Friday 22 January 2016, 12:42 | By

Kesha fans to stage protest outside next court hearing in Dr Luke lawsuit

Artist News Business News Labels & Publishers Legal

Kesha

Kesha fans are planning to stage a protest outside the New York State Supreme Courthouse next Tuesday, when the next hearing in the singer’s ongoing legal battle with producer Dr Luke is due to take place.

As previously reported, Kesha Sebert accuses Lukasz ‘Dr Luke’ Gottwald of plying her with drugs and alcohol and raping her as a teenager. He has countersued for defamation, saying that these are fabrications invented in an attempt to get out of her contract with his Kemosabe Records label.

In November last year, Sebert filed an injunction to allow her to record a new album directly for Kemosabe parent company Sony Music. Her contract currently locks her into working with Gottwald, which she obviously does not want to do. The ongoing legal actions complicate the situation further, and with Sebert unable to record, she argues that her career is on the verge of collapse.

A petition calling on Sony Music CEO Doug Morris to personally step in and release her from her contract with Gottwald’s label has gained over 100,000 signatures. And it is the organisers of that petition who are now planning to stage a protest outside the court next week.

According to The Huffington Post, protest organiser Michael Eisele said: “We’re protesting at the courthouse to drive home that Sony needs to listen to more than 107,000 petitioners who want to save Kesha’s career and human rights. Pop music fans are sending a clear message that they won’t stand for Sony’s completely unethical and inhumane treatment of a woman who was brave enough to speak up about sexual abuse”.

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Friday 22 January 2016, 12:39 | By

Sainsbury’s relaunches download store

Business News Digital Retail

Sainsbury's

Sainsbury’s has relaunched its download store with a super duper new mobile-friendly design for fans of super duper new mobile-friendly download stores.

The service boasts a catalogue 20 million tracks and 2.5 million albums all available to purchase in “high quality MP3”. Let’s all party like it’s 2009, hey? But you know, the record industry is prone to give up on its formats way too quickly, so perhaps it’s good news that the supermarket chain is still doing what it can to make music downloads more attractive to its mainstream consumer base.

I haven’t even mentioned the Nectar points yet, have I? When Sainsbury’s first moved into MP3s, it offered downloaders Nectar points with the music they bought. But now you can bloody well use those Nectar points to buy your pop tunes in the first place. What a Gary Barlow kind of day this is.

And now here’s Sharon Nightingale, Head Of Commercial at Sainsbury’s Entertainment On Demand, who says: “Relaunching Sainsbury’s Entertainment Music is the culmination of a huge amount of work and we’re excited about offering customers a one stop shop for eBooks, magazines and now music”.

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Friday 22 January 2016, 12:35 | By

Canadian private equity firm provided SFX with its $20 million

Business News Live Business

SFX

Flagging EDM peddler SFX has filed paperwork with the US Securities & Exchange Commission providing more information about the $20 million of extra finance the company secured last week.

SFX currently has the consultants in trying to figure out a way forward for the company, which has seen its share price tank in the last twelve months after a tricky year, and two aborted attempts by founder Robert FX Sillerman to take the publicly listed firm back into private ownership. There have been many rumours of bankruptcy in recent months.

Earlier this week SFX said that the extra $20 million in cash flow will provide “capital for working and general corporate purposes”. Meanwhile, the SEC filing confirms that the new credit facility is being provided by Toronto-based Catalyst Capital Group, a private equity set up which specialises in “investments in distressed situations”, just like this one.

The SEC filing notes that “the facility is secured, subject to certain exceptions, by a first-priority security interest in substantially all of the assets and property of the borrower and the guarantors”. The guarantors are many of SFX’s various subsidiaries around the world, and the arrangement means that – while the funding aims to provide the dance music firm the room for manoeuvre it needs to turn round its fortunes – if it all goes wrong, Catalyst will be one of the first creditors to get its money back.

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Friday 22 January 2016, 12:34 | By

Petition launched over students’ union redevelopment that could threaten “iconic” Belfast venues

Business News Live Business

Mandela Hall, Belfast

Over 7500 people have signed a petition against plans at Queen’s University in Belfast to redevelop its students’ union complex into a new ‘student centre’, which would impact on the venues in the building, including Mandela Hall, Speakeasy and Bar Sub.

Campaigners say that the venues are not only important to the student body at Queen’s, but to the music and clubbing scene in Belfast in general. The petition claims that the student centre plans could result in the demolition of “some of Northern Ireland’s most iconic music venues and student entertainment hubs”, and that the proposed development – the design for which the university has now put out to tender – has been pursued to date “without prior consultation with the student body”.

Though the President of the SU, Caoímhe McNeill, says that the conversation about redeveloping the building has been ongoing since 2011 and plans are based on student feedback. She said in a statement: “The feedback highlighted that our students want to see investment and improvements to the students’ union building. Based on this the university embarked on a feasibility project in partnership with the students’ union and I have been involved in the project”.

She added: “It’s a project very much in the early stages but my priority is, of course, to ensure that if the redevelopment goes ahead that it serves the needs of Queen’s students and provides them with a full range of support, advice, representational, developmental and commercial services that will significantly enhance their experience at the university”.

You can read up on the full petition here.

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Friday 22 January 2016, 12:28 | By

BBC to air Guns N Roses doc

Artist News Media

Guns N Roses

Earlier this month it was finally confirmed that the bank accounts of original Guns N Roses members Axl Rose, Slash and Duff McKagan had all finally aligned, bringing forth the prophesised reunion. And next month you’ll be able to get a reminder of why that’s a thing people – even after everything Axl Rose has done over the years – still get excited about. BBC Four is going to premiere a new documentary about the band on 5 Feb.

‘The Most Dangerous Band In the World: The Story Of Guns N Roses’ has been directed by Jon Brewer, using new and previously unseen interviews, plus early live footage shot by friend of the band Marc Canter.

Interviewees – including Slash, drummers Steven Adler and Matt Sorum, former GNR manager Vicky Hamilton, and others who were knocking around at the time – will tell the story of how the band went from the bars of LA’s Sunset Strip to the stadiums of the world. Basically, they formed a band, wrote some songs, some people liked them, then a lot of people liked them, then they split up. But it’ll tell that story in a bit more detail. And with more swearing, I’d wager. Oh, those rock and roll types.

