Squeeze will be honoured with a PRS For Music Heritage Award, which is one of those special plaques that gets erected in a place of significance to a band's career. The Squeeze plaque will be put up outside the Greenwich Dance Hall where Chris Difford, Glenn Tilbrook, Jools Holland, Harry Kakoulli and Paul Gunn first performed together back in 1975.

Difford told reporters: "I'm humbled that the birthplace of Squeeze has been chosen to be marked in this way".

Music Week have announced that the lifetime achievement gong at this year's Music Week Awards will go to Universal Music International chief Lucian Grainge, who, as previously reported, will become the overall top man at the music major at the end of the year. The trade mag call their lifetime achievement prize the Strat.

Music Week editor Paul Williams says this: "Lucian Grainge's contribution not just to the UK music industry but to the business globally has been extraordinary, so it should be a very special moment when he receives this award on 15 Apr. It will not only mark what he has achieved so far, but will help to usher in this incredible next chapter in his career. By announcing beforehand he is getting this, it means everyone who wants to will be able to share in this moment in person".

So, it was a big night for 'The Hurt Locker' at the Oscars last night, it picking up six gongs, including the all important Best Film and Best Director prizes. But what about the music categories? Well, Michael Giacchino won the Best Original Score prize for his music to the Pixar film 'Up', while Ryan Bingham and T Bone Burnett got the Best Song gong for their song 'The Weary Kind', which is the main theme to the 'former country star hits hard times' flick 'Crazy Heart'.

It's time for the Juno Awards again. How lovely. Leading the pack in the nomination stakes for the Canadian music industry's big awards bash is Michael Buble, who is up for six awards. Following the Bubulator are Billy Talent, Drake and country singer Johnny Reid, who are all in line for four. K'Naan, Classified and that Justin Bieber all have three nominations.

In the oh-shit-we'd-better-give-them-something categories are Bryan Adams, who will receive the Allan Waters Humanitarian Award, former Universal Music Canada chairman Ross Reynolds, who'll get Walt Grealis Special Achievement Award, and April Wine, who will be inducted into the Canadian Music Hall Of Fame.

Full nominations and other details at junoawards.ca

So, it was the NME Awards last night, and now my head hurts. I think these two things may be related. The evening was, as previously reported, hosted by Jarvis Cocker, a man who should probably be allowed to present everything ever. Highlights of the evening included The Specials performing live after receiving the Outstanding Contribution Award, Jarvis' regular rounds of 'Catchphrase' and The Big Pink's pole dancing robots.

Though I'm not sure anything could top Shane MacGowan's appearance to introduce the video for his previously reported star-studded cover of Screamin Jay Hawkins' 'I Put A Spell On You' (which is amazing, by the way) in aid of Haiti. He turned up with a large framed picture of Bobby Gillespie and made noises which I can only imagine were supposed to be words for about a minute before anyone thought to stop him. I have never seen anyone so drunk.

There were a whole load awards given out. Look, here are all the winners:

Best British Band: Muse
Best Solo Artist: Jamie T
Best New Band: Bombay Bicycle Club
Best International Band: Paramore
Best Live Band: Arctic Monkeys
Philip Hall Radar Award: The Drums

Best Album: Kasabian - West Ryder Pauper Lunatic Asylum
Best Track: The Big Pink - Dominos
Best Dancefloor Filler: La Roux - In For The Kill (Skream Remix)
Best Video: Biffy Clyro - The Captain
Best Album Artwork: Kasabian - West Ryder Pauper Lunatic Asylum

Best Festival: Glastonbury
Best Live Event: Blur At Hyde Park

Best Website: Muse.Mu
Best Band Blog: Radiohead (Radiohead.Com/Deadairspace)

Best TV Show: The Inbetweeners
Best DVD: The Mighty Boosh Live - Future Sailors Tour
Best Film: Inglourious Basterds

Giving It Back Award: Lily Allen for her Twitter Ticket Treasure Hunt
Heroes Of The Year: Rage Against The Machine
Outstanding Contribution To Music: The Specials
Godlike Genius: Paul Weller

Worst Band: Jonas Brothers
Worst Album: The Jonas Brothers - Lines Vines And Trying Times
Villain Of The Year: Kanye West
Best Dressed: Lady Gaga
Worst Dressed: Lady Gaga

The Daily Telegraph has the most nominations for this year's British Press Awards, which perhaps isn't surprising given its MP expenses scoop was surely the biggest event in the British newspaper industry in the last twelve months.

