Cliff Richard files lawsuit over BBC's coverage of police raid of his home
Cliff Richard has filed his litigation against the BBC and South Yorkshire Police in relation to the former's coverage of the latter's investigation into claims of sexual abuse made against the singer. In particular the Corporation's filming of police arriving at his Berkshire apartment in 2014.

As previously reported, that police search of Richard's property became a particularly big news story because the BBC's cameras were on site to film officers as they arrived. The coverage of the police raid was sufficiently controversial to be reviewed by the Home Affairs Select Committee in Parliament, though the Beeb has always insisted its coverage didn't break any journalistic rules or breach Richard's privacy rights.

The police investigation into allegations made against the star by four men did not lead to any charges. Last week the Crown Prosecution Service ruled that it was right to decide there was insufficient evidence to proceed with a prosecution after two of the accusers requested the original decision to that effect be reviewed.

Richard announced in July his intent to sue the BBC over its coverage of the police raid. He said at the time: "I confirm that I have instructed my lawyers to make formal legal complaints to South Yorkshire Police and the BBC so that in the absence of satisfactory answers a court will determine whether or not their behaviour was justified and proportionate".

He added: "It is important not only for me personally but much more widely. My life was effectively turned upside down and my reputation, worldwide, was unnecessarily damaged. I would not want the same to happen to others whether in the public eye or not".

Confirming that legal papers had now been filed, a spokesman for the singer said yesterday: "We can confirm that Sir Cliff today issued legal proceedings at the High Court against both SYP and the BBC. It would not be appropriate to comment further".

Meanwhile the Daily Mail quotes a BBC spokesperson as saying: "While we haven't received any notification of action, we've said previously we are very sorry that Sir Cliff has suffered distress but we have a duty to report on matters of public interest and we stand by our journalism".

As also previously reported, in addition to the legal action, Richard also intends to lobby Parliament to support proposals that those accused of sexual assault should be provided with anonymity until any actual charges are pressed, because such accusations can be particularly damaging to a individual's reputation.

Movie industry holds up Portuguese web-block programme as best practice
So a special "Bom Dia" to all our readers in Portugal. Well done you. Lean back, put your feet up and have a little rest. You deserve it, because you've put in place the best anti-piracy system of them all. And that's not me saying that. No, that's Hollywood. And who doesn't want the adoration of Hollywood?

As previously reported, last year good old web-blocking, one of the preferred anti-piracy tactics of the entertainment industry, arrived in Portugal. It's the process via which rights owners can demand that internet service providers block access to websites on the basis said sites exist primarily to encourage or assist in copyright infringement.

Web-blocking is now common in numerous countries, not least the UK, but often securing a web-block requires going to court. However, in Portugal a voluntary scheme was established involving rights owners, the internet service providers and government which means web blocks can be obtained without actually entering a courtroom, making the process quicker and cheaper for the entertainment industry. Which is something the entertainment industry likes.

Now the Motion Picture Association Of America, and its European counterparts, are apparently bigging up the scheme as best practice. According to a SapoTek report, lobbyists for the movie industry have now presented the Portuguese model to Spanish lawmakers and intend to do the same in France.

So well done Portugal, king of the web-blocks, an accolade arguably previously held by the UK, certainly in Europe. Whatever you do, don't tell Theresa May.

Listen Up launches digital marketing division
Music PR firm Listen Up has announced the launch of a new digital marketing-focused division to be known by one and all as Listen Up Digital. It will, says I, quoting from the official statement on the matter, "offer clients planning, strategy and management across key social media platforms and DSP relationship building". Ah, "DSP relationship building", how very modern. It's all about the Spotify playlists, people.

Says Listen Up founder Luke Neville: "Watching the growth of the company over the last seven years has been so exciting. Since setting up shop in 2009, we've grown to offer a range of services including radio and club promo, artist press and events press. Digital marketing felt like the next move for Listen Up being able to offer our clients a 360 degree promotional service".

Leading the new unit will be Nick Tearle, formerly Strategic Digital Campaign Manager at Warner's Atlantic Records. Says he: "Listen Up has a fantastic reputation in their world. I'm THRILLED to be starting this new venture with them after a great run with Atlantic UK; a hugely talented and inspiring team I'm incredibly proud to have been a part of for three and a half years. I was given free reign to concept and deliver all manner of innovative campaigns, which is an approach I'll take with me in full to Listen Up".

