Spotify makes new board appointments ahead of Wall Street listing
Spotify is reportedly seeking to add four new directors to its board, a move widely seen as further prep for the streaming music firm becoming a publicly listed company.

According to the Financial Times, former Disney COO Tom Staffs is among the new board appointments, along with Padmasree Warrior, who heads up the US division of Chinese electric car maker NextEV; former YouTube Head Of Product Shishir Mehrotra; and Cristina Stenbeck, an owner of Swedish investment firm Kinnevik.

Bringing the expertise of Staffs and Mehrotra into the boardroom, alongside Netflix Chief Content Officer Ted Sarandos, who joined Spotify's board eight months ago, could be seen as confirmation that the digital firm has increasing ambitions in the video space. Not that its dabblings in video have been hugely successful to date, though original programming is seen as a key way for the streaming services to distinguish themselves from one other, and on the freemium side brands usually spend more when a project has a video element.

Spotify, of course, is now very much on its march towards becoming a publicly listed company. It is now widely believed that the firm will opt for an unusual 'direct listing' on the New York Stock Exchange, whereby no new shares are issued at the point of listing. Though sources tell the FT that a final decision on going that route - rather than pursuing a more conventional cash-raising Initial Public Offering - is yet to be made.

Getting new multi-year deals in the bag with the big music rights owners is, of course, also required before going to Wall Street, even if Spotify goes the direct listing route. As previously reported, Universal and indie label repping Merlin are already on board in that regard, with deal negotiations ongoing at Sony Music and Warner Music.

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Fergie signs to BMG
BMG has announced a new deal with Fergie of them there Black Eyed Peas in the form of a partnership that will see the singer set up her own record label, Dutchess Music. The first release through the label will be her new solo album, 'Double Dutchess', the follow-up to 2006's 'The Dutchess'.

"This new era, which includes starting my own label and creating a global partnership with BMG, is a dream come true", says Fergie. "It's an opportunity to release my solo music as well as develop and nurture new artists. This next chapter in my career will allow me the independence to evolve both as an artist and as a businesswoman. BMG has such an incredible legacy in the music industry, and I look forward to working with their very experienced team to make new music, memories and magic!"

"Fergie is part of an elite group of talented artists who continue to evolve and redefine the meaning of originality", says BMG's Zach Katz, seemingly trying to set some sort of new record for over-the-top press release statements. "From her creativity and style to her stature in pop culture, simply put, there's only one Fergie".

Other than the other Fergies, of course. At least one of whom is an actual dutchess. Anyway, I wonder if fellow BMG exec Jon Cohen can outdo Katz in his big statement? "What Fergie has put together with 'Double Dutchess' is so inventive it redefines her as an artist", says he. "Her prolific output has already made our collaboration one of my most exciting times with BMG and we can't wait for its reveal".

Nice try Jon, but Zach really is the master at this. 'Double Dutchess' is due out later this year. Expect a new definition of 'originality' to follow.

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Twickets launches in Australia
Twickets has officially launched its face value ticket exchange in Australia, having opened an office in the country in January.

The new site launches in partnership with Eddie Sheeran, who has made it the official resale platform for his sold out Australian tour. Also hooking up with Twickets for Australian shows are Stormzy, Rag N Bone Man, Sigur Rós, DJ Shadow and Laura Marling.

Live company Frontier Touring will also work with Twickets. Its COO, Dion Brant, said in a statement: "The last excuse used by scalping sites to justify their existence is that they 'provide a service to legitimate fans stuck with unwanted tickets'. We know this is really a cover for misleading and dishonest profiteering at the expense of fans and artists. Partnering with Twickets to provide a service where real fans can sell unwanted tickets in a transparent and fair way removes all legitimacy from other resale sites".

As previously reported, the Australian branch of Twickets is being headed up by former Head Of Ticketing at Global Live in the UK, Danny Hannaford. He said yesterday: "It is great to get this venture off the ground in Australia. We have had many exciting conversations with promoters, managers and ticketing companies, and are very pleased to have Frontier Touring and so many exciting artists on board. We look forward to announcing more in the coming weeks".

Find out more at twickets.com.au

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Councillor on Fyre Festival island criticises Bahamas tourism agency
As the lawsuits continue to mount in the US in relation to the failed Fyre Festival, back in the Bahamas - where the luxury event was meant to take place - increased pressure is being put on the Ministry Of Tourism for its involvement in bringing the Ja Rule-backed venture to the island of Great Exuma.

