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Wednesday 25 February 2015, 10:48 | By Chris Cooke
Radio Academy confirms streamlined new look
Business News Media
The Radio Academy announced plans for its future yesterday, having axed its popular Radio Festival and Radio Awards late last year and shut its year-round London office.
Moving forward the Academy, which brings together both BBC and commercial radio, will have a “streamlined structure” with “learning and networking” at its core. With support from the BBC, Global, Bauer, UTV, Radio Centre and the Radio Independents Group, the new look Academy will seek to provide “moments to learn, network and celebrate the audio industry”.
The Academy will launch a new look conference type-event and awards ceremony in the coming year, the former more low-cost that the old Radio Festival, and the latter “revamped and rejuvenated for the modern world of radio”. The Hall Of Fame, Radio Production Awards and 30 Under 30 will also continue with support from Arqiva.
From April, Chris Burns, Head of Radio Operations at the BBC, will take over from Radio 1 chief Ben Cooper as Chair of the Academy, and will oversee the evolution of the new look organisation, with the support of a to-be-appointed Director.
Confirming that, Burns said: “I’m delighted to be the one who will oversee this transition and ensure that the services that the Academy provides are relevant and forward thinking. I want to thank Ben Cooper for his fantastic chairmanship during what was latterly a challenging time”.
READ MORE ABOUT: Radio Academy
Wednesday 25 February 2015, 10:47 | By Chris Cooke
Chilly Gonzales posts second ‘Chambers’ track
Artist News Releases
Speaking as someone who had to stop Last.fm auto-tweeting my weekly top three most-listened to artists, because they featured Chilly Gonzales under at least two different monikers every single week and it started to get embarrassing – but I just like to start each day with the ‘Solo Piano’ albums, OK? – you’ll understand that I am very excited indeed about the prospect of another LP of piano-led tunes from the self-proclaimed musical genius coming our way next month.
And look, a second track from the ‘Chambers’ record has just gone live on iTunes and up there in the Soundcloud. It’s called ‘Sweet Burden’. And if you wondered why this album isn’t just called ‘Solo Piano 3’ (there having been two editions so far), well, because there are some strings on there too, stupid. In fact, the album “re-imagines Romantic-era chamber music as today’s addictive pop, using the strings as a modern-day sampler”.
So go listen to ‘Sweet Burden’ here. Or don’t. I’ve just listened to it and am feeling well chilled out and so couldn’t care less what you do.
READ MORE ABOUT: Chilly Gonzales
Wednesday 25 February 2015, 10:42 | By Chris Cooke
Breakthrough shortlist out for Artist And Manager Awards
Artist News Awards
Was I meant to mention some big music awards event in today’s CMU Daily? I’m pretty sure there was something. Hmm. Did it involve Kanye West? No, of course not. Not everything has to involve Kanye Fuckin West you know.
I remember. It’s the shortlist for the Breakthrough Artist Of The Year prize at next month’s Artist And Manager Awards, that’s what I’ve got to tell you. And what a shortlist it is.
Up for the Dice-sponsored breakthrough prize at the Music Managers Forum and Featured Artist Coalition’s annual awards bash are: Catfish & The Bottlemen, Ella Henderson, FKA Twigs, George Ezra, Hozier, Jungle, Royal Blood and Sigma.
And if you wondered why I mentioned the sponsor there, well, because otherwise you might question why I’m about to quote Dice co-founder Phil Hutcheon, obviously.
Says Hutcheon: “At Dice we are passionate about helping fans discover incredible new artists and getting them in to mind blowing shows. Sponsoring an award that celebrates upcoming talent that inspires and excites fits perfectly with our beliefs and we’re proud to put the Dice name to it”.
READ MORE ABOUT: Artist And Manager Awards
Wednesday 25 February 2015, 10:38 | By Chris Cooke
New Blur album to stop gigs “getting tedious”
And Finally Artist News
“So why the new Blur album?” you’ve all been pondering and wondering and musing and speculating and gossiping and shouting and scrawling on the pavement in blood. Don’t go denying it, we know you have.
Well, see, Blur have got some gigs coming up and it was just getting boring for one and all having the band play the same old hits. It’s like Graham Coxon told the South China Morning Post: “We just couldn’t have done any more shows without some new material. It was getting tedious, and some of the fans were getting peeved about it”.
It’s true you know. When aging bands find their fans getting peeved about hearing the same old songs over and over and over and over, make some new ones. That way they’ll appreciate the old ones all the more
READ MORE ABOUT: Blur
Wednesday 25 February 2015, 10:30 | By Andy Malt
Approved: Nadine Shah
CMU Approved
Nadine Shah previously appeared in the Approved column way back in 2012, releasing her debut album, ‘Love Your Dum And Mad’, the following year.
Confirmation of a follow-up finally came towards the end of last year, with the release of new single ‘Stealing Cars’, a tense, slow-building track. That second album, ‘Fast Food’, is now set to be released on 6 Apr through R&S/Apollo.
New track ‘Fool’ arrived last week, a calmly angry song with a chorus that might be pop if it weren’t for the guitar buzzing around it like a wasp, maintaining that tense feeling of the previous single. Even when an acoustic guitar emerges to give a bit of levity, Shah throws in an unexpected chord to set everything slightly on edge again. And, just in case I’m not selling this to you, it all works incredibly well.
Hear for yourself below, and on her upcoming tour dates in April.
READ MORE ABOUT: Nadine Shah
Tuesday 24 February 2015, 11:00 | By Chris Cooke
Entertainment retailers publish manifesto, call for more collaboration
Business News Retail Top Stories
The Entertainment Retailers Association this morning published a manifesto which requests for its membership of high street retailers, download and mail-order stores, and streaming content platforms “a new, more collaborative relationship with creators and content owners to drive growth”. And while the report looks at recent developments in and the future direction of music, film and gaming, much of the document is focused on the former, in particular when it comes to matters of licensing.
Bigging up the investments made by retailers, and especially digital operators, in the last decade, creating a new delivery infrastructure for the content industries – while also highlighting the importance of retail businesses as marketing channels – the manifesto calls on content owners, and especially music companies, to better collaborate with their retail partners to assure future success for all parties.
