Hi everyone,

Just a quick note to say thanks very much for following this blog, it has been the first step in an important transition from a hard copy magazine newsletter of The Gen to an online blog.

With that in mind, we have now fully integrated the blog into the front page of our amazing new website.

So, please head over there for frequently updated breaking news about the regional music industry in the North East, Generator’s expanded activities in commercially developing music within the region, selected national industry news and exclusive in-depth features and interviews alongside all of the additional great features of the new site.

Onwards and upwards!

The Generator team.

Generator.org.uk

News @ Generator

Social networking site Myspace has launched a UK version of its Myspace Music service, in what would seem to be a direct bid to compete with streaming sites such as Spotify and Last Fm.

In partnership with I-tunes, the service will allow users to download Digital Rights Management (DRM) free downloads of tracks and will feature the back catalogues of many major artists.

Speaking with reporters at BBC 6Music, President of Myspace Music Courtney Holt said: “We provide streaming audio, video, a comprehensive suite of artist tools, original content and programming all wrapped up together in one nice package”.

The News Corporation owned Company are marketing the service as a ‘social music discovery service’, effectively as an extension of social networking and Myspace’s long established platform for showcasing new acts.

Myspace Music service will be browser based with no installation of additional software needed but it will share similar features to Spotify such as advertising and the creation of playlists. One key idea is that artists and celebrities will be able to upload playlists to fans, with Lady Gaga, Britney Spears and, somewhat incredulously, The Vatican already signed up to do this!

Similar Myspace Music service services already exist in the US, Australia and New Zealand.

As previously reported by The Gen, Myspace has experienced a global decline in users this year. The latest UK Nielsen figures reveal that Myspace attracted 3.5 million unique users in October 2009, which is a decline of 39 per cent year on year.

Myspace Music service is co-owned by the ‘big four’ major music labels: EMI, Sony, Universal Music Group and Warner Music Group but the venture also recently secured a deal with various UK Independent labels through label rights trade body Merlin.

Have your say! Will Myspace Music service be enough to entice you away from Spotify? Will these services reverse the downturn of Myspace? Do you still use Myspace to listen to new bands?

The annual long-list of emerging musical talent for the BBC Sound of 2010 poll was recently announced. The list, compiled by 165 people within the UK industry and other tastemakers and experts in new music, is designed to highlight who will be exciting and successful in music over the next 12 months. They each name three artists and the 15 with the most votes make the long-list.

The 2010 list is as follows:

Daisy Dares You
Delphic
Devlin
The Drums
Everything Everything
Giggs
Gold Panda
Ellie Goulding
Hurts
Joy Orbison
Marina & the Diamonds (pictured above).
Owl City
Rox
Stornoway
Two Door Cinema Club

A top five and overall winner will be announced in January next year. The winner of the Sound of 2009 was Little Boots. To listen to all of the artists on the list head over to the BBC website.

Have your say! What do you think of the long-list? Are there any big surprises up there? Who would you have put forward as your top three musical tips for next year?

Well- We’ve explored, agonized and woken up in the middle of the night thinking “But what about….” and finally here is the finished version- The Gen’s Top 40 Tracks of 2009.

Compiled by The Gen’s Editor Paul Reed in consultation with the rest of the team, these are the thrilling tracks that we feel are most representative of the year in music on both a regional and global level. It isn’t an easy task to distill a year of great music into a mere 40 tracks and 2 and half hours but chances are that whatever music has blown your mind this year, whether its straight up pop, dubstep remixes, hip hop, life affirming Indie rock, Electronica, the North East’s finest musical exports and many other kinds of other glorious noise, it will hopefully be found here.

If not, then comment below or e-mail us and let us know what you think.

It isn’t in any particular order other than what seemed to flow best as a mix-tape and there are some notable omissions (Grizzly Bear and F**K Buttons new albums alongside new Field Music songs, for example) due to certain tracks not being currently available on Spotify.

