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Monday 28 November 2016, 10:27 | By Andy Malt
ITV gives BRITs nominations show Saturday night primetime slot
Artist News Awards Media
Through what must be some sort of scheduling error, ITV will air the BRIT Awards nominations show in a primetime Saturday night slot on 14 Jan. Guys, music is only allowed on TV after 11pm and first thing on Sundays, unless it’s a talent show format built around a bunch of no-hopers. Everyone knows that.
Performances on the BRIT nominations show will come from Olly Murs, Craig David and Christine And The Queens, with Emma Willis reading out the names of the nominees in order to meet the show’s remit.
“Both Olly and Craig have had a brilliant year and both enjoyed number one albums”, says BRITs Chair Jason Iley. “Christine And The Queens are one of the biggest success stories of the year. They are all fantastic performers and we are looking forward to them being an important part of the BRIT nominations event on the 14 Jan. Add to this Emma Willis as host and we have the perfect ingredients for a brilliant 2017 launch show”.
Olly Murs claims that he’s “excited” about the BRITs noms show, and that it will be “a great warm up” for his upcoming tour, even though that clearly isn’t even close to being true. Craig David is “absolutely THRILLED”. No one even bothered to get a quote from Christine And The Queens’ Héloïse Letissier, not wanting to risk someone saying something that was actually interesting.
Emma Willis has something to say though. This is it: “I’ve always been a massive fan of The BRIT Awards, it’s one of the most fun nights of the year. I watch it religiously so I couldn’t be more excited to be a part of the team and to reveal all the nominations for 2017”.
Nope, that didn’t add anything to this story at all, did it? Ah well, I’m sure it’ll all be great fun on the night. Maybe they can get Adele on to say “fuck” a few times.
Anyway, as I say, it’ll be on TV on 14 Jan. Then the actually ceremony will be broadcast live on 22 Feb which, days-of-the-week fans will be interested to know, is a Wednesday.
READ MORE ABOUT: BRIT Awards | Christine And The Queens | Craig David | ITV | Olly Murs
Monday 28 November 2016, 10:26 | By Andy Malt
CMU’s One Liners: Liam Gallagher, The xx, NME Awards, more
Artist News Awards Gigs & Festivals One Liners Releases
Other notable announcements and developments today…
• Liam Gallagher will play his first solo show at Bush Hall in London as part of Youth Music’s Give A Gig Week next year, reckons Music Week.
• Death Team have released the video for their latest single, ‘Messed Up’.
• When The xx announced their 2017 UK tour recently, it included three nights at Brixton Academy. That’s pretty good, huh? Three nights at Brixton Academy seems alright, yeah? Well how about seven? Seven mate. They’re doing seven nights now. It’s some sort of record, apparently. Because people who can sell that many Brixton Academy gigs normally book a bigger venue.
• The shortlist has been announced for BBC Radio 2’s Album Of The Year award, which will be presented at the entirely pointless BBC Music Awards on 12 Dec. The contenders are Adele’s ’25’, Coldplay’s ‘A Head Full Of Dreams’, Jeff Lynne’s ELO’s ‘Alone In The Universe’, Michael Kiwanuka’s ‘Love & Hate’, and Rick Astley’s ’50’. Absolutely pointless.
• Estrons have announced that they will perform in a number of the many venues that the UK has to offer in the month of February next year. They’ll play the Boston Music Room in London on 9 Feb, for example.
• Voting for next year’s NME Awards is now open. Disappointingly, the ceremony is no long sponsored by Austin, Texas. It’s now 80s haircare brand VO5 paying for the whole shebang. Which is much less confusing, and therefore no fun at all. They should have gone with Viagogo, that’s the way to generate fun.
READ MORE ABOUT: BBC | BBC Music Awards | BBC Radio 2 | Death Team | Estrons | Liam Gallagher | NME Awards | The xx | Youth Music
Monday 28 November 2016, 10:23 | By Andy Malt
Princess Beatrice stabs Ed Sheeran in the face attempting to ‘knight’ James Blunt
And Finally Artist News
If ever you needed a solid argument for the UK becoming a republic, Princess Beatrice has sliced open Ed Sheeran’s face while pretending to knight James Blunt. Which is possibly a pretty decent argument for abolishing musicians too.
This incident apparently happened at a party at the Royal Lodge in Windsor, the home of Beatrice’s father Prince Andrew. According to The Sun, Blunt mentioned that he quite fancied being Sir James, so the princess grabbed a ceremonial sword off the wall and staged a mock knighting.
Misjudging the weight of the sword as she brought it up from Blunt’s shoulder, it seemingly swung back over her own shoulder and into the face of Ed Sheeran, who was standing behind her. He was then rushed to hospital to receive stitches to his right cheek, with people muttering things about how he could have been blinded.
“Everyone was having a great laugh and the joke was very much in keeping with the tone of the whole party”, someone or other tells The Sun. “The blade cut into [Sheeran’s] face and it was just a few inches from his right eye. A couple of the guests said it could have been worse and he could have been blinded in the eye but Ed really played it down”.
“Everyone was totally shocked and apparently Beatrice was very upset”, continues the unnamed source. “But Ed was the perfect gentleman and told her it was just an accident. However it became apparent that the wound needed treatment so Ed was taken to hospital”.
Sheeran apparently returned to the party afterwards to show that everything was really fine, which must have been slightly difficult with a recently sewn up gash in his face.
READ MORE ABOUT: Ed Sheeran | James Blunt | Princess Beatrice
Monday 28 November 2016, 10:20 | By Andy Malt
Approved: Sad Palace
CMU Approved
Sad Palace released their debut single, ‘Rainbow Melt’, through Kissability last month. And they’re wasting no time getting the second one out into the world. Hence ‘Breeze’ is here now too.
The band’s ambitious indie rock sound takes them into far more different directions than seven minutes and six seconds of publicly available music should allow. On ‘Breeze’, there’s a real ‘if you weren’t sure about that last section, how about we play something like this’ feel. What’s more impressive is that they hold it all together to create a cohesive pop single.
“The song is about knowing something is over before it begins”, say the band. “It leaves you in a strange place, I think we have a sixth sense about these things, in your heart of hearts you can feel when it’s not going to happen, but part of you wants to keep going out of curiosity, and maybe sympathy”.
