Here are some of the bands who didn’t make it into the final story:

Coldplay + Goldfrapp = Coldfrapp
David Guetta + Jet = David Jetta
KT Tunstall + Katy Perry = KT Perry
The 69 Eyes + M83 = The 152 Eyes
Sigur Rós + Joss Stone = Sigur Joss

And here are the ones that did…

EMI to merge bands in new bid to cut costs
Following the news yesterday that all of EMI’s attempts to mortgage its recordings catalogue in the US market had failed, one last bold plan has emerged from the London-based major’s existing management that they hope can stop Citigroup from seizing control of the company when loan repayments become due in May.

It seems increasingly likely that the only way that EMI will now be able to meet its commitments to Citigroup is if it can convince investors in its parent company Terra Firma to cough up more cash. In a bid to get that support, a new internal report has proposed a radical way to enable further cost savings at the already cut-back major, principally by encouraging bands signed to the label to merge their activities, reducing upfront investment costs and financial risks.

The ‘April Report’, a name seemingly referencing the fact the major only has one month to save itself, was distributed yesterday to Terra Firma investors, senior EMI staff and key artist managers, and claims that so called ‘band mergers’ could be the solution to the major’s woes, enabling the record company to better service what some execs see as an overly expansive roster of artists by pooling marketing efforts into combined releases.

The report outlines some of the first band mergers likely to take place as part of the new arrangement, some of which seem to have already been run by affected artists and managers. If the proposals go ahead, Hot Chip will be partnered with Coldplay, and, despite having only just released their latest album ‘One Life Stand’, could be in the studio with their new bandmates and producer Brian Eno as soon as June. The new album from the combined band, working title Coldchip, should be out before Christmas.

While some merged bands will actually collaborate in the studio, other mergers will see American and British artists combined, with the singers performing under a combined brand name, but only in their home territory. This has echoes with the 1960s system where different artists on opposite sides of the Atlantic would release the same songs. It’s thought Katy Perry and Kylie Minogue, or Katy Minogue moving forward, might be the test project in this regard, with Katy representing the combined band brand in the US, and Kylie in the UK and Australia. There are, of course, also carbon footprint benefits to this particular idea.

But possibly the most surprising of the band merger proposals is that artists already involved in multiple projects with the label will have to pick one brand to perform under. This would affect the projects of former Blur members, whose new work would all be released under the Blur name. This would include all Damon Albarn projects, including Gorillaz, and Graham Coxon’s solo work.

Although it’s not clear if the band mergers proposal was included in the previously reported business plan prepared for Terra Firma investors by former EMI CEO Elio Leoni-Sceti, who quit last month, the proposal is now being spearheaded by the company’s Executive Chairman Charles Allen.

He provides the introduction to the April Report, and writes: “While it is no secret that EMI has had its fair share of problems in recent years, I genuinely believe that this measure will secure the company’s short term and long term future. I realise that many music fans will see it as a controversial move, but they must realise that it is a necessary one. Record companies need to keep their costs to an absolute minimum to stay in business, and when innovative solutions like this present themselves, we’d be fools not embrace them”.

Although most affected artists are yet to comment on the report, a source close to Hot Chip’s management last night confirmed that they had been consulted about the proposal the band merge with Coldplay. The source said: “We had our reservations about the Coldchip proposals, but, while driven by commercial necessity, they actually pose some interesting creative challenges that artists will find exciting. The Hot Chip boys are actually looking forward to working with some brand new bandmates. We’re not 100% sure how it’s all going to work yet, but given Coldplay’s huge global fanbase, it’s also a great opportunity for the guys”.

Other mergers proposed in the report include a new band called The Stones consisting of Angus, Julia and Joss Stone, and, perhaps most interestingly artistically speaking, an album by a combined Massive Attack and Liars, whose new moniker may be Massive Liars.

EMI are yet to comment on the leaked report.

See the story on the CMU News-Blog here and in CMU Daily here.

