Guvera co-founder blames co-founder for firm's collapse
The co-founder of failed streaming firm Guvera has seemingly blamed his former business partners for the crash of his digital venture, telling newspaper The Australian that the key lesson to take away from the firm's collapse was "to choose your capital partners wisely".

Claes Loberg co-founded the Guvera business with Darren Herft, who also headed up an investment vehicle called Amma Private Equity, which raised finance for the digital music start-up. Herft was CEO of Guvera until it was forced to abandon its bid to IPO on the Australian Securities Exchange last year.

He then stood down from his executive role at the business, with Loberg becoming CEO. Loberg then ran the streamlined Guvera until the firm finally ceased operations in May, when he left both the business and the company's board. That left just Herft on the board, who now keeps saying that he thinks he can do something with the company's IP.

Although it evolved its service proposition somewhat in the years after its launch in 2008 - ultimately moving into the subscription streaming game - Guvera always more actively pushed the ad-funded side of its ambitious business plan, reckoning that the digital music sector had yet to fully capitalise on the potential of ad income.

Despite his company crashing out of business, Loberg reckons that opportunity is still out there waiting to be tapped. Speaking for the first time since Guvera went offline in May, he told The Australian: "I worked for many years building on the initial vision. It was sidetracked a few times and for several reasons it didn't work".

However, he added, "the idea that the way advertising works is to be a curator rather than a disrupter ... some other players such as Apple Music, YouTube and Spotify are just now starting to scratch in that direction. I'm sure a YouTube or Netflix will hit onto it and change the way we find anything from news to music, film and TV in the future. Maybe we were too early".

Asked about what he'd learned from his failed digital music project - which followed previous successful tech and creative business ventures - Loberg said: "The most important [lesson] is to choose your capital partners wisely".

Which seems to be a dig at Herft and Amma.

As previously reported, a government regulator is now looking into how Amma raised monies for Guvera from a large number of inexperienced investors, and whether the company breached rules designed to protect such investors.

Australian media also report that some of the 3000 people who lost money in the Guvera adventure might be considering class actions against the company or Amma. For his part, Herft insists everything was above board.

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Viacom hits back against The Game in dating show sexual assault case
MTV and VH1 owner Viacom is trying to have litigation filed against it by rapper The Game dismissed via a so called anti-SLAPP motion.

As previously reported, The Game - real name Jayceon Taylor - sued the media firm after losing a civil case for sexual assault last year, because the woman he sexually assaulted was a contestant on a reality show he made for VH1.

Priscilla Rainey, a contestant on dating show 'She's Got Game', said that during a date with the rapper - which she believed to be part of the contest, although it wasn't - Taylor became "intoxicated" and "out of control" and inappropriately touched her buttocks and genital area several times. She successfully sued over the incident and was awarded $7.1 million in damages last November.

In a somewhat optimistic lawsuit, Taylor then sought to pass on the cost of those damages to VH1, and then some. In a $20 million lawsuit filed earlier this year, the rapper - who continues to deny the sexual assault claims - argued that the broadcaster was liable for his legal battle with Rainey, because they had cast her in the reality show despite a doctor who vetted all potential contestants cautioning producers that "in moments of jealousy, [her] normal composure dissolves, leaving her to acting out of control".

Needless to say, Viacom disputes that it should be in anyway held liable for Taylor's alleged misconduct. According to The Hollywood Reporter, it says in its response: "It is absurd for Taylor to claim that Viacom's alleged approval of Rainey being cast on the programme is the proximate cause of the jury's verdict against him for allegedly sexually assaulting her".

It adds: "The superseding causes of his purported damages include, most obviously, his alleged sexual battery of Rainey, as well as her filing of a civil lawsuit against him, his failure to appear for trial, and the jury's decision to credit her testimony and award her $7.1 million. Each is an independent event that breaks any purported chain of causation".

The media company also cites its contract with The Game as a reason to dismiss his litigation, stating that in its agreement with the rapper Taylor acknowledged the emotional strains participating in the programme might result in, and agreed "to accept any and all risks of participating in the project".

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UK's culture ministry rebrands, goes digital
The UK government's Department For Culture, Media & Sport isn't the Department For Culture, Media & Sport, and anyone who is saying it is the Department For Culture, Media & Sport really ought to get with the now and stop calling it the Department For Culture, Media & Sport, because it's clearly the Department For Digital, Culture, Media & Sport.

