EMI ANNOUNCES £1.75 BILLION LOSS
So, the doom and the gloom surrounding EMI only grew yesterday following yesterday morning's news that the London-based major's owners Terra Firma were asking their financial backers to pump another £100 million into the flagging music company to enable it to meet its loan repayment commitments to Citigroup.

As the day progressed it was revealed that the major was about to announce a pre-tax loss of £1.75 billion for the financial year to the end of March 2009 - which it then did - which is a pretty magnificent sized hole, even for the struggling record industry. No wonder there are concerns the company will stumble on its loan terms, enabling Citigroup to seize ownership of the major for itself. And no wonder there is speculation that some of Terra Firma's financial backers are ready to bail on the music company.

That said, the details behind the £1.75 billion losses reduces the drama slightly. A billion of the losses were caused by the firm's accountants insisting on a so called 'impairment charge', whereby the perceived value of the EMI catalogues and the company's corporate reputation was dramatically cut, having a serious impact on the firm's bottom line. Meanwhile ongoing restructuring costs used up over £100 million and interest payments to the aforementioned Citigroup on the loan Terra Firma took out to buy EMI in 2007 cost the company several hundred million more.

What this means is that, while EMI's record labels continued to flag in 2008/2009 (this was before the big Beatles reissue remember), a boost in music publishing revenues meant the company in itself was just about operational. It was accountancy recalculations and costs directly associated with Terra Firma's 2007 acquisition that caused a bulk of those dramatic losses.

But while rational thinking can reduce the drama of the '£1.75 billion in losses' headline a little, that's not to say EMI isn't on the brink as we write. According to the Telegraph, KPMG, the auditors of Maltby, the holding company through which Terra Firma own EMI, have said that the music company is more likely than ever to breach its lending terms to Citibank, while they also raise concerns about the £200 million deficit in the firm's pension fund. Those facts, the accountants say "cast significant doubt on the group's ability to continue as a going concern".

All of which explains why Terra Firma and its top man Guy Hands are so keen to persuade their financial backers to cough up some extra cash. But many reckon that even if £100 million is forthcoming, that cash will only buy a limited amount of time, and too little time to turn round EMI's fortunes before another cash crisis related to commitments on the Citigroup loan. A fact which might make Terra Firma's investors wonder if now is the time to cut their losses.

And, of course, as we pondered yesterday, all this uncertainty will make it difficult for EMI to sign any of the next big thing talent that has the most profit potential for a record company. What manager will want their band signed to a company which might not exist in its current form in a year's time? All this talk of doom and gloom - even if not entirely founded just now - is in danger of becoming a self-fulfilling prophecy.

A Warner merger like that we outlined in yesterday's CMU Daily is looking more and more like an attractive proposition, even if it would require Citigroup to turn some of their debt into equity, and Terra Firma to relinquish control to Warner Music's Edgar Bronfman Jr and see their overall stake dramatically reduced.

Presumably all those former senior EMI types forced out by Terra Firma and Hands after their 2007 acquisition must be smiling a little this morning. While it's true those former execs also had a role in creating EMI's current insecure state, the arrogant "the problem with you music people is that you don't understand business" attitude of Team Terra Firma in 2007 is now looking a little silly. Hands will blame the credit crunch for his failure, of course, though that was only part of the problem. The Terra Firma man was very astute when it came to identifying the problems facing EMI and the wider record industry, but less good at figuring out the solutions.

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AFACT LOSE AUSSIE AUTHORISING INFRINGEMENT CASE
The Australian film and TV industry's attempt to basically force a three-strikes style anti-piracy system onto the country's ISPs through litigation rather than lobbying has failed. That is to say the Federal Court in Sydney has ruled in favour of internet service provider iiNet in the previously reported dispute between the net firm and the Australian Federation Against Copyright Theft.

As previously reported, AFACT accused the net company of so called 'authorising infringement' for failing to stop their customers from illegally accessing and sharing unlicensed content on the internet. It was something of a test case which, had AFACT been successful, would have forced Aussie ISPs to introduce three-strikes style measures to avoid liability for copyright infringement.

