Friday 31 August 2018, 10:56 | By

Vigsy’s Club Tip: Percolate at E1 London

Club Tip CMU Approved

Todd Terje

The Percolate night returns to the still relatively new E1 London venue tomorrow night, with an extended headline set from disco don Todd Terje.

A great producer of original tracks, he’s also a brilliant DJ, so it’ll be a treat to spend a few hours in his company.

Joining him will be Maurice Fulton, Idjut Boys, Krywald & Farrer, Raw Silk and Pool DJs.

Saturday 1 Sep, E1 London, 110 Pennington Street, Wapping, London, E1W 2BB, 10pm-6am, £25.50. More info here.

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Friday 31 August 2018, 10:41 | By

Europe For Creators campaign fights for safe harbour reform ahead of European copyright vote

Business News Labels & Publishers Legal Top Stories

European Commission

With the draft new copyright directive heading back to the European Parliament next month, the European music industry yesterday launched a new co-ordinated campaign to try to ensure that this time all that safe harbour reform gets through.

The music community, of course, has been campaigning hard to reform the safe harbour that says internet companies cannot be held liable for their users’ copyright infringement. Music companies argue that user-upload platforms like YouTube have exploited the safe harbour – originally intended for internet service providers and server hosting firms – in order to launch on-demand content platforms without paying market rate royalties to content owners.

Article thirteen of the new European Copyright Directive seeks to increase the liabilities of platforms like YouTube. But those proposals have proven to be very controversial, and when the directive went before the European Parliament last month MEPs voted it down, mainly because of rampant campaigning by the tech sector and copyright critics against article thirteen (and the also controversial article eleven).

The music industry has since been very critical of that campaign, accusing the tech sector of ‘astroturfing’, which is when corporate-led lobbying initiatives are presented as if they are coming from individual grassroots campaigners.

Julia Reda, the Pirate Party MEP who has been most vocal in opposing articles eleven and thirteen within the Parliament, has hit back at those claims. And clearly there are plenty of people outside Google’s public affairs department with concerns about the possible unintended consequences of the safe harbour reforms. Even if not many of them could be bothered to show up to real world street protests last weekend.

However, the anti-article thirteen campaign does seem to have benefited from some nifty online lobbying tools that probably made opposition to the proposals seem more pronounced than it really is (after all, most European citizens neither understand nor particularly care). And it also seems that some of those nifty tools were employed by people outside the European Union.

Either way, the European music industry – which has already campaigned hard on this issue – is hoping to campaign even harder in the run up to the 12 Sep vote. Hence this new co-ordinated campaign, which is being led by GESAC, the organisation that brings together all the song right collecting societies in Europe.

It said yesterday that the new ‘Europe For Creators’ initiative was a “movement, calling on citizens and decision-makers to take part in the debate and ensure that their voices are heard. This campaign seeks to correct misinformation by explaining the issues at stake and the importance of a vote in favour of the EU Copyright Directive”.

It added that: “Against a backdrop of astroturfing and a massive lobbying campaign, extensive education on this issue is urgently needed”. Article thirteen, it insisted, will simply “require internet platforms to negotiate fair licence agreements with copyright holders”. It won’t, as critics have claimed, break the internet.

Launching the new campaign, GESAC GM Véronique Desbrosses said: “Digital economic powers continue to profit as working artists struggle to make ends meet. The balance between the revenues generated by the internet platforms and the money they give to the creators who are responsible for their success, is entirely distorted”.

She added: “The creative and cultural industry in the European Union represents 536 billion euros per year, more than the combined revenue of the automotive and telecoms sectors, and is responsible for twelve million jobs. We have enriched the lives of Europeans, and now we are calling on Europe to act”.

The Europe For Creators campaign will include an open letter sent to MEPs, debates organised around Europe on 5 Sep, and a number of other events and publicity stunts before the big vote on 12 Sep. No Northern American bots phoning up MEPs in Brussels though, which is seemingly the kind of thing that can swing a vote in 2018. But there is, of course, the customary hashtag – #EuropeForCreators – so that’s kinda modern, isn’t it?

The campaign’s manifesto, meanwhile, is set out on a slightly retro looking website. GESAC is also behind a petition for the artist community, which is what UK Music’s butterflies and bulldozers flim flam was promoting earlier this week.

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Friday 31 August 2018, 10:37 | By

Lawsuit against Mariah Carey over cancelled shows dismissed

Artist News Business News Legal Live Business

Mariah Carey

A judge in New York has dismissed a case being pursued by a South American concert promoter against Mariah Carey, although litigation targeting her company Mirage will be allowed to proceed.

This relates to shows that were due to take place in Argentina and Chile in October 2016. The concerts were cancelled with just days to go, with Carey saying that she pulled out of the shows because the promoter had failed to make good on its payment commitments.

Mirage sued promoter FEG Entretenimientos first, arguing that Carey and her crew couldn’t have been expected to travel to Argentina and Chile on the promise of payment, especially when past promises had been broken. Mirage also argued that having to cancel the shows so late in the day had damaged Carey’s reputation and meant that she’d lost out on other possible revenue generating work.

It said in a legal filing with the Californian courts in January 2017: “In the music industry everyone knows the familiar story of the deceitful promoter that promises to pay and fails to deliver. This lawsuit is filed in part not only to confirm the multiple breaches of the contracts by FEG … but to warn the artistic community not to trust any promises from FEG”.

For its part, the promoter managed to get the case shifted to New York and then filed its own counterclaims. It argued that it had paid nearly 75% of Carey’s agreed fee and that, while it was behind on payments, this was customary in its business, and the singer would have received all the monies she was due had she gone ahead with the shows. The promoter also said Mirage had given no indication that it was planning on pulling the plug because of the late payments.

In its countersuit FEG sued not only Mirage but also Carey directly, arguing that the business – with which FEG had its contracts – was just an “alter-ego” for the star. It also claimed that Carey defamed FEG in a tweet linking to a E! News story about the last minute cancellations, in which she wrote “devastated my shows in Chile, Argentina and Brazil had to be cancelled. My fans deserve better than how some of these promoters treated them”.

However, according to Law 360, this week New York judge William Pauley threw out the claims against Carey herself. He said allegations that Mirage was an “alter-ego” for Carey were “too weak” to hold her personally liable for the company’s contracts. Meanwhile the tweet, he said, simply expressed an opinion.

Noting that FEG’s defamation claim related just to the words of the tweet, not statements made in the E! News story she linked to, he said: “Viewed in context, Carey tweeted an opinion. What Carey’s fans ‘deserve’ and whether they ‘deserve better’ than how some promoters ‘treated them’ is conjectural and vague”.

However, Pauley said that FEG’s case against Mirage could proceed. Because while the latter had presented emails that it said showed it acted in accordance with its contract with the promoter when cancelling the shows, the judge reckoned the wider litigation couldn’t be resolved based on that correspondence alone.

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Friday 31 August 2018, 10:35 | By

Secret 7″ auctioning off Rega turntables customised by top artists

Artist News Education & Events

Secret 7"

The people behind Secret 7″ have announced a side charity project, getting ten artists to decorate Rega turntables that will be auctioned off next month.

Each year, Secret 7″ prints up 700 seven-inch record sleeves featuring original designs from select artists, into which are slipped limited edition singles that are then sold off for charity. But maybe you don’t have anything to play those records on. In which case, this new event can help.

