Tuesday 31 October 2017, 12:33 | By

Siri won’t play Spotify tunes on Apple’s new HomePod

Business News Digital Top Stories

Apple Homepod

While Alexa is more than happy to play any old nonsense from your Spotify library – if you really insist – Siri thinks Spotify is a big fat bunch of shit and won’t sully herself by streaming dumb tunes that originate within that monumental fuck fest. Not my words ladies and gentlemen, but the words of Siri herself. By which, I mean, Apple isn’t allowing other music apps to integrate with Siri on its new HomePod device.

As previously reported, Apple is getting ready to go head-to-head with Amazon and Google in a bid to own the about-to-boom voice-activated-internet-connected-box-that-does-useful-stuff market, or the VAICBTDUS market for short. Like both Amazon’s Echo and the Google Home device, Apple’s HomePod will do an assortment of things whenever you shout orders at it, including playing some tunes, if only to drown out all the shouting.

Both Amazon and Google have their own streaming platforms to push, of course, and so their respective voice-activated devices default to their own services. And that’s provides an opportunity for both web giants to grow their proprietary music set-ups, with Amazon – in particular – potentially primed to become a significant player in the streaming music market on the back of its activity in this space.

However, both companies have allowed the likes of Spotify to also fully integrate with their devices. So that, if you the user so chooses, they can say “hey Alexa” or “hey Google” and have music play on Spotify rather than Amazon Music Unlimited or Google Play Music.

Apple’s HomePod pushes its music playing abilities to the fore, with the higher audio quality of its in-built speaker one of the justifications for the device being more expensive than the Echo or Google Home. But if you want to listen to your music by shouting “hey Siri”, you’ll only be able to stream tracks from Apple Music.

Apple yesterday posted an update for third party developers on how to get their apps working with Siri on its soon-to-launch HomePod device. However, initially HomePod Siri integration will only be available to apps that provide services classified as messaging, lists and notes. Which excludes rather a lot, including – of course – Apple’s biggest rival in the streaming music business, Spotify.

This isn’t an especially surprising development, given that apps which compete with Apple Music can’t integrate with Siri on other Apple devices. And, as noted, Apple more than its competitors plans to push HomePod as a music player, but only an Apple Music player. Indeed, in its update for developers Apple describes the HomePod as “the powerful speaker that sounds amazing … and provides instant access to Apple Music”.

For its part, Apple stresses – to you, me and any anti-trust lawyers reading – that other music apps can play on the HomePod, they just won’t be integrated with Siri, meaning you’ll control the app via an iPad or iPhone using the Airplay feature, as you would with other wireless speakers. Though given that voice control is at the heart of these new devices, the “fuck you Spotify” from Siri is arguably significant.

Of course, making it less convenient for users to use their streaming service of choice on your new device is a gamble – will it make your own streaming platform more attractive or your already-more-expensive VAICBTDUS device less attractive? We’ll see, I guess.

Asked about the confirmation from Apple that Siri integration won’t be available to third party music services on HomePod, for now at least, a spokesperson for Spotify told Business Insider: “We are always working to have Spotify available across all platforms, but we don’t have any further information to share at this time”.

Elsewhere in Spotify news, according to a recent Companies House filing, Spotify’s UK business saw subscription and advertising revenues rise in 2016, while the number of monthly active users rose to 7.1 million, of which 2.8 million were paying subscribers. Which is quite a lot of users. “Fuck them all to hell”, said Siri in a statement last night.

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Tuesday 31 October 2017, 12:32 | By

Travis Scott sued over balcony fall at New York gig

Artist News Legal Live Business

Travis Scott

Rapper Travis Scott has been sued by a fan who was injured after falling off a balcony at a New York show back in April. Lawyers for Kyle Green say that Scott and his team did not properly manage the crowd at the concert and failed to administer first aid after their client had been clearly injured.

According to reports, some fans at the April show – allegedly encouraged by Scott – began jumping from the balcony at New York’s Terminal 5 venue into the arms of audience members below in a form of extreme crowd surfing. Green says that that activity resulted in the crowd on the balcony, where he was standing, surging forward, knocking him over the railing onto the floor below.

After his fall, Scott then seemingly encouraged security at the venue to bring Green to the stage, where he presented the injured fan with a ring. But instead of following Scott’s bizarre requests from the stage, Green’s reps argue, security should have been administering emergency first aid to the injured gig-goer and calling an ambulance.

The New York Post quotes Green as saying: “I fell and hit the floor. Before I knew it, I was surrounded by security guards, who scooped me up. Travis Scott was yelling at his security guards to bring me to the stage. They didn’t put a backboard or a neck brace on me or anything, they just kinda lifted me up and pulled me around. Then they dropped me in front of the stage. I was in a lot of pain. I just laid there, and finally, an ambulance came”.

Green, who was a student at the time, says that the fall resulted in a fractured vertebrae, broken left wrist and fractured right ankle, injuries that left him paralysed on his left side. He has now left college and is living which his family, requiring a wheelchair to get around.

In a lawsuit filed with the New York courts, Green says that the venue should have known that Scott “had incited mayhem and chaos at prior events”, and should have been prepared to deal with such a situation. His lawyer adds, “[there was] no crowd control, so that the crowd was able to push him over the ledge, and then, to add insult to injury, he winds up not even being given basic and routine first aid. Clearly, had he been given [the aid], he wouldn’t have wound up paralysed”.

Neither Scott nor Terminal 5 have as yet responded to the lawsuit.

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Tuesday 31 October 2017, 12:31 | By

Copyright owners pursue the most claims through the High Court

Business News Labels & Publishers Legal

PPL

In these uncertain times in which we live I think we’ve all worried at various moments about the future job security of our judges, so hurrah for the copyright industries for ensuring that the High Court in London remains busy.

According to law firm RPC, which has been doing some counting, the three leading claimants in the High Court in the year up to 31 Mar 2017 were all in the business of copyright. And two of them music copyright.

Leading the way by bringing a massive 106 cases to court was the UK record industry’s collecting society PPL, while its counterpart in music publishing, PRS, came in third with 27 cases. The Football Association is in second place having filed 39 cases, mainly seeking to protect its intellectual property rights against those illegally accessing or airing footage of football matches.

PPL, of course, grants licences on behalf of artists and record labels to those seeking to exploit the ‘performing rights’ of the sound recording copyright, which mainly means broadcasters and any business that plays recorded music in a public space.

Performing rights income – long a key revenue stream for songwriters and music publishers – became a much higher priority for the record industry as CD sales slumped in the early 2000s and record companies started to chase every single penny they were due. As a result PPL became much more proactive in enforcing its members rights. And, according to the figures put out by RPC, it remains pretty damn prolific today.

Says the law firm’s Ciara Cullen: “Legal action can be an effective way for music companies and their representatives to recoup some of the money lost from reduced sales from the digitalisation of music content”.

She adds: “Pubs, restaurants and nightclubs can be easier to pursue for potential copyright infringement than other culprits such as illegal file sharing websites that tend to be based off-shore. Not only do the considerable damages make the process of going to court worth it for record labels or performers, but they can also help to act as a deterrent for other offenders”.

