I don't think we're in Kansas any more...

While some Universities are trying to protect the interests of their students in the face of ever-increasing copyright tightening, others aren't.

The University Of Kansas falls firmly into the "other aren't" side, threatening its students with a 'one strike and you're out' policy:

"If you are caught downloading copyrighted material, you will lose your ResNet privileges forever," reads the notice. "No second notices, no excuses, no refunds. One violation and your ResNet internet access is gone for as long as you reside on campus."

That this is a bit of a short-sighted kneejerk reaction is probably given away by how sloppily the threat of removal of internet access is - if you buy a track off iTunes, you are downloading copyrighted material. Kansas probably means illegal copyrighted material, but even there, the wording is sloppy. No excuses? What if a student believed they were downloading a legally-released mp3 which turned out to be illegal? Any law which doesn't allow the accused at least a vestige of explanation for their actions would seem to be a bad law.

If you're looking for a university this year, and are considering Kansas, you might want to weigh the merits of an institution which puts the interests of record companies ahead those of its students.

The past's future: 1981 - 7. Modern Romance

Even Smash hits couldn't quite muster up any enthusiasm for their reader's decision to predict a glorious future for this bunch of David Hamilton-friendly smoothies, managing just a "funky outfit" to describe them.

Here, take Ay Ay Ay Moosey - note the sort-of-rappy but at the front, a clanging attempt to inject something modern into a song which could otherwise have been playing when Glen Miller crashed into the sea:



[Buy - or don't: The Platinum Collection. I'm not sure they ever actually achieved platinum status. Platignum, perhaps.]

The countdown will continue across the weekend

Hook off - New Order sail on without Peter

Peter Hook's recent announcement of the end of New Order came as a bit of a surprise to the rest of New Order, who hadn't decided to throw in the towel. And still don't intend to:

Sumner and Morris said they were surprised.

"We would have hoped he could have approached us personally first," the duo said in a statement.

"New Order have not split up," they added.

"Whatever happens musically or otherwise, New Order have not split up, they continue to exist," the statement continued.

Exist, albeit in a diluted form that would make the current Four Tops seem like the real thing.

The past's future: 1981 - 8. Bow Wow Wow

Smash Hits points out that Bow Wow Wow actally been 1980's 10th most promising act, pointing out tartly that going up one place is

not much recompense for the all the fuss that's been made about them over the last year.

Still, they did better than the blokes' subsequent incarnation as Chiefs Of Relief; Annabelle Lwin is still recording, although nowadays with a Buddhist sensibility rather than the original Ants and the Sex Pistols manager.

C30 C60 C90 Go is on YouTube, but unembeddable, so here's the video for Louis Quatroze instead:



[Buy: Aphrodisiac, which somehow manages to not include Sexy Eiffel Towers

Borrell returns to dust; returns to Dunst

What can be more romantic than a man deciding he'd like to move in with you because, erm, his old house has fallen down. We're not entirely sure how one of the walls in Johnny Borrell's place collapsed - perhaps people had just banged their heads against it listening to him talk one time too many - but as the house has collapsed anyway, he's decided he might as well move in with Dunst.

The past's future: 1981 9 - ABC

Continuing our countup of Smash Hit's Brightest Hopes for 1982, Martin Fry's then-still-bright-eyed ABC. Described by SH as "scintilating", nobody knew the future held a brief period channelling the ghosts of the Archies before returning to hoofage on the 80s revival circuit.

A slightly blocky recording of a festive reworking of The Look Of Love:



[Buy: This year's ABC compilation Never More Than Now

Mariah perfume panic

As if the bad boys wandering past queues outside bookshops yesterday evening saying "oh... this is the one where he dies in the end, isn't it?" wasn't cruel enough spoilerage fun, it seems that someone has taken to faking Mariah Carey perfume ads and scattering them online, just to spoil the, ah, fun of a celebrity-endorsed bottle of very, very expensive water. Elizabeth Arden are having beautifully scented kittens:

An image of Mariah Carey with her fragrance bottle photoshopped in the corner is being featured on several blogs today, and is categorically not the advertisement for her new fragrance, nor is it even remotely close. The real ad for M by Mariah Carey will debut exclusively on TMZ during the second week of August."

