Wednesday 28 February 2018, 21:35 | By CMU Editorial

Aïsha Devi – Artist Statement

Releases

READ MORE ABOUT: Aïsha Devi

Wednesday 28 February 2018, 13:00 | By Chris Cooke

Tencent further expands music interests, invests in Indian streaming firm

Business News Deals Digital Top Stories

Chinese web giant Tencent has bought into Indian streaming service Gaana, which was set up in 2010 by the internet business of media firm The Times Of India Group. It further expands Tencent’s interests in the global streaming music market.

Tencent has become a dominant player in the rapidly expanding Chinese digital music domain. Through its music division – which is set to be spun off as a standalone company later this year – it operates streaming services, including QQ Music, and has become a key distributor of international catalogue in the Chinese market.

Last year it announced an equity swap with the global market-leader in subscription streaming, Spotify. Under that deal Spotify took a minority stake in the Tencent Music business, while Tencent and Tencent Music both took a minority stake in Spotify.

The new deal sees Tencent make what sources have called a “sizeable investment” into Gaana, although Times Internet remains a partner in the business. Like China, India is seen as a key emerging market for streaming music, mainly because of the size of its population. There has been substantial growth in subscriber numbers in both countries in recent years, albeit more for ad-funded services.

However, as with everywhere, streaming remains a tricky and mainly loss-making business. Presumably, given its investments in this space, Tencent reckons that long-term the big streaming services will ultimately become lucrative once they reach sufficient scale.

READ MORE ABOUT: Gaana | Tencent

Wednesday 28 February 2018, 12:57 | By Andy Malt

Atlantic launches in-house podcast studio

Business News Digital Labels & Publishers

Warner Music’s Atlantic division in the US has launched its own in-house podcast production unit, with a studio set-up in its New York HQ. The initiative is being driven by Atlantic VP Tom Mullen, who has moonlighted on his own podcast, ‘Washed Up Emo’, since 2011.

“As I discovered doing my own podcasts, they are an incredibly powerful way of feeding fans’ hunger for intimate knowledge of the artists they love, while also connecting them to new voices”, says Mullen. “The birth of Atlantic Records Podcasts has been a labour of love for many of us at the company, and I’m looking forward to working with our incredible artists and my label teammates to create an outstanding series of shows devoted to Atlantic music past, present, and future”.

The first show to be aired is called ‘What’d I Say’, named after the Ray Charles song released by Atlantic in 1959. On the show, various Atlantic artists will be kicked into the podcast studio and forced to talk about their careers. Out now, episode one features a chat with Jason Mraz. Already lined up for future episodes are Whethan, MILCK, Lil Skies, Chappell Roan, Trivium, Sweater Beats, Josie Dunne and Molly Kate Kestner.

Atlantic CEO Craig Kallman and COO Julie Greenwald say in a joint statement: “Music-making is at the heart of our company, and we already have a state-of-the-art recording studio at the centre of our offices. We have a constant stream of artists coming through the building, so the next logical step for us was to create an environment where we could spontaneously capture them telling their stories and talking about their music”.

They continue: “With our own podcast team and a dedicated podcast studio, we are able to give fans a unique, insider’s view of our artists, our label, and the creative process in action. With Tom’s deep musical knowledge and podcast expertise leading the charge, we are generating exciting audio content under our own roof, marked by unprecedented insight and immediacy”.

Other shows planned to launch in the near future are titled ‘Inside The Album’ and ‘Respect: Women Of Atlantic’.

You can check out the Atlantic Podcasts website here. There’s hardly anything there yet though, so once you’ve glanced at that, check out CMU’s Setlist podcast instead.

READ MORE ABOUT: Atlantic Records | Warner Music

Wednesday 28 February 2018, 12:52 | By Andy Malt

Rob Hallett joins Live Nation

Business News Industry People Live Business

Veteran live music promoter Rob Hallett has joined Live Nation, taking his Robomagic company with him. Although neither firm has yet given an official statement on the deal, Live Nation boss Michael Rapino last night tweeted a link to a report on it, saying: “Great news for us. Finally we work together”.

Hallett then retweeted Rapino’s tweet, and also posted a link to another report on him joining the company. So we’ll take all that as confirmation. Although it’s always possible there’s been a misunderstanding along the way. Maybe all this Twitter activity has somehow accidentally got Hallett a new job. It’d be like that episode of ‘Seinfeld’ where George goes to work for a new company because the boss didn’t finish a sentence.

As you might remember, that’s one of the good ones in the patchy fifth series. I think you can definitely gauge the quality of that show based on how loud people cheer when Kramer appears on screen. It really started to lose its edge when the biggest reaction in any episode was for him just appearing on screen. Though, that’s not entirely fair. There are some classic episodes in the later series. Like the ‘accidentally getting a job’ one. I’m glad to have cleared that up. Hang on, wasn’t I talking about something else?

Oh yeah, Rob Hallett joining Live Nation. According to Billboard, at one point yesterday, the ‘about’ page on the Robomagic website described it as “a Live Nation music company”. However, that and the previous reference to it being “an independent music company” have now both been scrubbed.

Hallett was formerly boss of Live Nation rival AEG Live in the UK, stepping down in 2014. In early 2015, he launched Robomagic as a ‘360°’ operation, operating in various strands of the music business. Although its main focus has always been live.

READ MORE ABOUT: Live Nation | Rob Hallett | Robomagic

Wednesday 28 February 2018, 12:51 | By Andy Malt

V Festival replacement will not take place in Staffordshire this summer

Business News Gigs & Festivals Live Business

Festival Republic’s V Festival replacement Rize will not take place in Staffordshire this year, it has been confirmed. The new event will only be held at Chelmsford’s Hylands Park.

Announced earlier this week, Rize will take place on 17-18 Aug in Essex, headlined by Liam Gallagher and The Stereophonics. The event is being launched following Virgin’s decision last October to pull its sponsorship of the V Festival after 22 years.

V Festival always took place on two sites, launching at Victoria Park in Warrington and Hylands Park in Chelmsford in 1996. The more northerly edition eventually settled at the not particularly northerly Weston Park in Staffordshire.

South Staffordshire Council had said that it was expecting the V Festival replacement to go ahead at Weston Park. However, it has now been confirmed that this is not the case.

Chief Executive of the Weston Park Foundation, Colin Sweeney, told local paper the Express & Star: “We have been enormously proud to have been home to the former V Festival over the last nineteen years. The significant contribution that hosting the event has made to the charitable objectives of the Weston Park Foundation and the wider regional economy cannot be underestimated”.

