Google recently acquired an online content distribution start-up called Simplify Media, and now everyone seems to think the web giant plans to use the company's technology to launch some sort of music service accessed via an app on phones using its Android operating system.

The original Simplify Media service, which included an iPhone app, went offline in March promising an imminent relaunch. If Simplify is now used to power an Android-based streaming music service, the firm will be going in competition with the iPhone and any Apple-owned music services.

Speculation continues to be rife that Apple are about to launch a Spotify-style streaming music service that will be delivered to PCs via the iTunes player and to the iPhone via an app.

Sarah Rodgers, chair of the British Academy Of Songwriters, Composers and Authors, used her opening speech at yesterday's Ivor Novello Awards to attack the BBC's proposed plan to close down 6music, Music Week reports.

Addressing the audience, though aiming her words directly at the BBC, she said: "The end of 6music is an act of cultural vandalism. [The BBC's role is to] enrich people's lives with programmes that inform, educate and entertain. That sounds to me like 6music. Your mission is to be the most creative organisation in the world. What more could be more creative than 6music?"

If you have not yet submitted your views on the BBC's current strategic review, including the closure of 6music and The Asian Network, you have until Tuesday. To do so, go here.

Bearded magazine founder Gareth Main has teamed up with James Elliman from music blog MonoMusic and Anthony Chalmers from music promoters God Don't Like It to launch a new weekly podcast dedicated to independent music called, wait for it, the Independent Music Podcast.

All the music played will come from labels "100% independent from the majors", and the show will also champion some unsigned artists too. The show is accessible via MixCloud or can be downloaded via iTunes.

More at www.independentmusicpodcast.com

The vast majority of music journalists in the UK are not ready to switch to digital-only promos, according to a new survey of music media people undertaken by CMU.

Following the announcement by Sony Music last month that they intended to phase out all physical promo CDs, so that in future DJs and journalists will only receive advance copies of their releases in a digital format, Creative Business's music news bulletin CMU surveyed 100 music journalists about the way they are 'serviced' by record labels and music PR companies. The first question we asked was how those journalists would prefer to receive advance copies of single and album releases.

75% of those surveyed said their still preferred to receive review and pre-release copies of music in a physical format, ie as a CD. Five main reasons were given to justify this preference.

First, many said that digital preview services that require a journalist to sit at their computer misunderstood how most reviewers go about experiencing new music before writing a review. Those journalists argued that before starting a review they'd listen to an album several times over, normally while at home, or on the move. A CD lets reviewers play albums on home stereos or in the car, or they can rip tracks to an iPod for previewing while out and about.

Second, others, presumably those writing for older music consumers, argued that when they review an album they are not just reviewing a group of stand alone tracks, but the whole package that their readers may or may not wish to purchase. For them, that includes the packaging, artwork and liner notes, and the experience that you get from opening a new CD and putting it in your player for the first time. Digital-only previews do not allow such reviewers to get the "whole experience".

Third, some of those surveyed were review editors, and a number of them said that the system they used to manage the commissioning and publishing of reviews relied on physical product, which can be placed in racks on a desk, and is therefore much easier to manage that processing a plethora of emailed links and digital files in folders on a computer desktop.

Fourth, those running more grass roots music magazines and websites pointed out that their reviewers were not paid for their work, and that a perk of the job was the get a CD in the post which, if they liked the album, they could keep. A digital copy was less attractive, especially if it was a stream, because there is not permanent "gift" to keep in that scenario.

Fifth, a number of journalists pointed out that the PC technology being used by some media - especially regional and local media - is hardly bang up to date, with some still using versions of Windows which first surfaced in the 1990s. For these people many of the digital preview systems simply don't work.

Of course, it is probably inevitable that all record labels will move to a digital preview system eventually, the cost and time involved in pressing and mailing CDs to journalists being an obvious expense for cash strapped record companies to cut. But, while it seems that many reviewers will resist any move to digital previews, there is definitely a lot more resistance to streaming preview services than to MP3-based preview downloads. Of the 25 journalists who expressed a preference for digital promos, 18 said they preferred links to MP3s, while only 7 preferred links to preview streams, ie the kind of digital previews currently being offered by Sony Music and most other labels.

In fact, while some journalists are resistant to any move from physical to digital promos, it is possible some of those hanging onto CDs are doing so because they are unimpressed with the stream-based preview platforms currently being used by record companies, certainly the majors. It is possible that an MP3-based preview platform could overcome many of the concerns raised about the move to digital promos.

