Migos' Takeoff killed in shooting
Migos rapper Takeoff - real name Kirshnik Khari Ball - has been shot dead in a bowling alley in Houston. He was 28.

According to TMZ, several shots were fired during an altercation at a private party taking place at Houston's 810 Billiards & Bowling in the early hours of Tuesday morning, one of which fatally hit Takeoff. He was pronounced dead at the scene. Two others were injured. The rapper's bandmate and uncle Quavo, who was with him at the time, was unharmed.

Video footage shared by TMZ appears to show Quavo involved in an argument with a group of men before gunshots are heard. In a statement, Migos' record label Quality Control said that Takeoff was hit by a "stray bullet".

"It is with broken hearts and deep sadness that we mourn the loss of our beloved brother Kirshnik Khari Ball, known to the world as Takeoff", the company said. "Senseless violence and a stray bullet has taken another life from this world and we are devastated. Please respect his family and friends as we all continue to process this monumental loss".

No arrests have yet been made in the shooting incident. The Houston Police Department says that around 40-50 people were present when the shooting took place and are appealing for witnesses to come forward.

In a statement, according to the International Business Times, Police Chief Troy Finner described Takeoff as "extremely peaceful and loving", saying: "Anyone with that information should provide that information to us, and let us solve this situation, and bring justice to this family. It doesn't matter how famous you are, anybody who loses his or her life is a life lost".

"It is personal", he went on. "He's well respected, non-violent. I would not expect him to be involved. People need to stop just pulling the damn trigger, think and calm down a little bit, the bottom line is, and mark my words, we will find who is responsible".

Takeoff co-founded Migos in 2008 with Quavo and his cousin Offset, originally under the name Polo Club. The Atlanta trio released their breakthrough single, 'Versace', in 2013 and went on to become hugely influential through their distinct style of rapping. They released four albums together, most recently 'Culture III' in 2021.

Earlier this year, Takeoff and Quavo split from Offset, subsequently releasing their first album as a duo, 'Only Built For Infinity Links', last month. Their latest video, for album track 'Messy', came out on Monday this week.

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Music industry calls for US-wide restrictions on lyrics being used as evidence in court
A plethora of artists and music companies have signed an open letter calling on US law-makers to introduce new rules restricting the use of lyrics and other creative output as evidence in criminal cases in American courts.

Campaigners argue that allowing prosecutors to use a defendant's creative output as evidence in court rarely offers anything of substance to the proceedings, but risks prejudicing a jury against the defendant. This disproportionally impacts rap artists, because there is tendency to assume rap lyrics are more rooted in reality than the lyrics in other genres, even though a rapper just as much as any other songwriter is likely presenting a heightened or entirely fictional world in their music.

There have been calls for some time for restrictions to be put in place on the use of creative output as evidence in the criminal courts, although the whole issue has become a bigger talking point this year following the arrest of rappers Young Thug and Gunna in Atlanta, Georgia. They and 26 others are accused of involvement in a gang that allegedly committed murders, shootings and carjackings. And the two rappers' creative output is being used as key evidence by the prosecution.

That prompted the bosses of Warner Music divisions Atlantic Records and 300 Entertainment, which work with Young Thug and Gunna, to speak out. They stated earlier this year: "Weaponising creative expression against artists is obviously wrong. But what gets us so upset is what's happening to Young Thug [and] Gunna … is just the most high-profile case. In courtrooms across America, black creativity and artistry is being criminalised. With increasing and troubling frequency, prosecutors are attempting to use rap lyrics as confessions, just like they're doing in this case".

New legal restrictions on the use of creative output as evidence in criminal cases have been proposed in a number of places, and were even recently passed in California. Similar formal proposals are on the table in New York State and on a US-wide level in Congress in Washington. The new open letter - published yesterday in the New York Times and Atlanta Journal-Constitution - calls for such restrictions to be put place US-wide as soon as possible.

The letter reads as follows...

In courtrooms across America, the trend of prosecutors using artists' creative expression against them is happening with troubling frequency. Regardless of the medium - music, the visual arts, writing, television, film - fans implicitly understand that creative expression is rooted in what artists see and hear; it's a reflection of the times we live in. The final work is a product of the artist's vision and imagination.

Rappers are storytellers, creating entire worlds populated with complex characters who can play both hero and villain. But more than any other art form, rap lyrics are essentially being used as confessions in an attempt to criminalise black creativity and artistry.

For example, currently in Georgia's Fulton County, numerous members of the Young Stoner Life record label, led by Grammy-winning artist Jeery Lamar Williams (aka Young Thug), are facing more than 50 allegations, including RICO charges that the label is a criminal gang.

