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Wednesday 14 December 2016, 11:26 | By Andy Malt
CMU’s One Liners: Amazon Tickets, Years & Years, The Jesus And Mary Chain, more
Artist News Business News Gigs & Festivals Live Business One Liners Releases
Other notable announcements and developments today…
• Having recently bagged the exclusive rights to sell tickets for an intimate Robbie Williams show, Amazon Tickets is now offering an exclusive 48 pre-sale for tickets to Justin Bieber’s British Summer Time show. It’s on now, so it’s actually less than 46 hours as we publish. Hurry!
• Years & Years performed an acoustic show at Union Chapel in London on Monday in aid of Shelter. They were joined by various guests, including Mel C, with whom they performed the Spice Girls’ ‘Two Become One’. Here’s a clip.
• Having recently announced plans to release their first album since 1998 in March, The Jesus And Mary Chain are now also going to head out on tour in March and April. Among the dates, they’ll play the Shepherd’s Bush Empire on 5 Apr.
• Cosima has released a ‘visual mixtape’. It’s a video with her entire new mixtape (EP, if you like) ‘South Of Heaven’. No relation to Slayer. Watch it here.
• Novella have released the video for new single ‘Does The Island Know’. Their new album, ‘Change Of State’, is out on 17 Feb.
• The recently approved Bloom Twins have now released the video for new single ‘Set Us Free’.
• Avenged Sevenfold will be touring the UK in January, finishing up with two nights at the O2 Arena in London on 21-22 Jan.
• Alice Cooper will be in the UK in November next year for his first headline tour here for five years. The shows will finish up with a performance at Wembley Arena on 16 Sep.
READ MORE ABOUT: Alice Cooper | Amazon | Amazon Tickets | Avenged Sevenfold | Bloom Twins | Cosima | Justin Bieber | Mel C | Novella | The Jesus And Mary Chain | Years & Years
Wednesday 14 December 2016, 11:22 | By Andy Malt
West meets Trump
And Finally Artist News
Kanye West met with Donald Trump at Trump Tower yesterday. Though before you start speculating that West is about to fill a role in the President-Elect’s administration, or perform at his inauguration ceremony, Trump insisted that the pair were meeting as “friends, just friends”.
Briefly posing for pictures shortly after their meeting, Trump told reporters that he and West had been friends for “a long time” and that they had “discussed life”. West refused to answer any questions, saying that he was just stopping “to take a picture”.
Shortly before being hospitalised for exhaustion last month, West told an audience at one of his shows that he had not voted in the recent US presidential election, but would have voted for Trump if he had. This earned him much criticism, as did his meeting yesterday. But West insisted that engaging with Trump was important in a series of tweets later in the day.
West tweeted: “I wanted to meet with Trump today to discuss multicultural issues. These issues included bullying, supporting teachers, modernising curriculums, and violence in Chicago. I feel it is important to have a direct line of communication with our future President if we truly want change”.
That sounds like a bit more than “friends discussing life”, so who knows if Trump actually took any of it in. However, if not, West could always address all those issues with his own presidential bid. Although, having previously promised he would stand in 2020, he now seems to have pushed it back to 2024. Presumably so best bud Don can have his second term in charge.
READ MORE ABOUT: Donald Trump | Kanye West
Wednesday 14 December 2016, 10:39 | By Andy Malt
Approved 2016: Anna Meredith
Artists Of The Year CMU Approved
Every day this week in the CMU Approved slot, we’ll be looking at one of our five favourite artists of 2016. Today, Anna Meredith.
Anna Meredith first caught our attention back in 2012. This year, she finally released her debut album ‘Varmints’, a record that continues to surprise and enthral with each listen even after nine months of me playing it to death.
Already a well regarded classical composer, Meredith’s move into the pop territory came out of a desire to break out of the constraints of classical music. “I don’t want to write music that people are enduring just to get to the Elgar in the second half”, she told The Guardian earlier this year.
Her coming to mainstream music from such a different direction than is the norm is in no small part what makes her music so interesting. Much of ‘Varmints’ didn’t make sense to me until I saw it performed live. Being able to see the physical arrangement of instruments felt like flicking a switch. When I was a teenager, having a second guitarist was considered a bit ‘out there’ for a band. With a cellist and tuba player in place of a bassist, it feels like there are no rules now.
The construction of the music also has a different feel to that of your average indie band. “Pacing is a physical thing”, she said, after winning the Scottish Album Of The Year Award in June. “I can feel when stuff has to happen in a track”.
“I knew I wanted ‘Varmints’ to end privately but start confidently, have moments of privacy and moments of power and build” she added. “I love writing a build – my friends talk about ‘the Meredith Build’! I love the feeling of ‘get on board, we’re building up now!’ Even if you’re dancing at a club, there’s an amazing transparency to a build. When somebody is creating anticipation, it’s a very communal experience and I don’t like hiding those structures”.
That technique, and its affect on an audience, was particularly apparent when she performed at her label Moshi Moshi’s excellent By The Sea festival in October. Each new build in a track felt like a wave, bringing in an ever larger crowd of people seemingly new to her music for the most part.
Closing with the euphoric ‘The Vapours’, it felt like witnessing an important moment in her career – certainly there was more discussion of what people had just seen after her set than for any other I remember over that weekend.
Anticipation for an album, especially several years worth of anticipation, can be the death of it when it finally arrives. But with ‘Varmints’ and her performances over the course of this year, Anna Meredith has maintained and built upon the excitement of hearing her music for the first time.
Watch the video for ‘The Vapours’ 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: Anna Meredith | Approved 2016
Wednesday 14 December 2016, 09:09 | By Chris Cooke
Insights Blog: Ten music industry questions we’re often asked
Business News Education & Events Insights Blog
Through our programme of CMU Insights seminars, masterclasses and conference sessions – not to mention our in-house training courses – we train and educate hundreds and hundreds of music business professionals every year.
We also help media, brands and start-ups looking to work with music navigate the industry, and through CMU:DIY offer tips and advice to aspiring artists and those at the very start of their music business careers.
Before we jump into the 2017 programme of CMU Insights and CMU:DIY sessions, here are some of the questions we’ve been asked numerous times at our events this year.
1. Aren’t the music industry and the record industry the same thing?
No. The record industry is that part of the wider music industry that creates and exploits sound recordings – so record companies, studios, distributors, CD and vinyl manufacturers, and everyone involved in the creation of records.
Other key elements of the wider music industry include the music publishing sector, that deals in the copyright in songs rather than recordings; the merchandise business, which creates products around the music industry’s visual copyrights and trademarks; the emerging direct-to-fan business; and of course the live music industry.
2. Isn’t the music industry now all about live?
It is true that throughout the 2000s the value of recorded music declined significantly while the live industry boomed, and for many established artists today live is the single biggest revenue stream.
Though it is worth remembering that the live side of the business often has a high ‘cost of sale’, meaning higher revenues don’t necessarily mean higher profits.
From an artist perspective, it’s important to consider how revenues are shared out. In that, on the recordings side the label often gets the majority of the money (because of its upfront investment), while with live the artist often gets the majority of the money. So an artist’s recordings might make more money than their gigs, but the artist themselves makes lots more from the latter than the former.
3. Isn’t the music rights industry all about sync?
No, not really. The sync business – the synchronisation of music to film, TV, ads and games – has certainly grown and is important, and for individual artists and labels can be a big earner.