You can catch Sad Palace supporting Childcare tonight at The Waiting Room in Stoke Newington. And you can listen to ‘Breeze’ 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: Sad Palace
Monday 28 November 2016, 09:00 | By Chris Cooke
CMU Digest 28.11.16: Fabric, GMR, touts, T In The Park, Buma-Stemra, Amazon
CMU Digest
The key stories from the last seven days in the music business…
Fabric negotiated a deal with Islington Council that will allow it to re-open without having to fight the local authority’s decision to revoke its licence through the courts. The London club committed to a string of new security and safety measures in order to regain its licence, and also issued a very conciliatory statement withdrawing past criticism of police and council officials. The decision will save both Fabric and the Council legal costs and should mean the club will open again in early 2017. [READ MORE]
The US radio industry took Irving Azoff’s Global Music Rights to court to test whether America’s newest and smallest performing rights organisation raises any monopoly concerns under US competition law. Although only the big US collecting societies BMI and ASCAP are regulated by the draconian consent decrees, smaller rival SESAC conceded to mediation on royalty rate setting in a bid to settle legal action with the Radio Music Licensing Committee. The same organisation has now sued GMR. [READ MORE]
Parliament’s Culture Select Committee confirmed it was proposing a bot-ban to be inserted into the in-progress Digital Economy Bill, despite a similar proposed amendment by Nigel Adams MP having already been withdrawn after government intervention. The select committee also raised other concerns about the secondary ticketing market in a letter to Culture Secretary Karen Bradley following last week’s special hearing on ticket touting, and requested that the HMRC investigate whether industrial-level touts are under-declaring income to the taxman. [READ MORE]
Organisers of T In The Park confirmed that the event will not take place in 2017.It follows a string of logistical issues at the Scottish festival since it was forced to relocate two years ago. Promoter DF is rumoured to be planning a different festival around the same weekend aimed at a slightly older audience and due to take place at Glasgow Green. [READ MORE]
Dutch collecting society Buma-Stemra said it was axing the controversial discounts and rebates it offered concert promoters in the country on the public performance licences they secure from the song rights organisation. The discounts have proven controversial, not least because many of the songwriters who lose out as a result of them were not aware of the rebate system. The society will still offer a more modest discount to more prolific promoters, though insists this scheme will be more transparent. The discounts impact songwriters beyond the Netherlands, because Buma collects from local promoters on behalf of other collecting societies too. [READ MORE]
A number of job ads spotted by Recode suggest Amazon has plans to ramp up its ticketing business. The web giant started selling tickets to theatre, music and comedy shows in the UK last year, but now seems set to expand into other European and Asian markets, and possibly the US too. It says it wants to “disrupt” the ticketing business, though will have to take on the big ticket agents who benefit from long relationships (and in the case of Ticketmaster common ownership) with many key concert promoters. [READ MORE]
The big deals from the last seven days in the music business…
• Live Nation took a majority stake in the Sweden Rock Festival [INFO]
• CD Baby bought Show.co [INFO]
• MusicToday found a buyer to take it out of bankruptcy [INFO]
• Proper announced new deals with Believe and Glitterbeat [INFO]
• Cooking Vinyl signed Nina Nesbitt [INFO]
READ MORE ABOUT: Amazon | Buma/Stemra | Culture Media & Sport Select Committee | DF Concerts | Fabric | Global Music Rights (GMR) | Radio Music License Committee (RMLC) | Secondary Ticketing | T In The Park
Friday 25 November 2016, 11:52 | By Andy Malt
MPs recommend ban on ticket buying bots
Business News Digital Legal Live Business Top Stories
MPs have recommended an amendment to the in-progress Digital Economy Bill banning the use of ‘bots’ to buy up large amounts of tickets on primary ticketing sites in order to sell them on the secondary market.
This and other concerns about the ticketing market are raised in a new letter from the Chair of the Culture, Media And Sport Select Committee, Damian Collins MP, to Culture Secretary Karen Bradley. It follows that recent evidence gathering hearing in Parliament into the use of bots, which MPs said highlighted “much more far-ranging and disturbing factors in the market”.
In a statement, Collins says: “The answers we got from witnesses representing the ticket sellers and resellers went from complacent to evasive, and their failure to provide the most basic assurances about what they’re doing to tackle known large scale touts and fraudsters operating on their own sites – we had an example on screen in front of a Member in the session – have led us to believe there may be much bigger problems in this market than we originally thought”.
He continues: “We are writing to the Secretary of State to ask her to begin to look more closely at this issue but also as a first step that there seems to be a lot of consensus on amending the Digital Economy Bill to ban the technology that harvests tickets on a large scale before genuine fans ever get a look in”.
“The Competition And Markets Authority is due to report on whether ticket companies are complying with consumer law, and given their performance at our evidence session we await this with interest”, he notes. “In the meantime, we heard strong evidence indicating there is a significant level of under-reporting of income by known touts trading on secondary sites and we believe this is another aspect of this that warrants investigation, by HMRC”.
Nigel Adams MP had already proposed a bot-ban be added to the DEB, though withdrew that amendment after the government said it wanted to see if such technology already breaks the Computer Misuse Act. But Collins’ letter shows that, either way, there is now support for a specific bot-ban in the new legislation. Read Collins’ full letter here.
READ MORE ABOUT: Culture | Damian Collins | Karen Bradley | Secondary Ticketing
Friday 25 November 2016, 11:50 | By Andy Malt
Rapper Jonathan Emile wins ‘moral rights’ case over Kendrick Lamar takedown
Artist News Business News Digital Legal Management & Funding
Canadian rapper Jonathan Emile recently won an interesting case against US management company Top Dawg Entertainment in a Canadian small claims court, it has emerged. The court ruled that a false takedown notice issued against a track he recorded with Kendrick Lamar infringed his moral rights.
Lamar appeared on Emile’s 2015 track ‘Heaven Help Dem’, written in tribute to Mike Brown, Trayvon Martin and others who have been killed by police in the US. The collaboration was apparently set up through Top Dawg, but the relationship went cold after the track was completed.
“We paid Kendrick Lamar for a feature, and once we paid them, they basically stopped communicating with us altogether”, Emile tells Billboard. “It was understood that we’d take care of the paperwork with the lawyers, so we paid them and they basically disappeared… we couldn’t get in contact, so I just continued producing my album and with the verbal agreement we had, and we put out the song in 2015”.
Emile eventually managed to get the track back up on YouTube, SoundCloud and other services despite Top Dawg’s takedown notices, after proving the management firm did not have a valid copyright claim. However, by this time, he says, “the damage had already been done and the momentum to promote the song had already been [lost]”.
He continues: “On the advice of my lawyers, we took them to small claims – to make a statement more than anything – and to show that what was done was not right and to clear my name, in terms of a lot of folks really did think that the verse was stolen and it’s not legitimate. We did what we had to do to get the judgment”.
Although the judgement was made a month ago, it has since gained attention among some legal types, due to the unusual nature of the case. While Emile won a small amount of money in damages from Top Dawg and co-defendants Universal/Interscope, the point of the case was to assert that the management company had been in the wrong to attempt to takedown the track in question.
