Music News

Google Play has been announced as the official download and music streaming partner for the BRIT Awards.
Music fans will be able to stream live and download performances from Taylor Swift, Sam Smith, Ed Sheeran, Madonna and other stars exclusively through the platform as part of the partnership with the ceremony, which will take place on February 25 at London's O2 Arena.
Geoff Taylor, Chief Executive BPI and BRIT Awards Limited said: "We're delighted that the BRIT Awards are partnering with Google Play to offer fans the chance to download or stream unique BRITs performances while raising money for War Child and our music education charity The BRIT Trust. We want music fans to be able to experience the BRITs across every digital channel, and this partnership is an important pillar of that strategy."
As part of the collaboration, the platform will also share the official media partner status for the British Single award with Capital FM, with Calvin Harris' 'Summer', Ella Henderson's 'Ghost', Clean Bandit's 'Rather Be' and Mark Ronson's 'Uptown Funk' being among the nominees.
MasterCard is also offering cardholders a chance to instantly win a ticket package to the BRITs or enjoy Google Play Music free for three months. For more information visit www.pricelessurprises.co.uk

Kanye West is up for working with Beck.
The outspoken rapper unleashed a rant against the singer backstage at the Grammy Awards on Sunday (08.02.15) after he picked up the Album of the Year Award for his 12th LP 'Morning Phase', but admitted he would be prepared to work with the 44-year-old musician despite stating he "needs to respect artistry".
He said: "If I can be involved in giving people any type of energy, advice in the studio, whether you're Beyoncé, Taylor Swift, Jay Z, Beck, whoever, and they can be reciprocal with that, I'd like to be involved with that."
In the surprising conversation, the 'Bound 2' rapper also confessed he is planning on working with 'Blank Space' hitmaker Taylor Swift, even though the 37-year-old musician stormed the stage at the same awards in 2009 to slam the singer for being awarded the Album of the Year prize because he believed it should have been won by Beyonce.
After reconciling at the ceremony on Sunday, six years after the embarrassing incident, Kanye - who has 19-month-old daughter North with his wife Kim Kardashian West - added he doesn't "discriminate" when it comes to deciding who to work with, as he just wants to make music with people who have "an amazing point of view".
He told On Air with Ryan Seacrest: "Yeah, she wants to get in the studio and we're definitely gonna go in.
"Any artist with an amazing point of view, perspective, fan base, I'm down to get into the studio and work. I don't discriminate."

Ed Sheeran and Rudimental have collaborated on new single 'Bloodstream'.
The six-time Grammy Award nominee teamed up with the drum and bass foursome - made up of DJ Locksmith, Piers Agget, Amir Amor and Kesi Dryden - last year for the track and said it's one of his "favourites" to perform because it is such an energetic tune.
He explained: "'Bloodstream' is one of my favourites to play live as it always gets the crowd going. Rudimental and I wrote the track in June last year. It was brilliant to get back in the studio with them - they're such a laugh and I'm sure their new album is going to be huge."
The single - which will be released on March 29 - was co-written by Ed and the Hackney collective as well as Johnny McDaid and Gary Lightbody of Snow Patrol, with a version of the track featuring on the 23-year-old singer-songwriter's six-time platinum selling second album 'x'.
'Bloodstream' is the first new track to come from Rudimental since the release of their chart-topping debut 'Home' in 2013, and DJ Locksmith - whose real name is Leon Role - recently revealed fans can expect to hear lots more new music from them this year as they gear up to release their second record.
He said: "The album's in its finishing process. It should be out in April, just in time for the festivals. The plan is to debut the stuff. Ella Eyre and John Newman are back on this album too."

