Tenenbaum fine: USD675,000

The jury in the Tenenbaum case has decided he must pay $22,500 for each track he used contrary to the terms of the licence, which tots up to a 675,000 dollar bill.

There's to be an appeal - given that the judge passed a summary judgement which stopped any discussion of fair use - but it's still not clear how the jury wound up at this figure in the first place. There's a maximum amount allowed by law - $150,000 per track - and a morally justifiable amount of about 99 cents a track. Where are the jury coming up with their figure from? Is there anything scientific about their deliberations, or is it simply a case of a number which sounds right?

Because it's not clear how an arbitrary fine really helps anyone, is it?

Gordon in the morning: If you have sides, prepare to split them now

Believe it or not, in the print edition of Bizarre this morning, this is the lead:

OASIS have had a few insults hurled their way over the years but CRISTIANO RONALDO has delivered the best one yet.

The ex Manchester Utd ace, an unpopular lad in the sky-blue half of the city, reckons the band aren't a patch on Latino pop singer RICKY MARTIN.

The lead story. In a newspaper's flagship column. A newspaper which people pay money for.

Okay, it's a faintly amusing thing to say, if you're still interested in an overpaid footballer and an over-rated musician having a long-distance dryhump in the newspapers.

But for Gordon? It's like the Punch Lunch has been arranged for the Algonquin:

I have nothing but respect for Ronaldo for playing ball by chipping in yet again with a put-down Mr Big would have been proud of.

To be fair "I bet Noel Gallagher wishes he'd said that" is hardly overselling a joke, I suppose.

I can't wait for James Murdoch's pay wall. Imagine: we get all this, and we get to throw coins, too.

Bookmarks: Some stuff to read on the internet - lyrics

Meet Awesomely Bad Lyrics, which... well, you can guess, can't you? But it's more than just finger-pointing. There's annotation as well:

I picked up the cash flow / Then we played bones, and I’m yellin' domino / Plus nobody I know got killed in South Central L.A., today was a good day

I have played dominoes a few times and have never heard of yelling "DOMINO!" but apparently it is a thing.

I don't know how this last line is supposed to be punctuated: He could be saying that people he knows got killed, just not in South Central L.A. ... or nobody he knows got killed, and it was a good day in South Central L.A.

Madonna explains her obsession

What, you may have wondered, led Madonna to sign up to the pretend-version of Kabbalah?

She's answered that question:

'There was something missing in my life'

Yes, yes, there was. The ability to spot a charlatan selling water and ribbons at inflated prices to the gullibly miserable.

Life no longer seemed like a series of Random events,' she writes. 'I also began to see that being Rich and Famous wasn't going to bring me lasting fulfillment and that it was not the end of the journey.'

Oddly, though, she didn't seem to worry about no longer being rich or famous. Even as unfulfilling as all that money is, she does seem to have come to terms with the emptiness.

Gennaro Castaldo Watch: Pope plans pop push

It's not entirely unprecedented for an announcement of a Christmas release of stuff by the serving Pope to be flagged up as a potential festive number one: after all, there's a lot of Catholics, and if they all go out and buy a record by the Pope, their heft alone should get it to the top of the charts, right?

It never actually happens.

Well known is the current Pope's opposition to rock music - it's Satanic, he reckons, and he's one of those people who has to pretend he believes in Satan like there really is one, so that's quite serious. Perhaps he'll be prepared to put in the hours to defeat rock in the Christmas charts, then. You know, popping up on Jonathan Ross' sofa; doing a couple of liturgies in session with Marc Riley, that type of thing.

Hating rock must make it hard for Benedict to find a label, though? Who's putting this one out?

Oh. Geffen. So, rock music is a force of Satan infiltrating the world's youth... but, hey, happy to work with the people who distribute it nevertheless. Nice to see moral certainty still as solid as ever at the Vatican, isn't it?

