Thursday 31 March 2016, 10:10 | By

Tidal could sue streaming service’s former owners

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Tidal

In amongst all that bragging about the many exclusives it’s secured in its first year as a Jay-Z led business, Tidal somehow forgot to tell us about the pending lawsuit. Don’t they know, we love a pending lawsuit? I mean, a Kanye exclusive is one thing, but messy litigation, now that might be worth $10 a month.

According to Norwegian business newspaper Dagens Næringsliv, two companies which had significant stakes in Aspiro – the company that operated WiMP and its Tidal spin-off, and which Jay-Z’s business bought in order to launch the all new Tidal service last year – could be sued over allegations the rapper’s company was not given accurate information ahead of last year’s acquisition.

Dagens Næringsliv says that media company Schibsted and venture capitalists Verdane have both received letters from Tidal’s current owners accusing them of “significantly” exaggerating user numbers and misrepresenting how well the WiMP company was doing ahead of Jay-Z’s big purchase. And it seems litigation could now follow.

According to tech site Breakit, a spokesperson for Schibsted was keen to stress that Aspiro was a publicly-listed company ahead of the acquisition, meaning key information about the firm was routinely made available in line with the rules and regs of being a public company. As a result, the firm told reporters, it is “unsympathetic” to the letter from nu-Tidal and the allegations contained within.

However disappointed Team Tidal may have been after buying up the WiMP business a year ago, surely they can now secure the exclusive rights to this lovely legal battle, assuring it never never never appears on Apple Music. Except, maybe, occasional reworked snippets.

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Thursday 31 March 2016, 10:08 | By

Brandy accuses label of blackmail, sues to cut contract

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Brandy

Brandy is suing her record label Chameleon Entertainment over allegations that the company is holding her to ransom in a bid to force the singer into signing a new deal with Sony’s Epic US.

Brandy Norwood has been working with Chameleon and its founder Breyon Prescott since 2010, and the company released her 2012 album ‘Two Eleven’ via a partnership with Sony’s RCA division.

Then last year Prescott joined Epic as its urban A&R chief, the plan being that Chameleon artists would also work with the Sony label moving forward. But Brandy, who was signed to Epic once before, and things didn’t work out so well there, seems to be resisting that move.

In her lawsuit filed on Tuesday, Norwood alleges that Chameleon, which has the exclusive option on the singer’s next four albums, is refusing to release her next record until she agrees to sign a deal with Epic, which would then put out future LPs alongside Prescott’s own company.

But, say Norwood’s legal reps, the Epic deal is less favourable than her existing arrangement with Chameleon. Plus Prescott pressuring the singer to sign with Sony is basically him ‘double dipping’, they allege, because he’ll earn as owner of Chameleon, and also see bonuses from Epic for securing the new deal.

According to Courthouse News, Norwood’s lawsuit claims that Prescott is basically blackmailing the singer in “a blatantly unlawful attempt to bully Norwood into signing a new recording and distribution agreement containing terms far worse than her current agreement. Defendants have made clear through their actions and words that, unless Norwood capitulates and signs this terrible deal, she will remain ‘trapped’ with a label that won’t let her record or release music”.

The litigation adds that “Prescott owns and operates defendant Chameleon and is employed full time by Epic Records as head of urban A&R. The new recording and distribution deal that he is trying to force Norwood to sign is with Epic, which allows him to ‘double dip’: if Prescott can force Norwood to sign the new deal, he will profit both as an owner of Chameleon and through bonuses and other benefits he will get from Epic”.

This, says the legal filing, is an “outrageous action … based on nothing more than greed”, so much so the court should allow Norwood to terminate her original agreement with Prescott and Chameleon and take her next record elsewhere. The various defendants in the case are yet to respond.

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Thursday 31 March 2016, 10:02 | By

Tulisa due in court over drink driving Ferrari smash

Artist News Legal

Tulisa

Tulisa Contostavlos is free on bail pending a court hearing on charges of drink driving and dangerous driving, it has been revealed. The singer was charged earlier this month having been initially arrested in London last September after she crashed her Ferrari into another car outside Southgate tube station.

The former N-Dubz member had reportedly only picked up her £199,000 sports car days before the crash. She collided with an elderly couple’s Saab shortly before midnight on 10 Sep and was arrested at the scene after being breathalysed, spending almost 24 hours in custody before being released.

Police confirmed yesterday that Contostavlos was charged on 7 Mar. She is now due to appear at Highbury Magistrates Court on 4 Apr. If convicted she faces a driving ban of at least a year. She could also be ordered to retake her driving test or even be jailed.

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Thursday 31 March 2016, 10:01 | By

Elton John denies assaulting former security guard

Artist News Business News Legal

Elton John

Elton John has denied claims made by a former security guard that the singer groped him and made sexually suggestive comments.

The claims are made in legal documents filed on Monday by Jeffrey Wenninger. The LA police officer worked for John while off duty between 2002 and 2014. He also alleges that he was unfairly removed from the musician’s security team in September 2014.

Wenninger says that John made a number of inappropriate advances over the years he worked for him, and that they increased in “frequency and intensity” after 2010. In particular, he claims that he was assaulted during a car journey in March 2014, and that two other incidents took place the same month.

But in a statement, a lawyer representing John’s Rocket Entertainment Group, Orin Snyder, said: “This baseless lawsuit is brought by a disgruntled former security officer seeking to extract an undeserved payment. These claims are patently untrue and contradicted by numerous previous statements made by this plaintiff. We will not give in to his latest abuse of the legal system”.

As well as launching legal action against John, Wenninger is also suing the private company through which he was contracted to work for the star. He claims that he was fired after reporting another police officer for overtime theft.

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Thursday 31 March 2016, 09:58 | By

[PIAS] expands US operations

Business News Labels & Publishers

[PIAS]

[PIAS] has announced further expansion of its US operations, including the launch of an LA office as a result of its recent acquisition of classical, jazz and world music label Harmonia Mundi.

That office will be headed up by new General Manager Matthew Owen, and will expand to oversee classical and jazz repertoire from across the group, including labels such as Alia Vox, Channel Classics, Hyperion, Onyx Classics, Howe Records and Ponderosa.

Elsewhere, the firm’s existing New York office has hired Allan Benedict as National Radio Promotion Manager and Sally Hedberg as National Publicity Manager. The company has also renewed its US sales and distribution deal with Sony’s Red.

