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Wednesday 28 September 2016, 10:05 | By Andy Malt
Children In Need Rocks to pay tribute to Terry Wogan
Artist News Gigs & Festivals Media
Following yesterday’s Westminster Abbey memorial service for Terry Wogan, it has been announced that this year’s Children In Need Rocks concert will also be held in tribute to the broadcaster, who died earlier this year.
Taking place at the Royal Albert Hall on 1 Nov, the show will be headlined by Take That, who made one of their first TV appearances on Wogan’s ‘Wogan’ chat show in 1991. Also on the bill are Ellie Goulding, Olly Murs, Gregory Porter, Michael Ball, Alfie Boe, Rick Astley, Alexander Armstrong, The Vamps and Ward Thomas.
The night will be hosted by Fearne Cotton and Greg James.
Says Cotton: “It has been an honour working with Sir Terry across the years on Children In Need and it’s a privilege to be hosting Rocks in celebration of his life. It’s going to be a very special evening with some great artists performing some of his favourite tracks”.
James adds: “It’s a privilege to host Rocks alongside Fearne. Sir Terry was, in my eyes, the ultimate broadcaster. A friend to millions on his radio show and a hero to millions more through his work with Children In Need. It’s an absolute honour to be asked to be part of the concert. It’s going to be a brilliant night”.
As well as the musical performances, there will be a variety of Wogan-related moments pulled out of the BBC archive. Tickets are available here. The show will also be broadcast on BBC One and BBC Radio 2.
READ MORE ABOUT: Children In Need | Terry Wogan
Wednesday 28 September 2016, 10:04 | By Andy Malt
CMU’s One Liners: Fat Cat, Sons Of The East, Giggs, more
Artist News Business News Deals Digital Gigs & Festivals Industry People Labels & Publishers Live Business One Liners Releases
Other notable announcements and developments today…
• Cooking Vinyl has taken equity in Fat Cat Records, launching a strategic partnership to extend the smaller indie’s international reach. “They really care about helping shape Fat Cat into a successful business while keeping our identity and creative ethos intact”, says Fat Cat co-founder Dave Cawley.
• Universal Music Publishing Australia has signed a worldwide publishing deal with Sons Of The East. “Bloody marvellous!” says Arwen Curson, VP Creative of UMP Australia. Here’s the group’s new single ‘Lost Cause’.
• UK-wide bar and club operator The Deltic Group (formerly known as The Luminar Group) has hired Charlotte Purdy as its new Head Of Entertainment. Purdy has previously held positions at Ministry Of Sound and Coalition Talent. “I was attracted to Deltic”, she says. Unsurprisingly.
• YouTube has launched a new app aimed at emerging markets – India in particular – with limited internet connectivity, allowing offline viewing , bandwidth options and the ability to share content over bluetooth. It will be particularly useful for people trying to use YouTube as a music player. Which will go down well with all the many YouTube-lovers at the top of the global music industry.
• Giggs has released a new video for ‘Lock Doh’, from his new album ‘Landlord’.
• Katie Melua has released the video for new single ‘Dreams On Fire’. Her new album, ‘In Winter’, is out on 14 Oct.
• The Dillinger Escape Plan have released another track from their upcoming ‘Dissociation’ album. This is ‘Symptom Of Terminal Illness’.
• Wovoka Gentle have released another new track, ‘All Exterior Dark’. It’s very good.
• Oozing Wound have released the video for new single ‘Diver’. Their new album ‘Whatever Forever’ is out on 14 Oct and they’ll be touring the UK in December.
• Jata has released his second single, ‘Ebony’, which you can check out here.
• Angel Olsen has announced a new London date at The Roundhouse for 24 May next year, her show at Koko next month having already sold out.
READ MORE ABOUT: Angel Olsen | Charlotte Purdy | Cooking Vinyl | Fat Cat Records | Giggs | Jata | Katie Melua | Oozing Wound | Sons Of The East | The Delphic Group | The Dillinger Escape Plan | Universal Music Publishing | Wovoka Gentle | YouTube
Wednesday 28 September 2016, 09:58 | By Andy Malt
Katy Perry gets naked to vote so that you don’t have to
And Finally Artist News
Katy Perry has made a video with Funny Or Die for Rock The Vote, urging people not to avoid voting in the upcoming presidential election because they aren’t dressed smartly enough. You can dress how you like, even fashioning your hair into an elaborate comb-over, if you like. But not naked, as Perry also demonstrates in the video.
Says Funny Or Die: “Katy Perry gives us the bare truth about this year’s election, urging everyone to get registered and to vote. Katy came to Funny Or Die and Rock the Vote demanding to be naked on camera, so they decided to channel this to urge young voters to get registered – no matter what they’re wearing (or not wearing). Funny Or Die’s wardrobe department was THRILLED with the day off, and America was THRILLED with the results”.
I’m not sure why the possibility of Donald Trump becoming president isn’t in itself enough to get everyone to register to vote. Though, I must admit, after watching the first presidential debate, some part of me is curious to see what would happen if he did win. Also, it would seem like the perfect conclusion to the shit pit of 2016. But yeah, don’t actually vote Trump. And don’t try to not vote for him naked. Those are the lessons of the day.
Watch the video here:
READ MORE ABOUT: Donald Trump | Katy Perry
Wednesday 28 September 2016, 09:17 | By Andy Malt
Approved: Robin Richards – Liquidators
CMU Approved
Dutch Uncles bassist Robin Richards moves into contemporary classical for his latest project, the soundtrack to a new documentary about the Chernobyl disaster, ‘Birdsong: Stories From Pripyat’.
Pripyat is the former city in Ukraine that was built to house those who worked at the Chernobyl nuclear power station a few miles away. Evacuated in the wake of the infamous Chernobyl explosion in 1986, the city – including a new amusement park that was opening just as the disaster occurred – now stands abandoned and derelict. Director Clara Casian and Richards travelled to Pripyat and the surrounding area to collect stories from local people, with the musician composing a 40 minute piece of music based on his experiences.
The first part of the soundtrack, titled ‘Liquidators’, has just been released, of which Richards says: “This section of music is inspired by the liquidators working on the Chernobyl nuclear plant after the disaster. The liquidators were civil and military personnel called upon by the Soviet Union in to clean, burn and bury contaminated areas and materials around the power plant”.
“The first part of this section is based on archival footage of the liquidators cleaning and digging in 1986, with the rhythmic jostling of the strings representing the movement of the workers, and the deep synthesisers representing the overriding radiation”, he continues. “The second part is inspired by the testimonies of four liquidators we interviewed in Borispol during our trip to Ukraine in May this year; their memories of the clean up and the years that followed the disaster”.
Coinciding with the 30th anniversary of the Chernobyl explosion, the film will be premiered this week with the score performed live at Home in Manchester on 30 Sep, followed by more live-scored screenings at Stockport Plaza (6 Oct) and the University Of Salford’s Peel Hall on 7 Oct.
Listen to ‘Liquidators’ here:
Stay up to date with all of the artists featured in the CMU Approved column in 2016 by subscribing to our Spotify playlist.
READ MORE ABOUT: Robin Richards
Wednesday 28 September 2016, 07:35 | By Chris Cooke
Insights Blog: Making money from music in five steps
Business News Insights Blog Labels & Publishers Live Business Management & Funding
Originally published to accompany the CMU Insights seminar series that explains how the music business works.
The music industry ultimately exists to help artists turn what they do into money, so they can give up the day job and focus on their music full time. But how do you make money out of music? Here’s a speedy guide from CMU Insights: how artists make money in five simple steps.
1. There are three main ways to make money out of music
If artists want to give up the day job and focus on their music full time, they need to turn what they do into money. And that’s what the music business exists to do. The music industry is simply companies and people who help artists generate revenue from their music.
There are three main ways to monetise music: create and exploit intellectual property (content), stage and monetise live performance (gigs), and/or build a fanbase and monetise the fan relationship (direct-to-fan).
