CMU Digest

CMU Digest 22.12.17: Universal, Stop2018, agent of change, BMI, Rolling Stone

By | Published on Friday 22 December 2017

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The key stories from the last seven days in the music business…

Universal announced deals with both YouTube and Facebook. The mega-major put a positive spin on its new deal with YouTube, saying that it would give it more control over its content on the platform and better royalties. It’s thought the new arrangement will also see Universal participate in YouTube’s planned standalone music service. Meanwhile the music firm’s first ever licensing arrangement with Facebook was “unprecedented”, it said, and would “facilitate deeper engagement between artists and fans”. [READ MORE]

A group of UK music executives launched a new campaign in a bid to stop sexual harassment and abuse in the music business, after sharing their own experiences on the BBC’s ‘Victory Derbyshire Show’. Echoing calls made by women working in the Swedish and Australian music industries, the founders of the Stop2018 campaign said that active measures should now be introduced to ensure “that bullying, misogyny, sexual harassment, assault and rape in the music industry stops”. [READ MORE]

An appeals court sided with US collecting society BMI on the 100% licensing debate. The US Department Of Justice last year told collecting societies BMI and ASCAP that they must operate a so called 100% licensing system, so that when a song is co-written by a BMI member and an ASCAP member, either society is obliged to offer a licence covering 100% of the song. Under the current fractional licensing system, a licensee would need licences from both societies. BMI argues that the consent decree that regulates its operations does not enforce 100% licensing, and this week an appeals court backed a lower court’s ruling endorsing that viewpoint. [READ MORE]

The Music Venue Trust ramped up its agent of change campaign, as John Spellar MP prepares to propose the insertion of the principle into UK planning law in a speech in Parliament next month. Agent of change would mean that property developers who put new residential buildings next to existing venues would be responsible for ensuring the new building is sufficiently sound-proofed. [READ MORE]

The owner of Variety took a controlling stake in Rolling Stone magazine. The legendary music mag’s founder Jann Wenner announced earlier this year that he was looking to sell the 51% of the title he still controlled. He will continue to run the publication under its new owner Penske Media Corporation, which will also continue to collaborate with BandLab Technologies, the Singapore-based business that bought the other 49% of Rolling Stone last year. [READ MORE]

The big deals from the last seven days in the music business…
• Universal bought Stiff Records and ZTT [INFO]
• Bytedance completed is acquisition of Musical.ly [INFO]
• MixCloud signed up to use Gracenote’s music ID technology [INFO]
• Black Diamond allied with Kobalt on its new publishing venture [INFO]
• BMG signed a deal with Steven Spielberg’s film company Amblin Partners [INFO]
• US publisher Pulse signed a sub-publishing deal with CTM in Europe [INFO]
• Warner/Chappell signed Birdy [INFO]



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