Spotify settles its big mechanical rights dispute Stateside
Spotify has settled the class action lawsuit that it faced in the US over unpaid mechanical royalties. The deal will see the streaming firm set aside a fund worth $43.4 million to compensate songwriters and publishers whose songs it streamed without licence.

As previously reported, it is generally agreed that streams exploit multiple elements of any one music copyright – so both the so called performing rights and the mechanical rights.

In some countries, the music publishing sector has traditionally licensed the performing and mechanical rights separately through different entities, meaning streaming firms need to ensure that – not only do they have deals in place for both recordings and songs – those deals cover both the performing and mechanical rights of any works streamed.

In the US this has proven challenging, because while there are collecting societies that licence performing rights, there is no one-stop society that represents mechanical rights. In other countries where the two elements of the copyright are licensed separately, there is a mechanical rights society that can provide a licence to cover any songs that are not subject to direct deals between the streaming firms and the big music publishers.

On one level this shouldn't matter because there is a compulsory licence covering mechanicals in the US, which includes a set statutory rate to be paid, so streaming services don't need to negotiate terms and they know from the outset what the mechanical costs will be. However, the compulsory licence obliges the streaming service to alert each and every rights owner that it intends to exploit their work or – where they can't identify the owner – it should file paperwork with the US Copyright Office instead.

Few services did this, mainly because of the big music rights data problem, whereby there is no one stop publicly accessible database to tell you who controls which song copyrights, nor which song is contained in which recording. However, by failing to adhere to the formalities of the compulsory licence, whenever a streaming service streams a song in the US which is not covered by one of its direct publisher licences, it is technically committing copyright infringement.

There have been various lawsuits against various streaming platforms in relation to this technicality, though the highest profile suits were those respectively pursued by songwriters David Lowery and Melissa Ferrick against Spotify. The two suits were ultimately merged into one multi-million dollar class action.

After Lowery and Ferrick's lawsuits had been filed, Spotify announced a settlement with the National Music Publishers Association in the US over the unpaid mechanicals, under which unpaid royalties would be handed over, a compensation fund would be set aside, and the big publishers and the streaming firm committed to tackle the continuing music rights data problem. However, any rights owners who didn't actively sign up to that settlement were still free to join the class action instead.

It's that litigation – another headache for Spotify as it prepares to list on the New York Stock Exchange – that has now been settled, subject to court approval. Like with the NMPA settlement, in addition to the $43 million set aside to compensate songwriters whose songs have been streamed without licence, the two sides in this dispute will also "work collaboratively to improve the gathering and collecting of information about composition owners to help ensure those owners are paid their royalties in the future".

Of course, there has been much talk in recent years about possible solutions to the big music rights data problem, and various projects are now underway, some involving the briefly buzzy blockchain. It remains to be seen whether any of those initiatives – or Spotify's endeavours with the NMPA and the members of this class – actually overcome the issues.

BACK TO THE TOP OF THE BULLETIN

Absolute Label Services upgrades its portal, adds plain English notifications
Absolute Label Services has announced an upgrade to its client portal which, the label services company reckons, makes it "the most holistic and user-friendly data analysis tool available to the music industry".

Absolute has directly distributed its clients music to digital platforms for a while now, providing the labels and artists it works for access to the flood of data that comes back from the download and streaming services via its Absolute Project portal. The portal also pulls in physical product sales and distribution data plus chart, airplay, gigging and social media information.

The upgraded service also offers a thing called Absolute Insider, which aims to help labels and artists navigate all the data available to them. Absolute says that the Insider function is "an intelligent system that is able to monitor developments in a campaign, identify the most significant changes and notify the user in plain English".

Kobalt's AWAL also recently added plain English summaries of the data its platform is crunching, though Absolute reckons its service goes further because it pulls in a wider variety of data and can therefore offer advice on a wider range of distribution and marketing points. Clients can also opt to receive some or all of these updates by email.

Absolute's Simon Wills says: "This latest update makes the Absolute Project portal the most powerful and relevant data analysis tool available to independent artists, managers and labels in the music industry today. We want to ensure our clients have unrivalled access to everything at a free access point; that way we help each other make the best of a campaign".

Stressing the wide range of data his company's portal pulls in for its clients, Wills continues: "We understand that big data needs to be manageable data. We created Absolute Insider so that our partners are kept up to date with the most significant developments of their campaign through easy-to-digest news items and advice. Of course, they can always log on to the web portal if they want to drill down and view things in full detail".

