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Tuesday 24 January 2017, 11:07 | By Chris Cooke
UK Music welcomes government’s new review of the creative industries
Business News Labels & Publishers
So, Tezza May over there in the Downing Streets yesterday pressed the print icon at the top of her word processing application of choice, and seconds later her dot matrix printer was churning out copies of a 132 page ‘industrial strategy’. So, everything’s sorted now. Brilliant.
So far seventeen people have read it, and fortunately for us that includes someone at UK Music, which has welcomed the fact that the creative industries are included as one of the government’s key sectors. To prove that commitment to all things creative, Mrs Maybe has asked former Arts Council England Chair Peter Bazalgette to write a report. Because what’s more creative than yet another government report?
UK Music says that it “looks forward to playing an important part” in the Bazalgette’s big review of Britain’s creative industries, adding that it “hopes to see the music industry’s unique offering integrated into future plans as one of the ‘world-leading sectors’ cultivated within the strategy”. Don’t we all? I know I do.
Says UK Music boss Jo Dipple: “Music, with all its associated businesses, contributes £4.1 billion to the UK economy and is at the forefront of exerting our soft-power overseas. It is also a prime example of an industry which has successfully adapted and embraced a new digital future. Our industry is in a prime position to grow and thrive”.
“The announcement that Sir Peter Bazalgette is to take a lead in fashioning a deal for the creative industries is encouraging and sends a powerful message about the importance of this valuable sector”, she goes on.
Dipple then concludes that “the government’s strategy commitments to the development of skills, starting and growing businesses, encouraging trade and inward investment, cultivating world-leading sectors and driving growth are all to be welcomed and supported”.
So consider them both welcomed and supported. Actually, I’m a bit busy this morning. Could I welcome them now and support them later, maybe?
READ MORE ABOUT: UK Music
Tuesday 24 January 2017, 11:06 | By Chris Cooke
Another club fire in Bucharest, venue seemingly unlicensed
Business News Legal Live Business
A nightclub in Bucharest was destroyed this weekend by a fire that injured more than 40 people, echoing the more deadly fire at the Colectiv club in the city in 2015.
Some eyewitnesses have claimed that the fire at the city’s Bamboo nightclub was started by clubgoers smoking inside the venue. Meanwhile a local government spokesperson has said that the club did not have a current operating licence.
A number of venues were closed in the Romanian capital over safety concerns after 64 people were killed in the fire of the Colectiv club in 2015. Four of the five members of the band playing at Colectiv on that night, Goodbye To Gravity, were among the fatalities.
Other new safety measures were also introduced at those venues still operating, while the Romanian live industry launched a new trade association, in part to promote health and safety measures across the sector, and in part to ensure that promoters had a voice where government was considering new regulation.
Commenting on this weekend’s fire, Romanian President Klaus Iohannis said that Bucharest had been “very close to another big tragedy; rules and laws have apparently been broken again”.
Local media report that the authorities staged spot checks on 162 clubs across Romania on Saturday night following the fire at Bamboo earlier that day, issuing nearly 45,000 euros in fines and shutting one venue down on safety grounds.
READ MORE ABOUT: Bamboo Bucharest
Tuesday 24 January 2017, 10:56 | By Andy Malt
Mott The Hoople’s Pete Overend Watts dies
Artist News
Founding member of Mott The Hoople, Pete Overend Watts, has died, aged 69. He had been receiving treatment for cancer.
In a statement yesterday, Peter Purnell from Angel Air Records said: “Peter Overend Watts died yesterday from cancer. He was one of the nicest, gifted individuals I am proud to have called a friend”.
Formed in 1969, Mott The Hoople are probably best remembered for their 1972 song ‘All The Young Dudes’, which was written and produced by David Bowie. Splitting in 1974, the band nonetheless managed to record and release seven albums.
Watts was involved in two reunions in 2009 and 2013. His death comes almost exactly a year after that of the band’s drummer Dale Griffin.
READ MORE ABOUT: Mott The Hoople | Pete Overend Watts
Tuesday 24 January 2017, 10:47 | By Andy Malt
James Blunt announces post-romantic new album
Artist News Gigs & Festivals Releases
Well, you can’t say he didn’t warn you. James Blunt has announced that he will release new album ‘The Afterlove’ on 24 Mar.
The follow-up to 2013’s ‘Moon Landing’, Blunt’s fifth album sees him working with songwriters including Ed Sheeran, Ryan Tedder, Amy Wadge, Johnny McDaid, Stephan Moccio and MoZella. That’s the sort of talent you can command when you’re as successful and popular as James Blunt. Although Ed Sheeran will write for anyone these days – even his nemesis.
As well as this, Blunt also announced that he’ll be going out on one of those UK arena tours in November, tickets for which go on sale this Friday.
Here are the dates:
17 Nov: Nottingham, Motorpoint Arena
18 Nov: Leeds, First Direct Arena
20 Nov: Glasgow, Clyde Auditorium
21 Nov: Birmingham, Barclaycard Arena
23 Nov: London, Hammersmith Apollo
24 Nov: Brighton Centre
25 Nov: Bournemouth, BIC Windsor Hall
READ MORE ABOUT: James Blunt
Tuesday 24 January 2017, 10:41 | By Andy Malt
Goldfrapp return with new album
Artist News Releases
Goldfrapp are back, if you were wondering. Which you might have been. They’re going to release a new album called ‘Silver Eye’ on 31 Mar.
“We’ve never liked repeating ourselves”, says Alison Goldfrapp, which I’m sure I’ve heard her say before. “Often we react to things we’ve just done. We like the spontaneity of not knowing. It’s only through the process that we start to figure out what it is. The fans who have stuck with us are the ones who embrace that idea and are excited by the thought that they don’t know quite what to expect next”.
The other half of the duo, Will Gregory adds: “I think writing an album is like being lost in a wood. You’re trying to figure out an interesting path. You don’t know whether it’s going to be a dead end or somewhere interesting and you never know when to stop because around the corner some beautiful vista might open up”.
It is possible to listen to the album’s first single, ‘Anymore’, here:
READ MORE ABOUT: Goldfrapp
Tuesday 24 January 2017, 10:37 | By Andy Malt
BBC unveils UK Eurovision hopefuls
Artist News Awards
I think the chance of anyone in the rest Europe actually voting for the UK entry in this year’s Eurovision Song Contest is pretty slim – something about us telling them all to “fuck off” – but we’re forging ahead nonetheless. Perhaps the Supreme Court could intervene and insist that the British Parliament gets a say on who wins.
