Facebook signs deals with Kobalt, SESAC and GMR
Kobalt, Global Music Rights and SESAC have all joined the Facebook licensing party And why not? It's a fun party to be involved in. I hear the sausage rolls are particularly fine. You just have to tolerate Mark Zuckerburg constantly banging on about how he's changing the way your news feed works because he's worried about your health and wellbeing. But I'm assured it's totally fine to just respond "fuck off Zuckerburg". And, somewhat ironically, research shows that if you shout that straight into his face, it's quite good for your health and wellbeing.

So, yes, following the news that Universal Music and Sony/ATV have both signed licensing deals with Facebook, now Kobalt and collecting societies Global Music Rights and SESAC are also on board. This flurry of deals follows lengthy negotiations throughout 2017 between Facebook and the music companies to finally license all the music that routinely appears in videos posted to the social network.

Welcoming his company's shiny and fresh Facebook deal, and the new revenue it should generate for his firm's songwriters, Kobalt chief Willard Ahdritz said: "In the spirit of a true partnership, Facebook will ensure songwriters are paid fairly and new revenue streams are created for user uploaded video. We look forward to working closely with Facebook throughout our partnership. And Kobalt is committed to distributing royalties in a fully transparent way".

Irving Azoff was in no small part motivated to set up his boutique performing rights organisation GMR after becoming pissed off about the royalties songwriters were receiving from YouTube. Although Facebook's shift into video has made it more YouTube-like, he seems happier with the royalties the former is proposing to pay. He declared yesterday that: "Our partnership with Facebook reflects that when music is valued properly, it's easy for both sides to view it as a win-win".

The SESAC deal is actually specifically with the company's mechanical rights business the Harry Fox Agency and its micro-licensing unit Rumblefish, which has long offered YouTube monetisation services for rights owners in the US. On that specific deal, Facebook's Scott Sellwood said: "Rumblefish will also help Facebook optimise the identification and clearance of musical works through an innovative data-sharing agreement. This partnership with HFA/Rumblefish and an opt-in for independent publishers opens as of today".

Finally, the host of this party, Facebook's Head Of Music Business Development And Partnerships Tamara Hrivnak, had this to say: "Facebook's mission and music share something special - at their core, they both bring people together, enable stories and emotions to be shared, and forge bonds. Together, Facebook and the music industry are bringing the songs you love into the way you express yourself on Facebook, Instagram, Oculus and Messenger. This means more ways to share, connect, find your fans and be your favourite artist's biggest and best groupie".

Lovely stuff. With Hrivnak convinced that Facebook and music "share something special", and Zuckerburg obsessed about your health and wellbeing, how long will it be before' the social media monolith sets up a Nordoff Robbins-style charity to promote 'Facebook therapy'? That's the future people. And the future's bleak.

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Spotify formally backs Music Modernization Act
Spotify has formally backed the Music Modernization Act, the proposed legislation in US Congress that seeks to sort out America's mechanical rights mess.

Licensing the mechanical rights in songs in the US is a nightmare, resulting in songwriters and music publishers going unpaid and streaming services being sued for millions, now billions. The Music Modernization Act would set up a mechanical rights licensing system Stateside like those which already exist in most other countries.

The proposals are backed by many (though not all) in the music community and also the streaming sector's trade body the Digital Media Association.

After a plethora of music industry trade bodies rallied in Washington earlier this week to formally support the act, the Digital Media Association reaffirmed its support yesterday, while Spotify and Pandora specifically stepped forward to also endorse the proposals, which have been put forward by Congressmen Doug Collins and Hakeem Jeffries

Spotify's General Counsel and VP Business & Legal Affairs, Horacio Gutierrez, said: "Spotify appreciates Representatives Collins's and Jeffries's effort to fix the broken, outdated licensing system that does not serve the needs of music creators or digital music services. The Music Modernization Act increases the transparency and efficiency of licensing music, leading to faster and more accurate royalty payments to songwriters and more music available to consumers".

Meanwhile Steve Bene, General Counsel at Pandora, added: "Pandora commends the Digital Media Association, the National Music Publishers Association, and the songwriter community for coming together and proposing a workable solution to the music industry's licensing challenges. The Music Modernization Act is an important step towards improving the digital music services enjoyed by consumers and royalties received by songwriters".

