• The two companies behind computer games Rock Band and Guitar Hero (MTV Games and Acti-vision respectively) are in a battle to win the license to make the official Beatles game. The Financial Times reports that representatives from the Apple Corp. are in talks with the two companies in a move aimed at pushing the Fab Four into new media streams.
  • Mark Ronson, the producer and musician, was paid a handsome £1,000,000 to perform at the 21st Birthday bash of British heiress Freya Dawson. The comfortable earner saw him net over £370 a second. “Nice work if you can get it,” as Gershwin so aptly put it.
  • The Lancashire police are in trouble with the rather unforgiving PRS for playing music within the workplace without paying for the correct licenses. Steve Finnigan, Lancashire police’s Chief Constable, is accused of infringing copyright by allowing music to be played in stations nationwide, while 11 police forces have failed, or refused, to obtain licenses for music. Should the case go to court it could create a PR nightmare for the royalties collections agency as other organisations and businesses could follow suit and find cause to refuse. You can read the whole story here