First off, tech blog Pocket-lint asked me to contribute to a feature called How The Apple iPad Will Change The World. I gave my thoughts on what effect it might have on the music industry both before and after the launch.

Then, not content with filling other people’s publications with my words, I went and dedicated my editorial in CMU Weekly to the iPad, as well. Here’s what that looked like:

I do so love an Apple product launch. The hype that always precedes them can only ever mean that the new thing Steve Jobs trots out with will be a big disappointment by comparison.

I suspect that this might be part of the plan, though. People always flock to point out that the latest Apple gadget is pointless, unoriginal and over-priced. And then what happens? Once the products are actually released – with our expectations reduced a little – those devices seem rather cool. And so you have the iPod, the iTunes Store, the iPhone and all the rest. The impact all those things have had is undeniable, despite all the initial naysaying.

Will that be the case with the iPad? Only time will tell. So far its main contribution to the world is to fill Twitter with jokes about “Dom Joly’s new iPhone” and iTampons. It’s certainly not the home computer replacement I was hoping for, and nor am I going to start carrying one around in my bag instead of my iPhone (I’ll still need that for phonecalls, if nothing else). However, if, as I suspect, the iPad turns out to really be the uber-terminal for accessing online content, at home or on the move, it becomes more attractive.

Following their purchase of digital music platform Lala.com late last year, it’s been rumoured Apple might launch a service that would let you store your entire iTunes library online, ready to be accessed from anywhere. If that included films as well as music, and assuming WiFi and mobile internet connections can handle it, you’ve suddenly got a fast, friendly and lightweight way to access all your entertainment content from anywhere.

I’m not entirely sure if that’s something worth having in addition to a laptop. Possibly not. But if you only really use your laptop as an online entertainment centre, well, then why have a laptop at all? And you should never underestimate Apple’s ability to sell something people didn’t think they wanted by the millions. As with all these things, it’s the content that really makes it what it is. All you need is one truly great app to make the iPad a must-have.

Read this edition of CMU Weekly in full here.

The BBC have released the long list from their Sound Of 2010 poll, the thing where the Beeb ask 136 music pundit types, including CMU Editor Andy Malt, for their hot musical tips for the year ahead. All the artists tipped have to be new, and not have had a Top 20 single or album before mid-November. A final list of five will be announced in the New Year.

This list has a long history of tipping at least a couple of the big new musical names of the following year. Andy CMU voted for two of the artists who have made it to the final long list. There’s a Quality Street chocolate for the first person to guess which two. Well, providing you guess before one of us eats it.

Daisy Dares You
Delphic
Devlin
The Drums
Everything Everything
Giggs
Gold Panda
Ellie Goulding
Hurts
Joy Orbison
Marina And The Diamonds
Owl City
Rox
Stornoway
Two Door Cinema Club

Cave told BBC 6music: “I would like to publicly apologise to both of them, especially Avril Lavigne. Because the writing about her is darker and more invasive I guess. I know Kylie and at least, I hope, she will take it in the spirit it was written. At the time that the book was set, which was about eight years ago, or seven years ago, Kylie Minogue and her hot pants were all the tabloids wrote about in this country”.

In a recent iTunes ‘Meet The Author’ podcast, Cave said on the same issue: “I’m slightly worried about touring America, to be honest. … The whole book revolves around Avril Lavigne’s vagina. And it’s not a happy book. But I just keep thinking that if Avril Lavigne wrote a book about my dick, I wouldn’t mind”.

Hey there people, welcome to the CMU Daily for this lovely sunny Monday morning (feel free to cross out ’sunny’ and ‘morning’ if neither of these are true wherever it is that you’re situated, though we can’t be held liable for any Tipp-Ex or permanent marker applied to PC screens). There’s a note here at the top of the CMU Daily to let you know about two big developments happened around these parts this week.