However, in terms of the record industry at large, globally it accounts for about 2% of revenues (according to the IFPI). True, that’s recordings not publishing – sync will be a bigger slice of the music publishing pie – but overall sync is important, but not quite as important as you might think.
4. Are all those physical sales the result of the vinyl revival?
People are often surprised to hear that 39% of recorded music revenues in 2015 came from the sale of physical product. It’s tempting to assume that’s the much hyped vinyl revival, but it’s not.
True, CD sales continue to decline while vinyl is in growth, but the vast majority of that physical income comes from selling the shiny discs.
Certain markets where CDs still dominate – especially Germany and Japan – skew the figures a little, though CD sales in the UK in recent years – while still in decline – have held up better than you’d probably have expected.
5. What’s the difference between mechanical and performing rights?
Copyright law provides the copyright owner with certain controls over their content. This includes the exclusive right to reproduce the content and then distribute those copies. And the exclusive right to perform the work in public or communicate it to the public (which traditionally meant broadcast).
The reproduction and distribution controls are often grouped together and referred to as the ‘mechanical rights’. The performance and communication controls are often grouped together and referred to as the ‘performing rights’ or – increasingly in the record industry – the ‘neighbouring rights’.
The distinction is most important in music publishing, because the mechanical and performing rights are often licensed separately and sometimes by different entities. So as a licensee it’s important to work out which elements of the copyright you are exploiting. It might be both.
6. How does a collecting society know who to pay?
The truth is, sometimes they don’t. Where collective licensing applies – eg radio, live performance, when recordings are played in a public place – a collecting society provides the licence, collects the money and distributes it back to the artists, labels, songwriters and publishers whose music has been used.
Some licensees – eg radio – usually provide decent data of what songs and recordings they’ve actually used. But some – like that greasy spoon café in Inverness – don’t. So sometimes the societies have to employ other methodologies – maybe market share, or market research or, with some societies, entirely mysterious equations – to work out how to distribute the money.
7. How do you know who owns a music copyright?
With some difficulty. In most countries there is no copyright registration – the copyright exists as soon as a work is created and the law tells us who the default owners are. Therefore ownership information isn’t being logged with any registry.
On the recordings side, chances are whichever label released a record – which is information Amazon and the streaming services usually provide – owns or at least controls the sound recording copyright. Though not necessarily, as rights can be sold and different labels might control the same recordings in different territories.
Meanwhile on the publishing side, where copyrights are routinely co-owned (because songs are often co-written), it’s even harder to identify owners. The collecting societies usually have the best databases, though they often aren’t publicly available. This, of course, has created lots of challenges in the digital domain and the need for better music rights data is a big talking point.
8. Which social media matter most for music?
It depends, I’m afraid, on the demographics of your fanbase and where they live. In Western markets Facebook and Twitter are probably still most important, the former because it’s simply the biggest and the latter because it remains influential within the industry and amongst opinion formers.
If you have a younger fanbase, chances are they are not active users of either of those. Instagram will be more important for younger fans, closely followed by Snapchat.
New artists also need to be on YouTube and SoundCloud, whatever the licensing issues may or may not be, because it’s where people often go looking for artists or tracks they’ve just discovered (SoundCloud with industry and early adopters especially).
9. Do music magazines matter anymore?
Yes, actually they do. While it is true that print music magazines are generally selling fewer copies year-on-year, online they are likely talking to more people now than ever before. The bigger music websites are also talking to audiences well above the reader numbers achieved by traditional print music magazines during their heyday.
The music magazines are particularly influential when it comes to new artists, both within the industry and among early adopter fans, who are often the people adding new music to their playlists on Spotify and Apple Music, kickstarting that all important playlisting algorithm.
10. Why do artists still sign record deals?
Yeah, given artists complain a lot about record companies, why do so many still do label deals? For new artists, the key attraction is investment. Although there are other ways to raise money – grants, fan-funding, distributor advances – if a new artist needs a significant cash injection to accelerate their career, labels are still the most likely to invest.
For more established artists, often it’s the comfort of working with people you know and trust, and the marketing and distribution infrastructure and expertise that labels bring to the table. Though the artist-manager-label relationship is slowly evolving, and while artists look set to work with labels for the foreseeable future, the nature of the deals will likely change over time.
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 13 December 2016, 10:50 | By Chris Cooke
Government opposes adding “cultural benefit” to gig licensing criteria
Business News Legal Live Business Top Stories
A spokesperson for the government in the House Of Lords, Carlyn Chisholm, has spoken in opposition to the previously reported proposals that “cultural benefits to the community” be considered by local authorities when considering whether or not to grant a live music licence.
As previously reported, Liberal Democrat Lord Tim Clement-Jones last week proposed an amendment to the Policing And Crime Bill that would add “cultural benefit” as an additional criteria in the licensing process. Current gig licensing rules put the focus on the potential negative impact of an event, including crime and disorder, public safety and public nuisance. None of that would change under Clement-Jones’ proposal, but licensing officials would be obliged to consider the positive cultural impact of staging an event as well.
The idea was backed by Live Nation’s Paul Latham, Alex Mann of the Musicians’ Union and Mark Davyd of the Music Venue Trust, who all gave evidence in Parliament last week. Speaking for grassroots venues, the latter said that: “We believe a further push to support the intent of the Licensing Act 2003 – and the subsequent Live Music Act 2012 – is required so these culturally and socially important spaces achieve parity in the manner in which the licensing framework handles and supports them”.
However, according to IQ, Chisholm insisted that current live music licensing rules were fine, because there was a “presumption that licensing authorities will grant a licence in respect to an application, with appropriate conditions, unless there are strong concerns in terms of the licensing objectives”. She added: “Requiring licensing authorities to consider the provision of social or cultural activities would run in contradiction to the other licensing objectives, all of which are aimed at harm reduction”.
Acknowledging that the government would oppose his proposals despite some other members of the Lords expressing support, Clement-Jones subsequently withdrew his amendment. But not before telling Chisholm: “I believe the Home Office also has responsibility in this area to help to preserve our venues, rather than simply stonewalling and saying, ‘We’ve got a very fine Licensing Act as it is and we don’t need any further objectives'”.
READ MORE ABOUT: 2003 Licensing Act | Carlyn Chisholm | Policing And Crime Bill | Tim Clement Jones
Tuesday 13 December 2016, 10:48 | By Andy Malt
Fat White Family sign to Domino
Artist News Business News Deals Labels & Publishers
Domino has announced that it has signed Fat White Family, with new material due to come out through the label next year.
“Anyone with a nose for genuine rock n roll already knows that Fat White Family are plainly the most exciting, influential and talked about band to come out of this country in the last few years”, says Domino boss Laurence Bell. “We are delighted, if slightly nervous, at the prospect of taking them to the next level”.
The band released their second album ‘Songs For Our Mothers’ earlier this year, with new track ‘Breaking Into Aldi’ coming out in August.
READ MORE ABOUT: Domino | Fat White Family
Tuesday 13 December 2016, 10:46 | By Chris Cooke
Koko founder back in control of the Camden venue
Business News Deals Live Business
The founder of London’s Koko venue, Oliver Bengough, controls the theatre outright again, having bought out US-based Loton Group, which took a stake in the business in 2014.
