Songwriters call for publisher commitments on Spotify and Facebook cash
BASCA has called on the global music publishing sector to ensure that any financial benefits enjoyed by the publishers as a result of Spotify's flotation or the newly signed Facebook deals are shared with the songwriters whose works they control or represent.

On the recordings side of the music rights business there has been much debate over what will happen to the money generated when those labels which secured Spotify equity in their initial licensing deals sell their shares. Will labels share the profits with their artists? Will the majors share the profits with the indie labels they distribute? And where commitments have been made to share such monies, how will the sharing work?

Meanwhile, as Spotify gets ready to list on the New York Stock Exchange, the labels, publishers and collecting societies are all busy announcing their first ever licensing deals with Facebook. These are advance heavy deals covering the use of music in user-generated content across the social media giant's networks.

While labels, publishers and societies have been busy communicating with the media about how great these "landmark" deals are, there has been a lot less communication with artists and managers about how the money will be distributed. Further confirmation that the music industry has a very narrow definition of what corporate communications is all about.

Artists and managers still have some questions about the Spotify equity profits and lots of questions about the new Facebook deals. However, at least some commitments - mainly on the former - have been made by the labels to their artists. BASCA, representing the songwriting community, wants similar commitments made by the publishers to its constituency.

Digital licensing is more complex on the songs side for various reasons. Deals are generally handled by the collecting societies, except for the all-important Anglo-American repertoire, where the majors and the bigger indies often negotiate directly with the digital firms. Though those direct deals must nevertheless involve the collecting societies, because they actually control some of the rights a streaming service needs to exploit.

When it comes to the processing of digital royalties, this is much more complicated on the songs side because the streaming platforms generally don't know what songs they are streaming, the labels providing the tracks but without song information. With user-generated content where audio-recognition technology is often employed to identify what music is being used, generally such software is much better at identifying recordings than it is songs, especially where new versions of songs are being used and uploaded.

In addition to seeking commitments regarding how publishers share any financial benefits from their Spotify or Facebook deals, BASCA is also calling on the publishing sector to do all it can to "establish correct usage" on user-generated content platforms. Rather than falling back on the often criticised "assumed market share" methodology for sharing out unattributed monies. And, where accurate usage information simply isn't available, it wants assurances monies will be "distributed equitably and transparently".

Launching its #soldforasong campaign, the songwriter organisation states: "BASCA applauds the recent commitments by major labels to share in any financial benefits from Spotify's forthcoming direct listing with their artists and associated indie labels, and calls for similar commitments from music publishers that any such benefits, direct or indirect, received by them from the pending Spotify direct listing or Facebook licence advances will be shared transparently and fairly with the writers they represent".

Focusing more specifically on the recent Facebook deals, it adds: "A decade after its launch Facebook has recently concluded licensing agreements with the major music publishing companies and BASCA understand that those deals involve lump sum advance payments worth many millions of pounds. There are concerns however that no pledge has been made by music publishers to equitably share any financial benefit derived from such licences with songwriters and composers".

Commenting on her organisation's new campaign, BASCA boss Vick Bain says: "Facebook and other user-generated content platforms, as well as digital services such as Spotify, have benefited incalculably from exploiting our members' work and indeed this has allowed them to become among the world's wealthiest corporations. They, and the publishers who license music to them, have an obligation and a duty to safeguard the future sustainability of our industry and to ensure that songwriters and composers are given their fair due of these potential riches".

Meanwhile, BASCA Chair Crispin Hunt puts the spotlight on the need for more accurate distribution of royalties, and the problems with the old school approach of sharing out unattributed income by market share. He states: "The so-called 'evergreen' catalogue is arguably only so verdant because it has been historically over-watered in lieu of correct data. With the potential of today's technology for granular digital data, such anachronistic inaccuracy is no longer excusable in music: the right music must receive the right monies. If it's played it should be paid".

BACK TO THE TOP OF THE BULLETIN

Australian police urge fans to only use primary sites after fraudster arrested over Ed Sheeran ticketing scam
Police in Australia have urged music fans to only buy tickets for concerts via approved primary sellers after a man in Brisbane was arrested for selling non-existent tickets to Ed Sheeran's shows in the city.

The man, described as an "experienced scammer", will appear in court next month over allegations he conned monies out of dozens of Sheeran's fans by offering non-existent tickets for sale via an online ticket resale platform.

Queensland Police's Detective Superintendent Terry Lawrence told reporters: "This is another clear example of buyer beware. I urge entertainment ticket buyers and all buyers of online products to keep control of their purchase. Only use the official authorised sellers and their platforms. Do not move away from those platforms to buy tickets or items, particularly if asked to. It is most likely you are being scammed".