As is customary with manifestos, a short list of priorities is provided, with a five-point plan to deal with what ERA calls “the most pressing problems”. This includes calling on the content companies to tackle various issues around infrastructure, logistics and data, and especially copyright ownership data on the music publishing side. Plus often expressed concerns about windowing and the bunching of releases in quarter four are also raised, though this is the one area where ERA seems to be talking to DVD distributors more than the labels.
But you sense that the record companies and music publishers are very much the target when ERA calls for simpler licensing, lower barriers to entry to allow more diversity in the digital market place, and recognition that entertainment retailers actually operate on relatively low margins compared to their counterparts elsewhere in the retail sector. And while ERA’s viewpoints on licensing complications and the big upfront demands labels make of new digital services are all interesting, it’s perhaps the area dubbed “addressing retail sustainability” that is most timely.
As many artists, songwriters and publishers bemoan the size of the digital royalties they are receiving, some have indicated that the music rights sector should demand a higher cut of the revenues generated by the streaming platforms, which currently pay over approximately 70% of their income to the labels and publishers. Though given few, if any, streaming services are currently profitable, such a demand has always seemed ambitious.
And in the ERA report, the streaming firms – which position themselves alongside traditional retailers, and in doing so set some precedents as to what cut of revenue it is reasonable for them to take – seem to be saying “a 30% margin is as low as we can go”. Or, in the words of one anonymous digital service provider cited in the report, if the labels and publishers push for 80% of the money, the digital firms won’t survive, “and 80% of nothing is nothing”.
Whether or not the music community accepts that argument remains to be seen, though the case presented by ERA is compelling. But if artists, songwriters and publishers do accept that retailers simply can’t afford to give up any more of their revenue, then that fully focuses the digital royalties debate on why the labels are currently taking the biggest slice of all. Though at the core of the ERA manifesto is a call for all parties to better collaborate to ensure each stakeholder is getting a slice of a much bigger pie.
And that’s the message that was delivered by ERA Chairman Raoul Chatterjee this morning, who told reporters: “Entertainment retailers are the driving force for innovation in the entertainment industry. Over the past decade they have invested hundreds of millions of pounds in the UK in creating new routes to market for the music, video and games industries. [This manifesto] is an important element in continuing that work”.
He went on: “With an election imminent, there is no shortage of ‘manifestos’ arguing the case for what Government can do to promote growth. The good news for the entertainment industry is that many of the greatest opportunities are within our own grasp – if the various elements of the industry work together collaboratively”.
READ MORE ABOUT: Entertainment Retailers Association (ERA)
Tuesday 24 February 2015, 10:59 | By Chris Cooke
Beggars chief supports ERA in opposing Friday global release day
Business News Labels & Publishers Retail
In a wide-ranging speech to wrap up the launch of the Entertainment Retailers Association’s new manifesto in London this morning, the boss of the Beggars Group, Martin Mills, expressed concerns about the global release day initiative, and in particular the current move by the major labels to set the day new releases are launched worldwide to Friday.
In that respect Mills echoed the concerns of his hosts, ERA, which has likewise spoken out about the Friday release day plans. While indie labels and the UK retailers agree in principle that having one day in the week when new releases go live in all territories makes sense, rather than the current situation where the same records go on sale on different days in different countries, they favour making the global release day earlier in the week, so that retailers get a double spike – the new release spike, and the weekend shopping spike.
The International Federation Of The Phonographic Industry put its weight behind Friday last year, saying its research suggested it was the best day for new releases. Some outside the majors have backed the proposal, though others have followed ERA’s lead in hitting out at the Friday plans; with reports now suggesting that some key American retail partners are putting pressure on the labels to switch the global release day to either Monday (as in the UK) or Tuesday (as in the US).
Mills said in his speech this morning: “I have concerns about the proposed global release day. Whilst I acknowledge the needs of a digital world for coordination, it seems to me to be crazy to throw away one of the trading week’s two peaks, and the ability to re-stock and rectify errors before the week’s second peak. And it astounds me that the major labels are not listening to their customers [the retailers], their interface with their artists’ fans”.
He went on: “I fear their consultation has been a charade, and the market leaders were always going to push this through. I fear this move will also lead to a market in which the mainstream dominates, and the niche, which can be tomorrow’s mainstream, is further marginalised. I fear it will further cement the dominance of the few – and that that is exactly what it is intended to do”.
Mills also cautioned against a temptation to merge album and single sales and listening data to create united ‘impact’ charts, another initiative he reckons is being led by the majors. Admitting he didn’t initially expect the album format to survive the rise of a single-track-orientated-iTunes, the Beggars chief said that while he was pleasantly surprised when the long player format remained, he now sees the music industry as being split into single track artists and album artists, with the big names transgressing both camps.
This, he reckons, returns the music industry to the pre-CD, pre-punk era, where single tracks versus the album satisfy different artists, and different audiences. And therefore merging data relating to the two formats confuses the picture, to the benefit of the big single hit pop acts. Mills noted that: “In the USA it’s already started to happen, with the Billboard consumption chart, that combines album sales, streams and track sales. In other words, it aggregates and averages out the two types of artist I’ve identified”.
He goes on: “That will mean that the big artists look and get bigger, and the more niche artists of the album world get swamped, and side-lined, starved of exposure. I have no objection to including streams in the chart, as long as – and it’s a big but – fans that are streaming albums as a whole are separately identified. So the albums chart should include album streams, and the singles chart should include track streams”.
“But including tracks with albums mixes apples with pears, and fails to chart anything meaningful other than sheer brute size. It may well be in the interests of the small number of super-consolidated major labels to make the big become bigger, and appear to be even bigger; but I believe it’s fundamentally against the interests of the rest of us, since it will reduce the oxygen available for exposure for artists whose natural format is the album. And that reduction in exposure will, I believe, lead inevitably to the decline of the album, and a curtailing of the ability of the non-pop-single artist to make a living from their art”.
And that, Mills reckons, would ultimately be bad news for all players in music. “That will hurt all labels and artists longterm, I believe, as lack of diversity will strangle innovation and music will become moribund and uninteresting, and consumer interest will erode. It will also dis-empower the artist, since the major labels will regain total control of access to market . It will create short-termism, and damage career longevity. After all that has been achieved in the last few decades in terms of artists’ control over their careers, it would be tragic if that were to be reversed by this tide”.
Addressing his retail audience, he went on: “And of course, for you physical retailers, that spells the beginning of the end for you, since you hardly sell tracks, and for you digital retailers, it probably means that a new fan is consuming a track rather than an album, which is not great for you either”.
