Regulator litigation could result in apology ads from Viagogo in New Zealand
A competition law expert in New Zealand has said that the country's Commerce Commission has a good chance of winning in its legal battle with Viagogo, which could result in the always contentious secondary ticketing firm having to take out ads apologising for having misled the public.

The Commission last week announced that it would now take the ticket resale website to court after completing an investigation into its operations. The regulator's legal action will allege that Viagogo has breached laws contained in New Zealand's Fair Trading Act and will seek an injunction preventing future breaches.

Viagogo, of course, is the most controversial of all the secondary ticketing companies. It has been criticised by multiple regulators in multiple countries for confusing ticket buyers and breaking consumer rights law. And it is facing similar legal action by the Competition & Consumer Commission in Australia, plus the UK's Competition & Markets Authority is also planning on taking the rogue resale service to court.

Speaking to Newshub earlier today, lawyer John Land of Bankside Chambers in Auckland said that the Commission had a good case against Viagogo based on the statements it put out last week. He told the broadcaster: "If Viagogo have done what the Commission says they've done, well, that looks like a breach of the Fair Trading Act".

In addition to getting an injunction stopping Viagogo from breaching the country's consumer rights laws, the Commission also said last week that it would seek a 'corrective advertising order'. Land explained that in this scenario the company would be forced to take out adverts in various media correcting misleading statements it has previously made.

To illustrate how that works, he cited a high profile case that occurred in New Zealand a decade ago, when GlaxoSmithKline was accused of making misleading statements about how much vitamin C was contained in its Ribena drink in the country.

In that case, Land explains, GlaxoSmithKline was ordered to take out half page adverts in "four newspapers around the country, twice; plus the company had to put on their website for 28 days a statement saying 'what we said about vitamin C in Ribena was not correct'. That's exactly the sort of thing the Commission will be looking for".

It remains to be seen how Viagogo responds to the action in New Zealand. With its base in Switzerland, the company has a reputation of ignoring the demands of regulators whenever it can. And, of course, it declined to attend a select committee hearing in the UK parliament on the secondary market, a very unusual step for a company with active operations in Britain.

Land reckons that Viagogo would comply with any court orders there, otherwise it would end up being banned from operating in New Zealand. Although, of course, as an internet-based business, it might be hard to enforce such a ban. Nevertheless, it does feel like an increasing number of hurdles are now being slowly placed in front of the Viagogo business, which might eventually force it to abandon its more anti-consumer policies or maybe even to ultimately call it a day entirely.

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Jefferson Airplane founder sues hospital over treatment that left him unable to perform
Marty Balin, a founder member of both Jefferson Airplane and Jefferson Starship, last week sued the Beth Israel Medical Center in New York over allegations that negligent treatment he received there means "his ability to sing and play in a band has been destroyed".

Balin was in New York on a solo tour when he was taken to the emergency room at the Beth Israel Medical Center complaining of heart problems in 2016. He subsequently received a range of treatment at the facility, including open heart surgery.

Last week's legal complaint accuses the hospital and one of its specialists of negligently performing a tracheotomy on Balin following the heart surgery. That procedure caused Balin to lose half his tongue and suffer a paralysed vocal chord, the lawsuit claims. Further negligence, it then says, resulted in a hand injury and the musician's left thumb being amputated.

According to Law 360, the lawsuit states: "Mr Balin walked into the hospital able to speak and with a fully functional left hand. By the time Mr Balin was finally released from the hospital, he had lost half his tongue, so that he cannot speak or eat properly; he also has a paralysed vocal chord; he [has] a necrotic left hand and has lost his left thumb; he had become totally disabled and has never recovered properly".

The lawsuit states that Balin should never have been admitted for surgery at the hospital in the first place, because it was in the process of being wound down and therefore didn't have adequate staff on hand to treat a patient with a serious heart condition. Meanwhile, the hospital's alleged negligence means the musician's "ability to sing and play in a band has been destroyed" resulting in lost earnings.