Loton Group, which owns live music streaming platform LiveXLive, seemed most interested in the potential of Koko as a location to record content for the media side of its operation. Channel 4 had made programmes at the venue after Bengough reinvented the former Camden Palace as Koko in 2004.
The US firm initially implied it would take complete ownership of Koko, but subsequently announced it had bought a 50% stake and that Bengough would become CEO of its new joint venture. Though last year it then said that it intended to sell its half of the business but keep streaming rights for the venue.
Earlier this year, Loton seemingly fell out with Bengough and his Mint Group company. The latter actually ran the venue day-to-day but resigned its management services contract, with Loton saying at the time that it would “take over full financial control of Koko”.
The parent company added at the time: “We are confident that Loton’s world class management team with experience in music, media and mobile can quickly stabilise the company’s operations and build substantial value for our shareholders”.
However, behind the scenes negotiations were seemingly ongoing to return complete control of the venue to Bengough. Confirming that he had now bought his former business partners out, he told reporters: “This marks a great day for the company and for the future of Koko. The well-being and continued success of this iconic live venue is now secured”.
READ MORE ABOUT: Koko | LiveXLive Media | Oliver Bengough
Tuesday 13 December 2016, 10:42 | By Chris Cooke
Elton John partners with YouTube to make videos for old songs
Artist News Digital
Having diligently signed two open letters earlier this year calling on US lawmakers and then EU lawmakers to do something about the safe harbours exploited by fucking YouTube, Elton John has announced an initiative celebrating the 50th anniversary of his songwriting partnership with Bernie Taupin backed by, well, obviously, fucking YouTube.
Budding filmmakers are being invited to pitch ideas for music videos for three of John’s songs, ‘Rocket Man’, ‘Tiny Dancer’ and ‘Bennie And The Jets’. The pitches will be judged by a bunch of YouTubers and industry execs, plus John and Taupin (who also signed the aforementioned safe harbour letters) with winning entries getting a budget and access to YouTube resources and the expertise of Pulse Films to bring their videos to life.
Pitches for the three videos must be, respectively, animation, live action and choreography based, though John himself won’t appear in any of them. The winning vids will be unveiled next summer. Say the competition’s organisers: “As these songs were released before the rise of the music video, this competition gives aspiring creators the once in a lifetime opportunity to showcase these best loved hits like never before”.
I’ve got a pitch. Picture this everybody. An aging scruffy creative type is aboard a small boat parked alongside a slick bright red yacht parked in, I don’t know, a very safe looking harbour. He’s among a small group of other scruffy creative types, all holding up angry banners and chanting angry chants.
Then, as the music soars, our scruffy creative type removes his scruffy coat to reveal the smartest tuxedo you’ve ever seen. At that very point the yacht’s owner invites our no longer scruffy creative type on board his vessel where they share a big fat birthday cake.
The piece ends with our hero tossing the crumbs left on the plate that held the cake he just ate in the general direction of his former colleagues on the protest boat. As they lurch forward to catch some of those crumbs, their boat topples over and they all drown. The end.
Anyway, here’s Elton John with a quote: “We’re excited to partner with YouTube to bring together generations of artists and music lovers around a shared passion for storytelling. YouTube is a rich tapestry of creativity, and I can’t wait to see how the breadth of talent from the dance, live-action and animation communities apply their vision to these cherished songs”.
And here’s YouTube’s Vivien Lewit, who is BEYOND THRILLED. “This is a dream project that puts iconic music from a legendary artist in the hands of new creative talent, to reinvent these classic hits. We’re BEYOND THRILLED to partner with Elton John and Universal to enable this program and bring to life a new way for the passionate fan community on YouTube to experience these songs that have inspired generations”.
Good times. Full info at www.eltonjohn.com/thecut.
READ MORE ABOUT: Elton John | YouTube
Tuesday 13 December 2016, 10:40 | By Andy Malt
DJ Mag signs Chinese licensing deal
Business News Deals Media
DJ Mag has announced a new licensing deal with Chinese company East21 Music Group. The five year contract will see a print edition of the magazine being launched in China, along with its Top 100 DJ and Top 100 Club polls, and a commitment for at least five branded events per year in the country.
“We are really excited to be working with East21 Music Group, with Rachel [Yang] and Fu [Jiang] and look forward to building DJ Mag in China together over the next five years and beyond”, says the magazine’s MD Martin Carvell. “We are proud as a British-born magazine to be expanding with DJ Mag and the Top 100 DJs in Asia and particularly China and are looking forward to seeing more Chinese DJs and clubs breaking into the Top 100s”.
DJ Mag currently publishes in the UK, US and Canada, with seasonal editions in Ibiza and Croatia as well as a global presence online. It also has a number of existing licensing deals around its brand and content in other European, Asian and Latin American markets.
On the new deal, Publisher James Robertson adds: “We are delighted to announce this Chinese licence deal. It tops off a fantastic year of selling over £1 million pounds worth of international licences. It shows that Britain is open for business; that we have brands that are the envy of the world. DJ Mag is a brand we can all be very proud of”.
Back in the UK, DJ Mag has announced DJ EZ will headline its Best Of British Awards this week. The event will take place at Egg London on 15 Dec.
READ MORE ABOUT: DJ Mag | East21 Music Group
Tuesday 13 December 2016, 10:39 | By Andy Malt
Nelly Furtado announces new album The Ride
Artist News Releases
Nelly Furtado has announced that she will release her sixth studio album, ‘The Ride’, on 31 Mar next year. The record comes five years after her last, 2012’s ‘The Spirit Indestructible’.
“What happens when you have a successful album and/or career, is you go, go, go, more is more, yes yes yes and no time for no”, says Furtado of her decision to take a break between these two records. “That took its toll on me and didn’t flow with my natural rhythm of who I am”.
In an effort to break that cycle, she focussed on other things: “I was having a crazy day and I drove to my friend’s record store and I said to him, ‘This is going to sound crazy but can I work at your store?’ I started doing a lot of things I always wanted to do – like sewing, ceramic and playwriting classes”.
She goes on: “I guess I was trying to distil my life a little bit. I was living in fast forward since I was nineteen. Through unstrapping and layering down and simplifying my life, I found joy again in art. It’s okay to maybe get off the ride once in a while to reflect on everything you’ve experienced”.
Listen to the first single from the album, ‘Pipe Dreams’, here, and here’s an album trailer:
READ MORE ABOUT: Nelly Furtado
Tuesday 13 December 2016, 10:34 | By Andy Malt
Rina Sawayama releases new single reflecting on the year just gone
Artist News Releases
Previously CMU approved Rina Sawayama has released a new track, ‘This Time Last Year’, the follow-up to her Michael Jackson rework ‘Where U Are’, which came out in February.
Sawayama has been working on her debut album for the bulk of this year, collaborating with the likes of AK Paul, Clarence Clarity, Tourist and Salute. Her two 2016 singles sit either side of that work, but they also sit either side of much of this year’s global political upheaval.
“‘This Time Last Year’ was originally written about how widely things can change in love, but now seems so apt in a year that took everything we knew, and turned it upside down”, she says of the new song.
“Outside of our newsfeed, an ugly truth became evident”, she adds. “And the truth bloody well hurt. After this year, we need to be ready to ask questions, to confront and even empathise, and try to make sense of it all. We thought we knew everything, but we didn’t”.