BACK TO THE TOP OF THE BULLETIN

Huka Entertainment downsizes after collapse of Pemberton Music Festival
The boss of US-based live music firm Huka Entertainment has confirmed that the company has started laying off staff following the collapse of the Pemberton Music Festival.

As previously reported, the Canadian festival, due to take place in July, went into bankruptcy earlier this month, with poor ticket sales and currency fluctuations being partly blamed. As Ernst & Young began work on the bankruptcy, those who had bought tickets were told that they'd have to join the queue of unsecured creditors seeking to get their money back, unless their bank or credit card company provided any guarantees, in which case a refund may be available there.

Huka Entertainment promoted the festival, though the business had been set up so it was basically a supplier to the owner of the event's site, which in turn controlled the Pemberton Music Festival company. It was said site owner, rather than Huka, who decided to put that company into bankruptcy.

Speaking to Billboard, Huka CEO Evan Harrison confirmed that the collapse of the event had had an impact on his business. "We had layoffs to scale down appropriately", he confirmed, before adding that the company still had "a concert-tour team as well as a scaled-down festival team".

Again stressing that Huka was basically a supplier to the festival, he went on: "We, too, are a vendor of Pemberton who was caught off-guard by this".

BACK TO THE TOP OF THE BULLETIN

Tidal loses another CEO
Perhaps Jay-Z's steaming company Tidal should put the word 'guest' in front of all its senior executives' job titles, that way when they keep exiting they could say "oh, him, her, they were just here for the season".

Actually, Jeff Toig was CEO at the firm for nearly eighteen months, or possibly fifteen months given the chatter that says he actually stood down in March. But he is still the company's third chief exec since it relaunched as a Jay-Z led business in 2015.

Tidal Towers said it wished Toig all the best with his future endeavours, before excitedly stating that "as part of Tidal's continued expansion this year we will be announcing a new CEO in the coming weeks". Oh yes, all that continued expansion, I forgot about that. Definitely best to get a new CEO in with all that planned expansion ahead.

BACK TO THE TOP OF THE BULLETIN

iHeartMedia extends debt renegotiation deadline again
US radio giant iHeartMedia – which also operates the iHeartRadio streaming platform of course – last week announced an "extension of private offers to holders of its five series of priority guarantee notes and its senior notes due 2021 to exchange such notes for new securities". What an exciting time to be in the radio business! Get that on a t-shirt please.

As previously reported, the broadcaster is trying to restructure its mountain of debt via a proposed equity-for-debt swap. The mega-debts are mainly the result of a $24 billion private equity buyout of the media firm in 2008. As talks with iHeart's money-lenders continued, last month the company raised concerns about its "ability to continue as a going concern", a statement which sparked much chatter about possible bankruptcy.

iHeart has now postponed the deadline for money-lenders to take up the equity-for-debt offer a number of times. Last week a new deadline of 9 Jun was set.

It's thought that most of the finance firms iHeart is busy negotiating with are still holding out for a better offer from the broadcaster. Though iHeart management may well be hoping that the creditors will ultimately play ball, given that it's not really in anyone's interest for the company to go into chapter eleven bankruptcy.

BACK TO THE TOP OF THE BULLETIN

Topics confirmed for CMU-hosted conversations at M.I.A.'s Meltdown
The topics have been confirmed for the three conversations CMU will host at M.I.A.'s Meltdown festival at Southbank Centre, London next month.

Under the banner 'Where Next For Music?', CMU Business Editor Chris Cooke will lead three discussions delving into topics selected by M.I.A. herself, which together explore the process and business of making music in the digital age.

Taking place in the Clore Ballroom at the Royal Festival Hall on the first weekend of this year's Meltdown – Saturday 10 Jun – admission is free and open to all on the day.

The first discussion at 1pm is called 'The Power Of Sound'. Music can instigate a wide range of emotions, but what is it about the science of sound that makes that possible? What draws us to certain combinations of sounds, to certain harmonies? How much is innate and how much is cultural? And how can music affect human behaviour? We will consider the power of sound from a creative, commercial and political perspective. How can music be used to communicate, to affect how someone consumes, or even as a tool of torture?

The second discussion at 2.30pm is called 'The Political Artist In The Social Media Age'. In a period of increasingly polarised politics, should artists seek to be more political? And if so, how? Through their songwriting, videos and alliances, or by simply speaking out? Can musicians really change public opinion? Can political activity impact on an artists' own brands, in a positive or negative way? And do the digital platforms that give artists a direct channel to their fans help or hinder? We will consider the political influence of artists, the challenges of the echo chamber, and the power of the platform owners.

