Monday 21 December 2015, 10:58 | By Chris Cooke

Ticketmaster takes the heat during unprecedented demand for Adele tickets Stateside

Business News Live Business

I often think, the main reason for using Ticketmaster to sell your tickets is that they are already the music brand everyone loves to hate, so if and when things go wrong – because there’s too much demand for tickets, or there’s a screw up on individual transactions, or people don’t like a promoter’s pricing – the Live Nation subsidiary soaks up all the consumer rage, and the promoter, venue and artist walk away with their reps untarnished.

Last week, Ticketmaster took the heat as Adele tickets went on sale in the US. This time it was the ticketing firm’s own servers that were the problem, though they only struggled because demand was so fucking high.

According to Billboard’s sources, over ten million fans went online to try and buy one of the 750,000 tickets available, with four million New Yorkers reportedly online at the same time doing the refresh dance in a bid to secure a ticket or two. Bloody Adele, not satisfied with breaking all those album sales records, now she’s insisting on breaking all the ticketing records too. Leave at least something for someone else Adkins.

Aware that fans were venting loudly on social media about Ticketmaster’s lethargic and crashing website (the firm denies it ever crashed), the company’s President for North America, Jared Smith, sent a memo to staff telling them they’d all done very well indeed, despite the unprecedented demand causing servers to wobble.

In the memo, published by Billboard, Smith writes: “I know it must be frustrating to read that we crashed during Adele’s onsale and that fans are upset with us because they couldn’t get tickets. I want you all to know that [Live Nation CEO] Michael [Rapino] and I, and more importantly our partners, know just how well the systems (and you all) performed yesterday. Thanks to your efforts – even with what I’m told was easily an all-time record of ten million+ fans rushing to our site – we delivered a good experience for as many fans as possible”.

Confirming the official excuse for the wobbles, he went on: “Unfortunately, when there is such a exceptional artist with unprecedented demand against short supply, there are inevitably going to be disappointed fans”.

The good news is that Team Ticketmaster are presumably used to being at the receiving end of consumer-hate, so they’ll just let the Adele-fan-rage wash over them and get on with their jobs. Well done one and all.

READ MORE ABOUT: Adele | Ticketmaster

Monday 21 December 2015, 10:57 | By Andy Malt

EE recalls Power Bar portable chargers

Brands & Merch Business News

In 2014, as part of its Glastonbury sponsorship, mobile network EE launched an initiative to make charging your devices at the festival less painful.

Just buy yourself a portable battery called a Power Bar and when that ran out, well, you could come and swap it for another fully charged one. And that was all great. But now it turns out those things might be a fire risk.

So much so, EE is recalling all its Power Bars, offering a £20 voucher to redeem against other accessories in its store. Says the company: “If you have a Power Bar, you should stop using it straight away and hand it in to one of our stores. We are taking this action because we are aware of a very small number of further incidents where Power Bars have overheated in circumstances that could cause a fire safety risk”.

Further details here.

READ MORE ABOUT: EE

Monday 21 December 2015, 10:55 | By Chris Cooke

Beatles may stream this week

Business News Digital Labels & Publishers

The Beatles are set to party like its 2008 by finally arriving on the streaming platforms this very Christmas Eve, according to sources speaking to Billboard.

There has been speculation for some time as to when the Fab Four’s catalogue might finally arrive on the streaming services. Some expected Apple – which finally persuaded the band’s reps to let them sell Beatles tracks on iTunes in 2010, and which has enjoyed exclusivity ever since – might have a Fab Four-themed announcement when it put Apple Music live earlier this year, but that didn’t come to pass.

Then, when the Beatles website suddenly had a countdown clock in September, there was new chatter that this could be a big streaming announcement, but it turned out to be linked to the recent release of a repackaged version of their ‘1’ hits collection.

However, say sources, new discussions about the streaming of Beatles recordings have been underway all year, Rob Wells kickstarting negotiations before departing Universal Music back in February. The mega-major now controls the catalogue, of course, in partnership with the band’s Apple Corps company, since its EMI acquisition in 2012.

While many expected an exclusivity deal to be struck up with just one streaming service, probably Apple, the latest consensus is that multiple and possibly most platforms will be given access to Beatles albums at the same time. I wonder if that will include any 1965 unreleased rarities, which need to be made public this month to ensure they stay in copyright in Europe. We’ll see, I guess.

READ MORE ABOUT: The Beatles

Monday 21 December 2015, 10:53 | By Chris Cooke

Universal winding down Sinfini Music as standalone site

Business News Digital Labels & Publishers Media

Classical music website Sinfini Music – which set out to make classical more accessible to those unfamiliar with the genre – has stopped commissioning new editorial content, according to Classical Music Magazine.

The Sinfini website was actually a Universal Music-owned initiative, though its editorial covered releases and events across the classical genre. Earlier this month it also launched a new playlists service called Pitched, powering classical tracklistings on Spotify and Deezer.

The mega-major says that the Sinfini Music team will now focus on creating content for the website of its classical label Deutsche Grammophon, seemingly instead of running a standalone editorial service. It’s possible that the Pitched service could also become a standalone project, given Universal’s wider interests in curating playlists on key streaming platforms.

Classical Music quotes a Universal Music spokesman as saying: “Sinfini Music will now power the launch of the English language element of Deutsche Grammophon’s comprehensive site. Sinfini’s unique content will amplify and enhance the online presence of this already iconic label”.

READ MORE ABOUT: Deutsche Grammophon | Sinfini | Universal Music

Monday 21 December 2015, 10:52 | By Chris Cooke

Billboard publisher spun off into standalone company

Business News Media

The current owner of US music industry magazine Billboard is spinning off the title – as well as other trade mags like The Hollywood Reporter and awards producer Dick Clark Productions – into a new business that will be controlled by the current president of its media unit.

The arrangement will create a standalone company led by Todd Boehley, who is currently President of Guggenheim Digital Media, which has to date overseen the media assets of US finance firm Guggenheim Partners.

The new business will have four units, one running Billboard and The Hollywood Reporter, another controlling Adweek, Mediabistro and the Clio Awards, and then Golden Globes maker Dick Clark Productions. The fourth will be film distributor A24, of which Boehley is already a co-owner. Boehley will cease to work for Guggenheim as a result of the deal, though he will retain links with the finance firm, not least as a shareholder.

Confirming his new business, and its acquisition of Guggenheim’s media assets, Boehly is quoted by Billboard as saying: “I’m very excited about this. These are tremendous brands with huge growth potential, especially as they expand into video. My goal is to invest and build something even more special than what we have now”.

READ MORE ABOUT: Billboard | Guggenheim Media

Monday 21 December 2015, 10:50 | By Andy Malt

PJ Harvey readying new album

Artist News Releases

PJ Harvey is going to release a new album in early 2016. Which we already knew, but it still seems surprising and a bit exciting. Maybe I’m just letting the festive spirit get to me.

Anyway, as you’ll remember, Harvey did that whole ‘recording in a box’ thing at the start of the year at Somerset House in London. This was, it turns out, the final stage of a much longer writing process, which saw her travel to Kosovo, Afghanistan and Washington, DC.

Here’s a short clip of some behind the scenes photos and a little bit of new music:

READ MORE ABOUT: PJ Harvey

Monday 21 December 2015, 10:43 | By Chris Cooke

DJ Mag presents its Best Of British Awards

Artist News Awards Media

DJ Mag held its Best Of British Awards last week, a celebration of all the things that are both dance music and British. So, it was a bit like the magazine’s annual DJ Poll, but with categories and no Dutch DJs in the house to steal all the accolades.

