AEG hits back at Ozzy Osbourne lawsuit over venue booking practices
Last year's venue booking spat involving rivals AEG, Live Nation and MSG has gone legal thanks to Ozzy Osbourne, although AEG wants his lawsuit - which accuses the live firm of anti-competitive behaviour - tossed out of court on various technicalities.

As you may remember, last summer it emerged that AEG had started linking bookings at venues it operates in London and LA, namely The O2 and the Staples Center. Rumour had it that some artists looking to play the former had been told they must also commit to play the latter when in LA, rather than rival Los Angeles venue the Forum, which is run by MSG.

When criticised over this linking of venue bookings, AEG countered that MSG had started it by linking bookings at its flagship New York venue Madison Square Garden with the Forum. Live Nation then chipped in to moan about AEG's venue linking practices, prompting AEG to question why it hadn't likewise criticised MSG, before noting that maybe it was because the MSG venues use Live Nation's Ticketmaster.

AEG then added: "Live Nation's threat of antitrust action in response to our booking policy is the height of hypocrisy coming from a company that publicly boasts about its control of content and distribution as the world's largest concert promoter and ticketing company and one of the world's leading artist management companies".

In the end it was Ozzy Osbourne who actually filed an antitrust action - back in March - in relation to AEG's venue booking practices. Though that legal action did relate to a Live Nation promoted tour. A fact that is actually one of the technicalities AEG is now employing in a bid to have the case dismissed - ie because the dispute relates to a contract with Live Nation rather than Osbourne himself, that means - reckons AEG - that he's not party to that agreement and therefore can't sue in relation to it.

Osbourne's lawsuit claimed that AEG linking bookings at The O2 and the Staples Centre was a kind of "tying agreement" that is banned under American law. That was based on the argument that the O2 Arena is the only venue of its size in the London area, meaning any artist who wants to play both London and LA is backed into a corner by AEG's policy.

Responding in a new legal filing last Friday, AEG basically accused Live Nation of using Osbourne to fight its battle. It then argued that because the O2/Staples commitment was contained in a document signed by Live Nation, Osbourne was not actually bound by the limitations contained within it. Which is to say that, while the contract may have restricted Live Nation when it came to promoting Osbourne shows in LA, it didn't actually restrict the options of Osbourne himself.

AEG also criticises other aspects of Osbourne's lawsuit, including the fact that it fails to allege any monetary damages and that claims the venue booking policy restricted the musician's "artistic identity" are just too vague. It says the original lawsuit lacks any facts that "even hint at what Ozzy's 'artistic vision' might be or how that vision might be enhanced if he were to play only at the Forum instead of Staples. Ozzy does not even allege that he personally would prefer to play at the Forum instead of Staples".

Responding to AEG's bid to have the lawsuit dismissed, a legal rep for Osbourne told Law 360 that "the idea that because the promoter signs the contract the artists have no standing, that's completely contrary to how the industry works".

So, for now at least, the spat continues.

BACK TO THE TOP OF THE BULLETIN

Sony launches new label with former Empire A&R
Sony Music has announced a new joint venture label, SamePlate, which it is launching in partnership with Jonathan Master. Prior to this deal, Master was head of New York A&R And Marketing for hip hop-focussed distributor Empire.

"We are THRILLED to be partnering with all the great people at Sony Music on this new label", says Master. "SamePlate's mission is to work in true partnership with artists to help them nurture their brands, not just chase records. Artists need to be competitive and relevant all the time, not just in traditional release cycles, and we are committed to helping them share their stories with fans every day, through any medium, including music, videos, and social content".

The new venture will sit under Sony's RCA label, whose CEO Peter Edge comments: "Jonathan Master is a forward-thinking entrepreneur, talent developer and marketer with a strong vision for building artist careers. I look forward to SamePlate making exciting new contributions to music culture, and creating opportunities for collaboration with RCA".

The company launches with a roster including Ro Ransom, YGTUT, TOBi, Eza, Shari Marie, ROMderful and Ducko McFli. Its first release, 'Floetry' by Ro Ransom, is out now.

