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Sony Music Australia sacks exec following harassment investigation
Sony Music Australia has fired its VP Commercial Music, Tony Glover, after an internal investigation found that he had bullied and harassed multiple staff members. That investigation began in February, with Glover being dismissed late last week.

A spokesperson for the major's Australian division said in a statement: "Upon receiving complaints of alleged inappropriate behaviour, a senior counsel was immediately engaged to independently investigate the allegations. Following completion of the investigation, the company acted on the findings. Sony Music Australia can confirm that Tony Glover has been dismissed with immediate effect".

Glover had had a long career at Sony Music in Australia, originally joining the first iteration of BMG which then merged with the Sony record company in 2004. In his most recent role, he reported directly to Sony Music Australia CEO Denis Handlin.

The internal investigation was seemingly initiated by a formal complaint from one Sony employee earlier this year, though - according to Australian news media - once it was underway multiple staff members accused Glover of bullying and harassment.

One former Sony employee told the Sydney Morning Herald that she was unsurprised to hear about the allegations made against Glover, stating: "It was common knowledge not to be alone with Tony when he was drunk. I never put myself in a position where I was alone with him".

She added that she had tried to raise concern about his inappropriate behaviour with other senior colleagues when working for the major, but was told at the time "this is the culture here, you will get used to it".

Music companies have, in the main, started taking allegations of inappropriate behaviour, harassment and abuse much more seriously in more recent years of course, especially in the wake of the #MeToo movement.

For his part, Glover has denied the allegations made against him, telling the Herald: "There's me and there's the complainants and I guess the amount of complainants outweighed my word. I had never been sanctioned before, [the investigation] was a complete surprise. I think I am a decent person, a loyal person".

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Sony Music Publishing signs Supah Mario
Sony Music Publishing has signed hip hop producer Supah Mario to a global deal, hot of the success of his work on Drake's recent single, 'What's Next'.

"Although my God-given talent is a huge part of my success, I could not be where I am today without the desire and passion that has and continues to drive me every day", says the producer, real name Jonathan DeMario Priester. "I am so humbled and excited to start this new relationship with Sony Music Publishing, and I would like to thank them for the opportunity".

Sony Music Publishing's VP Creative Adrian Nunez adds: "The opportunity to work with Supah Mario has been a long time coming, and I'm excited to continue our creative relationship with Mario. I'm excited to see what happens next".

Priester himself then goes on: "I've long wanted to be a part of Sony Music Publishing, and I am excited for my future with the publisher. I've also been blessed with a management team who worked alongside Adrian to make this possible – thank you to my wonderful team. Thanks to my family for all the sacrifices they make so I can follow my passion. Most importantly, thank God for all my success and many more years to come".

As well as working on a number of Drake tracks, Supah Mario has also worked with Young Thug, Lil Uzi Vert and 2 Chainz, among others. He has other projects in the works with Swae Lee and Post Malone.

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Napster hires Emmy Lovell as Chief Strategy Officer ahead of relaunch
If you were wondering what the hell MelodyVR is planning to do with the good old Napster streaming service that it surprisingly acquired last year, well, now at least we know who to ask. Former Warner exec Emmy Lovell, that's who. Because she has just joined the digital firm as Chief Strategy Officer. Which, if nothing else, confirms that there must definitely be a strategy.

Music-centric VR start-up MelodyVR announced that it was buying the often forgotten Napster streaming service last August. Although still most associated with the infamous file-sharing network that first used the name, the Napster brand has been employed by a legitimate digital music platform since 2003.

Originally a download service, it morphed into a streaming set-up as streams became the big thing - partly via a merger with existing US streaming platform Rhapsody - but never really managed to gain much momentum as Spotify, and then later Apple and Amazon, started to dominate the market for musical streams.

When announcing that his start-up had bought itself one of the longest established digital music companies last summer, MelodyVR CEO Anthony Matchett told reporters: "MelodyVR's acquisition of Napster will result in the development of the first ever music entertainment platform which combines immersive visual content and music streaming".

Back in February, it was confirmed that MelodyVR and Napster would now fully merge their operations, using the Napster brand for all their products and services moving forward, with a full-on relaunch of the whole shebang promised for later this year.

Lovell, most recently Executive Vice President of WEA Europe at Warner, will seemingly play a key role in that relaunch as Napster's new Chief Strategy Officer. Reporting into Matchett, she will drive "the strategic direction and growth of the company during this momentous new era and beyond".