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Ed Sheeran sued for ripping off another song (again)
It's comforting to know that no matter where you are, and no matter what's happening in your life, you're never too far away from news that Ed Sheeran is being sued for ripping off someone else's song. The latest accusation of that kind relates to 'The Rest Of Our Life', a song he co-wrote for Tim McGraw and Faith Hill.

McGraw and Hill released the duet in October and it's the title track from an album of duets between the married country stars. The song's other co-writers are Amy Wadge, Johnny McDaid and Steve Mac.

In a lawsuit filed in New York this week, reports The Hollywood Reporter, Australian songwriters Sean Carey and Beau Golden accuse Sheeran et al of the "blatant copying" of their 2014 song, 'When I Found You', released by Jasmine Rae.

The legal action is being led by lawyer Richard Busch, who has become something of a trailblazer in this area, since successfully convincing a jury that Robin Thicke's 'Blurred Lines' was a total rip-off of Marvin Gaye's 'Got To Give It Up' in 2015.

Indeed, this isn't the first time he's be involved in litigation against Sheeran. He helped songwriters Martin Harrington and Thomas Leonard sue over similarities between a song they wrote for Matt Cardle - 'Amazing' - and Sheeran's 'Photograph'. Sheeran settled that case out of court last year.

This new lawsuit states that "the copying is, in many instances, [a] verbatim, note-for-note copying of original elements of [Carey and Golden's] song, and is obvious to the ordinary observer".

Among a long list of defendants in the case are Sheeran, McGraw and Hill themselves, plus McDaid and Wadge, Sony Music, Sony/ATV and Universal Music Publishing.

Sony comes in for particular criticism, with the lawsuit claiming that staff at the company were well aware of the similarities between the two songs. It is alleged that Rae's boyfriend, Tim Holland, a marketing manager at Sony Music Australia, admitted to being aware of the similarities before the McGraw/Hill duet was released.

It is also suggested that someone at Sony may have facilitated the copying, saying: "It very well may have been an agent of Sony Music Entertainment who provided the other defendants herein with access to the [allegedly infringed] song".

Although also a co-writer of 'When I Found You', Jasmine Rae is not involved in the legal action against Sheeran. Carey and Golden are seeking $5 million in damages, as well as ongoing royalties from 'The Rest Of Our Life' for as long as it's in copyright.

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Kid Rock changes tour name due to circus legal action
Kid Rock's live show is officially not the greatest show on Earth. The musician has dropped that as the title of his upcoming US tour, following legal action by the owner of the trademark in that phrase.

'The Greatest Show On Earth Tour' was actually named after the opening track of Kid Rock's latest album, 'Sweet Southern Sugar'. But that didn't stop it from infringing on the trademark, said Feld Entertainment, owner of Ringling Bros and the Barnum & Bailey Circus - with which the phrase is legally associated.

Had it got to court, this would have been the key argument presented, but with tour dates due to start next week, and Feld pushing for a preliminary injunction, Kid Rock has decided to just change the name for an easy life.

According to Amplify, Kid Rock said in a court submission this week: "While I firmly believe that I am entitled under the First Amendment to name my tour after my song, I have changed the tour name because I do not want this lawsuit to distract me or my fans from focusing on what is important in my upcoming tour - my music".

The musician's attorney, Kenneth G Turkle, added that the title of the tour had absolutely nothing to do with Ringling Bros and the Barnum & Bailey Circus, but rather just "boasts about Kid Rock's ability to perform the greatest fucking show on Earth".

And so Kid Rock's tour is now 'The American Rock N Roll Tour'. Although this will not, says Feld, stop it from pursuing its action and demanding damages from all the time the tour was promoted under its original name.

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YouTube Red to launch in "dozens" of countries this year, thanks to music industry deals
YouTube is aiming to launch its Red subscription service in "dozens" more countries this year. In an interview with French newspaper Les Echoes, the Google-owned video platform's Chief Business Officer Robert Kyncl said that new deals with Universal Music and others would help a wider rollout of the paid tier.

Currently available in the US, Mexico, Australia, New Zealand and South Korea, YouTube Red was originally launched in 2015 - replacing music-specific subscription service Music Key, which never made it out of beta. It provides ad-free access to the whole YouTube website, as well as access to exclusive content, for a monthly fee.

