Sony has another go at keeping Dr Luke investigation details secret
Sony Music has requested that a court reverse its decision to force the major to tell legal reps working for Kesha who its lawyers interviewed as part of an internal investigation into allegations made against producer Dr Luke. The major said the recent court ruling in the long running legal dispute between Kesha and her former collaborator Luke "overlooked or misapprehended" matters of fact.

Kesha and Luke have, of course, been involved in a long-running multi-layered legal battle in which she accused him of rape and he accused her of lying about his conduct in a bid to get out of contractual commitments to his companies. That dispute is now primarily focused on Luke's defamation lawsuit against Kesha.

Sony was pulled into all this through its business partnership with Luke, via which it had signed Kesha. She asked the major to release her from her obligations to the record company, or at least put them hold, once she and him were embroiled in their legal battle. Sony argued that that wasn't possible because of the way its partnership with Luke was structured. Although the label then arranged for her to be able to record new material for the major with other producers.

As part of their preparation to defend Luke's libel action, Kesha's legal team asked for information about the investigation Sony conducted in the wake of their client's allegations against the producer. For its part, Sony said that the list of names of who its lawyers questioned as part of their investigation was protected by attorney-client privilege and therefore couldn't be divulged.

However, last week New York judge Jennifer Schecter ruled otherwise. She said attorney-client privilege wasn't relevant here, and that Sony hadn't demonstrated why sharing the list of names with Kesha's people "would actually divulge legal thought processes or strategy".

In a new court filing this week, Sony argues that this is exactly what sharing the list of names will do. The major argues that when law firm Gibson Dunn conducted interviews on its behalf regarding the allegations against Luke, it did so to inform how the record company should respond to the litigation into which it had been pulled.

Therefore revealing the identities if its interviewees would "reveal attorney thought processes and legal strategy". If it failed to demonstrate this to the court previously, the major then basically argues, that's in part because it wasn't allowed to submit a more detailed argument and/or an affidavit from Gibson Dunn lawyer Scott Edelman.

Sony says in its court filing: "Sony's investigation is not merely a set of materials prepared in anticipation of litigation, but was instead a collection of decisions reflecting legal strategy, undertaken only after Kesha filed a complaint, for the purpose of developing Sony's legal defence, investigating the truth of Kesha's allegations, and providing legal advice to Sony".

With all that in mind, Sony requests that the court reconsider last week's ruling.

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BMG expands senior management team at HQ
BMG has announced a revamp to the senior management team at its German HQ, which, the firm says, is to help accommodate "the company's surging growth".

The revamp centres on the creation of two new roles, a Chief Operating Office and a Chief Human Resources Officer. Current EVP Global Rights Administration Ben Katovsky is promoted to the first of those jobs. Current General Counsel Europe Ama Walton takes on the latter, as well as becoming General Counsel for the world.

Katovsky and Walton will form BMG's head office executive management board alongside CEO Hartwig Masuch and Chief Financial Officer Maximilian Dressendoerfer.

Confirming the revamp and promotions, Masuch told reporters: "Ten years after its launch BMG continues to grow strongly. That growth requires a constant evolution of our management structure. I am delighted to announce this significant realignment which will create more bandwidth for me and Max as we continue to grow the world's fourth biggest music company".

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Royal Albert Hall admits to an "inherent but authorised conflict of interest" in Charity Commission dispute
The Charity Commission has confirmed that it has re-applied to the Attorney General for permission to refer the Royal Albert Hall to the Charity Tribunal over its concerns regarding the way the charitable organisation that runs the London venue is governed. It follows an admission by said charitable organisation that under its current governance structure trustees could run affairs for their own financial benefit.

The Charity Commission first referred the Albert Hall to the Charity Tribunal - technically the First-Tier Tribunal (General Regulatory Chamber) - back in January. But that action requires the backing of the UK government's Attorney General, which was Jeremy Wright at the time. He withdrew his consent in March when the Albert Hall threatened to take his previous decision on the matter to judicial review.