It’ll be on BBC Four at 10pm on 5 Feb.

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Friday 22 January 2016, 12:25 | By

Some information about the new PJ Harvey album

Artist News Releases

PJ Harvey

After teasing us with basically nothing in December, PJ Harvey has now announced proper details of her new album. Would you like to know those details? Good, because otherwise this is all a waste of everyone’s time.

New information

1. The album is called: ‘The Hope Six Demolition Project’
2. The release date is: 15 Apr
3. Number of tracks: Eleven
4. Titles of tracks: The Community Of Hope; The Ministry Of Defence; A Line In The Sand; Chain Of Keys; River Anacostia; Near The Memorials To Vietnam And Lincoln; The Orange Monkey; Medicinals’ The Ministry Of Social Affairs; The Wheel; Dollar, Dollar.

Things we already knew that are probably worth repeating

1. The songs draw on: Several journeys over a four year period to places including Kosovo, Afghanistan and Washington, DC
2. It was recorded: In a room at Somerset House in London, where the public could come and pay to watch

Quote from PJ Harvey

“When I’m writing a song I visualise the entire scene. I can see the colours, I can tell the time of day, I can sense the mood, I can see the light changing, the shadows moving, everything in that picture. Gathering information from secondary sources felt too far removed for what I was trying to write about. I wanted to smell the air, feel the soil and meet the people of the countries I was fascinated with”.

Video featuring clips of two songs, ‘The Community Of Hope’ and ‘The Wheel’

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Friday 22 January 2016, 12:23 | By

FEMM sign to JPU Records for European album release

Artist News Business News Deals Labels & Publishers Releases

FEMM

Sentient mannequins FEMM have signed to JPU Records in the UK for the release of their new EP/album bundle. The double-disc release will go on sale on 4 Mar.

The EP features recently CMU approved track ‘PoW!’, plus another new one, ‘LCS’, and a selection of remixes. Disc two features the duo’s debut album ‘FEMM-isation’, originally only released digitally in 2014.

Speaking on behalf of the duo (because they are mannequins and can’t speak, please keep up), Agent Honey-B of the Far East Mention Mannequins Agency Syndicate says of the repackaged album: “The original order of the songs was already carefully mapped out, but this time round we got to put in segues in between songs which made a big difference. The songs flow so smoothly, it will seem like it all happens in a split second and like you have travelled in time”.

Anyway, here’s a quick primer on FEMM and their music:

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Friday 22 January 2016, 12:21 | By

CMU Beef Of The Week #290: Iggy Azalea v Virgin EMI

And Finally Artist News Beef Of The Week Business News Labels & Publishers

Iggy Azalea

Be careful what you wish for, they say. For years now some have been predicting the demise of the record label. But if they go, we’d lose one of the music industry’s biggest and most important traditions. Who would artists moan about if they don’t have a label?

I mean, if Iggy Azalea didn’t have any hoops to jump through at the moment, she’d just be pumping out videos for her tracks left, right and centre. But the hoops are there. Virgin EMI shaped hoops. Which means we get angry tweets instead. And that’s surely better.

“Bad news update”, she began, ominously, via the Twitter matrix yesterday. “My record label Virgin EMI seems to feel the response to my viral record ‘Zillon’ wasn’t good enough and I’m not allowed a video”.

She’s referring to her track ‘Azillion’, which was released two weeks ago on SoundCloud, during which time a couple of letters seem to have fallen off the title. Perhaps because it’s had 900,000 plays in that time and it’s got a bit worn out. Though apparently the bloody label, Universal UK’s Virgin EMI, would have preferred a few more to have been rubbed off. By which I mean, for it to have had more plays.

“I felt like it was dope so, whatever”, she continued. “[Virgin EMI boss] Ted Cockle doesn’t wanna see me shine. What can I say?”

Don’t answer that question, because she immediately answered it in the next tweet: “Anyhow I could say A LOT – but I’ll keep it mildly professional. Just wanted to let some of you guys asking know what’s happening”.

Yes, it’s lucky none of this turned out unprofessional. Anyway, let’s go back a bit. ‘Azillion’ is the first track made available from Azalea’s new album, ‘Digital Distortion’, which is due out some time this year. The track was uploaded to SoundCloud earlier this month to start the process of buzz-building for the album.

It’s not unusual for this to happen – one or two tracks are quietly eeked out before the marketing campaign really grinds fully into action. Azalea herself seemingly admitted this, when responding to a fan who told her that ‘Azillion’ would have been more successful if she’d put it on iTunes. “It’s a viral song tho babe”, she said. “It’s just something free for fans. Selling it kinda makes it a single. That wasn’t the intention”.

So there you go. It’s not a single. And if it’s not a single, why complicate things by making a video? Maybe ‘Azillion’ could have been elevated to ‘single’ status had it gone super duper viral. But perhaps 900,000 plays in two weeks doesn’t qualify as ‘super duper’ in the world of pop. And possibly Virgin EMI is more keen to pump its money into videos for the presumably better songs that have already been selected as actual singles.

Responding to another fan asking what the label expected of her, Azalea said: “They expect me to find a popstar to whack onto a radio friendly song with me rapping the verses. That’s what THEY want”.

Though with the album already in the can, signed off, and a promotional campaign planned out – starting with the release of ‘Azillion’ on SoundCloud – if she hasn’t already made that record, then presumably the label isn’t going to get it.

But look at me defending a record label. A major record label. One that sits within the majorest of record companies. Maybe there is fault on that side too. Maybe Ted is being a bastard about it. Or perhaps it’s one of those fashionable communication breakdowns, exacerbated by a US-based artist being signed to a UK-based label.

It’s possible there was one of those “maybe we’ll make a video, let’s see how it goes” kind of conversations. Though always remember label people, such chat might result in you basically having to tell your artists, “yeah, not enough people liked your track, mate”. So, just never ever mention the possibility of any videos being made until you’re actually shooting them, I say. Then the conversation goes, “Hey, we’re doing a video, because that’s how popular you are, my friend. Super popular, that’s you”.

Then the artist’s ego is stroked, they can get on with becoming more insufferable but at least be briefly happy, and the label people can, for a few minutes, bask in the glory of not being considered evil. And isn’t that what everyone wants? No, of course not.