Listen to ‘This Time Last Year’ here:
READ MORE ABOUT: Rina Sawayama
Tuesday 13 December 2016, 10:32 | By Chris Cooke
Something entirely pointless happened
Artist News Awards Media
So, the BBC held its annual ‘Let’s See How Much Licence Fee Money We Can Piss Up A Wall’ gala in London, of all places, last night. Which, come to think of it, would probably be a better use of licence fee payer money than handing Adele and Coldplay yet more awards. I mean, a bunch BBC execs guzzling down some licence fee funded champagne and then literally pissing it up against a wall would at least constitute an interesting statement.
But no, the wall pissing was metaphorical, though the handing out of yet more awards to Adele and Coldplay – this time at the licence fee payer’s expense – was very real. Coldplay were handed the Entirely Pointless Award for something entirely pointless, while other winners included The 1975, who took home the I Mean What’s The Fucking Point Of This? Award, and Izzy Bizu, who was presented with the Think What Could Be Achieved If All This Budget Was Actually Spent On BBC Introducing Itself Award.
Adele, meanwhile, was a double winner for the second year running. She won both the How Is This Still A Thing? Award and the I Mean, Who Do We Need To Fire To Put This Shit Out Of Its Misery? Award. Well done one and all.
Neither Adele nor Coldplay were able to attend. Though I bet if the night had actually consisted of licence fee payer money being artistically and/or politically pissed up against a wall, they’d have been there like a shot. See, I should run the BBC.
READ MORE ABOUT: BBC | BBC Music | BBC Music Awards
Tuesday 13 December 2016, 10:30 | By Andy Malt
CMU’s One Liners: Warner Music, Little Simz, Jax Jones, more
Artist News Business News Gigs & Festivals Industry People Labels & Publishers One Liners Releases
Other notable announcements and developments today…
• Warner Bros in the US yesterday announced the promotion of Peter Gray, Larry Mattera and Hildi Snodgrass to the respective roles of GM/EVP of Promotion & Media, GM/EVP of Commerce & Marketing and CFO/EVP Operations. Boss Cameron Strang was “proud”.
• Little Simz has released the first track from her new album, ‘Stillness In Wonderland’. Here’s ‘Poison Ivy’. The album is out this Friday.
• Raye features on new Jax Jones track ‘You Don’t Know Me’.
• Ibibio Sound Machine have released a new track, ‘The Pot Is On Fire’. Their new album, ‘Uyai’, is out on 2 Mar.
• When not facilitating the facial disfigurement of Ed Sheeran, James Blunt is still pretty funny on the tweets. This morning he announced: “If you thought 2016 was bad – I’m releasing an album in 2017”.
READ MORE ABOUT: Hildi Snodgrass | Ibibio Sound Machine | James Blunt | Jax Jones | Larry Mattera | Little Simz | Peter Gray | Raye | Warner Bros Records | Warner Music
Tuesday 13 December 2016, 10:25 | By Andy Malt
Red Hot Chili Peppers’ Chad Smith opens new music department in Bedfordshire school
And Finally Artist News
Red Hot Chili Peppers drummer Chad Smith took some time out of the band’s UK touring schedule yesterday to open a new music department at a secondary school in Bedfordshire. I know, right?
Arriving by helicopter, Smith officially opened Sandy Upper School’s new Lane & Browns Music Suite, named after its local estate agent sponsor.
“I’m so happy to be able to come down here and be part of this”, he said in a speech. “Music education is very close to my heart. I started playing the drums when I was seven and I learned how to play all through school in a little town outside Detroit, Michigan, not much bigger than this town”.
“There’s something really great about being part of a small community. I had the same upbringing, so I understand how important it is to have music and art in school”, he continued.
“Now you have a really beautiful new music department with lots of instruments, and people are going to help you learn them if you’re interested. I think it’s really important for kids to be exposed to music. I’m not saying that everyone should play in a rock band, but art and music is a really, really important part of education”.
He added: “Some of my favourite musicians and bands have come out of the UK. When I was growing up it was bands like Led Zeppelin, Black Sabbath, Deep Purple, Jimi Hendrix, Queen, David Bowie and, of course The Beatles and The Stones. These were all magical artists to little old Chad growing up in Michigan and it all came from right around here – so maybe the next one is sitting right in here”.
Closing his speech, before performing a drum solo and officially opening the music department, he thanked his “longtime friends, the Banks family”, including RHCP agent Emma Banks of CAA, and her father Richard, who is Chair of the school governors. So now you can stop wondering how all this happened.
Still, knowing that doesn’t make Chad Smith addressing a school assembly in a small British town seem any less weird. Here’s a video:
READ MORE ABOUT: Chad Smith | Emma Banks | Red Hot Chili Peppers
Tuesday 13 December 2016, 09:55 | By Andy Malt
Approved 2016: Lady Leshurr
Artists Of The Year CMU Approved
Every day this week in the CMU Approved slot, we’ll be looking at one of our five favourite artists of 2016. Today Lady Leshurr.
Lady Leshurr’s rise to prominence began in 2015 and quickly gathered rapid pace, but 2016 felt like the year she really cemented her position. Now signed to Sony’s RCA, and working with the likes of Deputy, Bangladesh and Timbaland on her debut album, Leshurr’s success has been very much achieved on her own terms.
It’s worth remembering that Leshurr had already been a hotly-tipped new act once before, been offered a life-changing amount of money by a major label, refused it, and then seen her career crumble around her. This comeback is not just an impressive turnaround, but it has also allowed her to capitalise on learning from her mistakes.
“They flew me out [to the US] and we had a conversation, but their idea was that they were going to pit me against Nicki Minaj”, she told The Guardian of her previous major label experience in 2013. “It was like: ‘She’s the biggest female MC and you need to take her down’, and I wasn’t feeling that at all. That whole stereotype of female rappers and their supporters having to compete with each other – it seems to be a crime to be a fan of two female rappers that are successful. So I turned it down”.
A couple of years later, she decided to start again from scratch “as a brand new artist”, which led to the first in her series of ‘Queen’s Speech’ freestyles.
“I planned, and then I met up with this video camera guy”, she told BBC Raw earlier this year. “We shot the first ‘Queen’s Speech’, then I went home, I put it on my computer and I uploaded [it to YouTube], but I kept it on private because I was scared. I was just like, I don’t know if people are gonna like this – the new Leshurr. I was petrified. But I thought, you know what, you’re never gonna know until you do it”.
It paid off. The first five episodes of the series took her to the end of 2015, and have gone on to build up views in the multi-millions, ensuring that she was in high demand throughout 2016. As well as tours, TV and radio performances, and jetting out to the US to record, she released ‘Where Are You Now?’ with Wiley and the cutting ‘Unleshed’.
Come October, she was back with a new instalment of ‘Queen’s Speech’, another reminder of her quick wit, sharp lyrics and amazing skill. She’d probably be the first to warn against jumping the gun, but 2017 is looking good for Leshurr too.
Watch the video for ‘Queen’s Speech Episode 6’ 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: Approved 2016 | Lady Leshurr
Monday 12 December 2016, 11:07 | By Chris Cooke
Revamp of Sony’s entertainment business could more closely align Sony Music with Sony/ATV
Business News Labels & Publishers Top Stories
Sony’s two global music companies – Sony Music Entertainment and Sony/ATV Music Publishing – could become more closely aligned as part of a restructure of the Japanese conglom’s American entertainment business, according to sources speaking to the New York Post. For its part, Sony Corp says that claims about an impending restructure are “nothing but baseless rumour and speculation”, so they must be true.
