SEPTEMBER 23, 2000 Music Volume 17, Issue 39 £3.95 Wyclef's new single,It Doesn't Matter (Colum- bia), is this week's Euro- peanHot 100Singles Highest New Entry. Media®we taller to radio M&M chart toppers this week Majors wheel out the biggestMiddelhoff aims for number one Eurochart Hot 100 Singles guns in seasonal campaign MADONNA by Adam White Music a Music & Media staff report such a heavy flow. But they (Maverick) remain optimistic about the HANOVER - Bertelsmann chair- LONDON - Record labels finaloutcome. "Although man/CEO Thomas Middelhoff European Top 100 Albums andradio programmers highlycompetitiveIfeel repeated on September 13 his wish THE CORKS across Europe are getting greataboutthe coming to see BMG Enter- In Blue ready for the busiest season months," says BMG UK & tainment become (Atlantic) of the year, which will see Ireland chairman and presi- top dog in the global European Radio Top 50 new releases by such inter- dent BMG Entertainment music business by nationalheavyweightsas Central Europe Richard Grif- the end of the year. ROBBIE WILLIAMS Madonna, U2, Fat Boy Slim, fiths. "The quality of the com- "Don't say that Rock DJ Sade, the Spice Girls, All binedreleasesfromthe we haven't achieved (Chrysalis) Saints, Ricky Martin, Rod record companies is stagger- our objective until European Dance Traxx Stewart, Radiohead, Kylie ing and can only expand the December 31,"he DARUDE Minogue, Texas, Elton John market." declared during a financial presen- Sandstorm and The Beatles. On the programming tation at Expo 2000 in Hanover. (16 Inch) The sheer volume of front, head of music at Middelhoff would not give any pre- product-a complete Radio 102 in Norway, cisedetails on how such world overview of major inter- Egil Houeland says his domination wouldbeachieved, Inside M&M this week national releases is pub- main problem is thathowever, beyond alluding-as he lished on page 7-8-has the bulk of releases is has done before-to the promise of label executives and pro- concentrated on the end continued on page 25 BMG GETS CHEEKY. grammersquestioning of the year. "I suppose BMG has acquired indie label whether the market has it's good to have some Cheeky,home the capacity to absorb continued on page 25 Boy is not so of acts such as Faithless and Dido, in a deal Music Choice announces flotationBadly Drawn engineedred by by Gareth Thomas Europe and into the Middle East. by Paul Sexton BMG UK & Ire- "Music Choice is already a major landchairman LONDON - Music Choice Europe,force in the provision of music into LONDON - An industry audience at Richard Grif- which provides music through digi- people'shomes,"chief executive London's Grosvenor House Hotel fiths (pictured). tal television and on the Internet, isSimon Bazalgette tells M&M. "And September 12 witnessed The Hour Page 2 planning to float on the Lon- we will now make a signifi- Of Bewilderbeast, when 0111P71,". don Stock Exchange in an cant investment in new mar- the debut album of that WAPPING PLAYLISTS effort to raise approximately kets, such as broadband and name by the woolly -hat- Germanlistenerscannow £45 million ( 73.5 million). mobile technology." ted artist Badly Drawn access the playlists of some On flotation, its market cap- With revenue raised from Boy beat off better-known radio stations such as Antenne italisation is expected to be the flotation, Music Choice nomineestowinthe Bayern stations through their around £190 million. hopes to offer its services on ninthannualTechnics mobile phone. Page 3 The UK -based company, mobile telephones with the Mercury Music Prize. whichisbacked by record introduction of UMTS (Univer- Born Damon Gough in JAllIN'EUROPE labels Sony and Warner and sal Mobile Telecommunica- BoltonnearManchester,Badly Independent labels have been TV company BskyB, dis- tionsSystem).Italso Drawn Boy has been acritical at the forefront of jazz creativ- tributes 47 digital audio anticipates that the ser- favourite in the UK in the months ity in Europe. Terry Berne pro- channels,eachcatering ChOICEvicewill be distributed leading up to the award, in which a files some of Europe's most foraspecificgenreof via xDSL, advanced broad- panel of industry/media judges hon- active indie labels. music and data, to around 5 band networks, once theseour the unofficial British or Irish Page 9-13 million European homes across continued on page 25 continued on page 25 Following "In Our LiFetime" and "Summer Son"-both \o 1 at EHR The new singleIn Demoncat radio now From the forthcoming chum 'Texas - Greatest Hits" www texos.UKcorn AmericanRadioHistory.Com NEWS tion of titles, accessible through mobiles. Once you have the title of the track on your (mini) phone screen, Music you can order it from an e-tailer or-not yet, but Upfront soon-download the title, or listen to it. Media by Emmanuel Legrand, Music & Media editor -in -chief A few months' back, M&M published a guide to WAP for dummies in which an executive from Eric- Call M&M on: Of all the new technologies that will be used to dis- tel (+44) 207 822 8302 sson stated that "music and mobile devices are a fax (+44) 207 242 9138 tribute music digitally, the wireless option is probablyperfect combination." This is proving to be a correct the one that offers the most exciting potential for theprediction. For direct lines dial +44 207 822, music industry, and for broadcasters. And if offers immense business potential, simply followed by the required extension Come to think of it, the growth of mobile phonebecause at one end of the phone you have the user and Publisher: Ron Betist (ext. 8312) ownership in Europe and in the rest of the world is at the other end, a telco. In such a model, the user is Editor -in -chief Emmanuel Legrand (8318) staggering and in a not too distant future, everyone identified and can be billed through his telecom compa- Director of operations: Kate Leech (8307) over 14 will own one of these devices (even in regionsny, providing additional resources to the whole chain Editorial of the world such as South East Asia). What WAP sys- Deputy editor: Jon Heasman (8316) (telcos, artists, labels and stations). News editor: Gareth Thomas (8317) tems can offer is an instant capability to access ser- Of course, the system is still in Features/specials editor: Steve Adams (8380) vices, any time, anyplace-and be accessed in return. Music editor: Adam Howorth (8319) its infancy and lacks broadband Reporter: Sin Stavenes Dove (8311) More and more, there are reports of new deals,capacity. This will be solved with Charts 8cresed rc partnerships, tests, and experiments where music isthe next, third generation (3G) of Charts editor: Rani Cairo (8313) used in conjunction with wireless applications. Takehigh-speed systems, perfect for Charts researchers: Menno Visser (8322), this week. We report that in Germany, the playlist of Beverley Evans (8321) music streaming and downloads. Charts system manager: Ray Hewitt (8345) a handful of stations is now accessible through the Once those technical hurdles Production phone. In France, Yacast, a new entrant in the busi-are passed, it's a good bet that the Production manager: Jonathan Crouch (8314) ness, is offering radio stations 24/7 instant recogni- future of music will be mobile. Designer: Mat Deaves (8323) Correspondents Music& Mediavalues its readers' opinions-youcane-mail the editor -in -chief at:[email protected] Austria: Susan L. Schuhmayer - (43) 1 334 9608 Belgium: Marc Maes - (32) 3 568 8082 Classical/jazz: Terry Beme - (34) 91 474 4640 Dance: Gary Smith - (34) 9 3488 2180 BMG gets Cheeky and launches into Orbit Denmark: Charles Ferro - (45) 3369 0701 Finland: Jonathan Mander - (358) 503 527384 by Emmanuel Legrand simply stating that BMG "paid awill be a self -titled album early Germany: Gesa Birnkraut - (49) 4101 45930 Tayfun Kesgin - (49) 2205 908 807 fair value for the company." next year. Italy: Mark Dezzani - (39) 0184 223 007 LONDON - BMG UK is broadening Rollo Armstrong-the master - On the sales front, Griffiths Mark Worden - (39) 02 3807 8239 its sources of repertoire with the mind behind Faithless and one of the The Netherlands: Robbert Tilli - (31) 20-672 2566 issued a broadside to retailers, New Media: Juliana Koranteng - (44) 208-8913893 acquisitionofleft-winglabel co -owners of the label-will be join - revealing that BMG UK had Norway: Kai R. Lofthus - (47) 918 21 208 Cheeky and the signing of a long-ing BMG UK in an A&R capacity. caught some retail partners trying Spain: Howell Llewellyn - (34) 9 1593 2429 Sweden: Fredrik Nissan - (46) 8 735 9750 term, worldwide deal with produc- Griffiths says he has been a longtimeto return to BMG products shipped Johan Lindstrom - (46) 8 470 3730 er/composer William Orbit. fan of the group. "I love Faithlessfrom abroad. "Next time this hap- Sales and Marketing The acquisition of and Rollo is just brilliant-pens, we will sue," he warned. International sales director: Cheeky-homeofacts Iabsolutely wanted to The BMG executive continued: Ron Betist (UK, USA) - (31) 299 420274; mobile: (31) 653 194133 such as Faithless and work with him," he says. "Retail can have pricing at import Sales executives: Igor Rooselaar (Benelux; Dido-was announced by Cheeky will cease tolevel, but you can't have it both Scandinavia) - (31) 299 420274; Francois t Millet/Christophe Chiappa (France) -(33)145 49 29 33 BMG UK & Ireland chair- exist as a stand-aloneways. If we cut our prices we have Beth Dell'Isola (US Radio) - (1) 770 831 4585 man and president BMG label and will be mergedto end our marketing support and Lidia Bonguardo (Italy, Spain, Greece, Portugal) - (39) 031570056, EntertainmentCentral into Arista UK.