Wednesday 27 January 2016, 11:06 | By

The Joy Formidable explore the female gaze in new video

Artist News Releases

The Joy Formidable

The Joy Formidable have released a new video, filled with clips of semi-naked men. A lead they hope others will follow.

Writing about the video in The Guardian, frontwoman Ritzy Bryan said: “We’re big on making our own music videos, so last month we started collecting footage and finishing the treatment to this song. The video follows a voyeuristic heterosexual female gaze – like my own – watching men in all forms, free, relaxed, sexy and objectified. It’s beautiful, provocative, occasionally pervy, sometimes just admiring of the prowess of Jimi Hendrix and his guitar, or Iggy Pop’s gorgeous lack of inhibition”.

“The male gaze is well represented in videos: we see plenty of female nudity, statistically more than male nudity”, she continues. “What we don’t see very often is men and women as equal in their nudity and sensuality, without a power struggle. It’s a lot to cover in a single music video, but showing a different side of male sensuality is one part of the conversation”.

Read Bryan’s article in full here, and watch the video here:

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Wednesday 27 January 2016, 11:04 | By

CMU’s One Liners: Bertelsmannm, Warner Music, Deezer, more

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

BMG

Other notable announcements and developments today…

• BMG owner Bertelsmann has confirmed that its top man Thomas Rabe will continue to run the company for another five years. End of the world permitting, of course.

• If you’re a fan of job titles like “President”, but think “General Manager” is a boring old job name, well, you’ll be feeling good today for Mike Easterlin, former GM and now President of the Fueled By Ramen and Roadrunner labels in the US. Craig Kallman of parent label Atlantic Records is “THRILLED” about the promotion. As are we all.

• At least some of that €100 million grabbed by the Deezer geezers last week is going to Golan Shaked, who has just been hired as Chief Marketing & Commercial Officer. You’d think they could spend at least 20 of those euros on buying me lunch, wouldn’t you? But hey, well done Golan.

• Legendary producer Tony Visconti will keynote at this year’s South By Southwest, which is a rather timely booking, given the recent death of his most famous collaborator David Bowie. The music wing of South By runs from 15-20 Mar this year.

• Neil Warnock off of the United Talent Agency, Gao Xiaosong from the Alibaba Music Group and music supervising type Mary Ramos will all keynote at this year’s MIDEM conference about “where the industry is headed”. Presumably Team MIDEM hope the answer is “Cannes”. Let’s see I guess.

• Run The Jewels have hired Cyriak to make a video for ‘Meowpurrdy’ from their ‘Meow The Jewels’ remix album. Nightmarish.

• Flying Lotus has soundtracked a short film, ‘Fuckkkyouuu’, which is an Official Selection at this year’s Sundance Festival. You can watch it on YouTube now.

• Ash Koosha will release a new album, ‘I AKA I’, through Ninja Tune on 1 Apr. From it, this is ‘Mudafossil’.

• She doesn’t put out a lot of music that Kenzie May (a song a year is her current average), but what she has let out there is all great. And in that I am including new single ‘Honey’.

• Ghostpoet will headline the first ‘PRS Presents’ show of the year at the collecting society’s Streamtham offices on 11 Feb. More info here.

• The Tad Doyle-fronted Brothers Of The Sonic Cloth will play The Black Heart in Camden on 2 Apr.

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Wednesday 27 January 2016, 11:04 | By

Global starts pushing its Xtra functionality app

Business News Digital Media

Capital Xtra

Global Radio has started pushing a new app it has built around its Capital Xtra brand, which soft-launched late last year and which the broadcaster reckons is “a completely new listening experience”.

The Capital Xtra app provides access to the classic radio station, but with added interactivity, in that you can skip the current song playing and move onto the next one. Users can also see upcoming tracks and skip through them too. DJs can also direct listeners to tap the app during links for more information on whatever is being discussed. So, basically, the normal radio service is there, but users can step in and opt for more of a Pandora experience, albeit based around the station’s playlist.

The functionality is pretty limited by on-demand streaming standards, of course, and the choice of music isn’t personalised like on a Pandora type platform. But still, it’s an interesting play on the traditional radio experience, and presumably is pitching itself at the kind of mainstream consumers who tune in to conventional radio, many of whom are yet to really embrace any kind of streaming service, and who are often put off by too much choice.

While the interactive app is only currently available for Global’s more youth-focused Capital Xtra, it’s understood similar services will be launched around the broadcaster’s other radio brands in due course.

Says Global’s digital man James Hickman: “This app is the first of its kind to combine the best of radio with the best of streaming. It marks a new way of listening and is ideal for people who want a degree of control without losing the curation and news and talk content from their favourite radio brand. Capital Xtra will bring radio to a younger audience by giving them the best of radio and the best of streaming in one app”.

Meanwhile Global boss Ashley Tabor added: “We wanted to do something that’s never been done before, to create a product that was true to the values and strengths of radio, but also giving users the control they expect in a streaming world. James and his team have done an outstanding job on My Capital Xtra”.

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Wednesday 27 January 2016, 11:03 | By

B.o.B and Neil deGrasse Tyson battle over flat Earth theory

And Finally Artist News

B.o.B

After rapper B.o.B spent a day insisting that the world is flat, astrophysicist Neil deGrasse Tyson responded by pointing out where he’d got some (all) of the science wrong. And that’s quite a thing to happen, isn’t it?

But Tyson’s arguments were shot down by B.o.B himself, who quickly accused the science man and ‘Cosmos’ host of being a Mason, and claimed that the curvature of the Earth can only be seen in pictures released by NASA. And nowhere else. Because NASA is hiding the truth from us. That being the indisputable fact that the ‘planet’ is actually completely flat.