Yes, people, the Department For DIGITAL, Culture, Media & Sport. How modern! Because this digital thing, that's gaining some momentum now isn't it? Digital! How digital. You know what I think about digital? It's digital. And that's exciting. But not exciting in an old fashioned analogue way, granddad. No, digitally exciting. Digital!

The country's Secretary Of State For Culture, Media & Sport - sorry, I mean Secretary Of State For Digital, Culture, Media & Sport - Karen Bradley, confirmed that Prime Minister Theresa Mayhem had approved the name change yesterday. Though I'd be wary of that if I was Bradley. Putting digital in the title makes the DDCMS officially in charge of the internet, which probably means Mayhem's planning on shutting it down.

Said Bradley: "DCMS celebrates its 25th anniversary this year, and it is fitting now to include 'digital' in the name. The department has taken on significant new responsibilities in recent years, so that half of its policy and delivery work now covers the digital sectors - telecommunications, data protection, internet safety, cyber skills and parts of media and the creative industries".

She went on: "The traditional core of DCMS remains as important as ever, covering arts, culture, the creative industries, sport, tourism, heritage, gambling, boosted by responsibility for civil society, charities, volunteering and innovative financing to create an inclusive economy. This work makes an essential contribution to driving growth and enriching lives".

Hmm, with that in mind, shouldn't it be the Department Of Telecommunications, Data Protection, Internet Safety, Cyber Skills, Media, Arts, Culture, Creative Industries, Sport, Tourism, Heritage, Gambling, Civil Society, Charities, Volunteering & Innovate Financing? We put this question to the DTDPISCSMACCISTHGCSCVIF, but it has not, as yet, responded.

No mention of music in Bradley's list, you might note. So, musicians, make sure your music is both arty and cultural, just so you get on the government's radar. Or digital. It can be digital. Yeah, fuck making it arty and cultural, just make it digital.

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Max Richter re-signs to Deutsche Grammophon, launches new label
Having recently become the first signee to the new Decca Publishing company, Max Richter has announced that he's sticking with the also Universal-owned Deutsche Grammophon for his recordings. The deal was sweetened with the promise of his own imprint label, StudioRichter, through which he will release his film scores and collaborations.

"I'm very excited to be launching the label", says Richter. "I see StudioRichter as a kind of laboratory - a place to experiment and to discover the unexpected - and I'm happy that I have found a home for it at Deutsche Grammophon".

Deutsche Grammophon President Clemens Trautmann adds: "I am delighted that we will work even more closely with Max Richter in the future. All of us - his label Deutsche Grammophon, his new publisher Decca Publishing, and, obviously, Max himself - will benefit from the expansion of our relationship and the synergies this will create".

Trautmann continues: "Max's musical language is so direct and contemporary and this is why he reaches and touches new audiences and has built an impressive fan base. With his oeuvre Max Richter has advanced and enriched what classical music can mean and express today. We are excited to be entering into a new holistic relationship with Max".

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Believe partners with former Universal France boss's new label
Believe has signed a distribution deal with Six Et Sept, the new label venture set up by former Universal Music France chief Pascal Nègre who, as previously reported, departed the mega-major last year after 26 years with the company.

Six Et Sept is a joint venture with media firm RTL Group and its French subsidiary M6. RTL is, in turn, majority owned by German company Bertelsmann, which also owns BMG of course.

Confirming the alliance with Believe on both digital and physical distribution, Nègre said yesterday: "Having a distributor who has a real ability to develop projects both in France and worldwide, as well as being at the forefront of digital expertise, but also highly capable in the physical market, is a real opportunity for Six Et Sept. We're very happy to work with Believe's motivated teams and their visionary president Denis Ladegaillerie".

Believe boss Ladegaillerie returned the compliment, adding: "The combined experience that Pascal and Julien have in developing artists is exceptional and unique in France. I am convinced that this collaboration with Believe will bring about many new talents".

But who's this Julien guy of which you speak? Ah, he's the former head of Capitol and Polydor in France who is now running Six Et Sept on a day-to-day basis. Obviously!

"Both our artistic visions perfectly complement each other", says he. "Believe is a committed partner for our ambitious projects - it is a promising and exciting agreement".

