Friday 29 April 2016, 11:53 | By

EC’s safe harbours report leaks as YouTube music chief hits back

Business News Digital Labels & Publishers Legal Top Stories

European Commission

The debate about safe harbours continues unabated, with numerous music industry execs and veteran artists speaking out in recent weeks against the laws that enable opt-out streaming services, with most now going on an all-out offensive against YouTube in particular, rather than just including the video site in a list of other safe harbour dwellers.

As much previously reported, the safe harbours of US and European law say that internet companies are not liable if their customers use their servers and networks to distribute copyright protected material without licence, providing the net firm has some sort of takedown procedure in place. It means that YouTube isn’t liable when its users routinely upload music without permission from the label or publisher, because Content ID allows the rights owner to block or monetise the offending tunes.

But, say many music companies, Content ID is only effective to a point, meaning that keeping your content entirely off YouTube is a labour intensive task. Which means a lot of unapproved music content stays on there. Which strengthens the Google service’s negotiating hand when agreeing licensing deals with the music industry.

Which, of course, is why the music industry wants safe harbour rules rewritten so that services like YouTube no longer benefit from them. Copyright rules in Europe have been under review for a while, and the US Copyright Office instigated a specific review of safe harbours late last year. It’s as a result of the latter that a flurry of notable artists have spoken out against YouTube in recent weeks.

Meanwhile, back in Europe, the European Commission is busy preparing an update on its ongoing Digital Single Market project, which includes the copyright and safe harbours review. And yesterday a draft of that update leaked via Politico.

In it, the Commission makes it clear that it has no ambitions to radically overhaul the E-Commerce Directive from which the European safe harbours stem, though there is talk about ensuring a “fairer distribution” of the value of user-upload sites and introducing some EU-wide standards on takedown systems.

The draft report begins: “Although the present intermediary liability regime, as set out in the E-Commerce Directive, was designed at a time when online platforms did not have the scale they have today, it created a regulatory environment that has considerably facilitated their scaling up … The public consultation showed strong support the existing principles of the E-Commerce Directive”.

Though, it does then concede that there is nevertheless “a need to clarify certain concepts, including the scope for the safe harbour for intermediary liability, including for online platforms”. This will be achieved, the report reckons, with “sectorial legislation, on the basis of maximum harmonisation and a problem-driven approach, without prejudice to the E-Commerce Directive. This is particularly the case for ensuring a fair allocation of revenues for the use of copyright-protected content”.

So what does that all mean? Well, “while [user-upload] services are attracting a growing audience and gaining economic benefits from the content distribution, there is a growing concern as to whether the value generated by some of these new forms of online content distribution is shared in a fair manner between distributors and the right holders. In their replies to the public consultation, right holders across several content sectors reported that their content is increasingly used without authorisation or through licensing agreements which, in their view, contain unfair terms”.

So what’s to be done? “In the next copyright package, to be adopted in the autumn of 2016, the Commission will aim at ensuring fair allocation of the value generated by the online distribution of copyright-protected content by online platforms whose businesses are based on the provision of access to copyright-protect material”.

Which is wonderfully ambiguous. What the music industry really wants is YouTube to be held liable for all the unlicensed content on its platform so that Google would have to invest the time into removing unapproved files from its servers. This would mean that the music industry could demand better terms – which mainly means more minimum guarantees in addition to the existing revenue share arrangement – because without the labels and publishers on board, Google would be left with an awful lot of monitoring work to do.

But the EC’s talk of finding a better way to allocate the value of online distribution doesn’t sound anywhere near so draconian.

Meanwhile, another EC priority is reviewing – again – whether there should be EU-wide standards for the takedown element of safe harbours, something YouTube would probably welcome given that, for all its limitations, Content ID is one of the best takedown systems out there.

“The Commission will continue to review the need for formal notice-and-action procedures during the second half of 2016”, says the draft report. “Taking into account the effect of the updated audio-visual media and copyright framework on illegal content online”.

It remains to be seen what the final version of the EC’s Digital Single Market report looks like, and what impact it has on the music industry’s lobbying efforts in Brussels. Though the YouTube-bashing seems set to continue, as does YouTube’s recently stepped up efforts to fight back in the war of words, which this week included an article by the firm’s Head Of International Music Partnerships, Christophe Muller, in The Guardian.

“The truth is that YouTube takes copyright management extremely seriously”, he wrote. “And we work to ensure rightsholders make money no matter who uploads their music. No other platform gives as much money back to creators – big and small – across all kinds of content”.

He went on: “Today, thousands of labels and rightholders have licensing agreements with YouTube to actually leave fan videos up and earn revenue from them. They agree that a world in which fans express love for their favourite artists by uploading concert footage and remixes is something to be celebrated. And they see that fan-uploaded content can be a way to drive exposure and boost sales”.

Read Muller’s article here, and the leaked EC report here.

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Friday 29 April 2016, 11:51 | By

Five Finger Death Punch respond to label’s breach of contract lawsuit

Artist News Business News Labels & Publishers Legal

Five Finger Death Punch

American metallers Five Finger Death Punch have responded to a lawsuit filed last week by their label, Prospect Park. In last week’s legal papers, the record company accused the band of breaching their contract by beginning work on a fourth album earlier than contractually allowed and refusing to deliver two new songs for a greatest hits collection.

The band’s contract seemingly prohibits them from beginning work on a new album until nine months after the release of their previous record. Their latest LP ‘Got Your Six’ was released on 4 Sep last year, meaning work on the follow-up should not begin until at least 4 Jun this year. The label alleges that the band is working on the album already because of fears that frontman Ivan Moody, who has an alcohol addiction, will become unable to work.

“Regrettably, with the encouragement of their entertainment lawyer and business manager, the members of FFDP have unequivocally repudiated their contractual obligations to permit Prospect Park to determine the recording elements of a new record and a greatest hits record”, says the lawsuit. “In doing so, the members of FFDP are shamelessly attempting to cash in before the anticipated downfall of their addicted bandmate”.

In their response to the filing this week, the band said in a statement that Prospect Park’s “completely meritless” actions were the latest in “a long line of exploitative and abusive bullying tactics used by our former manager and current label CEO Jeff Kwatinetz to extract money from and wield power against the band”.

They also claim that, due to various artists leaving the label, their recordings “are now one of Prospect Park’s last remaining and most valuable assets still under contract”.

The band continued: “Five Finger Death Punch is prepared to record and deliver the final album this year under its recording agreement, but instead of allowing us to record, Prospect Park has chosen to sue us, hold us for ransom and squeeze extra money out of its contract rights by attempting to sell an interest in future recordings. What’s worse is that Prospect Park very deliberately filed their meritless lawsuit the same week we are trying put our fall co-headlining arena tour on sale”.