So well done PPL on your litigious achievements. Why not sue someone to celebrate?

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Tuesday 31 October 2017, 12:28 | By

Universal Music allies with VR/AR firm

Business News Digital Labels & Publishers

Universal Music

Universal Music has announced an alliance with Within, an LA-based start-up specialising in VR and its more interesting sibling AR, with the promise of “multiple immersive experiences” involving the mega-major’s artists. And who doesn’t like immersive experiences? Get immersed as much as you can, I say. These immersive experiences will be available within Within, the tech firm’s proprietary app.

Says Within CEO Chris Milk: “Music is one of the most uniquely transformative mediums of human expression; combining it with immersive AR and VR experiences creates a new artform exponentially more powerful than the sum of its parts. This partnership allows us the incredible opportunity to work with top artists at Universal Music to create ever more meaningful and expressive immersive music experiences”.

Adds Universal Music’s Michele Anthony: “We are huge admirers of Chris’s innovative and creative work in music and VR, as well as the premium experiences Within offers to music fans. Working with our labels and artists, Universal Music has produced numerous VR experiences and this agreement will help evolve our strategy. Together, Universal Music and Within will push the boundaries of how audiences experience music and create new ways for artists to forge deeper connections with their fans”.

So get ready to be meaningfully transformed, exponentially immersed, expressively pushed and deeply connected. I think. I don’t know. I kinda tuned out. VR, woo!

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Tuesday 31 October 2017, 12:25 | By

Chrysalis acquires more recordings as part of Warner’s indie offload

Business News Deals Labels & Publishers

Chrysalis Records

Warner Music is still digging around the back of its big cupboard of musical delights looking for some dusty relics it can offload to meet the commitments it made to the indie label community back in the days when at least five people remembered what EMI was. And to that end it’s just biked over five more artist catalogues to the all new Chrysalis.

Which means that tracks made by The Swinging Blue Jeans, Dario G, Lucinda Williams, Grant Lee Buffalo and Toumani Diabaté that were previously controlled by Warner Music are now part of the new Chrysalis recordings repertoire. Quick, someone update the music industry’s global rights database so every music user is fully up to speed. Oh, yeah, we forgot to make that database. OK, let’s just write it in crayon on the wall.

As much previously reported, when Universal Music bought the EMI record company in 2012, competition regulators forced it to sell off a chunk of the former British major’s European assets, in particular the Parlophone label. Warner Music bought most of those assets, and reached a deal with the indie label community to avoid running into its own issues with the European competition regulators. At the heart of that deal was a commitment to sell off a certain amount of catalogue to the indie label sector.

It was as a result of that arrangement that newish music company Blue Raincoat was able to acquire the old Chrysalis Records brand and much of the former label’s UK catalogue, allowing it to restore Chrysalis as an active indie record company. The all-new Chrysalis has since expanded its recordings repertoire with further acquisitions from Warner, polishing off various musical relics with a view to better exploiting the shiny classic tracks that are sitting underneath the dust.

Commenting on the latest acquisitions, Chrysalis Records boss Jeremy Lascelles said: “Not by intention, but I don’t think we could have come up with a much more eclectic selection of artists to add to the Chrysalis roster”.

He went on: “But all of them – from Lucinda Williams, one of my own personal favourite artists of the past couple of decades, to the wonderful world music sounds of Toumani Diabaté – are giants in their respective areas of music. It’s also a joy to add classic hit songs like ‘Hippy Hippy Shake’ and ‘Sunchyme’ to our catalogue. I am proud to include all these great artists on the Chrysalis Records label”.

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Tuesday 31 October 2017, 12:23 | By

V Festival is dead, new party to be launched on its grave

Business News Gigs & Festivals Live Business

V Festival

Hooray! Our least favourite live music event, V Festival, is no more. Well, sort of. After 22 years, Virgin has decided to stop sponsoring the twin-site crap funnel. Live Nation’s Festival Republic has said that the event will lumber on under a different name. I would buy a ticket to a new party billed as a place where you could dance on the grave of V, FYI.

Announcing the decision to stop putting his company’s name to the annual pit of misery, Richard Branson says that it is important “to keep innovating and changing things up”, so Virgin will now look for “new ways we can disrupt the [music] industry”. Maybe he could launch a streaming service where every track you listen to is somehow tweaked to give you a nagging sense that you’ve made a terrible mistake.

“V Festival has always been a special weekend for everyone at Virgin”, writes Branson, which seems incredibly unlikely. “Being part of V Festival has been an honour and there are some amazing moments that will stay with me forever – including introducing Paul Weller and welcoming V2 Records’ first signing The Stereophonics to a massive audience”.

See, even he can’t think of anything that good about it.

Launched in 1996, taking place in Victoria Park in Warrington and Hylands Park in Chelmsford, the first event was headlined by Paul Weller and Pulp – the twin site idea having been developed from an idea by Jarvis Cocker. So it’s basically his fault.

For its second year, the Northern site moved to Temple Newsam outside Leeds, before settling in Weston Park in Staffordshire, which isn’t even all that Northern. What will now be the final edition of V Festival as we know it took place in August, headlined by Jay-Z and Pink.

Goodbye V Festival. I’m not sure if it came across in this article, but we weren’t really fans.

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Tuesday 31 October 2017, 12:20 | By

Speakers confirmed for CMU Insights session at We Are Robots

Business News Education & Events

We Are Robots

The first edition of new London-based festival We Are Robots kicks off on Thursday, with four days of shows, discussions, workshops and installations in and around the Truman Brewery complex.

The first day includes a conference aimed at the music community including discussions about the future of music radio, music production and interactive entertainment.

That will be topped off with a session led by CMU Insights looking at the impact new technology is having on the live music sector, in terms of marketing and ticketing, the fan experience during the show, and how live events can be shared and broadcast beyond the venue.

Confirmed to take part in that conversation at 4.30pm on Thursday are Russ Tannen from Dice, Arianna Power from Boiler Room, Ruari Frew from Vice and Ami Lord from Standon Calling. CMU’s Chris Cooke will moderate.

For more information about We Are Robots, click here.

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Tuesday 31 October 2017, 12:18 | By

Tom Calvert, aka Redinho, releases new solo album

Artist News Releases

Tom Calvert - Zanbor

Producer Tom Calvert, also known as Redinho, has announced a new solo release, ‘Zanbor’, following on from his work producing the debut album by Swet Shop Boys. Influenced by Iraqi folk music and Arabic instruments, the album comes accompanied by a short film directed by Abdullah Al-wali and Susannah George.

“I’ve tried to make this record as much a moment in time as possible, aiming to make a beat a day in December 2016 and resisting urges to edit”, says Calvert. “This was to avoid analysis paralysis, perfectionism, and give it a punk feel. I also wanted the record to sound lo-fi, as if it’s a dusty artefact found in the rubble. Much of the sounds were run through a space echo emulator and this gave it an atmosphere that felt relevant”.

The album is out now, via Customs, the new label set up by Calvery with Swet Shop Boys’ Riz MC and Heems.