Other celebrities might wonder why Carey is giving an exclusive to TMZ, a website not noticeably fond of treating the famous with the dignity and respect they might hope for. We wonder if TMZ have any 'not mentioning the whole going a bit off the rails' thing in their side of the deal?

The past's future: 1981 10 - Orange Juice

This weekend, we're revisiting the Smash Hits Reader's Poll 1981 "Most Promising New Act for 1982" results, counting down from 10 to 1. We're still debating if we should skip over number 5.

What's really interesting is that, with probably just one or two exceptions, the ten bands chosen by Smash Hits readers to shine in 1982 all feature band members who are still doing quite nicely for themselves in 2007, which might be a warming thought as to the wisdom of crowds (or Smash Hits readers, at least) or perhaps unsettling that bands tipped 25 years ago are still hanging around now.

So, without further ado: Number 10 - Orange Juice. This is Simply Thrilled Honey, from the 1986 Dada With Juice video. Which they're doing in an Orange Juice factory:



[Buy The Glasgow School, 23-track Orange Juice best-of]

The Dave Pelzer of pop

There's an interesting piece in today's Mirror exploring how Kerry Katona has managed to amass a three million quid fortune despite an expensive drug habit and no visible talent.

She has, in effect, flogged the only thing she has - misery:

"Kerry has enduring appeal because her life has all the key elements that make a great story - love, tragedy and betrayal," says one magazine executive, who has paid Kerry for a string of exclusives.

"Unlike many stars, Kerry is happy to lay bare every facet of her life and admits she is flawed.

Triumph over tragedy sells - and Kerry sells lots."

So, in effect, when her house was broken in to, the raiders were helping her to open up a new revenue stream. And the treatment for "bipolar disorder" at the Priory? That'll be a new gazebo or something right there.

The paper, sadly, never gets round to considering if it's entirely helpful to pay someone with a miserable life in eturn for sharing that misery, and what the psychological effect of knowing that your lifestyle can only be comfortable if you continue suffer is.

Madonna mafia movie mumblings

Also according to Newton's column this morning, Madonna is supposedly talking to Chris Paciello about buying the rights to his life story.

Madonna used to date Paciello, as Newton reminds us:

She was introduced to the tough guy, who looks as though he stepped straight from a Sopranos script, by her best pal INGRID CASARES and started a passionate two-year relationship.

It all fell apart after he was jailed for murder following a burglary in which a woman was shot dead by an accomplice.

Yes, that whole being a murderer thing - it really puts a wrinkle in your dating life, doesn't it?

Even Guy, supposedly, thinks this whole making-a-movie-about-an-actual-gangster (rather than Vinnie Jones pretending to be one) is a slightly stinky idea, and while Paciello might have served time for the murder of a woman, that he emerged from jail desperate to become some sort of celebrity gangster hardly speaks much of contrition.

And, frankly, if Madonna's attempting to convince the good people of Malawi she's the right person to raise David, how does making a film glorifying a thug fit in with the values she'll be teaching him?

Victoria, Victoria: When minds meets

In years to come, this will be seen as the twenty first century's own Frost-Nixon. Yes, Victoria Newton has flown to Los Angeles to meet Victoria Beckham. The extra carbon burned through was worth it, as this sort of fawning simply can't be done over the telephone:

Speaking exclusively to The Sun, Victoria, 33, said: “We’ve loved every minute so far. I can’t see us going back.”

She opened her heart on life away from Britain and Spain as Becks prepared for new team LA Galaxy’s game against Chelsea today — although his own debut was in doubt due to an injury.

She also told how she and David got so steamed up during a recent raunchy photo shoot they had to take a break and slip away for a ROMP.

Victoria said David, 33, was not bothered about swapping Real Madrid for Galaxy, a team branded no better than a pub side. And sons BROOKLYN, eight, ROMEO, four, and CRUZ, two, are thrilled with their new home.

