Monday 28 January 2019, 11:13 | By Chris Cooke

Spotify removes tracks after another possible scam gaming the system

Business News Digital

Another fake music on Spotify scandal. But is this one really a fake music on Spotify scandal? Or is it a fake fake music on Spotify scandal? It could be a fake fake fake music on Spotify scandal, but I don’t yet have sufficient qualifications to work out what that might be.

BBC Trending has reported on chatter occurring on Reddit and Twitter about a bunch of mysterious ‘fake artists’ that have been cropping up on the personal listening histories of various Spotify users. Said users claim to have never heard of – or heard any music from – any of these artists and are therefore bemused as to how they are now listed as having been played via their accounts of the streaming platform.

Of course, there has been much chatter about ‘fake artists’ and ‘fake music’ on Spotify before. In most cases artists and tracks are dubbed fake because they are credited to musicians that no one has heard of and which have no online presence beyond the streaming service.

However, most of those tracks are in fact library music, which is to say they are recordings provided to Spotify by a library music company. Because library music is primarily designed for a business audience – ie people looking for music they can cheaply sync into movies, ads, telly shows and YouTube videos – the people who make it tend to use an assortment of pseudonyms.

It’s only in the streaming age that this music, and the pseudonyms attached to it, have started to get public attention, as some music libraries do licensing deals with Spotify. Those deals mainly occurred after some savvy libraries noticed just how popular chill out and relaxation playlists are on the streaming firms, and that there isn’t much commercially released music to fill said playlists.

So, most fake music from fake artists is in fact library music from artists using pseudonyms. Though that’s not to say there haven’t been cases of people uploading cheap and cheerful tracks under random names in order to game the system and get themselves a share of Spotify’s monthly pay out to music rights owners.

One such scam involved scammers setting up a load of premium Spotify accounts, playing their own super-short tracks 24/7, and then banking a monthly royalty cheque which – because of the way streaming royalties are calculated – would be significantly higher than the cost of all those premium accounts.

The new allegation being chatted about online right now is that a scammer is somehow getting their cheap and cheerful uploads into the listening histories of Spotify subscribers without them having ever actually listened to that music. Which would presumably require some sort of hacking behind the scenes.

Though, of course, it is possible that the Spotify system did actually play these tracks to these users, through curated or automated playlists or its radio feature, and said users simply didn’t notice at the time. They probably wouldn’t have noticed at all if Spotify hadn’t run an end of year promotion encouraging people to look back at their personal listening trends.

That said, since the BBC approached Spotify about these unknown artists mysteriously popping up in people’s listening histories, at least some of those artists have been removed from the streaming service. Spotify then confirmed that steps had been taken because “abnormal streaming activity” had been detected. Which suggests that something dodgy has been going on behind the scenes.

It’s no secret that, as streaming continues to boom, there is an increased incentive for people to look to game the streaming system, either for immediate profit, or to build hype around a specific artist, or just for fun. Both Spotify and the distributors which the scammers often use to get their music into the system need to be ever more vigilant. Which is one of the reasons why Spotify is starting to rank its distribution partners.

For its part, the streaming firm told the BBC: “We take the artificial manipulation of streaming activity on our service extremely seriously. Spotify has multiple detection measures in place monitoring consumption on the service to detect, investigate and deal with such activity. These artists were removed because we detected abnormal streaming activity in relation to their content”.

Meanwhile, conspiracy theories will continue to circulate about fake this and fake that, and also over whether or not this or that stakeholder in the digital music ecosystem is turning a blind eye to the scammers because they too are somehow gaming the system.

Fun times one and all.

Michael Jackson estate hits out again as new documentary on alleged child abuse premieres

Artist News Media

A new documentary focussing on child abuse accusations made by two men against Michael Jackson – called ‘Leaving Neverland’ – has largely been praised by critics at the Sundance Film Festival, where it premiered over the weekend. The star’s estate, however, maintains that it is “tabloid character assassination” of the late king of pop and that his accusers’ claims have “always been about money”.

The majority of the reports from those who saw the film this weekend seem to accept the accusations made by Wade Robson and James Safechuck, who say they were abused by Jackson in the 1990s, when aged seven and ten respectively.

New York Post reporter Fracensca Bacardi said on Twitter that the film had “left people appalled” and – referencing the very high profile criminal case against the singer in 2005, in relation to other claims of child abuse – “wondering how Michael Jackson got acquitted”.

Both Robson and Safechuck appeared on stage after the second part of the film was screened on Saturday. Safechuck said that they had not been paid by the filmmakers and never expected to be.

The two accusers both launched legal action in relation to their respective abuse allegations after Jackson’s death in 2009: Robson in 2013 and Safechuck in 2014. Both cases were dismissed before reaching trial, the courts saying that they had waited too long to launch civil proceedings in relation to the abuse allegations.

Prior to that, while Jackson was still alive, both men had testified in defence of the star during that 2005 criminal trial, providing testimonies that contributed to the musician’s acquittal. In the film, Robson says he subsequently admitted that he was abused to a therapist, after experiencing two breakdowns.

Both men explain what they say happened to them in graphic detail in the film, adding that they only felt comfortable telling their respective stories after meeting each other in the wake of their legal action. However, the Jackson estate continues to describe them as “admitted liars” who are making “efforts to achieve notoriety and a payday”.

“‘Leaving Neverland’ isn’t a documentary”, says the estate. “It is the kind of tabloid character assassination Michael Jackson endured in life, and now in death. The film takes uncorroborated allegations that supposedly happened 20 years ago and treats them as fact. These claims were the basis of lawsuits filed by these two admitted liars which were ultimately dismissed by a judge”.

It went on to say that the film provides “no independent evidence and absolutely no proof in support of their accusations, which means the entire film hinges solely on the word of two perjurers”. Moreover, it adds, director Dan Reed “intentionally avoided interviewing numerous people over the years who spent significant time with Michael Jackson and have unambiguously stated that he treated children with respect and did nothing hurtful to them”.

“We are extremely sympathetic to any legitimate victim of child abuse”, the estate insists. “This film, however, does those victims a disservice. Because despite all the disingenuous denials made that this is not about money, it has always been about money – millions of dollars – dating back to 2013 when both Wade Robson and James Safechuck, who share the same law firm, launched their unsuccessful claims against Michael’s Estate”.

“Now that Michael is no longer here to defend himself”, the estate concludes, “Robson, Safechuck and their lawyers continue their efforts to achieve notoriety and a payday by smearing him with the same allegations a jury found him innocent of when he was alive”.

The film is set to air in the UK on Channel 4 in the spring.

Cheryl Tweedy’s lawyers want people to stop talking about 2003 assault conviction

Artist News Legal Media

Lawyers working for Cheryl Tweedy have reportedly complained to The Guardian that a recent interview with the one time Girl Aloud mentioned that time – back in 2003 – when she was convicted of assault occasioning actual bodily harm over an altercation with a toilet attendant at a nightclub.

According to the Mail On Sunday, Tweedy’s legal reps argued that bringing up the crime, her subsequent trial and her conviction in a 2018 article is a breach of the Rehabilitation Of Offenders Act. Which it almost certainly isn’t.

As one media lawyer – Duncan Lamont at Charles Russell Speechlys – pointed out to the Mail: “The rationale behind the Rehabilitation Of Offenders Act was that, [after a period of time] if you applied for a job, you didn’t have to mention your conviction to your employer because the conviction was spent. It does not apply to the media. The act was designed to give people who committed an offence a second chance, not for privacy purposes”.

The Guardian itself hasn’t commented on its correspondence with lawyers acting for Tweedy, but the Mail said that it too had received a legal letter that “cited the Rehabilitation Of Offenders Act and argued Ms Tweedy should be treated by the media in the same manner as someone who had not committed nor been charged, prosecuted, convicted and sentenced for an offence”.