Watch the ‘Zanbor’ short film here:

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Tuesday 31 October 2017, 12:14 | By

Frightened Rabbit announce Midnight Organ Fight tenth anniversary shows

Artist News Gigs & Festivals

Frightened Rabbit

Frightened Rabbit have announced a series of shows next year to mark the tenth anniversary of their second album, ‘The Midnight Organ Fight’.

With debut LP ‘Sing The Greys’ effectively a solo project from frontman Scott Hutchinson, 2008’s ‘The Midnight Organ Fight was their first record as a band, and received high acclaim.

“If you are one of those souls who was around when ‘The Midnight Organ Fight’ was first released, coming to watch us scrap our way through those songs as we toured the album and ourselves into the ground, you may be interested to learn that it all happened nearly ten years ago”, say the band. “To mark the anniversary, we’ll be playing a few shows performing ‘TMOF’ in its entirety”.

Tickets go on sale to the band’s mailing list tomorrow, then on general sale on Friday. The UK run of shows is as follows:

15 Mar: Manchester, Ritz
16 Mar: London, The Forum
17 Mar: Glasgow, Academy

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Tuesday 31 October 2017, 12:12 | By

Independent Festival Awards handed out

Awards Business News Gigs & Festivals Live Business

Independent Festival Awards

The Independent Festival Awards took place last night at the Festival Congress conference in Cardiff. Hosted by Glastonbury’s Ben Challis, the big winner of the night was Secret Garden Party, which took home two prizes, following its final edition this summer.

“The Independent Festival Awards was an outstanding celebration”, says the Association Of Independent Festivals’ Paul Reed. “It is always a tough call with such a strong shortlist and this reflects the abundance of creativity and imagination fuelling this inspiring and growing sector. Congratulations to all of the winners and nominees”.

He added: “As we look towards the next phase of the Congress and Sheffield in 2018, this has topped off a phenomenal four years in Cardiff”. Oh yes, AIF also announced yesterday that its annual Festival Congress will move to Sheffield next year. So now you know that too.

And here are the winners of the Independent Festival Awards:

Unique Festival Arena: Womb With A View at Shambala

Best Smart Marketing: Secret Garden Party’s VIP/Celebrity Obsession Theme

Live Act Of The Year: Idles

Mind Blowing Spectacle: Nozstock The Hidden Valley’s Closing Festival Fire Show

Festival Caterer Of The Year: Happy Maki

New Festival On The Block: Aespia

Act Of Independence: Greenbelt Festival

Pioneer Award: Freddie Fellowes – Secret Garden Party

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Tuesday 31 October 2017, 12:08 | By

One Liners: Shane McAnally, Sia, Amanda Palmer, more

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

Sia

Other notable announcements and developments today…

• Kobalt has announced a new deal with country songwriter Shane McAnally to administrate his song rights worldwide. It sees McAnally continue his relationship with the music firm, which also provides services to his SmackSongs company. Jesse Willoughby, GM of Kobalt Nashville, “couldn’t be more excited”. I bet he could. Just a little.

• Live company DHP Family has made three promotions. Kelly Bennaton becomes Head Of Marketing, Sophie Power becomes Head Of Creative, and Anwyn Williams takes on the role of Marketing Manager. “I’m delighted that we have been able to turn to the talent we have working within the company to fill these three roles”, says MD George Akins.

• Sia has released ominous sounding new single ‘Santa’s Coming For Us’. The track is taken from her new Christmas album, ‘Every Day Is Christmas’, out on 17 Nov.

• Amanda Palmer has released new single, ‘In Harm’s Way’. It will be released on seven-inch vinyl on 17 Nov, with 10% of profits going to the Because We Carry charity. Palmer will also play a show at London’s Union Chapel on 16 Nov, which will be broadcast via her website.

• Steve Mason and Martin Duffy have announced that they will release an EP under the name Alien Stadium on 1 Dec titled ‘Livin In Elizabethan Times’. Here’s the first track to be released from it, ‘This One’s For The Humans’.

• They Might Be Giants will release new album, ‘I Like Fun’, on 19 Jan. From it, this is new single ‘I Left My Body’.

• A new seven LP vinyl boxset of Fela Kuti albums curated by Erykah Badu is to be released on 15 Dec. It’ll feature personal essays written by Erykah Badu and in-depth commentaries by Afrobeat historian Chris May. From the box, here’s ‘Coffin For Head Of State Part 2’, with commentary from May.

• Katie Von Schleicher has released the video for new single ‘Midsummer’, ahead of UK tour dates which start this week.

• Colour have released the video for new single ‘Minus’.

• Rocheman has announced that he will release his debut album on 1 Dec. Here’s new single, ‘Pestle Pusher’.

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

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Tuesday 31 October 2017, 12:02 | By

Everyone’s still angry that Fox News doesn’t like Radiohead

And Finally Artist News Media

Radiohead

Fox News has found a way to get people outside its traditional audience talking about it. And boy is it laying it on thick. Now look at us here, falling right into the trap. Again.

This all dates back to earlier this month and an edition of the news channel’s low budget late night talk show ‘The Greg Gutfeld Show’. On it, reporter Kat Timpf claimed that Radiohead had been nominated for induction into the Rock N Rock Hall Of Fame next year based on “fame and not talent”. She added that their music “is just elaborate moaning and whining over ringtone sounds”.

Radiohead fans immediately took the bait and began defending the band, even though 1) Radiohead don’t need defending and 2) that’s actually quite a reasonable description of their music.

It caused such a fuss that Gutfield and co realised that they were onto something. So the following week, he said of the band: “You know, Radiohead is a fine band but they stole everything from Coldplay. Like, Radiohead is the poor man’s Coldplay”.

I know. I know. There are lots of arguments against that statement, but you know the whole thing was deliberately crafted just to make you start shouting them angrily. It’s like if I said, “Even though it ended up being better than the original three films combined, ‘Star Wars: Episode 1’ would have been a lot better if Jar Jar Binks hadn’t been so woefully underused”. No wait, I got it wrong. That is actually a stone cold fact.

There’s no use me telling you not to get upset about Gutfield’s Radiohead fan baiting now though, because this happened a week ago and everyone’s already expressed their outrage on Twitter. Oh, the outrage! Surely after two weeks of it, the team behind the show wouldn’t want to feed off that anger some more. Would they? Yes, of course they would.

This week, they went all out and filmed a sketch! A classic comedy sketch. The sketch is set up as a mock advert for a remedy to rid you of ‘Radiohead lice’, called ‘Yorke-B-Gone’. I think the idea is that Radiohead lice make you itch, and they also make a horrible wailing sound.

It’s sort of… no, I don’t know. But it finishes on a joke about Coldplay being “more innovative” than Radiohead, which might have been funnier if the build up to screening the sketch hadn’t been filled with better jokes on that theme. Actually, Gutfield concluded that run by stepping things up a gear with the majestic claim that Blink 182 are “a poor man’s Red Hot Chili Peppers”, who in turn are “a poor man’s Smash Mouth”.

Anyway, everyone’s now got annoyed by this, because everyone loves being annoyed by things these days. I’m even annoyed about you being annoyed. And now I’m annoyed that I’m annoyed that you’re annoyed. When will the cycle ever end? Never, that’s when, watch the fucking sketch and then go and complain about it somewhere.