Does Victoria N point out to Victoria B that she did a very similar round of interviews when she relocated to Spain? Does she suggest that perhaps LA is still something of a novelty and that - after they've been there some time, experienced a few downs to go with the ups - it might start feeling less like a long holiday and more like an empty place a long way from home?

Beckham, of course, is keen to stress how normal she is, while namedropping as much as possible:

“The fact is, David and I are very boring people.

“We don’t go out much. A lot of the time we are at home watching telly and putting the kids to bed.

“I had to laugh recently. We were at DEMI MOORE’s house with ASHTON KUTCHER and PENELOPE CRUZ for dinner. We ended up playing dominoes — hardly rock and roll.”

Look how everyday my life is, playing dominoes with filmstars.

You know who else is normal and down-to-earth? Tom Cruise, that's who - did Victoria mention that she knows Tom Cruise out the movies, by the way?

“Tom and Katie are ordinary people who just happen to be famous. We also have friends here who aren’t famous. That’s why I know we’ll be happy.”

Oddly, she doesn't bother listing any of those lucky people who get to be Victoria's friends without being famous, but we imagine they include that woman who comes in with the mop everyday, that bloke who makes the barrier go up and down when the car gets home, and Mel B.

But all of this is little more than a prelude to the big issues of the day. Victoria Newton is afraid to tell the truth to power. And the truth is that Beckham is fabulous:

Photos yesterday seemed to show Victoria with cellulite on her legs. I couldn’t see the slightest trace. And she said: “Everyone has cellulite, it’s nothing to be embarrassed about.”

Thank god we got that one sorted. Seriously, let's not leave it decades until this one is turned into an opera, people.

Horses neigh to filming

Band of Horses' Ben Bridwell has had enough of being filmed from 17 angles during gigs. But asking fans to stop hasn't gone down well with them: Rosemary of SDDialedIn feels she's been singled out unfairly:

At first I took a few pictures, among the many people taking pictures. There were a few songs I recorded thinking I’d stick them on YouTube and whatnot, like I have with so many other bands before. About 8 songs into the set, BoH finally played “Funeral” which all the bros from Mission Beach and PB kept calling out for.

So there I am with my tiny Sony digital camera, capturing the song, and suddenly I realize I’m getting flipped off by the singer. While playing the super emotional song, “Funeral”, he flip me off and mid song yells, “I see you recording me.” I look around and at least 5 other people are taping him and he calls me out. Fuck you. I duck out and I am fucking outta there. There’s nothing worse than a fucking whiny baby onstage. It wasn’t bad enough that earlier in the set he complained about the sound and the mix, asking his band, “Should we keep playing?” Now he’s gonna be a whiny bitch about me recording his shit. Fuck him. I was outta there.

It's interesting that Rosemary's response - which continues at some length - is hugely defensive. She says that she's taped other bands, put them up on YouTube, and even had "thank yous" from bands for the support, which is fine.

What's not fine is her response to being asked not to do it. If some people don;t mind you filming them, that doesn't mean that everyone is obliged to let you film them, and if you say you're doing it because you love the band, then surely you should respect their wishes if they ask you to stop. Rather than rush onto the internet and start calling your hero "a whiny bastard".

What's interesting is the way that, in the last decade, people have gone from trying to sneak cameras and tape recorders hidden in false penis pouches past bouncers, to viewing the recording of video and audio at gigs as something of a right.

You might suggest that, having paid for her ticket, Rosemary had every tight to tape the set if she wished. Ah:

Andrea and I scored free tickets to the show (Thank you, Owen!) and I sold off the ticket I had paid for, minus the service charges.

Bridwell has put his side:

"It was just scratching at the surface of what's happening to shows lately. Everybody's got a camera in their pocket, and they turn it on… it's become a little bit ridiculous, and it was just a bit unnerving, and [with] the situation with the show and everything, all the stars lined up and I got pissed off."

He added: "I don't know, is there no sanctity left for live performance with going to a show and seeing it with your own eyes and remembering it? Do you have to tape every second, or even just your favorite song? I understand it, but it's becoming annoying."