Vevo confirms new Head of Europe
Vevo has formally appointed a new Head Of Europe to oversee the video site's operations here in the mighty isle of the Great Britons with all our charm and talent and centuries of glory and magnificence, and in all those other shitty good for nothing scrounging countries of Europe too. See, I'm on message with the new regime; I expect to be the Secretary Of State For Digital Music Appointments News by dinner time. At which time I'll be eating a fine British meal. None of that foreign muck, no, it'll be a good old fashioned traditional British balti.

Anyway, now we've banished all the foreigners, I can get on with delivering you some proper Vevo news, British style. Jon Gisby assisted Vevo chief Erik Huggers on developing a strategy for the music video service when the latter joined the firm last year, and now he'll be leading the business in Europe to - and I quote - "deliver the ambitious plans for the music company in content, technology and monetisation across Europe".

With that new role confirmed, Gisby said yesterday, in English we should note, none of those shitty good for nothing scrounging languages: "Vevo is at a crucial point in its journey to transform its content, product and business. Our European teams and partners are at the heart of Vevo's global strategy; delivering the best content to millions of fans and working with some of the most exciting artists in the world. Driving these plans forward is a challenge I relish, and I'm excited to be joining the team".

I just hope those teams and partners and artists are actually British, otherwise, what a sinister future must beckon for the great British artform that is the pop promo video.

Slipknot's Jim Root latest band member to have back surgery
Hey, so if you are hoping not to have your back cut up by some surgeons any time soon, probably avoid being a member of Slipknot. After frontman Corey Taylor underwent spinal surgery earlier this year, guitarist Jim Root has now had to take time out for a round of back repairs.

Posting on Instagram post-surgery this week, Root wrote: "Seems as if fractured vertebrae and haemorrhaged disks are an occupational hazard for metal bands. So, early in the morning after Louder Than Life [festival] in Louisville, I flew out for disk replacement surgery. Had the procedure this morning and other than being a bit sore and spun out from jet lag and Norco's [painkillers], it's all good".

He added: "Although I won't be as 'mobile' onstage as before, I'm looking very forward to the upcoming Knotfest shows and places we'll be going in between".

Knotfest Mexico takes place on 15-16 Oct, followed by Knotfest Japan on 5-6 Nov. In between are sandwiched tour dates in South America, New Zealand and Australia.

Justice release Randy video
Justice have released the video for new single 'Randy'. Shot in real-time, the clip features an art installation made up of 25 old fashioned TV screens displaying animated graphics, film footage and lyrics from the song.

"The idea for this screen installation came from an inclination for an aesthetic in live show lighting that is both powerful and minimalistic", explains director Thomas Jumin. "The object itself, the CRT Trinitron by Sony, is iconic for people of a certain generation for its design and for its specific rendering of the image".

He continues: "The idea was to build an installation made of 25 screens from 1987 and to use them with video controllers and analogue converters. We simply filmed it like one would film an art installation, so as to retain the objects' authority and repetitive simplicity".

So there you go. The new Justice album, also called 'Randy', is out on 18 Nov. Watch the video for the single here.

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Emika announces release of her first symphony
A year after announcing plans to record her first symphony - 'Melanfonie' - Emika has now set a 2017 date for its release.

"I've wanted to compose a big piece for a symphony orchestra since I was a kid studying at music school", she told CMU while launching a crowdfunding campaign for the recording in 2015. "I have attempted to create a fresh sound for the orchestra and a new context beyond the constraints of traditional classical music".

Announcing the release of the finished recording, she told Resident Advisor: "I still feel that the image accompanying classical music is one of the upper class. Golden dresses, major labels and rich sponsors. The way classical music is presented on stage and its entire position within global music culture has very little connection with its creators".

Performed by the Prague Metropolitan Orchestra and soprano Michaela Srumova, 'Melanfonie' will be released through Emika's own Emika Records on 31 Jan.

Jarvis Cocker and Chilly Gonzales announce UK premiere of new multi-media show
Jarvis Cocker and Chilly Gonzales will hold the UK premiere of new show 'Room 29' at the Barbican in March. The show centres on songs about the goings-on in Room 29 of the Château Marmont hotel in Hollywood, with clips from classic movies, live dance and audience participation.

"Featuring contributions from film historian David Thomson and the stories of famous former occupants of the room such as Jean Harlow and Howard Hughes, the show will also attempt to unpick the way a heady concoction dreamt up in the immediate vicinity of the hotel went on to intoxicate the entire population of planet Earth", explains Cocker. "Or - to quote the sub-title of David Thomson's book 'The Big Screen' - it is also the story of the movies and what they did to us".

