The Bulletin: Arts & Culture Roundup | 6 December

SPOTIFY REVEALS NEW DEAL FOR ARTISTS
In reaction to a wave of criticism directed at streaming service Spotify by artists such as Thom Yorke and Nigel Godrich, Beck, David Byrne and others (see our previous Bulletins for details), the company's director Mark Williamson spoke to The Guardian this week about the plans for a new service called Spotify Artists, which seeks to clarify some of the issues surrounding revenue rates and payments fmade to artists from the site.

"We know Spotify is not perfect for all artists yet," commented Williamson, "but this is the theory behind it, this is where we are, and this is where we're going... With any format change in music - CD and iTunes included - there's a lot of confusion around how these different models work, and quite often some serious skepticism. We understand that's out there, so we want to be as clear and transparent as we possibly can explaining how Spotify fits in."

The full text of the 'Spotify Explained' statement can be read here - Williamson's explanation rests on the notion that Spotify will soon have in excess of 40 million subscribers, meaning a drastic increase in revenue for both major label artists and independents. Godrich, Yorke, Byrne and the other vocal critics of Spotify have yet to publicly react to Williamson's statement.

DAFT PUNK: BEHIND THE HELMETS
Mixmag and Olmeca Tequila have produced a documentary about 2013's most iconic fashion statement - Daft Punk's robot helmets (or, if you're willing to suspend your disbelief, their heads). In the short documentary Daft Punk pay tribute to their inspirations, including the science fiction classic The Day The Earth Stood Still. 

LIVE: NINE INCH NAILS
Got tickets for Nine Inch Nails' upcoming tour? Catch a sneak preview of what's in store in this 80-minute live performance from Los Angeles Staple Centre, which also includes behind-the-scenes footage from the tour. Good news - Trent breaks out some classics along with new material culled from Hesitation Marks. The band come to Glasgow's Hydro on 20 May next year, and Manchester's Phones 4u Arena on 25 March.   

THE LUCKYME AUDIO ADVENT CALENDAR!
Uber-hip Glasgow label LuckyMe have returned for a fourth year running with their 'audio advent calendar,' which sees them release rarities, demos and exclusives from their stable each day in the run-up to Christmas. Head to the LuckyMe website to grab yourself copies of the tracks released so far, including work by The Blessings and DJ Paypal.

BIG APPLE AWARD: SHORTLIST ANNOUNCED
The shortlist for this year's Big Apple Award has been announced this week - the winner of the award gets to play an exclusive gig in New York City, following in the footsteps of last year's winners, Stanley Odd. The final to decide the winner takes place next week on 11 December at G2 The Garage in Glasgow. The shortlisted acts will perform three songs each before a winner is picked by a panel of industry experts. This year's shortlisted bands are Cairn String Quartet, Fatherson, Garden of Elks, The Holy Ghosts and The LaFontaines.

NEW VIDEOS: NICK CAVE & THE BAD SEEDS, DAVID BOWIE, JON HOPKINS, BEST COAST, DEVENDRA BANHART, bEEdEEgEE
Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds returned this week with a new video taken from Push The Sky Away (awarded a whopping five stars by our reviewers). The band, who are about to embark on a US tour, will soon be releasing a live album. 

David Bowie has a new video out this week - a new remix single on white 12" vinyl will feature James Murphy's remix of Love Is Lost, and the new Venetian Mix of I'd Rather Be High. The latter gets a video treatment from director Tom Hingston below. 

Electronic wunderkind Jon Hopkins unveiled the new video for his track Collider this week - it's an intense journey through a night of epic hedonism, from director Tom Haines. 

Best Coast have a new video out this week - produced in association with Funny Or Die, it takes the rise out of 'lyric videos' by way of a hilarious tennis match.

This week Devandra Banhart unveiled a fantastic animated clip for the song Taurobolium, created by Death Grips collaborator Galen Pearson, and featuring the voice of Rose McGowan.

And finally, a new video from bEEdEEgEE, the solo alias of Brian DeGraw of Gang Gang Dance. His album SUM/ONE (reviewed here) is released this week. 

NEW TRACKS: FACTORY FLOOR X CARL CRAIG, MADLIB, COM TRUISE
Techno legend Carl Craig has remixed Factory Floor, fattening up the sparse and kinetic new single Turn It Up into a slick, pounding slice of Detorit dancefloor dynamite. The remix will be included on the forthcoming single, out 9 December. 

Loop-digger supreme Madlib has shared a track from his new Rock Konducta Vol 1-2 album, inspired by psych-rock, krautrock, and prog rock. A vinyl-only version of the album drops on 10 December. 

Com Truise rturns to Ghostly with a new EP of retro-future synth-pop - Wave 1 drops in February. The label have shared a preview of a new track, Declination, featuring Joel Ford (Airbird).

FESTIVAL WATCH: FIELD DAY, READING & LEEDS, BLOODSTOCK
Here's the latest festival news: Field Day (7-8 Jun), expanded to a 2-day extravaganza this year with Pixies headlining, will also welcome Oneohtrix Point Never, Jessy lanza, Omar Souleyman, Jon Hopkins, Daniel Avery, Warpaint, Danny Brown and more to their 2014 outing. Tickets are available here.

Twinned rock festivals Reading (22-24 Aug) & Leeds (22-24 Aug) have revealed details of their lineup for next year - they welcome Blink 182, Jake Bugg, Disclosure, Metronymy, Of Mice & Men and more. Details and tickets here for Leeds, and here for Reading.

Finally, Bloodstock (7-10 Aug), the metal festival which next year features the likes of Megadeth, DOWN and Emperor, will be heading out on tour in May, playing a huge list of local venues in search of acts to take part in their New Blood stage. Find details here for a chance to enter! 

MIXES: FOUR TET, DIPLO
A couple of stellar mixes to start your weekend off right - first up, a 2-hour live set recently recorded in Tokyo by Four Tet, showcasing some cuts from his spanking new album Beautiful Rewind.

And here's another stonking 2-hour mix, this time from Mad Decent head honcho and Major Lazer mastermind Diplo, showcasing some of his favourite hip-hop tracks from the vaults. Stream his Rollerskating Thru The Universe mix at BBC Radio 1Xtra.

TRAILERS: THE AMAZING SPIDERMAN 2, SPIKE JONZE'S HER, 300: RISE OF AN EMPIRE
Just space for a quick gander at some new trailers surfacing online this week - firstly, here's the preview for the villain-packed The Amazing Spiderman 2, featuring Dane DeHaan as Harry Osborne, and Jamie Foxx as Electro (just for starters). Considering how drippy, faux-emo and teenybopper-oriented the first AMS was, we weren't holding out much hope for the sequel - but on the evidence of this action-packed clip, we may have to reconsider.

Next up, here's Scarlett Johanssen and Joaquin Phoenix in the trailer for the new Spike Jonze film, Her - it features a typically offbeat premise from Jonze, with Phoenix playing the role of a boffin who falls in love with a computer operating system (like you do). 

And finally, we return to the musclebound idiot-fest that is the world of 300: Rise of an Empire with a new trailer, featuring punching! Explosions! Warfare! Thrones made of skulls! Lena Headey being a badass! Disengage brain and enjoy.