Meanwhile, the Times calls on an expert to provide a quote which straight-facedly pretends Benedict is in with a chance of the number one slot:

A spokesman for HMV said: “Besides a sizeable Christian community that will be interested in this recording for reasons of faith, it could potentially also tap into a wider audience drawn to its spiritual and calming content, especially in these rather turbulent social and economic times.

“Albums of monastic chanting were quite popular when they came out a few years ago, and just last year a CD of hymns and sacred arias by The Priests made it into the top ten - so there is definitely a market out there for religious-based content.

“A precedent was set by Pope John Paul II, whose voice was featured on the Abba Pater recording of prayers and meditations, which made it into the top 100 in March 1999.

“Coming out so close to Christmas this album could well prove a popular purchase among shoppers looking to for an ideal gift for their gran or aunt, although His Holiness Pope Benedict may well have to compete with the likes of Jay-Z, a rumoured Robbie Williams release and Susan Boyle for the Christmas No 1.”

An HMV spokesman? Has Gennaro now become like Yahweh himself, a name that cannot be uttered?

Peter Andre has a big payday

Of course, it's a bit of a shame that Peter Andre is still relying on his connection with Jordan to make a few bob, but he seems delighted to accept "substantial" damages from the Sunday People:

Peter Andre accepted substantial undisclosed libel damages from the People newspaper in the high court today over a false claim that he made inappropriate sexual advances to a woman who looked like his estranged wife Katie Price.
[...]
Speaking outside the high court today, Andre said he was "pleased" the People had accepted that the story was "untrue and hurtful".

Yes. What could be more hurtful than being accused in public of being the sort of man who would have sex with a woman who looked like Jordan?

Oh... no, hang on:

"I have never been unfaithful to my wife – not with this girl, or any other girl," he added. "This story has led to a lot of speculation about whether I was faithful to my estranged wife which even led her to mention it on a breakfast television show last week.

"If anyone slanders my name I will not hesitate in taking action against them. Now, hopefully, this will bring these rumours and lies to an end and let me move on with my life."

Interesting. So Andre will take action against anyone who slanders his name. And this story is libelous - as shown by this legal action. And Jordan repeated in on a broadcast programme. So... presumably Andre will be bringing a libel action against his own wife now?

Gordon in the morning: Keeping it covered

Gordon Smart has heard - you suspect in a phonecall from N-Dubz management - that Tulisa has been made an offer she has refused:

N-DUBZ star TULISA CONTOSTAVLOS has turned down a £250,000 offer to appear starkers in Playboy.

Now, given that Gordon's job is underwritten from a newspaper that has built its position on printing photographs of women with no shirts on, and Gordon's daily cavalcade of nipslips and pap tit snaps, you might think this would outrage Smart. Fair exchange is no robbery, after all. But it turns out Gordon is the first on his feet, applauding:

What a refreshing change. Many women in showbiz will happily get their kit off just to stay in the spotlight.

Who would have thought? Thank god that's something that Gordo would never be part of. He's a man with strong, feminist pr... what was that, Gordon?

My exclusive pic of her in leopard print gear proves there's no need to strip.

Oh.

The Kershaws never leave quietly

If you ever find one of the Kershaw siblings sat in your prebooked train seat, it might be wise to find somewhere to stand, as the vortex thrown up by their departure is more uncomfortable than the other option.

Liz Kershaw has just been asked to step aside from the BBC Coventry and Warwickshire breakfast show. She hasn't taken it well, circulating an email to all her colleagues (yes, colleagues, as she's still got a show on the station):

"New era eh? How sensitive to someone's feelings after 4 years of dedication and professionalism.

"I think a presenter who has put in so much and has been so publicly humiliated already by the BBC deserves better. Among their colleagues. [sic]

"Good job the listeners are wise to what's going on and more sympathetic. Watch your back Cath. Beware the Ides of March etc. Could be your turn next. Will tell you more when we meet in September. Liz."

"So publicly humiliated by the BBC"? Is that a reference to how she was prerecording 6Music programmes with faked competitions, and yet somehow managed to keep her job while all around her were losing hers?

Let's hope she never teams up with Marilyn Manson to form a revenge force.