At the very least, you'd hope fans might exercise some discretion.

I still like trucks, big trucks

Somewhat incongruously, the heavy rain has led the organisers of the Truck Festival in Oxfordshire this weekend to ask festival goers to turn up on foot this weekend:

1.DO NOT COME TODAY (FRIDAY)

2. If possible, take public transport. There are hourly buses from Oxford and Didcot. We are still working on an alternative car parking plan as the parking fields are likely to be very muddy or even underwater.

3. Get dropped off in the village and walk up.

4. We do not recommend that you bring camper vans as they are likely to get stuck in mud.

It's the "or even underwater" which really suggests they're not mucking about, isn't it?

Iggy: I did say it, and I'm sorry

Despite some fans arguing that he'd meant "packie" shop, in the American sense of a takeaway, Iggy has confirmed he did use the phrase 'paki shop' during the BBC's Glastonbury coverage:

“I’m sorry. It was one in the morning... that was a phrase I learned from English people while I was living there.

“But it’s terrible. More fool me. Shame on me.”

We're not quite sure that it being one in the morning counts as an extenuating circumstance ("come on, we all get a little bit racist after midnight, don't we?") and you wonder what the people he was living with in England where he could pick up the phrase and not know it was abusive, but at least he's had the balls to admit he was in the wrong, and apologise for the slip. Unlike, ooh, Jo O'Meara, say.

What would Beth Ditto do?

Earlier in the week, the Guardian had a special edition of G2 marking the 50th anniversary of Guardian Women. It was a little clanging that, while other decades were marked with extracts of reportage from Greenham Common, the abortion debate and reclaim the streets marches, 2007 was represented by an extract from What Would Beth Ditto Do.

Today's column, as KarlT points out, Beth is dealing with the problems of being a have-not in a land of haves. In a fascinating attempt to both have her cake, and pretend she doesn't have any cake, Ditto attempts to side with the underclass while, simultaneously, stressing her fabulous life:

I highly recommend being one of those people such as Dolly Parton, who embrace the dirt under their fingernails, flip that blue collar right up and let all the haves know how a real person lives and behaves. Remember that in the wider world there are far more of us than there are of them, and that alone is empowering.

[...]

Once you've mastered that you should be able to have more fun with the culture clash - I had an amazing moment recently when I was standing with the head of Sony and my crusty punk best friend. My friend was talking loudly about scabies.

Now, I know Beth is trying to show how success hasn't changed her - look, I still have my old friends - but once you start even arranging in your mind that your best friend is somehow a total opposite from the head of Sony Records, never mind using her as an example of that in a newspaper column, you start to look more than a little smug. Look! I'm so street, I bring people who talk about scabies to stand front of my important business contacts.

We might just have had some respect for her if she'd phrased the anecdote the other way round - the other night, I was hanging out with my best friend when a business guy from Sony came over and started talking about market shares - but however much Beth might claim the poor is an 'us' rather than a 'them', her attitude shows otherwise.

Hang on, she's about to share another anecdote from her amazing life:

That last piece of advice is really important, as I found out recently when I took my first first-class flight. I was so ready for it - my laptop was primed for the comfort of a full desk, I had my fash mags in hand and I was ready to spread out like a picnic with the best of them. We boarded first and were escorted through security - proof right there (as if you needed it) of the class system.

I reclined happily in my lazyboy chair. There were nuts, champagne, good food. And space for everything! Then a bout of turbulence sent the honest-to-god silverware shaking. I am not usually afraid of flying - and the turbulence ended as fast as it had begun - but this time I was freaked out. Out of the whole first-class section, Hannah (Gossip's drummer) and I were the only women, and we were also the only ones awake - the men were still laid out like babies after warm milk.

Meeting Hannah's eye, I saw the real world, right there and the reason I felt so upset hit me. I didn't wanna die with these other people! If this plane went down I didn't want what parts - if any - were found of me to be entwined with them. At that moment I missed the crying babies, the mums juggling their kids, and the tiny Twix that comes with a prepackaged meal too small to satisfy a kindergartner, in my usual section of the plane. I missed my own.