That letter didn’t stop the Mail running its story and The Guardian article is still live. And now we’ve reported on the conviction again too. Which proves, as always, you should never hire lawyers who claim to do ‘reputation management’. It can be terrible for your reputation.

One Liners: Spirit Music, Ian Brown, Julia Michaels, more

Artist News Business News Gigs & Festivals Industry People Labels & Publishers One Liners Releases

Other notable announcements and developments today…

• Spirit Music execs Jon Singer and Ross Cameron have completed a buyout of the music rights company. “There is a powerful shift occurring within the music industry and this new dynamism means that Spirit, with our amazing songwriters, dedicated team and 75,000 songs, is especially well-positioned for growth”, says Singer.

• Ian Brown has released the title track from his upcoming new solo album, ‘Ripples’. The album is out this Friday.

• Julia Michaels has released a new EP, ‘Inner Monologue Part 1’, and lead single, ‘Anxiety’, featuring Selena Gomez. “I wanted it to be a little satirical, because anxiety is typically such a dark topic,” she goes on. “It’s something that when you talk about it, you don’t talk about it with a smile. I guess it’s my way of trying to take my power back from anxiety”.

• Underworld have released the second part of their year long ‘Drift’ project, ‘Appleshine (Film Edit)’.

• David Gray has released new single ‘Watching The Waves’. The track is taken from his upcoming new album ‘Gold In The Brass Age’.

• Royal Trux have released the video for the title track of their upcoming new album ‘White Stuff’.

• Lion Babe have announced that they will release new album ‘Cosmic Wind’ on 29 Mar Here’s new single, ‘The Wave’, featuring Leikeli47.

• Kokoko have released the video for their track ‘LOVE’, featuring Nyangombe.

• Ängie is back with new single ‘IDGAF’. It’s not a Dua Lipa cover.

• King Crimson will play three shows at the Royal Albert Hall from 18-20 Jun to mark their 50th anniversary.

Check out our weekly Spotify playlist of new music featured in the CMU Daily – updated every Friday.

Ed Sheeran launches signature guitar line

And Finally Artist News Brands & Merch

If you’ve ever wanted to own a tiny guitar like the ones Ed Sheeran uses on stage, well, now you can, because he’s just launched a line of tiny guitars like the ones he uses on stage. The range launches with eight different acoustic guitars to choose from, all made by Irish manufacturer Lowden and based on two of that firm’s existing smaller (OK, maybe not actually “tiny”) guitar models.

In a video promoting the new range, Sheeran reveals how he’d longed for many years to own a Lowden guitar, but struggled to find them in the shops. His first was the ‘Wee Lowden’ small-bodied model, which was designed specifically for him in 2012. You can’t get one specifically designed for you, but you can now get one specifically designed for him to sell specifically to you.

In the same video, Sheeran also notes that he’s launching his own guitar line at a time when the number of young people playing the instrument is dropping. Expanding on that in a statement alongside the announcement, he says: “There are fewer guitar bands and fewer artists using guitars now, and not as many kids picking up guitars. That is something I would like to change by getting these great quality guitars, made in Ireland, into kids’ hands and encouraging them to learn and progress”.

That may be easier said than done. Prices for the Sheeran range have not yet been announced, but a Lowden guitar will generally set you back several thousand pounds. Though it has been vaguely hinted that Sheeran’s may be more affordable. My first guitar cost £30, so hopefully it’ll be somewhere closer to that.

Anyway, you can have a look at these guitars that will set you back somewhere between £30 and £7000 (TBC) here.

Setlist: Pitchfork, Viagogo, Spotify

Business News Digital Labels & Publishers Legal Live Business Media Retail Setlist

CMU’s Andy Malt and Chris Cooke review key events in music and the music business from the last seven days, including the paywall about to go up around Pitchfork, the Competition And Markets Authority’s “serious concerns” over Viagogo’s lack of compliance with UK law and Spotify’s new artist blocking feature. Setlist is sponsored by 7digital.

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Listen to Setlist and sign up to receive new episodes for free automatically each week through any of these services…

Stories discussed this week:
• Pitchfork will add a paywall this year
• CMA raises “serious concerns” over Viagogo’s compliance with court order
• Spotify launches artist blocking feature
• Sony drops R Kelly

Also mentioned:
• Sports Direct chief bidding for HMV
• Don’t trust Daily Mail website, Microsoft browser warns users (The Guardian)
• Buy the ‘Dissecting The Digital Dollar’ book

Upcoming events:
• 4 Feb, London: Dissecting The Digital Dollar Masterclass
• 4-18 Feb, London: Making Money From Music Copyright Seminars
• 21 Feb, Belfast: Get Paid As Well As Played (aka Top Five Reasons You Don’t Get Paid)
• 21 Feb, Belfast: Music Industry Speed Briefing – Secondary Ticketing: The Story So Far
• 21 Feb, Belfast: Mapping the music eco-system in Northern Ireland at Output Belfast
• 22 Feb, Chelmsford: Building A Business Around Your Music
• 23 Feb, London: Urban Development’s Industry Takeover All-Dayer
• 4-18 Mar, London: Music Marketing & Fan Engagement Seminars

CMU Digest 28.01.19: Viagogo, PledgeMusic, iHeartMedia, FLVTO.biz, Pitchfork

CMU Digest

The Competition & Markets Authority said it had “serious concerns” about Viagogo not complying with its demands that the ticket resale platform fall in line with UK consumer rights law by 18 Jan. Those demands were contained in a court order and the CMA said it would return to court if the requirements were not urgently met. For its part, Viagogo continues to insist it is in fact compliant with the law. [READ MORE]

PledgeMusic issued a statement after more artists spoke out about late payments. There were complaints last year of the direct-to-fan and crowd-sourcing platform repeatedly making late payments to artists which had used the service. Then in November the company said an executive rejig and financial revamp should fix the problems. But they did not. As more and more out-of-pocket artists went public with their complaints Pledge said it “deeply regret” the ongoing payment issues, that it was now talking to a number of “strategic partners” in a bid to address the firm’s problems and that it hoped to have an update within 60 days. [READ MORE]

Proposals to take US radio giant iHeartMedia out of bankruptcy were approved by the courts. iHeart has been struggling to service mega-debts, much of them run up during a leveraged buy-out of the firm in 2008. It entered bankruptcy last year. Under the now approved plan the firm’s outdoor advertising business will be spun off, leaving the iHeart company with the radio stations and its US-based streaming service. Boss man Bob Pittman said the restructuring that will take the company out of bankruptcy will allow it to “take advantage of the renaissance underway in audio”. [READ MORE]

A copyright case being pursued by the US record industry against two Russian stream-ripping sites was dismissed. The man behind FLVTO.biz and 2conv.com successfully argued that the US courts had no jurisdiction in the case, because the sites were based in Russia and the vast majority of users were outside America. The Recording Industry Association Of America had argued that a significant number of US-based people had nevertheless used the sites to rip permanent copies of streaming music and that their operator had a various points used American servers, domain registrars and advertising networks. [READ MORE]

The owner of music site Pitchfork announced plans to put paywalls up around all of its US-based websites at some point this year. Condé Naste already charges people to access some content on its New Yorker, Vanity Fair and Wired sites. An increasing number of newspapers and magazines are now trying to charge for content online. Though it will be interesting to see how any Pitchfork pay-wall works, as opinion is divided as to whether people can be persuaded to pay for music journalism online. [READ MORE]

The big deals from the last seven days in the music business…
• Universal’s Bravado bought Epic Rights [INFO]
• Cooking Vinyl Publishing signed Matty Benbrook [INFO]

CMA raises “serious concerns” over Viagogo’s compliance with court order

Business News Legal Live Business Top Stories

Following the bold claim by Viagogo last week that it was now compliant with UK rules on secondary ticketing, the Competition And Markets Authority has – and I know this is going to surprise you – said that this is not the case.