This dispute all relates to how the London venue was funded when it was built in 1860. In something like a nineteenth century Kickstarter campaign, members of the public who significantly contributed to the building of the hall were granted ownership of seats within it. Those seats could be passed down to future generations or sold off to the highest bidder.

About a quarter of the venue's 5000 seats are still owned in this way. The owners of these seats can sell on tickets linked to them, and in the age of the secondary ticketing market doing so has become much more lucrative for those who choose to proactively put their allocated tickets up for sale.

The Charity Commission's issue isn't with this system in general, it's with the fact that nineteen of the Royal Albert Hall charity's trustees are also seat owners who have rights to tickets that they can sell on for profit. These seat owners hold a majority on the Hall's governing council and that, the charity regulator reckons, is "an inherent unresolvable conflict of interest".

The Royal Albert Hall charity actually conceded that a conflict of interest existed in papers issued ahead of its AGM in May. However, according to charity trade mag Third Sector, said papers insisted that this "conflict is built into the constitution of the hall, which is laid out in acts of Parliament and royal charters, and has always been properly dealt with by the trustees". That meant, the charity concluded, that there was no need to reform its constitution in the way the Charity Commission has demanded.

At the time Richard Lyttelton, a former president of the Hall who has been campaigning for the charity's constitution to be reformed, said that this concession was significant, because the Hall had never before accepted that a conflict of interest existed. He told Third Sector: "It has always claimed that the rights of seat-holders derive from property ownership and not the charity, and so are unrelated".

He went on: "This is narrowly true, but there is no denying the fact that the way the Hall is programmed and the access members have to their seats directly influences the value of these rights. Given that council members and related parties own seats to a value of £25 million, the conflict is now apparent to everyone, and council's initial position has become indefensible. Clearly, commercial investors should not be governing a charity that can influence the value of their investment".

According to The Times, in a new notice to its members, the Albert Hall's Vice President Ian McCulloch talks about an "inherent but authorised conflict of interest".

Responding to the Charity Commission's continued bid to force reform of its constitution, McCulloch points to the Hall's 'conflicts of interest committee'. He then argues that, although seatholder members of the ruling council could in theory run the venue for their own benefit, "there is no evidence that the seatholder members of the council try to manipulate the affairs of the hall for their private gain".

Concluding, he states that the venue is "run wholly for the public good in accordance with charity law. There has been no failure by the Hall as a charity and no impropriety".

Following this week's shenanigans in government, former Attorney General Wright has shifted over to a new job where he gets to bother himself about cultural matters on a full time basis, as Secretary Of State For Digital, Culture, Media And Sport. Which means new AG Geoffrey Cox will now have to decide whether to back the Charity Commission in its new bid to take the Royal Albert Hall's governance issues to tribunal.

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Schedule online for Manchester Artist:Entrepreneur Day
The next edition of the Artist:Entrepreneur Day from the Featured Artists Coalition and CMU:DIY is just a week away, with the full schedule for the proceedings now online.

A:E Day is the artist-to-artist education programme from FAC and CMU:DIY that provides a practical guide for early-career artists on building a career around their music. The next edition takes place in Manchester on Friday 20 Jul, hosted by Brighter Sound at the Band On The Wall venue in the city's Northern Quarter.

The day is led by artist entrepreneurs Roxanne De Bastion, Femme and ShaoDow, with input from FAC CEO Lucie Caswell and CMU MD Chris Cooke. A number of music industry experts will also be contributing insights and advice, with PPL, PRS For Music, AWAL, Sparklestreet Managament and Sentric Music among the companies set to take part.

Across the day, the three artist entrepreneurs will discuss their own music careers and artist businesses, including: songwriting and recording and managing the resulting copyrights; getting and staging gigs; connecting with fans online and building a visual identity; and how to choose which business partners to work with on distribution, administration, marketing, management, merchandise, live activity and direct-to-fan.

Tickets are just £10 for the full-day event. More info and schedule here.

