MUSIC RIGHTS - INSIDE & OUT
A beginner's guide to music copyright - everything you need to know about copyright law, licensing, monetising copyright, the fight against piracy and the future of the music rights industry. Wed 15 Jun 2011

MUSIC BUSINESS MODELS - MAKING MONEY, FINDING INVESTMENT
How to make money out of music - both now and in the future, with a look at alternative investment and revenue streams, and a new approach to monetising artists and their music. Wed 29 Jun

EMINEM PUBLISHER SUES OVER AUDI AD
Eminem's publishing company Eight Mile Style has applied for an injunction through the German courts to try to stop Audi from using Slim Shady track 'Lose Yourself' in a TV ad, which was unveiled at a press event in Berlin last week.

Reps for Eight Mile Style say that not only is Audi using the song in its new ad without the publisher's permission, but the marketing campaign "feels inspired by" - which might be a polite way of saying "rips off" - a TV ad released by Chrysler earlier this year which was endorsed by, and indeed starred, Eminem himself. That ad also used 'Lose Yourself' as a soundtrack.

In a statement, Eight Mile Style exec Joel Martin told reporters: "It is absolutely shocking. We believe Audi not only used 'Lose Yourself' to sell their product without permission, but their spot actually feels inspired by elements of Chrysler's commercial campaign".

Legal man Thomas Schmitz filed the injunction application in the Hamburg courts on behalf of Eight Mile Style, and he said in a statement: "We have made the [Hamburg] Regional Court aware of the serious implications of this matter. We have requested a cease and desist order and will also seek damages".

Audi is yet to respond. Perhaps its people are waiting for Chrysler to say something, then they'll rip off, I mean "be inspired by", that statement.

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US STATE MAKES PASSWORD SHARING ILLEGAL
Tennessee has passed a new state law which makes it illegal to share your passwords for content services like Napster or Rhapsody with other people.

While there are technical solutions that can ensure that only one person accesses an online content service via any one account at any one time, technology can't stop people sharing user accounts if they tap into the shared service at different times. The aim of Senate Bill 1659 is to discourage people from letting their friends stream music from Napster or watch a movie via Netflix using their account logins, by making such activity not only against the terms of said services, but also a criminal offence.

The new law was well supported in the Tennessee legislator, very possibly because of some nifty lobbying on the part of the Nashville music business which is, of course, within that state.

The Recording Industry Association Of America, which would probably like to see a similar law introduced at a federal level, told reporters: "As the music industry continues its transition from selling CDs to providing fans convenient access to a breadth of legal music online, laws that provide effective enforcement against new and developing forms of content theft are essential to the health of our business".

Of course, policing the new law will be challenging - how do you know passwords have been shared, what's to stop an accused password sharer of claiming their account must have been hacked, and surely the law couldn't realistically target co-habitees who share their content services with their housemates. Though it's possible the record industry really wants the new law so to target message boards and suchlike which offer up passwords to different websites and content services.

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AMY WINEHOUSE CHECKS OUT OF REHAB
Amy Winhouse has checked out of The Priory rehab clinic in London, less than a week after being admitted for treatment.

As previously reported, the singer's spokeswoman confirmed Winehouse was back in The Priory on Friday, adding that her client wanted to get back in control of her drinking before embarking on a series of European tour dates this summer, which begins in Belgrade on 18 Jun.

Yesterday, a spokesperson told reporters: "Amy Winehouse has completed her assessment at the Priory clinic in London and will continue as an outpatient. She is now looking forward to playing shows around Europe this summer and is raring to go. She would like to send a huge thanks to all her fans for the messages of support she has received over the last week and she can't wait to see them".

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SONY/ATV SIGNS PITBULL
Sony/ATV Music Publishing has signed up rap man Pitbull to a worldwide deal which will see the major administrate the publishing rights in the rapper's new material. Not only that, but when Pitbull's current deal with Universal Music Publishing expires, he will move the administration of his full catalogue over to the Sony publishing company, too. The new deal includes Pitbull's current single 'Give Me Everything', which is currently at number two in Billboard's Hot 100 chart.