“As for our singer, Ivan Moody”, they added, “his issues are no secret and were recently and successfully addressed with the love and support of his family and bandmates in a rehabilitation facility. Never once did Prospect Park Management or Recordings support any efforts to get him sober, preferring the band continue making albums and touring”.

They finished by announcing their intention to file a counter-suit against Prospect Park.

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Friday 29 April 2016, 11:48 | By

IFPI welcomes move to ramp up performing rights regime for recordings in Nigeria

Business News Labels & Publishers

COSON

The International Federation Of That There Phonographic Industry this week welcomed a commitment made earlier this month by The Copyright Society Of Nigeria to ramp up its efforts in collecting performing right royalties for the owners of sound recording copyrights, what the record industry insists on continuing to call ‘neighbouring rights’.

COSON was founded in 2009 and represents both song and recording rights, as well as songwriters and performers, in Nigeria, and said earlier this month that it planned to “aggressively pursue the licensing of sound recording rights exploited by users in all commercial and public settings” across the country.

COSON chief Tony Okoroji added: “After several consultations and careful review of the Nigerian Copyright Act, international best practices in collective management of music copyrights, and the needs of our members, assignors and affiliates, the COSON board has decided that it is in the best interest of stakeholders that the licensing drive for the rights in sound recordings is immediately intensified”.

The society’s GM Chinedu Chukwuji then added that the organisation’s decision to ramp up efforts on the recordings side of music copyright – in addition to existing efforts in the publishing domain – should benefit users of music too because it “can save them from avoidable legal palaver”. And who wants that?

Welcoming the recent developments, the IFTTPI’s Rob Hooijer said earlier this week: “We are excited about the potential of the Nigerian music market and we are pleased to partner with COSON to help the industry exercise their rights in Nigeria. We hope that the example set by COSON will encourage other countries and music licensing companies to work with the local and international music industry”.

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Friday 29 April 2016, 11:45 | By

Ninja Tune’s publishing company Just Isn’t Music launches US sync office

Business News Deals Industry People Labels & Publishers

Maxim

Ninja Tune’s publishing company Just Isn’t Music has announced that it is expanding into North America. Meanwhile its UK HQ has also announced the signing of The Prodigy’s Maxim and the hiring of new staff member Sergio Pimentel.

The company’s existing Creative Director David O’Bryan will move to LA to head up the new US-based sync operations. “I am massively excited about this opportunity to represent Ninja Tune for sync in LA, working from the office there”, says O’Bryan.

“My experience in the London office has been massively rewarding, as I get to work with one of the best independent music catalogues in the industry, so to be able to work this catalogue for the dynamic US sync market is real thrill, and will hopefully result in many more US sync placements for our artists”.

Just Isn’t Music boss Martin Dobson adds: “We are going to sorely miss having David in the UK office, not just for what his great experience in the industry brings to the team, but as a huge personality too. I could not think of anyone better to head out and take the LA sync industry by storm; they won’t know what’s hit them!”

Of hiring Pimentel, who is joining from Big Sync in the role of Senior Creative Sync, Dobson continues: “With such a large Ninja shaped hole to fill in the UK we aimed high, and in Sergio we have an industry giant who has an encyclopaedic knowledge of the sync industry. We’ve worked together extensively throughout his tenures at Sony and Big Sync, and having him join us on the other side is going to be invaluable. We can’t wait for him to start”.

Pimentel himself adds: “I’ve been a huge fan of Ninja Tune since the beginning. I’m very excited to be working with such fantastic artists and writers. Having worked with Ninja over the last sixteen years on many video game and advertising campaigns, I’m looking forward to joining the sync team in London”.

The deal with Maxim of The Prodigy, meanwhile, includes publishing, co-writing and sync representation. “Being a huge fan of The Prodigy, it’s a real honour to have Maxim join the roster”, says Dobson. “Alongside writing many of the band’s major hits, Maxim has a huge amount of solo material and non-Prodigy related co-writes which we are very excited to introduce to our clients”.

The Prodigy released their most recent album, ‘The Day Is My Enemy’, last year. Maxim’s last solo album, ‘Fallen Angel’, came out in 2005.

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Friday 29 April 2016, 11:42 | By

CMU@TGE Previews: Transparency through technology – and what the hell is the blockchain?

Business News Digital Education & Events The Great Escape 2016

Data

We are now less than a month away from this year’s edition of new music festival The Great Escape which, once again, will feature the CMU Insights @ The Great Escape conference at the heart of its convention programme. Each day in the CMU Daily, CMU Business Editor Chris Cooke is previewing the sessions we will present this year – currently those in the full-day strand ‘Transparency! Data! Blockchain! Let’s make buzzwords happen!’

The bloody blockchain hey, that’s become quite the talking point of late, hasn’t it? Understand it yet? Well, worry not, Marcus O’Dair, convenor of the ‘Blockchain For Creative Industries Research Cluster’ at Middlesex University, is going to join me at TGE next month, and together we’re going give you the real beginners guide.

After which PledgeMusic founder Benji Rogers, who has been leading the debate on the role the blockchain may play in solving the music industry’s copyright data problem, will update us all on his vision, and how it has developed in recent months.

Then digital music experts Sammy Andrews, Jimmy Mikaoui and Andy Edwards – all vocal proponents of the need for more transparency in the digital music sector and the role technology can play – will then provide their perspectives.

These discussions are, of course, all about trying to improve the efficiency and transparency of the way digital income works its way through the system, and we’ll be exploring the many elements of the debate during the wider data strand at CMU Insights @ The Great Escape, identifying the challenges ahead and hopefully some solutions too. Let’s see if we can, indeed, make some buzzwords happen.

‘Transparency through technology – and what the hell is the blockchain?’ will take place at 1.45pm on Thursday 19 May – find out more about the full-day data strand it is part of here. TGE delegates get access to all of CMU Insights @ The Great Escape and all the other festivities that take place over the three days of the festival – passes are £230 and available here. This year tickets are also available for just the convention side of the proceedings for £100 and those can be bought here.

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Friday 29 April 2016, 11:41 | By

NoLay regains consciousness, though condition remains unclear

Artist News

NoLay

Rapper NoLay has regained limited consciousness, after she was critically injured in a car accident at the weekend. However, the full extent of her injuries remains unclear.

Speaking to the Evening Standard yesterday, her manager Tyler Jones said: “NoLay has opened her eyes for the first time today. NoLay is in a minimal conscious state occasionally aware of her surroundings, but incapable of producing any reliable responses verbal or otherwise at present that rule out any signs of brain damage”.

