Monday 25 February 2019, 13:42 | By Chris Cooke

YouTube supports new video production suite at BRIT School

Business News Digital Education & Events

After live steaming the BRIT Awards last week, definite-undisputed-who-ever-even-disputed-it friend of the music industry YouTube announced a new partnership with the BRIT School.

The tie up between YouTube and the BRIT Trust-supported secondary school will result in the creation of a new studio that will, and I quote, “help young and emerging musicians/artists share their talents with the world through video”.

What will now be known as the YouTube Music Studio is basically a significant refurb of the school’s existing video production suite which, once finished, will include, and I quote again, “a sixteen-channel audio desk, three studio cameras, playback screens, and monitors”.

YouTube’s Head Of Music Content Partnerships in the UK, Azi Eftekhari, said: “We are committed to fostering the next generation of talent in the UK and are so pleased to be working with The BRIT Trust on the launch of the YouTube Music BRIT Studios. We look forward to seeing the success of future students from the programme and the impact they have on the world of music in the UK and beyond”.

Meanwhile BRIT School Principal Stuart Worden added: “This is an exciting opportunity to have world class facilities that will help train our students to work in a creative sector that is growing at a rapid rate. The BRIT School has always celebrated new voices in music, performing arts, TV, film and digital arts. This major refurbishment will allow us to develop the talent of thousands of creative artists for years to come”.

Peter Frampton announces farewell tour following muscle disease diagnosis

Artist News Gigs & Festivals

Peter Frampton has announced plans to head out on a final tour, after being diagnosed with the degenerative muscle disease inclusion body myositis.

The guitarist announced his diagnosis at the weekend on CBS show ‘This Morning’, saying: “The reason I’m calling it the ‘farewell tour’ is because I know that I will be at the top of my game for this tour and I will make it through this and people won’t be saying, ‘Oh you know, he can’t play as good’. I can. But we just don’t know for how long”.

“I’m a perfectionist”, he added. “I do not want to go out there and feel like, ‘Oh I can’t, this isn’t good’. That would be a nightmare for me. It’s my passion. I’ve been playing guitar for 60 years. Started when I was eight and now I’m 68. So, I’ve had a very good run”.

The US tour is set to begin in July and run through to mid-October. Each ticket sold will include a $1 donation to the Peter Frampton Myositis Research Fund.

KD Lang announces Ingénue 25th anniversary shows

Artist News Gigs & Festivals

KD Lang has announce UK and Ireland shows to mark the 25th anniversary of her 1992 album ‘Ingénue’. The dates will also be Lang’s first full UK tour in more than ten years.

The shows will see Lang perform ‘Ingénue’ in full, as well as other songs from across her career, including the newly released ‘Sleeping Alone’ – originally written during sessions for her 2011 album ‘Sing It Loud’.

Here are the dates:

13 Jul: Hull, Bonus Arena
14 Jul: Manchester, Bridgewater Hall
16 Jul: Brighton, Dome
17 Jul: Bath, Forum
19 Jul: Gateshead, The Sage Gateshead
21 Jul: Aberdeen, Music Hall
22 Jul: Glasgow, Royal Concert Hall
24 Jul: Liverpool, Philharmonic
25 Jul: Poole, Lighthouse
27 Jul: Birmingham, Symphony Hall
28 Jul: London, Eventim Apollo
30 Jul: Dublin, National Concert Hall
31 Jul: Dublin, National Concert Hall

Bohemian Rhapsody takes home four Oscars

Artist News Awards

Despite the mixed critical response it received upon its release, Freddie Mercury biopic ‘Bohemian Rhapsody’ attracted yet more awards at last night’s Oscars. Among four trophies, Rami Malek took the prize for best male actor in a leading role for his portrayal of Mercury.

In his acceptance speech, Malek thanked Queen for “allowing me to be the tiniest part of your phenomenal legacy”. He also said that the success of the film shows that the world is “longing for stories” about people like Mercury, “who lived his life just unapologetically himself”.

As well as Malek’s acting prize, ‘Bohemian Rhapsody’ also took the sound editing, sound mixing and film editing awards. The only trophy for which it was nominated that it didn’t win was Best Picture, which went to ‘Green Book’.

Queen and Adam Lambert were also at the ceremony, opening the whole show with a performance of ‘We Will Rock You’ and ‘We Are The Champions’.

Elsewhere in music wins, ‘Shallow’ from ‘A Star Is Born’ took Best Original Song. The film’s stars, Lady Gaga and Bradley Cooper, also performed the song together at the ceremony.

Real Estate say song in flat Earth doc is “pretty funny” but they were unaware it was being used

And Finally Artist News Media

Real Estate have said that they were unaware that their song ‘Horizon’ was being used in a new documentary about the Flat Earth movement, ‘Behind The Curve’.

Asked how they felt about it, the band tweeted: “Haven’t seen the movie yet. Found out about our song being in it last night from a friend, and while I do think it’s a pretty funny recontextualization to use our song ‘Horizon’ in a doc about flat earthers, no one in the band approved it”.

The makers of the film later clarified that the track had been properly licensed from Domino. The band say that they are “looking into it on our end”.

CMU Insights & CMU:DIY: Download resources from recent events

CMU Insights Update CMU:DIY Update

Last week CMU Insights and CMU:DIY presented at a number of events around the UK. If you attended any of the sessions, you can download the slides we presented here.

• On Thursday at Output in Belfast we presented our Top Five Reasons Your Not Getting Paid when your songs and recordings are used. You can download those slides here.

• Also at Output we presented our speed briefing on the secondary ticketing market. You can download the slides for that session here.

• On Friday we teamed up with the Essex Music Development Agency to present an afternoon of sessions on Building A Business Around Your Music. You can download the slides for those sessions here.

• And on Saturday we were at Urban Development’s Industry Take Over All-Dayer. You can download our Meet The Music Industry slides here.

• Also at the ITO All-Dayer, we teamed up with the Featured Artists Coalition to present the latest of our Meet The Artist:Entrepreneurs session. You can download the slides we presented here.