Although the ticket resale platform used by the scammer hasn't been identified, Lawrence's remarks put further pressure on the secondary ticketing sites, which have come under increased fire from authorities in various countries of late, including Australia.

The big secondary sites would probably argue that they provide some extra security for consumers when it comes to fraudsters selling fake or non-existent tickets, in that they pledge to refund monies if a customer doesn't get a ticket or entry to a show. Though the message increasingly coming from police and government agencies is that consumers should only trust official primary sellers of tickets as identified on an artist's website.

According to the Brisbane Times, Sheeran's promoter in Australia, Frontier Touring, applauded the actions taken by Queensland Police against the scammer, while calling for new ticketing laws to protect fans. Meanwhile a rep for AEG Ogden, which operates the venue where Sheeran was appearing in the city, also urged fans to only use the official ticket seller, in this case Ticketek. The firm's COO Rod Pilbeam added: "Any other sites offering tickets are bogus and probably operating fraudulently".

BACK TO THE TOP OF THE BULLETIN

AEG raises concerns over rival MSG's plans for a new arena in East London
AEG has raised concerns about rival MSG's plans to construct a new arena-style venue in East London. It insists that it is fine with new competition in the London venue market, but says that it feels East London is already very well served for large venues and an additional entertainment space could lead to congestion.

MSG announced plans to launch its first base outside the US last month, replicating a high-tech venue it's planning to build in Las Vegas alongside the Olympic Park in East London. The MSG Sphere will have all sorts of sound, lighting, VR and AR gubbins thrown in.

With more details about those plans expected later today, AEG got in early to point out that there is already a stadium and an arena for sporty and occasional musical stuff in the Olympic Park - aka the London Stadium and Copper Box - while its own O2 Arena is just three tube stops away on the Jubilee Line.

A spokesperson for the live giant stated: "AEG understands competition in the live music industry and does not oppose the principle of a new music venue in London. However, there is a question mark over whether such a venue should be located in East London so close to existing venues at the Olympic Park - such as the London Stadium and Copper Box - as well as AEG's own nearby venue, The O2 Arena".

So many venues so close together could cause tube stress, AEG also reckons. "It is imperative that MSG's proposals do not add to congestion in the area", it goes on, "especially on the Jubilee Line, which is critical for the movement of guests to and from The O2 arena. AEG always strives to ensure that its guests have the best possible experience when they visit our venues and we will work with local stakeholders to ensure MSG's plans do not affect this".

Fuck the Jubilee Line, I never use that. What about the Central Line that also runs alongside the Olympic Park? That's my route home. We don't want any more congestion on that line. Though with all the hi-tech gizmos MSG plans to employ at its new Sphere, perhaps it could install a machine that teleports concert-goers directly to stations in Snaresbrook or Acton. I don't need those bits of the line.

Anyway, AEG's intervention regarding MSG's London venue plans follows the spat between the two companies last year over their respective linked bookings policies. AEG started pressuring acts playing The O2 to choose its Staples Center when playing LA, in response to MSG likewise using bookings at its flagship Madison Square Garden venue in New York to pressure artists to play its LA arena The Forum.

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

Ents24 launches tool to recommend both festivals and personal line-ups
Live entertainment guide Ents24 has launched a new service that not only recommends festivals to users, but also suggests what acts they might want to check out while at a tipped event. The new tool takes some information from a user and then crunches Ents24's vast data pool to make the recommendations.

The company's Adam Brooks says: "Fans can find it hard to know where to start, given the huge amount of choice on offer at both a festival level, but also, with hundreds of - often new - acts to choose from, at a line-up level. Find Your Festival solves these problems, and gives festivals themselves a new way to generate awareness, excitement and engagement around their events. It presents their line-ups to fans in the most appealing way - by tailoring them to the individual, one fan at a time".

Meanwhile Ents24's Chief Architect Dr Mark Wood adds: "Rather than simply asking 'What festival has the most acts this person said they like?', Find Your Festival goes deeper. It draws on what we know about different acts' fans in relation to one another to draw conclusions, rather than stopping at a list of bands a fan has told us they like. It also isn't limited to simply naming a festival - it suggests a shortlist, and then re-frames the line-up of each festival, to show the bands that are most likely to appeal to a particular fan".

You can check out the Find Your Festival app here. Meanwhile Ents24 is one of the companies taking part in the CMU Insights AI Conference at The Great Escape in May, with its team discussing how they are utilising years of user-data to power apps like this one.