The allegations rely heavily on the artists' lyrics, which prosecutors claim are "overt evidence of conspiracy". In the indictment, Fulton County prosecutors argue that lyrics like "I get all type of cash, I'm a general" are a confession of criminal intent.

The use of lyrics against artists in this way is un-American and simply wrong. Beyond the obvious disregard for free speech and creative expression protected by the First Amendment, this racially targeted practice punishes already marginalised communities and their stories of family, struggle, survival, and triumph.

We urge prosecutors to voluntarily end this practice in their jurisdictions. In the meantime, we encourage legislators at the state and federal level to explicitly limit how creative expression can be used against defendants on trial.

There are already signs of hope across America. We applaud Governor Newsom for recently signing a bill into law in California, and we urge action on bills currently under consideration in New York and New Jersey, as well as the RAP (Restoring Artistic Protection) Act legislation introduced by Rep Hank Johnson and Rep Jamaal Bowman in the US Congress. The work is far from done, and we must all join together to defend creative freedom and expression.

The letter is endorsed by all three majors, Live Nation, AEG, BMG, Kobalt, the streaming services, numerous music industry organisations and many more music companies, plus artists including Alicia Keys, Big Sean, Camila Cabello, Drake, Jack Harlow, Killer Mike, Mary J Blige, Megan Thee Stallion, Post Malone, Travis Scott and many many more. You can see the full list here.

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RIAA seeks to get its legal costs covered in ongoing Yout dispute
The Recording Industry Association Of America has asked the US court that oversaw its recent legal battle with stream-ripping site Yout to award it legal costs of $250,000.

While the music industry has sued and threatened to sue a number of stream-ripping sites - which allow people to download permanent copies of temporary streams, most often YouTube streams - in this case it was actually Yout that sued the RIAA. It went legal after the record industry trade group sought to have the Yout service de-listed from the Google search engine.

Yout wanted the court to confirm that its service was legal and therefore the RIAA shouldn't have tried to get it de-listed from Google on copyright grounds. Once underway, the legal battle mainly focused on whether or not Yout circumvented technical protection measures put in place by YouTube to stop people from making copies of its streams, because circumventing such measures is not allowed under the US Digital Millennium Copyright Act.

The stream-ripping service argued that YouTube didn't have any technical protection measures in place because, actually, anyone with the know how can download a copy of a stream from the Google video site via their web browser. However, doing so involves a number of tedious steps, and - the RIAA argued - the ways in which YouTube has made it tricky to download content from its site constitutes a technical protection measure.

The judge ultimately sided with the RIAA and dismissed Yout's lawsuit, concluding that "Yout has not plausibly pled that YouTube lacks a technological measure; ...that the YouTube technological measure is not effective; ...that Yout has not circumvented the YouTube technological measure; ...and that Yout has not violated [the anti-circumvention provision] of the DMCA".

He also concluded that "re-pleading is futile", which basically means that there is no point in Yout filing an amended lawsuit in his court - the stream-ripper having already done that once as the dispute went through the motions. Nevertheless, Yout is seemingly planning on appealing the ruling by taking the case to the Second Circuit appeals court.

In the meantime, the RIAA is pushing to have its legal costs covered. In its bid to persuade the judge to order Yout to cover at least some of its attorney fees, the trade body argues that the stream-ripper's claims were always implausible and its lawsuit therefore unreasonable. And not only that, it reckons, Yout's legal action was basically a delaying tactic and a publicity stunt.

"Plaintiff Yout LLC filed this suit against RIAA", it states in a new legal filing this week, "on the implausible claim that its stream-ripping software, which allows users to download audio and video from streaming services, does not circumvent technological measures that restrict access to digital music video files on YouTube".

"Yout's suit was meritless from the beginning", it adds, noting the dismissal and the judge's statement about re-filing its claim. It went on: "Re-pleading is futile because, as anyone who has ever used YouTube knows, YouTube's users can watch and listen to music videos for free on its ad-supported service, but those users cannot download digital files that contain the record companies' most valuable copyrighted works".

"YouTube prevents such downloads through built-in technology that safeguards underlying digital files - safeguards that Yout's stream-ripping service circumvents to access those files", it says. "Yout's conduct violates the express prohibition in YouTube's terms of service and is textbook circumvention".

"In the face of these obvious facts", the RIAA argues, "Yout brought an unreasonable suit to achieve a legally unjustified result: publicity for its illegal service and prolonging its ability to offer its users a circumvention device to illegally rip downloads of record companies' valuable copyrighted works".