As previously reported, Bahamas-based newspaper The Tribune recently interviewed some of the local businesses who were left out of pocket when the Fyre Festival collapsed just as it was due to kick off at the end of April.

Now the Chief Councillor of Exuma, Brian Strachan, has insisted that, while his body did give the necessary permission for the Fyre Festival to go ahead, it was the Bahamas' Ministry Of Tourism which led on all the dealings and conversations with the event's management team, including the other co-founder Billy McFarland.

Strachan told the Tribune: "We had nothing to do with this event. We made sure we kept our distance, because it wasn't for us to take charge, but somebody has to now. Tourism took the wheel, so they [should lead] now [on dealing with the fall out]".

The Councillor added that, when the required paperwork was provided to the island authorities by the Fyre Festival team, their main concern was the dates, because the start of the festival clashed with the end of the island's George Town Regatta.

Strachan reckons that Fyre clashing with that event, which already stretches local resources, could have added to the festival's problems. Though even without the clash it seems unlikely the Fyre Festival site would have met the expectations of ticketholders who had been sold such a luxury experience.

The Bahamas Ministry Of Tourism was quick to put out statements criticising the Fyre Festival as it collapsed over the last weekend in April, seemingly concerned that media reporting and social media chatter about the disastrous event was damaging the Bahamas brand. Though the government agency has yet to respond to more recent local criticism of its involvement in bringing Ja Rule and McFarland's ambitious party to its shores.

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CMU@TGE 2017: Facilitating Export - UK Export Initiatives
Look out for reports on all the key sessions at the CMU Insights conferences at The Great Escape over the next few weeks. Plus, from next Monday, we'll be publishing a series of CMU Trends reports providing more in depth versions of the insight presentations CMU Insights delivered during TGE this year - go premium to access CMU Trends. Today, we look at two UK funding initiatives that support new acts looking to build their audiences overseas, both of which were profiled at TGE last week.

There is no one-stop music export office in the UK, but there are a number of government and industry supported initiatives in this area. As part of the BPI-supported CMU Insights Export Conference at this year's Great Escape, BPI's Chris Tams and PRS Foundation's Bhavesh Patel ran through two of the schemes that support artists and music companies looking to grow their businesses overseas.

Patel started by focussing on the PRS Foundation's International Showcasing Fund. "This is the result of a partnership between different organisations across the UK music industry", he explained. "Including Arts Council England, British Underground, PledgeMusic and the Department For International Trade".

"We have nine different partners across the scheme and everybody collectively puts money into this fund" he added. "The job of the PRS Foundation is then to distribute that money across the industry to help bands and artists build their presence internationally. This involves supporting British acts playing showcase festivals like SXSW, Eurosonic or Reeperbahn - if bands have been invited to play any of those events, then we have grants available to support them in that activity".

"We work closely with the top tier showcase festivals, so the main criteria for this fund is that you've got to have an invite to play one of these festivals directly from the organisers", he explained. "That's an initial filtering process. We trust the judgement of a lot of these showcasing festivals, and that invite is the first step to applying for funding".

Artists also have to demonstrate to the PRS Foundation that they are "export ready", he added. "If you can show that domestically there is demand for your music, and that there is some interest, say from the local industry, in the other market you plan to play, then that means you have a strong case that can help you get the funding from us".

Artists who have received International Showcasing Fund funding this year include Dream Wife, to play SXSW, and Anna Meredith, to perform at Eurosonic. In total, between 60 and 80 artists receive this funding per year.

Tams focussed on the Music Export Growth Scheme, which the BPI runs on behalf of the government's Department Of International Trade. Since launching in January 2014 the scheme has handed over £1.85 million to 131 artists.

"It's a matched funding scheme", explained Tams. "MEGS puts 70% in and then the artist, the label, or whoever applies, has to put 30% in. It's a grant, so you don't need to repay it, and it's basically open to anyone who's a UK-based 'SME' - so less than 250 employees or a turnover of less than £50 million".

"Those SMEs can be labels, artists, management companies, tour agents, promoters, anyone", he continued. "Roughly about 94% of all the money we've given out so far has been given to artists that are working with independent labels".