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Tuesday 31 October 2017, 11:29 | By

Approved: Rolo Tomassi – Rituals

CMU Approved

Rolo Tomassi

Well, let’s all do a little inward jump for joy. Rolo Tomassi are back. And not a moment too soon. More than two years since their last album, ‘Grievances’, they return with a new single, ‘Rituals’, and talk of a new album, possibly called ‘Love Will Bury It’ (if this website that fans are being directed to is anything to go by).

Although the new track continues in the vein of ‘Grievances’ in terms of its darkness, it “shouldn’t be used to judge what all our new material sounds like”, the band’s James Spence tells Noisey of the single, which was written by guitarist Chris Cayford. “When other members were in their stride with being productive, Chris was a little blocked, and just as our ideas began to slow, he really hit his stride with writing. I feel like this track, especially its aggression and energy, was a real release and relief”.

Of the album, he adds: “‘Grievances’ was, from the start, conceived to be an album that flowed perfectly from start to finish and written with that in mind. This time around we focused specifically on exploring songs like ‘Rituals’ to their full potential. To write mini-epics. An album’s worth of ideas in one song. We pushed every song to its extreme and, in the case of ‘Rituals’, that meant making it as heavy and unrelenting as we possibly could”.

The band will play a one-off show at The Borderline in London on 4 Nov to preview new material. Now, listen to ‘Rituals’ here:

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

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Monday 30 October 2017, 12:54 | By

82% of consumers reckon secondary ticketing needs to be more transparent

Business News Live Business Top Stories

Audience

The FanFair campaign has published new research on what consumers think about secondary ticketing, with 82% of those surveyed saying that ticket resale sites should be more transparent, while just over half said that they found it difficult to distinguish between primary and secondary ticket sellers.

The survey of 1158 consumers – undertaken for FanFair by AudienceNet and Music Ally back in June this year – found that 74% of respondents reckoned that online ticket touting was becoming a concern for music fans, with just 7% outright disagreeing with that statement. 81% thought that ticket resale sites were “ripping off the fans”.

As much previously reported, the campaign within the music community against the resale of tickets at hiked up prices online has gained considerable momentum in the last couple of the years, with that campaigning in the UK focused on the FanFair initiative.

And while frustrated fans forced to buy tickets to in-demand shows at considerable mark-ups on the secondary market are the obvious victims of rampant touting, said music community loses out too, according to the new Fan Fair research. A majority of those surveyed said that they were likely to spend less of merch and recorded music, food and drink, and other shows, if they have to pay a premium to access a ticket. Meaning at least some of the monies that go to the industrial-level touts are lost to the music industry.

Many artists, managers and promoters, as well as consumer rights groups, advocate increased regulation of the resale of tickets for profit. Some go as far as proposing an outright ban, such as that recently passed in New South Wales in Australia. Others propose measures like capping resale mark-ups, banning the use of special software by touts to access tickets from primary sites, and forcing touts to publish original ticket prices and ticket numbers, and to be more transparent about who they are.

The vast majority of those surveyed by FanFair agreed that touts selling on secondary sites should be forced to reveal their identity, so that consumers knew if they were buying from industrial level touts who buy and sell tickets on a commercial basis. The resale sites should also be much more clear that they are not approved primary sellers of the tickets they list.

In addition to lobbying lawmakers for new and better regulation, the anti-tout brigade also urge artists and promoters to do more to combat touting, such as providing approved sites where fans can resell tickets at face value, limiting ticket purchases on primary sites, and personalising tickets and checking ID at the venue. All of these were supported by the vast majority of those surveyed, including the ID checks – backed by 75% – even though that measure can inconvenience the consumer a little at the venue.

Commenting on the research, FanFair Campaign Manager Adam Webb said: “The debate around online ticket touting raises strong passions, so it’s important that the wider music business, politicians and regulators can get a sense of what the general public think. The message from this research appears to be pretty clear: UK audiences are fed up”.

He continued: “The model of secondary ticketing promoted by Viagogo, StubHub, Get Me In and Seatwave is causing them very real concern – albeit, they are not against the concept of ticket resale. The majority would like the option to resell a ticket for the price they paid for it, and they’re in favour of measures to curb mass-scale online ticket touting. On that front, FanFair urges legislators and regulators to accelerate their endeavours to tackle the most egregious practices of the secondary market”.

Concluding, Webb said: “More positively, an increasing number of UK ticket companies are now offering face value resale services, and it’s becoming common practice for artists to implement anti-touting strategies. This is hugely encouraging, although there remains a deep-rooted resistance from some parts of the live business that needs to be overcome. For while the status quo might bring short-term gains to certain companies, there is a real danger that their intransigence will cause considerable long-term damage – not only to the live music sector, but across the music business overall”.

As previously reported, the political community in the UK has become much more open to regulating secondary ticketing of late, certainly compared to a decade ago.

That partly means better enforcing the existing ticket touting rules that were introduced in the 2015 Consumer Rights Act, but also considering new proposals, such as the recent bots ban that outlaws the use of the aforementioned software that allows touts to buy up large numbers of tickets from primary sites.

Though the UK government is still against an outright ban of reselling tickets for profit and even the introduction of caps on how much resold tickets can be marked up. The Department For Digital, Culture, Media And Sport reaffirmed that position just last week when reacting to a new anti-touting petition posted on the Parliament website, which quickly passed the 10,000 threshold required for an official response.

The new petition stated: “Tickets are being bought from sites and are getting sold to third party sellers for a high price meaning real fans are missing out. Reselling of football tickets is illegal under the Criminal Justice And Public Order Act 1994. Why can’t laws apply for tickets to concerts and other sporting events?”

Responding, the government said it recognised that “the process of distributing and buying tickets can often be a cause for public frustration and concern” and that it “is determined to crackdown on unacceptable behaviour and improve fans’ chances of buying tickets at a reasonable price”.

However, it stands by the conclusion of the 2016 Waterson Review of secondary ticketing on the issue of price caps. Writes the government: “Professor Waterson specifically considered the issue of a cap on ticket resale prices, and we agree with his conclusion that it should not be taken forward as it would raise a number of practical considerations and be of limited effect, as it would be extremely difficult to enforce”.

The culture ministry then references measures in the recent Digital Economy Act on touting, including the bots ban and the addition of ‘ticket number’ to the bits of information a tout must provide when reselling a ticket.

You can access the new FanFair research here.

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Monday 30 October 2017, 12:51 | By

Two more stream-ripping sites shut down in the UK

Business News Digital Labels & Publishers Legal

Internet

Two more stream-ripping sites have closed their doors to UK users in the wake of YouTube-mp3 being sued out of business.

As previously reported, YouTube-mp3 – which let users grab permanent downloads of audio streaming on the Google video site – officially went offline last month after its operator was sued by the Recording Industry Association Of America. British record industry trade group BPI also put the leading stream-ripping platform on notice as its American counterpart went legal last year, resulting in YouTube-mp3 restricting its service within the UK.

While both RIAA and BPI welcomed the demise of YouTube-mp3, they noted that there are plenty of other sites offering a similar service. The US labels recently had a good old moan about all the remaining stream-ripping platforms in their submission to the American government’s ‘notorious markets’ report. Though the Electronic Frontier Foundation argued back that the record industry was wrong to say that stream-ripping sites were by definition liable for copyright infringement.

