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Thursday 23 April 2015, 10:43 | By CMU Editorial
Line-up announced for CMU:DIY at The Great Escape
Business News Education & Events The Great Escape 2015
The line-up has been announced for CMU:DIY @ The Great Escape, a full day of talks, interviews and discussions aimed at future music talent, both aspiring artists and those looking to work in the music business.
As previously reported, Blur’s Dave Rowntree will headline the proceedings, taking part in a discussion on how new talent can secure radio support. As host of a weekly show on Xfm, Rowntree will discuss how he discovers new artists and how he decides what music to play and champion on the airwaves.
Earlier in the day a series of talks will explain how artists can get their music on record, online and on CD. Artist Chris T-T will offer tips and advice on when is right for new artists to record their songs and how to go about it on a tight budget. Louis Brown from Spinnup will explain how to get music online, while Karen Emanuel from Key Productions will talk delegates through pressing CDs and vinyl. Plus Aneesh Patel and Scott McKinlay from Harbottle & Lewis will cover the legal side.
Attention will then turn to the music industry, and the companies and people artists form partnerships with as their careers progress, with PRS For Music hosting a ‘day in the life’ panel with artist manager Claire Mas, music PR Tash Anderson, Great Escape booker Adam Ryan and music supervisor Michelle de Vries discussing their careers to date, and what services they provide the artists they work with.
In the afternoon CMU Business Editor Chris Cooke will chair a series of conversations looking at the role of photography and video in music, the role and evolution of A&R, and the aforementioned session focused on radio.
Concluding the proceedings, and wrapping up the whole of the Great Escape Convention for 2015, will be the latest edition of Heroes & Villains, the TGE institution that sees leading players from across the music industry talk candidly about the highs and the lows of their life in music. Rowntree will also join this session, alongside the legendary Annie Nightingale and – as TGE celebrates its tenth anniversary year – the festival’s founders Martin Elbourne and Jon Mcildowie.
For more information on CMU:DIY @ The Great Escape click here. The programme is open to all TGE delegates, plus standalone tickets are also available for just £15 from this link here.
READ MORE ABOUT: CMU:DIY | The Great Escape
Thursday 23 April 2015, 10:41 | By Andy Malt
Pariso to split
Artist News
Hardcore band Pariso have announced that they are to split after one final release and a farewell show. In a statement yesterday, the band said: “There is no big story, fallouts or reasons. We simply always made a promise to ourselves that once it stopped being 100% fun then we would stop. That has now become the case”.
“Thanks to all past members and fill-ins, and anyone who helped us in any form”, they added. “[But] most of all though – thanks to ourselves for always doing exactly what we wanted, when we wanted, making the music we wanted hear, travelling to fun places and having a top laugh. It was great”.
Andrej Presern, head of Tangled Talk, the label through which Pariso have been signed since 2011, added: “It saddens me to say that Pariso will be calling it quits later this year. These guys have been a staple of the Tangled Talk roster and remain one of the underrated, unsung heroes of UK hardcore. Their recorded output has been nothing short of prolific (we’ve worked with them on eight releases, including both full lengths, and there’s others beside that) and they’ve constantly evolved and challenged preconceptions. On a personal level, I count the members of this band amongst my closest friends”.
The final release, titled ‘Pariso’, will feature material the band were working on for their third album, plus b-sides and other rarities. Full details here.
READ MORE ABOUT: Pariso
Thursday 23 April 2015, 10:40 | By Andy Malt
Mac DeMarco announces another album
Artist News Gigs & Festivals Releases
Troublemaker and source of many an Approved, Mac DeMarco, has announced that he will release his latest album, ‘Another One’, on 7 Aug through Captured Tracks. Actually, they’re calling it a mini-album, but it’s got eight tracks on it, and who knows how long an album should be anymore?
He’ll also be touring the UK in September, which will coincide nicely with the album release and sit between appearances at the End Of The Road and Beacons festivals. Well done whoever planned that. Give yourself ten minutes off. While you’re gone, I’ll tell everyone the tour dates. Here they are:
7 Sep: Glasgow, ABC
8 Sep: Bristol, Motion
9 Sep: London, Roundhouse
10 Sep: Birmingham, The Institute
Oh, and here’s a short video about the making of ‘Another One’, which gives a unique insight into DeMarco’s creative, um, process:
READ MORE ABOUT: Mac DeMarco
Thursday 23 April 2015, 10:39 | By Andy Malt
Holly Herndon announces London show
Artist News Gigs & Festivals
Electronic musician Holly Herndon is going to play a show at XOYO in London on 10 Jun. Let’s all go. All of us. Yes, even you. It’s decided, were all going.
Herndon, as previously reported, announced last month that she had signed to 4AD for the release of her second album ‘Platform’, which is due on 18 May.
Speaking to Pitchfork recently, she said: “There are a lot of false narratives that happen in music, and a lot of that [positions] the artist as this single, solo icon. But in order to make interesting and great work, there’s a whole team of people. I’m really serious about not presenting myself as this lone auteur, and part of the hope for ‘Platform’ is that we might all be able to acknowledge each other without somehow breaking an illusion or taking away from the work of individuals”.
She sounds nice, doesn’t she? That date for your diary again: 10 Jun at XOYO. Don’t be late.
Here’s the video for her latest single, ‘Interference’:
READ MORE ABOUT: Holly Herndon
Thursday 23 April 2015, 10:38 | By Andy Malt
CMU’s One Liners: Lee Bannon, Crocodiles, Débruit and more
Artist News Brands & Merch Gigs & Festivals One Liners Releases
Other notable announcements and developments today…
• 2mandydjs like healthy chicken.
