Thursday 31 October 2013, 12:26 | By Andy Malt

Approved: Josy

CMU Approved

I know I’m at risk of becoming a travel bore with my recent run of Approved columns, but look, I went to Japan for a while and Japanese music was what I heard. I’ll be up to speed with new Western acts again soon enough. If you were wondering, new acts from this part of the world that seemed to be doing quite well over there were Chvrches (who I’ve already approved) and The Strypes (who are fucking awful). Jake Bugg was nowhere to be seen, it was a joy.

Anyway, my basic observations of live music in Japan (based on my albeit limited experience) is that no musician seems to get on stage until they have reached a fairly high level of technical ability on their instrument, and the sound in venues, no matter how small, is completely flawless. As a result, you need to have a whole pile of that thing we can sadly no longer refer to as ‘x-factor’ if you’re going to stand out. Tokyo quartet Josy are an excellent example of this.

Headlining the sold out launch party for their latest album, ‘No Way Back Home’, at ADM in Ikebukuro on Friday, vocalist Cumi towered over the audience (standing on a stool) radiating the sort of charisma that would befit a frontperson standing in a much bigger venue (and not on a stool). Around her on the curved stage were her bandmates – keyboard player Mami, bassist Non and drummer Nanohana – knocking out songs that drew on 60s psych-rock, 70s art-funk and 90s indie-electronica.

Check Josy out in action at The Knitting Factory in Brooklyn earlier this year, as filmed by MTV Iggy, here:

isoHunt restored after shutdown

Business News Digital Legal Top Stories

Apt for Halloween I suppose, popular file-sharing website isoHunt is back from the dead, wandering around the internet zombie style, sucking more blood out of the bleeding necks of the copyright giants that killed it with one final swoop earlier this month. Do zombies suck blood? You see, I’m regretting this analogy already and I’m not even at the end of the first paragraph.

As previously reported, isoHunt, one of the longest running file-sharing sites, went offline earlier this month after its founder, Gary Fung, finally gave up after years of fighting litigation from the American movie industry and the Canadian music business. The US courts said that isoHunt and Fung were liable for the copyright infringement the service enabled, despite the file-sharing company wheeling out the usual “we don’t host the files” and “our service has legitimate uses” excuses.

But any celebrating at the movie studios or record labels may have been premature, because it emerged earlier this week that the site had been relaunched at a new domain – isohunt.to – with about three quarters of the data from the original site in place. Fung is not involved in the relaunched isoHunt, which has been set up using data pulled from the original site’s servers in the days before it closed.

As also previously reported, Fung actually shut down his site earlier than planned after discovering his servers were being scraped by third parties, although the Archive Team project which was known to be making a copy is seemingly not behind the restoration of the site.

In a statement to Torrentfreak, one of the people who is said: “isoHunt has been a great part of the torrent world for more than a decade. It’s a big loss to everyone who used it over the years. Media corporations don’t like innovation or competition and isoHunt’s fate is one of the examples of how they deal with it. isoHunt can definitely be called a file-sharing icon. People got used to it and they don’t want to simply let it go. We want those people to feel like being at home while visiting isohunt.to. The main goal is to restore the website with torrents and provide users with the same familiar interface”.

Not all the data from the original was secured before Fung flipped the switch, so some parts of the new site are currently empty, though it is thought that most of the content link data – arguably the most important bit – is still there. The Motion Picture Association Of America, which led the legal battle against Fung, will no doubt have its lawyers on this pronto, though if the new site sits beyond the jurisdiction of the US courts forcing isoHunt v2 offline won’t be so easy.

Gaye estate goes legal over ‘Blurred Lines’ copycat claims, accuses EMI of misconduct

Business News Labels & Publishers Legal

Oh now, this is getting interesting. The family of Marvin Gaye have finally gone properly legal in their dispute over Robin Thicke’s ‘Blurred Lines’, and while their countersuit contains the usual gubbins you might expect in a “your song sounds way too similar to mine” lawsuit, it’s the allegations thrown in the direction of the EMI publishing company (now controlled by Sony/ATV of course) that make the most interesting reading.

As previously reported, allegations that Thicke’s controversial hit borrowed from Gaye’s hit ‘Got To Give It Up’ (and from Funkadelic’s ‘Sexy Ways’) started circulating over the summer. Thicke, his collaborators on the track Pharrell Williams and TI, and their respective business partners all denied the allegations, and – spotting problems ahead – seized the initiative and sued the Gaye estate (and Funkadelic label Bridgeport Music) seeking court clarification that the copycat claims were invalid.

While the influence of Gaye and Funkadelic’s music maybe obvious in ‘Blurred Lines’, Thicke and Williams claimed, there was no actual plagiarism. Said the lawsuit: “There are no similarities between the plaintiffs’ composition and those the claimants allege they own, other than commonplace musical elements. The plaintiffs created a hit and did it without copying anyone else’s composition”.

The Gaye family’s countersuit does not concur. Their legal papers say that Thicke’s rape anthem contained “blatant copying of a constellation of distinctive and significant compositional elements of Marvin Gaye’s classic number one song”. Lined-up as evidence are the opinions of one of those musicologists always employed in cases like this, and various reviews that noted the similarities between the two songs.

Oh, and the time Thicke told GQ magazine: “Pharrell and I were in the studio and I told him that one of my favourite songs of all time was Marvin Gaye’s ‘Got To Give It Up.’ I was like, ‘Damn, we should make something like that, something with that groove’. Then he started playing a little something and we literally wrote the song in about a half hour and recorded it”.

So far so standard. These cases rarely get to court, but if it does, then the old debate of when imitation becomes infringement can be instigated once again (times two, as the Gaye family also alleges another Thicke track nicks from Marvin’s oeuvre). But much more interesting are the allegations fired at EMI Music Publishing.