CMU Digest 25.02.19: SoundCloud, Michael Jackson, Local Radio Freedom Act, Termination Rights, Copyright Directive

CMU Digest

The key stories from the last week in the music business…

SoundCloud announced it was adding distribution services to its Pro set-up. It means that Pro subscribers who upload music to the digital platform can now opt to have SoundCloud also push their tracks into other streaming services like Spotify and Apple. Music distributor FUGA will actually do the delivery. It’s a further enhancement of SoundCloud’s creator-centric Pro product which was at the heart of its original business model. [READ MORE]

The Michael Jackson estate went legal over HBO’s new documentary that puts the spotlight on child abuse allegations against the late king of pop. The estate had already been scathing about the new film and the two men who make allegations in it. After HBO refused to voluntarily cancel the programme, estate reps filed a breach of contract complaint, citing a 1992 contract relating to a Michael Jackson concert the broadcaster screened, which included a clause banning the media firm from disparaging the musician in its future output. [READ MORE]

A Local Radio Freedom Act was proposed in US Congress. It’s a bizarre piece of legislation that would basically keep American copyright law exactly as it currently is, with no general performing rights for sound recordings, meaning AM/FM radio stations are not obliged to pay royalties to artists and labels. It’s not the first time such proposals have been made and really it’s a lobbying manoeuvre by the US radio industry to identify supporters and therefore provide a list of the Congress people who oppose the record industry’s ongoing efforts to force broadcasters to pay such royalties on recordings. [READ MORE]

A group representing artists in the US spoke out in support of the acts suing Sony Music and Universal Music over the termination right. The majors are being sued over their insistence that the termination right in US copyright law, which allows creators to reclaim rights they assigned away 35 years ago, doesn’t apply to record contracts. The Artist Rights Alliance said that it was “beyond dispute” that recording artists could in fact employ the termination right and that it therefore “strongly supported” those artist who had decided to go legal on this issue. [READ MORE]

Groups representing indie labels and publishers, as well as songwriters and their collecting societies, called on the EU Council and European Parliament to vote through the European Copyright Directive. The final draft of the copyright reforms was circulated last week. It includes the much discussed safe harbour reforms in article thirteen plus new rights for artists and songwriters. The International Federation Of The Phonographic Industry was more reserved when commenting on the final draft, though did point to some positives in article thirteen. [READ MORE]

The big deals from the last seven days in the music business…
• Live Nation bought Norway’s Tons Of Rock festival [INFO]
• Live Nation bought Finland’s Blockfest [INFO]
• Warner allied with the R Baron Group on a new label [INFO]

US advocacy group backs artists in termination rights case against the majors

Business News Labels & Publishers Legal

An artist advocacy group in the US has come out in support of the acts who recently sued Universal Music and Sony Music in cases that will test if and how the termination right in American copyright law applies to sound recordings.

Artists including David Johansen of the New York Dolls filed litigation earlier this month seeking to reclaim ownership of old recordings released by the majors. Under US copyright law, creators who assign their rights to a third party have a one-time opportunity to terminate that assignment and reclaim their copyrights – for America only – after 35 years.

The termination right originates in 1970s copyright law so has only really become relevant in recent years. On the songs side of the music business, plenty of songwriters are now exercising this right to reclaim copyrights that were part of long-term assignment deals with music publishers back in the day.

However, on the recordings side many record companies argue that – because record deals are work-for-hire agreements, making the label the artist’s employer – the label is the default owner of any recording copyrights created under those arrangements. Which means no rights were ever assigned by the artist, so there is no assignment to terminate.

But plenty of artists, managers and lawyers disagree, mainly by arguing that record deals are not, in fact, work-for-hire agreements. That argument is a key element of the two lawsuits filed earlier this month which, if successful, could result in a flood of heritage artists seeking to reclaim their American recording rights.

That legal action has now been backed by the Artist Rights Alliance, a lobbying group previously known as the Content Creators Coalition which includes artists like Rosanne Cash, John McCrea and Tift Merrit as active members.

It said in a statement yesterday: “Recently, several featured artists filed a class action lawsuit against Universal Music Group and Sony Music Entertainment challenging the labels’ stonewalling of artist efforts to reclaim rights to their work they are owed under law. We strongly support the artists in this case and the right of all creators to reclaim control of their work as permitted by federal copyright law”.

The Alliance reckons that it is “beyond dispute that the Copyright Act of 1976 allows artists to take back full ownership of their works 35 years after release. However, it appears that in too many cases artists attempting to exercise this right have been met with evasion, foot dragging, or unfounded rejection of their claims altogether”.

The statement then notes how, early on in their careers, artists usually have to except unfavourable deals in order to access investment and marketing, and that is why the termination right was introduced. “The federally guaranteed power to terminate grants of copyright ownership and reclaim personal rights to work is one of very few protections we have”, it adds, “a guarantee that, eventually, regardless of the vagaries of label contracts, we will eventually have full rights to and control over our art and its long-term legacy”.

The group then says: “We don’t question the value of labels or the vital role they play in launching artistic careers. But they are well paid for these efforts. Fundamentally, however, as Congress has recognised, at some point featured artists must have full ownership and control of the rights to their own work. No one pursues their passion hoping to enter perpetual indentured servitude and no artist can be impelled to contract away the inescapable tie between a creator and his or her expressive work”.

“We’ve proudly partnered with labels in our careers and our advocacy and we respect their contribution to the music ecosystem immensely”, it concludes. “But this is not how partners treat each other. Labels must treat us and our art with respect and dignity – now and 35 years from now. We stand in solidarity with the artists filing these lawsuits and hope this injustice is remedied immediately and that all record labels commit to honouring artist termination rights in the future”.

Another Local Radio Freedom Act proposed in the US

Business News Labels & Publishers Legal Media

Law-makers in the US have proposed a nifty bit of legislation in Washington which aims to radically not alter the law regarding what royalties AM and FM radio stations in the US should pay into the music industry. It might as well be called the Let’s Not Change Anything Act, but instead goes by the name of the Local Radio Freedom Act.

