Music Hound

A BBC website article intrigued me a couple of days ago. It had me reading the headline over and over again in disbelief, and yet wondering why I did not quite believe it. The headline was something along the lines of UK music was planning a strategy to take over the dominant stance that the United States has established in recent years. I could not quite believe it and then wondered why not. That is, after all, what we have been aiming for. The UK music industry has really flourished in recent years, bringing new bands through, some of which are not British but yet have been welcomed with open arms. Take the Kings Of Leon for example. They may be American but they made it here, so why not?

According to recent UK Music figures, $5 billion is contributed to the UK economy every single year thanks to the music industry. If that was to increase then it would mean more opportunities for bands, and that cannot be a bad thing. Furthermore, it would enhance other creative industries.

The aim is actually quite simple – make more successful tracks that any other country in the next 10 years. When you look at the following BBC declaration, it is possible: “In 2008, the UK provided four of the world’s 10 best-selling artists and is currently home to the biggest green-field festival, Glastonbury, and the world’s most successful ticketed venue, the O2 in London.” When you look at it like that…

One point that UK Music did make though was that the government needs to reform current law controlling the creative industries, or more specifically the one that forces pubs and bars to apply for a license for small gigs. According to Fergal Sharkey of The Undertones, this would be the best way to take the U industry forward: “We think that’s an outrageous thing and a huge bureaucratic burden to place on those pubs and artists. That first step is part of the process that ends up with people being able to stand on a stage at Wembley in front of 90,000 people.”

What do you think?

The full line ups for the 2010 festivals at Reading and Leeds have finally been announced and have effectively split music fans down the middle. The anticipation was almost too much to bear but the news has sent some into the “wow, what a line up” camp and others into the “what on Earth is this?” camp. One of my friends fell into the latter category and summed it up completely on is Facebook status – “Er, Reading… 2003 called and it wants its line up back!”

There are certainly some blasts from the past in there and that has led to criticism that the festival is failing to nurture and showcase the new talent in favour of has-beens that struggle to perform on stage today. This is a little unfair because there are still plenty of modern acts on there that can be considered up and coming. The headliners are a little different… especially as it has been announced that The Libertines will reform especially for the festivals.

Take a look at the headliners and see for yourself:

Reading Friday August 27 & Leeds Sunday August 29
Main Stage
Guns N’ Roses
Queens Of The Stone Age
Biffy Clyro
Lost Prophets
NoFX
Gogol Bordello
Billy Talent

NME/ Radio 1 Stage
LCD Soundsystem
Phoenix
Mumford & Sons
Delphic
Yeasayer
The Big Pink
Two Door Cinema Club

Reading Saturday August 28 & Leeds Friday August 27
Main Stage
Arcade Fire
The Libertines
Dizzee Rascal
The Cribs
The Maccabees
Modest Mouse
Gaslight Anthem

NME/ Radio 1 Stage
Pendulum
Enter Shikari
Crystal Castles
Special Guests
Frank Turner

Reading Sunday August 29 & Leeds Saturday August 28
Main Stage
Blink-182
Paramore
Weezer
Cypress Hill
Limp Bizkit
You Me At Six
All Time Low

NME/ Radio 1 Stage
Klaxons
We Are Scientists
Foals
Band of Horses
Kele
The Drums

So which camp are you in?

It is a fact that music magazines have consistently held polls for this and surveys for that over the last decade or so in a bid to find out exactly who is the best at this and the best at that. I like the concept of polls because they tend to show public opinion fluctuations, trends and fashions that dictate the type of music that will be released in the coming year or so. However, the poll results that are announced in the edition of Q magazine that made its way to newsstands today defy belief.

The poll concerned the best frontman of all time. I have no idea who voted but somehow Liam Gallagher managed to find his way to the top of the list, beating greats that are or were head and shoulders above him. The likes of Bono, Freddie Mercury, Jim Morrison and Morrissey are all below him. I cannot personally understand why on Earth someone who stands completely still on stage can be described as the best frontman ever. My personal choice would have been Freddie Mercury.

Oasis famously split last year when Noel announced that he was to leave the band after continuous disagreements with Liam and very little has been seen of the latter since, aside from making a complete idiot of himself at the BRITs of course (with a little help from Peter Kay).