Spats such of this are a vital rite of passage, an assertion of the separation between art and commerce. If Iggy Azalea starts getting on with her label, what’s next? An uncertain future for the Beef Of The Week column, that’s what. And that will never do.

Virgin EMI declined to comment on this story. Even after we offered them real beef.

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Friday 22 January 2016, 12:14 | By

Vigsy’s Club Tip: Rum N Riddim at Village Underground

Club Tip CMU Approved

Dillinja

Formerly known as Rum N Bass, Benny Page’s Rum N Riddim night will hit East London’s Village Underground tonight, promising the best in Jamaican and tropical-infused bass music.

Drum n bass superstar Dillinja will headline with a jungle set, plus Page himself will be on the decks with his own bass excursions, with vocalist Sweet Irie. James Rodigan is also amongst those in attendance, and you can expect some bass ballistics from Channel One too.

The floorboards will be shaking in Shoreditch.

Friday 22 Jan, Village Underground, Shoreditch, London, EC2A 3PQ, 10pm-4am, £12+. More info here.

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Friday 22 January 2016, 11:55 | By

CMU Podcast: YouTube, Life Or Death, Deezer, J-Pop

Artist News Business News Digital Labels & Publishers Legal Marketing & PR Setlist

YouTube

CMU’s Andy Malt and Chris Cooke review the week in music and the music business, including PRS’s new deal with YouTube, the dramatic events at Life Or Death PR, Deezer’s new money and some big developments in J-Pop this week. The CMU Podcast is sponsored by 7digital.

Subscribe to the CMU Podcast

Listen to the CMU Podcast and sign up to receive new episodes automatically each week through any of these services…

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Stories discussed this week

• The love/hate relationships continues as PRS renews its deal with YouTube
• Life Or Death staff quit to form new company
• Deezer confirms €100 million in new finance
• Japanese boyband SMAP deny split, apologise for causing “great concern”
• J-pop ‘no dating’ clauses ruled unconstitutional

CMU Approved

• Ekkah
• Lovespeake
• EinarIndra
• A Nighthawk

What we didn’t have time to talk about

• SFX confirms new financing as consultants consider its future
• European AG says private copy compensation doesn’t have to come from device levy
• SBTV launches a news channel with the PA
• Metallica license logo to tribute act for $1, waive fee
• David Bowie turned down “not very good” Coldplay collaboration

Please subscribe, like and share after you’ve listened!

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Thursday 21 January 2016, 11:46 | By

Life Or Death staff quit to form new company

Business News Marketing & PR Top Stories

Life Or Death

All staff at US music PR company Life Or Death have now left the firm to start a new venture, it was announced yesterday. This follows the resignation of CEO Heathcliff Berru after accusations of sexual harassment came to light earlier this week.

As previously reported, on Tuesday Dirty Projectors’ vocalist Amber Coffman tweeted about an incident from a couple of years back involving “a very popular music publicist”, later naming Berru. This prompted various other women to come forward with allegations of harassment and assault against the PR chief. Later that same day, Berru resigned from the company, blaming drug and alcohol addiction for his actions, and announcing that he was checking into rehab.

In the wake of the various accusations, a number of acts on the Life Or Death roster, including Wavves, Diiv, Kelela and Speedy Ortiz, announced that they would not be working with the company anymore. Meanwhile rapper Killer Mike said that he would stick with his day-to-day publicist at the agency, Duncan Will, but offered support to the women who had come forward and said he hoped that Berru could become “a better human being”.

Although it was originally indicated Life Or Death would continue as a going concern, but without Berru’s active involvement, in his tweets Killer Mike mentioned that Life Or Death was “no more” and that the company “had a plan ready for clients”. This plan was later confirmed by the company’s president Nick Dierl.

“In light of recent events, the remainder of the Life Or Death staff is leaving the company today”, wrote Dierl. “We are saddened by the circumstances under which we are departing but are grateful for the opportunity we had together. There will be a new venture imminently that bears no ties to Heathcliff Berru or the Life Or Death name”.

It’s not clear how much of the Life Or Death roster, including those who already departed the company, will transfer to the new business.

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Thursday 21 January 2016, 11:45 | By

South African authorities charge Mos Def with attempting to travel on “fictitious” passport

Artist News Legal

Yasiin Bey/Mos Def

Rapper Yasiin Bey, better known as Mos Def, has been charged with breaking South Africa’s immigration laws after attempting to leave the country using a ‘World Passport’, which authorities say is not recognised in the country.

The World Passport is a travel document not affiliated to any one country, issued by the World Service Authority. The non-profit organisation has been making these passports available since 1954, citing Article 21(3) of the Universal Declaration Of Human Rights, which says that “the will of the people shall be the basis of the authority of government”. Though most countries don’t formally accept them anyway.

Bey was arrested in Cape Town (where he has lived since 2013) last week as he attempted to fly to Ethiopia. He was charged and released on bail yesterday, and is due to appear in court on 8 Mar.

In a statement issued through Kanye West’s website, Bey said: “At this present time, I am currently in Cape Town, South Africa and I’m being prevented from leaving unjustly, unlawfully and without any logical reason … Anyone can do the research about the World Passport; it’s not a fictitious document. It is not meant to deceive or derive unlawful benefit from any nation state at all. In fact, the World Passport has been accepted here on numerous occasions in South Africa, in Johannesburg and Cape Town as early as 1996 and as late as 2015”.

Authorities have also ordered Bey’s wife and child to leave the country by 29 Jan. The rapper says that he is willing to move with his family “immediately” to another country “never to return”. He also says in the message that he is retiring from the music and film industries “effective immediately”.

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Thursday 21 January 2016, 11:42 | By

J-pop ‘no dating’ clauses ruled unconstitutional

Artist News Business News Legal

Aoyama Saint Hachamecha High School

A court in Tokyo has thrown out a claim by an artist management company for damages after one of its artists broke a ‘no dating’ clause in her contract. The judge said that such clauses were unconstitutional.

The unnamed singer – thought to be a former member of Aoyama Saint Hachamecha High School, two of whom were targeted with legal action by management company MovingFactory last year – was being sued for ¥9.9 million (approximately £60,000) in damages for allegedly having a relationship with a fan.

According to The Australian, judge Katsuya Hara said at the Tokyo District Court: “We must acknowledge that forbidding pop idols to date by claiming compensation for damages goes too far. Relationships are a right exercised by an individual to enrich life. They are part of the freedom to pursue happiness”.