But the Sydney court, which heard the two sides' arguments last year and ruled this week, said that while it was clear iiNet's customers were infringing AFACT members' copyrights, there was not a case for saying the net firm itself was guilty of authorising infringement.

Justice Dennis Cowdroy wrote in his judgement: "I find that iiNet simply cannot be seen as sanctioning, approving or countenancing copyright infringement. The requisite element of favouring infringement on the evidence simply does not exist. The evidence establishes that iiNet has done no more than to provide an internet service to its users".

The ruling in theory has influence over English copyright law which is very similar to that in Australia, though in reality content owners here have never claimed ISPs could be liable for their customers' infringement under existing copyright rules (which are rather vague when it comes to authorising infringement). Which is why the content industries are instead lobbying government to specifically add some ISP liabilities to copyright law through the Digital Economy Bill. In some other territories - most notably the US - copyright rules specifically state ISPs cannot be held liable for their customers' illegal actions.

Welcoming the ruling, a spokesman for iiNet said yesterday: "We have never supported or encouraged breaches of the law, including infringement of the Copyright Act or the Telecommunications Act. We have always been, and will continue to be, a good corporate citizen and an even better copyright citizen".

Needless to say, AFACT said it was "disappointed" with the ruling, with their top man Neil Gane telling Billboard: "Today's decision is a set-back for the 50,000 Australians employed in the film industry. But we believe this decision was based on a technical finding cantered on the court's interpretation of the how infringements occur and the ISP's ability to control them".

If you're interested in this subject, CMU Business Editor Chris Cooke recently wrote a blog all about authorising infringement under English copyright law. You can read it here:

www.stuffbyme.co.uk/post/A-long-blog-on-music-copyright.aspx

If that sounds more tedious than pea soup for breakfast, here's an amusing iPad related visual gag:

s1.b3ta.com/host/creative/1279/1264637379/blutack.jpg

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LYDON ASSAULT CASE SETTLED
John Lydon has reached an out of court settlement with a TV production assistant who accused him of assaulting her three years ago. Roxane Davis claimed that Lydon had sexually harassed her and punched her in the face during an incident in January 2007, while she was working as a talent producer on the US TV show 'Bodog Battle Of The Bands', on which the Sex Pistols frontman was a judge.

According to reports, the confrontation arose after Lydon expressed displeasure at the accommodation he and his assistant, Rambo, had been booked into, the Radisson Hotel in LA. They were moved to the Ritz Carlton, but Lydon became angry again when he discovered that there was no connecting door between his and Rambo's rooms. Davis said that she found the singer shouting at a hotel employee and when she approached to try to diffuse the situation, he turned on her instead. Both Lydon and his assistant, she said, began shouting sexual insults at her, calling her a cunt several times, before Lydon punched her in the face.

Davis' original lawsuit also named the company behind the show, Bodog Entertainment, as a defendant, saying: "The company failed to inform and/or warn any of its employees who might come into contact with [Lydon] during 'Bodog Battle Of The Bands' about [his] propensity towards violence and/or that he was a dangerous person. The only warning given to employees was that under no circumstances was anyone to touch [his] hair".

But this week lawyers acting for Davis informed the LA Superior Court that a settlement had been reached between her and Lydon, and that she was therefore withdrawing her whole complaint. Details of the deal have not yet been revealed.

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SPRINGSTEEN DISSES ASCAP PUB LITIGATION
Well, the last time Bruce Springsteen got angry about something, Ticketmaster was forced to change its entire policy regarding the linking of its secondary ticketing service Tickets Now with its main ticketing website, so who knows what will happen this time.

Springsteen has formally distanced himself from a lawsuit being pursued by US collecting society ASCAP against a New York bar, even though he is named as a plaintiff on the legal paperwork. The collecting society are suing Connolly's Pub & Restaurant because its alleged they let an unidentified band perform two Springsteen songs at the venue back in August 2008 without having the appropriate performing rights licence from the collecting society.