And who won the prizes? Well, I’ll tell you who would the bloody prizes. These guys…

Best DJ: Eats Everything
Breakthrough DJ: Jasper James
Best MC: Skepta
Best Producer: Nocturnal Sunshine, aka Maya Jane Coles
Breakthrough Producer: Palms Trax
Best Live Act: Chemical Brothers

Best Album: The Revenge – Love That Will Not Die
Best Tune: Bicep – Just
Best Remix: Eats Everything feat Tiga vs Audion – Dancing
Best Compilation: Slam present Transmissions – Glasgow

Best Radio Show: Annie Mac
Best DJ Mag Live Stream: Carl Cox

Best Large Club: Fabric
Best Small Club: Sub Club
Best Dance Festival: We Are FSTVL
Best Boutique Festival: The Social
Best Club Event: Circus

Best Label: Defected
Breakthrough Label: Dixon Avenue Basement Jams

Industry Icon: Greg Wilson
Outstanding Contribution: Fabio & Grooverider

READ MORE ABOUT: DJ Mag | DJ Mag Best Of British Awards

Monday 21 December 2015, 10:42 | By Andy Malt

CMU’s One Liners: NHS Choir, M83, Shane MacGowan, more

Artist News One Liners Releases

Other notable announcements and developments today…

• The Lewisham & Greenwich NHS Choir is currently on track for the Christmas number one position with ‘A Bridge Over You’ – a mash-up of Coldplay’s ‘Fix You’ and ‘Bridge Over Troubled Water’ by Simon & Garfunkel. This year, thanks to the chart’s shift to Friday, the big reveal will come on Christmas Day itself.

• The new M83 album is finished and is apparently “quite different” to any of Anthony Gonzalez’s previous works, it being influenced by 60s and 70s TV shows “like ‘Punky Brewster’ and ‘Who’s The Boss'”.

• Sunn o)))’s Stephen O’Malley has released a vinyl-only album, titled ‘Fuck Fundamentalist Pigs’ in response to the attacks on Paris (where O’Malley lives) last month. Find out more about the release here.

• Balam Acab has put out his first new release in four years. Check it out on Bandcamp here.

• Specific Records has released a new EP by CMU approved Japanese pop-rap duo Suiyoubi No Campanella called ‘Jugem Je T’aime’. It’s out on limited edition vinyl right now.

• Benga will continue his tentative return to music in February, playing a headline DJ set in a Tectonic-hosted room at Fabric on 12 Feb.

• Dental surgeon Darragh Mulrooney has spoken to The Independent about climbing “the Everest of dentistry” by putting teeth back in the mouth of Shane MacGowan.

READ MORE ABOUT: Balam Acab | Benga | M83 | NHS Choir | Shane MacGowan | Stephen O'Malley | Suiyoubi No Campanella | Sunn O)))

Monday 21 December 2015, 10:37 | By Chris Cooke

Simon Cowell thinks Zayn Malik’s 1D dissing was just “rude”

And Finally Artist News

Simon Cowell thinks that there Zayn Malik is just a little bit “rude”, what with his dissing of One Direction’s music making and him calling his former group’s sound “generic as fuck”.

As previously reported, Malik, now pursuing his solo career of course, recently gave an interview with Fader magazine in which he talked about his time inside the boyband powerhouse.

Describing his frustration with the 1D music making process, he said that he’d sometimes try to put his own spin on a song when recording it in the studio, but that the band’s bosses would keep getting him to re-record his bits “until there was a straight version that was pop, generic as fuck, so they could use that version”.

But Cowell denies that 1D members had so little creative influence on their output. The Mirror quotes the Syco chief – responding to Malik’s Fader chat – as saying: “It is a bit rude to the people who wrote all the hits with them. And to the other band members. I mean they all wrote a lot of the stuff”.

Don’t worry though, Malik will probably change his tune over time. “I think once he has had a chance to reflect on everything he will probably reconsider what he’s said”, says Cowell. And that’s probably true. Just before the inevitable mega-bucks reunion tour, presumably.

Meanwhile, don’t be thinking Mr Syco is sitting at home every night fretting over what the boy Malik has been saying this week. “To be honest, I don’t even think about it too much, because as soon as he left we sorted him out with a label who really were enthusiastic about him and then my loyalty was back with the boys”.

So there you go. But here’s the question of the day: what do you make of Cowell’s label-boss-responding-to-bitter-former-signee remarks? Yeah, I know, generic as fuck.

READ MORE ABOUT: Simon Cowell | Zayn Malik

Friday 18 December 2015, 12:23 | By Andy Malt

Approved 2015: Grimes

Artists Of The Year CMU Approved

Every day this week in the CMU Approved slot, we’ve been looking at one of our five favourite artists of 2015. Concluding our list, it’s Grimes…

When you’re waiting for an artist to follow up a critically successful album, there are a few markers that all might not be well in the studio. For example, taking a lot longer than expected, scrapping months’ worth of work, suddenly gaining access to limitless resources when being lo-fi has always been a key attraction, and seeming attempts to attract a more mainstream audience. All boxes checked by Grimes as she worked on the follow up to 2012’s ‘Visions’.

It was in January 2014 that she first announced that her fourth album was pencilled in for a 9 Sep release. Then, after that date slipped, she said in an interview that she’d binned all of her work so far because it “sucked”. There was also speculation that the trashed music had been more in the vein of ‘Go’, a song written for and rejected by Rihanna (although she has since said that this was not the case).

Meanwhile, prior to all of this, back in 2013, Grimes had signed a new management deal with Jay-Z’s Roc Nation, presumably opening up more funds and resources than before. Basically, it was not looking good. Yet, once that new record was finally finished, she still managed to deliver one of 2015’s best albums with ‘Art Angels’.

Like all of the artists in our Approved 2015 list (I have just realised), the key words for ‘Art Angels’ are ‘experimental’ and ‘accessible’. It is clearly not an album recorded alone in a bedroom, like her previous efforts, and it’s one that more wholeheartedly throws itself into pop. But Grimes maintains the idiosyncrasies that made her interesting in the first place amongst all of this. It’s a difficult balance, with the quirks sometimes at risk of derailing the accessibility of the album (and vice versa), but she holds it together in a way that makes the journey all the more exiting.

Listen to ‘Flesh Without Blood’ and ‘Scream’ here:

Also, you check out a Spotify playlist featuring (almost) all of the tracks featured in the CMU Approved column in 2015 here:

READ MORE ABOUT: Approved 2015 | Grimes

Friday 18 December 2015, 12:09 | By Chris Cooke

BMG awarded $25 million in potentially landmark case on US safe harbours

Business News Digital Labels & Publishers Legal Top Stories

In a year when safe harbours were a big topic of discussion in music circles, a US court case that got underway relatively quietly just over twelve months ago could have just set an important precedent regarding the obligations of tech companies – and especially internet service providers – in helping rights owners tackle online piracy.

As much previously reported, BMG and Round Hill Music both sued US net firm Cox Communications last December. The music rights companies argued that Cox – which is not part of the Copyright Alert System scheme that involves most other major ISPs Stateside – was failing to deal with correspondence from their anti-piracy agent Rightscorp alerting them to customers on its network who were infringing BMG and Round Hill copyrights. That, the music firms claimed, meant that Cox itself should be held liable for the infringement.