Something to listen to: Cambodia

On iPlayer for a few more days: Khmer Rock and The Killing Fields, which tells the story of what happened to Cambodia's rock scene under Pol Pot. Given that he didn't tolerate glasses, you can probably conclude that it's not a pretty story.

EMI gets the chance to burn through more cash

The FT is reporting that investors in EMI have agreed to Guy Hands' injection of £300million into the group:

Mr Hands is understood to be working with Barclays, JPMorgan and Morgan Stanley on a plan to raise £200m-£280m from a high-yield bond issue that could repay some of the debt EMI owes to Citigroup.

Repaying debt with more debt. All very inventive.

Perhaps they should just stick to mucking about with financial instruments and forget the whole making records thing? They seem much better at the one than the other.

Even dead, Michael Jackson is generating lawsuits over money

The LA City Attorney is currently buying pencils and post-it notes in order to find out how it is that AEG pocketed large sums of cash for boxes at the Jacko memorial, promising the cash would go to the LA Police Foundation, only for no large cheque to appear:

A rep for AEG told TMZ there were 18 suites that went for $5,000 a pop and AEG did indeed promise the money would be donated to the Police Foundation. The rep said AEG is still doing a final accounting of the event and "We have every intention of making this donation."

AEG says the city is trying to get way too much -- 7 figures -- out of them for the event. But the City Attorney believes AEG is on the hook for expenses including sanitation, transportation, street services and LAPD protection -- and that does indeed go into the 7 figures.

They were selling boxes? To a memorial? Classy.

Twittergem: Solange Knowles

Following Solange Knowles is a gift that keeps on giving:

Ever had to wipe yourself with coffee filters. It's not so bad.

If filesharing prevention is done to protect artists, why don't they see any money

The Guardian asks a pertinent question: what happens to all the damages handed over by unlicensed music users who get shaken down by the RIAA and similar organisations?

Obviously, in most cases, the legal costs far outweigh the gains to be made, but sometimes there is a profit. What then?

Well, of course, the moneys raised are shared with the artists whose work has been "stolen", isn't it? Because that's what it's all about, right? Protecting the artist?

Oh, don't be so silly:

A spokesman for the IFPI responded to my questions with the following statement:
"Tackling music piracy is anything but a profitable activity for the music industry. Any compensation received as a result of the cases taken by the industry is unfortunately a tiny drop in the ocean when set against the enormous cost of illegal filesharing and other forms of piracy in terms of lost sales. Generally, when IFPI receives money from actions taken on behalf of rights-holders, this is ploughed back into our anti-piracy operations."

You'll have spotted the usual music industry tactic of throwing a red herring in there:
- when you get money from filesharers, what happens to it?
- the money we get from filesharers is nothing compared to the money we've lost in sales, you know

But then, when an answer is offered, it's the suggestion that money paid in response to lawsuits is spent on more lawsuits. Confirming that, whatever the original intention of suing, it's now become a little side industry all on its own. No wonder it's so hard for the record companies to abandon the strategy.

Still, surely someone must have questioned the morality of wailing "you're stealing royalties from the artists which is wrong", only to spend the reclaimed royalties rather than passing them on to the artists?

Michael Jackson: Won't somebody think of the souffle?

Surely by now, everyone who was tangentially connected to the Jackson household has told their tale?

Not quite. For we have yet to hear from Kai Chase. Chase is, erm, the chef, and so had a not-very-central role to play in the kitchen while Jackson was taken ill:

The chef recalls, "You could feel the energy change... It was a happy home, there's music playing throughout the house, fireplaces roaring and beautiful laughter... It just felt still, it just felt like a distant feeling."

A distant feeling you could feel, albeit distant. One of those feelings.

Hang about... roaring fireplaces? In Los Angeles? In June? It was twenty degrees outside the day he died - what were the roaring fires for?

Still, she'll never forget where she was when she heard the news that Jackson was dead. She was listening to the news:

She adds, "I'm driving in my car and I hear... 'Mr. Jackson's pronounced dead.'
"I had to pull over... Who knew? I panicked. I was devastated and started crying. This was a lovely man. This man was sensational... He was a fabulous father of his children."

