Spotify expands Hulu bundle, planning improvements on free level
Spotify and Hulu have confirmed that they are expanding their existing partnership to offer American consumers streaming tunes and some telly-on-demand for a mere $12.99 a month. The new package, which comes with some ads to watch on the Hulu side, saves the consumer $5 overall.

The two streaming firms launched a combined music and telly streaming package for American students last year. At the time the two companies promised that that tie-up was "the first step" in a series of bundles "with offerings targeted at the broader market to follow". And look, an offering targeted at the broader market has just followed.

Some reckon that a way to extend paid-for music streaming to a more mainstream audience is to bundle music services with TV and film offerings. The logic is that while the majority of consumers are probably unlikely to ever pay for a standalone music service, they may pay extra to add music to a video service. In this case, a Hulu customer would be paying an additional $5 a month to get on-demand ad-free access to Spotify's vast music library.

For now the bundle is only available to existing Spotify premium users - so the upsell is added telly shows. However, it should become available to everyone in the US later this year, so that getting access to both Spotify and Hulu through one subscription won't require committing to the former first.

Elsewhere, Bloomberg reports gossipers gossiping that Spotify is planning an overhaul of its freemium level, providing more functionality to free users on mobile devices. Limited functionality on mobile - along with the occasional ads - are key differentiators between freemium Spotify and premium Spotify.

With the former designed to promote the latter, free streaming needs to be inferior in some ways so to encourage free users to start paying. Some in the music industry feel that free streaming should more inferior than it currently is. Though Spotify has generally pushed back on suggestions it should put additional limitations onto free streamers.

More details about the extra functionality on Spotify free are expected soon. As well as some sort of announcement about the much touted Spotify smart speaker product that nobody wants but we're going to get anyway whether you like it or not. No one cares what you like.

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House Of Representatives judiciary committee green lights Music Modernization Act
The judiciary committee in the US House Of Representatives yesterday unanimously passed the all-new Music Modernization Act, which actually brings together three separate sets of music-related legislative proposals that have been floating around Washington of late.

That includes plans to create a mechanical rights collecting society and blanket licence in the US for the first time - the main aim of the original MMA - plus moves to fix the pre-1972 issue in US copyright law (from the CLASSICS Act) and to introduce some measures to benefit record producers and sound engineers (from the AMP Act).

Having been approved by the judiciary committee, the package of music copyright reforms can now go before the full House Of Representatives, the lower chamber of US Congress.

The boss of the National Music Publishers Association, David Israelite, who has dubbed the MMA "the most significant update to music copyright law in a generation", welcomed yesterday's committee decision, calling it "a critical step towards finally fixing the system to pay songwriters what they deserve".

Thanking the various Representatives leading on this - and especially Doug Collins, who took the original MMA to Congress - Israelite added: "There is unprecedented consensus and momentum behind this bill, and we look forward to seeing it soon pass the full House".

An assortment of music industry groups and reps for the streaming sector all back the MMA. The former in the hope it will increase royalty payments where compulsory and collecting society licences apply. The latter because they are eager to get a blanket licence covering the mechanical rights in songs, so to remove the prospect of being sued for millions for failing to identify which songwriter is due some cents for having one of their songs streamed.

Even the MIC Coalition, seen by many in the music industry as a lobbying foe in Washington, has positive things to say about the MMA. Although with some caution. Whereas the music community's Content Creators Coalition noted that safe harbour reform and AM/FM radio royalties for artists and labels are not part of the MMA, the MIC Coalition on the other side of the fence wants more transparency and publicly accessible music rights data from the collecting societies.

It said yesterday that the MMA being passed by the judiciary committee "shows that progress can be made in Congress on complex music copyright issues. The broad-based membership of the MIC Coalition recognises the committee for brokering a common-sense agreement among stakeholders that will improve the landscape for certain types of licensing, benefitting songwriters, publishers, and digital music services".

But here's the but. "It is important to note", the MIC Coalition goes on, "that this bill does not address the performance rights challenges faced by millions of licensees including restaurants, bars, wineries, and breweries that regularly play and license music". Users of music in those sectors are members of the MIC Coalition alongside those companies with digital and broadcasting-based businesses.