"As long as this lawsuit (and now the appeal) are pending, Yout believes it can continue to enable circumvention and infringement of RIAA's members' valuable copyrights, including by consumers who may otherwise purchase the copyrighted sound recordings or listen to a licensed copy on an ad- or subscription-supported streaming service", it goes on. "Adding to this potentially irreparable harm, Yout continues to force RIAA to incur significant expense to defend this suit".

With all that in mind, "RIAA seeks an attorneys' fee award of $250,000, plus additional amounts spent on this motion. This request for attorneys' fees is conservative, both as a matter of attorney rates and the time requested, and is much lower than the amount that would be calculated using a traditional lodestar analysis and lower than the amount of fees actually paid".

It then concludes: "RIAA tried numerous times to reach out to counsel for Yout to discuss resolution of this motion and matter, but Yout's counsel responded that he no longer represents Yout and has since filed a notice of appeal. Meanwhile, Yout has continued to offer its circumvention technology. RIAA respectfully requests that the court grant its motion for attorneys' fees".

We await to see how the judge responds.

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Women make up just 15% of top songwriters, new report finds
Olivia Rodrigo was the most popular songwriter in the world in 2021, according a new report published by Blokur and UK songwriter organisation The Ivors Academy analysing which writers were behind the biggest music on the streaming platforms. However, below her only fourteen other female songwriters feature in the top 100.

To compile this list, Blokur took the top charting tracks of 2021 on Spotify, Apple Music, Amazon Music and YouTube and compared them against its database of song data to determine who wrote each song and what share of the copyright they took. Based on all that number crunching, the company then came up with its Top 100 list of the songwriters "who made the biggest contribution to the music we listened to in 2021".

In the main, songwriters on the list come from the US and UK, although other countries, including India, Puerto Rico and Australia, are also represented. The biggest British songwriter was - have a guess - Ed Sheeran, coming in at number two in the Blokur chart, with Doja Cat, Lil Nas X, Sheeran collaborator Johnny McDaid and Billie Eilish also appearing in the top ten.

Blokur also worked out the average number of writers on each song, and compared that to the similar number crunching exercise it undertook last year. On that basis, it concluded that the average number of songwriters on a track has fallen from five to 4.4.

"Music starts with the song and songs drive the streaming economy", says Graham Davies of The Ivors Academy. "We are THRILLED to partner with Blokur on the 2021 Songwriter Report to showcase the profile of global songwriting success so that songwriters can be properly credited for their contributions".

Noting that, despite Rodrigo topping Blokur's survey, the Top 100 at large skews very much male, he goes on: "The continuing lack of gender parity is something that the music industry must continue to address and this report provides important information to increase awareness and accelerate change".

Meanwhile, Blokur founder Phil Barry adds: "Without songwriters and composers, there is no music. We are excited to collaborate with The Ivors Academy on this report to shine a light on the people behind the melodies and lyrics that make us dance, laugh and cry".

An online event discussing the report will take place tomorrow at 4.30pm UK time. Register for that here. You can also download the full report for free here.

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Amazon shuffles its Prime Music offer, full 100 million track catalogue now available
Amazon has given the music service available within its Prime membership scheme a bit of shuffle, with a lot more music available, but more restrictions on functionality. Which means users will now have access to 100 million tracks rather than two million, but in the main will experience that music on 'shuffle' rather than via fully on-demand access.

Amazon Prime offers members various benefits, of course, including free delivery on goods bought via the main Amazon site and access to the company's video-on-demand platform. A Prime Music service was first added into the mix in the US in 2014 and in the UK the following year.

In order to add the music element, Amazon committed to allocate a portion of the Prime subscription price to the music industry. However, on a individual user basis, that was going to be a relatively small amount of money when compared the the 70% of each subscription fee paid through to the music industry by standalone music streaming services.

Amazon therefore had to persuade the industry that this was something it might want to get involved with. The good news was that all this was first being developed around the time that record labels and music publishers were starting to think about how they might encourage more mainstream consumers to engage with streaming.

More mainstream consumers probably bought a couple a CDs a year in the pre-digital era, so were unlikely to pay 9.99 a month even to access millions of tracks. But if an alternative service was available at a lower price point - or bundled in as part of something bigger, like Amazon was proposing with Prime - the industry might still be able to get some income from those users.

However, any cheaper option for more mainstream consumers obviously had to offer less than the 9.99 a month services, but at the same time more than the ad-funded free tier options being offered by Spotify et al. The general consensus was that lower priced streaming should therefore be ad-free, but with either less music or less functionality than the 9.99 services.