US copyright law is unusual in that, when it comes to sound recordings, it only provides copyright owners with digital performing rights. Which means that, while AM/FM radio stations have to pay royalties to music publishers and songwriters, they pay no money to record labels and artists for the music they play. Only online and satellite radio stations have royalty obligations to the music industry.

The record industry, of course, has been lobbying for years to try and get a general performing right added to the sound recording copyright Stateside, so to bring US law in line with much of the rest of the world. It’s because of those efforts that the radio industry lobbies for its own legislation that supports the status quo.

This isn’t the first time a Local Radio Freedom Act has been proposed, and the whole endeavour is really about providing a useful list of Congress members who would oppose any efforts by the record industry to get full performing rights. 124 members of Congress have so far formally backed the latest Local Radio Freedom Act.

Responding, the musicFIRST Coalition, which has long lobbied Washington on behalf of the record industry on this issue, said yesterday: “The Local Radio Freedom Act has once again been introduced in the House and Senate. The resolution, backed by the National Association Of Broadcasters, falsely asserts that paying artists for their work is a ‘tax’.

A spokesman for the Coalition, Trevor Francis, added: “Here we go again. The NAB will dedicate months and spend millions accumulating names on a motion that falsely protects ‘local radio’ and that will never become law. Meanwhile, the radio marketplace continues to change for NAB’s members, and not for the better. The NAB may want to focus less on lobbying in DC and more on how radio can provide music fans the innovation they want in today’s digital world”.

Of course, as radio reinvents itself online, broadcasters do have to pay royalties to the record industry, because of the aforementioned digital performing rights.

Michael Jackson estate goes legal over HBO documentary

Business News Legal Media

The Michael Jackson estate has gone legal over HBO’s new documentary that puts the spotlight on child abuse allegations made against the late king of pop.

Reps for the estate have already called on the US broadcaster to drop ‘Leaving Neverland’, which premiered at the recent Sundance film festival and is now due to air in both the US and the UK next month, on HBO and Channel 4 respectively. The documentary features two men who accuse Jackson of abusing them as children.

The estate argues that the two alleged victims are not credible, and that the film’s director Dan Reed failed to interview anyone who would have defended Jackson against their allegations. But HBO has insisted it will still screen the programme.

Hence the legal action. But on what grounds are the estate’s lawyers suing? Libel? Personality rights? Copyright? No, breach of contract of course! According to legal papers, back in 1992 HBO entered into a contract with Jackson when it aired a Bucharest date on his ‘Dangerous Tour’, and that contract had a non-disparagement clause in it. Which, the estate now say, precludes HBO from disparaging the singer in any of its future works.

The lawsuit also notes that HBO’s current chief Richard Plepler was already working at the WarnerMedia-owned media firm back in 1992 so “must have known, or should have known, about HBO’s contract with Jackson”.

For its part, HBO insists that the screening of ‘Leaving Neverland’ will go ahead. It said in a statement: “Despite the desperate lengths taken to undermine the film, our plans remain unchanged. HBO will move forward with the airing of ‘Leaving Neverland’, the two-part documentary, on 3 and 4 Mar. This will allow everyone the opportunity to assess the film and the claims in it for themselves”.

Live Nation buys Norway’s Tons Of Rock festival

Business News Deals Live Business

This week’s Live Nation Nordic festival acquisition? Tons Of Rock. That being the Norwegian fest that presents, well tons of rock. Rock music that is. Of the heavier variety.

“We have worked with Tons Of Rock from the very beginning and are excited about our future with the festival”, says Martin Nielsen of Live Nation Norway. “The Tons Of Rock team have demonstrated an outstanding commitment to the festival and to audience experience”.

One of that team, Jarle Kvåle, adds: “We are ready to take the next step in the festival’s journey. After five successful years in Halden we saw potential for further growth. We found the perfect venue at Ekebergsletta in Oslo and wanted a strong strategic partner who would help us continue to grow. The answer was obvious, and close at hand, Live Nation Norway”.

The new deal sees Live Nation take a majority stake of the Tons Of Rock business. It comes just a week after Live Nation confirmed it had also bought Finnish hip hop festival Blockfest.

Amy Winehouse hologram tour on hold

Business News Gigs & Festivals Live Business

Plans for an Amy Winehouse hologram tour have been put on hold, despite the venture having the backing of the late singer’s father and plans for it to raise funds for the Amy Winehouse Foundation.

The show’s producer, BASE Hologram, said it had “encountered some unique challenges and sensitivities” that have forced them to reassess the project.

The company’s boss Brian Becker added in a statement: “Sometimes in developing this type of highly ambitious, state of the art hologram/augmented reality theatrical event we encounter some unique challenges and sensitivities that cause us to take a step back”.

“Developing our productions is a cross between a Broadway show and a concert spectacle which requires creative engineering and that type of creativity does not necessarily follow a schedule” he went on. “And that’s what happened with Amy Winehouse”.

“We promised to celebrate her life in the most respectful way possible – as we did with Roy Orbison and Maria Callas – and to ensure we keep that promise we are putting the tour on hold while we plot out a creatively spectacular production fitting of her remarkable career”.

Stansted Airport to put on gig in its departure lounge

Brands & Merch Business News Gigs & Festivals Live Business

Stansted Airport will next month present an afternoon of gigs in its departure lounge because, well, I don’t know, but they are.

Lotto Boyzz, Jammer, The Magic Gang and Eliza And The Bear will all play Departures Live Lounge on 2 Mar as part of a show which, says the airport, will “offer flyers a sneak preview of some of the talented artists lined up to perform at the biggest European music festivals throughout 2019”.

Says the airport’s Brand And Marketing Manager Lois Robertson: “We’re incredibly excited that some of the UK’s best urban and rock artists – such as Jammer and The Magic Gang – will be performing at London Stansted this March”.

Lovely stuff.