The scientist concluded his lesson by saying: “Duude – to be clear: Being five centuries regressed in your reasoning doesn’t mean we all can’t still like your music”. In which case, he must love this. Because Tyson is now the subject of a B.o.B diss track:

But is that fair? Previously this was a battle of two men and their scientific knowledge. Then B.o.B brought rapping into it. And Neil deGrasse Tyson is not a rapper. But don’t worry, he has a secret weapon. It turns out that his nephew is a rapper. So this beef can stay on a level footing. Here’s ‘Flat To Fact’ by Tyson, featuring Neil deGrasse Tyson:

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Wednesday 27 January 2016, 10:58 | By

Approved: Jibóia – Ankara

CMU Approved

Jiboia & Ricardo Martins

Jibóia, aka musician Óscar Silva, first appeared in this column in 2014, ahead of the release of his ‘Balav’ EP. For that release he collaborated with fellow synth manipulator Ana Miró. For his next effort, ‘Masala’, which is out on 8 Feb, he’s teamed up with drummer Ricardo Martin.

The first single from the record, ‘Ankara’, features the same spinning psychedelic synths recognisable from his earlier work. However, the addition of Martin’s heavy and hypnotic drumming drives Silva’s sound into darker areas than before. This is music that picks you up and carries you, rather than waiting for you to follow it.

Listen to ‘Ankara’ here:

Stay up to date with all of the artists featured in the CMU Approved column in 2016 by subscribing to our Spotify playlist.

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Tuesday 26 January 2016, 11:30 | By

Video coming to Spotify this week

Business News Digital Top Stories

Spotify

In an attempt to stop people constantly asking “when exactly are you going to launch all that stuff you announced last May in a bid to pre-empt Apple Music”, Spotify will apparently launch one of the things it announced last May in a bid to pre-empt Apple Music this very week. That’s right you guys, video is coming to the streaming service. And just in time for February!

According to the Wall Street Journal, Android users this week, followed by iOS addicts next week, will be able to tap their Spotify apps for some video good times. Though only in the US, UK, Germany and Sweden. Because Spotify famously hates Norwegians. And everyone who isn’t American, British, German or Swedish. But mainly Norwegians.

The company has actually been testing the video function with a small proportion of its users for several months now. With mainly short videos to share, it has apparently found that the best way to deliver them is in small packages with titles like ‘News Of The Week’ and ‘Laughs At Lunch’. So a bit like the in-house audio playlists it already offers.

“We are at the end of a journey of testing”, VP Product Shiva Rajaraman told the WSJ. “We are going out effectively as planned. Our goal was largely to get a wide breadth of content and experiment and test”.

Rajaraman admitted that convincing Spotify users to sit and look at an app they usually have running in the background could be an uphill struggle. “Obviously our primary user is a music fan”, he said. “And they are not necessarily leaning in and looking into the app. So there are no particular recipes for how to get this right”.

Which basically means it’s taken Team Spotify almost nine months to launch this thing, it’s not really changed in that time, and they don’t know how or if it’s going to work. Great stuff.

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Tuesday 26 January 2016, 11:28 | By

SFX settles with its other alleged founders

Business News Legal Live Business

SFX

There was a time when you could brag about being one of the people behind the buzzy, booming, bullish EDM powerhouse that was SFX. Though as bankers and consultants busy themselves trying to work out how to rescue the company – with its wobbly financials, tanked share price and mountain of debt – perhaps that’s no longer so much something to put at the top of your brag list.

So comes the news that SFX founder Robert FX Silleman has settled a legal battle with three other men who claimed that they too were behind the dance music company, but were frozen out of the business just as it was gaining momentum and value.

As previously reported, Paolo Moreno, Lawrence Vavra and Gabriel Moreno claimed that Sillerman approached them in early 2012 to discuss his then fledgling plans for an electronic music-focussed company. They then alleged that, because he had no experience in that side of the business, Sillerman used the three men’s expertise to indentify and buy many of the new firm’s initial acquisitions.

The lawsuit then claimed that the three men should have received shares in the business in return for their efforts which, while worth little now, could have netted them over $100 million when SFX floated on the NASDAQ stock exchange in 2013.

Said the legal papers filed in early 2014: “Had they known that Sillerman’s true intentions were to use plaintiffs’ strategy, information, connections and access for his own gain, without granting plaintiffs any significant ownership interest in the venture, plaintiffs would not have entered into any agreement with Sillerman, and would not have undertaken to execute on the strategy for the benefit of SFX”.

For its part, SFX insisted that the claims were “baseless” from the off, with Sillerman attempting to secure a summary judgement in his favour. Last summer a judge ruled that the claimants had provided sufficient evidence – in particular emails between Sillerman and Paolo Moreno – for the case to proceed to full trial.

That won’t now happen. Papers filed with the court on 22 Jan confirm that all parties have now settled the dispute. Terms are obviously not known, but the court papers read: “Plaintiffs Paolo Moreno, Gabriel Moreno and Lawrence Vavra and defendants SFX Entertainment Inc and Robert FX Sillerman herby jointly notify the court that the parties have signed a settlement agreement to resolve this matter in its entirety”.

So, a little bit of good news for SFX HQ, while those bankers and consultants keep digging for a beats-heavy business turnaround strategy.

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Tuesday 26 January 2016, 11:27 | By

Hassle to work with Kobalt on Lonely The Brave album

Artist News Business News Deals Labels & Publishers Releases

Lonely The Brave

Hassle Records has announced it will work with Kobalt Label Services on the release of the next album from Lonely The Brave. Kobalt will provide distribution, marketing, digital and sync services to the indie label around the new release.

Confirming that very fact, KLS MD for the UK and Europe, Vincent Clery-Melin, told reporters: “We’re very excited to be partnering with Hassle for this brilliant band’s forthcoming record. Wez and the guys at Hassle are some of the smartest people in the independent sector, and their music taste and integrity are impeccable, whilst Lonely The Brave are one of the most promising and fast-growing rock bands in the country”.