Although Thicke is allied to Universal for publishing, Williams works with EMI on the copyrights in his songs, and therefore it has a controlling interest in ‘Blurred Lines’. EMI is also employed by the Gaye family to administrate the rights in ‘Got To Give It Up’. And, says the lawsuit, EMI has very much sided with Williams on this dispute, in doing so breaching its legal, contractual and ethical obligations to the Gaye estate.

Not only should EMI have spotted and acted on the issues with ‘Blurred Lines’ from the start, the lawsuit alleges, but since the problems were raised by the estate execs at the publisher have done all they can to persuade and intimidate the Gaye family, and their legal reps, into dropping their claims against the hit.

According to Billboard, the suit claims that the Chairman of the EMI publisher personally contacted the Gaye estate’s attorney and accused the family of “ruining an incredible song” and “killing the goose that laid the golden egg”.

He also allegedly said that he believed the dispute had stopped Thicke from winning a VMA gong, and that it could likewise prevent him from taking the Grammy Award for Song Of The Year in 2014 (because without the Gaye dispute, the singer is a shoe-in for that honour of course, given how much the Grammys love to celebrate mediocre misogynistic crooners who have shown particular talents in promoting violence towards women).

Laying it on thick, appropriately perhaps, the lawsuit then says that EMI’s alleged failings are all the more worrying because of Sony/ATV/EMI’s dominance in the music publishing sector. Says the suit: “The EMI defendants control approximately 30% of the music publishing market throughout the world. Accordingly, there is a strong likelihood that conflicts of interest, such as the one in the present case, will arise again between the EMI defendants and the Gaye family”.

It goes on: “Based upon the blatant and egregious breach of the EMI defendants’ fiduciary duty and their covenant of good faith and fair dealing, the EMI defendants have proven that they cannot be trusted to remain neutral and impartial, and that they are unworthy of the level of trust and professional conduct which is required of a copyright administrator charged with protecting the Gaye Family’s important interests in copyrighted works created by Marvin Gaye”.

The family want out of their EMI contract and damages aplenty for the alleged infringement and the publisher’s alleged misconduct. Unless there’s a speedy closed doors settlement, this one could be very interesting.

Italian regulator proposes much more severe takedown system rule

Business News Legal

While the American music industry continues to bemoan the limitations of the country’s Digital Millennium Copyright Act and the takedown system it describes, which has become a global standard for user-upload websites seeking to circumvent liability for copyright infringing content they might host, an Italian body called AGCOM, loosely translated as the Electronic Communications Authority, is proposing something much more severe.

Many rights owners in the US – and elsewhere, given the DMCA system is employed beyond America – complain that the American law sets too few standards for websites which operate takedown systems. Which means that websites can get away with operating deliberately shoddy systems, ensuring their sites have, at any one time, plenty of user-uploaded copyright infringing content (to attract traffic), knowing they are still protected from any infringement litigation.

The AGCOM proposals, which have been submitted to the European Commission for feedback, would seemingly set a 72 hour deadline for websites to respond to takedown notices. If they failed to do so, the telecoms regulator would have powers to seize or force blockades against offending websites, and also to force net firms to reveal the identities of a site’s operators.

The proposals are already proving controversial in some quarters, especially as under the plan the regulator could act without taking their cases to court. Of course the whole point is that the process could be super speedy, but in most jurisdictions it has been ruled that only a court should have the power to take a website offline, and a similar ethos has previously been expressed at an EU level.

It remains to be seen how the AGCOM fares at both an Italian and European level in getting these proposals off the ground. Though if they do, rights owners across Europe could start pushing for similar measures in their own countries.

Tulisa re-bailed over drugs claims

Artist News Legal

Tulisa Contostavlos has been rebailed by police over those claims that she set up a drug deal for two undercover Sun On Sunday journalists.

As previously reported, the former N-Dubz singer agreed to put the journalists in touch with a friend – rapper Mike GLC – with a view to buying cocaine, believing that the hacks were actually producers who were going to put her in a lucrative film role.

Both Tulisa and Mike GLC deny any wrongdoing and yesterday were rebailed by police until December.

INXS sign global publishing deal with Universal

Business News Deals Labels & Publishers

Universal Music Publishing has announced a new deal with INXS which brings most of the band’s songs catalogue under one roof – Universal having already controlled the group’s early work.

Although the band quit touring last year, they are still working on new projects, with a TV series about the band to air next year, as well as a film, documentary and musical all in the works, according to the band’s Creative Director and Global Strategist (apparently that’s a thing bands have) Chris M Murphy.

Announcing the new deal, Universal Music Publishing CEO Zach Hotowitz said: “INXS is simply one of the greatest rock bands of all time, and we couldn’t be more thrilled to bring their core catalogue and all of their hits to UMPG worldwide”.

He added: “We’re particularly excited to work with the group and their visionary creative consultant, Chris Murphy, in finding new and innovative ways to take their music to the next level – including the upcoming TV mini-series about their career, movies, and theatrical plays. We’re looking forward to connecting new generations of fans with the band’s timeless music”.

Murphy added: “Zach Horowitz ‘got it’ from my very first meeting with him, and his passion for INXS’s music was undeniable. We’re over the moon that we’ll be working with him and the outstanding UMPG team to write the next chapter in the band’s illustrious history”.

Lyla Foy (of WALL fame) signs to Sub Pop

Business News Deals Labels & Publishers Releases

London songwriter Lyla Foy, once known as WALL, has signed to Sub Pop.

The label will release her new single, ‘Easy’/’Head’, on 18 Nov, and her first LP in 2014. Foy will back both via a line of live shows starting on 9 Nov at The Cellar in Oxford.

Stream ‘Easy’ here in the meanwhile.

Superfood to release new single, EP via Infectious Music

Business News Deals Labels & Publishers Releases

Midlands indie lot Superfood now have a label in common with Alt-J, These New Puritans and Drenge, having signed to Infectious Music. And if you don’t believe me, here’s a picture.