Either way, yesterday morning, six contenders for being thrown to the lions were unveiled by the BBC, by which we mean the artists/songs that could as yet be the British entry at this year’s Contest. The final decision on which song will be sent to represent the UK will be chosen, for the second year running, on BBC show ‘Eurovision: You Decide’.
You’d think even the BBC would have learned the lesson by now about the risks of asking the British public for any opinion relating to Europe, but apparently not. So, the great people of England, Scotland, Northern Ireland and Wales will be left to select one of the following songs, all of which could be twisted to sound like some sort of comment on Brexit:
• Danyl Johnson – Light Up The World
• Holly Brewer – I Wish I Loved You More
• Lucie Jones – Never Give Up On You
• Nate Simpson – What Are We Made Of?
• Olivia Garcia – Freedom Hearts
• Salena Mastroianni – I Don’t Wanna Fight
‘Eurovision: You Decide’ will be broadcast on BBC Two at 7.30pm this Friday, live from the Hammersmith Apollo. Listen to all six entries here.
The 2017 Eurovision Song Contest will take place at in Kiev, Ukraine on 13 May.
READ MORE ABOUT: Danyl Johnson | Eurovision Song Contest | Holly Brewer | Lucie Jones | Nate Simpson | Olivia Garcia | Salena Mastroianni
Tuesday 24 January 2017, 10:36 | By Chris Cooke
CMU One Liners: Live Nation, [PIAS], Sony Music, more
Artist News Business News Deals Gigs & Festivals Industry People Labels & Publishers Live Business One Liners Releases
Other notable announcements and developments today…
• This being a day with ‘day’ in its name, time for another Live Nation acquisition. This time the live giant has taken a controlling stake in Preston-based Cuffe & Taylor which, among other things, promotes Greenwich Music Time and the Lytham Festival. Other Live Nation deals in recent days include the new joint venture with Metropolis Music in the UK and the purchase of CT Touring in the US.
• [PIAS] has acquired Australian label and distributor Inertia Music, which will now rep [PIAS] artists in the Aussie market. The deal doesn’t include other companies in the Inertia Group, and won’t change the day-to-day operations of Inertia Music either.
• Sony Music UK has a new Director Of Compilations in the form of Naz Idelji, who joined the major via its acquisition of the Ministry Of Sound record label where she headed up, yep, you guessed it, compilations.
• If you’ve been telling people that Ed Sheeran’s ‘Castle On The Hill’ doesn’t have a video, then you’re going to look pretty silly, because it does.
• Following all that chat about her playing a Donald Trump inauguration event last week, Chrisette Michele has released a new song, ‘No Political Genius’.
• E! News reckons that Kanye West is about to reschedule the European shows he cancelled last year.
• Sigma will play the Royal Albert Hall on 27 May this year, making them the first drum n bass act ever to headline the venue, apparently.
• Mogwai will play a big old homecoming show at the SSE Hydro Arena in Glasgow on 16 Dec. Tickets go on sale this Friday.
• Interpol have announced tour dates to celebrate the fifteenth anniversary of their ‘Turn On The Bright Lights’ album. UK-wise, they’ll be at Alexandra Palace in London on 1 Sep and the Albert Hall in Manchester on 3 Sep.
• Jorja Smith will be touring the UK in April, which is exciting. Among the dates will be a show at Village Underground in Shoreditch on 3 Apr.
• Maximo Park will tour the UK in May, taking in London’s Royal Festival Hall on the way. Their new album, ‘Risk To Exist’, is out on 21 Apr. Here’s the video for the title track.
• Frank Ocean: Not a fan of Donald Trump.
READ MORE ABOUT: Chrisette Michele | Cuffe & Taylor | Ed Sheeran | Frank Ocean | Inertia Music | Interpol | Jorja Smith | Kanye West | Live Nation | Maximo Park | Mogwai | Naz Idelji | Sigma | Sony Music | [PIAS]
Tuesday 24 January 2017, 10:32 | By Andy Malt
Calls for Madonna to be arrested for her views on yellow purple bananas
And Finally Artist News
There have been calls for Madonna to be arrested after she said in a speech on Saturday that she had thought “an awful lot about blowing up the White House”. Leading the charge, Republican Newt Gingrich said that the singer is part of “an emerging leftwing fascism”.
Madonna was addressing the Women’s March protest against Donald Trump in Washington, DC on Saturday – which, of course, had a sizeably larger turnout than the new president’s inauguration the previous day. During the address, she said: “Yes, I’m angry. Yes, I am outraged. Yes, I have thought an awful lot about blowing up the White House. But I know that this won’t change anything”.
Speaking to Fox News, White House Chief Of Staff Reince Priebus said on Sunday: “Some of the things that were said yesterday, I’m not going to give the person any credit, but one of the actors said that – or one of the singers said she wanted to blow up the White House. I mean, can you imagine saying that about President Obama?”
Good job there Reince, covering up that you didn’t actually know who said this or what exactly was said. I don’t think anyone noticed. Because of course you wouldn’t want to give the actor, I mean singer, any “credit”.
Also, while I couldn’t imagine Madonna saying that she wanted to blow up the White House with President Obama in it, I think it would be fair to say that there were people saying stuff just like that during his presidency. I tried to find out if anyone famous had ever done so, but the first thing I found was this, and I decided it was probably best to leave Google alone.
But, yeah, Madonna did mention blowing up the White House, which it’s not exactly easy to defend. Maybe with some context you could, I guess. But who likes context? Oh, Madonna of course. Ugh.
“I am not a violent person, I do not promote violence and it’s important people hear and understand my speech in it’s entirety rather than one phrase taken wildly out of context”, she said in an Instagram post. “My speech began with ‘I want to start a revolution of love’. I then go on to take this opportunity to encourage women and all marginalised people to not fall into despair but rather to come together and use it as a starting point for unity and to create positive change in the world”.
“I spoke in metaphor and I shared two ways of looking at things”, she continued. “One was to be hopeful, and one was to feel anger and outrage, which I have personally felt. However, I know that acting out of anger doesn’t solve anything. And the only way to change things for the better is to do it with love. It was truly an honour to be part of an audience chanting ‘we choose love'”.