He added that the foundation was “very excited” about working with the Festival Republic-allied company that actually owned the V Festival, Roseclaim, on “a future project here on the estate in 2019”.

This would suggest that the new event in Staffordshire may not be a second edition of the Rize Festival, but rather something else. Either way, Weston Park Foundation bosses have said that the unexpected lack of a major festival in the park this year will affect their finances. However, other non-music events are being planned in order to somewhat fill the gap.

READ MORE ABOUT: Festival Republic | Rize Festival | Weston Park Foundation

Wednesday 28 February 2018, 12:49 | By Chris Cooke

Sena Live acquires Iceland Airwaves

Business News Deals Live Business

Icelandic live music firm Sena Live has confirmed it has acquired Iceland Airwaves, the popular Reykjavík-based music festival. The new owner says that it will renew the event’s focus on showcasing domestic talent, therefore reducing the focus on international acts to an extent.

Iceland Airwaves always had a showcase festival element to it, putting the spotlight on new acts that got to play for an international industry and media audience. Though the event, sponsored by airline Icelandair, was also about encouraging music fans from North America and Europe to visit the country, possibly extending their trip beyond the festival itself.

According to IQ, Sena Live CEO Ísleifur Þórhaldsson told Icelandic media that he thought the festival should “go back to basics. We don’t think Airwaves should be chasing the big acts, but should be a festival for up-and-coming and indie bands”. He added that long-term sponsor Icelandair backed these plans.

Seeking to reassure the festival’s fans that the event was safe in his hands, even if some changes are made, Þórhaldsson added: “Airwaves is a deep-rooted cultural institution which we know and feel immediately that everyone cares about. We will not be the people who destroy Airwaves”.

Coinciding with the change in ownership, long-time Festival Director at the event, Grímur Atlason, has confirmed he has decided to step down from that role, adding: “It’s been a privilege and pleasure working for this great festival with all my marvellous co-workers over the years”.

READ MORE ABOUT: Grímur Atlason | Iceland Airwaves | Sena Live

Wednesday 28 February 2018, 12:44 | By Chris Cooke

Sirius XM owner proposes bid to solve iHeartMedia’s debt problem

Business News Media

American conglom Liberty Media is seemingly making a play for US radio giant iHeartMedia. It has proposed a possible solution to the struggling broadcaster’s long-running debt problems that would also give Liberty a 40% stake in the business.

iHeartMedia – the radio company once known as Clear Channel – has been involved in long-drawn out negotiations with its money lenders in a bid to restructure $20 billion in debts. Those mega-debts are mainly the result of a $24 billion private equity buyout of the radio firm in 2008. As debt restructuring talks continued to go through the motions last year there was various talk of the company going into bankruptcy.

According to the Denver Business Journal, Liberty has approached iHeart debt-holders with a proposal it pump money into the flagging firm. Under the suggested investment, Liberty would take a 40% stake in the radio company, restructure its board, and put itself in an influential position should the broadcaster slip into so called chapter 11 bankruptcy.

Liberty Media already has a controlling interest in satellite broadcaster Sirius XM. So, if Liberty’s new proposal was to go through, it would give the company controlling interests in both iHeart, a major player in AM/FM radio Stateside, as well as America’s big satellite radio business.

From a music perspective, it would be an interesting deal for two reasons. First, Sirius is now a key shareholder in streaming music firm Pandora, which is mainly known for its personalised radio service. Its main competitor is iHeartRadio, the streaming music platform operated by iHeartMedia.

Secondly, Liberty Media is also a significant shareholder in live music giant Live Nation. If it got itself a controlling interest in iHeartMedia, that would mean it would be a key shareholder in America’s biggest terrestrial and satellite radio groups, the country’s biggest live music promoter and ticketing company, and its biggest streaming services. So, a lot of big fingers in the musical pie.

There being some common ownership between iHeart and Live Nation would also be interesting from a historical perspective. The two businesses were previously two divisions of the same company – ie Clear Channel – before the live entertainment side was spun off to create the standalone Live Nation business in 2005.

All that said, it’s far from assured that Liberty’s bold bid to rescue and then control iHeart will come to pass. The Wall Street Journal notes that “despite the potential benefits of the merger, there is no certainty that a merger would survive the often-contentious bargaining sessions played out in bankruptcy court”.

It then quotes analyst Lance Vitanza who muses that: “I think some of iHeart’s bondholders understand the potential power of a merger between iHeart and Sirius, but not all creditors understand that”.

READ MORE ABOUT: iHeart | Liberty Media

Wednesday 28 February 2018, 12:42 | By CMU Editorial

Full line-up unveiled for Green Events & Innovations Conference

Brands & Merch Education & Events

The full line-up has been announced for this year’s Green Events & Innovations Conference, which takes place in London next week ahead of the International Live Music Conference.

Now in its tenth year, GEI is the annual conference event organised by the A Green Festival organisation. It puts the spotlight on the environmental impact of festivals and live events, and the ways promoters and organisers can make their events more environmentally friendly and sustainable.

Roskilde, Glastonbury, Bestival and Pohoda are among the festivals due to take part this year, while representatives from organisations including New Internationalist, Greenpeace and the Soil Association will also speak.

Summarising this year’s programme, organisers say: “From poo to power, from waste to water, from activism to eco-currencies, and even a brand of beer that is brewed using stale bread, delegates can expect to have their minds boggled by innovation, and their spirits ignited by green experts and inspiring individuals who will present tried-and-tested solutions to common event management problems”.

CMU Business Editor Chris Cooke will lead two sessions, including the there mentioned ‘poo conversation’. That panel is titled ‘The Facts of Live: Poo, Pee & Water’. He’ll also speak to three experts on how event organisers can ensure their procurement choices are truly sustainable.

Full details about this year’s Green Events & Innovations Conference, which takes place on Tuesday, 6 Mar, are available here. A small number of tickets are still available here.

READ MORE ABOUT: Green Events & Innovations Conference

Wednesday 28 February 2018, 12:39 | By Andy Malt

Secret 7″ to return this summer

Artist News Education & Events Releases

The Secret 7″ project will return for its sixth year this summer. As ever, leading artists and designers will create 700 seven-inch sleeves, into which will be popped one of seven limited edition singles. Following an exhibition, they will all be sold off, this year in aid of mental health charity Mind.

The songs that will be in the sleeves this year are as follows:

The Clash – I’m Not Down
Eurythmics – I Saved The World Today
Jeff Buckley – Lover, You Should’ve Come Over
Jimi Hendrix – Castles Made of Sand
London Grammar – Help
Manic Street Preachers – No Surface All Feeling
Primal Scream – Damaged

Organisers are now accepting submissions for the artwork via the project’s website. Those are open until 24 Apr. The exhibition will take place at The Jetty in Greenwich from 8-24 Jun. The sleeves will also be sold off for £50 each at the end of the exhibition, after which, the designers will be revealed.