The band’s first move post-deal will be to release a new AA-side single, ‘Bubbles’/’Melting’, on 9 Dec, then re-issuing both tracks as part of an EP, ‘MAM’, arriving in early 2014.

They chant as one: “We’re over the moon to announce that we are now part of the Infectious family, we now have a place to live and produce records rent free. The four tracks are full of love and affection and we hope you take the time out to sit down and breathe it in”.

Superfood’s next show is on 20 Nov at the Barfly in London. In the mean time hear the “discordant, vile, beautiful mess” that is (says singer/guitarist Dom Gaderton) ‘Bubbles’ here:

Lou Reed’s Transformer hits UK albums top 40

Artist News

Lou Reed’s breakthrough solo album, ‘Transformer’, is currently rising up the UK albums top 40 following the former Velvet Underground frontman’s death at the weekend, the Official Charts Company has confirmed. Co-produced by David Bowie and Mick Ronson and released in 1972, the record currently sits at number 24.

Meanwhile, Metallica drummer Lars Ulrich has written an article for The Guardian remembering Reed, with whom he worked on their divisive collaborative album ‘Lulu’.

Ulrich wrote: “We were both outsiders, we both never felt comfortable going down the same path that everyone else was doing. Metallica’s always been autonomous, and Lou Reed is the godfather of being an outsider, being autonomous, marching to his own drum, making every project different from the previous one and never feeling like he had a responsibility to anybody other than himself. We shared kinship over that”.

Read the full article here.

Stevie Wonder plotting three LPs

Artist News Releases

Stevie Wonder has three potential LPs on the boil, and is working on releasing two in 2014.

Of those, one is a symphonic compilation of covers (of his own songs, that is) and some new tracks, made in collaboration with producer David Foster and titled ‘When The World Began’, and the other is named ‘Ten Billion Hearts’. The third set, which is in its early stages, is, he says, a gospel tribute to his late mother Lula.

As for the ‘when’ in all this, he tells Rolling Stone: “All of these are coming out relatively soon, but I never put a time on things, because the most important thing is that it’s good. Hopefully we get it the way it feels good to me, and in the case of the one I’m working on with David, both he and myself feel good about it”.

My Chemical Romance to end on greatest hits LP

Artist News Releases

Warner Bros is to cash in on… I mean, erm, ‘accentuate the positive’ of one-time signings My Chemical Romance’s split earlier this year by releasing an LP of the band’s best ever singles, B-sides, and the rest.

Confirming it via Twitter yesterday, MCR’s Gergard Way said: “The release is a greatest hits Warner Bros is putting out. I am designing the packaging”. What enthusiasm. The untitled compilation is supposedly out in the UK on 20 Jan.

Motörhead postpone European tour while Lemmy returns to “rude health”

Artist News Gigs & Festivals

Lemmy Kilmister’s various health troubles have forced the postponement of Motörhead’s forthcoming November tour of Europe. All dates have been provisionally set back to spring 2014 whilst he recovers. As previously reported, Lemmy was fitted with a defibrillator earlier this year, only to suffer a haemotoma that lead the band to cancel a number of shows designed to promote their new LP ‘Aftershock’.

Making his apologies via the Motörhead site, Kilmister writes: “We have made the decision because I am not quite ready to hit the road yet, and am working my way back to full fitness and rude health. Don’t worry – I’m not about to start promoting veganism and alcohol-free beverages, but it is fair to say that I personally have been reconfiguring areas of my life to make sure I can come back fitter and stronger than ever”.

The note continues: “It disappointed me tremendously to have to say I wasn’t quite ready to hit the road yet, but not nearly as much as it would’ve disappointed me to go out, play some average shows and watch my health give way long before the tour was over! When people come to see a Motörhead tour, they expect a Motörhead show, and that is exactly what you will get as soon as I am fit and ready to rumble”.

Gigs & tours round-up: Avicii, Rizzle Kicks and Rinse’s Boxing Day party

Artist News Gigs & Festivals Gigs & Tours Round-Up

Apple-cheeked EDM cherub Avicii is taking off on a truly paltry ‘True UK’ tour consisting of two shows. The first is on 20 Feb (2014) at Manchester’s Phones 4U Arena, and the second is the following night at London’s Earls Court. Get your info here, quick, before tickets hit the online ticketing shops on 8 Nov.

And hey, Rinse (the label, and the FM station), is presenting a real bangin Boxing Day party at capital nightspot Fabric this year. Held over three rooms and featuring not a single cold turkey sandwich, the ‘bash’ will play post-Christmas host to Skream, Boddika, Ben Pearce, Roska, Joker, Youngsta, and lots of others who are all mentioned at this link.

Finishing with sample-pop’s most adorable duo Rizzle Kicks (pictured), who’ll give ‘props’ (if that’s what the kids are still saying) to new LP ‘Roaring 20s’ by playing… oh, 21 shows in 2014’s first quarter. The Kicks kick off on 7 Feb at Lincoln’s Engine Shed, and quit at the Brighton Centre on 7 Mar. Click this URL to find full listings.

Festival line-up update: Snowbombing, Eurosonic, Alt-Fest and more

Artist News Festival Line-Up Update Gigs & Festivals

So, the big news on the festi-scene this week is Austria’s springtime winter sports event, Snowbombing, and its big revelation re 2014 headliners The Prodigy and The Chemical Brothers.

The latter act, who join the bill along with Chase & Status, Rudimental, Groove Armada and the like, say this of doing that: “We’re very excited to play such a unique festival, and a new one for us. We have been working on new material for a while now, so every DJ show gives us a chance to share music with people… let’s have a ball”.