So there’s her take. She was actually pointing out that lashing out in anger is not an effective way to proceed in overcoming hate. Which is presumably why she also said, “To our detractors that insist that this march will never add up to anything, fuck you”.
Has all of this placated Newt Gingrich? Have a guess. No, he still thinks she “ought to be arrested”, he told Fox News yesterday. In fact: “She is parallel to the young fascists who ran around town breaking windows, all of whom should be given the maximum sentence … What you have is an emerging left-wing fascism. She’s part of it, and I think we have to be prepared to protect ourselves”.
Woah, Newt. What about all that context she gave? What about the Instagram post? Adopting one of those sarcastic tones that the kids love so much, the political man continued: “I love the left. When they say ‘I dreamed about blowing up the White House’, they didn’t mean they dreamed about blowing up the White House. They actually meant ‘the yellow purple banana’, but they didn’t wanna say yellow purple banana because it was too shocking, so they said blow up the White House. Give me a break! She now understands she’s at risk”.
Yeah, if only she’d just said ‘yellow purple banana’, none of this would have happened.
READ MORE ABOUT: Donald Trump | Madonna | Newt Gingrich | Reince Priebus
Tuesday 24 January 2017, 09:24 | By Andy Malt
Approved: Meursault
CMU Approved
Three years after calling time on Meursault, Neil Pennycook returned to the project with a new EP, ‘Simple Is Good’, in November. Now he has announced that he’ll release a new album, ‘I Will Kill Again’, through Song, By Toad on 27 Feb.
“I started writing ‘I Will Kill Again’ four years ago”, explains Pennycook. “It was initially intended to be a direct follow up to [2012 album] ‘Something For The Weakened’, to be played as a straight-up rock album. That record never got made, the live band dissolved and I started to play solo under the name Supermoon. In this time the arrangements changed and evolved”.
“In most cases, the songs became unrecognisable from their previous incarnations, but the lyrics and themes remained”, he continues. “The title reflects the theme of the album. Loosely, it’s about the idea of villainy within a narrative and people’s willingness to portray themselves as antagonists within their own story. The suggested narrative of the album is told from the point of view of two central characters: a clichéd struggling writer (we’ll call him William) and a ghost (Sarah)”.
The first single from the album is ‘Klopfgeist’. The song’s arrangement is laid down with a light touch, scattered piano chords providing guidance for Pennycook’s vocals. It’s an intriguing piece in the puzzle that will make up the full album.
Watch the video for ‘Klopfgeist’ here:
Stay up to date with all of the artists featured in the CMU Approved column in 2017 by subscribing to our Spotify playlist.
READ MORE ABOUT: Meursault
Monday 23 January 2017, 11:48 | By Chris Cooke
Metropolis Music becomes part of the “Live Nation family”
Business News Deals Live Business
Aware that there are nearly nine other people putting on gigs in the UK, and there was that one week last June when it was ten, live music giant Live Nation has further expanded its UK business by forming a joint venture with previously independent concert promoter Metropolis.
Confirmation of the deal follows speculation that Live Nation was in talks to buy Metropolis. However a spokesperson told IQ on Friday that this wasn’t actually an acquisition and that everyone should shut up saying that it is. Well, they said the first bit. Rather the new alliance constitutes a “reconfiguration” of the Metropolis promotions business, which will now be “integrating into the Live Nation team” and become “part of the Live Nation family”. Which I think means they all have to spend Christmas Day together.
Metropolis was already in business with Live Nation, both being shareholders in the Academy Music Group network of venues, and both having a stake in that V Festival thing that somehow still exists. However, the new deal will see Live Nation also involved in the Metropolis tours business, though the Metropolis artist management agency is not part of the arrangement, despite Live Nation also being active in that domain too.
Although now part of the Live Nation family and obliged to attend all Live Nation christenings and funerals from this point onwards, and the occasional birthday party for the live firm’s favourite aging aunt, the existing Metropolis team will pretty much stay in place, with founder Bob Angus as Chairman and Raye Cosbert as MD.
Says Angus: “The team and I are excited for this new venture into Metropolis Music. We’ve been promoting events in the UK since 1985, and we look forward to providing the best for artists and fans across the UK, together as part of the Live Nation family”.
Meanwhile Live Nation UK Chair Denis Desmond said the deal marks “another step in our commitment to promotions and world-class events in the UK. We’re bringing Metropolis on board and bolstering their existing promotions expertise with Live Nation’s established frameworks, relationships and a team of experts to grow the business together”.
For readers who prefer their Live Nation expansion deals to be American in flavour, the US division of the company has bought Idaho-based CT Touring. That company’s founder, Creston Thornton, joins Live Nation as President of a new division covering the so called Northwest Mountain States, aka Idaho, Montana and Wyoming, with a bit of Washington state thrown in for good measure.
READ MORE ABOUT: Live Nation | Metropolis Music
Monday 23 January 2017, 11:42 | By Chris Cooke
PIPCU sends out new ‘stop it now’ letters to the pirates
Business News Digital Legal
As well as dropping by the offices of a bunch of brands and advertising companies whose ads continue to appear on piracy websites, the City Of London’s IP Crime Unit has also got busy since the start of the year sending out a bunch of new letters to the operators of several copyright infringing websites urging said site owners to shut down or go legit, otherwise they could face criminal action.
According to Torrentfreak, compared to previous warning letters sent out by the specialist IP policing unit, aka PIPCU, the new correspondence name-checks more UK laws that the copyright infringing sites may be breaching, and the more extreme sanctions that come with those laws.
After listing possible offences stemming from fraud, copyright and serious crime legislation, the letter says: “Should a conviction be brought for the above offences, UK courts may impose sentences of imprisonment and/or fines”, adding that “PIPCU has criminal and civil powers in UK law to seize money, belongings and any property in connection with these offences”.
However, the music-focused piracy site that passed its PIPCU letter over to Torrentfreak – DailyNewJams or DNJ.to – was rather blasé about the missive. Operators of that site told Torrentfreak: “They accuse us of breaking the UK law but we have no relation to the UK nor do any of us live there”.
They then claimed: “We don’t even try to actively drive UK traffic to the blog. In fact we completely don’t care about the UK”.
Though that’s obviously a bluff, because I have it on good authority – from Theresa May herself, no less – that trading with Britain is everyone’s top priority throughout the entire world, and once we untangle ourselves from all that EU nonsense the world’s music pirates will be lining up to infringe copyright in our newly empowered United Kingdom.