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FOUND TO RELEASE PLAYABLE CHOCOLATE SEVEN-INCH
Scottish indie band Found have hit upon a novel way to launch their new single, 'Anti Climb Paint'. Teaming up with bakers Fisher & Donaldson, the band are creating a limited run of 50 playable chocolate seven-inch singles. I'm not sure how chocolate can be playable, but I'm not going to put it on my turntable to find out if it is, so I guess I'll have to take their word for it.

You can hear the song and enter a competition to win one of the singles, plus see the band perform live in the Fisher & Donaldson bakery later this month, at www.chemikal.co.uk/anticlimbpaint.

The single will also be available in less chocolaty forms.

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ST VINCENT ANNOUNCES NEW ALBUM
St Vincent, aka Annie Clark, has announced that she will release a new album, entitled 'Strange Mercy', on 12 Sep via 4AD. The LP is the follow-up to 2009's 'Actor'

You can also catch her performing live on 13 Jul, when she takes to London's Barbican Hall with Arthur H, The Tiger Lillies, Camille O'Sullivan, Stef Kamil Carlens and Erika Stucky, for an evening celebrating Tom Waits' classic 1985 album 'Rain Dogs'. More information on that here: www.barbican.org.uk/music/event-detail.asp?ID=12049

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BLESSING FORCE COLLECTIVE ANNOUNCE LONDON SHOW
Oxford musical collective Blessing Force, which has spawned the likes of Jonquil, Chad Valley, Fixers, Rhosyn and more, have announced a show in London to showcase a whole load of music.

Billed 'BF2: The Equatorial Ultravox', the event takes place at London's Electrowerkz venue on 16 Jun. The aforementioned Chad Valley will headline, launching his 'Equatorial Equinox' seven track EP which is due out on 20 Jun via Loose Lips. He'll be supported by fellow Blessing Forcers (that's not a great name for them, is it? I'll try to think up something else for next time) Solid Gold Dragons, ODC Drumline and Gwilym Gold.

More Blessing Force style information can be found here: blessingforce.tumblr.com

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EMMY THE GREAT ANNOUNCES TOUR
Emmy The Great is due to release her new album, 'Virtue', on 13 Jun, which is good news. What would be even better would be if she were to announce a tour. I assume you concur. Well good, because she has. You may dance in your seat now.

Tour dates:

16 Sep: Colchester, Colchester Arts Centre
17 Sep: London, Cecil Sharp House
18 Sep: Nottingham, Glee Club
19 Sep: Newcastle Upon Tyne, The Cluny
20 Sep: Glasgow, Oran Mor
22 Sep: Aberdeen, The Lemon Tree
23 Sep: Edinburgh, Pleasance Theatre
24 Sep: Stockton-On-Tees, The Georgian Theatre
25 Sep: Lancaster, Lancaster Library
27 Sep: Norwich, Norwich Arts Centre
28 Sep: Oxford, The Jericho Tavern
29 Sep: Bracknell, South Hill Park Arts Centre
30 Sep: Leicester, Soundhouse
2 Oct: Portsmouth, Wedgewood Rooms
3 Oct: Brighton, Duke Of York's Picturehouse
4 Oct: Birmingham, Glee Club
6 Oct: Wrexham, Central Station
7 Oct: Liverpool, The Stanley Theatre
8 Oct: Manchester, The Deaf Institute
9 Oct: Leeds, Brudenell Social Club
11 Oct: Bristol, The Fleece
12 Oct: Cambridge, The Junction

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MACHINEDRUM ANNOUNCES ALBUM AND TOUR
New York-based genre-mashing electronic producer Machinedrum, aka Travis Stewart, has announced that he will release his latest album, 'Room(s)', on 25 Jul via Planet Mu.

Stewart says of the album: "I feel like the energy of a song is lost the longer you spend working on it... becoming less attached to my work essentially lead to a lot of songs that are connected sonically and aesthetically".