Commenting as YouTube-mp3 shut down last month, BPI boss Geoff Taylor said: “Music stands on the cusp of an exciting future in the streaming age, but only if we take resolute action against illegal businesses that try to siphon away its value. The firm action we have taken, led by our General Counsel Kiaron Whitehead and our Content Protection team, has made an impact in the UK, and we are determined to take further action as necessary against other stream-ripping sites to protect the rights of musicians and labels”.

It’s not entirely clear why MP3Juices.cc and YtMp3.cc have decided to geo-block UK users, but it is likely related to the legal action taken against YouTube-mp3. British web-users going to either of those sites now see a message that reads: “This service is no longer available. Thanks for being a part of us. Goodbye!”

The BPI says that the geo-blocking of MP3Juices.cc and YtMp3.cc is not the result of legal action on its part, but nevertheless it welcomed the development. Taylor told Torrentfreak last week: “We are seeing that the closure of the largest stream ripping site, YouTube-mp3, following co-ordinated global legal action from record companies, is having an impact on the operations of other ripping sites”.

That said, it seems unlikely the labels will be happy with simple geo-blocking in certain key markets, given how easy it is for savvy web-users to circumvent such blockades. Which means we can expect to see music industry trade groups, which have now put stream-ripping at the top of their piracy gripe lists, pushing for more shutdowns a la YouTube-MP3.

Taylor added last week: “Stream ripping remains a major issue for the industry. These sites are making large sums of money from music without paying a penny to those that invest in and create it. We will continue to take legal action against other illegal ripping sites where necessary”.

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Monday 30 October 2017, 12:48 | By

Manowar force tribute band to redesign logo

Artist News Business News Legal

Womanowar

A “feminist tribute band” to American metal outfit Manowar – called Womanowar – have been forced to change their logo after the threat of legal action from the band they seek to honour.

Womanowar is fronted by Nina Osegueda of another American metal band called A Sound Of Thunder, with two other members of that group also involved in the side project.

However, Manowar bassist Joey DeMaio doesn’t seem too keen on the tribute and, having previously tried to have a Womanowar video on YouTube blocked, has now forced them to redesign their logo.

According to MetalSucks, legal reps for DeMaio wrote to Womanowar to tell them that their logo – a play on the official Manowar logo – “is likely to cause confusion among the consuming public”. To that end, the legal letter noted, “demand is hereby made that you immediately change your logo so as not to be confusingly similar to our client’s logo”.

Writing on Facebook last week, Womanowar announced that “Joey DeMaio’s lawyer has spoken so we have to take down our logo”. They then encouraged fans of the tribute band to propose new logos, which they did. And so the band are currently using this marvel.

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Monday 30 October 2017, 12:43 | By

Setlist podcast discusses the international implications of Eminem’s New Zealand legal win

Artist News Business News Labels & Publishers Legal

Eminem

The lead story up for discussion on this week’s Setlist podcast is Eminem’s recent legal win against New Zealand’s ruling National Party over a sound-a-like track, and what effect it could have on similar cases in the UK.

Last week, Eminem and his publishing company Eight Mile Style won NZ$600,000 in damages from the National Party. A court ruled that it had infringed the rapper’s copyright by using a library music track that sounded like his hit ‘Lose Yourself’ in an election campaign advert.

The ad dated back to New Zealand’s 2014 General Election campaign and featured a track called ‘Eminem-esque’. The National Party argued that it had entirely legitimately licensed the piece of music from a production music company. However, emails between people involved in the campaign showed that they were aware just how similar the two tracks were prior to the advert being broadcast.

“The allegation here isn’t that The National Party set out to find a piece of music that sounded like Eminem’s ‘Lose Yourself'”, says CMU’s Chris Cooke on this week’s Setlist show. “However, it is known that there are production music companies out there who will make available to advertisers, and movies, and TV shows, music that sounds quite similar to commercially released tracks”.

And, he adds, “it is not unknown for advertising agencies to actually go to production music companies and say, ‘could you make us something a little bit like this track’. Either because they can’t afford to license the original commercially released track, or maybe even – and there are certainly instances where this has happened – they tried to license the original track and the label or the publisher – or the songwriter – said no”.

However, if you’re a copyright owner and you find yourself in this situation, the legalities around sound-a-like tracks are complex and ambiguous, which means many do not end up pursuing it through the courts.

“One of the problems is that this is something of a grey area in copyright law”, says Cooke. “And where there is ambiguity, it makes it expensive to pursue litigation, because you’re not assured that you will win. But you do know you’ll accrue significant costs in trying to fight a case. This obviously means that if you are a smaller independent label – or maybe you’re a DIY artist in control of your own music – that puts you at a massive disadvantage”.

The National Party may as yet appeal the ruling in the Eminem case, but if it ultimately stands, that could set an interesting new precedent.

“Copyright law in New Zealand is quite similar to copyright law both in Australia and here in the UK”, Cooke goes on. “They all originate in the same body of English copyright law. It might be that this will provide a convincing precedent that you could use to subsequently fight other cases of this kind”.

Certainly Eminem’s lawyers seemed to think the ruling in the ‘Eminem-eque’ case could prove significant in future disputes.

“So even if the advert, the movie, the whatever insists that they did the legitimate thing by either going to a production music library or commissioning something”, Cooke continues, “because they were clearly aware of the similarities prior to the ad going out, then there is possibly a decent case there for copyright infringement”.

The issue of sound-a-likes was discussed at the CMU Insights conference at The Great Escape back in 2015, and CMU’s Andy Malt also runs through some of the key points raised then in this week’s Setlist. Also dissected is the World Independent Network’s latest indie label market share stats and why they matter, plus Kid Rock’s exit from the political arena (which he never entered in the first place).

Listen to the episode in full here:

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Monday 30 October 2017, 12:40 | By

Reservoir signs Cutfather

Artist News Business News Deals Labels & Publishers

Cutfather

Music rights firm Reservoir, via its Reverb Music division, last week announced it had signed songwriter, producer and remixer Mich Hansen – aka Cutfather – to one of those worldwide publishing deals. How do I know this? Because Reservoir/Reverb Music MD Annette Barrett just told me.

“It’s a great pleasure to be re-united with Cutfather”, says she. “I originally signed Mich at Warner Chappell Music in the 90s, where he was one of their top writers. His continued success over the years is a testament to his talent and hard work. I am very excited to welcome him now to the Reservoir/Reverb Music family. We are all looking forward to working with him and continuing his unique success story”.

All that hard work, by the way, includes collaborating with the likes of Queen Latifah, Kylie Minogue, Pussycat Dolls, Jordin Sparks, The Wanted, The Saturdays, Santana, Blue, Christina Aguilera, Olly Murs and Demi Lovato.

Says he of his new publishing deal: “It’s great to be back working with Annette and joining the team at Reservoir. Their boutique feeling is essential and the personalised attention is awesome, considering you can easily get lost in the big world of publishing. I’m excited to continue my career with them”.