The core rumour being spread by the Post is that Sony is considering putting its flagging American movie and TV business Sony Pictures Entertainment under Sony Interactive Entertainment, its bigger and more successful video games division that houses all things PlayStation. The Post’s sneaky source who’s been chatting about the alleged plans says: “There is talk they are going to merge SPE with PlayStation”.
The restructure, if it were to occur, would put Sony’s movie studio and TV production house under Interactive Global CEO Andrew House. Although he would likely be pretty hands-off with regards the film and TV business, it would be a statement about the ever closer alliance of the film and gaming industries, and the latter’s arguable dominance commercially speaking.
It would also likely mean the departure of current Sony Pictures Entertainment chief Michael Lynton, and indeed his plans to exit might have motivated the revamp plans. The Post says Lynton has been considering a move into academia – or to a new role outside the US – while also noting that the Sony exec was an early investor in Snapchat and sits on its board. So an exec role there is also a possibility.
Although mostly involved in Sony’s US movie and TV operations, Lynton is also CEO of Sony Entertainment, the division that includes the firm’s global music businesses: record company Sony Music Entertainment and music publisher Sony/ATV. It’s thought that if Sony Pictures Entertainment was to shift over to Interactive and report into House, the music businesses wouldn’t follow suit, with a separate music unit being created.
While it is common for music rights companies that have both label and publishing operations to keep the two sides of the business – recordings and songs – separate, Sony Music and Sony/ATV operate more autonomously than the equivalent divisions at the other two majors, Universal and Warner. This is mainly because until earlier this year Sony/ATV was a joint venture between Sony Corp and the Michael Jackson estate.
Sony has now bought out its former business partner, of course, and a logical follow-on from that would be to more closely align Sony/ATV with Sony Music. A rejig of Sony’s wider entertainment business Stateside would provide the opportunity to do just that. Though, of course, we should note again the Sony Corp is saying “baseless rumour and speculation”. And the baseless rumour spreaders concede nothing has been decided yet, but reckon that any decision on a revamp will be made before the end of March.
READ MORE ABOUT: Sony Corp | Sony Music | Sony Music Publishing
Monday 12 December 2016, 11:06 | By Chris Cooke
Former SFX board member sues Robert Sillerman over unpaid loan
Business News Industry People Legal Live Business
Now that SFX has successfully exited its bankruptcy to be known from this point onwards as LiveStyle, all the messy litigation that is likely to result from the collapse of the one-time EDM powerhouse can get underway. Odds are, it could all prove far more entertaining than any of the festivals LiveStyle has planned in 2017.
Getting in early is former board member Mitchell Slater who, according to Amplify, has sued SFX founder Robert FX Sillerman in a bid to reclaim the more than two million he says he lent his former colleague in April 2015. Slater seemingly sent Sillerman a letter in September demanding he hand over $2,517,266.67 by 3 Oct.
According to Amplify, the letter said: “I will promptly pursue all available remedies including, but not limited to, my right to commence an action for the payment plus all legal fees, expenses and disbursements incurred in connection with the enforcement and collection of the [loan]. I sincerely hope that is not necessary, however. I expressly reserve, and do not waive, any and all rights under the [loan] or at law and equity”.
Sillerman seemingly never responded to the letter, so Slater is now asking a judge to issue a summary judgement ordering the former SFX chief to repay the loan plus legal costs.
READ MORE ABOUT: Robert Sillerman | SFX Entertainment
Monday 12 December 2016, 11:04 | By Andy Malt
London Night Czar calls for new approach to drug use in clubs
Business News Live Business
London’s new Night Czar Amy Lamé has said that a new approach is needed to avoid drug-related deaths in nightclubs, following Fabric’s recent licensing battle after two men died at the venue earlier this year.
Speaking after being given a tour of a new building development in Soho’s Denmark Street, Mixmag reports that Lamé said: “People take drugs. People take drugs in clubs. People take drugs in hotels. People take drugs in all different kinds of places. If we ignore that and don’t deal with it, then people will sadly be ill or die”.
“That is something I don’t want to happen on my watch”, she continued. “I know Fabric doesn’t want it to happen again, Islington Council doesn’t want it and the police don’t want it. For too long people have been entrenched in ‘it’s us versus them, them versus us'”.
Lamé also said that she aims to ensure that nightclubs and music venues remain in place across London, following a concerning trend of closures in recent years (not least in Denmark Street, where she was speaking).
“I don’t want clubbing pushed out to the edges”, she said. “I want clubs, pubs, live music venues right in the heart of everything. Right across London”.
READ MORE ABOUT: Amy Lamé | Fabric
Monday 12 December 2016, 11:03 | By Andy Malt
Attitude Is Everything announces Outstanding Attitude Awards winners
Awards Business News Live Business
Music charity Attitude Is Everything has announced the winners of its first Outstanding Attitude Awards, recognising music venues and festivals that best serve deaf and disabled audience members.
On the music venue side, the three winners are: The Albany in London, for provision of video-based travel information; Colston Hall in Bristol, for holding a conference on accessible music-making and investing in building changes and staff training; and Nottingham’s Motorpoint Arena, for committing to provide BSL interpretation for all new events.
The three winning festivals are: Just So Festival, for splitting their programme into categories allowing people to assess which best suited their needs; Nozstock, for online access information and providing materials for people with autism and learning disabilities; and Reading Festival, for its ongoing support for deaf audience members, including providing BSL interpretation for main stage performances.
“The Outstanding Attitude Awards are proof that all live music events, regardless of size and resources, can think outside the box and become more inclusive to a wide spectrum of disabled audiences”, says Attitude Is Everything CEO Suzanne Bull.
“This year’s winners range from some simple but hugely impactful online resources, to a groundbreaking music conference and several cutting edge innovations for deaf fans” she continues. “I would like to congratulate all the winners on their success, and I hope other venues and festivals can take inspiration from their achievements and can-do approach”.
The six winners were selected from the 125 venues and festivals signed up to Attitude Is Everything’s Chart Of Best Practice.
READ MORE ABOUT: Attitude Is Everything | Colston Hall | Just So Festival | Motorpoint Arena | Nozstock | Reading Festival | The Albany
Monday 12 December 2016, 11:01 | By Chris Cooke
Young Guru allies with marketing agency The Marketing Arm
Artist News Business News Deals Marketing & PR
Record producer and DJ Young Guru has been appointed Chief Music Strategist at marketing agency The Marketing Arm as a result of an alliance between it and his firm Era Of The Engineer. Which possibly means that Era Of The Engineer now has a marketing arm. Or that The Marketing Arm has entered into the era of the engineer. Confusing company names, hey! What fun.
Young Guru, real name Gimel Keaton, has worked as a producer and sound engineer with a plethora of artists over his career, including Jay Z, Eminem, Drake and Beyonce, making him – brags his new business partner – “the most successful music engineer in the history of hip-hop”. His Era Of The Engineer venture is described as a “social enterprise and advisory start-up” that seeks to “heighten partnerships between music and businesses”.
Confirming the tie up, The Marketing Arm’s own music boss Larry Weintraub said: “Music is a great connector and has the power to evoke our emotions. Partnering with Young Guru and Era Of The Engineer solidifies our long-standing reputation as collaborators, and shows our commitment to elevating how we use music and entertainment to create culturally relevant and authentic opportunities for brands. We are THRILLED to have a prolific creator and authoritative expert in music available to IDEATE forward-thinking ideas with both our teams and clients”.