But Springsteen said yesterday that he was not aware of the lawsuit, filed in a US court on Wednesday, that he did not agree to be a plaintiff and that his legal people have demanded his name be removed from the action. Presumably ASCAP can and will proceed with the legal action without Springsteen's involvement, though given how everyone loves to hate collecting societies, having such a major artist dissing the agency - which exists, after all, to protect his and other artists' interests - presents another PR challenge for the society and the wider royalties collecting sector.

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AMANDA PALMER ANNOUNCES CONJOINED TWINS ALBUM
Dresden Dolls frontwoman Amanda Palmer has announced the debut album from Evelyn Evelyn, her side-project with accordion player Jason Webley and, so they say, conjoined twins Evelyn and Evelyn Neville. In fact, Palmer and Webley list themselves as just producers on the album, having apparently discovered the twins in 2007, after which they released their debut EP, 'Elephant Elephant'.

Now, I'm not saying that's not all completely true, but Evelyn and Evelyn's voices do sound suspiciously like those of Palmer and Webley, and the supposed photographs of the twins look like they were taken quite a long time before 1985, when they are said to have been born. But, hey, what do I know? The twins have their own Twitter account. And who ever heard of a fake twitter account?

Anyway, the big news is that the album features the recording debut of Frances Bean Cobain, the daughter of Courtney Love and Kurt Cobain, of course. She sings as part of a gang, along with Weird Al Yankovic, Tegan And Sara, My Chemical Romance frontman Gerard Way, writer Neil Gaiman and more, on a song called 'My Space'.

You can fill your ears with that when the project's eponymous debut album is released on 30 Mar. Plus, you'll also be able to catch the twins live when they embark on a European tour in April, which will include a headline show at Koko in Camden and a three night residency at Bush Hall in Shepherds Bush.

Songs and dates are all up at www.myspace.com/evelynevelyn

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OZZY LETS FANS NAME ALBUM
Ozzy Osbourne has announced that he is going to let his fans choose the name of his new album, after they, for some strange reason, decided that the one he wanted to give it, 'Soul Sucka', was a bit shit.

Says Ozzy: "I'm going to get a list of names and post it on my web site and find out which people like the best".

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EVERYTHING EVERYTHING GIVE AWAY DELPHIC REMIX
Everything Everything are giving away a free download of their last single, 'My Keys, Your Boyfriend', as remixed by Delphic. The project apparently forms one half of a "remix swap" between the two bands.

Get the track, in exchange for your email address, from www.everything-everything.co.uk.

Signed to Geffen late last year, Everything Everything are currently working on their debut album, due for release this summer.

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ALPHABEAT UK TOUR DATES
Alphabeat have announced a string of UK tour dates for April, which will follow the release of new album, The Beat Is...' on 1 Mar. The first single from the album, 'Hole In My Heart', is due out on 22 Feb.

Tour dates:

17 Apr: Skegness, Playaway Festival
18 Apr: Norwich, Waterfront
19 Apr: Leeds, Stylus
20 Apr: Newcastle, Northumbria University
22 Apr: Edinburgh, Picturehouse
23 Apr: Glasgow, ABC
24 Apr: Manchester, Academy 2
25 Apr: Oxford, Academy
27 Apr: Brighton, Concorde 2
28 Apr: London, Koko
29 Apr: Bristol , Anson Rooms

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ROLO TOMASSI UNDERWORLD SHOW AND ENTER SHIKARI TOUR
Rolo Tomassi have announced their biggest headline show to date at The Underworld in London on 23 Apr. The band's as-yet-untitled, Diplo-produced second album is also due out in April.

If you need a more immediate dose of the Tomassi, or RoTo, as literally no one is calling them you can catch them on tour with Enter Shikari all over the UK from tomorrow. After that the band are heading to Australia to play the Soundwave festival and a number of dates with Jane's Addiction, which is pretty exciting.