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Monday 30 October 2017, 12:36 | By

Gaming fuels physical product boost in entertainment retail

Business News Retail

Gaming

The physical product side of the home entertainment market is back in growth according to research firm Kantar Worldpanel. Based on summer quarter stats, physical entertainment sales were up 2.2% year-on-year, the first growth since 2014. Woo! Though, says Kantar, gaming is behind the uplift.

It reports: “Driven by a stellar performance from the games market – which grew sales by 26.0%, offsetting declines of 5.4% and 4.8% in music and video respectively – this is the strongest overall growth physical entertainment has seen in over three years”.

The company’s Olivia Moore adds: “It’s been a great quarter for games – a real bright spot in the physical market’s struggle against the rise of digital. Helped by the release of much-anticipated title ‘Destiny’, mint games – as opposed to second hand – have led the charge. The market will now be looking to build on its success in the run up to Christmas”.

In terms of who is selling all this physical product, Amazon still has the biggest market share overall, though HMV leads on both music and video, and has made the biggest gains of late, up 2.3% to 18.1%, says Kantar.

Moore again: “Already the top seller of music, the past quarter has seen HMV leapfrog Amazon to become number one for sales of physical video too. The retailer increased its share of the video market with the help of a strong performance in new film releases – up six percentage points to stand at 22.5% – while Amazon’s share remained flat at 20.2%”.

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Monday 30 October 2017, 12:33 | By

Songkick Discovery says “we’re not going anywhere”

Business News Digital Labels & Publishers Live Business

Songkick

With the Songkickers gearing up for a full on fist fight with Live Nation and Ticketmaster in the American courts next month – having blamed the live giant for the demise of their own ticketing platform – the other Songkickers would like you to know that it’s business as usual, and that they’ll be kicking you in the direction of some fine live songs just like always.

As previously reported, the Songkick ticketing service recently confirmed that it was preparing to completely shutdown. The company told its customers it would this month “complete the shutdown of all ticketing operations we began earlier this year when Ticketmaster and Live Nation effectively blocked our US ticketing business”.

But that’s the Songkick ticketing platform, not the Songkick gig recommendations app which, of course, was sold to Warner Music in July. Many music fans still associate the Songkick brand more with the recommendations app than the proprietary ticketing service that span out of it. Indeed, the core of the ticketing side of the business began life as Crowdsurge, another start-up which merged with Songkick in 2015.

To that end, the bit of Songkick that is now part of Warner Music published a blog post last week clearing up any confusion. It started: “There’ve been some changes afoot at Songkick recently, and we want to bring everyone up to speed. First things first, we’re not going anywhere!”

It goes on: “This summer we, the Songkick Discovery app and team, became part of the Warner Music Group family. Together we’ll be doubling down on our mission to improve the live experience, bring fans and artists closer together and, of course, make sure you never ever miss your favourite artists live. It’s a super exciting step for us, and for our awesome users, and we’re psyched about what the future holds”.

It concludes: “You can still count on us to be the first to tell you about new concerts, and to point you to the fairest, safest places to buy tickets. Though we won’t be selling tickets ourselves, we’ll always be your trusted home for live music online. In short, Songkick [is] still here for you for all of your concert needs. We’re excited to keep moving fast, doing cool shit, and putting fans first. So stay tuned for exciting news coming soon”.

Hurrah for all the cool shit that’s coming soon! Though I doubt any of the gigs being tipped by the Songkick crew will be more entertaining than the upcoming rumble in court between the Songkick ticketing set-up and good old Live Nation. Expect more kicking than songs.

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Monday 30 October 2017, 12:23 | By

DFA1979’s Jesse Keeler denies membership of right wing group

Artist News

Death From Above 1979

Death From Above 1979’s Jesse Keeler has denied being a member of “pro-western men’s fraternal organisation” The Proud Boys, after details of his links to its founder, Gavin McInnes, were discussed online.

Last week, an article was posted on Medium and Reddit noting Keeler’s various appearances on McInnes’ podcast, as well as a photograph of him with members of the Proud Boys. McInnes – a founder of Vice magazine – also reportedly claimed that Keeler was a member of the men’s rights group in an article published last year.

In a long statement posted on Facebook, Keeler says that it is “completely false” that he is a member of the Proud Boys. However, he admits, his “connection to Gavin however is real, but begs to be clarified”.

He explained that he first met McInnes over a decade ago, while he was still working for Vice and the magazine’s in house label was releasing DFA1979’s music. They became acquainted and stayed in touch over the years, although Keeler says that he did not realise the extent to which McInnes’ politics had shifted to the right.

“Over time, I watched many people distance themselves from Gavin both professionally and personally”, he writes. “I always perceived that as people just thinking he was ‘a little much’. In short, I gave him the benefit of the doubt”.

“When [McInnes] started a video podcast and invited me on as a guest, I obliged”, Keeler writes. “When he invited me to his talk-show and a party on election night last year, regrettably, I attended. Never without a morbid curiosity. Anyone who knows me, or has met me for longer than five minutes, knows how curious I am. I never thought that my curiosity would lead to this moment, where now it feels like I’m walking through a lake of mud”.

He severed ties with McInnes shortly after last year’s US presidential election, he goes on: “Soon after the election, I began noticing that Gavin was promoting violence and a form of radical politics that I absolutely do not agree with. I have always been anti-war and anti-violence. That is my baseline position. As far as immigration and nationalism: I am the child of an Indian mother and a Canadian father. I was raised in Canada by my immigrant-Indian family who struggled to make it in a new country”.

He concludes: “The reality is that I am not ‘alt-right’, nor a white supremacist. The facts are I am a mixed race father of two and a musician. I am so sorry for putting my family, friends and fans in this position. I never wanted to talk about politics, I just wanted to make music and leave that stuff alone. Unfortunately, my actions have brought me here, and I am deeply heartbroken about it. To a fault it seems that I give people the benefit of the doubt, and I hope that you will give me the same in return”.

The author of the original article on Medium updated their post after Keeler’s statement was published, saying: “It’s an earnest and humble statement and I believe him. Kudos on responding in a timely manner. When the leader of The Proud Boys claim you as one of their own, you probably should denounce that shit. I, as the author of this piece, do not think Jesse Keeler is a Proud Boy or alt-right. He just seems like a giant dummy that hung out with some sketchy people and definitely said some sketchy shit on Gavin’s podcast”.

Others were not so quick to accept the statement though, with Far frontman Jonah Matranga commenting on Keeler’s post: “‘Not talking about politics’ is as political as it gets. Speaking of which, the stuff you leave out of this non-apology speaks real loud. Speak up, be accountable, stop mealy-mouthing about fatherhood and innocence/ignorance. Use your platform to help end white supremacy in all its forms. That’s being a father (and a human). Do better”.

McInnes, meanwhile, commented: “This is all remarkably gay”.

Keeler is not the first musician to be accused of links to the Proud Boys. Earlier this year, Glasgow-based producer Funk D’Void was criticised after he began selling Proud Boys branded merch in his online store. In a statement to Resident Advisor, he also admitted that he was “mates with Gavin” but no more.

In a statement on Facebook, he later added: “I’m not racist / sexist / homophobic / transphobic / intolerant / bigoted / far right. If you have a problem with The Proud Boys take it up with them, I’m out”.

