The six music blogs unceremoniously dumped by Google are in the process of getting back online. All bar one have of the blogs has been restored, or moved to alternate webhosting after Google’s Blogger service pulled the plug on the six blogs amid claims of illegal hosting of copyrighted content.

The six blogs – Pop Tarts, Masala, I Rock Cleveland, To Die By Your Side, It’s a Rap and Living Ears – were shut following Google’s receipt of DMCA notices compelling the company to remove the offending blogs. The blogs’ owners each claim to have been given permission to use the disputed tracks by the artists themselves or their record labels.

The bloggers also claim Google gave them no indication of how to file counter-claims against the notices in order to stop Google from closing the accounts. Each of the six blogs, which are big in their respective genres of music are hosting on Google’s Blogger platform.

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Gigwise report that the man who gave the world Rick Astley, The Reynolds Girls, Steps and Sonia will be the man responsible for the UK’s 2010 Eurovision Song Contest entry.

The man in question is music mogul Pete Waterman who has written hit songs in the past for acts including Westlife and Kylie Minogue and, according to Gigwise is ‘relishing the opportunity’.

The United Kingdom has become something of an also-ran in the competition, which has become more about political voting than the music but Phil Parsons – the BBC’s Eurovision executive Producer – is hopeful Waterman can build on the success of Andrew Lloyd-Webber, whose song ‘My Time’ sung by Sugababes singer Jade Ewan made fifth place in the 2009 contest.

Oslo, Noway will stage this year’s competiton on May 29^th.

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Radiohead guitarist Ed O’Brien has taken a swipe at the music industry for not moving quickly enough in the digital era says Music-news.com.

The debate surrounding music piracy in the digital age has been raging back-and-forth since the early days of Napster, but O’Brien nailed his colours onto the ‘for’ side of the debate.

Radio station, XFM.co.uk claim O’Brien said that the music industry’s current problems with piracy are solely their own fault, while the website PaidContent.org quote the guitarist as saying:

‘I have a problem when people in the industry say ‘it’s killing the industry, it’s the thing that’s ripping us apart’. I don’t actually believe it is … [Pirates] might not buy an album, but they’re spending their money buying concert tickets, a t-shirt, whatever.

‘It’s an analogue business model in a digital era. The business model has to change. You’ve got to license out more music – have more Spotifys, more websites selling more music. You’ve got to make it slightly cheaper to get music in order to compete with the peer-to-peers.

‘That’s been the whole problem in the last 10 years. Why are we here now? Because the recording industry dragged its feet over digital.’

Is O’Brien right? Let us know in the comments.

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Incessantly annoying X-Factor failures Jedward have issued the news that people dreaded to hear: the bee-hived twin duo are to release their debut single next month.

The twins, who have probably kept hair-gel sales for L’Oreal up for the next five years have teamed with failed rapper Vanilla Ice to record Ice’s ‘Under Pressure (Ice Ice Baby)’. The twins – John and Edward Grimes – performed the track on Week six of the live finals and again during the National Television Awards.

Under Pressure (Ice Ice Baby) is released digitally on January 31st, with a physical release following on February 15th.

And, if you’re really desperate to find out what the twins are up to, you can do so on their new official website, www.planetjedward.net

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The BBC received numerous complaints following coverage of last year’s album launch of U2’s ‘No Line On The Horizon’ which included a concert on the roof of Broadcasting House and the alteration of the BBC logo to ‘U2=BBC’. The launch, which happened last February led critics to complain that the BBC had given the band millions of pounds of free publicity across TV, Radio and online media.

The corporation’s editorial complaints unit upheld the complaints, stating that coverage of the launch breached BBC guidelines surrounding advertising and gave suggested an endorsement of the album by the BBC, and said a reference to the BBC being “part of launching this new album”, in an interview between Zane Lowe and U2’s Bono on BBC Radio 1, was inappropriate.

The complaint follows on from a similarly upheld complaint surrounding the corporation’s coverage of Coldplay’s ‘Viva la Vida’ tour.

(Image by Pop Martian)

THe JK Divorce Video features the same Chris Brown “Forever” music which has been the centre of much debate on the web. Brown, of course, is in the headlines for his assault on his ex-partner Rihanna and his very public apology to her.

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