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In the News
( 3 stories between 7th October 2008 and 14th November 2009 )Rickrolling Moves to the iPhone
Nov, 14 2009
Since Rickrolling became an old joke it’s been lovely to be able to click on a link and not be sent to a video link of the carefully coiffed Rick Astley singing “Never Gonna Give You Up.” Unfortunately, it’s all starting up again for Australian owners of iPhones. The first worm to strike at the iPhone has spread, changing the screen wallpaper to a picture of Rick Astley accompanied with the words “ikee is never gonna give you up.” Currently the worm only affects ‘jail-broken’ phones, where a user has removed Apple’s protection from the phone, and the creator of the worm Ashley Towns, a 21 year old from Australia, maintains that he wrote the code to highlight these sorts of security issues. Thus far there has been no word from Rick Astley regarding this evolution of the Rickrolling craze, but it seems that the whole phenomenon is a perfectly good waste of free publicity: time to release a new album Rick!
Rick Astley
Apr, 18 2009
Pete Waterman may be fabulously rich, but he still feels cheated by his latest royalty cheque. As part of crack songwriting team Stock-Aitken-Waterman, he co-wrote Rick Astley's 1987 hit “Never Gonna Give You Up”, which topped charts across the world on release. Recently, the internet phenomenon of rickrolling gave the song a second bite at success -- Rick Astley even won “Best Act Ever” at the MTV Music Awards in 2008 thank to his revived profile -- but rickrolling did not turn into pounds and pennies for Pete Waterman. “There was I sitting at Christmas thinking, 'I must have made a few bob this year with the old Rickrolling'," he said. "I rang my publisher and they said 'You'll be all right,' until I saw the royalty statement. If 154 million plays means £11, I get more from [UK’s] Radio Stoke playing ‘Never Gonna Give You Up’ than I do from YouTube." YouTube released a statement to say that they “absolutely believe that artists and songwriters should make money from the use of their material,” and reiterated that they will continue to work with the industry to achieve this. Perhaps it’s just another indication of how the music industry is changing. After all, Pete Waterman may not be down to his last penny, but it’s not the money, it’s the principle that counts.
Rick Astley
Oct, 7 2008
The 2008 European MTV Awards are in danger of being Rickrolled after opening up nominations for the ‘Best Act Ever’ to the public. Nestling among artists like U2, Britney Spears and Green Day is Rick Astley, the late 80s star who was revived to new found glory by the internet phenomenon of 2007. Voting is currently open and with enough support from the fans, there is every chance that Rick could find himself singing "Never Gonna Give You Up" to the assembled MTV audience over 20 years after it initially landed. Winners will be announced on November 6.