First, CMU has a brand new editor. Well, not ‘brand new’, in that it’s Andy Malt, who has been working on CMU for eighteen months now. But it’s as of today that he does so with the editor hat on. Which is a very fetching hat to wear. If you like mauve. Yes, Andy, who already edits both of CMU’s weekly bulletins – the CMU Weekly and Remix Update – will now be heading up all of our editorial operations, including this here Daily bulletin, the most read daily news bulletin in the UK music business.

In case you’re wondering what this means for me and my fellow former editor Caro – well, we’ll still be here, as co-Publishers of all things CMU and co-directors of all things UnLimited Media. I will also continue to have a daily involvement in CMU editorial as Business Editor, continuing to oversee all of our music and media business coverage, including this week’s launch of Sky Songs and the latest shenanigans in The Pirate Bay saga. I’ve also written today’s Courtney Love story, though this is a blatant step outside my new remit, and may as yet prove controversial. Caro, by the way, is not giving up her editorial ways; she will be editing a brand new UnLimited service of which we will talk more in a future Daily.

A lot has happened here at CMU in the last twelve months, and even more is going to be happening in the next year. Andy has played a key role in these developments, and we’re all excited about him expanding his editorial role as we head towards 2010. Andy shares mine and Caro’s passion for great new music, our fascination with the way the modern music business works, and our slightly irreverent outlook on the world. Basically, your daily dose of all things music is in safe hands.

Talking about more happenings in the next year, that brings us to development number two. We are in the process of ‘refreshing’ theCMUwebsite.com, and the refreshed site will slowly emerge this week before going properly live next Monday. Part of that refreshed website is the CMU NewsBlog, which will present all the stories that appear in the CMU Daily in an easy-to-navigate fashion for those who prefer their music news on a website rather than in a daily e-bulletin. The NewsBlog will also make it easier to link directly to CMU stories, and means that for the first time you can subscribe to CMU, or sections of CMU, via RSS. Check the blog at newsblog.theCMUwebsite.com. And watch the new site materialise at www.theCMUwebsite.com.

And here ends the big developments. For now. Expect more soon. Meanwhile, let’s get on with the CMU Daily. Right now.

Chris Cooke
Co-Publisher, CMU Daily

Here’s the back story: A couple of years ago, Kid Koala and Dynomite D were asked to record a soundtrack to a documentary. They had completed a psych rock-influenced score for the film before the entire project was shelved. More recently, the pair met Heskett and Ross and played them some of this music. Having recently left Wolfmother, and excited about what they were hearing, the pair suggested taking the lost album on the road.

So, with Koala and Dynomite working across six turntables, and Keskett and Ross handling drums and bass, that’s exactly what they’re doing.

Calling themselves The Slew, the album, entitled ‘100%’, will finally be released via Puget Sounds on 9 Nov. But that’s after the tour starts. So, in order to give you a taste of what to expect, they’re giving it away for free.

To download the album, go here: nufonia.com/ice-cream-news/theslew

For a quicker fix, check out the video for album track ‘It’s All Over’ here:

Attrill told the BBC: “The workmen were smiling as they did it – they thought it was funny. I just burst into tears. But a crowd gathered and we managed to get them to stop before destroying it completely. I don’t care about art or politics – I am just an ordinary girl who liked being cheered up by seeing this on my street”.

She continued: “People have always been telling us to sell it or cover it in Perspex, but we only wanted it to be here for the public’s enjoyment. You can’t take a photo if it’s behind a thick plastic screen. We never wanted to make money out of it like many do – but it was a part of our lives. Now it’s gone. People are always doing down Hackney but this was something we could all be proud of”.

Hackney Council’s Alan Laing initially said in a statement: “The council’s position is not to make a judgement call on whether graffiti is art”, although he later added: “Due to a problem at the land registry, unfortunately our letters stating our intention to clean this building didn’t reach the owner. As soon as we realised this, work stopped. We are now speaking with her about how to resolve the issue”.

I have some pictures of it on my phone, if that helps (that’s one of them just up there).