“The US expansion of [PIAS] including our new West Coast office, a growing label roster and a new team in LA reinforces our commitment to sensibly grow our presence in North America”, says [PIAS] MD Edwin Schröter. “In Sean [Maxson, NY office General Manager] and Matthew we have two highly experienced executives who together with their specialist teams will add real weight to both our US and global offering”.

He continued: “Our alliance and close relationship with the Red team will provide a unique combination of dedicated specialist expertise and independent label culture with marketing and sales leverage for the great roster of independent labels we will be working with”.

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Thursday 31 March 2016, 09:53 | By

Cooking Vinyl Australia launches publishing division

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Cooking Vinyl

Cooking Vinyl Australia has announced that it is launching a new music publishing division, to be called Cooking Vinyl Publishing Australia, obviously.

The new Melbourne-based business will be overseen by former Peermusic MD Matthew Donlevy. Reporting directly to Cooking Vinyl Group boss Martin Goldschmidt, Donlevy will be tasked with signing Australia and New Zealand-based songwriters for domestic and international development.

“This is an amazing opportunity and with the support and infrastructure of an international music company behind me I can’t wait to start signing some amazing songwriters”, said Donlevy. “The recent launch of a dedicated Cooking Vinyl office in the USA demonstrates that this is a company with global ambitions”.

Goldschmidt added: “Not only is Matt a fine skier – we first met at Skidem – and a great guy, but one of the most experienced music publishers in Australia with a strong track record of success. He is the perfect person to develop and build our Australian music publishing company, which will complement the fantastic work that has already been achieved by the label”.

So there you have it, people looking to make their way up the music industry. Learn to ski.

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Thursday 31 March 2016, 09:51 | By

Irish alternative rock station to close down

Business News Media

TXFM

Dublin-based alternative music radio station TXFM is to close, with its owners saying they just haven’t been able to make the set-up commercially viable. They should have rebranded as Radio TX and pitched themselves at the sorts of people who, when asked to vote for the best four British records of all time, pick all Oasis tracks.

Actually, when Dublin station Phantom 105.2 rebranded as TXFM in 2014 there was speculation that it was becoming an Irish outpost for the London station then known as Xfm. The rumour was fuelled by the fact that one of Phantom’s owners, Communicorp, had just done a deal with Xfm owner Global Radio to run some of the Capital FM outposts in the UK. But in the end it turned out that the rebrand to TXFM was a bid to ally the Irish station with another Communicorp service, Today FM, rather than any link to Xfm.

Ahead of the name change, Phantom had downsized its staff considerably in a bid to make the station profitable, but it seems that even a streamlined station of the alternative music variety couldn’t make ends meet in the Dublin market.

TXFM needed to renew its licence with the Broadcasting Authority Of Ireland, but its owners have decided not to go through that process. Communicorp boss Gervaise Slowey, whose company owns a third of the alternative station, told reporters: “It is with great regret that we have come to this decision. Despite a recent rebranding and a restructuring of the business, it has not been possible to make the station commercially viable”.

The decision means six full-timers will lose their jobs, while a number of part-time presenters will also lose regular work. According to the Irish Times, no other party had applied to take over the FM frequency use by TXFM as of Tuesday, which was the deadline for such applications. Though also Dublin-based independent classic rock station Radio Nova has now expressed an interest in taking on the TXFM licence, and says it will speak to the BAI about that possibility.

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Thursday 31 March 2016, 09:48 | By

Ghost Inside drummer plays for the first time since losing leg

Artist News

The Ghost Inside

The Ghost Inside drummer Andrew Tkaczyk has got back behind a drum kit for the first time since losing his leg after the band’s tour bus was involved in an accident last year.

As previously reported, the band’s bus collided with a lorry outside El Paso in Texas, killing the drivers of both vehicles. Among many serious injuries suffered by those who survived, Tkaczyk woke up from ten days in a coma to discover that his right leg had been amputated. “Not going to let it stop me”, he said in January. “I don’t care what anyone says. It’s a long road ahead, but I WILL play drums again. Can’t wait to get back on the kit”.

This week he posted a short video on Instagram showing his first time playing drums since the accident. “Today was a huge baby step”, he wrote. “I sat behind a drum kit for the first time since the accident, and it felt incredible. EVERY encouraging word and support from you all has gotten me to this point”.

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Thursday 31 March 2016, 09:45 | By

CMU’s One Liners: Rich Mix, Abbey Road, Pet Shop Boys, more

Artist News Business News Digital Gigs & Festivals Live Business One Liners Releases

Rich Mix

Other notable announcements and developments today…

• After doubt was thrown on its future a year ago, London arts venue Rich Mix has announced the appointment of new CEO Eddie Berg, who joins from the BFI. “I’m delighted to be joining the organisation at such an exciting time”, he says.

• If you’ve got an Android phone and one of those Google Cardboard headsets, you can now take a virtual reality tour of Abbey Road Studios. Download the relevant app here.

• The Pet Shop Boys are opening a pop-up shop at Shoreditch’s Boxpark this weekend, coinciding with the release of new album ‘Super’. Doors will open at 11am on Friday.

• Andy Stott has announced that he will release his new album, ‘Too Many Voices’, on 22 Apr. From it, this is ‘Butterfly’.

Here’s another new Three Trapped Tigers track, ‘Tekkers’.

• Speedy Wunderground has announced that it will release a compilation of its second year of limited edition seven-inches on 17 Jun. Among the tracks are Peluché’s CMU approved ‘The Guy With The Gammy Eye’.

• Brodka’s new single ‘Horses’ now has a video, so watch it.

• Aidan Knight has released a video for his single ‘The Arp’. Have a watch here. He’ll also be playing dates in the UK at the end of May and beginning of June.

• Beverly will release new album ‘The Blue Swell’ on 6 May through Kanine Records. From it, this is ‘Victoria’.

• As part of a world tour to celebrate the fifth anniversary of her debut single, Kyary Pamyu Pamyu will play Koko in London on 8 Jul.

• Sudakistan will play various UK dates in May, including playing The Victoria in London on 17 May and The Great Escape.

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Thursday 31 March 2016, 09:39 | By

Steve Penk checks the news daily for new acts to play on Radio Dead

And Finally Business News Media

Radio Dead

That there Steve Penk has been prolifically tweeting about his latest radio venture Radio Dead, which, as you might have guessed, only plays music by dead musicians. Though, says the DJ, when it comes to bands, only one member needs to have kicked the rock n roll bucket, and he’s not so fussy about whether the dead member actually appears on a track. So that means “all AC/DC songs qualify”. Which I’m pretty sure is cheating.

