Sony anticipates $1 billion windfall from Spotify share sale
Sony Corp has said it expects to record a gain of almost $1 billion from its stake in Spotify, following the streaming firm's long-anticipated listing on the New York Stock Exchange on Tuesday. In a memo to its shareholders, Sony Corp also confirmed that it sold 17% of its Spotify stock during the first day of trading.

Sony Music secured equity in the Spotify business as part of its original licensing deals with the firm. Prior to Tuesday, Sony owned 5.7% of Spotify which - according to Bloomberg - made it the fifth biggest shareholder overall, and the biggest music company shareholder.

All three majors and indie-label repping Merlin secured equity in Spotify as part of their licensing arrangements, and all four will now need to decide when is the right time to start cashing in that stock. On day one of trading Spotify shares peaked at $169, before slipping to $149.01 at the close of trading. By the end of the second day of trading it had slipped further to $144.22.

As the majors and Merlin do start to sell on their shares, the music community will watch closely how the labels make good on past commitments to share the profits with their artists. Sony has also committed to share its gains with the indie labels it distributes, and in a statement reaffirming that commitment yesterday it stressed that that also applies to its The Orchard subsidiary, which is now the major's primary label services business.

A spokesperson said: "Sony Music and The Orchard are committed to sharing with their artists and distributed labels any net gain they may realise from a sale of Sony Music's equity stake in Spotify. This is consistent with our previously announced policy".

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Tulisa wins 10% of publishing in Britney and Will.i.am hit
Tulisa Contostavlos has reportedly won a 10% slice of the publishing on the Britney Spears and Will.i.am song 'Scream & Shout' after a long-running dispute over who should have a stake in the hit.

Contostavlos collaborated on an original version of the track with producers Jean Baptiste and Jef Martens, the plan being to include it on her album 'The Female Boss'. But that didn't come to pass, and instead Will.i.am got his grubby mitts on the record, tweaked it around a bit, got Spears in to sing some vocals, and put it on his album '#willpower'.

Once that record was a hit, Contostavlos's reps argued that she had contributed some of the lyrics that appeared on the final version and should therefore be included in the song's credits and have some nice royalties to boot. As the legal dispute went through the motions, it also transpired that some of Contostavlos's vocals were still present on the final version of the record as released.

According to Metro, as a result of all the subsequent legal wrangling, Contostavlos will now be credited as a co-writer on the track and will receive 10% of the publishing royalties, and also a share of recording income.

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Jenner sisters settle photographer litigation over controversial t-shirts
Kendall and Kylie Jenner have settled a legal dispute with a photographer over a t-shirt featuring an image of Tupac Shakur.

The Jenners started selling a line of overpriced rock and pop themed t-shirts last year. The shirts all featured some sort of Jenner-related image over the top of photos of artists such as The Doors, Notorious BIG, Kiss, Ozzy Osbourne and Tupac Shakur.

There was much criticism of the venture, and cease-and-desist letters followed from representatives of The Doors and Notorious BIG. The t-shirts were subsequently withdrawn from sale and the Jenners apologised, saying that the designs "were not well thought out".

Then photographer Mike Miller went legal because it was his photo of Tupac that had been used. The legal complaint stated that the Jenners "at no times notified Miller that they intended to exploit his photography, let alone obtained his authorisation".

The company behind the t-shirts then hit back claiming that the Jenners had simply printed their images on top of existing unsold rock and pop t-shirts, so that no new versions of Miller's photo had been copied in the production process. Therefore, it was argued, no permission had been required and no infringement had occurred.

Which would have made for an interesting debate in court. But that is not to be, because a new filing yesterday confirmed that a settlement has now been reached. As a result both sides have requested that the case be dismissed. Terms of the settlement are not known, although both sides plan to cover their own legal costs.

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Propeller Recordings allies with INgrooves on distribution
Music services firm INgrooves has confirmed a new deal to provide global distribution for releases from Norwegian independent Propeller Recordings.

Confirming the tie-up, Propeller Recordings boss Frithjof Hungnes says: "We sought a global distribution partner with real passion and the expertise to build audience and engagement for our artists. We have found that with the team at INgrooves and are looking forward to collaborating with them on our upcoming releases".

INgrooves' Nordic Regional Manager, Kristine Bjørnstad, added: "Frithjof and the entire team at Propeller have built a very unique creative environment at their label, one that has nurtured some of the best talent in the region. We welcome Propeller to the INgrooves fold and our team can't wait to be a part of their continued success".

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Viagogo fined a million euros in Italy
Consummate rule-breaker Viagogo is being fined a million euros by the Italian Competition Authority for violating the country's consumer protection code.

The secondary ticketing site is accused of not displaying the face value of tickets being touted on its platform, not providing information on seat numbers, and not clearly declaring the total price of tickets being sold, including all the extra fees and commissions that are the norm in Toutsville.