Various legal technicalities were explored as the case went through the motions, with Cox insisting that it was fulfilling all of its obligations under US copyright law, while questioning the tactics and approach of Rightscorp, which the ISP liked to portray as a “copyright troll” that scared suspected file-sharers into paying fines without necessarily having sufficient evidence that any infringement had taken place. The fact that Rightscorp has been criticised for its tactics elsewhere aided this line of argument from Cox.

But last month, as the case was finally getting ready to be properly heard in court, the judge overseeing the proceedings made a significant and slightly surprising pre-trial summary judgement that pretty much blew most of Cox’s defence out of the water.

He said that BMG (at this point Round Hill was removed from the litigation) had sufficiently demonstrated that Cox had a deliberately slack approach to dealing with suspected infringers, so that it could keep selling those people internet services. In a subsequent expansion on his summary judgement, judge Liam O’Grady referenced emails sent between Cox employees that backed up that claim.

All of this meant that Cox could not rely on the safe harbours of US copyright law, which say that tech firms cannot be held liable for the infringement of their customers providing they have some measures in place to assist rights owners who identify people using the tech firm’s software or services to infringe.

With that summary judgement made, things weren’t looking good for Cox as the case went to court earlier this month. Meaning it was no real surprise that the jury hearing the case yesterday ruled that Cox was indeed liable for wilful contributory infringement by deliberately turning a blind eye to its customers accessing and sharing unlicensed content, even when made aware of it by BMG. Cox did manage to fight off claims that it was also liable for vicarious infringement, though it was nevertheless very much the loser in this case.

The jury then awarded BMG $25 million in damages. Given that Rightscorp said it had detected 1.8 million instances of infringement on Cox’s network, involving over 150,000 copyright works, and with 1397 specific BMG-controlled works listed as part of the lawsuit, actually those damages are relatively low. The maximum allowed under US law would have topped $200 million. But it is still a significant cost for a company which seemed pretty bullish that it could kick this action out of the court when BMG first went legal.

Cox – which is also in dispute with its insurance firm over who should cover the costs of this legal battle – will likely appeal O’Grady’s earlier decision on safe harbours. But even so, this ruling is likely to make net firms and tech companies in the US a little more wary of their obligations under copyright law, with the safe harbours on which they rely having been defined a little more precisely in this case that in past disputes.

READ MORE ABOUT: BMG | Cox Communications

Friday 18 December 2015, 12:05 | By Andy Malt

Rita Ora sues for release from Roc Nation contract

Business News Labels & Publishers Legal

Rita Ora is suing Roc Nation claiming violation of California’s oft cited ‘seven year rule’ on contract terms. The singer says that her career as a recording artist has been stalled by Jay-Z’s company, meaning she has released only one album since signing her record deal in 2008, despite recording several that have never seen the light of day.

She is now seeking a court judgement that her contract is unenforceable due to it passing California’s seven year limit on the length of ‘personal services contracts’.

“When Rita signed, Roc Nation and its senior executives were very involved with her as an artist”, states the complaint, according to The Hollywood Reporter. “As Roc Nation’s interests diversified, there were fewer resources available and the company suffered a revolving door of executives. Rita’s remaining supporters at the label left or moved on to other activities, to the point where she no longer had a relationship with anyone at the company”.

The complaint also says that she has been “hamstrung” as a result of being left with Sony distribution even after Roc Nation moved its formal relationship to Universal, leaving her in “a political quagmire of dysfunction”.

In these cases, there is often a dispute over exactly what an artist is contracted for – providing their ‘personal services’ or the albums that result from them. Generally, labels facing this situation will counter that they are due damages on undelivered albums. However, Ora seems to be arguing that – even if Roc Nation says that – she has delivered enough albums under her deal, but the label has failed to do anything with them.

READ MORE ABOUT: Rita Ora | Roc Nation

Friday 18 December 2015, 12:02 | By Chris Cooke

Film pirates jailed in another round of hard sentencing for prolific file-sharers

Business News Digital Legal

Five men accused of being prolific online pirates, and who between them uploaded thousands of movies onto the net, have been jailed for “putting at risk” over £52 million in revenues for the film sector. Two of those jailed have received sentences over four years, continuing a recent trend of harsher penalties for online pirates.

The five men were identified by an investigation led by the Federation Against Copyright Theft, which accused the defendants of together putting over 9000 movies online without licence, resulting in around five million views of those movies. All five men ultimately pleaded guilty to conspiracy to defraud at the start of the year, a more serious crime than copyright infringement that allows tougher jail terms.

Which is how this week two of the accused were sentenced to over four years in jail; the most prolific of the infringers getting four years six months, while another – who foolishly continued to illegally upload movies even while on bail – getting four years two months. Two of the other accused men got three years six months, while the fifth defendant received a two year suspended sentence.

Welcoming the sentencing, FACT Director General Kieron Sharp told reporters: “Today’s sentencing is a great success for FACT as it marks the first time a release group has been criminally prosecuted. [The defendants] were all aware that they were engaging in criminal activity. Their actions have now cost them their liberty. The result of this case sends out a serious message to anyone engaging in online piracy to think twice or face getting caught, prosecuted and sent to prison”.

Meanwhile the government’s IP Minister Lucy Neville-Rolfe added: “The illegal copying and distribution of films has real consequences for the film industry and consumers. Today’s sentencing shows how seriously the courts take this crime and the power of collaboration between industry, government and enforcement agencies”.

Whereas most of the early legal attacks against online pirates were civil actions, the music and movie industries have been increasingly pushing for criminal action to be taken by those who run prolific piracy operations, even though those operations may be very lo-fi and not necessarily run for profit.

Rights owners have also sought tougher sentences for the pirates, either by pressing fraud rather than copyright charges, or by lobbying government to make the penalties for online copyright infringement closer to those for CD and DVD bootlegging crimes.

In the music space, the landmark case in the UK to date was the BPI’s private prosecution against two men linked to the long defunct music forum Dancing Jesus. Site founder Kane Robinson and prolific uploader Richard Graham together received combined jail sentences of four years five months.

Recently Robinson – who, unlike Graham and the five men jailed this week, was more hands-off in the piracy, in that he operated the site but didn’t prolifically file-share himself – spoke to Noisey about his prosecution and jail time, reckoning the record industry picked him as an easy target to set a precedent that online pirates could be sent to prison.

Robinson couldn’t afford expert legal representation, and said that figures presented at the last minute by the prosecution with regards the financial impact his site had had on the record industry ensured the custodial sentence, even though a more expert legal rep would likely have disputed those figures.

Robinson’s story, and his argument that he was unfairly treated by the record industry and the criminal justice system, is a very interesting read. Though, following his case, and this week’s film piracy judgement, the entertainment industry will be hoping that it is now clear that, in the UK, prolific piracy online might not just result in litigation, but also prison.

READ MORE ABOUT: Federation Against Copyright Theft

Friday 18 December 2015, 11:58 | By Andy Malt

Wu-Tang single-copy album buyer Martin Shkreli arrested for fraud

Artist News Legal

Music’s unexpected and largely unwanted new benefactor Martin Shkrei has been arrested for fraud. The drug company CEO is accused of misleading and defrauding investors in his previous role as a hedge fund manager.

As previously reported, Shkreli made headlines in the wider press earlier this year when he bought the rights to AIDS and cancer drug Daraprim and ramped the price up by 5000%. He subsequently made his way into the music press when artists threatened to leave punk and hardcore label Collect Records after it emerged he was bankrolling the company’s sudden growth.