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Glass Animals postpone tour after drummer seriously injured in traffic accident
Indie band Glass Animals have revealed that their drummer Joe Seaward was involved in a serious traffic accident last week in Dublin resulting in multiple injuries, including head injuries. The incident was why the band cancelled a number of gigs last week. They are now cancelling all upcoming dates to give Seaward time to recover from his injuries.

Frontman Dave Bayley wrote on Facebook yesterday: "Last Monday my best friend, and our drummer, Joe was hit by a truck while on his bike here in Dublin. His leg was broken on impact and he became tangled in the truck's trailer where his skull suffered a complex fracture. Miraculously, and thankfully, he is alive. After a couple of long operations he is now on the road to recovery".

Giving a little more detail about his bandmate's treatment, Bayley goes on to explain that Seaward received neurosurgery to "reshape part of his skull that had collapsed and been compressed into the brain by the weight of the truck's trailer. The operation was successful, but the collapsed skull had bruised and damaged the area of the brain responsible for speech. Initially Joe was only able to get out one word - 'I' - but each day he is finding more".

Bayley continues: "As far as we know, no other areas of his brain are severely damaged like this. He can still wiggle his fingers and twinkle his toes, and he still laughs at all my shit jokes, and demands we wake him up so he can watch the World Cup while we feed him ice cream and grapes. It wasn't safe for him to go directly into his leg surgery after his brain op, but a couple days ago he was given the go-ahead by the consultants. He now has a titanium pin holding two halves of his femur together - basically he is now Wolverine".

Confirming that this means the band will have to put touring commitments on hold, the frontman explains: "I wish more than anything that this accident hadn't happened and that Joe was OK and that we would still be coming to hang with you all, but life has thrown something horribly sad and unexpected at us, and we need to do everything in our power to conquer it and get Joe back on his feet. I sincerely hope you understand. We will be back as soon as we can, and stronger than ever".

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Paul Simon revisits old songs on new album
Currently out on his farewell tour, before retiring from life on the road, Paul Simon has announced a new album. 'In The Blue Light' will feature new versions of some of Simon's personal favourites from his back catalogue. Most - the official announcement concedes - are "less-familiar" songs from the musician's oeuvre.

"This album consists of songs that I thought were almost right, or were odd enough to be overlooked the first time around", he says. "Re-doing arrangements, harmonic structures and lyrics that didn't make their meaning clear, gave me time to clarify in my own head what I wanted to say, or realise what I was thinking and make it more easily understood".

"It's an unusual occurrence for an artist to have the opportunity to re-visit earlier works and re-think them; to modify, even completely change parts of the originals", he adds of the project, which also involved plenty of musical collaborators. "Happily, this opportunity also gave me the gift of playing with an extraordinary group of musicians, most of whom I hadn't recorded with before. I hope the listener will find these new versions of old songs refreshed, like a new coat of paint on the walls of an old family home".

The album pulls together solo songs by Simon dating back to 1973, all the way up to 2011. Here's the full tracklist:

1. One Man's Ceiling Is Another Man's Floor
2. Love
3. Can't Run But
4. How The Heart Approaches What It Yearns
5. Pigs, Sheep And Wolves
6. René And Georgette Magritte With Their Dog After The War
7. The Teacher
8. Darling Lorraine
9. Some Folks' Lives Roll Easy
10. Questions For The Angels

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We Were Promised Jetpack announce new record deal, tour dates
We Were Promised Jetpacks have announced that they've signed a new record deal with Big Scary Monsters. They've marked the occasion by announcing... tour dates. There is a new album in the works too though, expected to be released later this year. That explains that whole record deal thing.

Ahead of their tenth anniversary as a band, the outfit have been on a bit of a break over the last couple of years. That break allowed them time to meditate on their place in the world, and now they've reverted back to their original four member line up, having spent some time as a five-piece.

Ready yourself for their triumphant return with this brief teaser video.

Here are the tour dates:

14 Nov: Aberdeen, The Lemon Tree
15 Nov: Glasgow, Saint Luke's
18 Nov: Leeds, Brudenell Social Club
19 Nov: Manchester, The Deaf Institute
21 Nov: London, Bush Hall

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Ariana Grande, Kobalt, Warner Music, 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.

