The latest BPI figures reveal that sales of albums in the UK dropped by almost 14% to £43.6m year on year in the first six months of 2012 but continued the trend reflected in an IFPI report at the beginning of the year, with digital climbing by 17.3% in the same period. Digital sales now account for just under 35% of all albums sold despite overall album sales dropping by 12.7 % in comparison to the same period in 2011.

BPI Chief Executive Geoff Taylor said, “We’ve had another solid quarter of digital growth in sales volumes – both in albums and on singles, where the top 10 were exclusively sold as digital downloads. Album unit sales are down quite significantly year-on-year, but it’s important to remember that these unit sales figures do not take into account the growing importance of music streaming and subscription services”.

Taylor continued, referring to the release calendar for the rest of the year: “The second half of 2012 is looking very promising for music fans, with big releases anticipated from The Killers, Plan B, Joss Stone, Mumford & Sons, Robbie Williams, Muse, David Guetta, Van Morrison, Pet Shop Boys, Dido, One Direction and The Vaccines.”

Go ahead and guess what the biggest selling album of the first six months of 2012 was? Yes, repeating its performance for the first half of 2011, no-one else got a look in for Adele’s ’21’. Remarkably, there are still thousands of people out there each week thinking “You know what? I haven’t heard that Adele album enough, best sort that out and get on iTunes”. These figures reflect the Brits this year, where the only person to relish their breakthrough ‘Adele moment’ was, er, Adele.

Emeli Sandé was the second-biggest album seller of 2012 with ‘Our version of events’, whilst Lana Del Rey’s (pictured) Born To Die clocked in at No.3. We checked the other day and ‘Video Games’ is still quite good proving that David Cameron’s endorsement isn’t the kiss of death (at least not to everyone) but alas, it's not enough to bring down the monster selling ‘21’, which has also casually conquered America along the way, scooping up Grammys and passing the nine million sales mark before the end of May this year.

In the latest chapter of the EMI story and to the surprise of exactly no one, the publishing division of the British music giant has been sold to an investor group led by Sony in America for a reported £1.4 bn, with David Geffen and Michael Jackson improbably getting in on the deal. In addition, regulators in Brussels have now reportedly told Universal that they will need to get over a number of hurdles for their purchase of EMI’s recorded division to gain clearance due to fears about market dominance and price hikes to digital downloads, with the European Commission’s (EC) concerns outlined in a 194-page document.

Seriously, the amount of stories that we’ve posted about the trials and tribulations of EMI would probably amount to a book longer than that by now, one that is often gripping and occasionally tedious- The Don Quixote of the music industry, with Guy Hands battling windmills from his donkey?

As previously reported, the EC approved the sale at the end of April this year.

Alongside Sony, the consortium also includes the estate of Michael Jackson (due to his Sony/ATV joint venture), PJSC, Jynwel Capital Limited, GSO Capital Partners LP and David Geffen.

Stephen Volk, chairman of the Board of EMI Group Global Limited and vice chairman of Citigroup said: “We are proud to have been a steward of EMI Music Publishing and its great collection of assets. We are grateful to Roger Faxon, his management team and all of EMI’s staff for the continued success of this business during Citi’s ownership.”

Although it is unclear what the immediate plans for the catalogue are, Sony et al are now free to exploit a publishing catalogue that includes huge pop writers such as Jay Z and Rihanna (pictured).

Various trade organisations including AIM have protested against the break-up of EMI. To catch up on all of the developments leading up to the sale of the recorded division of EMI, which is now in doubt, go here.

Maximo Park’s Paul Smith, Lanterns on the Lake and SBTRKT are just some of the names confirmed for a new interactive arts initiative in the North East this summer led by Generator and Northern Film & Media.

‘Space Invasion’ will see a series of experimental music, arts and film collaborations in unusual venues across the North East as one of the largest projects for The Space, a £2.5m digital arts initiative developed by Arts Council England in partnership with the BBC.

The project has already produced ‘Pallion’, a collaboration between Bella Union signed Lanterns on the Lake and visual artists Novak Collective, who were commissioned by the two agencies to create an audio and visual response to the Pallion shipyard in Sunderland - a day that witnessed Generator staff fulfilling every northern cliché going by grafting away in an actual shipyard. What would Elvis Costello have to say about that?

Check out the stunning video here.

As previously reported, the initiative also includes a rare opportunity for a filmmaker in the region to be awarded an £8K commission to make a video for SBTRKT. The deadline is this Friday (6 July) and you can download the application forms here.