Please send us suggestions for an alternate Christmas virtual mix-tape that we’re putting together for the end of the year!

Of course, if you haven’t already, you’ll need to download the Spotify software for free and then simply click this link:

The Gen- Top 40 Tracks of the year 2009

Twitterati

Five to follow this month, stay in the loop with Twitter.

Follow Generator

Santa Claus

Mammal Club

Tom Robinson of BBC Introducing

Drowned in Sound and for great celebrity laughs
Cheryl Kerl

Can you recommend anymore for next month? Post your links below or e-mail us.

SPEAR:LIVE

Saturday 12th December, 2009
Middlesbrough Town Hall Crypt

Dirty Weekend
Swooning paranoid indie” NME
Electro-tinged indie from Stockton. With eclectic influences and intense live shows, it’s no wonder Dirty Weekend have already played Glastonbury and supported the likes of Glasvegas and British Sea Power.

Mammal Club
From the ashes of The Eye Jab and Yourcodenameis:Milo comes one of Newcastle’s most exciting bands. Epic, intelligent indie, brimming with ideas and delivered with impassioned honesty.

Pretty Hickeys
Taking the bounce of The Libertines and adding a hint of unruly aggression, Pretty Hickeys are the sound of being young and getting old.

FREE Entry / Doors: 8.00pm / 18+
Middlesbrough Town Hall Crypt, Albert Road, Middlesbrough, TS1 1EP

SPEAR: has been created to offer support to young people, music students, musicians and small music businesses by furthering their careers by means of advice-based information and gig opportunities at one of the finest venues in Teesside.

SPEAR: is a two-tiered programme produced by Generator
and funded by Working Neighourhoods Fund, Middlesbrough through Middlesbrough Town Hall.
• SPEAR:TALK - a seminar series using music industry professionals to help fast-track the careers of your career.
• SPEAR:LIVE - a monthly live event, featuring the most talked about bands from the region.

Get Involved: Generator is looking for people to assist with this programme on a voluntary basis; if you are interested in getting a foot-hold in the industry, please use the contact information below to make enquiries.
Get a slot at SPEAR:LIVE Generator will be looking for bands and musicians from the area to book into its live shows at The Crypt – either send in CDs to the address below, or contact Generator.
Admission is FREE but seminar spaces are limited and subject to advance booking through Generator.

Generator
Cluny Annex
Ouseburn Valley
Newcastle upon Tyne
NE1 2PQ
Joe Frankland: 0191 255 4465

NARC. Magazine have announced details of their now legendary Stars In Their Eyes Xmas Party this year.

Taking place on Friday 18th December at The Cluny in Newcastle, the event will feature:

Peter Brewis (Field Music) & Jennie Redmond (The Cornshed Sisters) + Friends as Fleetwood Mac
Mansions Of Glory as Rocket From The Crypt
The Pilots & Mick Rolfe as The Pixies
The Illustrators as The Clash

+ Compere: The Claw of TRUTH!

Entry is a mere bah humbug £2 with presents and cake thrown in and doors are at 8pm. Hey ho ho ho ho!

Spotlight Extras and deleted scenes!

A couple of new North East bands to seek out:

France and The Habsburgs
Soundtracks for a B Movie

Some essential LIVE ACTION from around the region over the Christmas period:

04/12: The Longsands / Bruce Foxton’s From the Jam @ O2 Academy
05/12: Karoshi Brothers / Let’s Buy Happiness / The Runwells @ Hyem (free)
06/12: Vic Godard & The Subway Sect and France and the Habsburgs @ Cluny
07/12: Malcolm Middleton’s “Long Dark Night” @ Cluny 2
08/12: John Bramwell (I Am Kloot) @ Cluny 2
09/12: Brilliant Mind/All The Damn Kids/Honest Thief @ The End
11/12: Ryoga, Karoshi & Mammal Club @ Arts Centre Washington
12/12: Mushi Mushi farewell gig with The Guessmen and The Bubble Project @ Cluny 2
12/12: Generator SPEAR:LIVE - Dirty Weekend, Mammal Club & Pretty Hickeys @ Middlesbrough Town Hall Crypt
13/12: Bombay Bicycle Club @ Academy
14/12: Fruit Bats + O’Messy Life + Puzzle Muteson @ The Cluny
17/12: Detroit Social Club Christmas gig @ WHQ.
22/12: Gallows (pictured above) @ Legends.