Who knew? Well, if it was on the radio, it's a fairly safe bet that anyone who was near a computer would have known at that point.

Still, she does paint a lovely picture of dinner at the Jackson's place:

"In the day times he would have, maybe, some of the art he enjoyed, that he collected, and he'd have it around the dining room, so the kids would have an impression they were eating in a museum."

... because they would be told not to touch anything and to keep quiet. And have to fill out a quiz sheet before they could leave.

Still, this would all make for a great episode of Supersizers, wouldn't it?

Embed and breakfast man: Lacuna Coil

This is Survive, played live by Lacuna Coil at Slims in San Francisco on the Monday night just gone:



The whole concert is chunked up and punted into YouTube for you to enjoy.

Something to listen to: Echo & The Bunnymen

Off over on the Bunnymen website, a stream (QuickTime, would you believe?) of a new track, Do You Know Who I Am?

[ta an' all to YANP]

3Am to take on TMZ

Oh, bless their little shoes. The Daily Mirror has decided that it wants some of that TMZ action and is spinning 3am out into a website.

Obviously, it already is a website, hosting the poorly-conceived ramblings of the current Mirror gossip team, but now it's going to go 24 hours a day.

Well, yes, it is already 24 hours a day. Because even Trinity Mirror haven't started switching off their servers when they go home for the night. But this is different, right?

The launch of the website marks the first time that 3am content has been spun-off as a standalone brand. Until now it has only been available on the Mirror.co.uk website under its "Celebs" section.

3am.co.uk, which has been six months in development, will provide 24-hour celebrity news, video and blogs.

I guess it'll be handy when James Murdoch walls up Gordon Smart behind a tollbooth.

Still, nice to hear that 3AM is going to save the Daily Mirror. Just like back in 2004 when it was a 3AM magazine that was the future:

The launch of 3am Magazine this week was the first salvo produced by a 50-strong magazines unit established by Trinity Mirror to help reverse the sales decline of its three national titles.

Journalists in the new "centre of excellence" have been encouraged to dress down, listen to the radio and "get out and about" in order to encourage a creative atmosphere.

The two-page 3am gossip column, launched in April 2001, has been identified by Trinity Mirror bosses as the newspaper's most identifiable brand and a major selling point.

Daily Mirror Circulation - January 2004 - 1,919,125
Daily Mirror Circulation - June 2009 - 1,330,301

Well, that worked well, then.

Phil Hall, who created the magazine division left in 2005; the division was closed in 2007 and I don't think anyone even noticed when the 3AM Magazine vanished.

Quite a powerbase to start taking down TMZ from, then. No word on if the 3AM ranks will be swollen to include people to actually file stories 24 hours a day, or if the UK really has enough celebrities to keep such a site going. Even TMZ is reduced to filling the longueurs between dead singers by running "you won't guess what a woman you've never heard of from a 70s sitcom you've forgotten looks like now... oh, older... oh, you did guess then".

The Tenenbaum trial: People say the funniest things under oath

So, the Tenenbaum trial is now basically about how large the "damages" should be, as Judge Nancy Gertner granted a summary dismissal on the fair use defence. Because, hey, why should we even bother listening to the arguments properly, right?

Now the trial is burrowing into the issue of losses sustained by the music industry, which led to this surprising claim:

Turning to the critical issue of harm, plaintiffs called their expert Stanley Liebowitz, an economics professor at the University of Texas at Dallas, who opined forcefully that file-sharing has harmed the market for recorded music. Liebowitz displayed a graph that showed the revenues from recorded music rising fairly steadily from 1973 until 1999, when they dropped dramatically and continued to fall through 2008, the last year for which he had data.