But, in the short term, it seems Word magazine boss David Hepworth was probably right when he predicted that Sony will find turning all music hacks to digital promos very difficult and that  "within a year, when they want reviewers to take notice of something, they'll start sending out [physical] copies again".

You can read the CMU team's take on the survey here.

The promo CD debate is just one of several things covered by CMU's music journalist survey. Details of other matters discussed will be revealed here in the CMU Daily in the coming weeks. More information on the survey will also be presented at the next CMU seminar on music PR, which takes place next Wednesday at CMU HQ in Shoreditch. This full day training event reviews the state and future of the music media, offers a beginners guide to music PR and best practice press releases, a summary of the aforementioned journalist survey, and a review of social media and its role in music marketing in 2010. Some places are still available, full info at www.theCMUwebsite.com/events.

BBC Radio 3 is this week launching two new slots in its daytime programming where it will showcase the Official Charts Company's classical music chart.

On Monday afternoons the top five classical albums of the week will be revealed and a track will be played from the best seller. Meanwhile, thirty minutes of the Tuesday morning breakfast show will then be dedicated to discussing the full chart.

It's only a matter of time until the classical channel signs up Reggie Yates.

The Men From The Press, the previously reported online service which planned to offer a "brand new type of music PR" by paying journalists to fill out online feedback forms after listening to unsigned and self-releasing artists who signed up to the website, announced yesterday that it was closing its doors, a matter of weeks after launching, following widespread derision from both the journalism and PR communities.

As previously reported, the journalists who signed up to the scheme, who were seemingly all freelancers, did not commit to give anything they listened to any actual coverage in any of the media they work for (and in many cases would not be able to anyway), but, rather, they provided a direct critique to each paying artist, which might constitute useful feedback in itself and, if positive, could be used in a band's other publicity. That said, the aim obviously was to force participating journalists to expose themselves to the music bands had paid to upload to the website, in the hope some of the hacks would genuinely like some of music, and then become influential champions of those bands.

Though in theory there was nothing ethically wrong with the service - providing paying bands knew they were buying feedback not coverage - because the service charged a per journalist fee, and because the rate card listed the publications each writer worked for (minus their names), and also because the fee was higher the more esteemed the publication, some argued that the implication was that you could, in fact, buy coverage.

Certainly it would have been easy for less media-savvy exposure-hungry new artists to misconstrue what was actually on offer, and little was done to stress that actual coverage was not for sale. The page on the website where artists selected which writers they wanted feedback from was topped with this explanation: "Listed below are the current publications our journalists write for together with their respective submission fees, which are to cover our admin costs and journalist submission fees - there are no other hidden charges! Please note: Most of our journalists write for several publications, which is why some are bundled together as below... the submission fees are for each bundle, so this gives you more value for money".

As a result, many of the publications listed requested that their titles be removed from the site, even if some of their freelance contributors were actually involved in the new service, because they didn't want confused bands to think editorial coverage was for sale. Meanwhile, some of the journalists signed up seemingly withdrew their services, possibly because the publishers and editors of the titles they write for had started to express concerns. Or possibly because they never really understood what the Men From The Press offer was going to be. Some of the service's participating journalists said they were originally approached by someone who simply asked if they would like to be paid to give feedback to new bands, without being told they'd be participating in a new kind of music publicity venture.

A statement posted on the website yesterday by founder Dave Chisholm, and also emailed to signed up artists, read: "The whole point of themenfromthepress.com was to provide PR in a 'brand new way'. So bands, artists and small labels who simply haven't got the funds would be given a chance! I put a hell of a lot of work into this and set TMFTP up for all the right reasons and with all the best intentions to help new bands and artists as I know how tough it is for them in this business... But we have now been shot down in flames!

He continued: "Certain publications and some traditional PR companies (who I will not name) have made it impossible for us to carry on through their constant slanderous remarks and activities which have damaged our reputation to the point where we have lost all heart with the project. And so sadly and with great regret we have now closed! I would like to say a very big thank you to the many bands artists and journalists who have and still support us ... I tried to make a difference but sorry guys... they wont let us..."

Chisholm also said that all subscription and submission fees would be refunded to those artists who had signed up. Though those artists who opted to pay by PayPal were never charged in the first place, because a glitch in the website's programming meant that, although subscription fees were charged, those paying by the online payment system were able to submit their music for review without paying anything at all.

So, there has been much chatter in the music journalism community in the last few weeks about a new service being offered to grass roots artists that guarantees to put their music in front of apparently influential music critics. The company can make that guarantee because it pays the journalists in question to listen to their clients' music and to provide a one-to-one critique.