The turntables up for sale in aid of mental health charity Mind have been customised by Gavin Turk, Jeremy Deller, Jake & Dinos Chapman, Es Devlin, Stuart Semple, James Joyce, Jean Jullien, Pete Fowler, Hsiao-Chi Tsai & Kimiya Yoshikawa and Francis Richardson. They’ll be on display at the Ace Hotel in Shoreditch until 12 Sep, when bidding for them closes.

I badly want to own at least three of them, but I suspect I’m going to be priced out pretty quickly. If you all fancy clubbing together and getting me one though, I won’t stand in your way. It’s for a good cause. Check them all out and put down some money here.

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Friday 31 August 2018, 10:34 | By

Sony scouring Michael Jackson catalogue for future hits

Artist News Business News Labels & Publishers

Michael Jackson

Now free of any accusations that they faked vocals on some posthumous Michael Jackson tracks (legal accusations, anyway), Sony Music and the Michael Jackson estate are scouring the late singer’s archives for more recordings to put out. Although not in order to put together more albums of the kind that drew those “it’s a fake!” criticisms.

“We’re constantly scouring the catalogue for ideas, but there are no plans at the moment to put any more full-fledged albums out”, Sony Music CEO Rob Stringer tells the LA Times, in a new article about Jackson’s legacy.

“We are looking at one-off songs” he explains. “In this streaming world, that works because it’s a track-based world. There are a few gems out there that we may unearth individually over the next months and years, but we’re also very, very careful to make sure the fanbase doesn’t feel like they’ve been asked yet again to buy material they have. We are very careful about repacking and extremely cognisant of the fanbase that has everything”.

Well we’re all cognisant, aren’t we? I’m cognisant that not all artists have managed to bridge the gaps between physical, downloads and streams, for example. “What’s interesting with Michael”, Stringer ponders on, “is that not all artists have managed to bridge the gaps from the physical world to the iTunes world to the streaming world, but with Michael that’s not the case”.

“His streaming numbers are incredible”, we’re told. “The technology at the moment enables us to do something different and highlight different songs and create concepts that will lead people to a greater understanding of the wider catalogue of Michael’s work”.

Showing just how much care they’re taking with Jackson’s oeuvre, Sony’s latest release celebrating the king of pop is a five minute megamix of classic tracks quickly knocked together by Mark Ronson. Titled ‘Diamonds Are Invincible’, it was put out to mark what would have been Jackson’s 60th (aka diamond) birthday earlier this week.

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Friday 31 August 2018, 10:31 | By

Brooke Candy directs “queer, sex-positive and super hot” porn film

Artist News

Brooke Candy

Last week Brooke Candy released new single ‘My Sex’. This week, she’s put out a porn film she directed for Pornhub, titled ‘I Love You’.

“Creating this film and having the opportunity to present my own sexuality for Pornhub was a dream come true”, says Candy. “I wanted to create something which felt like a fantasy dream, and in doing so, I took references from amazing creators such as Bruce La Bruce and Matthew Barney, plus some iconic pornography like ‘Deep Throat’ which are viscerally sexy and are drenched in sensuality, something I believe is lacking in the industry”.

She continues: “The shoot day was magical! We had the most next level crew of fine artists from all over the world and the cast of actors that I chose really had an inner beauty which they unleashed on film. It’s queer, it’s sex-positive and it’s super hot. I’m so proud of it”.

Corey Price, VP of Pornhub, adds: “Brooke is a boundary-pushing artist with a hyper-sexual flow who has amassed a devout following over the course of her successful career. [‘I Love You’] draws upon her personality and evokes a certain sense of empowerment, diversity and sexual liberation”.

The whole NSFW (no matter how much you insist it’s work-related) film is available here. Or you can watch a desk-friendly trailer on YouTube. Alternatively, you could just check out the video for ‘My Sex’, which falls somewhere in between.

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Friday 31 August 2018, 10:28 | By

Muse announce new album, Simulation Theory

Artist News Releases

Muse

Muse have announced that they will release their eighth album, ‘Simulation Theory’, later this year. They’ve also released a new single from it, ‘The Dark Side’.

The band worked with a variety of producers for the new record, including Rich Costey, Mike Elizondo, Shellback and Timbaland. Each track will be accompanied by a video too, so that’ll be fun. The ‘Star Wars’ reference of the new single continues elsewhere as well. Illustrator Paul Shipper, who created the poster for ‘Star Wars: The Last Jedi’, has knocked up the cover art for the ‘super deluxe’ edition of the album.

There are various different physical versions of ‘Simulation Theory’, which you can explore here. Or, if you can’t be bothered but you’ve come this far, you could watch the video for ‘The Dark Side’ here:

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Friday 31 August 2018, 10:25 | By

One Liners: Viagogo, Metallica, Eminem, more

Artist News Brands & Merch Business News Industry People Labels & Publishers Live Business One Liners Releases

Viagogo

Other notable announcements and developments today…

• Well, here’s a turn up: always controversial secondary ticketing site Viagogo has apparently committed to send someone to speak to the UK Parliament’s new select committee inquiry into the live music sector. With UK-based Viagogo staff reportedly being shipped out to the US, the company has seemingly said that it will send Head Of Business Development Cristopher Miller from its New York office. Lovely stuff.

• Warner Music has appointed Alfonso Perez-Soto as EVP Eastern Europe, Middle East And Africa, Warner Music Group. “I’m delighted”, says Perez-Soto of that rather long new job title.

• Metallica have announced “the next evolution of whiskey”, saying that they have used a new “sonic enhancement” process to “shape” the flavour of their Blackened whiskey. Sure.

• Eminem has surprise released a new album called ‘Kamikaze’. It features new track, ‘Venom’, his contribution to Marvel’s upcoming film of the same name, as well as other contributions from Kendrick Lamar and Justin Vernon elsewhere.

• Adam Lambert has released a little behind the scenes video from Queen’s appearance at the O2 Arena last month. Sam Smith wasn’t around to make any controversial comments this time.

• The 1975 have released the video for ‘Tootimetootimetootime’.

• Ghetts has released new single, ‘Black Rose’, featuring Kojey Radical. His new album, ‘Ghetto Gospel: The New Testament’, is out on 14 Sep.

• Anna Calvi has released the video for the title track of her new album, ‘Hunter’. That album, by the way, is out today.

• Clipping have released new track ‘Stab Him In The Throat’, taken from Sub Pop’s upcoming ‘Rick & Morty’ soundtrack album.

• Haley Bonar – now just Haley – has released new single ‘Infinite Pleasure Part 2’. Her new album, ‘Pleasureland’, is set for release on 12 Oct.

• Muncie Girls have released the video for ‘Clinic’. Their new album, ‘Fixed Ideals’, is out today.

• Dena has released new single ‘HMU’. “It’s a song about telepathy and telephones, which are some of the central topics on my upcoming record ‘If It’s Written'”, she explains.

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

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Friday 31 August 2018, 10:20 | By

Beef Of The Week #419: Tents v Sense

And Finally Beef Of The Week Business News Gigs & Festivals Live Business

Tents

The issue of people leaving their tents behind at the end of festivals has been growing for many years now. This week, it gained public attention again after pictures of thousands of dumped tents at the Reading and Leeds festivals made their way around the internet.

Back in 2014, the Love Your Tent campaign surveyed 1200 festival-goers, 60% of whom admitted to buying dirt cheap tents to use once and leave behind at events. Most admitted that they knew that clearing up dumped tents was a big issue for festivals and that there were ecological implications stemming from their actions. But a third said they’d carry on doing it anyway, despite all that.