“The idea came to me at the start of this year when, in January, we lost so many wonderful recording artists”, Penk recently told Radio Today about the new station. “As is the case when a major music star dies, music radio stations will have a quick burst of activity for a few days, playing a few of their songs, quickly followed by nothing, as they return to playing Justin Bieber every ten minutes”.

“I saw a gap in the radio market for a radio station of this type”, he went on. “A radio station that plays, honours and celebrates music stars who have left behind a wealth of great music, but in certain cases get very little or worse, zero radio airplay. When I sat down to put the radio station together I was amazed at the list I was slowly building of dead music stars, and so many of them never get played on the radio anymore; how sad, what a tragedy”.

Though, talking of tragedies, Radio Dead is the one radio station that actually benefits from tragic pop star deaths, in that any one musician’s demise will expand the list of songs available to play. Meaning that, rather than keeping an eye on New Music Friday’s new releases, Penk will presumably be consulting the obituaries before his playlist meetings. “I check the news every morning just to see if I can add to the playlist”, he tweeted yesterday.

So that’s all good fun, isn’t it? Though, if I was a popstar who had had on air support from Penk’s past radio shows, well, maybe that’s a worry. The station’s slogan is currently “they may be gone but their music lives on”, but what about “we put out hits to play the hits”?

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Thursday 31 March 2016, 09:10 | By

Approved: Wesley Gonzalez

CMU Approved

Wesley Gonzales

After Let’s Wrestle split last year, frontman Wesley Gonzalez got to work on building himself a solo career. In doing so, he made an effort to move away from punk, ditching guitars altogether and arriving at something with more of a classic singer-songwriter feel. But still, he says, the music is “defined as angry music; anger is still an energy. All the lyrics are rooted in my disgust with a lot of the modern world, and feeling powerless as a young person in our society”.

Debut single ‘I Spoke To Euan’, which is due for release through Moshi Moshi on 20 May, is a theatrically spun tale of the distinct lack on glamour on tour. “We had travelled for a whole day getting to where we were staying after playing Primavera”, explains Gonzales of the inspiration for the song. “I was overexcited, drinking a lot and smoking a lot. I think I found it hard to completely ease into it. I went to sleep and had a nightmare that woke me up crying uncontrollably, not really understanding why”.

The Euan of the title is Younghusband’s Euan Hinshelwood, also a member of Gonzalez’s band, with whom he tried to make sense of what was happening. A job the resulting song then completes.

Listen to ‘I Spoke to Euan’ here:

Stay up to date with all of the artists featured in the CMU Approved column in 2016 by subscribing to our Spotify playlist.

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Wednesday 30 March 2016, 10:38 | By

SoundCloud subscription service is Go

Business News Digital Labels & Publishers Top Stories

SoundCloud Go

SoundCloud’s long-awaited subscription service is live in the US. Is it the saviour of the music industry? Is it even the saviour of SoundCloud? Who knows, but at least we can now see why Sony Music wasn’t convinced it would ever make much money.

But with Sony Music at least convinced – as of earlier this month – to give SoundCloud’s premium set-up the old college try, the on switch for SoundCloud Go was formally flicked yesterday. US users can now pay $9.99 per month (after a 30 day free trial) to remove ads from the website (which occasionally appear on SoundCloud Stateside), download tracks to their phones, and access premium-only music provided by the streaming firm’s newly engaged major and indie label partners.

“SoundCloud Go represents our vision of the future of music streaming: a platform for creators to collaborate on; for fans to discover the latest tracks, enjoy legendary music and connect with their favourite artists; and for our unique creative community to have the opportunity to be paid for their work”, said SoundCloud CEO Alexander Ljung. “We are proud to offer the ultimate music streaming choice for both artists and fans and, together with the music industry, enable artists at all stages of their careers to be heard on SoundCloud”.

The key selling point for labels and artists is that they can now have their tracks on SoundCloud but hold them back from free users. Which is basically what some industry execs want from Spotify – use the free level for promo only, while putting full catalogue behind the paywall. So, for example, Adele’s profile now features her first two albums, as well as the singles from her latest, ’25’, but unless you’re paying for access, all you’ll hear are 30 second previews (and outside the US the profile sits empty).

So, that’s a clear benefit for the rights holder – the ability to decide what is and what isn’t added to the free promo platform. But for the user? Well, the benefits are harder to see.

In fact, once signed up, it’s difficult to work out what’s different at all. I had to go back several times to check I’d actually managed to set up my free trial of Go, because once you’re signed up the site looks exactly the same as it ever did.

I was even pushed to sign up for a Pro account as soon as I got back to the main site – that being the tier for creators that offers more functionality when publishing content – which is a bit confusing, given there are now two premium products, and users are meant to know the difference between Go and Pro.

It then took a while to work out that I could only download tracks and playlists I’ve ‘liked’ through the mobile app, which is rather irritating. Plus it appears that you can only choose to download either all or none of your individually liked songs, for now at least.

So the biggest revelation was finding some of that expanded catalogue that I was promised (ie the Adele tunes), but only because I hadn’t really been sure what I was looking for up to that point, and I was starting to worry that I’d somehow missed all and everything Go had to offer.

All in all, while there is a logic to having your classic-set-up streaming platform alongside what is probably the most popular music discovery service online, it seems that, in many ways, SoundCloud now faces ‘the Myspace problem’. It built something that basically worked, then it decided it wanted to be something else, but it was stuck trying to fit the new thing onto an old platform which wasn’t really built with that in mind

So for now, as a user, it’s hard to see what SoundCloud Go offers that is of any real value, let alone $9.99 a month (and presumably £9.99 a month if and when it reaches the UK).

Most of the tracks you want from SoundCloud are still there for free. And the extra music that the $9.99 unlocks is already over on Spotify et al, alongside a load more functionality. And while creators might stop putting so much content onto SoundCloud for free – which on one level makes Go more attractive – at the same time, it arguably ruins SoundCloud’s one big USP.

The fact Google has been so very quiet about subscriber numbers for YouTube Red, after its US launch, possibly highlights how difficult it is to successfully move from being a completely-free-platform to a mostly-free-but-pay-us-$10-a-month-anyway platform.

Find out more about SoundCloud Go here.

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Wednesday 30 March 2016, 10:34 | By

IPO publishes video promoting Infringing Website List to advertisers

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URL bar

The UK’s Intellectual Property Office has made a little video for all you advertising industry types to promote the City Of London Police’s Infringing Website List, which exists to tell advertisers what websites to avoid on copyright grounds when buying online ads.