CMU Insights: The next round of seminars are all about marketing

Business News CMU Insights Update Education & Events

The next round of CMU Insights evening seminars kick off at the London HQ of Lewis Silkin next month and this time it is music marketing and fanbase building in the spotlight.

Over three Monday evenings, these seminars together provide an overview of how to build a fanbase for new artists and new music, reviewing the key tools and tactics employed by music marketers, and explaining how music marketing is evolving.

The first seminar on 4 Mar looks at the modern music marketing toolkit including social, digital and media channels, streaming service playlists, advertising, content and events. It also offers a beginner’s guide to how artists and their business partners plan and implement marketing campaigns.

The second on 11 Mar puts the focus on social media. It’s a beginner’s guide to the role of social media and other digital tools in building, engaging and understanding core fanbase, plus an overview of the key social platforms and the importance of analytics and email.

The third on 18 Mar is all about music media and PR. It explains the role of traditional and new music media – print, online, broadcast and streaming playlists – in building industry profile for new talent and getting music to a more mainstream audience.

Full details about the programme are online here.

Ezra Furman adds covers EP to digital services

Artist News Releases

Ezra Furman has digitally released a covers EP that was previously only available on limited edition vinyl. It’s being released by Bella Union and is called ‘Songs By Others’.

One of the songs by another is ‘The Good Book’, originally by American singer-songwriter Melanie. Furman’s version of it was also used on the soundtrack to Netflix show ‘Sex Education’, on which he featured heavily.

On ‘The Good Book’ he says: “It’s a genius song. I had actually never [before] heard a song that is about what that song is about: how an audience wants something from a performer and wants reassurance, like, ‘Tell us you love us with a book or a song or a poem because we need it'”.

He realised all this around the release of his 2015 album ‘Perpetual Motion People’. He adds: “That was the first album of ours that came out where it felt like a lot of people were waiting for it to come out and talking about it and playing the lead single on the radio. So I was just thinking a lot about what can be emotional or tender or beautiful in the audience-performer relationship”.

And that’s when he realised that ‘The Good Book’ as a song “is … like … ‘tell us you love us so we don’t feel alone’, and it seems like the best thing a song could do – to make someone not feel so alone”.

Feel not alone with Furman’s version of ‘The Good Book’ here.

Breakdancing could become an Olympic sport in 2024

And Finally Business News

Organisers of the Paris 2024 Olympic Games are proposing to the International Olympic Committee that breakdancing should be added to the big sporty bash that year. It featured at the Youth Olympic Games in Buenos Aires last year but has never been part of the main event before.

The head of the Paris 2024 organising committee said that he thought adding things like breakdancing into the Olympics mix would make the games feel “more urban” and “more artistic”. And who doesn’t what their big sporting parties to feel more urban and more artistic?

Team GB didn’t put anyone forward for the breakdancing contest in Buenos Aires last year, but says that it might at future games, if the IOC decide to add it. The BBC quote a Team GB spokesperson as saying: “We look forward to welcoming all new sports into the Olympic Games and will work with the relevant bodies to develop our relationships at the appropriate time”.

“Although we did not compete in what was an invitational event at the recent Youth Olympic Games in Buenos Aires, we did witness the popularity of breakdancing among fans there”.

Approved: Doomsquad

CMU Approved

Sibling trio Doomsquad have announced that they will release their third album, ‘Let Yourself Be Seen’, through Bella Union in May. Drawing on a wide range of music, from acid house to art rock, the record sees the band channel their weary thoughts on the modern world through infectious dance beats.

That approach is not entirely new. However, the band say they felt that much of the “message and meaning” of their last album – 2016’s ‘Total Time’ – was lost among those beats. So, this time around they started out attempting to “crystallise what Doomsquad is and what it means to us”.

“What we always knew but put at the forefront of this record is that Doomsquad is a project of protest, catharsis and emotional and spiritual reconnection through music and, especially, through dance-music culture”, they say. “It’s about activating the body on the most fundamental level, into states of change, release and reunion”.

The result sees them more energised both lyrically and musically. All of which is apparent in lead single ‘General Hum’. You can catch the band live at The Victoria in London on 23 May or at SXSW if that’s your thing. Meanwhile, watch the video for ‘General Hum’ here…

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

Final draft in hand, music industry reps call on EU law-makers to pass the European Copyright Directive

Business News Labels & Publishers Legal

With the final, final, final draft of the European Copyright Directive being circulated around stakeholders earlier this week, organisations representing independent labels and publishers, and songwriters and their collecting societies, have published a letter calling on the EU Council and European Parliament to now vote through the copyright reforms.

Reps for the European Commission, EU Council and European Parliament agreed a final version of the directive last week via their so called trilogue negotiations. It must now be passed by the full Council and Parliament.

There are still plenty of critics of the proposals, especially within the tech sector. And especially over the music industry backed article thirteen, which will reform the copyright safe harbour and increase the liabilities of user-upload platforms like YouTube.

The music community did a pretty good job of presenting a united front on article thirteen, especially once YouTube’s lobbyists went into overdrive late last year.

Though in the very final stages of the negotiations there was a split within the music industry, with groups representing labels and publishers saying they were sufficiently concerned about last minute edits that they wanted the whole directive to be abandoned. Meanwhile artists and songwriters, who will benefit from other elements of the new rules, not just article thirteen, called on law makers to see the project through to completion.

However, indie label repping IMPALA and the Independent Music Publishers International Forum were among the organisations yesterday calling for the directive to now be adopted, the former insisting that – by expressing those late-in-the-day concerns – some further edits were made that improved the final draft from the music industry’s perspective. The European Composer And Songwriter Alliance, and collecting society groups CISAC and GESAC, also signed yesterday’s statement, as did bodies repping other copyright industries.

The statement reads: “We, the undersigned organisations, representing authors, composers, writers, journalists, photographers and others working in all artistic fields, news agencies, book, press and music publishers, audiovisual and independent music producers, call on the Council Of The European Union and the European Parliament to adopt the Directive On Copyright In The Digital Single Market”.