The service competes with those traditional music PR agencies which offer their services to unsigned or self-releasing artists, normally for a few hundred pounds per campaign. The founders of the new service, called The Men From The Press, say their web-based promotional platform is more cost effective than traditional PR, because it ensures exposure to a small number of targeted journalists, whereas the traditional approach involves sending CDs or press releases to a long list of reviewers and editors, none of whom might actually listen to the music they are sent. With TMFTP bands pay a registration fee, and then an additional fee per journalist they wish to make contact with.

The journalists signed up to the scheme, who are seemingly all freelancers, do not commit to give anything they listen to any actual coverage in any of the media they work for, but will provide a direct critique, which might constitute useful feedback and, if positive, can be used in a band's other publicity. Though presumably the real attraction for bands is that it commits signed-up journalists to listen to any music they are sent, meaning that - if any of those journalists turn out to genuinely like an artist's music - an influential fan may be secured.

The page on the new service's website that lists the journalists who can be targeted has been through a number of incarnations. Initially customers of the service could choose which publications they wanted to target, and presumably any freelancers who write for those titles would have been contacted on a signed up artists' behalf. But that page was removed, reportedly after some of the featured publications complained it implied coverage in their titles could be bought, or that journalists participating somehow represented the viewpoint of the titles they may contribute to.

The crucial page is now structured by journalist, listing all the titles each reviewer writes for. The more titles, and the more influential the titles, the more it costs to put your music in front of a signed up hack. At one stage this page actually named participating writers, though currently the identities of participating reviewers are not actually revealed.

While there is nothing ethically wrong with it in principle, providing artists are clear they are buying feedback not coverage, and providing participating journalists are never unduly swayed to give coverage to paying bands, many music publicists and journalists are nervous about the implications of the new service.

It's founder, Dave Chisholm, admits that part of the aim of his service is to try to win his clients new fans in the music journalism community, but told The Guardian that he disagrees with the viewpoint that it is wrong to offer cash-strapped freelance journalists a financial incentive to ensure his bands are exposed to opinion formers. He argues that such financial incentives are no different to traditional PRs offering journalists free perks in a bid to ensure they listen to their clients' music.

But also speaking to The Guardian, one artist manager who previously worked in PR, Tim Vigon, said he still had concerns. He told the paper: "My instinct is that it's wrong on every level ... it feels like payola [paying for coverage], even though there's nothing illegitimate about it and all they're after is feedback".

Meanwhile the founder of one music website, some of whose reviewers were approached by Chisholm's team, was more blatant in his criticism. Drowned In Sound's Sean Adams blogged yesterday: "I sit around listening to mostly not very good unsigned bands for free. I can kinda see where the 'concept' came from, in terms of greasing the wheels to bring certain CDs to the top of the pile and give bands some feedback. Not all ideas are worth running with though, especially when they're so poorly executed, and give the impression [bands will] get a leg up when it generally seems exploitative and EVIL. If you're in a band, don't do this, just do your research of who will like your stuff. People are easy to communicate with".

Bauer Media have announced they will introduce a new segment to the playlists on the seventeen local stations in their Big City Network which will be designed to give three new records a week nationwide exposure. Although the playlists on stations like Key 103 in Manchester and Radio City in Liverpool are locally influenced, the new Upfront list will be controlled centrally, with the idea of putting all of the stations in the network behind selected talent.

Although very much focused on new releases, the Upfront list will include established as well as new acts, and will probably favour the sort of mainstream talent you'd expect to hear on a local FM station. The first artists to appear are former 'X-Factor' contender Diana Vickers, new Warner priority Josh Radin and the returning Corinne Bailey Rae.

Confirming the new playlisting venture, Big City's music man Ric Blaxill told reporters: "We want to add greater variety to our established playlists and introducing new releases from new or returning artists will help us to do this. It will also provide each of the artists or groups with vital support and backing, and most importantly, the chance to get their music heard by 4.4 million listeners across the UK".

He added: "We firmly believe in local stations compiling their own playlists so that they can really feel the music running through their stations and cities. However we believe the Upfront List, which will work alongside the station's locally compiled A and B lists, will greatly benefit our music offering by bringing exciting new songs to our music loving listeners earlier".