Missy Elliott is working on new music with Timbaland.
The 'Get Ur Freak On' hitmaker is believed to be planning to build on the success of her recent performance alongside Katy Perry at the Super Bowl by making a musical comeback.
The 43-year-old star took to her Twitter account yesterday (11.02.15) to reveal she and legendary music producer Timbaland are working on some "dirty beats".
Alongside a snap of herself and the 'Carry Out' hitmaker, she wrote: "Me & @Timbaland bk 2 the drawing board studio dirty beats! (sic)"
Timbaland, 42, first hinted Missy was to release a new album when he revealed he'd been working with her last year.
He said at the time: "It's on her. She got the first single, it's just a matter of when she wants to do it. We got the hollow-tip bullet in the gun. We have the game-changer right there."
Asked about the sound of the record, he added: "It's something you ain't ever heard Missy do. It sounds today, but the future."
The pair previously worked together when Timbaland produced her two 2012 singles '9th Inning' and 'Triple Threat', but the 'Lose Control' rapper hasn't released an album since 2005's 'The Cookbook'.
Meanwhile, Missy recently poked fun at Kanye West fans who praised the rapper for supporting "unknown artist" Paul McCartney when viewers didn't recognise her at the Super Bowl.
She wrote on Twitter: "The new kids think I'm a new artist &I'm bout 2blow up like Paul McCartney Lord ha mercy chile I love me sum y'all (sic)."

The UK album chart is to include streaming sales for the first time this month.
The Official Charts Company are changing the way in which they compile the weekly tables by adding the number of listens on services such as Spotify, Google Play and Deezer to sales figures, but they don't think it will make a big difference at first.
Official Charts Company chief Martin Talbot said: "The Official Charts Company's mission is to compile the most accurate, reliable and up-to-date charts, and in 2015 that means reflecting the popularity of streaming. Indications are that impact on chart positions will be modest to begin with, but we expect this to grow."
To make the changes fair, the Official Charts Company plan to "protect the album as a body of work" by ensuring hugely popular singles don't skew the data or lengthy albums don't have an unfair advantage.
Martin explained to the BBC: "Effectively the chart could become a reflection of artists who have one big hit single.
"So our methodology protects the album as a body of work. We take the 12 most-streamed tracks on an album, and we down-weight the two most popular tracks to make sure the hit singles don't skew the overall performance.
"Then we tot all those streams up and use a conversion rate of 1,000-to-1 to reflect the difference in value between an album and a stream, and that's it.
"We didn't want an album to get an unfair advantage by having 40 tracks on it. So we wanted to reflect consumption and enjoyment of the main body of the album.
"There are peripheral cases where an album that only has eight tracks might be slightly under-represented. But, proportionally, once you divide everything by a thousand, we're not talking about a huge impact. And we'll continue to monitor these things and make sure they're working properly."
In the last year, streaming has seen an increase from 25 million song plays per day up to 50 million, leading to a total of 15 billion listens in the UK over the last 12 months.
The new charts will be published for the first time the week after The Brit Awards, which take place on February 26.
Singles charts have included streaming data since last July.
Ed Sheeran's 'x' was the most streamed album of 2014.

Kodaline recorded their album in eight weeks.
The rock band - who hail from Dublin, Ireland - had a hectic touring schedule, which meant they had to work extra hard on their second album, 'Coming Up For Air'.
Lead singer Steve Garrigan said: "[We're] very very pleased with it. If you had asked us like a couple of months ago, saying, 'Are you going to release an album in 2015?' then we would have probably just laughed it off.
"But we wrote and recorded it very quickly. It just ran very smoothly. We kind of went into the studio and just over eight weeks of recording. And about three months in total, it was done."
The 'All I Want' hitmakers - which also includes Vincent May, Jason Boland and Mark Prendergrast - also explained how they spent a lot of their time writing on the road but ended up scrapping a lot of that material in favour of the new tracks they wrote together in the studio.
Drummer Vincent shared: "We never stopped writing when we were on the road so a lot of the writing was done in dressing rooms, hotel rooms and stuff like that.
"So we had a lot of ideas going into the studio and just from travelling and playing gigs for the past two years, we're better musicians and we're able to record quicker.
"When we got to the studio, we worked really well together as a band and some of the songs were just written in the studio with the four of us jamming.
Steve added to Music-News.com: "We went in with a lot of ideas and ended up scrapping most of the ideas and writing new stuff."