• Experimental producer Lee Bannon is set to release his second album for Ninja Tune, ‘Pattern Of Excel’, on 10 Jul. This album sees his productions take a more ambient turn, as you can hear on this track, ‘Artificial Stasis’.
• Blanck Mass, aka Fuck Buttons’ Benjamin Power, has put out another track from his upcoming second album. Here it is.
• Approved upon the release of his debut album back in 2012, French producer Débruit is set to release his fourth on 15 Jun, titled ‘Outside The Line’. Here’s a track from it, called ‘Separated Together’. It is good.
• Crocodiles are set to release a new album, ‘Boys’, on 10 May. Check out the new video for a song from it, ‘Foolin Around’, here. And check them out in the flesh when they tour the UK in Jun, for instance at the Boston Arms in London on 11 Jun.
• Bell X1 have announced that they will play a one-off headline show at Union Chapel in London on 21 Nov. Tickets on sale this Friday.
READ MORE ABOUT: 2manydjs | Bell X1 | Blanck Mass | Crocodiles | Débruit | Lee Bannon
Thursday 23 April 2015, 10:37 | By Andy Malt
Coldchip to headline Glastonbury, Michael Eavis might have said
And Finally Artist News Gigs & Festivals
There’s still no word on who exactly the Sunday night headliner of this year’s Glastonbury Festival will be, but at an event held at the V&A Museum in London last night Michael Eavis hinted that it will be a collaboration between two artists.
Eavis was at the V&A to discuss the history of his festival. According to eFestivals, when pushed on who might be the final headliner for this year’ event – alongside Foo Fighters and Kanye West – he revealed that it will be two acts who are “most likely” British and will involve Chris Martin.
Is it Coldchip? Is Coldchip happening? Coldchip’s happening, isn’t it? I bloody knew it. I knew this would happen. Oh my God, it’s so Coldchip. And to think, some people (Hot Chip) dared to diss our bold proposal on 1 April 2010.
READ MORE ABOUT: Chris Martin | Glastonbury Festival | Michael Eavis
Thursday 23 April 2015, 10:09 | By Andy Malt
Approved: Young Juvenile Youth
CMU Approved
Formed in 2012 by singer Yuki and producer Jemapur, Young Juvenile Youth are set to digitally release their debut mini-album, ‘Animation’, next week.
Sitting at the more experimental end of pop, Jemapur’s often sparse, always slightly odd beats leave Yuki’s vocals to sit out front with all vulnerability on display. They’re at their most unsettling on ‘Animation’, the mini-album’s title track, with lyrics about “demons inside me” noting that “you know I can kill you” complemented by a video that sees Yuki’s face digitally contorted in a variety of different ways.
The video-less ‘More For Me, More For You’, meanwhile takes things more upbeat, if still leaving you feeling things are a little off centre.
Watch the video for ‘Animation’ and listen to ‘More For Me, More For You’ here:
READ MORE ABOUT: Jemapur | Young Juvenile Youth
Wednesday 22 April 2015, 10:25 | By Chris Cooke
Mixed success in Katy Perry’s trademark claims over Left Shark
Business News Legal Top Stories
So, we all know you’ve been preoccupied for sometime now on the big question that has dominated the music business agenda for most of the year so far. Can Katy Perry really own the rights, the image, the brand, the very essence of the being of the mighty and, some might saw, generation inspiring and world peace enabling, Left Shark? Well, “yes and no” is your answer.
As everyone knows, Left Shark became a ‘thing’ during Perry’s Super Bowl half time show back in February, because a guy to the left of Perry dressed in a stupid shark costume was dancing about out of sync with the rest of the on-stage cast. And in 2015 that’s the sort of thing that becomes a global phenomenon in mere minutes.
As Left Shark dominated online chatter – and possibly because designer Fernando Sosa made a 3D printed figurine called Left Shark available online – Perry quickly began investigating how she could take ownership of all and any intellectual property in the name, the image and the concept of Left Shark. Because God knows you don’t want poor old Left Shark left in the public domain. He’d probably swim into a tuna net. Or is that dolphins?
Anyway, the US Trademark Office last week responded to Perry’s various IP claims. And examiner David Collier wasn’t impressed with the singer’s attempts to get IP protection for the image of Left Shark. According to The Hollywood Reporter, Collier wrote that the design “identifies only a particular character; it does not function as a service mark to identify and distinguish applicant’s services from those of others and to indicate the source of applicant’s services”.
The examiner also noted that there were inconsistencies between a photo of actual Left Shark (ie the dancer bloke in the costume) and a drawing of what Left Shark should look like. Inconsistencies that resulted in an amusingly precise description by the trademark official of the different incarnations of our sharky friend.
“Specifically, the [photo] displays the mark as a stylised depiction of a forward leaning shark in nearly a front profile with a portion of a dorsal fin, two pectoral fins and two legs and feet substituted for the caudal fin on the tail”, he wrote. “The shark has five gills, a full mouth with teeth and round eyes with eyelids. However, the drawing displays the mark as a stylised depiction of an upright shark in full front profile with no dorsal fin, two full pectoral fins and two legs and feet; the shark has three gills and the sharks mouth appears without teeth; the shark also has oval eyes without eyelids”.
And there was you thinking Left Shark was just a man in a silly costume. But while things aren’t looking good for Perry getting protection for her Left Shark design, she might still get ownership of the name. Though Collier says he needs more clarification as to what products could now be created under the brand. Costumes obviously, but what sort of costumes? Figurines apparently, but what sort of figurines? Perry needs to submit more info.