The previously reported list is part of efforts by the police force’s IP Crime Unit to cut off the revenue streams of piracy websites, and to ensure that recognisable brands don’t appear on infringing sites, the theory being that such advertising may suggest to unknowing users that the service is in someway legit.

The new video says that 294 of top 500 IP infringing websites contain advertising from recognisable brands, and of those brands, 43 appear in the Top 1000 businesses based on ad spend. The video’s stern narrator them says: “Apart from adding legitimacy to crime, by connecting themselves with all the risks associated with illegal websites, including viruses and malware, brands are tarnishing their reputations, and they are paying for the privilege”.

Which is a stupid thing to do. So stop being so fucking stupid ad people. That’s the basic gist of the video. I’ve paraphrased it a little, but only in a bid to create the sort of slogan an advertising exec can comprehend.

You can watch the video here if you so please:

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Wednesday 30 March 2016, 10:27 | By

Edinburgh’s Avalanche Records to close

Business News Retail

Avalanche Records

Earlier this month, Edinburgh record shop Avalanche announced that it would close at the end of March, saying that direct-to-fan sales and the resurgence of HMV and its Fopp subsidiary have made it too difficult to operate as an independent record seller in the Scottish capital. This follows the shop’s decision to withdraw from this year’s Record Store Day.

“My original intention had been to assess how we moved forward after RSD, but with that decision made [ie, not to participate in RSD any more] it seemed sensible to decide on the shop’s future now”, wrote manager Kevin Buckle on the shop’s website. “Given all I’ve said, it is clear that there is simply not enough business left after everybody else takes a cut for Avalanche to do what we have done for the last 30 years and consequently I will shut the doors by the end of the month”.

On how Record Store Day has developed over the years, he added that the size of the list of exclusives now made it impossible to know what to buy in, saying: “Collectors will still buy the artists they collect, but it is no wonder so many shops are asking what people are looking for, as it is impossible to guess what these once-a-year customers will buy”.

In a second post this week, Buckle laid into HMV and Fopp more, arguing that it is they who have really made operating an independent record shop more difficult. Favourable rent terms agreed with landlords after HMV was saved from administration by Hilco “made a level playing field impossible”. Then came the more favourable trading terms negotiated by Hilco with the labels, he says. And then finally came the major retailers’ decision to ride the wave of the vinyl revival.

“Truth be told new vinyl sells very slowly”, writes Buckle. “Even when we had the market almost completely to ourselves there was little beyond the Arctic Monkeys and White Stripes we could be sure to sell each month. And, of course, what we get one month we have to pay for the end of the next … HMV/Fopp’s new trading terms meant they only paid for stock when sold, so worrying about how much to stock was no problem at all”.

Pre-orders managed by artists themselves, or labels and services like PledgeMusic, have further reduced the number of people who would traditionally have patronised an independent shop. “Even the much lauded ‘indies only’ releases were, with a few honourable exceptions, available also from the indie label often months, never mind weeks before the shops even knew about it”, he says.

“You can not underestimate the decline of sales in the independents”, he concludes. “The new Primal Scream album available from PledgeMusic sold less in the 300+ independents in its first week than the Avalanche shops would have sold [alone] in our heyday in the first couple of weeks. Indies now do best when taking a small slice of a large pie, as happened with the Bowie album. The second hand market is strong but new indies selling new music with a few exceptions has almost gone”.

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Wednesday 30 March 2016, 10:22 | By

Scottish government’s T In The Park grant was all fine, says Audit Scotland

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T In The Park

Audit Scotland last week cleared Scottish Culture Secretary Fiona Hyslop of any wrongdoing over her department’s decision to award a government grant to T In The Park promoter DF Concerts, a Live Nation company, to assist in the move of its big annual festival to a new site last year.

As previously reported, Hyslop was criticised by political rivals for providing the funding to DF. Some questioned why such a popular commercial event needed state funding at all, while others accused the SNP minister of “cronyism”, because an initial meeting between the Scottish government and DF was set up by a one-time aide of former SNP leader Alex Salmond, who was working for the live music firm at the time.

In the wake of that criticism, Audit Scotland announced last November that it was reviewing the decision making behind the funding. But last week the public spending watchdog said that there had been “clear rationale for the grant”, and that Hyslop’s department had attached clear and appropriate conditions to the financial award.

In a letter to an unnamed MSP, Audit Scotland wrote that “the Scottish government had the legal authority to make the grant. The decision to award the grant to DF Concerts was a legitimate policy decision for the Cabinet Secretary, and was consistent with advice she received from Scottish government officials”.

It went on: “There is evidence that the DF Concerts consultants’ costs associated with gaining planning consent incurred in 2014 and 2015 for the 2015 event, together with the increase in venue costs, exceeded the grant Scottish government provided. There is also evidence that Scottish government has taken steps to confirm that the money was spent in line with the grant conditions through its review of the final report provided by DF Concerts and related invoices”.

Despite clearing Hyslop and her team of any wrongdoing, Audit Scotland did say that ministers should provide greater “internal clarity and evidence to support decision-making” when dishing out similar grants in the future, so to assure the public that the correct procedures have been gone through before any financial support is provided to such projects.

Beyond the mini-controversy in Holyrood, T In The Park’s move to Strathallan Castle was also newsworthy because of the various logistical issues that occurred during the first edition of the festival on the new site, which resulted in a range of criticisms from the local council. T bosses have already announced a number of measures which they hope will address those issues this summer, and have now filed those plans with Perth & Kinross Council in the hope it will overcome concerns and assure them a licence for this year’s event.

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Wednesday 30 March 2016, 10:20 | By

Spotify raises a billion in debt finance

Business News Deals Digital

Spotify

Did you hear the one about the streaming music service that went out one day to borrow half a billion in cash and returned with a billion in its pockets? No? Ah, it’s a goodun. You missed out. You should have been there. Perhaps Daniel Ek will say something about it in the middle of his next tweet on American/Cuban diplomatic relations.

So, yes, Spotify has raised a neat billion. Although, as previously reported, this time the streaming service’s big cash injection comes via debt financing rather than flogging off more stock. But, as expected, it’s convertible debt, which means that – in addition to paying interest on the loaned monies – if and when Spotify floats on a stock exchange, the money lenders can convert their loans into equity at a healthy discount on the IPO rate.

According to the Wall Street Journal’s sources, the people and institutions providing this billion dollar loan, which include TPG, Dragoneer Investment Group and clients of Goldman Sachs, will get a 20% discount if they convert the debt to stock on IPO. That discount will also go up the longer it takes Spotify to float, by 2.5% every six months after a one year period. Though, sources say, the streaming music firm has indicated it will IPO within the next two years, so those discounts shouldn’t top 25%.