The broadsheet gets nineteen mentions on the newspaper industry's flagship awards shortlists, published this week. The Guardian actually has the same number of nominations, though two of its nominees also work on its sister title The Observer, confusing the overall nom count somewhat.

The newspaper industry's big night out is on 23 Mar in London.

British Press Awards nominations in full:

Reporter: News of the World - Mazher Mahmood, The Daily Telegraph - Robert Winnett, The Guardian - Paul Lewis, The Mail on Sunday - David Rose, The Mail on Sunday - Jason Lewis, The Times - Andrew Norfolk.

Foreign Reporter: The Daily Mail - Richard Pendlebury, The Guardian - Ghaith Abdul-Ahad, The Independent - Robert Fisk, The Sunday Times - Marie Colvin, The Sunday Times - Dan McDougall, The Times - Martin Fletcher.

Showbiz Reporter: Daily Mirror - Tom Bryant, Daily Mirror - Fiona Cummins, Daily Mirror - Sarah Tetteh, Daily Mirror - Clemmie Moodie, News of the World - Dan Wootton, Sunday Mirror - Dean Piper, The People - Katie Hind, The Sun - Gordon Smart, The Sun - Colin Robertson.

Business & Finance Journalist: The Daily Mail - Alex Brummer, The Daily Telegraph - Jeremy Warner, The Guardian and The Observer - Jill Treanor, The Independent - Hamish McRae, The Observer - Larry Elliott, The Sunday Times - Iain Dey.

Political Journalist: The Daily Telegraph - Benedict Brogan, The Daily Telegraph - Robert Winnett, The Financial Times - George Parker, The Guardian - Patrick Wintour, The Observer - Andrew Rawnsley, The Sunday Telegraph - Matthew D'Ancona, The Times - Daniel Finkelstein.

Sports Journalist: The Daily Mail - Martin Samuel, The Daily Telegraph - Ian Chadband, The Guardian - David Conn, The Guardian - Donald McRae, The Mail on Sunday - Rob Draper, The Mail on Sunday - Patrick Collins, The Sunday Times - Paul Kimmage, The Times - Matthew Syed, The Times - Mike Atherton.

Specialist Journalist: Financial Times - Martin Wolf, The Daily Mail - Michael Hanlon, The Daily Telegraph - David Millward, The Guardian and The Observer - John Vidal, The Independent - Terri Judd, The Mail on Sunday - Jason Lewis.

--

Feature Writer: The Daily Mail - Richard Pendlebury, The Daily Telegraph - Mick Brown, The Guardian - Tanya Gold, The Independent - Johann Hari, The Sunday Times - John Arlidge, The Sunday Times - AA Gill.

Columnist: Daily Mirror - Brian Reade, Financial Times - Martin Wolf, The Guardian - Tanya Gold,
The Guardian - Marina Hyde, The Guardian - Charlie Brooker, The Independent - Ian Birrell, The Sun - Kelvin MacKenzie, The Times - Caitlin Moran.

Critic: The Daily Mail - Quentin Letts, The Daily Telegraph - Charles Spencer, The Evening Standard - Brian Sewell, The Mail on Sunday - Craig Brown, The Sunday Times - AA Gill, The Sunday Times - Waldemar Januszczak.

Interviewer: The Daily Telegraph - Elizabeth Grice, The Daily Telegraph - Mick Brown, The Observer - Carole Cadwalladr, The Sunday Times - Ariel Leve, The Sunday Times - Camilla Long, The Times - Ginny Dougary.

--

Young Journalist: The Daily Mirror - Andrew Gregory, The Daily Telegraph - Holly Watt, The Daily Telegraph - Jon Swaine, The Financial Times - Tom Burgis, The News of The World - Guy Basnett, The Observer - Tom Lamont, The Sunday Times - Miles Amoore, The Times - Sheera Frankel.

International Journalist: Abdel Kareem Nabil Suleiman - Egypt, Ahmad Zeydabadi - Iran, Asos Hardi - Iraq, Dawit Isaac - Eritrea, Dhondup Wangchen - China, Eynulla Fatullayev - Azerbaijan, Gustavo Azócar - Venezuela, Hanevy Ould Dehah - Mauritania, Hla Hla Win - Burma, Ismail Cihan Hayirsevener - Turkey, J. S. Tissainayagam - Sri Lanka, Kim Seong-Min - North Korea, Mashallah Shamsolvaezin - Iran, Maziar Bahari - Iran, Olga Kotovskaya - Russia, Ricardo González Alfonso - Cuba.