With regard to the application process, Tams admits: "It's fairly laborious process - we make it difficult on purpose, because we want people who have actually got a sound business case. Whereas a lot of funding schemes are based on how great the artist is, we're more commercially focused, we are looking to back sound business cases. We're looking at whether or not we think the project will succeed".

The government provides the funding in order to help grow the UK music industry's exports, contributing back to the country's economic growth. "Hence it's called 'Music Export Growth Scheme'", Tams joked. "It's not the 'Music Export Go-away-and-have-a-lovely-time-at-SXSW Scheme'".

Of the expected return, he continued: "We're looking at, on average, about 10:1 return on investment that we give you. If we give you £10,000 to go on tour somewhere, we want to see at least £100,000 come back to that artist's business. More than that, if possible".

"It's very competitive", he added of the demand for the funding. "Last round, we had £150,000 to distribute, but we had applications totalling £2.3 million. Those applications come from a diverse range of genres - and for projects involving artists from many different backgrounds. But we don't have no quotas on genres, or anything like that, projects are selected purely on merit, those that we think are most likely to succeed".

So what does MEGS specifically fund? "Overseas music-based projects where we can add value and make the difference between a plan happening or not happening. The funding can cover digital marketing, press and PR, promotion, tour support, including the costs of session musicians, travel, per diems, visas. We like projects to be creative and innovative".

"The applications that really stand out are the ones that are slightly different", he said. "We have hundreds and hundreds of applications for bands to go and play the same four gigs in America, or the same fifteen gigs in Germany. If you have an application that's slightly different in any way shape or form, you do tend to stand out".

"We don't particularly cover the costs of performing at international showcases, because that's already covered by PRS Foundation fund", he added. "But we will fund things like SXSW if it is part of a broader activity. If you do a fifteen date US tour and SXSW is one of your dates, we might be able to fund that. But we have a constant dialogue with PRSF, because you're not allowed to get public funding for the same thing twice".

Both panellists then offered tips for filling out funding applications. "It differs for each fund", said Tams. "We're looking for you to answer the specific questions on the form. The amount of people that don't actually answer the questions is unbelievable".

"There's an old phrase 'bullshit baffles brains'", he continued. "Don't waffle on. If you have two pertinent points to put over in an application, then just put those two. You don't need to fill the form up with erroneous details. Certainly for us at MEGS, we're looking for bands that are going to give us a good return on investment. We're not a cultural fund. We're not an arts fund. We are a business fund. We're looking for a business case. If you are applying for arts funds then you need to tailor your application differently for that".

Patel said that a lot of that advice applies to the PRSF showcasing fund too. Plus, he repeated, demonstrating some interest for the artist in the country where they are heading is also key. That may be media support or industry interest. "You need to generate that interest from the industry out there", he went on. "They really have to want to see your band over at SXSW, or Eurosonic, or whichever event is it you've been invited to play. Demonstrating that builds a stronger case and foundation for your application".

Asked about a good case study of a band who had received MEGS funding, Tams picked the Temperance Movement, who had already been discussed in the Export Conference by Phil Middleton from their management firm ATC. "Due to the MEGS funding, they got seen by a tour promoter in Germany", said Tams. "That promoter then put them on at some Rolling Stones gigs, which gave them a six-figure PRS cheque at the end of the shows. That was a great return for us as a scheme, and obviously a great pay off for the band as well".

"We have a fairly rigorous reporting structure for those who receive funding to meet", he added. "We are constantly asked for updates from the government about what the return on investment has been. Since 2014 we've probably had about a 10.5-11:1 ROI on all the money we've handed out via the fund".

"Those results don't come over night", noted Patel on how you assess the impact of funding. "We're not expecting bands to go and play whichever festival and then come back the week after and tell us they've been offered a tour to go back. Sometimes it takes a year or two to really see the results of doing that show".

Check out all the reports and resources CMU has published around this year's CMU Insights @ The Great Escape conferences here. Find out more about MEGS funding here, and the PRS Foundation here.

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Indie Label Cup charity five-a-side football tournament returns for 2017
The UK music industry's charity five-a-side football tournament, The Indie Music Cup, is back for the third year on 10 Jun. This year the event is raising money for Syria Relief, specifically to support a 'safe school' in the eastern Damascus suburb of Ghouta, where the education system has all but collapsed.