Those were unenlightend times though. Four years ago? We were fools back then. Surely now everyone is waking up every morning ready to fight for the future of the planet. But there’s a new problem now, see, which is that age old nemesis of all that is good: charity.

According to The Telegraph, the problem today is that everyone thinks that if they leave their tent where they pegged it on day one of a music festival, it’ll just be scooped up by organisers and given to a tent-hungry refugee. There is, it has to be said, a very small chance that this might happen. But it’s not the case most of the time.

“There is a common misconception that leaving your tent is like making a donation”, says Matt Wedge, director of Festival Waste Reclamation & Distribution, a charity which does collect up tents and give them to refugees. “It’s simply not the case. We co-ordinate local volunteers and charity groups and take as much as we can for the homeless and refugees in Calais and Dunkirk, but realistically up to 90% gets left behind”.

A Greener Festival’s Teresa Moore confirmed this misconception, saying that the charity’s own research shows that a growing number of people believe that they’re doing a good thing by leaving their tent behind after them. This happened after a couple of smaller festivals advertised tent donation schemes, leading people to believe it was routine across the industry. “It backfired and since then”, she told the Telegraph. “Most festivals have rowed back from that, urging people to take them with them. But in a way, it is too late”.

The extent to which tents were dumped at the Leeds Festival was shown in an aeriel photograph shared on Twitter this week. Surely no one walking through all that could possibly think that every tent there, not to mention every tent at every other festival in the country, would be re-used by some charity somewhere.

But I suppose there is another consideration. Which kind of goes back to the 2014 research. While a proportion of the tent-dumpers no doubt do assume that the tent they are dumping will be given to someone more needy, we shouldn’t ignore the fact that many people are just fucking arseholes.

Sophie Cottis-Allan of LE Solidarity – another group which takes items, including discarded festival tents, to refugees in locations around the world – posted pictures of the Leeds clean up operation to Facebook.

“A long, sometimes gross, constantly frustrating day, but we have a van packed to bursting with pop up tents, sleeping bags, roll mats and a few folding chairs”, she wrote. However, while that does mean some of the tent-dumpers were helping, most of the dumped tents are still heading for landfill. Plus plenty of said tents clearly weren’t re-usable anyway.

“I am still so shocked at the level of waste”, Cottis-Allan added. “We didn’t make a dent and so much was slashed, burnt or generally wrecked on purpose”. To hammer home the point that many tent-dumpers were dumping trashed tents, she also shared video footage of the site, estimating that as much as 90% of the tents they found were unusable.

So, a quick rule of thumb: If you set fire to something and then leave it in a field, chances are nothing good is going to come of it. Come back next week for another big surprise revelation: Hitting yourself in the face with a big stick isn’t much fun.

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Thursday 30 August 2018, 11:09 | By

Viagogo moving London execs to New York as tide turns against the touts

Business News Live Business Top Stories

Viagogo

Champion rip-off merchant Viagogo is preparing to move much of its UK based workforce to New York, with sources telling The Guardian that the shift is already underway. It’s thought some of the controversial ticket resale firm’s UK team may depart the company as part of the move. That at least means those people will no longer have to list themselves as “scum of the earth” on their LinkedIn profiles. So, there are upsides.

Viagogo remains the most controversial of all the operators in the always controversial secondary ticketing market, with even some touts critical of their anti-consumer practices. It has consistently refused to remove tours from its platform even when artists have vowed to cancel as many touted tickets as possible, meaning the chances are most tickets sold via the Viagogo site will be invalid by the time of the show. It has also refused to remove tickets for charity concerts that have been posted by touts at majorly hiked up prices.

Critics also argue that Viagogo deliberately seeks to confuse consumers into thinking they are buying from an official source – not least by using the word “official” quite a lot – rather than ensuring that the ticket-buyer is making an informed decision to buy from an unofficial seller, with the costs and risks that come with doing so. It also has a long history of hiding its own significant fees from the consumers until the final stages of the transaction, and then of ignoring said consumers if and when they have issues with their touted tickets.

Long slated by anti-tout campaigners, Viagogo has also come under increased fire from politicians and regulators in recent years. In the UK the firm has faced investigations, sanctions and/or legal action from no less than three regulators: the Competition And Markets Authority, National Trading Standards and the Advertising Standards Authority.

It didn’t do anything to improve its relationship with the UK political community by refusing to attend a select committee hearing in Parliament on the ticket resale market. It’s very rare for a company with operations, offices and investors in the UK to refuse to answer the questions of MPs about its policies and practices. Secondary ticketing will be debated in Parliament once again next week and Viagogo has again been asked to attend.

Announcing that new session looking at live music in general and touting in particular, Parliament’s culture select committee said earlier today: “The growth of secondary ticketing continues to frustrate the public and threaten the sustainability of live music events. MPs will use this inquiry to continue investigating this problem, since the 2017 General Election cut short the previous Committee’s inquiry looking into ticket abuse. This inquiry launched today will aim to incorporate the findings and evidence that were submitted previously, and MPs will once again invite ticket reselling companies such as Viagogo to contribute evidence”.

Viagogo’s previous refusal to engage with parliamentarians is part of a wider ‘wall of silence’ strategy that it has employed across the board in recent years as online ticket touting, and especially its anti-consumer practices, have become ever more controversial. This approach is in contrast with the early days of the company’s operations, when its founder Eric Baker was always on hand with a quote about this or that development in the live music sector.

To date Viagogo has pretty much got away with all of this, while also ignoring any new ticket resale regulations as and when they are introduced or enforced. But anti-tout campaigners feel the tide is finally turning against the rogue company. Loopholes in the law are finally being closed. Regulators are finally taking action. And consumers are finally getting the message on the back of superstar artists implementing anti-touting policies and regular newspaper reports about consumers being fucked over by Baker and his unfortunate lackeys.

All of those things have been happening in the UK, and in a number of other European countries, as well as Australia and New Zealand. The recent decision of Live Nation’s Ticketmaster to shut down its European resale sites Get Me In! and Seatwave is also a sign that increased regulation and greater public awareness of how ticketing works is making the resale market a harder place to operate, even if it remains lucrative for the key players.

All of which may be behind Viagogo’s decision to put more emphasis on its US operations. Ticketing is generally regulated at a state level in America, and therefore rules and attitudes to touting – or scalping as they call it – vary greatly from state to state. But it does seem that the backlash to touting and tout platforms is much less significant Stateside.

Indeed, Live Nation’s decision to backout of the secondary market doesn’t apply in the US. As for Viagogo, Baker is American and he began his career in tout-enablement by co-founding American resale site StubHub, which is now an eBay company of course.

According to a source cited by The Guardian, senior staff at Viagogo’s London base were told they’d be moved to New York back in May. Said source says: “Several senior developers have already relocated, but they’re mostly people that have been at Viagogo since nearly day one and so are probably invested in the company. A few others are moving in the next couple of months, and others are leaving very soon”.

The Guardian adds that touts who sell on the Viagogo platform have also noticed that they are now being paid their monies by the firm’s US subsidiary rather than its head office in Switzerland, as before. That US business, Viagogo Entertainment Inc, is registered in Delaware, as is the firm’s ultimate parent company, Baker’s Pugnacious Endeavors.

