Sia sighs

Sia says she's not surprised that some people have knee-jerked and yelled "paedophilia" after she launched her Shia LeBeouf/Maddie Ziegler wrestling video for Elastic Heart:

I anticipated some 'pedophelia!!!' Cries for this video. All I can say is Maddie and Shia are two of the only actors I felt could play these two warring 'sia' self states. I apologize to those who feel triggered by ‪#‎ElasticHeart‬ My intention was to create some emotional content, not to upset anybody.

Oh, won't someone think of the children?

The required apology - for giving more attention to Shia LeBeouf - is yet to be forthcoming.

Embed and breakfast man: Sia

Fancy watching Sia do a song with the New York Gay Men's Choir? Let us help you with that:

See you, Sia

Sia is preparing to sort of retire from music - or at least the music industry:

"I'm going to promote the shit out of this record. I'm seeing it as an investment.

"After this record I'll make records and I'll put them out but I will not promote or tour them. I'll just write pop songs for other people."

And the main reason she's quitting? Partly the demands of the major labels - in her case, Sony:

"I've never been a 'priority' before," she told The Age.

"This buzz doesn't just come because of a good song. It's marketing. Which is sick. This is a sick business. It's so sad. Knowing now what goes into making a successful artist, it's disheartening."

But she's also had enough because of the behaviour of Perez Hilton:

"When I was outed by Perez Hilton as bisexual, I suddenly started being asked a lot of personal questions, which was really difficult. I'd had a relationship with a woman when I was 20, but nobody cared then.

"As it came at the same time as my fame, it made me withdraw, and I started to have panic attacks. It was then that I was prescribed antidepressants - fame made me develop a panic disorder."

Well done, Perez. Thanks - once again - for your contribution to making culture just a little less glittery.

You can't touch me, I'm part of the union

We're slightly bemused by the founding of a group designed to allow groups to come together to fight for better digital deals: isn't this what the Musician's Union should be doing?

And if the new group creams off the "top" acts like Radiohead, Robbie Williams and The Verve, does that really make the group a leftward leaning social good, or is it merely an attempt to secure for the already rich an even larger slice of the money? It's interesting they've chosen the name of the Featured Artist's Coalition - already excluding the session musicians, then.

The sense that the organisation is more about the already-successful than an initiative to put together a group that is aimed at all musicians getting a better deal is in the press release:

To date, over 60 artists have joined the Coalition by signing its founding Charter. These range from established artists like Radiohead, The Verve, Craig David, Robbie Williams and the Kaiser Chiefs through to newer acts like Kate Nash, The Futureheads and Sia. To read the Featured Artists’ Coalition’s Charter or to see a video of some of the artists who are part of the Coalition, visit www.featuredartistscoalition.com.

Newer artists like The Futureheads? The band who formed in 2000? And Sia, whose first record came out in 1997?

Sia is the FAC's touchstone, though - she's wheeled out for the BBC to knock down suggestions that this is a cartel rather than a union:

Does Williams, who famously proclaimed that he was rich beyond his "wildest dreams" when he signed to EMI for £80m in 2002, really need any help?

"Robbie Williams' deal was done when CD sales really meant something," Mr [Tim] Clark says. "Those sorts of deals are just not possible any longer."

The coalition is "not about Robbie Williams", he says, instead pointing to former Zero 7 singer Sia, whom his company has managed for the last eight years.

Tim Clark, of course, also manages Robbie Williams - it's questionable if Sia would have been invited to sign up for the launch had she not been so well connected.

It could be that I'm being unfair - Billy Bragg and Radiohead are both involved, so there is some signs of conscience there - but had some actual newer artists been invovled, and smaller acts not signed to powerhouse management organisations, it might have been easier to judge if this is being done in the spirit of Tollpuddle or the top table.