He'll also be touring in the UK. Dates here:

4 Jun: London, Village Underground
11 Jun: Glade Festival
17 Jun: Dublin, The Grand Social
25 Jun: Manchester, The Roadhouse
23 Jul: London, The Rhythm Factory
12 Aug: Edinburgh, Cabaret Voltaire
26 Aug: Limetree Festival

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FESTIVAL LINE-UP UPDATE

EASTLEIGH FESTIVAL OF MUSIC, Point & Leigh Road Recreation Ground, Eastleigh, 7-10 Jul: Amongst the initial portion of acts heading to Eastleigh's premiere music event are folk-centric stars including Stornoway, Eliza Carthy Band, James Yorkston, Dry The River and The Travelling Band. The weekend also encompasses the multi-cultural Eastleigh Mela, which will play host to The Bollywood Brass Band. www.eastleighmusicfestival.co.uk

END OF THE ROAD, Larmer Tree Gardens, North Dorset, 2-4 Sep: Organisers have found space for Texan rockers Okkervil River on the bustling three-day EOTR roster, which is to be co-headlined by Joanna Newsom, Mogwai and Beirut. Lykke Li, Laura Marling, Wild Beasts and The Walkmen are further highlights of this year's billing. www.endoftheroadfestival.com

GLOBAL GATHERING, Long Marston Airfield, Warwickshire, 29-30 Jul: Festival coordinators have just unveiled two new acts, Nero and Modestep, for this year's mass rave-athon. They will join a line-up that boasts a superlative array of dance and danceable-to acts including Pendulum, Underworld, Chase & Status and Tinie Tempah. www.globalgathering.com

GUILFEST, Stoke Park, Guilford, 15-17 Jul: Wretch 32, YasmIn, Celtic rockers The Popes and newly reformed 90s stalwarts The Farm find themselves as late confirmations to appear at the Razorlight, Roger Daltrey and James Blunt-topped popfest. Also taking to the stage are the likes of N-Dubz, Echo & The Bunnymen and Chipmunk. www.guilfest.co.uk

LOVEBOX, Victoria Park, London, 15-17 Jul: Jack Beats, Aeroplane, In Flagranti and DFA signings Holy Ghost! and The Juan Maclean are the acts to land most recently on the Lovebox line-up, joining existing roster residents like Blondie, Kelis, Metronomy, Santigold and Lykke Li. www.lovebox.net

TRAMLINES, various venues, Sheffield, 22-24 Jul: A host of fresh acts headed up by Toddla T, Dels, Ms Dynamite and Shy FX, adds a further flourish to the Tramlines bill. Stars of the existing line-up include Ash, Dananananaykroyd, Los Campesinos! and Frankie & The Heartstrings. www.tramlines.org.uk

RHYTHM FESTIVAL, Old Warden Park, Bedfordshire, 26-28 Aug: Keeping the announcements ticking over at this year's Rhythm festival are new additions The Pretty Things, Saint Jude, and gutsy rock heroine Tracie Hunter, who will appear with her Band. They join a score of family-friendly favourites, a few picks from which are Toots & The Maytals, Imelda May, Buzzcocks and 'Good Enough' Britpoppers Dodgy. www.rhythmfestival.com

STANDON CALLING, Standon, Hertfordshire, 11-14 Aug: Standing out amongst the flurry of new names added to the already thriving Standon Calling line-up are Chrome Hoof, Three Trapped Tigers, Washed Out, Little Boots, Filthy Dukes, Sound Of Rum and electro duo Lamb. Spiritualized, Battles, Born Ruffians and Hercules & Love Affair feature highly amongst previous announcements for the intimate weekend bash. www.standon-calling.com

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ALBUM REVIEW: Ford & Lopatin - Channel Pressure (Mexican Summer/Software Recordings)
Joel Ford (formerly of Tigercity) and Daniel Lopatin (AKA Oneohtrix Point Never) cast aside their Games moniker - as showcased on last year's wonderful 'That We Can Play' EP - for a Heaven 17-esque pseudo-corporate name to go along with their Heaven 17-esque pseudo-retro stuttering synth-pop.