Revealing the severity of her injuries, he added: “NoLay has a fractured pelvis, fractured vertebrae, fractured sternum and a nasal fracture. She also has suffered a lot of bruising and swelling subsequently from the accident”.

NoLay recently premiered new single ‘Gotta Love It’, featuring Kid D:

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Friday 29 April 2016, 11:39 | By

Kesha releases new single with Zedd

Artist News Releases

Kesha

Zedd and Kesha today release a new single, ‘True Colors’, a new version of a song from his 2015 album of the same name, which they performed together at Coachella earlier this month.

Kesha revealed that they were recording the track on Instagram last week, saying: “It’s a miracle when someone gives you a chance at finding your voice again with no reason other than that he is a fucking beautiful person with a heart of gold”.

“Just to clarify, we didn’t use any loopholes”, tweeted Zedd, after announcing the release. “Kemosabe [and] RCA gave us permission to release this song”.

“Thanks for the clarification Zedd”, added Dr Luke.

A previously reported, Kesha was recently unsuccessful in her bid to gain an injunction to temporarily release her from a record deal with Dr Luke’s Kemosabe label while legal proceedings between them continue. She accuses the producer and label boss of drugging and raping her. He denies the claims.

One of the reasons she was denied the injunction was that Sony and Dr Luke maintained that she was already free to record with other people. Dr Luke and his legal team will presumably hope that this new release proves that they are being accommodating.

Listen to ‘True Colors’ here:

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Friday 29 April 2016, 11:36 | By

Yann Tiersen announces solo piano album

Artist News Gigs & Festivals Releases

Yann Tiersen

Yann Tiersen has announced that he will release a new album, ‘Eusa’, in September. Recorded at Abbey Road, the record is a collection of ten solo piano pieces, each related to a specific location on the island of Ushant off the coast of Brittany, where Tiersen lives.

“Ushant is more than just a home – it’s a part of me”, says Tiersen. “The idea was to make a map of the island and, by extension, a map of who I am. To begin with I chose ten locations on the island and made a series of field recordings at each of them. The pieces of piano music I then went on to write are named after these locations, and the sheet music for each piece is accompanied by a GPS coordinate and a photograph of the site taken by Emilie Quinquis”.

Find out more about the album here, and watch a trailer here:

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Friday 29 April 2016, 11:32 | By

Music Week Awards presented

Awards Business News

Music Week

It was the Music Week Awards last night, the awards from Music Week. Music Week’s awards. If you want to know who Music Week thinks should receive awards, then these are the awards for you. Awards, eh? And Music Week. And a lot of music industry people in a room.

Most amusing acceptance speech of the night goes to Dermot O’Leary’s Radio 2 colleague, who accepted the Best Radio Show prize on the presenter’s behalf by saying: “Dermot would have loved to be here tonight, but this event isn’t televised so clearly he wasn’t going to come”. The Big D did later tweet that he was “THRILLED” though.

The most poignant award of the night was the lifetime achievement trophy, which went to Max Hole. The former Chairman and CEO of Universal Music’s international division stepped down last October, as he continued to recover from the rare medical condition encephalitis, with which he was diagnosed in January 2015.

Receiving a standing ovation when he took the stage to accept the award, which was presented to him by Chris Rea, Hole said: “I’ve been very lucky to work with extraordinary artists, incredible producers and wonderful executives”.

Here are all the winners:

Outstanding Contribution To Charity: The BRIT School

Live Music Promoter: SJM Concerts
Live Music Agent: Jon Ollier
Ticketing Company: Dice

Publisher of the Year – Singles: Sony/ATV
Publisher of the Year – Albums: Sony/ATV
Publisher of the Year – Independent: Kobalt

Music & Brand Partnership: Google/Abbey Road Studios – Inside Abbey Road Studios
Manager Of The Year: Paul McDonald & Ryan Lofthouse (Closer Artists)

Retail Brand: HMV
Independent Retailer: Banquet Records
Streaming Music Platform: Spotify

Radio Station: BBC 6 Music
Radio Show: Dermot O’Leary (BBC Radio 2)

A&R Award: Atlantic Records
Promotions Team: Atlantic Records
Sales Team: Warner Music
Label/Artist Services: ADA

Catalogue Marketing Campaign: Sony Music Commercial Group – Elvis Presley: If I Can Dream
Artist Marketing Campaign: Polydor Records – Communion by Years & Years
PR Campaign: We Care A Lot PR – Purpose by Justin Bieber

Independent Record Company: Bella Union
Record Company: XL Recordings

The Strat: Max Hole

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Friday 29 April 2016, 11:30 | By

CMU’s One Liners: Calvin Harris, Blink 182, AlunaGeorge, more

Artist News Gigs & Festivals One Liners Releases

Nick Grimshaw & Calvin Harris

Other notable announcements and developments today…

• Calvin Harris unveiled a new Rihanna collaboration, ‘This Is What You Came For’, on the Radio 1 breakfast show this morning. Here’s a clip of the track.

• Blink 182 have released a new track, ‘Bored To Death’, from their new album ‘California’, which is out on 1 Jul.

• The new AlunaGeorge tracks just keen coming. This, featuring Zhu, is ‘My Blood’.

• Becky Hill has a new track out. This is ‘Back To My Love’, featuring Little Simz.

• Former Klaxons frontman James Righton has released a track from new project Shock Machine, also called ‘Shock Machine’.

• Cat’s Eyes have released a new single, ‘Be Careful Where You Park Your Car’. They’ve also announced an album launch show at The Lexington in London on 14 Jun.

• White Lung have another new video out, ahead of the release of their new album ‘Paradise’. They’ve dressed up all formal this time, with the video for ‘Below’.

• Plaid have announced that they will release a new album, ‘The Digging Remedy’, on 10 Jun. You can find bits of lead track ‘Clock’ here.

• Kate Jackson has released the video for her single ‘The End Of Reason’. “It stars my car Mimi the BMW who is 25 years old”, says Jackson. “I wanted something to remember her by after being told last year she would never make it through another MOT! She just passed!”

• Gaika has released the video for ‘Buta’, from his new mixtape ‘Security’.

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Friday 29 April 2016, 11:25 | By

CMU Beef Of The Week #303: Beyonce v Becky With The Good Hair

And Finally Artist News Beef Of The Week

Beyonce

Beyonce released a new album last weekend. A fact you cannot have failed to notice. As release campaigns go, it was brief but perfectly formed.

Last week she released a couple of trailers for something apparently called ‘Lemonade’. All would be revealed on Saturday evening on HBO, we were told. Saturday comes round and HBO screens an hour-long musical film. Then at the end of it, hey, the new album’s up on Tidal. It appeared on iTunes on Monday too, and the rest is history.