Back in Europe, all eyes are now on Google, which pledged to stop selling search advertising to secondary ticketing platforms with anti-consumer practices. Viagogo has complied with some of Google’s requirements (more so than with any government instigated regulations), but still isn’t completely compliant with the search engine’s rules. If the web giant stopped taking ads from Viagogo, so that it stopped appearing top in Google searches for upcoming in demand tours and concerts, that would have a bigger impact on the company than anything else.

It’s not clear what kind of UK base Viagogo will continue to have once it’s completed its current shift of staff Stateside. The firm also has a base in Limerick in Ireland, which was the reason one Irish senator was planning to oppose a clamp down on ticket touting there. It remains to be seen what the company decides to do with its Irish office.

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Thursday 30 August 2018, 11:05 | By

Russian web giant Yandex’s video site could be blocked on copyright grounds

Business News Digital Legal

Yandex

As the music industry prepares to push for new laws in Europe increasing the liabilities of user-upload platforms like Google’s YouTube, Russian web giant Yandex is facing the prospect of having its video site blocked by the country’s internet service providers if it doesn’t remove pirated content from said site.

According to Torrentfreak – citing Russian news agency Interfax – Yandex has come under fire in recent weeks from key broadcasters in the country, which want the web firm to remove links to pirated content from its search engine and actual pirated content from its video site. Both are things Western copyright owners would also like Google to do.

It can still be hard to protect intellectual property rights in Russia today, but at the same time the country has ramped up some of its copyright laws in recent years. So much so, Yandex’s obligations – if enforced – are much higher than those of Google in Europe, even if the new EU copyright directive goes through in its current form.

In a growing row over copyright infringing content on the Yandex platform, various Russian broadcasters, including Gazprom-Media and the National Media Group, last week removed their channels from the web firm’s online TV service. Gazprom-Media also went legal and secured a court order in Moscow demanding that Yandex stop linking to pirated copies of the broadcaster’s content on its search engine.

In the wake of that ruling, the country’s sometimes controversial internet watchdog Rozcomnadzor – which has web-blocking powers – issued its own order. It demanded that all and any content owed by Gazprom-Media and posted without licence to the web company’s video platform, Yandex.video, also be removed.

In a statement issued to Interfax, the Deputy Head of Roskomnadzor Vadim Subbotin subsequently said that ISPs in the country will be ordered to block access to Yandex.video if the web giant does not comply with the recent orders.

Subbotin seemingly told the news agency: “If Yandex does not take measures then, according to the law, the Yandex.Video service must be blocked”. Though he did then add: “Let’s wait for the execution of the decision, [then] we will hold consultations with them”.

Yandex is yet to respond to any of this, but a web-block could seemingly be instigated against its video site as soon as tonight if it doesn’t comply with the court and regulator’s orders. It will be interesting to see if that happens though, given Yandex’s dominance in the Russian market.

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Thursday 30 August 2018, 11:03 | By

Sony and Michael Jackson estate excused from fake vocals case

Business News Labels & Publishers Legal

Michael Jackson

As you may remember, Sony Music didn’t admit in court last week to releasing Michael Jackson tracks with fake vocals, despite plenty of chatter saying that it did. And the major isn’t now likely to make any subsequent admissions in this domain in court anytime soon, because it has been excused from the legal battle over the possibly fake tracks.

This all relates to three songs on the posthumous Jackson album ‘Michael’, put out by the Michael Jackson estate and Sony’s Epic label in 2010. Even before the record was released there were claims that the tracks ‘Breaking News’, ‘Monster’ and ‘Keep Your Head Up’ featured vocals by a singer other than Jackson.

‘Michael’ included various tracks that Jackson had been working on in the years before his death subsequently completed by his collaborators. Those three tracks came from recording sessions with producer Eddie Cascio. People involved with those sessions insisted that Jackson had done the singing, while the estate put out a statement listing all the ways it had sought to check the authenticity of the vocals before release.

This is still a talking point eight years later because in 2014 one Jackson fan, Vera Serova, went legal, suing the estate, Sony and other people linked to the three tracks, including Cascio. The lawsuit claimed that by releasing the tracks with allegedly fake vocals as Michael Jackson tracks the various defendants were in breach of consumer rights laws in California.

That case has been rumbling through the system ever since. Both Sony and the estate have been busy trying to get themselves removed as defendants by employing all kinds of legal technicalities, mainly relating to free speech rights under the First Amendment and California’s anti-SLAPP laws.

It was during its second go at all that, before some appeal judges last week, that a speculative “if the vocals were faked” type remark from a lawyer working for the estate was construed by some to be an admission that the vocals were fake. It was not.

Meanwhile, following all that confusion, the appeals judges hearing all those First Amendment and anti-SLAPP arguments subsequently sided with Sony and the estate. Which means both have been removed as defendants of this lawsuit. Their arguments centred on whether liner notes for the record constituted ‘commercial speech’. They did not, the appeals court ruled, and therefore free speech rules excused the defendants from the case.

Expanding on the judgement, judge Elwood Lui stated: “Because appellants lacked actual knowledge of the identity of the lead singer on the disputed tracks, they could only draw a conclusion about that issue from their own research and the available evidence. Under these circumstances, appellant’s representations about the identity of the singer amounted to a statement of opinion rather than fact”. So there you go.

The estate’s legal rep, Howard Weitzman, said the ruling constituted “a total victory … in the Vera Serova class action matter”. Although, of course, with legal technicalities to the fore, there has been no ruling on whether or not those vocals were indeed fake. However, Serova’s case against Cascio and others involved in the recordings continues, so maybe that’ll get some proper discussion another day.

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Thursday 30 August 2018, 11:01 | By

Fever Ray cancels tour dates

Artist News Gigs & Festivals

Fever Ray

Fever Ray, aka Karin Dreijer, has announced that she is cancelling all upcoming live performances. She explained in a statement that increased anxiety and panic attacks recently have led to the decision.

Earlier this month, a performance at the Sziget Festival in Hungary was cancelled at the last minute. At the time it was said that this was “due to illness”, although Dreijer has now gone into more detail.

“Many of you know already that I’ve been struggling with general anxiety and panic attacks for a long time”, she explained on Facebook. “For seven years I did not enter the stage, for five years I did not enter an aeroplane. It is a disorder that always lurks in the shadows that I have had to work carefully with and around … I never really know when it will strike or how much it will affect me”.

“I am very thankful for the past seven months, that I have been able to tour and to meet you wonderful and amazing people”, she continued. “The last month though has been rough and my anxiety has started to escalate. I will now have to take a break from touring to take care of myself and restore my health. We are cancelling the forthcoming shows this autumn. It is a difficult decision because I love my band and my crew, and I am so grateful for the love we have received from all of you when doing this show. Hope to see you soon”.

The cancellations include UK shows in London and Manchester, which had been scheduled for early November. She will also not perform at this year’s Iceland Airwaves festival.

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Thursday 30 August 2018, 11:00 | By

Esben And The Witch release new single, The Unspoiled

Artist News Gigs & Festivals Releases

Esben And The Witch

Esben And The Witch have released new single ‘The Unspoiled’. The track is taken from their upcoming new album ‘Nowhere’, due out in November.

Vocalist Rachel Davies explains that the new song is “inspired by ancient, enduring visions of a utopian garden, a world unspoiled, before war and devastation, where freedom and liberation rule. The world at large and our worlds within, both teeter on the brink of self-destruction. This serves as a reminder, as a plea, to hold on and not let go”.

