Scooter Braun sues Troy Carter
Two superstars of artist management in the US are going head to head. Scooter Braun is suing Troy Carter for allegedly defaulting on a $10 million loan. Carter says that this misrepresents their financial arrangement, and that the action is an attempt to "falsely ruin my reputation".

It was Braun's Ithaca Management Holdings company that filed legal papers in Los Angeles earlier this week, listing Carter, his wife and his Atom Factory company as defendants. It accuses them of fraud and breach of contract over failure to pay back the alleged loan.

Ithaca is Braun's multi-million dollar investment fund that launched in 2013, but it also acts as a holding company for various businesses, including his artist management firm SB Projects.

According to the lawsuit, Ithaca agreed to loan Carter the money on 3 Jun 2016. Around the same time, Atom Factory was involved in a legal dispute with another unnamed party. Under the terms of the deal, says the lawsuit, if this other dispute was settled, any money received by Carter's company should have been transferred to Ithaca as payment on the loan.

However, Ithaca claims, that dispute was settled in March this year but no money has been handed over. It alleges that proceeds from the settlement were instead diverted to other recipients and never reached Carter's holding company, AFACT, which is the entity liable for the payment to Ithaca.

Ithaca then says that it sent a demand for payment last month but has received nothing to date. Hence the decision to go legal.

Speaking to both TMZ and Billboard, Carter has denied that he was loaned any money by Ithaca. He says that he actually sold Atom Factory to Braun's company, but recently agreed to buy it back. While the exact nature of the 2016 deal isn't clear, the date given for the loan agreement by Ithaca certainly coincides with Carter's announcement that year that he was quitting artist management and moving to a new role at Spotify.

While Carter concedes that there is still a balance outstanding on this deal, he claims the exact amount was being negotiated at the time Ithaca filed its lawsuit. He also claims that things turned sour after he bought an expensive piece of art.

Speaking to Billboard in more detail, he says: "Sadly, Scooter Braun went back on his word. The fact is that I've never borrowed a dime from him, nor have I needed to. Ithaca has already received in excess of $12 million for my repurchase of the company. The equity they originally held became debt with collateral attached. Nothing out of the ordinary. He decided to file a lawsuit after we reached a stalemate on interpretations of the balance of debt".

He continues: "Our agreement on the new price was disavowed when the press ran a piece about me purchasing a piece of art at auction. Scooter called to congratulate me and within 24 hours I received an email from his attorney stating there no longer would be a discount on the deal since I could afford to purchase such a painting".

Explaining his side of the dispute, he says: "When I lost a client I volunteered to repurchase the company as a show of good faith. Ithaca declined. After a few months, I was surprised to hear that Scooter wanted me to return the money because the settlement with the client would take too long. He threatened to sabotage my reputation with a fraud claim if we didn't reach a deal. A claim he knew to be incontestably untrue".

He goes on to say that this alleged threat was "the cruellest business tactic I've seen in my career", adding: "I lived through Death Row Records and some of the hardest guys in Philadelphia. Not one of them ever tried to extort me. It's ironic how it now feels like I'm being extorted".

Going further, Carter says that any damage to his reputation has wider implications: "There are only a handful of African-American executives left in our business and yet he's okay with attempting to falsely ruin my reputation. It doesn't just damage me; it's also damaging to the young black executives coming behind me. I represent and helped build a culture he financially benefits from".

In a more strongly worded statement to TMZ, he also accused Braun of defending clients who use racist language.

Braun has not yet commented on the case.

Carter left his role at Spotify in July. Meanwhile, he continues to act as an advisor to the Prince estate.

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Dua Lipa "proud" of fans ejected from Shanghai show
Dua Lipa has said that she "will stand by" fans who were forcibly ejected from her show in Shanghai earlier this week.

Visibly upset after seeing fans being removed by security staff at the Chinese concert, the singer told her audience from the stage: "I want to create a really safe environment for us all to have fun. I want us all to dance. I want us all to sing, I want us all to just have a really good time. I would love, in these last few songs, for us to really, really, really enjoy ourselves. How about that?"

Video footage of the event shows security staff violently pulling people out of their seats and dragging them out of the venue. Some eyewitnesses said that the people were ejected for standing up and dancing when the audience had been told to remain seated throughout the show. Others said that some of those removed had also been waving pro-gay rights flags.

Dua Lipa herself seemed to confirm the latter in a statement posted on Twitter after the show. In it, she said: "I will stand by you all for your love and beliefs and am proud and grateful that you felt safe enough to show your pride at my show. What you did takes a lot of bravery".

"I was horrified by what happened and I send love to all my fans involved", she continued. "I would love to come back for my fans when the time is right and hopefully see a room full of rainbows".