A new music recommendation service called mflow has announced a number of media partnerships ahead of its April launch.

mflow is a bit like a music-specific version of Twitter, users can recommend favourite tracks to their followers, who can then stream the recommended track in full once and, if they like it, buy the track, all via the one mflow widget. The recommender then gets 20% of the download fee as a credit to spend on other music recommended to them by the people s/he follows. The service has been in beta for a while, and will properly launch next month.

The media partnerships are with Bauer titles Q, Kerrang! and Mojo plus the NME and Clash, and will see the digital firm profiled across those partners' media. Each media will also start recommending top tunes via mflow. 

mflow marketing man Atan Burrows told Creative Business: "Reaching users through major music titles is a key part of our marketing strategy pre-launch. The titles we are partnering with are all trusted sources and play a vital role in the recommendation of new music. [And] all the titles we will be working with will also have their own profiles on mflow, which will allow them to recommend and share new music with their readers".

Spotify has announced the first ever music video to appear on the music streaming service. Not only that, but it's an exclusive, too. And it's for a song by Jimi Hendrix. Oh, and it's directed by Julien Temple. So that's four good things already. Everyone at Spotify, you are hereby allowed to go and have a sit down in the comfiest chair available for the next 20 minutes.

The video for 'Bleeding Heart', a song which appears on new Hendrix rarities compilation 'Valleys Of Neptune', depicts Jimi performing at Glastonbury. Temple used some kind of black magic to create the video, as Hendrix never actually performed at that particular festival. How is it done? No one knows.

As well as the video, which is available now to all users, Spotify Premium subscribers will be able to listen to 'Valleys Of Neptune' from 4 Mar, ahead of its release on 8 Mar.

MUZU this week launched a new jukebox service which makes it easier to navigate, playlist and play music from the video service's vast catalogue. In particular, the new service recommends videos based around your initial artist choice (in a Pandora stylee), and then allows users to search the MUZU catalogue and add tracks to their playlist while concurrently enjoying the recommended vids, and all within one browser window. I've only had a little play, but it looks kinda cool, and I intend to have a proper delve this weekend.

The service is a bit like a "video version of Spotify", though it is worth noting that, although free to use, no ads will play in the mix on the jukebox service. The MUZU release launching the new service notes: "While MUZU.TV is an advertising-funded free music website, it has been careful to leverage more innovative ad formats such as 'skinning' the outside of the video player with premium entertainment-related advertisement, which don't interrupt the viewing experience in any way".

The BBC's commercial division Worldwide has confirmed a long-term deal with Universal Music to distribute video content owned by major music company. The same bit of BBC Worldwide that sells the Beeb's own music archives to international broadcasters will now represent a stack of Universal content too.

Worldwide music man Stephen Davies says this: "We are proud to become distribution partner with the world's biggest record label and are delighted to be representing such a great roster of artists. This deal further strengthens our relationship with Universal and, with its promise of more great programming, will take BBC Worldwide Music to a new level as a major music distributor".

Muse bassist Chris Wolstenholme has said he is disappointed by those previously reported plans put forward by Warner Music CEO Edgar Bronfman Jr to back away from free streaming services, especially in the US market. Muse, of course, are signed to Warner.

Wolstenholme told BBC Newsbeat: "It's like taking your song off the radio, isn't it? You're instantly taking your song away from a group of potential listeners. The corporations are setting the rules on these things because they're clutching at straws. They've lost so much money on record sales because of the internet. I do sometimes feel that this whole restriction that's been set on how your music can get out there these days, that doesn't ever really come from the bands. It's coming from the corporations behind everything. As far as bands are concerned, you just want people to hear your music whichever way they can".

Chewy gum people Trident are looking for someone willing to take in thirty music festivals over thirty weeks in return for thirty grand, which, I think it's fair to say, wouldn't be the hardest job in the world. All you'd have to do in return is document the experience via Trident's festival website, through tweets, blogs, photos and videos, with reviews, gossip and celebrity interviews.

The festival trek would take in every kind of music fest in every corner of the world most are tbc, but already in the schedule are Bestival, Sonisphere and Creamfields, though the latter is the Buenos Aires edition of Creamfields, so that's already taking you someway beyond the British Isles.

If this all sounds like a very easy deal, it is. But the challenge is getting the job, which will involve an online application, a face to face interview and, if you make it down to the final ten, an all-day assessment in front of a celebrity panel including 6music irritant George Lamb and Bestival supremo Rob da Bank.

More info and application details at www.tridentgum.co.uk

Warner Music US publicist Liz Rosenberg, probably best known as the frequent American spokeswoman for Madonna, is leaving the major to set up her own PR agency. Rosenberg has handled press relations for Warner Bros artists in the US since 1971, which is an incredibly long time to be with one company in this business.