Both the film and album are layered with meaning. Though exactly what it all means is not clear cut. To some it is an allegorical tale of the struggles of women, particularly black women, in a supposedly enlightened society. That’s quite a big thing to get your head around though, so many people seem to have just decided that it’s an autobiographical recounting of Jay-Z’s infidelity. Particularly, people have honed in on the character of “Becky with the good hair”, who gets a mention in the song ‘Sorry’.

Marital strife has been a theme in Beyonce’s work for some time, and rumours of Jay-Z’s infidelity are nothing new either. In 2014 security camera footage of Solange Knowles attacking Jay-Z in a lift leaked, she reportedly lashing out at the rapper for cheating on her sister. Rumours went so far as to name fashion director Rachel Roy, former creative director of Rocawear, as the other woman.

This week, Roy made the error of posting a photo on Instagram with the caption “Good hair don’t care” shortly after ‘Lemonade’ was released. And so she set in motion a trend that has continued through the week, of Beyonce fans en masse setting upon those they suspect of being ‘Becky’. After Roy, it was Rita Ora, who posted a picture of herself on Snapchat in a bra with two lemons printed on it. Beyonce fans also thought she was wearing a necklace with a ‘J’ on it, though it was actually an ‘R’.

Various other women have come under attack online over the course of the week, due to theories that they could have tempted Jay-Z away from his wife. And “tempted” is the word, these attacks all portray the women as the ones in the wrong, while Jay-Z himself has seemingly been left pretty much alone. Why go after the man who you are certain has caused Beyonce pain when you can guess which vague social media updates are a woman’s admission of guilt?

As for Jay-Z, if the theory that the album is all about him is true, then it’s happened with his participation. While it seems likely that some of the record’s lyrics are drawn from Beyonce’s personal experiences, it has also gone out as an exclusive on his streaming service. So he is still involved in its presentation.

Neither Jay-Z nor Beyonce have commented on any of this, so everything is speculation. Perhaps she’s feeling like a weight’s been lifted off her, having made all this public. Perhaps she’s happy that the ambiguity of her lyrics has done the work of a marketing team for her. Or perhaps she’s annoyed that a story she wrote to convey specific ideas has been boiled down to one line in one song. I don’t think it’s an accident that the film was premiered on HBO, a channel known worldwide for its reputation for making high quality drama shows.

Clearly a great deal of work has gone into this album – its themes, story and songs have been crafted, tweaked and finessed with numerous collaborators in secret, before being unveiled to the world. It likely draws on real life, but so do all great works of fiction. But many of Beyonce’s fans now seem to assume that this whole project was all just quickly thrown together off the top of her head.

The creative direction in which Beyonce was moving was first shown at the Super Bowl in February, where she first aired her Black Panthers-themed performance of ‘Formation’. Heavily influenced by the Black Lives Matter movement, it so incensed police that they threatened not to provide security for her shows – something she turned around on them by offering ‘Boycott Beyonce’ t-shirts at concerts this week, where those threats were not carried out.

As she pushes her idea of an empowered black woman, unafraid of a fight, a section of Beyonce’s fans seem to want to reduce her to a victim who needs their protection.

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Friday 29 April 2016, 11:23 | By

Vigsy’s Club Tip: Jamie Jones and EPM 15th birthday at Fabric

Club Tip CMU Approved

Jamie Jones

Saturdays at Fabric are always highly rated, and this weekend is no exception. Techno head Jamie Jones heads up the main room, with Matthew Dear bringing in a live set from his harder-leaning Audion project. This is all backed up by Craig Richards, stalwart resident of Saturday nights since the club began.

Over in Room Two, EPM will be celebrating its fifteen years in the game. To ensure it’s an all-night celebration, the team have roped in big hitter Robert Hood, Berghain’s Marcel Fengler, and Esteban Adame for a live techno set, plus the excellent House Of Black Lanterns.

Saturday 30 Apr, Fabric, 77a Charterhouse Strett, Clerkenwell, London, EC1M 3HN, 11pm-8am, £15-29. More info here.

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Thursday 28 April 2016, 10:55 | By

Ticket brokers pay over $2.7 million in fines in New York over tout bots

Business News Legal Live Business Top Stories

Ticket touts

Six ticket brokers in the US will together pay $2.76 million in fines as part of a settlement with the New York Attorney General for violating ticket selling laws in the state.

The move is seen as the start of a wider crackdown against good old ticket touting in New York State, following the previously reported publication earlier this year of the report ‘Why Can’t New Yorkers Get Tickets?’, commissioned by the state’s AG Eric T Schneiderman.

When publishing the report in January, Schneiderman said: “Ticketing is a fixed game. My office will continue to crackdown on those who break our laws, prey on ordinary consumers and deny New Yorkers affordable access to the concerts and sporting events they love”.

The six ticket brokers targeted by Schneiderman were TicketToad.com, Avery Tickets, Charm City Entertainment, All Events, Just In Time Tickets and A2Z Tix. All six were accused of selling tickets in New York State without the required licence, while all but Charm City also used so called bots in order to hoover up tickets from primary sites in order to resell them on the secondary market.

The latter point is most important with regard to the wider debate around secondary ticketing. Even some of the secondary ticketing sites have been critical of the bots employed by some touts, which are basically software that can spot when tickets are put on sale via primary sites, and then automatically buy hundreds of tickets for in-demand shows.

They do this by employing multiple logins, email addresses and credit cards, so to circumvent any restrictions on how many tickets any one customer can buy. It’s widely believed that it’s the bots that ensure in-demand events often sell out before most fans have even managed to log on to the primary ticketing site.

As part of the settlement the six ticket brokers have reached with Schneiderman, aside from paying fines of between $100,000 and $1,125,000, the companies have all committed to stop selling tickets in New York without licence, and to stop using bots to access tickets.

It’s thought that Schneiderman’s office could instigate other crackdowns against ticket touts in the coming months, with the AG saying earlier this week: “Our office will continue to enforce New York’s ticket laws by investigating ticket brokers who are breaking our laws, and making them pay for their illegal acts”.

Meanwhile, others are now wondering whether Schneiderman’s actions could have an impact beyond New York. The regulations he is enforcing mainly sit in state rather than federal law, but other states may follow his lead, both in introducing new regulations and enforcing them.

The increasingly proactive anti-tout campaigners in the UK will no doubt be looking to see if the New York Attorney General’s tactics could be employed over here to stop the flood of tickets that end up being sold at hiked up prices on the touting sites.

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Thursday 28 April 2016, 10:52 | By

Kesha’s mother drops lawsuit against Dr Luke

Artist News Business News Legal

Kesha

There’s been a further development in the ongoing legal battle between Kesha and Dr Luke. The singer’s mother has dismissed her legal action against the producer in the state of Tennessee.