'Channel Pressure', a record that allegedly has some high falutin concept running through it, doesn't scale the highs that the duo reached on the aforementioned EP; the judder and lurch of the likes of 'Dead Jammer' or 'Surrender' annoy rather than delight. That Lopatin is capable of tweaking analogue signals into haunting, spooked-out and lonely cosmic sounds in his regular guise might come as a surprise to a listener only aware of this project; the words 'pastiche', 'arch' and 'posturing' spring to mind throughout the album's duration.

This listener - a huge fan of the pair's 'Way Slower' series of mixes, and the kind of synthetic, rubbery funk that Ford & Lopatin admire so much - felt let down, felt that merely appropriating the staccato Fairlight fixation of 80s pop doesn't necessarily result in something worth consuming in 2011, began to wonder when the retromania bubble will burst, hoped that someone would turn these songs into the huge italo/cosmic/proto-house bangers they could and should have been. Most things in life are better when devoid of irony; 'Channel Pressure' is one of them. JAB

Physical release: 6 Jun

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BPI APPOINTS NEW LOBBYING MAN
The British Recorded Music Industry, or the BPI to its slightly illiterate friends, has only gone and appointed a brand new lobbying chief to go bug those tedious Tories and laughable Libbers about flagging three-strikes and off-the-agenda website-blocking-orders and that old chestnut, copyright extension. And the new man, Ian Moss, comes from the other side of the lobbying fence, having most recently worked as a Director at the government's Ministry Of Justice.

Confirming the new appointment, BPI boss Geoff Taylor told CMU: "We are delighted that Ian is joining the BPI as Director of Public Affairs. Ian is a thoroughly accomplished Whitehall operator with a strong background in developing and delivering policy at a senior level in government. His strategic experience and passion for music will help us ensure that music companies maintain a persuasive voice in the ongoing debate about the role of creative industries in the digital age".

Moss himself added: "I started out from university as a failed rock star and ended up in politics and policy. Hopefully I can use what I have learnt in that time to help some successful ones. It's a great opportunity for me and I'm looking forward to working to support one of Britain's great global industries".

Moss replaces the BPI's incumbent lobbying man Theo Blackwell, who was recently elected Cabinet Member of Finance at Camden council, which sounds like great fun, doesn't it?

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INTERSCOPE LAUNCHES NEW IMPRINT WITH AWARD WINNING PRODUCER
Universal US's Interscope Records is launching a new imprint called KIDinaKORNER, to be headed up by Grammy winning producer Alex Da Kid, the producer behind hits like Eminem and Rihanna's 'Love The Way You Lie' and BoB's 'Airplanes'.

The new label's first release will come from singer-songwriter Skylar Grey, who has guested on a number of Da Kid productions of late.

Confirming the new venture, Da Kid told reporters: "Developing artists that influence and shape popular culture in an authentic way has always been a huge goal of mine. Interscope has always been committed to great producers".

Interscope boss Jimmy Iovine added: "I think in Alex we found one that will be around for a long time".

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SKILLS COUNCIL GIVES STUDENTS BACKSTAGE INSIGHTS AT MAJOR FESTIVALS
Students from across the UK will be taken behind the scenes at festivals run by Live Nation and Festival Republic this summer as part of a partnership between the live music firms and the National Skills Academy For The Creative & Cultural Industries. The Festival 'Stage-Side' Days will give aspiring music business professionals back stage access to festivals like Download, The Big Chill, Leeds, Wireless and Glastonbury to see how major music events are put together.

Confirming his company's involvement in the scheme, Live Nation UK boss Paul Latham, who is also Chair of the creative industries skills council, told CMU: "Live Nation are involved in these events to ensure that potential crew of the future understand the roles and careers available in this industry. The success of our business - of any business - depends on having a skilled workforce and these stage side visits help the students to understand what those skills are".

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WEGOTTICKETS SUPPORTS YOUTH MUSIC THROUGH FESTIVAL SALES
WeGotTickets has announced its latest campaign in support of music education organisation Youth Music. Customers buying tickets to Field Day or the Underage Festival via the ticketing site will be encouraged to make a donation to the Youth Music Pioneers programme, which offers disadvantaged children great music-making opportunities. And anyone who makes a donation will be entered into a competition to win prizes related to the two fests.