--

Photographer: Getty Images - Peter Macdiarmid, Press Association Images - Lewis Whyld, Press Association Images - Owen Humphreys, Press Association Images - Stefan Rousseau, The Daily Mail - Jamie Wiseman, The Times - Peter Nicholls.

Sports Photographer: Freelance - Bradley Ormesher, Press Association Images - Owen Humphreys, Reuters - Eddie Keogh, The Daily Mail - Andy Hooper, The Guardian - Tom Jenkins, The Sun - Richard Pelham.

Cartoon: The Daily Mail - Stanley McMurtry, The Daily Telegraph - Nick Garland, The Daily Telegraph - Matt Pritchett, The Independent - Dave Brown, The Mail on Sunday - Michael Heath, The Observer - Chris Riddell, The Times - Peter Brookes.

--

Scoop: The Mail on Sunday - Jason Lewis for "Mi6 chief blows his cover on Facebook"; The Sunday Express - Marco Giannangeli and Jason Groves for "Jacqui Smith put adult film on expenses"; The Daily Mail - Dan Newling for "Cabinet minister's cleaner is alleged illegal immigrant"; The Guardian - For revelations about the death of Ian Tomlinson; The Sunday Times - Claire Newell and Jonathan Calvert for "Cash for Amendments"; The Daily Telegraph - MPs' Expenses.

Campaign: Daily Mirror - Fair Tips Campaign, The Guardian - The Tax Gap Series, The Sunday Telegraph - Robert Mendick, The Guardian - Climate Change Campaign, The Sunday Times Insight - Lords Investigation, The Daily Telegraph - MPs' Expenses.

Cudlipp Award - for outstanding tabloid journalism: The Daily Mail - Richard Pendlebury and Jamie Wiseman: Afghanistan boy soldiers; The Daily Mirror - Andrew Penman and Nick Sommerlad Investigate; The Daily Mirror - Hillsborough: Justice for 96; The Independent - Baltimore Crime Exchange; The Sun - Sunemployment; The Sunday Mirror - Christmas salute to war heroes.

Digital Innovation: Telegraph.co.uk - 2009 Flower Show; The Guardian G20 Coverage; The Guardian on the iPhone; The Sun - SunTalk; The Times - Times Labs; The Wall Street Journal - Berlin Wall Interactive.

--

Regular Supplement: The Daily Telegraph - Telegraph Magazine, The Guardian - Guardian Weekend Magazine, The Mail on Sunday - Live Magazine, The Mail on Sunday - You Magazine, The Sunday Times - Culture, The Times - Eureka.

Special Supplement: Daily Mirror - Hillsborough Campaign, Evening Standard Ltd - The 1000, Financial Times - The Future of Capitalism, The Daily Telegraph - The Complete Expenses Files, The Guardian - 100 Years of Great Press Photographs, The Sunday Times - Climate Change

The votes have been cast and the results are in and Cheltenham-based Badlands has been declared the best indie record shop in the UK, so well done them. As previously reported, a new website set up by the Entertainment Retailers Association to promote and support the UK's remaining 300 independent record stores recently encouraged music fans to vote for their favourite indie retailer.

Founded in 1986 by Steven and Philip Jump, Badlands is not only one of the largest CD sellers in the South West of England, but they also have a successful online and eBay operation, run a Bruce Springsteen fan club and since 2002 have run a travel agency that specialises in organising trips to concerts by major rocks acts, a service which grew out of them organising regular trips to see The Boss perform at various places around the world.

Commenting on his business' win in the indie store vote, Philip Jump told CMU: "We're thrilled to win this award especially in our 25th anniversary year and would like to thank all our loyal customers for voting for us. We'll invest the prize money in the pub with our staff on Saturday night!"

ERA chief Kim Bayley added: "We have been overwhelmed by the public reaction to the site which has revealed the genuine affection music fans feel towards indie shops. Badlands is a very worthy recipient of this honour".

ERA's indie store website is at indierecordshop.org while you can find out more about and buy a CD off Badlands at www.badlands.co.uk.

Oh, another award from the Music Producers' Guild now, though this one is a lifetime membership rather than a gong at the recent MPG Awards. But its recipient was at the Guild's big night out earlier this month, to collect the Joe Meek Award on behalf of the family of the late great Les Paul.