The question now is whether or not this ruling sets a precedent. ‘No dating’ and ‘no sex’ clauses are commonplace in contracts for Japanese pop groups, and it is not unheard of for management companies to sue if they believe those agreements have been broken.

When it announced that it was taking legal action against Miho Yuuki and Sena Miura in 2014, MovingFactory said: “The parental guardians signed contracts that said the members would not have relationships with fans and would not neglect their work. They have betrayed the [other] members of the group and all their fans. We cannot forgive this”.

Last month the management company for pop group N Zero reportedly announced a lawsuit against a member and a fan for having “private contact”.

While last year, the same court that issued this latest ruling ordered a seventeen year old former member of the group DokiDoki to pay Spiral Music damages of ¥650,000 (approx. £4000) for a similar breach of contract. The judge in that case, Akitomo Kojima, said: “The clause prohibiting dating was necessary to get the support of male fans. The revelation of an idol’s relationship damages their image”.

And in 2013, AKB48 singer Minami Minegishi was demoted in the hierarchical group for breaking her management firm’s rules on dating. She then shaved her head and issued a tearful apology on YouTube asking for forgiveness. She remains a member of the group.

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Thursday 21 January 2016, 11:38 | By

Deezer confirms €100 million in new finance

Business News Deals Digital

Deezer

Bad news all round if you had Deezer in the “next streaming service to go kaput” sweepstake. I bet you thought you were onto a real winner, didn’t you? What with Rdio safely out of the way and that messy “hey everybody, we’re IPOing, oh, actually, we’re not IPOing” debacle that occurred last year.

But no, the streaming firm that sits somewhere between Apple Music and Napster in the ‘most paying users’ chart, depending on how you do the maths, announced yesterday that it had just secured another €100 million in funding. Which makes you wonder why it ever bothered with the embarrassingly abandoned IPO in the first place.

The new financing round is led by existing investor Access Industries, aka the owner of Warner Music, which has a number of digital dabblings outside the Warner business, with Deezer and Songkick the most notable. One of the streaming service’s earliest backers, Orange, has also participating in this new round of investment.

The money will be used to further grow Deezer’s user base in the 180+ countries it now operates in, a task made all the harder by Apple’s move into streaming last year of course. Some of the cash will also be used to hone the Deezer product, presumably in a bid to have a few more USPs over Apple Music and the market leading Spotify to help with that consumer acquisition.

For now Deezer is returning to one of the earliest methods of product differentiation in the streaming music space: “our catalogue is bigger than their catalogue”. The service says it now has over 40 million tracks in its system, which constitutes “the largest music catalogue available globally”. Which is possibly true, if you ignore SoundCloud and my mate Tim’s hard drive. Torrent Tim we call him.

So, that’s all exciting, isn’t it? And it’s all still to play for in this here streaming music market, you must always remember that. Or at least, Deezer CEO Hans-Holger Albrecht would like you to remember that fact. “We’re in the early stages of the music streaming market”, he said yesterday. “And it’s quickly becoming the primary distribution channel for music”.

As for all that new money? “The additional funding will allow Deezer to consolidate our position as a leading global, independent audio streaming service and expand our offering to music lovers around the world”. Good times.

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Thursday 21 January 2016, 11:35 | By

SBTV launches a news channel with the PA

Business News Deals Digital Media

SBTV News

Forget the music everybody, we all know it’s all about the news in 2016. And not silly old music news. No, proper news. Politics, technology, celebrity, soup. So, at least there’ll still be a place for your old friend CMU.

Anyway, “digital music discovery platform” (their words) SBTV has announced it is marking its tenth anniversary by launching a new news channel, to be called SBTV News, and to be powered by The Press Association’s Snappa service, which is an actual thing, apparently.

Shifting SBTV ever more into Vice’s territory, the news channel will, of course, be pitching itself at younger online viewers, with “showbiz, games, tech, politics, sports and entertainment” all set to be covered. Oh, and “music” too. So perhaps there is still a bit of mileage in music news. And to think, I’d already redesigned the CMU Daily around soup types.

Says SBTV founder Jamal Edwards: “SBTV News will be a fantastic opportunity to expand on our existing service which already covers the most important breaking music news on the web. Partnering with the PA allows our Editor-in-Chief, Ash Houghton, and his team to significantly expand the remit of the news we can cover, including sport, politics, and wider entertainment news. This is something I’ve been very keen to do for a while”.

Over at the PA, CEO Clive Marshall added: “We are very excited to have formed this digital partnership with Jamal Edwards and SBTV, which will combine the multimedia content, resources and experience of PA and the unique strength among young audiences of SBTV. We see this is as great opportunity to gain insights into the needs of youth audiences and to ensure our services are relevant for this demographic”.

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Thursday 21 January 2016, 11:31 | By

CMU Insights to talk digital dollar at Northern Ireland’s largest ever one-day music conference

Business News Education & Events

Dissecting The Digital Dollar

The team from CMU Insights have just confirmed that they will be presenting a one hour insight session as part of Output 2016, the second edition of the Belfast-based event which is set to be Northern Ireland’s largest ever one-day music conference.

Taking place on 18 Feb, the session will focus on the ‘Dissecting The Digital Dollar’ report that CMU Insights produced for the UK Music Managers Forum last year. CMU’s Chris Cooke will provide an overview of the report in the form of a ten step guide to how streaming services are licensed and what happens to the money such platforms generate.

He will then discuss how digital distribution works with Believe Digital’s Director of UK Distribution & Label Services Ben Rimmer, and debate the issues raised in the ‘Dissecting The Digital Dollar report’ with artist manager Julian Deane from Raygun Music.

There’s more information about the session here, and you can register for information about the whole conference – which will also include a keynote from the one and only Steve Albini plus panels on topics like sync, direct-to-fan, marketing and PR – here.

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Thursday 21 January 2016, 11:27 | By

R Kelly offers sympathy to Bill Cosby

Artist News

R Kelly

R Kelly has said he sympathises with comedian Bill Cosby, because he too has been accused of sexual assault.