The music industry can be split up according to those core revenue streams, so you have the music rights industry, the live music industry, and the emerging direct-to-fan business.
2. Music rights is mainly about copyright, with some trademarks thrown in
When we talk about music rights we are really talking about copyright. Copyright separately protects words, musical compositions and sound recordings – so if you have a recording of a song with lyrics, there are actually three copyrights in there.
The music industry tends to lump the lyrical and musical copyrights together and call them the song or publishing rights. They are then managed and monetised separately from the sound recording (aka master) rights.
Copyright also protects artwork and photography, and the music industry creates a lot of artwork and photography, so artists can also seek to exploit their visual copyrights (for example, by selling merch) as well as the core music rights (songs and recordings).
Copyright provides certain exclusive controls over the work in which the copyright exists – including the reproduction control, the adaptation control and the public performance control. If a third party wants to reproduce, adapt or perform your song or recording they need your permission. So you sell them your permission. And look, in doing so your copyright has made money.
Copyright doesn’t protect names and that’s where trademarks come in. And for bigger artists, licensing their names to drinks companies and fashion companies and perfume companies and so on can generate big bucks, meaning those acts are also well and truly in the trademark business too.
3. Live music isn’t just about ticket sales
The live side of music is generally easier to get your head around than all that intellectual property stuff: if someone is willing to pay to be in the same room as you while you sing your songs, then you can monetise live performance.
Though the live industry doesn’t just make money selling tickets. For starters, there are the booking fees applied to tickets, which are a revenue stream rather than a cost of sale. And some artists and promoters may resell their own tickets on the secondary market, generating additional income.
But more than that, once you have a captive audience at your gig venue or festival you can sell them other stuff – food, drink, cloakroom facilities, parking, and so on. And that’s a big part of the live industry – indeed, at the grass roots where you are playing to small audiences, it can be hard making a profit on ticket sales alone, and the biggest revenue generator will probably be the bar.
4. Direct-to-fan is the most exciting innovation in music
For all the talk about streaming music, the biggest revolution in the music industry caused by the world wide web is the fact artists now have a direct connection to core fanbase.
Because for all the complexities around copyright law and live entertainment licensing, the music industry is actually this simple: build a fanbase, understand your fanbase, and then sell them stuff.
It doesn’t matter what you sell them. You sell them what they want. Digital channels make it easier to work out what products excite core fanbase, and then you can sell those products direct without worrying about finding a willing retail partner.
This is hugely liberating, and the music industry is still learning how to fully capitalise on this opportunity.
5. The starting point is always about building fanbase
So there are lots of ways to make money out of music, but the key to everything is building a decent sized and engaged fanbase. In most cases, at the outset, that means getting out there and gigging, and then using digital channels to take fans with you beyond the venue, so if people get excited about what you do on stage, they can stay connected via email, the web and their social networks of choice.
The challenge is growing the fanbase to a size big enough to enable the artist to become a viable business. Although these days artists need to start building and capturing a fanbase on their own, they’ll almost certainly need business partners to build a big enough fanbase for long term success, probably starting with management and a booking agent, before seeking record and publishing deals.
For many new artists, the label still plays a key role in significantly boosting fanbase, with record companies often investing the money and providing the marketing resource to help capitalise on the initial momentum built by artist and management.
It doesn’t always work of course, and some new artists do it without signing a conventional record deal, but either way, finding the right business partners and growing a sufficiently sized fanbase is the key to success.
For more details on the CMU Insights seminars and masterclasses click here. For more information on our in-house training services click here.
READ MORE ABOUT: CMU Insights
Tuesday 27 September 2016, 10:01 | By Andy Malt
Approved: Cherryade
CMU Approved
Pop-rap duo Cherryade began writing tracks together as teenagers looking for something to pass the time before a night out. Since then, they’ve grown a bit more serious about their music, releasing three songs in the last few months that have started to gain them a lot of attention – ‘Fractured Fairytales’, ‘The Crown’, and now ‘Houdini’.
Having already teamed up with producers like Dimitri Tikovoi and Lewis Gardiner, their sound is already pretty well-formed. There are still some rough edges to their songs, some of which could do with a bit of a polish, but others that will hopefully remain over time.
“‘Houdini’ was written about our experiences with religion and going to a religious school”, say the duo of their latest song. “The priest was later convicted for being a paedophile, the music teacher was apparently fired for cheating on his wife with a male student, and all the time we were the one’s being judged and told what was right and wrong. When you’re young and naive the last thing you need is more people telling you who you should be, and once you’re caught in that web it’s not an easy thing to get out of”.
Listen to ‘Houdini’ here:
Stay up to date with all of the artists featured in the CMU Approved column in 2016 by subscribing to our Spotify playlist.
READ MORE ABOUT: Cherryade
Tuesday 27 September 2016, 09:52 | By Chris Cooke
Record industry sues YouTube-mp3.org as stream-ripping tops piracy agenda
Business News Digital Labels & Publishers Legal Top Stories
OK people, it’s time to update your piracy gripe lists. You all have a piracy gripe list, right? I store mine on my vKontakte profile. But only now that vKontakte no longer tops the piracy gripe list. Some people reckon that it was my refusal to store my piracy gripe list on my vKontakte profile while vKontakte was on my piracy gripe list that forced vKontakte to do the things it did to ensure vKontakte was no longer on my piracy gripe list. But I couldn’t possibly comment on any of that.
Anyway, if you’ve still got vKontakte at the top of your piracy gripe list, then get yourself a bottle of Tippex and remove it forthwith. Stream-ripping, that’s the real enemy, people. Bloody stream-ripping. Fucking stream-rippers. Will you all please stop stream-ripping? And that person sitting next to you currently stream-ripping, slap them on their head. Hard. We need to stop the stream-ripping. Think of the children, I say. Why won’t anyone ever think about the children? Too busy stream-ripping probably.
So yes, the US and UK record industries yesterday both began legal proceedings against YouTube-mp3.org, and not just because everyone in the music business is desperate to sue a company with YouTube in its name and it got to the point that people just couldn’t wait any longer for all that safe harbours nonsense to be sorted out. No, Germany-based YouTube-mp3.org is being sued because it’s the biggest site dedicated to stream-ripping and, as I may have mentioned, stream-ripping is now the top piracy gripe.
“Stream ripping is the process of ‘ripping’ or creating a downloadable file from content that is available to stream online”, says the International Federation Of The Phonographic Industry, just in case you were wondering. “It is often done with music videos, to create copies of tracks that can be downloaded and listened to offline or on other devices”.
Sites like YouTube-mp3.org make it remarkably easy to strip the audio off streaming videos and download it as an MP3, and in some ways it’s amazing it took this long for the record companies to go legal on all this. They possibly hoped YouTube itself would go after the sites that allow users to rip audio off its platform – and they did a little – though we all know about YouTube don’t we? “Bloody YouTube”. Though get on message people, today it’s “Bloody YouTube-mp3.org”.
“This is a co-ordinated action to protect the rights of artists and labels from the blatant infringements of YouTube-mp3, the world’s single-largest ‘stream ripping’ site”, said IFPI boss Frances Moore while announcing the record industry’s new legal efforts yesterday. “Music companies and digital services today offer fans more options than ever before to listen to music legally, when and where they want to do so – over hundreds of services with scores of millions of tracks – all while compensating artists and labels. Stream ripping sites should not be allowed jeopardise this”.
That “co-ordinated action” sees the majors in the US sue both YouTube-mp3.org and its operator Philip Matesanz through the Californian courts, while in the UK record industry trade group the BPI has put the site on formal notice that legal action will be launched if it does not cease making copies without licence with immediate effect. It will be interesting to see how the site responds, and whether it will attempt a defence.