READ MORE ABOUT: Secret 7"

Wednesday 28 February 2018, 12:35 | By Andy Malt

One Liners: Russ, Everything Everything, Unknown Mortal Orchestra, more

Artist News Business News Deals Labels & Publishers One Liners Releases

Other notable announcements and developments today…

• Sony/ATV has signed US rapper Russ to a worldwide publishing deal. “We will work closely with Russ and his management”, insists the publisher’s US Co-President Danny Strick.

• Everything Everything have released a new EP, ‘A Deeper Sea’. As well as new song ‘The Mariana’ and a remix of ‘Ivory Tower’ by Tom Vek, the release also features this outtake from last album ‘A Fever Dream’, ‘Breadwinner’.

• Unknown Mortal Orchestra have released new single, ‘Not In Love We’re Just High’. New album, ‘Sex & Food’, is out on 6 Apr.

• Yo La Tengo have released new song, ‘For You Too’. Their new album, ‘There’s A Riot Going On’, is out on 16 Mar.

• Gwenno has released a new track from her upcoming Cornish language album, ‘Le Kov’. Here’s ‘Hi A Skoellyas Liv A Dhagrow’.

• Girl Ray have released new single, ‘The Way We Came Back’. The song was written by frontwoman Poppy Hankin when she was sixteen years old. “It’s cute, I guess”, says her bandmate Sophie Moss. “You kinda wanna skip to it, you know?”

• Warmduscher are back with a new video for previously released track, ‘Big Wilma’. Their new album, ‘Whale City’, is out on 1 Jun.

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

READ MORE ABOUT: Everything Everything | Girl Ray | Gwenno | Russ | Sony Music Publishing | Tom Vek | Unknown Mortal Orchestra | Warmduscher | Yo La Tengo

Wednesday 28 February 2018, 12:31 | By Andy Malt

Charlie Watts not bothered if Rolling Stones split up

And Finally Artist News Gigs & Festivals

Rolling Stones drummer Charlie Watts is drumming up enthusiasm for the band’s first UK tour in more than decade by telling everyone he’s not that bothered if they split up.

“I love playing the drums and I love playing with Mick and Keith and Ronnie, I don’t know about the rest of it”, he tells The Guardian. “It wouldn’t bother me if the Rolling Stones said that’s it… enough”.

“I would hate it to dissolve not amicably”, he adds. “I would like Mick to say, or me or Keith or whoever, I don’t want to do it any more, for whatever reason, and we just say that’s it. I wouldn’t want it to be an argument or whatever”.

That’s definitely the sort of gusto you want from someone charging ticket prices people are already calling “fucking outrageous”. Some people seem to think there’s something wrong with standing tickets for a stadium show being priced at between £89.95 and £451.95, before booking fee.

Watts, meanwhile, says that he “would like to be standing” by the end of the final show on the tour.

READ MORE ABOUT: Charlie Watts | The Rolling Stones

Wednesday 28 February 2018, 11:39 | By Andy Malt

Approved: Sibille Attar

CMU Approved

Five years ago, Sibille Attar was a major label-signed act with a promising career ahead of her. It’s not an experience she remembers fondly.

“I had a rough patch, confidence-wise, after the last album for some reason”, she tells The Line Of Best Fit. “Maybe because I was working with shitholes – that could be part of it. I was super surprised about how uninterested some people in the business seemed in whatever I actually could do with music”.

She goes on: “They seemed more interested in whether I looked pretty in photos, the way they wanted me to, or not, and that attitude took me completely off-guard”.

Five years later, she’s signed to indie label PNKSLM and finally back with some new music. And it’s great to hear from her once again; in her time away she’s lost nothing of what made her so intriguing before.

New EP ‘Paloma’s Hand’ is due out on 27 Apr. The first single to be released from it, ‘Run’, is filled with a dark atmosphere. Attar’s deft production leaves the track feeling tense, without allowing it to become too claustrophobic.

Listen to ‘Run’ here:

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

READ MORE ABOUT: Sibille Attar

Tuesday 27 February 2018, 13:31 | By Chris Cooke

NME publisher Time Inc UK sold to private equity in £130 million deal

Business News Deals Media Top Stories

Private equity company Epiris yesterday announced a deal to buy NME publisher Time Inc UK in a transaction reported to be worth £130 million. The acquisition of Time Inc’s UK business comes hot on the heels of a deal in the US in which the Meredith Corporation is buying the parent company. Presumably US-centric Meredith wasn’t so excited about the British magazines that came to it under its big Time Inc deal.

One of the main magazine publishers in the UK, the British wing of Time Inc publishes music titles NME and Uncut. Other magazines in its eclectic portfolio include Wallpaper, What’s On TV, TV Times, Soaplife, InStyle UK, Look and Marie Claire.

According to The Guardian, it is thought that new owner Epiris will likely review all the magazines currently published by Time Inc UK and could seek to offload underperforming titles. Meanwhile, it may well seek to acquire additional magazines from other publishers – a possible bid for independent media firm Dennis Publishing is rumoured – while also seeking economies across the business that could result in some downsizing of the workforce.

These assumptions are partly based on remarks by Epiris partner Chris Hanna, who said of Time Inc UK: “At its heart this is a diverse, robust and cash-generative business. We intend to bring clarity and simplicity to it, to focus on maximising the potential of its high-quality portfolio”.

Confirmation of the Time Inc UK deal coincided with the news that NME Editor Mike Williams has decided to step down from the role with immediate effect. He says that after more than five years in the job he felt it was time to move on. Williams has edited the title since 2012, overseeing the music weekly during its big shift from being a paid for music-focused magazine to a free title with a wider entertainment remit.

Elsewhere in media deals news, it’s emerged this morning that US broadcasting giant Comcast is bidding to buy the Sky TV business in Europe. In doing so it is attempting to gazump a bid by Rupert Murdoch’s 21st Century Fox, which already owns nearly 40% of the publicly listed Sky plc, and which has been trying to secure complete ownership of the satellite telly company for some time.

The idea of the Murdoch-led Fox having complete ownership of Sky plc – and its Sky News channel – has proven controversial in the UK, of course, what with the also Murdoch-led News Corp already owning The Times, The Sun and various British radio stations. And with Murdoch being Murdoch. And with all that phone hacking business. And with all of that “we never did any phone hacking, except, oh, actually we did” business.