Listen to ‘The Unspoiled’ here:

The album is set for release on 16 Nov, after which the band will head out on tour. Currently confirmed UK shows are as follows:

24 Nov: London, Tufnell Park Dome
25 Nov: Manchester, Soup Kitchen
27 Nov: Brighton, Patterns

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Thursday 30 August 2018, 10:52 | By

Billie Eilish announces 2019 UK shows

Artist News Gigs & Festivals

Billie Eilish

Billie Eilish has announced that she will return to the UK for four shows next February and March, culminating in a performance at the Shepherds Bush Empire.

Tickets for the shows go on general sale tomorrow. Here are the dates:

27 Feb: Manchester, The Ritz
28 Feb: Glasgow, SWG3 TV Studio
2 Mar: Birmingham, The Institute
4 Mar: London, Shepherds Bush Empire

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Thursday 30 August 2018, 10:49 | By

One Liners: Sentric, Elton John, Kanye West, more

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

Sentric Music

Other notable announcements and developments today…

• Sentric Music has acquired a stake in electronic music publishing company Black Rock. “Black Rock grew at such a rapid rate that, having worked with Sentric since we launched in 2013, it made complete sense to formally join forces”, says Black Rock CEO Mark Lawrence, who will now also join Sentric’s executive team.

• Elton John has announced Twickets as the official ticket resale platform for his upcoming farewell tour. The platform allows fans to sell unwanted tickets at face value, or less.

• Academy Music Group has announced a new lease agreement with Manchester’s Victoria Warehouse. Under the deal, the venue will be rebranded the O2 Victoria Warehouse Manchester, although no one outside O2 board meetings will ever call it that. Oh, and statements from O2 Head Of Sponsorships Gareth Griffiths, who says: “The new O2 Victoria Warehouse Manchester is a brilliant addition to our O2 Academy estate and further demonstrates O2 and Academy Music Group’s commitment to live music in Manchester”.

• The Troxy in London has partnered with Dice to become what they reckon is the biggest venue to operate a mobile-only ticketing policy. “As the world’s biggest mobile-only venue, we’re embracing innovative technology that favours fans and artists to bring spectacular performances to our stage”, says the venue’s GM Tom Sutton-Roberts.

• Kanye West has released new track ‘XTCY’.

• Richard Thompson is set to release new album ‘Thirteen Rivers’ on 14 Sep. From it, this is new single ‘My Rock, My Rope’.

• Liars will release new album ‘Titles With The Word Fountain’ on 14 Sep. From it, this is ‘Murdrum’.

• Against Me frontwoman Laura Jane Grace has announced the debut album from her new band, Laura Jane Grace And The Devouring Mothers. Titled ‘Bought To Rot’, it will be released on 9 Nov. From it, this is ‘Apocalypse Now (And Later)’.

• The Struts have released a new version of their single ‘Body Talks’ featuring Kesha. “[The Struts] are one of my favourite current bands keeping the spirit of classic rock n roll alive with their wild energy and sexy style”, she says. “It’s a song made for my favourite activity: boogieing”.

• She Makes War has released the video for new single ‘Devastate Me’. Her new album, ‘Brace For Impact’, is out on 5 Oct.

• St Vincent will play a relatively tiny London show at Cadogan Hall on 4 Sep. Tickets went on sale yesterday, so don’t sit there thinking you’re going to get one now.

• With a performance at the End Of The Road festival on Sunday, and a Brixton Academy show next week, Ezra Furman has released a cover of Vampire Weekend’s ‘Unbelievers’. “In the midst of our recent ambitious and inventive music, I started to get a strong urge to reconnect with my high-tempo voice shredding punk roots”, he says. “Covering this song was a perfect gateway from one to the other”.

• Ahead of UK tour dates at the end of next month, Liza Anne has released a cover of The Cranberries’ ‘Dreams’. “When I was a kid, we would drive around my hometown listening to records”, she says. “It was with my aunt that I first heard ‘Dreams’. There’s a holiness in the way a song is originally experienced that feels sacrilegious to tread upon – but when Dolores passed, I felt like I needed a moment of meditation”.

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

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Thursday 30 August 2018, 10:42 | By

DJ Khaled wants to sell you a throne, and a load of other gold furniture he’s designed

And Finally Artist News Brands & Merch

DJ Khaled on a throne flanked by two lion statues

If you’ve always felt that your home was missing a throne, or a couple of gold lion statues, don’t worry: DJ Khaled has you covered. In fact, if your dream home décor regime is ‘gaudy as fuck’, you’re about to be in heaven. Today, the producer officially launches We The Best Home, his new line of home furnishings.

Five ranges are set to be unveiled today, with a total of fifteen planned, meaning you could own up to 300 Khaled-designed pieces in your home. The line will offer “statement pieces designed to elevate your home into a new level of expression, luxury living, and #winning”, apparently.

“My home is my castle, and it’s a sacred place”, says Khaled. “I wanted to create something that highlighted how important our homes are to our lives – it’s where we spend time with family. It’s where we make memories. It’s where we raise our children. This line is an extension of me. I am involved in every aspect of the creative design process – choosing colours, fabrics, styles. So I give my fans a piece of Khaled in every item”.

Euw. Khaled has partnered with “the ultimate celebrity collaboration platform for fine furniture” Goldition for the project. Various shiny objects are set to go on sale via the company’s website later today.

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Thursday 30 August 2018, 09:44 | By

Approved: Yves Tumor

CMU Approved

Yves Tumor

Yves Tumor released his debut album, ‘Serpent Music’, two years ago through the excellent PAN record label. Now signed to Warp, he returned with new single ‘Noid’ earlier this year, and is now back again with a second track for the label, ‘Licking An Orchid’.

Tumor has developed a mastery of balancing light and dark, and the deceptive use of both – as can also be said of James K, who joins him on the new track. ‘Licking An Orchid’ introduces itself with a lilting guitar line, joined by jittery drums and gently breathless vocals.

But the words gradually reveal a darker tone than the familiar love song it initially appears to be. Once that realisation has had time to set in, the track is torn wide open by a distorted synth solo, which gives way once again to James K’s soft voice.

Watch the video for ‘Licking An Orchid’ 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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Wednesday 29 August 2018, 19:46 | By

Setlist: Grande, Apple, The Eagles

Artist News Business News Digital Labels & Publishers Legal Setlist

Internet

CMU’s Andy Malt and Chris Cooke review key events in music and the music business from the last seven days, including Grande Communications accusing the record industry of trying to make internet service providers their “de facto copyright enforcement agents”, how Spotify has given up on using Apple to sell subscriptions, and why Michael Jackson’s ‘Thriller’ is no longer the biggest-selling album of all time in the US. Setlist is sponsored by 7digital.

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Stories discussed this week:

• Labels want ISPs to be “de facto copyright enforcement agents”, says ISP
• Copyright infringement is definitely “stealing”, reckons judge in BMG v Cox case
• Spotify and Netflix both make moves to reduce payments to Apple
• Eagles’ greatest hits overtakes Michael Jackson’s Thriller as most successful US album of all time

Also mentioned:

• Pete Doherty sings (eats really fast) for his supper (breakfast)
• Beef Of The Week #418: Nicki Minaj v Travis Scott (and his baby)
• That anti-piracy advert
• Adam Buxton – Piracy Song
• Richard & Judy – The Autobiography
• Syd Little – Little Goes A Long Way: My Own Story

Upcoming events:

• ‘Making Music From Copyright’ seminars
• Speed briefings at music conferences
• ‘Dissecting The Digital Dollar’ masterclass with the Musicians’ Union

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Wednesday 29 August 2018, 12:03 | By

Spinal Tap welcome latest ruling in Vivendi dispute

Artist News Business News Labels & Publishers Legal Top Stories

This Is Spinal Tap

Harry Shearer has welcomed the latest development in the ongoing legal battle over the rights in and royalties generated by the ‘This Is Spinal Tap’ movie and soundtrack. A judge has given the all-clear for the core case against entertainment conglom Vivendi to proceed, although much of the case against its music subsidiary Universal Music will need to be re-filed.