• Kobalt's AWAL has signed a wide-ranging new worldwide recordings deal with Nashville-based country musician Austin Burke. AWAL distributed Burke's much streamed eponymous EP last year, but will now throw in a load more services, just for giggles.

• Warner Music has promoted Steve 'Stevo' Robertson to a new role at Atlantic 'Atlantico' Records in Nashville. He becomes the first GM and SVP A&R for pop and rock music at the major's Nashville division.

• Universal Music Germany's Vertigo label has signed Dutch symphonic metal outfit Within Temptation for an almost global deal (it excludes Japan). "Trailblazers", exclaimed Universal's Tom Bohne, while pointing at his new signings.

• Ariana Grande has brought forward the release date of new single 'God Is A Woman' to today. So it's out now. That's what I'm telling you.

• Ty Dolla $ign and Jeremih have released the video for 'The Light' from their collaborative album 'MihTy'.

• Rob Zombie and Marilyn Manson have released a cover of The Beatles' 'Helter Skelter' to mark the beginning of their recently commenced joint US tour.

• Slipknot DJ Sid Wilson has released new solo single '+He©U®e', from upcoming new album '∫∑x©∆p∆D∑∫ øf +h3 høP∑£3∫∫ ®øbø+¡¢'.

• Sub Pop will release a 'Rick & Morty' soundtrack album on 28 Sep. It'll feature music composed for the animated TV series by Ryan Elder, and songs from Chaos Chaos, Blonde Redhead, Mazzy Star and Belly. There will also be two new songs by Chad VanGaalen and Clipping that were inspired by the show.

• Talons have released another track from their upcoming new album 'We All Know'. Here's 'On Levels'.

• Dashboard Confessional have announced that they will tour the UK and Ireland in November this year. The dates conclude with a show at Koko in London, and follow the release of new album 'Crooked Shadows' in February.

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

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Beef Of The Week #412: Marilyn Manson v Avenged Sevenfold
A lesson I learned early on in my gig-going career is that you don't wear the t-shirt of the main band you're watching play. That's super uncool. Other people at the show shouldn't be given any clear indication that you like the artist you've just paid to see. I thought everyone was aware of this rule, but apparently it has passed Marilyn Manson by.

This week, a video was widely shared, showing the self-proclaimed 'God Of Fuck' on stage at the Spanish edition of the Download festival in Madrid last month. It's short, weird, and offers very little context for what's actually going on. But it got a lot of people talking, so I think we need to understand the events contained within. And together I'm sure we can crack it, especially if we do some decent forensic analysis. So, let's go.

[00:00:00] Let's just take in the mis en scène right at the beginning of the video here. We're standing together watching a Marilyn Manson show. The crimson backdrop and the giant lectern bearing his logo are big giveaways of that fact. So is the presence of Marilyn Manson. Probably should have mentioned that first.

Manson is holding the microphone down to his left side, indicating that it is not currently in use. Guitarist Tyler Bates is also in a position that suggests he is not currently performing. Both instead are looking across the stage at something else which appears more interesting and/or more important than playing any music.

In addition to Manson, Bates and drummer Gil Sharone - who is seated behind the drum kit, as he should be - there are a number of other figures on stage. Three young women are visible from around the middle across to the left side as we view it (stage right). They do not appear to be performers. One - dressed in a pink bra and black skirt - has her back to the audience. Another is holding what appears to be a large poster or flag. A third, further to the side of the stage, wears a mixture of colours, which may or may not be tie-dyed.

It is not these women that Mason and Bates are looking at though. To the very left of the screen we can see another person climbing onto the stage. Bent over as they clamber, we can see that this person is wearing a black t-shirt, part of their right arm is visible confirming its short-sleeved nature.

[00:00:02] The camera zooms in on Manson, who raises his arm to point to the opposite side of the stage. We can also see now that the flag (it doesn't show signs of folding or being rolled up like you would expect from a poster, so it's a flag) being held by the woman closest to him bears a photograph of Manson in a red top hat and suit.

