Interesting article on the rise and success of Beats Headphones on The Verge website. Is the Company really worth in excess of $3 billion, the sum that Apple recently paid for it? Apple have, of course, acquired the brand, which also includes the recently launched streaming service.

‘Dream Again’ will be the first single from forthcoming album to be released August 2014 …. video coming soon….

Easy To Love is the new studio album from superstar Maxi Priest featuring the hits ‘Easy To Love’, ‘Holiday’, ‘Every Little Thing’ and the new single ‘Gravity’. It will be released in Europe June 13 and North America July 1.

Little Mix’s new single ‘Salute’ co-written by Maegan Cottone, is signed to Phrased Differently and administered by Wardlaw Music. ‘Salute’ from their second album of the same name follows on from the success of first single ‘Move’.

Both Hawk Eyes & The Pogues will be playing this year’s Rock in Idro festival.

Hawk Eyes take to the stage on day 3 alongside IRON MAIDEN.

The Pogues headline Day 2 of a Festival that includes performances from amongst others Queens Of The Stone Age, Fatboy Slom, Biffy Clyro, Manic Street Preachers.

Susheela Raman releases her new album Queen Between this month. It is an album of rousing rhythms that again documents her work with Rajasthani folk stars, vocalist-multi-instrumentalist Kutle Khan and stick drummer Nathoo Solanki. Susheela is playing dates across India, France & the UK to support the release.

Australian TV drama Secrets & Lies synced the track ‘Five Little Speckled Frogs’ as arranged by Olly Drew/MyVoxSongs in a moving funeral scene. The hit series tells the story of a man who finds the body of a young boy quickly becomes the prime murder suspect, putting his life and his family at risk.

Artist – John Walsh
Track – ‘ARCHERS’

John Walsh composed the track for Strongbow’s global advertising campaign…

Artist – Wizzy Wow
Track – ‘TAKE THE STAGE’

Wizzy Wow collaborated with Wretch 32 on the soundtrack for Adidas’s London 2012 promotion…

In 2014 for the first time streaming is to be included in the UK singles chart. So, for the first time since charts started over 50 years ago the addition of streaming will take into account consumption based not on purchase but on hearing something without actually owning it.

South London Blues rockers The Peckham Cowboys release their new album 10 Tales from the Gin Palace on Cargo Records this month.

Following on from scoring series 1 & 2, Magnus Fiennes has created all original music for series 3 of BBC primetime drama Death In Paradise.

BAFTA nominated CBBC show ‘Officially Amazing‘ returns to UK screens for a second series this February. As for the first series, all original songs and opening and closing sequences are composed, arranged and sung by the extremely talented Rob Castell.

We welcome Hill Valley High to our roster.

A 5-piece pop/pop punk group from Telford, England, Hill Valley High formed in 2006. Starting out writing tunes and playing shows around Telford and Birmingham, slowly but surely the band built up a local following. In 2009, through a Myspace campaign, Hill Valley High toured Brazil playing 10 sold out shows across the country.

So, we have said farewell to 2013 and already broken our resolutions for 2014. Except a few. We can guarantee that 2014 will see new music from @HAWKEYESBAND, @susheelaraman, @PeteWayOfficial, @_PeckhamCowboys, @hillvalleyhigh, @gunofficialuk, @starlingband, @LeonLour, @wizzywow, @cmacconiomaire, @dan_reed, @roesymusic, @MaxiPriest.

Interesting article by Ben Myers in the Guardian on December 02, BBC Sound of 2014: Where have the bands gone? Of this years shortlisted acts, 12 are solo artists with the remaining 3 being duos. As Ben states, “this list takes the middle path”. Following release of the list BBC News reported that “bands are out of fashion”.

UK electronic artist ‘Whitey’ has slammed a TV company for asking to use his music for free. Whitey bemoans the TV industry’s “culturally ingrained disdain for the musician” in an email to the production company, which can be seen in full here. Although not directly related, his comments echo those recently of David Byrne and Thom Yorke, concerning the availability and use of music.

Little Mix’s new single ‘Move’ is co-written by Maegan Cottone & Nathan Duvall, writers signed to Phrased Differently and administered by Wardlaw Music. ‘Move’ is the first single from the Little Mix’s second album ‘Salute’ and will be released globally on November 3rd.

Maegan has also co-written ‘Salute’ the title track to the new Little Mix album, together with the track ‘Competition’.

Respected musician David Byrne outlined his thoughts on the music streaming debate in an article for The Guardian, published on October 11. His summary, “The boom in digital streaming may generate profits for record labels and free content for consumers, but it spells disaster for today’s artists across the creative industries”.

Wardlaw Music artists Kiki Dee & Carmelo Luggeri release their new album A Place Where I Can Go on September 30. They kick off a UK tour on September 25 in Newcastle, full details here.

The first single from the album, the beautiful ‘Sidesteppin’ (With A Soulman) is available now.