Music industry pays tribute to Avicii
Tim Bergling, better known as Avicii, has died, aged 28. The producer and DJ, who retired from performing live two years ago, had been treated for a number of health issues in recent years. He had been on holiday with friends at the Muscat Hills Resort in Oman when he died. The cause of his death is yet to be determined, although police have reportedly ruled out any foul play.

His death was announced in a short statement by a PR representative on Friday evening, which stated: "It is with profound sorrow that we announce the loss of Tim Bergling, also known as Avicii. He was found dead in Muscat, Oman, this Friday afternoon local time, 20 Apr. The family is devastated and we ask everyone to please respect their need for privacy in this difficult time. No further statements will be given".

One of the biggest and most influential artists of the EDM boom, Avicii had solo number ones around with world, as well as collaborating with a variety of big name acts, including Coldplay and Madonna.

He retired from live performance in 2016 due to health concerns, in part caused by excessive drinking. In an interview with Rolling Stone last year, he said: "None of us today can fucking handle our emotions - most of us are running around being reactive. That's why I had to stop touring, because I couldn't read my emotions the right way".

At the time of his death he was working on new music. In an interview with Variety this weekend, Geffen Records President Neil Jacobson said: "We were working on it and it was his best music in years, honestly. And I know because I [A&R'd] all of his albums. He was so inspired. He was so psyched. We had done a month of grinder sessions. We had to actually put end times on the sessions because Tim would just work for sixteen hours straight, which was his nature. You had to pull him out. Like, 'Tim, come on. Go to bed. Get some rest' ... It's just a tragedy. We have this incredible, magical music".

As for what will now happen to that music, he said: "I have no idea. I'm going to sit down and talk to the family once everybody has a chance to take a breath. I've never actually had this happen with an artist I've worked with before and this closely. So, I don't know. We'll try to get some advice from the family and everybody's going to put their heads together and try and do what we think Tim would want us to do".

Bergling's publisher Sony/ATV also put out a statement on Friday, saying: "We are mourning the incredibly sad loss of an exceptionally creative talent who we have been honoured and proud to represent as one of our songwriters for a number of years. Our thoughts are with his family at this time".

Meanwhile, Bergling's longtime manager and close confidant Ash Pournouri published a lengthy statement on Instagram. "We made undeniable history together, you an I", he wrote. "Never for anything but creativity and to move the world. And we did move it. More than once. And you're moving it still after you're gone. But none of it was, or ever will be, worth your life ending too soon".

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AIM allies with MUSO on new anti-piracy services for artists and labels
The Association Of Independent Music last week announced a tie-up with anti-piracy company MUSO which will see the launch of a new "free-to-member digital piracy protection service" for labels and self-releasing artists among the AIM membership, helping said labels and artists protect their copyrights online.

Confirming the tie-up, MUSO CEO Andy Chatterley said: "The impact [of piracy] on independent music businesses can be particularly hard without a consistent mechanism to remove unlicensed content from the internet. We are therefore delighted to be partnering with AIM to provide a new free-to-label digital anti-piracy service".

Meanwhile AIM chief Paul Pacifico added: "We can all agree that music piracy remains contentious and protection has been a historically difficult area. MUSO is at the forefront of digital piracy protection and are experts in the business intelligence insights that can be gleaned from it".

He went on: "This new partnership gives our rightsholder members access to a highly sophisticated anti-piracy solution, free at the point of access, and allows them oversight of their online content and piracy activity. Pirates steal both money and consumer data with no return for artists. This service will allow AIM Members to focus on the very positive relationships between artists and their fans by cutting out the pirates and is a huge win for us all".

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CMU@TGE Top Questions: Where will the fan conversation go next?
With The Great Escape getting closer, we are currently considering ten questions that will be answered during the three CMU Insights conferences that are set to take place there this year: The Education Conference (16 May), The AI Conference (17 May) and The China Conference (18 May). Today: Where will the fan conversation go next?

Despite various attempts to launch music or artist-specific social networks over the years, artists generally follow their fans when it comes to social media, rather than the other way around. Which is to say, consumers pick the digital channels that best meet their wider social and entertainment needs, and then expect to be able to connect with their favourite artists in those places.

With the youth demographic in particular having jumped from platform to platform over the last ten years - from MySpace to Facebook to Tumblr to Instagram and Snapchat - one message that we've always prioritised in our music marketing seminars is the importance of email. Having a fan's email address and permission to send occasional messages has been a constant in fan communication, plus email gives back the best analytics.