As previously reported, in addition to his label venture with M6, since departing Universal Music, Nègre also launched an artist management agency with Live Nation called #NP.

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Sweden's Bråvalla festival cancelled in 2018, following reports of multiple rapes
The 2018 edition of Sweden's Bråvalla festival has been called off, after numerous reports of rape and sexual assault at this year's event last weekend.

As previously reported, the festival drew controversy last year due to reports of attacks on the site. It came to wider attention when Mumford & Sons announced that they would boycott the festival until assurances for the safety of attendees could be made, following reports of five rapes and twelve sexual assaults.

At the time, promoter FKP Scorpio's CEO Folkert Koopmans said that the number of incidents appeared higher than they actually were due to the way such crimes are reported in Sweden. He also claimed that two of the reports of rape were retracted and that the other three were recorded as sexual harassment upon investigation. He did not address the sexual assault claims.

However, the organisers have taken a less relaxed view following this year's event, after police said that they had received four reports of rape and 23 sexual assaults.

After the event finished on Sunday, a statement appeared on Facebook saying that the event had been both "amazing, joyful and sunny" and "frustrating, gloomy, strange, sad and rainy".

The day before, a press release had been issued announcing that, while the 2017 festival would continue as planned, organisers had already decided not to go ahead with the 2018 event. This statement was then republished on the festival's website yesterday.

"Several sexual offences have been reported", said the statement. "There are no words for how incredibly sad we are over this, and we want to regret and condemn it to the most serious. It's not OK. We do not accept it at our festival".

It went on to say that organisers had "done everything in our power to prevent and secure safe festival experience for our visitors" but that "sexual abuse continues to occur".

The statement added that sexual crimes were not limited to Bråvalla, or just festivals in general, and that it is "a huge social problem that affects every part of our society", and that attempts had been made to raise awareness. "But some men apparently cannot behave", it concluded. "It's a shame".

This time Koopmans was less dismissive of the assault claims, saying: "I've had it. Violence kills the festival experience and the love for music, and - first and foremost - people are getting hurt. One is one too much. Therefore, we have decided not to go forward with Bråvalla 2018".

Suggesting that this will be a hiatus, rather than the complete end of the event, FKP Scorpio press officer Kajsa Apelqvist added: "We will take a step back. This is not because of an individual offense or individual event. It's not about the fact that we cannot handle the problem or that the problem lives in festivals, it's about making a clear statement. We who work with Bråvalla see the festival as the company's heart and are incredibly proud of the festival and the work that we every day put on creating a platform for music lovers to meet".

Chairman of the City Council Of Norrköping, where Bråvalla takes place, Lars Stjernqvist, said: "It's sad but I have respect for the decision. Everyone who has been to Bråvalla can confirm that this has been a great music festival that has given Norrköping a lot of joy. It's incredibly sad that this has overshadowed the festival".

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CMU@TGE 2017: Will It Be Streams That Kill The Radio Star?
Look out for more reports throughout July on key sessions that took place at the CMU Insights conferences at The Great Escape last month. Today, the session in The Media Conference that asked "Will It Be Streams That Kill The Radio Star?"

Taking part in the discussion were Pete Downton, Deputy CEO of 7digital, a company that operates in both radio and streaming; BBC Radio 1 producer Kate Holder; Matt Deegan of radio company Folder Media and radio station Fun Kids; and Elijah Pailthorpe-Peart from Brighton's own youth radio venture Platform B.

For all the talk of streaming companies becoming the record labels of the future, with their investment in curation and original programming, at the moment it looks more like the streaming firms are becoming the radio stations of the future. So, should traditional radio firms be worried? Could it be streaming that finally kills off the radio star?

The panel reckoned that on one level streaming was competing with radio, though on another level - for the time being at least - the services were complementary.

"People have only got so many hours in a day and days in a week", Downton began, which means that "anything that grabs your attention is going to compete with something else that grabs your attention".

Holder concurred: "Certainly, in terms of time available, streaming is absolutely a competitor to radio. Especially given that the young audience we're going for at Radio 1 are so on it with technology. Anything that eats into their time is going to eat into the time they would spend listening to the radio".