BACK TO THE TOP OF THE BULLETIN

BBC radio boss says UK not ready for digital switchover
The BBC reckons that the Great British Public still dig a bit of frequency modulation and are simply not ready for a forced switchover to new fangled digital audio. Then again, the Great British Public voted for Brexit, so what do they know? And given that at least some voters voted for Brexit because of an air of nostalgia for those olden day, maybe everyone should be forced back to the medium wave where only amplitude is modulated.

By which, I mean, BBC radio chief Bobby Shennan has been discussing whether it's yet time for the long talked about digital switchover in British radio. That would mean stations being removed from the AM and FM dials so that everyone would need a DAB device (or a telly or internet connected gizmo) to tune into to the country's radio networks.

A forced shift to digital radio has been on the agenda ever since analogue TV broadcasts started to end in the UK back in 2008. But plans to turn off FM in the UK have been hindered somewhat by the relatively slow uptake of DAB by consumers, and a radio industry that can never quite decide whether DAB is super duper or a bit of a damp squib.

Digital switchover for UK radio is now a talking point yet again. Partly because Norway led the way by instigating such a switchover last year. And partly because one of the UK government's requirements for switchover - uptake of digital radio by 50% of the population - is now pretty much met.

Speaking at the Radiodays Europe conference in Vienna, Shennan said the time was still not right for a digital switchover in the UK. According to the BBC, he said: "We need to do more in the UK before we consider a switchover". Arguing that any switchover should be "genuinely led by the audience", he went on: "We are fully committed to digital and we believe we should review the landscape again in a few years' time".

He added: "Great progress has been made but switchover now would be premature. For now we believe audiences are best served by a mixed economy. Radio is better served by a mixed economy".

That sounds a bit like exiting the EU but staying in the single market to me. Boris Johnson would not approve.

BACK TO THE TOP OF THE BULLETIN

A Greener Festival stages training on making events environmentally sustainable
The A Greener Festival organisation is running a training event in Manchester next month on making festivals and events more environmentally friendly and sustainable.

The training at Manchester Metropolitan University on 9 and 10 Apr is in part aimed at anyone interested in becoming an assessor for A Greener Festival's own awards scheme, which assesses and rates the sustainability of festivals and events all over the world.

However, the programme is also open to event organisers and managers, and anyone working in event sustainability, with topics covered including legalities, procurement, travel, power, waste, sewage and event communications.

Organisers say: "The course offers graduates a rapid route into environmental operations and will equip them with the knowledge and tools needed to undertake thorough assessments of a wide range of indoor and outdoor events, in order to appraise their environmental processes and protocols in line with A Greener Festival's guidelines for sustainability and the environment at events".

More information is available here.

BACK TO THE TOP OF THE BULLETIN

Tristan Coopersmith discusses going public with Charlie Walk accusations
Former record industry exec Tristan Coopersmith has spoken about her decision to go public with accusations of sexual harassment against Universal Music's Charlie Walk.

Now a psychotherapist, in January Coopersmith wrote a blog post on her website detailing various incidents with Walk during their time working together at Sony's Columbia label in around 2004. This prompted several other women to come forward with accusations against him. Now President of Universal's Republic Records, the major label has placed him on leave and is conducting an independent investigation. Walk also did not appear on the final episode of 'The Four', the TV talent show on which he was a judge.

Speaking to Refinery29, Coopersmith says she had not expected her blog post to have such a big effect or to become such big news. Partly, she says, because she didn't know that Walk was now a TV judge with a season finale about to come up. The post, she says, was originally written last year as an assignment from her therapist in an attempt to put her experiences behind her.

Walk quickly denied Coopersmith's accusations which, she says, was an error on his part: "When Charlie came out with his denial the day after I published my story, I was not surprised. Truthfully, my first reaction was to think, 'You're so dumb, do you really think you're going to get away with it?' I knew I wasn't the only woman".

She goes on: "I had dozens of messages from women who had similar experiences with him. All he had to do was say, 'I'm sorry, I fucked up, how can I make it right?' Part of the problem is that in our culture we tend to not be taught to say I'm sorry".

In addition to the other women coming forward with further allegations of misconduct against Walk, Coopersmith says she has also heard from other record industry execs who witnessed his behaviour. They are pleased she has spoken out, though she questions why they themselves didn't previously act.

"I got so many emails from men saying, 'thank you so much for coming out about Charlie, it was disgusting having to see him mistreat women all of these decades'", she says. "And I'm like, you didn't have to see him. You could have done something".