Quite what this all means for Perry’s dispute with the aforementioned Sosa isn’t clear, mainly because that squabble related to copyright rather than trademark protection. Though this is still a good excuse to re-link to one of our favourite Beefs Of The Week so far this year.
A beef that included great quotes from Sosa’s lawyer CJ Sprigman, who said things like: “I’m obliged to admit that, unlike any shark I’ve seen, the Left Shark costume has legs, but that doesn’t make the Left Shark costume copyrightable. The Left Shark costume has legs because the person inside it has legs”.
READ MORE ABOUT: Katy Perry
Wednesday 22 April 2015, 10:24 | By Chris Cooke
Swedish prosecutors prepare to ask courts to seize key Pirate Bay domains
Business News Digital Legal
Swedish prosecutors are prepping to argue their case in court as to why The Pirate Bay’s flagship .se domains should be deactivated or put under government control, as copyright enforcers continue to try and make it harder for piracy platforms to operate.
Seizing domains, of course, is one of a number of tactics used by those fighting piracy, and authorities in other countries have done just that against various other sites, usually replacing the piracy operations with a notice alerting users that the site is no longer operational because of a copyright action.
The Bay has actually anticipated having its .se domains seized for a while, and at one point kept switching its primary URL to different domain registries around the world. Though it often saw those new domains quickly blocked by each new domain registry after action by local copyright industries or IP enforcers.
But the Swedish domain has so far remained unseized (even though ISPs in various countries have been forced to block access to it). Next week prosecutors will argue in the Stockholm District Court that it’s time to call time on thepiratebay.se. The action is being led by Fredrik Ingblad, who also oversaw the server raid against the Bay in Sweden last December, which resulted in the infamous file-sharing site going offline for a time.
Of course, even if Ingblad succeeds in his domain claim, the Bay will presumably have an assortment of other domains to use instead. And in the Google age it’s not so problematic if your domains keep changing. Though many rights owners argue that any barriers put in the way of piracy operations are a good thing.
In related news, the majors have filed legal action in the US against another piracy operation called MP3skull, which – aside from seeking $15 million+ in damages – deals with domain matters. The labels are seeking an injunction banning domain registries, server companies and, for that matter, advertisers from doing business with the piracy company.
Which is interesting in that would be a very wide-ranging court order, though obviously injunctions are constrained by jurisdiction – ie it could only apply in the US – which would limit its impact on a site currently using a domain registered in Tonga.
READ MORE ABOUT: The Pirate Bay
Wednesday 22 April 2015, 10:23 | By Andy Malt
ReverbNation launches publishing administration service, via Sentric partnership
Business News Deals Labels & Publishers
Direct-to-fan company ReverbNation has launched a new publishing administration service called Connect Songs. The actual legwork will be done via an alliance with Sentric Music.
An offshoot of ReverbNation’s Connect artist development offering, Connect Songs will work on a revenue share basis with songwriting artists, and will not place them under long-term contracts or require any assignment of rights. Through their partnership, Sentric will handle royalty collection, sync services, and neighbouring rights management.
“Connect Songs enables ReverbNation to provide powerful, efficient and fully transparent royalty collection services for our bands”, says ReverbNation’s Chief Creative Officer Simon Perry. “Combined with our growing traditional creative publishing capabilities, participating artists will have a powerful new tool to monetise their music, grow their audience and increase their visibility within the music industry”.
So that’s nice. Sentric CEO Chris Meehan adds: “No other company in the world has access to the volume of great, emerging artists than ReverbNation. Their commitment to offering services of real value to artists of all levels is what has attracted us to work with the company over a number of years. The publishing administration and synchronisation services will enable artists to create and protect a valuable income stream”.
READ MORE ABOUT: Connect Songs | ReverbNation | Sentric Music
Wednesday 22 April 2015, 10:22 | By Andy Malt
Loudr partners with CD Baby to offer mechanical licensing on cover songs
Business News Deals Labels & Publishers
Music rights company Loudr has announced a partnership with CD Baby, which will see the former handle mechanical licensing Stateside on any covers distributed by the latter’s users.
Through its recently launched Loudr Licensing platform, the company aims to provide a simpler way to deal with the so called mechanical licenses that need to be secured from the music publishers (or usually their mechanical rights societies or reps) when you release recordings of other people’s songs. Mechanical licenses and royalties are often handled differently in the US than in Europe. The new service will cost CD Baby users a flat fee of $15 plus any royalties required to be paid.
“We’re thrilled to offer Loudr’s growing rights service and love their approach to streamlining licensing for our members. They’ve taken on a challenging part of the music rights process and made it exceedingly simple”, says CD Baby’s Director of Music Publishing Rob Filomena.
With this press release’s “thrilled” quote already used up, Loudr CEO Chris Crawford chose to be excited instead. “We’re excited to partner with CD Baby”, he said. “A digital music distribution pioneer that shares our vision to empower the artist community, as well as promote practices that ensure songwriters and publishers are compensated for music use”.
READ MORE ABOUT: CD Baby | Loudr
Wednesday 22 April 2015, 10:21 | By Chris Cooke
Kantar figures confirm HMV biggest seller of physical music again
Business News HMV Timeline Retail
Stats firm Kantar Worldpanel has backed up claims made by HMV’s post-administration owner Hilco earlier this year that the retailer had now reclaimed its position as the biggest seller of physical music products in the UK, a title it lost to Amazon back in the ‘gloom’ times at the entertainment retail firm.