Earlier this month it was revealed that he was the buyer of Wu-Tang Clan’s single-copy album ‘Once Upon A Time In Shaolin’, and this week he told HipHopDX that he was planning to pay the $2 million bail required to secure rapper Bobby Shmurda’s release from prison, while he awaits trial on weapons and drugs charges.

But that was all put on hold yesterday when Shkreli himself was arrested, accused of defrauding investors in two funds and using stock from his pharmaceutical company Retrophin to hide losses. Shkreli’s lawyer, Evan Greebel, has reportedly also been arrested, charged with aiding the fraud.

In a statement, the FBI said: “The charges announced today describe a securities fraud trifecta of lies, deceit, and greed. As charged, Martin Shkreli targeted investors and retained their business by making several misrepresentations and omissions about key facts of the funds he managed. He continued to lie about the success of the investments and used assets from Retrophin to payoff MSMB investors”.

It continued: “In the end, Shkreli and Greebel used a series of settlement and sham consulting agreements that resulted in Retrophin and its investors suffering a loss in excess of $11 million. While the charges announced today are significant, they are but one example of what’s left to come as the FBI continues this investigation”.

Now that he’s out on bail, perhaps the “rainy day” that Shkreli said he was saving his unique Wu-Tang album for might be here already. Following the arrest, the FBI (genuinely) confirmed that it had not seized the album.

READ MORE ABOUT: Martin Shkreli | Wu-Tang Clan

Friday 18 December 2015, 11:57 | By Chris Cooke

Songkick secures more finance, seeks to grow anti-tout business

Business News Live Business Management & Funding

Hot on the heels from its work helping Adele keep tickets for her upcoming shows off the resale sites, Songkick has secured another $10 million in funding from Warner Music owner Access Industries which will help grow the anti-touting side of the start-up’s business.

Songkick, of course, is best known for its original business of gig data and recommendations, linking users through to official ticket sellers for listed shows, and taking a commission from those sellers in return. But the firm subsequently moved into ticketing itself, initially on its own, and then in a big way earlier this year when it merged with direct-to-fan platform Crowdsurge.

The Adele project was an innovation. The firm managed pre-sales for the singer’s tour, taking registrations before selling any tickets, and going to some effort to remove all the registrants that it suspected were touts looking to grab tickets to resell at a sizable mark-up on the secondary ticketing sites.

Although the venture was not without its issues – some fans reported problems with the ordering system, and that they were seeing other users’ booking information – it is thought the scheme had some success in reducing the number of Adele tickets that ended up on the resale platforms. And Media Insight Consulting’s Chris Carey estimated that that work could have saved UK Adele fans about £4.2 million by ensuring more tickets were sold at face value rather than with big mark-ups added by the touts.

Discussing the latest investment from Access Industries, an existing backer of CrowdSurge, Songkick founder Ian Hogarth confirmed to Venture Beat that the new finance would in no small part fund the expansion on this new anti-tout offer. “It’s going to be about taking that technology and bringing it to market with other artists next year”, he said.

Online touting has been a big topic of debate again this year, with some regulation of resale sites introduced in the Consumer Rights Act in the UK, but many artists and promoters want stricter rules to be introduced. Though some question how effective such rules really would be, which means that if Songkick can position itself as the expert for tackling touts through technology and other tactics – rather than the law – it could build a lucrative new revenue stream for its business.

READ MORE ABOUT: Songkick

Friday 18 December 2015, 11:55 | By Chris Cooke

Listen Up appoints two Heads Of Press

Business News Industry People Marketing & PR

Music promotions firm Listen Up has announced the promotion of two of its staff members who will become joint Heads Of Press at the agency’s London base, the company having also opened an LA office earlier this year. Erin Mills and Grace McCracken joined the firm in 2012 and 2014 respectively, and have been senior press officers to date.

Confirming the two promotions, Listen Up partner and Director Of Press James Mack said: “We are extremely excited to have Erin and Grace head up our artist and label department in our UK office. Their experience in their field’s speaks for themselves through the results achieved for our clients over the years”.

READ MORE ABOUT: Erin Mills | Grace McCracken | Listen Up

Friday 18 December 2015, 11:53 | By Chris Cooke

Universal Music owner buys online radio technology firm

Business News Deals Digital Media

Universal Music owner Vivendi – which is seeking to expand its interests in media and entertainment having sold of its big tel co assets – has taken a majority stake in online radio platform provider Radionomy, which owns the SHOUTcast streaming system, ad-network TargetSpot and, for fans of olden-days streaming, the Winamp player. The Dutch firm bought SHOUTcast and Winamp off of AOL back in 2014.

Vivendi has taken 64.4% of the company, with the rest of the firm’s shares owned by founder Alexandre Saboundjian, its employees and Union Square Ventures. The French conglom says that its investment will help Radionomy to “capitalise on the expected evolution of the digital audio market towards targeted advertising, thanks to its technical tools and its partnerships”.

The firm added: “With this investment in digital radio, Vivendi expands its presence in the value chain that flows from talent discovery to content production and distribution. Collaboration between the digital audio platform and the Vivendi businesses will be established and a number of innovative offers will be developed. Radionomy also complements the talent support programme which contributes to the Vivendi Group’s sustainable development”.

READ MORE ABOUT:

Friday 18 December 2015, 11:51 | By Andy Malt

New New Order members comment on Old New Order member

Artist News

New Order’s newer members Phil Cunningham and Tom Chapman have spoken about being caught up in a legal battle with the band’s former bassist Peter Hook.

As previously reported, Hook was recently granted permission to proceed with a lawsuit against the band’s current incarnation. He claims that he has been done out of at least £2 million in royalties due to the way the band set up their business affairs when regrouping without him in 2011. His former bandmates deny this and noted in a previous statement that Hook’s royalties stemming from the band’s original songs and recordings catalogue are not affected by the business arrangement he is disputing.

Cunningham, who was a member of the band with Hook for five years, told Loaded: “Peter phoned me a couple of years ago, because I said something in an interview that offended him. He said: ‘Look, it’s all getting a bit personal, this. It’s ridiculous. I’ve got my thing, you’ve got yours, and it’s cool. Everyone’s happy’. But that’s obviously not the case. He’s not happy. He decided to leave the house, and now he’s outside it, chucking bricks through the window”.

Hook’s direct replacement Chapman added: “He’s had plenty to say about me, but I’ve never actually met him. [If I did] I’d tell him ‘I think it’d be good to support young musicians. Maybe you could wish good luck to musicians who’ve had a break’. I’d also tell him that it’s an absolute joy and lots of fun to play in New Order, but I don’t think he’d want to hear that”.

Speaking about the looming court case, Cunningham said: “It saddened me a few years ago, but he’s said such horrible things about Bernard and the rest of the band that it just makes me angry now. They’re my friends, so it makes me more angry than sad. Things will have to play out how they play out now. It’s so unfortunate”.

READ MORE ABOUT: New Order | Peter Hook

Friday 18 December 2015, 11:49 | By CMU Editorial

CMU’s One Liners: Tim Hecker, Apple, Channel 4’s Future Sounds, more

Artist News Awards Business News Deals Digital Gigs & Festivals Labels & Publishers Media One Liners

Other notable announcements and developments today…

• 4AD has signed Tim Hecker to a new record deal. The label will release a new album from the electronic musician next year. Hecker has also announced a show at St John At Hackney church in London on 5 May.

