GREAT SALES NEWS AND THE LAUNCH OF STUDY

The brilliant news that - in a really tricky high street environment and with illegal downloads continuing to remain stubbornly high - UK album sales rose year-on-year in the quarter to September will be generating mixed emotions over at BPI headquarters. Coupled with a singles market rise (physical and downloads) of 49 per cent, there's precious little room for the major labels to argue that there's a pressing need for legal actions against three year-olds and grannies to save the UK music scene.

Meanwhile, Her Majesty's Government has announced plans to help the indie label sector - although they manage to make it sound as dull as possible, couching it as an initiative to assist small and medium enterprises. The music minister (James Purnell, apparently - no, we didn't, either) isn't actually going to do anything you understand, but has called for "a study into the support independent companies need." It's not clear yet quite how much cash is going to be pissed away on this study, but we bet we could fund a couple of Pipettes albums, a dozen singles and a fanzine on the cash at the very least.

music james purnell bpi