She also notes that, while Walk has hired a powerful lawyer, she hasn't been threatened with legal action over what she wrote. Concluding, she says: "I went public with this experience to help heal my soul and because it felt like the right thing to do".

She adds: "I also shared for the benefit of countless of other women in the music industry who have had to and continue to endure sexual misconduct in the workplace. It wasn't the easy thing, but so often the right choice and the hard choice are the same choice. In choosing that path, we experience a sacred solidarity that heals and inspires change".

Read the full article here.

BACK TO THE TOP OF THE BULLETIN

Years & Years' Olly Alexander discusses being told to hide his sexuality
Years & Years frontman Olly Alexander has said that he was advised not to discuss being gay with journalists at the beginning of the band's career. Speaking at a Stonewall event, he said that a media trainer told him to simply stay quiet about his sexuality.

He recalled, according to the BBC: "She said, with very good intentions I'm sure: 'Why does anybody need to know about your sexuality? What business is it who you go to bed with? Do you really want to invite personal questions like that? Maybe it's better to not say anything about your sexuality at all'".

"I ignored her advice", he went on. "When a journalist did ask me about my sexuality, I said 'Yes, I'm gay and this song is about a man'. I needed to say that for my fifteen year old self. I needed to say to him, 'Look, we are not hiding any more'".

He added that being open in this way has prompted many fans to contact him when they are struggling with their sexuality or gender identity.

"I was honestly quite shocked at the extent of pain people were struggling with", he said. "I felt like I was hearing an alarm bell ringing. A cry for help that was largely going ignored. That is why I continue to speak out. We have to listen and learn from each other to lift each other up, so we can all live the life we deserve".

BACK TO THE TOP OF THE BULLETIN

Because Music, SoundCloud, Queens Of The Stone Age, more

Other notable announcements and developments today...

• Because Music Group has announced three new hires within its UK operation: Nick Huggett joins as CCO for Because Music UK, Lisa Rimmer as Director Of Sales & Digital Operations and Laura Kelly as Creative & Marketing Product Manager for London Records. Why all these news appointments? Just Because. Ha ha!

• Antonious Porch has been announced as SoundCloud's new General Counsel. "SoundCloud is the world's leading open music and audio platform", he explains. Porch joins from Shazam.

• Pitchfork's Mark Richardson will be the first guest on a new podcast exploring the changing world of reviews, which launches this Friday. Hosted by Adam Brooks, the new show is called Reads Like A Four - info here.

• Queens Of The Stone Age have released the video for 'Head Like A Haunted House'. They will headline a mini-festival of sorts in London's Finsbury Park on 30 Jun.

• Scarlxrd's new track 'Faded' will make your face fall off.

• Joker has announced a series of three double A-side singles to mark the tenth anniversary of his Kapsize label. The first, 'Anamorphic/Forever', is out on 20 Apr.

• The Fin have announced that they will release their debut album, 'There', on 8 Jun. They've also just released new single 'Shedding'. They'll play Thousand Island in London on the album's release date.

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

BACK TO THE TOP OF THE BULLETIN

Pitbull to address the UN
The last time Pitbull and water were associated, it was due to a controversy that he'd been paid $1 million to say that the Florida seaside was good. Now he's going to tell the UN that clean drinking water is good. He knows about all the kinds of water does Pitbull.

This Thursday is World Water Day, on which Pitbull will appear at the UN to officially launch Water Action Decade, a ten year partnership between the UN and charity Clean Water Here to boost access to clean water resources worldwide. Pitbull will be named Clean Water Here Global Ambassador at the event and receive the 2018 World Water Champion Award.

"Our leaders need to understand that economy and environment are not mutually exclusive", says Pitbull. "One is not more important than the other. Try counting your money while holding your breath, starving and dehydrating at the same time. All life needs water. Clean Water Here is committed to improving access to safe water for all, and it is an honour to serve as global ambassador. Equally, it is an honour to address delegates at the United Nations on World Water Day about this critical issue".

Clean Water Here president Lani Dolifka adds: "We are very pleased to designate Pitbull as the first Clean Water Here Global Ambassador. As an international artist and humanitarian, Pitbull has utilised his widespread platform for years to assist our Clean Water Here efforts. We are very grateful he will continue to help amplify awareness around the urgent issue of safe drinking water. Water is the great equaliser. It is required for every woman, man and child".

Yes, I think that's roughly what Pitbull meant on 'Blood Is Thicker Than Water' when he said, "Blood is thicker than water, till dem bitches step in".

BACK TO THE TOP OF THE BULLETIN