The cause of the sudden turn for the worse in 1999? Napster, testified Liebowitz. Recorded music revenues dropped from $18.5 billion in 1999 to $8.5 billion in 2008 (both in 2008 dollars). Liebowitz explained how he considered various explanations for the drop in revenue: overall economic conditions, change in prices, and consumer shifts in entertainment purchases away from music to DVDs and videogames. But, he said, the data simply didn’t support any of these explanations, leading him to conclude that the real culprit was consumers’ newfound ability to obtain music on the Internet without paying for it.

Now, I can see that you might be able to construct an argument that unlicenced file-sharing harmed the recorded music industry. But to suggest that there's no data which supports other theories as to cause of the decline is flabbergasting. The shift of CD sales from specialist stores to supermarkets, and the consequent repricing of the highest sellers from luxury purchase to impulse buy can't, in any way, explain the drop in value of music sold? Seriously? The rise of the DVD, combined with the end of a golden age of people repurchasing their vinyl records as CDs - that isn't apparent in the data Liebowitz has seen?

To say nothing of his apparent - fallacious - assumption that the music industry would naturally carry on selling more and more, year on year. Is it not possible the CD and the lure of buying your collection over and over again disguised what would otherwise have been a drop in sales from the start of the 1980s? After all, if you look at sales, Thriller is the one to beat. That came out in 1983, just as CDs were becoming commercially available. Could it be the decline in sales is more because the industry became obsessed with repackaging its old shit instead of focusing on fresh?

Apparently not, according to Liebowitz's testimony. Napster, and Napster alone, broke five multinational companies.

The case continues.

To say nothing of not even consider

Blink 182 afraid of being heard

Blink 182 have written a brand new song. Well, I say "brand new"; experience suggests it'll be the same song with a different name. Although I could be being unfair - it might be a seven minute mock-rock-opera. They're too afraid to play it in public, so nobody knows:

Bassist Mark Hoppus explained: "We might possibly play it, but probably not, though. finished recording it yet, and we really don't want the first time that people hear our new song to be a YouTube version of us playing it live. We want it to be the actual song, and we haven't gotten the chance to finish it yet, so we'll probably leave it out of the set until we actually release it."

"We don't think anyone will want to buy the song if they get to hear it first. And, besides, it's unfinished. And if people hear the half-finished thing, they might, you know, conclude it's the same song that we've been churning out for the last oh-god-is-it-really-17-years and not buy it when we have 'finished' it in some way. No, we'll just keep it over here. There is too a new track. There is. You just can't hear it. It's like a kitten. You can't touch the kittens before they're ready. Mother would tell me that. 'Don't touch the kittens' she'd scream. 'Leave those kittens alone'. At the top her lungs. Then she'd drag me down the street, calling all the neighbours to look: 'Look, look, Mark touched the kittens and now their Momma is going to reject them. Because Mark couldn't follow the rules. I should reject him, the way the momma cat will reject the kittens'. Only... uh... on YouTube. Can I have a popsicle, please?"

Twittergem: Tim Westwood

Breakfast time. Time to check in with Westwood:

These all inclusive hotels mean you eat for 10 people cos its free food & I'm a greedy muthf#ka. If I was here for 2 weeks I'd explode & die

Death by Coco Pops, eh? Should we start a whip-round for a nice holiday voucher for Tim?

Copyright industry shrugs and says 'nobody lives forever'

Listen to the charming words of Steven Metalitz, one of the lawyers getting fat off the record and movie industry attempts to sue the modern world out of existence:

"We reject the view," he writes in a letter to the top legal advisor at the Copyright Office, "that copyright owners and their licensees are required to provide consumers with perpetual access to creative works. No other product or service providers are held to such lofty standards. No one expects computers or other electronics devices to work properly in perpetuity, and there is no reason that any particular mode of distributing copyrighted works should be required to do so."

But on the other hand, Metalitz, obody expects books or CDs to simply stop working because the person who sold you them suddenly decides to stop "supporting" the "format".

Cory Doctrow's response is neat:

It's hilarious that the same yahoos who argue for perpetual copyright (implying that copyrighted works have value forever) also argue for time-limited ownership (implying that people who buy copyrighted works should be content to enjoy them for a few weeks or years until the DRM stops working).