In a statement yesterday, the CMA said: “Following initial checks, the CMA has serious concerns that Viagogo has not complied with important aspects of the court order we secured against them”.

That court order – or “agreement”, as Viagogo likes to call it – was sought after the always controversial ticket resale firm failed to commit to make changes to its website to bring it in line with consumer rights law.

The CMA first announced plans in November 2017 to crack down on all the major secondary ticketing sites in the UK. They then made a number of specific demands of those sites. By the compliance deadline of 17 Jan, those demands applied to just StubHub and Viagogo, after Ticketmaster shut down its GetMeIn and Seatwave sites in Europe.

Just before that deadline, Viagogo tweeted: “Further to the agreement we reached with the CMA we have met the deadline and are now compliant”.

Many critics – including some in the secondary ticketing industry – immediately disputed that this was the case. The rules being enforced include ensuring that buyers are told any seat numbers linked to tickets they are buying; that the name of the seller is published if said seller touts tickets commercially; and that any risks of touted tickets being cancelled by a promoter are clearly stated.

Viagogo was also told to stop using misleading messaging and to sort out its notoriously useless refunds system for people who buy tickets via the platform that then fail to get them into a show. In some cases, critics say that changes made to Viagogo’s site have made things worse, rather than better. Meanwhile, other rules are simply not being adhered to.

Reacting to the new CMA statement, Campaign Manager of anti-touting group the FanFair Alliance, Adam Webb, said in a statement: “Last week Viagogo passed a strict deadline to comply with a court order and overhaul its business. True to form, we have seen little evidence of change. In fact, our concerns with how this website operates have only intensified, and while we welcome today’s update it is now vital that the CMA act quickly and decisively to enforce the law. Viagogo has run out of road”.

On that last point, the CMA said in its statement: “The CMA has now raised these concerns with Viagogo and expects them to make any necessary changes without delay. If they do not, the CMA will return to court to ensure they do”.

This could now lead to Viagogo being found to be in contempt of court. If this happens, it could face a fine or some employees of the company could face prison.

Asked for a statement, a spokesperson for Viagogo would only say, “We are compliant”.

Songwriter Matty Benbrook signs to Cooking Vinyl Publishing

Artist News Business News Deals Labels & Publishers

Cooking Vinyl Publishing has signed UK producer and songwriter Matty Benbrook to a new deal, covering his catalogue from 2014 onwards.

Benbrook is best known for his work on Paolo Nutini’s debut album, ‘These Streets’, including co-writing the single ‘New Shoes’. He also worked on Jack Savoretti’s 2015 album ‘Written In Scars’, Beverly Knight’s 2016 album ‘Soulsville’ and Dido’s 1999 debut album, ‘No Angel’, as well as tracks by artists including James Morrison, Lana Del Rey, James Morrison, Lana Del Rey and Jamie N Commons.

“I’m incredibly happy to be joining Cooking Vinyl Publishing”, says Benbrook. “CV is a fantastic independent with a great history and team of people who work extremely hard for the music they believe in. I’m looking forward to being part of that and I’m looking forward to a successful partnership with what is going to be a rapidly growing publisher that has a great reach all over the world. It feels like home already and I’m excited about what the future holds with them”.

Cooking Vinyl Publishing MD Ryan Farley adds: “I’m delighted to make Matty my first signing here at Cooking Vinyl Publishing. He is a wonderful songwriter and a true professional, with an amazing pedigree for classic songwriting and a catalogue that speaks for itself. His ability to develop strong relationships with artists from development level to household names is testament to his talent and likeability”.

Benbrook is the first non-performing songwriter to sign to Cooking Vinyl Publishing, which, we’re told, highlights a new direction for the fifteen year old company.

PledgeMusic issues statement amid latest artist payment problems

Business News Digital Management & Funding

PledgeMusic has issued a long statement following widespread commentary online about issues around artists not receiving monies pledged to campaigns run on the direct-to-fan and crowd-funding platform.

There were issues around late payments from Pledge last year, but then in October it announced an executive rejig and new finance system that the company said should solve the problems.

However, issues have continued and an increasing number of artists still awaiting payment have started to go public.

In a statement issued to Billboard, PledgeMusic said yesterday that it “has always been committed to serving artist and fan communities. It was established by artists and was born of a need to change the way in which the traditional music industry operated. It was designed to help artists and their teams at every level, and we believe that PledgeMusic has become an essential part of the evolving landscape of the music industry”.

“That said”, it went on, “we deeply regret that recently we have not lived up to the high standards to which PledgeMusic has always held itself. We acknowledge that many artists have and continue to experience payment delays. These delays to artists are unacceptable – not only to them, but to us”.

Referencing recent financing, executive rejigs and logistical overhauls, the statement added: “While the company has made progress, we still haven’t reached our goals. PledgeMusic has been in discussions with several strategic players in the industry who have interest in the PledgeMusic platform. We are evaluating a number of transactions with those potential partners, and we plan to announce details of this in the next 60 days. It is our expectation that payments will be brought current within the next 90 days”.

Concluding, the business said that it accepts “responsibility for the fact that we have been late on payments over the past year. PledgeMusic is working tirelessly on this issue, and we are asking our community for their continued support and patience”.

Pledge co-founder Benji Rogers, who is no longer with the business but who is still often linked to it – having been the public face of the company for many years – has also issued a statement. He wrote: “To the artists, their teams, managers, labels and fans, and to all who have been negatively affected by the issues at PledgeMusic, I am truly sorry”.

Recalling how the business was set up to be a genuinely trusted partner for the artists it worked with, he goes on: “Even though I handed over day-to-day control of Pledge as its CEO for the second time in April of 2016 and left the board last February, the fact that this trust is now broken is unacceptable to me personally and I am truly sorry to all of you who have been affected by this. I have emailed a lot of you from my personal email account, as I no longer have a Pledge email address, and have tried to help where I can, but it’s not enough”.

“As such”, he then revealed, “I have been in touch with the current board and management team to offer my help both strategically and practically. If it is asked for, I will commit to doing all that I can to ensure that this wonderful engine that we created does not cause any further harm, and can grow into something even better for all who would use it”.

Concluding, Rogers wrote: “I would like to acknowledge the incredible team, which includes one of my co-founders, who have been battling to get the right people paid under immensely difficult circumstances both professionally and personally. They are feeling the heat, as they are on the front lines of this and are doing their very best to help you. Of that, I have no doubt. Once again I am truly sorry to any and all of you who have been harmed as a result of what I made. Please know that I will do all that is within my power to make it right and to fix what I can if given the opportunity to do so”.

CMU Insights: Introducing the MMF Fan Data Guide

Business News CMU Insights Update Digital Education & Events Labels & Publishers Management & Funding Marketing & PR

Last night the Music Managers Forum launched the latest of its Digital Dollar guides, produced by CMU Insights.

MMF and CMU have been collaborating on the ‘Dissecting The Digital Dollar’ project since 2015, helping artists and managers navigate and understand the streaming music business, and other ways that the shift to digital has impacted on how artists interact with their fans and business partners.

This has resulted in a number of reports and guides on steaming deals, digital royalties, the artist/label relationship and the need for more transparency in the digital music business.

As part of this work, in 2017, we published the MMF Transparency Index, the 20 pieces of data and information managers need from the labels and distributors to fully understand each artist’s individual steaming business.