READ MORE ABOUT: PIPCU
Monday 23 January 2017, 11:41 | By Chris Cooke
Pandora’s Ticketfly announces tie up with ticket exchange Lyte
Business News Deals Digital Live Business
Pandora’s ticketing business Ticketfly last week announced an alliance with US-based ticket exchange website Lyte, which says it enables fans to resell tickets to shows they can no longer attend, but without providing a home to all those terrible touts. Because we all know about those touts, right? Terrible people. I met one once. He was terrible.
The Ticketfly platform will now integrate with the Lyte marketplace. “By verifying transferred tickets and keeping them within the fan community, Ticketfly and Lyte are helping venues and promoters provide a consistent, secure, and on-brand experience to all fans”, says the official announcement, “whether those fans bought tickets at the onsale or after the show sold out”.
It adds: “Not only will venues and promoters spend less time managing fraudulent tickets and disappointed fans, they will also have fewer empty seats and enjoy increased revenue from the resulting spend on concessions and merchandise”. All sounds marvellous, doesn’t it?
The tie-up was confirmed by Ticketfly boss Andrew Dreskin, who, I should mention, is American, so prepare yourself for the use of the word ‘scalper’ when he obviously means ‘tout’. “For many years I have mulled over how to best tackle the safe and secure resale of tickets for our clients and ticket buyers” he said, forgetting to say ‘scalper’.
“[A system] that keeps the tickets in the hands of true fans” he continued, “keeps control of the experience in the hands of our clients” he went on, “ensures that the house is full for the artists” he further mused – don’t worry, the ‘scalper’ mention is incoming – “and renders obsolete scalpers who leach off the primary ecosystem”. Boom, there it is. “Lyte is that answer”, he reckons. “We are delighted to be in business with these guys”.
One of those guys, Lyte CEO Ant Taylor, added: “Lyte takes control of the fan experience away from anonymous third parties and puts it back in the hands of venues and promoters. Lyte provides the most transparent, secure, and seamless solution for exchanging tickets. That is what fans deserve and eventually, what they’ll demand. In Ticketfly, we have a partner who catalyses our mission. We are proud to apply our technology in the service of their incredible client base”.
So, there you go, mission catalysed. The recently announced job cuts at Pandora don’t affect Ticketfly by the way. So that’s nice. For them.
READ MORE ABOUT: Lyte | Pandora | Ticketfly
Monday 23 January 2017, 11:37 | By Chris Cooke
Team Glastonbury are planning a Variety Bazaar, but not to replace Glastonbury
Business News Gigs & Festivals Live Business
Every time Michael Eavis gives an interview these days he describes ever more bizarre plans for the future of the Glastonbury Festival. Fortunately he doesn’t give many interviews, otherwise everyone would be under the impression that this year’s Glastonbury was taking place on the moon with the inevitable Ed Sheeran headline set taking place in the International Space Station.
However, following recent chatter to the effect that Michael Eavis had said Glastonbury would leave its Worthy Farm home and rebrand as Variety Bazaar at some point in the relatively near future, the festival’s organiser Emily Eavis has clarified things a little. There are no plans to relocate the Glastonbury Festival, though that previously mentioned ambition to launch a brand new event at a different location is still on the agenda, and that new event currently has a working title of Variety Bazaar.
In a Guardian Q&A with both Eavises, Emily said that the planned new event wasn’t now likely to launch until 2021. Noting that next year would be one of the Glastonbury Festival’s occasional years off, she said: “I think we’re most likely going to come back [to Worthy Farm] in 2019 after the fallow year in 2018, when there will be no event. Then 2020 is our 50th anniversary. And 2021, we may then do a show somewhere else, which we’re calling the Variety Bazaar. But none of this is set in stone”.
If a success, the Variety Bazaar might then take place whenever Glastonbury itself is having a fallow year. But “just to be clear”, she added, “there’s no plan to move Glastonbury Festival away from Worthy Farm or to stop doing those here”. Please everybody write that down and revisit that statement next time Michael Eavis gives an interview and everyone starts saying the Glastonbury Festival is moving to Chester Zoo or Whitby harbour.
Meanwhile, what about that name for the new event, hey? Explains Eavis Senior: “There was a shop in our local town, Shepton Mallet, years and years ago, run by three sisters, which sold all sorts of stuff – everything from knitting to books to cream cakes. And the name of the shop was the Variety Bazaar. I mentioned it to Emily and she loved it”.
READ MORE ABOUT: Glastonbury Festival | Variety Bazaar
Monday 23 January 2017, 11:34 | By Chris Cooke
Tidal user figures questioned
Business News Digital
There was some chitter chatter on Friday about exactly how many people are actually streaming tunes via Tidal, after a Norwegian business newspaper said the firm’s official user figures were dubious. Personally, I’m not sure Tidal even exists. I have a theory that it was the name of a fictional streaming service in some Michael Crichton novel set in the future. Jay-Z then joked about how he owned that service, the rumour machine got out of control, and now everyone’s convinced it’s real. This is the age we live in.
Norwegian paper Dagens Næringsliv – which remains interested in the streaming firm that originated in Scandinavia – says that while Tidal’s last official stat on subscriber numbers was three million, one London-based label exec said that they had been told the Jay-Z led streaming set up had something closer to 850,000 paying users.
The Dagens Næringsliv report makes a number of allegations about the inner workings and financials of the Tidal business, though some have suggested that at least some of the newspaper’s sources may have axes to grind, having left the firm following Jay-Z’s high profile acquisition in 2015.
That said, Dagens Næringsliv’s sources aren’t the first in the music industry to suggest that Tidal’s previously released official figures included a lot of users still enjoying free trials in the wake of one of the company’s high profile artist exclusives, and that the number of actual paying users is considerably less than three million. A recent post by Mark Mulligan’s MIDiA Research suggested that the actual figure was more like a million.
Of course, in terms of assessing the long-term viability of Tidal, the nature of the streaming music business means that you need at least tens of millions of paying users to have any hope of going into profit, unless the record companies and music publishers radically alter the nature of their licensing deals at some point in the future. Which means a business with three million subscribers isn’t really any more viable than a business with one million.