The top 20 list in its entirety is as follows:

1) Liam Gallagher

2) Bono

3) Freddie Mercury

4) Damon Albarn

5) Chris Martin

6) Matt Bellamy

7) Jim Morrison

8 ) Bob Marley

9) Paul McCartney

10) John Lennon

11) Robbie Williams

12) Debbie Harry

13) Mick Jagger

14) Morrissey

15) John Lydon (Johnny Rotten)

16) James Brown

17) Bruce Springsteen

18) Robert Plant

19) Tom Meighan

20) Joe Strummer

Now I realise that those of you reading this will probably be divided into two distinct camps – those who feel outrage that I can question the angelic Ms Cole’s musical talents and those who are completely shocked because she has mimed almost every single one of her TV appearances in some way, even if it is only the verse or the chorus (as per her X Factor appearance last year!). Oh sorry, there is a third category – those that do not care either way!

To the first group I would say that I am one of the people that watched Pop Stars: The Rivals in 2002 and thought she was easily the weakest singer of the final five back then (and should have lost her place in Girls Aloud given that Javine was streets ahead of her). However, I was shocked to see that her singing has improved over the years yesterday on the BBC Radio 1’s Live Lounge… and it left me wondering why on Earth she would do that if she did not trust her ability to hold up on stage!

Her miming has been the topic of a lot of news stories and private conversations in the past few months as a direct result of the fact that she seems to have done it so badly, most notably at the BRITs this year. Of course, miming on X Factor also garnered a lot of attention because the whole point of the show is to bring talent to the fore, teach them how to improve their skills and sing live every week. As a mentor, she should have set an example. Given the fact she has now proved that she can actually sing without her band mates, it is about time she proved it live on stage too. I would love to see that.

If you have yet to see or hear it then I highly recommend watching her performance of Owl City’s “Fireflies”.

It was announced at the end of last year that The Strokes were back in the studio recording a brand new album… finally! First Impressions Of Earth, their acclaimed third album, was released in January 2006, which was way too long ago now, and have been back in the studio since 2008. Most Stokes fans, of which group I am a prime example, cannot wait for the album to be released… but it may come as a shock to find that the band has been in the studio without lead vocalist Julian Casablancas.

Nick Valensi, Albert Hammond Jr., Nikolai Fraiture and Fabrizio Moretti have been recording the music for the new as yet untitled album for quite some time but Casablancas has been notable by his absence.

Don’t worry though Strokes fans! He has not left the band in any way, shape or form. He has simply been taking a back seat because of his own personality, believe it or not. Casablancas himself put it best when he said the following to NME.com: “I’m pretty opinionated. Nothing pushy to the point of it’s my way or no way, but I’ll hear a song and be like, ‘Hmmm, it feels like the bass should be like something different’. Whereas if I feel like I wasn’t in the room then they could just kind of spread their wings.”

The Strokes are planning to release the album later this year after Casablancas has added his vocals to the recorded music. They have also signed up to play the Isle Of Wight festival on 12^th June and then Rock Ness in Scotland on the following day. There is no news on a potential tour as yet but both Casablancas and Moretti have hinted at it in the recent past so expect more news to be announced in the near future!

After the announcement of his sad death a few days ago, the music world began mourning for Big Star’s Alex Chilton. Chilton was never one to be anything other than the life and soul of the party though by all accounts and so it really was only a matter of time until the party started to celebrate his life and now it has officially been announced that Chilton’s Big Star band mates have organised a tribute gig.

The tribute gig is to take place at tonight’s South By Southwest Festival (SXSW) in Austin, Texas but it is not expected to be the last gig that is to be dedicated to the memory of Alex Chilton. He was such a major influence and hero to many people, some of whom are now stars in the music industry in their own right. Many will want to pay their respects.

Ken Stringfellow, the current Big Star bassist, confirmed that they were looking to get Cheap Trick and Mike Mills of REM to perform with the remaining members of the band tonight because they were scheduled to appear with Chilton prior to his sudden and tragic death. As of yesterday, Stringfellow was still a little hazy on the details: “There’s already a lot of people stepping forward, interested in augmenting the band and singing some of Alex’s songs. We drew up a shortlist of people we knew were playing at SXSW who might be interested, but I’m not sure exactly who can actually do it yet.” Although no details have still been confirmed, watch this space next week for information as to whether or not this actually happened or will happen in the weeks to come.