"Our advertising revenue accounts for most of the total [income], of course", said Kyncl. "But our paid offering is the fastest growing [revenue stream]".

Universal Music's recently announced new deal with YouTube provides "licences to distribute their catalogue on the free and paid part of our platform and all over the world", he said. He added that other deals are also being negotiated. "All this work now allows us to launch YouTube Red around the world", he said, adding that Red "will be launched in dozens of markets in 2018".

Hang on though. What about all that talk about a new standalone, paid-for YouTube music service? Far from being something that is definitely going to happen, Kyncl said that this was something currently being considered.

"YouTube Red is all about YouTube, including its original, ad-free content and a mobile music app [akin to] Apple Music", he said. "Its price is really competitive and its growth very fast. It is not too late to get started on a global scale, the rise of this market is still in its infancy. But it is true that we are thinking about a better segmentation of the product between music and video".

The interview actually focussed more on the controversies last year around adverts being placed against extremist content on the YouTube platform, which saw a number of big name brands pull their advertising from the service. Kyncl said that those advertisers have now returned to YouTube, but conceded that some changes to the platform are necessary.

"If I had to take an analogy, I would say that with YouTube we have built a village that has become a real city", he said. "It is therefore imperative to put in place appropriate infrastructures: police, local authorities, and even schools, if we continue on this metaphor".

He said that YouTube would "have to go even further" in its efforts to be more transparent. This will include new monthly reports about "problematic content" on the platform. He also conceded that more human intervention is necessary.

Automated systems in the last six month have done "the equivalent of the work of 180,000 people [working] 40 hours per week" in identifying problematic content, he said. However, a very small amount of content uploaded still needs "a human eye" to see possible issues. The company therefore plans to hire 10,000 more moderators this year.

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Motorhead's Fast Eddie Clarke dies
The last surviving member of Motorhead's classic 1970s line-up, Fast Eddie Clarke, has died while being treated in hospital for pneumonia. He was 67.

Following short-lived runs in various bands, Clarke was hired to join Motorhead in 1976, a year after the band had formed. He soon found himself the sole guitarist in the outfit, following the departure of original member Larry Wallis. He appeared on the band's first five albums, as well as the 'No Sleep Til Hammersmith' live album, before leaving in 1982.

Clarke last appeared on stage with his former bandmates Lemmy and drummer Phil Taylor in 2014 (although only he and Lemmy performed), a year before both of their deaths.

Upon the announcement of the news that Clarke had passed away, members of the most recent Motorhead line-up, Phil Campbell and Mikkey Dee, paid tribute.

"Just heard the sad news that Fast Eddie Clarke has passed away", said Campbell. "Such a shock. He will be remembered for his iconic riffs and was a true rock n roller. RIP Eddie".

Dee added: "Oh my fucking god, this is terrible news, the last of the three amigos. I saw Eddie not too long ago and he was in great shape. So this is a complete shock. Me and Eddie always hit it off great. I was looking forward to seeing him in the UK this summer ... Now Lem and Philthy can jam with Eddie again, and if you listen carefully I'm sure you'll hear them, so watch out! My thoughts go out to Eddie's family and close ones".

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Karen O releases new song for Ana Lily Amirpour short film
Karen O has released a new song - 'Yo! My Saint' - to soundtrack a new short film of the same name by Ana Lily Amirpour. The song also features vocals by Michael Kiwanuka.

The film was funded by French fashion band Kenzo to coincide with the launch of a new range designed by the company's creative directors Humberto Leon and Carol Lim, inspired by model Sayoko Yamaguchi and musician Ryuichi Sakamoto.

"When I thought of the muses for Humberto and Carol being this Japanese artist and model, it just sparked this other side of my imagination, which is the Asian melodrama that's within me", says Karen O.

"For the music" she adds, "I immediately wanted to do melodramatic and romantic and with lots of yearning and high stakes - all that good stuff that's in any Korean soap opera. It just started owing through me. Also, I wanted there to be something authentically romantic about it in some kind of slightly unconventional way. That's where my head went with it".

The main reason I'm writing this is so that I can tell you to watch Ana Lily Amirpour's brilliant 2014 film 'A Girl Walks Home Alone At Night'. But you can watch 'Yo! My Saint' here too.