READ MORE ABOUT: Beggars Group | Entertainment Retailers Association (ERA) | Martin Mills
Tuesday 24 February 2015, 10:58 | By Chris Cooke
Universal’s digital chief stands down
Business News Industry People Labels & Publishers
Universal Music’s President Of Global Digital Business, Rob Wells, one of the highest profile digital music execs on the record company side, and a man generally seen as a friend of digital innovations within the major label system, is leaving the company.
In a staff memo doing the rounds over night, and first published by Music Business Worldwide, Wells notes the many digital developments that have occurred since he started working with Universal chief Lucian Grainge fourteen years ago, before saying: “Together, we helped build Universal Music Group’s digital business from its infancy into a global leader. At every turn, we pushed the industry forward, making sure our business model adapted to the way that consumers wanted to listen to music while insuring that our artists shared in all the new revenue streams”.
He goes on: “While leaving isn’t easy, I take comfort in the extraordinary digital team that I am leaving behind – who have become more than just work colleagues but a true family – and the knowledge that whatever entrepreneurial opportunity I explore next, I will always have a close relationship with everyone at Universal Music Group, both here in the US and in every territory around the world”.
Confirming Wells’ departure, Grainge said in a subsequent message: “I will miss Rob’s professionalism, his sense of humour and his commitment to our artists and labels. Rob leaves big shoes to fill and we will be making announcements in the coming days. I know you’ll join me in wishing him only the best of success in all of his future endeavours”.
READ MORE ABOUT: Rob Wells | Universal Music
Tuesday 24 February 2015, 10:57 | By CMU Editorial
More shops are selling music than ever before, says ERA
Business News Retail
The number of physical stores selling music reached an all-time high in 2014, which is a nice counter-intuitive stat if ever I heard one. And it’s one of the figures in the Entertainment Retailers Association’s new yearbook, published alongside the aforementioned manifesto earlier today.
According to ERA, the number of outlets selling physical music products increased 20.4% over 2014 to reach 10,391. The number of DVD and game sellers also increased, despite recent years being dominated by the collapse of some key entertainment retailers, most recently HMV.
That the post-administration HMV kept more stores open than many expected, plus slightly more stable times in the indie retail sector, have helped with that figure, though the rise is chiefly due to the increased number of non-specialists stocking music products, where you won’t necessarily find much range, but the opportunities for all-important impulse buy purchases are high.
The increase in the number of high street retailers selling music also comes, of course, as the number of digital entertainment providers has grown, with ERA reckoning there are now about 123 such services in the UK, 76 of them music-based.
Commenting on these stats, ERA boss Kim Bayley told reporters: “This is an extraordinary result which means that UK consumers have a greater choice of outlets from which to buy music, video and games than ever before. From specialist chains and independents, through to supermarkets and fashion stores, to internet retailers, download and streaming services we can all now access music, video and games wherever or whenever we want”.
Some other standout figures in ERA’s annual stats fest include:
• Bricks and morter stores accounted for 33.9% of entertainment transactions last year, the other 66.1% taking place via online services (mail-order and digital).
• Overall the entertainment retail market is 49.9% digital, with video tipping the balance in physical’s favour. 2015 is likely to be the year that the wider market moves to be majority digital.
• Entertainment retail grew by 2.3% in value in 2014, with the biggest increase being in digital gaming, which was up 18.8%. Streaming music and film, and good old vinyl, also saw revenue increases last year, of course.
READ MORE ABOUT: Entertainment Retailers Association (ERA)
Tuesday 24 February 2015, 10:55 | By Chris Cooke
Greencopper aims to make festival apps more affordable with white-label solution
Business News Live Business
Festival app-makers Greencopper have launched a new platform called Golive, which aims to enable promoters to manage and publish apps for their events in a more affordable way.
Through apps and website widgets created with the Golive system, promoters can, say Greencopper, offer ticket-buyers bespoke “interactive maps, performance schedules, ticketing, music streaming and discovery tools”.
While Greencopper will continue to make more sophisticated apps for bigger events, the company says that it hopes the new white-label service will enable events on tighter budgets to create basic festival apps that will serve their needs. The end-product app will carry the festival’s branding, and there is room for sponsor banners too.
Commenting on his company’s new white-label solution, Greencopper founder and CEO Gwenaël Le Bodic told reporters: “Golive will empower music festivals of all sizes to easily build their own branded mobile apps and web widgets based on Greencopper’s proven core technology, previously reserved only for major events”.
READ MORE ABOUT: Golive | Greencopper
Tuesday 24 February 2015, 10:54 | By Chris Cooke
24-7 Entertainment founder steps down as CEO
Business News Digital Industry People
The founder and boss of 24-7 Entertainment, a long-standing back-end provider of digital music services, has announced he is leaving the firm to “pursue some new opportunities in the digital media business”.
In a note confirming his departure, Frank Taubert writes: “There is sadness, because it’s always a bittersweet moment when you have to let your ‘babies’ go, but there is also pride at the huge amount we achieved together at 24-7. Above all I am excited at being able to pursue full-time my interests, both in angel investing and consulting a portfolio of digital media companies”.
Taubert will continue to consult for Media-Saturn, which took control of his company in 2009. In his email, he lists some of the projects he has worked on while leading 24-7, one of the early players in providing digital music solutions, concluding with the company’s streaming platform JUKE, which he calls “the first streaming service to be targeted directly at a mainstream market rather than the hardcore music fan, a formula now operating in six territories”.
And as for the future of 24-7, he insists: “I am moving on at a time when 24-7 is on a high. We have now had three consecutive years of strong growth and in our fiscal year 2014, we achieved the highest revenue in our history. Our parent company is impressed with these developments and I am glad to report that my friend and colleague Erik Dibbern, formerly 24-7 CTO, has stepped up to be CEO. I am sure he will do a great job”.
READ MORE ABOUT: 24-7 Entertainment | Frank Taubert
Tuesday 24 February 2015, 10:53 | By Chris Cooke
Taylor Swift confirmed as Global Recording Artist Of 2014
Artist News Awards Labels & Publishers
So, winner of the least surprising award winner award is IFPI Global Recording Artist Of 2014 Taylor Swift, which is, in itself, totally unsurprising news, a fact that will surprise no one, in fact this paragraph could loop for infinity if you’d like. Though I heard last week of a criminally under-reported worldwide pixel shortage that is in danger of blacking out the entire internet, making all talk of infinite Taylor Swift-based news reports highly irresponsible. In deed just talking about such things is somewhat reckless, or it would be if the aforementioned worldwide pixel shortage wasn’t a lie I made up in order to pad out this article a bit.