Keaton added: “I’ve had the opportunity to collaborate with The Marketing Arm in the past and we share a mutual love of innovation. This partnership is a natural step in our evolution as we look to work to deliver bigger thinking to brands with music at the centre”.
READ MORE ABOUT: Era Of The Engineer | The Marketing Arm | Young Guru
Monday 12 December 2016, 10:57 | By Chris Cooke
Guvera’s Singapore staff also owed money
Business News Digital Legal
Following the news last month that former staffers of Guvera in the US and Latin America were still awaiting news about unpaid salaries, a former member of the streaming firm’s team in Singapore has reported a similar issue there to human resources publication HRM Asia.
As previously reported, after Guvera was forced to abandoned its plans to IPO in Australia in June, it pulled out of a number of markets, laid off a bunch of staff and put two of its Australian companies into administration. Though former employees linked to those two Australian subsidiaries got most of what they were due through the administration process.
However, ex-employees elsewhere in the world seemingly haven’t been so lucky. The former staff member talking to HRM Asia claims that each of the eight people who worked out of the firm’s Singapore office are still owed money, up to S$10,000 each, which equates to over £5000 per person. Execs in the office oversaw Guvera’s operations in various Asian markets, including Singapore, Malaysia, Vietnam, Thailand and Indonesia.
The former employee says Guvera’s Singapore staff were sent an email on 22 Jun stating that the firm’s business there had ceased trading on 30 Jun. There had been plenty of indications of Guvera’s financial problems internally – staff there had been working from home since March because the company couldn’t afford to fix a broken air con unit – though it was widely thought all would be fine once the IPO had gone through.
The source continues: “There were many creditors in Southeast Asia who were owed up to S$200,000 each, and were at the point of submitting letters to Guvera demanding for payment. But they held off on that because Guvera told them: ‘As soon as we list, you will get your money'”.
After the failed IPO, Guvera insisted it could still make a success of its streaming service in certain markets like India and Indonesia, though ex-employees in various countries don’t seem convinced. As previously reported, back in Australia the company recently sought regulator permission to postpone its AGM for investors because it can’t afford to pay the accountants doing the audit.
READ MORE ABOUT: Guvera
Monday 12 December 2016, 10:56 | By Andy Malt
Madonna discusses “blatant sexism and misogyny” faced throughout her career, accepting Billboard Woman Of The Year Award
Artist News Awards
Madonna accepted the Woman Of The Year Award at Billboard’s Women In Music event on Friday with a speech that called out the “blatant sexism and misogyny and constant bullying and relentless abuse” she has faced throughout her career.
She also spoke of discovering that “in life there is no real safety except for self-belief” through a hard life lived in late-70s New York as she attempted to break into the music industry, and discussed other artists who inspired her, including David Bowie.
“I stand before you as a doormat. Oh, I mean, as a female entertainer”, she began. “Thank you for acknowledging my ability to continue my career for 34 years in the face of blatant sexism and misogyny and constant bullying and relentless abuse”.
She was inspired by “Debbie Harry and Chrissie Hynde and Aretha Franklin” at the outset of her career, she said, “but my real muse was David Bowie”. However, she added, what she found inspiring about him turned out not to apply to her.
“He embodied male and female spirit and that suited me just fine”, she said. “He made me think there were no rules. But I was wrong. There are no rules – if you’re a boy. There are rules if you’re a girl. If you’re a girl, you have to play the game”.
Breaking down these rules, she went on: “You’re allowed to be pretty and cute and sexy. But don’t act too smart. Don’t have an opinion that’s out of line with the status quo. You are allowed to be objectified by men and dress like a slut, but don’t own your sluttiness. And do not, I repeat do not, share your own sexual fantasies with the world. Be what men want you to be, but more importantly, be what women feel comfortable with you being around other men. And finally, do not age. Because to age is a sin. You will be criticised and vilified and definitely not played on the radio”.
Bringing up a specific example, she discussed releasing her ‘Erotica’ album and ‘Sex’ book in 1992, saying: “I remember being the headline of every newspaper and magazine. Everything I read about myself was damning. I was called a whore and a witch. One headline compared me to Satan. I said, ‘Wait a minute, isn’t Prince running around with fishnets and high heels and lipstick with his butt hanging out?’ Yes, he was. But he was a man. This was the first time I truly understood women do not have the same freedom as men”.
Concluding, she said: “Women have been so oppressed for so long they believe what men have to say about them. They believe they have to back a man to get the job done. And there are some very good men worth backing, but not because they’re men – because they’re worthy. As women, we have to start appreciating our own worth and each other’s worth. Seek out strong women to befriend, to align yourself with, to learn from, to collaborate with, to be inspired by, to support, and enlightened by”.
Here are all the winners from this year’s Billboard Women In Music Awards:
Rising Star: Halsey
Rule Breaker: Alessia Cara
Breakthrough Star: Maren Morris
Chart Topper: Meghan Trainor
Trailblazer: Kesha
Powerhouse: Andra Day
Icon: Shania Twain
Woman Of The Year: Madonna
READ MORE ABOUT: Billboard | Billboard's Woman Of The Year | Madonna
Monday 12 December 2016, 10:49 | By Andy Malt
Kate Moss stands in for Elvis in new video
Artist News
Kate Moss stars in the video for a new recording of Elvis Presley’s ‘The Wonder Of You’ featuring extra Royal Philharmonic Orchestra.
“I was so excited to be asked to be involved in this project, anything for Elvis”, she says, though I’m not sure he actually requested her personally.
The track is taken from ‘The Wonder Of You: Elvis Presley With The Royal Philharmonic Orchestra’, which features fifteen tracks reworked at Abbey Road Studios. It’s the follow-up to last year’s ‘If I Can Dream: Elvis Presley With The Royal Philharmonic Orchestra’ of course, and is out now.
Watch the video here:
READ MORE ABOUT: Elvis Presley | Kate Moss | Royal Philharmonic Orchestra
Monday 12 December 2016, 10:45 | By Chris Cooke
CMU’s One Liners: X-Factor, The 1975, Taylor Swift and Zayn Malik, more
Artist News Awards Business News Gigs & Festivals Media One Liners Releases Retail
Other notable announcements and developments today…
• It was the ‘X-Factor’ final last night and in the end Billy Bango beat girl group Brexit Bananas and metal outfit The Trumptown Massacre. Maybe. To be honest, the only thing I actually know about this season of ‘X’ is that the ratings tanked and Billy Bango’s winning single, co-written by Ed Sheeran and Amy Wadge, will only get a digital release.
• The 1975 will be opening a pop-up shop in London’s Camden Market form 16-18 Dec. They’ll only sell 1975-related stuff though, so I’m not sure what the point is.
• Taylor Swift and Zayn Malik have recorded a duet for the new ’50 Shades’ film, which is apparently still a thing.
• Wyclef Jean has released the video for new single ‘I Swear’, which features Young Thug.
• Bonobo has released the video for new single ‘Break Apart’, featuring Rhye.
• At The Drive-In have released a new song in the form of ‘Governed By Contagions’. It’s taken from their first album for sixteen years, which is out next year. I’m not 100% it was worth bothering.