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Holly Miranda announces new album, Mutual Horse
Holly Miranda has announced that her fourth solo album, 'Mutual Horse', will be released on 23 Feb. Alongside the announcement, she released the video for new single 'Exquisite', directed by TV On The Radio's Kyp Malone, who also features on the song.

Says Miranda: "Not only does Kyp give the best hugs in the universe, but he has the most beautiful voice, the most insightful and honest lyrics and now to add to that list he has made my absolute favourite music video. These images and animation directly communicate visually where we were emotionally writing this song together. Confronting ourselves. Owning our actions. Asking for forgiveness".

As well as Malone, other collaborators on the album include My Brightest Diamond's Shara Nova and Jim Kirby Fairchild of Grandaddy and Modest Mouse, among others.

"It doesn't feel like just mine", she says of the record. "It feels like it belongs to everybody who worked on it. I opened myself to collaborating this time around, which made me really vulnerable".

Watch the video for 'Exquisite' here.

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Carlin Music, Discogs, Iron Maiden, more

Other notable announcements and developments today...

• Round Hill Music has acquired Carlin Music, the catalogue of which includes early Beatles and Elvis Presley hits, Christmas classic 'Jingle Bell Rock', and musicals such as 'Fiddler On The Roof' and 'Cabaret'.

• Online discography database Discogs has raised $2.5 million in new funding from former Warner Music Group board member Jörg Mohaupt. He will also join the board of the website's parent company Zink Media.

• Iron Maiden have launched their latest ale, Light Brigade. 6p from each pint and 5p from each bottle sold will be donated to Help For Heroes. "Light Brigade is our interpretation of a golden ale that maintains the elements of strength and character that are the essence of [previous ale] Trooper but at a more sessionable level", says Iron Maiden's Bruce Dickinson of the 4.1%abv beer.

• Diplo has released the video for his latest collaboration with MØ, 'Get It Right'. "We've collaborated a lot of times over the past five years and working with him has helped me develop as a songwriter and shape my voice", says MØ. "I'm very thankful for our artistic journey together".

• Kali Uchis has released new single 'After The Storm', featuring Tyler, The Creator and Bootsy Collins. She will play Electric Brixton on 1 Mar and is set to release her debut album later this year.

• Alice Glass has released a video for 'Forgiveness', taken from her 2017 debut solo EP. "This song is about rejecting the idea of forgiveness", she says. "Forgiveness isn't always a moral act, the way some religions portray it. Sometimes forgiveness can be exploitative or even predatory, especially when people use it as a means to guilt someone rather than heal them. When forgiveness is used to create a false sense of superiority it is a toxic act".

• Jorja Smith has released a new single 'Let Me Down', featuring Stormzy. "A dream of mine is to write a Bond theme tune", she says. "When I am writing music I sometimes envision a video playing along side. 'Let Me Down' sounded quite Bondy and when I was listening to it I imagined it being played in a Bond film but during a scene when James Bond has gone down into an underground, dimly lit, secret bar and he approaches the Bond girl who is sitting at the bar looking very guilty because she's done something bad and let him down".

• Frankie Cosmos have announced that they will release their first album for Sub Pop', 'Vessel', on 30 Mar. From it, this is 'Jesse'.

• Shopping have released new single 'Wild Child', taken from their new album 'The Official Body', which is out next week.

• Japanese pop duo FEMM will premiere their new augmented reality live show at CES in Las Vegas later today. Here's a little preview.

• Former S Club 7 member Paul Cattermole has listed his 2000 Best Newcomer BRIT Award on eBay, if you fancy owning one without all the effort usually involved. Bidding is currently at £66,000 at the time of writing though.

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

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Beef Of The Week #386: Radiohead v Lana Del Rey
You don't need to be a particularly long term reader of CMU to know that we love a good lawsuit. So it was with some glee that we received word at the start of the week that a legal battle was brewing between Radiohead and Lana Del Rey. Sadly, at least for the moment, all may not be as it first seemed.

It was widely reported earlier this week that Lana Del Rey was being sued by Radiohead - not least because she appeared to confirm that this was the case. Radiohead seemingly believe that her song 'Get Free', from her recent 'Lust For Life' album, is based on their song 'Creep'. They probably think this because they listened to 'Get Free'.

