| Available to premium subscribers, CMU Trends digs deeper into the inner workings of the music business, explaining how things work and reviewing all the recent trends. | |
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CMU TRENDS GUIDE TO MUSIC MARKETING This five part guide provides an overview of how new artists go about building a fanbase and the basics of label-led album marketing campaigns. Keep track of the sections published so far online and look out for additional chapters going live very soon. [READ MORE] |
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CMU TRENDS GUIDE TO MUSIC RIGHTS This three part CMU Trends guide provides a beginner's guide to music copyright and the music rights business. In it, we cover ownership, controls and licensing, and review key trends in streaming, physical, sync and public performance. [READ MORE] |
| TOP STORIES | Damages bill cut in New Zealand political party's copyright battle with Eminem READ IN THIS EMAIL | READ ON THE WEBSITE |
| ENTERTAINMENT RETAIL | HMV stores in Hong Kong to close after tough year READ IN THIS EMAIL | READ ON THE WEBSITE |
| LIVE BUSINESS | Swedish female-only festival ruled to have broken discrimination laws READ IN THIS EMAIL | READ ON THE WEBSITE |
| INDUSTRY PEOPLE | BASCA confirms interim CEO will stay on READ IN THIS EMAIL | READ ON THE WEBSITE |
| ARTIST NEWS | PJ Harvey documentary to premiere at Berlin International Film Festival READ IN THIS EMAIL | READ ON THE WEBSITE |
| RELEASES | Jack White's Raconteurs release first new music for ten years READ IN THIS EMAIL | READ ON THE WEBSITE |
| ONE LINERS | Hrvy, FAC, Jhene Aiko, more READ IN THIS EMAIL | READ ON THE WEBSITE |
| AND FINALLY... | Ed Sheeran breaks touring revenue record, despite charging less READ IN THIS EMAIL | READ ON THE WEBSITE |
| CMU Insights is our training and consultancy business providing training courses, conference sessions and research reports for music companies. | |
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MAKING MONEY FROM MUSIC COPYRIGHT SEMINARS Monday evenings in Feb 2019 These three seminars together provide a user-friendly guide to how music copyright works and how music rights make money, including ownership, licensing and key revenue streams. [READ MORE] |
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MUSIC MARKETING & FAN ENGAGEMENT SEMINARS Monday evenings in Mar 2019 These three seminars provide an overview of how to build a fanbase for new artists and new music, reviewing key tools and tactics, and explaining how music marketing is evolving. [READ MORE] |
| Check out all the latest job opportunities with CMU Jobs. To advertise your job opportunities here email [email protected] or call 020 7099 9060. | |
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!K7 - ARTIST MANAGER (LONDON/BERLIN/NYC) !K7 Music is seeking an experienced Artist Manager to join its growing management department. The successful candidate will have at least three years’ experience in artist management, with demonstrated successes from their rosters past or present. For more information and to apply click here. |
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THE REST IS NOISE - SENIOR EVENTS PR (LONDON) Music specialist communications agency The Rest Is Noise is looking for an experienced Events PR to join our tight knit events team in London, delivering high impact PR campaigns with some management responsibilities. For more information and to apply click here. |
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GRECO-ROMAN & RANSOM NOTE - LABEL ASSISTANT (LONDON) Two left of centre record labels seek an assistant to co-ordinate all aspects of the record release cycle across five sub labels. Training will be provided but twelve months' prior experience in a music company necessary. For more information and to apply click here. |
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ROYAL ALBERT HALL - HEAD OF PROGRAMMING (LONDON) The Royal Albert Hall is seeking an experienced and motivated Head Of Programming to strategically develop and produce the diverse range of programming at the Hall. For more information and to apply click here. |
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JUNO - MUSIC BUYER & PRODUCT RESEARCHER (LONDON) Juno is one of the world's largest online music and equipment stores. We are looking for a music buyer and product researcher to develop our vinyl range, and identify new business opportunities. For more information and to apply click here. |
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OUTPOST - MUSIC PR ACCOUNT DIRECTOR (LONDON) Outpost is looking for an exceptional Music PR Account Director with a minimum of three years music PR experience. This role will position you at a senior level at Outpost and give you the opportunity to contribute to the overall business in a significant way. For more information and to apply click here. |