• Lucy Spraggan has released the video for new single ‘Modern Day Frankenstein’.
• The Unguided have announced that they will release new EP ‘Brotherhood’ on 23 Dec. It will be their first record with new guitarist Jonathan Thorpenberg. From it, this is ‘Nighttaker’.
• Justin Bieber will headline the British Summertime Festival on 2 Jul. How nice.
• Guns N Roses have added a second date at the London Stadium on 17 Jun.
• Justice have announced that they’ll play Brixton Academy in London on 29 Sep next year. I don’t think you can go though, I heard you were busy that day.
• Bob Dylan’s Nobel Prize was accepted by US Ambassador to Sweden Azita Raji, who read out a speech from the musician. “Not once have I ever had the time to ask myself ‘are my songs literature?'” wrote Dylan. “So, I do thank the Swedish Academy, both for taking the time to consider that very question, and, ultimately, for providing such a wonderful answer”. As expected, Patti Smith also sang a song on Dylan’s behalf.
READ MORE ABOUT: At The Drive-In | Bob Dylan | Bonobo | British Summer Time | Guns N Roses | Justice | Justin Bieber | Lucy Spraggan | Nobel Prize | Patti Smith | Taylor Swift | The Unguided | Wyclef Jean | X-Factor | Zayn Malik
Monday 12 December 2016, 10:42 | By Andy Malt
Garth Brooks tops dwindling wishlist of artists to play Donald Trump’s inauguration
And Finally Artist News
Time is running out to book someone to perform at Donald Trump’s presidential inauguration party. All hopes are now being pinned on Garth Brooks.
As previously reported, various artists have been linked to the show and then quickly fallen over each other to deny that they are playing. In particular, Elton John quickly shot down claims by Trump advisor Anthony Scaramucci that he would be performing at the event. More recently, former Motley Crue frontman Vince Neil told TMZ that he had been “uninvited” to the party.
Rumours that Brooks would do the honours have been floating around for a little while now, though on Friday he told TMZ: “I don’t know [if I’ll play], I haven’t been asked”.
Asked if he would consider it, he added: “It’s always about serving, it’s what you do”.
I think we can take that as a ‘yes’ but without specifically endorsing Trump. Indeed, Trump would not be the first US president who has put on a performance by Garth Brooks, as a spokesperson was keen to point out.
“Garth has performed for the five living presidents”, Brooks’ publicist Nancy Seltzer told Reuters. “While rumour has it that he has been asked to perform for President-Elect Trump, he has not been able to commit yet”.
Does that last sentence mean he has been asked or he hasn’t? It’s a weird choice of words, isn’t it? None of this makes it seem like Brooks is particularly eager to play the event on 20 Jan. And if you wanted any more signs that this is shaping up to be America’s Bpoplive, there was a bullish statement about how everything was fine too.
Asked if Trump’s team were finding it a bit of a struggle to find artists willing to perform for the new president, the President-Elect’s Communications Director Boris Epshteyn told ABC News: “No struggle whatsoever. We have world-class talent, world-class entertainers reaching out to us offering their help, offering their services so no struggle, whatsoever”.
No entertainers, world-class or otherwise, have yet been confirmed for the event.
READ MORE ABOUT: Donald Trump | Garth Brooks
Monday 12 December 2016, 09:56 | By Andy Malt
Approved 2016: Moddi
Artists Of The Year CMU Approved
Every day this week in the CMU Approved slot, we’ll be looking at one of our five favourite artists of 2016. First up, Moddi…
Released in September, Pål Moddi Knutsen’s fourth album ‘Unsongs’ is a vast and laboriously constructed project. Its twelve tracks are cover versions of songs from around the world that were banned. With a tracklisting whittled down from hundreds of possible inclusions, the record includes music that led to songwriters being imprisoned, killed, or simply denied airplay.
Translating the songs into English where necessary, Moddi takes some artistic liberties in places, though he attempted as much as he could to make contact with the original writers to assure that their message remained. The result is a powerful collection of songs that each make their individual points, as well as a wider statement about censorship.
Highlights include his stunningly stripped down version of Pussy Riot’s ‘Punk Prayer’ and his version of ‘Army Dreamers’ by Kate Bush, which was among songs banned by the BBC during the first Gulf War.
The latter song may possibly seem like a less worthy addition to the record – after all, no one died or was sent to prison because of it, and it’s not even clear if it actually missed out on any airplay. However, in an interview with The Quietus, Moddi notes that seemingly innocuous bans like this have led to a fear of censorship amongst many Western artists and a tendency to self-censor, severing the relationship between music and politics in the mainstream.
To go deeper, there’s a comprehensive website with videos and articles about the songs on the record. It’s well worth delving into. Though a good starting point is simply to listen to ‘Unsongs’ in isolation. It’s grip is as much emotional as its is political, and that is what makes it an album that I’ve returned to repeatedly in recent months.
Watch the video for ‘Punk Prayer’ 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: Approved 2016 | Moddi
Monday 12 December 2016, 09:00 | By Chris Cooke
CMU Digest 12.12.16: SoundCloud, Duran Duran, YouTube, bots ban, LiveStyle, GMR
CMU Digest
The key stories from the last seven days in the music business…
Spotify ended talks to buy SoundCloud, according to sources cited by the Financial Times. There would be a logic to such a deal, it giving Spotify another large-scale marketing platform for its premium services, and helping assure SoundCloud’s long-term future. But word has it the two parties couldn’t agree on price, and Spotify worried an over-priced deal could hinder its own IPO plans. [READ MORE]
Duran Duran said they were “outraged and saddened” that the High Court in London had ruled they can’t reclaim the US rights in their early songs by using the reversion right in American copyright law. The court said the band’s original UK publishing contract didn’t provide for such reversion. Duran Duran said the ruling sets a dangerous precedent for British songwriters with publishing deals from the 1980s. [READ MORE]
YouTube announced it had paid over a billion dollars to the music rights industry in the last year, which it said proved ad-funded streams had an important role to play in the future of the music industry. But the IFPI said the sum was pretty modest compared to royalties paid by Spotify, given the scale of YouTube’s audience. Meanwhile the US National Music Publishers Association announced a deal with YouTube over unpaid mechanical and sync royalties. [READ MORE]
US Congress passed a ban on ticket tout bots. The new legislation was passed as a number of countries consider tighter regulation of the secondary ticketing market. The US-wide ban of the software used by some touts to access tickets off the primary market has now gone to President Obama for his approval. [READ MORE]
SFX emerged from its bankruptcy with a new name, LiveStyle. Former AEG Live boss Randy Phillips has been confirmed as the new CEO, and he said the rebrand was necessary because of the bad connotations within the industry associated with the SFX name, following its long-drawn out collapse in 2015. He reckons that with new ownership and stronger finances, LiveStyle can now succeed as a dance-music focused festivals business. [READ MORE]
Irving Azoff’s US performing rights organisation Global Music Rights accused the American radio industry of exploiting a monopoly. It sued the Radio Music License Committee, arguing it was stopping individual stations from negotiating licensing deals with GMR. The RMLC has already sued GMR in a case that will test whether a PRO as small as the one Azoff set up in 2014 should be subject to at least some of the restrictions put on other US collecting societies BMI, ASCAP and SESAC. [READ MORE]
The big deals from the last seven days in the music business…
• Live Nation bought a controlling stake in Australia’s Secret Sounds Group [INFO]
• Kilimanjaro Live and DEAG announced an alliance with Twickets [INFO]
• Universal Music Publishing signed songwriter Max Wolfgang [INFO]
• Warner/Chappell signed a publishing deal with Liam Gallager [INFO]
• Sony/ATV signed a publishing deal with Alan Walker [INFO]
• WME signed Childish Gambino for music bookings [INFO]
READ MORE ABOUT: Duran Duran | Global Music Rights (GMR) | International Federation Of The Phonographic Industry (IFPI) | LiveStyle | National Music Publishers' Association (NMPA) | Radio Music License Committee (RMLC) | Secondary Ticketing | SFX Entertainment | Sony Music Publishing | SoundCloud | Spotify | US Congress | YouTube
Friday 9 December 2016, 11:07 | By Paul Vig
Vigsy’s Club Tip: Glitterbox at Ministry Of Sound
Club Tip CMU Approved
Having spent the summer in Ibiza, Glitterbox returns to London and Ministry Of Sound for its final party of 2016 tomorrow. And boy have they brought in some heavy hitters.