Confirming her new role, Lovell says: "Innovation and disruption have always been at the core of the Napster offering and as we work towards the relaunch that spirit is more important than ever. Today, we work in a fast-paced and rapidly changing world which requires delivering more for artists and fans. I'm excited to do just that working alongside Anthony and the rest of the team".

Meanwhile, Matchett says of his new hire: "Emmy's wealth of industry experience is going to be a real asset to Napster. She truly values the importance of musicians and their craft and is a champion for artist rights and compensation. We're THRILLED to welcome Emmy to the team and I look forward to us working closely together as we relaunch the Napster brand".

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OfCom declines to take action against Capital Xtra following DJ Tiiny payola scandal
OfCom has announced that it will not take action against Capital Xtra, after one of its presenters, DJ Tiiny, solicited payments from artists in exchange for airplay.

In its ruling, the UK media regulator said that while Tiiny's actions where a clear breach of its rules, Capital Xtra's response had been swift and firm enough to avoid further action. The station could have been fined or lost its licence. However, OfCom said that it "recognises that broadcasters can only minimise the risk of an employee or agent forming with a third party a commercial arrangement that may influence the selection or rotation of music for broadcast".

The payola allegations against Tiiny emerged in January after producer J Beatz posted to Twitter a screengrab of an email he had received from the DJ. In it, Tiiny – who is Stormzy's tour DJ – offered to premiere a track on his radio show and playlist it for two subsequent weeks, in exchange for £200.

In its submission to OfCom, Capital owner Global said that it had confronted Tiiny the day after the tweet from J Beatz and that he had admitted his wrongdoing. At that point, his employment contract was terminated, his show was removed from the station's schedule, and all references to him were removed from its website.

Although Capital itself did not make any statement on the matter, three days later Tiiny issued his own, saying: "Over the last couple of days I have learnt a much needed lesson. I was given an incredible opportunity within radio [but] carelessly and irresponsibly took advantage of my position. I take full responsibility for my actions and fully accept the consequences as a result".

Global told the regulator that it had "invited [the presenter] to make separate representations for submission to OfCom", but "he [had] declined to engage with [it] on this matter further".

It added that Tiiny had "received compliance training during his time at Capital Xtra which reinforced the importance of a presenter's obligations under" OfCom rules.

"Seeking payments to influence music selection is culturally understood by those working at Global to be completely unacceptable, and this incident [had] shocked its staff", it added, saying that it had "never encountered this type of behaviour from a presenter in its history, and this departure from this most basic standard [was] deeply disappointing".

DJ Tiiny has offered no further statement on the matter following OfCom's ruling.

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DMX's family deny master rights sale, warn fans of funeral fundraising scams
The family of DMX have issued a statement following a report that Jay-Z and Beyonce had bought the late rapper's master rights, ie the rights in all his recordings. They also warned fans against buying merch or donating money to people claiming to be raising money for his funeral.

"There have been a few rumours following our loved one, Earl Simmons', passing that we'd like to clear up", the family say. "No one has bought Earl's masters. Additionally, we are not selling any merch or raising money for Earl's funeral. If anyone is requesting money for his funeral please be aware the person is a scammer. We will keep the public posted on funeral/memorial service arrangements".

The rumour that Jay-Z and Beyonce were planning to buy DMX's master rights for $10 million so that they could donate them to his children seemingly came from a Twitter user with no obvious links to anyone involved. Nonetheless, the claims spread far enough that the family felt the need to respond.

No single entity owns DMX's masters, the rapper having worked with a number of labels during his career, including Universal Music's Def Jam, to which he returned last year having left in 2003 after his fifth album, 'Grand Champ'. That would make it difficult for the Carters to simply buy them all up.

Also, it's not likely that either buyers or sellers would put a price on the rapper's catalogue within hours of his death - its value possibly being more than $10 million prior to his passing, and likely to increase after. As well as that, the tweet claimed that the purchase was for the benefit of DMX's "seventeen children", which is two more children than he's believed to have had.

So, the moral of the story is, don't believe every random tweet you read. Or any tweet. Don't read tweets, that's my advice.

DMX, of course, died on Friday, a week after falling into a coma as a result of a heart attack.

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Dave Grohl announces new documentary, What Drives Us
A new documentary directed by Dave Grohl is set to launch on Amazon Prime later this month. 'What Drives Us' will see the Foo Fighters frontman speaking to various other musicians, trying to get to the bottom of what makes them do something as daft as being a touring musician for decades of their lives.

"This film is my love letter to every musician that has ever jumped in an old van with their friends and left it all behind for the simple reward of playing music", says Grohl. "What started as a project to pull back the curtain on the DIY logistics of stuffing all of your friends and equipment into a small space for months on end, eventually turned into an exploration of 'why?' What drives us?"

