
Blur
Take That

Best Album:
Arctic Monkeys ' Humbug
U2 ' No Line On The Horizon
Florence & The Machine ' Lungs
The Prodigy ' Invaders Must Die
Kasabian ' West Ryder Pauper Lunatic Asylum

Best Act in the World Today:
Kings Of Leon
Arctic Monkeys
Oasis
Coldplay
Muse

Thursday 17 September 2009

Glastonbury 2010 Tickets to go on Sale This October

Organisers have confirmed that tickets for next years Glastonbury festival will go on sale on at 9am (BST) October 4.

As with previous years, those hoping to buy tickets to the 2010 festival must register on glastonburyregistration.co.uk at least 48 hours before tickets go on sale. Glastonbury's £50 deposit scheme will also be in place this year, giving fans the option of reserving a ticket ahead of paying the full price next February.

Weekend tickets for Glastonbury 2010 cost £185 – £10 up on last year's price – plus £5 booking fee (and £4.95 postage).

Eavis has defended the rise in ticket price, saying: "I do try and hold it down, but the girls doing the budgeting are so thorough and so clever, and they said, 'Look, the minimum rise we can get away with is 10 quid more'. It is a shame, because I really wanted to hold the price."

Next year will be the 40th anniversary of the festival and founder Michael Eavis has already hinted that the line-up is set to include a band from each year the event has been running. But, as always, details of who will perform at the festival remain firmly under wraps.

The 74-year-old farmer said: "Now I'm fully confident the anniversary line-up will be just that little bit special when it is revealed next year. We want as many people as possible to be part of the celebrations and to enjoy what we do here."

See Glastonburyfestivals.co.uk for more information.

Wednesday 16 September 2009

Music Line-up Announced for Scotcampus Freshers' Festival

The Scotcampus Freshers’ Festival music line-up has just been revealed and it’s sure to be bigger and better than before, with an exciting and diverse range of acts signed up to take part.

Acts performing at this year’s event include electro-pop disco deviants Pooch, as well as Exile Parade, Nevada Base, Nixa, The Meat Men, Suspire and Little Eskimos, to name a few.

The bands will help get the event, now in its third year, off to a brilliant start, with music-loving students able to hear the hottest music around in the Relentless Energy Drink Music Tent each day.

In addition to the fantastic music line-up, over eighty big names have been signed up to exhibit in the festival's Main Arena including a whole host of cool lifestyle brands such as Urban Outfitters, Dominos, YO! Sushi, The Model Team, Blackberry and Matalan.

For the second year in a row the event will be held in Glasgow’s George Square. The free festival is the perfect event to introduce new college and university starters to student life, and give them a wealth of information and advice about what being a student is all about.

The Scotcampus Freshers' Festival runs from Thursday 1st October to Friday 2nd October from 10am-6pm each day, and this year it looks set to attract around 12,000 students.

To find out more, visit www.scotcampus.com

Friday 11 September 2009

PRS New Music Award returns for 2010

The PRS Foundation’s biennial New Music Award, which rewards “creative and exceptional new musical projects”, returns for 2010.

Offering a £50,000 prize to a musical idea that has not yet been realised, the New Music award is open to anyone based in the UK who is interested in “pushing the boundaries of the musical genre they work in”.

The award has been running since 2005 with the first winner being Jem Finer (of The Pogues) for Score for a Hole in the Ground, a work inspired by the water chimes of Kyoto, using bowls and pivots to manipulate water to create sound.

Sally Taylor, Chairman of the PRS Foundation’s Board of Trustees, said: “We are thrilled to launch the third New Music Award, which is set to be bigger and better than ever. It is an exceptional award that celebrates new music innovation in the UK.”

Adding “It takes risks by encouraging creators to push the boundaries of their artistic practice and extend the possibilities of music regardless of which genre they work in. We really do encourage anyone with an inspired musical idea to apply.”

PRS Foundation co-director Vanessa Reed explains, “With the New Music Award we are actively encouraging the creation of ground-breaking music and sound and celebrating the exceptional imagination of the UK’s creative community.”

“We’re delighted that, from the two previous New Music Awards, six of the shortlisted creators and others who featured in the long lists have gone on to realise their musical creations even though they weren’t selected as the winner.” she said.

The general idea is for the £50,000 award to be used to create even more ambitious music projects.

Submissions for the award will be accepted until January 8 2010. To find out how to apply, visit www.prsfoundation.co.uk

DF Plans Scottish Homecoming Live - The Final Fling 2009

Promoter DF Concerts is working on plans to finally add a touch of live music to Scotland’s Homecoming year celebrations by organising a series of gigs over the November 26-30 St Andrew’s weekend.

Earlier this year, plans for a Homecoming Festival were shelved after another set of promoters and local authorities failed to reach an agreement regarding the licensing for the 25,000-capacity event, which was to be held in Ayrshire.

DF Concerts has announced they are to organise Homecoming Live – The Final Fling, a unique extravaganza that will celebrate Scotland's contribution to the worldwide music scene over the St Andrew's Day Weekend.

The Scottish promoters are putting together “a bill that will bring together Scots from across the globe for a one-off reunion.”

The centrepiece of the programme will take place at the SECC on November 28 featuring internationally renowned, home-grown artists. Glasgow's recent UNESCO City of Music appointment makes it the ideal location for this exciting, one-off Scottish musical feast featuring the cream of the country's music legends, past, present and future!