And the final discussion is called 'Music & The Machines'. The industry is increasingly relying on big data and AI technologies to dissect and classify songs and recordings, to power recommendation services on the streaming platforms and music identification systems like Shazam and YouTube's Content ID. But how do these technologies work? What do they tell us about music and the way we consume it? And can the machines use what they learn to become the music makers of the future? We will analyse how the leading technologies work, and what they tell us about music and music-making.

Details of who will be joining each of these conversations will be announced soon. For information on everything else taking place during M.I.A.'s Meltdown festival, click here.

BACK TO THE TOP OF THE BULLETIN

Gregg Allman dies
Gregg Allman, best known as keyboardist and singer in the Allman Brothers Band, the outfit he co-founded with older brother Duane, has died aged 69. The musician had been forced to cancel various tour dates in the last two years due to ill health.

A statement on Allman's website this weekend read: "It is with deep sadness we announce that Gregg Allman, a founding member of The Allman Brothers Band, passed away peacefully at his home in Savannah, Georgia. Gregg struggled with many health issues over the past several years. During that time, Gregg considered being on the road, playing music with his brothers and solo band for his beloved fans, essential medicine for his soul. Playing music lifted him up and kept him going during the toughest of times".

Allman's long-time manager Michael Lehman paid tribute, adding: "I have lost a dear friend and the world has lost a brilliant pioneer in music. He was a kind and gentle soul with the best laugh I ever heard. His love for his family and bandmates was passionate as was the love he had for his extraordinary fans. Gregg was an incredible partner and an even better friend. We will all miss him".

--------------------------------------------------

Marcus Intalex dies
Drum & bass producer Marcus Intalex, aka Trevino, has died. He was due to play Soul:ution nights in both Manchester and London this weekend.

His label Soul:R confirmed the news, posting on Facebook on Sunday: "It's with heavy hearts and great sadness that we have to announce that Marcus passed away this morning. Thanks for the kind words so far and we appreciate the privacy and respect shown for his loved ones and friends at this sad time".

Numerous fellow producers and DJs have paid tribute to Trevino since the news broke, including Gilles Peterson who wrote "shocking to hear of the passing of one of the true greats of UK underground dance culture and production". Meanwhile Roni Size tweeted: "I'm utterly saddened that we have lost a soldier Marcus Intalex, my thoughts are with his family and friends. RIP AND KEEP ON ROLLIN ON".

BACK TO THE TOP OF THE BULLETIN

Frank Ocean pulls out of Primavera Sound
Frank Ocean has cancelled another festival appearance, this time his set at this week's Primavera Sound in Barcelona. The festival said that Ocean was bailing on his set there "due to production delays beyond his control. The artist has apologised and has reiterated his wish to come to Barcelona soon".

Production issues were also cited when Ocean previously pulled out of his sets at two US festivals, Sasquatch! and Hangout. His next scheduled performance is at the Northside festival in Denmark, which takes place from 9-11 Jun.

Back in Barcelona, Primavera has announced that Jamie xx will now be doing a solo set as part of its Friday programme, which essentially replaces Ocean. The xx are already playing the festival.

BACK TO THE TOP OF THE BULLETIN

Glastonbury social sharing will use 40 terabytes of EE data
Phone firm EE has said it will be setting up the "most powerful temporary 4G network seen at any UK event" for this month's Glastonbury Festival, where it is the "official technology and communications partner" no less.

All that power is necessary because of all the live streaming nonsense that has become popular on the social networks in the last year. EE reckons that fad means more content will be digitally streamed and shared from Worthy Farm than ever before this month, with 40 terabytes of data likely to be used across its 4G network.

Of course anyone about to live stream their Glastonbury moments to friends back home could just be reminded that said friends would probably be better advised to tune in to the BBC's coverage if they are in any way interested, which will have better sound and less chance of a stupid flag blocking the camera's view. I read somewhere that the internationally recognised hand gesture to communicate all that to a budding Glasto live streamer is a short sharp slap in the face.

Says EE's Mat Sears: "Since EE first launched 4G in the UK, we've worked with the team at Glastonbury to give festival-goers the best possible network experience. A few years ago that meant making sure people could simply post status updates and photos, but with social media continuing its rapid growth – including the addition of Instagram Stories, Facebook Live and Snapchat Stories – those on site now require more data for video than ever before. Our customers will be able to treat their friends at home by sharing their own personal view of all of the awesome stuff that Glastonbury has to offer over our superfast 4G network. We're incredibly excited to be able to help make that happen".

Yeah, can someone slap Mat in the face. I'm joking. No one should ever slap anyone in the face. Just slap their phones into the mud.

BACK TO THE TOP OF THE BULLETIN