However, in more recent years the new youth demographic have been busy shunning email too. They may have an email address for college or work, but social communications do not happen through that channel. Those conversations now more commonly occur on the messaging apps. Which poses the question: can artists start to connect with fans via platforms like Facebook Messenger?

Whereas email and social media are usually designed for both one-to-one and one-to-many communication, so that messages can be posted aimed at one person, small groups of people, or millions of people, depending on what is required, messaging platforms are primarily designed for personalised and interactive chat between a small group of individuals.

So how might artists infiltrate these platforms? There has been lots of talk about the potential of chatbots in this domain, ie AI technologies that can have automated but personalised and interactive conversations with individuals on behalf of brands, whether those be pop stars, festivals, labels, media or consumer brands. Though quite how effective those technologies really are at the moment is debatable.

There are nonetheless still plenty of opportunities for artists to be connecting with fans via messaging platforms. But succeeding in this domain often means experimenting with content and approach as much as it does honing and developing the technology.

We'll be looking at how the fan conversation is shifting to the messaging apps during our AI Conference this year. Sam Taylor from POP will discuss how his platform is enabling the music industry to engage fans through Facebook Messenger, while music marketers Alex Thomson from Green House Group and Olivia Hobbs from Blackstar London will be providing their insight on how the fan conversation is evolving as the technology moves on.

The AI Conference takes place on Thursday 17 May - more info here. See more questions we'll answer at The Great Escape here.

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Dice's Girls Music Day returns
Details have been announced about the next edition of the Dice Girls Music Day. The event aims to "inspire young women to achieve gender equality in the music industry with a day of talks, workshops and panels".

The next edition of the event, organised by ticketing app Dice, takes place in London on 28 Apr, once again hosted by Jen Long. There will be talks and discussions, plus workshops on songwriting (led by Jess Sharman), music production (led by K Minor and Katie Tavini), and getting a first break in the industry (led by Noisey's UK Editor Tshepo Mokoena).

Long says about this year's event: "I'm excited to host Girls Music Day this year, especially with it being such a momentous year of women fighting to be heard. In 2018, the lack of female figures within our industry is shocking, especially with the discouraging gender diversity in this year's festivals".

She goes on: "The main purpose is to engage and inspire the young people attending to work in music, to help them develop their career plans, and to bring up the next generation who will help push for equality in the industry. We've got an astonishing collection of speakers this year all offering great advice on that first stepping-stone into music. We'd urge all girls to get involved".

For more information click here.

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Record producer Stuart Colman dies
Record producer Stuart Colman died last week aged 74. The British musician and producer, who was also a member of 1960s band Assorted Colours, worked with over hundred artists over his long career, producing 33 hit singles.

He produced a number of records for Shakin Stevens - including chart toppers 'This Ole House' and 'Green Door' - plus tracks released in aid Comic Relief, such as the 1986 version of Cliff Richard's 'Living Doll' that also featured The Young Ones, and Mel Smith and Kim Wilde's cover of 'Rockin' Around The Christmas Tree'.

His tie up with Comic Relief was perhaps apt given Colman's belief that "rock n roll should never take itself too seriously".

In his obituary of Colman for The Independent, Spencer Leigh recalls how the producer once said of his music: "It is not art school and it has not gone to university. It is a fun thing and I try to inject fun into it. The TV producer Jack Good told me that he loved my records with Shakin Stevens because Shaky laughs and chuckles in them and you can tell he is having a good time".

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Avicii 1989-2018
Producer and DJ Avicii - real name Tim Bergling - signed his first record deal in 2007, aged seventeen, and went on to become one of the biggest and most influential stars of the EDM boom.

The son of Swedish actor Anki Lidén, he was discovered after posting remixes on the forum section of DJ Laidback Luke's website. The name he chose for himself was based on the Sanskrit word Avīci, the lowest level of Buddhist hell - somewhat incongruous with the big, optimistic sound for which he would become known.

"I worked a lot on getting a signature sound", he told CMU of his production style in 2013. "That big-room melodic sound, which I think sets me apart from other producers and what they're doing. I don't really know when it became recognisable but eventually everything started clicking".

He signed deals with artist manager Ash Pournouri and the Dejfitts Plays label. Pournourni then laid out a business plan which plotted a rapid rise to the top of the EDM scene, something Bergling very much delivered on.