The next show on Dua Lipa's Asian tour is in Manilla tonight.

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Mariah Carey gets new song the fuck out
Mariah Carey is back! Did she ever go away? I'm not sure. No, I don't think so. But she's back anyway, with a new track called 'GTFO'. For those not up on current youth slang, that stands for 'Get Those Farts Out'. The song is an ode to caring for a friend or loved one having a bit of tummy trouble. Maybe.

The song is taken from a new album due out later this year, and precedes the proper first single, 'With You', which is out next month.

"I wanted to give my fans and everyone a first listen that wasn't so serious", says Carey. "I've had so much fun making this album, and I wanted the first moment to reflect that light-hearted spirit".

Listen to 'GTFO' here.

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Al Green coaxed out of recording retirement by Amazon
Al Green has recorded his first new song in a decade. And it's all thanks to Amazon. Thank you faceless multi-national corporation.

The recording is part of Amazon Music's new 'Produced By' series. It assumes that people know the names of producers and will be interested in hearing them paired up with a variety of different artists. First up is Matt Ross-Spang, who this week has released new recordings with Margo Price, John Prine and now Al Green, the latter a version of 'Before The Next Teardrop Falls'.

"As a lifelong Memphian, I've always been a massive fan of Al Green and his producer Willie Mitchell", says Ross-Spang. "Together they created some of the most enduring soul music. Sonically speaking, Willie and Al also really invented a distinct sound that separated them from Stax or Motown. Growing up in a such a rich musical heritage I became captivated by these records and long dreamed of working with Al Green".

Of their song choice, he goes on: "I've always loved the Linda Martell version of 'Before The Next Teardrop Falls' and kept it back pocket as a great cover idea for him. It follows in the footsteps of Willie and Al reinterpreting country songs like 'For The Good Times' and 'Funny How Time Slips Away'. I still can't believe we actually got to do it!"

Amazon Music users with one of those Echo devices can hear all of Ross-Spang's new tracks by standing near it and saying: "Alexa, play the playlist produced by Matt Ross-Spang". If you don't have such a device, just shout that out as loud as you can and hope for the best. Or click here, whichever you prefer.

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Django Django announce new EP
Django Django have announced that they will release a new EP, 'Winter's Beach', next month. The new release follow's last year's 'Marble Skies' album.

It was recorded in the gap between finishing that record and releasing it, the band finding themselves still bursting with inspiration. As they announce the new EP, they have also released a video for a track from it, 'Swimming At Night'.

Says drummer David Maclean: "The 'Swimming At Night' chorus is about closing your eyes or being in the dark and swimming in your own world, your own thoughts. The idea for the video came when we were in Palm Springs. The light and the colours there were extraordinary and were the inspiration behind some of the imagery in the video".

"That", he muses on, "combined with an old drawing that Tommy found, of a colourful deep blue sea full of creatures. The video was animated by Gemma Yin Taylor who did an amazing job at bringing to life the visual I had in my head".

Watch that video here.

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Eera calls on friends for covers EP
With a bit of momentum behind you, it's always good to get another interim release out to keep things going. A remix EP would probably do it, but Eera's not interested in that. Instead, she's got some mates to record their own versions of her songs.

"I've always wanted to do a sort of collaboration with my friends, and I thought that this would be the perfect way to do it", she says. "I've never been a fan of remixes, so I figured that a covers EP would be way more exciting! These guys are not only some of my best mates, they're also incredibly talented musicians, so I feel very humbled that they agreed to do this".

The acts/mates who have contributed to the 'Friends' EP are Farao, The Mantis Opera, Douglas Dare and AlaskaAlaska. The EP itself is out on 26 Sep, and AlaskaAlaska's version of I Wanna Dance' is out now. Listen here.

If you want to hear Eera's own version of these songs, but not in recorded form, she'll be supporting Mitski around the UK this month and next.

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BMG, Radio Academy, Off The Record, more

Other notable announcements and developments today...

• BMG has only gone and bought itself the LA-based hip hop label RBC Records. The deal "continues to amplify BMG's position in the hip hop market" apparently. So, as I said, "BMG HAS ONLY GONE AND BOUGHT ITSELF THE LA-BASED HIP HOP LABEL RBC RECORDS".

• The boss of the UK radio industry's Radio Academy is stepping down. Roger Cutsforth has been with the organisation since 2015, following its near closure the previous year. He's going back to work in radio itself at Yorkshire stations Pulse 1 and Pulse 2.

• Manchester-based festival and music conference Off The Record has announced a flurry of artists who will play this year, along with the curators who picked them. 'Streaming v radio' and 'DIY v major v indie' are among the intellectual fist fights to occur during the conference strand. More here.