So yes, the International Federation Of The Phonographic Industry yesterday confirmed that Taylor Swift was the most successful recording artist of 2014 across all known mechanisms of music consumption. Well, across download stores, streaming platforms and physical music sales anyway. Pizza-based music delivery wasn’t counted, but it’s been a good two years since Swifty used food to distribute her content.
She, by the way, pushed Brit-boys One Direction – who grabbed the IFPI prize a year ago – into second place this time round. Them having officially ‘peaked’ last March, of course. Though before you yanks get all cocky, let us note that five of the top ten most successful recording artists of last year hark from Brit-land. And you rely on a dead Michael Jackson to take your top ten tally to four. And before you get all arsey on this point, there are still enough Pink Floyd members alive to make the reunion that will never happen a possibility, except for the fact it will never happen, so don’t go trying to score points on that front.
You know, if I’d foreseen there being a discussion about Michael Jackson being more dead than Pink Floyd in the third paragraph of this report, I’d never have gone on about that made-up pixel shortage in the first. As it turns out, this story is padding itself out just fine without resorting to any made up nonsense. Though now I’m worrying that there might really be a pixel shortage, and that’ll make this pointless fourth paragraph all the more shameful when the web goes all dark on us.
Quick, I better get on with listing the IFPI Global Recording Artists Of 2014 Top Ten before all forms of internet communications close down. I mean, I had quotes from IFPI boss Frances Moore, One Direction overseer Simon Cowell and Taylor Swift’s pizza delivery boy all ready to share with you right now, but I just don’t think there’s time. So here’s the top ten instead…
1. Taylor Swift
2. One Direction
3. Ed Sheeran
4. Coldplay
5. AC/DC
6. Michael Jackson
7. Pink Floyd
8. Sam Smith
9. Katy Perry
10. Beyoncé
So there you go. Given the internet seems to be working still, I should also issue this warning to all you UK music types: before you get too cocky, please note that if ‘Frozen’ had been a pop singer, and not a Disney film franchise with a soundtrack, it would have blown 1D, Sheeran, Coldplay, all surviving members of the Floyd and that Sam Smith bloke right out of the water in just one shot. And Swifty too. Yeah, nice try Swifty, with all your well-crafted pop music, but remember this: you’re no Disney film franchise.
READ MORE ABOUT: International Federation Of The Phonographic Industry (IFPI) | Taylor Swift
Tuesday 24 February 2015, 10:48 | By Chris Cooke
Macca and The O2 take top prizes at the Pollstar awards
Awards Business News Live Business
What do you mean CMU got all distracted by the Oscars on Sunday night and forgot to report on the Pollstar Concert Industry Awards in yesterday’s CMU Daily?
That’s so not what happened I don’t know where to start. I was just waiting for the quote to come in from Rebecca Kane Burton, GM of International Venue Of The Year The O2. Because if I learned just one thing at journalism school, it’s not to run the story until you’ve got your quote in from Rebecca Kane Burton, GM of International Venue Of The Year The O2.
And here it is! “Winning the Pollstar International Venue Of The Year Award for the eighth year running is a huge achievement for all the team here at The O2. We were delighted to hear the news from Nashville on Saturday night and want to thank everyone who voted for us once again. We are very fortunate to be where we are and have the support of so many of our friends and colleagues in the industry. Here’s to 2015 and even more great live music”.
I’ll let you into a secret. I didn’t go to journalism school. If I had, I’d have remembered to mention that the Concert Industry Awards from US-based live industry magazine Pollstar took place in Nashville on Saturday night. But, as it turns out, Rebecca Kane Burton, GM of International Venue Of The Year The O2, had that covered. Proving once again the importance of the ‘don’t run your story until you’ve got a quote in from Rebecca Kane Burton, GM of International Venue Of The Year Award The O2’ rule.
All the winners…
Major Tour Of The Year: Paul McCartney
Most Creative Stage Production: Katy Perry
Comedy Tour Of The Year: Dave Chappelle
Best New Touring Artist: Sam Smith
Major Music Festival Of The Year: Austin City Limits Austin
Music Festival Of The Year: Telluride Bluegrass Festival Telluride
International Music Festival Of The Year: Glastonbury Festival
Nightclub Of The Year: 9:30 Club, Washington DC
Theatre Of The Year: Ryman Auditorium, Nashville
Arena Of The Year: Bridgestone Arena, Nashville
Best Small Outdoor Venue: Greek Theatre, Los Angeles
Best Major Outdoor Concert Venue: Hollywood Bowl, Los Angeles
Best New Major Concert Venue: Forum, Inglewood
International Venue Of The Year: The O2, London, UK
Bill Graham Award Promoter Of The Year: Charles Attal, C3 Presents
International Promoter Of The Year: Barrie Marshall, Marshall Arts
Facility Executive Of The Year: Sally Williams Ryman, Auditorium, Nashville
Nightclub Talent Buyer Of The Year: Roger LeBlanc, Canyon Club, Southern California
Talent Buyer Of The Year: Brian O’Connell, Live Nation, Nashville
Third Coast Agent Of The Year: Kevin Neal, WME
Bobby Brooks Award Agent Of The Year: John Huie, Creative Artists Agency
Independent Booking Agency Of The Year: The Windish Agency
Booking Agency Of The Year: WME
UK Booking Agent Of The Year: Emma Banks, Creative Artists Agency
Personal Manager Of The Year: John Silva (Nine Inch Nails, Foo Fighters, Queens Of The Stone Age)
Road Warrior Of The Year: Gus Brandt (Foo Fighters, Pharrell Williams)
Lighting Company Of The Year: Bandit Lites
Sound Company Of The Year: Clair
Staging / Equipment Company Of The Year: Stageco
Transportation Company Of The Year: Rock-It Cargo
Video Company Of The Year: Moo TV
READ MORE ABOUT: Paul McCartney | Pollstar | The O2
Tuesday 24 February 2015, 10:47 | By Chris Cooke
CMU’s One Liners: Beatport streams, iTunes editors, Blinkbox losses and other true stories
Artist News Business News Deals Digital Labels & Publishers Releases
Other notable announcements and developments today…
• X-Factor finalist Andrea Faustini has signed to Sony label RCA. He came third in last year’s series of the talent contest. Statistics show that if you come third in an even year when a group reaches the final five in ‘X-Factor’ you are guaranteed a three-album career. Of course they’re made up statistics, but I’m sure he’ll be fine.