We're a little confused - the fast line at airport security is nothing to do with class, and everything to do with money. And while we can't prove Beth is lying, we bet she is. Nobody would choose economy over business or first - there's a very real truth in that Seinfeld episode where he tells Elaine "you can't go back behind the curtain". Having family on both sides of the Atlantic has meant, over the course of half a decade, we just about managed enough airmiles to allow a transatlantic upgrade coming home after last Christmas. Only to business - it wasn't being paid for by the head of Sony Records - but I can't imagine that anyone, much less someone for whom the standard airline seat would prove something of a squeeze - would ever, honestly, choose to be wedged in next to a mewling toddler for six hours simply to make a half-considered point.

Karlt, meanwhile, says of the 'my friend and the Sony man' anecdote:
Did your ever so punk friend say "boo", "botty" and "wee wees" in front of the big important man in the suit as well? And is this the same Beth Ditto who was banging on about being 'underground' and complaining about her audience not having heard of the Ramones?

Usher tries to screw his fans

Imagine if someone was happy to work, without reward, building a massive shrine to you and your work. You might be happy to think of all this promotion going on, not costing you a cent.

But what if that person then disagreed with you - perhaps pointing out that you were making a bit of a fool of yourself?

It would probably be wise to take advice like that as well-meaning, even if you chose to ignore it.

Not so Usher: After fansite Usherforever.com called his open letter to bloggers "petty", Usher then got pettier, sending a legal demand that the site's URL be transfered over to his record label.

Apparently he believes there may be some sort of precedent which ensures only people who agree with him absolutely are allowed to be his fans. The claim is that people might get "confused" and think the site is an official one - oddly, when the site shared the same worldview as the celebrity, the possibility didn't seem to be of concern. Now, though, as the webpages are starting to carry entries which make it clear that they're not part of the Usher empire, Usher believes people might think they're his views. Very confusing.

Sorry turns out to be a fairly easy word after all

Elton John has trouble standing by his bitchier comments, because he usually ends up working with the people he's slagged off. It's lucky the man can be a diplomat when needed, like playing with Hear'Say. Kym Marsh remembers:

"He'd called us the ugliest band he'd ever seen.

"Then we did the Variety Performance and he was a guest. He said, 'It was really immature of me.'

Then he looked at Danny and said, 'Any chance of a date?'"

Good lord, there's making up and there's taking one for the team.

Doherty: Violence breeds violence

The whole concept of putting up a YouTube video, Revenge of the Bilo, showing you setting your mates on a photographer is a curious one - especially since Pete Doherty seems to be with giggling with delight. It doesn't show him in a very good light, and the slightly confused attempt to slather the ugliness in a Clockwork Orange-meets-Tarantino style wrapping only makes it worse.

But the biggest puzzle of all is, if Doherty is sending thugs to rough people up when they try to take shots revealing the reduced circumstances in which he's living, don't you then defeat the object if you then post a video of yourself in the flat on the internet?

Still, not everyone seems that disturbed by it - Pete's video has been rewarded with a big laugh from someone styling themselves "Jack The Raper". Charming.

Presumably it was a male chef

Can it really be true that Sting and Trudie Styler took their own chef when they went out to eat at Miami Beach's Casa Tua?

If we decide to take the story in today's Bizarre at face value, it's even more astonishing than that, as they decided that while the restaurant's own chef wasn't good enough for them, the people they were eating with could take their chances with them.

Perhaps Trudie was just really scared there might have been a slightly pregnant sous chef or something behind the swinging doors.

When the music stops...

The mainstream music industry is worried, seeing its revenues being eaten away and a future in which the companies who've carved up publishing and recording between themselves for generations in danger of being sidelined.

So, you think they'd be delighted if someone turned up, offered a new revenue stream and all they needed to do would be saying yes?