Though the good news for Tidal is that we’re now officially in the age of ‘alternative facts’. Jay-Z should get Kanye West to have a word with his mate Donald Trump who could have his spokespeople confirm that Tidal – which is a great streaming service by the way, really great, the best – actually has a billion users, and if they all stood in a line they’d definitely reach the Washington Monument.
READ MORE ABOUT: Tidal
Monday 23 January 2017, 11:31 | By Andy Malt
PledgeMusic hires Bryan Mead
Business News Digital Industry People
PledgeMusic has hired Bryan Mead as its new Senior Vice President Artist And Label Relations in the US. Mead previously held a similar role at music distribution firm INgrooves.
“Bryan Mead brings 25+ years of industry expertise to his new position at PledgeMusic, including extensive experience in the evolving new music business”, says PledgeMusic CEO Dominic Pandiscia. “Bryan has a deep understanding of the value of developing new fans around an artist and optimising that relationship. He adds a unique perspective to PledgeMusic’s executive team and will be key in reinforcing the value our platform brings to artists, labels, managers and fans”.
Mead adds: “PledgeMusic has developed into the premiere marketplace for ‘superfans’. It’s a platform where artists and labels can leverage a wealth of marketing opportunities and maximise existing and new revenue streams, and where fans can purchase the most unique experiences and products. I am busting with enthusiasm for what PledgeMusic has up its sleeve in 2017”.
Please can we make BUSTING the new THRILLED?
READ MORE ABOUT: Bryan Mead | PledgeMusic
Monday 23 January 2017, 11:30 | By Andy Malt
Celador to acquire Anglian Radio
Business News Deals Media
Celador Radio is adding five new stations to its roster through the acquisition of Anglian Radio, reports Radio Today.
Launched in 2008, the Celador radio business currently owns 20 local stations around the UK, the bulk of which operate under the Breeze brand. The deal to buy Anglian Radio will add The Beach, Dream 100, North Norfolk Radio, Radio Norwich and Town 102 to that total.
It’s not yet clear if there are plans to rebrand any or all of them – though Celador Radio’s other acquisitions to date have resulted in a name change to either The Breeze of Sam FM, with the exception of the Southampton-based Fire Radio.
Anglian Radio was founded in 2013 through a management buyout, acquiring its five stations from Tindle Radio. A number of Celador’s existing stations were also formerly owned by Tindle.
READ MORE ABOUT: Anglian Radio | Celador Radio
Monday 23 January 2017, 11:25 | By Andy Malt
Can drummer Jaki Liebezeit dies
Artist News
Former Can drummer Jaki Liebezeit, a founder member of the influential German group, has died, aged 78, from pneumonia.
A statement on the band’s Facebook page reads: “It is with great sadness we have to announce that Jaki passed away this morning from sudden pneumonia. He fell asleep peacefully, surrounded by his loved ones. We will miss him hugely”.
Originally a jazz drummer, Liebezeit co-founded Can in 1968, helping to develop what became known as the ‘krautrock’ sound. He had been due to perform with former bandmates Irmin Schmidt and Malcolm Mooney at the Barbican in London on 8 Apr, as part of the previously reported ‘Can Project’.
READ MORE ABOUT: Can | Jaki Liebezeit
Monday 23 January 2017, 11:22 | By Andy Malt
Secretly Canadian launches Our First 100 Days anti-Trump compilation
Artist News Business News Digital Releases
US independent music firm Secretly Group has teamed up with the organisers of the previously reported ’30 Days, 30 Songs’ project to launch a new compilation called ‘Our First 100 Days’.
Sold via subscriptions, the project will release a new song for each of Donald Trump’s first 100 days as US president, with proceeds donated to causes deemed under threat from the new administration – including climate change, women’s rights, LGBT rights and immigration.
“I looked at what tools we had at hand and was sitting at lunch and thought, ‘Oh, we could do a 100 songs, he’s got his first 100 days, we have ours, let’s do some good work”, explains Secretly Canadian Publishing’s John Coombs to Billboard. “[Then] I realised it wasn’t my idea”, says Coombs. “The guys at ’30 Days, 30 Songs’, [Zeitgeist Management’s] Jordan Kurland and Pulitzer-prize winning author Dave Eggers, did a similar project leading up to the election”.
Coombs then got in touch with Kurland and Eggers and they came up with a plan to partner on this new project.
“It’s not a prerequisite to have politically-motivated songs and some of the charities are not political by design”, adds Coombs. “[The question is] how do we get more work out of our dollars? And to me that’s to donate to causes that support people who probably didn’t vote the same way as I. It’s small, I’m well aware of that, but it’s a step in the right direction to try and bridge the gap”.
So, for a minimum subscription of $30, you will receive a new song per day for 100 days (or 97 now, as Trump was inaugurated on Friday, of course). The project is already offering previously unreleased tracks form Angel Olsen, PWR BTTM and Avey Tare. Find out more and sign up here.
As previously reported, ’30 Days, 30 Songs’ was launched in October last year, leading up to the election – providing an anti-Trump song each day via a Spotify playlist. It quickly expanded beyond just 30 songs, as more and more artists rushed to contribute. It has now morphed into ‘1000 Days, 1000 Songs’, with the aim to provide a song for every day of Trump’s four year term. For the first 100 days, it will provide selections from the ‘Our First 100 Days’ compilation.
READ MORE ABOUT: 30 Days 30 Songs | Secretly Canadian
Monday 23 January 2017, 11:18 | By Andy Malt
Jarvis Cocker and Richard Hawley to judge Sheffield tree competition
And Finally Artist News
Jarvis Cocker, Richard Hawley and former Pulp drummer Nick Barnes are among the judges in a new competition to find Sheffield’s greatest tree, as part of a campaign to save the city’s roadside trees from being cut down.
Launched by Sheffield Hallam MP Nick Clegg last week, the Great Trees Of Sheffield 2017 competition aims to raise awareness of local authority plans to remove trees from Sheffield’s roadsides. The plan to fell many of the city’s trees follows a 2012 road maintenance deal between the local council and private company Amey, which includes overseeing the city’s 36,000 roadside trees. The council has repeatedly refused to release an unredacted copy of the contract, and it recently emerged that council leader Julie Dore has not seen it either, despite defending its contents.
A council spokesperson last week said that the full contract, which has a 25 year term, runs to more than 7000 pages, and that council leaders had been fully briefed on its contents. Details redacted from the publicly available document are of a commercially sensitive nature.