The there mentioned Wez Westley, co-owner of Hassle and sister record company Full Time Hobby, added: “We had a lot of interest from many companies in partnering up with us on Lonely The Brave. Kobalt were the most proactive in terms of ideas and approach on a worldwide basis with the band. We’re interested in continuing to develop a longterm international rock band that has longevity, something that is sadly lacking in today’s music industry. Kobalt totally gets that. We have also known many of the staff there for a long time and we know how good these people are at their jobs”.

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Tuesday 26 January 2016, 11:24 | By

After nearly two decades of drinking Coca-Cola, Avicii’s finally been asked to produce an ad jingle

Artist News Brands & Merch Business News

Avicii

Avicii likes “working with big brands”. Especially ones he can “relate to”. Which means there’s a double win with his latest hook up with Coca-Cola, because that’s a pretty big brand, and he’s been drinking the stuff on a regular basis now for nineteen years, so has a genuine and personal insight into the drink’s overarching ethos. As a marketing idiot might put it. Basically, it’s like Taylor Swift’s relationship with Diet Coke, but in reverse.

His latest tie up with the brand sees him work on an original track to promote the drink brand’s new One Brand campaign, which brings all of its Coca-Cola-branded brands under one brand-led branding brand (I have literally no idea what any of this means).

Speaking to Music Week, the producer said: “Working with Coke has been super easy for me. I’ve been drinking Coke since I was seven, and I drink a lot of Coke already, so it was very easy to do. We’ve also been working together for a long time now. I think we started working together on their energy drink called Burn and I’ve been doing a lot of Burn things for some time. I’ve done a lot of Coke things, but this is the first major campaign I’m doing with them, so it’s really cool”.

Yeah, there’s nothing cooler than producing a cheesy jingle for a blue chip FMCG brand. And this one features vocals from up-and-coming singer Conrad Sewell, who is signed to Lyor Cohen’s 300 Entertainment. You can hear a little bit of it here:

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Tuesday 26 January 2016, 11:20 | By

Japanese brands gain far less from boyband endorsements compared to girl groups, research finds

Artist News Brands & Merch Business News

SMAP

It may well have been their many lucrative brand partnerships that ultimately kept Japanese boyband SMAP together earlier this month, but new research reckons that male acts in the country provide a less good return on investment for brands than girl groups.

Endorsing products has long been par for the course for pop groups in Japan, and it’s an important part of the business for all the big acts. Though new research from Tokyo’s Custom Products Research reckons that girl groups can deliver a bigger share price boost to companies they endorse than boy bands, based on brand deal and share price data from 2015.

According to the Financial Times, the research calculated that SMAP contributed to a 17% share price increase last year for one of its endorsees, Seven & I Holdings, which ranked them thirteen in a list of 25 acts that provide the best value for brands. However, they were a long way off the number one act, AKB48, who apparently helped boost shares by up to 136%.

Not sure quite how much other factors were taken into account, but still, if SMAP do decide to call it quits, their current brand partners should probably call in the girl groups.

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Tuesday 26 January 2016, 11:18 | By

James Davies joins Six07 Press

Business News Industry People Marketing & PR

Six07 Press

Six07 Press has appointed James Davies as its new Senior Press Consultant. Davies joins from marketing and PR agency Embrace, where he was PR Manager. He has previously worked for ZTT Records, Sony Music, Polydor, MBC PR and The Outside Organisation.

Company founder Ritu Morton says: “We are hugely excited to welcome James to Six07. He is a hugely experienced PR, with a very focused and gentle approach. We think he is going to bring a lot to the company”.

“I am THRILLED to be joining Ritu and the Six07 team”, adds Davies. “I’ve long admired their work and look forward to a long and fruitful partnership”.

Among the acts Davies will work with are Public Service Broadcasting, Lissie, Lindi Ortega, William Fitzsimmons and Radical Face.

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Tuesday 26 January 2016, 11:14 | By

Gary Barlow rallies 80s popstars for Eddie The Eagle movie soundtrack

Artist News Releases

Eddie The Eagle

Gary Barlow has curated a compilation of new music by 80s popstars to accompany a new film about former ski jumper Michael ‘Eddie The Eagle’ Edwards. I’ll let that sentence sink in for a moment.

‘Eddie The Eagle’ tells the life story of British Olympian Edwards, who became famous for coming last in both the 70m and 90m ski jumping categories at the 1988 Winter Olympics in Calgary, Canada.

Barlow’s soundtrack album features new songs written and performed by artists including, Holly Johnson, Marc Almond, Go West, Midge Ure, Heaven 17, Erasure’s Andy Bell and more. The proportion of women on the album is a bit like Barlow’s old tax bills, in that you’d think there’d be a certain amount, but actually there’s only Kim Wilde. The record closes with a duet from the film’s stars – Taron Egerton and Hugh Jackman – titled ‘Thrill Me’, written by Barlow and OMD’s Andy McCluskey. How thrilling.

The Take That star’s involvement in the project dates back to a phone call from film producer Matthew Vaughn in late 2014. Barlow says: “He was raving about the next movie he was going to make… the life story of Eddie Edwards. When he started reeling off about the script, the actors and, best of all, that he wanted all the music to be faithful to the original decade of the story, the 1980s, I knew I had to be involved. Then after having seen the film I was even more excited”.

“I started to think about how incredible it would be to make a whole album of brand new songs, with a cast of the legends who started their career in, and defined, the 1980s”, continues Barlow. “Not a pastiche record, but a contemporary record of who all those artists are now, while still keeping the trademark style for which they originally became known around the world. ‘It’s going to be like an iconic super group! All on one soundtrack, all on one album’, I said”.

On making the record, he adds: “The best part for me was when the tracks started to come in. My email would ping and it would be a demo from Marc Almond! Then a question about a lyric from Holly Johnson! A mix query from Kim Wilde! It was totally mind blowing for me to be in this position and I feel so lucky to have experienced it all. A year on and I’m looking back at one of the most enjoyable and collaborative times in my whole career. Anyone who loves the 80s, or any of these artists involved, are in for an hour of incredible music”.