Kantar analyst Fiona Keenan said that HMV was scoring particularly well when it comes to driving sales from ‘browsers’. According to the Telegraph, she said: “HMV has been successful in attracting shoppers in store that want to browse its extensive range of products before deciding what to buy, which historically was a real area of strength for the high street specialist”.
She went on: “Spend from consumers browsing for music products in HMV has grown by almost 50% compared to this time last year, helping to boost the retailer’s share of total browsed spend in the market to 43.4%, making it the standout player. Pre-administration, HMV’s share of browsing purchases was regularly over 50%, so this recent resurgence is a positive sign for the retailer’s future as it faces increased competition from the online market”.
All that said, while HMV is doing well in music, the retailer still lags behind Amazon in terms of share of the wider entertainment retail market, including video and games.
READ MORE ABOUT: HMV | Kantar
Wednesday 22 April 2015, 10:20 | By Chris Cooke
Commercial radio chart show may move, but TOTP not coming back
Business News Labels & Publishers Media Retail
Now, you might think that Radio 1 confirming it will move its chart show from Sundays to Fridays to tie in with the new global release day meant we’d now fully dealt with the impact records coming out on Fridays will have on British chartdom.
But you’re forgetting that nearly twice as many people tune in to commercial radio’s ‘Big Top 40’ show on a Sunday teatime than Radio 1’s countdown of what we, in this here music industry, like to call the ‘official’ chart. The ‘Big Top 40’ crunches stats from a number of sources – more than the official Top 40 – but downloads and streams are still an important part of the mix, so new releases coming out on a Friday rather than a Monday from later this year is relevant for the commercial radio chart too.
Asked about this at the Student Radio Conference this week, the top bloke at Global Radio, which makes the ‘Big Top 40’, Ashley Tabor, wouldn’t be drawn on his plans, though basically admitted a shift is being considered. According to Radio Today, when asked whether he’d move the Big Top 40 to Fridays, the Global chief said: “I don’t know yet, we haven’t decided”.
Meanwhile the BBC has denied rumours in the Mirror last weekend that a relaunch of ‘Top Of The Pops’ is being plotted to tie in with the new chart day. A spokesman for the Beeb told Music Week there were “no current plans” to bring the one-time flagship pop show back. Which is good news. The rumours had it Fearne Cotton would return as frontwoman, despite her making the show entirely unwatchable during its decline into oblivion.
READ MORE ABOUT: BBC Radio 1 | Big Top 40 | Global | Official Charts Company | Student Radio Conference
Wednesday 22 April 2015, 10:18 | By CMU Editorial
CMU reveals brands to share partnership case studies at The Great Escape
Brands & Merch Business News Education & Events The Great Escape 2015
As we continue to finalise line-ups for the CMU Insights conference strands taking place at The Great Escape this May, today we can reveal details of some of the brand partnerships that will be put under the spotlight as part of the strand How To Sell Out Gracefully: Better Brand Partnerships.
As previously reported, this strand will kick off with a keynote from Marc Robinson, Managing Director of Globe – Universal Music UK’s commercial and creative partnerships division – which will explore how artists, managers, labels, agents and promoters can best collaborate to fully capitalise on the creative, commercial and promotional potential of brand alliances.
Later in the day the strand will explore a series of specific music brand partnerships, interviewing key people involved in each alliance. This includes:
Boohoo’s partnership with Rae Morris, discussed by Richard Clark, Marketing Director at boohoo, Bob Workman, VP Brand Partnerships at Warner Music, and Alistair White at Machine Management.
Jäegermeister’s partnership with TesseracT, discussed by Tom Carson, Music Manager at Jäegermeister with Acle Kahney and James Monteith from the band.
Dr Martens’ partnership with DIY on the #Standforsomething Tour, discussed by Daniel Freeland UK, Marketing Manager at Dr Martens and Rupert Vereker, Publisher at DIY Magazine.
And Jack Daniel’s partnership with grassroots venues, discussed by Michael Boaler, Senior Brand Manager at Jack Daniel’s, Alec Samways, MD at Splendid Communications and Ricky Bates, Head Booker at The Joiners, Southampton.
For full information on the CMU Insights brands strand click here. And for information on all the CMU activity at The Great Escape this year click here. Then buy your delegates pass for TGE here.
READ MORE ABOUT: Boohoo | DIY | Dr Martens | Jack Daniel's | Jäegermeister | Rae Morris | TesseracT | The Great Escape
Wednesday 22 April 2015, 10:17 | By Andy Malt
The Orb announce spacey new album
Artist News Releases
The Orb have announced that they will release a new album, titled ‘Moonbuilding 2703AD’. It will be a bit spacey.
Says the duo’s Alex Paterson of the album: “It’s a solid piece of music that mutates into an eight legged lunar Land Rover and takes off into a cosmic horizon of a million sounds, patterns and textures. It spins the listener on his/her head, rewiring their brains to maximum capacity, then brings them home, sweet home”.
He continues: “‘Moonbuilding 2703AD’ is inspired by this place called Earth and the idea that in the future mankind discovers its root element in the ancient rocks on solar moons, which are based on musical harmonies, that despite being imprinted a billion lights years ago, are set to the same tempo as The Orb”.
Speaking in slightly less flowery language, Thomas Fehlmann adds: “This album and the process of its production makes me feel real good. An important part of the excitement is that our working system has reached a level where we are closer than ever to an automatic recognition of each other’s ideas, and ways to transform those into sound without explanation, so we could draw directly from our creative engines”.