Generator CEO Jim Mawdsley said "A strong partnership between Generator and Northern Film & Media formed the basis of plans for Space Invasion which provides an opportunity for high profile musicians to collaborate with digital specialists, poets and film-makers in unique venues across the North East. The project truly pushes boundaries"

The activity will also include Maximo Park singer Paul Smith performing an interpretation of poet Lavinia Greenlaw’s ‘The Casual Perfect’ in Newcastle’s ancient Morden Tower and Newcastle-based Raj Pannu, one half of critically-acclaimed dance duo Coldcut, will produce a DVJ set using archive clips from the BBC’s seminal Old Grey Whistle Test TV show.

John Tulip, Managing Director at Northern Film & Media said: “The Space exemplifies the role that digital technology can play in driving creativity and we are thrilled to have partnered with Generator, Arts Council England and the BBC to deliver this ambitious and experimental initiative.”

This activity will culminate in an event at The Sage Gateshead on 22 September showing all of the work produced through Space Invasion and feature live performances, including a very special headline act and three emerging artists selected from The Gen’s upstart sibling The Tipping Point.

Fans can also watch the entire project evolve and gain exclusive mobile/tablet interactive content and view other projects from across the country through The Space platform.

As we gear up towards Generator’s Music Futures panel event on the Future of Dance Music Marketing on 12th July, The Gen’s Editor Paul Reed caught up with Anna Wall, Promotions Manager and DJ at Defected Records where we discover that “You’ve got to keep your eyes and ears on the prize”. The beat goes on.

How did you start working in dance promo?

“I’ve been interested in dance music since quite a young age, when I was 16 I did a placement at a label and then spent four years in Newcastle at University and DJing in clubs, which opened up so many opportunities. I went on to get a work placement at Defected and I’ve been the Promotions Manager at the label for two years now, working on the TV, radio and club promo side of things and it’s a big time for us with album and single releases at the moment”

How do you think dance promo differs from other musical genres?

“Its quite difficult for me to say as Defected is predominantly a dance label and I’ve always worked within that genre, although we’ve released everything from Dubstep to house music that has crossed over to radio. ‘Dance music’ can be so many different styles anyway and we’re kind of the last one standing in terms of being a big independent dance label. There are few radio slots out there and a few important people at radio that are dance specialists and you need to get your track to them, I’m not sure if its that different in that respect”.

How has new technology changed the landscape of dance promo?

“You can sense if an underground record is going to cross-over, traditionally you would gauge reactions in clubs in the UK and Europe- this is still important but music blogs and Youtube are also a good gauge of popularity. For example, if Pete Tong plays a track you can see the Youtube views just shoot up! Social media and viral marketing can help to create a need and want for your record, which is ultimately what you’re trying to do and people can access it immediately and globally through things like our radio show on Soundcloud. You’ve got to keep your eyes and ears on the prize!”

What have you got coming up at Defected over the summer?

“Summer is our biggest time at the label, with an Ibiza compilation mixed by our label boss Simon Dunmore coming out and a Saturday residency at Pacha in Ibiza- I’m also DJing at ‘Defected in the House’ at Ministry in London on 21st July”.

Anna will be speaking at The Future of Dance Music Marketing event on Thursday July 12th - To book a place at this FREE event...

Check out Defected’s radio show on Soundcloud, go to Anna’s Soundcloud here and find out more about Defected here.

Much loved music magazine The Word is set to close after its August edition this month following  nine years in circulation.

Writing on the magazine’s website Journalist David Hepworth, who co-founded The Word’s publisher ‘Development Hell’ alongside Editor Mark Ellen confirmed the news, also adding: “In the nine years since the magazine launched there have been dramatic changes in the media and the music business. These changes have made it more difficult for a small independent magazine to survive and provide its staff with a living. This hasn't been made any easier by the economic climate of the wider world”.

Hepworth concluded: “When we came up with that slogan - "The Word - a magazine, a website, a podcast, a way of life" - we were being a bit tongue in cheek. But it was, wasn't it?”.

The most recent ABC figures for The Word for the second half of 2010 showed that its circulation had dropped 5.7% year on year to 25,048. The magazine used its website in an interesting way as a kind of hub for enthusiasts rather than republishing content from the magazine.

Generate debate: RIP- Arguably too tasteful to survive, one of the good things about The Word was that it went beyond being just another music magazine, you were just as likely to pick it up for a feature on David Lynch’s films or the book reviews as you were for an interview with Neil Young. Perhaps The Word will follow the example of every band ever formed and reunite in a few years to make a cool million. The Guardian has suggested that The Word was aimed at the surely now semi-mythical ’50 quid man’. What are your thoughts?

Ofcom has published an updated initial obligations code proposal for the Digital Economy Act (DEA), which may sound like a small step but is actually a giant leap for the Act coming into play.