Musicians interviewed for the film include Ringo Starr, AC/DC's Brian Johnson, Aerosmith's Steven Tyler, St Vincent, Slash and Duff McKagan from Guns & Roses, U2's The Edge, Red Hot Chili Peppers' Flea, and Metallica's Lars Ulrich.

The film will be available on Amazon Prime Video from 30 Apr. Watch the trailer here.

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APPOINTMENTS

Warner Music has promoted Brooke Salisbury to General Manager of ADA UK. She joined the major's independent artist and label services division as Marketing Director last year. "ADA is setting the pace – our track record in delivering modern success in the UK market is undeniable", she says. "I'm THRILLED to be taking on this new challenge".

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LABELS & PUBLISHERS

Sony Music UK has announced seven more beneficiaries of the major's Social Justice Fund. They are: Pirate Studios, for a youth engagement programme; Small Green Shoots, for apprenticeships for young people not in education or work to access training and career development in the music industry; the Irene Taylor Trust, for work with former prisoners; StopWatch, for a therapeutic support programme for children and parents to deal with the impact of the police's 'stop and search' policy; the Nubian Jak Community Trust, for commemorative plaques; the Jaguar Foundation, for a gender diversity initiative; and the Flock Together Academy, for its work in inspiring young people of colour to take up birdwatching.

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RELEASES

Gojira have released new single 'Into The Storm'. They've also announced that they raised over $120,000 for charity The Articulation Of Indigenous Peoples Of Brazil with a campaign launched alongside their previous single, 'Amazonia'. The band's new album, 'Fortitude', is out on 30 Apr.

Sufjan Stevens has released 'Lamentations II', the second track from his five volume album 'Convocations'. The second volume of that album, 'Lamentations', is out this Thursday.

Lambchop has released new single 'Fuku', taken from upcoming new album 'Showtunes!', which is out on 21 May.

Eartheater has released a new video for 'Faith Consuming Hope', from her 2020 album 'Phoenix: Flames Are Dew Upon My Skin'.

Ritt Momney has released new track 'Set The Table', featuring Claud.

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

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MSCHF sells Pirate Bay and MegaUpload email addresses
After successfully going viral with Lil Nas X's Satan Shoes last month, art collective MSCHF has launched its latest project, The Email Capsule Collection. Now, for just $250, you can have an email address with a Pirate Bay or MegaUpload domain name.

It's not just classic file-sharing sites you can pretend to be affiliated to. There are also Angelfire, 4chan and Heaven's Gate email addresses up for sale, all at .biz domains - "the most beautifully jank TLD ever made", it says. None of these are official domains of those organisations, of course - it's not even one of the Pirate Bay domains that lapsed last year. Bit of fun though, eh?

"Your email address is who you are seen to be, is who you are", says MSCHF. "It's a shame that for the majority of the population, our identity options boil down to either 'gmail user' or 'douchebag who pays for a 'disruptive' inbox'. How can we (further) democratise the identity economy?"

"Online identity, we are constantly told, is mutable", it goes on. "But this isn't just about identity - we're talking about fashion, which has always been in constant flux. Fashion is lots of things: an identity signifier, a wealth signifier".

"Online, exclusivity is a status signifier. Sent from my iPhone. Sent via Superhuman. Fashion is an element of both identity construction and identity broadcast. It shapes how people see you and how you see yourself. The mind is nothing but a plaything of the body, after all".

Yeah, yeah, whatever you say.

According to the terms and conditions of the project, the email addresses themselves are free, and can be used for two years before needing to be renewed. What you are actually paying for is "a collectable art object in the form of highly designed packaging and miscellaneous customised materials (including, but not limited to: inserts, stickers, custom keygen software)".

Each buyer will also receive a CD "that contains a desktop application which will reveal the password to the unique email account", which could prove an immediate barrier for many hoping to actually use their new email address.

If you're confused why a company that you thought made shoes is now selling weird email addresses, welcome to the difficulty of explaining what MSCHF does.

It makes stuff and sells it. It could be anything, really. It just needs to be something staff think could go viral. So, as well as Satan Shoes and Jesus Shoes, the collective has previously launched projects including a rubber chicken adapted to be a working bong, a toaster-shaped bath bomb, and a short-lived "pirate video station" pulling in unlicensed content from streaming services like Netflix and Disney+.

It remains to be seen if The Pirate Bay follows Nike's lead and sues for trademark infringement. Meanwhile, get your very own email address here.

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