He continues: "For the duration of one evening the entire audience will be occupants of Room 29. You will be greeted by our concierge and you will be given a key. Sit down, get comfortable - it will be our pleasure to serve up a night of entertainment like no other: Room 29 may be a real location in Hollywood, California - but it is also a place within each one of us. Through this collection of songs we hope to open the door to that room for all those of you who wish to explore it. How's that for Room Service?"

Well, quite. The show will run from 23-25 Mar 2017, with tickets going on sale on Monday. More info here.

Cassette Store Day, The Rolling Stones, Lady Gaga, more

Other notable announcements and developments today...

• Cassette Store Day returns this Saturday, and organisers have just announced a day of in-stores, DJ sets and other fun stuff at Lion Coffee & Records in East London. Performances will come from Silver Wilson, Girl Ray and Sam Duckworth.

• The Rolling Stones will release a new album of blues covers called 'Blue & Lonesome' on 2 Dec to celebrate their status as one of the few music legends to survive 2016. Assuming they can collectively hold on for another 56 days that is.

• Lady Gaga has dumped another one of those songs on the internet. This one's called 'Million Reasons' and you can listen to it here.

• Bruno Mars has announced that he will release his new album, '24k Magic', on 18 Nov. Not only that, but he's also released the title track and its video. Magic.

• Jamie Lidell has released another track from his upcoming new album. Here's 'Julian'. You can catch Lidell live in London on 27 Oct at Koko.

• My Life Story have announced their first new single for sixteen years, '24 Hour Deflowerer'. The seven-inch release of the track will be pressed into the hands of anyone with a ticket to two shows at The Borderline in London on 14-15 Oct.

• The Radio Dept have released new single 'We Got Game', taken from new album 'Running Out Of Love', which is out on 21 Oct.

• Thee Oh Sees have announced that they will release a new album, 'An Odd Entrances', on 25 Nov. From it, this is 'The Poem'.

• Shura has released a video for '311215', the hidden track from her 'Nothing's Real' album, which is now not so hidden.

• The Music Managers Forum and Featured Artists Coalition have announced that Young Turks boss Caius Pawson will get the Entrepreneur Award at their Artist & Manager Awards next month, while up for the Breakthrough Artist gong are Blossoms, Stormzy, Christine And The Queens, Dua Lipa, Jack Garratt and Years And Years. Tickets here.

• So Michael Buble will host next year's BRITs. Yeah, Michael Buble. Apparently the official slogan of the 2017 edition of the big awards bash will be "What the actual fuck?!"

CMU Beef Of The Week #326: Musician v Donald Trump (Round 2)
It might say 'Round 2' in the headline up there, but we're well beyond that really, in the race for musicians to distance themselves from Donald Trump. But somehow it's only the second time we've taken a moment to have a round up here in the BOTW column.

More beef time was given to our own British political shambles of course, with that concert the Leave campaign tried to organise ahead of the European referendum, which kept losing its line-up once booked acts realised its political agenda. The increasingly unimpressive list of artists who were set to perform in support of leaving the European Union - as each new set of acts dropped out - was too funny not to cover ad nauseum (a phrase soon to be banned from the English language of course, on account of it being too foreign, so make the most of it).

The Bpoplive debacle seemed like a perfect representation of the entire Leave campaign. Misleading and chaotic, it was a venture surely no one in their right mind would ever sign up to. Except, of course, when it came to the big vote itself, lots of people did sign up for the misleading and chaotic option. As it turned out, pop couldn't save us.

Not from Brexit, and not from the unelected bunch of rabid right winners who are suddenly running the shop, banging on about all the things that the referendum vote supposedly "clearly demonstrated", when the only thing it clearly demonstrated is just how divided we all our on some fundamental issues.

So basically, everything is fucked. How are we going to get ourselves out of this one? It's an utter fucking disaster and it keeps getting worse. It's as if we've decided to prepare for the possibility of a Trump presidency by trying to make things so bad that we won't actually notice. Maybe a Trump presidency is what the world deserves.

Luckily, not everyone has lost hope. Indeed, if he does get in, Trump will be able to build his wall along the border of Mexico out of the musicians who opposed him, so many having now formally joined that party. Katy Perry took her clothes off to try to convince Americans not to vote for him. So did Madonna. And Hillary Clinton supporter Pusha T will shake your hand if you register to vote in this most important of elections (and win a competition). Neil Young is currently on the anti-Trump list too.