Deegan, with stats to hand, confirmed that it was with the youth demographic where streaming was starting to have an impact on radio's audience figures. Though - as with audiences at large - it's less about losing listeners outright, and more about having listeners tuned in for less hours each week. "If you look at 15-24 year old demographic" he said, "reach has dropped a little bit, not dropped a huge amount. It used to be 80%, now it's about 75%. Where the bigger drop's been is time spent".

Even if listening hours are down, radio is still reaching much of its traditional audience, Downton reckoned, because - as it currently stands - what Spotify offers and what an FM radio station offers remain distinct.

"The streaming services as they are today, specifically Spotify as market leader, are so fundamentally different to radio that actually I think it's a little bit early to start drawing really significant comparisons between the two", he said. "Spotify, for a music fan like me, is amazing. But essentially it's a utility in that it allows me to find music I want to find, and leverage algorithms and some curation to find something that's a bit like it".

For all the talk of streaming firms doing music discovery better, radio still has an edge in that domain, the panel reckoned. "I don't see streaming as a full on competitor", Holder said. "Because the sort of people who we are targeting with specialised music content are hopefully discovering new artists with us". Which is to say, even for full on music fans, radio can provide discovery channels to inform listening on the streaming platforms.

And then, of course, there's the more mainstream consumer, many of whom are yet to embrace streaming at all. "What really matters is the 'passive massive'", Downton agreed. "The mainstream consumers for whom music's always been a part of their lives but they just don't have the time to go and figure out how to use these new platforms".

Despite some interesting innovations, the streaming services still need to evolve to truly engage that more mainstream audience. "I'm incredibly encouraged to find that streaming services are starting to pick up some tricks and pick up some talent from radio", Downton added. "Anything that makes it more engaging and the experience deeper makes it more likely that people will fall in love with artists and music and spend more of their time doing it".

Given that the big streaming platforms are in the scale business - and need further significant growth to become truly profitable - that more mainstream audience is of great interest to the digital firms, of course. Which means that the streaming platforms may seek to compete more head on with more traditional radio in the future.

"Some of them replicate what radio does", Deegan said. "Some of them do it better than others. But they mostly misunderstand what radio is. Apple's Beats 1 is a brilliant example. It's a great radio station - the programming's great, the producers are doing a great job, it's brilliant. But no one listens to it and they don't listen to it because it's very difficult to consume it. It's difficult to find it even though it's free to use".

One of radio's strengths, Deegan added, is just how easy it is to find wherever you might be. "What a lot of the services forget is that we're incredibly lucky in radio", he said. "We've got to be careful not to forget what a brilliant position we're in with devices, because everyone has a radio. Radio is in your smartphone, your TV, your car. So like a virus, we've managed to colonise lots of different places and that's one of the reasons we do well. The difficulty, even for Apple with all of their money and all of their marketing skill, is to find an audience because actually they have poor distribution".

That said, for millennials, many of whom are constantly connected to their portable devices, the ubiquity of radio is arguably less important. "We're all connected, we're all very much plugged in", Pailthorpe-Peart agreed, speaking for that demographic. "So streaming services inevitably become the thing that you grab for first when you're searching for new music. We know that YouTube is the number one tool for discovering music for the younger demographic".

For younger consumers, content on demand can be key. "Millennials have this 'want it now' perspective, where we like things to be on demand". To that end, he reckoned, younger listeners are more likely to connect with radio via its on demand platforms. "So, even if we are consuming FM radio, it might not be that we're actually consuming it on FM, it might be that we're consuming it on MixCloud or SoundCloud".

Despite the millennial challange, Deegan remained optimistic, pointing out that the aforementioned 'passive massive' are yet to be convinced by subscription, while also seeking a service that just plays music with minimal involvement from the listener.

"The view is that the 'passive massive' aren't necessarily going to go straight in for a subscription", he said. "Also, a lot of radio's audience very much want someone just to spoon-feed them a load of songs they're familiar with. A lot of commercial radio's success has been about playing the same songs over and over again to a similar audience. There's nothing wrong with that. There's lots of radio stations that do lots of different things of course, but to get that Heart listener, to convert them into a Spotify subscriber, that's a long journey".

Actually, Deegan continued, if digital is a threat to radio, the threat is more likely about web giants competing for ad income than streaming firms competing for audience. "People moving budget from spending on radio or telly and moving that to spend on digital and online, that could be an issue". That said, he added, commercial radio in the UK had its best year last year, "though that's partly because of what Global and Bauer are doing in the marketplace".