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NINJA TUNE - BUSINESS AFFAIRS ASSISTANT (LONDON) Ninja Tune are hiring for a full-time business affairs administration position within the record label and publishing company, based in its London office. For more information and to apply click here. |
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KOBALT MUSIC GROUP - DIGITAL MARKETING MANAGER (LONDON) Kobalt is looking for a Digital Marketing Manager to join its recordings division AWAL and work with its growing roster of emerging and already established talent from all over the world. For more information and to apply click here. |
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BOUTIQUE MUSIC PUBLISHING COMPANY - NEW BUSINESS ROLE (LONDON) This boutique music publishing company is looking for a motivated and energetic new business person to join on a two/three day a week basis. For more information and to apply click here. |
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PHILHARMONIA ORCHESTRA - DIGITAL MARKETING MANAGER (LONDON) The Philharmonia Orchestra is looking to appoint a Digital Marketing Manager. This is a new role, designed to drive ticket sales and audience growth across the Orchestra’s exciting live programme, utilising digital channels. For more information and to apply click here. |
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PHILHARMONIA ORCHESTRA - CONTENT PRODUCER, EDUCATION & ENGAGEMENT (LONDON) The Philharmonia is looking to develop its online learning profile and offer for young people, students and teachers, building on its significant reputation and existing catalogue in this field. As such, we are recruiting a new role to work across the Digital and Education teams to research, develop and produce content. For more information and to apply click here. |
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DREAMLAND - EVENTS MARKETING MANAGER (MARGATE) The role of Events Marketing Manager is a pivotal and crucial role to the success of Dreamland Margate. This is a really exciting opportunity for an event marketer to join a growing business. For more information and to apply click here. |
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INGROOVES MUSIC GROUP - MANAGER, DIGITAL ACCOUNTS (LONDON) The position of Manager, Digital Accounts at INgrooves is responsible for generating revenue growth at key accounts in the digital music industry outside of the Americas. You will work closely with label representatives, marketing information and various data sources to ensure maximum visibility for our key projects. For more information and to apply click here. |
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NINJA TUNE - SENIOR PRODUCT MANAGER (LONDON) Ninja Tune is looking for an experienced product manager working across our main imprints Ninja Tune and Counter Records. You will manage record release campaigns from beginning to end working closely with the A&R, production, marketing, digital, social media and international teams. For more information and to apply click here. |
Damages bill cut in New Zealand political party's copyright battle with Eminem
New Zealand's National Party has managed to get nearly NZ$375,000 knocked off the damages bill in its copyright dispute with Eminem.
The New Zealand political party found itself in court last year fighting Eminem's publishing company over a piece of music it used in a campaign ad back in 2014. Although the party had licensed that piece of music from a library music company, the court agreed with Eminem's legal team that it nevertheless ripped off the rapper's hit 'Lose Yourself'.
Indeed, so clear was the rip off, that the court decided the party's library music licence was irrelevant and it had still infringed Eminem's copyright with its advert. The fact that the library music track was called 'Eminem-esque' and that people working on the campaign had noted its likeness to 'Lose Yourself' didn't help the politicians' case.
Should that infringement cost the National Party NZ$600,000 though? Eminem's side actually argued that the damages should be higher, not least because there's no way his publishing company would have licensed the music for a political ad had it been asked.
However, in the New Zealand court of appeal back in July, legal reps for the National Party argued that the damages figure was way too high. The party had acted in good faith when it licensed the 'Eminem-esque' track, its lawyers argued, and there was no way it would have gone ahead with a licensing deal with the rapper's company had a $600,000 sync fee been on the table.
The politicians also argued that they picked 'Eminem-eque' because the beat was in sync with the what was happening in their ad (some rowers rowing), not because they wanted any association with the rapper. Plus before they opted to use that particular track, others were also being considered.