Amazon Prime Music went with the less music approach. At launch users had access to about a million tracks, although big new releases would be missing. Since its launch, the catalogue has increased, but in a much more modest rate than with the 9.99 services, so that users had access to about two million tracks.

Subsequently Amazon expanded its wider music streaming business, including the launch of Amazon Music Unlimited, a more straight up Spotify competitor. It also launched another cheaper option with less functionality, so that while users could access the full catalogue of music, that music could only be played on a single device such as Amazon's Echo smart speaker.

One of the challenges with the less music approach taken by Amazon Prime Music is that, for many users, two million tracks is more than enough, so why would they upgrade to a standalone music service and pay more? And, of course, as Amazon's own music streaming business expanded, it was much more motivated to upsell standalone music services to Prime members.

You can exclude the big hits from Prime Music, of course, although that makes the whole thing less attractive, especially to those more mainstream consumers, and that might make them less likely to engage and potentially be sold a standalone music subscription.

Meanwhile, on the industry side, labels wanted the bundled service to have a smaller catalogue to set it apart from the standalone music services, but at the same time they wanted as many people as possible to be able to access their music.

So maybe it was inevitable that Prime Music would ultimately evolve into a less functionality rather then a less music service, meaning that within Prime it's more of a personalised radio experience, with full on-demand functionality becoming available once a user upgrades.

There will be some 'All-Access' playlists within Prime Music which will be available on-demand and which can also be downloaded for offline listening. But the main offer is 100 million tracks on a big old shuffle. Oh, and ad-free podcasts. Never forget the ad-free podcasts.

Says VP of Amazon Music Steve Boom: "When Amazon Music first launched for Prime members, we offered an ad-free catalogue of two million songs, which was completely unique for music streaming at the time. We continue to innovate on behalf of our customers, and to bring even more entertainment to Prime members, on top of the convenience and value they already enjoy".

"We can't wait for members to experience not only a massively expanded catalogue of songs", he adds, "but also the largest selection of ad-free top podcasts anywhere, at no additional cost to their membership".

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Cyndi Lauper, Gloria Estefan, Hanson and more sign open letter calling on US Congress to pass new law on radio royalties
Music industry campaign group the musicFIRST Coalition has published an open letter to members of US Congress calling on them to support and pass the American Music Fairness Act. It has been signed by more than 60 artists, creators and activists, including Cyndi Lauper, Gloria Estefan, Hanson, Peter Frampton, Jackson Browne, Sammy Hagar, Pat Benatar and Sheila E.

If passed, the act would require AM/FM radio stations in the US to pay royalties to the artists and record labels behind the music they play, as well as to songwriters and music publishers. Unlike most countries in the world, this has never been required in the States, so traditional radio only needs licences on the songs side and doesn't pay any money into the record industry.

"For decades now, corporate broadcasters have used an antiquated loophole to play unlimited music for free", the letter states. "We have watched as giant radio corporations have continued to grow, raking in billions in advertising dollars while refusing to pay a single cent to us, the artists behind the music that attracts their advertisers in the first place and makes their entire business model possible".

"An overwhelming majority of Americans stand with artists on this issue", it adds. "A recent national poll commissioned by musicFIRST - the voice for fairness and equity for music creators - found that 61% of American voters believe it's unfair that artists don't get paid when their songs are played on the radio. And 70% support Congress taking action to address this injustice by passing legislation such as the American Music Fairness Act".

Commenting on the publication of the letter, former Congress member Joe Crowley - who is also Chair of the musicFIRST Coalition - said: "We're proud to stand with artists in their honourable fight to finally get the compensation they deserve for the use of their work on AM/FM radio".

"Big radio corporations like iHeartRadio make billions of dollars in profit by filling their airwaves with music", he went on, "and it's only right that they should pay a fair share to the artists whose hard work makes their whole business possible. It's just common sense. Artists support the American Music Fairness Act. The American public supports the American Music Fairness Act. And now, it's time for Congress to make it law".

Broadcasters like iHeart continue to lobby hard against any changes to US copyright law, mainly arguing that artists and labels who get airplay on their music stations get free promo and should be happy with that. That has always been the argument put forward by US radio stations - and has been a successful one to date - but in the digital age, radio arguably competes with streaming services, which do pay royalties when recordings are played, rather than driving people to them.

Read the letter and see the full list of signatories here.

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DEALS

Yusuf/Cat Stevens has signed to talent agency WME ahead of world tour dates next year. He is also set to release a new album.