Still, those are pretty damn good terms from the money men. And the billion dollars will come in very useful for Spotify as it continues its aggressive loss-leading growth around the world, enabling further expansion into new territories, more above-the-line marketing efforts, and probably a few strategic acquisitions along the way.

Some of that growth is about building hype ahead of that IPO, of course, to ensure a maximum pay-day for the firm’s big money backers and lenders. Though the service also needs greater scale to become viable long-term (by which, we mean, many more premium users), and, with streaming becoming the record industry’s single biggest revenue stream, the long-term viability of the decent-revenue-generating paid-for streaming services is of ever higher concern for the wider music community too.

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Wednesday 30 March 2016, 10:19 | By

Tidal passes three million users, one year after Jay-Z acquisition

Business News Digital

Tidal

Tidal has grown its subscriber base so to pass the three million point a year after Jay-Z bought the streaming service. Five months ago it was reporting one million users, and at the point it was acquired it had 530,000 users.

It may still be lagging someway behind its key rivals, but Tidal would no doubt point out that picking up two million new users in five months isn’t too bad (assuming they’re not all still on a free trial post the release of the new Kanye West album, and could still cancel). And it is pretty impressive growth, especially when it previously took seven months to attract less than 500,000 new subscribers.

Although Team Tidal had some other stuff they wanted to say in a press release looking back at the company’s first year under Jay-Z’s rule. And “exclusives are the way forward” seemed to be the main point.

The company says that its biggest exclusive to date, Kanye West’s ‘The Life Of Pablo’ album, was streamed 250 million times in its first ten days on the service. The company claims that this is “ultimately changing the way the music industry views album rollouts”. Although that view may be one of fear at the reported 500,000 times ‘The Life Of Pablo’ was pirated on its first day.

It also points out that Rihanna’s latest album was downloaded 1.4 million times in its first 24 hours online, but given that it was a free download at that point, I’m not sure that proves anything.

It’s not just audio, mind. Exclusive video content is also making Tidal an attractive proposition, the firm claims. Citing Kanye West again, it said that 23 million people tuned in to watch the rapper’s recent Yeezy Season 3 fashion show. Although that does also demonstrate that at least 20 million of them weren’t then convinced to sign up to the streaming service.

The Tidal release also mentions its two scripted shows, and various music videos that have premiered on its platform, though stays tight lipped on viewing figures for those. It then claims it is also discovering the stars of tomorrow by promoting unsigned acts on the service, before adding that it raised $1.5 million for charity with its Tidal X1020 benefit show last year.

Though the one thing the press release didn’t mention, which it was talking about a lot around this time last year, is the tangible financial benefits for artists, ie that it would pay out more to creators than its competitors. It’s quite possible that the only people to really gain much in that regard from Tidal are the big name acts who turned up for that embarrassing launch event and were reportedly paid handsomely to do so.

Still, with streaming now the biggest revenue source for the US record industry, three million paying subscribers (45% of whom are reportedly on Tidal’s more expensive high-def audio tier) is something the music community wants right now. And with music streaming itself still a loss-making business, everyone needs to bank on Tidal and the like reaching a scale where they can change that.

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Wednesday 30 March 2016, 10:17 | By

Avicii announces retirement from live performance

Artist News Gigs & Festivals Live Business

Avicii

Avicii has announced that he is retiring from touring after his scheduled dates this summer. “I know I am blessed to be able to travel all around the world and perform”, he told fans in a letter on his website. “But I have too little left for the life of a real person behind the artist”.

The producer has suffered a number of health problems during periods of touring in recent years, and last September cancelled all remaining dates for the rest of the year following an “overloaded summer schedule”. Back then he said that he was planning a “larger tour initiative” for this summer, but his subsequent decision to actually bow out doesn’t entirely come as a surprise.

“My path has been filled with success but it hasn’t come without its bumps”, he wrote. “I’ve become an adult while growing as an artist. I’ve come to know myself better and realise that there’s so much I want to do with my life. I have strong interests in different areas but there’s so little time to explore them”.

He continued: “Two weeks ago, I took the time to drive across the US with my friends and team, to just look and see and think about things in a new way. It really helped me realise that I needed to make the change that I’d been struggling with for a while”.

“My choices and career have never been driven by material things, although I’m grateful for all the opportunities and comforts my success has availed me”, he went on. “I know I am blessed to be able to travel all around the world and perform, but I have too little left for the life of a real person behind the artist”.

He promised fans that he would “never let go of music” and also left room to change his mind and return to the stage in the future, concluding: “One part of me can never say never, I could be back… but I won’t be right back”.

As well as all that, the producer also added his phone number to the bottom of the letter, if you want to try to get him to change his mind. But if that fails, his final planned live show is at Creamfields on 27 Aug.

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Wednesday 30 March 2016, 10:14 | By

GFOTY announces new EP, Animal Collective support slot

Artist News Gigs & Festivals Releases

GFOTY

PC Music’s GFOTY is back with a new EP, a short film and the news that she will be supporting Animal Collective on their European tour next month.

Released yesterday, the ‘VIPOTY’ EP features four new tracks and comes accompanied by a short film of the same name. The video outlines the story behind the music, in which GFOTY has her boyfriend stolen and exacts murderous revenge.

Watch the short film and listen to ‘Amazing’ from the EP here:

As well as the Animal Collective tour, you can catch GFOTY and other PC Music affiliates at The Scala in London on 19 May.

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Wednesday 30 March 2016, 10:12 | By

CMU’s One Liners: Deaf Havana, The Ticket Factory, Vice, more

Artist News Business News Deals Gigs & Festivals Labels & Publishers Live Business Media One Liners Releases

Deaf Havana

Other notable announcements and developments today…

• Deaf Havana have signed with SO Recordings for their fourth studio album because, says management Riverman, the label have been “unequivocal in their belief in the band since the first time we met”. I also believe in the existence of Deaf Havana.

• Ticketing firm The Ticket Factory has announced a partnership with Twickets, the anti-tout secondary ticketing service that enables the resale of tickets at face value. When shows are sold out, The Ticket Factory will link users through to Twickets, rather than a tout-happy secondary site (which is what certain other primary sellers link through to).

• Vice Media has acquired a majority stake in London-based Pulse Films, a film company with a particular reputation for creating music-based content. The two firms have had an alliance since 2013.

