CMU Digest

CMU Digest 21.01.19: Viagogo, Article Thirteen, HMV, Rihanna, Tidal

By | Published on Monday 21 January 2019

Viagogo

Viagogo claimed that it was now compliant with a court order in the UK, but anti-touting campaigners said that seemed unlikely. Both StubHub and Viagogo had until last Friday to meet demands made by the UK’s Competition & Markets Authority which has been seeking to enforce consumer rights laws in the ticket resale sector. In Viagogo’s case, the CMA had a court order backing up its demands. The often controversial resale firm insisted on Twitter that it was now compliant, but anti-touting campaign FanFair said that – while some changes had been made on the Viagogo site – several obligations in the CMA’s court order had not been met. We now await the CMA’s response. [READ MORE]

Music industry trade groups hit out at the latest attempt to find a compromise on article thirteen of the European Copyright Directive. The European Commission, European Parliament and EU Council are still trying to agree a final version of the directive, including the safe harbour reforming article thirteen that YouTube has been loudly criticising of late. The new presidency of the EU Council recently proposed a compromise, but an assortment of trade groups for the music and wider content industries said the proposal was in fact a backwards step. [READ MORE]

The administrators of HMV said a number of potential buyers had come forward. The music retail chain fell back into administration over the Christmas break. Administrators from KPMG had set last week as a deadline for any possible bidders to come forward. They then confirmed there was indeed some interest in acquiring some or all of the HMV business, though no details were given regarding who the bidders are or what they are interested in acquiring. [READ MORE]

Rihanna sued her dad claiming that a company he set up two years ago has been fraudulently exploiting her name and trademarks. Ronald Fenty and his business partner are accused of falsely claiming to represent his daughter’s business interests and of trying to register a trademark using the family name so to make the official connection seem more genuine. Rihanna’s lawyers say Fenty Senior has ignored various efforts to have him cease and desist meaning that judicial intervention is now required. [READ MORE]

A crime agency in Norway confirmed it was investigating data manipulation allegations against Tidal. It follows the reports in business newspaper Dagens Næringsliv last year that the streaming firm boosted stats for the Beyonce and Kanye West albums it had exclusives over. If true, it means those artists would have received higher royalties and everyone else lower payments. Collecting society Tono asked Norway’s economic crime agency to investigate and it has now confirmed it is indeed doing that. Tidal continues to deny all the allegations. [READ MORE]

The big deals from the last seven days in the music business…
• Spotify signed a licensing deal with Indian music company T-Series [INFO]
• London venue The Underworld allied with Dice on ticketing [INFO]
• Warner/Chappell signed a publishing deal with Bernard Butler [INFO]
• BDI Music signed a publishing deal with Æ Mak [INFO]



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