Here you go then, the tracklisting for ‘Fly (Songs Inspired By The Film Eddie The Eagle)’, which is out on 18 Mar, two weeks ahead of the film itself:

1. Holly Johnson – Ascension
2. Howard Jones – Eagle Will Fly Again
3. Marc Almond – Out Of The Sky
4. Tony Hadley – Moment
5. Midge Ure – Touching Hearts and Skies
6. Nik Kershaw – The Sky’s The Limit
7. ABC – Living Inside My Heart
8. Kim Wilde – Without Your Love
9. Andy Bell – Fly
10. Go West – Determination
11. Heaven 17- Pray
12. Paul Young – People Like You
13. Taron Egerton & Hugh Jackman – Thrill Me

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Tuesday 26 January 2016, 11:07 | By

Brian Wilson announces Pet Sounds shows

Artist News Gigs & Festivals

Brian Wilson

Brian Wilson has announced UK dates for his upcoming world tour performing Beach Boys album ‘Pet Sounds’. The tour will mark the 50th anniversary of the album’s release. Wilson has previously said that these will be his last European live performances.

“It’s really been a trip to sit here and think about releasing ‘Pet Sounds’ 50 years ago”, says Wilson about the tour. “I love performing this album with my band and look forward to playing it for fans all across the world”.

Here are the dates:

15 May: Bristol, Colston Hall
17 May: Birmingham, Symphony Hall
18 May: Cardiff, St David’s Hall
20 May: London Palladium
21 May: London Palladium
24 May: Manchester, Apollo
26 May: Usher Hall, Edinburgh
27 May: Glasgow, Royal Concert Hall
29 May: Newcastle, Sage Gateshead
31 May: Liverpool, Philharmonic Hall
1 Jun: Nottingham, Royal Concert Hall

Tickets go on sale this Friday at 9am.

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Tuesday 26 January 2016, 11:03 | By

CMU’s One Liners: Sony/ATV, Peermusic, Twitter, more

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

Sony/ATV

Other notable announcements and developments today…

• Jennifer Knoepfle has only been bloody promoted to the job of Senior VP and Head Of West Coast A&R for music publisher Sony/ATV Stateside. Yeah, that West Coast. Not Cornwall. Amanda Berman-Hill, meanwhile, becomes the firm’s Senior VP and Head Of West Coast Writer Relations.

• Carter Armstrong has been appointed to the LA-based role of SVP Film & TV for independent publisher Peermusic, replacing your old friend… actually no one. It’s a new position. And let’s be honest, you don’t have any old friends.

• Former Ticketmaster President Nathan Hubbard has expanded his remit at Twitter as a prize for being one of the few senior execs at the social media firm not to be axed this weekend. As well as being Head of Commerce he will also take over the company’s media team, on an interim basis at least.

• Rihanna has been listening to her new album, ‘Anti’. So that’s nice, that at least someone’s heard it.

• Kanye West has proclaimed that his new album ‘Swish’ is the “best album of all time”, which must mean that the tracks we haven’t heard so far are really incredible.

• Imagine if there was a video for ‘Wide Open’ by The Chemical Brothers and Beck. No! Do not! Here is one.

• Eric Prydz will release his debut album, ‘Opus’, through Virgin EMI/Astralwerks on 5 Feb. It has nineteen tracks on it, which is definitely too many. Here’s a trailer thing.

• Amon Amarth will release their tenth album, ‘Jomsviking’, on 25 Mar. On 22 Mar you can catch them live at The Underworld in Camden. Here’s the video for new single ‘First Kill’.

• DIIV have released a new track called ‘Is The Is Are’, out on Captured Tracks on 5 Feb.

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Tuesday 26 January 2016, 10:59 | By

The Earth is flat, claims B.o.B

And Finally Artist News

B.o.B

Following on from various conspiracy theories he has discussed on social media recently, US rapper B.o.B spent all of yesterday trying to convince his followers that the Earth is flat.

He pointed out the lack of a visible curve on the horizon in photographs. He pointed to time-lapse photos of stars. He pointed out that it would be much windier on the ground if the planet was actually spinning around really fast. And he asked why the horizon is always at eye level regardless of how high up you travel.

“I was on a plane the SAME time the Red Bull jump happened”, he explained. “The pilot told us to look out the window – five miles to the left was the balloon. We were flying at the SAME altitude as the guy who did the red bull jump… NO curve… even though their footage shows otherwise”.

He added that detractors had failed to do their research, were just regurgitating information that they had been “force fed”, and were denying physics. Tired of people not doing the research, he then posted it for them, venturing into ‘faked moon landings’ territory at one stage too.

As attention for his campaign grew, this morning he criticised the way it was being reported in the media. “They want me to be a ‘good little rapper’ and sing and dance and don’t question things”, he wrote. “I’m going up against the greatest liars in history. You’ve been tremendously deceived. No I’m not crazy. Yes I’m feeling fine. No I’m not doing anything stronger than weed. Am I doing this to promote my music? No”.

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Tuesday 26 January 2016, 10:54 | By

Approved: Colour

CMU Approved

Colour

Colour released their debut single, ‘Strangers’, last year. Now, like they’re trying to build some sort of momentum or something, they’re back again with another one. When will it stop? Not soon, I hope. Because, see, Colour are a very good band indeed. That’s basically what I am trying to tell you in an overly wordy way here. I hope that is clear.

That new single I mentioned, ‘Nowhere’, is sixteen seconds short of four minute’s worth of musical joy that would sit comfortably among your Everything Everything and Foals CDs. If CDs were still a thing you bought. Are they? I don’t know. I’ve not met you so don’t know about your music format preferences.

Anyway, ‘Nowhere’ has got some great guitar work on it, of the sort that makes you think, “that’s clever, and also fun”. You would probably enjoy singing along with it too, if you were to learn the words and weren’t too inhibited. But I’ve not met you, so can’t comment on your word learning abilities or you inhibitions.