21st Century Fox’s bid to buy Sky has been slightly complicated by Disney’s move to acquire 21st Century Fox, which would see Murdoch become a minority shareholder in the combined entertainment powerhouse. So, hurrah for the rival bid from Comcast complicating things even further.

READ MORE ABOUT: Epiris | NME | Time Inc UK

Tuesday 27 February 2018, 13:29 | By Chris Cooke

50 Cent doesn’t have $8.5 million worth of bitcoin

Artist News Legal

50 Cent has denied that he is sitting on a big pile of bitcoins stemming from sales of his 2014 album ‘Animal Ambition’. This follows reports that he had a bitcoin collection worth up to $8.5 million. Something that would be of interest to the court that oversaw the rapper’s recent bankruptcy proceedings.

50 Cent declared himself bankrupt in 2015 amid a legal battle with Lastonia Leviston, who sued him over a sex tape he had posted online in which she appeared. Though the bankruptcy didn’t actually stop that litigation, as he had been hoped. The court subsequently approved a bankruptcy settlement in 2016.

If, as TMZ reported last month, 50 Cent had been sitting on 700 bitcoins since 2014, that might have changed those bankruptcy proceedings somewhat. The gossip site said that the bitcoins gathered through sales of ‘Animal Ambition’ had been unredeemed. Worth $400,000 in 2014, that many bitcoins would now be worth anything up to $8.5 million.

However, in a legal filing seen by rival gossip site The Blast, 50 Cent’s lawyers insist that any bitcoins earned by the 2014 record were cashed in long ago. They told the court that a third party had handled bitcoin sales of ‘Animal Ambition’ and passed monies onto their client in dollars.

They added that the rapper “never owned, and does not own, a bitcoin account or any bitcoins, and to the best of his knowledge, none of his companies had a bitcoin account from 2014 to the present”.

As for why 50 Cent didn’t just say this when the TMZ report first circulated – well – because the idea of him selling records for bitcoins and then sitting on the virtual cash while it boomed in value made him look like a shrewd operator.

The Blast quote the rapper as stating to the court: “As a general matter, so long as a press story is not irreparably damaging to my image or brand, I usually do not feel the need to publicly deny the reporting. This is particularly true when I feel the press report in question is favourable to my image or brand, even if the report is based on a misunderstanding of the facts or contains outright falsehoods”.

READ MORE ABOUT: 50 Cent

Tuesday 27 February 2018, 13:27 | By Chris Cooke

The Magic Numbers ally with Absolute on new album

Artist News Business News Deals Labels & Publishers

The Magic Numbers have allied with Absolute Label Services for the release of their new album ‘Outsiders’. The record will be released in May by the band’s own Role Play Records, with Absolute providing sales, marketing, distribution and sync services.

The band’s manager Phil Jones at Riverman Management says: “I fell in love with ‘Outsiders’ the moment I sat down and played it for the very first time. This is a band at the top of their game, and we are THRILLED to be joining forces with Mark and the Absolute team to deliver this wonderful record. I can’t think of a better home from which to launch the next chapter of The Magic Numbers’ career”.

“But who’s this Mark of whom you speak” I hear you all shouting at your screen. Well, it’s Absolute Label Services Director Mark Dowling. Obviously!

Says he: “I have been a big fan of The Magic Numbers since their debut so I’m very happy that the band and Phil at Riverman have chosen Absolute to be their partners on ‘Outsiders’. It’s a phenomenal album with incredible songs from a band that is back to their very best”.

READ MORE ABOUT: Absolute Label Services | The Magic Numbers

Tuesday 27 February 2018, 13:17 | By Chris Cooke

Fuck me, Ed Sheeran was the most successful act in 2017, who knew?

Artist News Business News Labels & Publishers

The International Federation Of The Phonographic Industry yesterday published its annual list of the ten best-selling/streamed artists of 2017 and – hey – hold on to your hats for the big reveal – you’re never going to guess – what a twist no one saw coming – who’d have thought it could ever be so – topping the pile is Edward Sheeran.

That’s good news for us Brits, who like to boast about how our music industry consistently punches above its weight on the global music stage, given this year everyone else in the top ten harks from North America. However, before all you Trumpers start boasting that that’s what happens when you “make America great again”, let’s all note that the second most successful artist of 2017 is Canadian. Hey Canada, how you doing? Look at us, pushing those Americans into third place. Fuck them, I say.

Away from all this unrelenting patriotism, the more depressing feature of the 2017 ‘most successful artists’ list is surely the fact that third place Taylor Swift is the only woman in the top ten. The list always skews male, but not usually to that extent.

Quite how diverse this list is in terms of gender, ethnicity and nationality does always depend, to an extent, on the release schedule, and which of the very small group of truly global superstar artists have been active in the previous twelve months.

Still, the notable lack of female acts this year makes the various initiatives to address the gender gap in music all the more pressing. Especially given that, even when a few more female superstars do populate lists like this one, you always know that the songwriters, producers and session musicians those superstars have worked with are likely to be mainly male.

But hey, Brit-boy Ed Sheeran, the most successful artist of 2017, woo! “Being crowned the biggest star in the world, with the biggest song and biggest album, is the result of years of ambition, creativity, and hard work on a global scale”, says the boss of Sheeran’s record company Warner Music, Max Lousada.

Adds Lousada: “Ed is truly an incredible songwriter, vocalist and performer, whose ability to tell stories and make people feel is what stands him out from the crowd. He’s always had a totally authentic connection with his fans, something he places over everything else. Congrats also to [Sheeran’s manager] Stuart Camp, the Atlantic teams in the UK and US, and everyone at Warner who contributed to Ed’s amazing success story”.

Now that we’ve all suitably celebrating Sheeran’s success, let’s all get depressed again over the full top ten…

1. Ed Sheeran
2. Drake
3. Taylor Swift
4. Kendrick Lamar
5. Eminem
6. Bruno Mars
7. The Weeknd
8. Imagine Dragons
9. Linkin Park
10. The Chainsmokers

READ MORE ABOUT: Ed Sheeran | International Federation Of The Phonographic Industry (IFPI) | Warner Music

Tuesday 27 February 2018, 13:15 | By Andy Malt

Rainbow Venues’ outdoor space taken over by MJR

Business News Deals Live Business

The outdoor venue previously operated by Birmingham’s Rainbow Venues, the Rainbow Arena, has been taken over by the MJR Group. The deal comes as the result of the ongoing fallout from Rainbow losing its licence last year.

MJR plans to rebrand the site the Digbeth Arena, with shows from James Arthur, Texas, The The and Garbage already scheduled for August and September. Rainbow Venues has meanwhile said that it plans to return to promoting shows around the UK, as Rainbow Events, suggesting that it may give up more of its venues in Birmingham.