Whereas in the US the Digital Millennium Copyright Act provides specific protection against the misuse of the safe harbour takedown process that operates online, it will be interesting to see if any others at the receiving end of an erroneous takedown in Canada now follow a similar moral rights route to Emile.
Read the full judgement here, and listen to ‘Heaven Help Dem’ here:
READ MORE ABOUT: Jonathan Emile | Kendrick Lamar | Top Dawg Entertainment
Friday 25 November 2016, 11:46 | By Andy Malt
A Day To Remember awarded $4 million in legal battle with Victory Records
Artist News Business News Labels & Publishers Legal
A Day To Remember have won their long-running legal battle against former label Victory Records. A jury ruled that the metalcore band had fulfilled their contractual obligations to the label, and that Victory should hand over $4 million in unpaid royalties.
As previously reported, the band went legal in 2011, accusing the record company of withholding royalties. The label countered that the band had failed to record the five albums required by their contract, and accused them of attempting to get out of their deal early in order to sign with a major label.
As well as a dispute over quite how many albums the band had recorded (was it five or was it three?), Victory also claimed that the band had breached their contract by selling merch and music through their own website, rather than through the label’s official channels. This, the company said, legally justified the withholding of royalties.
However, at the end of a two week trial this week, a jury did not agree. Two disputed live recordings released on iTunes were deemed to count as albums under their contract, and the label was ordered to hand over $4 million in royalties from download and merch sales.
In a statement, the band said: “More than five years ago we filed a lawsuit against Victory Records seeking freedom and resolution on several issues we had with them. For the past two weeks we have been in court arguing our case. Yesterday, the jury came back with a unanimous verdict in the trial granting us that freedom and resolution … This isn’t just a victory for us but also a victory for every band wronged over the years. Right doesn’t always win, but yesterday it did”.
Victory Records has not commented on the ruling as yet.
A Day To Remember’s latest album, ‘Bad Vibrations’, was self-released in September.
READ MORE ABOUT: A Day To Remember | Victory Records
Friday 25 November 2016, 11:45 | By Andy Malt
T In The Park will not take place in 2017
Business News Gigs & Festivals Live Business
DF Concerts has confirmed that the T In The Park festival will be take next year off, following rumours that the promoter is working on an alternative event in Glasgow to take place around the usual T weekend next summer
In a statement, organisers said: “For over 23 years, T In The Park has been at the heart of Scotland’s music scene – with you, by our side. But for now, sadly, we need to take a break”.
There have been numerous issues for the event in recent years, mainly as a result of being forced to move from its old site at Balado in Kinross to Strathallan Castle in 2015. Those issues contributed to a 42% drop in profits for DF last year.
In its statement, the promoter goes on: “Against our will, and despite a prolonged fight, we were forced to move from Balado, Kinross in 2015. This move was a mammoth task for the event and one that was compounded by a series of onerous site restrictions placed upon us as preparations for the event in 2015 took place”.
“We now need to take stock and take a year out to try to resolve the issues so that we can once again deliver the kind of camping festival you are used to and deserve”, it concluded.
READ MORE ABOUT: DF Concerts | T In The Park
Friday 25 November 2016, 11:44 | By Andy Malt
Manchester venue Band On The Wall launches membership scheme
Business News Live Business
In an interesting move, Manchester live music venue Band On The Wall has launched a range of new membership packages, offering various perks not available to the general ticket-buying public.
The aim of the new membership scheme is to raise £500,000 to fund new expansion plans, which will provide more education space and an increased venue capacity. The charity behind the venue has already raised £2 million in grants from Arts Council England and Manchester City Council.
A single year membership will cost £30, giving the holder a 20% discount on tickets for most shows at the venue, three complimentary pairs of tickets, plus invitations to VIP events throughout the year. There are also five and ten year memberships available, plus there are two lifetime packages too. The top level, costing £5000, gives free lifetime access to the the venue for the holder and a guest.
More information on the scheme here.
READ MORE ABOUT: Band On The Wall
Friday 25 November 2016, 11:43 | By Andy Malt
Chance The Rapper working on (actual) debut album
Artist News
Chance The Rapper is preparing to put out his debut album. But he already put out his debut album, you might be thinking to yourself. Just shows what you know.
“I’ll probably put out an album, that’s what I’ve been thinking about”, he said in an interview on BBC Radio 1Xtra. “I don’t know exactly the format every time when I’m making something, but a lot of times I have an idea, and I think what I’m working on right now is an album”.
What about all those other albums though, you’re probably still thinking. Which is why he continued: “My mixtapes have been confused for albums for a long time so it has to be something different”.
Yes, sometimes mixtapes are a bit too much like albums, so you have to make your albums less like albums. I think that’s a lesson we all need to learn.
Earlier this week, the rapper also cancelled three dates on his European tour – two in Dublin, the second of which was due to take place tonight, and one in Manchester, which was scheduled for Saturday.
Here’s the full 1Xtra interview:
READ MORE ABOUT: Chance The Rapper
Friday 25 November 2016, 11:42 | By Andy Malt
Yeah, Malcolm McLaren and Vivienne Westwood’s son is still going to burn all his punk memorabilia
Artist News
Son of Malcolm McLaren and Vivienne Westwood – Joe Corré – will make good on his promise to burn his collection of punk memorabilia tomorrow. Because he is a bellend.
As previously reported, the multi-millionaire Agent Provocateur co-founder announced plans to burn all the punk-related stuff he had knocking around in protest at how the 40th anniversary of the punk movement had been co-opted by the establishment. Yeah, you tell em, Joe.
At a press conference yesterday, Corré confirmed that the bonfire would take place on Saturday, to coincide with the 40th anniversary of the release of the Sex Pistols’ ‘Anarchy In The UK’. Nothing holds up your anti-establishment credentials like organising a press conference.
“I’ve been wondering for a long time what to do with it all and I think this is the right opportunity to say ‘you know what, punk is dead; stop conning a younger generation that it somehow has any currency to deal with the issues that they face'”, he said, according to Reuters. “It [does] not. It’s dead and it’s time to think about something else”.
I’m not sure The Kids give a shit about the official celebrations of the anniversary of punk, let alone Corré’s protest. But if it makes a wealthy man feel better to destroy a load of his stuff, then I guess he’s within his rights to do that.
Countering arguments that he should just sell the memorabilia and give the money to charity, he said: “Who is actually going to buy it? … It would end up going on some banker’s wall. That’s who’d buy it and that wouldn’t satisfy me very much. I think the die-hard fans are confused and they don’t interest me at all. Why would I give it to them? They are just conformists in another uniform”.