The draft code outlines ‘notification’ letters, effectively the first stage of the much-discussed ‘three strikes’ proposal that will be sent to customers of major ISPs including BT, Sky and O2, requiring them to issue the warning letters at least a month apart. Three letters or more in a 12-month period means that the big guns come out, with information passed along to copyright holders who can then pursue legal action under the sweet bludgeon of the Copyright Designs and Patent Act 1988.

There is still some way to go; the code needs to be scrutinised by the EC in Brussels before being laid in Parliament (though not as much or in the same way as Nick Clegg has), with ISPs then meeting their obligations and an independent appeals body set-up by Ofcom. It's expected that the first letters to customers will be sent in early 2014, with the ISPs involved accounting for more than 93% of UK broadband connections and those appealing against infringement paying a £20 fee.

Ofcom Consumer Group Director Claudio Pollack said: “These measures are designed to foster investment and innovation in the UK’s creative industries, while ensuring internet users are treated fairly and given help to access lawful content”.

Pollack continued: “Ofcom will oversee a fair appeals process, and also ensure that rights holders’ investigations under the code are rigorous and transparent.”

BPI Chief Executive Geoff Taylor summed up the response of the industry to the news, saying: "It's time to get down to business and start implementing the law to educate consumers about illegal downloading, so that artists and creators are fairly rewarded for their hard work”.

On the other side of the coin, Jim Killock, Chief Executive of Open Rights Group (ORG) referred to the DEA as “already out of date”, adding: “This was set up because the rights holders said they needed a new means of enforcing copyright to protect their revenues, but what we see now is they are already getting the revenues.”

Presumably Killock was referring to the rise of legitimate streaming services, encouraging sales figures from 2011 revealed last month and the decline of BitTorrent and tech nerd Godfather types such as Kim Dotcom.

Rights holders will be expected to cover up to 75% of the costs and will also embark on campaigns to raise awareness of the implications of illegal downloading, pointing people towards legitimate services. The consultation on the online infringement of copyright code closes on 26 July, with a separate consultation on the allocation of costs for policing the code running until 18 September.

Early Bird tickets for The Great Escape 2013 are on-sale now, with three-day festival wristbands at just £35 and delegate passes for £80.

Back in Brighton from the 16 - 18 May next year, the series of gigs and industry conferences attracted 13,000 music fans and 3,000 industry delegates in May this year, including The Gen. Our highlights included Haim and Jethro Fox alongside our North East Invasion showcase featuring Lulu James and Hyde and Beast. Read our North Eastie boys Great Escape blog.

The festival also featured performances from the likes of Django Django and Alabama Shakes alongside conversations with Glastonbury’s Michael Eavis, Placebo’s Brian Molko and XFM’s John Kennedy. Speaking of which, stay tuned to The Gen for an interview with John Kennedy in advance of Music Future’s ‘The Future of Broadcasting’ event on Thursday 19th July.

To find out more about tickets and early bird hotel deals for next year, go to their site.

The freak weather affecting the Isle of Wight festival, resulting in a Jodrell Bank festival cancellation and almost destroying Generator HQ last week (ok, slight exaggeration) has been followed with a social media storm, with Blur debuting two new tracks on Twitter and 6 Music revealing the most blogged about artists of the year so far.

BBC 6 Music’s ‘Now playing’ programme revealed the 25 most blogged about artists according to aggregator The Hype Machine, with Grimes (pictured), Beach House and Lana Del Rey all in the top five, with the chart based on 863 key music blogs across the world.

BBC 6 Music’s Tom Robinson said: "One of the sheer delights of Now Playing has been our close relationship with a wealth of wonderful new music blogs. The highpoint to date is our collaboration this weekend with the mighty Hype Machine - which has got me almost childishly excited. The graft, enthusiasm and musical expertise of the world's music bloggers has led to a new world of possibilities for gifted independent artists”.

You can see the complete list here and the top ten below.

Meanwhile, Blur performed new songs ‘Under the Westway’ and ‘The Puritan’ live from a secret location and broadcast them globally through Twitter on Monday 2 July in advance of playing their big gig at the olympic closing ceremony in Hyde Park on August 12th'.

The top ten most blogged about artists are:

1. Grimes
2. Lana Del Rey
3. Miike Snow
4. Beach House
5. Sleigh Bells
6. SBTRKT
7. Lower Dens
8. Bear In Heaven
9. Santigold
10. Gotye

Generate Debate: Let us know your thoughts on the list. Is it predictable? Who did they miss and which artists have you been blogging about?

Glastonbury and Festival Republic have ended their partnership, after running the 177,500 capacity festival together for more than a decade.