Yes, let’s, but if you could all just hold off the ball-having momentarily to check this list of new additions to ‘ghoulish’ Northamptonshire outing Alt-Fest, continental new bands showcase Eurosonic, and pop-rock rager Radstock, that’d be great…

ALT-FEST, Boughton House, Kettering, 15-17 Aug 2014: Cradle Of Filth, Malefice, Fearless Vampire Killers, Onslaught, Truckfighters, Palm Reader, Steak. www.alt-fest.com

EUROSONIC NOORDERSLAG, Groningen, Netherlands, 15-18 Jan 2014: Postilijonen, Christine And The Queens, Benjamin Clementine, La Femme, Sumie, George Ezra, Embers, Klangarussell, Cid Rim, Fuckhead, T-Shit, Float Fall, Melanie De Biasio, Milky Chance, D E N A, Linkoban, Femme en Fourrure, Desto, Aufgang, Sisy Ey, Prata Vetra, Djaikovski, Andre Bratten, The Weatherman, Truckfighters. www.eurosonic-noorderslag.nl

RADSTOCK, Liverpool Academy/Newcastle Academy, 29-30 Mar 2014: Funeral For A Friend, Kids In Glass Houses, Yashin, Feed The Rhino, Fearless Vampire Killers, Heights, Me Vs Hero, Crooks, The Hype Theory, Hey Vanity, Cytota, Bentley Park. www.radstockfestival.co.uk

SNOWBOMBING, Mayrhofen, Austria, 7-12 Apr: The Prodigy, The Chemical Brothers, Chase & Status, Rudimental, Groove Armada, Four Tet, Daphni, James Zabiela, Nathan Fake, Anthony Naples, Breach, The Martinez Brothers, Nina Kraviz, Skream, The Dub Pistols, A-Skills, Ben & Lex, Breakage, Citizen, Daniel Avery, Hannah Wants, Huxley, Kove, Krafty Kuts, Kyntro, North Base, Radio Slave, Rattus Rattus, Roska, Route 94, Smash HiFi, The Heatwave. www.snowbombing.com

Blake the surprise winner of the Mercury Prize

Artist News Awards

So James Blake was presented with the Mercury Prize last night for his record ‘Overgrown’, a surprise decision from a judging panel possibly keen to combat accusations that they had played it too safe this year with their shortlist by picking an outsider for the actual gong.

Not that Universal-signed Blake is an especially radical winner, though the decision may shut up some of the award’s many detractors. Blake, meanwhile, gave a short but nice acceptance speech, saying: “Hello, I lost a bet. On the other hand I should thank a couple of people. Thank you everyone. Thanks to my parents for showing me how to be self-efficient. Thanks to [band members] Ben, Rob and Dan for showing me the importance of letting other people help you”.

Bieber all good, says Ulrich

And Finally Artist News

So what do Metallica think about Justin Bieber recently posting an albeit very short cover of their track ‘Fade To Black’ online, and telling his fans how much he liked the track, and the metal band’s other song ‘One’.

Well, says Lars Ulrich, that’s just fine, because he’s a bit of a Belieber himself. Asked about the Bieber cover by Kerrang! the Metallica drummer said: “Is it possible to have respect for him without being a Belieber? I think the kid’s really talented and obviously to go through what he’s going through at that early age must be a mindfuck”.

He went on: “So the fact that he still goes out there and does it, I admire that and I think he’s super talented, so I guess I am kind of a Belieber. If he likes ‘One’, and Liam Gallagher likes him, OK, there you go”.

Tips: Ten tips for new artists from CMU:DIY

CMU:DIY

CMU Business Editor Chris Cooke offers ten tips for new talent; ten things aspiring artists could and should be doing now.

We run lots of workshops for new bands explaining how the music industry works – what a label actually does, what music publishing is, where the ‘sync’ word comes in and how the music media operate. And despite all you might have read about the death of the record label, and how old school media aren’t important in the social age, the question every new band asks is this: how can I get my music in front of decision makers in the music industry and music media – A&Rs, agents, managers, bookers, DJs, journalists and heads of music?

Well, there are a number of ways to do that, though whatever approach you take, you’ll need both persistence and luck. But there are a number of things you should be doing right now, before you even look up the name of the A&R scout at RCA or XL, or start stalking your booking agent of choice on Twitter, or leaving jiffy bags of goodies and music for George at Radio 1’s HQ just off Regent Street.

Some of these things might seem pretty obvious, but you’d be amazed how many new bands arrive in the inboxes of label execs and music journalists without these basics done. Which means that if you do all these things, you’ll have a head start once you finally get five minutes with an all important dream maker. So, here goes…

1. Write some good songs and get really good at playing them. Lots of guides for new bands don’t mention this, presumably because it’s a given, though when you listen to some of the music new bands post on SoundCloud and YouTube, possibly not! Obviously most of the truly great artists in history achieved their greatness by breaking all the rules. But more people achieved success by following some.

Be honest with yourself about your songwriting; try collaborating with and learning from other songwriters and producers; and try to find some trusted knowledgeable friends who will give you truthful feedback. And play as often you can, because that’s how you get good. If possible, play in front of an audience, and try to get as much feedback as possible.

2. Get a good name and register your domains. It’s a nightmare choosing a band name these days, because there are so many bands out there, and nearly every decent domain name has gone. Plus you have to consider how well your chosen moniker will ‘Google’ (The The and A would not be viable band names in the internet age).

Also, all bands are global these days, so if you pick the same name as a hip hop outfit in Melbourne, that will become problematic much more quickly. But unless you’re a singer-songwriter planning on using the name your parents gave you, you’re going to need to pick a title to perform under. Make sure you do a good Google search of any possible names, to check they are not already in use.

And do think about what domain name you will register for your website. It doesn’t have to be identical to your band name, but shouldn’t be too different. As soon as you’ve decided on a domain name, register it (it’s easy to do via a service like 123 Reg or GoDaddy and only costs £10-20). And try to get the same words as ‘slash names’ on key social media (eg if your band is called ‘Sign Us’, and your domain is www.signusmusic.com, then try and register facebook.com/signusmusic and twitter.com/signusmusic). And that brings us to this…

3. Set up at least a Facebook and Twitter account and use them. Social networking is compulsory for new bands these days – if only because agents, bookers and labels are going to want to know how many Facebook and Twitter followers you have before working with you.