Although already successful by then, his breakthrough single arguably came in the form of 'Levels' in 2011. First aired a year earlier, the combination of big synths and a vocal sample from Etta James' 1962 song 'Something's Got A Hold On Me' brought Bergling his first worldwide hit. His biggest track, however, was 2013's 'Wake Me Up', which saw him make the unlikely move of bringing folk influences into his sound.

When he first played the song out at the Ultra festival in Miami in 2013, it was booed. Avicii later said that he had expected the track to be controversial, but was confident that audiences would eventually be won over by it. And they were, the track went to number one in more than 40 countries.

As his chart success grew, so did demand for live performances, particularly at festivals around the world. His fee for a single performance reportedly came in at more than a quarter of a million dollars, and he was regularly named one of the world's wealthiest DJs by Forbes - particularly as at one time he was playing around 250 shows a year.

However, the constant travel and partying that came with this success led to a dependency on alcohol and a number of health issues. In 2012 he was hospitalised due to acute pancreatitis, and in 2014 he had his gallbladder and appendix removed.

In 2016, he announced his retirement from performing live. In a statement at the time, he said: "My choices and career have never been driven by material things, although I'm grateful for all the opportunities and comforts my success has availed me. I know I am blessed to be able to travel all around the world and perform, but I have too little left for the life of a real person behind the artist".

Last year he released an EP, titled 'Avīci (01)', which he said was the first of three releases that would make up his third album. He was also the subject of a documentary, 'Avicii: True Stories', which chronicled his retirement from touring and featured interviews with collaborators such as Chris Martin, David Guetta, Nile Rodgers, and others.

At the time of his death, while on holiday in Oman, he was still working on music for that album. Speaking to Variety, Geffen President Neil Jacobson said that he had "no idea" what would now happen to that music.

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UTA, Satellite 414, Liam Payne, 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.

• Booking agency UTA has hired Sarah Casey to join its London office. She joins from the Leighton-Pope Organisation.

• Publicity firm Satellite 414 (formally Purple Entertainment) has announced the promotion of Tom Mehrtens to Senior Publicist.

• Liam Payne and Colombian musician J Balvin have released a new single together, 'Familiar'.

• Kylie Minogue has released the video for new single 'Stop Me From Falling'.

• Anne-Marie has released new single '2002'. The track is taken from her debut album, 'Speak Your Mind', which is out this week.

• Jorja Smith has announced that she will release her debut album, 'Lost & Found', on 8 Jun.

• Shababii has released new single 'Outstanding', featuring 21 Savage.

• Le1f has released a new EP, 'Blue Dream'. "The past few years, since my last record, have been full of thorns and seeds, leaving me with much learning and relearning to do", he says. As a result, "it's taking ... sweet time" for him to finish his new material. "Until then", he says of the new EP, "here's some unreleased things for you all, because I do spit hot fyah".

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

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Shania Twain apologises for saying she would have voted for Trump
Shania Twain has apologised for saying that she would have voted for Donald Trump in the 2016 US presidential election. She made the comment in an interview published by The Observer yesterday.

In a statement on Twitter, she insisted that what she meant was that, had she been eligible to vote in the 2016 election - which, as a Canadian, she was not - she feels that she would have been taken in by Trump's campaign rhetoric. However, she said that she does not "hold any common moral beliefs" with the American President.

In the interview, Twain says: "I would have voted for [Trump] because, even though he was offensive, he seemed honest. Do you want straight or polite? Not that you shouldn't be able to have both. If I were voting, I just don't want bullshit. I would have voted for a feeling that it was transparent. And politics has a reputation of not being that, right?"

After a backlash from a portion of her fans on social media, she tweeted last night: "I would like to apologise to anybody I have offended in a recent interview ... relating to the American President. The question caught me off guard. As a Canadian, I regret answering this unexpected question without giving my response more context".

"I am passionately against discrimination of any kind and hope it's clear from the choices I have made, and the people I stand with, that I do not hold any common moral beliefs with the current president", she continued. "I was trying to explain, in response to a question about the election, that my limited understanding was that the president talked to a portion of America like an accessible person they could relate to, as he was NOT a politician".

She concluded: "My answer was awkward, but certainly should not be taken as representative of my values nor does it mean I endorse him. I make music to bring people together. My path will always be one of inclusivity, as my history shows".

The interview was published to promote Twain's upcoming world tour, which hits the UK in September.

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