• Gorillaz have released the video for 'Tranz' from their latest album, 'The Now Now'.

• Maribou State have released the video for 'Nervous Tics', featuring Holly Walker. The track is taken from recent album, 'Kingdoms In Colour'.

• BBE is set to release a collection of previously lost Charles Mingus live recordings dating back to 1973. The five disc set is out on 2 Nov. Here's a 30 minute sample of what to expect.

• Former Fall guitarist Brix Smith Start will release a new album with Brix And The Extricated, titled 'Breaking State', on 26 Oct. They're also touring in October. Here's lead single, 'Prime Numbers'.

• Odesza have released new track 'Loyal'. First aired during the duo's 2015 Coachella set, this is the first time it has been officially available.

• Kathryn Joseph has released the video for '1111'. "Told through a single tracking shot, '1111' is the story of a man going through the five stages of grief", says director Rob Chiu. "The film can be seen as a metaphor for the way we feel as a society in today's turbulent times. All the pent up frustration being let out and finally coming to terms with it".

• The Chills have released the video for latest single 'Complex'. Their new album, 'Snow Bound', is out today.

• Das Body have released new single 'Know My Name'. The track is taken from their debut EP out on 28 Sep.

• Rachel Ana Dobken has released new single 'Always'.

• Virtuoso guitarist Sarah Longfield has released new single 'Cataclysm'. Her new album, 'Disparity', is out on 30 Nov.

• 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 #421: Aging artists v the 74 million dollar man
While we've been getting all distracted with the big vote on Europe's Copyright Directive with its controversial safe harbour reform, there's been a mini drama unfolding Stateside in relation to its big copyright reform project. All of which led to activist artists this week 'billboard stalking' around Washington the man who - among other claims to fame - lists being Chair of SiriusXM, Pandora and Live Nation on his CV.

Those of you sitting in the Venn diagram intersection of 'regular readers' and 'people who actually pay attention' will remember that the big package of copyright reforms in the US goes by the name of the Music Modernization Act.

Whereas Europe's Copyright Directive seeks to address particular copyright challenges that have occurred with the rise of digital, the MMA simply hopes to remove some of the more ridiculous elements of the American copyright system. Although, I suppose, ridiculous elements that have caused particular challenges with the rise of digital.

The MMA actually brings together various copyright reforms that were originally proposed in US Congress through separate bills. This includes a big fix to what lawyers and academics officially called the 'American Mechanical Royalties Shitstorm'. That should help to ensure that songwriters get paid the mechanical royalties they are due whenever their songs are streamed. And also mean that streaming services don't have to tackle counter-productive billion dollar lawsuits just because they couldn't work out who needed paying.

But aside from the AMRS, the MMA will also fix another quirk of American copyright law, what lawyers and academics call the 'Fucking Stupid Pre-1972 Thing'.

This will clarify that the online and satellite radio services that are obliged to pay royalties to labels and artists must pay those royalties on all recordings that are in copyright, and not just those that had the good fortune of being recorded after 1972. Because the obligation to pay those royalties comes from US-wide federal law, and pre-1972 recordings are protected by state-level copyright law, some services have argued royalties aren't due on the golden oldies.

By seeking to address both the AMRS - which affects songwriters and music publishers - and the FSP1972T - which affects artists and record labels - the combined MMA was able to rally the wider music community together in a campaign to pressure Congress to push the reforms through. The AMRS proposals also benefit the on-demand streaming services, so the digital platforms signed up to join the party too.

Those crafting the MMA hoped that if they could show enough consensus in Washington, they'd get their proposals through in a super speedy fashion, despite all that's going down in the American capital these days.

When the proposals went to the lower house of Congress, aka the House Of Representatives, they were approved in a super speedy fashion. In a super duper speedily speedy fashion, in fact. They then passed to the upper house, aka the Senate, where there has been a little more wrangling. Still, even there they have been approved by the relevant committee, and the consensus is that there is now enough support to get the whole thing voted through, if only a vote on the MMA would be put on the agenda.

However, there has been a last-minute hitch in the form of an intervention by satellite radio service SiriusXM. It is one of the radio businesses that has to pay royalties to artists and labels and will therefore be affected by the MMA proposals on the FSP1972T. It has raised various late-in-the-day issues with the proposed copyright reforms, while having another good moan about the fact that while online and satellite radio services have to pay royalties to artists and labels, AM/FM radio stations in America do not.

That's another ridiculous element of the American copyright system that puts it out of kilter with the copyright systems pretty much everywhere else in the world. And it's another thing the music industry has been lobbying hard to fix. However, the traditional radio lobby is particularly strong in Washington, and the music community's lobbyists feared that if they made an AM/FM royalty part of the MMA, the entire package of changes would be scuppered. And the AMRS and FSP1972T really need fixing now.