Speaking to GQ, the singer said: “I don’t know what happened. I’m a fan of Bill Cosby’s from the Bill Cosby show, of course – who’s not? – and for me to give my opinion on something that I have no idea if it’s true or not, all I can say is that it was a long time ago. And when I look on TV and I see the 70, 80, 90 year old ladies talking about what happened when they were seventeen, eighteen or nineteen, there’s something strange about it. That’s my opinion. It’s just strange”.

He added: “If God showed me that they were telling the truth, I would say that’s wrong. I don’t care if it was a zillion years ago. But God would have to do that, because God is the only one can show me that. No man can tell me that. No woman can tell me that. And when you wait 70 years, 50 years, 40 years, to say something that simple, it’s strange. You know why I say that is because it happened to me, and it wasn’t true”.

Of course, that’s not what happened to R Kelly at all. His accusers all came forward relatively soon after the alleged incidents. To my knowledge, no 90 year old ladies have ever accused R Kelly (or Bill Cosby, for that matter) of sexual assault.

And if God is the only person Kelly will listen to, then we’re going to be here for a long time. Though if we are waiting for God’s judgement on all such allegations, that does make it seem a bit strange that he paid money to some of his accusers through out-of-court settlements, despite denying their claims.

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Thursday 21 January 2016, 11:24 | By

War Child announces pre-BRITs live shows

Artist News Awards Gigs & Festivals

War Child

War Child has announced a week of fundraising gigs in the run up to the BRIT Awards, offering music fans access to intimate London shows by big names, including Florence And The Machine, Bloc Party, Above & Beyond and Lianne La Havas.

Tickets to the shows will be handed out to competition winners, with the charity asking for donations of £4.50 to enter.

Liana Mellotte, Head of Music, Entertainment & Development at War Child, says: “We’re really excited by the fantastic artists who are generously giving up their time to support children affected by conflict. We’ve got a strong heritage of working with some of the biggest names in entertainment, from David Bowie to Muse and Stereophonics, to make a difference to children growing up in some of the toughest places in the world – and this year is no exception”.

The full line-up for War Child’s Passport To BRITs Week is as follows:

15 Feb: Bloc Party, Bush Hall
16 Feb: Frank Turner, The Monarch
17 Feb: Professor Green, Oslo
21 Feb: Jamie XX, LN-CC
23 Feb: Above & Beyond, The Pickle Factory
23 Feb: Lianne La Havas, Sofar Sounds Living Room
26 Feb: Florence And The Machine, St John At Hackney

For more information and to enter click here.

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Thursday 21 January 2016, 11:18 | By

The Body announce UK tour dates

Artist News Gigs & Festivals

The Body

The Body have announced a UK tour in April, following the release of their new album ‘No One Deserves Happiness’, on 18 Mar. The dates will all feature Full Of Hell, and will conclude with a support slot with Converge at Electric Brixton.

Having readied the new album, the duo are already hard at work on the next in their prolific line of collaborations, this one with The Bug. So that’ll be good.

Here’s ‘Shelter Is Illusory’ from the new album, and those tour dates I mentioned:

9 Apr: Leeds, Canal Mills (Ritual Festival)
10 Apr: Glasgow, Audio
11 Apr: Birmingham, The Rainbow Cellar
12 Apr: Manchester, The Ruby Lounge
13 Apr: London, Electric Brixton (supporting Converge)

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Thursday 21 January 2016, 11:13 | By

CMU’s One Liners: 7digital, Vevo, The Last Shadow Puppets, more

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

The Last Shadow Puppets

Other notable announcements and developments today…

• Digital music and radio services firm 7digital has announced it will power a relaunched eMusic. The golden oldie of digital music platforms is relaunching following its acquisition by TriPlay last year.

• Sports marketing agency Synergy has announced it is launching a new division focused on entertainment “strategies, partnerships and campaigns” to be headed up by Arnon Woolfson, who has been working in the music and brands space for fifteen years.

• Vevo’s chief content and programming dude in the UK, Tom Connaughton, will now head up the music video platform’s global content and programming teams based out of New York. He basically takes over from former Radio 1 boss Andy Parfitt, who was doing that job on an interim basis and will continue to consult.

• The Last Shadow Puppets – aka Alex Turner and Miles Kane – have announced that they will release their second album, ‘Everything You’ve Come To Expect’, on 1 Apr. Here’s new single ‘Bad Habits’ again.

• Skrillex’s Owsla label has announced a new compilation, ‘Worldwide Broadcast’, out on 29 Jan. From it, this is ‘Ain’t Your Girl’ by Bixel Boys & Poupon.

• Fatima Al Qadiri has released a new track, ‘Battery’. It’s taken from new album ‘Brute’, released through Hyperdub on 4 Mar.

• Coming approximately about fucking time, Philco Fiction will release new album ‘Talk/Brag’ on 29 Jan. You can also catch then at Club NME at Koko on 5 Feb and then Hoxton Bar & Kitchen on 20 Feb. Here’s new single ‘Runimals’.

• Frankie Cosmos has released a video for ‘Outside With The Cuties’, taken from upcoming album ‘Next Thing’.

• The Casual Sexists release a new single, ‘I Go Blank’, next week through Rongorongo. It comes backed with a remix by label boss Wrongtom. Watch the video here.

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Thursday 21 January 2016, 11:06 | By

ABBA only bloody reunite (for food)

And Finally Artist News

Abba

Hey everybody, time for an ABBA reunion. So that’s exciting, right?

But no, it’s not that Agnetha Fältskog, Björn Ulvaeus, Benny Andersson and Anni-Frid Lyngstad all tuned into ITV’s celebrities-murder-ABBA-songs special just before Christmas and were so outraged they thought, “Fuck it, we gotta start performing these fucking songs again to stop these fuckers from fucking them all up in fucking prime time”.

I mean, they probably did think all that (though possibly in Swedish), but then they saw the royalty cheques the ITV atrocity generated, and they all calmed down a little.

Anyway, it was a cafe that finally brought the fab four of pop back together again in public, for the first time since the ‘Mamma Mia’ film premiere eight years ago. All four former members showed up for the opening of a new restaurant in Stockholm called ‘Mamma Mia! The Party’.

Agnetha, Björn, Benny and Anni-Frid then stood in a row and posed for photos. It was quite the event. I wonder if there was soup.