As previously reported, there are various elements to the Kesha v Dr Luke litigation, with lawsuits filed in three states. Kesha Sebert accuses her long-time musical collaborator Lukasz Gottwald of plying her with drugs and alcohol and raping her as a teenager. He denies all of those allegations, and has sued both the singer and her mother for defamation, saying that the accusations were invented in a bid to force his hand in a contractual dispute.

The latest development relates to Gottwald’s litigation against Kesha’s mother Pebe. Earlier this year, the New York courts dismissed one of the producer’s lawsuits against Sebert Senior, but mainly on a jurisdiction point, because the latter successfully argued that the events covered by the action didn’t take place in New York State. That dismissal didn’t affect the separate legal action between Gottwald and Pebe Sebert in Tennessee.

In the latter case, Sebert countersued. Gottwald accused Kesha’s mother of defamation and tortious interference, while she accused him of intentional and negligent infliction of emotional distress, misrepresentations and fraudulent inducement.

Pebe Sebert has now voluntarily dismissed that countersuit. The move follows an earlier decision to part ways with Mark Geragos, the celebrity lawyer who has been leading on her daughter’s legal case of late. A legal representative for Gottwald said that “Pebe Sebert’s voluntary withdrawal of all her claims against Dr Luke is her acknowledgement that her claims are meritless”.

Various other strands of the Kesha v Dr Luke case continue, with a currently frozen case in California still having the potential to become the forum where the various allegations made by both parties are properly scrutinised in court.

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Thursday 28 April 2016, 10:50 | By

Led Zep song-theft accusers say they would settle for a dollar

Artist News Business News Legal

Led Zeppelin

The lawyers leading the litigation against Led Zeppelin over the allegations ‘Stairway To Heaven’ is a rip off of an earlier track have again stressed that the case is primarily about securing the late Randy California a credit on the Led Zep song. To that end, the lawyers say they’d be happy to settle for one dollar if that co-credit could be agreed.

Of course, a co-credit on the song would presumably equate to co-ownership of the copyright, so the dollar settlement isn’t as generous as it sounds. The Randy Craig Wolfe Trust would presumably want a cut of all future royalties generated by the famous song, as well as back payments as far as the statute of limitations on a case of this kind would allow.

As previously reported, the Zeppelin are accused of ripping off a song written by California, aka Randy Craig Wolfe. Led Zep toured with Wolfe’s band Spirit in the late 1960s which – the lawsuit claims – is when they were exposed to his song ‘Taurus’. The litigation, filed by a lawyer called Francis Malofiy on behalf of the Wolfe Trust, claims that the band then lifted elements of ‘Taurus’ when writing ‘Stairway To Heaven’.

Led Zeppers Robert Plant and Jimmy Page deny those allegations, and their lawyers successfully got the case against them streamlined earlier this week ahead of the jury trial which is scheduled for next month.

There are increasing parallels between this case and last year’s mega ‘Blurred Lines’ litigation, in that the judge has told the plaintiffs that they can only present the published version of ‘Taurus’ in court, and not recordings that contain extra bits n pieces added in the studio. It may be the extra bits n pieces where the similarities between the two songs lie.

In another parallel to the ‘Blurred Lines’ case, Plant and Page argue that any similarities between the two songs are simply common musical structures that can be found in countless works. Though the Led Zep team will be hoping that that’s where the crossovers with the ‘Blurred Lines’ case end, given that that argument ultimately failed for Robin Thicke and Pharrell Williams.

Either way, speaking after this week’s developments in the case, Malofiy told reporters: “[This case has] always been about credit where credit is due”.

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Thursday 28 April 2016, 10:48 | By

Cadet partners with Absolute Label Services

Artist News Business News Deals Labels & Publishers

Cadet

Cadet and his management company J Star Entertainment have signed a deal with Absolute Label Services. The company will administer the grime MC’s label, distribution, social media promotion and video releases.

“We’re really happy to be working with Cadet”, says Absolute’s James McGuinness. “As with many of our grime acts, he stood out as a real talent straight away and we made sure we offered a deal quickly to add him to our roster. We saw a chance to help Cadet build a platform to grow as an artist, within his own label, and keep full creative control via our label services and distribution”.

Cadet adds: “I’m incredibly excited about Absolute. We share the same vision and goals, and they have so much faith in me and my art. I literally cannot wait to see my dreams come to fruition with them”.

You missed Cadet supporting Pusha T in London last night. Sorry.

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Thursday 28 April 2016, 10:43 | By

Spotify buys CrowdAlbum

Business News Deals Digital

Spotify

Spotify has bought CrowdAlbum, a service which aggregates fan-uploaded photos and videos from live shows and then helps artists to identify their biggest fans. Or at least the ones who post the most photos and videos online. So, their stalkers, maybe.

“We’re working every day to find ways to tighten the connection between artists and their fans”, says Spotify’s VP Product Charlie Hellman of the acquisition. “The CrowdAlbum acquisition is the latest way Spotify is investing in helping artists find and engage their audiences on and off Spotify, especially around the ever important business of touring”.

CrowdAlbum’s staff will join Spotify and focus on building tools for artists, which possibly puts some doubt on the future of CrowdAlbum itself.

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Thursday 28 April 2016, 10:42 | By

A.Dot to take over 1Xtra breakfast show

Artist News Business News Media

A.Dot

BBC Radio 1Xtra has announced A.Dot as the new host of its breakfast show, making her the only woman to ever present the show without a male co-host. She moves to the early slot from weekday afternoons.

“This is unbelievable”, says A.Dot. “I can’t believe actual people are going to be waking up to my voice every day! I can’t wait to kickstart your mornings with enough music and mayhem to get you through the day. Breakfast will never be the same again!”

She continues: “Just eighteen months ago 1Xtra gave a radio rookie a Saturday afternoon show and now here I am taking the wheel on the ‘Breakfast Show’. I’m so, so grateful for this huge opportunity. I’ve never set a 5am alarm before, let’s hope I don’t sleep through it!”

Current hosts Twin B and Yasmin Evans are moving on to present their own solo shows on the station.

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Thursday 28 April 2016, 10:38 | By

CMU@TGE Previews: Drowning in data? Learn how to swim

Business News Digital Education & Events Labels & Publishers Management & Funding The Great Escape 2016

Data

We are now less than a month away from this year’s edition of new music festival The Great Escape which, once again, will feature the CMU Insights @ The Great Escape conference at the heart of its convention programme. Each day in the CMU Daily, CMU Business Editor Chris Cooke is previewing the sessions we will present this year. And today he is moving onto the full-day strand ‘Transparency! Data! Blockchain! Let’s make buzzwords happen!’