Rainbow’s various venues have been closed since November last year, when Birmingham City Council revoked the company’s licence. The council’s decision came as the result of two drug-related deaths in the main Rainbow warehouse clubbing space. Eighteen year old Dylan Booth died at the venue in 2015, while nineteen year old Michael Trueman died at a Halloween event last year.

The club’s operators argued that they had extremely strict anti-drugs and security policies. However, they said that no one can “promise that drugs will not enter licensed premises”, while also pointing out that it was the drug users, not the venue, who had broken the law.

Rainbow has since launched a campaign calling for better drugs education, rather than having councils shut down clubs, which just pushes the problem elsewhere. It is also raising money in order to appeal the decision to revoke its licence, and has announced a festival to push its education agenda. That event is due to take place on the site that Rainbow has just given up on 29 Sep.

MJR’s Benjamin Newby says in a statement: “We are honoured and humbled to become part of the innovative and artistic hub that is Digbeth, Birmingham. We have already started developing great relationships with the business and creative community and look forward to what the future will bring. We recognise the dedicated and inspirational work Rainbow Venues have put into their venues and Digbeth as a whole”.

Commenting on the deal, Rainbow Venues founder Lee McDonald adds: “Our business will return full circle to the position from where we originally started. Working with emerging and established artists, bands and labels to produce extraordinary and memorable experiences for music fans and clubbers across the country under The Rainbow Events. We have a strong relationship with The MJR Group and could not be happier that they are the company taking the arena forward into the future”.

A growing concert promoter and venue operator, Bristol-based MJR already runs The Marble Factory in Bristol, The Engine Rooms in Southampton, Sub 89 and The Bowery District in Reading, and The Globe and The Tramshed in Cardiff.

READ MORE ABOUT: MJR Group | Rainbow Venues

Tuesday 27 February 2018, 13:13 | By Chris Cooke

Expedia moves into ticketing, but as a resale platform

Business News Digital Live Business

With Amazon officially bailing on tickets last week (for now at least), maybe it’s worth noting that earlier this month travel website Expedia added tickets into the mix on its US platform. Although it seemingly did so by allying with an American secondary ticketing site called TicketNetwork. So less an exciting new player looking to shake up the primary ticketing market, and more a new platform via which touts can tout their touted tickets. Albeit this time bundled in with a cheap hotel and car rental.

Confirming the addition of tickets to its site, Expedia Local Expert VP Jen O’Twomney said earlier this month: “We know travellers are looking for unique and authentic experiences while in-destination. They want to catch a baseball game at a stadium they’ve never been to, or see a show that isn’t playing in their hometown”.

She went on: “There’s also a growing trend to build entire trips around events, to attend a music festival, follow a specific artist on tour, or root for your team at an away game. Adding event tickets to our product offering makes all the sense in the world and gives us another way to help travellers get the most out of their vacation”.

Given the increasingly vocal campaign against online ticket touting, it’s interesting to see Expedia move into this space by becoming a marketplace for resellers rather than allying with primary ticket agents.

The site does state that “we are a resale marketplace, not the ticket seller” and that “prices are set by third-party sellers and may be above or below face value”. Although individual listings for tickets for British shows don’t contain all the information resale sites are obliged to provide under UK law. True, it’s selling them to American customers, though that’s still not necessarily a very good look.

Commenting on the innovation, Adam Webb from the UK campaign against touting, FanFair, told CMU: “What with the heightened political and regulatory scrutiny around secondary ticketing, it’s certainly bold timing on the part of Expedia to partner with a large US ticket resale platform. And to allow listing of tickets for UK events that appear to breach UK consumer law. They might want to rethink this. Until then, we would recommend incoming tourists avoid this service, and find their ticket information instead on either the artist or authorised event website”.

All that said, adding gig tickets to travel websites does offer the live sector an extra route to market, though that could just as easily be a route provided to primary rather than secondary sellers. Start-up Coras is dabbling in this space already and announced a partnership with Ryanair last year.

READ MORE ABOUT: Expedia | TicketNetwork

Tuesday 27 February 2018, 13:09 | By Chris Cooke

People and machines collaborate on new K-pop songs

Business News Digital

London-based tech start-up Jukedeck has unveiled details about a partnership with Korean music and entertainment company Enterarts. The tie-up has seen the latter’s songwriters collaborate with the former’s AI technology to create new music. Those creations are being performed for the first time in Seoul today.

Jukedeck explains: “Enterarts’ well-known team of composers and producers have taken pieces of music composed by Jukedeck as their starting point and composed and produced K-pop songs using Jukedeck’s music as the main musical material, in a process they describe as ‘putting the human emotion’ into the song”.

The company adds that both it and Enterarts believe that, “rather than replacing human composers, the power of AI lies in its ability to be used as a tool by human composers and producers to fuel their creativity. This collaboration is an exciting early example of human musicians working with AI to compose something new”.

After today’s performance, recorded versions of the new songs will be released on iTunes and all the key streaming platforms in Korea. The Jukedeck team will also be taking part in the CMU Insights AI Conference at The Great Escape in May, discussing how AI-based music composition tools fit into the music making process.

READ MORE ABOUT: Enterarts | Jukedeck

Tuesday 27 February 2018, 13:04 | By Andy Malt

Festival Republic announces V Festival replacement

Artist News Business News Gigs & Festivals Live Business

Live Nation’s Festival Republic has announced its replacement for V Festival. Occupying the same August weekend as its predecessor, Rize Festival will take place on 17-18 Aug at Hylands Park in Chelmsford. It will be headlined by Liam Gallagher and The Stereophonics.

V Festival, of course, took place on two sites, with line-ups alternating across the two. It’s not clear if Festival Republic also plans to stage an event at Weston Park in Staffordshire, either under the Rize brand or something else.

It was announced last October that Virgin had decided to pull its sponsorship from the event after 22 years. Revealing the news, and despite saying that it had been an “honour” to be involved with the festival for so long, the only two positive memories Virgin boss Richard Branson could come up with happened in the 90s.

One of those was Stereophonics playing the event as a new signing to his then new V2 record label. So, booking the band for Rize could be seen as a bit of a dig at him. Or a nod to the event’s history. Whatever.

Also announced to perform are Bastille, Rita Ora, Rag N Bone Man, James Bay, Craig David, Plan B, Manic Street Preachers, Years & Years and Maximo Park. So quite heavy on the white men.

Tickets go on sale this Friday, priced £59.50. You can have a look at the currently pretty sparse website here.