BACK TO THE TOP OF THE BULLETIN

Ticketfly begins to put services back online after hack
Ticketfly's main website remains offline following a data breach last week, but the company said yesterday that its platform for venues and promoters was now back online.

All of Ticketfly's online operations were taken offline last week, after its servers were hacked. Vice's Motherboard spoke to someone claiming to be the hacker, who said that they had warned the company of a security vulnerability prior to stealing its database.

In a statement yesterday, four days after the site was taken offline, Ticketfly said: "We're pleased to let you know that Ticketfly Backstage is coming back online. We've engaged leading third party forensic and cyber security experts to investigate and help us address the issue, and have done this with your security top of mind. More specifically, box office, ticket purchasing, and scanning capabilities are now being made available again".

It said that there were likely to be some technical issues as things came back online, and it would take some time for all the third party sites it powers to reappear. It added that all tickets purchased prior to the attack will remain valid, and should appear in buyers' accounts after they have reset their passwords.

"We understand the importance you place on the privacy and security of your data and we deeply regret any unauthorised access to it", said the company. "We assure you we are taking this very seriously and are committed to providing updates as appropriate".

Ticketfly confirmed that personal details of users, including names, addresses, emails and phone numbers, were compromised during the attack. Data breach tracking website Have I Been Pwned? has confirmed that details of over 26 million people are included in the data stolen.

BACK TO THE TOP OF THE BULLETIN

Netflix announces new series based on Dolly Parton songs
Netflix has announced a new scripted series, each episode of which will be based on a different Dolly Parton song. Titled 'Logline: An Anthology', the show follows two NBC TV movies based on the same premise.

Parton, who will act as executive producer and appear in the eight episode series, says: "As a songwriter, I have always enjoyed telling stories through my music. I am THRILLED to be bringing some of my favourite songs to life with Netflix. We hope our show will inspire and entertain families and folks of all generations, and I want to thank the good folks at Netflix and Warner Bros TV for their incredible support".

First aired in 2015, NBC's 'Coat Of Many Colors' was based on the Parton song of the same name, and told the story of her childhood. A sequel, 'Dolly Parton's Christmas Of Many Colors: Circle Of Love' was broadcast the following year, telling a story of Parton and her siblings forgoing Christmas presents so that their father could buy their mother a wedding ring.

It is not yet clear what songs the Netflix series will focus on. Fingers crossed for 1984 Parton classic 'Drinkinstein', originally performed by Sylvester Stalone.

BACK TO THE TOP OF THE BULLETIN

Imogen Heap to join four fellow FAC artist entrepreneurs at A:E Day London
The Featured Artists Coalition's Artist In Residence, Imogen Heap, will join the conversation at the London edition of the Artist:Entrepreneur Day, which takes place at the Islington Assembly Hall next week - on Monday 11 June from 10am-5pm. The FAC is currently touring the Artist:Entrepreneur Day around the UK and the London date is part of the Mayor Of London's Sounds Like London programme.

A:E Day - which has been developed by the FAC with CMU:DIY - is an artist-to-artist, education programme. Over the day a team of artist entrepreneurs - this time Roxanne De Bastion, Eckoes and Femme - provide practical tips and advice for aspiring artists and future industry leaders on how to build a career and a business around music. They do this by opening up their own artist businesses and explaining how they have built a brand, grown a fanbase and generated revenue around their music.

The team will be joined by music industry experts who will also provide tips galore. Taking part in the London edition are Beckie Sugden (X-Ray Touring), Sammy Andrews (Deviate), Roisin Brophy (PPL), Gee Davy (AIM) and Sophie Little (BBC Introducing), with more to be announced. CMU's Chris Cooke will also present five A:E Guides as part of the proceedings, while representatives from sponsors AIM, PPL and Resonate will also be on hand to answer questions.

FAC Artist Advocate Nadine Shah and FAC CEO Lucie Caswell will be MCing the day alongside the three artist entrepreneurs. Meanwhile FAC's Artist In Residence Imogen Heap will also join the day to be 'in conversation', discussing her career to date as a songwriter, producer, performer and entrepreneur, and explaining why creative entrepreneurialism is very much part of being an artist today.