The creators of the cult movie – Shearer, Christopher Guest, Michael McKean and Rob Reiner – all accuse Vivendi of misreporting financial information about the film and its spin offs in order to under-pay them royalties due from the franchise. The company controls the ‘Spinal Tap’ movie via its StudioCanal business and the soundtrack via Universal. The four creators had a profit-share arrangement with the original producer.

There are various elements to the case. These include allegations of both breach of contract and fraud on the part of the entertainment companies. Also, there is an attempt by Shearer et al to reclaim various rights in the ‘Spinal Tap’ franchise under the so called termination right in US copyright law. Vivendi has called the four men’s claims of dodgy dealing “absurd”, while also arguing that the termination right doesn’t apply to the ‘Spinal Tap’ movie or its soundtrack because they were created on a ‘work for hire’ basis.

The case has already been through a lot of back and forth, with Universal Music being added as a defendant in its own right last October. In the latest court hearing, the major label sought to have itself removed from the litigation. In part it argued that neither it nor any of its predecessor companies were party to a specific 1982 contract that is at the heart of the case.

Judge Dolly M Gee was sympathetic to that argument, although also acknowledged that the plaintiffs had presented other theories in a bid to prove the music firm’s liabilities. Nevertheless, Gee dismissed all but the copyright termination element of the case against Universal. However, she told Shearer et al that they could resubmit new legal papers setting out a refined case against the major record company.

More importantly for the Spinal Tap camp, Gee knocked back concurrent efforts by Vivendi and StudioCanal to have the case dismissed entirely. Which means the core litigation, including the allegations of fraud, can now proceed.

Welcoming that ruling, Shearer said: “We are pleased with the decision in our ongoing litigation involving the film ‘This Is Spinal Tap,’ which allows all of our claims against Vivendi, StudioCanal and [StudioCanal exec] Ron Halpern, including the fraud claim, to proceed. We are also confident that we will adequately amend our claims against the defendant Universal Music, as specified by Judge Gee’s order, so we can move forward with those as well”.

He went on: “The court’s ruling makes clear that we can pursue damages both for breach of contract and fraud, including punitive damages, based on the defendants’ failure to properly account to us for our profits in connection with ‘This Is Spinal Tap.’ It is equally important that we can pursue our right to recapture our copyright interests and other intellectual property rights in connection with the Spinal Tap film and music, so that we can control our own creative product and benefit from it, as we should have all along”.

Speaking for all four of the Spinal Tap plaintiffs, Shearer concluded: “We look forward to finally getting our day in court, at a trial, with the evidence that to date Vivendi has tried to hide from us”.

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Wednesday 29 August 2018, 12:01 | By

Music industry campaigners hope lacklustre protests and talk of butterflies will help get safe harbour reform through

Business News Labels & Publishers Legal

Internet

As the music business prepares for the next big push to secure safe harbour reform in Europe, the industry’s lobbyists are hoping that MEPs have seen the photographs of last weekend’s protests against said reforms, which are somewhat light on protestors.

The music industry has been campaigning hard to reform the safe harbour that says internet companies cannot be held liable for their users’ copyright infringement. Music companies argue that user-upload platforms like YouTube have exploited the safe harbour – originally intended for internet service providers and server hosting firms – in order to launch on-demand content platforms without paying market rate royalties to content owners.

Article thirteen of the new European Copyright Directive seeks to increase the liabilities of platforms like YouTube. But that proposal has proven to be among the most controversial of all the reforms in the new EU copyright legislation.

When the latest draft of the directive went before the European Parliament last month, prolific campaigning by the tech lobby and copyright critics, against article thirteen in particular, resulted in the proposals being voted down. The whole matter will now go back to Parliament on 12 Sep.

Since the big vote, some of the tactics employed by some of those opposed to article thirteen have been criticised by the music community. Particular focus has fallen on their use of tools provided by an organisation called OpenMedia, which counts YouTube owner Google as a platinum supporter.

In one report, The Times noted that “Google is helping to fund a website that encourages people to spam politicians and newspapers with automated messages backing its policy goals”. The allegation is that tools like OpenMedia – in part employed by people outside the European Union – helped make opposition to article thirteen seem much more widespread than it really is.

One of article thirteen’s biggest critics within the Parliament itself, The Pirate Party’s Julia Reda, has, perhaps unsurprisingly, hit back at those claims. She wrote in a recent blog post that article thirteen supporters “have come up with a convenient narrative to downplay the massive public opposition they faced. They’re claiming the protest was all fake, generated by bots and orchestrated by big internet companies”.

To that end, she added, on-the-street protests would be staged on 26 Aug to show that anger about the proposed copyright reform was real. Though the turnout for those protests, staged in various European cities, was somewhat lacklustre. Writing on social media, record industry trade group IFPI reckoned “fifteen showed in Stockholm, Paris, Munich, Vienna and Helsinki. 30 in Warsaw. 80 in Berlin. No shows in other cities”. And while IFPI is obviously biased, photo evidence was posted to show the small turnouts.

Of course, just because people aren’t willing to show up in person and shout about a petition they signed up to online doesn’t mean they aren’t concerned about the issues raised by that petition. And it’s no secret that there are plenty of opponents to safe harbour reform. However, the music industry’s lobbyists will be hoping that the lacklustre protests will convince MEPs that opposition to article thirteen isn’t quite as widespread as the flood of phone calls and emails they received before last month’s vote suggested.

Elsewhere, the UK music industry has launched a new campaign trying to rally its supporters ahead of the next copyright debate in the European Parliament next month. There’s a website and a video and everything. Some nonsense about butterflies and bulldozers. I think you guys are meant to the butterflies. Even though it’d be much more fun to be a bulldozer.

Basically, campaigners want artists and music fans to flutter on over to the clumsily named MakeInternetFair website run by pan-European collecting society group GESAC and sign a petition. Meanwhile tech giants and their bloody bots can presumably just bulldoze off.

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Wednesday 29 August 2018, 11:58 | By

Cliff Richard hopes for “revival” with new album

Artist News Releases

Cliff Richard

Cliff Richard has announced that he will release his first album of original material for fourteen years this November, titled ‘Rise Up’. The singer said at a press conference at Abbey Road Studios this morning that the album was a reaction to the “bad period” he has been through in recent years.

The star, of course, recently won a court case against the BBC over its coverage of a police raid on his Berkshire home in 2014. Police were investigating accusations of historical sexual abuse, for which Richard was never charged. A court ruled last month that his privacy had been infringed and ordered the broadcaster to pay damages.

Richard says that he hopes the new album will revive his career, now that the court case is over. Its first single and title track was, somewhat ironically, premiered on BBC Radio 2 this morning. Written by ‘Devil Woman’ co-writer Terry Britten and Graham Lyle, the song sees Richard sing about redemption in the face of adversity.