‘Moonbuilding 2703AD’ is due for release through Kompakt on 22 Jun.
READ MORE ABOUT: The Orb
Wednesday 22 April 2015, 10:17 | By Andy Malt
Don Letts picks favourites from the John Peel Archive
Artist News
The John Peel Archive has published a new collection of tracks from the late DJ’s massive record collection, curated by filmmaker and DJ Don Letts.
As well offering a track to stream from each of the records Letts pulled off the shelves, you can hear his own comments on the artists behind them. And the whole thing is kicked off with a 20 minute documentary about Letts’ day spent sifting through Peel’s records to find his favourites.
Cian Smyth, producer for The Space, which has commissioned a series of curated collections such as this under the banner Record Box, says: “The John Peel Archive once again offers a fresh perspective on the world of John Peel’s record collection for many music fans to enjoy. Don Letts provides the third Record Box, after Joe Boyd and DJ Mala. It offers access for audiences all over the world to Don Letts’ personal journey through the history of reggae and punk music, its influences and inspirations”.
Listen to Don Letts’ selection here.
READ MORE ABOUT: Don Letts | John Peel | John Peel Archive
Wednesday 22 April 2015, 10:16 | By Andy Malt
CMU’s One Liners: Taylor Swift museum exhibit extended, Rihanna arrives appropriately late for weed smoking celebration, Killer Mike posts wrestling video, and further adventures
Artist News Awards Education & Events Gigs & Festivals One Liners Releases
Other notable announcements and developments today…
• If you were worried that you were running out of time to catch the ‘Taylor Swift Experience’ exhibition at the Grammy Museum in Los Angeles, don’t worry it’s been extended to October. Phew.
• Rihanna has released a track in honour of this 420 thing they have in the States that I had no idea about until Monday. It seems Rihanna was caught unawares by it too, as she put this “interlude” called ‘James Joint’ up on her website the day after.
• Marking his birthday earlier this week, Killer Mike posted a new video for his 2011 track ‘Ric Flair’. As well as Mike’s own wisdom, it features much from the wrestler from which the track takes its name. Look, here it is.
• Giorgio Moroder has released the title track from his first solo album for 30 years, ‘Déjà Vu’. It has Sia singing the words. Listen here.
• Meg Ramy, aka US Girls, has released the first single from her as-yet-untitled, as-yet-un-release-dated first album for 4AD. Listen to ‘Damn That Valley’ here. And catch her live at the Courtyard Theatre in London on 14 May, why don’t you?
• Waxahatchee has announced that the next single from her new album, ‘Ivy Tripp’, will be ‘La Loose’. It’ll be out on 1 Jun and sounds like this. Meanwhile, she’s readying herself for a European tour, which starts next month. She’ll be in the UK for ten dates in June, kicking off with a show at London’s Electric Ballroom on 10 Jun.
• Having been described as being “like Ad-Rock leading Bad Brains by the nose” in this CMU Approved column, Show Me The Body have just released a new EP, titled ‘SMTB’. Here’s the video for opening track, ‘Space Faithful’.
• Pins have released a new single, ‘Young Girls’, ahead of new album ‘Wild Nights’, out through Bella Union on 8 Jun. Listen here. Touring as support to Wire later this month, they’ll play a headline show at The Lexington in London on 27 May.
• The nominations for this year’s Ivor Novello Awards are out. My what a list of songs and songwriters! It certainly is a list.
READ MORE ABOUT: Giorgio Moroder | Ivor Novello Awards | Killer Mike | PINS | Rihanna | Show Me The Body | Sia | Taylor Swift | US Girls | Waxahatchee
Wednesday 22 April 2015, 10:15 | By Andy Malt
Tractors: The next step in the evolution of music piracy
And Finally Business News Digital Labels & Publishers
Online music piracy is probably not the torment to the music industry it once was, but that does not mean it’s gone away entirely. In fact, there are still plenty of innovations happening in this arena. And the next could be the most terrifying of all: Tractors.
This warning has apparently been sent out by tractor maker John Deere, which is currently trying to argue that farmers who buy its machinery only licence the software by which it’s then controlled. Citing protections provided by the good old Digital Millennium Copyright Act in the US, the company has claimed that it should not be forced to give tractor owners access to that software, in order to modify, upgrade or repair the machines, for a variety of reasons. All arguments on which the US Copyright Office will rule on in July.
But in the meantime, the Electronic Frontier Foundation has commented on the John Deere copyright claims in a report actually focused on a filing made by US car makers, and it reveals that “John Deere even argued that letting people modify car computer systems will result in them pirating music through the on-board entertainment system, which would be one of the more convoluted ways to copy media (and the exemption process doesn’t authorise copyright infringement, anyway)”.
So, there you have it. Record labels! Unite against the tyranny of tractors! Though please do be aware that this is not today’s biggest tractor story.
READ MORE ABOUT: Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) | John Deere
Wednesday 22 April 2015, 10:10 | By Andy Malt
Approved: Nonsemble – Go Seigen Vs Fujisawa Kuranosuke
CMU Approved
In the final round of the 1953 championship of traditional Chinese strategy game Go, Fujisawa Kuranosuke was beaten for the second consecutive year by Go Seigen, who is widely regarded as one of the game’s best players of all time, and by many as the greatest player of the 20th Century. Seigen soared to a 5-1 victory when he beat Fujisawa down from sen-ai-sen handicap to josen handicap.