• Jeff Williams is now Apple’s Chief Operating Officer, promoted from the tedious-sounding task of overseeing the company’s supply chain. “Jeff”, said CEO Tim Cook. Jeff indeed.

• Because everyone now has to have their own list of artists who may or may not be big in the next twelve months, Channel 4 has published its new Future Sounds list. On it are Alessia Cara, Aurora, Barns Courtney, Blossoms, Bonkaz, Izzy Bizu, Loyle Carner, Pretty Vicious, SG Lewis, and Tala.

• Here’s a new Sia track, ‘Cheap Thrills’. It’s one that Rihanna didn’t want.

• Diplo has a new track with Sleepy Tom out. Click this link and it’ll be right there.

• There’s a new Yann Tiersen track out. Good news, eh? It’s taken from a new book of sheet music featuring ten piano pieces. Oh, and he’s touring the UK in May.

• Justin Bieber has added a sixth date at the O2 Arena to the end of his 2016 tour on 29 Nov. What a nice guy.

• Lionbabe will headline Koko in London on 1 Jun. Their debut album ‘Begin’ will be out on 5 Feb.

• Morrissey has commented on his recent Bad Sex Award In Fiction win, telling Uruguayan newspaper El Observador: “I have many enemies who are motivated, as you know, to use my achievements against me. It is best to keep an indifferent distance [to things like this], because there are too many good things in life to allow these repulsive horrors pull you down”.

READ MORE ABOUT: 4AD | Apple | Channel 4 | Channel 4 Future Sounds | Diplo | Jeff Williams | Justin Bieber | Lionbabe | Morrissey | Sia | Sleepy Tom | Tim Hecker | Yann Tiersen

Friday 18 December 2015, 11:43 | By Andy Malt

CMU Beef Of The Week #287: The Year In Beefs

And Finally Artist News Beef Of The Week

Yes, it’s that time of year again. We’ve hit the festive season, where everyone’s being so happy and nice to each other that there’s no possibility of filling this column with a new story of anger and slurs. Shush, you. That is a fact. No one is angry at Christmas. And so, it just leaves me to spend my last Beef Of The Week column of 2015 looking back at the year of musical disputes just gone.

I think you can tell a lot about a year by the arguments people had throughout it, and this year we had some corkers. It really was a great year for people being comedically upset with each other, and I’m not sure what else we can ask for in life. So, here we go, the review of the year in beefs…

January: UKIP briefly becomes party of the music industry
The year started strong, with our first beef seeing Alcopop! Records going head-to-head with comedy fascists the United Kingdom Independent Party. In a new attempt to take the UK back to the 1950s, UKIP allowed the domain of their official website to lapse just after New Year. And in a moment of quick thinking tomfoolery, Alcopop! boss Jack Clothier bought it for himself. Sadly, plans to turn it into a website for the United Kingdom Indie Parties Party were scuppered when the domain was mysteriously returned to the ownership of the ineffectual racists.

February: Katy Perry and Madonna against nature
I’m still not sure what the Super Bowl is, but people seem to take it very seriously. And this year was considered very important because Katy Perry was going to do a turn in the middle of it. But afterwards, all people would talk about was some shark. Thankfully, this eventually led to what regular CMU readers will know is one of our favourite things: a tedious exchange of legal letters. Also big news this month was Madonna’s unsuccessful battle against gravity.

March: Nice brand partnership, shame about the budget
With March comes South By Southwest, once a beacon of independent spirit, now (a bit like the Super Bowl) a shrine to consumerism. This year’s big brand in town – after the Dorito’s Lady Gaga vomit party the previous year – was McDonald’s. The billion dollar flavourless burger pusher wanted some of those cool indie bands to play at its party, but sadly it didn’t have any spare cash knocking around to pay them. This policy changed after alt-rock duo Ex Cops called the company out on its no-pay-for-artists policy. Honourable mention this month: Natalia Kills and Willy Moon.

April: The polite beef
The key to relaunching your career when you’re several albums deep is to distance yourself from everyone you’ve ever worked with previously, preferably making them out to be sub-human haters of all decency. And to be fair, Leona Lewis gave it a good go as she launched her first album with Island Records. Her problem was that at heart she’s a nice person, so qualified every veiled diss with a reminder that she loves everyone she’s ever met.

May: The Zayn saga takes hold, Grooveshark makes way
By May we were getting on for two months from Zayn Malik’s departure from One Direction. But it still hurt. Emotions were still running high. And Naughty Boy really wasn’t helping anything. But the big beef development in the music industry that month was the major labels’ triumphant defeat of the once bullish Grooveshark. Actually, it happened in April, but, fuck it, this column comes out on Fridays and does not respect immediacy.

June: Ferries, ponytails, musicals and taxis
June was a big month for beefs. A big month. And it kicked off with one of 2015’s finest: Ariana Grande and her mother pitching themselves at David versus the Goliath of P&O Ferries. Even after that, June played a hard game, with Elton John pushing a security guard to tears, Deadmau5 suing a musical very loosely based on his not actual life, and – in a quite stunning turn of events – Courtney Love becoming involved in the French taxi drivers’ big Uber dispute.

July: The ascendance of Taylor Swift
This month saw the first two of a quick succession of beefs involving Taylor Swift, only one of them featuring accusations of racism. She kicked off by forcing live photographers to sign agreements so restrictive that freelancers and entire publications refused to cover her tour. Then Nicki Minaj made a valid point about the MTV Video Music Awards only honouring women who fit a certain mould, and Swift tried to make it about herself. Meanwhile, it was Neil Young’s turn to moan about streaming music, and that whole One Direction/Zayn Malik thing was still going on.

August: Taylor hates Apple. Or loves. Yeah, loves
Neil Young had his say, so in August it was Taylor Swift’s turn to shout down streaming services. She was continuing to claim that her falling out and almost immediate making up with Apple over royalties (or lack thereof) paid during the trial period on Apple Music was a win for the little guy, rather than mainly her and Apple. Then she spent a bit of time kicking Spotify, because she would apparently prefer it if Apple maintained something close to a monopoly on digital music.

September: Racism, homophobia, lies and erotic fiction
Oh what, Taylor Swift again? Yes, although this time we were back to accusations of racism. She made a video that seemed to depict “a glamorous version of the white colonial fantasy of Africa”. Great work. Then Sam Smith turned out to be a massive liar, some Russian TV presenters tricked Elton John into thinking the country’s president might be becoming less homophobic, and Morrissey published his Bad Sex Award winning novel.

October: Of course Mya
In October the Beef Of The Week column delved into something that may or may not now be known as ‘factfic’ – basically taking a tiny non-story and stretching it out to 1000 words by building it into a short story about those involved. So we had a heated meeting between Adele and Apple, and a nice little adventure with Rita Ora. And Iggy Azalea, And Miley Cyrus. And Charli XCX. And Christina Aguilera. And Lil Kim. And Pink. And Missy Elliott. And, of course, Mya. Of course Mya. Of course.

November: I am done with this industry and its bullshit
There are few certainties in the music industry, but one of them is that you’ll never have to write about Sandi Thom. And fuck me, if that wasn’t proven to be untrue in November. Because you should never underestimate the power of a “leave Britney alone” style video on YouTube. Also, we saw an increasing trend of Jimmy Iovine saying something completely idiotic. Oh, and Taylor Swift went to a foreign country and offended people. Again.

