Weekly Round Up (18 May 2009)

Here's the latest batch of music news....

Top Stories

The online music site, Spotify, is planning to launch a mobile version and launch in the US.

Founder Daniel Ek spoke about what he thought the future lay in store for the product: "Portability is an important aspect, [as is] interoperability with other devices."

"That's definitely something we think is a premium product that people are willing to pay for - being able to bring the music with you or being able to have it working on your stereo."

A £9.99 subscription is currently available in the UK which blocks adverts. The US market could well see something by the end of this year or the beginning of 2010.

Meanwhile, the debate as to how to deal with illegal (or should that be alegal?) downloading on music continues. The Internet Service Providers Association (ISPA) has spoken of its disapproval over a plan proposed by an alliance of creative industries in the UK to disconnect music file sharers' internet connections.

The alliance of the creative industries have called on the Government to "cut-off" repeat offenders to reduce the distribution of copyrighted material, but the response from the ISPA was that the idea was "disproportionate":

"ISPs and consumer groups consider disconnection of users to be a disproportionate response, a view that was recently supported by the european parliament."

In an attempt to offer some sort of compromise to the situation, Barbara Follet MP, minister for the creative industries, told industry executives that they were looking at a system of penalties and threats of legal action.

We'll see how this develops.

Myspace Magic

A couple of bands have added new material to their profiles over the past week. Scarborough's finest, Loveday Fools, have uploaded two new tracks - 'Terry O'Neill' and 'Come On Mate'. The former is a wistful ballad, while 'Come On Mate' is a down to earth little ditty which could be about any of our mates. This band is certainly versatile, so I seriously recommend a listen.

Liverpool's The Jacs have also added two new demos to their myspace page. This band will be featured in an nme-europe Myspace Magic article in the near future, but for now, all 60s music lovers should head straight for their page.

If you're looking for something along the lines of Editors-cum-Placebo-cum-The Cinematics you shouldn't bypass The Scholars. This Midland band, already featured on nme-e have added a couple of new tunes to their myspace profile. 'Turbulence' is my particular favourite - this band is really churning out some quality tunes and are surely one to watch.

Finally, another Midland band, Subkicks, released their debut album last week. A full feature will appear here this week, but for now have a look at their profile and sample some of their sounds.

Reviews
This week's main release is 'Journal For Plague Lovers' by the Manic Street Preachers, which has already caused a stir in with its cover. Indeed, supermarkets are refusing to display their new album cover, only stocking it in a blank slipcase because they fear that the cover image will offend.


Nicola Williamson, Sainsbury's music buyer, said: "We felt that some customers might consider this particular album cover to be inappropriate if it were prominently displayed on the shelf. As such, the album will be sold in a sleeve provided by the publisher."

However, James Dean Bradfield had other thoughts. "You can have lovely shiny buttocks and guns everywhere in the supermarket on covers of magazines and CDs," he said, "but you show a piece of art and people just freak out."

He's kind of got a point...

And finally....
Antonio Vega, 51, R.I.P.

Now, most of you will be wondering, 'who?' but Antonio Vega should go down as one of the great pop-writers in the Spanish music world. Nor he nor his band ever made the giddy heights they might have (and probably would have if they had been from the UK or the US) deserved, but Vega's lyrical and musical ability is unquestionable. His most popular song, 'La Chica De Ayer' was, in fact, covered by the Gigolo Aunts and is possibly the best way to remember him.