• Beatport’s previously reported streaming service launched in beta yesterday, and to think, it was all going so well. Interestingly, it looks like the download store bit will now be called Beatport Pro, because only the pros (ie DJs) would want to buy tracks now you have the streaming element, called, simply, Beatport.
• MusicAlly noted yesterday that Apple is currently recruiting a London-based Editorial Producer for iTunes, seeking a “seasoned writer” with good freelance contacts to write, to edit and to oversee “editorially driven merchandising promotions”. And while that last bit sounds awful, it’s seen as an indication iTunes will ramp up the human curation and editorial when it revamps and integrates with Beats Music later this year.
• Tesco’s entertainment-on-demand venture Blinkbox lost over £40 million in the year to 28 Feb 2014 according to accounts at Companies House, £12.5 million lost on the music service and £29.5 million on movies. The supermarket has now sold the former to Guvera and the latter to TalkTalk, of course.
• Hey everybody, why not watch the video for brand new Prodigy track ‘Wild Frontier’ off of their new album ‘The Day Is My Enemy’, out 30 Mar, right about here?
• Alt-J have plonked a video online for ‘Pusher’, a track off of their second album ‘This Is All Yours’. And if you think that’ll stop them touring the US next month, you’re very wrong indeed.
• What’s that? A new single from The Darkness taken from their forthcoming new album ‘Last Of Our Kind’ and called ‘Barbarian’? Yes. But Justin Hawkins says it has “a chorus that makes grown men shit directly into their pants”. Which doesn’t sound like something you’d want to do.
READ MORE ABOUT: Alt-J | Andrea Faustini | Beatport | Blinkbox | iTune | Tesco | The Darkness | The Prodigy
Tuesday 24 February 2015, 10:40 | By Chris Cooke
Kanye hears Beck’s album: “This is kind of good”
And Finally Artist News
So this is no good at all. It transpires that Kanye West might now have heard Beck’s artless Grammy Award winning album ‘Morning Phase’, in passing at least. To which we say ‘boo’.
Because if West is going to go around causing a ruckus at major award events by ruining the whole occasion for top pop winners, he should do so not only in present tense ignorance of the artist and album he is dissing, but with a commitment to never ever listen to whichever record it is that he’s negatively comparing to whatever Beyonce did last month. Dem should be the rules. But da rules have been broken. Albeit by mistake.
Speaking to Power 105.1, West revealed: “The other day I went out to dinner with Taylor Swift and ironically they were playing the Beck album in the background. I was like, ‘Man, this is kind of good. I ain’t gonna lie'”.
And if that wasn’t bad enough, now West is pledging to give Beck’s record a proper play. He continued: “I bet you the album is really good. I’m gonna listen to the album, and maybe it was potentially an album of the year. But the Grammys are still … they have a commercial component to it. And they want to sell commercials”.
I do hope West is saying that having never actually watched the Grammys. Otherwise I’ll never respect anything he says ever again.
READ MORE ABOUT: Kanye West
Tuesday 24 February 2015, 08:01 | By Andy Malt
Approved: Francesca Belmonte
CMU Approved
A regular Tricky collaborator in recent years, Francesca Belmonte is now readying her debut solo album, ‘Amina’, for release through his False Idols label later this year.
The first track from it, ‘Stole’, appeared at the tail end of last year, a glitchy underpinning for her relaxed but direct vocals. She then followed it with the punchier ‘Hiding In The Rushes’ and quicker-paced ‘It Ain’t Me Babe’.
Now comes ‘Lying On The Moon’, which combines elements of all three, stepping up the tempo once again, with stabs of bass cutting through deceptively layered percussion. And on top, those distinct, intimate vocals. Oh, and returning a favour, in pops her label boss as a guest vocalist.
Listen to ‘Lying On The Floor’ here:
READ MORE ABOUT: Francesca Belmonte
Monday 23 February 2015, 11:50 | By Andy Malt
Approved: Colin Stetson and Sarah Neufeld
CMU Approved
Saxophonist Colin Stetson and violinist Sarah Neufeld are both known for their experimental natures, and are also both signed to Constellation. Those seem like two good reasons for them to collaborate, I’d say. And collaborate they have, on new album ‘Never Were The Way She Was’, which is due out on 28 Apr.
The opening track from the record, ‘The Sun Roars Into View’, went up on SoundCloud last week and is everything you might hope for from the duo. Stetson’s staccato sax drives the track and Neufeld’s violin dances around him. As the track builds, Neufled’s voice also comes into play, adding yet another layer to this disarming piece of music.
Listen to ‘The Sun Roars Into View’ here:
READ MORE ABOUT: Colin Stetson | Sarah Neufeld
Monday 23 February 2015, 11:28 | By Chris Cooke
Aussie ISPs publish three-strike proposals
Business News Legal
Three-strikes is coming to Australia, with proposals similar to those set out in the UK’s 2010 Digital Economy Act. Though it remains to be seen if the Aussie version includes the “never actually get round to doing anything” element.
As previously reported, the Australian government was considering new anti-piracy measures for most of last year, ultimately giving the country’s internet service providers 120 days to come up with a voluntary scheme to tackle online piracy, otherwise, ministers said, they’d force measures onto the web sector.
And so, on Friday, Australia’s Communications Alliance published its own plans to “dissuade Australian internet users from engaging in online copyright infringement” and to “educate them about what constitutes infringement, and to provide information on how to readily access lawful available content alternatives”.
Although both three-strikes (or ‘graduated response’ if you prefer) and web-blocking, where ISPs are forced to block access to piracy-enabling websites, were being considered by the Australian government, the net sector seems to have opted for the former.
So, suspected file-sharers will received warning letters from their ISP if and when they are spotted (via their IP address) by the rights owners, and if said file-sharers ignore those warnings (or ‘learning opportunities’ perhaps, letter one will be all about ‘education’), then net firms will be obliged to help copyright owners take infringement action against the file-sharer. Which means ultimately revealing the offender’s name and address so the rights owners can sue them.