‘Nowhere’, by the way, is out on 19 Feb. Listen to it here:

Stay up to date with all of the artists featured in the CMU Approved column in 2016 by subscribing to our Spotify playlist.

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Monday 25 January 2016, 11:29 | By

Live365 to close because of SoundExchange rate changes

Business News Digital Labels & Publishers Legal Top Stories

Live365

The long-standing US-based online radio platform Live365 is set to go offline at the end of the month, in no small part because of the recent Copyright Royalty Board ruling on what rates online radio operations licensed via SoundExchange should pay.

As previously reported, the CRB ruling was big news in the US, though most headlines centred on what it meant for Pandora, which has traditionally utilised the compulsory sound recordings licence that exists under US copyright law for online radio services, including personalised radio set-ups.

The CRB controls what rates companies using the compulsory licence – which is administered by SoundExchange – pay, and for Pandora the ruling meant a higher rate, though not as high as the record industry had been pushing for. Pandora was pleased with the latest changes, but small to middle-sized online radio outfits were not, because a revenue share option that had previously been available to grass roots operators was phased out.

Live365, which launched way back in 1999, provides a platform for bedroom, smallscale and community broadcasters based in the US via which they can webcast. It not only provides the webcasting technology for its broadcasting customers, but also music licences, which it sorts out via the music publishing sector’s collecting societies and, for recordings, under the SoundExchange licence.

Shortly after the CRB ruling, the company laid off staff and left its offices, explaining that: “The absence of the [smallscale broadcaster] licence will make legally streaming copyrighted musical content prohibitively expensive for many small to mid-sized internet broadcasters. Live365 relies on this licence for many of their broadcast partners”.

Meanwhile, the firm’s Dean Kattari argued that this development was bad news for the record industry that was the beneficiary of the higher royalties. He said: “The true value of Live365 lies in its diversity of content – it’s a sanctuary where you can hear music and other content that is so unlike the template broadcasting that is heard on most terrestrial radio. These stations are the hard work of real human beings who use Live365 to share their vision with the world. It’s a home for musical discovery because many of these stations play emerging artists that terrestrial stations are reluctant to take a chance on”.

To make matters worse, Live365 also lost investors in the wake of the CRB ruling. At the time management said that they were trying to find new business partners to help them move forward, but it seems that search has been unsuccessful.

According to RAIN, a recent email to webcasters who use the Live365 platform reads: “We are sad that we are closing our doors at the end of this month. There are always possibilities that we can come back in one form or another, but at this point in time, 31 Jan 2016 is the last day that Live365’s streaming servers and website will be maintained and supported”.

It’s thought that many of the grassroots webcasters that rely on Live365 will struggle to find alternative ways to legally webcast given the removal of the special SoundExchange licence for small-scale operations. They will therefore be hoping Live365 can indeed “come back in one form or another”, though that seems far from assured for now.

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Monday 25 January 2016, 11:27 | By

Intellectual Property Office opens consultation on geo-blocking

Business News Digital Legal

IPO geo-blocking consultation

While for the music business the main priority in the ongoing European copyright review is good old ‘safe harbours’ – or, actually, ‘making available’ if you’re an artist – for most of the rest of the entertainment industry it’s all about geo-blocking. To that end the UK’s Intellectual Property Office has launched a public consultation on what it calls “cross-border portability”.

As previously reported, the European Commission is currently reviewing copyright rules across the European Union as part of its Digital Single Market initiative. When it published its priorities last month, a review of the so called ‘making available right’ was included, which is good news for artists who see this as a possible way of regaining some control over digital income. Meanwhile the review of safe harbours that the labels and publishers have been pushing for was simply alluded to in a paragraph about piracy.

Top of the agenda is the issue of most concern to the movie and TV sectors, but about which the music companies are slightly ambivalent. The European Commission wants consumers who sign up to digital content services in any one EU country to be able to access that service – and all the content that comes with it – in any other country in the Union. Basically so that a UK Netflix customer can continue to use the service and access the British catalogue of content wherever they may be in Europe, without having to employ a VPN to confuse the streaming service about their location.

The music industry has adopted pan-European licensing on a much bigger scale than the movie and TV industries, meaning that – while regional variation in catalogue does remain to an extent – meeting the kind of “cross-border portability” requirements the EU is seeking to make law won’t be too big a problem for labels and publishers.

Many movie and TV show producers, though, are critical of the proposals, and say that European politicians are exaggerating the scale of the problem, ie how many people are using a Netflix type service while travelling around Europe. To be fair, the EC’s proposals are unlikely to tackle the bigger frustration amongst video-on-demand customers: disparities between catalogues in different countries, and the time lag between release dates in different markets, especially for TV shows.

With geo-blocking atop the EC’s copyright agenda, the UK’s IPO last week invited all interested parties to input into the review. The government agency said: “The European Commission has recently published draft legislation that is intended to ensure that all digital services are portable within the European Union. This would mean that a person who lives in the UK, who subscribes to a digital content service there, would be able to continue to access that service when they are elsewhere in the EU”.

It added: “The government is seeking views on the draft legislation to ensure that they deliver the best outcome for businesses and consumers. We would welcome your views on the costs and benefits of these proposals and suggestions for how the language of the proposed regulation can be improved”.

Input should be sent to copyright.policy@ipo.gov.uk by 12 Feb.

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Monday 25 January 2016, 11:16 | By

BBC partners with Record Store Day

Business News Media Retail

Record Store Day

BBC Music has signed up as a partner of Record Store Day, which is good news. I half expected the BBC to launch its own annual celebration of record stores, because you know, how better to utilise dwindling licence fee funds than with another over-priced vanity project for BBC bosses that no one cares about?

But no, this is no BBC Music Awards, this is the Beeb supporting something industry-led and grassroots. Or possibly climbing on a bandwagon long after it jumped the shark. Which is something I’d like to see. A bandwagon jumping a shark, I mean. Could it even do that? The BBC should axe its pointless Music Awards and pump the budget into hiring some engineers to achieve just that task.