Filling the line-up for the night are the revered Todd Terry, one of my absolute faves Joey Negro, Defected labelmeister (and Glitterbox founder) Simon Dunmore, John Morales, Get Down Edits, Shovell and For The Love Of House.
House in all its glory! Here’s a little idea of what to expect:
Saturday 10 Dec, Ministry Of Sound, 103 Gaunt Street, Elephant & Castle, London, SE1 6DP, 11pm-6am, £26. More info here.
READ MORE ABOUT: Todd Terry
Friday 9 December 2016, 11:04 | By Chris Cooke
Spotify drops plans to buy SoundCloud
Business News Digital Top Stories
Spotify has abandoned plans to buy good old SoundCloud, according to the Financial Times. The former is seemingly worried that the costs and licensing challenges of acquiring the latter would slow down its own march towards an Initial Public Offering.
SoundCloud, of course, is busy trying to re-establish itself as an advertising and subscription funded streaming set-up that pays royalties over to creators and rights owners, rather than being a content distribution platform that generates its revenues by charging the same creators and rights owners for its services.
However, even though it boasts a larger catalogue of tracks than its competitors because of user-uploads, and despite its popularity among opinion formers and early adopters in the music community, that’s a very competitive market for SoundCloud to be moving into, where it is up against a small number of major players with very deep pockets.
Many people reckon that SoundCloud’s future is only assured if it can be acquired by a bigger company, though the firm’s $700 million valuation means the list of potential bidders is pretty small. Spotify has been mooted as a possible bidder at various points, and most recently in September when “advanced talks” were reportedly under way.
There is some logic to such a deal – if Spotify could get the price down and negotiate primarily an equity swap – because it could use SoundCloud as a big fat marketing platform via which to sell its premium subscriptions, possibly ultimately instead of its own freemium level. However, sources indicate, attempts to get the price down to a realistic level for Spotify to go through with such a purchase ultimately failed.
For Spotify, which has really stepped up its above-the-line marketing efforts of late, the priority now is showing continued rapid growth in key markets ahead of that IPO, which really needs to come sooner rather than later because of deals the company has done with some of is financiers.
Meanwhile long-term success is reliant on reaching sufficient scale that the minimum financial guarantees it has to make to the record companies, music publishers and collecting societies are always outperformed by the music rights owners’ revenue share arrangements, so that the digital firm gets to keep 25-30% of its income, hopefully allowing it to ultimately go into profit year-on-year worldwide.
As for SoundCloud, well, who knows? Who’s got a spare $700 million lying around and then a few billion to further grow the business? Anyone?
READ MORE ABOUT: SoundCloud | Spotify
Friday 9 December 2016, 11:02 | By Chris Cooke
NMPA announces deal with YouTube over unpaid song royalties
Business News Digital Labels & Publishers
The National Music Publishers’ Association in the US has announced an agreement with YouTube that will facilitate the distribution of “royalties for musical works used in videos on YouTube where ownership was previously unknown”.
As previously reported, there is an extra layer of complexity when it comes to digital licensing Stateside because there is no collecting society for mechanical rights, ie an American version of the UK’s MCPS. Companies like the Harry Fox Agency traditionally fill the gap to an extent, but there is no direct American counterpart of the mechanical rights societies that exist elsewhere.
It’s generally agreed that a stream exploits both the ‘performing right’ and ‘mechanical right’ elements of the copyright (or in the case of YouTube, publishers might talk about the ‘sync right’ being the second element exploited). In the UK, while streaming services will often do direct deals with the big five music publishers, the digital firm can ensure it has everything else covered by doing a deal with PRS for performing rights and MCPS for mechanicals.
In the US, the likes of BMI, ASCAP, SESAC and GMR perform the role of PRS on the performing rights side. There is then actually a compulsory licence covering mechanical rights. But under that licence the streaming service needs to file paperwork with the owner of any song streamed – or the US Copyright Office if the owner can’t be identified – and pay royalties to the rights owner or Copyright Office at the statutory rate.
A company like HFA can administer that process, but there is no one-stop database listing every song and its owners. Moreover, there is no database confirming which precise song any one recording contains. This is true everywhere, but in other countries the collecting societies do the data crunching, and the publishers make sure they are allied to the relevant collecting society. In the US, millions in non-performing right royalties fall into a hole.
Various streaming services have been sued on this issue because – while the real problem is arguably the music publishing industry’s failure to put in place a collective licensing system in line with other countries – under the law it is the digital platforms that are liable for copyright infringement for failing to comply with the terms of the compulsory licence.
The most high profile case of this kind to date is that being pursued by David Lowery and Melissa Ferrick against Spotify. As those cases gained momentum, the NMPA – which previously owned HFA – stepped in to try to facilitate a settlement, whereby it and Spotify would work together to identity all unidentified songs, and the streaming service would then hand over unpaid royalties and a little compensation. That left self-publishing songwriters with the option to sign up to the settlement or join the Lowery/Ferrick action.
Litigation against YouTube on unpaid royalties would be further complicated by the bloody safe harbours, so both the NMPA and the Google firm are presumably hoping that there will be an even greater incentive across the music publishing and songwriting community to sign up to this settlement. The trade group says that, under the deal, “millions of dollars in previously unclaimed non-performance royalties will be paid to publishers and songwriters”.
Publishers need to opt into the agreement by 28 Feb, after which YouTube will provide a list of songs it has been unable to identify owners for. Newly identified owners will then be paid any royalties they are due dating back to August 2012.
Confirming the deal, NMPA boss David Israelite said: “We appreciate YouTube’s willingness to work with us on behalf of the industry to help pay out millions of dollars in previously unclaimed royalties to publishers and songwriters. It is essential that we work with digital services like YouTube – the most popular digital platform for music discovery – to fix the challenge of incomplete ownership information to ensure royalties are no longer unmatched and music owners are paid accurately by the platforms that rely on their work”.
On YouTube’s side, Tamara Hrivnak said: “The revenue earned by the music industry on YouTube continues to grow significantly year over year, and we’re committed to making sure that publishers are paid for the usage of their works on our platform. We are excited to partner with the NMPA to address the industry-wide challenges associated with identifying publishing ownership on digital platforms”.
READ MORE ABOUT: National Music Publishers' Association (NMPA) | YouTube