To that end the National Party wanted the court of appeal to cut the damages bill down to size. And that's exactly what it did today, knocking the total figure down to NZ$225,000.
According to the New Zealand Herald, the appeals court said in its ruling: "On the evidence, the proposition [that] the National Party turned a blind eye to the risk of copyright infringement or saw a risk and embarked on a reckless course of conduct with respect to that risk was not sustainable".
HMV stores in Hong Kong to close after tough year
HMV stores are to close in Hong Kong because they have been "unable to escape from the crushing force of the wheel of history", according to a statement from parent company HMV Digital China Group. To be fair, that's a pretty mighty wheel.
Hong Kong currently has seven HMV stores, all of which have been struggling of late. A drop in revenues of around 41% over the last year left the chain in financial difficulties. Unable to pay rents, a number of landlords recently launched legal action attempting to evict the firm from their premises. The cost of fighting these actions seems to have accelerated the business being placed into administration.
When the main HMV company in the UK went into administration back in 2013, it sold its Hong Kong and Singapore stores to a private equity firm, which in turn sold the Hong Kong outlets on to Chinese film company China 3D Digital Entertainment two years ago. That new parent company more recently changed its name to the HMV Digital China Group.
In a strategy alarmingly similar to the one that nearly pushed the HMV UK operation out of business six years ago, HMV Hong Kong switched its focus away from CDs and DVDs, instead pushing headphones and collectable toys as its main products. In its statement, the company specifically calls out Apple as one of the reasons for the business failing, though the problem wasn't Apple's digital music services but its headphones.
The statement says: "The emergence of [Apple's] AirPods has resulted in a significant drop in sales for our bestselling earphones, coupled with a seemingly saturated market for speakers, the lack of improvement in the traditional audio-visual sales and a general change in the economic environment, which led to an overall decline in stores sales and in turn a rapid decrease in sales for HMV Retail in the past few months".
Highlighting global issues for the retail sector - and its impact on other separate HMV businesses elsewhere - it goes on: "Suffering from operational difficulties, HMV Retail was unable to escape from the crushing force of the wheel of history. The HMV Retail business in Canada had closed all its 102 stores last year due to the impact of online streaming media, signifying the hardship in operating physical stores; and as HMV Retail stores in Hong Kong faces the same shock in recent months, it became an inevitable decision for us to wind up the business".
Despite this negative view of the retail market today, the statement adds that liquidators will nevertheless attempt to find a buyer willing to keep the chain in operation.
Although the retail business was a significant subsidiary of HMV Digital China Group, the parent company also has interests in artist management; music, film and TV production; film distribution; and money lending. The statement stresses that these aspects of the business will be unaffected by the retail arm's administration, although the parent company's share price dipped by more than 20% upon the announcement yesterday.
Swedish female-only festival ruled to have broken discrimination laws
A Swedish festival that billed itself as "the world's first major music festival free from cis men" has been ruled discriminatory by a government regulator in the country. The new festival was set up in response to reports of sexual assault and harassment at various music events, particularly Sweden's Bråvalla festival.
Named Statement Festival, the event was positioned as being open to anyone but cisgender men, ie men who retain the gender they were assigned at birth. It went ahead in August with an all-female line-up of music and comedy performers. Ahead of that first edition, organisers said: "We simply want women, non-binaries and transgender to go to a festival and feel safe at the same time - and now this summer it will happen!"
Complaints were seemingly made to the effect that the festival was discriminatory, which prompted the Swedish government's Equality Ombudsman to launch an investigation. And it has now made a ruling.
Actually, although marketed as an event free from cis men, no rules to that effect were enforced at entry points, so there wasn't actually any discrimination at the festival itself. However, the regulator ruled that pre-event statements that "clearly discouraged" a specific group from attending the festival did breach the law.