In 2018, we then sat down with a number of managers to assess whether all this streaming data was getting through. It was during these conversations that managers started discussing all of the other fan data that is being gathered online, and what they need to do to ensure they have access to it.

Those conversations resulted in the latest Digital Dollar guide, based on the collective knowledge of data-savvy managers, legal experts and direct-to-fan specialists.

The guide puts the spotlight on the wider world of fan data. It runs through the ten key kinds of fan data available, where that data is captured, and what managers need to do – technically and legally – to ensure their artists have access to it.

You can get a free copy of the ‘Fan Data Guide’ and check out an accompanying ‘Fan Data Directory’ on the MMF website here.

Meanwhile, you can buy the main ‘Digital Dollar’ book explaining how streaming deals and digital royalties work here. We also have an edition of the ‘Dissecting The Digital Dollar’ masterclass coming up which is based on the book. Info and tickets here.

Teen band “will not stand for” local council’s Foo Fighters puns

Artist News

You know how everyone thinks it’s delightful when brands are all jokey on social media, even though we all know that it should make you feel so actually sick that you actually puke on the actual floor? Yeah, well imagine how much worse it would be if your local government started doing it too. And they were joking about that time they totally fucked over some kids who just wanted to play guitar?

Anyway, I’m sure you all remember that time in 2016 when Dave Grohl wrote to Cornwall Council asking it to lift restirctions that had been instigated against a band formed by some local teenagers and which stopped them from practising.

The Foo Fighters frontman appealed to the council to overturn a ruling that the band could not play louder than 40 decibels, which is “approximately the level of a dishwasher at fifteen meters distance”, he noted.

He went on to explain how important it had been for him, at the start of his music career, to initially play in a garage, adding how particularly unfair these restrictions seemed given that the band were playing in a garage in the middle of nowhere and had received no complaints from their nearest neighbour.

Anyway, because Grohl turned 50 earlier this month, this letter started circulating again as people shared various reasons why he’s such a great guy, despite being so painfully old.

Trying to get in on the act, Cornwall Council decided to join in with the fun, posting a couple of tweets filled with weak Foo Fighters puns, before explaining the conclusion to the above mentioned story.

“We were in contact with the Cornish band Black Leaves Of Envy several times, offering them alternative rehearsal and soundproofing from a professional company”, the council wrote. “No formal action was taken and we’ve not had any complaints since”.

Well that sounds just great, doesn’t it? Except that the band’s recollection isn’t quite so fluffy and happy ending-y. Black Leaves Of Envy – apparently still going – wrote on their Facebook page: “Here are some facts on this matter: We were given a statutory nuisance complaint from the Council, indicating a four figure penalty should our noise levels continue”.

“Cornwall Council”, they went on, “removed the local youth centre that used to provide a practice room in 2012, giving the workers one weeks notice to leave the property and reneging on a 25 year lease. No real explanation or apology has ever been given, and the promise of another alternative centre never surfaced”.

As for the offer of an alternative place to practise, they add: “We were told that an alternative rehearsal space would have to be funded ourselves, costing several thousands of pounds”.

Concluding, they say that the Council “posting a mocking reply with misleading information” that tries to make the local authority look like the good guy, “is disgraceful … we will not stand for it”.

Happy birthday, Dave Grohl.

Mark Hoppus from Blink 182 and Alex Gaskarth from All Time Low have formed a band

Artist News Releases

I can’t tell you how much of my life I’ve spent wondering what it would be like if Mark Hoppus from Blink 182 and Alex Gaskarth from All Time Low formed a band. Well, I could, but it’s a secret. Anyway, I already know, because they have formed a band, called Simple Creatures, and released their first single together, called ‘Drug’.

“‘Drug’ is always the first song we play people when introducing them to Simple Creatures, so it only makes sense that it’s the first single”, Hoppus tells Kerrang. “I love the ratty guitar lead mixed with the thumping kick drum. Lyrically, the song is about being destroyed by the things you love”.

Gaskarth adds: “‘Drug’ is a song about someone or something you want the most, being terrible for you. Feels great until it doesn’t, but then you can’t stop. In the studio it felt immediately like it was the song that best defined Simple Creatures; it’s gritty, grimy, rooted in the musicality we both came up on, but with a twist that takes it away from anything we’ve worked on before”.

Anyway, you should all stop wondering what it would sound like if Mark Hoppus from Blink 182 and Alex Gaskarth from All Time Low formed a band, and instead listen to ‘Drug’:

Girli is going to release an album and go on tour

Artist News Gigs & Festivals Releases

The alternative pop artist Girli will be performing a selection of her songs each night in various venues around the UK for much of the duration of April. This is down to the fact that she is releasing her debut album, ‘Odd One Out’, the same month and wishes to make people aware of it.

“All the songs on this album are about feeling different from others”, she says of all the songs on the album. “But this isn’t a sad album. These are happy songs because they’re part of me learning to love who I am. I’ve always felt like the odd one out, and chances are, because you’re reading this, you have too. I hope when you listen to these songs, you hear things you relate to and that they make you feel like you’re not alone”.

One of those songs is called ‘Deal With It’ and it acts as Girli’s new single, which, like the tour, aims to raise awareness of this new album’s release. That album will be released on 5 Apr, by the way. Hey, the system works!

Here is every single one of the tour dates:

5 Apr: Leicester, The Cookie
6 Apr: Birmingham, The Castle & Falcon
7 Apr: Cardiff, The Globe
8 Apr: London, Islington Academy
10 Apr: Bristol, Thekla
11 Apr: Southampton, The Loft
13 Apr: Brighton, The Haunt
14 Apr: Guildford, The Boileroom
16 Apr: Manchester, Band On The Wall
17 Apr: Stoke-On-Trent, The Sugarmill
18 Apr: Liverpool, Zanzibar
19 Apr: Sheffield, Plug 2
21 Apr: Glasgow, King Tut’s
22 Apr: Leeds, The Wardrobe
23 Apr: Newcastle, Think Tank
24 Apr: Norwich, Arts Centre
28 Apr: Oxford, The Bullingdon

One Liners: Cardi B, Shaun Ryder, Dua Lipa, more

Artist News Brands & Merch Business News Gigs & Festivals One Liners Releases

Other notable announcements and developments today…

• If you’re wondering who’s going to star in this year’s Super Bowl Pepsi commercial, well, you’re a terrible person. But I can tell you it’s Cardi B. Because while her principles apparently won’t allow her to perform in the half time show, she’s still more than happy to take money from its main sponsor.

• If you had a large bet placed on Shaun Ryder not having any work published by Faber in his lifetime, I’m afraid the drinks are not on you tonight. He is both alive and having a book published by Faber. ‘Wrote For Luck: Selected Lyrics’ will be published by Faber on 3 Mar.

• Dua Lipa has released a new song, ‘Swan Song’. It’s taken from upcoming Robert Rodriquez movie ‘Alita: Battle Angel’ and the video for the track very much reflects this fact.

• Best known for being Beck, Beck has released new single, ‘Tarantula’, taken from a new compilation of songs inspired by the film ‘Roma’. This song is a reimaging of a 1982 Colourbox B-side, which I guessed he must have thought of while watching ‘Roma’.

• Bring Me The Horizon have a new album out today, and on it is a song featuring Grimes. Cool, huh? It’s called ‘Nihilist Blues’, and this is it here.

• Florence And The Machine have released two new songs. Two! That’s the sort of productivity you can achieve when you have a machine in your band, I guess. Anyway, there’s one called ‘Moderation’ and one called ‘Haunted House’. You can listen to both here.

• Aurora has released new single, ‘Animal’. “I spend a lot of time thinking about humans”, she says.