“I chose ‘Rise Up’ as the title track because, after the bad period I went through in my life, I’ve managed to rise up out of what seemed like a quagmire”, he said, according to the BBC. “I love the lyric ‘They’re never gonna break me down, they’re never gonna take me down, they know I’m gonna rise up feeling stronger’. It is always great to sing lyrics you can feel and I really felt those words”.

He added, reports The Guardian, that he hoped new audiences might be open to his music, saying: “It has been put to me that a new audience might give me a ‘listen to’, and that is an exciting thought, and if they do and don’t like it they can buy something else. Give me a chance, that is all we can ask. My longevity should be considered a plus, not a drawback”.

Set for release on 23 Nov, ‘Rise Up’ the album also features a duet with Oliver Newton-John, as well as reworked versions of some of his classic songs with the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra.

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Wednesday 29 August 2018, 11:56 | By

Razorlight release four (FOUR) new singles

Artist News Gigs & Festivals Releases

Razorlight

Razorlight are back. Or at least Johnny Borrell and some people he knows have resurrected the Razorlight name. Who is to say what is or is not a Razorlight? They’re certainly saying they’re Razorlight. And that they’re releasing a new Razorlight album later this year. Is there a new Razorlight single out though? No. There are four of the fuckers.

New album ‘Olympus Seething’ will be the first Razorlight album for ten whole years; a fallow period only lightly troubled by Borrell’s debut solo album and that hat.

Making up the rest of the current line-up for the record are guitarist David Ellis and Pretenders drummer Martin Chambers – although on tour Borrell and Ellis will be joined by another drummer, David Sullivan Kaplan (a member of the group since pre-hat days), and bassist João Mello.

Borrell released an “amazing” new solo single earlier this year, but he’s keen to show that he can still turn in a half decent Razorlight track too, hence putting out four singles all at once.

“We’ve been away for a long time and wanted to give more to the fans than just one single”, he says. “I’m really excited about the album and really excited about doing Razorlight again”.

So, ‘Olympus Seething’ is out on 26 Oct, and you can listen to the title track, plus ‘Got To Let The Good Times Back Into Your Life’, ‘Japanrock’ and ‘Sorry?’ now. If that’s not enough, there’s an album trailer too.

I mentioned a tour somewhere back there too. That’s another thing that’s happening. Don’t sit there thinking there won’t be a tour, because there will. Why do you keep thinking lies? Look, here are the dates:

4 Dec: Glasgow, The Old Fruitmarket
5 Dec: Sheffield, Academy
6 Dec: Liverpool, Academy
8 Dec: Bristol, SWX
10 Dec: Birmingham, The Institute
11 Dec: Brighton, Concorde 2
13 Dec: Nottingham, Rock City
14 Dec: London, The Forum
16 Dec: Manchester, The Ritz
17 Dec: Newcastle, Academy
18 Dec: Leeds, Academy
19 Dec: Cambridge, The Junction

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Wednesday 29 August 2018, 11:53 | By

White Denim announce February UK tour

Artist News Gigs & Festivals

White Denim

With two sold out performances at Hackney’s Moth Club lined up this very evening, White Denim have gone and announced new UK tour dates for February. Gotta keep busy. Speaking of which, the pre-sale’s on right now. Or you can wait until tickets go on general sale on Friday.

Here are those dates:

9 Feb: Belfast, Limelight
12 Feb: Bristol, Academy
13 Feb: Birmingham, Institute
15 Feb: Manchester, Albert Hall
16 Feb: Newcastle, Northumbria Institute
17 Feb: Glasgow, SWG3 TV Studio
19 Feb: Leeds, Academy
20 Feb: Liverpool, Academy
22 Feb: London, Roundhouse

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Wednesday 29 August 2018, 11:46 | By

Bodega announce UK & Ireland tour

Artist News Gigs & Festivals

Bodega

Rapidly intensifying buzz magnets Bodega have announced that they will be touring the UK and Ireland yet again in February next year.

The run of shows, at which they will presumably perform one or two songs from their debut album ‘Endless Scroll’, will feature their biggest headline performance to date at The Scala in London.

Here are the dates:

14 Feb: Nottingham, Rescue Rooms
15 Feb: Glasgow, The Art School
16 Feb: Dublin, Whelan’s
18 Feb: Manchester, Yes
19 Feb: Brudenell Social Club
20 Feb: London, The Scala

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Wednesday 29 August 2018, 11:43 | By

One Liners: The Stereotypes, Matador, John Grant, more

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

John Grant

Other notable announcements and developments today…

• Entertainment One has signed a new deal with The Stereotypes and their publishing company Beach Wave. The songwriting group are best known for their work on Bruno Mars’s ’24k Magic’ album. The company has also signed a direct deal with the group’s Ray Charles McCullough II, aka RaCharm. “We are excited”, say The Stereotypes. “I am so excited”, says eOne’s Chris Taylor. “I’m super excited”, says RaCharm.

• Matador Records has announced two new appointments, one in New York and one in London. Jake Whitener joins the staff as Director of A&R in the US and Alex Keague-Davies joins as UK General Manager. “I’m looking forward to not only continuing the legacy and success of Matador and their artists, but growing and building on that, both in the UK and internationally”, says Keague-Davies.

• John Grant has shared two new tracks from his upcoming album, ‘Love Is Magic’ – ‘He’s Got His Mother’s Hips’ and ‘Touch & Go’.

• Blood Orange has released the video for ‘Saint’, taken from his new album ‘Negro Swan’.

• King Krule has released the video for ‘Biscuit Town’, from his Mercury-nominated album ‘The Ooz’.

• Tess Roby has released the video for ‘Given Signs’, from her debut album ‘Beacon’.

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

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Wednesday 29 August 2018, 11:37 | By

Trump’s photo request gave Sia “crazy diarrhoea”

And Finally Artist News Media

Sia, Donald Trump, Kate McKinnon

Donald Trump is bad for your health. It’s official. He gave Sia “crazy diarrhoea”, simply by talking to her. Do not talk to Donald Trump, he will give you the shits.

In a new interview with Rolling Stone, the musician explains that she met the then Presidential candidate when they both appeared on an episode of ‘Saturday Night Live’ in 2015.

“We’ve got to get a photo”, she recalls him beaming, while daughter Ivanka stood behind him with a camera. Sia then found herself caught between a dislike of confrontation and fears of how the internet would react to a picture of her and Trump together.

She quickly weighed up the pros and cons of posing for the camera and declining the offer, and then replied: “Actually, do you mind if we don’t? I have a lot of queer and Mexican fans, and I don’t want them to think that I support your views”.

“Oh, no problem”, said Trump. “Then don’t”.

It’s hard to know if the apparent breeziness of his response shows self-awareness or just the resignation of a man who hears that sort of thing a lot. I mean, obviously it’s not self-awareness, but I needed two things for that sentence to work.

Sia has her own view on it: “It was as if he viewed me as protecting my brand. He respected that. I was like, ‘Thank you so much’, and then I went into my dressing room and had crazy diarrhoea”.

It says quite a lot when someone would rather you imagine them rapidly and uncomfortably emptying their bowels than actually seeing them pictured with Donald Trump. Although they did appear on the show together, of course. That’s when that whole covering up her face thing really came into its own.