The hospital has not as yet responded to the allegations made against both it and its staff.

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RIAA seeks summary judgement on safe harbour point in Grande litigation
The US record industry is now seeking a summary judgement ruling that American internet service provider Grande Communications is not protected by that pesky copyright safe harbour.

The Recording Industry Association Of America sued Grande over its failure to deal with repeat copyright infringers among its customer base. Internet companies cannot usually be held liable for their customers' infringement because of the safe harbour. However, to qualify for safe harbour protection, the internet company must operate a takedown system via which copyright owners can have infringing content removed and complain about repeat infringers.

The RIAA argues that Grande did not have sufficient anti-infringement procedures in place to qualify for safe harbour protection under America's Digital Millennium Copyright Act. And therefore it should be held liable for its users' infringement.

The trade body's legal action followed BMG's case against another American ISP, Cox Communications, which was likewise accused of having shoddy procedures for dealing with infringing customers. BMG's court win against Cox was overturned on appeal, but on a technicality, with appeals judges pretty much confirming Cox was liable for its customers' infringement. We now await a retrial of that case, plus the RIAA is suing Cox as well.

Meanwhile the legal battle against Grande continues. The ISP failed to have the case dismissed earlier this year, though the judge did strip out elements of the RIAA's lawsuit.

As that case goes through the motions, the RIAA recently filed new legal papers requesting partial summary judgment in its favour. Basically it wants court confirmation now that Grande cannot rely on safe harbour protection as a defence in this case.

The filing states that: "Grande's chief defence to plaintiffs' case - the DMCA limited safe harbour from secondary copyright infringement liability - fails as a matter of law. The undisputed record evidence is devastating to Grande and confirms that Grande cannot meet its burden of establishing its entitlement to the safe harbour".

The RIAA then sets out its case for summary judgement, arguing that the ISP's own representations clearly show that Grande did not have the required policy for dealing with repeat infringers. "Indeed", the labels argue, "the documents and testimony demonstrate that rather than a policy for terminating repeat infringers, Grande consciously chose the opposite: a policy allowing unlimited infringement by its subscribers".

It goes on: "Grande's documents and witnesses confirm that the company has known for years of its subscribers' infringing conduct and has received well over a million notices of copyright infringement during that time frame. Yet, as Grande's discovery responses, documents and witnesses all confirm, Grande never terminated a single repeat infringing subscriber from October 2010 until June 2017 - after this lawsuit was filed - and even since then, Grande has terminated a paltry twelve subscribers despite tracking thousands of repeat infringers".

It remains to be seen how the judge hearing the case responds to the RIAA's request. But we can definitely expect some interesting rulings on safe harbour in the US in the year ahead which, rights owners hope, will limit the extent of the protection internet firms can rely on.

Of course, the music industry would prefer full-on safe harbour reform in Congress, to replicate what it's still hoped can be achieved in Europe. But given American judges used to set the bar quite low when it came to the obligations of safe harbour dwellers, these upcoming judgements - alongside some other recent rulings - are a decent start in terms of increasing the responsibilities of tech companies whose customers routinely infringe.

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Aloft Hotels installs recording equipment in showers (not as creepy as it sounds)
Do you think you sound great when you sing in the shower? Well, now you can find out just how wrong you are. Aloft Hotels has announced that it is installing recording equipment in showers in a number of its hotels.

Guests staying at Aloft hotels in London, Brussels, Munich and Kiev will be able to get access to these "shower studios". In them, as well as washing, you'll be able to sing, record yourself, play back the results and then share them.

"Showers are synonymous with singing", screeches John Licence, Vice President Of Premium & Select Brands at Aloft parent company Marriott International Europe. "So we put a fun spin on this by launching these voice recording booths using innovative technology to encourage even more superstars-in-the-making to bring their vocal talent out of the showers and into the spotlight".

If you think what you've done in the studio shower is really great, you can enter your song into the Project: Aloft Star talent competition, which is what all this is designed to promote.