• Conor Oberst and Phoebe Bridgers are releasing an album together, called ‘Better Oblivion Community Center’. That is also the name of the band they have formed to make this album. Here they are performing the song ‘Dylan Thomas’ on ‘The Late Show With Stephen Colbert’.

• Rose Elinor Dougall has released new single ‘First Sign’, taken from her new album ‘A New Illusion’, which is out on 5 Apr.

Check out our weekly Spotify playlist of new music featured in the CMU Daily – updated every Friday.

Slipknot’s filthy overalls worse than Bono’s old pants: official

And Finally Artist News Business News Live Business

When artists go on tour and sell their tickets at rather high prices, fans often say things like “they’re so greedy” and “what a bunch of greedy bastards” and “they can stick their overpriced tickets between their sweaty butt flaps and whistle”. All of which is justified.

Except that one reason for higher ticket prices is the size of the behind the scenes team that is required for a top-flight tour who all need to be paid. Like, did you ever even consider the person who has to wash Bono’s greasy boxer shorts?

To be fair, no one ever has. Why would you? I try to spend as little of my day as possible thinking about Bono’s pants. I’ve really got it down to nothing more than a few minutes now. Except today I read a New York Times article about the guy who has to wash Bono’s pants while U2 are on

It turns out that until Hans-Jürgen Topf started thinking about it about 20 years ago, very few people gave Bono’s pants much thought at all. I dread to think what that meant for said pants by the end of any one tour. But don’t worry, now they are thought about and taken care of.

“It’s very hard to find someone who is passionate about laundry”, says U2’s tour manager Jake Berry, adding of Topf: “He is passionate. He is a pioneer”.

“My reputation precedes me”, adds Topf. “Nobody tackled the subject of laundry, nobody wanted to learn it, until I developed a system for it. The artists live their life, and I live my laundry life”.

What could possibly get the image of Bono’s soiled undies out of your brain though? According to the article, the worst thing Topf ever had to deal with were Slipknot’s overalls, which had been “sprayed with beer, cream and fake blood, and left in garbage bags for three days”.

Nice. You should read the whole article here, because it turns out that tour laundry is more interesting than you thought.

Record industry’s latest stream-ripping lawsuit dismissed in US court

Business News Digital Legal

The music industry’s ongoing legal battle with its top piracy gripe of the moment has suffered a setback after a US judge said his court didn’t have jurisdiction over the operator of two stream-ripping sites based in Russia.

As a result, the man behind FLVTO.biz and 2conv.com has successfully had the lawsuit filed against him by the Recording Industry Association Of America dismissed. Tofig Kurbanov called for the RIAA’s lawsuit to be dismissed on jurisdiction grounds last October.

He argued that his two sites – which allow users to turn streams into permanent MP3 downloads – were entirely managed from Russia and that less than 6% of his users are from the US. Therefore, he reckoned, any copyright action shouldn’t be pursued through a court in Virginia, USA.

For its part, the RIAA argued that 31 million Americans have used the sites more than 96 million times, with 542,000 users in Virginia alone. The record industry trade group also reckoned that, at various points, FLVTO.biz and 2conv.com had used US-based servers, domain registrars and advertising networks.

However, judge Claude M Hilton has now concurred with Kurbanov that the Virginian courts do not have jurisdiction in this case. The defendant had not specifically set out to target American users and, the judge said, because the sites are ad-funded and require no sign-up by those looking to stream-rip, they didn’t have commercial relationships with users in the US.

Although the RIAA is yet to respond to the ruling, it will be disappointed with the judge’s conclusions. While Americans may make up a small portion of the total number of users on FLVTO.biz and 2conv.com, a significant number of people in America are nevertheless using the sites to make unlicensed copies of streams. And piracy sites are also commonly ad-funded and therefore require no formal sign-up on the part of those looking for pirated content.

The ruling could also make others operating stream-ripping sites more bullish when targeted with legal action – or threats of legal action – by the music industry. Many stream-ripping sites insist that they aren’t actually liable for copyright infringement, using the classic argument that their services have legitimate as well as illegitimate uses. But ever since the US record industry successfully forced top stream-ripping site YouTube-MP3 off the internet, we’ve seen a number of similar services shutdown when targeted with threats of litigation.

The decision is also likely to heighten calls in the US for web-blocking to be introduced there as an anti-piracy tactic. Web-blocking, where courts order internet service providers to block access to copyright infringing sites, usually begins with jurisdiction issues. Which is to say, it’s a way for copyright owners to restrict usage of piracy sites in their home countries where those sites are based in other places where it is hard to sue.

Efforts to introduce web-blocking in the US in 2012 proved very controversial indeed and American law-makers pretty much dropped the whole idea as a result. Though more recently both music and movie industry lobbyists have started to call for some sort of web-blocking Stateside, noting that a flurry of web-blocks in countries like the UK have not resulted in the censorship of legitimate websites, as some critics of web-blocking claimed could happen.

StubHub responds to launch of new European anti-touting campaign

Business News Live Business

StubHub has responded to the launch last week of a new Europe-wide anti-ticket touting organisation, the Face-value European Alliance For Ticketing. Needless to say, the eBay-owned secondary ticketing site isn’t too excited about the development. In fact, it argues that FEAT’s aims to restrict the resale of tickets by touts for profit online could be harmful to consumers, urging campaigners to focus on the ills of the primary ticketing market instead.

“As a fan first marketplace we are concerned by the rhetoric of the newly formed Face-value European Alliance For Ticketing and its potential to harm consumers, especially as we observe the trend of rising average face value prices”, says Wayne Grierson, Managing Director at StubHub’s northern EMEA division, in a statement.

Arguing that StubHub has “revolutionised the long-existing secondary ticket market by creating a safe, secure and transparent platform for fans to buy and resell tickets”, he says that any legislation to cap resale prices will simply drive secondary ticketing for profit to social media and other websites where it is difficult or impossible to regulate. Which has long been the preferred argument of those in the ticket resale sector countering calls for restrictions to be put on online touting.

Turning to where he thinks campaigners should focus their energies, Grierson continues: “StubHub challenges FEAT to advocate for increased transparency on the primary market. Fans have the right to understand how many tickets are being made available for sale, and when and at what price and whether those prices will fluctuate due to demand. In the state of New York, it was reported that an average of 54% of tickets never even go on public sale and are instead held back by promoters and primary sellers. When consumers have this information available to them, they can make informed purchasing decisions”.

He concluded by praising the new-ish regulations for secondary ticketing in the UK, which are now being enforced by the Competitions And Markets Authority, saying: “This past week in the UK, we’ve seen the positive effects that regulation can have on the consumer experience across the secondary market. Any further regulation should look comprehensively at the entire industry and focus on protecting consumers, not policies that will have negative consequences”.

Responding to StubHub’s arguments, a director of FEAT – MCT-Agentur CEO Scumeck Sabottka – said in a statement this morning: “While we agree on the importance of a secure environment for fans to resell tickets when they can no longer attend a gig, we disagree on the need for this to involve price-hiking to the value of €8 billion annually”.

Noting StubHub’s advocacy of a more transparent ticket-buying experience, he goes on: “FEAT advocates for transparency in ticketing, as our website attests. However, on that subject, we question why it took a CMA investigation for StubHub to commit to telling UK ticket buyers what they are buying, whether they are buying from a business and whether their ticket might not actually get them into the event”.

He concludes: “Both artists and fans want face value resale. We note the closure of Seatwave and GetMeIn! in the UK, the success of face value resale platforms like Twickets in the UK and Spain, and the fact that countries like Ireland are moving towards a face value resale only policy. We hope StubHub will catch this wave and work with organisations like ours towards a resale ecosystem that is truly fan first”.