UPDATE 31 Oct 2017 12.00: This article has been amended at the request of lawyers representing The Proud Boys, who object to the use of the term ‘alt-right’ to describe their organisation. They state: “The Proud Boys do not now, nor have they ever, espoused white nationalist, white supremacist, anti-Semitic, or alt-right views”.

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Monday 30 October 2017, 12:10 | By

Ed Sheeran announces rescheduled Asian tour dates

Artist News Gigs & Festivals

Ed Sheeran

Ed Sheeran has announced rescheduled dates for a number of the postponed shows on his Asian tour, while several others have been cancelled entirely.

As previously reported, Sheeran was due to begin his Asian tour in Taipei earlier this month, but was forced to pull out after injuring both of his arms when he was knocked off his bike by a car in London. Four shows, including three in Japan, have now been rescheduled for next April, while five will now not take place at all.

As well as the initial run of cancelled shows, a performance in Indonesia has also now been called off. However, it looks like fewer dates will be cancelled overall than had been originally anticipated. Sheeran will now recommence touring at the Singapore Indoor Stadium on 11 Nov.

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Monday 30 October 2017, 12:06 | By

Simon Cowell fell down some stairs

And Finally Business News Industry People

Simon Cowell

Simon Cowell fell down some stairs last week. Ha – imagine that! Simon Cowell. Falling down some stairs. Now let’s reimagine it soundtracked by the ‘Benny Hill’ theme tune. And now with the ‘Looney Tunes’ music. Maybe the theme from ‘Rhubarb’. And finally with ‘Teletubbies Say Eh-oh!’ on top. Urgh no. Now it’s all become rather sinister, hasn’t it?

But worry not, it’s OK to giggle at Cowell’s stair-falling, despite it resulting in him being rushed to hospital in a neck brace, because Dermot O’Leary has decreed it so. When stair-falling injuries forced Cowell to miss this weekend’s ‘X-Factor’, the ITV show’s host asked the programme’s other judges: “Who put the banana skin at the top of the stairs?”

That was a joke see. Ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha! Fellow judge Sharon Osborne insisted she had an alibi – “[I was] in the library with the candle stick”. Ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha!

They’ll be feeling less smug if Cowell now dies from undiagnosed head injuries. Though he insists to The Sun that “I’m feeling okay”. Ha ha!

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Monday 30 October 2017, 11:10 | By

Approved: Poppy Ackroyd

CMU Approved

Poppy Ackroyd

Set to release her new album, ‘Resolve’, early next year, neo-classical composer Poppy Ackroyd has released the first single from it, ‘The Calm Before’.

The track “is almost entirely made up of clarinet sounds”, she explains. “The percussion was created using layers of clicking clarinet and bass clarinet keys, starting with a looped and chopped rhythm taken from an improvisation that appears throughout”.

The new album is the first on which Ackroyd employed other musicians to perform her compositions, before manipulating them in the studio. “With the other musicians, I asked them to explore the instrument and to create as many weird and wonderful sounds as they could”, she says. “I then spent hours sifting through the recordings and choosing sounds and short percussive ideas that I could rearrange and build the track from”.

As its title promises, ‘The Calm Before’ certainly builds a level of intrigue as we wait for the full album. Listen to the track in full here:

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

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Monday 30 October 2017, 09:00 | By

Setlist: Eminem, WINTEL, Kid Rock

Artist News Business News Labels & Publishers Legal Setlist

Eminem

CMU’s Andy Malt and Chris Cooke review key events in music and the music business from the last week, including Eminem’s legal win against New Zealand’s ruling political party, the World Independent Network’s latest stats on indie label market share and why they matter, plus Kid Rock’s departure from the political arena (which he was never in). Setlist is sponsored by 7digital.

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Stories discussed this week:

• Eminem wins NZ$600,000 damages in sound-a-like infringement case
• What to do when an advert rips off your music
• Indie label market share went up last year, according to latest WINTEL report
• Kid Rock’s not running for Senate, you idiots

In brief:

The Pirate Bay’s .se domain is working again
Stream-ripping doesn’t necessarily constitute ripping off, says EFF
Spinal Tap creators amend their Vivendi litigation, add Universal Music as a defendant

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Friday 27 October 2017, 12:24 | By

The Turtles lose pre-1972 battle in Florida

Artist News Business News Digital Labels & Publishers Legal Top Stories

Flo & Eddie

The big pre-1972 royalty question has been answered in Florida, and one time Turtles Flo & Eddie won’t be getting any royalties when their 1960s hits get played on the radio there, whether that’s terrestrial, satellite or online radio. The state’s Supreme Court has ruled that there is no performing right as part of the sound recording copyright under Florida law.

As much previously reported, US-wide federal copyright law is weird – by global standards – in that it doesn’t provide a general performing right as part of the sound recording copyright, just a much narrower digital performing right.

This means that when records get played on AM/FM radio, the station doesn’t need to pay any royalties to the artist or the label (just the songwriter and the publisher for use of the accompanying song). The digital performing right applies to satellite and online radio services – including personalised radio platforms like Pandora – meaning that those platforms need to pay royalties to artists and labels, as well as songwriters and publishers.

However, US-wide federal copyright law only applies to recordings released since 1972. Older recordings still in copyright are protected by state laws, most of which are somewhat vague as to whether or not a general performing right apply. Though these mainly older state-level copyright rules certainly don’t make any distinction between terrestrial and digital radio.

What we do know is that AM/FM radio has never paid recording royalties on golden oldies either. So, with no specific mention of digital services in the state-level laws, the likes of Pandora and satellite broadcaster Sirius XM decided that while they had to pay royalties to artists and labels on post-1972 catalogue, that wasn’t the case for older tracks.

Many in the music community weren’t impressed with that conclusion however. And to that end Flo & Eddie, former members of 1960s group The Turtles, went legal in three states: California, New York and Florida.

They argued that, actually, there was a general performing right for sound recordings under those state’s copyright regimes, even though no one had ever previously enforced it. Therefore the fact digital services weren’t mentioned in state laws was irrelevant, Pandora and Sirius still owned them money.

In something of a dramatic move, in 2014 the courts in California sided with Flo & Eddie on this point. And then, for a time, so did the courts in New York.

This sparked a flurry of legal wrangling and out-of-court negotiations, with both Pandora and Sirius reaching settlements over golden oldie royalties with the majors. Sirius also reached a deal with Flo & Eddie, though subject to various outstanding court cases on the issue, especially in New York and Florida.

It’s the latter that reached a resolution yesterday, with the state’s Supreme Court concurring with an earlier ruling that said there is no performing right for sound recordings under Florida’s copyright laws.

Judge Charles Canady wrote in the Supreme Court’s ruling on this question: “Flo & Eddie essentially asks this court to recognise an unworkable common law right in pre-1972 sound recordings that is broader than any right ever previously recognised in any sound recording. Doing so would require this court to, among other things, ignore the lengthy and well-documented history of this topic – something we decline to do”.