Also, he noted, charities are just agents of the establishment. I’ll tell you something, The Man is going to have real trouble sleeping tonight.
READ MORE ABOUT: Joe Corré | The Sex Pistols
Friday 25 November 2016, 11:40 | By Chris Cooke
Artist And Manager Awards presented
Awards Business News
The Music Managers Forum and Featured Artists Coalition hosted the latest edition of their Artist & Manager Awards last night, celebrating the artists most rated by artists, and the people who manage their careers.
In the categories contested on the night, Years And Years took to the stage to receive the Breakthrough Artist Award, while the equivalent prize on the management side went to Stormzy manager Tobe Onwuka. Sponsor Dice also presented its own Live Award for 2016, handing a big FA Cup style trophy to Loyle Carner.
Other winners we already knew about, including Manager Of The Year Jonathan Dickins, most famous for guiding the career of Adele of course, while Zita McHugh won the prize for Writer/Producer Manager Of The Year, using the occasion to call for a better deal for the record producer in the ever-evolving recorded music business.
Bob Harris, meanwhile, presented the Artists Artist Award to the magnificent Joan Armatrading, while those there The 1975 boys were named Artists Of The Year.
In the midst of all that, MMF President Jon Webster took some time out to pay tribute to the long list of artists who we have lost in the last year – which is all the more depressing when presented in one long list – while also remembering those artist managers who have died in 2016.
That list, of course, included one of the true greats, the late David Enthoven – who, as his business partner Tim Clark said back in August, on top of everything else, gave “unstinting help to those [in music] who had taken a self-destructive path, for whatever reason – just as he himself had done all those years ago”. Which made him a manager who not only saved artists’ careers, but also some lives, all of which made him a popular posthumous winner of the AMA’s Industry Champion Award.
Finally, the life-time achievement Peter Grant Award went to veteran manager Peter Rudge who – with a 45 year career packed full of top name artists, many of whom bigged up the man himself in the pre-award clips package – subsequently delivered an epic speech which is possibly still ongoing as we speak. Oh, except I definitely saw Rudge clients James and Imelda May subsequently take to the stage to perform a finale. And why not I say, why not?
READ MORE ABOUT: Artist And Manager Awards
Friday 25 November 2016, 11:36 | By Andy Malt
CMU’s One Liners: PPL, Nas, Wiley, more
Artist News Brands & Merch Business News Gigs & Festivals Industry People Labels & Publishers One Liners Releases
Other notable announcements and developments today…
• Musician Roxanne de Bastion and manager David Stopps have been elected to the PPL’s performer board.
• “Life’s a bitch and then you die”, said Nas. He mentioned nothing about selling Christmas jumpers, and yet here is his new range of festive sweatshirts.
• Wiley has another new track out. This one, titled ‘U Were Always Part 2’, features Skepta and Bellz.
• OK Go have a new video out that you’ve probably already seen. This behind-the-scenes interview is worth reading too though.
• Russian Circles have announced UK tour dates for next March, finishing up at Heaven in London on 26 Mar.
READ MORE ABOUT: Bellz | David Stopps | Nas | OK Go | PPL | Roxanne de Bastion | Russian Circles | Skepta | Wiley
Friday 25 November 2016, 11:32 | By Andy Malt
CMU Beef Of The Week #333: Justin Bieber v True ‘Affectionate Fan Wants To Touch His Idol’ Style
And Finally Artist News Beef Of The Week Legal
This week, Justin Bieber punched a fan in the face. Which isn’t a very nice thing to do. It’s especially disappointing given that Justin Bieber is supposed to be the world’s nicest man now. I know we all have our moments, but you wouldn’t think that being the world’s nicest man would be something you’d forget, even for a split second. It’s almost as if Bieber’s ‘world’s nicest man’ status is something I made it up as the result of a bizarre cycle of one-upping myself and he has no idea about it.
Anyway, the singer was being driven to a show in Barcelona, when a fan reached into the open window of the popstar’s vehicle, and Bieber responded with a sharp punch to the guy’s face, leaving both the fan and his friends unsure how to react. Let’s stop and have a watch of the video now.
The fan, Kevin Ramirez, was left with a bloody lip and a weird mix of apparent pride and anger. And has now suggested that he will sue the popstar over the incident.
“This matter is now in the hands of lawyers. They will deal with it”, he said in an interview on Spanish radio. “I can’t give out any more information at the moment”.
Although he did give out a blow-by-blow account of the incident.
“I didn’t think for one moment Justin was going to punch me”, he said. “He had been in the airport the day before talking with fans and I assumed he was happy to get close to us”.
Yeah, fair enough. If Bieber’s going to drive around near a venue with his face just there for all to see, you kind of have to assume he’s open to a cheery “hello” and maybe even a handshake.
“When I saw him I took the opportunity to put my hand through his car window and touch his shoulder and face in true ‘affectionate fan wants to touch his idol’ style”, Ramirez continued. “His car had stopped before he went by and…”
Woah, woah, woah. You took “the opportunity to touch his shoulder and face”? I don’t know how they do things in Barcelona, Sonny Jim, but where I come from you don’t reach into cars to touch people’s shoulders and faces without asking first. That’s just common courtesy. As I’m sure Bieber would have told you if he hadn’t been quite so busy punching you in the face.
Don’t get me wrong, I’m not a violent person, and I certainly don’t condone punching anyone in the face. However, if someone reached into a car and tried to touch me, I think I’d probably have a kneejerk reaction of the negative kind. And I’m not Justin Bieber. I’m not the nicest man in the world. I’ve come to accept that now.
And since when is “‘affectionate fan wants to touch his idol’ style” a defence? Oh sure Officer, I did push Brian May’s entire nose into my mouth, but it was simply done in an ‘affectionate fan wants to touch his idol’ style.
Alright, Brian May isn’t really my idol, but I think the point stands. Don’t go around touching people without asking. Stick to the time honoured tradition of holding out your hand and hoping that your musician of choice slaps it and whoops. It’s stood the test of time perfectly well. And ignoring these rules is exactly how things like that Danny Brown blow job situation arose.
Oh, sorry Kevin, you were saying? “His car had stopped before he went by and he had seen us. He knew there were no barriers and he knew we were going to go up to him. He could have brushed my hand away, anything apart from such an aggressive punch. I was left in a state of total shock. I couldn’t believe what he did. I liked Justin but I come first. He doesn’t appear to like his fans now”.
Kevin Ramirez seems like a right entitled arsehole, doesn’t he? Alright, alright, alright, that’s a totally unfair accusation to throw at an ordinary teenage boy, who has come into the public eye totally unexpectedly. Especially when the interview I’m quoting has been translated from another language. Perhaps the whole explanation makes perfect sense in its original Spanish.