Noting the remarks of one Representative in particular, the MIC Coalition's statement continued: "We commend Zoe Lofgren and others for recognising the critical and ongoing importance of the pro-competitive consent decrees governing [collecting societies] ASCAP and BMI and urge members of Congress to continue pursuing greater transparency in the music marketplace, particularly as it relates to performing rights organisations".

Concluding, it states: "Today's actions reflect the overwhelming consensus that music licensing information must be accessible to all in order to build a sustainable and transparent system that will drive the future of music for those who create it and those who provide it to consumers. The MIC Coalition will continue to work with the committee on each of these important goals". Good times.

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Former Drake manager sentenced to jail over unpaid taxes
The co-founder of Drake's former management company has been sentenced to eight months in prison for failing to pay his taxes. Derrick Lawrence was also ordered to pay the $600,000 he still owes the US government.

Aspire Music Group co-founder Lawrence pleaded guilty last year of failing to file tax returns between 2009 and 2011 on earnings of $2.2 million.

At a sentencing hearing earlier this week, reports New York Daily News, he told the judge: "It was never a disrespect to the government. It was a lack of knowledge. It's my fault for not following up with my accountants who I hired".

In 2008, Aspire signed Drake to a management deal, which lasted until 2011. Since 2014, the company has been involved in various legal wranglings over allegedly unpaid money from Drake's label Cash Money Records.

In 2014, producer Jas Prince sued Aspire, before switching his attention to Cash Money Records, claiming he was owed money from Drake's music under a profit share agreement. Last year, Aspire then also sued Cash Money claiming it was owed tens of millions of dollars by the label.

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Warner/Chappell appoints new COO
Warner/Chappell in the US has announced the appointment of a new COO in the form of Carianne Marshall, who was most recently head of creative services and licensing at Songs Music Publishing. She will join the Warner music publisher in June.

Says Warner/Chappell CEO Jon Platt: "Everything we do revolves around our songwriters, and Carianne has epitomised that philosophy throughout her career - creating exceptional moments for songwriters, while helping build an indie publisher into a major global force".

Marshall is "THRILLED" about her new job, obviously. "It's been a great privilege to empower songwriters, and I eagerly anticipate continuing to do so at a company with such a deep well of talent", she added.

Songs, a company Marshall joined as a partner in 2006, was bought by Kobalt late last year.

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European artist managers form new alliance
Trade bodies representing artist managers in Europe yesterday launched the European Music Manager Alliance to "ensure creators' representatives can have closer involvement in all discussions and decisions that impact future direction of the global music business".

The artist management community has become much more organised and vocal in recent years on issues affecting the ever-evolving music industry. National manager trade groups are already connected through an organisation called IMMF. However - in much the same way IMPALA and GESAC specifically represent, respectively, indie labels and song right collecting societies in Europe - EMMA aims to do the same for managers who are based in Europe, or whose artists are particularly active in the region.

At launch, music manager trade groups from the UK, France, Sweden, Netherlands, Poland, Norway and Finland will all be members of EMMA. There will also be links to trade bodies in Australia, Canada, New Zealand and South Africa, whose members often help manage artist businesses that are very active in Europe. The new body says it will "collectively represent over 800 managers across Europe and another 600 worldwide".

The new organisation's inaugural Chair will be Keith Harris, well known in the UK music community for his management work with Stevie Wonder, as well as his roles at Westminster University's Music Tank and record industry collecting society PPL.

EMMA says that its priorities at launch are a fairer and more transparency digital music sector; increased participation of artists and their representatives in relevant policy discussions in Europe; and the sharing of knowledge, information and research across the global music management community. A common code of practice will also be developed, with plans to launch that at MIDEM in June.

Commenting on all this, Harris said last night: "As the business representatives of artists, songwriters and producers, the role of the music manager has assumed ever greater importance in the digital era".

He went on: "For the future health of our business, and particularly with Brexit on the horizon, it is therefore vital that managers can maintain close contact and participate fully and openly in all commercial and policy discussions that impact on our clients. The creation of EMMA will make this possible. Going forward, digital services, legislators and other industry partners will have opportunity to connect with the widest range of music managers via a single networked organisation".