Anyway. BBC. Record Store Day. Steve Lamacq talking to record shop owners. Lauren Lavern broadcasting live from a record shop. 6 Music announcing the list of Record Store Day exclusives. Our very own British Broadcasting Corporation supporting a moment that unites people through their love of music. Good times.

And here’s BBC Music’s James Stirling with a quote: “BBC Music is always keen to support moments that unite people through their love of music. Record Store Day does exactly that and we are very happy to be officially involved this year”.

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Monday 25 January 2016, 11:13 | By

Nine indie festivals already on board for Attitude Is Everything’s Access Starts Online campaign

Business News Live Business

Attitude Is Everything

Attitude Is Everything has confirmed that nine festivals affiliated to the Association Of Independent Festivals have signed up to its Access Starts Online initiative.

As previously reported, Attitude Is Everything, the charity that encourages the live music sector to improve accessibility to its events for deaf and disabled music fans, launched Access Starts Online at AIF’s Festival Congress last November, encouraging festival promoters to introduce a “designated access information page” on their websites, using a template provided by their trade body. AIF members ArcTanGent, Bestival, Camp Bestival, Common People, Cornbury, Deershed, Just So, Kendal Calling and Nozstock are all already on board.

Attitude Is Everything says that the lack of such information for major music events is a key source of frustration for disabled music fans, and therefore decent access information pages are a “simple and cost-effective measure” that all live music events and venues can take that will make a real difference.

Attitude Is Everything CEO Suzanne Bull told reporters last week: “We are heartened to have received such a strong show of support from AIF members. These days everyone hears about gigs and festivals online, and that’s why this campaign is so important – as without comprehensive access information in advance of an event, many disabled music fans can be put off from buying tickets in the first place”.

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Monday 25 January 2016, 11:11 | By

Bauer makes hires and promotions to ensure “premium targeting opportunities” for online advertisers

Business News Industry People Media

Bauer Media

Media firm Bauer last week announced the recruitment of Cathy Ma to the role of Audience Development Director who, alongside three existing staffers who have been promoted into new posts, will help the magazine and radio station owner to “forge ahead with an ambitious plan to further accelerate digital growth, and leverage its unique and powerful range of radio, magazine media, connected TV, events and digital brands to offer scaled and premium targeting opportunities for commercial partners”. Yeah, those are definitely words.

I think it basically means Bauer, like many of its rivals in magazine making and radio revelling, is increasingly shouting “DATA” and “BRANDED CONTENT” in the general direction of advertisers, as it tries to transform its online operations – the growth area for media owners in terms of audience – into decent revenue generators.

The media owner then notes that it has “achieved significant growth in streamed audio listening with a 30% increase across the Bauer City Network of local radio station brands and a 75% increase in ‘logged in’ listening to stations like Absolute Radio – which provides data to provide premium audio targeted commercial opportunities”.

Meanwhile, increased online audiences for its “lifestyle brands” like Grazia and The Debrief means the publisher can “make better informed decisions about the content created and curated for these brands”. Yeah, whatever you say.

Ma is joined by Hannah Rouch and Alice Farmiloe from within Bauer’s magazines business, and Ali Wilkinson from radio, to do all this audience developing. Confirming all this, Sam Jones, MD of Bauer’s digital division Xcel, told reporters: “We are seeking world class talent as we unlock a new level of digital performance and targeting opportunities for commercial partners. Cathy Ma, Hannah Rouch, Alice Farmiloe and Ali Wilkinson are celebrated digital talent and bring with them a wealth of experience and a highly creative approach”.

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Monday 25 January 2016, 11:06 | By

BBC released iPlayer exclusive Lemmy documentary

Artist News Media

Lemmy

The BBC has made a new documentary, ‘Lemmy: In His Own Words’, available exclusively on the iPlayer. The programme is cut together using various interviews the Motörhead frontman gave on BBC shows between 1982 and 2010, plus live footage and previously unbroadcast material.

BBC Music Editor James Stirling says of the programme: “Lemmy was a colossal figure in British music and he had a unique approach to both his songs and the industry he found himself in. There was a smart sense of humour at the heart of everything, something clearly demonstrated through his interviews and performances we’ve uncovered from the BBC Music archive”.

This is the latest in a series of iPlayer-only music shows from BBC Music, which have also included a similar documentary about Amy Winehouse and Elton John performing live at the Eden Project.

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Monday 25 January 2016, 10:57 | By

CMU Trends Report and masterclass set out to explain the latest music rights issues

Business News Education & Events

Copyrights

The last edition of the CMU Trends Report having explained why ‘making available’ is on the European Commission’s copyright review agenda, the next issue will explain quite why ‘mechanical royalties’ are causing such a kafuffle in the US right now. You should go premium with CMU to access both.

Or, if you prefer music right technicalities explained in person, both will be reviewed in detail at the next CMU Insights masterclass, which provides an overview of all the key developments in music rights in the last twelve months, all in one place, and with a very user-friendly approach.

The masterclass will be led by CMU Business Editor Chris Cooke, who says: “If you make, manage, market, distribute or utilise songs or recordings, then you are in the music copyright game, and while you can rely on your lawyers to write the contracts, it really helps your business if you understand all the basics about how music rights work and make money”.

He goes on: “Of course, copyright matters are often in flux, as each copyright system tries to tackle new forms of music distribution and delivery, as different stakeholders battle for a better deal, and as individual disputes test otherwise ambiguous parts of the law. Staying on top of it all can be tricky, but our masterclass will help you do just that, and without assuming you’re an expert in intellectual property”.

As well as ‘making available’ and ‘mechanical rights’, the masterclass will cover safe harbours, performer rights, copyright exceptions and key recent cases, including ‘Blurred Line’, ‘Happy Birthday’ and the ongoing MegaUpload case. Tickets for the masterclass are just £99 and are available here.