I should really should take a leaf out of the book of Nice Guy Bieber. Except, of course, he’s apparently punching people in the face now, so I don’t know what to think.
READ MORE ABOUT: Justin Bieber
Friday 25 November 2016, 11:08 | By Paul Vig
Vigsy’s Club Tip: Space Ibiza – The Final Fiesta at Building Six
Club Tip CMU Approved
Last month, Space Ibiza shut its doors for the final time, but there’s still some life in the old dog yet. It may have departed the White Isle, but there’s still time for one last party back in London.
For the ballistic Balearic superclub’s final session, they’ve drafted in a suitably big line-up: Roger Sanchez, A Guy Called Gerald, Breach, Toni Varga, Javi Bora, Jason Bye, GW Harrison, Ellie Cocks and Will Taylor will all be in attendance.
Should be a blast. Bye bye Space.
Saturday 26 Nov, Building Six, The O2, Greenwich, London, SE10 0AX, 9pm-6am, £30. More info here.
READ MORE ABOUT: Roger Sanchez | Space Ibiza
Friday 25 November 2016, 10:42 | By Andy Malt
CMU Podcast: Fabric, Amazon Tickets, OK Go
Artist News Business News Digital Legal Live Business Setlist
CMU’s Andy Malt and Chris Cooke review key events in music and the music business from the last week, including Fabric getting its licence back, Amazon’s plans to ramp up its ticketing business, and the new OK Go video. The CMU Podcast is sponsored by 7digital.
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Stories discussed this week:
• Fabric to re-open
• Amazon planning to “disrupt” global ticketing industry
• Background notes and full credits for ‘The One Moment’ video by OK Go
In brief:
• Song right societies collected €7.5 billion last year, says CISAC report
• Music publishers get in their wish list to President-Elect Trump
• NMPA’s letter to President-Elect Donald Trump
• US radio industry accuses Global Music Rights of monopoly abuse, goes legal
• Buma/Stemra to phase out controversial discounts for concert promoters
• T In The Park will not take place in 2017
Watch OK Go’s ‘The One Moment’ video:
READ MORE ABOUT: Amazon | Amazon Tickets | Buma/Stemra | CISAC | Donald Trump | Fabric | Global Music Rights (GMR) | OK Go | T In The Park
Friday 25 November 2016, 09:14 | By CMU Editorial
Letter on secondary ticketing from Culture, Media And Sport Committee to culture minister Karen Bradley
Business News Legal Live Business
Dear Karen
As you will have seen, we took evidence last week into the abuse of ticketing, starting with a focus on the distortion to ticketing markets through the use of technology (bots and software) by some to obtain large numbers of tickets as soon as they are released on general sale thus restricting availability to fans and pushing up prices of any tickets available for resale.
This appears to be a significant problem, which Nigel Adams attempted to tackle
through an amendment to the Digital Economy Bill.
Our evidence session, however, shed a light on much more far-ranging and disturbing
factors in the ticketing markets, including clear indications of too close relationships between those selling tickets on the primary market and sellers on the secondary market. We were concerned by witnesses’ failure to give satisfactory answers to our questions about where ticketing companies’ main profits were being made and over a blatant case of an individual business in a Group breaking the conditions of sale set by a venue.
We were also concerned over the willingness of the ticket selling companies to even try to identify, let alone bar, large-scale ticket touts and fraudulent sellers. The evidence suggested that secondary platforms were not making any effort to police their sellers to ensure they were complying with the law, and it even seems that business relationships exist between secondary platform operators and the traders who are reselling tickets via their sites at what seems an industrial scale. This led us to conclude that a fuller investigation of the whole area of ticketing is needed but there was broad agreement that certain actions could and should be taken now.
We understand that you are holding a roundtable on this area at the end of the month and a Competition and Markets Authority investigation is expected to report shortly on whether ticket companies are complying with consumer law. In the meantime, we heard strong evidence indicating there is a significant level of under-reporting of income by known touts trading on secondary sites and we urge you to raise this with HMRC as an area which warrants their investigation.
A strong area of unanimity among our witnesses, both artists, sporting bodies and ticketing platforms, is for immediate measures to be taken to make it an offence to use digital ticket purchasing software to buy up an excessive number of tickets for events, as has happened in other jurisdictions. The Computer Misuse Act 1990 does not seem to allow sufficient provision or clarity in this area and as such there is a strong case for new legislation here to prevent individuals manipulating online ticketing systems.
We believe the Digital Economy Bill must be amended at Report stage. We recognise there are several issues at play here that distort the market but it would be helpful if you would set out your position on criminalising the use of software to harvest tickets. We propose to publish your response to us to inform the House ahead of its consideration of the Bill on Monday.
Damian Collins,
Chair, Culture, Media and Sport Committee
READ MORE ABOUT: Damian Collins | Digital Economy Act 2017 | Karen Bradley | Secondary Ticketing
Thursday 24 November 2016, 10:44 | By Chris Cooke
Buma/Stemra to phase out controversial discounts for concert promoters
Business News Labels & Publishers Live Business Top Stories
Dutch collecting society Buma/Stemra has announced it will phase out most of the discounts it offers concert promoters that secure public performance licences from the rights body. A 5% discount will remain for promoters who stage more than 25 shows a year and pay more than €100,000 in annual royalty fees into the society.
Discounts or rebates provided by collecting societies in some European countries to concert promoters have proven controversial of late in parts of the artist management community, partly because of a lack of transparency, especially when monies pass from one society to another through reciprocal agreements before a songwriter is paid.
Promoters of live music need a public performance licence from whoever controls the copyright in the songs which are performed at a show. That licence is normally acquired from the promoter’s local song rights collecting society – so PRS in the UK – which will usually charge an industry-standard rate.
The society then passes the money the promoter paid back to relevant songwriters and music publishers, either directly if the rights owners are members of said society, or via another society if not – so, for example, if a Dutch promoter stages a show by a British singer-songwriter, they would get a licence from Buma/Stemra, which would collect the money and pass it over to PRS, which would then pay the songwriter their cut.
Some British managers expressed concern that Buma/Stemra – and others – were offering concert promoters discounts, meaning ultimately their clients would receive less money from PRS, but that discount wasn’t declared by the promoter when the artist was discussing budgets and fees for the show. Therefore the artist would agree to terms with the promoter under the impression they’d be getting full rate rather than discounted public performance royalties through their collecting society.
The discounts offered by Buma/Stemra to promoters ranged from 10% to 25% depending on the amount of royalties a live firm was paying into the society. According to IQ, collecting societies in Belgium, Italy, Germany, Switzerland and France offer similar discount or rebate schemes, arguing that the kickbacks are dependent on certain conditions that make the royalty collecting process more efficient.