A spokesperson for the Equality Ombudsman stressed that the ruling was not criticising the ultimate motivation of the festival, ie to tackle the serious problem of sexual abuse at music events. "[The Equality Ombudsman] obviously believes that all visitors to the festivals must be able to feel safe", it said. However, it went on, its specific task is to ensure compliance with Sweden's Discrimination Act, and to that end it is "important that the measures taken to increase security do not violate the prohibition of discrimination".
In response, festival organisers said: "We think it is sad that 5000 women, non-binary and transgender people experiencing a life-changing festival caused a few cis men to go through the roof. The success of the Statement Festival shows that we are needed and the decision does not change that fact. Otherwise, we have no comment - we are busy changing the world".
BASCA confirms interim CEO will stay on
Following the announcement earlier this week that Vick Bain was standing down from the CEO role, songwriter association BASCA announced at its AGM yesterday that Graham Davies will continue as its interim CEO for a further year. He has been working in that role since June, initially filling in for Bain while she as on leave due to ill health.
"It is a privilege to lead BASCA", says Davies. "It has a great past and a great future. The craft and rights of music composers and songwriters must be properly supported, celebrated and nurtured as without their talent, the music the world loves wouldn't exist. The industry is changing, and we must raise our voice to bring about fair protection and remuneration for creators' rights. I am confident that we have the right strategy and a talented team to bring about much needed change".
Davies previously spent 20 years at song rights collecting society PRS, most recently as Director Of Strategy And Digital. Since the beginning of this year he has advised other rights organisations and companies including ASCAP and Mind Your Rights.
"Graham's deep knowledge of rights, formation of policy and management experience has brought enormous benefit to BASCA in the short time he has worked with us", says BASCA Chair Crispin Hunt. "We are delighted he has agreed to lead the organisation at this critical time".
Also announced yesterday was the news that MEP Emma McClarkin and music lawyer Julia Montero have joined BASCA's board as independent directors.
| On The CMU Stereo 2018 - Summer With the year nearly done and dusted and the festive break incoming, this week, we're running down 40 of our favourite tracks of 2018, ten at a time, loosely grouped into seasons. Today we reach the summer. If you sign up to our 'On The CMU Stereo 2018' playlist on Spotify here, you can listen to all of these tracks and our winter and spring choices now, as well as the final ten when they are revealed tomorrow. This playlist starts out on the same experimental slant that ran through our spring selection with Eartheater's 'CLIT'. However, across the ten tracks, this is probably our most varied selection. Appearing at either end of the list are two different takes on pop - Benin City's endlessly enjoyable 'Bus' up near the front and, near the end, an appearance from Ariana Grande, who really established herself as a stand out artist this year. We've picked her track 'God Is A Woman'. Jon Hopkins makes the list with the title track of his 'Singularity' album, which was one of our favourite LPs of the year. Plus, of course, 'This Is America' by Childish Gambino makes the cut, it surely being the track that 2018 will be best remembered for. Here's what's on our summer playlist: Eartheater - CLIT Check out all of the artists featured in the CMU Approved column in 2018 on subscribing this Spotify playlist. |
PJ Harvey documentary to premiere at Berlin International Film Festival
A new documentary following the making of PJ Harvey's 2016 album 'The Hope Six Demolition Project' is set to premiere at the Berlin International Film Festival in February.
Titled 'A Dog Called Money', the film is directed by Seamus Murphy - who previously worked on short films to accompany tracks from Harvey's 'Let England Shake' album and took photographs for her book of poetry, 'Hollow Of The Hand'. As well as filming Harvey and her band recording the album in a glass box at London's Somerset House, he also travelled with her to Afghanistan, Kosovo and Washington, DC as she gathered material to write lyrics about.
"Polly and I know and trust each other", says Murphy. "Enough for her to travel with me to Afghanistan and other challenging places, and for me to believe she'd bring back magic. She then invited me into a big white box behind one-way windows to film every moment of the recording of the songs she brought back. Individually and together, this is our response to what we encountered".
The Berlin International Film Festival takes place on 7-17 Feb next year. Exact details of the screening of 'A Dog Called Money' have not yet been announced.