In addition to using the SECC, Homecoming Live gigs will also take place at DF’s own venue King Tut’s Wah Wah Hut.

Among the acts confirmed for the event are Deacon Blue, Lloyd Cole, Hue and Cry, Midge Ure, The View, The Law, The Bluebells, King Creosote, James Grant, The Vaseline’s, Idlewild, Kevin McDermott and Tommy Reilly, which promoter Geoff Ellis says demonstrates the influence Scotland has had on the international music scene over the past three decades.

Tickets for Homecoming Live are on sale today, Friday 11th September. Tickets will be available from www.gigsinscotland.com/homecominglive, by calling Ticketmaster on 08444 999 990 or alternatively can be bought in person from official Ticketmaster Centres across the UK.

For more information, go to www.homecominglive.com

Wednesday 9 September 2009

Speech Debelle Wins Mercury Prize 2009

Speech Debelle won the Barclaycard Mercury Prize last night for her album 'Speech Therapy'. She was presented with her award by Jools Holland at the award ceremony in the Grosvenor House Hotel in London.

The 26 year old South London rapper whose real name is Corynne Elliot’s debut album sold fewer than 3,000 copies since it was released in June.

"Thank you to the panellists, to my band, thank you so much to my mum, to my fans," she said, accepting her award.

"Thank you to whoever's name's on the cheque. I'll be here all night – thank you very much, good night."

The nominated acts for the award, each of which performed earlier at the ceremony aside from Glasvegas, were:

Bat For Lashes – 'Two Suns'
Florence And The Machine – 'Lungs'
Friendly Fires – 'Friendly Fires'
Glasvegas – 'Glasvegas'
The Horrors – 'Primary Colours'
La Roux – 'La Roux'
Led Bib – 'Sensible Shoes'
The Invisible - 'The Invisible'
Lisa Hannigan – 'Sea Sew'
Kasabian – 'West Ryder Pauper Lunatic Asylum'
Speech Debelle – 'Speech Therapy'
Sweet Billy Pilgrim – 'Twice Born Men'

Friday 4 September 2009

Orbital and Friendly Fires to Headline London Freeze 2009

Orbital and Friendly Fires have been confirmed as headliners for the UK’s biggest music and winter sports festival, as London Freeze marks its return next month.

Held in Battersea Power Station, London Freeze is part of a new breed of winter events. Mixing live music with winter sports the debut Freeze in 2008 proved a huge success.

The gathering is expanding its capacity to 15,000 and the live music will accompany three days of world class winter sports competition, with the area around the former power station transformed into an international competition standard snowboarding and free ski venue featuring a 32m high ski jump and over 500 tonnes of snow.

Orbital will headline at the event the October 30 night, while Friendly Fires close the event on November 1. More acts are set to be announced soon.

London Freeze takes place October 30th - November 1st.

Tickets are available to buy now, either for the whole weekend or individual days. For more information, see Londonfreeze.com.

Thursday 3 September 2009

YouTube end PRS dispute - Music Videos Return to UK YouTube

Music videos will return to the British version of YouTube.com after the streaming site reached an agreement with songwriters' group PRS for Music.

The site's owners Google and PRS for Music resolved a long-running dispute over revenues, which saw music videos pulled off YouTube in the UK in March.

A new multi-million pound deal has now been reached, which will last until June 2012, and sees YouTube pay the PRS, which is responsible for paying out royalties to composers, publishers and songwriters, a lump sum of money – as opposed to the usual pay-per-view model.

Tens of thousands of music videos will return to the site from today onwards, taking approximately a week to restore all the lost material, plus all the latest music videos to have been released from the major music labels with which YouTube has commercial deals.

PRS for Music said it was pleased an agreement had been reached but neither side would reveal details of the deal.

Wednesday 2 September 2009

Editors, Fatboy Slim and VV Brown Launch Oxjam Gigs

The line-up for Oxjam’s month of music has been unveiled and includes Editors, Basement Jaxx, Fatboy Slim, Just Jack and VV Brown.

Nitin Sawhney and Tony Allen are also among the acts announced to launch a series of charity shows. The gigs will help kick off thousands of other fundraising music events to take place across the country in aid of Oxfam.

The acts will play gigs in a secret Oxfam shop in London with a 150-person capacity in aid of the charity this September and October.

The event culminates on 25 October with the Oxjam Takeover - an event spanning 150 venues in more than 20 cities, with more than 2000 artists performing to raise money for the charity.

The focus throughout will be on Oxfam's blue faces campaign, which is aimed at raising awareness of climate change issues.

The likes of Jarvis Cocker, Little Boots, The Kooks’ Luke Pritchard and Fatboy Slim have already painted their faces blue and been photographed by Rankin in order to encourage the government to take action.

The following acts are confirmed to play Oxjam gigs:

VV Brown, Just Jack (September 28)
Tony Allen, Nitin Sawhney, Shlomo (29)
Fatboy Slim, Basement Jaxx (DJ set), Stereo MCs (DJ set) (30)
Editors (October 1)

Tickets for the shows go on sale this Friday (September 4) from 9am.

For information on events happening near you, go to www.oxfam.org.uk/oxjam