The UK developments in the “past week” referred to by Grierson relate, of course, to the passing of the CMA’s deadline for secondary ticketing sites to comply with various specific elements of UK consumer rights law. StubHub voluntarily agreed to meet the CMA’s demands, while a court order was secured forcing its rival Viagogo to fall in line. Viagogo then claimed ahead of last week’s deadline that it was now totally compliant, although critics – including some in the secondary ticketing market – say that this is not the case.

As that deadline passed, the CMA also published an open letter to event organisers, outlining their responsibilities under UK law in the resale domain. In particular, it explains exactly what and how information should be displayed at the primary ticketing stage if promoters plan to restrict the resale of tickets on the secondary market. Particularly if they plan to cancel tickets that they know have been touted.

Elsewhere in StubHub news, a major eBay shareholder, the Elliott Management Corporation, has called on the wider business to enact a plan that it believes will boost the firm’s share price. This includes spinning the “thriving” StubHub off into its own company, rather than it operating as a subsidiary of eBay itself.

Jean-Michel Jarre updates HSBC’s “sound identity”

Artist News Brands & Merch Business News

HSBC has hired Jean-Michel Jarre to create its new “sound identity”. Because once you reach a certain level of corporate music making, “jingle” just doesn’t sound right.

Seven different versions of new composition ‘Together We Thrive’ will be used by the bank. It has been “created to be relevant to the 66 markets in which HSBC operates by working across different languages and cultures”.

If you phone up HSBC today you can hear it while you’re on hold. So that’s something to do. It’ll also start appearing in adverts, in branches, in HSBC’s app, on its ATMs and at its offices around the world. So if you engage with HSBC a lot, you’d better prepare yourself to start getting very tired indeed of this new track.

“This is the first time that I have worked with a brand on a project like this but I really connected with HSBC’s deep focus on the notion of thriving”, says Jarre. “My music has always been about the future and in order to thrive in the 21st century, I truly believe we need to focus on the environment, education and technology. Once I understood their value to the HSBC brand, suddenly it seemed that we were speaking the same language”.

Christ. And here’s HSBC Global Head Of Brand Andrea Newman: “Sound is an increasingly important part of brand building in a world where our audiences are busy and distracted. Having a distinctive sound which works alongside our visual branding and logo means we can be easily recognised wherever and however our customers interact with us. We are delighted to have partnered with Jean-Michel Jarre who has created a sound identity which will work across the many countries and cultures in which we operate”.

Despite all this probably making you feel like you need a bloody good wash, ‘sonic branding’ is actually really interesting. Have a listen to this episode of the excellent 20,000Hz podcast on the subject.

RealNetworks doubles its stake in Napster

Business News Digital

So Napster is still a thing. As is RealNetworks. And there was you thinking that that headline was a golden oldie from the CMU Daily archives. Yes, RealNetworks – still a thing, remember – has doubled its stake in Napster – also still a thing. So now you know.

Officially speaking the Napster streaming music business is still owned by a company called Rhapsody International Inc. Rhapsody was once a division of RealNetworks, operating a digital music service called Rhapsody in the US. It was spun off as a standalone company in 2010, with MTV owner Viacom also a significant shareholder at the time. That company then acquired the Napster streaming service the following year, ultimately phasing out the Rhapsody brand that had only ever been used in the US.

Subsequently a New York-based investment set-up called Columbus Nova pumped a load of money into the business and became a key shareholder. But now RealNetworks has confirmed that it has basically bought Columbus Nova out of the business, meaning it is the majority shareholder again, with an 84% stake.

RealNetworks said in a statement that it had “acquired the debt and equity interests in Rhapsody International, which does business as Napster, from Rhapsody Applebee LLC, which is managed by Columbus Nova Technology Partners. The deal increases RealNetworks’s stake in Napster to 84% from 42%”.

Basic terms of the deal were also revealed, with the statement adding that “RealNetworks will pay $1 million in cash, and an additional $14 million over time subject to certain conditions, with additional consideration depending on subsequent events, that could total up to $40 million”.

The Napster download and then streaming service has never really enjoyed the profile or significance of the original Napster file-sharing network that was sued out of business in 2002 but retains an iconic place in music industry history.

In the early days as a legit licensed digital music set-up, Napster’s subscription model never really caught on as Apple’s iTunes set the precedent that the initial digital music boom would operate on a dollar-per-download basis. Then, when streaming took off and subscriptions did become the norm, Napster quickly fell behind the likes of Spotify.

Which is why you’d probably forgotten Napster was even still an option for your ten-pounds-a-month streaming music fix. Though in more recent years, Napster bosses have been pushing more into B2B streaming, providing a platform for other companies that want to offer musical streams on a subscription basis.

The boss of RealNetworks, Rob Glaser, yesterday said that it was that strategy that meant he was optimistic about the future of the streaming music business his company now controls again.

“Napster has reported five-straight quarters of positive operating income”, RealNetworks reassured its shareholders yesterday. “This success”, Glaser added, “was achieved by pivoting to a B2B strategy focused on selling the Napster platform as a service. We think Napster’s future is very bright”.

Pitchfork will add a paywall this year

Business News Media

Ah, making money out of journalism in the digital age. That’s a tricky business isn’t it? I mean, if it was a simple thing to do, I wouldn’t be sitting here writing this story under a bus shelter in Croydon on an Etch A Sketch.

But good news everybody! Optimists in the world of magazines are hoping that the world is finally ready for paywalls around the written word, and to that end magazine publisher Condé Naste has got the builders in constructing various assorted paywalls around every one of its US-based sites.

In a memo to staff, Condé Naste boss Bob Sauerberg confirmed that paywalls would be added to all of the company’s American websites by the end of the year, the publisher having first dabbled with online subscriptions in 2014 on The New Yorker, then adding limits on freebie readers of Wired and Vanity Fair last year.

“This is the next phase of a strategy that was implemented with the launch of the paywall at The New Yorker in 2014”, Sauerberg confirmed. “Since then, audiences at The New Yorker, Wired and Vanity Fair have proven that they are willing to pay for the quality content we create, and the performance of those paywalls has exceeded our expectations”.

Some traditional newspaper and magazine publishers tried out paywalls in the early days of the world wide web, but – except for more business-centric titles – in the main people seemed unwilling to pay to access journalism online. So most publishers instead opted for an ad-funded free content model, hoping that if they could build big enough audiences around that content, when internet advertising finally took off they’d be quids in.

What no one foresaw was that, when internet advertising did indeed take off, Google and Facebook would gobble up most of the money as brands sought to push their products through search lists and social feeds rather than the online versions of traditional media. All of which has led to newspaper and magazine owners looking for other revenue streams, including branded and sponsored content, and adding e-commerce buttons alongside articles.

In more recent years we’ve seen broadsheet newspapers in particular dabbling again with subscriptions and paywalls. The hope was that platforms like Netflix and Spotify had convinced consumers that online content is something you might actually pay for, and that those newly educated consumers might then be persuaded to pay to access the kind of long-form journalism that isn’t quite so ubiquitously available everywhere on the internet.

Some broadsheet newspapers have had some success with this more recent move into paid-for content online, leading to some magazines – especially those with more long-form articles like The New Yorker – following suit.

Still, questions remain as to whether paywalls can really work for all newspapers and magazines or only a select few. Certainly on the newspaper side, it is broadsheets that have had some success in this domain. When The Sun put up a paywall around all its tabloid nonsense, it was a commercial disaster. Which means opinion is divided as to quite how wide a range of magazines could successfully go the online subscriptions route.

Condé Nast’s plan is interesting from a music perspective because it owns music site Pitchfork. The media firm has said that paywall policies will be developed on a site-by-site basis. Which means that quite how much content can be accessed before payment is required will vary according to audience and the kind of content being published. And tweaks can be made depending on how people then respond.