The Observer Music Monthly supplement is to close as part of a major reshaping of the entire publication. The popular and widely respected monthly publication is part of three out of four monthly sections to be abolished, with only the ‘food monthly’ remaining.

Speaking with reporters at Media Guardian, Observer editor John Mulholland said: “It has been a difficult few months for staff while we have worked through these changes as part of Guardian News and Media’s publishing review, and some hard decisions had to be taken given the extremely challenging economic environment for newspapers”.

As previously reported by The Gen, the latest ABC circulation figures revealed that the entire sector of music consumer magazines showed a combined circulation drop of 10% in the first half of 2009.

The Observer will be significantly revamped, consisting of a main section, a sports supplement, an expanded review supplement and magazine. The Business, media news and travel sections will also lose their own supplements and become merged into the main paper.

The Observer Music Monthly was launched in 2003 and was edited by Caspar Llewellyn-Smith from inception up to closure.

Artist registration is now open for the annual Great Escape festival in Brighton, which takes place next year from 13th-15th May across various venues within the City.

Unsigned or independent artists interested in playing the event can fill out an application form HERE.

In addition, digital distributor Zimbalan are offering three slots at the festival to acts selling the most music through their services over the next three months, with a shortlist drawn up on March 1st, 2010.

The Great Escape, sponsored by Red Stripe has gained a great deal of profile in recent years, featuring over 300 artists each year and encompassing both established and emerging talent alongside a varied and extensive programme of music industry panels and guest speakers. There is currently an early bird ticket offer available, which expires on 21st December.

To find out more, go to The Great Escape website.

You could argue that it is about time that the industry had some positive retail news. According to recently announced figures published by the British Phonographic Industry (BPI) and originating from the Official Charts Company, 2009 has been the biggest ever year for singles sales, with 117 million individual tracks sold so far.

This exceeds 2008’s sales figures of 115.1 million. An unsurprising 98.6% of the songs this year were sold as digital tracks.

The head of the BPI Geoff Taylor said in a press release: “We’ve witnessed an astonishing transformation of the UK singles market during the last six years, with digital downloads rapidly overtaking sales of CD singles and cassettes to dominate the singles scene”.

According to data from the official charts company, the fastest selling single of the year so far is Cheryl Cole’s ‘Fight for this love’, which sold 290,000 in the first week of release, overtaking Alexandra Burke’s ‘Bad boys’, which had set the previous record of 185,000..

Other major selling tracks this year include ‘Poker Face’ by Lady Gaga and ‘In for the kill’ by La Roux (single artwork pictured above).

Generator and Transmit Consulting have produced three Music Business Development units for delivery as one day, bite-sized workshops, to run throughout the North East.

Appointed by The SUSTAIN Strategic Partnership to deliver a music business workshop programme, these short courses offer a practical solution for small music businesses, having been assembled by people with extensive experience of working within the music industry and has been funded under the One North East Higher Level Skills programme.

There will be seven units in total with the first three being:

Strategic Music Marketing - Promoting Your Own Music
Digital Music Distribution and Sales - Selling Music Online
Finance and Funding for Music Business

Delivered in Newcastle at Dance City over the 8th, 9th and 10th of December. There will be more confirmed in Sunderland and Teesside for delivery in January 2010. See our Events page for more details.

These courses are free to attend but will be restricted to 12 people per unit so please register interest as soon as possible. This is a one-off opportunity for music businesses in the region and the workshops are targeted at record labels, music managers, live promoters, DIY Bands and other music businesses.

For more information and to register for the workshops please email Martin or call 0191 245 0099.