The row came to wider attention in November, after eight trees were cut down early one morning, with residents of the street called out of bed to move their cars and protesters detained by police. Writing in local paper The Star, Clegg described it as “scenes you’d expect to see in Putin’s Russia, rather than a Sheffield suburb”.
Commenting on the battle to save the trees, Hawley said that Sheffield taxpayers are being “hauled over a barrel” with regard to the deal, reports The Guardian. “It’s like something is beyond the ‘Wizard Of Oz’ curtain that only a few people know about”, he said. “Not even the elected councillors know about it. The man on the street, or the man in the pub doesn’t know about it. It seems as bent and wonky as a tree to me”.
Nominations for Sheffield’s Greatest Tree are open until 1 May. Jarvis Cocker has nominated a weeping birch in Endcliffe Park that “looks like bad hair”. Find out more about the campaign here.
READ MORE ABOUT: Jarvis Cocker | Nick Barnes | Richard Hawley
Monday 23 January 2017, 10:41 | By Andy Malt
Approved: Freddie Dickson
CMU Approved
Freddie Dickson presumably thought he’d scored big when he signed to Sony’s Columbia in 2014. But despite releasing a number of singles and two EPs with the label, he gradually felt more and more lost in the major label machine, getting ever further away from his independently released debut EP ‘Shut Us Down’, which had got him there in the first place.
“I started to lose sight of what I wanted to do and kept trying to please other people”, he explains, having since extracted himself from that deal. “I now feel far more in control of my work and am really looking forward to what’s to come”.
He returns with his debut album, ‘Panic Town’, on 7 Apr, with the first single, ‘Martim Moniz’, newly released last Friday. With a tempo that progresses almost reluctantly, the song gives space for Dickson to explore the potential of his voice to striking effect.
“The album is a culmination of songs from the past couple of years”, he says. “I have stripped the production right back to allow my voice and the songs to breathe a lot more. Before everything was buried under so many layers of noise. I wanted the record to sound a lot rawer and I finally feel as happy as I did when I released my first ‘Shut Us Down’ EP”.
Listen to ‘Martim Moniz’ here:
Stay up to date with all of the artists featured in the CMU Approved column in 2017 by subscribing to our Spotify playlist.
READ MORE ABOUT: Freddie Dickson
Monday 23 January 2017, 08:22 | By Chris Cooke
CMU Digest 23.01.17: TGE, Paul McCartney, Michael Lynton, German record sales, Pandora, DF Concerts
CMU Digest
The key stories from the last seven days in the music business…
We announced the themes to be explored at this year’s CMU Insights @ The Great Escape conference that sits at the heart of the TGE Convention. Four conferences in one, once again we will present a full day of insight presentations, case studies, one-on-one interviews and panel debates for each of four key topics: export, royalties, media and drugs. [READ MORE]
Paul McCartney sued Sony/ATV in relation to his reversion right under US copyright law. The litigation is related to the debate over whether or not the right to terminate publishing contracts after 35 years – part of American copyright law – applies to non-US songwriters and deals. Sony/ATV hasn’t said it opposes McCartney’s bid to reclaim his rights in the Lennon/McCartney catalogue, but it hasn’t confirmed that it won’t. McCartney’s lawyers suspect the publisher wants to see what happens in its legal battle with Duran Duran on this issue, in which it won round one. [READ MORE]
Sony Entertainment’s CEO Michael Lynton confirmed he was exiting the company to work full time for Snapchat, in which he was an early investor. Although Lynton was more hands on with Sony’s global movie and TV business, the firm’s music companies reported into him too. It’s thought his departure could result in a restructure of Sony’s US-headquartered entertainment units, including Sony Music Entertainment and Sony/ATV Music Publishing. [READ MORE]
New stats this week confirmed that streaming boomed in Germany last year, but CDs still accounted for more than 53% of the local record industry’s revenues. Though with CD sales continuing to decline and subscription streaming up 73.1% last year, 2017 could be the year when CDs fall below the 50% point. Germany like Japan is a key recorded music market that has made the shift from physical product to digital much slower than elsewhere, such as in the US and UK. [READ MORE]
A blog post from Pandora’s insights guy confirmed that artists will continue to get their royalties from the firm’s free personalised radio service via SoundExchange, even though the digital company is no longer using a licence from the collecting society. This is important, because it means artists generally see a bigger cut of the money (50%) and payments are not subject to recoupment. Though artist royalties on Pandora’s less used paid-for personalised radio service will now go through the labels, and therefore be subject to record contract. [READ MORE]
Live Nation subsidiary DF Concerts was told to repay £50,000 to the Scottish government after it cancelled the 2017 edition of T In The Park. The Scottish government gave DF a controversial £150,000 grant to help fund the move of the T festival from Balado in Kinross to Strathallan Castle. There have been a number of issues with the new site. The grant was conditional on there being three festivals at Strathallan over three years, hence DF needing to now return a third of the funding. [READ MORE]
The big deals from the last seven days in the music business…
• Providence Equity Partners took a stake in the Sziget festival [INFO]
• Entertainment marketing agencies Frukt and Rogers & Cowan allied [INFO]
• PPL and PRS announced a joint licence for community radio [INFO]
• Kobalt announced a deal with Keith Urban’s new publishing company Boom [INFO]
• UTA signed Kelis [INFO]
• Syco signed Five After Midnight [INFO]
READ MORE ABOUT: BVMI | DF Concerts | Michael Lynton | Pandora | Paul McCartney | Sony Corp | Sony Music Publishing | The Great Escape
Friday 20 January 2017, 12:22 | By Chris Cooke
Streaming booms but CDs still lead in Germany
Business News Digital Labels & Publishers Top Stories
Take note everybody, this could be your last opportunity to exclaim “those crazy Germans and all their CD buying, what are they like!” Because you all like exclaiming that, right? I know you do. You xenophobic bastards.
While CD sales still accounted for more than half of the German record industry’s revenues last year, they were down to 53.7%, and will likely slip below the 50% point in 2017. But worry not, CD sales may continue to slip and slide, but streaming is booming, up 73.1% year on year.
Actually, with the vinyl revival pushing revenues from that format up 41% last year, and once you throw in some DVD sales and such like, physical product together still accounts for around 62% of the German record industry’s overall income. So, while the digital – by which we really mean streaming – revolution is now happening in Germany, many music fans there are still doing the physical thing.