So get these set up asap and work out what kind of things you are going to post to each, and when. And also, if you’re a band, who’s going to take responsibility for keeping these things up to date. You’ll find ten tips on setting up your Facebook Timeline from CMU’s Sam Taylor here, and we’ve got some advice from CMU’s Andy Malt on scheduling Facebook updates and tweets.

4. Write an agreement between bandmates. If you’re in a band, you ought to have a serious conversation at some point early on where you discuss at least three things: who is going to take on responsibility for the various aspects of band business, who is going to look after any money, and who owns any intellectual property.

Bands often create two kinds of IP – copyright and trademarks. I explain the difference in this short article here. There are actually a number of different kinds of copyright which I explain in this article here. And if you’re now in the mood for more IP stuff, you can find out a little more about who owns copyright here and how copyrights make money here.

But the important thing to know is this: the minute you write a song with lyrics two copyrights exist, one in the music, one in the words. By default they are owned by the composer and writer. If you record that song a third separate copyright exists in the sound recording. By default that is owned by whoever pays for the sound recording to be made.

If your songwriting and recording sessions are a collaborative affair, you should really reach an agreement about who will own any copyrights, so there are no ambiguities if and when those copyrights are worth money.

Any agreements should be written down. You don’t need a big long contract drawn up by a lawyer, a simple document that outlines what was agreed signed by all members will suffice at stage one.

5. Join PRS and PPL and register your music. The minute you create copyrights, if anyone else wants to copy or perform your work they owe you some money. That means if your song gets played on the radio, then you are due some cash. If someone else records a version of one of your songs, then you are due some more cash. And if you sing your own songs at a gig or festival, then the promoter of that event or owner of that venue owes you money as well (in addition to any performance fee they might have agreed with you). It might only be a few pounds, it might be quite a bit more, but you want to make sure you get it all.

In most cases, when your songs or recordings are played in public, royalties are paid via the so called ‘collecting societies’ – the Performing Right Society for royalties due on your song copyrights (music and lyrics) and Phonographic Performance Limited for your recording copyrights. If you don’t register with these organisations you won’t get paid – so join, and make sure you register all your songs and recordings with the relevant body. For song rights, it’s worth checking out services like Sentric Music, which simplify the whole process a bit.

6. Gig relentlessly. Firstly, because this is how you’ll get better at playing. And secondly because this is how you build a fanbase. Social media is great once you have a couple of hundred fans – you can communicate with those fans daily, and encourage them to spread the word via their own social networks. But you are unlikely to get that initial fanbase online. So play live regularly, trying to move beyond just your local gig venue (gigging relentlessly in one place can backfire, because people might get bored of seeing you).

Initially this will probably involve looking for open mic nights, offering to play at cafes and bars for free, and/or staging your own gig night. But once you get a bit of momentum, look out for club nights with gig slots, apply to festivals that have new band stages, and network with other artists and bands who may know of other opportunities.

Despite what you read about live music being where the money is these days, you will almost certainly lose money gigging at this stage (though once you’ve joined PRS, if you are singing your own songs you’ll get a little cash that way).

At this point gigging is all about building your profile and fanbase. Make sure your band name and web address is visible on stage, plug your web address at least twice during your set, and have someone taking email addresses in the crowd. Make sure there’s an incentive for giving an email address – eg “give us your email, and we’ll send you a link to where you can download that song for free”. Which brings us to this…

7. Record an EP. Once you are gigging frequently you really need to get a few tracks online, so that if people hear you at a gig, they can go home and find out more, and then spread the word.

A four track EP is fine at the start – having four tracks really well recorded is so much more better than having ten badly made ones. These days decent recordings can be made at home if you have some technical know-how, so you don’t need to spend thousands on studio time.

That said, it is worth getting these right, and if you’re not a budding bedroom producer it is worth speaking to slightly more established DIY artists and find out how they did it.

8. Make sure your music is available everywhere once it’s recorded. I’d make it available to stream on both SoundCloud and YouTube (if you don’t have videos, put it on YouTube with a picture of the band). You can let people download your music for free if you want, but personally I’d let them stream everything for free via those websites, and offer one track for free download in return for an email address, but sell the rest. You probably won’t sell many, and of course people can always share copies with their friends for free, but it’s good to set yourself up as an artist who sells music early on.

Services like Bandcamp and Reverbnation will help you sell your music direct from your own webpage, and there are other companies – including Ditto Music, Tunecore and Believe Digital’s Zimbalam – who will help you get your music into established download stores and streaming platforms. If you are gigging, it is worth considering pressing up a few CDs to sell on the road – again, tapping slightly more established DIY artists for advice on pressing CDs or records is a good way to go.

9. Set up a website and mailing list. You will probably sign up more of your fans to Twitter and Facebook, and talk to them primarily via those platforms, and share your music via SoundCloud and YouTube, but having your own artist website is still important.

Blogging software like WordPress can be used to create really good sites. On there you should have at least a way of signing up to your mailing list, links to social media activity, a SoundCloud player embedded, and all your contact info. Bandcamp and Reverbnation can provide lots of other widgets too – and if you have the time and skills, it’s good to have other content on there as well, though make sure it’s still easy for people to find the basics.

10. And finally, have a great story and some great photos. Once you have done all this, you are ready to engage with the music industry and music media. But before you do – remember, hundreds of new bands are contacting A&Rs and music journalists every day. Your music might stand out, but most people won’t get as far as even listening to it from a ‘cold call’ email. Everyone loves great stories, what’s yours? How did you start making music, how did you get to where you are now, what have you already achieved, and what drives your passion for creating and performing songs?