It went on: “This directive has been long sought to create a much-needed level playing field for all actors of the creative sector in the European Digital Single Market, whilst giving citizens better access to a wider array of content. This is a historical opportunity. We need an internet that is fair and sustainable for all. This is why we urge policymakers to adopt the directive quickly, as agreed in trilogue negotiations”.

Trade groups speaking for the major record companies and music publishers were not signatories to the letter. Instead global record industry trade group IFPI issued a less committal statement on the final draft of the directive and article thirteen, though it still found some positives in what has been achieved.

The group’s CEO Frances Moore said: “We acknowledge the efforts made by lawmakers to try to find a way through such a complex area. Certain of the article thirteen provisions of the copyright directive are notable. This is the first legislation confirming that user-upload content platforms perform an act of communication to the public and must seek authorisation from rightsholders or make sure that there is no unauthorised content available on their platforms. The directive also includes a ‘stay down’ provision requiring platforms to keep unlicensed content down – another first”.

It’s thought the EU Council will probably wave the final draft of the directive through, though MEPs will be on the receiving end of another barrage of emails and calls from the tech lobby ahead of the vote in Parliament. So, one more hurdle to go.

Group bidding to set up new US mechanicals society dispute rival’s “overwhelming” support claim

Business News Labels & Publishers Legal

One of the groups bidding to set up the new mechanical royalties collecting society in the US has penned an op-ed piece for Billboard, responding to recent statements made by its rival. The article argues that, while many music industry trade groups may have endorsed the other side, that doesn’t mean they represent the majority of the music community, given how many DIY songwriters are now pumping music into the system every week.

It was last year’s Music Modernization Act that said that a proper mechanical royalties collecting society should be established in the US for the first time. The aim is to simplify the process of licensing the mechanical rights of songs in the digital space, by setting up an industry-wide framework via which royalties can be paid to music publishers and songwriters that do not have direct deals with the services.

Groups interested in running the new society have until 21 Mar to submit an application to the US Copyright Office, which will then pick a winner based on criteria set out in the MMA. There are two groups interested, which can be more or less classified as the establishment group and the anti-establishment group.

The former is led by the National Music Publishers Association with support from the Nashville Songwriters Association International and the Songwriters Of North America. The latter, which is behind the new Billboard piece, is backed by Tunecore and Audiam founder Jeff Price, Pledge and DotBlockchain founder Benji Rogers, songwriters Stewart Copeland and Rick Carnes, and various other people with a music licensing or publishing background.

The first group recently declared that its proposal was now supported by the “overwhelming majority of copyright owners”, before publishing a list of trade bodies, music companies and other collecting societies that have backed its bid. Such support is important because the MMA says that the successful bidders must be “endorsed by, and enjoy substantial support from, musical work copyright owners that together represent the greatest percentage of the licensor market for uses of such works in covered activities”.

But in its response, the second group – operating under the name AMLC – argues that the other side’s claim depends on how you define “the licensor market”. The article points out that “about 90% of the millions of global music copyright creators own and control their own copyrights. Each month alone in the US there are over 500,000 new recordings of new songs from tens of thousands of DIY, self-owning copyright owners being delivered to US music services and made available to stream. In just the last year, hundreds of thousands of DIY copyright owners have created and distributed at least six million works”.

“It is this constituency of millions of hard-working individuals, with a rising market share, that represents the majority of musical works copyright owners”, the opinion piece goes on. “These global copyright owners, combined with the legacy industry, make up the entire licensor market eligible to be streamed in the US”.

And, arguably, the millions of self-published writers are more important because, as the AMLC’s article points out, “some of the biggest publishers in the traditional music industry are expected to bypass and not use the [new society] due to their direct licensing deals with the digital streaming services, as compared to the millions of global copyright owners whom will rely on the [society] for licensing and payments”.

The piece concludes: “This point further exacerbates the yet-to-be-resolved conflict of interest; that is, board members of the [new society] can recommend other copyright owners’ money be liquidated and given to themselves through market share disbursements, all without actually having to use the [society] for their own copyrights. This outcome is most certainly not the intended application of the law”.

You can read the full op-ed here. AMLC’s bid is outlined on this website here, while the NMPA-backed proposal is here.

Smirnoff teams up with Annie Mac for latest phase of its Equalising Music programme

Brands & Merch Business News Industry People

Smirnoff has announced the latest phase of its ‘Equalising Music’ programme, which has been supporting initiatives to bring about more gender diversity in the music industry. Fronted by Annie Mac, the latest project is called the ‘Equalising Music Pledge’, and it challenges everyone working in music to do one significant thing this year to help bring about more gender equality in the business, both on stage and behind the scenes.

Says Mac: “The music industry is still embarrassingly lopsided when it comes to gender parity. We are all acutely aware of the enormous contribution women make to this business, and yet there’s still so much work to be done to ensure they’re embraced and championed, both in front of and behind the scenes”.

“Contributing towards trying to change this is something I personally feel passionately about”, she adds, “and I’m genuinely excited to see the future impact women of all ages will have on the unchartered territories of this rapidly changing industry.”

Speaking for Smirnoff, the drink brand’s Sam Salameh goes on: “This year we’re proud to be partnering with Annie Mac, one of the UK’s leading music tastemakers and an artist widely known for championing gender-balance, on the ‘Equalising Music Pledge’. We all know the statistics so now it’s time for action. Together we’re asking everyone in the industry to step up and do one significant thing for gender equality in 2019”.

New event to stage live recordings of popular podcasts

Business News Media

Want to watch some of your favourite podcasts being recorded live? Of course you do. So good news, a team of radio industry veterans are launching a new series of events called Podcast Live, in which leading podcasters will record editions in front of an audience.

One of the organisers, Matt Deegan, explained to Radio Today: “We know the most successful podcasters want to do more for their audiences. Podcast Live will be an easy way for them to put on live shows up and down the country. As well as meeting their own fans, it will expose them to new audiences and provide creatives with an additional revenue stream”.

The first edition will take place in London on 7 Apr and feature various political podcasters. Future editions will take place elsewhere in the country and cover different topics. Though they will be mainly spoken word centric, not least because speech programmes dominate the podcast world, partly because of the licensing issues faced by musical podcasters.