Credited with inventing the electric guitar as it is known today, the eight-track tape recorder and numerous recording techniques and effects, Les Paul – it could be argued – is the man responsible for almost all modern music. His signature range of guitars, manufactured and sold by the Nashville-based Gibson Guitar Corporation, is one of the most iconic and popular on the market.

Announcing Paul’s death, Gibson chairman and CEO Henry Juszkiewicz said: “The world has lost a truly innovative and exceptional human being today. I cannot imagine life without Les Paul. He would walk into a room and put a smile on anyone’s face. His musical charm was extraordinary and his techniques unmatched anywhere in the world. We will dedicate ourselves to preserving Les’ legacy to insure that it lives on forever. He touched so many lives throughout his remarkable life and his influence extends around the globe and across every boundary. I have lost a dear, personal friend and mentor, a man who has changed so many of our lives for the better”.

Born Lester William Polsfuss in Waukesha, Wisconsin on 9 Jun 1915, Les Paul began performing publicly at the age of 13, and dropped out of school at 17 to join Sunny Joe Wolverton’s Radio Band in St Louis. His first recordings were made under the name Rhubarb Red, a name given to him by Wolverton, on an acoustic guitar in 1936.

Keen to find a way to play louder, Paul had experimented with electronics and guitar amplification since his youth. But disappointed by the first generation of hollow-bodied electric guitars, which became commercially available in the mid-1930s, he was inspired to build his own solid instrument. Although Rickenbacker had made solid instruments from Bakelite since 1935, he recognised that wood was the material needed for a good tone. With the permission of Epiphone president Epi Stathopoulo, he used the company’s factory in 1941 to build it, affectionately referring to the result as ‘The Log’.

During World War II he was drafted into the army, but permitted to stay in California and play guitar for the Armed Forces Radio Service. During this time he honed his distinctive jazz and swing-inspired style, influenced by Django Reinhardt, and by the end of the war had, with the Les Paul Trio, become quite well known. In 1945, the trio scored their first million-selling record with ‘It’s Been A Long, Long Time’ and were regular performers on Bing Crosby’s popular radio show.

In 1948, Paul was nearly killed in a car crash, which shattered his right arm and elbow. This, of course, also threatened his career as a guitar player, until he convinced doctors to set his badly broken arm in the playing position. While recovering from the accident, Bing Crosby gave him a first generation Ampex tape recorder. Always keen to experiment, he added a fourth head to the recorder to allow multi-track recording, and at the same time also invented tape delay. Using these inventions, along with another recent innovation, close mic-ed vocals, he recorded another hit, ‘How High The Moon’, with his future wife Mary Ford, in 1950.

However, Paul still hadn’t found his perfect guitar. Though The Log did a good job, it was lacking something. Rickenbacher and Fender had also both produced their own solid-body guitars. However, it was Gibson who brought Paul what he had been looking for. Literally. Keen to have him on board, the company’s then president Ted McCarty personally delivered the first of its own solid-body guitars to the guitarist in 1950.

McCarty remembered: “Les played it, and his eyes lighted up”. He signed up to have his name attached to the guitar and the first Gibson Les Paul Gold Top went on sale in 1952, with the Les Paul Custom and Les Paul Junior following in 1954, the Les Paul Special in 1955 and finally, the Les Paul Standard in 1958. The design of the guitars has changed little since then.

Last year, Paul told the Guardian about the effect his efforts had on music, saying: “The electric guitar was laughed at [in 1941]! They called me the character with the broomstick with pick-ups on it. It was terrible. Before we came along the guitar was an apologetic wimp – the weakest, most unimportant guy in the band. As soon as we put a pick-up on him, and a volume control, he became the king”.

Les Paul continued to perform at New York’s Iridium Club every Monday night up until his death, despite crippling arthritis, and still devoted to advancing the possibilities of sound, had been attempting to build the perfect hearing aid.

www.youtube.com/thedeertracks