December: Have the taxi drivers explained themselves yet?
A short month, and one with only two proper Beef Of The Week columns. One proved that even if you can’t find an actual beef, it’s possible to twist anything roughly into the correct format. The other saw Drake’s big 2015 defining single left out of the Grammy Awards because his label forgot about it.

READ MORE ABOUT: Adele | Alcopop! Records | Apple | Apple Music | Ariana Grande | Courtney Love | Deadmau5 | Drake | Elton John | Ex Cops | Grammy Awards | Grooveshark | Island Records | Katy Perry | Leona Lewis | Madonna | McDonald's | Morrissey | MTV VMAs | Natalia Kills | Naughty Boy | Neil Young | Nicki Minaj | One Direction | P&O Ferries | Public Enemy | Rita Ora | Sam Smith | Sandi Thom | Spotify | SXSW | Syco | Taylor Swift | UKIP | Willy Moon | Zayn Malik

Friday 18 December 2015, 11:29 | By Andy Malt

CMU Podcast: Review of 2015

Artist News Business News Digital Industry People Labels & Publishers Legal Live Business Management & Funding Setlist

In the final CMU Podcast of the year, CMU’s Andy Malt and Chris Cooke review both the week and the year in music and the music business, including the Copyright Royalty Board ruling in the US and Spotify’s latest hire, plus the key developments and stories, and artists and releases, from 2015. The CMU Podcast is sponsored by 7digital.

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Stories discussed this week

• Pandora happier than SoundExchange following mixed bag CRB royalty rate ruling
• Radio 1 Head Of Music George Ergatoudis to join Spotify

CMU Approved

• Susanne Sundfør
• Holly Herndon
• Kendrick Lamar
• Everything Everything
• Grimes
• Approved in 2015 Spotify playlist

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READ MORE ABOUT: BBC | BBC Radio 1 | BBC Radio 1Xtra | Copyright Royalty Board | George Ergatoudis | Pandora | SoundExchange | Spotify

Thursday 17 December 2015, 11:20 | By Chris Cooke

Pandora happier than SoundExchange following mixed bag CRB royalty rate ruling

Business News Digital Labels & Publishers Legal Top Stories

So, the Copyright Royalty Board in the US yesterday delivered what could be seen as a mixed bag ruling over the rates online radio services in the US must pay in the coming five years, though it was Pandora which was smiling, while record industry rep SoundExchange is “reviewing the decision closely and considering all of our options”.

As much previously reported, online radio services Stateside – including personalised radio services like Pandora – can license sound recordings under a compulsory licence, which means labels and artists are obliged to allow these services to use their music. When a service exploits the compulsory licence it must pay royalties via collecting society SoundExchange, with rates ultimately set by the CRB.

The judges who make up that board have been busy of late considering what rates such services should pay over the next five years. Although there have been plenty of CRB rulings before, much more attention has been given to this review simply because online music services have become so key to the record industry in recent years, and personalised radio set-ups like Pandora and iHeartRadio completely dominate the streaming sector in the US in terms of users.

Needless to say, the streaming services wanted the rates they pay to be cut, while SoundExchange, speaking for the labels and artists, argued for rates to be increased, claiming that current royalty fees undervalue the music online radio platforms utilise.

Services have been paying 0.14 cents per stream in recent years. Pandora wanted that cut to 0.11 cents per stream, while SoundExchange was pushing for 0.25 cents per stream. Tiny differences per play of course, but given the high number of streams, a lot of money was actually at stake.

In the end the CRB went for something in the middle, increasing the per stream rate to 0.17 cents from next year, and then locking that to the US Consumer Price Index for subsequent years through to 2020, meaning rates will be amended every twelve months more or less in line with inflation. So, more than the digital services are currently paying, and more than they wanted to pay, but some way off what SoundExchange asked for.

It is worth noting that this figure relates only to free streams, ie where the consumer doesn’t pay. It’s the most important metric because the vast majority of consumers using personalised radio services like Pandora and iHeartRadio aren’t paying, opting for ad-funded services. But some such streaming platforms, including Pandora, do offer a paid-for ad-free option.

On paid-for streams the rate has actually been dropped, from 0.25 cents per stream to 0.22 cents. Although that is basically bad news for labels and artists, it does make premium subscription services more viable and more attractive to the likes of Pandora, and generally the music industry is keen to push more users from the free services onto paying services. Therefore the silver-lining for the labels on that rate – if you must insist on finding one – is that it might persuade personalised radio services to put more effort into upselling premium, which even Pandora has not done a particularly good job on to date.

Not that SoundExchange itself was particularly looking for any silver lining last night, saying that it was “deeply disappointing” that online radio services were getting what it considers to be below market rates, on top of the zero rate terrestrial radio stations enjoy when it comes to sound recordings (because in the US AM/FM stations aren’t obliged to pay any royalties to labels or artists).

The rights society said: “SoundExchange presented a strong case on the fair market rate for music played by webcasters utilising the statutory license. Our rate proposal used data from dozens of marketplace deals and was based on what willing buyers and sellers would agree to. Music has tremendous value and is the core foundation of the webcasting industry. It’s only fair that artists and record labels receive a market price when their music is used”.

It went on: “We believe the rates set by the CRB do not reflect a market price for music and will erode the value of music in our economy. We will review the decision closely and consider all of our options. As music advocates, SoundExchange represents the entire recorded music industry and we remain united on the principle that recording artists and rights owners deserve a fair market rate when their music is used”.

The “considering of options” could mean that SoundExchange may as yet appeal the CRB’s ruling, which also has to be approved by the US Register Of Copyright, so this big rate review may not as yet be over. But the digital services, for now, seem basically happy. Well Pandora does. And although this rate ruling affects plenty of other online operators in the US, it is the publicly listed Pandora which has had the most attention, not least because the insecurity caused by the review has caused the firm’s share price to dip.

Pandora boss Brian McAndrews said he was “pleased” with the outcome because, while the new rate was higher than he wanted, it was within “our range of expected outcomes”. He also welcomed the “much-needed certainty” the ruling provided (any appeals pending, of course). Though, speaking to investors, he also said that he saw Pandora doing more direct deals with the record industry in the future, meaning the firm will rely less on the SoundExchange licence during the period these new rates cover.

As previously noted, Pandora has relied heavily to date on the compulsory licenses available in the US to operate (collective licensing rules mean that there has been a virtual if not actual compulsory licence on the publishing side too).

Of late it has started doing direct deals, with indie-label repping Merlin on the recordings side, and Sony/ATV, Warner/Chappell, Songs and BMG in the publishing domain. With ambitions to expand globally and into on-demand streaming – where the SoundExchange licence does not apply – these direct deals will become all the more important.

Which could all mean that this super important ruling by the CRB actually becomes less relevant in the next few years as the biggest personalised radio service – and any of its competitors which also have global or on-demand ambitions – increasingly go the direct licensing route. But still, in the short term, Pandora can probably switch on a happy playlist today. SoundExchange may be mainly listening to something a little more mellow. Or angry. Maybe angry.

READ MORE ABOUT: Copyright Royalty Board | iHeart | Pandora | SoundExchange

Thursday 17 December 2015, 11:18 | By Chris Cooke

REM sign with Concord Bicycle

Business News Deals Labels & Publishers

REM have announced a new licensing deal with independent music firm Concord Bicycle Music, which will now rep some of the band’s most famous albums, LPs like ‘Out of Time’, ‘Automatic For The People’ and ‘New Adventures In Hi-Fi’, all originally released by Warner Bros.