Germany and Japan, of course, have been the major recorded music markets where physical has continued to dominate in recent years, while the US and UK saw a more rapid move over to digital, though the German and Japanese markets are still slowly following the global trend in the direction of subscription streams. And the impressive growth of the latter strand of recorded music helped the German record industry overall grow 2.4% last year.
All this is according to stats from local industry trade group BVMI, the boss of which, Florian Drücke, says: “The growth curve in 2016 might be slightly flatter than in the previous year, but it doesn’t take away from the current overall positive trend within the market. The streaming business was able to more than offset the decline in physical sales with a significant increase of 73%”.
He added: “It was once more that unique mix of digital and analogue that fuelled and shaped the German market – and ultimately made for a convincing year in the music business. Streaming has finally reached German consumers”.
READ MORE ABOUT:
Friday 20 January 2017, 12:20 | By Chris Cooke
Quincy Jones’ Jackson Estate lawsuit to proceed to trial
Business News Digital Royalties Timeline Labels & Publishers Legal
An ongoing legal dispute between legendary producer Quincy Jones, Sony Music and the Michael Jackson estate – the latter via the MJJ Productions company – is set to go to trial after a judge denied a motion for summary judgement this week.
As previously reported, the producer sued Sony Music and MJJ Productions in 2013 in relation to various posthumous Jackson-based ventures that utilised music from the king of pop’s albums that Jones produced, including the ‘This Is It’ film, two Cirque du Soleil productions and some album re-releases.
Jones’ lawsuit alleged that those projects breached agreements dating from 1978 and 1985 that gave him the first option to remix or remaster the records he produced. It also accused Sony and MJJ of constructing complicated deals around some of those ventures that meant more money went to the Jackson estate to the detriment of Jones.
MJJ Productions sought to have the case dismissed via summary judgement for the second time this week. But, according to The Hollywood Reporter, the judge hearing the case said that he thought the Jackson company’s lawyer was over-simplifying the dispute.
Judge Michael L Stern concluded that there remained a number of outstanding issues that required more rigorous analysis of the available evidence, which in turn would require some proper court time.
He also added that he felt the arguments presented this time in favour of summary judgement were no different than those submitted last year, and he denied the motion that time too.
The matter is now due to properly arrive in court on 21 Feb.
READ MORE ABOUT: Michael Jackson | MJJ Productions company | Quincy Jones | Sony Music
Friday 20 January 2017, 12:17 | By Andy Malt
Taxstone bail revoked after prosecutors appeal to higher judge
Artist News Legal Media
Hip hop podcast host Taxstone, real name Daryl Campbell, has had his bail revoked, after being charged earlier this week over his alleged involvement in a shooting backstage at a TI show in New York last year.
As previously reported, the incident occurred in May 2016 in a VIP bar at the Irving Plaza, leaving one dead and three injured. Rapper Troy Ave, real name Roland Collins, was arrested soon afterwards, after CCTV footage emerged appearing to show him walk into the bar and open fire. Collins was also one of those injured in the attack, and it was his bodyguard, Ronald McPhatter, who died.
Campbell was arrested earlier this week after his DNA was found on the murder weapon – later recovered from a secret compartment in the van that took Collins to hospital. Prosecutors claim that the DNA suggests that it was Campbell who loaded the gun and as a result pushed for him to be denied bail at an arraignment earlier this week.
Initially, a judge placed Campbell on $500,000 bail, and basically ordered him to be held under house arrest – allowed only to leave to record his ‘Tax Season’ podcast or meet his legal team, and even then wearing an electronic tag. However, that has now been overruled by a senior judge, after prosecutors argued that Campbell poses a danger to the public. As a result, he will remain in jail while he awaits trial.
Collins was released on $500,000 bail last year.
READ MORE ABOUT: Irving Plaza | Taxstone | TI | Troy Ave
Friday 20 January 2017, 12:14 | By Chris Cooke
Sammy Andrews to launch directory of female and BAME speakers for music industry events
Business News Education & Events Industry People
A new initiative has launched today aiming to encourage and enable more diversity at music industry events and conferences in the UK and around the world.
Called ‘Let’s Be The Change’, the new project has been launched by artist manager and digital expert Sammy Andrews in response to a debate that occurred on Facebook late last year following the publication of an article by AIM’s Marketing & Events Director Lara Baker dealing with the need for more diversity at music business conferences, and the challenges of achieving that.
More diverse speaker line-ups at industry events can help improve the diversity of the industry at large – not least by inspiring the next generation of execs – but also enables a more wide-ranging and therefore more insightful conversation at said events as well.
Andrews has been a regular panellist and speaker at industry events in recent years, but is too often the only woman on the panels she takes part in. Launching Let’s Be The Change, she said: “I’ve worked in the music industry for over fifteen years now in various capacities and things are certainly changing for women in music, but there is still much to be done”.
She went on: “As many of you know, I speak often at our conferences on subjects ranging from tech, marketing and diversity to blockchain and data insights, but sadly I’m often the only woman on a panel, very often the only female keynote speaker, and further to that quite often one of a small percentage of women in attendance at all at some events. This year I want to do my small part to help change that for women in the music industry”.
The idea is pretty simple. The Let’s Be The Change project will compile a directory of women working in music who are up for speaking about the aspects of the business they work in which will then be made available to event organisers and media. The directory will include female music business professionals from every strand of the industry, with different experience levels and skill-sets.
Recognising that gender diversity is not the only issue at music industry events, there will also be a directory for speakers from Black, Asian and ethnic minority backgrounds. First-time speakers are also encouraged to come forward, with the offer of mentoring for those doing public speaking for the first time.
The initiative has already been backed by music business organisations like AIM, MMF and the PRS For Music Foundation, employers like Live Nation and The Orchard, and industry events like Fast Forward and The Great Escape. CMU Insights, of course, programmes the core conference programme at TGE, and is one of those industry supporters of the new venture too.
CMU MD and Business Editor Chris Cooke says: “There’s no music business topic where it’s impossible to find a diverse mix of people to join the debate on stage, and doing so will almost certainly deliver the wider range of ideas and insights an ever-evolving industry needs – or at least that’s what we’ve always found”.
He goes on: “Achieving that diversity might involve casting a wider net, having a few more conversations before you start booking your speakers, and asking for specific people from the companies you want to feature. Every event has a deadline and it always arrives sooner than you would like, meaning there isn’t always time for that extra work”.