However, from next year, the Dutch society will only offer the new 5% discount, which will come with specific payment and reporting requirements. A more weighty discount for festivals will also be offered. Meanwhile, the rates the society charges live events – which vary from 3-7% depending on how much Buma/Stemra-repped repertoire is performed – will remain unchanged.
The society has told IQ that the new arrangement follows consultation with all stakeholders and has been approved by the CvTA, which regulates collective management organisations in the Netherlands. It adds that the new arrangement is “completely transparent, and creates a level playing field for all promoters, venues and festivals”.
The discounts offered to promoters by collecting societies in some countries – coupled with confusion over exactly how that is all working, especially when monies move between societies – have led some artists to opt for direct licensing when on tour, a move that has in turn proved controversial in some parts of the live industry.
In that scenario, an artist temporarily removes their live performance rights from their collecting society, and instead enters into a direct deal with a promoter to cover the public performance rights in their songs. That has created challenges for collecting societies where a headline artist performing their own material chooses to license direct, but support acts are still relying on their collecting society to license, or may perform songs they didn’t write.
Which is all good fun, isn’t it? Premium subscribers should look out for a CMU Trends article explaining how this all works in the new year.
READ MORE ABOUT: Buma/Stemra
Thursday 24 November 2016, 10:41 | By Chris Cooke
Wantickets sues Eventbrite in dispute over former employees
Business News Digital Legal Live Business
Ticketing firm Wantickets.com has sued rival Eventbrite through the New York courts over the latter’s hire of the former’s founder and one-time CEO. As previously reported, those hires – Barak Schurr and Diego Carlin – who joined Eventbrite back in July, were themselves sued by their former company in September.
Back then, Wantickets CFO Richard Blakely claimed that his firm had actually been in talks to sell to Eventbrite at one point, but the deal fell through. As another buyer was then found for the company, Blakely alleged, it was discovered that Schurr and Carlin had been working for and promoting Eventbrite, even while still being on the Wantickets payroll. That discovery led to the two execs basically being fired, he said.
Schurr and Carlin denied that version of events, though. The former said that, while there had been conversations with Eventbrite about a possible acquisition, “at no time during this process was I moving business from Wantickets to Eventbrite”.
He added that there was no scandal around his and Carlin’s departure from Wantickets, with Blakeley telling the two execs that the firm’s new owners simply wanted to put their own management team in place. It was only then, Schurr insisted, that he started talking to Eventbrite about taking his dance music expertise there.
It was initially thought that the September legal action targeted Eventbrite itself, though it transpired only Schurr and Carlin were being sued. Until now. Repeating the allegations Blakely made against his former employees, the new lawsuit against Eventbrite then says, according to Amplify: “[Eventbrite] was eager to take advantage of the disloyalty of Mr Schurr and Mr Carlin”.
It goes on: “Eventbrite pitched itself to potential clients via the introductions from Mr Schurr and/or Mr Carlin, knowing that Mr Schurr and Mr Carlin were still employees of Wantickets and that Mr Schurr’s and Mr Carlin’s diversion of business violated their duties to Wantickets. Eventbrite even paid for Mr Schurr to take a business trip to Ibiza, Spain so that he could develop business for Eventbrite”.
To that end, Wantickets is suing Eventbrite for “aiding and abetting breach of fiduciary duty and tortuous interference”.
For its part, Eventbrite denies any wrongdoing whatsoever, with a spokesperson telling CMU this morning: “It’s a competitive industry, and competing fairly is of critical importance and central to our ethics at Eventbrite. We maintain that we have not engaged in any wrongdoing or inappropriate conduct. We dispute Wantickets’ allegations and intend to defend our position”.
READ MORE ABOUT: Barak Schurr | Diego Carlin | Eventbrite | Wantickets
Thursday 24 November 2016, 10:36 | By Andy Malt
Tidal hit with discrimination and unfair dismissal lawsuit
Business News Digital Legal
Streaming firm Tidal has found itself at the wrong end of yet another lawsuit, this time a discrimination and unfair dismissal case, after an employee, who was a new mother, was allegedly denied the use of a private room to use her breast pump.
Lisette Paulson claims that she was denied her rights under the US constitution and New York state law. Initially brought in as a consultant, Paulson’s lawsuit says that she was then taken on as a full time employee after her maternity leave.
Upon returning, in September 2015, she discussed a number of matters with COO Deiree Perez, including requiring a private room to use her breast pump. Perez allegedly replied that she should use the toilet. When told that this would not be suitable, Paulson was asked if it was strictly necessary to use the breast pump at all. Despite assurances that it would be worked out, the next day Paulson was fired.
US maternity leave is different from that in most other industrialised nations, in that women are only granted twelve weeks of unpaid leave by law after the birth of their child. Although if you work for Tidal rival Spotify, you do get a somewhat better deal.
Paulson is seeking unspecified damages, as well as legal costs. She is also demanding a jury trial.
READ MORE ABOUT: Deiree Perez | Lisette Paulson | Tidal
Thursday 24 November 2016, 10:35 | By Chris Cooke
BPI report puts the spotlight on AI in music
Business News Digital Labels & Publishers
Artificial intelligence is set to revolutionise the world and enhance the lives of everyone. Either that or it will render humanity entirely redundant and the species will eventually die out. Though given recent world events, perhaps that’ll be for the best.
But what about all this bloody AI gubbins and the world of music making? That’s what a new report launched last night by record industry trade group BPI, and produced by Music Ally, sets out to explore.
Investigating uses of different kinds of AI technology by established musicians and music companies, and start-ups dabbling in the space, the report considers developments in AI-driven music composition and video creation, the ongoing evolution of machine-driven music recommendation tools, how artists and music firms are employing increasingly sophisticated ‘chat bots’, and how smart voice assistants like Siri and Alexa are set to become “our de facto musical concierges around the home and in the car”.
Launching the report, BPI boss Geoff Taylor said: “Artificial intelligence is no longer the province of science fiction. This fast-emerging technology is beginning to transform how music is created, discovered, shared and enjoyed”.
He went on: “AI is enabling the creation of hyper-personalised playlists using contextual data and deep analysis of the relationship between songs, while artists and labels are now using chatbots to engage fan-bases in campaigns. Algorithms are also beginning to influence the composition of music, as artists embrace the technology to enhance their own creativity. This raises profound questions about the nature of music and humans’ connection to it”.
Bigging up initiatives already being pursued by record companies in this domain, some of which were showcased last night, Taylor concluded: “Music’s DNA is closely entwined with technology and record labels are already exploring how AI can help to bring artists and fans closer together”.