Which is a step back from the three-strikes system originally proposed by the copyright industries back in the day – in which strike three would be some kind of ISP-instigated sanction such as net suspension or bandwidth throttling – though most actual graduated response systems, whether statutory like in the UK or through voluntary agreement like in the US, have been rather vague on what strike three would actually look like.
Says the Communications Alliance’s proposal: “This copyright notice scheme provides that, at the instigation of rights holders, ISPs must, where possible, issue Education, Warning or Final Notices to relevant account holders”. If an account owner receives all three notices within one year, then rights holders “will be provided with assistance [from ISPs]…to take direct copyright infringement action against an account holder”.
Although strike three is rather more involved than many rights owners would probably prefer, the music, movie and TV industries were involved in drafting this code and seem to support it, though not all of the Communications Alliance’s own membership seem so keen.
Nevertheless, the draft scheme could be launched as soon as September, which would be a whole lot quicker than the British three-strikes system, passed by Parliament in 2010 and yet to go live. Though it’s still not clear who will pay for the Australian anti-piracy programme, which could be a sticking point that delays things somewhat.
READ MORE ABOUT: Communications Alliance
Monday 23 February 2015, 11:26 | By Chris Cooke
Rightscorp accused of breaching American communications law with anti-piracy messages
Business News Labels & Publishers Legal
LA-based anti-piracy firm Rightscorp, which was last seen annoying the Canadian government, has been sued over the tactics it uses in the US to pressure suspected file-sharers to change their ways, and pay a sum of money to make good for past copyright infringement.
One of the anti-piracy programmes pursued by Rightscorp on behalf of various copyright owners is to demand the contact information of suspected file-sharers from smaller internet service providers which are not part of America’s Copyright Alert Scheme, so that warning letters and demands for cash settlements can be sent directly (rather than via the ISP, as would happen under the CAS).
But two people targeted by this programme claim that Rightscorp violated America’s Telephone Consumer Protection Act by sending automated calls and text messages in their general direction without permission. In a lawsuit filed with the federal court in Georgia, Melissa Brown and Ben Jenkins deny downloading any copyright infringing content, but say Rightscorp broke communication laws by following up an initial letter with calls and texts.
Brown and Jenkins get their internet directly off the City Of Monroe in Georgia, which provided their contact details to Rightscorp after the anti-piracy firm subpoenaed the city’s telecoms department. According to Torrentfreak, the lawsuit says: “Once Rightscorp obtains a consumer’s contact information, it commences autocalls and text messages in an attempt to intimidate the consumer into settlement”.
It goes on: “Jenkins sent Rightscorp numerous emails instructing Rightscorp to cease their calls, text messages, emails and letter solicitations to him and Brown. Regardless, Rightscorp continued to place calls and text messages to the plaintiffs’ cellular and home phones”. This, the legal claim says, was a “wilful violation” of the Telephone Consumer Protection Act, which requires companies to have a recipient’s consent before sending texts or automated calls.
Brown and Jenkins are seeking damages for each alleged violation of the TCPA, while also hoping their litigation will force Rightscorp to change its tactics. As previously reported, the company is already facing a separate lawsuit, also in Georgia, which questions the firm’s rights to subpoena suspected file-sharers’ contact information in the first place.
READ MORE ABOUT: Rightscorp
Monday 23 February 2015, 11:23 | By Chris Cooke
Appeals court upholds ruling on unofficial Bob Marley t-shirts
Brands & Merch Business News Legal
The Bob Marley estate last week successfully persuaded an appeals court in the US to uphold a ruling in their favour over unofficial t-shirts that featured the late reggae star. Consumer confusion was at the heart of the case, and, somewhat aptly, the rules over consumer confusion are rather confusing.
The Marley estate, and their merchandising company Fifty-Six Hope Road Music, first sued clothing makers AVELA over some unofficial Bob Marley t-shirts it was selling in Walmart and Target back in 2008, winning the case three years later. AVELA was ordered to pay the Marley estate $750,000 in profits generated by the t-shirts, as well as $300,000 in damages and $1.5 million to cover legal costs. So the clothing firm appealed.
The case centred not on the so-called publicity right that can exist at a State level in the US, but on federal trademark law, mainly the Lanham Act. As is often the case in scenarios such as this, the t-shirt maker hadn’t infringed anyone’s copyright with the picture of the celeb it had used, and no specific trademarks – names, logos, slogans – were exploited.
Where a wider publicity right can’t be invoked, the question is whether customers will be misled into thinking they are buying officially endorsed merchandise when they are not. In the recent Rihanna/Topshop case in the UK that was achieved through the principle of ‘passing off’; but in this case the false endorsement elements of American trademark law were used. And although not as narrowly defined as passing off, those US laws are much narrower than publicity rights.
According to The Hollywood Reporter, one of the appeal judges hearing the case noted that:
“This case presents a question that is familiar in our circuit. When does the use of a celebrity’s likeness or persona in connection with a product constitute false endorsement that is actionable under the Lanham Act?”
As we said, consumer confusion is key here, though the appeal judges seemed to be split on whether that confusion needed to be likely or actual. Nevertheless, lawyers for the Marley estate presented a survey in which 37% of just over 500 shoppers shown one of AVELA’s offending t-shirts said they assumed the garment would have been approved by the estate. The survey seems to have swung it, with the appeal judges upholding the original ruling.
Though some confusion remains as to what constitutes consumer confusion, and whether it must be likely or actual. But the size of this lawsuit might make other unofficial merch-makers Stateside wary of taking any chances. Either that, or expect some big ‘not endorsed’ stickers to be added to the merchandise.
READ MORE ABOUT:
Monday 23 February 2015, 11:15 | By Chris Cooke
Former Westlife boy aligns with Kobalt for solo debut
Business News Deals Labels & Publishers
When Bryan quit Westlife he became Brian. And so, what do you know, Mark is marking the launch of his solo career by becoming Markus. Shane stayed as Shane, but who remembers him? And last week the one-time Westlife crooner now known as Markus Feehily confirmed an alliance with Kobalt Label Services for the release of his first solo outing.
The long player is yet to be titled (all naming resources presumably went on him rather than it), but the first single will be called ‘Love Is A Drug’. And the singer says of his impending album: “I’m excited by the prospect of creating and sharing songs about experiences I’ve had – soulful, autobiographical pop music”.