It’s all about data these days, isn’t it? Big data even. But what does that even mean? What, exactly, are we meant to be doing with all this data that floods into the music industry each day? And what about the data that we should be pumping out into the world?

We’re putting all things data into the spotlight as part of CMU Insights @ The Great Escape this year, with the main focus on music rights data, which has been the big talking point in the last year, as the industry tries to find more effective, efficient and transparent ways of processing the billions of micro-payments that are the result of the shift to streaming.

Before that, we’ll consider all the different kinds of data that the music industry is now routinely dealing with, from consumption and rights data, through to the analytics generated by socials, email lists, ticketing and even piracy. The aim, though, is to not just review the different sets of data artists, labels, publishers, collecting societies, managers, promoters and agents now deal with, but also to consider practical ways to make use of all that information.

To that end we’ll kickstart the data strand with four online platforms presenting the data they make available to the industry, and then – for each service – a music client who explains how they are making use of that information, with practical tips on how to get the most out of the analytics that have just been previewed.

‘Drowning in data? Learn how to swim’ takes place at 10.45am on Thursday 19 May, with Jessie Scoullar of Wicksteed Works overseeing the proceedings, and Spotify, Muso and Bandcamp amongst those showcasing their data systems and tools.

Find out more about the full-day data strand here. TGE delegates get access to all of CMU Insights @ The Great Escape and all the other festivities that take place over the three days of the festival – passes are £230 and available here. This year tickets are also available for just the convention side of the proceedings for £100 and those can be bought here.

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Thursday 28 April 2016, 10:35 | By

Bank appointed to oversee Prince’s estate

Artist News Business News Legal

Prince

The administration of Prince’s estate will be handled by Bremer Bank in Minnesota, a local judge ruled yesterday.

As previously reported, the musician’s sister filed legal papers earlier this week requesting a court appointed special administrator to oversee her brother’s estate, after it emerged that he left no will. It was she who suggested Bremer, the bank that Prince had used for many years.

The Bremer Trust will “preserve the estate and secure its proper administration until a general personal representative is appointed by the Registrar or by the Court”, according to documents obtained by People.

The Trust has also been tasked with locating all of Prince’s heirs, whom will likely receive an equal distribution of his assets. This includes his sister Tyka, plus five half siblings. The musician had no known children, his son Boy Gregory having died of rare skull defect Pfeiffer syndrome at just a week old.

Meanwhile, in the ongoing investigation into Prince’s death last week, Minnesota law enforcers have now reportedly called in the Drug Enforcement Agency for help. NBC cites officials as saying that prescription drugs had been found in the musician’s possession when he died. The DEA’s role at this stage would be to ascertain what drugs he had obtained and where they came from.

This follows claims on TMZ that Prince had taken the medication Percocet for several years to relieve pain in his hips. Having first reported rumours that the reason Prince’s private jet made an emergency landing earlier this month was because he had overdosed on the drug, the website is now reporting that he had a “long-standing addiction” to the pain relief medication.

As previously reported, Prince’s lawyer L Londell McMillan disputed these rumours earlier this week, saying that the musician was “not on any drugs that would be any cause for concern”.

Elsewhere, Prince’s former backing band The Revolution have announced that they are reuniting for a tour in tribute to their former frontman.

“We have decided, after spending three or four days together now grieving over the loss of Prince, that we would like to come out and do some shows”, says guitarist Wendy Melvoin in a video statement. “We want to let you know that we’ll be there soon”.

This will be the first time the ‘Purple Rain’ era line-up of the group have all performed together since 2003, when they regrouped for a Sheila E organised charity event, the Family Jamm.

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Thursday 28 April 2016, 10:32 | By

CMU’s One Liners: Tegan & Sara, Steve Aoki, Kygo, more

Artist News Gigs & Festivals One Liners Releases

Tegan & Sara

Other notable announcements and developments today…

• Tegan & Sara’s new single ‘Boyfriend’ now has a video for you to watch.

• Steve Aoki, Felix Jaehn and Adam Lambert made a track together, and now it has a video.

• Kygo will release his new album ‘Cloud 9’ on 13 May. And he’s headlining Wireless on 10 Jul. It’s all go.

• Ladyhawke has released a new track from her incoming new album ‘Wild Things’. This is ‘Dangerous’.

• Broen will release new EP ‘Yoga’ on 6 May. From it, this is ‘No, My God’.

• Sløtface have released a new video, filmed at a protest against the dumping of chemical waste into a Norwegian fjord.

• Newcomer Mhairi has released the video for her debut single ‘Crystalline’. Shot in Indonesia, it aims to raise awareness of the practice of shackling people with mental health issues in the country.

• Blonde Bunny will play The Moth Club in Hackney on 3 May. Check out recent-ish single ‘Loreta’ here.

• You know how joyful it is to see a music video so clever that you don’t understand how it works at all? It can only be topped by the joy of not having to listen to an OK Go song while you watch it. So, here you go, watch J-pop outfit Lyrical School’s video for ‘Run & Run’ on your iPhone.

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Thursday 28 April 2016, 10:25 | By

Which direction? Judge admits he’s never heard of boyband

And Finally Artist News Business News Legal

One Direction

Three people were found guilty of profiting from the sale on eBay of counterfeit One Direction t-shirts this week. All received prison sentences, despite the judge overseeing the case having no idea who they were ripping off.

“Don’t be surprised to hear that I have not heard of [One Direction]”, said Judge Lawrie, at Plymouth Crown Court, as the case got underway earlier this week. “I am more of a Bach man myself”.

“They are absolutely huge. They are collectively worth about £70 million”, said Nick Lewin, the barrister for one of the accused, failing to heed the judge’s warning not to be surprised. He added: “If you have not heard any of their music, then your honour is definitely blessed”.

Now fully aware of the scale of One Direction’s success and therefore the value of their trademarks, Lawrie found Lewin’s client – and the other two defendants – guilty of selling goods bearing false trademarks. The defendants seemingly ran their fake t-shirt operation for three years and netted around £140,000 from it, according to the Plymouth Herald.

While defending his client, Lewin had argued that the items sold were of good quality and received great feedback from the eBayers who bought them. But, while good buyer feedback is everything in the world of eBay, it means little in the courtroom. So the judge handed out prison sentences of between eight and sixteen months to the three sellers.

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Thursday 28 April 2016, 09:59 | By

Approved: Amanda Mair

CMU Approved

Amanda Mair

Amanda Mair released her debut album in 2012 to much pointing and saying ‘this is good’. Then, so the story goes, she just disappeared. Which isn’t strictly true because, well, it’s just not true. She toured, she recorded, she released an EP with her band Vo PAM. But the point is, she is now properly back, and has wiped any trace of her past history from SoundCloud and YouTube in celebration.