The move will enable Rosenberg to continue to represent Madonna, who is currently winding down her career-long relationship with Warner following her mega-bucks 360 degree deal with Live Nation. The publicist will also continue to represent a number of other high profile Warner artists in the US via her new agency, including Michael Bublé, Cher, Stevie Nicks and Katherine Jenkins.

Confirming Rosenberg's departure from the Warner division, Warner Bros US boss Tom Whalley told reporters: "Over the course of her remarkable tenure, Liz Rosenberg's contribution to the company has been immeasurable. We are delighted that as she begins her own enterprise, we will continue our association with her on behalf of several of our key artists. We wish Liz all the best and are confident that she will succeed beyond all expectations and have the opportunity to work in other realms of the entertainment business".

Rosenburg herself added: "No one has had a more thrilling ride than I have had during my decades at Warner Bros Records where I grew up and learned my craft. I was given the opportunity to work with the most talented artists in music history. I'm grateful that I will continue to represent some of these artists, in addition to several new artists. I am grateful to Tom Whalley for his tremendous support. I will miss him and my entire Warner Bros family".

With the General Election looming ever closer it seems increasingly doubtful the Digital Economy Bill, with its controversial three-strike provisions for combating online piracy, will become law before parliament is dissolved for the big vote. Nevertheless, those lobbying in favour of the legislation seem optimistic it can be pushed through the House Of Commons in time.

But doing so will probably need the cooperation of opposition parties, and the Tories, while basically supporting most of the Bill's copyright provisions, have issues with other aspects of the proposed legislation, which, as a real mish mash of a proposals, covers all sorts of things relating to the media, internet and telecommunications.

Nevertheless, the debate about the Bill's copyright section, in and around parliament, continues. Yesterday a letter signed by an eclectic bunch of creative industry men, including Simon Cowell, was sent to MPs and peers urging the political types to ensure the legislation gets through parliament before the election. Alongside Cowell, other signatories of the letter included author Terry Pratchett, Working Title Film chief Tim Bevan, film director Paul Greengrass and TV producer Stephen Garrett.

For a very brief moment yesterday it seemed that perhaps the efforts of that five, and a multitude of lobbyists from across the content industries, had been unsuccessful when 10 Downing Street responded to a petition on its website against the disconnection of file-sharers by saying the government would not allow those who access music off the internet illegally to have their internet connections disconnected.

Though that was a rather political statement allowing the prime minister's office to seem like it was responding to the petition but without having to change any policy. Unlike in France (and, for a time, Hull), full-on disconnections of internet access have never been part of the three-strikes proposals in the UK, where the ultimate sanction would be the suspension of a file-sharer's net access, not disconnection.

The final programme is coming together nicely for the first ever CMU seminar on music rights, a new training programme from our sister music business media that will take place in Shoreditch on 3 Mar. This will be a lively six hour exploration of the way music rights work in the UK, of issues affecting the industry, and of how such rights can still be monetised in the digital age.

It will be headed up by CMU Business Editor Chris Cooke (pictured), a leading expert of music rights, who regularly speaks about the industry for other media, including the BBC, CNN and the Associated Press, as well as rambling on about it all here in the CMU Daily.

Chris told CMU: "Despite the increasing importance of the live sector, and the unstoppable rise of piracy, the music industry is still primarily an intellectual property rights business. But given the challenges caused by the internet, music firms needs to find new ways of utilising and monetising their music rights, no longer able to rely on the old fashioned tried and tested models of selling recordings".

He continues: "That means music people need a better understanding of what music rights are, how they work, and how they can be utilised and protected, from both a legal and commercial perspective. Unfortunately this involves talking about IP law a bit, but with our CMU seminar we will make all that stuff very easy to handle, and rather entertaining to discuss. If you plan to still be working in music in five years time, you need to come to this seminar!"

The full day seminar is just £75 plus VAT. A small number of spaces for the 3 Mar seminar are still available, and the whole thing will happen again on 24 Mar. More information and booking forms can be got at www.thecmuwebsite.com/events/musicrights.html

The BBC's commercial division Worldwide has signed a deal with the Glastonbury Festival, which will enable it to sell the Beeb's extensive coverage of the uber-music fest to broadcasters around the world. And might also help the BBC justify sending 9704 people to cover Glasto each year.

