Post the latest music news from around the world:

The European Union has cleared the way for the merger of Sony Music and BMG. The deal has been approved without conditions. This now means that the four majors record companies control around 80 per cent of the world's recorded music.

Independent record companies are considering appealing the decision

A star studded musical cast will appear in Jim Jarmusch’s new film coffee and cigarettes.

Iggy Pop, Tom Waits, members of the Wu-Tang Clan, plus Meg and Jack from the White Stripes will make appearences in the film.

Meat Puppets Bass player Cris Kirkwood has been sentanced to 21 months in prison for attacking a security guard with a baton. The 43 year old pleaded guilty on to a charge of assault with a dangerous weapon.

Kirkwood, was already on probation for a prior drug offense.

This is really sad for me, I really like the meat puppets.

The RIAA has sued the parents of two teenage kids accused of downloading music off the net. The teens have admitted to downloading the songs and the couples lawyer has recommended they settle with the RIAA.

this from climbingupthewalls.com

"Radiohead to Record New Material in 2005
Finally some news we've all been waiting for. Phil Selway has told the NME that Radiohead will record new material in 2005. He confirms that Radiohead is not touring or recording this year, but they all plan to reconvene next year. Talking about a possible change in direction, Selway said: "We’d reached a point at the end of OK Computer where we were sick of that approach to song writing and we needed time away from it. We don’t think we feel that way now." He continued: "I don’t think we need to knock down what we’ve done before and completely reinvent ourselves but at the same time we need to improve as musicians, we need new material, and to try arrangement ideas."

So the uncertainty is now officially over. Radiohead officially plan to continue recording new material in the near-future. This calls for champagne!"

The former Queens Of The Stone Age bass player, Nick Oliveri, allegedly punched the shit out of his sound engineer, leaving him with a broken nose and teeth.

The attack was apparantly over the quality of the sound at a previous nights performance.

He was asked to leave his tour bus and was left on the side of the road while on tour in Europe.

The city council of Melbourne has postponed a decision to rename a city street to AC/DC lane. The proposal was to pay tribute to the rock n roll legends. I think the street was the same one featured in the video "Its a long way to the top".

Since announcing the proposed name change the council has recieved 30 submissions in favour of the name change and only 4 against.

As has already been discussed here at RM

Funk legend Rick James was found dead on the morning of August the 6th at his Los Angeles home. He was 56. Although he had a history of drug problems his death is thought to be through natural causes. His drug problems had led to poor health in recent years, including a 1998 stroke.

R. Kelly was the big winner at the Billboard 2004 R&B/Hip-Hop Awards show. Kelly finished the evening with seven awards.

The next Queens of the Stone Age Album is to include guest appearances from Billy F Gibbons (from zz top) Brody Dalle (the distillers) and Shirly Manson (from Garbage)