History is unimportant though. Let’s live in the now, people. And the now is ‘Wednesday’. Yes, I know Wednesday was yesterday, but if you’re going to get picky about things like that, you might start noticing that this track has been around for two weeks already and the whole façade of this approved song being brand new and totally ‘now’ will come crumbling down.

‘Wednesday’ – the record ‘Wednesday’ just released by the recording artist Amanda Mair – is a strong electronic ballad, which cuts a through line to but marks a step up from the naïve indie-pop sound of her debut album. It’s taken from a forthcoming EP, which is still in the works, and has a very good video, which you can watch 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 27 April 2016, 10:48 | By

Judge strips back Led Zep plagiarism trial

Artist News Business News Legal Top Stories

Led Zeppelin

The judge overseeing the Led Zeppelin plagiarism case has dismissed various elements of the proceedings ahead of the scheduled jury hearing that is due to take place next month, mainly to the advantage of the accused Led Zeppers Jimmy Page and Robert Plant.

As previously reported, Led Zeppelin are accused of ripping off a song by Randy Craig Wolfe, aka Randy California, for their classic track ‘Stairway To Heaven’. Led Zep toured with Wolfe’s band Spirit in the late 1960s which – the lawsuit claims – is when they were exposed to his song ‘Taurus’. The litigation, filed by a lawyer called Francis Malofiy on behalf of a trust that benefits from the late Wolfe’s estate, claims that the band then lifted elements of ‘Taurus’ when writing ‘Stairway To Heaven’.

Earlier this month the judge hearing the case decided that there were sufficient similarities between the two songs to allow the dispute to go to a jury trial. Though, in a pre-trial hearing this week, the judge plonked a load of limitations on what will be presented and debated in court. Most of the restrictions are on the plaintiff.

Perhaps most importantly, the judge has ruled that only those elements of Wolfe’s songs contained within the published music as filed with the US copyright office – and not extra elements that appear in recorded performances of the work – can be presented in court.

A similar ruling was made ahead of last year’s ‘Blurred Lines’ trial, and it means Malofiy won’t be able to play a bunch of recordings he planned to play in court. And, perhaps more problematically, it means the expert musicologist testimonies he has so far filed are mainly invalid, because they are based on the recordings rather than the sheet music. The plaintiffs now have five days to submit alternative expert testimonies.

Elsewhere, the judge said plaintiffs can’t list other allegations of plagiarism made against Led Zep, nor will they be able to chat about the band members’ past use of drugs and alcohol, something that may have been used to throw doubt on Page’s recollection from way back when that he had definitely not heard ‘Taurus’ before writing ‘Stairway To Heaven’.

On other side of the equation, the defence were told they can’t question the validity of the Rand Craig Wolfe Trust, which is leading on the lawsuit, but that they will be allowed to argue that the copyright in ‘Taurus’ is actually owned by Wolfe’s son.

The other big bit of news this week is that neither Page nor Plant plan to testify during the trial, because as UK citizens the courts cannot force them. Previously recorded depositions will likely be played though.

Unless a settlement can be reached, the case should kick off on 10 May.

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Wednesday 27 April 2016, 10:46 | By

Apple Music passes thirteen million subscribers

Business News Digital

Apple Music

Apple Music has now passed thirteen million users, Apple CEO Tim Cook said yesterday. The announcement of an addition of two million subscribers to its music streaming service since February came as the company announced its first decline in revenues since 2003.

The music service, as part of a collection of services the company now offers, was held up as a positive in the quarterly earnings announcement. While overall revenues are down, service revenues are up 20%, said Cook.

Launched last June, Apple Music had reached eleven million subscribers by August, according to Apple exec Eddy Cue at the time. That figure had reportedly dropped to ten million in January, presumably due to people who signed up for the three-month trial at launch choosing not to begin paying for it.

With the service back into growth again, that issue would seem to have stabilised. However, with the service pre-loaded on hundreds of millions of iPhones, it could be said that Apple appears to be struggling to convince most people to even sign up for a free trial.

Main rival Spotify is growing at a faster rate still, having added ten million paying subscribers to its service between June 2015 and March this year. And, although still much smaller, Tidal is also increasing the rate at which it signs up users. It recently revealed that it had pulled in two million users between November 2015 and March.

The majority of Tidal’s new subscribers are likely to have come to the service this year, thanks to the Rihanna and Kanye West exclusives, which could mean it is getting closer to Apple Music’s average of roughly one million new users per month. Of course, playing the exclusives game, especially when those are only temporary, probably means a higher churn rate of free trial users who lapse, but it’s still closer to Apple Music’s growth than would perhaps have been expected.

Nevertheless, Apple Music is still the second biggest on-demand subscription streaming service in the world, and it’s growing. And like all Apple content services, it has the benefit of not needing to become particularly profitable, unlike rivals, because its key reason for existing is to sell hardware. That said, if it becomes a trend that Apple’s hardware revenues continue to fall and service revenues continue rise, that could all change.

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Wednesday 27 April 2016, 10:45 | By

CMU@TGE Previews: What if YouTube actually is the future?

Business News Digital Education & Events The Great Escape 2016

YouTube

We are now less than a month away from this year’s edition of new music festival The Great Escape which, once again, will feature the CMU Insights @ The Great Escape conference at the heart of its convention programme. Each day in the CMU Daily, CMU Business Editor Chris Cooke is previewing the sessions we will present this year.

So far we have outlined details of the strand ‘What if YouTube actually is the future?’, which will include sessions looking at the rather contentious YouTube licensing debates that are ongoing, at how artists and labels can get the very most out of the Google platform, at what kind of video content works best online, and at the new entertainment industry which is evolving around YouTube talent.

Before we move onto looking at another strand tomorrow, we can today reveal the final few speakers confirmed for the YouTube programme, which will take place in Dukes @ Komedia 2 on Thursday 19 May, hosted by Brittney Bean of Tracks 2.

Also presenting his take on what makes music-based video really work online will be founder and chief of the excellent Mahogany Sessions, Mark Murdoch, while joining the ‘Meet the YouTubers’ session is spoken word artist Suli Breaks alongside one of his business partners, Laura Allington from content marketing agency Kameleon.

And earlier in the day YouTube’s EMEA Head Of Music Partnerships, Candice Morrissey, will take to the stage to discuss all the latest product developments on the platform. Click here for an outline of the full YouTube and video strand.

TGE delegates get access to all of CMU Insights @ The Great Escape and all the other festivities that take place over the three days of the festival – passes are £230 and available here. This year tickets are also available for just the convention side of the proceedings for £100 and those can be bought here.