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Thursday 21 January 2016, 10:12 | By

Approved: A Nighthawk

CMU Approved

A Nighthawk

A Nighthawk are Ted Malmros from the Shout Out Louds and Sarah Snavely formerly of Dag För Dag. Having formed the duo in 2011, they have since released two EPs, and are now weeks away from the release of their debut album, ‘Ice In The Belly, Fire In The Mind’, on 26 Feb.

Two tracks from the album have so far slithered their way onto SoundCloud. Both continue in the vein of dark pop that was set out in earlier releases, though they bring new depth to the outfit’s sound. ‘Coming For You’ is a tense concoction of twisted melodies, while ‘Dune’ circles you, trying to catch you off guard with chanted vocals, staccato percussion and swirling organ.

Listen to both tracks 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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Wednesday 20 January 2016, 11:51 | By

Life Or Death CEO Heathcliff Berru resigns over sexual harassment

Business News Management & Funding Marketing & PR Top Stories

Life Or Death

The founder and CEO of US music PR and management firm Life Or Death, Heathcliff Berru, has resigned from the company following accusations of sexual harassment. He has since said that he is checking into rehab for alcohol and drug addiction.

The development actually relates to past rather than very recent incidents. The story began yesterday with a series of tweets from Dirty Projectors’ Amber Coffman, who wrote: “Was just re-telling/re-remembering a story about how a very popular music publicist RUBBED my ass and BIT my hair at a bar a couple years ago”.

She went on: “This was someone I barely knew and had just met. He did it in front of four of my male friends. Still makes me so damn mad thinking about it. Still mad at myself as well for not punching him in the nose, but I totally froze up. Weird survival instinct I guess”.

Several hours later she named Berru as the man in her story, adding: “I told [Dirty Projectors’ label] Domino Records, who were working on projects with him and they stopped working with him. They told me they’ve held their commitment of not working with him ever since, and I really appreciate that gesture”.

Following these statements, numerous other women, both artists and industry execs, came forward with stories of harassment by Berru – among them Tearist vocalist Yasmine Kittles who said that the PR man had held her down and forced her to touch his penis in 2009. When she told her then manager, she was informed that she would just “have to get over that” if she wanted her band to have a career.

As further allegations came to light, Life Or Death announced that Berru had resigned. “Life Or Death has a zero tolerance policy for the type of conduct alleged in today’s online postings”, the company said.

“We take these allegations very seriously. The men and women who make up this company do not, and will not, condone or tolerate any conduct described in the online postings. Life Or Death is three men and three women who are committed to promoting art and serving the clients that we’re so privileged to represent. We are taking measures to ensure that the alleged behavior did not, and will not, make its way into company operations or impact our commitment to promoting art and assisting our clients”.

Despite this, a number of the agency’s clients, including Wavves, DIIV and record label Mixpak, said yesterday that they would no longer be working with the company.

In his own statement, Berru blamed drug and alcohol addiction for his alleged actions, saying: “I am deeply sorry for those who I have offended by my actions and how I have made certain women feel. If I crossed the line of decency or respectfulness in situations when I was drunk and under the influence, there is no excuse of course”.

He continues: “To be clear, while my conduct may have been inappropriate, I have never drugged anyone or engaged in that type of behavior. Nevertheless, I do not want to be the type of person who would let drugs or alcohol take command of his life and compromise how he treats people. Yet I have been this person and it’s time to put a stop to all of this. Create a world with one less inappropriate man”.

He went on: “I have been fighting a losing battle against drugs and alcohol for many years and will be checking into a rehabilitation facility in the hope that I can improve my chances of winning that fight. A year ago, I was confronted by a peer and began to try to clean up and make things right with therapy and with an eye towards quitting the addiction. The shame and sadness feels as strong now as it did then and I am making an immediate change”.

“In no way do these allegations reflect on Life or Death PR, its staff, or anyone associated with the company”, he added, saying that the running of the company had been turned over to its president, Nick Dierl.

Although there has been a positive reaction to Coffman and others coming forward with stories about Berru, and him subsequently losing his job, it has been pointed out that this is not an isolated case. Indeed, last year Vice’s Broadly published an article on the sexual harassment women in the music industry often face.

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Wednesday 20 January 2016, 11:48 | By

European AG says private copy compensation doesn’t have to come from device levy

Business News Labels & Publishers Legal

CDs

The European Court Of Justice’s Advocate General has said that it is fine for member states of the European Union to compensate copyright owners for private copying through a general fund rather than a device levy.

As much previously reported, in most countries – though not the UK – it is legal for individuals to make copies of recordings they bought legitimately so that they can listen to said tracks on multiple devices, or have a handy back up. So, when people buy a CD and rip it to a computer and then transfer tracks to a smartphone, that is all legal. Whereas in the UK, that is technically copyright infringement.

Where the private copy rights exists, copyright owners are often compensated for the private copies being made. Indeed, European law says that “rightholders should receive fair compensation to compensate them adequately” when private copies are allowed; ‘fair’ being assessed, in part, based on the “possible harm to the rightholders resulting from the act”.

The European directive on private copying allows some room for manoeuvre for each EU country’s copyright system. Though when the UK government decided to introduce a private copy right with no levy – the argument being the “harm” of a narrow private copy right was negligible – the music industry successfully had the new law overturned in court on the basis it didn’t comply with the directive.

Which means that private copying is illegal again here. And having another go at introducing the right – either with a levy, or by better arguing the case that there is no harm – is not currently on the UK Intellectual Property Office’s agenda.

Meanwhile, elsewhere in Europe, there has been much debate over the best way to compensate rights owners for private copying. The classic method was to apply a levy to blank cassettes and CDRs, the assumption being most people buying those media would, at some point, use them to make private copies. That money was then passed back to the music industry, benefiting rights owners, artists and songwriters.

As sales of blank cassettes and CDRs waned, the question was asked: what else can you apply the levy to? MP3 players maybe, but as digital media consumption shifted to devices with many other uses – ie smartphones and tablets – it’s been controversial to suggest the levies should be applied there. Though in some countries they have been. Indeed a new levy was applied to such devices in Germany at the start of the year.

Some other countries have tackled the problem by rejecting the levy approach entirely, and instead the government just sets aside a pot of cash for affected rights owners funded by the taxpayer. A few years back, Spain opted for this approach, initially on an interim basis and then, in 2014, permanently.