Music media owners the world over will be watching with interest how the Pitchfork paywall works, what kind of music content Condé Nast reckons it can restrict to paying users only, and what impact all that has on the site’s traffic and revenues.

The paywalls-for-all strategy at Condé Naste follows the recent news that Pitchfork’s founder and former CEO and Editor In Chief, Ryan Schreiber, was departing the company. He said that after more than two decades working on the music site “the time feels right” to leave and “I’m excited to open a new chapter in my life and explore fresh challenges”.

Stephen Malkmus announces electronic album

Artist News Releases

Stephen Malkmus has announced that he will release his new solo album, ‘Groove Denied’, in March. First single, ‘Viktor Borgia’, is out now.

The new record is a departure from previous works, as is sees Malkmus divert into electronic music. “It’s fun to mess with things that you’re not supposed to”, he says. “The electronic music side of the album, I wanted it to be sonically pre-internet”.

Staying with that thought, he says of the new single: “I was thinking things like Pete Shelley’s ‘Homosapien’, the Human League and DIY synth music circa 1982, and also about how in the new wave 80s, these suburban eighteen-and-over dance clubs were where all the freaks would meet – a sanctuary”.

Watch the video for ‘Viktor Borgia’ here:

One Liners: Tammi Kidd Hutton, SoundCloud, Lil Wayne, more

Artist News Business News Digital Gigs & Festivals Labels & Publishers One Liners Releases

Other notable announcements and developments today…

• Ole has signed a new worldwide co-publishing deal with Nashville songwriter Tammi Kidd Hutton. “Great people; great company”, says Hutton.

• SoundCloud co-founder Eric Wahlforss has resigned as the company’s Chief Product Officer. “This was not an easy decision to make, but one of the biggest reasons why I feel I have made the right decision is that the company is in such capable hands”, he said in a memo to staff. In a statement, CEO Kerry Trainor added: “”It’s not easy to express the depth of my respect and admiration for Eric”.

• Lil Wayne has released the video for ‘Don’t Cry’, featuring XXXtentacion.

• Pixies are set to release a new album later this year, which will seem them reunite with Kim Deal for the third time. Ahead of the release, in June they will start publishing a new weekly podcast, ‘Past Is Prologue, Pixies’. Here’s a trailer.

• Daniel Johnston has released a new animated video for ‘Don’t Let The Sun Go Down On Your Grievances’ from his 1983 album, ‘Yip/Jump Music’.

• Sega Bodega has released new track, ‘Mimi’. It arrives ahead of his live show at Hoxton Hall in London on 7 Feb.

• Shitting hell, King Prawn are back! The band will release their first album since 2003 – ‘The Fabulous New Sounds Of…’ – on 19 Apr. They are also set to play shows in Manchester, London and Hastings the same month.

• Seraphina is back with new single ‘Kingdom Come’. “The song is about the addictive power of doomed desire”, she says. “Like a cult promising salvation, it draws you in and once you sense the shadows lurking it’s too late to pull away from the thrill”.

Check out our weekly Spotify playlist of new music featured in the CMU Daily – updated every Friday.

UK Eurovision contenders unveiled

Artist News Media

The six contenders competing to represent the UK at this year’s Eurovision Song Contest have been announced. They include someone who came seventh in the 2017 series of ‘X Factor’ and the winner of a BBC One talent show ‘All Together Now’. Whatever that is.

In an attempt to make the selection process more interesting, this year the BBC has decided to both simplify and complicate it at the same time. There are six contenders, but only three songs. So there are two versions of each song. Each version will be pitted against the other, then an overall winner will be selected from the remaining three.

So, the contenders…

‘X Factor’ runner-up (of sorts) Holly Tandy and winner of ‘All Together Now’ Michael Rice, will each perform the song ‘Bigger Than Us’.

Then there’s Jordan Clarke, who – like pretty much everyone now – has been on ‘Britain’s Got Talent’, and girl group Maid, who will appear in a live action remake of ‘Aladdin’ directed by Guy Ritchie next year. Wait, what? Really? Ah well, before that they’ll both perform the song ‘Freaks’ in a bid to get to Eurovision 2019.

Finally, there’s another (even less successful) former ‘X Factor’ contestant, Kerrie-Anne Phillips, and Anisa Moghaddam, who actually seems to have had some success, so probably shouldn’t be doing this. They’ve done versions of a song called ‘Sweet Lies’.

We, the lucky public, will be able to vote for our favourite song and performer – but possibly not both – when this year’s ‘Eurovision: You Decide’ is broadcast on BBC One on 8 Feb. Listen to all the songs in their various forms here.

Approved: Daniel Thorne

CMU Approved

Artistic Director and founder of the Immix Ensemble, saxophonist Daniel Thorne is set to release his debut solo album, ‘Lines Of Sight’, in March. The stunningly beautiful record features sweeping tracks, combining saxophone and electronics.

“Thematically, this music was inspired by birds-eye aerial images and the idea of perspective”, explains Thorne. “How something incredibly complex like a river or the surface of the ocean is reduced to a simple line or shape when viewed from the heavens. [And] the line between natural and man-made becomes increasingly blurred”.

He adds: “Several compositions are derived from ratios and processes, and are highly calculated, while others evolved in a much more organic way. I wanted to create music that blurred lines between acoustic and electronic, organic and synthetic, composition and improvisation”.

The obvious point of comparison among other modern avant-garde saxophonists would be Colin Stetson. However, aside from similarities due to the quirks of their chosen instrument, Thorne quickly diverts down a very different route. The six compositions on ‘Lines Of Sight’ will have you feeling like you’re floating above the earth right with him.

Thorne is set to support Daniel Brant at Corsica Studios in London on 26 Feb. Now, listen to the album’s opening track ‘From Inside, Looking Out’.

Stay up to date with all of the artists featured in the CMU Approved column by subscribing to our Spotify playlist.

RIAA bigs up UK copyright law in post-Brexit trade talks submission

Business News Labels & Publishers Legal Top Stories

The Recording Industry Association Of America has made a submission to the US Trade Representative outlining what its priorities would be in any post-Brexit US/UK trade talks. The nine page document can be pretty much summarised as follows: “UK copyright law is great, can we have some of that?”

Yeah, all you Remoaners in the British music community, imagine if the outcome of Brexit was stronger copyright protection for all your sound recordings Stateside. That’d put all your remoaning into perspective wouldn’t it? I mean, there’d be no food in the shops or electricity to cook it with, but you’d get US radio royalties and piracy sites would be web-blocked on both sides of the Atlantic. So, you know, swings and roundabouts.

The US Trade Representative put out a call last November for input on any future post-Brexit UK trade talks and the deadline for submissions was last week. In its submission – published by Torrentfreak – the RIAA summarises just how important the UK market is for the US record industry, and vice versa, before turning primarily to copyright matters.

It notes a number of features of UK copyright law that put the British record industry in a stronger position than its US counterpart, suggesting that America might want to consider adopting those features to strengthen any post-Brexit trading relationship.

This includes the controls that come with the sound recording copyright. UK law provides a formal making available control and a full-on communication control for sound recordings. The latter of which means, in more practical terms, radio stations pay royalties to record companies and recording artists in the UK, which they don’t in the US.

And then there’s web-blocking. Forcing internet service providers to block access to copyright infringing websites has become a preferred anti-piracy tactic for the music industry. But web-blocks are not currently available in the US and proposals that they should be all the way back in 2012 proved very controversial indeed.

“Website blocking has been successful in the United Kingdom”, the RIAA notes, “with 63 music sites being ordered to be blocked following music right holders’ initiatives. On average this produces a reduction in the use of those sites by UK users by approximately 75%”.