The recipient of which I speak is record producer Keith Grant, who has worked with the likes of Dusty Springfield, Barbra Streisand, Tony Bennett, Sammy Davis Jr, Sarah Vaughan, Frank Sinatra, Shirley Bassey, Cream, Pink Floyd, The Yardbirds, Sonny Boy Williamson, Procul Harum, The Faces, The Bee Gees, The Beatles and The Rolling Stones, which, as CVs go, is pretty damn impressive. And if you're not yet impressed, then you should note his work as a film mixer on 'The Italian Job', 'The English Patient', 'Life Of Brian', 'The Rocky Horror Picture Show' and 'Jesus Christ Superstar'.

Confirming Grant was being awarded with life membership, MPG director Mick Glossop told CMU: "We were delighted to see Keith at our recent 2010 Awards, where he accepted the Joe Meek Award on behalf of the late Les Paul. We are also delighted that he has accepted a lifetime membership of the Music Producers Guild because he is a perfect example of the creativity and talent that this organisation aims to promote".

Grant himself added: "I am very honoured to receive a lifetime membership and to be asked to accept Les Paul's Joe Meek Award, especially as I worked with Joe - a man with whom I had many things in common".

It was the Meteor Ireland Music Awards this weekend - which is sort of the Irish version of the BRITs - and the main news story as far as most of the Irish press were concerned was that, despite having three nominations, U2 walked away with nothing. Which is quite funny. Perhaps it'll persuade Bono and the boys to make a half decent album next time. It was Snow Patrol who took the flagship Best Irish Band prize this year. Good old Flo and her machine took the Best International Band gong.

Not even the Humanitarian Award went to the U2 frontman, that gong going to a very deserving winner, though someone with no obvious connection to music, which confuses me slightly, but perhaps I'm not understanding the point of that award. The winner was millionaire Irish business man Niall Mellon for his work building housing for some of South Africa's poorest communities.

Anyway, here's your full list of winners. I like the way these awards have gongs for radio DJs who champion great new music. Perhaps the BRITs could do that, to try to convince commercial radio stations that having credible specialist shows that champion quality new tunes is something worth investing in.

Best Irish Band: Snow Patrol
Best Irish Female: Wallis Bird
Best Irish Male: Christy Moore
Most Promising New Act 2010: Amasis
Best Irish Pop Act: Westlife
Best Traditional/Folk: Sharon Shannon

Best International Band: Florence & The Machine
Best International Female: Lady Gaga
Best International Male: Michael Buble

Best Irish Live Performance: The Script
Best Intl Live Performance: Leonard Cohen

Best Irish Album: The Coronas - Tony Was An Ex-Con
Best International Album: Paolo Nutini - Sunny Side Up

Lifetime Achievement Award: Brian Kennedy
Industry Award: Henry Mount Charles
Humanitarian Award: Neil Mellon

Best Radio DJ (National): Ray Foley - Today FM
Best Radio DJ (Regional): Leigh Doyle - Beat FM

Funny, informative, entertaining, insightful, well-produced, well-presented, everything a Tuesday night TV experience should be. You all watched Charlie Brooker's 'Newswipe' last night, right?

Earlier in the evening ITV1 screened the BRITs, the UK record industry's grand night out. I didn't go this year, and I never watch it on TV, so my review of the evening is based entirely on the comments of the 2.9 million people who tweeted from or about the event.

So, here goes. Peter Kaye was shit, the Spice Girls tedious, Liam Gallagher an arse, Kasabian boring, Lady Gaga irritating, Fearne Cotton retarded and Prince Harry unnecessary, Cheryl Cole is very bad at miming and Robbie Williams simply confirmed he's long past his prime as a performer. Oh, and Calvin Harris didn't think much of the food. Is it just me, or do the Twitterati tend to err towards the negative by default?

Anyway, let's talk winners. Lady Gaga enjoyed the biggest awards horde of the night winning three gongs, while JLS won two, and the special awards to mark the BRITs' thirtieth anniversary confirmed that Oasis and the Spice Girls are the best thing to happen in British music in the last three decades.

Hey, if that previously reported list of the best selling iTunes downloads ever didn't make you suicidal, then those BRIT stats probably will. Tip: I hear there's a special deal on British heroin at the moment, free anthrax with every pack.