And if that is the deal, then the term in which the product will work should be made clear before purchase. because who would rent a holiday home if the landlord said "I might turn up one night and just throw you out, by the way. Won't tell you when."

Gordon in the morning: Curran affairs

According to the current edition of Wired UK, James Murdoch has said with a straight face that he believes that the Sun's showbusiness coverage will drive people to subscribe to the paper's website in the same way that the business information published by the Wall Street Journal persuades people to fork out for wsj.com.

No, seriously.

Some sort of tailspinning around Alex Curran's people making New! "clarify" a comment she made about Liverpool is apparently on a par with the latest stock prices.

James believes that Gordon copying a couple of tweets from Lily Allen and Liam Gallagher and adding some stuff about them drinking on an aeroplane is pretty much the same as having an expert in the petrochemical industries provide an overview of the day's trading in energy futures on the Far East exchanges.

Murdoch Junior is betting his digital farm on people being willing to pay for something about Jude Law possibly having another kid with a "mystery woman".

It's a lot of faith to put in Gordon and his team.

Marilyn Manson doesn't take criticism well

Apparently confusing himself with Jeanette Winterson, Marilyn Manson is threatening to visit music journalists at home:

"If one more 'journalist' makes a cavailier statement about me and my band, I will personally or with my fans' help greet them at their home and discover just how much they believe in their freedom of speech.

"I dare you all to write one more thing that you won’t say to my face. Because I will make you say it. In that manner. That is a threat."

Manson - who is a bit like Gene Wilder playing Lord Voldermort - doesn't exactly say what he considers to be a "cavalier statement". Would "desperately trying to plough a furrow despite having hit the rock beneath many years ago" upset him, for example? Or "a sense of style which suggests a funeral director who arrived late at the jumble sale" be the sort of thing to set him off.

Still, interesting to see the man who ran into the streets screaming "please don't blame me" post-Columbine is now suggesting his fans might want to beat up people who have different tastes in music. Sure, Manson is just blowing hard on his blog, but his audience is pretty suggestible and not exactly the brightest fanbase around. for their hero to suggest that people be attacked until they are happy to cede their free speech sits oddly with his suggestion that he stands against the bullies of society.

Downloadable: The Mountain Goats

Thanks to Daniel B for the good news about The Good News, a new collection from the Mountain Goats. The record has a theme - "twelve hard lessons the bible has taught me" - and you can get a sample of those lessons from the free download, Genesis 3:23.

I'll save you the effort:

So the LORD God banished him from the Garden of Eden to work the ground from which he had been taken.

They're talking about Adam.

There's also a song about this one:

Then she said, "Here is Bilhah, my maidservant. Sleep with her so that she can bear children for me and that through her I too can build a family."

We'll have to wait until the album arrives on October 6th.

Bloc Party tease us by hanging round the door

Kele Bloc Party shrugs as he looks into the future:

"We don't know what the future holds," he said. "It's weird, we're out of contract now so... we might take a year off, we might take three years off.... we might never make a record again or we might head straight back in and do a record. We'll see how we feel come the end of this touring cycle."

The trouble with dropping this sort of hint is that it's like stagediving - you really need to be sure the audience is there to catch you when you leap.

The noise you can hear? It might just be Okereke landing on the ground.

Young Jeezy desperate to see dog-slaughterer playing ball

You can forgive Young Jeezy a little, as it's clear he's never quite had a fully-formed thought complete a journey all the way along a synapse - but is he really so keen to see animal-torturing git Michael Vick back as if nothing happened?

"That's my dude.I just talked to Michael Vick. Welcome back. I'mma just be real. I'm not saying this to be funny. I know 'em all, from Pacman Jones to Michael Vick. Sometimes keeping it real becomes keeping it dumb. It's hard enough in that position that they in. You can't keep a good dude down. He bounced back. We gonna wish him the best and tell him to stay out the strip club unless you're rolling with me."