If this performance can be found online then it will be worth watching because I am betting that it will be one to remember as they do Alex proud.

It was sadly announced yesterday that cult rock star Alex Chilton had passed away. The singer and guitarist was best known for his involvement with band Big Star and had built up quite a following during the course of his career. He is actually acknowledged as one of the most underrated musicians to have ever lived. Chilton died in a New Orleans hospital following heart problems.

Chilton started out in the music industry at the tender age of 16. At the time, he was the singer in pop-soul band The Box Tops. It was with the band that he first achieved the number one spot in 1967 with “The Letter”. He went on to have several hits with the band before moving on and forming Big Star with Chris Bell, Jody Stephens and Andy Hummel in 1971. Although he did not achieve the degree of success he deserved commercially during his time with Big Star and as a solo star, the cult following that emerged from it certainly guaranteed that he would end up a legend.

Since his death, tributes to Chilton have been pouring out, many of which have come directly from some of the biggest stars in music. Bobby Gillespie of Primal Scream paid the following tribute to his hero: “Even if he’d only ever produced the first Cramps album, he’d still be one of my rock ‘n’ roll heroes. But he did a lot more than that. He just made so many great records, and they were crazy rock ‘n’ roll records. But they were also art records and beautiful records, mournful records, sad records, joyous records. What I’m trying to say is that Alex Chilton was one of the greats.”

The music industry is a much better place as a result of Chilton’s presence and influence over the years and so he will be remembered.  Rest in peace. 

Did you know that, according to music industry experts, illegal downloading has reached crisis point in not only the UK but Europe as a whole? A new report has revealed that illegal file sharing has actually reached the point where it is likely that it will cost the industry €240 billion by 2015, and that accounts for more than a million jobs.

This particular study is the latest in a long line of reports that have made illegal downloading more and more of an issue.  It was conducted by an expert economics firm, TERA Consultants, which established that the level of revenue lost was at €1.4 billion in 2008. Furthermore, this only takes the UK, France, Spain, Italy and Germany into account.

Although the information is alarming, Jim Killock, the Open Rights Group (ORG) has voiced his disproval over this report: “I am fed up of hearing corporate propaganda being deployed in order to justify intrusions on our rights to freedom of speech, privacy and to a fair trial. We have no truck with infringement of copyright, but it is shameful that anyone from the Labour movement can attempt to justify removal of vital services such as the internet as a punishment.”

Of course, the latter part of his statement relates to the government proposal to cut off the Internet to homes that have been proven to be the source of copyright infringement under the Digital Economy Bill. The problem is that they would then take away individuals’ livelihoods when they have not necessarily done anything wrong.

Being in favour of punishment for piracy is most definitely a good thing but you cannot take away the freedoms of people to achieve that in such a way because it does not discriminate. The government are undoubtedly taking this too far. Although they need to come up with a solution to the problem and fast, this is not it.

It has been the music court battle of the decade. OK, so the decade is only three months old but the Pink Floyd vs.EMI court case will have major implications on the way in which music is offered for sale digitally in the future regardless of how it plays out in the next few weeks.

The details of the case that was settled in the High Court this week are complex but the basic gist is that EMI had been selling Pink Floyd’s songs digitally without the band’s permission. The last contract that had actually been signed between the two parties was completed prior to the advent of digital music and so did not mention it but it did state that EMI could no sell their music without express permission. This had led to a £10 million dispute over royalties.

Although EMI has yet to be told that they cannot sell the Pink Floyd tracks digitally anymore, they are likely to be told that in the future, which would of course mean that digital music services may find themselves with no Pink Floyd content at all.

However, EMI are still hopeful of finding some sort of resolution to the problem, as is evident in the following statement:

“Today’s judgment does not require EMI to cease making Pink Floyd’s catalogue available as single track downloads, and EMI continues to sell Pink Floyd’s music digitally and in other formats. This litigation has been running for well over a year and most of its points have already been settled. This week’s court hearing was around the interpretation of two contractual points, both linked to the digital sale of Pink Floyd’s music. But there are further arguments to be heard on this and the case will go on for some time.”

Something tells me we have not by any means heard the end of this yet!