READ MORE ABOUT: Festival Republic | Rize Festival | V Festival

Tuesday 27 February 2018, 12:58 | By Andy Malt

One Liners: Chris Cornell, Pendulum, Rolling Stones, more

Artist News Business News Gigs & Festivals Industry People One Liners Releases

Other notable announcements and developments today…

• The global grouping of indie label trade bodies worldwide, the Worldwide Independent Network, has announced the appointment of Beggars Group boss Martin Mills to the new position of Non-Executive Chair.

• One of Chris Cornell’s final recordings has been released. ‘You Never Knew My Mind’, features lyrics drawn from an unpublished poem written by Johnny Cash. It’ll appear on new album, ‘Johnny Cash: Forever Words’, out on 6 Apr.

• Pendulum have announced their first album since 2010’s ‘Immersion’. Titled ‘The Reworks’ (they’re a bit vague about whether or not it’s a remix album) the new record will be released later this year, alongside a boxset called ‘The Complete Works’.

• Shirt, the first rapper signed to Jack White’s Third Man Records label, has shared a video of his first visit to the company’s vinyl pressing plant.

• Peggy Gou has released new track ‘Han Jan’. She describes it as “my little tribute to 90s electro music”. ‘Han Jan’ is taken from her new EP, ‘Once’, out this Friday.

• Those Rolling Stones have announced that they will tour the UK for the first time in more than a decade this summer. Tickets go on general sale on Friday.

• The Pet Shop Boys will return to the Royal Opera House in London with their ‘Inner Sanctum’ show for four nights in July. The duo are “THRILLED”. Tickets go on sale tomorrow.

• Ash have announced UK tour dates for this October, finishing up at The Forum in London on 24 Oct. Their new album, ‘Islands’, is out on 18 May. Here’s new track, ‘Buzzkill’.

• Mitski will tour the UK and Ireland in September, finishing at the Shepherds Bush Empire on 26 Sep. Tickets on sale this Friday.

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

READ MORE ABOUT: Ash | Chris Cornell | Johnny Cash | Martin Mills | Mitski | Peggy Gou | Pendulum | Pet Shop Boys | Shirt | The Rolling Stones | World Independent Network (WIN)

Tuesday 27 February 2018, 12:53 | By Andy Malt

Moby definitely invented the iPhone

And Finally Artist News Releases

When he’s not being given sensitive information over dinner by members of the CIA, it turns out that Moby is pretty chummy with people in the tech world too. He talks, they listen, he invents the iPhone.

“I’m hesitant to talk about this because it sounds either like nonsense or self-aggrandising”, he tells the Observer. Oh, do go on.

According to the article, he explains that after Apple launched its iTunes software in 2001, he told Apple marketing exec Jimmy Dickson that the company should build its own proprietary MP3 player.

“A year or two later they brought me to a hotel room at the Crosby in New York, handed me the first iPod and said: ‘Steve wanted you to have this'”, claims Moby. So that’s a fun story. Although the iPod came out about nine months after iTunes and there is absolutely no way that the two weren’t being developed at the same time as each other.

Anyway, how did Moby react to being handed the first iPod? “I said: ‘You do know at some point this is going to have a camera and a phone attached to it?’ And they laughed at me and said that could never happen”.

Hahaha. How they laughed. It must have been a laugh a minute at Apple back in those days, given that Steve Jobs had been talking about wirelessly connected handheld devices since the early 80s. The company’s first fleeting attempts at handheld computers date back to the early 90s, and the development of the iPad pre-dates the iPhone by some years. But sure, Moby invented the iPhone.

Anyway, Moby has a new album coming out this week. He’s just released the video for new single, ‘This Wild Darkness’. Has Moby ever told you how he invented video? And music. No, he’d probably be hesitant for fear of sounding self-aggrandising.

READ MORE ABOUT: Apple | Moby

Tuesday 27 February 2018, 12:05 | By Andy Malt

Approved: Natalie Prass

CMU Approved

Natalie Prass released her critically acclaimed debut album in 2015. The following year she was all set to get to work on the follow-up. Songs were written, a band had been assembled and studio time was in the calendar. But then something happened. Trump happened.

“I was devastated”, she says of Donald Trump’s election as US president. “It made me question what it means to be a woman in America, whether any of the things I thought were getting better were actually improving, who I am and what I believe in”.

As a result, she felt she couldn’t go ahead and make the album she had planned. She continues: “I knew I would be so upset with myself if I didn’t take the opportunity to say some of the things that meant so much to me, so I decided to rewrite the record. I needed to make an album that was going to get me out of my funk, one that would hopefully lift other people out of theirs, too, because that’s what music is all about”.

So, somewhat delayed, Prass will release her second album, ‘The Future And The Past’, on 1 Jun. The first track from it, ‘Short Court Style’, has just been released. As songs designed to lift you out of a depression about the apparent collapse of civilisation go, it does its job very well.

You can catch her live in the UK in April, when she will be playing dates in London, Brighton, Manchester, Birmingham and Glasgow.

Watch the video for ‘Short Court Style’ here:

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

READ MORE ABOUT: Natalie Prass

Monday 26 February 2018, 13:29 | By Chris Cooke

US songwriter group raises three key concerns with Music Modernization Act

Business News Labels & Publishers Top Stories

While a number of organisations representing songwriters have endorsed the proposed Music Modernization Act in the US, some in the American songwriting community reckon changes still need to be made to the legislation – as it works its way through Congress – to ensure it is truly creator friendly. Last week the Council Of Music Creators identified three key issues: governance of the new collecting society it will create, the system for distributing unallocated royalties, and the lack of a grievance process.

The Music Modernization Act seeks to end the mechanical rights mess in the US, which has resulted in some songwriters and music publishers going unpaid by the streaming services, and most of those streaming firms being sued for copyright infringement. Including, of course, the mega-bucks $1.6 billion lawsuit against Spotify.

The problem for the digital music companies in the US is that, unlike in most other countries, there isn’t a collecting society that can provide a catch-all blanket licence covering the so called mechanical rights in all songs wherever the streaming firm doesn’t have a direct deal in place with a music publisher.

Instead the streaming firm must identify the song exploited in any one track uploaded by a record label, work out who wrote and published that song, and then send them the paperwork and royalties as required by the compulsory licence that covers mechanical rights Stateside. This has proven tricky, not least because there is no one-stop publicly accessible music rights database to help with the process.

The Music Modernization Act would set up a mechanical rights society in the US for the first time, solving this problem for the streaming firms. It would also change the way the rates are set for royalties due under compulsory licences or the collective licensing system in the US, making it attractive to songwriters and publishers as well.