The event has significantly expanded this year, with the number of teams doubling to 32. Among the mixed gender teams entering are NTS, Eat Your Own Ears, Rough Trade shops,
Domino, Heavenly Records, Boiler Room Ladies, Resident Advisor, Dekmantel, Spotify, Secretly Canadian, Mixmag and She Said So.

There will also be a soundsystem throughout the day courtesy of RSH Audio, an Indie Label Market, food and drink, plus an after party at the Lion & Lamb in Hoxton.

For more information on how to attend, and how to donate, go to www.indiemusiccup.co.uk

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Roy Orbison reworked by Royal Philharmonic Orchestra
Following on from the success of two Royal Philharmonic Orchestra albums providing new orchestral backing to Elvis vocals, Sony will released a similar reworking of Roy Orbison songs, 'A Love So Beautiful', on 3 Nov. As well as the orchestra, Orbison's three sons - Alex, Wesley and Roy Jr - and his ten month old grandson Roy III, perform on a number of tracks.

Orbison's youngest son Alex, also president of Roy's Boys, the company set up to administer the late musician's catalogue, says in a statement: "If ever there were a singer whose body of work benefits from a collaboration with the Royal Philharmonic it would be Roy Orbison".

"During the course of his career and after his passing it was constantly noted that his transcendent vocal ability made him something of an anomaly in the world of pop and rock and that, in another life, he would have taken the classical music/opera world by storm", he continues. "Soon, we'll all be able to experience that 'life' with the release of this project. It's more than an album release, it's the fulfilment of a prophecy in a very tangible way".

Also out this year is the first ever officially sanctioned book about Orbison, 'The Authorised Roy Orbison'. The book was written by Orbison's sons with journalist Jeff Slate.

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Deerhoof to release new album as part of five LP subscription
Deerhoof have announced that they will release five new albums in the latter half of this year, making them available in physical form via a subscription.

The series will technically only feature one Deerhoof album though, the other four divided between various side-projects. The first two of these releases are available now, each split between two projects.

On one you'll find drummer Greg Saunier's project with Death Grips' Zach Hill, Nervous Cop, plus Les Bon Hommes, Saunier's band with William Kuehn of Rainer Maria and Deerhoof's live sound engineer Deron Pulley.

The other features Oneone - Deerhoof frontwoman Satomi Matsuzaki's project with Tenniscoats' Saya - backed by guitarist John Dieterich's new band Murmurer.

Next up, in August, you'll get that new Deerhoof album, which requires much less explanation.

Then finally it's back to those side projects. Though they haven't provided any details on those, other than that it'll be another block of two releases and they'll be available in October.

You can already buy all four elements of the first two split albums digitally from Bandcamp, all proceeds from which will be donated to US political action group Brand New Congress.

If you want the Deerhoof album in August, you need to sign up for that subscription, which will get you all five releases on vinyl in a wooden box. The box is limited to 777 copies, so you'd best move quickly.

There will then be a standard, standalone release of the new Deerhoof album at a later date.

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Liam Gallagher, Ice Cube, International Music Summit, more

Other notable announcements and developments today...

• Ice Cube has signed with Universal's Interscope which, among other things, will put out a 25th anniversary edition of his second solo album 'Death Certificate'. Interscope boss John Janick is "THRILLED".

• Danish pop duo Kill J have signed a new record deal with Nettwerk Records. This is excellent news indeed.

• Eric Prydz has launched a new label, Pryda Presents. The company's first release will be 'Feel' by Cristoph. Second will be a single from Prydz alterego Tonja Holma.

• Universal Music's catalogue division in the US has appointed Andre Torres to a new urban-focused VP role. Torres was previously a magazine publisher and was most recently with lyrics website Genius.

• The dance music focused International Music Summit is taking place in Ibiza this week, and in amongst the proceedings organisers have published their annual IMS Business Report of the electronic music sector. The report reckons that the global electronic music industry is now worth $7.4 billion a year, up 3%. You can download all the stats here.

• The Radio Academy's annual Radio Festival event, which was originally due to take place last Tuesday, will now take place on 21 Jun. The London-based event was postponed in the wake of the Manchester Arena bombing, out of respect for the victims and because it was felt some attendees would be required to work with such a major news story underway.

• All We Are have released new single, 'Animal'. Their new album, 'Sunny Hills', is due out on 9 Jun.

• Liam Gallagher has announced that he will donate all proceeds from a solo show in Manchester on 30 May to the We Love Manchester Emergency Fund. That performance will be followed by shows in London, Dublin and Glasgow. Gallagher's first solo single, 'Wall Of Glass', is out on 1 Jun.