This global talent search - being run in partnership with Universal Music - accepts non-shower-based recordings too. Those will presumably have an advantage given the lack of running water sounds. Unless the judging panel - which includes singer-songwriter JP Cooper - has been specifically picked because they prefer singing backed by bathroom noises. Either way, the winner will get to release a single through a Universal label.

"Having been on this journey myself, I'm really excited to be able to help shine a light on the next generation of musical talent", says Cooper. "As Project: Aloft Star's artist ambassador and head judge for Europe, I can't wait to discover the emerging artists who will get the chance to be noticed throughout the competition and get that all important chance to record and digitally release their single, a deal that will change that person's life".

Well, let's not get ahead of ourselves, JP. If you want more information on this, which I suppose it's possible you might, click here.

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Bauer acquires Jazz FM
Bauer Media has announced a deal to acquire Jazz FM for an undisclosed sum. It will make the jazz outfit a sister station to the likes of Absolute, Planet Rock, Magic and Kiss.

Jazz FM has been independent since the brand was purchased for £1 from its previous owners GMG Radio and TLRC as part of a management buyout in 2009. GMG had previously relaunched the actual FM version of Jazz FM as a far less jazzy Smooth Radio, which it subsequently sold to Global. Jazz FM itself continued online and on various digital channels.

"Jazz FM is a much loved, respected and influential brand, with strong growth potential, we look forward to developing it further", says Bauer CEO Paul Keenan. "Jazz music is seeing an unprecedented resurgence, and this extends us into an entirely new and complementary radio audience".

"Jazz's community of digitally savvy music lovers is thriving", he continues. "I believe that Jazz FM's expertise combined with our knowledge and experience in digital and personalised advertising technology such as Bauer's InStream+ will propel the brand for both listeners and advertisers. We look forward to working with the team to grow the business".

Jazz FM CEO Jonathan Arendt adds: "Jazz FM is a well-established and trusted brand, curated by passionate and expert presenters and producers - and I'm delighted that it will sit within the Bauer Radio family, where they are respectful and mindful of individual formats and listener groups".

With a weekly audience of 672,000, Jazz FM broadcasts nationally via the Sound Digital DAB multiplex, which is co-owned by Bauer, Wireless and Arqiva.

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MNEK announces debut album, Language
MNEK has announced that he will release his debut album, 'Language', next month. Ahead of that, he's put out new single 'Crazy World' and confirmed live shows for October.

"This album is so special to me because it's something I've put my heart and soul in to writing and producing and singing (and apparently rapping too!)", he says.

"I've waited for the day my debut album is released my entire life, so naaaaaturallyy I've designed it to be listened to from start to finish", he adds. "So every song flows into each other in a way that tells a sonic story. I've learnt so much as a musician over the years and most importantly as a young man - and I'm excited to share with you all what I've learnt so far!"

The upcoming live shows are as follows:

9 Oct: Manchester, Gorilla
10 Oct: Birmingham, Institute 2
11 Oct: London, The Scala

Watch the video for 'Crazy World' here.

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Jess Glynne, Christine And The Queens, Brooke Candy, more

Other notable announcements and developments today...

• Scourge of frequent flyers Jess Glynne has released new single 'All I Am'. Her new album, 'Always In Between', is out on 12 Oct.

• Christine And The Queens has released new track 'Five Dollars'. "The song is so tender, so dishevelled", she says. "It's dealing with some kind of love - the kind you can buy. It's a literal interpretation. A note for a shag - how surprisingly soothing this can be! The power ratio runs clear, like water in your hands; it becomes a pure gesture of love, of ultimate consent".

• Brooke Candy has released new single 'My Sex', featuring Pussy Riot, Mykki Blanco and MNDR. "Sex can be a magical, transformative thing and I'd love for queer culture and all women to feel like they have the ability to experience that magic after listening to the song", she says.

• Blossoms have released new single 'How Long Will This Last?'

• Low have released new track 'Disarray'. Their new album, 'Double Negative', is out on 14 Sep.