Either way, and despite the general optimism, the panel agreed that the radio industry needs to continue to innovate - partly by embracing online channels for its content, but also working out how to link those back to its core output.

Holder: "We know that our audience are completely at the forefront of new technology so we have to be there too, we have to be in the spaces where they are. It's kind of expected that if we have a big guest, or an artist of note, that we wouldn't just have them on the radio, that's not really enough in 2017 for a young audience. We've gotta have a video to go with it, and some easy way to get that content straight away, without having to click too many times or having to discover it. That is where I think Beats 1 has gone a bit awry, because they've got some great stuff but it's very difficult to find".

Check out all the reports and resources CMU has published around this year's CMU Insights @ The Great Escape conferences here.

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Tony Hadley quits Spandau Ballet
Tony Hadley has announced that he is no longer a member of Spandau Ballet, having performed with the reunited group since 2009. The exact reasons for the split are unclear, but in a statement Hadley said that he was "required" to tell fans of the split.

The statement reads: "Due to circumstances beyond my control, it is with deep regret that I am required to state that I am no longer a member of the band Spandau Ballet and as such I will not be performing with the band in the future".

In their own statement, the band said that this was not really news to them: "Much to our frustration, Tony had made it clear in September 2016 that he didn't want to work with the band anymore. This has not changed and 2015 was the last time we were able to perform or work with him. So we have now made the decision to move on as a band".

Spandau Ballet have not toured since 2015, with members mainly performing solo shows in recent years. Martin Kemp also appeared as a judge on Gary Barlow's 'Let It Shine' talent show, if anyone remembers that.

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Warner/Chappell, IFPI, Skepta, more

Other notable announcements and developments today...

• Music publisher Warner/Chappell has appointed Rob Owen to the role of VP Creative, Catalogue & Marketing which, in case you wondered, is a brand new role. He's been doing marketing consultancy for a range of music clients since departing Parlophone in 2015, where he did marketing stuff - ultimately as VP Marketing - for over a decade.

• Global record label trade group IFPI has announced that John Blewett, who joined the organisation last year from lobbying firm Luther Pendragon, has been appointed Director Of Communications.

• Skepta has dropped a brand new track on SoundCloud, 'Hypocrisy'. In it, he suggests that he turned down an MBE, as all people should.

• The Big Moon have released a new live video of themselves performing 'Cupid'.

• Japanese metal band Mary's Blood will release a special edition of latest album 'Fate' in the UK via JPU Records on 18 Aug. From it, this is 'Counter Strike'.

• Rag N Bone Man will be touring the UK in November, including two nights at the Brixton Academy on 23-24 Nov.

• Mac DeMarco has announced a new run of UK shows in November, kicking off with a three night residency at The Coronet in London on 17-19 Nov.

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Confused by Tidal, Snoop Dogg pirated Jay-Z's new album
Making your album available on a single streaming service is all well and good, but you're never going to get everyone who wants the record signed up.

Snoop Dogg is not a Tidal subscriber and has no plans to become one. Possibly because he wasn't one of the artists recruited as a celebrity shareholder when Jay-Z acquired the streaming firm. Or possibly just because he doesn't really get all this new fangled streaming nonsense.

But, worry not, he was still able to turn in a review of Jay-Z's new record '4:44', despite it being released exclusively on Tidal. How? Good old piracy of course!

"Top of the morning", begins Snoop in a video. "I want to shoot a shout out to Jay-Z just dropped another muthafuckin' hot album, '4:44'".

"But you know what?" he continues. "I don't got Tidal, so a nigga had to bootleg it to me. I'm on iTunes and shit. I don't understand [Tidal] - y'all gotta explain that to me. I went to iTunes looking for his album and I couldn't find it. But my homie sent it to me, you understand me?"

So now he has the record, what is his view? "He did it again. See, I ain't no hater, I love the game for what it's worth - the young niggas and the old niggas. Practice that. Practice showing love. Practice supporting other muthafuckas other than yourself. Yeah, do that".

Isn't "you did it again" traditionally something you say to someone to avoid having to say they were rubbish - again? Oh well, lucky Snoop clarified his position. Practise that.

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