Concord Bicycle will handle physical and digital releases of the records worldwide, with a number of deluxe re-issues complete with the mandatory bonus material in the pipeline. The deal will see the band working with the indie’s SVP Of Catalogue Management & Development Sig Sigworth, who worked with Michael Stipe et al in the early years of their respective careers when he was at REM’s original label, IRS Records.

Confirming the new arrangement, REM manager Bertis Downs said: “The band and all at REM HQ are very happy to be joining with Concord Bicycle Music for this next phase of curating and extending REM’s recorded legacy. The albums covered by this agreement are some of the band’s most successful, both artistically and commercially, and we know the people at Concord share our enthusiasm about this partnership”.

On ending the band’s alliance with Warner Music, he added: “We leave the Warner Bros family, a great label where we are certainly grateful for some of our career highlights. But moving forward, we knew this was the right time to change it up and Concord is the right home for this key part of REM’s catalogue”.

Meanwhile Sigworth added: “After starting my career at IRS Records and having the pleasure to work with REM, it was disappointing when the band left to go to Warner Bros. I’ve had the good fortune to consult with the band on their catalogue for the past several years, but to now, all these years later, be able to bring the band and their incredible post-IRS legacy to the Concord Bicycle Music family is very rewarding”.

READ MORE ABOUT: Concord Bicycle Music | REM

Thursday 17 December 2015, 11:17 | By Andy Malt

MPG steps up campaign to save AIR Studios

Business News Legal

The Music Producers Guild has called on Camden Council to reject a planning application that threatens to cause the closure of AIR Studios in Hampstead.

The owners of a residential property next door to the studio, which was founded by Beatles producer George Martin in 1969, have applied for planning permission to excavate a new basement. Current AIR owner Paul Woolf says that this work would cause vibrations and noise that would make it impossible to record in the studio, often used for orchestral work on film soundtracks, for several months. Being out of action for this long would put the operation at risk of permanent closure.

Last week, the campaign to block the development stepped up after builders moved in next door and began work, which halted recording sessions in the studio.

According to local newspaper Ham & High, AIR’s lawyers quickly fired off a letter threatening an injunction after builders were spotted moving in a large digger, writing: “You are fully aware that undertaking exceptionally noisy work, which will also cause vibrations, will not simply interrupt the recording sessions but will no doubt cause them to be abandoned by the studio users. We consider your decision to go ahead with these works in spite of the impact on our client’s business to be unreasonable behaviour on your part”.

Before the final draft of that letter was completed, work had apparently already begun, Woolfe telling the paper: “We had sound experts in the main hall recording the vibrations. It was enough to absolutely stop any session dead. Fortunately nobody was recording there at the time. This was just luck”.

With planning permission not yet rubber stamped for the basement development, the MPG is now encouraging its members and others concerned for the future of the studio to submit objections to the work and sign a petition.

It said in a statement: “We call on Camden Council to reject this planning application and additionally demand all local authorities and government urgently take steps to better protect the UK’s recording facilities, so as to not only ensure that this country remains a world leader in the production of music for film and television, but also to maintain the benefit to the UK economy generated by the music industry, as well as the countless jobs it provides for sound engineers and producers”.

Queen’s Brian May recently lent his support to the campaign, saying that “given the outstanding contribution to the British music and film industries which AIR Studios makes, it is almost unbelievable to me personally that Camden Council has not thrown out this developer’s application already”.

The architect overseeing the project, Thomas Croft, told Ham & High that endeavours were being made to work with the studio, saying: “We advised the studio in advance of these archaeological investigations and agreed times that noisy works could take place and we will continue to make every effort to avoid disturbance to the studio”.

READ MORE ABOUT: Air Studios | Music Producers Guild (MPG)

Thursday 17 December 2015, 11:15 | By Chris Cooke

Paris live sector recovering, as Eagles Of Death Metal announce new European dates

Artist News Business News Gigs & Festivals Live Business

French live music trade group Prodiss says that the country’s concert business – which saw a slump in attendance after the attacks on Paris last month – has rebounded in the last couple of weeks, though not yet to pre-attack levels.

In the immediate wake of the attack on the Eagles Of Death Metal show at the Bataclan venue in Paris, in which 89 people were killed, there was an 80% drop in concert attendance in the French capital. Since then, attendance figures have rapidly risen again, though they are still 20-25% down on the same weeks a year ago. However, promoters are confident that the French live market will return to its usual figures in the next month.

Speaking to Billboard, Prodiss rep Aline Renet said: “After an significant drop in the two to three days after the 13th of November – which was understandable – figures are now going back to near normal, and promoters are expecting sales back to normal in the next few weeks. Parisians showed clearly their will to ‘culturally resist’ in continuing to attend shows”.

The latest update on Paris’s live music sector came as Eagles Of Death Metal rescheduled the European tour they were forced to cancel after the attacks, which includes their first full shows in France since Bataclan, having performed a couple of songs at a recent U2 show in Paris. The band will play the French capital again on 16 Feb, and then in Lille on 24 Feb and Nimes on 2 Mar. Although there are no new UK dates in the latest tour announcement, the band have been confirmed for next year’s Reading and Leeds festivals.

Confirming the new dates, frontman Jesse Hughes told reporters: “The people of Paris have always been incredible to us, and our feeling of love towards this beautiful city and its people has been reinforced a million times over this past month. Hearing the stories of the survivors, the injured and those who have lost loved ones has been overwhelming. Not returning to finish our set was never an option. We look forward to coming back in February and continuing our mission to bring rock n roll to the world”.

READ MORE ABOUT: Eagles Of Death Metal | Prodiss

Thursday 17 December 2015, 11:13 | By Andy Malt

Mumford & Sons negotiate extension on public consultation for government’s secondary ticketing review

Business News Live Business

Mumford & Sons have negotiated an extension on the previously reported public consultation that was conducted as part the government’s latest review of the secondary ticketing market. Those with an opinion now have until this Friday to submit their views.

In a statement yesterday, Mumford & Sons laid out their own thoughts on the matter, urging fans to support them in calling for stronger regulation of ticketing resale sites. Although the public consultation officially closed on 20 Nov, the band said that they had personally gone into the Department of Culture, Media & Sport last week and convinced Michael Waterson, who is overseeing the review, to extend it to 18 Dec.

“By our estimation when [our latest] tour went on general sale there were roughly 6000 tickets out there on secondary ticket platforms across the UK tour, including 1500 for each night at The O2 in London”, said the band. “People may argue that those tickets have already been sold and we’re getting the money anyway. But that’s not how we see it. We want fans of the band to be able to get into our shows for the right price, to feel that they’ve got value for money. We want every seat in a sold out show to be filled with a fan. Why do we care so much? Because it’s not right, it hurts our fans and it’s a problem for all artists”.

They went on: “Behind the scenes over the years, we have tried a lot of different ways to beat the touts including trying to get as many of the tickets as possible for a show to sell ourselves through ticket companies that we choose; we hold back tickets to put back on sale at face value nearer to the show so that fans have a second bite of the cherry at buying tickets at the right price, we’ve cancelled thousands of orders by arduously going through ticket purchases order-by-order to weed out known touts and dodgy credit cards; we’ve even gone as far as to put all of the tickets in one US tour we did into a lottery system so that we were able to remove all of the touts before only inviting legitimate fans to buy the tickets. We need your help to win this battle. We urge you again to use face-value only secondary ticketing sites either to sell or buy tickets”.