Don’t over-sell – because chances are you’re not the next Beatles / Pink Floyd / Nirvana / Radiohead (sorry!) – but show that you have personality and drive. And work out how to communicate all that in just a few sentences! Great pictures come in here too – it’s so worth spending a little time (and possibly a little money) getting some great photos, some posed, some of you playing live. Sharing on the social networks is getting more visual by the day, and great imagery can make an impact with the decision makers you are trying to reach too.

There’s some more tips on how new bands should go about approaching the music press here, and an overview of the music media in 2013 here. Plus we’ve got some tips for writing press releases here and advice on band photos here.

AND THERE YOU GO – ten things to do before you even ask the question how do I get signed / onto BBC Introducing / into NME Radar. And if you do now want to look further ahead, this article explains how artists and their business partners can make money, an important thing to think about before you start planning your involvement with the music industry.

Approved: Warpaint – Love Is To Die

CMU Approved

Approved once, twice, and now thrice, all-time CMU favourites Warpaint have at last come back with an answer to 2010’s ‘The Fool’, tolling new noise via new single ‘Love Is To Die’.

With its light, coltish guitar lines and the part-grave, part-giddy air to its stickpin lyric (“Love is to die/Love is to not die/Love is to dance”) it’s hardly a radical change for the band, whose might has always been in finding that kind of nuance, that duality, in big, universal themes (which don’t come a lot more infinite, or everyday, than love and death).

‘Love Is To Die’ is fastened to a new LP, also named ‘Warpaint’, which is set for release on 20 Jan 2014. Warpaint play live at London’s Brixton Academy tonight, moving on to Pitchfork Festival Paris tomorrow.

BPI secures more file-sharing site blocks

Business News Digital Legal Top Stories

Record industry trade body the BPI has secured a new court order forcing UK ISPs to block a further 21 file-sharing websites, in addition to those already deemed liable for copyright infringement by the English courts. The blocks must be enacted today.

As previously reported, numerous file-sharing sites have already been added to the UK internet blacklist, starting with The Pirate Bay last year – the torrent site later claiming that this had caused little noticeable impact on its traffic, thanks to the ease with which the blocks can be circumvented. The BPI, on the other hand, says that the blocks have “significantly reduced the use of those sites in the UK”. Who to trust?

BPI head Geoff Taylor said that the organisation had attempted to work with the sites newly added to the UK internet blacklist, but all had refused. He said in a statement: “We asked the sites to stop infringing copyright but unfortunately they did not and we were left with little choice but to apply to the court”.

As previously reported, web-blocking was a provision ultimately left out of the still to be enacted anti-file-sharing provisions of the 2010 Digital Economy Act. But as the music industry waits for the cold day in hell when the ‘graduated response’ anti-piracy system outlined in the DEA comes into force, its trade body (well, technically the movie industry’s trade body, the BPI then followed) discovered that existing copyright law was there to help when it came to the blockade party.

The full list of newly blocked sites is as follows:

Abmp3
BeeMP3
Bomb-Mp3
FileCrop
FilesTube
Mp3Juices
eMp3World
Mp3lemon
Mp3Raid
Mp3skull
NewAlbumReleases
Rapidlibrary
1337x
BitSnoop
ExtraTorrent
Monova
TorrentCrazy
TorrentDownloads
TorrentHound
Torrentreactor
Torrentz

Supreme Court refuses Pirate Bay founder’s hacking conviction appeal

Business News Digital Legal

Sweden’s Supreme Court has refused to hear the final appeal by Pirate Bay co-founder Gottfrid Svartholm over his previously reported hacking conviction.

Svartholm, also jailed for a year for his part in establishing the copyright infringing Bay, was found guilty of various unrelated hacking charges in June. Although an appeals court reduced his sentence for the hacking crimes last month (by deeming that some of the charges against him couldn’t actually be proven), he was still left with another year of jail time.

The Bay man had hoped to appeal the charges that still stood, but Sweden’s Supreme Court don’t believe there is justification for a further hearing. Meanwhile Svartholm is also trying to fight off attempts to extradite him to Denmark to face other hacking charges that could result in a much longer jail sentence.

Last year Sweden’s Supreme Court also refused to hear the final appeal from Svartholm’s fellow Pirate Bay founders over their copyright convictions, though Svartholm himself had lost the right to even approach the highest branch of the country’s judiciary regards that case, having failed to show up for his first appeal hearing after going AWOL.

Beck signs to Capitol, confirms LP

Business News Deals Labels & Publishers Releases

Beck has gone over to Universal Music subsidiary Capitol Records to release a new solo LP, his first in six years, titled ‘Morning Phase’.

Following 2008’s ‘Modern Guilt’, which came out Stateside via another Universal label, Interscope’s DGC, the new record is billed as a “companion piece” to Beck’s largely acoustic LP circa 2002, ‘Sea Change’, in the sense that it “harkens back to the stunning harmonies, song craft and staggering emotional impact of that record, while surging forward with infectious optimism”.

‘Morning Phase’ is due to dawn in February 2014.

New Universal deal brings much of Sinatra catalogue under one roof

Business News Deals Labels & Publishers

Universal Music yesterday announced a new alliance with Frank Sinatra Enterprises which will see the mega-major take over distribution of the late singer’s Reprise catalogue worldwide, in doing so bringing together much of Sinatra’s catalogue under one roof.

Universal already represents Sinatra’s albums made for Capitol in the 1950s, which came to the company via its acquisition of EMI. Although the major has distributed the later Reprise records outside North America since 2009, in the US the catalogue was worked by Rhino, the catalogue label of Warner Music, which is a partner in the FSE business.

The new deal, bringing together all but the earliest Sinatra albums (made for Columbia and still controlled by Sony), will enable the creation of a new Signature Sinatra imprint and the instigation of a re-release and marketing programme in the run up to what would have been the singer’s 100th birthday in December 2015.