• As expected, Dermot ‘I’ll never go back’ O’Leary will return as host of ‘The X Factor’ later this year. Having only been away for one season, the presenter says he’s “excited” to be returning. More excited about his incoming bank statements though, I’m sure.

• Frank Ocean’s second album is “maybe a month” away, if you believe producer Malay. Though before you get too excited, he was being rather vague in an interview with Pitchfork, saying of his collaborator’s new LP: “When he’s ready, the world is gonna get it. It could be tomorrow… well not tomorrow but maybe a month”.

• Clare Maguire will release her new album ‘Stranger Things Have Happened’ on 27 May. This is its first single, ‘Elizabeth Taylor’.

• White Lung have released another track from their upcoming new album ‘Paradise’. This is ‘Kiss Me When I Bleed’. They’ll also be touring the UK in May, including a show at the Victoria in Dalston on 26 May.

• Dan Michaelson And The Coastguards will release their new album ‘Memory’ on 6 May. Here’s new single ‘Undo’.

• Søren Juul will release his new album ‘This Moment’ through 4AD on 17 Jun. Here’s first single ‘Dear Child’. He’ll also be playing Servant Jazz Quarters in Dalston on 18 May.

• The excellent So Below has just released her debut EP, which she pre-empted with new single ‘Far’.

• Amon Tobin will be DJing at Electric Brixton on 2 Jun. Tickets available now.

• The Great Escape has added over one hundred more bands to its 2016 line-up, which would be silly if it wasn’t so exciting. TGE Spotlight Shows by Oh Wonder and Songhoy Blues have now sold out, but a final few tickets remain for the big Stormzy gig. Talking of exciting, wait till you see the final line-ups for the CMU Insights conference bit of TGE. Coming soon!

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Wednesday 30 March 2016, 10:05 | By

U2 have 50 ideas for new songs

And Finally Artist News

U2

U2 guitarist The Edge says that the band have 50 ideas for songs, as they gear up to write their fourteenth album, the follow-up to 2014’s ‘Songs Of Innocence’.

This is such a classic CMU ‘and finally’ story, isn’t it? All I need to do now is stretch out ‘U2 have 50 ideas? U2 are shit. Ha ha ha’ to 150 words and we can all get on with our day.

Problem is, a while back, I listened to this episode of Song Exploder, in which Bono and The Edge deconstruct ‘Cedarwood Road’ from their last album. I don’t know how to tell you this, but it sort of rekindled my respect for their creative process. It also reminded me that I once wrote an essay at school on the recording process for ‘Discotheque’, which is actually quite interesting.

The other thing that doesn’t help is the sense of humour both The Edge and Bono have shown of late in relation to latter’s very serious bicycle accident two years ago. Maybe they’re actually nice normal guys, just trying to make it through life like the rest of us. Sure, they’re grown men who refer to themselves as Bono and The Edge, but is that so different to me calling myself Andy? Confession: my real name is Andrew.

So let’s cut U2 some slack. Let’s hear The ‘David’ Edge out.

“Including a lot of my really rough demos – I’m not suggesting they’re finished, by any means – there’s actually 50 pieces of music that I’ve put time into”, he tells Rolling Stone of how the new album is progressing. “Some of them have not been arranged or performed by the band, but there’s 50 ideas, and probably about 20 that we’re actually really excited about. So we’ve got some ways to narrow it down, but we’re in good shape”.

He adds: “We are trying to really be brutal with the material and only focus on the things that we’re really convinced are the best ideas. I would say we’re now at the point of starting to really edit down to the core collection of songs that will make the record. Things are still in their rough state, but sounding really great”.

So, there you go. They have a lot of ideas on the go, but they’re going to be pretty ruthless when it comes to weeding out the very best of them. There’s that great process in action. Who knows, maybe this will be considered a classic album in years to come.

I mean, it won’t be. It’s getting on for at least 20 years since they did anything actually worth listening to. But at least they will have tried their hardest. And then maybe they can sell it in bulk to a tech company so that it doesn’t matter if anyone actually wants it or not.

U2 are shit. Ha ha ha.

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Wednesday 30 March 2016, 08:36 | By

Approved: Jennifer Evans

CMU Approved

Jennifer Evans

Jennifer Evans’s 2014 debut album ‘Works From The Dip And Foul’ certainly hinted that there was more to be drawn out of this new artist. Though I’m not sure it dropped enough hints to lead anyone to expect the force with which she has returned on new single ‘Bakkos’.

From the opening guitar loop, the track is filled with drama. A deceptively simple construction, each instrument is worked to capacity as Evans’s vocals do all kinds of flips and rolls. It’s experimental, but even when it descends into its final freak out you could still dance to it.

Watch the video for ‘Bakkos’ here:

Stay up to date with all of the artists featured in the CMU Approved column in 2016 by subscribing to our Spotify playlist.

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Tuesday 29 March 2016, 10:30 | By

Pandora founder returns as CEO as streaming firm overhauls senior management

Business News Digital Top Stories

Pandora

With Pandora having put much effort of late into improving its fractious relationships with the various strands of the music industry, members of that community will no doubt be now wondering what an executive shake-up at the top of the digital music firm yesterday means. Even if co-founder and former CEO Tim Westergren – who always bigs up his own credentials as a musician and record producer – is back on top.

Investors in the loss-making streaming firm will also be wondering the same, with the news of an executive overhaul causing the company’s share price to wobble somewhat yesterday, after a week of share price increases caused by yet more rumours that the Pandora company may be acquired.

Pandora CEO Brian McAndrews is out as a result of the rejig, which also sees Mike Herring promoted to the role of President as well as his existing job of CFO, with a wide-ranging brief including revenues, licensing, finance, legal and IT. Sara Clemens becomes COO with responsibility for growing the business, including new markets and new revenue streams, with international operations and the company’s ticketing business Ticketfly under her rule.

Pandora, of course, is a major player in the streaming market in the US, where its personalised radio service can be licensed on the recordings side via the compulsory licence administered by SoundExchange.

Various attempts over the years to reduce its royalty obligations to both the labels and the music publishers resulted in frosty relations, though the company has put a lot more effort into building bridges of late, partly because of plans to move into on-demand streaming and new markets, where it won’t be able to rely on the SoundExchange licence.

Currently only available in three countries, and predominantly based in the US, Pandora was very early to market, which gave it a big head start on its competitors in the streaming domain, both personalised radio and fully on-demand.