“We personally went in to the UK’s Department of Culture, Media & Sport last Thursday morning and met with Professor Waterson who’s conducting an independent parliamentary review into this issue of secondary ticketing”, they finished. “We voiced our concerns, and we’ve been welcomed to give them more evidence of these bad practices, which we will do. In the meantime if any of you has a bad story to tell about buying tickets via secondary ticketing sites, the review would welcome your feedback”.

They encouraged fans to email their views to [email protected], noting that “you will get a message back saying that the deadline for submitting evidence has passed, but we’ve managed to get an extension until 18 Dec”.

This new review of the secondary ticketing market by the Department Of Culture, Media & Sport was announced in October. While some regulation of online ticket touting was added to the Consumer Rights Act at the end of the last parliament, it was watered down from what many wanted. However, in passing the legislation the government said that there should be another review of the market too. Which is why this is all happening now. Well, the review. The CRA didn’t say anything about last minute interventions by Mumford & Sons.

READ MORE ABOUT: Department Of Culture Media & Sport | Mumford & Sons | Secondary Ticketing

Thursday 17 December 2015, 11:11 | By Andy Malt

Spotify Party mixes the tunes so you don’t have to

Business News Digital

Just in time for two thirds of the way through the Christmas party season, Spotify has announced a new thing called Spotify Party. The new feature offers a collection of playlists professionally mixed by folks like that Diplo.

You can choose music to match the mood of your party using the ‘mood tuner’ and insert music into the play queue without disrupting the flow. Doesn’t it sound like fun? I hope there’s a mood setting for ‘subdued with an undercurrent of repressed anger’.

“When it comes to throwing parties you simply have to have the right playlists – or everyone will leave”, says Diplo. “And while researching and picking out music is fun, it also takes a lot of time and effort. With Spotify Party, you’re served with loads of beat-matched music that transitions perfectly, which you can easily adapt to whatever your current vibe is. Best of all, you don’t have to do any of the legwork”.

Spotify Party is being rolled out to iOS and Android users as we speak. If you haven’t got it yet, here’s a video explaining a bit more:

READ MORE ABOUT: Diplo | Spotify

Thursday 17 December 2015, 11:10 | By Andy Malt

Madonna video breakdown identifies unwelcome “diva bitches”

Artist News Gigs & Festivals

Madonna has branded fans who complained that she was an hour late on stage in Manchester on Monday night “diva bitches”. The late start also resulted in the show being cut short, though the singer said that technical problems with her video backdrop were actually to blame.

Explaining herself when she did finally arrive on stage, the singer said: “I’m not back there eating chocolate and filing my nails and getting my extensions done, alright? Tonight our video crashed and we had no video. And our back up card file was… I dunno, it was compromised, let’s put it like that … so we had to wait until we could reboot it, and it just so happens that the head of the company that created the machine is right here in Manchester. So praise the Lord and thank you God, but that is why we’re late”.

Those technical issues clearly and fully explained, there were still some boos from the audience, prompting Madonna to announce: “If you diva bitches want to keep complaining about it, then don’t come to my show”.

Some people latterly suggested that the show could have gone ahead without the video, but those people are wrong, as Madonna said in a later Instagram post: “The video lights 75% of my show. We can’t play in the dark”.

You probably can, but I suppose some people might not think that was a great show, just having to listen to Madonna sing. She added: “We were rebooted and ready by 9.30pm even though we planned to go on earlier. I had to make cuts in show before show started … This still brought us past the 11.00pm curfew! But we went on and the venue was kind enough to extend till 11.39pm! It was their choice not mine to end the show! [I] always want to finish. So we all missed the last three songs! And I’m sorry about that … We did our best! And we still had to pay a fine! That’s life. You still got to see an amazing show! And only missed twelve minutes!”

So let that be a lesson to you, diva bitches.

READ MORE ABOUT: Madonna

Thursday 17 December 2015, 11:09 | By Andy Malt

Nine Inch Nails and Russell Mills to publish art book

Artist News Releases

Nine Inch Nails are putting out a new coffee table art book with artist Russell Mills, titled ‘Cargo In The Blood’, featuring the work he created for the band’s ‘Hesitation Marks’ album. The book shares its title with that of the painting that was used for the cover of the record.

The collaboration on the 2013 album saw NIN and Mills work together for the first time since 1994’s ‘The Downward Spiral’. Says Mills: “Our renewed collaboration on ‘Hesitation Marks’ very quickly suggested massive potential for the strange and the familiar to collide and collude in works that I hoped would encapsulate, by allusion, suggestion, metaphor and association, the conceptual ideas imbued in the album as well as in the undertow of its sonic world”.

He continues: “I created a total of 30 pieces for ‘Hesitation Marks’ and they chose ‘Cargo In The Blood’ for the cover of the deluxe CD. The title seemed to sum up everything I’ve been working on for the last five to ten years, this whole idea of something that can be carried in the blood and it could be good or bad, something that could be character-building, something that could be destructive, something that could be positive”.

Limited to 2000 copies, the $300 320 page book will also come with an original framed Mills painting. More info here.

And here’s a short film looking at the inspiration and process behind Mills’ work on ‘Hesitation Marks’ and ‘The Downward Spiral’:

READ MORE ABOUT: Nine Inch Nails | Russell Mills

Thursday 17 December 2015, 11:04 | By Andy Malt

CMU’s One Liners: TuneCore, Kobalt, Adele, more

Artist News Awards Business News Digital Gigs & Festivals Industry People Labels & Publishers Live Business Media One Liners Releases

Other notable announcements and developments today…

• TuneCore has a new VP Marketing in the former of Andreea Gleeson, who joins from retail firm Lord & Taylor.

• Kobalt has announced the appointment of Kenney Shiu as Director of Music Publishing for Asia Pacific. He will be based in Hong Kong and will report into the MD of Kobalt in Australia, Simon Moor.

• Fans of local radio stations becoming part of quasi-national station networks should get 18 Jan in their diaries. That’s when Liverpool’s Juice FM will officially become an outpost of Capital FM, following Global Radio’s acquisition of the station earlier this year.

• Here’s a new Pusha T video, ‘Crutches, Crosses, Caskets’.

• Here’s DIIV’s new single, ‘Under The Sun’.

• Andrew Hung from Fuck Buttons has released a new solo EP, ‘Rave Cave 2’. You can listen to it on SoundCloud here.

• Kelly Lee Owens has covered Aaliyah’s ‘More Than A Woman’. Don’t believe me? Well how do you explain this?

• Dutch showcase festival Eurosonic Noorderslag has been awarded IMPALA’s annual Outstanding Contribution Award, which the pan-European indie labels trade group presents each year to recognise “exceptional efforts of an individual or organisation to promote and develop European independent music”.

• BRITs organisers have announced that “superstar Adele” will play at the annual awards bash next February. Which is good news. Superstar Adele is my favourite of all the Adeles. Google Play is this year’s official BRITs streaming partner which means its seven users will be able to stream Adele’s performance after the show. More good news!

READ MORE ABOUT: Adele | Andreea Gleeson | Andrew Hung | BRIT Awards | Capital FM | DIIV | Eurosonic Noorderslag | Global | Google Play | Juice FM | Kelly Lee Owens | Pusha T | The Independent Music Companies Association (IMPALA) | TuneCore

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