First major worldwide record company agrees to ditch Digital Rights Management

EMI and Apple have reached an agreement to allow Beatles' music to be dowloaded

Hey, one last report from last week's South By Southwest festival. This one is by Ben Perreau, who edits Uncut and NME's websites. Ben seems to have spent most of the week failing to get into parties and fantasising about Smashing Pumpkins, but he did manage to see the mighty Gallows, The Gossip and plenty more cool stuff. . .

HAPPENINGS TEN YEARS TIME AGO February 26 to March 4, 1997 On the eve of the release of their album Pop, U2 announce details of their forthcoming PopMart tour, from a makeshift stage in the lingerie section of a K-Mart department store in downtown Manhattan. "We believe in trash, we believe in kitsch," The Edge tells reporters. "That's what we're all about at the moment."

Delicate mini-album from Idaho minstrel

Dr Who has just become a virtual pop star

It’s the ultimate life and death tour souvenir

Uncut catches up with Jack White and Brendan Benson from US supergroup, The Raconteurs

Rhymin’ Simon’s first in six years, produced by Brian Eno

Uncut catches up with the writer, director and actor behind Silent Bob and View Askew.