Young's name, of course, came up because his music had been used by the Trump campaign. This is how most musicians have ended up being forced to formally distance themselves from The Donald. Back when the 2016 presidential race first began in early 1847, or whenever it was, the businessman made his way around the US, leaving behind him a trail of musicians unhappy at being the soundtrack to his latest racist pronouncement.

This week The White Stripes joined that list - though rather than complaining about their music being used at a public rally (where music use is generally covered by blanket licences from the collecting societies, so as much as artists may gripe there's not actual copyright issues), their song 'Seven Nation Army' was apparently used in a campaign video, where having an ASCAP and BMI licence isn't a get out. Just ask Charlie Crist.

The White Stripes got on the old Facebook this week to post a statement on the matter, saying: "Regarding the use of 'Seven Nation Army' in a Donald Trump campaign video, The White Stripes would like to unequivocally state that they have nothing whatsoever to do with this video. They are disgusted by this association, and by the illegal use of their song".

Strong words indeed. Although, as Pitchfork notes, it's not entirely clear what video they're referring to. An unofficial video using the song appeared online recently, but it's not clear if the Trump campaign itself used it. "If you can't find the video, great. Then our lawyers have done their job", was all the band's manager Ian Montone had to say on the matter.

Whatever, it turned out to be a great merch opportunity, which is something all the other artists sullied by Trump's use of their songs seemingly failed to realise. Really though, what better way to protest Trump than through profit? So you can now pre-order t-shirts baring the slogan 'Icky Trump' - a play on the White Stripes' 'Icky Thump' song title.

The back of the shirt features reworked lyrics to the song, reading: "White America? What? Nothing better to do? Why don't you kick yourself out? You're an immigrant too. Who's using who? What should we do? Well, you can't be a pimp and a prostitute too".

They just need to use this as a platform for the long-awaited White Stripes reunion and the process will be complete. Not sure that's going to happen. But, hey, it would be a long way from being the strangest thing to occur this year if it did.

It's not just The White Stripes jumping on the anti-Trump bandwagon this week though. Of course U2 have as well. Still on a roll after suggesting that stand up comedians be airdropped into Syria to fight ISIS, Bono has now staged his own presidential debate with Trump.

Yesterday, the band posted a video from a recent show on their YouTube channel, in which Bono and Trump have a conversation on stage. Trump's side of the debate is made up of edited clips displayed on a big screen, while Bono responds live as the other U2s lay down some slick reggae-funk fusion.

I don't know if you watched the first actual presidential debate. It was quite something. Trump blathered and stumbled his way through, getting by mainly by shouting more than making any points. In one breath he complained that other countries were failing to pay America what it was due, then snorted "That makes me smart!" when he was accused of doing the same.

But while the actual debating Trump is mainly a ramble of nonsense, once his speeches are edited together by U2 he appears to deliver his core policies much more clearly and succinctly. So well done there everybody. Still, presumably the hope is that when clearly and succinctly presented, those core polices will be a big fat turn off. Yeah, here's hoping.

Bono tells Trump that on his strict immigration policy to 'send them back' he is up against "everyone who loves the idea of America ... everyone who believes what they read at the foot of the bottom of the Statue Of Liberty".

That might be a stark misreading of the mood in the US of course, just as many people misread the mood in the UK earlier this year. Though, to be fair, while Bono talks about Ireland, France and Brazil, he never suggests that America itself "loves the idea of America".

"Good people are not going to stay silent while you run off with the American dream", the singer proclaims. "You hear me, candidate? You're fired!" That's a telly show reference there people, did you spot it?

Bono then gets an edited Trump to say that he wants to punch each member of U2 in the face, proving that what Cassetteboy do really is a lot harder than it looks. And we close with Trump chanting "Build that wall! Build that wall!"

I think Bono actually makes another point to conclude, but every time I watch it I get distracted by how weird it is when Bono refers to The Edge as "The Edge". I know this is not a new observation by any stretch of the imagination, but whenever you actually hear it with your own ears, it really is fucking weird.

Sorry, what were we talking about? Oh yeah, can pop save us from Trump? Well, we're now one month away from finding out. Acts like The White Stripes and U2 certainly have a sizeable audience to talk to. And the argument against Trump is a lot less complicated and nuanced than the argument against Brexit. Though, if we've learned anything this year, it's that simply saying "if you vote for this clearly terrible thing everything will be terrible" isn't a convincing argument any more. Maybe it never was.

It really is weird when Bono calls that guy The Edge though.