Trailer circulates for new Michael Jackson documentary

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The first trailer for HBO’s controversial new Michael Jackson documentary has been doing the rounds this week, with a UK airing of the full programme on Channel 4 now set for 6 and 7 Mar.

The Michael Jackson estate has hit out at ‘Leaving Neverland’, which premiered at the recent Sundance film festival, and which will be broadcast by HBO stateside. It features two men who accuse the late king of pop of abusing them as children.

Commenting on the film, its director, Dan Reed, said: “This is not a movie about Michael Jackson abusing little boys. It’s a movie about two families and how two families came to terms with what their sons revealed to them many years after Jackson died”.

The estate has called on HBO to abandon the documentary, arguing that the two alleged victims who appear in the programme are not credible, and that Reed failed to interview anyone who would have defended Jackson against their allegations. But, after receiving a letter from the estate’s lawyers, HBO insisted it would still air the film.

You can watch the trailer here…

Morrissey announces Canadian tour after abandoning boycott

Artist News Gigs & Festivals

Morrissey has announced a Canadian tour, his first shows in the country in fifteen years. He previously vowed to never play in Canada ever again in protest over the seal clubbing that still occurs there. But last year he said that he felt that boycott had not achieved much and that he’d rather play in the country and then donate money to Canadian animal rights charities.

In a post on MorrisseyCentral last September he wrote: “My decision to return to Canada after almost fifteen years of protest against its savage and Neanderthal annual baby seal kill is entirely because my stance was ultimately of no use and helped no one”.

“My voice was drowned out by the merciless swing of spiked axes crushing the heads of babies”, he went on. “On my return to Canada I feel that I can be of more use by making sizeable donations to animal protection groups in each city that I play. Thankfully there are many such organisations in Canada”.

With that decision made, shows have now been announced for April taking in Vancouver, Calgary, Edmonton, Saskatoon, Winnipeg, Toronto and Montreal.

BRIT Awards presented, broadcast and streamed

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So, last year CMU Editor Andy Malt controversially broke the long tradition of CMU publishing nonsense-filled write-ups of the UK record industry’s biggest night of orchestrated back-slapping and actually watched the 2018 BRIT Awards from beginning to end. And then he documented it in his subsequent report. Having raised the bar, he then booked BRITS Week 2019 off, leaving someone else to rise to the challenge.

What to do, what to do, what to do? See, I wasn’t in London last night. And I wasn’t anywhere near a telly either. How was I meant to monitor what occurred under that Millennium Dome of ours as the big BRITs bash went through its various magnificent motions? Oh, hang on, didn’t I get a press release about all the exciting “social activations” happening as part of the BRITs this year? And didn’t that talk about there being a very official live stream of the proceedings on YouTube?

Yay, hurrah for YouTube! I have a phone. I have a wifi connection. The BRITs will come to my hand courtesy of the good guys at Google. And so, I picked up my phone, connected to the wifi, opened up the YouTube app, closed the tab telling me that article thirteen is going to kill the internet and that the fucking music industry can just fuck off with its fucking moaning and all of its fucking fucked up fuck fuck, and there it was: the official BRIT Awards stream.

Glorious! I duly tapped play. The stream began streaming. Here it was, the show was about to begin. Though, hang on just one moment, article thirteen, what’s that about again? Isn’t that about fucking YouTube fucking up the fucking streaming revolution for everyone? I remember now. Save music! Down with Google’s lies! Stand up to big tech bulling! YouTube can just fuck off with its fucking moaning and all of its fucking fucked up fuck fuck.

With the music community’s bold chanting now echoing around my head once more – and having left by cognitive dissonance pills back home – I soon found myself in a ferocious rage and promptly threw my phone out the window.

So I’m really sorry, I have no idea what happened at the BRIT Awards last night. I’m sure some singers sang their songs. And I’m sure they sang them real good. I’m sure there were speeches. And I’m sure the speeches were spoken real good. And host Jack Whitehall, I’m sure, was suitably irritating each time he took to the stage.

I did hear on the grapevine that Bros were in the tent. I assume they were picking up some kind of icon award and then wrapped up the show with a six hour greatest hits set that forced ITV to cancel the news.

And there must have been some winners. I thought really hard before submitting my BRIT votes this year, so there better have been some winners. Actually, I know there were some winners. I have the official winners list and everything. Though there’s no mention of Bros’s icon award, so I’m slightly suspicious. But this is what I have…

British Male Solo Artist: George Ezra
British Female Solo Artist: Jorja Smith
British Group: The 1975
British Breakthrough Act: Tom Walker
Best British Producer: Calvin Harris
Critics’ Choice: Sam Fender
BRITs Global Success Award: Ed Sheeran

International Male Solo Artist: Drake
International Female Solo Artist: Ariana Grande
International Group: The Carters

British Single: Calvin Harris & Dua Lipa – One Kiss
British Album of The Year: The 1975 – A Brief Inquiry into Online Relationships
British Video Award: Little Mix ft Nicki Minaj – Woman Like Me

Outstanding Contribution to Music: P!nk

Newhaven to get Eazy-E tribute

And Finally Artist News

The Sussex town of Newhaven will erect a memorial bench in honour of Eazy-E, even though the town’s council has admitted it has never heard of the NWA rapper and doesn’t think much of his music either.

This all began with Newport resident Guy Stevens demanding that the town erect a statue in honour of the late NWA member, who died in 1995 one month after being diagnosed with AIDS. The Eazy-E fan told his local authority: “You just wasted money on a bandstand on Denton island no one cares about, so why not an Eazy-E memorial?”

After Stevens set up an online poll in a bid to find other supporters for this south coast Eazy-E tribute, the local council said it would be happy for him to build a bench in the rapper’s honour, providing he could pay for it. This was despite council officials having to Google who the hip hop pioneer was and then admitting that they were “not a fan” of his oeuvre.