News of the dispute was reported by The Sun, and then confirmed on Twitter by Del Rey. "It's true about the lawsuit", she said. "Although I know my song wasn't inspired by 'Creep', Radiohead feel it was and want 100% of the publishing. I offered up to 40 over the last few months but they will only accept 100. Their lawyers have been relentless, so we will deal with it in court".

She also then commented on the case at a live show the same night, suggesting that future releases of her album might have 'Get Free' taken off. So, now we know.

But then there was a twist, when Radiohead's music publisher Warner/Chappell issued a statement on the matter.

"As Radiohead's music publisher, it's true that we've been in discussions since August of last year with Lana Del Rey's representatives", said a spokesperson for the company. "It's clear that the verses of 'Get Free' use musical elements found in the verses of 'Creep' and we've requested that this be acknowledged in favour of all writers of 'Creep'".

However, they continued: "To set the record straight, no lawsuit has been issued and Radiohead have not said they 'will only accept 100%' of the publishing of 'Get Free'".

This raises some questions. Why does Lana Del Rey think she's being sued? And why does she think Radiohead will not rest until they own 100% of her song?

If you go back to the original Sun report, it actually says that Radiohead are "considering" suing her. Not that they actually are. What Lana Del Rey then said was "it's true about the lawsuit", not that it's true she's being sued. So perhaps she meant it was true Radiohead were considering suing her. Although she did then say that she "will deal with it in court", so she's clearly expecting some litigation.

As for the idea that she might be expected to give up 100% of the royalties in 'Get Free', that would be a pretty drastic outcome of the dispute, but not unprecedented. There are various past examples of artists having to hand over all of their publishing royalties on a song to someone else because of plagiarism claims, either to avoid a legal battle or at the behest of the courts.

A classic example is The Verve agreeing to hand over all of their royalties from 'Bitter Sweet Symphony' to Mick Jagger and Keith Richards. This was the result of a dispute over a sample on the track taken from an Andrew Oldham Orchestra recording of The Rolling Stones' 'The Last Time'.

One telling of that story goes that the Stones' lawyer rang up and said, "It'll be 50%".

"Okay, 50% Verve, 50% Stones", responded The Verve's lawyer. "That's a better starting point than we thought".

"No, no", came the reply. "50% Mick, 50% Keith".

How much truth there is in that, I don't know. But it's a good story, isn't it? You should tell it to someone in the pub later. I'm sure they'll enjoy it too.

The other version is that it was going to be a 50/50 split with the Verve, but when the single started doing very well, Jagger and Richards demanded 100%, and in those dark pre-internet days, the possibility of having to withdraw all physical copies from sale put The Verve and Virgin's Hut Records over a barrel.

I think the first version will work better in a pub-based situation though, and anyway, this Beef Of The Week is meant to be about Radiohead and Lana Del Rey. I'm not really sure why you let me go off on that tangent.

Oh, here's a segue back in. Speaking of songwriters having their names added to the credits of other people's songs post-release, another good example of this is 'Creep' by Radiohead.

You may have noticed that in its statement Warner/Chappell did not say "we've requested that this be acknowledged in favour of Radiohead". Rather they said that "we've requested that this be acknowledged in favour of all writers of 'Creep'". That's because the four members of Radiohead are not the only credited writers of that song.

If Lana Del Rey is forced to give up any portion of 'Get Free', it will also be beneficial to songwriters Albert Hammond and Mike Hazlewood. Both were added as co-writers on 'Creep' after they complained that the 1992 track borrowed from their 1974 Hollies song 'The Air That I Breathe'. Perhaps they'll get double credits on Lana Del Rey's ditty.

If you thought the verse of 'Get Free' sounds a lot like 'Creep', try the same test with 'Creep' and 'The Air That I Breathe'. It makes Lana Del Rey's effort sound like the most original work of futuristic songwriting.

Maybe it should be Hammond and Hazlewood who are asking for credits from Del Rey. Maybe that is an argument that will be made in court, should it get that far. It might depend on which original song it's thought Del Rey was (possibly subconsciously) influenced by. For Del Rey, surely having to share 'Get Free' royalties with two other people would be better than six? Though, ask The Verve, not necessarily.

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