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Oliver Schusser to lead Apple Music globally
Apple Music has a new boss in the form of Oliver Schusser, who has been promoted to the role of Vice President Of Apple Music & International Content.

Currently head of Apple's European music and content operations, Schusser has been with Apple for nearly fifteen years. Previously he worked for companies including Bertelsmann, Universal and Napster, and he was recently involved in Apple's acquisition of Shazam. The promotion will see him relocate from London to California.

Along with Schusser, marketing exec Tracey Hannelly has also been promoted to lead international services.

In a memo from Apple's Eddy Cue announcing the promotions, which fell into Variety's lap, it was also revealed that Apple Music now has 40 million paying subscribers.

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Peter Buck and Joseph Arthur announce album
REM's Peter Buck and singer-songwriter Joseph Arthur have announced their debut album as Arthur Buck. Not sure where they got that name from.

The project seemingly came together pretty quickly, with the duo writing eight songs together over the course of three days late last year, before performing them live the next night.

"My first thought was, 'Hey, I'll get Peter to play acoustic guitar on some of the stuff I'm working on", says Arthur. "So I started showing him songs. But he was like, 'That's cool. Now check this out'. And he started playing chords and whatnot. So I put my guitar down and began singing over his changes, and it was magical. It was easy. And these great songs just started popping out".

Buck adds: "It was all new songs, and it was spontaneous. And the great thing about working that way was that it didn't have to be anything in particular. It was liberated from any expectation. It was free".

The album is set for release on 15 Jun and its opening track, 'I Am The Moment', is out now. Check it out here.

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Jenny Hval announced new EP
Jenny Hval has announced that she will release a new EP, 'The Long Sleep', next month.

"There should be something I could tell you, there should be something I could do to reach you directly, but there is nothing useful in the way we define 'you', or 'me'", she says in a statement to accompany the release. "There should be something I could tell you, there should be something I could say directly without lyrics and melody".

She continues: "Maybe that's what I'm trying here. Something else than lyrics or melody. It's not the words. It's not in the rhythm. It's not in the streaming. It's not in the 'message'. It's not in the product. It's not in the algorithms. It's not something you decided. It's not something they decided for you. I want to tell you something. I just want to say: Thank you. I love you".

As well as this, Hval is set to release her debut novel, 'Paradise Rot', in October, and has a new collaboration with Håvard Volden called Lost Girls on the go too.

'The Long Sleep' is set for release on 25 May. Check out a track from it, 'Spells', here.

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Tixserve, PledgeMusic, Chvrches, 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.

• Ticketing business start-up Tixserve - "a B2B digital ticket fulfilment solution for ticketing platforms and retailers", don't you know - has announced the appointment of Tim Chambers to its board. He previously held senior positions at Ticketmaster and Live Nation, and founded TicketWeb in the UK.

• PledgeMusic and the PRS Foundation have announced a new partnership that will see them working together on an Emerging Artists Fund. The first deadline for the new funding scheme is 21 May.

• Chvrches have released new track 'Miracle'.

• Arca has released new track 'Fetiche' and a lengthy video to go with it.

• Confidence Man have released the video for latest single 'Don't You Know I'm In A Band'.

• Half Waif is back in Brooklyn, or so her new single leads me to believe.

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

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Man arrested after robbing bank to impress Taylor Swift
A man has been charged with bank robbery in the US, after admitting that he carried out the crime seemingly in an effort to impress Taylor Swift.

The robbery took place earlier this month in Ansonia, Connecticut, and the following day the robber then travelled 100 miles to Swift's house in Rhode Island. When it emerged that she wasn't at home, he threw around $1600 over the fence into her garden and left. He was later arrested by police and subsequently confessed to his plan.

"It seemed he wanted to propose to her", a police spokesperson told the Hartford Courant. "But she wasn't home when he went there. He said he threw some of the money over a fence to impress her".

The pop element to this crime was revealed to police as they drove him to the police station. "He began to talk all about it in the cruiser", the spokesperson adds.

He also said that he planned on "donating some of the money he stole to the Ansonia Police Department". Unfortunately for him, neither Swift nor the police accepted those donations, and he now faces the robbery charges.

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