Confirming the new deal, Universal boss Lucian Grainge told CMU: “Frank Sinatra’s music is iconic and enduring, and we are honoured to be selected to build on our success working with FSE and the Sinatra family with exciting and innovative products marking the centennial celebration under a new ‘Signature Sinatra’ imprint worthy of his rich legacy”.

Meanwhile Robert Finkelstein, Co-Chairman of Frank Sinatra Enterprises, said: “This new arrangement will allow FSE to present Sinatra’s music in a coordinated and consistent manner, and enable more cohesive catalogue initiatives, at a time when access to music is ubiquitous and more instantaneous than ever before”.

Rudimental score biggest post-Mercury nom sales uplift

Awards Business News Labels & Publishers Retail

So it’s the Mercury Prize tonight, the annual music industry bash that I’m still boycotting from that time they made me eat fish.

Though given that the blogosphere is certain that the Mercury is now definitely one big corporate fuck fest designed solely to tick the boxes of the Barclaycard marketing team’s brand consumer passion-centre-orientated targeted market engagement strategic development plan, they’ll probably be eating caviar and gold-plated foie gras as they await that all important opening of an envelope tonight. And I bet all the Mercury judges are Spotify users too. Cunts.

Though of course, while for Mercury purists the annual album of the year prize should exist to expose truly ground-breaking records from innovative artists to a wider audience (I think we all remember with particular joy the year they gave the prize to M People), for the music industry the Mercury Prize, like all award shows, is about selling more records. And with that in mind it’s time for our annual “which Mercury nominated albums got the biggest sales uplift” report, courtesy of stats we deviously stole from the offices of the Official Chart Company last night.

Of course the sales impact of the Mercury shortlist seems less impressive when more of the nominees have already enjoyed quite a bit of commercial success with their records, plus this year Arctic Monkey’s new album ‘AM’ came out the same week as the noms were announced, so the 321,000 units sold since then don’t really have anything to do with the Mercury nod. Ignoring the Monkeys, Rudimental’s album ‘Home’ has seen the most additional units sold since the Mercury shortlist was published, with 29,000 copies shifted taking its overall sales since the record was release in April to 314,000.

Elsewhere, the Mercury shortlist has resulted in Jake Bugg’s eponymous debut album arriving in 25,600 more homes (which, in itself, is possibly a reason to only use American Express from now on), while Disclosure’s record ‘Settle’ has sold 23,000 more copies since being shortlisted for the Mercury Communications (RIP) award. As for the rest, additional sales since shortlisting are as follows: Foals (7300), Laura Mvula (6500), David Bowie (6200), James Blake (4300), Laura Marling (4100), Jon Hopkins (2800), Savages (2000) and Villagers (1400).

And now some words from OCC boss Martin Talbot, spluttered as he escorted us off the premises (we broke in, remember): “Based on total sales to date, Jake Bugg [having sold 522,800 units in total] is the clear Mercury winner – however, looking at sales since the nominations were announced, Arctic Monkeys should romp home. Who the judges ultimately choose, only time will tell. But what seems clear is that, if the public were choosing, there are four outstanding candidates – Arctic Monkeys, Jake Bugg, Rudimental and Disclosure”.

The Mercury Prize will be presented tonight. And I think we all know who the real winner is going to be. Capitalism, hey? Right on.

Blockbuster back in administration

Business News Retail

Apparently Blockbuster enjoyed its journey into administration earlier this year so much, it’s going back. Similarly, I found that once I’d visited Whitby, I was always planning another trip.

The UK version of the DVD rental chain and entertainment retailer first went into administration back in January, just after the HMV company fell over. But it was bought out administration by private equity firm Gordon Brothers in March, and although the rescued Blockbuster chain was 200 stores smaller, the new owners talked of taking the rental side of its business online LoveFilm style, and then expanding its product range in-store, including moving more into music retail. Former HMV exec Gary Warren was then appointed MD. I know, right?

Those plans officially faltered this week, with the private equity owner confirming it was putting the company back into administration and seeking a new buyer.

Gordon Brothers said in a statement that it had “striven to turn around the historically loss-making company by restructuring the business, investing significantly in strategic marketing activities and negotiating with the landlords of its retail outlets. The company also tried to develop a new digital platform but was unable to broker a licensing deal with Blockbuster UK’s parent company in the US. Regrettably, the months since the acquisition have also coincided with a period of poor trading performance across both rental and retail sales”.

32 employees in Blockbuster’s UK HQ will lose their jobs as part of the new move into administration, though the firm’s remaining 264 stores will stay open for the time being while a buyer is sought.

SXSW invites Reddit users to ask anything, answers very little

Business News Gigs & Festivals Live Business

Reddit has a thing called AMA, whereby famous people, noted companies and the like invite the site’s users to ‘ask me anything’ (that’s what it stands for, you see?). You probably knew that already, but I just wanted to be sure we were all up to speed. It really is that simple to understand.

In the past there have been pretty insightful AMAs with the likes of Barrack Obama, Bill Gates and Madonna. A well managed AMA can generate great PR, and the best ones generally work because the ‘interviewee’ realises that, while they don’t actually have to answer every question (if nothing else, because there are simply too many), they should at least tackle a few that might be considered difficult.

Earlier this week, as the latest AMA participants, three members of the South By Southwest Music team – General Manager James Minor, Music Conference Panels Chief Melissa Williams and Music Festival Programmer Stacey Wilhelm – managed to provide just seven answers to a barrage of questions that came forth, four of which were basically the same and one of which was a response to a compliment, rather than an actual question.

Anyone who wanted to know about volunteering at the festival, what SXSW looks for in artists who are chosen to play the festival, the event’s target market, the qualifications of two of the three staffers, and whether or not they were sad about Lou Reed dying would have gone away happy. Though much of that could have been found in the FAQs on the SXSW website.