But enough of that, tell us about the deal Feehily. “Kobalt feels like the perfect fit for me as they allow me full creative control, which is something I felt ready to take on, and I feel confident knowing that I can also rely on the fantastic team for support”.
Too right. And here’s KLS President Paul Hitchman: “We are very happy that Markus and his management have chosen KLS as their label services partner. The quality of the team around the project is stellar, and we are confident that the music will surprise quite a few people as well as excite Markus’s fans. Markus has a great career ahead of him as a solo artist and songwriter”.
READ MORE ABOUT: Kobalt | Markus Feehily | Westlife
Monday 23 February 2015, 11:13 | By Chris Cooke
New hire at Schott Music
Business News Industry People Labels & Publishers
Classical music publisher and sheet music maker Schott Music announced the appointment of Richard Dinnadge to the new role of International Business Development Director last week.
Most recently leading music and video operations at Reader’s Digest, having previously worked at various record labels, in his new job Dinnadge will work to “further expand Schott’s presence across international markets, maximise exploitation of the Schott catalogue and develop new products and partnerships worldwide”. So there you go.
Confirming the hire, the firm’s Creative Director Sam Rigby said: “We are thrilled to welcome Richard Dinnadge to the team here at Schott. We have all been extremely impressed by Richard’s wealth of experience, his business acumen and his passion for music, and we look forward to achieving a lot together”.
READ MORE ABOUT: Richard Dinnadge | Schott Music
Monday 23 February 2015, 11:12 | By Chris Cooke
Moderators back to clear up The Pirate Bay, as legal challenges continue
Business News Digital Legal
The moderators are back on The Pirate Bay, which means that the fake and dodgy links are disappearing again from the always controversial file-sharing website.
As previously reported, while the Bay returned to the internet at the start of the month, having been taken offline late last year by a raid on its Sweden-based servers, behind the scenes not everything was back to normal. In particular, the site’s moderation panel was not reactivated for security reasons, an unpopular move with some of the Bay’s current moderators who at one point were threatening to launch a rival site.
But, according to Torrentfreak, some further security refinements have resulted in a number of moderators being allowed back into the system, and they have been busy cleaning out misleading new additions to the Pirate Bay database, making the access of unlicensed music and movie files less annoying for all those pesky file-sharers.
Though, don’t worry file-share-haters, the Bay is still facing a few challenges. The site has had to switch server hosts more than once since relaunching – resulting in some down time – as legal pressure is put on server firms around the world.
Meanwhile Swedish prosecutors are seemingly having another go at seizing the site’s main thepiratebay.se domain, and legal reps for the Swedish music and movie industries are pursing test case legal action to secure web-blocks against the Bay and other file-sharing sites in the country, similar to those already secured in various other jurisdictions, including the UK.
READ MORE ABOUT: The Pirate Bay
Monday 23 February 2015, 11:10 | By Chris Cooke
Radioplayer to pilot including unregulated stations
Business News Media
The UK radio industry’s combined website and app, Radioplayer, is trailing the addition of non-OfCom regulated stations onto the platform.
It means that online-only radio stations – with no output on AM, FM, DAB or a TV platform – and therefore not regulated by OfCom, will ultimately be allowed onto Radioplayer, albeit for a fee and a commitment to comply with OfCom’s editorial standards. Also, during the pilot, only non-regulated services from existing partners, ie companies with OfCom-regulated services, will be allowed to participate.
According to Radio Today Radioplayer MD Michael Hill says: “With around fifteen DAB slots available next year for new national commercial stations and lots of opportunities remaining on local DAB, we thought we’d give the industry a chance to experiment on a platform with more than six million listeners. We’re hoping to see some great online-only pop-up stations from experienced and trusted broadcasters”.
READ MORE ABOUT: Radioplayer
Monday 23 February 2015, 11:09 | By Chris Cooke
Drake intended album to be free mixtape, says free mixtape website
Artist News
Drake’s surprise album release ‘If You’re Reading This It’s Too Late’, dropped earlier this month, only became a proper album release at the very last minute, according to the owner of DatPiff, the self-proclaimed “authority in free mixtapes”.
According to HipHopDX, DatPiff’s KP says that Drake himself intended the album to come out as a freebie, most likely under DJ Drama’s Gangsta Grillz mixtape banner. But his label, Cash Money, intervened, turning the whole project into a proper release via iTunes and Spotify et al.
Says the DatPiff man: “Originally we were in talks to release it for free, and have DJ Drama host, and even make it an official Gangsta Grillz. However, the label was not in favour of that and they struck an agreement to release the project the retail route”.
Implying that Drake’s preference throughout was the free release option, he goes on: “[Cash Money] said, ‘Hell no’ … so they ‘agreed’ to do it this way, but it would count towards his Cash Money deal album total. The label had zero input or creative control over ‘If You’re Reading This Its Too Late'”.
No official word on this from any party, though the whole thing slips in nicely with rumours that Drake has been caught up in the falling out between Lil Wayne and Cash Money, and may have agreed to make his mixtape a proper album release, providing it would count to his contractual commitments to the label, so that he can leave the Universal-allied record company all the sooner. HipHopDX is already tipping Warner as his next label.
READ MORE ABOUT: Cash Money Records | DatPiff | DJ Drama | Drake
Monday 23 February 2015, 11:08 | By Chris Cooke
John Legend and Common take Best Song Oscar
Artist News Awards
So, Oscars night then – movies, movies, movies – but what was happening musically speaking? Well, musicals mainly, with Lady Gaga doing ‘The Sound Of Music’ and host Neil Patrick Harris performing a bespoke musical theatre number for any Tony Awards fans who had accidentally tuned in.
But what about the actual musical award winners, they’re the only people we really care about, right? Well, Alexandre Desplat took the prize for Best Original Score for ‘The Grand Budapest Hotel’, while the Best Song gong went to John Legend and Common for ‘Glory’, the theme song from ‘Selma’, the historical drama focused on the 1960s civil rights movement, in which Common also acted.
So there we go. Well done one and all. And well done to Hollywood for staging a fine warm-up gig to this week’s main event, it’s only the bloody Brits on Wednesday!