Some Spanish copyright societies hit out at this system, mainly because they felt the sums of money being set aside weren’t enough, though their complaints put the focus on the entire ‘general pot’ over ‘device levy’ approach to private copy compensation. The Spanish Supreme Court then passed the issue to the European Court Of Justice in 2014 to check whether having the taxpayer compensate for private copies complied with the aforementioned directive.

As part of that process, Maciej Szpunar, an Advocate General for the ECJ, has now said that the general pot system is just fine. Faced with the argument that paying for private copy compensation out of tax income would be unfair to those tax payers who don’t benefit from the exception – companies, for example – he said tax payers often pay for things they don’t directly benefit from.

According to The Register, the AG noted: “There is no link between the taxes paid by taxpayers, including those who, like corporations, cannot benefit from the exception, on the one hand, and the financing of compensation under this exception from the general budget of the State, on the other. It would be different only if a tax or a specific tax were introduced for the purpose of this funding, but this is not the case of the Spanish system at issue”.

The opinion is good news for Spain and other countries which have opted for this approach, which includes Finland and Estonia. Assuming the ECJ subsequently rules in line with the AG’s opinion, it could spark speculation that the UK government might go the ‘general pot of cash’ route if and when it has another go at introducing the private copy exception, to satisfy European law without having to work out how a levy system might work, and what devices to levy. And without having to feel the heat from the tech industry lobby, which is obviously anti all such levies.

UPDATE 20 Jan 2016, 16.00: The original version of this story said the ECJ itself had ruled on this case. Rather, the Advocate General has provided his opinion. The court is now expected to adopt his viewpoint, though the final ruling is still pending.

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Wednesday 20 January 2016, 11:43 | By

Imagem signs up Steve Miller

Business News Deals Labels & Publishers

Steve Miller & André de Raaff

Independent publisher Imagem Music has announced a new administration deal with Steve Miller’s Sailor Music and Silk Stocking Music, covering all of the world except North America.

Imagem CEO André de Raaff said: “I’ve known Steve personally since the beginning of the 90’s, releasing his Best Of album in Europe when I was CEO of Arcade and was looking after his music publishing catalogue in Europe. We stayed friends and started doing business again a few years ago”.

He went on: “I’m pleased that we are going to look after his catalogue on a more global basis and I’m convinced that we will be extremely successful with his timeless compositions. Steve is one of the best US pop composers of our times and an exceptional guitar player as well. And Janice is a unique force in reactivating his extremely valuable music assets”.

“Who’s Janice”, you ask? Well, the President of Sailor Music of course. Who says: “We have been working successfully the last few years with Imagem in the Benelux and are very pleased to have the opportunity to expand our publishing administration to multiple territories. I am especially looking forward to working with André and his expert team”.

By the way, Miller is due to be inducted into the Rock N Roll Hall Of Fame this year. How fancy.

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Wednesday 20 January 2016, 11:39 | By

Spotify extends its partnership with Starbucks

Brands & Merch Business News Deals Digital

Spotify

An exciting piece of coffee shop news that will be of particular interest to all you music types now. First a bit of background. I often get my lunch from that popular coffee shop chain Pret A Manger, partly because the company has kindly opened eight stores within five minutes walk of CMU HQ in Shoreditch.

Now, I’m a soup person, that’s no secret, and a year ago I discovered that Pret’s Chicken, Broccoli and Brown Rice Soup is one of the most magnificent combinations of soup-like ingredients to have ever been mixed together in one soup-making pot. I love it. Pret has a revolving menu of soups, with a different line-up each day. Monday has traditionally been Chicken, Broccoli and Brown Rice Soup day, and what a day Monday has become for me.

But here’s the thing, as well the revolving line-up of soups that change and vary each day of the week, Pret also has one soup that is available every day for one whole week. Or sometimes even one whole month. Tomato has had that honour. Autumn Vegetable has had that honour. Ham Hock was the featured soup in the run up to Christmas. But never, ever, has Chicken, Broccoli and Brown Rice Soup occupied that position.

Then, last week, while browsing Pret’s soups web page – which is something I do from time to time, I’ll admit it – imagine the joy in my heart when I noticed: Chicken, Broccoli and Brown Rice Soup was only on the menu every freakin day that week! There was a special bounce in my step as I then made my way into Shoreditch, trying to decide which of the eight Pret branches near CMU HQ I’d give my business as I bought my first of five helpings of Chicken, Broccoli and Brown Rice Soup that would come over the next five days.

Imagine – just imagine it for a moment – the horror that was unleashed when I arrived at the Pret next to Liverpool Street Station to discover: NO Chicken, Broccoli and Brown Rice Soup. Hadn’t this store not got the memo?

Worry not, I thought, I’ll try the (other) Pret next to Liverpool Street Station, that’ll be dishing out Chicken, Broccoli and Brown Rice Soup for sure. Wait, what’s this? No Chicken, Broccoli and Brown Rice Soup? What about the (another other) Pret next to Liverpool Street Station? What do you mean Souper Tomato is this week’s every day soup option. That’s not what your fucking website says Mr Pret e Fucking Manger.

But worry ye not faithful CMU reader. Because the traumatic segment of this story leads to a most gloriously happy ending. On arriving at my local Pret (you know, the one near that one that’s a bit nearer than that one) this Monday lunchtime the greatest news of the year was delivered to my ears by Ms Pret e Fucking Manger. “Would you like a helping of Chicken, Broccoli and Brown Rice Soup, it’s our every-day soup this week don’t you know!”

Do you ever occasionally muse about what the soundtrack to your life would sound like? I mean, if your life was a movie and some music supervisor was tasked with picking some tunes or commissioning a score to soundtrack the events and moments of your life, what music would they choose? Well, we’d need something magnificent for this particular moment, I can tell you. A rampant, rousing, inspiring and glorious crescendo of musical goodness. Which is why this news will be of interest to all you music types. Maybe you’d like to write that piece of music. Or a folk song retelling this magical tale. That’d do.

Anyway, in almost related news, Spotify has extended its existing partnership with Starbucks in the US so that customers will be able to ‘favourite’ songs playing in the coffee chain’s stores via the cappuccino-peddler’s own app, influencing what music subsequently gets played there. The customer can also automatically add the track to a playlist over in the Spotify app for future listening. It’s an interesting partnership, though one sadly lacking in soup.