And it turned out that wasn’t what the majority of people wanted to know. Questions about the expanding size of the event and the annoyance that caused some Austin residents, criticisms of the festival by artists such as DIIV, a perceived increase in commercialism, and where money raised through applications to play the event goes were left unanswered.

Perhaps that’s fair enough, though arguably you shouldn’t put yourself forward for something called ‘Ask Me Anything’ if you’re not going to tackle at least some of the tricky stuff. And not answering these questions just opened the door for a bunch of angry people to suggest answers to the more contentious queries, turning the whole thing into a bit of a ‘let’s bash South By’ party.

Fair enough to SXSW on ignoring all of the many, many, many requests for free tickets though.

Read through the whole AMA here.

Foals’ Yannis Philippakis wades into Spotify debate

Business News Digital

Following on from the likes of Nigel Godrich, Thom Yorke and David Byrne, Foals frontman Yannis Philippakis has now come out against Spotify. So that’s fun. We must remember to post him his “Spotify is evil” badge.

Speaking to Channel 4 News ahead of tonight’s Mercury Prize ceremony (where his band are nominated), Philippakis said: “I’d rather somebody stole the record on vinyl than bought it or streamed it on Spotify. Because I think you should listen to music on vinyl, and I think basically anything’s better than that”.

Now, I know he appears to be saying there that he’d much rather people stole his record than bought it, but I think that’s just because he doesn’t realise how Spotify works. And not knowing how something works is always a brilliant position to start from when criticising it. Well done, Yannis.

He continued: “It’s like going to a restaurant when the chef and all the waiting staff have worked their asses off, and you leave coppers as a tip, and you don’t even pay the bill. That’s basically what Spotify’s like, I think”.

Once you’ve got your head around that metaphor, Music Ally has gone ahead and done the maths on the “coppers” that Spotify has paid out on Foal’s Mercury-nominated third album ‘Holy Fire’ so far. Of course, exactly what Spotify pays out via any one deal, beyond its assertion that 70% of its revenues go back to the music industry over all, is a closely guarded secret. But based on reported figures, MA reckons Philippakis and co’s label, Warner Music, will have received somewhere between £69,355 and £207,572 from Spotify play.

That will then be added to monies received from download sales, physical record sales (luckily for Yannis, record shops have to pay for stock even if it is subsequently stolen) and syncs, and then be split between the label and the band, based on their contract. Who can then add it to their share of any publishing income, paid by Spotify or anyone else, plus gig, merch and other monies. So, it’s probably more like if you ate a seven course meal, noting that, while some courses weren’t as big as others, all were an important part of the whole experience.

Is that confusing enough for you? Well anyway, at least we now know once and for all that stealing vinyl is the only way to hear music properly. I’m off down the shops.

Gaga’s X-Factor attire attracts complaints to OfCom

Business News Media

The flesh-coloured pants and shell-bra combo Lady Gaga had on during her appearance on ‘The X-Factor’ last Sunday have drawn over 250 complaints from offended ITV viewers, who to be honest should consider themselves lucky she wasn’t either naked or dressed like shredded wheat.

ITV producers have defended Gaga’s pre-watershed performance, which saw her sing a medley of ‘ARTPOP’ tracks ‘Do What U Want’ and ‘Venus’, stating: “We do not believe Lady Gaga’s performance was inappropriate for the family audience of the ‘X-Factor’ results show, which has an established tradition of featuring performances from the biggest music stars. Lady Gaga is well known for her highly individual performance style”.

And speaking of ‘established traditions’, Gaga is only the latest star to attract criticism for an explicit ‘X’ routine; both Rihanna and Christina Aguilera having been deemed by media regulator OfCom to be “at the limit” of pre-9pm suitability back in 2011.

Susan Boyle biopic still a thing

Artist News

Susan Boyle’s long-rumoured biopic is go, the one-time ‘Britain’s Got Talent’-runner-up confirmed earlier this week at a press conference. Staying coy about the TBC film, which follows ‘One Chance’, that movie about former ‘BGT’ victor Paul Potts, SuBo told reporters “there are plans in operation for that”, adding “watch this space”.

The real reason for the press call was to introduce Boyle’s new Christmas single, a posthumous ‘Oh Come, All Ye Faithful’ ‘duet’ with Elvis Presley. It’s set to be released on 8 Dec, with all profits going to Save The Children, of which Boyle is an ambassador.

She said at the time: “Duetting with Elvis was beyond my wildest dreams. And now that this is able to raise money and help children is simply fantastic”.

Jonas Brothers splitting ‘for now’

Artist News

Having failed to heal whatever fraternal rift lead them to cancel their entire US tour at the eleventh hour, The Jonas Brothers have made the “unanimous decision” to take a break “for now”.

Leaving things open ended – meaning there’s always a chance the band will be back (again) – junior Jo Bro Nick told People: “It’s really hard to say ‘forever’. We’re closing a chapter, for sure. I was feeling kind of trapped. I needed to share my heart with my brothers”.

As previously reported, the trio split from erstwhile home Hollywood Records in 2012, signing a deal with Universal Music earlier this year. Though their fifth LP ‘V’ is still lacking a release date.

Kanye may release five Yeezus spares

Artist News Releases

Kanye West has suggested he might release a number of off-cuts from recording sessions for his new LP ‘Yeezus’. Speaking via LA radio station Power 106 FM, West said he had five extra ‘Yeezus’-era tracks in reserve, one of which, ‘I Am Not Here’, has already been previewed live.

Back in June, the album’s producer Rick Rubin told Newsweek he and Kanye had completed sixteen songs for ‘Yeezus’, though the final edit only carries ten. Apparently there’s a chance fans might hear the new tracks, perhaps in the shape of an EP, by the year’s end.

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CMU Business Editor Chris Cooke offers ten tips for new talent; ten things aspiring artists could and should be doing now.

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