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Wednesday 29 August 2018, 11:03 | By

Approved: Yuri Urano

CMU Approved

Yuri Urano

Having released music as Yullippe for several years, producer Yuri Urano has now decided to start working under her own name. Although she apparently plans to release music under both monikers moving forward, it seems that it’s under her real name that she will primarily work from this point on.

Her debut release as Yuri Urano will be an EP titled ‘Autline’ for Sheffield-based electronic label Central Processing Unit. Out on 28 Sep, it sees her adopt a harder, more focussed techno sound. From it, ‘Pec’ is possibly her hardest release to date, while the title track goes darker with industrial sounds underpinning a ping-ponging vocal sample.

Listen to ‘Autline’ 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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Tuesday 28 August 2018, 13:19 | By

BMG settles with Cox in landmark safe harbour case

Business News Digital Labels & Publishers Legal Top Stories

Cox Communications

BMG announced on Friday that it had reached a “substantial settlement” with American internet service provider Cox Communications, which means the safe harbour testing case will not now go back to court next month as planned.

The BMG v Cox case began back in 2014. It tested the obligations of internet companies that claim protection under the so called copyright safe harbour, which says that net firms can’t be held liable for their customers’ copyright infringement.

BMG argued that Cox had a deliberately shoddy system for dealing with repeat infringers among its customer base, and therefore didn’t qualify for safe harbour protection under US law. And therefore could be sued for the infringement of its customers.

When the safe harbour was first being tested in the American courts in the 2000s, judges had a habit of setting the obligations of safe harbour dwelling companies pretty low. However, that has started to change in more recent years, and when a jury ruled in favour of BMG in this case in 2015, a solid new precedent was set regarding the obligations of American ISPs.

That ruling was subsequently overturned on appeal, but on a technicality relating to the way the judge had briefed the jury. It was generally agreed that the appeals court ruling actually enhanced BMG’s case against Cox. So much so, the Recording Industry Association Of America ramped up its efforts in its lawsuit with another American ISP – Grande Communications – citing the BMG v Cox appeals judgement. And it then sued Cox itself.

Therefore most were expecting a relatively easy win for BMG when the case returned to court, although Cox continued to pursue various lines of argument as to why it shouldn’t be held liable for the copyright infringement of its customers. Both sides had been busy making requests of the judge ahead of the trial. Cox wanted BMG banned from referring to piracy by using emotive terms like “stealing” and “theft”. But the judge declined to ban such terminology from his court.

Meanwhile, negotiations for an out of court settlement continued. BMG had been awarded $25 million in damages in the original court case. And in American copyright cases, where courts can award so called statutory damages of up to $150,000 per work wilfully infringed, damages can be huge for those found liable for wilful infringement.

Needless to say, the terms of the out of court deal agreed last week are not known, although BMG says the damages it will receive “reflect the seriousness of this case”. It also said that it believes its legal action has proven the obligations of safe harbour dwelling ISPs. For now we will have to rely on the appeals court ruling for that precedent. If the RIAA’s cases against either Grande or Cox do get to court, we may as yet get a little more judicial clarification on what exactly those obligations are in real terms.

Confirming the settlement, BMG’s General Counsel in North America, Keith Hauprich, said on Friday: “This was a landmark case in which BMG took on the third biggest internet service provider in the United States to defend and establish the principle that in order to benefit from a so-called ‘safe harbour’ defence, an ISP has responsibilities. While the financial terms of the settlement are confidential, we are happy they reflect the seriousness of this case. Other ISPs should take note that the law gives protection to the work of artists and songwriters. We will not hesitate to take action where necessary”.

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Tuesday 28 August 2018, 13:17 | By

Sony Music denies conceding that fake vocals appeared on posthumous Michael Jackson album

Artist News Business News Labels & Publishers Legal

Michael Jackson

There was a flurry of excitement online last week amid claims that Sony Music had admitted that the vocals that appear on three posthumous Michael Jackson tracks were not, in fact, those of Michael Jackson. But before you join in with that flurry, please note that’s not what happened. It seems that a speculative “what if” remark in court from a lawyer working for the Michael Jackson estate was misinterpreted by onlookers.

Now, I am sure you all remember vividly that glorious day in 2010 when the first of ten planned posthumous album releases from the late king of pop was unleashed. It was called ‘Michael’. A second, ‘Xscape’, followed in 2014. We still await – with bated breath I’m sure – the other eight.

Even before ‘Michael’ was released, there were allegations – including from members of the extended Jackson family – that three songs on it included fake vocals. The record featured posthumously finished versions of tracks Jackson had been working on in the years before his death. The source material came from various different recording sessions which were then prepared for release by various different producers.

The tracks that caused controversy were ‘Breaking News’, ‘Monster’ and ‘Keep Your Head Up’. These all came from one recording session with producer Eddie Cascio, and – various people argued – the vocals on the final versions of these tracks were not Jackson’s.

The estate, which worked with Sony Music’s Epic label on the releases, took the allegations seriously at the time. It had its lawyer, Howard Weitzman, put out a letter to fans outlining the process it had been through when stitching together the various recording sessions that made up ‘Michael’, and the efforts it had gone to in order to ensure the authenticity of vocals.

Weitzman said that various long-time collaborators of Jackson had confirmed said authenticity. The estate, he added, had also asked six producers who had previously worked with Jackson – Bruce Swedien, Matt Forger, Stewart Brawley, Michael Prince, Dr Freeze and Teddy Riley – to listen to a cappella versions of the tracks from the Cascio-led sessions.

All of them, Weitzman said, had confirmed it was Jacko’s voice they were listening to. On top of all that, some of those forensic musicologists were also hired to confirm that it was Jackson singing.

The attorney’s open letter to Jackson’s fans concluded: “Although there still seem to be concerns being expressed in some quarters about the authenticity of the lead vocals, notwithstanding the opinion of those who worked with Michael, and two independent forensic analysts, ultimately, Michael’s fans will be the judges of these songs, as they always are”.

Well, one fan in particular did judge the three disputed songs on ‘Michael’ and she decided that they definitely did contain fake vocals. With that in mind, Vera Serova went legal in 2014, suing Sony Music, the estate and others linked to the release. Which is why we are still discussing all this eight years after the record was put out.

Serova’s lawsuit continues to go through the motions. In the most recent phase, lawyers for Sony and the estate have been trying to get the case dismissed under California’s free speech protecting anti-SLAPP laws. So far without success. Last week they had another go, presenting their arguments before three appeal judges.

It was there that a lawyer working for the estate seemingly made some kind of “assuming that” statement in order to present the argument for dismissal, which was then reported as the Jackson side conceding that the vocals on ‘Breaking News’, ‘Monster’ and ‘Keep Your Head Up’ were definitely super faked.

Last week’s hearing wasn’t actually discussing the core allegation of the case, more the status of the album’s liner notes and to what extent they enjoy protection under free speech laws. Therefore any suggestion that the vocals might have been fake from the Sony/Jackson side was simply conjecture to illustrate a point regarding anti-SLAPP laws, and not a statement of fact.

Confirming this to Variety, lawyer Zia Modabber, who is repping both Sony Music and the estate, said on Friday: “No one has conceded that Michael Jackson did not sing on the songs. The hearing Tuesday was about whether the First Amendment protects Sony Music and the estate and there has been no ruling on the issue of whose voice is on the recordings”.

Lawyers for Serova also subsequently confirmed this was what had happened. So stop that flurry of excitement immediately. Nothing exciting has happened here. At all. Still, it reminds us that this whole hoo haa is still ongoing.

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