You can download the new report here.
AI will also be under the spotlight at next week’s Music 4.5 event, which will also consider how the music industry is utilising other fast developing technologies like virtual reality, augmented reality, 3D audio and content recognition software.
Reps from MelodyVR, BBC, Audio Network, IBM and Sonalytic are among those set to present at the event, tickets for which can be bought here. Premium CMU subscribers will also get an overview of each of those technologies from a music perspective in next week’s CMU Trends.
READ MORE ABOUT: British Phonographic Industry (BPI)
Thursday 24 November 2016, 10:34 | By Chris Cooke
CD Baby buys Show.co
Business News Deals Digital Labels & Publishers
Music distribution firm CD Baby has acquired digital music marketing platform Show.co. As part of the deal, it also plans to reactivate Soundrop, the one-time social listening app that previously worked within the Spotify player.
Similar to acquisitions by rival TuneCore, most recently of social media management set-up JustGo, CD Baby’s new purchase is part of a bid to provide a wider range of services to the self-releasing artists whose music it distributes.
Show.co, which provides content sharing and data collection tools for artists and labels, will continue to operate as normal. The marketing platform originally spun off from Soundrop, before the people behind the two services decided to focus on the former after Spotify stopped supporting third party apps on its desktop software.
CD Baby now plans to launch an all-new Soundrop service, which will “become the new springboard for artists looking for an alternative distribution approach, one that favours constant creation and single-first strategies”.
Says CD Baby VP Of Marketing Kevin Breuner: “We’re excited to continue Show.co’s powerful marketing tools for musicians. It’s another set of tools we can offer to the independent musicians we have worked to support and encourage for years. We see this as another high-calibre way to serve musicians and give them the best of what’s out there, [and] for existing Show.co customers it will be business as usual”.
Meanwhile the former CEO of Show.co and Soundrop, Jørn Haanæs, added: “We are very happy to see a new home for Show.co and a new future for the Soundrop brand. Soundrop and Show.co were both about helping artists connect with their fans. To finally see the last part of our original vision take effect is wonderful. Entering into music distribution was always the dream, as that’s the ultimate fan connection, now it’s soon to be the reality”.
READ MORE ABOUT: CD Baby | Show.co | Soundrop
Thursday 24 November 2016, 10:27 | By Andy Malt
BBC boss wants to build “Netflix of the spoken word”
Business News Digital Media
BBC boss Tony Hall has said that the broadcaster is currently not making the most of its “world class” audio content, and to that end he wants to build a “Netflix of the spoken word” to make new and archive radio content available worldwide, presumably in return for a subscription fee.
Speaking to the Voice Of The Viewer And Listener lobby group, Hall said: “With our world class content, we could use our current output and the richness of our archive to create a Netflix of the spoken word. One of my goals in the years ahead is to strengthen and expand those areas in which we really lead the way globally. News, natural history and drama, yes. But also education, science and the arts. And audio”.
“One of the big challenges I have set my teams is just that: to enhance our global audio offer”, he continued. “The BBC makes the best radio in the world. It is one of our crown jewels, and we have an extraordinary wealth of audio riches at our disposal. It’s one of the things that will help the BBC carry the full weight of Britain’s culture and values, knowledge and know-how to the world in the years ahead. And say something really important about modern Britain”.
Ah, modern Britain. Wouldn’t you like something important said about that? It’s not clear if the “Netflix of the spoken word” would contain music between any of the words, something that would add a whole load of extra licensing challenges for getting such a service off the ground.
READ MORE ABOUT: BBC | BBC Radio | Tony Hall
Thursday 24 November 2016, 10:26 | By Andy Malt
Flying Nun founder Roger Shepherd publishes autobiography
Business News Industry People
The memoir of Flying Nun Records founder Roger Shepherd, ‘In Love With These Times’, has been published in the UK by HarperCollins.
Shepherd founded the New Zealand indie label in 1981, putting it at the forefront of what became known as the ‘Dunedin sound’. Acts like The Clean and The Chills went on to influence numerous guitar bands around the world, and still have a fervent fanbase. After the indie became wholly owned by Warner Music in 2006, Shepard and a consortium of investors, including Neil Finn, then bought it back in 2013. The company then partnered with New York indie label Captured Tracks on a series of reissues.
Discussing how the book came about, Shepherd told CMU: “A friend of mine had this documentary idea that was to be based on my personal perspective as the founder and owner operator of Flying Nun Records. But film industry advice was that the success of such an approach was dependent on a strong and interesting central character. Being the shy and introverted type I knew that it wasn’t going to work unless I sat down and wrote my story about Flying Nun and my relationship with the bands that I have worked with since 1981”.
“Having completely forgotten about the film idea I then spent a considerable amount of time staring out the window desperately trying to remember what had actually happened, but eventually there was self-discovery as I stitched my past together, reconnected with the music and finally made sense of my life”, he continues. “It’s a story of awkward talent, chance, chaos and madness all made worthwhile by a beautiful soundtrack”.
Watch a Q&A about the book with Shepherd and Graeme Hill of former Flying Nun band The Able Tasmans here:
READ MORE ABOUT: Flying Nun | Roger Shepherd
Thursday 24 November 2016, 10:19 | By Andy Malt
Elton John not playing Trump’s inauguration party, no matter how confidently you say he is
Artist News
Everything’s so much easier in post-truth politics, isn’t it? You can say anything you like. It doesn’t matter if it’s true or ever likely to happen, the important thing is that some people thought it was. Who cares if Elton John is actually playing Donald Trump’s inauguration as US president? I know I don’t.
“Elton John is going to be doing our concert on the Mall for the inauguration”, Trump adviser Anthony Scaramucci matter-of-factly told BBC News show ‘Hardtalk’ this week. It was a line thrown in to support another statement that “Donald Trump will be the first president in US history that enters the White House with a pro-gay rights stance”.
“Incorrect”, a spokesperson for the musician told the New York Times. “He will NOT be performing”.
“There is no truth in this at all”, added a statement to the BBC.
Scaramucci defended himself on Twitter, saying: “It was an honest impression that I got wrong. It was a fast paced interview and you can see I thought it was true”.
Yeah, why would you not think that a vocal Hillary Clinton supporter who previously described Trump as “a barbarian” was playing the inauguration concert?
Oh my god, could this be America’s Bpoplive?
READ MORE ABOUT: Donald Trump | Elton John
Thursday 24 November 2016, 10:17 | By Andy Malt
CMU’s One Liners: Nina Nesbitt, Sweden Rock, Cliff Richard, more
Artist News Business News Deals Gigs & Festivals Labels & Publishers Live Business One Liners Releases
Other notable announcements and developments today…
• Nina Nesbitt has signed a new global artist services deal with Cooking Vinyl, ready for her new album, which is out next spring. “Working with the Cooking Vinyl team feels like a big step in the right direction”, says the musician.
