The Bulletin: Arts & Culture News | 21 January

MOGWAI'S STUART BRAITHWAITE ON THE HMV COLLAPSE
Speaking in an opinion editorial column for The Scotsman over the weekend, Mogwai's Stuart Braithwaite weighed in on the possible consequences of the news that high-street music retailer HMV is in talks with administrators. Braithwaite traces the roots of the problems which have sent HMV spirallling towards bankruptcy back to the greed of major labels, describing the switch from vinyl to CD as an "opportunity to fleece people as they replaced their vinyl collection with their shiny new counterparts." He goes on to state: "Paying £15 and more for a product we now think of as something you get free with a magazine is absurd, though I would argue that the pendulum has swung too far and they are now very much underpriced."

He lays the blame for this greed at the door of the record labels, more than the retailers, but notes that HMV was sluggish in setting up an online retail arm to rival Amazon and iTunes in sales of digital downloads. Braithwaite concludes by laying the responsibility for change at the door of music consumers themselves: "My main concern is that as the 'music is free' generation grows older and instils this attitude in their own children, too few people will be paying for music to sustain a music industry of any substance. For the creative industries to continue to maintain an existence, we as a society will have to reassess our attitudes as to how we value copyright material. I wonder how many parents of teenagers with iPods full of stolen music would feel if they also had wardrobes full of stolen clothes?"

Meanwhile, independent music equipment retailer Red Dog Music has agreed to honour HMV's now otherwise useless vouchers, accepting them as a 10% discount on all of their products purchased in-store. In a story reported first by The Sunday Times, a consortium of major music labels, film studios and private interests are putting together a plan to save the retail giant. Universal Music, Warner Music and Sony are all prepared to cut the price of their products, and give generous credit terms to HMV if it can continue to trade. The consortium aren't the only ones prepared to help -- The NME reports that video game retailer Game are also interested in the possibility of taking over HMV, and according to The Daily Record, they are just one of 50 companies looking at the possibility of a takeover -- we may not have seen the last of the high street chain quite yet.

VINCE CLARKE ANNOUNCES NEW ERASURE ALBUM AND SOLO EP
Vince Clarke is one of the most important figures in the history of British electronic music. A founder member of Depeche Mode, Yazoo and Erasure, he was one of the key producers to define the synthpop sound of the 80s, and was a seminal influence on first-wave techno, electro and house made in the UK. In an exclusive interview with The Quietus, due to be published in full later today, he has revealed several new projects, kicking off with a new album by Erasure.

As usual, Clarke told The Quietus, the Erasure album will see him collaborating exclusively with Andy Bell, while the solo LP will be: "an album where I collaborate with a few DJs and dance guys, I can’t say who they are yet as it’s still under negotiation." Last year saw Clarke release the critically acclaimed SSSS album with former Depeche Mode collaborator Martin Gore, under the name VCMG [which we reviewed here]. More recently, Mute released a box-set of his collaborations with Martyn Ware of The Human League, as The Clarke & Ware Experiment. He also discusses the future of VCMG, and other projects. Read the teaser piece at The Quietus.

FESTIVAL WATCH: GLASTONBURY EMERGING TALENT COMPETITION
We all know how difficult it is to get ahead in the music industry, particularly if you are an artist with troublesome, career-obstructing flaws such as talent, integrity, originality and vision. Sure, if an artist is prepared to bare their flesh and parade around in front of the likes of Simon Cowell doing shit karaoke, the opportunities are... well, they exist, anyway. But for artists who still want to (shock horror) write their own material and not dress up like total fannies, the opportunities for gigs outside of small home-town shows are thin on the ground. With this in mind, we heartily applaud news of this year's Glastonbury Emerging Talent Competition. The window for entering the competition is small to say the least -- the doors opened on 17 Jan, and they close on 24 Jan. The winner gets a main stage slot at this year's festival. Think you have what it takes? Enter here.

BFI FUTURE FILM FESTIVAL
While we are on the subject of opportunities for budding artists, aspiring film-makers would be well advised to check out the programme on offer at this year's BFI Future Film Festival in London. The sixth annual event takes place from 16 to 18 Feb at the South Bank centre in London, and features workshops, masterclasses, networking opportunities, screenings and Q&As with established and up-and-coming film professionals. Joe Cornish, director of Attack The Block, says of the festival: "Future Film is an essential part of the BFI's on-going programme to give budding filmmakers a leg-up towards a career in film." This year's programme welcomes directors Sally El Hosaini (My Brother the Devil), Penny Woolcock (One Mile Away, From the Sea to the Land Beyond, 1 Day) and Rob Savage (Strings). Full details, schedule and ticket prices can be found here.

THE RETURN OF MEGAUPLOAD
Just one short year after its closure by the authorities, Megaupload is back (sort of), as controversial internet entrepeneur Kim Dotcom launches his new site, simply called Mega. Their new site's corporate mantra describes them as: "The privacy company," and offers users 50GB of free online storage. The site is already a success -- according to Next Web, the site has already got half a million users, just one day after its launch. The launch took place near Auckland in new Zealand, where according to The NME, Kim Dotcom staged a "re-enactment" of the raid which closed his company and landed him in legal trouble last year.

Dotcom still faces up to 20 years in prison if extradited to the USA and prosecuted for the illegal distribution of intellectual property. Dotcom denies any wrongdoing, and according to FACT Magazine, is planning to launch services via Mega for artists to sell music direct to fans, and distribute their music for free if they wish. 4Chan, an online community whose members often speak out in favour of hacker culture and freedom to distribute privately-owned data, championed the new Mega site on their Facebook page, stating: "You and your data are practically safe from all prosecution... This is true internet freedom."

NEW VIDEOS FROM THOUGHT FORMS, DINOSAUR JR. AND BRIAN ENO
Psychedelic indie trio Thought Forms, have a new album -- Ghost Mountain -- due for release in February through Geoff Barrow's top-notch Invada label (home to Fairhorns, and Barrow's own BEAK> and DROKK projects). Today they unveiled the new video for lead single Only Hollow, following a wave of interest from radio DJs such as Tom Ravenscroft and Steve Lamacq. Ghost Mountain is out 18 Feb -- watch the video for Only Hollow below.

Brian Eno's recent album Lux scored highly with our critics, and saw the seminal producer and composer returning to the ambient electronic pallette which he pioneered and popularised with albums such as Music For Airports. As part of the album's release, Eno live-streamed a video compiled from images crowd-sourced from his fans and followers, around the theme 'play of light.' The video is now available to watch -- see it below.

Anticipation is building around Scotland's slacker rock fraternity for the Dinosaur Jr. gig at the Arches on 30 Jan. With the original lineup, including founder member Lou Barlow (later of Sebadoh and The Folk Implosion) back together since 2007, and with three albums under their belts since then, including last year's acclaimed I Bet On Sky, the band are undergoing something of a creative renaissance. They revealed the new video for Pierce The Morning Rain last week, featuring an appearance from a certain Henry Rollins, in full-on facepunch mode. Watch the video below.