Confirming the deal with Glastonbury organisers, BBC Worldwide's music man John Mansfield told The Guardian: "In this momentous year, as Glastonbury celebrates its 40th anniversary, we are proud and privileged to bring the much celebrated BBC coverage to a global stage".

Glasto legal man Ben Challis added: "We have worked with the BBC in the UK since 1997 and the award winning coverage of Glastonbury just gets better and better".

According to The Guardian, Glasto footage will be added to BBC Worldwide's expanding catalogue of music assets, which includes 'Later With Jools Holland' content and the 'Top Of The Pops' brand, plus all of the Corporation's archive footage, which Worldwide is apparently packaging into artist strands along the lines of 'Best Of Blondie' etc.

You've gotta love Mark Thomas, right? Well, not necessarily, it seems. Cross-industry trade body UK Music has filed a formal complaint with the BBC over a ten minute segment aired on the Corporation's 'Culture Show' in which the always opinionated comedian analysed the always fun Digital Economy Bill, the bit of legislation currently working its way through parliament which includes the much previously reported British take on the three-strikes system for combating online piracy.

The Feargal Sharkey-headed music business body reckons Thomas' review of the copyright provisions in the DEB were overly biased towards those who oppose the proposed new laws, and that the feature contained some misleading information, which UK Music had alerted the programme's makers of before the piece aired.

Pointing out that only one minute and forty seconds of the ten minute feature included those who disagreed with Thomas' anti-DEB viewpoint, UK Music say that most of the information which it considers "misleading" centred on the process that copyright owners will go through to suspend a file-sharer's net connection if the proposals in the bill become law. This is certainly the area where there does seem to be some confusion among both those who support and those who oppose the legislation.

UK Music say Thomas and his anti-DEB interviewees claimed that the bill will enable movie studios and record companies to get file-sharers' net access cut off "with a bare minimum of evidence being presented" and that copyright owners would have the power to submit "three false accusations and then taking bolt cutters to someone's internet".

But UK Music argues that this is simply not so. They say only "serious repeat infringers" will be targeted, that some fifty infringement notices would need to be filed against someone before they were deemed to fall into that category, and that when a suspension order was requested by a copyright owner the matter would then go to an independent ombudsman - most likely a new department within OfCom - at which stage the accused would be able to appeal.

The trade body also take issue with Thomas' description of Clause 17, the undeniably controversial DEB provision which gives the secretary of state with responsibility for IP issues the right to introduce new copyright rules in the future without consulting parliament. Thomas, and many others before him, reckon this is entirely undemocratic, and that it will enable the copyright lobby to persuade future ministers to sneak in even more draconian rules on file-sharing.

But UK Music says Clause 17 has been misrepresented also, adding that a rework of that clause in the House Of Lords means all affected groups and parliament would have to be consulted before new copyright rules could become law, the clause simply means new full legislation would not be required every time new technology results in new copyright challenges.

UK Music man Sharkey concluded: "We very much welcome an open debate on the Digital Economy Bill. But we would have expected a distinguished broadcaster like the BBC to present a balanced feature, based on facts and with all sides of the discussion being represented. On this occasion, however, we believe the BBC fell short on all accounts. Due to the seriousness of these breaches, we believe that the only appropriate and effective remedy would be an on-air retraction and apology".

The BBC says it is considering UK Music's complaint. Meanwhile, you can watch Thomas' DEB piece here - www.youtube.com/watch?v=l4S4siQAfY4. This unofficial video upload on YouTube possibly infringes the BBC's copyright, but don't worry, once the DEB is passed whoever uploaded it will be tracked down and have their hands cut off. Or at least that's what I heard. I think it was Mark Thomas who told me that.

Kasabian's Tom Meighan reckons the internet is "killing" rock stars, not because of downloading or anything like that, but because the need for modern artists to be constantly chatting and updating people on their lives via Twitter, Facebook and the like has removed the mystique that used to surround the great and the good of planet rock. He probably has a point.

Meighan told Bang Showbiz recently: "It's not like what it used to be like in rock n roll. In the 60s and 70s you had the likes of David Bowie and Marc Bolan, and then in the 80s you even had shit acts that were rock stars. Then in the 90s you had the Britpop revival. I think - especially in the last three or four years - the internet's taken a stranglehold and killed off the myth of the rock star now. You know, when you used to buy the records and there was the myth behind them? There's too much on blogs now and I think it's killed it off. Nobody's surprised by an interview anymore or anything. It's quite tragic".

He concluded: "There are so many rock stars writing these self-pitying blogs and it's not in the spirit of rock n roll, it's like 'Wow, what rubbish'".