“This site is raking in millions on the backs of artists, songwriters and labels”, declared Cary Sherman, CEO of the Recording Industry Association Of America, before issuing a coded call on the likes of Google and Apple to assist in curbing the stream-rips. “We are doing our part, but everyone in the music ecosystem who says they believe that artists should be compensated for their work has a role to play. It should not be so easy to engage in this activity in the first place and no stream ripping site should appear at the top of any search result or app chart”.
Meanwhile BPI boss Geoff Taylor was more explicit in calling on search engines to downgrade (or preferably de-list) stream-ripping platforms, while also requesting that advertisers ensure their banners don’t appear on these sites. “It’s time to stop illegal sites like this building huge fortunes by ripping off artists and labels”, Taylor said. “Fans have access now to a fantastic range of legal music streaming services, but they can only exist if we take action to tackle the online black market. We hope that responsible advertisers, search engines and hosting providers will also reflect on the ethics of supporting sites that enrich themselves by defrauding creators”.
It’s the banner ads that provide the “millions” the record industry reckons Matesanz is making off the back of free-to-use YouTube-MP3.org. Almost ironically, when I checked out the site this morning – in the name of journalistic research I would like to add – a banner for London Metropolitan University appeared, which is where I did my law degree and wrote my dissertation on music piracy. Which is almost ironic, isn’t it?
Hey, talking about me talking about piracy, why not come to my CMU Insights masterclass next month all about the music industry’s past, present and future efforts to crack down on online copyright infringement. It’ll be great. And in the break we’ll find some stream-rippers and given them a good kicking. See you there!
READ MORE ABOUT: British Phonographic Industry (BPI) | International Federation Of The Phonographic Industry (IFPI) | YouTube | YouTube-mp3
Tuesday 27 September 2016, 09:45 | By Chris Cooke
Kobalt buys Fintage House’s music division
Business News Deals Labels & Publishers
The Kobalt gang have bought up the neighbouring rights and music publishing units of rights management firm Fintage House and yes, I know what you thinking, that deal “matches Kobalt’s ongoing commitment to more efficiency and transparency in the industry with Fintage House’s renowned business ethic in enriching basic collection models with high-end service, innovation and operational excellence”. And you’re right. That’s exactly what this deal does. Well done. Have a penny chew to celebrate.
“We’re incredibly excited to work with the roster of creators that Fintage represents”, says Kobalt boss man chief Willard Ahdritz of the acquisition. “This deal strengthens our ability to collect more income for more creators from more places around the world. With a larger roster, we’re also excited to put more technology investment into neighbouring rights global collections”. Me too Willard, dead excited.
“For 30 years we have been creating leading services engineered by experience and as such provided a platform where transparency can thrive”, says Niels Teves, co-CEO at Fintage House. “I really believe we can achieve more for the music industry and its clients by merging our forces and values, than we could apart. I have a lot of respect for the technologic advances that Kobalt has built and for the portfolio that it currently represents”. Me too Niels, a bucket full of respect. And a big bucket too.
“In my view the music industry still has a long way to go to best serve the interests of recording artists and composers”, says Andrew Gummer, President of the music division at Fintage House. “The innovative and service-orientated approach adopted by Fintage House combined with Kobalt’s long-term commitment to transparency and empowerment has convinced us that the combined forces of the two companies will provide by far the best and most influential service available in the neighbouring rights and music publishing sectors”. I’m convinced too Andrew, and not just because the format this news story has taken obliges me to agree with each quote. Though mainly that.
While Fintage’s music publishing unit is part of the deal, this acquisition is clearly more about the neighbouring rights business, ie the collection of the performing rights income due on sound recordings, and in particular the performers’ cut of that money, due as a result of good old performer equitable remuneration.
Fintage House has become a big player in the growing neighbouring rights business of late, partly as a result of its alliance with Rights Agency Limited, a very long-term player in this space, back in 2012. Which was around about the time Kobalt also joined the neighbouring rights party. And now they can all party as one. Woo! I might have another penny chew.
READ MORE ABOUT: Fintage House | Kobalt
Tuesday 27 September 2016, 09:44 | By Andy Malt
Sadiq Khan to protect venues with introduction of ‘agent of change’ principle
Business News Live Business
London mayor Sadiq Khan has pledged to introduce the ‘agent of change’ principle in the capital to help protect cultural venues from the licensing woes that can be caused by property developers plonking new residential properties alongside their buildings.
As previously discussed, the introduction of this rule would mean that when new flats are built near a venue, the responsibility to protect against noise bleeding into the new properties would fall to the developer, rather than the venue. The lack of protection such as this has endangered numerous UK venues in recent years, such as The Night & Day Cafe in Manchester and Ministry Of Sound in London.
Khan actually announced his plans to introduce the agent of change principle off the back of the recent news that one of London’s Curzon cinemas was under threat of closure, thanks to offices above being converted into flats.
“I intend to protect venues like the Curzon Mayfair by introducing an ‘agent of change’ rule into the next London Plan”, wrote Khan on Facebook. “Developers would be responsible for ensuring their new developments don’t threaten the future of existing venues. That would mean developers building flats near existing venues will need to ensure that residents are not unduly affected by sound from the venue, and that may include paying for soundproofing”.
In the case of the Curzon, it seems, this protection is actually already in place. Say Khan: “I’m very pleased to hear that Westminster Council included this principle when the planning application was first submitted in 2013, and are taking the necessary steps to protect a cinema which makes a significant contribution to the character of the area and is a real cultural gem”.
READ MORE ABOUT: Sadiq Khan
Tuesday 27 September 2016, 09:38 | By Andy Malt
Pandora hires former Apple exec Nick Bartle for marketing role
Business News Digital Industry People
As Pandora attempts to convince more people to pay for its personalised radio service and soon-to-launch on-demand streaming platform, the company has hired former Apple marketing exec Nick Bartle.
Announcing the news, Pandora CEO Tim Westergren said yesterday: “From the moment I met Nick, his ability to make a substantial and immediate impact on Pandora was clear. Nick brings a deep understanding of consumer marketing and strategic communications from years of experience with the world’s most revered brands. He is the perfect leader to accelerate Pandora’s brand momentum during this transformative time”.
Bartle adds: “I’m THRILLED to join Pandora at this inflection point. The company is poised to completely redefine the music experience once again. I can’t wait to roll up my sleeves and connect our listeners to artists in ever more unique and personal ways”.
Most recently, Bartle spent a year as Vice President Of Member Marketing And Communications at LinkedIn, but prior to that he was Apple’s Senior Director Of Marketing Communications for four years. Which is just as well, otherwise our headline to this story would have been a big fat lie.
READ MORE ABOUT: Nick Bartle | Pandora
Tuesday 27 September 2016, 09:37 | By Chris Cooke
Early D2F player MusicToday files for bankruptcy, hopes to find buyer
Business News Digital
The operator of MusicToday, the US merch-focused direct-to-fan company, has filed for chapter eleven bankruptcy protection, because that’s what all the cool kids are doing these days.
“This is a very positive development for our company and our customers”, reckons the boss of MusicToday’s parent company Delivery Agent, Mike Fitzsimmons, who sees the bankruptcy process as an opportunity to restructure the company to enable it to move forward.
He continued: “Through these proceedings we’re initiating a process that preserves company value, allows the company to reorganise its business affairs and establishes a necessary foundation for future growth and profitability”.
An early player in the online artist store domain, MusicToday was originally launched by artist manager Coran Capshaw, before becoming a Live Nation business in 2006. Delivery Agent acquired the company from the live music giant two years ago.
Delivery Agent, which also owns a promotional products agency and e-commerce platform ShopTV, says it has secured the required approvals to continue operating as normal during the bankruptcy proceedings, subject to a green light from the courts, and that it hopes to find a buyer for the business.
READ MORE ABOUT: MusicToday
Tuesday 27 September 2016, 09:32 | By Andy Malt
Florence Welch, Brian Wilson and more channel The Beatles to paint for Youth Music
Artist News Education & Events
The Youth Music charity will open an art exhibition in London this week under the title ‘Art In The Corner’ showing original works by musicians, including Florence Welch, Brian Wilson, Elvis Costello, The Specials’ Jerry Dammers and more.