Here's your BRIT winner list for 2010:

British Female Solo Artist: Lily Allen
International Female Solo Artist: Lady Gaga
British Male Solo Artist: Dizzee Rascal
International Male Solo Artist: Jay-Z
British Group: Kasabian
British Breakthrough Act: JLS
International Breakthrough Act: Lady Gaga
Critics' Choice: Ellie Goulding
Producer: Paul Epworth

British Single: JLS - Beat Again
British Album: Florence And The Machine - Lungs
International Album: Lady Gaga - The Fame

Brits Performance Of 30 Years: Spice Girls Wannabe/Who Do You Think You Are (1997)
British Album Of 30 Years: Oasis - (What's The Story) Morning Glory?

Outstanding Contribution To Music: Robbie Williams

The songs shortlisted for the Best Song category at the Oscars this year won't be performed at the movie industry's big awards bash, as they would traditionally have been. According to Deadline Hollywood, the musical segment is being axed from awards show as part of mission to cut both running time and costs of the Oscar's TV broadcast.

As previously reported, Reinhardt Wagner and Frank Thomas, Ryan Bingham and T Bone Burnett, Maury Yeston and Randy Newman are all nominated for the Best Song Oscar, the latter twice. Some wonder if the lack of a big pop or rock name with a global profile on that shortlist is partly behind the decision to cut the bit where nominees get on stage and sing for the cameras. 

It was the first ever Radio Production Awards last week, a new awards bash set up by the Radio Academy and the Radio Independents Group designed to complement the radio industry's Sony Awards by celebrating behind-the-scenes talent and programme production companies, rather than on-air presenters and actual stations and networks.

This meant that while production departments at Global Radio, Absolute Radio and the BBC won some gongs, independent radio programme makers - a group of radio people represented by the RIG - also got a look in. One prize was specifically reserved for a production company independent of a network, and that, perhaps unsurprisingly, went to Unique, makers of programmes like Radio 2's Radcliffe & Maconie show, 6music's Bruce Dickinson Rock Show, Radio 3's 'Jazz Library' and Nick Barraclough's shows for Smooth Radio.

The awards were also open to those providing radio-style programming for podcast or website-based streaming, and it was with that in mind that two of the gongs went to Guardian people. The full list of winners was as follows:

Best Factual Producer: Catherine Miller, BBC News
Best Entertainment Producer: W Clark, P Deacon & C Parker, TXmediasuite
Best Music Entertainment Producer: Sue Clark, Sue Clark Productions
Live Music Producer (Concert): Joe Adams, TBI Media/Absolute Radio
Live Music Producer (Studio Session): Chris Denman, Xfm (Global Radio)
Best Online Producer: Francesca Panetta, The Guardian
Best Drama Producer: Gordon House, Goldhawk/Essential
Best Newcomer: James Wilson, Galaxy Manchester (Global Radio)
The Creative Award: Francesca Panette, The Guardian
Lifetime Achievement Award: John Tydeman
Indie Of The Year: UBC (Unique And Smooth Operations)

It was the second ever Music Producers Guild Awards in London last night, and what a night, as the recording studio world amassed on the Café de Paris to celebrate their contemporaries and the role of the music producer in general.

Hosted by 6Music's Nemone, alongside the great and the good of the studio world, Muse were in the house to pick up the prize for Best Single, their self-produced hit 'Uprising', while Dizzee Rascal and his business partner Nick 'Cage' Denton got up on stage to collect the award for Best Album for 'Tongue N Cheek'. The latter was very keen to stress that Beggars label XL Recordings were not involved in this latest Dizzee release (as the awards show screens had suggested), after they allegedly decided to pass on the album, meaning it was fully released by his and the Rascal's own label, Dirtee Stank.

Other artists on hand included Jamie T, who presented Cenzo Townshend with the Mix Engineer Of The Year prize; Franz Ferdinand's Alex Kapranos, who handed the Breakthrough Producer prize to his old friend, former Delgadoes drummer, Chemikal Underground founder and, now, increasingly prolific producer Paul Savage; and good old Florence Welch who handed over two awards to one of the producers on her debut long player 'Lungs', Mr Paul Epworth, who was named Producer Of The Year, getting himself both an MPG Award and a BRIT in the process.