With that in mind, those behind the act are hoping to present a united front in Washington, with songwriters, publishers and streaming firms all on side, in a bid to get the Music Modernization Act through Congress in a relatively speedy fashion.

Some songwriters do back the proposals. The organisations Songwriters Of North America and Nashville Songwriters Association International were on board from the off, while the Songwriters Guild Of America formally gave the legislation its backing earlier this month after a few changes were made. In particular, an increase in the number of songwriters who will sit on the boards overseeing the new collecting society.

However, at the time the SGA did add that it would “continue to applaud the efforts of members of the music creator and publishing communities seeking further improvements”. One group of writers still pushing for further change is the Council Of Music Creators which, like SGA, is part of a coalition called Music Creators North America.

Last week the CMC posted a YouTube video in which it outlined its three main grievances with the latest draft of the Music Modernization Act. The video begins by agreeing that “the bill does some very good things for music creators”, but, it then adds, “it also contains a few things that need to be fixed, or at least clarified, before anything gets signed into law”. The CMC then sets out its top three grievances.

First, it notes that, as a result of previous lobbying, the board overseeing the new collecting society will now consist of ten publishers and four songwriters. “The four writers are there because most of this money is writer money and they’re supposed to make sure everything is done on the up and up”, says the CMC. But, it adds, “the publishers want to pick the writers who sit on the board. Publishers want to decide which writers are allowed to see what’s going on. We think writers should choose their own representatives”.

Secondly, it raises that common question that comes up whenever a collecting society collects and distributes royalties. What does it do when it doesn’t know who to pay? Because while the Music Modernization Act will mean the streaming firms no longer need to identify what songs have been streamed and which publishers and writers are due royalties, someone will still have to work that out – ie the new collecting society.

Taking issue with the current plan for distributing unallocated royalties, the CMC goes on: “Self-published writers are the ones most likely to have their music unidentified or misidentified by digital music services. If these writers don’t claim their royalties from the collective, 100% of their royalties will go to publishers based on the publishers’ market share. That means that the big publishers and their top writers will get most of that money. Money that belongs to the self-published writers. This needs to be fixed”.

Finally, the CMC wants the MMA to set out a grievance process for the new collecting society. Noting that “things don’t always work out the way we want”, the organisation’s video goes on: “Right now the MMA contains no grievance process for music creators who get left out of the process or feel they haven’t been treated fairly. Big songwriters with lawyers and accountants will be able to audit their publishers, but tens of thousands of songwriters won’t. The MMA should include some process that allows regular songwriters to have their concerns addressed by an independent party”.

Most of these are ultimately issues between the songwriters and the music publishers, rather than the music community and the streaming firms. It remains to be seen what additional amendments are made to the MMA in a bid to get everyone of a musical bent to sing its praises in Washington. You can watch the CMC’s video here:

READ MORE ABOUT: Council Of Music Creators (CMC) | Music Modernization Act

Monday 26 February 2018, 13:27 | By Andy Malt

Alice Glass has defamation lawsuit dismissed

Artist News Legal

Alice Glass claimed victory in court last week, after a defamation lawsuit brought against her by former Crystal Castles bandmate Ethan Kath was dismissed.

“I won in court today”, she tweeted. “The defamation lawsuit against me was dismissed! Thank you so much for the love and support throughout this ugly process. This is a victory for survivors of abuse and sexual misconduct in countries where abusers use the court system to further victimise and keep people silent. WE WILL NOT BE SILENCED”.

Last October, Glass accused Kath of years of physical and mental abuse during their time as a couple and bandmates, starting when she was fifteen years old. Kath responded by suing Glass for defamation, accusing her of trying to “ruin his good name and reputation in the industry”, to “destroy Crystal Castles” and “in turn boost her own career”.

The Los Angeles Superior Court confirmed to Pitchfork on Friday that Glass’s motion to strike was granted, while her attorney said: “We are extremely pleased with the court’s decision to grant our motion to strike, which effectively dismisses the complaint in its entirety. As the prevailing party, we are entitled to attorneys’ fees and will return to court to obtain an order in that regard”.

Kath has not yet responded to the news. Earlier this month, The Daily Beast published an article detailing accusations from four others who alleged that Kath had also taken advantage of them as teenagers.

READ MORE ABOUT: Alice Glass | Crystal Castles | Ethan Kath

Monday 26 February 2018, 13:25 | By Chris Cooke

Former Universal and Sony boss plotting new label

Business News Industry People Labels & Publishers

Record industry veteran Doug Morris – who spent the latter part of his career running the two biggest record companies in the world, first Universal Music and then Sony Music – is plotting the launch of a brand new label, according to sources who have been busy chattering with Billboard.

The 79 year old Morris stood down as CEO of Sony Music last year, allowing British record industry exec Rob Stringer to finally take on the top job at the world’s second biggest record company. However, Morris stayed on in a non-executive Chairman role for another year.

He’ll step down from that job too next month, gossipers say, leaving the major to launch a new record company. Billboard’s sources reckon that Morris already has funding in place for the new label business, and that a close alliance with Apple Music may be part of the venture, although the tech giant won’t be a shareholder.

Morris, of course, was the boss of now Apple Music exec Jimmy Iovine when he set up his Beats business with Dr Dre. At the time both execs were at Universal Music, which took a stake in the Beats business and then cashed in big time when Apple bought the company – including its then fledgling streaming service – in 2014.

READ MORE ABOUT: Doug Morris | Sony Music

Monday 26 February 2018, 13:21 | By Chris Cooke

45 festivals now signed up to 2022 gender balance pledge

Business News Live Business

The PRS Foundation has today confirmed that the number of festivals and music conferences around the world pledging to achieve a 50/50 gender balance across their line ups by 2022 has now reached 45. The Foundation has been encouraging festivals to make the pledge as part of its Keychange initiative, which is supporting various projects that seek to address the gender gap in the music industry, both on and off stage.

A number of festivals had already made the commitment when Keychange launched at the Reeperbahn festival in Germany last year, including Reeperbahn itself and BIME (Spain), Iceland Airwaves, Way Out West (Sweden), Musikcentrum Sweden, Tallinn Music Week (Estonia), MUTEK (Canada) and The Great Escape (UK). 38 more events have now joined the pledge, taking the total number to 45.

Many of the participating events are showcase festivals where the music industry routinely scouts for new talent. Given that new artists who play these events often subsequently populate the line-ups of more conventional festivals in the years that follow, achieving a more balanced gender split at the likes of Reeperbahn and The Great Escape will hopefully ultimately result in more diverse line-ups across the board.