• Peluché have released new single 'Figure Me Out'. "'Figure Me Out' was recorded straight to tape in the second take", they say. "Putting it straight to tape also brought out a kind of 70s warmth of the instruments, with the Rhodes, bass guitar and drums driving the song forward with a momentum. We felt like we had discovered a new groove in this song, something that day brought it out of us as we played".

• Sudakistan have released new single 'Last Love Supreme'. They will release their second album, 'Swedish Cobra', on 7 Sep.

• So Below has released new single 'Drive'.

• J-pop group PassCode are set to release a new compilation through UK label JPU Records on 5 Oct, titled 'Ex Libris PassCode'. Here's one of the tracks from it, recent single 'Ray'.

• Many Voices Speak has released new single 'Chances'. Her debut album, 'Tank Town', is out on 31 Aug.

• Accü has released new single, 'Am Sêr'. It's the second from her debut album 'Echo The Red', which will be released later this year.

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

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Nicki Minaj tweets conspiracy theory after being denied US number one
Nicki Minaj's new album 'Queen' went straight to number two in the Billboard chart in the US. She is not happy. It should have been number one, obviously. And the fact it isn't is all clearly down to number one artist Travis Scott cheating and Spotify stiffing her. Or something.

Scott's latest album, 'Astroworld', is at number one in the US for the second week running, having scored 205,000 album sales or equivalent, according to Billboard. Minaj, meanwhile, racked up 185,000 sales or equivalent. Both artists sold 78,000 actual copies of their albums last week.

Among various claims made by Minaj for missing out on the US number one, was that Scott had gamed the system in a number of ways. Not least by getting his girlfriend, Kylie Jenner, to post about his still-to-be-announced tour on Instagram.

"I put my blood, sweat and tears in writing a dope album only for Travis Scott to have Kylie Jenner post a tour pass telling people to come see her [and their baby] Stormi", she wrote. "I'm actually laughing. 'Queen' broke the record of being number one in 86 countries. Thank Jesus and thank you to my fans".

Minaj claimed that Scott promising pre-sale ticket access to tour dates when items are bought through his own store had unfairly boosted his album sales. Although she seems to believe, incorrectly, that the album is being given away with items in said store, and that's how promising pre-sale tickets to the baby tour helped Scott achieve the sales he did. It may or may not be worth noting that t-shirts on Minaj's store do come with a copy of her album.

Billboard's figures show that it was actually streaming where Scott took the lead. But Minaj has an answer to this too. She claims that Spotify held her album back by twelve hours as a punishment for previewing tracks from it on her Beats 1 show on Apple Music.

"Spotify put Drake's face on every playlist but told me they'd have to teach me a lesson for playing my music ten minutes early on [Beats 1]", she tweeted. "Even though they've been giving away my music for free for years and I am one of the top Spotify artists of all time ... My music went up on Apple so I played it. I assumed it was on Spotify and Tidal at the same time. Spotify said that Apple tweeted fans advising 'Queen' was up and therefore they had to teach me a lesson".

Spotify has not commented on the validity of this claim, although it is not the first time that artists have complained about being penalised by the service. Whatever, it turns out that Minaj's lengthy rant about being denied the number one spot, and her repeated claims that she would let loose on the subject on her next Beats 1 show, was all a big joke.

After laying down her theory about how she'd been cheated out of her rightful chart position, she retweeted various fan messages of support. Then apparently friends and colleagues started calling her to see if she was alright, at which point she set them all straight.

"People are calling me thinking I'm huffing and puffing", she tweeted a couple of hours later. "OMG y'all, this is sarcasm/dry humour. Yikes. I'm having the most iconNIC time. Come let me kiss you ... When people call me and hear me crackin up laughing they seem so puzzled. Loosen up".

Yeah, loosen up. Of course, other things that may have affected the success of 'Queen' include: her decision to work with controversial rapper 6ix9ine, homophobic lyrics on the album, and the continued debate over her alleged bullying of a critic. It still went to number two though. And also, the charts are basically meaningless these days.

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