Stevens welcomed the news, telling local newspaper The Argus that the Eazy-E honouring bench was “better than nothing, which is pretty much all Newhaven has”. He then added: “It’s a great day not just for myself but for the future of Newhaven. I might push for someone to fly over from America for the ceremony”.

Of course he first needs to find the cash to pay for the bench. A gofundme page has been set up which is close to raising half of the £2000 that is required. You can chip in here.

SoundCloud adds distribution to other streaming services to Pro offering

Business News Digital Labels & Publishers

Do you remember when streaming services streamed and distribution companies distributed? They were simpler easier times, right? No, not at all, you sad old luddite, get everything in one place, I reckon. Pick a streaming service, upload your tracks, have them distribute your music, use them for all your stats, talk to your fans, monetise your fanbase, plan for your future, maybe they’ll even give you a hat. By which, I mean to say, SoundCloud has added music distribution services to its Pro platform.

Which, according to SoundCloud itself, means that – moving forward – “creators monetising original music on SoundCloud can seamlessly add distribution into all major music services including Amazon Music, Apple Music, Instagram, Spotify, Tencent, YouTube Music and more – all directly from their SoundCloud account”.

SoundCloud has always been different to the other audio streaming services, of course, in that it allows any artist or audio creator to directly pump their tracks into its system. That was a result of the company starting off with a different business model to the likes of Spotify and Apple Music, before subsequently moving into the more conventional streaming space by signing licensing deals with the record labels and music distributors.

Those deals required SoundCloud to start monetising the audio on its platform through ad sales and later subscriptions. That monetisation has been slowly extended to those creators who still directly upload their content into the SoundCloud system – rather than making it available via a label or distributor – with all music creators with a SoundCloud Pro account becoming eligible for monetisation as of last October.

Although that move was in part about allowing DIY creators to also benefit from the monetisation side of SoundCloud, it also arguably made SoundCloud Pro a more attractive proposition. The Pro set up was at the heart of that original business model, whereby creators pay a monthly fee to host more content on the platform and access more data.

Except, of course, because streaming royalties from any one platform tend to be nominal until you are getting significant numbers of streams, upgrading to Pro to access monetisation wouldn’t immediately make financial sense for many creators, unless the other benefits were also attractive. Being able to automatically distribute your music to a plethora of other streaming platforms is a significant extra benefit.

Though it’s interesting that, by boosting the SoundCloud Pro side of the business, arguably the digital firm is removing one of the USPs of its punter-facing subscription service SoundCloud Go. When SoundCloud first launched its rather-late-to-the-party subscription offer, one of the company’s big brags was that – because of all the user-uploading over the years – it had a much bigger catalogue of music than its competitors.

By expanding its creator services so that that audio can now be passed on to other streaming platforms, the consumer-facing product will no longer have that brag.

Though it’s debatable how good a brag it ever really was. Not least because, in more recent years, most savvy new bands – ie the ones you’re most likely to want to listen to – would be getting their music into Spotify and Apple Music – via a DIY distributor like CD Baby, Ditto, Tunecore or Distrokid – at the same time they were uploading it into their SoundCloud account.

By adding distribution services, SoundCloud is now basically going into competition with those DIY distributors. Though more attention will likely be given to the impact SoundCloud’s latest move might have on Spotify and its plans to expand the services it offers creators.

Spotify, of course, is developing a direct-upload tool, allowing artists to directly upload music into its system SoundCloud-style. And, via an alliance with Distrokid, its plan is also to enable artists to use that direct-upload tool to distribute tracks to other streaming services.

SoundCloud will work with music distributor FUGA to offer distribution services to its creators. Those services will come at no extra cost to SoundCloud Pro customers and creators will get 100% of any royalties paid by the other platforms.

Announcing all these distribution fun times, SoundCloud boss Kerry Trainor said: “Only SoundCloud empowers creators with a unified platform to instantly upload and share, connect with fans in real-time and get paid for their work everywhere – both on SoundCloud and across other leading music services. Creators can now spend less time and money jumping between different tools, and more time making music, connecting with fans and growing their careers first on SoundCloud”.

Warner’s Atlantic allies with hip hop management firm R Baron Group

Business News Deals Labels & Publishers

Warner Music’s Atlantic Records in the US has announced an alliance with artist management firm the R Baron Group that will see the two companies launch a new label together to be known as The Machine Works.

The management firm, founded by TK Kimbro and Jeremiah Aubert, has an existing relationship with Atlantic via one of its management clients, Shoreline Mafia. The first signings to the new label also come from the R Baron Group management roster, they being LA-based AzChike and 1TakeJay.

Announcing the deal, Atlantic COO Julie Greenwald said: “We’re THRILLED to be taking our relationship with TK, Picaso and the R Baron team to a new level with the launch of The Machine Works. The driving force behind a phenomenal new wave of artists that has transformed the LA hip hop landscape, they’re a fantastic addition to the Atlantic family”.

Commenting from the other side of the deal, Kimbro added: “After the success of Shoreline Mafia and working hand and hand with Atlantic Records we knew this was where we wanted to build our label and incubator”. He then added, somewhat boldly, “Atlantic is truly the only major label committed to breaking and cultivating new artists”.

AIM announces Ninja Tune boss as new Chair

Business News Industry People Labels & Publishers

The UK’s Association Of Independent Music has a new Chair in the form of Peter Quicke, who is MD of Ninja Tune. He takes over from Transgressive’s Tim Dellow, who was in the Chair role for two years. The AIM membership elect the trade body’s board at its AGM each autumn, and then the board elects the Chair.

Confirming Quicke’s appointment, AIM CEO Paul Pacifico said: “On behalf of the AIM board I am delighted to announce the appointment of Peter Quicke as our new Chair. We would like to extend our warmest thanks to our outgoing Chair Tim Dellow, who has done an amazing job … while welcoming Peter who will bring energy, insight and a keen understanding of the challenges facing the independent music community to his new role”.