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Wednesday 20 January 2016, 11:38 | By

Black Sabbath announce tour-only CD for farewell jaunt

Artist News Gigs & Festivals Releases

Black Sabbath

Have you been wondering if Black Sabbath would release more new music before their farewell tour comes to an end? Well wonder no more, because, yes, that is what they are going to do. But you’ll have to go to one of those shows to get it. Or eBay. You know it’ll be on eBay.

The tour-only CD will feature four tracks rejected from their last album, ’13’, along with four live recordings, plus artwork by Shepard Fairey.

“We went into the studio with thirteen songs – which is why the [last] album is called ’13′”, explained bassist Geezer Butler, according to Billboard. “We thought we’d put out an album of thirteen songs, but when we were in the studio we wrote another three songs, which brought it up to sixteen and then we left it to [the album’s producer] Rick Rubin to pick which songs would go on the album. To give it some light and shade he picked the eight songs that we on the ’13’ album. We put a few songs on deluxe versions of the album and then we had the four left over, and we decided to do a gig-only CD”.

I hope you were keeping up with all that, maths fans. Basically, Black Sabbath have some stuff knocking around that they previously thought not good enough to release, and now they want to sell it before the opportunity passes.

Deluxe editions of the band’s first three albums are also due for release (in the US) this week. Meanwhile, for UK fans, the sole date on Black Sabbath’s schedule is a headline slot on the Saturday night of this year’s Download Festival.

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Wednesday 20 January 2016, 11:35 | By

Låpsley announces debut album

Artist News Gigs & Festivals Releases

Låpsley

Låpsley will release her debut album, ‘Long Way Home’, through XL on 4 Mar. Make a note of that.

“It’s an autobiography of my emotions and events over the past year”, says the musician of the new record. “Everything that’s happened, I’ve channelled in some way into a song – whether that’s the theme of a long distance relationship, or something that he’s said, or the way that I’ve felt, or an argument. I only revisit the memories of that relationship when I go into the studio. I think it’s helped me, to be able to collect everything for those moments when I’m writing. I think that’s what’s driven this album”.

Although she adds that one thing that held back the record was trying to find the right producer to work with on it, she having rejected numerous potential collaborators. She explains: “They didn’t want to listen to me, or they think a girl’s just there to add a top line, or they come to the table with ideas already. Straight away if I come in to a studio and someone says ‘I’ve written something for you’, then I’ll just walk out. I don’t care. I’m not there for that”.

In the end, the majority of the album was created with XL’s in-house producer Rodaidh McDonald, who turned out to be a much better match for her. “This album wouldn’t be how it is if it wasn’t for Rodaidh”, she says. “He’s at the top of the thank yous. The way that he thinks is different to anybody else. He’s not tainted by a commercial idea, it’s so creative and beautiful and what I aspire to be like in the future”.

Listen to new single ‘Love Is Blind’ here:

And catch Låpsley on tour at these dates:

5 Mar: Manchester, Academy 2
6 Mar: Bristol, Trinity
9 Mar: Birmingham, Institute 3
10 Mar: Brighton, The Haunt
30 Mar: London, Heaven

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Wednesday 20 January 2016, 11:33 | By

Fallulah announces new album

Artist News Releases

Fallulah

Twice approved Danish singer-songwriter Fallulah has announced that she will release a new album, titled ‘Perfect Tense’, on 26 Feb. The title track of the record is streaming online right now.

“When writing this song it was all about capturing a mood and a vibe”, says Fallulah of the track. “It felt like a polaroid quickly snapped with carelessness at a fun party. It was done in under an hour and just felt very effortless. The message of the song is to break free from a stale and uninspired state of mind”.

She continues: “I spent many years taking myself too seriously and worrying about what other people thought of me. Letting go of those insecurities has helped me believe in myself and say yes to things that I find intimidating or difficult. I don’t care about being perfect but actually find imperfections so much more interesting now. Hopefully it will serve as an uplifting anthem to everyone listening and will make them inspired to go get what they want, faults and all”.

Listen to ‘Perfect Tense’ here:

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Wednesday 20 January 2016, 11:27 | By

Dan Deacon confirmed as artist in residence for Convergence 2016

Artist News Gigs & Festivals

Dan Deacon

Organisers of the Convergence festival have announced that this year’s edition will introduce an artist-in-residency programme, with experimental composer Dan Deacon the first artist to take on that role. In addition to a gig at Village Underground, Deacon will lead a masterclass with the Guildhall Young Arts Academy, will be found in conversation with Mary Ann Hobbs, and will take part in another collaborative event to be announced soon.

Deacon’s involvement has been confirmed alongside a bunch more additions to the bill for this year’s event, which takes place in venues across London from 10-20 Mar. Among the new additions are Junun featuring Shye Ben Tzur, Jonny Greenwood & The Rajasthan Express, Nurse With Wound, Factory Floor, Anna Von Hausswolff, Colin Stetson, Shit Robot, Karen Gwyer, Kara-Lis Coverdale and Simbiosi.

The festival will also present ‘Pieces Of A Man: The Gil Scott-Heron Project’, a day of talks, screenings and performances described as “a celebration of the life and legacy of the legendary American soul and jazz poet, musician and author”. Kwabs, Jamie Woon, Nadine Shah, Loyle Carner and Gwilym Gold are amongst those taking part in that.

The Convergence Sessions also return, a daytime programme of talks, debates and workshops, this time taking place at the Ace Hotel in Shoreditch. Mixcloud, onedotzero, Hellicar & Lewis, Seeper and Makerversity are all involved, as are the team from CMU Insights who will put the spotlight on the shifts and challenges occurring in media and journalism. More on that very soon too.

Commenting on all this, Festival Director Glenn Max says: “While there is no single theme to this year’s array of installations, talks, and concerts, a recurring idea is the re-materialisation of culture beyond its digital vaporisation. Technology provides all of the instruments for innovation but – for it to mean something to our human culture – we need the disruptive ingenuity and emotional investment of artists”.

He goes on: “Technology wants us to be clean, carefully quantised and perfectly composed, but it is when artists break the rules that we are compelled and delighted. We want our relationship with music and art to be messy, tangled and sprawling. Convergence is a many-headed beast led by heroic innovators, fiery personalities and evocative voices that are masters, rather than slaves, to the algorithm”.

Check it all out at www.convergence-london.com

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