Primary Wave has acquired the song rights of Huey Lewis And The News. The deal is worth around $20 million, according to Variety. "We're honoured to welcome the music of Huey Lewis And The News to Primary Wave", says John Luneau, the company's Senior Counsel. "Our entire team is looking forward to working with them to generate new and exciting opportunities for their iconic catalogue".

The Veronicas have signed to Big Noise. "The Veronicas have been at the forefront of unapologetic female pop-punk their entire career, and we're excited to represent their music and vision into 2023", says Jon Cohen, President of Big Noise Music Group.

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APPOINTMENTS

Paul Pacifico has been announced as CEO of The Saudi Music Commission where he will oversee the development of the music sector in Saudi Arabia. He announced back in August that he would be standing down as boss of the UK Association Of Independent Music at the end of this year. He will take up his new role in January. "It is truly remarkable to see the level of support and the pace of change within Saudi Arabia as it builds a strong music sector for all to participate in", says Pacifico. "The opportunity to help in that journey is a huge privilege. I look forward to working with my colleagues in the Music Commission to build a vibrant, inclusive and effective music sector as a key part of the ongoing cultural transformation in the Kingdom, led by the Ministry Of Culture".

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RELEASES

Sault have released five (FIVE!) new albums for free on their website, which they describe as "an offering to God". You have until the end of the week to grab them. I'll leave you to work out the password.

Holly Herndon has released a cover of Dolly Parton's 'Jolene', voiced by her "digital twin" AI software Holly+.

Helena Hauff has released her first new track of 2022, 'Touching Plastic'. Her new EP,' Living With Ladybirds', will be out through Fabric Originals on 11 Nov.

Ahead of their new album 'Where I'm Meant To Be' this Friday, Ezra Collective have released new single 'No Confusion', featuring Kojey Radical.

Frank Carter And The Rattlesnakes have released new single 'Parasite'. They've also announced a three night residency at The Underworld in London from 6-8 Dec.

Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs have announced that they will release new album 'Land Of Sleeper' on 17 Feb, and have also put out new single 'Mr Medicine'.

Deadletter have released new single 'Madge's Declaration'. The band's debut EP 'Heat' is out on 18 Nov.

Miss Grit has announced that she will release her debut album, 'Follow The Cyborg', on 11 Feb. Here's the title track.

Piglet has released new single 'To You Tonight', taken from new EP 'Seven Songs', which is out on 2 Dec. You can catch him live at Bermondsey Social Club on 10 Nov.

Softcult have released new single 'Drain'. Their new EP 'See You In The Dark' is out on 24 Mar.

Doodseskader have released new single 'It's Not An Addiction If You Don't Feel Like Quitting'. Their debut album ,'Year One', is out on 18 Nov.

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GIGS & TOURS

Tenacious D will play The O2 in London on 16 Jun next year - their first UK show since 2019. Tickets go on sale on Friday.

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

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Mariah Carey festive song-theft lawsuit dropped, but lots of festive merch is now available
The songwriter who accused Mariah Carey of ripping off her festive hit 'All I Want For Christmas Is You' from an earlier song he wrote of the same name has voluntarily dismissed his song theft lawsuit.

Vince Vance sued Carey in June explaining that he co-wrote a song called 'All I Want For Christmas Is You' back in 1989, a version of which was recorded and released, enjoying "extensive airplay", in 1993. That was the year before Carey released her album 'Merry Christmas' on which her much more famous song 'All I Want For Christmas Is You' appears.

Carey's hit, Vance argued, was a derivation of his song, but no permission was ever sought to exploit his work in that way, which means his copyright was infringed. The initial lawsuit didn't go into any great detail about how the two songs were similar, other than them having the same title and both using that title as a key lyric. Though a subsequent legal filing went into slightly more detail.

According to Law360, it stated: "There are substantial similarities in the lyrics associated with the two songs wherein upwards of 50% of Vance's lyrics are copied or modified in defendants' version. Further, the songs tell the same story, incorporating the same arc from beginning to end, of an individual who wants their partner more than material goods or seasonal comforts".

The whole song theft claim seemed ambitious from the start, though it's not entirely clear why Vance has decided to dismiss his lawsuit at this point. It has been dismissed without prejudice, meaning he could file another legal claim in the future. But either way, for now at least, that's one less thing for Carey to worry about.

This means she can properly focus on exploiting her musical connection with all things Christmas and get to business selling her latest range of festive tat. Sorry, I mean the 2022 Mariah Carey Holiday Collection, which went live yesterday with a seasonal squeal, you know, now all that Halloween nonsense is out of the way.

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