Despite all I’ve just read on Wikipedia about Go and Go Seigen, I’m still not 100% sure what that last bit means, but I’m fairly certain the game was a tense and exciting event. That much I’m getting not from Wikipedia, but rather the new release from Nonsemble, ‘Go Seigen Vs Fujisawa Kuranosuke’, a 30 minute piece of music based on the moves played in that game.
The seven-piece group take elements of traditional chamber music and fuse them with modern influences from post-rock, minimalism and pop. The result, as found on ‘Go Seigen Vs Fujisawa Kuranosuke’, is a thoroughly engaging sound and style that pushes classical music forward in a really interesting way.
Set for release through Bigo & Twigetti on 27 Apr, you can preview the full album here:
READ MORE ABOUT: Nonsemble
Tuesday 21 April 2015, 09:50 | By Chris Cooke
Pandora recruits industry veterans to its board ahead of latest battles with music community
Business News Digital Industry People Top Stories
While Spotify has often taken the heat whenever artists or labels have had a little anti-streaming rant here in Europe – and Taylor Swift’s anti-freemium protest last year was mainly spun as being an attack against the Swedish streaming service – in the US it’s fair to say that a lot more hate has been thrown by the music community at big bad Pandora.
By far the biggest streaming service Stateside, and with the majority of its users on the freemium level, Pandora has faced criticism from all sides in the music community, despite regular protestations from the digital firm that most of its staff are music makers and music fans, and it’s in the business of helping the music industry generate new digital revenue.
Because it is a personalised radio service rather than a fully on-demand platform, Pandora mainly gets permission to play sound recordings via the SoundExchange compulsory licence. Meanwhile publishing rights are covered by the collective licensing system – with deals at the mercy of the American copyright courts – and publishers have been told that they have to license Pandora this way unless they are willing to pull from collectively licensing all services entirely, including radio and public performance.
All of which has helped Pandora to date, but it means the company doesn’t have direct relationships with labels and publishers in the way Spotify does, which has led to rights owners as well as artists and songwriters becoming vocal critics of the royalties the service pays, and even more so the fact it wants to cut those royalty payments even further.
Which made yesterday’s board announcement all the more interesting. Because, with various battles ahead on both the compulsory and collective licensing front, Pandora confirmed that it is appointing two very well connected music industry veterans to its board.
First up Tim Leiweke, former CEO of live music giant AEG and now chief at Maple Leaf Sports & Entertainment, has already been elected to the streaming firm’s board of directors. And secondly, and more interestingly given Pandora’s battle is with the rights owners, also nominated for a board seat is Roger Faxon, former boss of EMI Music Publishing and, in its final chapter as a standalone music company, the entire EMI Group.
Faxon’s appointment is particularly interesting in that it’s his former colleague at EMI (and, some gossipers would have it, executive rival) Marty Bandier who is leading the charge to have collective licensing rules in the US changed so that he can force Pandora to do a direct deal with his company – the combined Sony/ATV/EMI – rather than relying on licences from BMI and ASCAP. And it’s Bandier who has gone as far as to threaten withdrawing from the collecting societies in their entirety if he doesn’t get his way.
Given their CVs, presumably Pandora hopes Leiweke and Faxon – once in the board room – can offer insider insights aplenty while calling in some favours on behalf of the streaming service as it continues in its bid to placate the tetchy and often vocal content providers.
Confirming the appointments, Pandora boss Brian McAndrews told reporters: “I could not be more excited for Roger and Tim to join the board. Both are forward-thinking and bring invaluable expertise to help Pandora play a leading role in the evolution of the music industry”.
READ MORE ABOUT: Pandora | Roger Faxon | Tim Leiweke
Tuesday 21 April 2015, 09:49 | By Andy Malt
AC/DC’s Phil Rudd changes plea to guilty
Artist News Legal
AC/DC’s possibly ex drummer Phil Rudd has changed his plea to guilty on charges of threatening to kill and possession of drugs.
As previously reported, Rudd was arrested last November and was originally accused of attempting to hire a hitman, though this charge was later dropped. In December he entered a plea of not-guilty on the other charges stemming from the same incident.
Appearing yesterday at a district court in the city of Tauranga, it was claimed that the charges related to a phone call about the promotion of Rudd’s solo album. It was an angry call because he was angry about how the campaign had gone.
Outside the court, the drummer’s lawyer Craig Tuck told reporters: “This matter essentially revolved around an angry phone call, that was it”.
READ MORE ABOUT: AC/DC | Phil Rudd
Tuesday 21 April 2015, 09:48 | By Andy Malt
Vampire Weekend bassist Chris Baio signs solo Glassnote deal
Business News Deals
Vampire Weekend bassist Chris Baio has signed a worldwide solo deal with Glassnote, it was announced yesterday.
“I’m beyond thrilled to be releasing music on such a world-class label”, Baio said of the deal. Beyond thrilled! “I’ve been a fan of Glassnote and its artists for years”.
The musician will release the debut album from his Baio project this summer. He describes the record as “Bowie and Ferry-influenced pop songs and dumbsmart arena techno [that] comfortably co-exist”.
READ MORE ABOUT: Baio | Glassnote
Tuesday 21 April 2015, 09:47 | By Andy Malt
Techno label recalls EP after tracks found to be plagiarised
Business News Labels & Publishers
German record label Tresor has recalled all copies of a new EP from Italian producer Emmanuel Beddewela, released under the name Confucio, after it was discovered that the record plagiarised music by techno producers Stanislav Tolkachev and Alexey Volkov.
Speaking to Resident Advisor, the label said that it had not been able to contact Beddewela to discuss the matter, but having been “made aware that two of the three [tracks on the EP in question] had been produced using works from other producers” it was deleting the release.