• Check out new music covered in CMU Daily this week in our Spotify playlist here.

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Beef Of The Week #356: Katy Perry v Taylor Swift
Taylor Swift has a beef with Katy Perry. Katy Perry wants to end that beef. And that's this week's beef, people: Katy Perry's beef with Taylor Swift over Taylor Swift's beef with Katy Perry, and Katy Perry wanting to end that latter beef. It's simple, really. Quite the battle.

Right, so, you all remember Taylor Swift's 2014 single 'Bad Blood'. When it originally came out, everyone assumed it was about Harry Styles. Because everyone always assumes that all of Taylor Swift's songs are about her ex-boyfriends, rumoured or otherwise. 'Welcome To New York', for example, is about a relationship she had with the head of the New York tourist board, Fred Dixon.

I should probably say at this point, there is no truth in the rumour that Taylor Swift had a relationship with Fred Dixon. In fact, there wasn't even a rumour. I made it up for a joke that quite possibly fell flat, and now I'm concerned he might not take it all in the spirit it was intended. Let's just leave Fred out of this. He didn't ask to be brought into this story. He does important work, and I don't feel that should be belittled by lies and tittle tattle.

That said, he did run to Swift's defence when a New York advertising campaign was criticised for using 'Welcome To New York' even though she isn't a native of the city. Would he have done that if they weren't seeing each other? Yes, of course he would. Stop this.

Anyway, what was I actually talking about? Oh yeah, how every song Taylor Swift writes is then combed for clues as to whom it might be about. 'Bad Blood' wasn't, it turned out, about Harry Styles at all. It was about Katy Perry.

Or, rather, it was about another female musician who had "basically tried to sabotage an entire arena tour [of mine]", Swift told Rolling Stone. TMZ then filled in the blanks to make it one of those classic female popstar v female popstar feuds that the media likes to manufacture. Except on this occasion there was an actual feud.

For her part, Perry took part in the feud by occasionally tweeting thinly veiled insults and then trademarking some of the lyrics of 'Bad Blood' by making them the name of one of her many fragrances.

Now Perry wants out. This nonsense has gone on long enough. She just wants to make up and go back to it all being 'mad love'. Or perhaps another combination of words that Perry owns. She said as much to James Corden on his 'Carpool Karaoke' thing.

"It's about backing dancers, it's so crazy", she said of the two popstars' 'bad blood'. The story begins, says Perry, when three of her backing dancers asked if they could go on the road with Swift while her career was on a temporary hiatus.

"There were three backing dancers that went on tour with [Swift], and they asked me beforehand if they could go. I was like, 'Yeah, of course. I'm not on the record cycle, get the work, she's great. But I will be on record cycle probably in about year. So be sure to put a 30 day contingency in your contract, so you can get out and join me when I say I'm going back on [a promotional cycle]'".

"So that year came up, and I texted all of them and I said, 'Look, just FYI, I'm about to start [promoting again]'. They said they were going to go and talk to [Swift's] management about it".

Which all sounds fine, huh? Except Swift's management apparently just fired the dancers there and then. Bloody management, always fucking everything up. Perry, realising that this wasn't going to look good, attempted to speak to Swift about it directly. That also did not go well, as all the events described above (except maybe the stuff about Fred Dixon) will attest.

"I tried to talk to her about it and she wouldn't speak to me", says Perry of her attempts to smooth things over. "I do the right thing any time that it feels like a fumble. It was a full shutdown. And then she writes a song about me and I'm like, 'OK, cool, cool, cool. That's how you wanna deal with it?' Karma".

Karma? Not sure where that comes into it exactly. Unless it's another Perry Perfume. Whatever, she wants done with it now. "I'm ready for that BS to be done", Perry told Corden. "Now, there is the law of cause and effect. You do something, there's going to be a reaction, and trust me daddy, there's going to be a reaction. It's all about karma, right?"

The perfume? The good news is that Swift doesn't even have to write a song in order to end all this. Corden asked if Perry would simply accept a text message stating that "beef is off the grill".

"Yes", replied Perry. "100%".

Swift will probably still write a song to formally end the beefing though. Taylor Swift only communicates in song. She's like a walking musical, except there's been some sort of employment dispute with the dancers.

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