Italy is one of the countries where secondary ticketing has been particularly controversial in recent years. And, of course, whenever the touting of tickets proves controversial, you'll usually find a Viagogo trying its very best to out-controversy everyone else in the market place, safe from its secret bunker somewhere under Switzerland.

The Italian Competition Authority hit out at various ticket resale sites a year ago over their failure to provide to buyers the information required under law. At the time Viagogo told the regulator it would comply with the rules, but a year on consumers and consumer rights organisations continue to complain about the site and its failure to declare key information.

Eventim-owned primary ticketing firm TicketOne was previously fined by the Italian Competition Authority over allegations that it had not done enough to stop tickets falling into the hands of touts. It successfully appealed that ruling by the competition regulator and had the fine refunded. It remains to be seen if Viagogo tries to appeal. Or whether it will employ its usual tactic of just never answering the phone.

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Beatport buys streaming-for-DJs platform Pulselocker
Dance music download platform Beatport has acquired Pulselocker, the DJ-centric streaming service that ceased operations late last year.

Pulselocker allowed DJs to access music to include in their sets. It integrated with various DJ software and hardware systems, worked offline, and reported usage back to rights owners. As a result of the deal, Beatport plans to utilise Pulselocker's patented technology within its own planned streaming service later this year.

Billboard quotes Beatport CEO Robb McDaniels as saying: "Pulselocker spent years developing an innovative solution that provides DJs with the flexibility to access the content they want when they want it - all through the DJ software they want to use - while providing copyright holders with the security and tracking mechanisms to calculate royalty payments".

He added: "Beatport is committed to delivering the best tools to create a more seamless and interoperable user experience for our massive ecosystem of DJs, and Pulselocker accelerates our timeline to deliver just that type of product".

Beatport dabbled with streaming once before, but then cut back its offering to just the original download store. Though that was while parent company SFX was in the process of collapsing. The digital firm is now a subsidiary of LiveStyle, the dance music focused business that emerged out of SFX's bankruptcy.

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Metal Hammer owner buys Music Week publisher
Magazine publisher Future, which owns music titles like Metal Hammer and Classic Rock and a bunch of instrument-centric publications, has acquired business media company Newbay Media which, among other things, owns music industry trade mag Music Week.

Confirming the purchase yesterday, Future said the deal was worth up to £13.65 million. That includes an initial cash payment of £8.62 million and £1.09 million of shares, with a second payment of up to £3.94 million next January depending on the future performance of the acquired titles.

Future said that the deal would expand its reach into the US market, as well as bringing it "B2B titles in the complementary verticals of audio visual, television broadcasting and educational technology, which will further increase Future's revenue diversification model whilst also bringing B2B expertise to Future's existing titles". Fun times.

Actually, it's more of a re-expansion into the US market. NewBay acquired Future's US division in 2012. One of the titles in that deal, Revolver, was sold on again last year, but the deal will see the Guitar World and Guitar Aficionado brands return to the Future business.

The Newbay deal also follows an announcement last month that Future is acquiring five titles from Haymarket Media Group, including What HiFi and Stuff magazine.

It also recently relaunched the online hub for its rock magazines as Louder, it previously having operated under the TeamRock brand. That stemmed from the period when Metal Hammer and Classic Rock were independently owned by a standalone business called TeamRock. Future sold the rock mags to start-up TeamRock and then bought them back when that company collapsed.

Confirming the Newbay acquisition, Future boss Zillah Byng-Thorne said yesterday: "Newbay is clearly aligned with Future in its mission to create content that connects, with market leading titles. This acquisition strengthens our presence in the US, and together with our recent UK acquisition expands our market leadership in music and consumer electronics".

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Warner and Live Nation top the gender pay gap list in music
Warner Music and Live Nation have the UK music industry's worst gender pay gaps, new figures reveal. On average, both companies pay female employees almost half what they pay men.

New regulations announced by the UK government last year now require all companies with more than 250 employees (in their UK subsidiaries in the case of global firms) to report the pay disparity between genders among their UK-based workforces.

The mean hourly rate for women working at Warner Music UK - ie measuring the average hourly rate across the entire organisation - is 49% lower than for men. At Live Nation UK it is 46%. Put in perspective, the BBC said earlier this year that its 10.7% gender pay gap was something it needed to "resolve swiftly".

Both music companies say that their respective high gender pay gaps are in part down to having fewer women in leadership roles - something they say they are committed to addressing. Measuring the median rate - ie ranking all employees from the highest paid to the lowest paid, and taking the hourly wage of the person in the middle - the disparity drops to 21% for Warner and 31% for Live Nation. The national average is 18.4%.

In her report for the company, Warner Music's EVP Human Resources Masha Osherova said: "Rectifying this trend is an urgent priority. We continue to look forensically across our entire company, from many different perspectives, to activate the right diversity and inclusion strategies and to ensure mindful action is happening every day. Meaningful and sustained change will take time, serious investment and consistent focus. We're committed to making the right changes and working towards closing this gap".