All the artworks being exhibited were created for the show, which was inspired by the 50th anniversary of ‘Images Of A Woman’, the only known painting produced collectively by The Beatles. All the exhibited works were made using the same materials available to The Beatles in 1966.
“It is a wonderful idea”, says Level 42’s Mark King, whose band also contributed a painting. “The last time we painted was at school. It was like a time machine”.
Charlie Higson, who produced a painting with fellow comedian Paul Whitehouse in the guise of their re-formed punk band The Right Hand Lovers, adds: “Sadly I think this painting is all that the newly re-formed Right Hand Lovers is going to achieve. We haven’t actually made any music. Although maybe…”
Youth Music CEO Matt Griffiths says: “We’re delighted to hear that so many revered musicians and bands have been putting time and effort into creating paintings that will support our work using music to transform the lives of young people in challenging circumstances. We’re hugely grateful to all those taking part”.
Other acts involved include Marillion, Imagine Dragons, Wolf Alice and John Illsley of Dire Straits. Following two private views at Cass Art in Islington and Pretty Green in Carnaby Street this week, the paintings will be auctioned off to raise month for the charity. Find out more and buy prints here.
READ MORE ABOUT: Brian Wilson | Charlie Higson | Dire Straits | Elvis Costello | Florence Welch | Imagine Dragons | Level 42 | Marillion | The Beatles | The Specials | Wolf Alice | Youth Music
Tuesday 27 September 2016, 09:28 | By Andy Malt
Prison helped Lil Wayne’s creativity to flourish, he writes in prison memoir
Artist News Releases
Lil Wayne is set to publish his long-awaited prison memoir, ‘Gone Til November’, next month, featuring excerpts from his journal written while serving an eight month sentence for illegal gun possession back in 2010.
One of the lessons he learned while locked up was about creativity, finding being cut off from the world a surprisingly fertile time for songwriting.
“I always thought I needed things like being high with my niggas, a Bugatti, a dope-ass crib or some big-booty bitches to be creative”, he writes, according to The New York Post. “But once it was taken away from me, my creativity was put to the ultimate test”.
That creativity didn’t just stretch to new lyrics either. While inside, he oversaw the marriage of two inmates, finding himself tasked with providing decorations for the ceremony to the best of his improvised ability with what was available.
“Imagine seeing grown-ass men in jail hanging tissue for wedding decorations”, he says. “AND one of them is Lil Wayne. Crazy”.
I’m imagining it now. So crazy. And the crazy creativity didn’t end there – the nuptials were toasted with thirteen bottles of Gatorade.
“Gatorade is liquid gold in this bitch”, he notes.
The book is out on 11 Oct.
READ MORE ABOUT: Lil Wayne
Tuesday 27 September 2016, 09:27 | By Andy Malt
Illuminations announces fifth anniversary blackout
Artist News Gigs & Festivals
London’s Illuminations Festival returns next month with a series of innovative events straddling music, art and film.
Discussing the event, Illuminations programmers Dan Monsell and Lisa Wright told CMU: “This year is the fifth anniversary year of Illuminations, and we have two events exploring darkness, as the winter nights close in. One is an event taking over the Museum Of London about the lost, found and dark sounds of London, and the second is an event in collaboration with a collective called Blackout”.
On the latter event, they explain: “Blackout – a night of music performed in total darkness – embodies the boundary-pushing and innovative ideas that Illuminations stands for. The line-up remains a secret throughout, which both removes any preconceptions for the audience and allows us to be supremely creative and playful with the curation”.
“It’s been proven that when once sense is deprived, your other senses become heightened”, they continue. “Without the visual element of performance, Blackout’s crowd are made to hear the music in a far more visceral way. We can tell you now – it’s going to be quite some journey for the audience, with the performers and what we have lined up”.
Illuminations runs from 28 Oct to 11 Nov. For the full programme, go to illuminationslondon.com
READ MORE ABOUT: Illuminations
Tuesday 27 September 2016, 09:22 | By Andy Malt
CMU’s One Liners: Bucks, Downtown, Metallica, more
Artist News Business News Deals Industry People Labels & Publishers One Liners Releases
Other notable announcements and developments today…
• Bucks Music Group has partnered with producer Charlie Andrew’s new publishing venture Big Tree Music to provide worldwide administration for the latter’s first signing, Francobollo. “It’s fantastic”, says Bucks’ Sarah Liversedge Platz.
• Downtown Music Publishing has hired Alan Goodstadt as its new CFO. “Alan is the ideal executive to lead finance for us,” says CEO Justin Kalifowitz of the former banker.
• Metallica have released the video for new single ‘Moth Into Flame’. Their new album, ‘Hardwired… To Self Destruct’, is out on 18 Nov.
• Jamie Lidell performed a new song called ‘How Did I Live Before Your Love’ on KCRW. Look, here is a video of that happening.
• Kero Kero Bonito have released another track from their forthcoming debut album. This is ‘Trampoline’.
• Calexico member Sergio Mendoza’s Orkesta Mendoza will release a new album, ‘¡Vamos A Guarachar!’, on 7 Oct. They’ll also play Wahaca’s Day Of The Dead at The Vaults in Waterloo on 4 Nov. Here’s a track, ‘Volcadora’.
• Trim will headline a 1-800-Dinosaur night at Brixton Jamm on 5 Nov, which will also feature DJ sets from James Blake, Mark Pritchard and more.
• Kraftwerk will be bringing their 3D show back to the UK for a tour next June, finishing up with two performances at the Royal Albert Hall. Tickets go on sale on Friday.
• Insisting on pursuing this reunion thing, The Stone Roses will play three UK shows in Belfast, London and Glasgow in June. They’ll probably do those dreadful new songs and everything. Urgh.
READ MORE ABOUT: 1-800 Dinosaur | Alan Goodstadt | Big Tree Music | Bucks Music | Charlie Andrew | Downtown Music | Francobollo | Jamie Lidell | Kero Kero Bonito | Kraftwerk | Metallica | Orkesta Mendoza | The Stone Roses | Trim
Tuesday 27 September 2016, 09:19 | By Chris Cooke
Robbie Williams turned to Ed Sheeran during last minute panic about hits count
And Finally Artist News Releases
Robbie Williams pleaded to that there Ed Sheeran via email that he provide his fellow popstar with a little song to sing during a last minute panic about his new album’s hit count, apparently.
Having confirmed this weekend that he has a new record to share called ‘Heavy Entertainment Show’, Williams is quoted by The Sun as saying of the Sheeran collaboration on that new album: “[I panicked and thought] days are running out for the album, have I got enough hits? Are there enough hits? I’ve got Ed Sheeran’s email. I’ll send him an email and see what happens. One last hope”.
And so, he says, he wrote in his email to Sheeran: “Dear Ed, Robbie Williams here. Do you have any spare hits?” And good old Ed provided the goods. “He sent me this song about ‘Pretty Woman’. I added a chorus and I think the song is fully formed”.
“I’m honoured that he said yes”, Williams continues. “And I’m honoured that I get to be in Ed’s thoughts. You can’t not be a fan of Ed. He’s a phenomena. And also the nicest guy. He’s incredibly talented”.
So that’s all nice isn’t it? Though, come on Robbie, you’re a talent guy, next time you need a hit surely you could just (allegedly) rip off a Matt Cardle track yourself without bothering poor old Sheeran.
READ MORE ABOUT: Ed Sheeran | Robbie Williams
Monday 26 September 2016, 10:03 | By Chris Cooke
iHeart unveils its move into subscription streaming
Business News Digital Labels & Publishers Media Top Stories
As expected, iHeartMedia has announced that it is moving into subscription streaming, with January next year set as a launch date. As also expected, it will offer both an enhanced personalised radio experience, probably at $5 a month, and a fully on-demand option, probably at $10 month, and it has entered into direct deals with the labels to make all of that happen, having previously heavily relied on the compulsory licence available for basic personalised radio services in the US.
