This fortnight much of the music industry was excited about the announcement of a Prince tour which begins on 22 May in Australia... Whilst all eyes are on the front player, it's always interesting to see whom the movers, shakers and influencers behind the scene are. The unexpected force behind Prince is an Asian British female - Kiran Sharma.

Had a nice little (I say little but it was perfectly adequate) bra slung onstage!! Always a treat. One side of it was a sequinned Paraguayan flag... the other a sequinned Union Jack!! And in that wonderful moment our two great nations had never been closer.

Yes comrades... so... Buenos Aires? F***ing great show. It always is in that place. It never disappoints. Big crowd, about 10,000!! Just like the old days (man)!!

So... Rio? F**k me! What an unbelievable night. A truly special gig. Not because of anything I did I hasten to add - I played AND sang like sh*t!! But them kids man!?!? It was just a privilege to have been there never mind on the stage AND I got in for free. (I know the bass player innit?)

So, Sao Paolo. What a spectacle. The crowd (or some of them at least) were waving yellow and green balloons as we took to the stage. Looked mega. Great atmosphere. Lots of very amusing banners, signs, placards etc. Here's but a few examples...

The next day I had a video shoot for my new single... I played the part of a slightly hungover grumpy northern taxi driver which is just as well as that's exactly what I felt like. I feel it's some of my best work and most definitely worthy of at least one Bafta. That actress Mischa Barton was in it too. Nice girl. City fan would you believe!?!?

There's a chance the name 'Wiley' might not mean anything to you. Or, it rings a faint bell, and there you are remembering Wearing My Rolex. "Not a bad tune that", you think. But otherwise, the stage name of Richard Kylea Cowie might have passed you by.

Today is Record Store Day. That it was felt necessary to instigate a Record Store Day says a lot about how technology is changing life's landscape.

Hi. Come in, you came just at the right time. It's four days until the publication of the book I just spent the last year writing.

Santigold has written for other artists including Lily Allen and Ashlee Simpson, but now she's got a new record Master of My Make Believe, as well as single Disparate Youth. The 35-year-old is an intimidating solo performer, but she's also known for her collaborations. I asked her to recall her favourites (both her own and others).

As seen at the world premeiere of Marley at the Berlin Film Festival last night, Bob Marley has found a champion in the innovative filmmaker Macdonald - who says that he hopes he has made the "definitive documentary" - to chart his extraordinary and thrilling life.

To a young British girl (me) Whitney Houston (she) was exotic. Her songs were exotic. She may have launched her career with a song about loving a married man, but on her eponymous second album - not to be confused with her eponymous debut album - Whitney took it one step further, and sang about loving yourself. We Brits had never heard of such a thing!

It might seem like running a festival by committee is like taking up herding cats as a hobby, but in some ways it makes things much easier. Our committee is made up of grizzled veterans of the grassroots music scene, and they know what they like - so the element of democracy this approach brings can also cause a few headaches.

I'm approaching 20 years of involvement in the Camden Crawl, the metropolitan music and arts festival in London I helped set up in the mid-Nineties... The environment of live music has changed beyond recognition since those days.

I hadn’t thought about it until Chris mentioned it on the B-stage. He thanks the Frankfurt crowd and mentions that Germany is where this tour re...

But why is it important that we support a wide range of new music? In my opinion, the biggest challenge facing any artist or musician today is simply getting noticed. The internet has democratised music production and distribution and the barrier to entry is now so low that the web is flooded with millions of tracks and thousands of undiscovered artists. Simultaneously, there has been a global decline in the number of trusted guides or filters with sufficient audience to make any difference and without significant gatekeepers operating at mass-market scale music makers will find it harder and harder to emerge beyond their niche.

Lovers and spouses come and go, but a celebrity's relationship with a manager, publicist or creative director is supposed to be sacrosanct. This week, we're sending out the sympathy cards and tubs of Ben & Jerry's to Lady Gaga and her creative director Laurieann Gibson, whose split seems to be going the acrimonious way.