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Monday 25 January 2016, 10:54 | By

No David Bowie autobiography, though the key to his life story may lie in massive personal archives

Artist News

David Bowie

David Bowie did not complete an autobiography, or a planned retrospective book focussed on items from his past, reports Newsweek. However, a personal account of his life may lie in a massive archive of items housed in a New York warehouse.

Rumours of a Bowie autobiography have circulated since the 70s, though a source told Newsweek that nothing was finished prior to his death earlier this month. A book titled ‘Bowie: Object’, planned to be published through Penguin since at least 2010, was also apparently not completed. The book would have showcased 100 items from the musician’s life and career, with explanations written by Bowie himself. A spokesperson for the publisher said that “Penguin is not expecting it to happen”.

However, while no written account of his life will seemingly be published, Bowie does leave behind an archive of items vastly larger than the V&A’s ‘David Bowie Is’ exhibition, which is currently still touring the world.

Curator of the exhibition, Victoria Broackes, says that she was given access to a collection of over 75,000 items, with 300 (including material from other collectors) selected for the show. “The archives are unique in pop music and would be unusual, in their scope, for any artist or indeed any individual”, she told Newsweek. “Bowie’s collection is like its own museum”.

The article also claims that Bowie left plans for a series of retrospective releases of his music. Read all about it here.

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Monday 25 January 2016, 10:53 | By

Pet Shop Boys announce new album, Royal Opera House shows

Artist News Releases

Pet Shop Boys

You remember the other day when you were wondering what the Pet Shop Boys were up to because you saw this picture on Instagram? Well, it turns out they’re releasing a new album in April. On the actual 1st of April, as it happens. No joke. It’s called ‘Super’ and its twelve tracks were produced by Stuart Price.

“It was fantastic to be back in the studio with Stuart Price continuing from where we left off with ‘Electric’ and we’re THRILLED with the results”, said the duo in eerie synchronicity. “It’s also very exciting to take electronic music into the Royal Opera House – such a grand and beautiful venue. These will be four very special nights for us and our only UK concerts this year”.

Whoa, whoa, whoa. Wait a moment guys. I haven’t told them about the shows yet. I was actually going to tell the people that you’re releasing the new album through your own Kobalt Label Services-serviced label x2 Records. But, whatever, we can talk about the gigs instead.

I mean, the cat’s pretty much out of the bag already, but the Pet Shop Boys are going to play four shows at the Royal Opera House later this year. They’ll take place on 20-23 Jul. Titled ‘Inner Sanctum’, the site-specific performance has been created with designer Es Devlin and choreographer Lynne Page. Tickets are available here.

Oh, and the lead single from the new album is called ‘The Pop Kids’. And you can ferret about in this website for more info on everything here, and watch the duo’s “2016 Launch Video” here.

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Monday 25 January 2016, 10:50 | By

CMU’s One Liners: ABKCO, FUGA, Adele, more

And Finally Artist News Business News Digital Industry People Labels & Publishers One Liners Releases

Adele

Other notable announcements and developments today…

• Alisa Coleman was last week promoted to COO of ABKCO Music. She had been the company’s Senior Executive Vice President since 1985.

• Digital distribution firm FUGA has hired René Andreasi-Bassi, who has a background in broadcasting, to the role of Head Of Digital Marketing & Promotions, and Michael Cassidy, who joins from Liberty Global, to the post of Head of Operations.

• Who reached a billion views on YouTube the fastest? If you said Psy, you are WRONG. Idiot. It’s Adele with her ‘Hello’ video. Everyone knows that.

• Producer Ron Fair has given an update on TLC’s comeback album, funded by Kickstarter supporters last year. “It’s old soul music. It’s 90s throwback music. It’s vintage TLC and I can tell you that their vocals sound exactly the way they did the last time you heard them”, he told Renman Music & Business Live.

• That Steven Tyler off of the Aero Smiths has released a solo single. It’s called. ‘Red, White & You’. Yeah, I thought he was going to say “blue”, but he said “you”. He’s a clever one that Steven Tyler from Air-o-smyth.

• Deftones guitarist Steph Carpenter has confirmed that the band’s new album will be out on 8 Apr. It may or may not be called ‘Gore’. Either way it’s exciting.

• AlunaGeorge have a new single out called ‘I’m In Control’. It features Popcaan. It’s from new album ‘I Remember’, which – you should remember – is out in the spring. Here’s the single.

• Zayn Malik says he’d consider a One Direction reunion “if the time was right”. And despite his seemingly fractious relationship with his former bandmates, he told the Sunday Times “I have no beef”. Excuse me Zayn, please remember we have a weekly column to fill, and you’re really not helping.

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Monday 25 January 2016, 10:45 | By

Weezer accidentally sell $25,000 bird-watching experience

And Finally Artist News

Weezer

You know how it is, you’re putting together the perks for the crowdfu… sorry, “pre-order” campaign for your new album and you throw in a jokey expensive one you know no one will ever buy. We’ve all done it. But what if someone did buy it? What then? Well, that’s the question Weezer are asking themselves right now.

Because, see, their $25,000 “experience bundle” offers one fan the chance to go bird watching with frontman Rivers Cuomo on the Galapagos Islands.

The lucky purchaser will “take a Greyhound [bus] to the Galapagos with Rivers where you’ll stay only for a limited time”, explains the page for the package. “Once you get to the islands, you’ll go bird watching to try and find the elusive white-cheeked pintail. You’ll go on a catamaran ride to Charles Darwin Research Station, sing ‘The British Are Coming’ with Rivers in the Galapagos but replace every lyric about ‘old King George’ to ‘lonesome George’. Finally, you will be named King Of The World for a day”.

How they must have chuckled to themselves as they put that little offer live. But in the cold harsh light of day things must look very different. “Whoa”, exclaimed the band on Facebook. “Got word that someone bought the $25k pre-order package on weezerwebstore.com late last night. Time to figure out how to get a Greyhound to the Galapagos”.

How indeed? How indeed? Luckily, the listing stipulates that Cuomo’s travel must be paid for separately from the $25,000, which might cover the cost of developing a coach with in-built hovercraft capable of travelling 1000km over the Pacific Ocean.