Elsewhere, the record industry trade group asks that America’s approach to copyright exceptions – specific scenarios where the copyright doesn’t apply – not be exported to the UK under any trade arrangement. The US has the ambiguous and wide-reaching exception of ‘fair use’, whereas in the UK, like the rest of Europe, exceptions tend to be narrower and more specific. As it should be, reckons the RIAA.

Of course, not everything is super peachy with UK copyright law, with safe harbours a problem in both North America and Europe as far as the music industry is concerned.

Except if the still-in-the-works European Copyright Directive was to get through, and if it contained the safe harbour reform lobbied for by the music industry, and if a post-Brexit UK government still implemented the directive here, then – in the RIAA’s eyes – the British copyright system would be better on safe harbours too. And would then presumably promote the idea of that element of UK copyright being adopted under any trade alliance as well.

That would mean that the music industry would be pushing for the last bit of European Union law to impact on UK law to impact on one of Britain’s first big post-EU trade deals so to impact on US law. Not that American negotiators and law-makers are likely to take on the tech lobby back home just to placate the pesky tedious Brexiting Brits.

And, needless to say, all of this is based on a mountain of IFs.

Like IF we actually Brexit. And IF music industry concerns would really register with any trade deal negotiators on either side of the Atlantic. And IF the UK has a functioning government post-March to even negotiate a deal. And IF Donald Trump hasn’t, by then, fired every official who might negotiate on the American side. And IF there even is a United Kingdom Of Great Britain and Northern Ireland to ask for a deal come spring.

Still, in a month where everyone around the world is utterly bemused at how the British powers-that-be managed to fuck everything up quite so spectacularly, it’s nice of the US record industry to remind us that at least our copyright laws are better. Thanks guys!

Universal’s Bravado buys rival Epic Rights

Brands & Merch Business News Deals Labels & Publishers

Roll up, roll up, get yourself a t-shirt! It’s quite the business, don’t you know. Universal Music has just got its big fat cheque book out in order to expand its merchandise company Bravado by acquiring rival Epic Rights. Yeah, print that on a t-shirt.

As a result of the deal, Bravado will now be in charge of making tees, hoodies, beanies, buttons, bags, cans and other assorted widgets, gizmos and doo-hickeys for artists including Kiss, Billy Joel, Aerosmith, Def Leppard, AC/DC, Eric Clapton, Madonna, Celine Dion, Barbra Streisand, Sting, Britney Spears and ZZ Top.

Epic Rights founder Dell Furano – who did marvellous merch things with the likes of Sony and Live Nation before setting up his own business in 2014 – will join Universal’s mighty merch division as part of the transaction, with him and his team continuing to do magnificent merch nonsense for Epic’s existing roster of talent.

“As the industry’s preeminent brand management company we are constantly looking for ways to evolve our company while providing fans around the world with an ever-growing array of products and experiences”, Bravado boss man Mat Vlasic bragged yesterday, while confirming the Epic deal. Then getting to the point, he declared: “I’m excited to work with Dell, a true icon in our industry, and expand the Bravado portfolio”.

For his part, Furano endorsed Vlasic’s bragging, reckoning that Bravado “have taken product development, marketing and global distribution to an entirely new level”. Then also getting to the point, he added: “I’m very proud of all that we’ve achieved at Epic Rights, and look forward to expanding Epic’s roster and artist services in this next chapter”.

US radio giant iHeartMedia heading out of bankruptcy

Business News Media

iHeartMedia, America’s biggest radio broadcaster and owner of the iHeartRadio streaming platform, is heading out of bankruptcy after a judge approved the company’s latest restructuring plan.

It’s hoped that said plan will allow iHeart to put behind it years of uncertainty caused by a massive debt-load which was in turn caused by a stupid ‘leveraged buyout’ of the business back in 2008. Assuming that works, it will ensure that the media firm is able to begin with some certainty the years of uncertainty about to be faced by the entire radio industry. Good times.

iHeart formally entered the so called chapter eleven bankruptcy process last March, though it had been a long time coming. Since then negotiations have been ongoing with the firm’s creditors, some of whom only agreed to the new judicially approved restructuring plan last week. Under that plan, the company’s debts will be cut from $16.1 billion to a mere $5.58 billion. Yeah, just $5.58 billion. Lovely.

The restructuring will also see iHeart’s outdoor advertising division, which still uses the firm’s old brand name of Clear Channel, spun off as a separate company. The billboards business was never formally part of the bankruptcy proceedings. Meanwhile, back at iHeart Central, CEO Bob Pittman and CFO Rich Bressler will stick around to implement the plan and move the business onwards and upwards, with both signing new four year contracts with the company.

Commenting on all this, the there mentioned Pittman told reporters yesterday: “We are delighted to reach this significant milestone in our restructuring process, which will give us a new capital structure that matches the strong operating performance of our business. iHeartMedia’s unique place in the advertising world perfectly positions us to take advantage of the renaissance underway in audio”.

Ah yes, the renaissance currently underway in audio. That’s code for an entire generation of young consumers shunning radio, but everyone in the traditional radio industry hoping that they can jump on the podcast bandwagon now it’s starting to become lucrative for a small premiere league of podcasters. Either that, or they’ll try and grab the more mainstream ad-funded end of the streaming music market which, you know, will surely become profitable one day somewhere somehow for someone.

Eternal optimist Pittman reckons opportunities abound and that iHeart is just the kind of company to capitalise on them. After all, he said, “our ability to advance through the restructuring process this smoothly is a testament to both the strength of our operating business and the strong support of our stakeholders, including our debtholders who will become our owners, our advertising partners and our operating team”.

CMU:DIY: Artist:Entrepreneur Day in Belfast this weekend

Artist News Business News CMU:DIY Update Education & Events

CMU:DIY is heading to Northern Ireland this weekend with the Featured Artists Coalition for the first 2019 edition of the Artist:Entrepreneur Day, presented in association with Help Musicians NI.

This outing of the FAC’s artist-to-artist education programme will be hosted by artists Jack Gourlay, Lisbee Stainton and Cormac Neeson, who will open up their own artist businesses and explain how they make money, how they agree and manage their song and recording rights, how they get gigs, what social and direct-to-fan channels they use, and what business partners they have on their team.

CMU’s Chris Cooke will deliver five A:E Guides on revenues, rights, gigs, promo and deals, while insights and advice galore will come from a panel of industry experts, including Joe Dougan from Shine, Lyndon Stephens from Champion Sound, Francesca O’Connor from Quiet Arch Records, Charlene Hegarty from Zero Myth, Mark Gordon from Score Draw Music, Levi Deeble from Sentric Music and marketing expert Caroline Fleck.

The day will then conclude with Duke Special in conversation, discussing his career to date and how he has gone about building a business around his music.

All of this takes place at The Sunflower on Union Street in Belfast this Saturday, 26 Jan. There is more info about the day here. Tickets are just £10 and are available here. For information about guest list and group discounts email info@thefac.org

Apparat announces first solo album for six years

Artist News Releases

Apparat has announced that he will release his new album, ‘LP5’, on 22 Mar. He’ll also play two UK shows in London and Brighton in April.

His first solo outing since 2013, it follows two studio albums by Moderat, the trio he formed with Modeselektor. That project has had a big impact on his return to solo work, he says, in that it allows him to pursue something different under his solo guise.

“I was only able to make the record this way because Moderat exists”, he notes. “Having a huge stage with Moderat gave me a setting for grand gestures and meant I could unburden Apparat from these aspirations. I don’t have to write big pop hymns here; I can just immerse myself in the details and the structures”.

Apparat will perform live at the Attenborough Centre in Brighton on 26 Apr and London’s Barbican Centre on 27 Apr.

Here’s the new album’s first single ‘Dawan’:

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