Commenting on his band producing their own album this time round, in his short acceptance speech Muse boy Matt Bellamy thanked some of the producers the band worked with on earlier albums, including John Leckie, for "showing us how you do it", but then added "and thanks to Rick Rubin for showing us how not to do it". Muse's short-lived collaboration with the legendary American producer and Sony Music exec didn't go very well, of course. Alas, Rubin, who won the gong for Best International Producer, didn't make it to the Café de Paris to pick up his prize - sending fellow Sony exec Mike Smith in his place - so the potential for a proper awards show punch up never materialised.

The full list of winners from this year's MPG Awards were as follows:

Producer Of The Year - sponsored by the BPI: Paul Epworth
Recording Engineer Of The Year - sponsored by Prism Sound: Mick Glossop
Mix Engineer Of The Year - sponsored by Avid: Cenzo Townshend
Mastering Engineer Of The Year - sponsored by SADiE: Tony Cousins (Metropolis Mastering)
International Producer Of The Year - sponsored by Focusrite: Rick Rubin
Re-mixer Of The Year - sponsored by Discovering Arts: Simian Mobile Disco (James Ford & Jas Shaw)

Breakthrough Producer Of The Year - sponsored by Deep Recording Studios: Paul Savage
Breakthrough Engineer Of The Year - sponsored by TL Audio: Mark Rankin

Live Album Of The Year - sponsored by Shure: Van Morrison - Astral Weeks, Live at the Hollywood Bowl
UK Album Of The Year (09) - sponsored by British Grove Studios: Dizzee Rascal - Tongue N Cheek
UK Single Of The Year (09) - sponsored by Cream Studios: Muse - Uprising

Best Studio - sponsored by Robertson Taylor: Kore Studios

Outstanding Contribution To UK Music - sponsored by PPL: Chris Blackwell
Unsung Hero - sponsored by Alchemea: Chris Jenkins, Solid State Logic
The Joe Meek Award For Innovation In Production - sponsored by 'Joemeek by PMI Audio': Les Paul

Photo: Tom Bunning

It's music awards season, of course, with the MPG Awards this week and the BRITs next. But if you'd rather have a punter-voted list of award winners, well here are the winners of the Virgin Media Music Awards 2010, in which three million music fans apparently voted. Announced earlier this week, the winners are as follows:

Best Solo Female: Britney Spears
Best Solo Male: Robbie Williams
Best Group: Take That
Best Newcomer: Pixie Lott
Best Comeback: Spandau Ballet
Legend Of The Year: Michael Jackson

Best Track: Lily Allen - The Fear
Best Album: Lady Gaga - The Fame

Hottest Female: Cheryl Cole
Hottest Male: Mark Owen

Twit Of The Year: Britney Spears
Loser Of The Year: Kanye West
Shameless Publicity Seeker: Lady Gaga
Worst Track: Maria Carey - Obsessed

Peter Gabriel has confirmed he won't attend the Rock N Roll Hall Of Fame induction ceremony in New York next month because of a "scheduling conflict", despite his former band Genesis being honoured there.

He had previously said he might not be able to make the awards show after denying rumours the event might see him perform once more with the band he quit in 1975. Organisers of the Hall Of Fame confirmed Gabriel would not be in attendance yesterday.

Tonight sees CMU's very favourite awards ceremony take over the Café de Paris in London - yes, it's the second ever Music Producers Guild Awards, celebrating the all too often unsung heroes of the record industry, the ones with the skills to transform shitty indie bands and mediocre karaoke stars into awe-inspiring recording artists. Hurrah for the music producer.

Among the fourteen awards to be presented will be a lifetime achievement gong for Island Records founder Chris Blackwell, a posthumous innovation award for the late great Les Paul and the first BRIT Award of the year, for Best Producer, up for which are Jim Abbiss, Paul Epworth, Ethan Johns and Steve Lillywhite.

Commenting on this year's event, MPG chair Steve Levine told CMU: "The Music Producers Guild Awards may only be in their second year but they have already made a huge impact and are attracting a lot of attention from the entire music industry. Tickets have sold out and we've had plenty of interest from artists who plan to come along on the night to support the producers they have worked with during the year".

He continued: "We're really thrilled that these awards give recording professionals the credit they deserve. And it's great the our Producer Of The Year also wins a BRIT Award for Best Producer - this association indicates just how much the industry values the role of the recording professional and how important it is that our voice is heard".