Live Nation's one page report lists four examples of initiatives it is already adopting in order to close its gap. It could perhaps look at another of its own companies, the Academy Music Group, which is fairing better. Although its mean rate is 24% less for women than men, its median rate is 1%.

The live giant's main rival, AEG, reported a 43.3% mean rate in favour of men, although the company says in its report that it is "confident that women and men are paid equally for doing equivalent jobs across the company".

The reports also look at how many women earn bonuses compared to men, and how much those bonuses are worth. In the case of both Warner and Live Nation, similar numbers of men and women do earn bonuses, although women are getting as much as 88% less than men at Live Nation and 82% at Warner.

Of the other major labels, Sony Music comes out best with a still not very good mean rate of 22.7% and bonuses 45% lower for women. At Universal, women are paid on average 29.8% less than men, with 49.2% lower bonuses.

The UK's collecting societies PRS For Music and PPL both come out with very different gender pay gaps. At PRS For Music, women were found to earn 17.2% less than men, with bonuses 68.8% lower. Meanwhile, at PPL, the gap is 6.6%, with bonuses 36.5% lower. Measured at the median rate, PPL was found to be paying women 4.3% more than men, making it the only music company we could find with a pay gap in favour of women at any metric.

Here are the published reports from each of the companies we looked at:

Music Rights
Kobalt Music Group - 19.7%
PPL - 6.6%
PRS For Music - 17.2%
Sony Music - 22.7%
Universal Music - 29.8%
Warner Music - 49%

Live Music
Academy Music Group - 24%
AEG - 43%
DHP Family - 13.7%
Live Nation - 46%
SMG - 12%

Distribution & Retail
Amazon - 6.1%
HMV - 11.9%
Proper Music Distribution - 29%

Music Media Owners
Bauer Media - 13.6%
BBC - 10.7%
BBC Worldwide - 18.9%
Global Radio - 34.5%
Future Publishing - 4.3%
Time Inc - 16%

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Lil Skies, Eminem, Cardi B, more

Other notable announcements and developments today...

• You can now get a daily CMU news summary via our Messenger bot. Click here to get started.

• Sony/ATV has whipped up a deal with rising US rapper Lil Skies. "Having my artist sign with Sony/ATV was one of the best decisions I have made", says his manager Carlmichael 'Stokey' Cannady somewhat prematurely.

• Eminem has released the video for 'Framed', taken from his 2017 album 'Revival'. Warning: May contain weak attempts to shock.

• Cardi B has released new track, 'Drip', featuring Migos.

• So, Sofi Tukker's first big misstep comes just over a week before their debut album is released. I think that means this monstrosity is going to be on the LP.

• The Horrors have released 'Fire Escape' and 'Water Drop' two outtakes from their most recent album, 'V'. "Unfortunately, the tracks didn't feel like they had a place on 'V' but we still felt like we wanted to share them anyway as a little artefact from those sessions", say the band.

• Beach House have released new track, 'Dark Spring'. Their new album from whence it came, '7', is out on 11 May.

• Matt Cardle has released the video for new single 'Desire'.

• Pizzagirl has released new track 'Seabirds'. The track is taken from his debut EP, 'An Extended Play', which is out next week.

• Blackened death metal artist The Dank Dark has released his debut track, 'What I Am'.

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

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RZA responds to accusations in U-God's autobiography
Wu-Tang Clan leader RZA has responded to claims that he's failing the group and stifling their success. The accusations were made by Wu-Tang rapper U-God in his newly published autobiography.

Speaking to Rolling Stone, RZA said that he wasn't sure if "this book falls totally in non-fiction". Although he did agree that the group's live shows currently rely too heavily on old material.

One of U-God's accusations was that RZA had particularly let his bandmates down by putting his brother, Mitchell 'Divine' Diggs, in charge of the Wu-Tang company. Divine, he said, had failed to best serve the interests of the group over the last two decades, most notably by failing to sign them to a major booking agency for live activity. But RZA refutes that this is his or his brother's fault.

"Agents solicit you", he says. "You don't solicit them. I got my agent because I wanted to score movies - I did 'Ghost Dog' - and my manager thought it would be smart to get an agent. I signed with UTA and I ended up becoming a good piece of business for Hollywood, and I grew. That is that".

That does seem to be him saying that the rest of the Wu-Tang Clan aren't "a good piece of business". Although maybe if they put on better live shows that could change.

"I do think that when we do our tours, we definitely seem to be stuck in a certain chamber of music", he says. "First of all, you can't resist them. Some of those songs work. The crowd loves them. That's what they came to see at some point".

"But I think it's also because they're the most familiar and easy for us to display without even rehearsing them", he adds. "They're our DNA songs. But I agree with U-God. We definitely should expand our performance roster because if it gets boring to us, it's going to eventually be boring to the audience".

Read the full interview here.

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