“That’s not a great excuse, but it can sometimes be the reason behind that panel of old white men. Which is why this project is as brilliant as it is simple – it will make identifying speakers much easier. I look forward to tapping it for information for my events, and will add to it my previously secret list of brilliant women in music who should be on your panel”.
More information about the project is available here.
Let’s Be The Change is one of a number of initiatives to launch this week seeking to enable more diverse music industry events in 2017. Earlier this week AIM used its Women In Music evening to announce the offer of free public speaking training for a group of female music business execs, while CMU Insights and The Great Escape launched its New Speaker Programme. The latter is open to everyone, with the aim of giving time to new voices at this year’s CMU@TGE conferences. Click here for information on that programme.
READ MORE ABOUT: Let's Be The Change | Sammy Andrews
Friday 20 January 2017, 12:09 | By Andy Malt
Arcade Fire return with anti-Trump single
Artist News Releases
Arcade Fire are back, and they’re pissed off. Yesterday, the band released the heavily electronic, brooding new single ‘I Give You Power’, which features vocals from soul singer and activist Mavis Staples.
“It’s never been more important that we stick together and take care of each other”, said the band and Staples in a short statement to accompany the song.
They have also announced that all proceeds from the single will be donated to the American Civil Liberties Union.
Watch the video for ‘I Give You Power’ here:
READ MORE ABOUT: Arcade Fire | Mavis Staples
Friday 20 January 2017, 12:04 | By Andy Malt
Gorillaz return with anti-Trump single
Artist News Releases
Gorillaz might not take physical form, but they’re still back and angry at Donald Trump.
Ahead of the new president’s inauguration the virtual band returned yesterday with new single ‘Hallelujah Money’, featuring vocals from 2015 Mercury Prize winner Benjamin Clementine.
“Dark times – u need someone to look up to”, tweeted the band. “Here’s a lightning bolt of truth in a black night. Now piss on! New stuff won’t write itself”.
Now, here, live from Trump Tower, is ‘Hallelujah Money’:
READ MORE ABOUT: Benjamin Clementine | Gorillaz
Friday 20 January 2017, 11:59 | By Andy Malt
Chairlift’s Caroline Polachek releases new solo album
Artist News Releases
When Chairlift announced their split last year, they also confirmed that frontwoman Caroline Polachek would be getting on with her solo career. Having released one album as Romana Lisa already, she’s now back under the name CEP, with an album available as a free download, ‘Drawing The Target Around The Arrow’.
On the decision to just sling it out into the world, she explains to The Creative Review: “The more I thought about it, the more I became aware that so much advertising language now is just telling people what to do. You’re on the subway, it’ll say, ‘Do this. Don’t do this’. Like the Nike slogan, ‘Just do it’. Being surrounded by that kind of language is really oppressive. I was thinking to myself, ‘Well if this music will be useful to people, they’re gonna hear the use for it right away. They’re gonna just do it. They’re just gonna use it'”.
“I also realised that the things I use it for might not be what other people use it for”, she continues. “I didn’t want to necessarily plant the seed that this is a relaxing record. Some people might use it for weight lifting. I wanted to leave the door open. Ideally it would be appropriated in all sorts of ways… used by physical therapists and also under a really hard rap verse. That would be ideal”.
Check out her full interview and download the album here.
READ MORE ABOUT: Caroline Polachek | CEP | Chairlift
Friday 20 January 2017, 11:56 | By Andy Malt
Gallops reunite for new album
Artist News Releases
Hey there, Gallops have announced that they’re getting back together. So that’s good, isn’t it? Yes, I know we’re generally down on reunions here at CMU, but this is more like they just took a bit of time off. So we’re allowing this one.
In the event that you don’t remember, Gallops released their debut album, ‘Yours Sincerely Dr Hardcore’, in 2012, but then the following year they split up. And that was a shame because they were really good and that album was also really good.
“We missed it too much”, say the three members of the band in unison. “Basically having some time away from the band gave us a fresh perspective and made us realise that Gallops still has life in it. It just needed a nap”.
As for how their sound has developed as they’ve got back to working on it, they continue: “The move towards a more electronic sound has been a natural progression for us. These days we tend to be more excited by the possibilities of electronic music than we do by traditional instrumentation. This is very much Gallops MKII. We intend to keep pushing things further and we are already writing ideas for our next record”.
So they are back, and they’re here to stay this time. That’s good news. The album, ‘Bronze Mystic’, is out on 21 Apr. And if you’ve come this far and still demand proof that this is all very exciting, here’s the first single, ‘Darkjewel’:
READ MORE ABOUT: Gallops
Friday 20 January 2017, 11:50 | By Andy Malt
CMU’s One Liners: INgrooves, Little Mix, Yasutaka Nakata, more
Artist News Business News Industry People Labels & Publishers One Liners Releases
Other notable announcements and developments today…
• INgrooves has announced the hiring of Ollie Buckwell as its new SVP Business Development. “The music industry is at a moment of unprecedented potential with the modernisation of digital delivery, analytics and distribution services”, he says. “What an exciting time to join INgrooves”. And what a time to be alive!
• Little Mix have released the video for new single ‘Touch’.
• Yasutaka Nakata has released a new single, ‘Crazy Crazy’, featuring vocals from Charli XCX and Kyary Pamyu Pamyu. Here’s a bit of it.
• Squarepusher is releasing a new album with his Shobaleader One live band, called ‘Elektrac’, on 10 Mar. It features eleven new versions of solo Squarepusher tracks. Here’s one, ‘Journey To Reedham’.
• Nancy Sinatra: Not a fan of Donald Trump.
• John Mellencamp: Not a fan of Donald Trump.
• Maynard James Keenan: Not a fan of Donald Trump.
• Joey Bada$$: Not a fan of Donald Trump.
• China: Not a fan of Donald Trump.
• Madonna: Still not a fan of Donald Trump.
• Here’s a blow by blow account of what you missed at Trump’s big inauguration concert last night, by the way. And another, because I’m not sure one is enough.
READ MORE ABOUT: Charli XCX | Donald Trump | INgrooves | Joey Bada$$ | John Mellencamp | Kyary Pamyu Pamyu | Little Mix | Madonna | Maynard James Keenan | Nancy Sinatra | Ollie Buckwell | Shobaleader One | Squarepusher | Yasutaka Nakata