Tour dates:

6 Feb: Blackpool, Empress Ballroom (with Enter Shikari)
7 Feb: Glasgow, Barrowlands (with Enter Shikari)
8 Feb: York, Fibbers (headline show)
9 Feb: Middlesborough, Empire (with Enter Shikari)
10 Feb: Kingston, Fighting Cocks (headline show)
11 Feb: Bournemouth, Academy (with Enter Shikari)
12 Feb: London, Hammersmith Apollo (with Enter Shikari)
23 Apr: London, The Underworld (headline show)

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SOUND CITY LINE UP NEWS
The first line up info is out for this year's Liverpool Sound City, with Paloma Faith, Speech Debelle, Wave Machines, Gold Panda and Grosvenor all confirmed on the band side, and Sire Records founder and all round industry icon Seymour Stein set to appear as part of the Sound City conference.

Liverpool Sound City takes place from 19-22 May, and today is your last chance to get specially priced early bird tickets. It's also your last chance to suggest panel topics for the CMU session during the Sound City conference.

More details about the former at www.liverpoolsoundcity.co.uk and the latter at www.thecmuwebsite.com/soundcity/

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ALBUM REVIEW: Various Artists - Kings Of Drum And Bass: Compiled by 4hero and DJ Marky (BBE Records)
After a brief hiatus, BBE re-instigates the 'Kings Of...' series, and here they have appointed 4hero and Marky for the job.

After two decades of producing, remixing and DJing, whether it be as Tek 9, Cold Mission, DKD, Omniverse or, of course, 4hero, breakbeat/junglist pioneers Marc Clair and Dego MacFarlane open the show with an excellent mix that's rarely left my CD player for the last week.

The Dollis Hill duo take us on a historic trip from proto jungle to current drum n bass, and it is pretty much all good. Starting with their own lush jazz-tinged 'Universal Love' they start as they mean to go on. There's a bit of a singalong with London Electricity's 'My Dreams', featuring crooning from Robert Owens, and then Lenny Fontana's 'Spread Love', remixed by Nu:Tone, which is good, but the real fun begins with 'Inside Out' by Manix (aka Clair himself), which really strips things down. The great raga-influenced funky roller of 4hero as Tom & Jerry with 'Maximum Style' follows, and then there's Nookie's 'Give A Little Love' - is it rave or is it jungle? Whatever you call it, awesome is the word. Closing a diverse mix that features some real gems, they drop the tempo with A Guy Called Gerald's take on Roy Ayres' 'Sunshine'.

The Brazilian DJ Marky, known for his pacey, funky upbeat sets, steps in for the second disc, and doesn't take us as far down memory lane as 4hero, altering between some harder cuts and his usual fare. Starting with the lush 'Waterlogged' by Random Movement and Calibre's chilled 'Let Me Hold You', it gets a bit tougher with his own 'Tonight', which bashes along well, and then a bit harder with 'Temperance' by Marcus Intalex. Marky's collaborations with SPY lie on different sides of the spectrum, with the hardish 'Riff Raff' and more relaxed 'Days Go Slow', which has vocals from Miri. But the best cut is saved for last - 'Back in Time' by Stunna - which is beatsy electronic soul. All in all good outing from the man from Sao Paulo.

BBE have delivered again here, creating a great compo using two very different artists, and this adds to this series' strength. Recommended. PV

Physical release: 15 Feb
Press contact: BBE IH [all]

Buy from iTunes
Buy from Amazon

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PPL AWAITING RESULT ON PUB TRIBUNAL APPEAL
According to Music Week, recording rights collecting society PPL is now awaiting a new court ruling in its ongoing dispute with the UK pub industry.

As previously reported, PPL has been in disagreement with the British Beer And Pub Association and the British Hospitality Association, about what royalties pubs and their like should pay for playing recorded music, for years. The dispute went to Copyright Tribunal last year, who basically found in the pub sector's favour.

PPL announced its intent to appeal almost straight away, and it seems both they and the BHA went back to court to re-present their arguments last month, and they are now awaiting to hear whether the appeal judge will overrule the Tribunal's original decision. If he does a new Copyright Tribunal hearing will have to be set to reconsider the case.

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SONY CORP PROFITS UP, MUSIC DOING WELL, FOR NOW
Sony Corp have issued their third quarter results which show a profit for the first time in five quarters, so that's nice.

