Coldplay's Chris Martin among those demanding shared parental leave for freelancers
Coldplay's Chris Martin has again spoken out in favour of changing the rules over parental leave and maternity pay in the UK so that freelancers can also enjoy benefits introduced in 2015 for those in more conventional employment. Trade group UK Music plans to put the spotlight back on the issue during the upcoming party conference season.

A new law in 2015 introduced more flexibility in the way that parents can access parental leave, maternity pay and maternity allowances following the birth of a new child. The aim was to make it easier for fathers as well as mothers to take time off to care for young children, simply by allowing both parents to share the leave and benefits already available, rather than the system assuming that the mother would be the primary carer.

However, those changes only benefit those in conventional employment paid salaries through the PAYE system, partly because the law has always put some of the obligations regarding parental leave and maternity pay onto employers.

Campaigners argue that this puts self-employed parents - or couples where one partner is self-employed - at a disadvantage. Those campaigners say that the new flexibilities should be extended to the self-employed, adding that doing so wouldn't have financial implications for the state, instead just requiring a change to the system.

All of this is particularly relevant to the music industry because of the high number of self-employed people working in the sector. That's true across the creative industries, but especially in music. UK Music reckons 72% of those working in the music industry do so on a self-employed basis.

The trade groups says: "At present, self-employed parents have no way of sharing parental leave in the same way as other workers. This is a vital issue for the music industry where almost three out of every four people are self-employed".

There are plenty of supporters for a change to the law in the political community. Labour MP Tracy Brabin and Liberal Democrat leader Jo Swinson have both proposed new legislation, while the government has also said it is preparing for a consultation on 'family-friendly working', which will include parental leave. Hence UK Music has decided to make this issue a priority at the upcoming party conferences.

Supporting all that, Chris Martin says: "There is no shared parental leave and pay system in place for self-employed parents. That makes it really tough for many of our freelance colleagues and crew when they have children. Let's change the law so that self-employed mums and dads can choose when to take parental leave".

Meanwhile UK Music boss Michael Dugher states: "It's fantastic to have the support of Chris Martin and Coldplay. Self-employed parents working in music and across the creative industries are getting a raw deal. Changes are badly overdue".

"There is clearly growing support across Parliament for this change", he adds, "and we are grateful to MPs like Tracy Brabin and Jo Swinson who have led the way on this agenda. UK Music will be taking this campaign to the Conservative, Labour and Lib Dem conferences. We hope Prime Minister Boris Johnson and all political parties will embrace this call for equality to help us continue to grow a music industry that contributes £4.5 billion to the economy".

Aside from the current system simply being unfair, campaigners say that inequities like this often put women off pursuing careers in those strands of the music industry where self-employment is the norm. That in turn hinders efforts to address the lack of gender diversity in the music business, and especially certain strands of the music business.

That includes on the studio side of the industry. Music Producers Guild Executive Director Olga Fitzroy says: "The present antiquated system means we are losing far too much talent because women continue to be penalised under the current unjust rules that force them into being the main care-giver".

"Women are woefully under-represented in music production and other freelance industries", she adds. "That problem and the continuing issue of the gender pay gap will only be properly addressed if the government gives self-employed parents the chance to balance care-giving for their children with their careers. I hope we can use these events at the party conferences to press home the message to politicians from all parties that changing the rules to help self-employed will not only be a huge help to parents, but also a great boost to the talent pipeline of our fantastic music industry".

BACK TO THE TOP OF THE BULLETIN

Field Day co-founder Tom Baker steps away from festival
Field Day co-founder Tom Baker has announced that he is no longer actively involved with the festival, which was acquired by Broadwick Live in 2016.

Baker tells IQ: "After twelve years of living and breathing Field Day - something I co-founded in 2007, and that seeded out of earlier multi-genre events my partner [Marcus Weedon] and I did before - it feels like the right time for me to move on to new things. It's a blank canvas, a challenge, but time to do something exciting and creative in a very changed landscape".