Already bored by this year's BRIT Awards even though they haven't happened yet? Still confused as to why no media have commented on just how ludicrous it is to have Prince Harry bigging up the awards bash via the wonders of video - I mean, who gives a toss what he thinks? Still trying to decide whether giving Robbie an Outstanding Contribution gong is more insulting than the same prize going to the Spice Girls in 2000? Well, just stop it, OK, it really isn't worth even thinking about.

No, let's sit back and think about the much more cultured world of the Classical BRIT Awards instead, shall we? They're giving their lifetime achievement prize to Dame Kiri Te Kanawa. I mean, that's a classy prize for a classy lady, and we don't need any prince to confirm it for it to be so. Though if the BRITs chiefs could arrange for Prince to give Kiri her prize, well, I'd tune in to watch that. 

Confirming that the Dame would be gracing the classical BRITs stage this year, the co-chairman of the Classical BRIT Committee, Decca Records' Mark Williamson and Avie Records' Barry McCann, told CMU: "We are thrilled that Dame Kiri has accepted our invitation to receive the prestigious Lifetime Achievement Award in our eleventh anniversary year. It is a fitting tribute to one of the greatest sopranos of our times who has befriended British audiences and helped to nurture new signing talent for so many years".
 
The Classical BRITs will take place on 13 May at the Royal Albert Hall, and will be hosted by Princess Mylene Klass. So, like I say, a classy evening all round. (Though the press release does say "multi-talented musician, broadcaster and TV presenter Mylene Klass", so it's possible they mean a totally different Mylene Klass to the one I'm thinking of).

The NME has announced that Paul Weller will be this year's recipient of the Godlike Genius gong at the NME Awards later this month. Commenting on the news, Weller said: "I'm very happy to accept the award. I don't feel Godlike or a genius but I'm happy to have it. It's nice to be recognised, you get your rewards in other ways too like playing live and seeing people's reaction, but it's nice to be recognised. I'm very flattered. I shall find a special place for it. A little altar to myself with garlands of flowers around it!"

NME editor Krissi Murison added: "Paul was first on the cover of NME with The Jam in 1977 and then again when he reinvented himself with The Style Council. Three decades on he remains just as influential as a solo artist - and it's this connection with the current music scene which makes him all the more Godlike".

Jarvis Cocker has also been announced as the presenter of this year's ceremony, which takes place at Brixton Academy on 24 Feb.

Says Jarv: "I've been to these awards things and I've read out nominations and things like that, but I've never anchored the whole show before. That's a challenge. But yeah, I hope to keep people interested, stop them from dropping off... So yeah, lets do it! I'm excited about it".

Celebrity soldier, hilarious racist and famous pisshead Harry Windsor is set to formally wish the BRIT Awards a happy thirtieth birthday at next week's big awards bash, in a recorded message to be played out to the intoxicated music types who will fill Earls Court on Tuesday night. From one pisshead to a room full of others. Makes sense. And if The Soldiers are there, from one soldier to three others. And if Cheryl Cole's there, from one racist to - yeah, well, you see where I'm going with that, right?

The ginger prince will say: "The BRITs is a celebration of all that is totally outstanding and unique about British music. And what's less well known about the BRITs is the fantastic work it does raising millions of pounds for the BRIT Trust which has benefited thousands of young people to develop their talents and generally enrich our society".
 
The BRITs take place next Tuesday (16 Feb) at Earls Court, and will be aired on ITV1.

So, the Oscar nominations are out, and who is nominated in the two music categories, I hear you ask. What, you didn't ask that? Well, I'm going to tell you anyway.

Shortlisted for best original song are:
Randy Newman's 'Almost There' from 'The Princess And The Frog'
Randy Newman's 'Down In New Orleans' from 'The Princess And The Frog'
Reinhardt Wagner and Frank Thomas' 'Loin de Paname' from 'Paris 36'
Maury Yeston's 'Take It All' from 'Nine'
Ryan Bingham and T Bone Burnett's 'The Weary Kind' from 'Crazy Heart'

Shortlisted for best original score are: 
James Horner for 'Avatar'
Alexandre Desplat for 'Fantastic Mr Fox'
Marco Beltrami and Buck Sanders for 'The Hurt Locker'
Hans Zimmer for 'Sherlock Holmes'
Michael Giacchino for 'Up'

Both 'Avatar' and 'The Hurt Locker' have eight other nominations each other than their musical ones, and tie for the title of most nominations at the 82nd Academy Awards. Both are also up for Best Picture, for which there are ten nominees this year. The Oscars will be dished out on 7 Mar.