The entertainment and electronics giants' music division, so Sony Music and their half of the Sony/ATV publishing company, had a good quarter and in doing so contributed to the firm's overall financial improvement. Strong sales generated by Susan Boyle, Michael Jackson and Alicia Keys all helped a lot in that regard, and "more than offset the continued decline in the physical music market", the group says.

Sony's overall operating profit for the period October to December was 146.1 billion yen (approx £1bn), compared to a loss of 17.96 billion yen (approx £128m) in the same quarter in 2008.

Despite that little lot of good news, and the undeniable continued success of the Cowell empire, in which Sony has a stake, of course (albeit a significantly lesser stake than before, following their new deal with the 'X-Factor' man last month), Sony Music does continue to quietly downsize its operations.

Some critics say that despite Sony having a stake in the biggest British TV phenomena of recent times (through Cowell's Syco), and despite it having sister companies in movies, TV and gaming, it is behind its rivals in terms of readjusting to the era of 360 degree music deals.

Universal have successfully diversified out of the traditional music rights domain through acquisition, Warner are entering into interesting 360 degree business partnerships with new talent, and even EMI has enjoyed some success by reinventing its distribution business into EMI Music Services.

Sony has dabbled in such things but, outside Syco, some say such dabbling is simply not enough. With their stake in Planet Cowell cut and the Jackson legacy unlikely to be as big a generator this year as last, Sony arguably needs to develop some new more innovative projects to ensure recent good fortune continues.

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IP OFFICE TO CONSIDER MODEL CREATOR CONTRACTS
The government's Intellectual Property Office has said it is close to finalising a working committee to consider drafting model contracts for young creators that ensure evil, sinister IP companies like record companies and, in particular, music publishers (because they're thinking more about songs than recordings) don't sneak unfair clauses into the legal paperwork, like "if the creator writes a line that doesn't rhyme s/he will become liable for our $4 billion bank loan".

The working group is part of IP Minister David Lammy's efforts to ensure young creators aren't screwed by labels and publishers at the start of their careers, though in this day and age its usually experienced managers, agents or music lawyers who negotiate those contracts, and arguably new songwriters need more help negotiating the agreements with those initial reps than with the big IP firms. Plus, presumably these model contracts will be optional, and therefore be ignored by most publishers and lawyers, who never like government types interfering in contractual relations.

But, whatever, Lammy won't be in government in four months time and this working group will probably falter into nothing once he's gone. Still, interesting idea.

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BRAVADO CONFIRM FOUR MEGA-STAR DEALS
Universal owned merchandising giant Bravado has announced new deals with Rihanna, Mariah Carey, Alicia Keys and Whitney Houston, which is pretty good going for one Thursday afternoon. The company will be selling merchandise to support each popstress's upcoming tours, which will in turn be promoting each singer's most recent album.

Bravado boss Tom Bennett says this: "We're excited to partner with these exceptional ladies and to help them translate their unique style into innovative merchandise for their fans".

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THE LONDON WEEKLY LAUNCHES
And is pretty awful.

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RAJAR ROUND UP
So, the latest RAJAR radio listening figures were out yesterday, and here's what you need to know...

Terry Wogan enjoyed a very good last quarter in 2009, though all the hype about his pending retirement from the Radio 2 breakfast show probably helped. His audience went over 8 million in the last quarter, equalling his previous best-ever ratings score, and putting him a good million ahead of Chris Moyles on Radio 1. That puts an awful lot of pressure on poor old Chris Evans, who will almost inevitably suffer an initial ratings slump given the differences in his and Wogan's presenting style. It remains to be seen how big that slump is once this quarter's figures are out later in the year, and how likely it is Evans can recover once he starts to build his own breakfast fan base.

Elsewhere at the Beeb, Jonathan Ross saw his Radio 2 audience fall year on year from 3.08 million to 2.94 million. That'll perversely please BBC bosses, who got some stick for losing Ross' radio show as well as his TV output when the two parties decided not to renew the presenter's always controversial contract. Still, I think we all know all things Ross have been in decline for some time. 2.94 million isn't to be sniffed at, but it's going to be an awful lot easier to replace Ross than it was to fill Terry Wogan's former slot.