Dellow was the first Chair appointed under the current system and took on the role for two years to help with the transition after Pacifico took over from Alison Wenham in the top executive role. He said: “I’m immensely proud of what has been achieved by the AIM team in my tenure as its first elected Chair”.

On that management transition, he added: “Paul has worked diligently to completely rejuvenate the organisation, bringing in an exuberant, youthful team, and elevating and empowering committed employees dedicated to repositioning the independent sector as a place for creative entrepreneurs, adding a real value to our artists and their careers, whilst building on the core ethics and responsibilities that the sector should reflect”.

On his successor, he then concluded: “Peter is an incredible choice of Chair, who I know will bring his wealth of experience, keen ethical approach and distinct and proactive leadership to the position”.

YouTube updates community guidelines, though copyright rules remain unchanged

Business News Digital

YouTube has made some changes to its community guidelines, which set out rules that creators uploading videos to the platform must follow and the penalties if they do not.

The biggest change is that, as of later this month, YouTube will add an extra warning into the process that kicks off whenever people upload content that breaks the rules. That process is a three strikes system, with the penalties for rule breaking increasing with each offence, ultimately resulting in whole channels being deleted.

The extra warning will basically provide a one-time-only free pass for YouTube creators who break the rules for the first time. The offending content will be removed, but no other sanctions will occur. The Google site says this extra warning is being added basically as an educational tool, the hope being that as soon as that warning appears on an account, the creator will make it their business to learn the dos and don’ts of publishing on YouTube. Once that free pass warning has been used up, the three-strikes system begins.

The community guidelines cover things like posting violent, hateful or threatening content, or impersonating another channel, but do not include copyright violations. A separate though similar system applies to when YouTubers post videos containing other people’s content – including unlicensed music – which is linked in to the platform’s Content ID system. The rules and penalties around copyright violations remain unchanged.

Greatest Hits Radio teams up with Now for a retro chart show

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You know what the problem is with chart shows on the radio these days? That no one knows they still exist? No, not that. That no one cares about the chart anymore? No, not that either. The real problem is that official music charts – keen as they are to track the music with the most sales and streams in any one week – are full of new music.

Yeah new music. Fuck new music. I want to listen to the music that had the most sales and streams in 1996. Actually, I don’t. Though a chart of the most streamed music in 1996 would be interesting I guess. But if the thought of a chart show counting down the most popular tracks from a year gone by sounds like a good thing to you, then good news!

Bauer’s recently launched retro pop station Greatest Hits Radio has teamed up with Sony and Universal’s ‘Now That’s What I Call Music’ brand for a new weekly chart show that will countdown the hits from some year in the 1970s, 1980s or 1990s. You know, just for laughs. The show will go out in the classic Sunday tea time chart show slot and will be hosted by top 40 countdowner of old Mark Goodier.

Says Greatest Hits Radio Content Director Andy Ashton: “Our listeners love hearing music from their formative years and for many the ‘Now’ compilations mirror fond memories of good times old and new. Featuring hits throughout the decades of ‘Now’s reign, this chart countdown will be a fun nostalgic weekend trip for listeners”.

Adds Peter Duckworth of Now! Music: “‘Now’ albums have been charting people’s musical lives for over three and a half decades. The new ‘Now That’s What I Call A Chart Show’ on Greatest Hits Radio will be a wonderful opportunity for music fans to hear the hits from ‘Now’s younger years”.

How very very wonderful. It all starts on 3 Mar.

Monday 25 February 2019, 13:42 | By Chris Cooke

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Monday 25 February 2019, 06:20 | By CMU Editorial

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Monday 25 February 2019, 03:18 | By Chris Cooke

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Friday 22 February 2019, 12:15 | By Chris Cooke

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Friday 22 February 2019, 12:10 | By Chris Cooke

READ MORE ABOUT: musicFirst | National Association Of Broadcasters

Friday 22 February 2019, 12:09 | By Chris Cooke

READ MORE ABOUT: HBO | Michael Jackson

Friday 22 February 2019, 12:05 | By Chris Cooke

READ MORE ABOUT: Live Nation | Tons Of Rock

Friday 22 February 2019, 12:04 | By Chris Cooke

READ MORE ABOUT: Amy Winehouse

Friday 22 February 2019, 12:03 | By Chris Cooke

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Friday 22 February 2019, 12:01 | By Chris Cooke

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Thursday 21 February 2019, 19:59 | By Andy Malt

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Thursday 21 February 2019, 12:07 | By Chris Cooke

READ MORE ABOUT: CISAC | European Composer & Songwriter Alliance (ECSA) | European Copyright Directive | European Grouping of Societies of Authors and Composers (GESAC) | Independent Music Publishers International Forum | The Independent Music Companies Association (IMPALA)

Thursday 21 February 2019, 12:06 | By Chris Cooke

READ MORE ABOUT: Music Modernization Act | National Music Publishers' Association (NMPA)

Thursday 21 February 2019, 12:05 | By Chris Cooke

READ MORE ABOUT: Annie Mac | Smirnoff

Thursday 21 February 2019, 12:04 | By Chris Cooke

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Thursday 21 February 2019, 12:03 | By Chris Cooke

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Thursday 21 February 2019, 12:02 | By Chris Cooke

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Thursday 21 February 2019, 12:01 | By Chris Cooke

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Thursday 21 February 2019, 12:00 | By Chris Cooke

READ MORE ABOUT: Eazy-E | NWA

Wednesday 20 February 2019, 11:15 | By Chris Cooke

READ MORE ABOUT: FUGA | SoundCloud

Wednesday 20 February 2019, 11:12 | By Chris Cooke

READ MORE ABOUT: Atlantic Records | R Baron Group | The Machine Works | Warner Music

Wednesday 20 February 2019, 11:10 | By Chris Cooke

READ MORE ABOUT: Association of Independent Music (AIM) | Ninja Tune

Wednesday 20 February 2019, 11:08 | By Chris Cooke

READ MORE ABOUT: YouTube

Wednesday 20 February 2019, 11:06 | By Chris Cooke

READ MORE ABOUT: Greatest Hits Radio | Now That's What I Call Music