Jack White's Raconteurs release first new music for ten years
Jack White fronted band The Raconteurs are back with their first new music for more than ten years. They've just released two new songs, 'Sunday Driver' and 'Now That You're Gone'.
As well as White, the Raconteurs line-up features singer-songwriter Brendan Benson, plus Jack Lawrence and Patrick Keeler of The Greenhornes. The band formed in 2005 and released their debut album, 'Broken Toy Soldiers', the following year. They released the follow-up, 'Consolers Of The Lonely', in 2008, but the project ground to a halt after touring for that record was completed. It has been suggested a number of times in recent years that new material was in the works, most recently earlier this year.
Then in October it was announced that two new songs would be released as part of a tenth anniversary reissue of 'Consolers Of The Lonely'. These tracks, said a statement at the time, were taken from "recent sessions that will ultimately result in a new Raconteurs album in 2019".
As well as being available as part of the reissue package, you can find the new tracks on your digital music service of choice now. No further details of the new album have yet been revealed.
Hrvy, FAC, Jhene Aiko, more
Other notable announcements and developments today...
• Universal Music Publishing has signed Hrvy to a big fat publishing deal. "I'm very grateful to have the opportunity to work with the team at UMPG", says the pop newcomer, "I can't wait to work with the team on more music, it's a really exciting time for me right now, the future feels exciting".
• The Featured Artists Coalition has announced a partnership with Roland, which will see the musical instrument maker provide masterclasses, advice and studio time to members of the organisation. "This great collaboration opens access to top quality kit and professionals, alongside insights from the best and a real dialogue between music creation and music innovation", says FAC CEO Lucie Caswell.
• Jhene Aiko has released her first solo track of the year, 'Wasted Love Freestyle 2018'.
• Beabadoobee has released the video for 'Dance With Me', the lead single from her new EP, 'Patched Up'.
• William Tyler has shared new song 'Call Me When I'm Breathing Again', featuring Hand Habits, from upcoming album 'Go West'. He's also announced that he'll play a handful of UK shows in April, kicking off at St John On Bethnal Green church in London on 25 Apr.
• Check out our weekly Spotify playlist of new music featured in the CMU Daily - updated every Friday.
Ed Sheeran breaks touring revenue record, despite charging less
No surprises that Ed Sheeran has scored the highest grossing tour of 2018. But hey, here's another stat for you from the end-of-year maths US live industry mag Pollstar presented earlier this week. Sheeran's tour income for the year is the highest scored by any one artist in any one year since Pollstar started counting such things 30 years ago. He also sold more tickets in a single year than anyone has ever managed to do before.
Since the start of this year, Sheeran has raked in over $432 million from touring, selling 4.8 million tickets. It's not the highest grossing tour of all time - that record belongs to U2's '360' tour, which pulled in $736 million and sold over seven million tickets - but it also took two full years to do so.
The previous holder of the record for the highest gross revenue in a single year was also U2. Their 2017 touring activity brought in $316 million, a whole 37% less than Sheeran managed just a year later.
"A very good manager friend of mine said, 'can you fuck off please because you're making me look really bad'", Sheeran's manager Stuart Camp tells Pollstar. "He was trying to sell an arena tour for his act that wasn't going well. He was like, 'just piss off'. In a good way, but you get what he was saying: 'Will you just go away and give people a chance'. But we're not doing it for ego, that literally was the demand. And we could have played a lot more, there just wasn't a big enough window".
The financial success of the tour also highlights something else. While other artists attempt to boost income by selling high price VIP ticket packages and meet and greet opportunities, Sheeran does none of this. His average ticket price is considerably lower than that of other top selling acts, and he doesn't charge for any fan-meeting sessions he takes part in. It will be interesting to see if Sheeran's massive haul, despite all this, has any effect on the pricing of other tours.
Of course, having a relatively simple set-up - appearing on stage with just a guitar and a loop pedal - Sheeran also gets to keep more of that money than most other acts would. Maybe next time U2 tour it'll just be Bono and a ukulele.
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