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Monday 25 January 2016, 10:17 | By

Approved: PJ Harvey – The Wheel

CMU Approved

PJ Harvey

What’s PJ Harvey up to in that box? That’s what we were all wondering, wasn’t it? When she was in that box – aka a glass-fronted room at Somerset House in London – last year. Of course we knew she was recording her new album, she’d told us as much, but that’s not really enough information when it comes to an artist like PJ Harvey, is it?

More recently we’ve received further details. The record was inspired by trips to places like Kosovo, Afghanistan and Washington, DC. Song titles suggest a political leaning to the record. And now comes the first single, ‘The Wheel’, which shed’s yet more light on the project.

A thread definitely runs to the track from 2011’s ‘Let England Shake’ album, but while that record looked at war and Englishness, this project certainly casts a wider net. And lyrically Harvey remains unflinching, singing of a “tableau of the missing tied to the government building”. And again she manages to do this in a musically accessible way.

Listen to ‘The Wheel’ here:

Stay up to date with all of the artists featured in the CMU Approved column in 2016 by subscribing to our Spotify playlist.

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Friday 22 January 2016, 12:52 | By

Local council lays into T In The Park 2015, demands changes if 2016 edition is to go ahead

Business News Gigs & Festivals Live Business

T In The Park

The recent announcement that T In The Park promoter DF Concerts had hired two former police officers to help overhaul the operational side of its big festival was clearly, in part, pre-empting a report by Perth & Kinross Council on the event’s first year at its new site, which concludes that “the event will not be allowed to proceed” in 2016 unless significant changes are made.

As previously reported, T In The Park’s move to the Strathallan Estate in Perthshire was controversial from the start, though the event was ultimately given the green light by the local authority Perth & Kinross Council. After the event, DF initially said that it’d had a “great first year at Strathallan”, but subsequently admitted that there had been some operational issues.

Then, when announcing its new recruits last week, DF said that it was now busy working on a “full improvement plan” ahead of the 2016 edition of T In The Park. Event Manager Colin Rodger added: “We have listened to every single comment and we thank everyone for their valuable input. We’re now focused on delivering the 2016 festival and we know where we need to improve. By restructuring the management of key areas, such as the site and security, we will solve issues from last year’s event”.

A new report on last year’s T festival from Perth & Kinross Council outlines in more detail what those “issues” were. According to The Scotsman, the report cites “traffic congestion, concerns over crowd safety inside the arena and campsite security, and disruption to residents”, and criticises “last-minute changes to the event’s layout, infrastructure, transport plans and security arrangements, as well as repeated breaches of the event’s planning permission”.

The paper adds that the Council’s Environment Director Barbara Renton has said that, while the local authority always tries to take a “can do approach” to major events in the region, T In The Park would now be treated differently “until DF can demonstrate their capability to effectively manage this event in future”. Getting a licence for its 2016 edition will be dependent on demonstrating those capabilities.

Renton concluded: “Council staff will need substantial reassurances and evidence from DF that detailed plans will be prepared on time, and the event will be delivered more effectively, before officers could have confidence in recommending it takes place at Strathallan again. Officers had a high degree of confidence in DF Concerts and expected that organisers could manage fundamental event requirements such as stewarding and signage. This confidence has been undermined following management of TITP 2015. There requires to be a recalibration of the relationship with DF Concerts”.

Although the report may provide new ammunition for those that opposed the move of T In The Park to the Strathallan Estate in the first place, none of it will come as a surprise to DF, which is already very busy trying to rise to the local council’s challenge, not least with the appointment of former Police Scotland officers Colin Brown and Ian Martin to handle security and traffic management respectively. Experienced festival production firm APL Events has also been hired to look after site management. Whether these, and other appointments and changes, will satisfy Renton and her colleagues, remains to be seen.

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Friday 22 January 2016, 12:50 | By

New report weighs up the ‘good’ and ‘bad’ conclusions on file-sharing

Business News Digital Legal

Piracy

Ever since file-sharing became a big thing in music, there has been research that says the unlicensed sharing of tracks online decimates CD and legit download sales, and other research that says the file-sharing networks are massive free marketing platforms that actually drive music buying. The former would usually be cited by the record industry, and the latter by file-sharers. The truth, probably, is somewhere in the middle.

A new bit of research from Queen’s University in Ontario assesses those two counter conclusions and tries to work out where in the middle the truth actually lies. It concludes that “file-sharing activity has a statistically significant but economically modest negative effect on legitimate music sales”. So, a nominal win for the labels, then.

The research, led by Jonathan Lee, assessed a data set of 250,000 albums and 4.8 million downloads on one popular BitTorrent tracker. He reckons that while file-sharing activity had a negative impact on CD sales, the word-of-mouth marketing power of the file-sharing community actually aided legit download sales. Perhaps suggesting that file-sharers were quick to shun physical products as file-sharing became an option, but they nevertheless used the file-sharing networks – to an extent at least – as a try-before-you-buy platform.

Lee adds that the extent to which the marketing power of file-sharing offset lost CD sales varied according to the level of artists, with “bottom tier” acts losing out the most. Though, the researcher ponders that this might be because their music wasn’t as attractive to file-sharers who were trying before they buy, ie the music itself was the problem.

There may be some other shifts that were occurring in music consumption at the time that might also contribute to some of the trends Lee identities in his research. Meanwhile Torrentfreak points out that the torrents assessed came from a private tracker used by a disproportionally high number of “music aficionados”, which might make those file-sharers more prone to buy tracks they discovered they liked.

As for what all this tells us about today, the report focuses on data that pre-dates the big shift of digital consumption from downloads to streams, so mainly identifies trends occurring in a specific moment of time. Though, given the disparity in ‘is file-sharing good or bad for music?’ reports over the years, it’s good to see one that acknowledges both outcomes and tries to balance one off another.

Read the working paper here.

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