It has never really managed to get its paid-for version – which offers personalised radio ad-free and with more skips – off the ground, while recent plans to diversify suggest that the company isn’t confident its core ad-sales business will ever pay all the bills. Especially in the face of competition from iHeartRadio, which has a nationwide sales team through its traditional radio business.

Westergren has been CEO of Pandora before, way back in the early days of the business, before switching to the role of Chief Strategy Officer. Back in the top job, the Pandora co-founder insisted that his business was now on the “cusp” of “realising an extraordinary vision”. To which, many artists and songwriters might reply, why still only on the cusp?

But, continued the new Pandora chief: “We are pursuing a once-in-a-generation opportunity to create a massive, vibrant music marketplace. We have the audience, the technology infrastructure, the monetisation engine and most importantly the right team with the passion and commitment to do it. I’m 100% committed to Pandora’s growth strategy, as is our executive team and board”.

Outgoing chief McAndrews also welcomed the executive changes, possibly in a bid to reassure investors that there’s not been some kind of crazy coup at the top of the firm. Even though that’s what everyone will still assume.

Saying he was proud of what had been achieved while he ran the company, McAndrews said: “We have put in place a robust strategy to make Pandora the go-to source for fans and artists and position the company for long-term success in a highly dynamic space. With the team and strategy in place and execution underway, I am passing the baton on to Tim. I wish the company all the best as it continues on its next phase of growth”.

Meanwhile, speaking for the firm’s board, Chairman Jim Feuille told reporters: “Tim is the ideal CEO for Pandora as we embark on our next phase of growth. As the original founder, Tim carries the vision for how Pandora can transform the music industry and he is uniquely able to connect with listeners, music makers and employees”.

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Tuesday 29 March 2016, 10:29 | By

Lil Wayne sues Universal over his label venture with Cash Money

Artist News Business News Labels & Publishers Legal

Lil Wayne

Lil Wayne’s ongoing legal battle with his record label partners was ramped up somewhat yesterday when he filed litigation against Universal Music, parent company of Cash Money Records, to which the rapper is signed, and with which his own label Young Money had a joint venture. Collecting society SoundExchange is also named as a defendant.

Following various legal wranglings with Cash Money itself over his long awaited album ‘Tha Carter V’, Wayne is now suing Universal over allegations it has taken his cut of the profits from records released by the Young Money label in order to repay a $100 million advance that the major paid over to the Cash Money record company.

However, says the litigation, Wayne is due 49% of the profits generated by Young Money – from releases by the likes of Drake, Nicki Minaj and Tyga – and that profit share should not have been subject to Cash Money repaying its advance.

Says the lawsuit: “With Universal’s knowledge of Lil Wayne’s rights to partial ownership and profits from those artists, Universal and Cash Money entered into a series of agreements which, among other things, diverted Lil Wayne’s substantial profits to repay debts of Cash Money. As a result, 100% of the profits that should have been paid to Lil Wayne as a result of his ownership of Drake, Nicki Minaj and Tyga records have been seized by Universal to repay debts that were neither incurred by nor were the obligations of Lil Wayne”.

SoundExchange is listed as a defendant because, Wayne claims, Universal has taken 100% of the label’s share of the cash collected by the body for Young Money tracks, and as such, the rights organisation is refusing to pay any royalties directly to Wayne’s companies.

Confirming the legal action, Wayne’s legal rep Howard E King said in a statement yesterday: “Universal should be grateful and respectful to Lil Wayne for the millions of dollars in distribution fees and profits they have earned on the artists he brought to the company, instead of seizing all of his profits on those artists in a desperate attempt to recoup the tens of millions of dollars they are owed by Cash Money Records”.

A spokesperson for Universal hit back, telling media: “These claims are entirely without merit. It should be no surprise that we learned of the lawyer’s complaint through the news media. We don’t intend to dignify this with further public comment except to say that we will vigorously contest it and that the merits of our case will carry the day”.

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Tuesday 29 March 2016, 10:21 | By

Former NWA manager allowed to proceed with defamation suit against Straight Outta Compton

Artist News Business News Legal

Straight Outta Compton

A US judge has allowed a defamation lawsuit filed by former NWA manager Jerry Heller to proceed, but only just. As previously reported, Heller has sued pretty much everyone who had any involvement in the NWA biopic ‘Straight Outta Compton’ claiming that the way he was portrayed in the movie constituted defamation.

The former manager also sued for misappropriation of likeness, tortious interference, breach of a settlement agreement and copyright infringement, the latter claims relating to an old contract he had with the hip hop group and scripts he contributed to which, he says, the ‘Straight Outta Compton’ screenplay was based on.

The film’s producer tried to have the lawsuit dismissed, arguing free speech rights amongst other things. Judge Michael W Fitzgerald, overseeing the case, concurred with the producer on some points, though he didn’t go so far as to dismiss the case outright, and legal reps for Heller now have an opportunity to resubmit their legal complaint in a way that overcomes the issues raised by the defence.

According to The Hollywood Reporter, Heller’s attorney Michael Shapiro welcomed the decision, noting “the court’s made it clear we have one more shot at this”.

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Tuesday 29 March 2016, 10:18 | By

As it issues 200 millionth takedown against Google, BPI calls for web giant to do more to keep piracy sites out of search

Business News Digital Labels & Publishers Legal

BPI

Hey Spotify founder Daniel Ek, bragging about your 30 million premium users, here’s a stat to put that into perspective. UK record industry trade group the BPI has now issued 200 million takedown requests against Google Search. And that’s only in the UK since July 2011. You’ve been going since 2008 and are in loads of countries, with Indonesia to follow this bloody week. And there was you thinking there was a business in putting content online. Taking content offline, that’s there the real opportunities lie.

Though the BPI, of course, would rather not be the world’s takedown king, issuing a flood of requests to Google demanding it remove links from its search engine to copyright infringing content. The web giant is obliged to respond to such requests in order to benefit from the safe harbours of European and US law that ensure it can’t be held liable for copyright infringement of the sites to which it links.

Google isn’t so keen on receiving all those requests either, but – the record industry would argue – it is responsible for the flood by refusing to operate a system whereby, once a link to a bit of infringing content has been removed once, alternative links that are attached to the same bit of content on the same site can’t then be added.

Or even better, Google would just delist any links that point to a site that has been declared by the courts as a rampant copyright infringer (especially if said courts have also issued a web-block injunction to internet service providers against the infringing site). Google, in the main, has always resisted such anti-piracy approaches.

With the 200 millionth takedown moment approaching, the BPI last week used the occasion to again call on Google to do more on this front, noting that the UK government has set up a roundtable to bring stakeholders together to consider the issue. The record industry group argues that the proliferation of links to piracy sites on Google – despite the 200 million takedown requests – hinders the development of legit digital music services.