Thats what Interactive When The Music Stops thought. They've invented a mobile-phone based game a bit like that last round of Buzzcocks, where they'd send players a snatch of music, and ask them to say what lyrics come next.

Now, of course, lyrics are intellectual property so, as well as licensing the music, the company also needs to licence the words. Warner Chapel, though, wasn't having any of it:

Warner told the content provider to go off and get various licences which it duly did. Having done so, Warner just turned around and told Iwtms to wait for another six months while it thought about it.

Think about it? For half a year? Presumably they've got a But It Must Be A Trick Department to consider the request. It's hard to see the justification for the delay - since Warner Chapel can't really believe that people will somehow start gathering illegal copies of songwords ten words at a time, the suspicion has to be that they're hoping to strangle IWTMS at birth, by keeping it unable to function for months and months.

Then the music industry wonders why companies launch first, and negotiate the rights later.

For twenty bucks, you can ride Kurt's corpse

The ongoing commercialisation of the Nirvana back catalogue reaches a new low this autumn: A Very Special Cold Case, where the soundtrack will be Nirvana, Nirvana, nothing but Nirvana.

Leaving aside the dubious taste of using Cobain's music on a programme about a made-up grisly end, this next step on turning Nirvana into just another oldies band shows a process which has, probably, gone a little too far now. We imagine that whatever integrity Cobain hoped to preserve through his misjudged suicide is now so dissipated that Fox could announce a screwball comedy based on his life with Courtney and even people who felt uneasy would be able to quite remember why.

Bon Jovi has a red cow

Jon Bon Jovi out of the Bon Jovis is flicking his legal muscles in the direction of MiJovi energy drink, claiming that the company is trading off his name.

Marcos Carrington, who flogs the kick-in-a-tin, maintains that the drink is named after his girlfriend, who is called Jovita. But then maybe he just tapped off with her so he could steal a portion of Bon Jovi's name. Presumably if he'd been dating a girl called Rose, we'd be seeing Axl wielding a lawsuit.

Besides, why would anyone want to append Bon Jovi's name to an oversweet concoction that is intended to make your heart race a little but actually just winds up leaving you feeling a bit shaky and empty... oh...

Fugees split. Again.

The promise of "new Fugees" stuff has run out of steam trying to get over Lauryn Hill, reports Pras:

"Me and [Wyclef], we are on the same page, but Lauryn is in her zone and I'm fed-up with that shit.

"Here she is blessed with a gift with the opportunity to rock and give and she's running on some bullshit? I'm a fan of Lauryn's, but I can't respect that."

Of course, it's actually quite a while since Lauryn Hill was converted to run purely on bullshit. It's eco-friendly but terrible if you're around while she's filling up.

Scott Weiland: It was all a spat

Back in March, Scott Weiland and his wife had a bit of a public-falling-out. You might remember she burned all his suits.

Now, though, Weiland's got a record to try and push, and so the line of the day is: all that? It was just a little lover's spat, that's all, and it's a sitcom perfect marriage:

"We get our kids to bed at 8 p.m., we tuck 'em in, we lay down with 'em at night. There's three square meals and the whole shebang. But we also have the ability that we can take them on the road with us and allow them to see other cultures and experience things that other people don't have the opportunity to experience."

Yes. Not everyone has the opportunity to watch Mummy burning Daddy's suits in the front garden, and it's that sort of golden moment they'll have to share with their own children, assuming they're able to form stable relationships, when the time comes.

ITV still having trouble with its response

Talk of charity reminds us... it's now a month and eight days since we first wrote to ITV to ask if the network was topping up the rather disappointing £2 per album being given to the Association of Children's Hospices from the Challenge Anneka album by handing over the money it made selling advertising on the programme. We suspect that if the answer was a 'yes' we might have heard by now. But we're still waiting to be surprised.

A lot of good work for charidee

Let's just preempt the comments box and say: Yes, we know Annie Lennox's Band Aid style single is in a good cause and, yes, it will raise a bit of money.