All of which mirrors much of what competitor Pandora announced earlier this month (though it was relaunching its existing $5 service), and possibly explains why it was in such a rush to get its upgrades and new deals announced, even though doing so required putting out a press release before Warner Music had actually signed on the dotted line.
Though iHeart premium isn’t going to be same old, same old, everybody. Oh no, stop saying that, will you? As the streaming service of the biggest conventional radio broadcaster in the US, iHeartRadio is going to properly integrate all this streaming whatnot with the good old fashioned radio experience that we all know and love.
“Because 73% of consumers, which include users of on-demand music services, continually cite radio as their primary source of music discovery, iHeartRadio’s new on-demand offering will allow listeners to bridge the divide between music discovery and music collecting by seamlessly incorporating true interactivity into the radio listening experience through a variety of new features”, says the broadcaster.
Want to know more about that seamless radio-to-stream experience? “For the first time ever, when listeners hear a new or favourite song on the radio they can instantly replay a song and even save it directly to a playlist”, says iHeartRadio President Darren Davis. “We are re-imagining radio – with the new technologies and offerings powered by our on-demand options, music discovery, music collecting and the power of community and companionship fostered by live radio and influential and trusted personalities. iHeartRadio is now combining it all for the first time; there’s no other digital music service that can do this”.
Well, that’s all lovely, isn’t it? And the major labels chiefs are all super excited too. They wrote quotes and everything.
As much previously reported, iHeart – formerly Clear Channel – has used its vast network of AM and FM stations to hook in American listeners to its existing online and personalised radio offering, doing a good job of catching up with main rival Pandora despite coming to market somewhat later. Though to date iHeartRadio has only had an ad-funded free option. The move into subscriptions is an attempt by the media firm to create a crucial extra revenue stream around its online product.
Anyway, I mentioned major label boss quotes…
Sony Music’s Doug Morris: “I’d like to congratulate [iHeart CEO] Bob Pittman and the team at iHeartRadio on their move into the subscription music business. This deal further expands our long-running successful relationship, and creates promising new commercial opportunities to engage with the millions of music fans who listen to iHeart every day. We look forward to working with them to develop premium music solutions for radio users”.
Universal Music’s Lucian Grainge: “Universal Music Group is pleased to welcome a new addition to the growing and dynamic music subscription space with iHeart’s launch of interactive services. We’re glad to build upon our relationship with iHeart, which under Bob’s leadership continues to innovate the radio experience by adding distinct features and services and attract a broad audience that remains deeply passionate about music”.
Warner Music’s Steve Cooper: “We’re pleased to be expanding our long-standing partnership with Bob and his team. iHeart’s expertise and reach in radio programming and curation, combined with the full power of streaming technology, is a compelling prospect. These new services will open up the choice of experiences that iHeart offers music fans, while providing our artists and songwriters with a wider range of commercial and marketing opportunities”.
READ MORE ABOUT: iHeart
Monday 26 September 2016, 10:00 | By Andy Malt
Re-Production rebrands as Viva La Visa
Business News Live Business
Music visa company Re-Production has rebranded itself as Viva La Visa, so at least now you won’t have to guess what it does.
“In today’s global music market, the ability for performers to cross borders and meet their audience has never been so vital – or as fraught with potential pitfalls”, says founder Andy Corrigan. “As a former artist and occasional tour manager, I know only too well the challenges of planning an international schedule, the intricacies of the US visa system, last-minute panics over SXSW or the frantic 3am phone call from Japan over a lost passport. We have been there and done it”.
The company has also opened a new London office, so you don’t have to go all the way to Suffolk to speak to someone in person.
READ MORE ABOUT: Viva La Visa
Monday 26 September 2016, 09:55 | By Andy Malt
Your Army promotes Amy Collins
Business News Industry People Marketing & PR
Music PR firm Your Army has promoted Amy Collins to the role of Head Of Promotions. Collins will continue to handle radio and TV plugging for the company, as well as now overseeing all promotions activity.
“Amy’s energy and skill as a plugger makes her one of those people who can make a massive difference to an artist’s career. We are delighted to promote her to this important role”, says Your Army founder James Pitt.
In addition to Collins’s promotion, Director of Radio & TV Christian Nockall now becomes Director Of Promotions & Business Development, while Head Of US Promotions Matt Black will head up the company’s club, digital and radio departments from its LA office.
READ MORE ABOUT: Amy Collins | Your Army
Monday 26 September 2016, 09:54 | By Andy Malt
Rolling Stone sells 49% stake to BandLab Technologies
Business News Deals Media
Wenner Media has sold a 49% stake in Rolling Stone magazine to Singapore-based BandLab Technologies, whose main product is “easy-to-use, all-in-one, social music creation platform” BandLab.
Head Of Digital at Wenner Media – and son of Rolling Stone founder Jann Wenner – Gus Wenner tells Bloomberg: “It’s a big moment. There is a great opportunity to take that brand and apply it into new and different areas and markets”.
BandLab is owned by Kuok Meng Ru, son of billionaire Kuok Khoon Hong, who says: “What has happened in the last 49 years has already shown that Rolling Stone is more than a brand to people. It is now our shared responsibility to take it into the future”.
Kuok’s company will launch a new subsidiary called Rolling Stone International, which will operate live events, merch sales and hospitality services under the classic magazine’s name.
READ MORE ABOUT: BandLab Technologies | Rolling Stone | Wenner Media
Monday 26 September 2016, 09:50 | By Chris Cooke
Trends: The big challenge of mid-price and free streams
CMU Trends Digital
Amazon, Pandora and iHeart are all bringing $5 a month streaming services to market. The record industry arguably needs mid-price services of this kind to succeed as streaming becomes its dominant revenue stream, but will these products find a consumer base? And what about the free services? Is the industry giving up too soon on the ad-funded model?
Record industry chiefs seem genuinely more optimistic of late, as streaming revenues not only continue to boom, but in many markets are now more than compensating for the ongoing declines in CD and download sales. But there are plenty of outstanding issues that should counter that optimism. These are issues that will remain even if the music industry gets its way on safe harbours, which sometimes feels like the only issue label bosses and their trade organisations want to talk about at the moment.
For starters, there is the fact that, on a global level, most of the growth in streaming revenues stems from just two companies, Apple and Spotify. And neither Apple Music nor Spotify are as yet profitable. The monies the record industry receives from these services are artificially boosted by the minimum guarantees new streaming platforms must commit to pay. But those commitments are not sustainable long-term, and eventually the streaming services will want to simply share their revenues with the labels without making up the difference when certain minima aren’t met.
Then there are the three big unanswered questions about streaming services of the Apple Music and Spotify variety. First, can the current impressive subscriber growth rates be sustained for the foreseeable future? Two, how many paying subscribers do Spotify and Apple Music need to be profitable businesses? And three, how many paying subscribers does the record industry need to stay in growth, even as CD and downloads become niche products, and especially if the dominant streaming services start to try and negotiate away the minimum guarantees?
That latter question could in turn be influenced by the lingering digital pie debate, which is to say how streaming income is shared between the different stakeholders in the music rights industry: labels, artists, publishers and songwriters.
Labels currently take by far the biggest slice of the digital pie – as they did with CD and download income – on the basis they take by far the biggest financial risk when creating new music, especially by new talent. Though both artists and songwriters have argued that those risks are not so significant in the streaming domain and therefore there should be a repositioning of how streaming monies are shared.
Either way, even if we take an optimistic view of Spotify and Apple Music’s near future – and we assume user-figures will continue to rapidly grow for some time yet, and that ultimately they will both become viable businesses in themselves, paying sizable and sustainable income into the music industry even once minimum guarantees fall away – it is almost certainly true that only a minority of consumers will ever sign up to a $10 a month subscription package. So what about everybody else?