• Live Nation has taken a majority stake in Swedish rock festival the Sweden Rock Festival. Live Nation’s John Reid is “very excited”. Or that’s what he told Billboard, anyway.
• Cliff Richard is having a crack at the Christmas number one spot this year – you know, for old time’s sake – with a new extra Christmassy version of ‘It’s Better To Dream’, from his new album ‘Just… Fabulous Rock N Roll’. The physical CD release will double as a Christmas card from Cliff himself.
• McFly are releasing a new live album recorded on their ‘Anthology’ tour. A limited edition boxset will feature full live versions of each of their studio albums, plus a bonus disc of nothing but between-song banter, and some other bits and bobs. Here’s an over the top video taking a look inside the box.
• Princess Nokia has released a new track, ‘Kitana’, produced by Atrak and Lex Luger.
• Health have released the video for ‘LA Looks’, taken from their latest album, ‘Death Magic’.
• Three Trapped Tigers drummer Adam Betts has released videos of himself performing his full new album, ‘Colossal Squid’. If you want to see him actually live in the same room as you, head down to the Servant Jazz Quarters in Dalston on 29 Nov.
• Meilyr Jones has released a new single, a new recording of ‘Return To Life’ from his debut album ‘2013’.
• Adele has announced that she will close her ’25’ world tour with two performances at Wembley Stadium next year. She’ll play the venue on 29 Jun and 1 Jul, with tickets on sale on 30 Nov.
READ MORE ABOUT: Adam Betts | Adele | Atrak | Cliff Richard | Cooking Vinyl | Health | Lex Luger | Live Nation | McFly | Meilyr Jones | Nina Nesbitt | Princess Nokia | Sweden Rock Festival | Three Trapped Tigers
Thursday 24 November 2016, 10:13 | By Andy Malt
Vanilla Ice On Ice on ice
And Finally Artist News Gigs & Festivals
I think we’re all breathing a deep sigh of relief that 2016’s terrible reign will soon be over. It’s still got a few slaps to the face left for us to endure though. Just when you thought you could take no more, possibly the greatest event ever programmed has been cancelled. Vanilla Ice will no longer be performing on ice in London next month.
A concept so simple it’s hard to believe that no one had thought of it before, the rapper was set to appear at Alexandra Palace’s ice rink for three shows just before Christmas. Fans would have been able to watch the rapper perform hits like ‘Ice Ice Baby’, that one for ‘Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles 2’, and some other stuff included to fill a reasonable amount of time, all while skating around on the ice.
Announcing the show earlier this year, promoter Peter Taylor of Cuffe And Taylor said: “‘Vanilla Ice On Ice’ is going to be a truly unique experience giving people the chance to skate during the concert. Vanilla Ice is a firm favourite with people of all ages and since his appearance on ‘Dancing On Ice’ he clearly has a passion for ice-skating. We’re sure that these three nights of concerts are going to be hugely popular and a fabulously fun way to start the festive period”.
What has 2016 taught us though? Never be sure of anything. Because we apparently live in a world where Vanilla Ice can’t even sell enough tickets to fill an ice rink for three nights. I blame Brexit. And probably Donald Trump. Either way, all three shows have been cancelled.
In a statement this week, Cuffe And Taylor said: “This decision [to cancel ‘Vanilla Ice On Ice’] has not been taken lightly but despite much excitement about the show, ticket sales have not been as we anticipated”.
On the plus side, the ice rink will still be open, so feel free to skate around rapping your favourite Vanilla Ice hits in his absence.
READ MORE ABOUT: Vanilla Ice
Thursday 24 November 2016, 09:52 | By Paul Vig
Approved: Jay Daniel
CMU Approved
Jay Daniel has previously had releases on Theo Parrish’s Sound Signature Records and his own label Watusi High, and now his debut album ‘Broken Knowz’ is coming out through Ninja Tune’s Technicolour imprint.
This LP apparently involved Daniel heading into his mother’s basement to do some music making, taking his output more analogue by recording into a multi-track mixer for the first time, and aiming for a less mechanical touch to his music production.
He says he wanted “to sound more live, more natural, and more human”, and I think it’s fair to say he’s achieved that.
Highlights are the funky multi-beat driven ‘Knowledge Of Selfie’ and the spiralling tech amid the afro-polyrhythms of ‘Squeaky Maya’.
Listen to ‘Knowledge Of Selfie’ 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: Jay Daniel
Wednesday 23 November 2016, 11:04 | By Chris Cooke
Amazon planning to “disrupt” global ticketing industry
Business News Digital Live Business Top Stories
Amazon seems set to ramp up its operations in the ticketing space, given a series of job ads spotted by Recode, one of which said the new appointments were part of an effort to “position Amazon Tickets as the world’s premier destination for purchasing tickets”.
Amazon first started dabbling in ticket sales in the UK last year, initially selling theatre tickets and subsequently moving into music and comedy events. The new recruitment drive seems to be part of a bid to expand the ticketing business into other European and Asian markets, while some new ticketing hires at the firm’s HQ in Seattle could also mean ambitions in the American market too.
Recode notes that one posting outlines an ambition to shake up the ticketing business, saying: “Our vision goes beyond just selling tickets as we aim to disrupt the entire live entertainment experience, including what happens before, during and after the show. The ticketing business is ripe for innovation and improvement, as much of the industry has not fundamentally changed since the 1970s”.
There have been plenty of start-ups in recent years seeking to shake up the ticketing market, of course, usually by providing a more user-friendly experience, especially on mobile, as well as offering consumers recommendations and added value extras, and concert promoters better data and anti-tout services.
Though taking on the big traditional ticketing companies is tricky, partly because of long-term relationships between certain venues and promoters and certain ticket agents, not to mention the fact the biggest promoter Live Nation – which is also a key player in venue and artist management, of course – happens to own Ticketmaster.
Plus many promoters of bigger shows, while liking data and a user-friendly sales platform, often like more the ticket agent with the biggest mailing list, or the one willing and able to advance the most money on unsold tickets. Which gives the advantage to ticketing companies with long histories and big pockets.
That said, Amazon has a very big mailing list indeed, and great data about those consumer’s music purchases, and if necessary pretty big pockets too. Plus it seems likely the company could integrate its expanding ticketing operation with its Prime membership scheme and its new Music Unlimited streaming service. So, maybe it could cause some disruption after all.
READ MORE ABOUT: Amazon | Amazon Tickets