READ MORE ABOUT: Alexandre Desplat | Common | John Legend | The Oscars
Monday 23 February 2015, 11:06 | By Chris Cooke
Royal Blood turned down Band Aid because they couldn’t get the ‘Bono line’
And Finally Artist News
Royal Blood have claimed that they turned down an invite to appear on last year’s Band Aid bash because their demand that they get ‘the Bono line’ was turned down.
Speaking to the Telegraph, the HSBC’s favourite band (I’m guessing, I mean, Telegraph management didn’t pull the interview) explained that back stage at the MTV European Music Awards last November all the pop acts were talking about the then impending Band Aid 30 record, and the duo’s drummer Ben Thatcher discussed it during a thirty minute chit chat with Bono himself.
Says Thatcher: “We were actually talking about the Band Aid single. It was just about to happen. We’d been approached to do it but it didn’t work out. Ed Sheeran and all the other pop stars were also there, and everybody was standing around talking about whether or not they were going to do it. I said to Bono I would only do it if I could sing his famous line with him. And then he said, ‘Funnily enough, I’m actually changing my line’. So I said, ‘Well, I’m not doing it then'”.
Thatcher’s fellow Royal Blooder Mike Kerr adds: “Those were our terms. We’d only do it if Ben could dress up as Bono”.
Given the particularly loud backlash to the most recent Band Aid adventure, Royal Blood possibly had a lucky escape. Perhaps they could do Red Nose Day instead, everyone seems to still love that, despite that ‘Panorama’ expose, and the fact that all of these celeb-fest rich-people-ordering-poor-people-to-donate fundraisers are surely as patronising and flawed as each other, even if they do lots of good work along the way.
READ MORE ABOUT: Band Aid 30 | Royal Blood
Friday 20 February 2015, 11:23 | By Paul Vig
Approved: Flux Fourth Birthday
Club Tip CMU Approved
We’re heading up to Leeds for the Club Tip this week, and the fourth anniversary of the city’s Flux parties. The underground house, techno and disco night roosts as part of the Temple Time events programme at the grade one listed Temple Works.
Italian DJ and owner of the rather underrated Archive and Neroli Records, Volcov, headlines the bill with his blend of electronic sounds that join the dots between house, broken beats, techno and further afield. He’ll be joined by DJ-cum-part-time-practising-surgeon, Murat Tepeli, who will bring his blend of tech to the tables.
In the second room, local Yorkshire act Kalyan, plus Aartekt and Archie from Flux will be gracing the decks, while the three-piece Noya Rao will be playing live too.
Saturday 21 Feb, Temple Works, Marshall Street, Holbeck, Leeds, LS11 9YJ, 11pm – 6am, £6-12. More info here.
READ MORE ABOUT: Volvoc
Friday 20 February 2015, 11:22 | By Chris Cooke
Global Radio launches its music business Stateside, appoints former AEG Live chief
Business News Labels & Publishers Management & Funding Media Top Stories
Good news if you’re one of those people who like companies called Global to actually be global, because Global’s gone global.
Yes, Global Entertainment – the music publishing and talent management side of London-based media firm Global Radio – has launched a US division based out of LA, and it has hired Randy Phillips, last seen running AEG Live Stateside, to head up the business.
The biggest commercial radio station operator in the UK, owning the likes of Capital, Heart, Classic FM, LBC and Xfm, Global has long had operations beyond its radio business, and not just the Capital and Heart-branded TV channels. The Global music publishing unit represents the song rights of a nice little roster of artists, while on the artist management side the company was entirely responsible for inflicting The Wanted on us all.
But confirmation of Global Entertainment’s launch in America under the leadership of a veteran like Phillips suggests an ambition to considerably expand this side of the business. Billing itself as a “real 360 content creation company”, in addition to its existing publishing and management operations, Global Entertainment plans to move into marketing services, brand partnerships, recorded music and live.
Although best know for his time at AEG, where he was one of the live giant’s highest profile execs, Phillips has also worked in management and co-launched a label, so does have the CV to run a “360 degree” music company. Speaking to Billboard about the new venture, Phillips revealed that he has actually been working with Global since last April, but has been “fine-tuning” the model ever since.
He notes: “Doing a start-up is different than stepping into an existing job. Building a business from scratch is like putting together a puzzle, the pieces all have to fit. You can’t just hire people because they have great resumes, they have to be able to work with the other people you bring in”.
READ MORE ABOUT: Global | Randy Phillips
Friday 20 February 2015, 11:21 | By Chris Cooke
UK Music publishes a pre-Election manifesto
Business News Labels & Publishers
Everyone’s publishing manifestos at the moment, aren’t they? Shall we have a CMU manifesto? Let’s all take two weeks off making new music and just listen to smooth jazz 24/7. Time Out-style. That’s our manifesto.
Anyway, ahead of the manifesto set to be published by the Entertainment Retailers Association next week, UK Music – the trade body of music trade bodies – yesterday put out its own document.
As you’d expect given UK Music’s lobbying remit and the impending General Election, this one is very much aimed at the political community, and as such gets its key points across in just 20 words, a list that even a politician might be able to digest in full.
Let’s see if you have the concentration span of a politician. Here are the 20 words…
1. Strong copyright framework
2. Access to finance and fiscal incentives
3. Skills pipeline
4. International growth strategy
5. Better regulation based on good evidence
So there you go. Personally I’d have also asked for a commitment that no government minister ever sully a popstar’s reputation by pretending to like their music. And maybe free milk for any artist yet to go top ten. And complimentary use of Westminster Hall for the impending fist fight between labels and publishers over digital royalty distribution.
Launching her group’s manifesto yesterday, UK Music CEO Jo Dipple told reporters: “In what promises to be a busy year for us, we ask that whoever is elected and forms the next Government supports our agenda, this manifesto will help to crystallise and structure those asks. Following the General Election, the Government will have an in-tray that includes policies affecting this industry and our members, be it directly or indirectly. For that reason, it is important that UK Music conveys a clear message of our sector. Whatever the colour of that Government, our concerns should appeal to any business-minded administration”.
Meanwhile UK Music Chairman Andy Heath added: “Growth in the music industry is at 9%. As we approach 7 May, when the country will decide the political future of our nation for the next five years, we need to ensure that the next Government will continue to enable and improve growth in our sector”.
By the way, just in case you thought UK Music were getting lazy and had only bothered to write a 20 word manifesto, that list is the edited highlights. The whole thing is online here.
READ MORE ABOUT: UK Music