The BPI revealed last week some of the proposals it will take to that roundtable session, including: “A lower threshold for the number of notices required to de-rank an illegal site and transparency over that threshold; improved discoverability of genuine sites to help consumers towards legal content; automatic de-listing of sites that have been ruled illegal by the High Court; action to prevent illegal sites avoiding demotion by swapping domain; and ‘notice and stay down’ – once a piece of content has been notified for removal, it should not be indexed again for the same site”. So, quite a wide-ranging list then.

Says BPI boss Geoff Taylor: “The BPI believes that people who make music or other entertainment deserve to be rewarded for their work and creativity. Only when consumers support legitimate sites can labels, studios and broadcasters consistently invest in the best talent to make high quality entertainment we can all enjoy”.

He goes on: “The notice and takedown system, as currently structured, cannot represent an effective response to piracy and requires urgent reform. Internet intermediaries like search engines clearly need to take more active responsibility to stop directing business to the black market”.

Taylor concludes by revealing he’s heard of search engines other than Google, stating that: “We are calling on Google and Bing to show their undiluted commitment to artists and the creative process by implementing a more pro-active solution to illegal sites appearing in search results. This will avoid the cost for both of us in dealing with hundreds of repeated notices for the same content on the same illegal sites”.

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Tuesday 29 March 2016, 10:15 | By

Latest Momentum Music Fund grants confirmed

Artist News Business News Management & Funding

Momentum Music Fund

Your good friends over at the PRS For Music Foundation last week announced another round of momentum-giving goodness in the form of the latest grants from the Arts Council England-backed and Spotify-supported Momentum Music Fund.

Who are those artists whose momentum is set to increase in the coming months? Well, Babeheaven, Beaty Heart, Dapz On The Map, Jay Prince, Robyn Sherwell, Salute and The The Youth are all getting financial support for upcoming touring activity, Daniel Woolhouse, Frank Carter And The Rattle Snakes, Luke Sital Singh and Manu Delago are getting some cash towards recording projects, while Mic Righteous, Joel Culpepper and Laurel are going to spend their momentum monies on some marketing.

Says PRS For Music Foundation’s Vanessa Reed: “As we approach our third anniversary of running the Momentum Music Fund in partnership with Arts Council England, and more recently in association with Spotify, it’s clear from the number and strength of the applications we receive that talented artists from across a broad range of genres need support to push their career to the next level. Huge congratulations to all of the artists supported in this latest round, I look forward to seeing the impact this funding has on their next steps and the number of fans they can reach as a result”.

On top of the latest grant awards, the Foundation also announced that it will be presenting a Momentum Music Fund showcase at The Great Escape in May featuring four artists supported by the funding scheme. More info on that very soon.

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Tuesday 29 March 2016, 10:12 | By

The Life Of Pablo track appears on non-Tidal streaming services

Artist News Business News Digital Releases

Kanye West

When Kanye West said on Twitter that “my album will never never never be on Apple… and it will never be for sale… you can only get it on Tidal”, the key word there was presumably ‘album’.

Because one track from the rapper’s latest long-player ‘The Life Of Pablo’ is now very much on Apple, it having been added to various streaming services other than Tidal, including Spotify, Google Play and Apple Music. It’s just one track, mind. And with an insane nineteen tracks on ‘The Life Of Pablo’, West could still drip feed seventeen more songs to Apple Music et al without actually going back on that ‘never never’ tweet.

Plus the version of ‘Famous’ that has appeared on non-Tidal streaming services is apparently slightly different. So he could probably put all nineteen tracks on Apple Music and argue that – because they are not the original album versions – he’s still now broken his ‘never never’ pledge, he’s just made a compilation of the alternative versions of all his ‘The Life Of Pablo’ songs.

So that could be a fun new trend, couldn’t it? Artists making eternal exclusivity pledges, and then immediately finding technicalities to get around them. What an age in which to be alive!

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Tuesday 29 March 2016, 10:11 | By

CMU Insights to dissect the digital dollar at AIM’s Music Connected

Business News Education & Events

CMU Insights @ Music Connected

CMU Insights has announced it is presenting an insight session as part of the Association Of Independent Music’s Music Connected conference in London next month.

CMU Business Editor Chris Cooke will give a 50 minute presentation based on the report he authored for the Music Managers Forum last year, ‘Dissecting The Digital Dollar’. He will explain in simple terms how both labels and publishers are licensing streaming services, and what happens to monies paid into the music industry by a Spotify-type platform.

Says Cooke: “With streaming now set to become the biggest revenue stream for the record industry, it’s important to understand how streaming services license content from both labels and publishers, and how income is then shared between the rights owners, collecting societies and, crucially, artists and songwriters. Even those pumping content into the streaming platforms often don’t fully understand how this works, and we’ll explain all the basics in our session at Music Connected”.

The CMU session was confirmed alongside a number of other Music Connected speakers and panels last week. Also on the agenda is data, social marketing and playlisting, with Spotify’s Will Page, Communion Music Group’s Claire Mas, Method Music’s Katy Ray, Kobalt’s David Emery, Slice Music’s Justin Barker and Absolute Label Service’s Adam Cardew amongst those set to take part this year.

For info on the CMU session click here, meanwhile for the full Music Connected programme as announced so far click here.

In other CMU Insights news, the next edition of our acclaimed seminars programme has been announced, taking place in June and July in Shoreditch. Once again this will consist of eight two hour sessions exploring how artists generate revenue, the deals they do to unlock income and investment, how music rights work, the role of media and social media in fanbase building, and how artist businesses and label deals are evolving. Each session runs from 4-6pm on Monday afternoons, with full info here.

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Tuesday 29 March 2016, 10:08 | By

Diiv cancel European tour dates due to “urgent health issue”

Artist News Gigs & Festivals

DIIV

Diiv have cancelled the remaining dates on their European tour, including two UK shows, due to an “urgent health issue”.

The announcement was made by the Liverpool Arts Club, where the band were due to play on Sunday. A statement on the venue’s Facebook page said: “Due to an urgent health issue, we regret that Diiv will be cancelling the remaining shows of their European tour. The band express their sincerest apologies to the fans, and will be working to get the shows rescheduled for a later date”.

As well as the Liverpool show, the final date on the band’s UK tour, at The Haunt in Brighton tomorrow night, was also cancelled. According to Pitchfork, touring is set to resume in New York on 7 May.

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