News

Billy Bragg has called on artists to take action against record labels, and not companies like Spotify, for the poor rates they get from music streaming services. Services such as Spotify have come under attack recently from artists such as Thom Yorke and more recently Foals, who have rallied against the low royalty rates paid to artists.

Aaron Dessner has said that the follow-up to this year's National album Trouble Will Find Me will be "raw" and "simple". Speaking to NME, Dessner explained that the band would like their seventh album to be a reaction to their very "detailed" 2012 LP. "We're actually thinking for the next album we make a very raw, un-produced simple record, that nobody will like!" he said.

The kitchen table formerly owned Ian Curtis is up for sale on eBay. The item is listed with a £100 reserve price, which has not yet been met. The seller is supplying the wooden table with various documentation, including certificates confirmating its authenticity signed by Curtis' daughter Natalie, Curtis' widow Debbie and the daughter of Curtis' former neighbour, who sold the table eight years ago.

Bruce Springsteen and Roger Waters were among artists appearing at the Stand Up for Heroes benefit at Madison Square Garden in New York last night [November 6]. During the event, Sprngsteen auctioned a guitar he used to play a three-song set during a charity fundraiser for £155,000.

Eric Clapton and Robert Plant are among the artists confirmed for A Celebration of Bert Jansch, a concert to be held at London's Royal Festival Hall on December 3, 2013. The Festival Hall was the venue for Pentangle’s first major performance in 1967 and the group recorded part of their Sweet Child album there in 1968. The original line-up reformed to play at the Royal Festival Hall exactly 40 years later and a Pentangle show there in August 2011 proved to be Jansch’s final performance.

Joni Mitchell has spoken out against the Sixties' culture of free love. In an interview published in the new issue of Uncut, Mitchell says "Free love? It's a ruse for guys. There's no such thing. "Look at the rep I got, there was a list of people whose path I crossed... in the Summer Of Love they made me into a love-bandit. "So much for free love. Nobody knows more than me what a ruse that was. That was for guys coming out of Prohibition. It was hard to get laid before that."

Laurie Anderson has described Lou Reed's final moments in a moving farewell written for Rolling Stone. Anderson's tribute describes how the couple met and married, and details Reed's ill health over the past two years. It explains that Reed first became sick from treatments of interferon before developing liver cancer and advancing diabetes.

Arctic Monkeys have announced details of details of an American tour in January and February 2014. The dates include their biggest headline show in the States so far - at New York's Madison Square Garden on February 8. Starting in Miami on January 30, the tour will visit 12 cities in total, ending in Minneapolis on February 14. Deerhunter will provide support for the New York and Boston dates.

The owner of a London record store has put his entire shop up for sale on eBay. Listed with a 'Buy It Now' price of £300,000, the listing begins: "Live your dream and enter a rock’n’roll lifestyle – your chance to run a record shop!" On The Beat Records was opened by Tim Derbyshire in 1979 on Hanway Street, near Tottenham Court Road. Almost 35 years later it sells a range of collectible vinyl from 1960s psychedelia to grunge with funk, soul, jazz, folk, country and library music.

Thurston Moore's new band, Thurston Moore UK, are set to support Lee Ranaldo and the Dust at London's Garage venue on November 21. Lee Ranaldo and the Dust are made up of Ranaldo, Steve Shelley, Alan Licht and Tim Luntzel. They released their new album Last Night On Earth last month. Following the London show, the band play All Tomorrow's Parties festival at Camber Sands Pontins on November 22.