Is Jeezy really suggesting that it's somehow the pressure of "keeping it real" that led Vick to spend six years torturing animals for money?

Perhaps sensing that splashing about in the blood of dead dogs might be a bad look, Jeezy attempts a soft backpedal:

"But you know what, I got dogs, so I feel the pet owners,"

Perhaps Jeezy is hoping that by implying he assumes that Vick's crimes were on a par with leaving a dog in a hot car on a warm day for a few minutes, the world won't conclude that he's got the empathic powers of a sun-baked rock.

If that was the plan, he then blows it by trying to suggest that making dogs fight for money, and slaughtering those that fail, is something to do with background:

"But sometimes we as a people, we come up harsh and rugged and we get excitement out of things like that, and it might not be the right thing. I don't think it was worth him losing everything he had and not being able to take care of his people around him. He was punished. He went to jail. A lot of cats don't even go to jail. But he went to jail, did his time, he's home. He paid his debt to society. Give him a football and some Gatorade, and let's get it."

A lot of cats don't go to jail. Nor do a lot of dogs, although a lot of dogs do end up dead under Michael Vick's patio.

Let's not give him a football, eh? Let's make him try and do something that can give some value to the world instead of showering him with money and pretending that he didn't kill a lot of dogs.

Luckily, it seems the people who run NFL football teams have higher standards than Jeezy, and nobody is rushing to pick up the contract for the dog-murdering Vick.

Or we could just make Vick and Jeezy play football together. In a large field of hungry, angry dogs.

On the downward spiral

Could there be a more thankless task than trying to keep HMV afloat, by means of putting a backwards-baseball-cap on Nipper and inviting kids in to hey, chill or whatever?

It turns out, yes: HMV chief executive Simon Fox is being talked of as the favourite to replace Michael Grade at ITV.

ITV is the one that has Coronation Street on it. You remember.

Gordon in the morning 2: Crossed lines

Here's some unlikely news - Ian Brown not only writing songs for Rihanna, but deciding that they're too good for her? Gordon Smart has the scoop:

He was snapped in his native Manchester filming the video for new song Stellify - which was meant for RIHANNA.

Ian, who releases sixth solo album My Way in September, said: "As we got to the end of writing it I thought, 'You know what? I'm gonna keep this for myself.'"

Gordon doesn't seem in any way surprised that Brown would be writing songs to provide a follow-up hit to Umbrella.

And, to be fair, the City Life interview which Smart just ripped off without crediting also seems less-than-surprised that Brown is providing songs for top-flight US R&B stars.

But could it be that Stellify was actually intended for Rhianna, rather than Rihanna? Given that the Rhianna has provided back-up vocals for Brown's albums in the past?

Breaking news: New NME editor

MediaGuardian have just tweeted that Krissi Murison is the new editor of NME. Which is nice to see that they're promoting from within, and also ignoring the 'GURLS KEEP OUT' which had been scrawled on the editors desk since the start of time.

Sandi Thom: Condensed

James T emails with exciting news:

I hope you're as excited about this as I am. Sandi Thom is finally releasing her Greatest Hits! I'm surprised they managed to condense it down to just *one* CD, but I'm glad they're giving it a summer release to prevent a witch-hunt after she beats the inevitable 15 Jackson compilations to number 1. Full story (just as tongue in cheek as this email) at Popjustice.

They've managed, somehow, to find 18 tracks for the album. Actually, 17, because the only song that anyone remembers is on there twice (I Wish I Was A Punkrocker - no, the one you were thinking of was probably KT Tunstall).

They've got a "live from the basement" track in the mix - you'll vaguely remember that Thom was launched as some sort of internet powerhouse who was self-made in her own basement with a webcam, until the story started to unravel and it turned out to be a PR stunt, so it's nice to remember that happy time.

There's also a song called When Horsepower Meant What It Said - which, erm, would be ever since the term was invented, as it's a measure of the amount of work a horse could do and only makes sense as a comparison figure for machines.

Still, the upside of all this is it sounds like a recording contract being tidily finished up, doesn't it?