[00:00:07] A man appears from the left side of the screen - it's presumably the same man we just saw climbing up onto the stage seconds earlier. Arms outstretched, he has a green cloth backpack hanging over the front of his t-shirt. In his left hand, he seems to be holding a flag. Yes, another flag.

The woman in the pink bra is now facing the audience, her hands lifted to her face. The possible tie-dye woman has joined the other two in front of the lectern. Manson holds his right hand up to them, fingers splayed, indicating that he does not require their protection at this time.

[00:00:08] "Uh uh, wait", he says into the microphone, which is still in his left hand, only now lifted to his mouth. A slight flick of his head to the left suggests that this statement is directed to the advancing man, who appears to be coming in for a hug. The man then drops his arms and turns sharply to his left in order to join the three women in front of the lectern.

There is a Reddit discussion about this video featuring a number of people who claim to have been in attendance. One claims that this man was invited up on stage because he had been among a large number of audience members who booed Manson during the first 30 minutes of the show. But the fact that the man immediately attempts to hug Manson would indicate otherwise.

Also, why are the other three non-performers up there if this is all about challenging boo-ers? One is holding a large image of Manson, remember. And we can now see that tie-dye woman is smiling. Actually, we can now also see that she's not wearing any tie-dyed garments whatsoever. But it's too late to change her name for the purposes of this narrative, so we're just going to have to stick with it.

A further question arises here. When denied a Manson cuddle, the male audience member immediately knows where he should be standing. Which suggests some level of discussion about what is happening here has gone on prior to the maker of this video commencing their filming.

[00:00:09] Manson says something unintelligible, which sounds like, "talk to that person". It appears to be an indication that the new arrival on stage should stand next to the woman with the Manson flag.

[00:00:10] The non-performers all smile wildly. Tie-dye woman holds up an outstretched arm with clenched fist towards black t-shirt guy. That's what we're calling him now, by the way. The guy who just clambered up on stage and was refused a hug is black t-shirt guy.

[00:00:11] Tie-dye woman and black t-shirt guy bump fists. Both seem happy to be there. These are definitely not the actions of someone who was recently booing the performer, so let's discount that argument entirely.

[00:00:14] Black t-shirt guy lifts the flag he is holding over his head in order to wear it like a cape. "You should take your shirt off", Manson says. Could this be an attempt to subvert the traditional "show me your tits" trope of rock music by the famously progressive Manson? You know, get the guy topless, not the girls.

[00:00:17] Appearing confused, the man lifts the aforementioned green bag with both hands, making a facial expression that implies the statement "you want me to take this green bag off my chest?" Tie-dye woman and pink bra lady's faces are also beginning to drop into confused states.

[00:00:18] Manson lifts his arms and pinches at his shoulders. A classic, "no, your fucking shirt, like I just said" non-verbal communication.

[00:00:19] Black t-shirt guy pulls the neck of his black t-shirt and appears to also verbally seek confirmation that Manson really means he should take his black t-shirt off.

[00:00:21] "It's not my band", Manson says into the microphone while pointing at black t-shirt guy's black t-shirt. "It's a different band".

[00:00:23] Confused beyond comprehension, black t-shirt guy grips onto his flag and waits for this to stop being an issue. Perhaps his confusion is based on his knowledge of the band t-shirt at gigs rule. Of course it's not a Marilyn Manson t-shirt, he is watching a Marilyn Manson show. You never wear the t-shirt of the main act you're watching play.

That said, now that the green bag has been moved slightly, we can see that he is wearing an Avenged Sevenfold t-shirt. They were due to perform a headline set once Manson was finished, which may indicate that he is not in fact aware of the rules. Although it's possible that in his green bag is another band t-shirt, which he intends to change into before Avenged Sevenfold take to the stage.

[00:00:25] "You can wear that flag, instead of your shirt", says Manson jovially, like this is an entirely normal and reasonable situation. The woman with the flag looks down at black t-shirt guy's Avenged Sevenfold t-shirt. Presumably at this point she is pleased that she brought along a massive flag with Manson's face on it to distract from the Nike t-shirt she is hiding behind it.