Tickets for the A:E Day are just £10 (plus £1 admin fee) and are available from the FAC website and Dice. For more details about what the day involves check the schedule here.

BACK TO THE TOP OF THE BULLETIN

Bullet For My Valentine release new video ahead of Download Festival
Bullet For My Valentine have released the video for latest single 'Letting You Go'. The track is taken from their forthcoming new album, 'Gravity', set for release on 29 Jun.

"'Letting You Go' was a very challenging song to write in so many ways", says frontman Matt Tuck. "It's by far the most experimental track I've ever written musically and lyrically. I really wanted to make a track that stood out from the crowd and separated us from any other band in our genre, and that's exactly what 'Letting You Go' does".

The band are set to play the first night of this year's Download Festival later this week, and have also announced two UK shows for November. They will play Alexandra Palace in London on 10 Nov and Cardiff's Motorpoint Arena on 11 Nov.

Watch the video for 'Letting You Go' here.

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

Emika announces new album, Falling In Love With Sadness
Emika has announced that she will release a new album, 'Falling In Love With Sadness', on 10 Oct, coinciding with this year's World Mental Health Day.

"I feel there was some kind of sadness that was passed down to me through generations in my family, particularly the women", says Emika of the inspiration for the album. "I didn't necessarily feel it was my sadness but it's something I've learned to live with".

The album follows last year's 'Melanfonie', Emika's first symphony, recorded with the Prague Philharmonic Orchestra. This new album sees her return to electronic music.

BACK TO THE TOP OF THE BULLETIN

Apple Music, Maroon 5, MNEK, more

Other notable announcements and developments today...

• Get a daily news summary, our latest job ads and more via our Messenger bot. Click here to get started.

• Apple Music has broken free of the iTunes software and can now be streamed in your web browser. Kind of. It doesn't give you full access to the Apple Music catalogue, but you can now embed full songs, albums and playlists.

• Maroon 5 have released a new video. Someone make them stop.

• MNEK has released new single 'Colour', featuring Hailee Steinfeld.

• Body/Head - aka Kim Gordon and Bill Nace - will release a new album, 'The Switch', on 13 Jul. First single, 'You Don't Need', is out now.

• Kaitlyn Aurelia Smith has released new track 'Yugoslavia'. It's taken from new Stadiums & Shrines compilation, 'Dreams', out on 15 Jun.

• Gin Blossoms will release a new album, 'Mixed Reality', on 15 Jun. "I managed to hack into a young version of myself to craft [these] songs", says frontman Robin Wilson. "All of us turned in our best work in 25 years".

• Janelle Monae has announced two UK shows for the autumn. She will play the Manchester Academy on 10 Sep and the Roundhouse in London on 11 Sep.

• Pale Waves have announced a tour of the UK and Ireland in September and October. It'll include a show at the Shepherds Bush Empire on 27 Sep.

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

BACK TO THE TOP OF THE BULLETIN

Backstreet Boys clear up I Want It That Way lyrics confusion
The Backstreet Boys have cleared up a mystery nearly two decades old. What way do they want it? And what is 'it' anyway? The mystery solving is all thanks to model Chrissy Teigen.

"I never wanna hear you say, 'I want it that way', cos I want it that way", conclude the lyrics to the group's 1999 single 'I Want It That Way'.

An exasperated Teigen tweeted: "He doesn't wanna hear it because he is the one that wants it that way? He wants to be the one to say it? Also what is 'it'?"

Despite all the time there has been since the single was released for someone somewhere to come with a satisfactory answer to those questions, no one was able to help. So much so, Tegen eventually concluded for herself that: "It seems they both want it the same way but are fighting over who gets to say they want it that way".

And there it might have ended. Except it turns out there are, in fact, people out there who know the answers. And those people are collectively known as the Backstreet Boys.

"Don't wanna hear you say that you want heartaches and mistakes, or to be two worlds apart", they tweeted. "We don't want you to want 'it' that way - that's the way we want it... for you to not want it that way".

Yeah, it's not quite as catchy, is it? Still, try singing those words along with the original song here.

BACK TO THE TOP OF THE BULLETIN