The judgement went on: “Florida common law has never previously recognised an exclusive right of public performance for sound recordings. To recognise such a right for the first time today would be an inherently legislative task. Such a decision would have an immediate impact on consumers beyond Florida’s borders and would affect numerous stakeholders who are not parties to this suit”.

As previously reported, late last year appeal judges in New York overturned an earlier ruling suggesting there was a performing right under that state’s copyright law.

That decision was made mainly on the basis that it would be silly to suggest there had been a performing right lingering in the state’s copyright regime all these years that no artist or label had ever thought to enforce. Because if there was a general performing right for sound recordings at a state level, AM/FM stations should have been paying royalties on pre-1972 tracks too.

With Florida’s ultimate ruling now in, all eyes are now back on California, the state where it was originally declared the sound recording copyright did come with some performing rights. The issue has been bounced up to Supreme Court there too via litigation involving Pandora.

If the top court now decides there isn’t a performing right in California after all, that will throw up all sorts of questions about the settlements previously reached on this issue. Meanwhile, if the Californian Supreme Court does endorse the lower court ruling, that will mean performing right royalties are due on sound recordings in one American state but not others, which is rather unsatisfactory, and possibly even unconstitutional.

Of course, concurrent to all this are ongoing lobbying efforts by the music industry in Washington to [a] apply federal copyright rules like the digital performing right to all copyright-protected recordings, not just those released since 1972, and [b] to get a general performing right added to federal copyright law, so that AM/FM radio would have to start paying royalties to artist and labels on all the tracks they play.

So, plenty still to come on all this. Though, for the time being, a legal rep for Sirius has unsurprisingly welcomed this week’s ruling in Florida. Says lawyer David Gersten: “Justice Canady did a superb job of addressing everything. As I suspected, the district court judge, Judge Gayles, got it right. I think it really settles the issue in the state of Florida. It gets in line certainly with New York. It’s just a good, common-sense opinion”.

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Friday 27 October 2017, 12:22 | By

Model sues Cardi B over mixtape artwork

Artist News Legal

Cardi B

Cardi B is reportedly being sued by a model who features on the cover of her latest mixtape, ‘Gansta Bitch Music Vol 1’, appearing to perform oral sex on the rapper.

Although Kevin Brophy’s face cannot be seen in the image, he says that his distinctive back tattoos confirm that it is him in the foreground of the picture. According to TMZ, Brophy did not model for the artwork, and only became aware of it when a friend told him that they’d seen him “cunnilinging this rapper called Cardi B”.

He adds that there was further confirmation that it was his back superimposed onto the shot of Cardi B – not to mention embarrassment – when his young son saw the image and wanted to know “what Daddy was doing”. The boy just won’t drop it, according to the report.

Brody says that he has had his tattoo of a tiger fighting a snake for over ten years, but has never met Cardi B or anyone on her team. In a lawsuit, he is suing the rapper and her management for $5 million.

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Friday 27 October 2017, 12:21 | By

Music For Nations signs Bury Tomorrow and Blanket

Artist News Business News Deals Labels & Publishers

Bury Tomorrow

Sony Music’s metal label Music For Nations has announced two new signings, in the form of post-rock band Blanket and metalcore act Bury Tomorrow. Under their deal, Blanket will record their debut album for the label, while Bury Tomorrow are getting to work on their fifth.

“To sign to a label as important and influential as Music For Nations seemed like an unobtainable dream for us”, says Blanket’s Bobby Pook. “This is something that we’ve all wanted since we started playing music. The team at the label share our vision and aspirations of what we want this band to be. We’re putting our all into this record and we are excited to show it to the world”.

Meanwhile Bury Tomorrow’s Daniel Winter-Bates adds: “We are really excited to form a new partnership with Sony and Music For Nations. After ten years as a band, we’ve found a team that are on our page. The enthusiasm, knowledge and direction they’ve shown, made it a no brainer to move forward with this partnership”.

Music For Nations boss Julie Weir says: “It’s an exciting time for MFN – with a powerful chunk of heavy heritage behind us, we are looking to the future with a broad stable of new and talented artists that excite us both as fans and industry. We are looking forward to getting our teeth into the global plans for both Blanket and Bury Tomorrow”.

As previously reported, Music For Nations was revived as a reissues label in 2015, before being made a frontline operation again, with Visible Noise founder Weir in charge, in April last year.

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Friday 27 October 2017, 12:17 | By

Spotify ripping up video strategy and starting again

Business News Digital

Spotify

Spotify’s new video boss Courtney Holt is ripping it all up and starting again, according to Bloomberg. The former MTV and MySpace exec has reportedly cancelled all existing video-based programmes being made for the streaming firm – including some yet to be published – in order to write a whole new video strategy, at least the company’s third.

Spotify has been attempting to get some video content off the ground for some time, with little success, despite some high profile collaborations. Original content is a way for Spotify to distinguish itself from rival streaming platforms – which all have a very similar catalogue of tracks on offer – and could also ultimately reduce the streaming platform’s royalty obligations, if more users spend more time consuming audio or video the service itself owns.

Video is obviously attractive, as it’s where lots of consumer attention and advertising money has been moving of late. We all know that video has been a priority at Facebook for a while, as it vies with Google’s YouTube to be the premiere destination for video content online.

To date, Spotify has tried both licensing video content in from other sources and making its own original shows, but nothing has really grabbed the attention of its users. That may be because Spotify subscribers primarily expect and want audio from the service. Though there has also arguably been a lack of promotion within the Spotify platform itself for its video offerings. Many avid users are probably still unaware of Spotify’s video section – and even more so the podcasts section, which also sits under Holt’s remit.

Charged with the task of finally making video a thing on Spotify, Bloomberg’s sources say that Holt is considering “the creation of a new format, code-named Spotlight, that combines audio, images and video”. Recent rumours about the streaming firm’s video strategy also suggested original content being created around the company’s more successful playlist brands.

It remains to be seen how much support Holt gets from his new employer, both in terms of resource and profile within the Spotify app.

Though with Wall Street taking an ever bigger interest in the company as it plans to list on the New York Stock Exchange, content that could reduce royalty obligations, provide market differentiation, and possibly get big brands interested too, will likely go down well with the investment community. Providing some people tune in.

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Friday 27 October 2017, 12:16 | By

Pharrell invests in ROLI, becomes Chief Creative Officer

Artist News Business News Deals Digital

Pharrell / ROLI

You know how there was that trend a few years ago for giving celebrities snazzy job titles at companies, even though they were definitely never going to do any work there? Well, entirely conversely to that, Pharrell Williams has been named Chief Creative Officer at British music tech start-up ROLI.

ROLI make a load of super fucking cool digital instruments that I can neither afford nor really play, but still want to own more than anything. Williams can both afford and play them, and has now become an investor in the company, as well as taking on the PR-friendly job title.

“Music touches all of us, and for a long time I’ve been passionate about finding ways to share the power of music with more people”, says Williams. “When I met Roland [Lamb, company founder] and ROLI, I immediately felt we were working towards exactly the same goals, and so I’m super excited that we’re kicking off this partnership”.

The first part of that partnership – beyond the money and the job title – is a new collection of sounds from Williams’ hit ‘Happy’, which can be used on ROLI’s instruments and its ‘Noise’ app. Find out more here.

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