The dominance of male artists at music festivals and male speakers at music conferences has been much more vocally criticised in recent years. This year, in particular, initial line-up announcements from key UK festivals are being much more closely scrutinised. There are various challenges to meet in order to solve the music industry’s gender diversity problem, and Keychange is seeking to address a number of them through its various projects. Line-up commitments like the one being made here are part of that process.

PRS Foundation chief Vanessa Reed says: “Our focus on gender equality in 2018 aligns with the centenary for some women being given the vote in the UK. 100 years on, the push for gender parity across society continues and with increased public awareness of inequalities across the creative industries we have an opportunity to respond and commit to tangible change in music”.

She goes on: “The Keychange network of female artists and industry professionals and the festival partners’ idea of establishing a collective pledge will significantly accelerate change. I hope that this will be the start of a more balanced industry which will result in benefits for everyone”.

The festivals that are newly signed up to the pledge are: 53 Degrees North (England), Aldeburgh Festival (England), Blissfields (England), Bluedot (England), Borealis (Norway), BreakOut West (Canada), By:Larm (Norway), Canadian Music Week (Canada), Cheltenham Jazz Festival (England), Cheltenham Music Festival (England), Eurosonic Noorderslag (Netherlands), FOCUS Wales (Wales), Granada Experience (Spain), Hard Working Class Heroes (Ireland), Huddersfield Contemporary Music Festival (England), A2IM Indie Week (USA), BBC Music Introducing Stages (UK), Katowice JazzArt Festival (Poland), Kendal Calling (England), Liverpool International Music Festival (England), Liverpool Sound City (England), Manchester Jazz Festival (England), Midem (France), Norwich Sound And Vision (England), North By North East (Canada), NYC Winter Jazzfest (USA), Off The Record (England), Oslo World (Norway), Pop-Kultur (Germany), BBC Proms (England), Roundhouse Rising (England), Spitalfields Music (England), Sŵn (Wales), Trondheim Calling (Norway), Waves Vienna (Austria), Westway LAB (Portugal), Wide Days (Scotland) and Gilles Peterson’s Worldwide Festival (France).

READ MORE ABOUT: Keychange | PRS Foundation

Monday 26 February 2018, 13:19 | By Chris Cooke

Airbnb launches platform for intimate gigs

Brands & Merch Business News Live Business

Airbnb last week launched Airbnb Concerts, which will promote intimate music events in unusual locations. So a bit like Sofar Sounds, then.

The new music service is a spin-off from Airbnb’s existing Trips platform, which offers travellers some of those ‘immersive’ experiences in addition to a cheap bed for the night in someone’s spare room. It seems that ‘music experiences’ have been among the most popular on the Trips set-up, hence the launching of a standalone service for musical events.

The company’s Head Of Music James Beshara told Billboard: “It’s been really exciting to see it organically grow and take off. I think music fans around the world are craving this type of format and intimate connection with artists”.

He adds: “Five years from now, I think more people will experience music in intimate settings like this than they are experiencing in arenas, and stadiums and festivals. That’s how big of an opportunity I think this is and hopefully we’re a substantial part of that”.

At launch Airbnb Concerts will be available in 25 cities including London, Paris, Tokyo, LA and New York.

READ MORE ABOUT: Airbnb

Monday 26 February 2018, 13:18 | By Chris Cooke

Twitter formally writes off SoundCloud investment

Business News Digital

Twitter has confirmed that it has written off the $70 million investment that it made into flagging streaming platform SoundCloud. The social media firm pumped cash into the music service in 2016 after speculation that it might seek to buy the SoundCloud business outright.

Many people thought that an outright acquisition by a bigger tech firm was the best option for SoundCloud, which went through a very tricky period as it pivoted its business away from providing services to content creators to becoming a more conventional streaming service, with advertising and user subscriptions as its core revenue streams.

Twitter, Apple and Spotify were all linked to a SoundCloud purchase, but no deal ever came through. Then, last year, following rumours of imminent collapse, SoundCloud announced it had secured $169.5 million from two new backers. The new finance also saw a new management team put in place and a considerable write down of the firm’s valuation

This means that last week’s confirmation that Twitter was writing off its SoundCloud investment because the money is “not expected to be recoverable within a reasonable period of time” was not much of a surprise. But it’s a timely reminder of how risky the streaming music business remains, even for companies with substantial userbases.

READ MORE ABOUT: SoundCloud | Twitter

Monday 26 February 2018, 13:16 | By Andy Malt

Neil Young accuses Google of paying no music royalties

Artist News Business News Digital

Neil Young has accused Google of ripping off young artists, making it near impossible for them to earn a living.

Posting on his Neil Young Archives website, he argues that Google has built its business off the back of music, without passing any money back to the creators. Which is something of an exaggeration – they’ve definitely passed through some money through Google Play and YouTube – though not nearly enough, Young presumably means. He’s also unhappy with Google search directing people to piracy. After ranting in this vein for a while he then concludes by talking up his Xstream streaming service, which doesn’t really exist yet.

“Today, in the age of Facebook, Google and Amazon, it’s hard to tell how a new and growing musical artist could make it in the way we did”, he writes. “The tech giants have figured out a way to use all the great music of everyone from all time, without reporting an artist’s number of plays or paying a fucking cent to the musicians. Aren’t they great companies! It makes you wonder where the next generation of great artists will come from. How will they survive?”

In order to read this on Neil Young’s website, you need to log in, which you can do with your Facebook or Google account.

He goes on: “‘Don’t be evil’. That was Google’s corporate motto as they directed users to pirate sites to get artist’s creations and not pay! Amazing tech breakthrough! Meanwhile, they reap the bucks from ads people read while listening to music made by the artists. Google just changed their motto to ‘do the right thing’, but haven’t changed anything as they continue to rip off the artist community, building their wealth on music’s back and paying nothing to the artists. Brilliant tech breakthrough! BTW, Google is YouTube. Guess who’s next?”

I’m not really sure who’s next. Or what he means by that question. But I was slightly distracted by all the studio quality, free-to-access, Neil Young music on the Neil Young Archives site.

He concludes by bigging up the still in development Xstream service, which powers that NYA site. At which point he switches to talking about digital audio quality, and then says that he’s happy not to earn any money from the music he’s sharing.

“I am so happy to be able to share my music and albums like ‘Broken Arrow’ with you here at NYA, where you can actually hear what we did”, he writes. “Xstream high resolution music makes me feel like I was there. I hope you can feel it too. The more you enjoy this music, the happier I am to share it with you. NYA is moving into a future that is really different from what we have now. It will not be easy. We are going to break a few rules and give you what you want”.

READ MORE ABOUT: Google | Neil Young | Xstream

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