WeGotTickets' Steve Endersby told CMU: "It's amazing to have Field Day and Underage Festival offering prizes to our customers, and we hope the donations our customers make to enter those competitions - along with our site wide donation - will make enough money to fund the Youth Music
Pioneers campaign. It will be great to see WeGotTickets, our customers, and our client's donations and support make a difference to disadvantaged children through this project".

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UNIVERSAL SIGNS UP FOR ICLOUD
As expected, Universal Music has signed up to Apple's iCloud digital locker, meaning all four major record companies are now on board. Plus, overnight, word has it the four major publishers have also reached a basic agreement with the IT giant over their new music venture, which will be formally announced at the Worldwide Developers Conference next week.

Which means everyone's on board, hurrah. Oh, except, for every single independent record company and publisher, but hey, it's not the first time Apple's ignored that lot, is it? You do know Apple is evil, right? I suppose we should note that independent aggregator The Orchard has indicated that it is signed up, and its likely its nearest competitors are also on board, but the big indies, most represented by Merlin, are yet to sign on any dotted line.

As previously reported, iCloud will compete with the Amazon and Google digital lockers, neither of which have music industry support. Unlike its rivals, and presumably in order to ensure label and publisher backing, users of the iCloud will only be able to store tracks bought via iTunes in their Apple locker.

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Q APPOINTS NEW DIGITAL MAN
Q has appointed a new Associate Editor of Digital, who will oversee the music monthly's website and lead "Q's digital strategy as a whole across all available platforms", whatever that means.

A one time Q writer, Paul Stokes has more recently worked in editorial roles at NME, including involvement in that title's online and other digital expansion.

Confirming the new appointment, Q's Editor In Chief Paul Rees told CMU: "Paul's extensive editorial and digital experience, and his in-depth knowledge of all things Q, make him the perfect fit to oversee the exciting digital developments we have planned for Q in this, its 25th anniversary year".

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SYCO DENIES BRITAIN'S GOT TALENT FIXING
So, yesterday a lengthy article was posted anonymously on to that internet thing purporting to be written by an executive at Sony Music UK. Frankly, it couldn't have looked more like a hoax if it tried. But at least nine people seemed to have been taken in by the lengthy post which detailed how Syco had apparently been grooming twelve year old singer Ronan Parke to win this year's 'Britain's Got Talent' for the last two years.

By the afternoon, Syco had issued a statement saying the following: "There has been speculation on the internet that 'Britain's Got Talent' finalist Ronan Parke was known to and worked with Syco/Sony Music before entering the show. There is no truth in this story whatsoever. Ronan first came to Syco/Sony's attention when he entered this year's competition. Syco/Sony Music will not hesitate to take whatever legal action is appropriate to prevent further publication of these unfounded allegations".

Of course, had Cowell really been involved in planning and furthering Parke's career, he'd have got him a prime slot on 'American's Got Talent', and then ceremoniously dumped him just before the cameras started to roll.

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PINK GIVES BIRTH TO DAUGHTER
Pink has popped, as it were. The popstress has given birth to her first child, a baby girl to be known as Willow Sage Heart. Confirming this by Twitter last night, Pink wrote: "We are ecstatic to welcome our new beautiful healthy happy baby girl, Willow Sage Hart. She's gorgeous, just like her daddy. Beyond blessed".

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LIAM ON BOB
In what I'd quite like to make a semi-regular feature, it's Liam Gallagher's Cunt Of The Week. And who takes that all important accolade this week? None other than Bob Dylan.

Asked by The Times whether he celebrated Dylan's recent 70th birthday, the Beady Eye man said: "I know all about him and that, but he's a bit of a miserable cunt as far as I'm concerned. I like that tune he did, 'Lay Lady Lay'. People go nuts for him, but he doesn't really do it for me".

Tune in same time next week for another Liam Gallagher's Cunt Of The Week. Actually, probably not.

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