Baker continued to work on Field Day after the Broadwick Live acquisition, during a time when the festival needed to find a new site after AEG won the rights to stage events in its former home of Victoria Park. This year Field Day took place at a new permanent base, the new Broadwick Live managed Drumsheds event space in North London.

Baker will now focus entirely on his own promotions company Eat Your Own Ears.

BACK TO THE TOP OF THE BULLETIN

BBC to shut down iPlayer Radio app
The BBC has announced that it will begin to shut down its iPlayer Radio app next week, focussing instead on the alternative BBC Sounds app that it launched last year.

"We've been improving Sounds all the time, and the time has come to switch off iPlayer Radio so the BBC only has one audio app", says James Purnell, the Beeb's Director of Radio & Education. "We said that was the plan when we launched Sounds, but have kept iPlayer Radio going till now as there was well-used functionality in iPlayer Radio which we wanted to implement - and improve on - in Sounds".

The broadcaster reckons that the bulk of the major functions in the iPlayer Radio app are now available in its BBC Sounds counterpart. And there are also now more people using Sounds than the older app, according to the latest stats.

Users still clinging onto iPlayer Radio will have until the end of the month to make the switch. Which is all well and good if you're based in the UK. However, while iPlayer Radio is available internationally, BBC Sounds is not. Something overseas BBC Radio listeners have pointed out.

Purnell has said that it's hoped that BBC Sounds will be made available outside the UK in the future, although exactly when that might happen is unclear.

BACK TO THE TOP OF THE BULLETIN

Little Mix's Jesy Nelson speaks about suicide attempt following online trolling
Little Mix's Jesy Nelson will front a BBC One documentary later this week discussing how online trolling led her to attempt suicide.

In the programme, she describes how bullying through social media began almost as soon as she appeared on 'X Factor' for the first time in 2011, where she was teamed up with other competitors to form Little Mix.

"It became the worst time of my life," she says in the film. "I wasn't just known as one of the singers in Little Mix, I was known as 'the fat, ugly one'".

She says that when the group returned to 'X Factor' in 2013 she had "lost quite a bit of weight" and "starved [herself] for a week" before the appearance. "All I cared about was people seeing me and saying 'Oh, she looks good'", she adds. But the negative comments continued and her mental health "spiralled out of control".

Feeling that the trolling was "never going to go away", she says that she became severely depressed and attempted to take her own life.

Now "mentally a lot happier", she says she wants to speak out to make people realise the cost of negative comments online, adding: "I think this is important because social media is such a huge part of everyone's lives. You can say one nasty comment and think they're not going to see it, it doesn't mean anything to you. But it does, it affects people massively".

'Jesy Nelson: Odd One Out' will air on BBC One at 9pm on 12 Sep, as well as being available on the BBC iPlayer.

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

Performer union to investigate claims against Placido Domingo
The American Guild Of Musical Artists has announced that it is launching an investigation into the accusations of sexual harassment that have been made against opera singer Placido Domingo. The union says that it is doing so because it is not confident that opera companies themselves will sufficiently scrutinise the claims against him.

Eighteen women have now made claims of harassment against Domingo via two recent Associated Press articles. The accusations span three decades. The LA Opera, where Domingo is General Director, and record industry trade group IFPI, where he is Honorary Chair, have already launched investigations, although it is not clear what stage these are at.

According to USA Today, the AGMA recently emailed its members saying that it had asked all opera companies that have employed Domingo to investigate the allegations. However, it said that those companies "have been unwilling or unable to provide AGMA with sufficient assurances about the scope and timing of their investigations, as well as whether or not the findings will be publicly disclosed or otherwise made available to the union".

Domingo has denied the accusations against him, saying that he understood all and any interactions he has had with women to be "welcomed and consensual". Following the AP's second article, a spokesperson accused the newswire of conducting an "ongoing campaign ... to denigrate Placido Domingo".