MID-PRICE STREAMING
It has long been observed that, for most consumers, $120 a year – or the local economic equivalent – is a lot of money to spend on recorded music. For avid music fans, the package offered by Spotify, Apple Music and all the other services operating basically the same model, is a really good deal. But for most consumers, who perhaps bought one or two CDs a year in the pre-digital age, $120 is too much. And all-you-can-eat streaming music isn’t a big enough turn on to justify that price point; indeed for the more mainstream consumer all-you-can-eat can be daunting and therefore a turn off.
Therefore, beyond the race to sign up as many $10 a month subscribers as possible, the music industry needs to develop mid-range streaming services. That is to say, less content and/or less functionality for less money each month. But what will those services look like, given that they need to be better than the current free services available, but not as good as what Spotify and Apple currently provide their premium users?
Earlier this month Pandora relaunched its existing $5 a month service, while last week its main rival iHeartRadio announced its intent to move into paid-for streaming for the first time, with a similar mid-price package part of that move.
In both cases, these are enhanced personalised radio services, as opposed to the fully on-demand streaming offered by Spotify and Apple. We have more information about the Pandora service, as it’s actually live. Unlike the free version of Pandora, paying users get more functionality in the form of unlimited skips, offline listening and some limited on-demand playlisting. Plus there are no ads.
Some have argued in the past that, aside from the lower price point, an enhanced ad-free personalised radio service is actually more attractive to more mainstream consumers than fully on-demand streams, because it involves less work on their part – they just press a button and music they like with play.
iHeart makes its personalised radio service even more familiar to those yet to properly jump into streaming music by integrating its vast network of AM and FM radio stations, so that the starting point for a new user can be to browse a plethora of conventional radio channels.
Though it is worth noting that enhanced personalised radio at $5 a month has been tried before. Indeed, Pandora is relaunching rather than launching anew its premium personalised radio package. To date the vast majority of Pandora users have opted for the free version and it remains to be seen if the extra features and a new marketing push will result in a better freemium-to-premium conversion rate.
Amazon is also expected to launch a $5 a month package when it launches a standalone streaming service this autumn, locked to the firm’s proprietary Echo speaker device. Subscribers will have to upgrade to the more typical $10 a month package to use Amazon’s streaming platform on all their other devices.
Spotify previously experimented with a half price subscription based on limiting the devices it could be used on, with a £5 option that only worked on desktop computers, while the £10 package also worked on mobile devices. Though, as mobile became the dominant device for streaming services, Spotify seemed to think that any paid-for service that lacked mobile functionality wasn’t a goer.
It remains to be seen how Amazon fairs with its experiment. With Echo speakers retailing at £150 in the UK, the pitch will presumably go “get a year’s unlimited streaming from your speaker for just another £60”. Which might be attractive to anyone not currently signed up to a streaming platform, though you sense that that will be more use as a short-term marketing channel – hook hardware customers in at £60, and then try and upsell them to £120 a year for all devices – rather than it being a long-term mid-price option.
But, of course, the fact that past attempts at mid-price streaming have, in the main, failed doesn’t necessarily mean they can’t succeed this time. Previous mid-price streaming set-ups might simply have come to the market too early, with the more mainstream consumers they are targeted not yet ready to embrace such products.
It may be that for those more mainstream consumers, $5 a month is still too high a price, and something more around the $2 a month price point is required.
Or perhaps those services that bundle music with other content – such as the existing music element of Amazon Prime – are actually the way to reach this mid-market, rather than standalone mid-price services.
WHAT DO WE DO ABOUT FREE?
The other big issue impacting on mid-price streaming is all the free services, including the freemium levels of Pandora, iHeart, Spotify and Deezer, plus big bad YouTube, the industry’s own Vevo and the now licensed SoundCloud.
As it currently stands, a savvy consumer might recognise that the experience being offered by Pandora and iHeart for $5 a month can pretty much be replicated for free on Spotify freemium – providing you are willing to tolerate the occasional advert – plus Spotify offers a whole lot more, for free.
Pandora and iHeart might argue that they have a simpler and more user-friendly interface, better personalisation and, in the latter’s case, all those radio channels, but the fact that free services exist that offer more functionality than many of the mid-price services being developed has to be an issue.
Spotify has always claimed that it’s because of its freemium level that it is able to sign up so many premium users. And given how much faster it has signed up users than those competitors without the free option, that is probably true.
Nevertheless, it’s no secret that many in the labels would like to start streamlining Spotify’s free offer (indeed, some label execs would like to shut it down), and it seems inevitable that the service will have to concede to at least the windowing of big new releases off freemium in the relatively near future.
Though, while the labels can continue to pressure Spotify (and Deezer for that matter) to cut back its free service, the music industry is more constrained when it comes to the likes of Pandora and iHeart, because of the compulsory licence they can tap into in the US, and with YouTube, which will continue to have a strong negotiating hand while the safe harbours the music industry hates so much continue to operate in key markets.
Though, while the problem with free in the short term is the impact the freebie streams may or may not be having of the emergence of a mid-price streaming market, in the long term the problem with free is actually this: what does the music industry do about the significant slice of the market (very possibly the majority of consumers) who will never pay for digital music?
Let’s say the record industry got its way on safe harbours and could exploit its new direct relationships with Pandora and iHeart to have more control over their free services even in the US, what does it then do about the fact that many, many consumers will simply never pay to stream?
Does it try to shut down free streaming, in a bid to convert a fraction of those people to some kind of paid-for option, before writing off all those who do not convert, a sizable of portion of which could be lost to piracy? Or does it accept that there will always be some kind of legitimate free streaming, consumed by the masses, generating relatively nominal royalties, and upselling premium streams and other music products?
The latter seems more likely. Which brings us to the final question: has the music industry fully tapped the potential of ad income? For a brief time, the labels seemed to see ad-funded streams as a big opportunity, and it was around about that time that the record industry licensed Spotify’s free level and embraced early-days YouTube.
Since then, labels have become less convinced about the potential of ad money, in no small part because YouTube’s ad sales couldn’t keep up with the huge rises in consumption, and possibly also because of more direct experiences trying to sell ads via label or Vevo-managed channels on the YouTube platform or elsewhere.
And, of course, one of the reasons why Pandora and iHeart are moving into subscriptions is because they don’t believe ad income alone can sustain their businesses, while the one streaming service that insisted advertising was the future of streaming, Guvera, has had a very tricky year indeed.
Though there are various issues with the way advertising has been sold around streaming music that could be addressed.
First of all, the ad industry has always allocated way more money to TV than radio, and generally categorises online audio ads under the latter. Secondly, radio advertising has always relied heavily on local advertisers, and while streaming services can deliver ads on a local basis, they often don’t have localised sales teams. And thirdly, by making one of the big selling points of premium the fact that it is ad-free, that makes for a weird pitch to advertisers along the lines of “advertise with us so we can annoy free users into upgrading”.
There is also the issue that when people are requesting three minute tracks or videos on demand, a 30-60 second advert is simply too long. Those aware of user-experience therefore offer a five second skip option, which most people utilise, and the advertiser isn’t charged. This is a challenge for the ad industry more than anything else – it needs to start selling its clients’ products in five seconds, ten seconds max.
Assuming some sort of free streaming has to be part of the long-term future of digital music, finding a way to overcome these challenges in the advertising space should be on the music industry’s agenda. Vevo, providing it doesn’t get too distracted by its own move into premium subscriptions, could lead on this. Though it possibly also needs the record companies to collaborate with some current foes, including big bad YouTube.
READ MORE ABOUT: Amazon | Apple Music | iHeart | Pandora | Spotify
Monday 26 September 2016, 09:46 | By CMU Editorial
CMU:DIY among the line-up at Urban Development’s All-Dayer
Business News Education & Events
Music education organisation Urban Development will stage its big All-Dayer event at Ravensbourne University in North Greenwich this coming Saturday, aimed at anyone and everyone at the start of their music careers, from future popstars to future label chiefs.