The graininess of the video means that, while tie-dye woman does seem to be wearing a band t-shirt, it is not clear if it bears Manson's name and/or likeness. Pink bra lady is clearly not wearing any t-shirt at all. And the bra is also not clearly branded with any band name.

[00:00:28] Black t-shirt guy moves his green bag. "Take the sh...", says Manson, again motioning at his shoulders.

[00:00:30] Black t-shirt guy moves behind the three women to put down his green bag and flag. It's not entirely clear why he does this. Maybe he fears that this is all a ruse by Manson to steal these items from him, his vision likely to be obscured for a second or two if he complies with the command to remove his t-shirt.

[00:00:32] He returns to his previous position. Maintaining the confused expression, he motions again at his shirt, seemingly seeking absolute confirmation from Manson that he wants him to remove the garment.

[00:00:33] Manson waves his hand down towards where black t-shirt guy just placed his belongings.

[00:00:34] This seemingly reminds black t-shirt guy that he was supposed to be wearing the flag instead of the Avenged Sevenfold t-shirt and moves back towards it.

[00:00:35] "Yeah, yeah. Shuh, shuh, shuh", says Manson, pleased that the plan is coming together.

[00:00:37] "Oh no, take the shirt off", says Manson, his brief joy dashed, as black t-shirt guy - now holding his flag again - looks back still confused.

[00:00:40] "Take this off", he says, tugging at the Avenged Sevenfold t-shirt.

[00:00:41] "Cos it's not my band", repeats Manson.

[00:00:42] Black t-shirt guy lifts his Avenged Sevenfold t-shirt slightly to indicate that he has nothing else on underneath.

[00:00:43] "Put this on instead", Manson replies, grabbing black t-shirt guy's flag to reaffirm his previous solution to this challenge.

[00:00:45] Tie-dye woman then points excitedly to the left side of the stage (stage right). We get a good shot of her t-shirt, but I have still been unable to identify its branding and whether it fell foul of Manson's 'no other bands on t-shirts on my stage' rule. Maybe future scientists will be able to complete this part of my research when the technology becomes available. It is also not clear what has caused her to become so animated all of a sudden.

[00:00:49] Black t-shirt guy removes his Avenged Sevenfold t-shirt. The crowd cheers.

[00:00:50] Manson holds out what we can now see is a Peruvian flag for black t-shirt guy to cover his bare chest with.

[00:00:53] The woman with the other flag now grins widely, never happier to be receiving no attention whatsoever from one of her heroes.

[00:00:54] Black t-shirt guy holds up the flag proudly. Manson raises his right arm and points down at him in a 'this guy should be really proud of himself' motion.

Tie-dye woman and pink bra lady are now engaged in conversation. About what, we do not know. It's possible that one is saying: "That guy should be really proud of himself". It may be that the other is replying: "I know, he totally took his shirt off eventually. I am proud for him". Equally, they may both just being saying, "what the fuck is going on" over and over again to each other.

[00:00:56] Manson turns to the audience, hand raised in the air, with the body language of a man who has just achieved something important and worthy of wider recognition.

[00:00:58] Manson turns and begins to walk away towards the right side of the stage (stage left). Tie-dye woman again looks back towards the left side of the stage (stage right). It is still not clear what it is over there that has caught her attention. Perhaps a loved one or a close friend. We do not know. Black t-shirt guy continues to stand proud, now pointing his index fingers toward the audience, while still gripping the flag, which now partially obscures his face. The woman with the Manson flag and pink bra lady both look up at him like something has just happened.

[00:01:02] Sharone introduces the next song with two hits of the hi-hat, before the rest of the band begin playing. Manson, now on the opposite side of the drum kit, points back towards black t-shirt guy, who has now begun to lower his flag and has taken a step forward.

[00:01:03] Video ends.

At the beginning of this I said I felt some full-on forensic analysis of the video might bring us some clarity and answers as to what was going on here. Sadly, I was wrong.

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