King's Tip Sheet to carry on

Afroman's eccentric hit was a Tip Sheet tip

In recent years much of Jonathan King's influence on the music industry has been via a little-known weekly called the Tip Sheet.

A simple, black-and-white publication with a cover-mounted CD, the Tip Sheet claims to have the hottest new sounds and the most important tips for an industry for that is always hungry for novelty.

King started the Tip Sheet in 1993 and developed a subscriber base among record companies executives, A&R staff, music publishers and radio and TV programmers.

King regularly penned his own thoughts in the weekly

Besides boosting the new releases of an eclectic and sometimes controversial list of artists, the magazine includes a write-in "forum" in which readers contribute their views.

Until recently it would also include an idiosyncratic page of comment or musings from Jonathan King himself.

And there was always space for the latest industry gossip on hirings and firings.

Personal stamp

This year the Tip Sheet claimed to have been the first to spot the potential of Wheatus's Teenage Dirtbag and Afroman's Because I Got High, among others.

The Tip Sheet claims to have tipped Wheatus for success

But some in the industry have tempered their appreciation of the weekly with distaste for the extent to which King placed his personal stamp on it.

BBC London DJ and Oval Records boss Charlie Gillett told BBC News Online: "I use to find it incredibly annoying how much King used it to blow his own trumpet.

"On the other hand it's an extremely good short cut to a lot of the best current music.

"The cover-mounted CD has always been incredibly useful and the contact details mean you can track things down."

Sean Devine, of royalty collecting society ASCAP, agrees: "The CD keeps you up to the minute and includes some unsigned stuff as well.

"It's good at getting something new to lots of industry people directly," he told BBC News Online.

The Tip Sheet claims its future is safe, whatever happens to its founder.

In the wake of Jonathan King's conviction at the Old Bailey, his brother Andy has taken over as managing editor, with former editor Joe Taylor remaining in charge of music policy.