In station ratings news, all eyes were on digital services, which have been generally growing their audiences in recent years. BBC digital services Radio 7 and 6Music were both up - the latter up 11.4% on the previous quarter and 12.3% year on year, a good showing and hopefully enough to convince the people doing the BBC Trust review of the music station's operations that it should continue in its current vein (though I'm pretty sure Facebook chatter that the BBC are considering closing 6Music is pretty baseless).

Digital jazz service Jazz FM also did well, but elsewhere in the world of digital radio things looked more gloomy, with all other digital only services seeing a decline in listeners, which wasn't really expected. Bauer's Heat, Q and The Hits radio services all saw their audiences fall both year on year and quarter on quarter, while NME Radio, although up 16.4% year on year, saw audience fall 18.8% on the previous quarter. Which is possibly a sign that more digital savvy radio listeners are spending more time using streaming music services like Spotify than tuning into digital only radio stations.

In terms of the analogue commercial stations, Absolute Radio saw its overall audience decline, though audience share remained steady. TalkSport had a good quarter though, growing its market share from 1.8% to 2.1%. Classic FM saw its audience fall 10% year on year, though it is still the biggest commercial station, with an average weekly audience of 5.13 million.

In London, good news for Global Radio which saw its two music stations Capital FM and Heart take the top two spots in terms of audience size, though Bauer-owned rival Magic was biggest in terms of market share. Interestingly it was a good quarter for Global's talk station LBC, which was second in terms of market share.

And here ends our RAJAR round up. Do remember radio listening figures are not the most accurate thing in the world, and many rises and falls could be accounted for by margins of error. Which possibly defeats the point of us even reviewing the data, but look, we've done it now.

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LOVE DISCUSSES BANK FRAUD
I'm not really sure how newsworthy this is, but in our continued efforts to document everything Courtney Love says ever, it's worth publishing. The former (and current, depending on your view) Hole frontwoman has spoken to Clash about the previously reported alleged bank fraud which left her almost bankrupt when various accounts were set up in her name, siphoning off publishing royalties from the Nirvana back catalogue.

Asked if she knew who it was who had stolen all her money, she said: "Yeah, it's like some douchelords. Four fucking douchelords who started a bank. You and I could start a bank tomorrow, it's really easy, I could show you how. ... So it's really simple. I know their wives, I know their sons, I know their gay sons, I know their unhappy daughters, their miserable wives who fucking buy too many diamonds; I know them. So, it's not like they're faceless, the douchelords".

So that's that cleared up.

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LABEL BOSS DEFENDS SWIFT'S GRAMMY PERFORMANCE
Scott Borchetta, the CEO of Taylor Swift's record label, Big Machine Records, has spoken out to defend the singer's performance at the Grammy's on Sunday. Which must mean he thinks it was pretty awful. And he'd be right to think that, because it was. The shakiness of Swift's voice was almost disguised when she sang on her own, but when Stevie Nicks came out and duetted with her, it just served to prove how much better Nicks is at singing.

But criticism like that, says Borchetta, is "just over the top". He told Associated Press: "She is the voice of this generation. She speaks directly to [her fans], and they speak directly back to her. This is not 'American Idol'. This is not a competition of getting up and seeing who can sing the highest note. This is about a true artist and writer and communicator. It's not about that technically perfect performance".

He added that reviews of Swift's Grammy rehearsals had been written up positively, and blamed a technical problem for her ropey singing on the night, saying: "We had a volume problem in the ear. So, she was concerned that she wasn't able to hear everything in the mix. That's just part of live TV. ... So you're going to have difficulties on occasion. Unfortunately, on one of the biggest stages, we did have a technical issue. She couldn't hear herself like she had in rehearsal".

So certain is Borchetta that those of us criticising his girl based on her Grammy stint alone are misguided, that he is going to pay for us all to go and see Taylor Swift in concert to prove how fab she really is. He finished his rant by saying: "If you haven't seen her live performance, you're welcome to come out as my guest to a Taylor Swift show and experience the whole thing, because it's amazing. There's a reason tickets are selling like they are".

I'm up for it if you are, Scott. Give me a call.

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