Despite knowing all that, SiriusXM is pushing for some further amendments to the MMA. Additional changes which supporters of the legislation fear could cause the entire plan to fail, after artists, labels, songwriters, publishers, digital services and their representatives have worked so hard to get the whole project this far.

Aware that its late intervention on the MMA is contentious, SiriusXM has been trying to defend itself in US trade mag Billboard. The company's EVP and general counsel, Patrick Donnelly, mused in a recent op-ed piece that "the music industry is a funny business". The current "funny", he said, was the fact that "SiriusXM has licensed from copyright owners every pre-1972 recording it uses, and the company is still accused of not paying artists for their works, and of even being 'unfriendly' to artists".

He then argued that SiriusXM had "good reasons" for opposing the current version of the MMA. "Radio is radio", he wrote. "The time has come for terrestrial radio to pay their fair share. The average American listens to AM/FM radio nearly fifteen hours per week and radio stations have never paid one cent for the use of those recordings".

He then pretty much immediately conceded that that's not going to happen, and instead talked through the elements of the MMA that change the way the American Copyright Royalty Board and the courts that oversee the song right collecting societies set the rates licensees must pay. These are among the elements SiriusXM would like to further amend, in part because - Donnelly argued - the current proposals provide AM/FM stations a further advantage over their online and satellite competitors.

Make of that what you will. But I can tell you that the MMA's champions in the music industry are not impressed. "SiriusXM's top lawyer says 'music is a funny business' but the company's effort to kill music licensing reform is no joke", responded Mitch Glazier, President of the Recording Industry Association Of America, in another Billboard piece.

Sirius, he said, "seeks to upend one of the most popular and broadly supported pieces of music legislation in decades - a bill that has to date 75 bi-partisan co-sponsors in the Senate, the backing of every creator organisation, and all the major music services - except, of course, for SiriusXM".

Referencing that SiriusXM is keen for everyone to note that it is already paying royalties to both artists and labels on pre-1972 recordings, Glazier pointed out that that only happened after both artists and labels went legal.

"SiriusXM wants artists to acknowledge it 'has already paid for all of the pre-1972 works it uses'", Glazier said. "This claim is especially rich under the circumstances - probably the most carefully worded spin I have seen in years - and I live in Washington, DC".

Picking holes in the various arguments presented by Donnelly, Glazier also wrote: "The company knows its proposed changes cannot be accepted, but that's OK if its real goal is simply to kill reform - which probably explains why the arguments it is making are so illogical and thin". Ouch.

Meanwhile, over on the socials, two of the people most associated with the MMA - National Music Publishers Association boss David Israelite and music lawyer Dina LaPolt - have been even more scathing of the satellite radio firm.

The former posted on Instagram that "the last obstacle to reforming our music laws is SiriusXM. They are making a desperate last ditch effort to kill MMA for the sole reason they don't want to pay creators fairly. Don't let them". Meanwhile the latter tweeted this week: "Hey SiriusXM you greedy pieces of crap, your lies are pathetic. BACK OFF the #MusicModernizationAct and let the Senate pass it AS IS".

All of which brings us to the promised billboard stalking. Not that Billboard. This billboard. The boss of SiriusXM parent company Liberty Media, Greg Maffei, was in Washington this week, seemingly in part lobbying on behalf of the satellite radio firm of which he is also Chair. Liberty Media has its fingers in lots of pies, of course, with stakes in Pandora (via Sirius) and Live Nation, hence Maffei is Chairman of those companies too.

With Maffei in town, campaign group the Content Creators Coalition decided to tour a billboard around Washington featuring the Liberty CEO's face and that of an elderly musician. Based on a 2015 New York Times article that reckoned the Liberty Media exec was struggling by on an annual pay packet of $74 million, the billboard declares: "What SiriusXM boss Greg Maffei makes: $74,000,000. What he wants to pay elderly artists: $0"

The Coalition also stated: "The fact that Mr Maffei and SiriusXM continue to directly profit off the work of elderly artists without paying them fairly is appalling. And the fact that SiriusXM thinks storming the Hill with a Wall Street CEO and an army of lobbyists in a desperate, last-ditch attempt to kill the Music Modernization Act, shows the world just how clueless the company is. That is why artists today are responding to Mr Maffei saying: 'You can't be Sirius".

So, if you're feeling fatigued from all the campaigning and Google-bot-battling in Europe in order to get the Copyright Directive through to the next stage, have yourself a shot of strong coffee and get back into beefing mode. This time: Washington.

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