However, wouldn't it be better all round if Shakira, Joss Stone, Dido, Celine Dion, Pink, Fergie, Gladys Knight, Bonnie Raitt, Melissa Etheridge, KT Tunstall and Madonna all released a proper single - one that they might have released anyway - and gave the money from that to Nelson Mandela's 46664 Aids charity instead? Wouldn't that raise more money and, indeed, mean that the artists involved could feel a sense of actually contributing to the cause by redirecting some of their royalties, rather than just spending an hour or so making a record that nobody would really want for its own merits?

Thom smashes hotel room

Well done, Sandi Thom: smashing up a hotel room and throwing wine around. That'll show people how rock and roll you are. If we're using "rock and roll" in its strict sense of "not giving a shit about the minimum wage slaves who are going to have to clean up after your few minutes of fun", of course.

Gennaro Castaldo Watch: Lots of Potts

James P writes to point out Gennaro Castaldo's latest public pronouncement, on the sales of Paul Potts:

'HMV spokesman Gennaro Castaldo said: "It's incredible how TV can take a complete unknown artist and catapult him to overnight chart success."'

As James suggests:
Yes. Yes, it is. It's incredible, amazing and previously unheard-of that if a man sings quite well on a TV show watched by over 10 million people, some of those people might want to buy an album which that man goes on to release. Thank you, Gennaro.

Presumably Gennaro is still astonished that clouds can make electricity, and it's possible - by simply cutting off the crusts at the factory - to make a loaf without any crusts on.

Astonisnging times we live in. Slightly more astonishing, though, is that ITV news, the Western Mail, and even the NME have felt that the original comment to BBC News site was worth repeating.

Elsewhere, Gennaro has popped up in the Herald to enthuse over the prospects for Mercury-nominated bands:

Gennaro Castaldo, spokesman for the music chain HMV, agrees: "The publicity that will be generated from now through to the awards ceremony will ensure that all the nominated artists get a lift in album sales, and lesser-known nominees have the platform to introduce themselves to a new and wider audience. Whoever wins can expect a significant boost to their careers. Previous winners such as Ms Dynamite in 2003 and Antony and the Johnsons in 2005 recorded five-fold increases in sales of their nominated albums."

We'd have thought Castaldo would have been able to tell the difference between "a short-term boost to sales of the nominated album" and "a significant boost to their careers", or at least would have had the wit to have picked a couple of acts who have had any sort of profile-enabled post-awards career.

Across the Atlantic, and Gennaro was sent to explain to Americans why HMV did its u-turn and started stocking the Mail On Sunday. He told Time:

"We decided we could either get marginalized or we could get right in there," says spokesman Gennaro Castaldo. "With whatever reservations, our motivation was to give our customers the choice and access to the album."

Ah. This, then, would be a different HMV from the chain which pulled all Rolling Stones albums off its Canadian shelves in a strop when the band did a deal with another chain.

Tool breaks rock

Having done his own bit to squeeze any interest or life out of the genre, Maynard James Keenan of Tool has announced the death of heavy rock:

[His new band is] "my attempt to make music to inspire people. Heavy rock is sinking, the industry is dying. This is definitely not thinking man’s music.”

By a staggering coincidence, his new band don't play heavy rock (it's called Puscifer - no, really - and finds room for Lisa Germano in its big tent.)

“In a way, I feel like I’m standing in two places at once. I have my right foot in then, and my left foot on to the next stage. The industry needs an enema.”

We're not sure that giving an enema to a dying man is such a good idea - although, doubtless, there's an episode of House where this is done to spectacular effect.

Puscifer. Really.

European ISPs not obliged to turn you in

In a note of advice provided to the European Court, Advocate General Juliane Kokott has clarified the current law applying to information your ISP holds about you. Kokott has advised the court that there is no compulsion on the part of ISPs to provide client details to record companies seeking to pursue civil cases. There would be compulsion if a criminal case was being pursued.

The request for information came via the European Court from Spain, where local ISP Telefonica is in court after refusing to hand personal details to Promusicae, the Spanish RIAA client organisation. Although the European Court has yet to make a formal ruling, it would be unusual for them to diverge from formal advice.