Melvin Benn’s Festival Republic (then still known as Mean Fiddler) took operational control of the festival in 2001 and acted as the license holders for the event, which has boasted consecutive record sell-out weekends and headline performances from Jay Z, Radiohead and Bruce Springsteen during that time.

A statement from Festival Republic said: "Time moves on and now is the time for Michael and the Glastonbury team to pick up the reins again and build for the future. This will then allow Melvin and the Festival Republic team to focus on growing new Festival Republic events and the existing FR owned festivals here in the UK as well as internationally in Ireland, Germany and Norway as well as the time required of Melvin as Chairman of Wembley Stadium."

Michael Eavis said: “Melvin definitely earned his stripes running the gates for us during the Eighties. This was a difficult time dealing with the closure of Stonehenge, the Battle of the Beanfield and the travellers and my attempts to accept them here at Worthy Farm was exciting but very challenging”.

Eavis added: “We both learnt a lot about festivals then, and Melvin and I have managed to put together what is the Glastonbury we have now. I’ll be sorry to see him go but he has masses of responsibility with all of his shows across the world and now is a good time to part-company”.

Revellers at the festival this year said that they were finding it much easier to jump the fence and that the queues were “Nothing like that Isle of Wight fiasco” but also complained at the lack of entertainment, saying that they were “Staring at a field of cows”. It beats watching Mumford and Sons at least! Though the real question is: What on earth was the Battle of Beanfield?

It has been an eventful month for Manchester, with three Stone Roses gigs generating an estimated £23m for the City and a new radio transmitter bringing DAB to a further 250,000 homes.

Approximately 250,000 people watched the Second Coming of the Roses at Heaton Park last weekend, with economists estimating that the shows brought in £12.5m on tickets, £4m on food, drinks and merchandise and £6.5m off-site on transport, accommodation and more drinks.

Dr Alexander Roy, head of research at Manchester’s economic think tank New Economy, said that the Stone Roses shows “provided a boost to the economy that Manchester has been waiting for.”

Meanwhile, a new radio transmitter marks the culmination of four years of investment by broadcasters to deliver digital radio across Greater Manchester and from today, almost 90% of Manchester households can now receive all digital stations.

In related news and on a more sombre note, a man is missing following the first night of the Heaton Park concerts and Police are appealing for information about 22-year old Christopher Brahney, who went missing after the gig on Friday and was last seen around 11.30pm. They have urged anyone with information to contact them on 0161 856 7652 and you can find out more and see an image of the young man on their website.

This month, Regional Radar goes international with the news that UKTI are planning a creative industries mission to Brazil from 23-30 September focusing on music, screen and digital media in Sao Paulo and Rio de Janeiro.

The trade mission will feature a full schedule of presentations, seminars, workshops and networking events and will also be linked to the Rio Film Festival and UK Live Music event in Rio, with Brazil being the seventh largest Internet market in the world.

Registration is open now until November this year and to find out more about the music element, and how you can wax lyrical about Brazil, email phil.patterson@uktispecialist.com to receive details of application and check out UKTI’s website.

The Institute of Contemporary Music Performance in London is set to invest £250K in enhancing its existing facilities and investing in new equipment this summer.

New equipment including a broadcast quality recording studio, teaching rooms, live performance spaces, drum booths, keyboard and technology suites will be installed and as a result, its Kilburn campus will expand to over 40% to more than 20,000 square feet.

Paul Kirkham, Managing Director of the Institute, said: “We have been focusing on the reorganisation and upgrading of the Institute for several years now, and this is the next phase in our plans to continually provide our students with state-of-the-art equipment in a learning environment of the highest quality”.

The works will start this summer with expansion culminating in summer 2013. And you can find out more at their website.

This weekend will see the likes of The Fall, Beth Jeans Houghton and the Hooves of Destiny (pictured) and Jake Bugg play The Cult festival in Newcastle.

Taking place in Hoults Yard from Friday 6th to Sunday 8th July, the outdoor event will feature over 50 acts playing across three stages alongside a celebration of cult movies, world food and real ale.

Organiser Steve Holt said: “The setting will be the region’s most creative courtyard at Hoult’s, which really excites us. Some unsung local artists will also get their chance to shine with the likes of Alex Butler, Tomahawks for Targets, The Watchers and more- all whom have had great success this year”.

Weekend tickets are £25 and you can find out more here.

As the heavens opened and God administered Her Super Cell Thunderstorm upon the unworthy of Newcastle afloat Tyne last week, the one thought keeping pestilance and plague at bay was "Which tracks would make up this weeks Spotify?"

With assistance from the Twitter community and a newcastleendofdays hashtag we raised our heads up where we belong.

Storm in a T-Shirt Spotify

The Gen - we made it through the rain!