In a statement to RA, it continued: “The foundation of these tracks come from producers we regularly work with and truly respect, such as Stanislav Tolkachev and Alexey Volkov. We would like to thank them publicly for all their support, understanding and assistance. With the label’s mission being to bring new and exciting releases to our listeners and listening to all the demos we receive, our mistake was to engage an artist we were not entirely familiar with”.
Noting that reworking, sampling and remixing are commonplace in electronic music, the label said that “these examples go beyond this”.
A planned launch event for the EP at Tresor’s Berlin club planned for last Friday was also cancelled.
READ MORE ABOUT: Alexey Volkov | Confucio | Emmanuel Beddewela | Stanislav Tolkachev | Tresor
Tuesday 21 April 2015, 09:46 | By Andy Malt
Ooh Brilliant to close next month
Business News Marketing & PR
Music PR agency Ooh Brilliant will close on 1 May, founder James Penycate has announced. Since launching five years ago, the company has worked with artists including Mark Ronson, La Roux, Bloc Party, Manic Street Preachers, Tom Odell, Icona Pop, Gold Panda and Tove Lo.
“It is with great sadness that I announce the closure of Ooh Brilliant”, said Penycate in statement this morning. “At times it’s been incredibly exciting to work with such talented creatives and ultimately it’s been a privilege to work with so many of my musical heroes. I’d like to personally thank Karen Staughton, Anna Goss, Stephen Richards, Gareth Dobson and Columbia UK – without their help there is little doubt we would have made it this far”.
He continued: “I also take great pride in the staff who started their music careers with us and have all progressed across the industry. Sim Rollison is now Digital Marketing Manager at Columbia, Liv Mathias at Island in marketing, Holly Rubenstein is now at Reuters Music, as an Entertainment & Features Journalist, whilst Jasmine (Jazz) Atkin works at Mom + Pop as Digital Marketing Manager in New York”.
Over the last ten days before the company closes, it will publish a blog posts on its favourite moments on its Tumblr site.
READ MORE ABOUT: James Penycate | Ooh Brilliant
Tuesday 21 April 2015, 09:45 | By Andy Malt
Major investors in talks with Spotify for $400 million funding round
Business News Deals Digital Labels & Publishers
Sky News has named a number of the high profile investors in advanced talks to buy shares in Spotify in its latest funding round. As previously reported, the company is trying to raise $400 million, which would increase its valuation to $8.4 billion.
Among the new investors is London-based hedge fund Lansdowne Partners, which profited greatly by betting on bank shares in the aftermath of the banking crisis and became one of the biggest shareholders in Royal Mail when it was privatised. They sound delightful, don’t they? In addition to Lansdowne, according to Sky sources, other new investors are the Abu Dhabi Investment Council, Baillie Gifford, DE Shaw, Discovery Capital Management, Halcyon Asset Management, Northzone, PSAM, Rinkelberg Capital and Senvest Capital.
Some existing investors are also reportedly in negotiations to increase their stakes. These are Goldman Sachs, the Wall Street bank, GSV and Technology Crossover Ventures, all of whom first invested in 2013.
It is possible that some of these investors will drop out of the running as terms are negotiated, the looming renewal of Spotify’s licensing agreement with Universal seemingly something of a sticking point.
Universal, of course, has been making bold statements about its changing views of freemium in recent months, likely as a negotiating tactic. Last month, a leaked email from Spotify claimed that it would pay out $1 billion to the major label over the next two years.
READ MORE ABOUT: Spotify | Universal Music
Tuesday 21 April 2015, 09:44 | By Chris Cooke
Norway preparing to switch off FM in 2017
Business News Media
Bad news for fans of frequency modulation. Well, mainly Norwegian fans of frequency modulation. But you know, once the Norwegians kick FM into the history books, that could start a trend.
So yes, Norway is set to become the first country in the world to switch off analogue radio broadcasts forcing everyone onto digital radio channels. The last FM transmitters in the country are set to be switched off in December 2017.
And given that research suggests that nearly half of all radio listeners in the country tune into FM each day, 45% don’t own a digital radio set, and 80% of cars still only have analogue radio receivers, that creates something of a challenge for the Norwegian radio sector.
Though, as those who have followed the long drawn out debate about if and when to switch off FM in the UK will know, some reckon that a fixed imminent deadline is needed to force a big shift from analogue to digital, otherwise gradual shift could take decades. Car makers, for starters, are only likely to start putting digital radios in all their vehicles by default once they know AM/FM is definitely disappearing. And, arguably, it was an unmovable impending deadline that forced everyone to switch to digital TV.
Of course, in the UK the radio industry is divided on whether FM needs to be switched off at all, with some arguing that it’s the digital radio network that is unnecessary, and that stations should focus on the growth of internet-based channels while keeping FM as back-up. Though officially the government is still set on shifting everyone from FM to DAB eventually. It’s just no one over here is keen on setting (or sticking to) deadlines.
But it will be interesting to see if Norway switching off FM – and providing a case study as to the pros and cons of a speedy forced switchover – persuades governments elsewhere to do likewise. For radio stations the benefit of switchover is not having to pay to broadcast the same services on two networks, while government gets to sell off the FM frequencies to tel cos, who say they could then provide better mobile networks, especially in remote areas.
READ MORE ABOUT: DAB
Tuesday 21 April 2015, 09:43 | By CMU Editorial
More names confirmed for licensing strand at The Great Escape
Business News Digital Education & Events Labels & Publishers The Great Escape 2015
As The Great Escape appears ever more clearly on the horizon, today we’ve published more information on another of the full-day CMU Insights conference strands that will sit at the heart of the Great Escape Convention this year.