Skye Stevens thinks Cher Lloyd is the "sweetest girl".
The 'Pass The Keyz' singer performed at a concert alongside the 'Want U Back' hitmaker and admitted that despite technical hitches, Cher put on a great show for her fans.
He said: "I think she's the sweetest girl ever ... When I met her she was very very sweet. The venue we were at, there were all these technical problems and she wanted to make sure all her fans were still able to see the performance and meet her...
"When I was there, she was very very sweet and nice. I have nothing but good things to say about her."
The 21-year-old singer from Boston, Massachusetts has been regularly compared to Justin Bieber but he believes the pair are quite different musically.
He told BANG Showbiz: "I think people look at my music and my videos and learn about me a little bit and actually realise I'm different to [Justin]. My music is more electro than what he's doing right now."
When asked if he worries about having similar brushes with the law like the 'Boyfriend' hitmaker has, he said: "I've had my ups and downs out of the public eye. When you go through your first ups and downs growing up and you're in the public eye, it kind of gets documented and everyone has all this judgement on you and I've kind of been lucky enough to mature without that.
"No part of me, I don't think, would ever be [in trouble with the law]. Even now, I'm not someone who is a club junkie. I like to keep all the focus that everyone ever sees on music."

5 Seconds of Summer are having "late night jamz" with the Madden Brothers.
The Australian band - which is made up of Luke Hemmings, Ashton Irwin, Michael Clifford and Calum Hood - appear to be collaborating with the duo on their new album.
In a photograph posted by Joel Madden, Luke, Ashton, his brother Benji and others can be seen crowding around a table as they pose for a photograph.
In another picture uploaded to Instagram on Sunday (08.02.15), Joel and Benji posed with Ashton, Michael and legendary music producer John Feldmann.
The brotherly duo - who found fame as members of rock band Good Charlotte - have worked alongside the 'She Looks So Perfect' hitmakers before, having writing credits on the band's track 'Amnesia', which was certified Platinum in the United States.
Meanwhile, Benji - who recently married Cameron Diaz - previously admitted that he felt as though the four-piece band were a "younger version" of him and his fellow Good Charlotte members.
He said: "But 5 Seconds of Summer remind me of Good Charlotte in the best possible way. They're a younger us. I'm glad they're doing this sound and I'm very happy to pass the torch.
"The thing is, me and Joel have always written pop songs - we just dress them up differently. We actually wrote 5SOS's song 'Amnesia', and it's [good] to see that sound coming back and being a part of it.
"Back in the day we often felt the brunt of being a rock band singing pop melodies. I'm glad it wasn't for nothing!"

Suede are "honoured" to be handed the Godlike Genius Award at the NME Awards 2015.
The legendary Britpop band are to follow in the footsteps of the likes of Blondie, Noel Gallagher and Dave Grohl in being given the coveted title.
When asked how he felt about the win, the band's lead singer, Brett Anderson, said: "Oh God. Well, it's an honour, of course. It's a slightly outrageous thing to be called, but it's slightly tongue-in-cheek, isn't it?
"It's wonderful to be recognised, and it's great for us having been through lots of ups and downs in our career. It's been a real roller-coaster ride of extreme highs and lows, so to be talking to you 25 years after we got together is lovely, really."
The band are set to also perform at the award ceremony, which takes place on February 18 at the O2 Academy in Brixton, south London.
Despite the award, Brett admitted that he only feels like a god is when he is performing onstage.
He added to NME magazine: "My day-to-day life is quite ungodlike, I have to reluctantly admit. I don't wear laurel wreaths or ride around on a chariot that often.
"Onstage is the only time: the magical feeling of power and omnipotence that one gets when one performs is the closest you ever get."
Other performers at the award ceremony include Charli XCX, Run The Jewels, The Vaccines and Royal Blood, with the ceremony being hosted by Radio 1 DJ Huw Stephens.