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Over the past week, BBC’s 6 Music facing the axe has caused quite a ruckus in the music industry. Record company bosses have stated it is a “vital platform”; David Bowie was reported to have said that “6Music keeps the spirit of broadcasters like John Peel alive,” (according to his management, Outside Organisation), “and for new artists to lose this station would be a great shame.” And let’s not forget the U-turn by the Conservative’s shadow Culture Minister Ed Vaizey – who last week welcomed the BBC’s package of cuts – has now changed his tune calling for the digital radio station 6 Music to be saved.

Well Mr Vaizey it would seem you may have been a bit late. During a briefing to BBC staff, Director General of the corporation, Mark Thompson said the earliest 6 Music and Asian Network will close is by the end of 2011. The BBC strategy review said that 6 Music brought in “relatively few unique listeners to BBC radio”.

Mr Thompson does not have the final say on these cuts and it is important to remember that these are just proposals that have to be approved by the BBC Trust.

These cuts come just a couple of weeks after the BBC announced  it intends to release separate iPhone apps for both news and sport in April and intends to make these apps available to Android and Blackberry in the near future.

We at Poker PR have 6 Music playing in the office and can say it will be sadly missed if these proposals are passed.

By Justin Pywell

A full copy of the 79 page report is available via The Guardian

Today, Poker PR welcomes Anthony Gibson to the team as part of the Wired Sussex Internship.

Having achieved a 2:1 in International Business at ­­­­­the University of Brighton, Anthony has gone on to further his studies with a course in Creative Music Production at Access to Music, also in Brighton.

Being a big lover of music in general, Anthony is going to fit in well. He’ll be working with us for a total of four weeks across various music and marketing campaigns.

The UK based Spotify rival, We7 has launched a new music streaming mobile app, available as a free download from the iTunes store. The app appears to be working on the We7’s Premium account, although from the 1st March it will only work for those who sign up for the £9.99 a month Premium+ account.

We7′s product allows users to take advantage of an offline mode where in areas of little or no reception, they will still be able to listen to music that has been cached to the handset – a feature similar to that of the Spotify app.

There is a special offer on We7’s current Premium PC based service that is advert free and is available until the 1^st May for £3.99 a month (normal price £4.99). The Premium+ service will feature ad free listening on both PC and mobile and will be available on both the iPhone and Android devices. We7 say they will be making the app available to Blackberry devices at some point.

Following Warner Music’s comment that steaming services were “clearly not positive for the industry”, Poker PR believes it will be the premium services that will be used to keep the record companies happy and provide the money to keep the music industry alive.

We7 website

By Justin Pywell

Kasabian and Muse both picked up two awards at last night’s Shockwave NME awards. The awards – originally started way back in 1953 – were last night held at the O2 Academy Brixton in London where Kasabian, Marina And The Diamonds, Lily Allen, The Big Pink, Hole and The Maccabees all performed live. 3.6 million votes were cast this year, “proving that music fans are as passionate as ever” according to NME editor Krissi Murison.

Kasabian picked up ‘Best Album’ and ‘Best Album Artwork’ for ‘West Ryder Pauper Lunatic Asylum’, while Muse scooped the ‘Best British Band’ award, beating Oasis, Arctic Monkeys, Biffy Clyro and Kasabian, as well as receiving the ‘Best Website’ prize.

Oasis walked away empty handed despite being up for three awards including best video, for ‘Falling Down’, while their 90s rivals, Blur pick up a well-deserved award for their reunion gig in Hyde Park last summer.

Other awards included:

Best Solo Artist – Jamie T

Best New Band – Bombay Bicycle Club

Best Live Band – Arctic Monkeys

Best Festival – (shock horror) Glastonbury

Best Dressed – Lady Gaga

Worst Dressed- Lady Gaga

Rage Against The Machine were named the ‘Heroes of the Year’ for keeping X-Factor winner Joe McElderry off the Christmas number one spot.

Social Media was given a positive nod when Lily Allen received the ‘Giving it Back Award’ for her Twitter ticket treasure hunt where fans had the opportunity to find free tickets to her world tour.

Paul Weller was the recipient of the ‘Godlike Genius’ award and closed the event with six songs from his long and productive career.

Full list of winners.

By Justin Pywell

With a month to go ‘til WMC2010 we pick our top parties from this year’s event. Undoubtedly the most important in the dance music calendar in the states, the Miami’s Winter Music Conference will be celebrating its 25th year in 2010. Originally started as a meeting of just 80 dance music insiders, it’s become an essential stop for artists, partygoers, promoters, and labels serving around 60,000 visitors during one week. Here are the highlights:

Tuesday 23^rd March

Air London & 8 Bit Records presents…

Nick Curly (Cecille/8 Bit), Simon Baker (2020 Vision/Cocoon), Glimpse (Planet E/Cadenza), and Oxia (8 Bit) are among the acts playing at the event, taking over both rooms at the Electric Pickle.

Wednesday 24^th March

Credit To The Edit with Greg Wilson.

Back to the Electric Pickle for, Poker favourite, Greg Wilson. This is Greg’s first set at the conference and he will be playing an exclusive 4 hour set. Guests to be announced.

Thursday 25^th March

Space Miami Presents VIVA.

If Carlsberg did parties… Steve Lawler, M.A.N.D.Y., Tiefschwarz, and Radioslave are among the list of DJ’s playing at the event with arguably one of the best line ups of the conference.

Friday 26^th March

Steve Angello & Sebastian Ingrosso & Friends.

After a massive year in 2009 Steve Angello and Sebastian Ingrosso of the famed Swedish House Mafia head to Mansion and are joined by their friends An21 and Kim Fai. Featuring a special guest appearance by Florence and the Machine.

Saturday 27^th March

Stealth Live

With a 7 hour set from Roger Sanchez, and Poker friends Prok and Fitch playing this event at the luxurious SET Nightclub, this is one not to be missed.

Sunday 28^th March

Danny Tenaglia Closing Pool Party.

Call us traditionalist but there is no better way to end the WMC than at Danny’s famous closing party. With a melting pot of clubbers, hipsters from all over the world, DJmag at the Shelborne closes their pool with the best of the best.

This is Poker PR’s pick of the week’s parties, but you should not forget the actual conference itself or the Ultra Music Festival featuring a multitude of top DJ’s and acts over the Friday and the Saturday.

By Justin Pywell

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