CMU Insights will present four one-day strands this May, including one called Music Licensing: Explained At Last! presented in association with PRS For Music and PPL. This strand will provide a concise and wide-ranging guide to music copyright, how the different music rights make money, and how different digital services are licensed. If you own or create copyright, work for a creator or rights owner, or license music for a digital or media platform, this strand will answer a lot of questions and queries.
Kicking things off will be a guide to how the different music rights revenue streams are performing in 2015. Alex Jacob from IFPI will guide us through the label group’s global record industry stats. Camilla Waite from PPL will explore the growth of neighbouring rights income and the increased importance of SoundExchange in the US. And Chris Carey from Media Insight Consulting will shed light on CISAC’s data on music publishing worldwide.
CMU Business Editor Chris Cooke will then explain how streaming services are licensed, including the different elements of the labels’ deals with platforms like Spotify, and how the music publishers are licensing streaming set-ups through a combination of collective and direct licenses. And then, giving more in-depth explanations on the intricacies of digital licensing, we’ll hear from Ben McEwen, Head Of Online at PRS For Music; Eric Mackay, Head Of Digital For Europe at Warner/Chappell; Lee Morrison, General Manager UK at Believe Digital; and Tom Frederickse, Partner at Clintons.
And, of course, as previously reported, another key component of Music Licensing: Explained At Last! will be the big digital pie debate, looking at how streaming income is split between different stakeholders: ie labels, publishers, artists and songwriters. Amongst the people set to take part in that debate are IP consultant Amanda Harcourt, the MMF’s Andy Edwards, MCPS/IMPEL’s Jane Dyball, the MU’s Horace Trubridge, Cooking Vinyl’s Rob Collins, MPA’s Sarah Osborn and BASCA’s Vick Bain.
For the full lowdown on this strand click here. And to get in you need a TGE delegates pass, which you can buy from here.
READ MORE ABOUT: The Great Escape
Tuesday 21 April 2015, 09:42 | By Andy Malt
Sufjan Stevens announces UK and Ireland tour dates
Artist News Gigs & Festivals
Sufjan Stevens has announced his first European tour dates for four years, including a run of shows in the UK and Ireland, in support of his rightly acclaimed new album ‘Carrie & Lowell’. He has also announced End Of The Road as his only UK festival appearance this summer.
Here are the dates in full:
28 Aug: Dublin, Helix
29 Aug: Dublin, Helix
30 Aug: Edinburgh, Playhouse
31 Aug: Manchester, Apollo
2 Sep: London, Royal Festival Hall
3 Sep: London, Royal Festival Hall
4 Sep: Brighton, Dome
5 Sep: End Of The Road Festival
6 Sep: Bristol, Colston Hall
In the latest edition of the CMU Trends Report, we speak to the Label Manager at Sufjan Stevens’ label Asthmatic Kitty about how the company dealt with the leak of the new album ahead of its release.
READ MORE ABOUT: Sufjan Stevens
Tuesday 21 April 2015, 09:42 | By Andy Malt
One Direction’s Louis Tomlinson to launch record label
Artist News Business News Deals Labels & Publishers
One Direction’s Louis Tomlinson is to launch his own record label as an imprint of Syco.
Speaking to The Sun, Tomlinson said: “It’s absolutely great to be working with Syco on a label. This is something I’ve wanted to do for some time, and to be given the opportunity to potentially give new artists a platform is an incredible feeling. I hope to sign some really exciting artists down the line”.
The new label’s first signing is Jack Walton, who came eleventh in the 2014 series of ‘X-Factor’, and Tomlinson is also apparently planning to put together a new girl group. However, he doesn’t intend to properly launch the label until 2016. Well, I guess it’ll be easier to focus on it all after One Direction have split.
Speaking of One Direction splitting, director of the band’s ‘This Is Us’ film, Morgan Spurlock, has predicted that Harry Styles will be the next to quit the outfit. He apparently told a TMZ pap that it was only a matter of time before Style goes it alone, but that the remaining trio would soldier on for a while longer.
Trio? Yes, trio. Zayn Malik quit already, remember? You might have forgotten because he’s been so quiet on Twitter. But he returned to the social network after over a month of silence yesterday. “Wanna say thanks to everyone that’s been there for me over the last few weeks”, he wrote. “Love you all, you know who you are x”.
He then added a few minutes later: “The x is a kiss by the way, ha. It’s not a mystery. Sorry to any confused”.
Yeah, nice try Zayn. First person to work out who ‘x’ is gets a biscuit.
READ MORE ABOUT: Louis Tomlinson | One Direction | Sony Music | Syco | Zayn Malik
Tuesday 21 April 2015, 09:41 | By Andy Malt
Twin Shadow to undergo reconstructive hand surgery after tour bus crash
Artist News
George Lewis Jr, aka Twin Shadow, is to undergo reconstructive surgery on his hand this week, after he, his band and crew were involved in a tour bus crash last week.
According to a statement from Warner Bros Records, the bus hit a tractor trailer while travelling through Aurora, Colorado. The twelve people on the bus were taken to local hospitals, with driver John Crawford and drummer Andy Bauer still in serious conditions.
All tour dates up to 22 May have been cancelled, which includes the UK shows on the tour. Shows are currently scheduled to recommence on 23 May at Trainon in Paris.
The exact cause of the crash is currently unclear.
READ MORE ABOUT: Twin Shadow