BACK TO THE TOP OF THE BULLETIN

Jon Hopkins announces Polarity tour
Jon Hopkins has announced tour dates for March next year. The 'Polarity' tour will explore a different side to the techno producer than audiences are used to seeing. Live musicians will be incorporated into the set and Hopkins himself will perform some tracks on grand piano.

He says he aims to bring together "the two disparate elements of harsh and fragile in my music", adding that "by going between the two, we'll hopefully create some profound moments of stillness".

"Right now I have a set that's tailored to festivals and to standing crowds and intoxicated people", he says of his recent shows. "That's been amazing, but I would say my deepest nature lies in the stillness, the meditative side of my music".

Watch the trailer for the show here. Tickets go on sale on 13 Sep.

Here are the UK and Ireland dates:

4 Mar: Edinburgh, Usher Hall
5 Mar: Gateshead, Sage
6 Mar: Dublin, Bord Gais Energy Theatre
13 Mar: Manchester, Bridgewater Hall
14 Mar: Bath, The Forum
15 Mar: Brighton, Dome
18 Mar: London, Royal Albert Hall

BACK TO THE TOP OF THE BULLETIN

DEALS

Sony/ATV has signed King Princess - real name Mikaela Straus - to a worldwide publishing deal. "Mikaela is one of the most authentic and creative artists I've seen debut in the last decade", says the company's SVP A&R Jennifer Knoepfle. "She has an uncanny ability to convey her message and purpose through her wildly imaginative songwriting".

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

LIVE BUSINESS

Randy Phillips has stepped down as CEO of LiveStyle - the company that grew out of the SFX Entertainment bankruptcy in 2016. "I was given my mission and I fulfilled my mission", he tells Billboard.

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

APPOINTMENTS

Kobalt has hired Johan Land as its new Chief Product Officer. Previously he has held roles at YouTube, Google Books and self-driving technology company Waymo (previously a division of Google - basically he's a Google guy). He replaces Simon Dennett, who moves to a non-exec board seat at Kobalt's collecting society AMRA.

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

RELEASES

James Blunt has released the video for new single 'Cold'. "Once upon a time, I threw myself off a big cliff", he says, referencing the end of the video for his 2005 single, 'You're Beautiful'. "Fourteen years later and here's the next chapter".

Ray BLK has released the video for recent single 'In My Bed'.

Ronnie Wood has announced that he will release new album, 'Mad Lad: A Live Tribute To Chuck Berry', on 15 Nov. Recorded at Wimborne's Tivoli Theatre last year, it feature songs by and written in tribute to Chuck Berry. Wood will be performing live next at London's Shepherds Bush Empire on 21 Nov.

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

GIGS & TOURS

Bat For Lashes has announced that she will play tour dates in Birmingham, Edinburgh, Manchester, London and Brighton in November.

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

BACK TO THE TOP OF THE BULLETIN

Taylor Swift took offence at Microsoft's offensive Tay bot
Taylor Swift was not impressed when Microsoft announced in 2016 that it was launching an AI-powered chatbot called Tay. Everyone would assume it was a robot version of her, see. Or at least that's what Team Swift reckoned.

We know this because Microsoft President Brad Smith has written about it in a new book. According to The Guardian, he reveals: "I was on vacation when I made the mistake of looking at my phone during dinner. An email had just arrived from a Beverly Hills lawyer who introduced himself by telling me: 'We represent Taylor Swift, on whose behalf this is directed to you'".

"[The lawyer] went on to state that 'the name Tay, as I’m sure you must know, is closely associated with our client'", Smith says. "No, I actually didn’t know, but the email nonetheless grabbed my attention. The lawyer went on to argue that the use of the name Tay created a false and misleading association between the popular singer and our chatbot, and that it violated federal and state laws".

In the end Microsoft shut down the Tay project almost as soon as it went live after the AI quickly started firing off racist tweets. The tech giant blamed trolls "attacking the service", which generated its responses based on interactions with real people on Twitter.

All of which meant AI Tay was gone long before Swifty could actually go legal.

BACK TO THE TOP OF THE BULLETIN