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Wednesday 27 April 2016, 10:44 | By

Court documents reveal Prince left no will, former lawyer denies drug misuse rumours

Artist News Legal

Prince

Prince’s sister Tyka Nelson has filed court papers petitioning for a special administrator to oversee his estate, according to Reuters. This is apparently due to the musician not preparing a will before he died last week.

As previously noted, it was not clear at the time of Prince’s death who would manage his estate, as he had no spouse or children to immediately take it on. She has requested a court appointed administrator to oversee her brother’s sizeable business interests (proposing Bremer Bank in Minnesota) while she asks to be appointed to probate his estate.

The exact size of the estate is not clear – estimates of up to $250 million have been made – though court documents show that he had $27 million in property.

It is the fate of his music that will be of most interest to many, and without a will to stipulate how this should be managed in his death, it is unclear what will now happen to it.

The musician very strictly controlled his recordings, of course, routinely forcing even Vine clips offline, and latterly keeping his catalogue off all streaming services other than Tidal. Whether an executor, possibly looking to maximise the income from the estate, would hold to these principals remains to be seen.

Meanwhile, Prince’s lawyer L Londell McMillan has disputed rumours that the musician had been treated for an overdose of prescription drugs shortly before his death, saying that he was “not on any drugs that would be any cause for concern”.

As previously reported, Prince’s private jet made an emergency landing while returning to Minnesota from shows in Atlanta earlier this month. Hours later he left hospital in Illinois and continued his journey. Less than a week later his body was found in a lift at his Paisley Park home.

TMZ subsequently reported, based on information from unnamed sources, that the emergency landing and hospital treatment came after the musician overdosed on pain medication Percocet. But McMillan told People that he spoke to Prince on the Sunday before he died and nothing seemed untoward: “He said he was doing perfect. He said, ‘OK, I’ll call you soon'”.

“People use medication”, he added, noting that Prince was a vegan and known for living a clean lifestyle. “The question is, are you on meds in a dangerous way? Everybody who knows Prince knows he wasn’t walking around drugged up. That’s foolish. No one ever saw Prince and said, ‘He looks high’. It wasn’t what he was about”.

It remains unclear exactly what caused Prince’s death, with the results of a post-mortem not expected for several weeks.

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Wednesday 27 April 2016, 10:42 | By

Kid Rock issues statement on death of assistant

Artist News

Kid Rock

Kid Rock has said that he is “beyond devastated” after his assistant Michael Sacha was killed in an apparent quad bike accident at his home.

According to The Tennessean, Sacha had been ferrying guests who had spent the evening at Kid Rock’s home in Whites Creek, Tennessee to a taxi. On his way back to the property he seemingly lost control of the vehicle and was deceased before emergency services arrived.

In a statement, Kid Rock said: “He was a member of our family and one of the greatest young men I have ever had the pleasure to not only work with, but also to become friends with. I know I speak for us all in sharing my deepest condolences to his family. I cannot imagine how they must feel”.

“We’ve already been contacted by the press asking if it was me who was in the accident, so I want to stop any rumours before they spread”, he continued. “I’m asking everyone to please respect our and his families’ privacy in this difficult time. RIP Mike. We will never forget you, my friend”.

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Wednesday 27 April 2016, 10:38 | By

Ólafur Arnalds adds to LateNightTales compilation series

Artist News Releases

Ólafur Arnalds

Ólafur Arnalds has curated the latest ‘LateNightTales’ compilation, which is due for release on 24 Jun. As well as two new compositions by Arnalds himself, he’s also recorded a cover of Destiny’s Child’s ‘Say My Name’ with Arnór Dan for it.

As well as the three exclusives from Arnalds, there are also previously unreleased contributions from Odesza, Kiasmos and David Tennant, who provides the compilation’s now traditional spoken word closer.

“When I was asked to do the next installation of the LateNightTales series I thought, ‘This will be fun and easy, only a couple of days work. No problem'”, say Arnalds. “Six months later, I was still pulling my hair out in some kind of quest to make the perfect mix”.

He continues: “As someone who has never really done mixes before, I learned a lot of things along the way and the whole experience was very inspiring. I decided to approach the mix in a similar way as I would one of my scores. This is the soundtrack of my life. I included songs from many of my friends and collaborators and tried to deliver a mix that represents who I am as an artist and where my influences are coming from – both personally and musically”.

Here’s the full tracklist:

1. Hjálmar Lárusson and Jónbjörn Gíslason – Jómsvíkingarímur – Ýta Eigi Feldi Rór
2. Julianna Barwick – Forever
3. Koreless – Last Remnants
4. Odesza – How Did I Get Here (Instrumental) (Late Night Tales Exclusive)
5. Anois – A Noise
6. Samaris – Góða Tungl
7. Ólafur Arnalds – RGB (Late Night Tales Exclusive)
8. Rival Consoles – Pre
9. Four Tet – Lion (Jamie xx Remix)
10. Jai Paul – Jasmine
11. James Blake – Our Love Comes Back
12. Spooky Black – Pull
13. Ólafur Arnalds feat Arnór Dan – Say My Name (Exclusive Cover Version)
14. Sarah Neufeld & Colin Stetson – And Still They Move
15. Kiasmos – Orgoned (Late Night Tales Exclusive)
16. Ólafur Arnalds – Kinesthesia I (Late Night Tales Exclusive)
17. Hjaltalín – Etheral
18. David Tennant – Undone (Exclusive Spoken Word)

Listen to ‘Kinesthesia I’ by Ólafur Arnalds here:

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Wednesday 27 April 2016, 10:34 | By

McFly announce Anthology tour

Artist News Gigs & Festivals

McFly

McFly are at a bit of a loose end what with Busted getting back together for that reunion tour, but now they’ve got a tour of their own to look forward to. Which is nice.

Branded the ‘Anthology’ tour, it will see the band perform tracks from all five of their albums across three nights in four cities around the UK. The first night of each run will be devoted entirely to their 2004 debut, ‘Room On The Third Floor’. The second will then deal with ‘Wonderland’ and ‘Motion In The Ocean’, and the third ‘Radioactive’ and ‘Above The Noise’.

Tickets go on sale this Friday. Here are the dates:

16 Jun: Glasgow, Academy
17 Jun: Glasgow, Academy
18 Jun: Glasgow, Academy
20 Jun: Birmingham, Academy
21 Jun: Birmingham, Academy
22 Jun: Birmingham, Academy
24 Jun: Manchester, Academy
25 Jun: Manchester, Academy
26 Jun: Manchester, Academy
28 Jun: London, The Forum
29 Jun: London, The Forum
30 Jun: London, The Forum

Here’s a video thingy:

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