On the back of the recent season of CMU:DIY x Urban Development seminars that together provided a concise but comprehensive beginner’s guide to the business of music, CMU Business Editor Chris Cooke will be hosting three sessions as part of the All-Dayer programme. The first will provide a brief overview of the different kinds of music companies, before interviewing an eclectic mix of music professionals about their roles and careers to date. The second will explain how the streaming business works and how DIY artists can get their music online. And the third will look at artist management.
Also represented on the day with be an assortment of labels, media like GRM Daily, Complex UK and Reprezent FM, and industry organisations like UK Music and the Musicians’ Union. Among the sessions planned are ‘Grime 2.0: Debate The Future Of Urban Culture’, ‘Generation DIY’ and ‘Who Runs the World? Girls! The Women Behind UK Music’.
Tickets are just £12, or become a UD Creative for £24 and also get into the next season of CMU:DIY x UD events for free, plus a plethora of other benefits. Though use the promotional code CMUDIY and you’ll get discounts on both, first come first served. Click here to book tickets.
READ MORE ABOUT: CMU:DIY | Urban Development
Monday 26 September 2016, 09:40 | By Andy Malt
Robbie Williams announces heavily entertaining new album
Artist News Releases
Coinciding with his Apple Music Festival show at The Roundhosue in London last night, Robbie Williams has announced that he will release his new album, ‘Heavy Entertainment Show’, on 4 Nov through the Columbia label. It will be the singer’s first album for Sony Music, having signed to the major back in May.
Of the album’s title, Williams says: “I was musing over the phrase ‘light entertainment’ – all the huge TV shows from when I was a kid, 30 million people watching them, this huge shared experience of these moments called light entertainment. Sometimes it can be levelled at people in a bad way, but for me that’s heavy entertainment. That’s what I’m hoping to do with this album – to have a shared experience with millions of people through the medium of light entertainment… but on steroids”.
It’s not clear if that musing happened while watching Nick Helm’s TV show of almost the same name. Though I’m pretty sure that wasn’t a literal admission that Robbie Williams is taking steroids at the end.
The album, if you take the full, sixteen track deluxe version’s tracklist into account, features songs co-written with Guy Chambers, John Grant, Rufus Wainwright, Brandon Flowers, Ed Sheeran and Stuart Price.
Here’s a trailer:
And here’s the tracklist, which also reads like the back of a Nick Helm album:
Heavy Entertainment Show
Party Like A Russian
Mixed Signals
Love My Life
Motherfucker
Bruce Lee
Sensitive
David’s Song
Pretty Woman
Hotel Crazy (feat Rufus Wainwright)
Sensational
When You Know
Time On Earth
I Don’t Want To Hurt You (feat John Grant)
Best Intentions
Marry Me
READ MORE ABOUT: Robbie Williams
Monday 26 September 2016, 09:36 | By Andy Malt
Future Of The Left’s Julia Ruzicka announces solo album, release Black Francis collaboration
Artist News Releases
Future Of The Left bassist Julia Ruzicka has announced her debut solo album, ‘This Becomes Us’, under the name Ruzicka. Although, for a solo album, she kept a lot of company.
Each track was written on bass by Ruzicka, and recorded with guitarist Ian Wilson and drummer Jack Eggleston. Nine different singers then added vocals to the resulting instrumentals, including Kristian Bell from The Wytches, Matchbox B-Line Disaster’s Guy McKnight, and Pixies frontman Black Francis, who appears on first single ‘Painter Man Is Coming’.
“I have loved and still love the role I play in my bands creatively, on bass”, says Ruzicka. “But as time passed throughout various writing periods for all kinds of records, I started to stockpile ideas on bass, and just wanted to see some of the embryonic ideas written on bass turn into fully realised songs”.
Of bagging a Frank Black collaboration, she adds: “It was an incredible outcome. I wrote the song with him in mind, being someone who has been listening to his music for a long time. To actually have the person singing on your song that inspired that piece of music is quite an incredible event and feeling”.
Listen to ‘Painter Man Is Coming’ here:
‘This Becomes Us’ is due for release on 11 Nov. Here’s the full tracklist:
The Picture of Delorean Gray (feat. Damien Sayell of The St Pierre Snake Invasion)
Undervalue Love (feat Guy McKnight ex-The Eighties Matchbox B-Line Disaster)
Big Hitter (feat Billy Mason Wood of Blacklisters)
Painter Man Is Coming (feat Black Francis of Pixies)
At The End of Everyday (feat Kristian Bell of The Wytches)
Simple Too (feat Rosie Arnold)
A Gift That Nobody Wants (feat Michael J Sheehy of Miraculous Mule)
Songs In My Mind (feat Chantal Lewis Brown of Vodun)
Sassessa (feat Vinod Bhairo)
This Horse Needs Peace (Instrumental)
READ MORE ABOUT: Black Francis | Julia Ruzicka
Monday 26 September 2016, 09:32 | By Andy Malt
Adele manager Jonathan Dickens to be named Manager Of The Year
Awards Business News Management & Funding
Adele’s manager Jonathan Dickins will be named Manager Of The Year at this year’s Artist And Manager Awards. He’ll get his trophy at The Troxy on 24 Nov. That’s because the whole ceremony is taking place then, and it seems like a good idea to give all the awards out at the same time.
Chief exec of awards co-organiser the MMF, Annabella Coldrick says: “I watched the campaign for ’25’ unfold before joining the MMF. The voice of the artist shone through an impressive subtle, yet precise, global campaign that put the music first. Management is about sharing an artists’ vision and delivering it and Jonathan delivered the last part of the trilogy with exemplary skill. We are so pleased that he has accepted the Manager Of The Year Award”.
Just to be clear, he will actually be accepting it at The Troxy on 24 Nov, I wasn’t lying about that. But they would have had to check that he would bother to turn up, wouldn’t they? Good news is that he apparently will. Adele will be on her ten year hiatus from touring then too, so maybe she’ll go as well. Dickens could then do some ‘live managing’ of her on stage, so we can see what all the fuss is about.
By the way, the shortlist for Breakthrough Manager Of The Year at the AMAs has been announced too. There’s eight of them. The actual winner will be announced on the night. You know, 24 Nov. At The Troxy. Here they are:
Amy Morgan (Glass Animals)
Niko Michault (Jack Savoretti)
Sam Stubbings (NAO/Mura Masa)
Tobe Onwuka (Stormzy)
Martha Kinn (Years & Years)
Johnny Pinchard & Dan Bearman (Snakehips)
Claire Southwick (Spring King)
Steve Ambler & Matt Johnson (Oh Wonder)
Not sure if I mentioned that the ceremony is at The Troxy on 24 Nov.
READ MORE ABOUT: Adele | Artist And Manager Awards | Jonathan Dickens | Music Managers Forum (MMF)
Monday 26 September 2016, 09:31 | By Andy Malt
CMU’s One Liners: Ariana Grande, South By South Lawn, Drake, more
Artist News Business News Education & Events Gigs & Festivals Management & Funding One Liners Releases
Other notable announcements and developments today…
• Ariana Grande is being managed by Scooter Braun and his SB Projects company again, according to Billboard. The singer only ended her previous professional relationship with Braun back in February, when her mother and Untitled Entertainment’s Stephanie Simon took on management duties.
• The line-up for Barack Obama’s South By South Lawn festival at the White House next month has been announced. The headline session with be Obama interviewing Leonardo DiCaprio about his new climate change documentary.
• Drake’s released a short film called ‘Please Forgive Me’ on Apple Music. It’s got songs from his ‘Views’ album in it. You can watch it here.
• Nick Cave and Warren Ellis have released the video for ‘Comancheria’, taken from their soundtrack to Jeff Bridges film ‘Hell Or High Water’.
