Over in the US, the Copyright Board Of America decided that the amount publishers and writers get from each download is to stay at 9cents. The board discussed raising the royalties rate to 15c per download, a move that forced Apple to state they would scrap their market leading iTunes store if it stopped making a profit. iTunes serves 85% of the market making it doubtful that any increase to their 99c rate would damage their business.

London Record Store To Remain Open
Meanwhile, my favourite CD shop in the west end has been sold. Sister Ray went into administration back in July but has now been rescued by an unnamed independent individual who has “music retail experience”. The W1 premises will apparently stay put and all staff will keep their jobs. The new owner has a lot to do to keep this business floating amid strong competition for the last remaining hard-copy music buyers.

Dirty Pretty Split

Dirty Pretty Things have announced their split, after completing their tour this month.

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I was lucky enough a few weeks ago to be stood with Carl Barat while we watched The Rascals play a small intimate gig in Shoreditch. I asked him what he was working on and, to my ignorant surprise, DPT are releasing a new album on June 30th! That one certainly slipped me by.

So, as is the fashion these days, DPT have released a sample of their album, in the form of ‘Hippy Son’.

‘Hippy Son’ starts with a gently tapped bass drum and soon after a simple acoustic guitar riff comes through and then the full band. Carl’s lyrics are sung with more grit and dirt than I’ve ever heard from him before. If this new material is anything like the rest of the album, then this reviewer can’t wait to get the album.

The album ‘Romance At Short Notice’, out in the UK on June 30th.
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Is it me or are all these adverts for new T.V shows just getting really irritating?

Yes, putting popular modern music on the adverts will attract a younger and more upbeat demographic but its just getting ridiculous now.

It worked well for ‘Skins’ but obviously whoever is doing the music for that show doesn’t have radio one on repeat as all the music used within it and on the adverts were ‘upcoming bands’ at the time. I Think it worked for ‘Skins’ as it focused more on the plot & the acting rather than how much ‘popular’ music they could fit in to keep the audience watching.

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The Rascals photograph by Jade Lloyd-Prest.

After blagging our way onto the guest list of what should have been a closed venue, what we were party to was nothing short of the best night of my life!

Just 3 hours earlier this very same band played to a sold out Islington Academy as part of MTV’s Brand Spanking New Music. The Rascals delivered song after song after song of unfailing energy with every chord, strum and beat delivered with such unrivalled energy.

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