• Dirty Projectors have released new track ‘Keep Your Name’.
• Nicolas Jaar has announced that he will release a new album called ‘Sirens’ on 30 Sep. Yes, that is this week.
• Lock have just released their new EP ‘Everlasting Road’. Here’s the video for the title track.
• Wiley will headline The Roundhouse in Camden on 7 Feb. Tickets are now on sale. Meanwhile, here’s the video for his new single, ‘Can’t Go Wrong’.
READ MORE ABOUT: Ariana Grande | Barack Obama | Dirty Projectors | Drake | Lock | Nick Cave | Nicolas Jaar | SB Projects | Scooter Braun | Warren Ellis | Wiley
Monday 26 September 2016, 09:23 | By Andy Malt
Justin Vernon would rather you didn’t take money from Pepsi (this is a message mainly for Beyonce)
And Finally Artist News Brands & Merch
Justin Vernon has said that he plans to depart from traditional touring as much as possible while promoting new album ’22, A Million’, tailoring smaller shows specifically to individual towns and cities where possible. And in some small way, it’s a kick back against the big bucks sponsorship deals that the likes of Beyonce do on their stadium tours.
Saying that he doesn’t want to “just be ‘Hello Cleveland-ing’ through our lives”, he tells The Guardian: “You can never be self-righteous, but it’s okay to be a little righteous. You have to believe in something. Like, I’d prefer Beyonce didn’t do a Pepsi tour. Do not take $2 million dollars from Pepsi and be a role model for young girls. Do not do that. That stuff does anger me. And I feel like I am not afraid to talk about that stuff”.
Not that Vernon hasn’t taken the big bucks in the past. There was that Bushmills whiskey advertising campaign he featured in. Though he did describe that as a “mistake” to Grantland last year, saying: “The problem is that it isn’t just Bushmills. It’s run by a corporation, and you kind of forget that they’re not interested in you or really what you’re doing. They’re interested in your popularity and your reach, and it felt really sickening after a while. Not badmouthing Bushmills the company, but I regret it. I regret it because it wasn’t us and they put my face on a fucking billboard … I missed the mark on that one and I let it all kind of get to me”.
So, yeah, money is nice, but will it make you happy? I am willing to test this out if anyone fancies writing me a cheque. While you do that, I’m going to listen to ’22 (Over S∞∞n)’ by Bon Iver again, cos it’s dead good:
READ MORE ABOUT: Bon Iver
Monday 26 September 2016, 09:00 | By Chris Cooke
CMU Digest 26.09.16: BMI, Russian collective licensing, MusicBiz stats, iHeart, Fabric, Festival No.6
CMU Digest
The key stories from the last seven days in the music business…
The music industry welcomed the news that a US judge had sided with BMI on the 100% licensing debate. Much sooner than expected, a court overturned the recent ruling by the US Department Of Justice that said that BMI must operate a 100% licensing system. The judge hearing the case said that the DoJ’s interpretation of the consent decree that regulates the collecting society was wrong on this point. Unsurprisingly, the MIC Coalition, representing the tech, broadcast and hospitality sectors, criticised the judgement and urged the DoJ to appeal. [READ MORE]
It emerged that all three major music companies had signed a letter criticising the Russian government’s proposal it take over collective licensing there. Russian ministers are again considering taking over the collection and distribution of performing right royalties and private copy levies, mainly in response to controversies at the country’s song rights society RAO, where management are accused of fraud and members disagree on a way forward. But various Russian industry figures, including chiefs at the Russian units of Sony, Universal and Warner, say government taking over collective licensing would be a bad move and breach global intellectual property treaties. [READ MORE]
New research from US music retail trade group the Music Business Association reckons that more Americans listen to individual tracks via playlists than via albums, suggesting both the further growth of subscription streaming in the US and the importance of playlists on those platforms. Of those signed up to streaming, 42% were not paying, adding that they didn’t see the need because the free services provided everything they required. [READ MORE]
US radio firm iHeartMedia announced its plans to launch two new subscription streaming services, building on its current ad-funded free personalised radio service iHeartRadio. Although iHeart was light on specifics, it sounds like there will be parallels with what its main competitor Pandora is offering – a $5 a month enhanced radio experience, and a $10 a month option more in line with Spotify and Apple Music. Though iHeart is also promising integration with its vast network of conventional radio stations. The firm also confirmed direct deals with the majors and several indie label distributors, having mainly licensed iHeartRadio to date via SoundExchange. [READ MORE]
The police and council in Islington denied having a vendetta against Fabric. It has been claimed that officers and officials sought to have the London club’s licence revoked after it successfully overturned previous changes to its licence in the courts. But Islington Police chief Nick Davies said that he was new to the job and his actions were entirely motivated by the two recent drug-related deaths at the venue. But many in the music community continue to criticise the council’s decision on Fabric’s licence, while a fund-raising campaign to help fund the venue’s appeal has now topped £225,000. [READ MORE]
The founder of Festival No 6 apologised to ticketholders who were left stranded when the Welsh festival’s car park flooded earlier this month. He said that “despite the rumours and unfounded accusations flying around, we had no way of knowing this would happen and had no warning to that effect until the flood was literally in progress. Why would we knowingly risk people’s property and our reputation? It simply makes no sense”. [READ MORE]
The big deals from the last seven days in the music business…
• The Orchard announced a partnership with China’s Taihe Music Group [INFO]
• Sky bought Una Tickets [INFO]
• Management firm Outerloop allied with Cooking Vinyl on its label [INFO]
• SpinMedia sold music blogs Idolator, Buzznet and PureVolume [INFO]
• Syco confirmed it would distribute James Arthur’s new album in the UK [INFO]
• Maverick management signed Shania Twain and Andrew Bocelli [INFO]
• Collecting society ASCAP re-signed Max Martin [INFO]
• Fire Records signed Jane Weaver [INFO]
READ MORE ABOUT: BMI | consent decrees | Department Of Justice | Fabric | Festival No 6 | iHeart | Music Business Association | Russian Authors' Society (RAO) | US Department Of Justice
Monday 26 September 2016, 08:26 | By Andy Malt
Approved: Paffgen – Channel View
CMU Approved
Paffgen, aka Syotaro Hayashi, released his debut EP in 2012, which was eventually followed by his first album last year. Now he’s releasing his debut single, ‘Channel View’. Which might seem like an odd way round of doing things. And in-keeping with that tendency for the unconventional, this single is seventeen minutes long.
The track, perhaps better described as a mini mixtape than a single, journeys through reggae, R&B, folk and more, occasionally drifting out of focus before snapping quickly back into sharp view. It may be a lengthy introduction to the world of Paffgen, but it’s never not interesting.
As well as being available to download on Bandcamp, Paffgen is also crowdfunding a vinyl release, which you can chip in for here.
Listen to ‘Channel View’ here:
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READ MORE ABOUT: Paffgen
Friday 23 September 2016, 10:05 | By Paul Vig
Vigsy’s Club Tip: DJ Mag Sessions at Egg London
Club Tip CMU Approved
Head honchos of the Heist label – Lars Dales and Maarten Smeets, aka Detroit Swindle – previously caught my eye a few moons ago when I tipped them back in 2014. And now the Dutch pair, known for their quality amalgam of house and disco, headline this DJ Mag Sessions night.
Joining them is Recloose, who was signed to Planet E and was the scratchmaster in Carl Craig’s Innerzone Orchestra. This underrated DJ and producer, with jazzy house and beats as his armoury, should put on quite a show.
Meanwhile, London label Wolf Music and the DJ Mag Allstars are taking over the ground floor, making this DJ Mag Sessions night look pretty damn hot.
Saturday 24 Sep, Egg London, 200 York Way, Kings Cross, N7 9AX, 11pm-9am, £10. More info here.
READ MORE ABOUT: Detroit Swindle | DJ Mag
