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 27 Jul

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 7 Sep

For more information or to book visit www.theCMUwebsite.com/training

BAIDU ANNOUNCES DEAL WITH RECORD LABELS
China's largest search engine Baidu this morning announced it had signed a deal with an agency representing three of the major record companies, Universal, Warner and Sony, which, it says, will now enable it to offer a fully licensed MP3 service.

For a time Baidu was on the Western music industry's most hated list, because of its MP3 search service, which provided easy access to thousands of MP3s, nearly all emanating from illegal sources. The record labels tried to shut down the MP3 search part of Baidu's service through the Chinese courts, but the web firm persisted.

But then, earlier this year, presumably motivated by moves by the Chinese government to crackdown on internet piracy, Baidu started talking to rights owners about them licensing various music services. And in April it said it had a deal in place with the Music Copyright Society Of China, which represents the interests of music publishers.

This morning it announced a deal with an organisation called One-Stop China which, according to reports, is a joint venture between Universal, Warner and Sony. Under the deal the record companies will earn a royalty every time Baidu users play or download a track via the web giant's platform. The deal will also licence Baidu's previously reported new music service ting!, which seemingly has social networking elements in built too.

The terms of the licensing deal are not known, of course, though presumably Baidu will be paying a fraction of what its counterparts in the West do for the music they licence, though rights owners will recognise that any income from a market where piracy has always ruled is a welcome development. And given the size of the Chinese market, decent revenues could still be made from tiny per-play or per-download royalties. Presumably Baidu will cover the costs through ad sales.

The web firm added that as part of the deal past legal disputes between Baidu and the record companies had been resolved, and that that out of court settlement had been approved by the Beijing High People's Court.

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JA RULE JAILED OVER TAX OFFENCES
A federal judge yesterday jailed Ja Rule for 28 whole months over three misdemeanour charges for failing to file tax returns between 2004 and 2008, a period during which the rap man and actor earned an estimated $4 million. The rapper, real name Jeffrey Atkins, will also have to pay the Internal Revenue Service $1.1 million.

Atkins told the court he was sorry about his shoddy finances, adding he "in no way attempted to deceive the government". He continued: "I was a young man who made a lot of money. I didn't actually know how to deal with these finances ... [and] I didn't have the best people [to] guide me".

But the federal prosecutor argued that Atkins' accountant had warned him that to fail to pay his taxes was a crime, a point the judge homed in on when sentencing the rapper.

Although 28 months in jail is pretty severe, those paying attention will remember that Atkins is already in prison over a previous weapons charge, and the new sentence will run concurrently with the existing one. The sentence relating to the weapons charge was two years, which means the rapper will only serve four months specifically for the tax crimes, unless - as is expected - his first sentence is reduced based on good behaviour.

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MERCURY SHORTLIST INCOMING
As we publish today's CMU Daily, Lauren Laverne is preparing to announce the shortlist for this year's Mercury Prize in the basement of the Hospital private members club in Covent Garden.

The full list will be on our website as soon as it's available. You'll be able to find it here: www.thecmuwebsite.com/article/mercury-shortlist-incoming/

You can also watch the announcement live via award sponsors Barclaycard's Facebook page: www.facebook.com/Barclaycard

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MALKMUS' SENATOR DOES NOT WANT A BLOWJOB ON RADIO
Stephen Malkmus has a new album out next month with his band The Jicks. Called 'Mirror Traffic' it was produced by Beck and will be released by Domino on 22 Aug (and via Matador in the US a day later).

Malkmus is quite pleased with the album. He said of it: "This record is relatively approachable. Beck and I were both burned out on the heavy rocking style, and playing to the strengths of a melody seemed like a way to go".

That sounds lovely, but there is a problem. Malkmus has a song he wants to send out to radio stations. But the song, 'Senator', contains the line "I know what the senator wants - what the senator wants is a blowjob". Radio stations don't like words like 'blowjob'. But Malkmus can't think of any words that sound a little bit like 'blowjob' that could replace it in the radio edit. Hence, he is asking fans for help.

To make your suggestions, head over to whatdoesthesenatorwant.com. The closing date is 23 Aug and the winner will receive a seven-inch pressing of their version of the song.

By the way, the benchmark for this is 'ADIDAS' by Korn, in which 'fucking' was replaced by 'humping'.

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BIG BOI WORKING ON NEW ALBUM
Rapper Big Boi has revealed that he already has seventeen tracks completed for his next album, which he plans to release before the end of this year. Speaking to Australian website Junior, he promised that it will be "S-A-X-X-X triple unadulterated funk to the extremest level". So, that's good news.

He continued: "I'm seventeen songs into it now, everything is sounding phenomenal. I could put it out tomorrow if I wanted to, but I'mma marinate on it, because I'm on the road. I feel good about it, all the music's sounding great... I'm just really stayin busy out here killin it".

While he's doing all that, he also revealed that he's hard at work on Janelle Monáe's second LP, too. He said: "We're working on her next album now. I really take pride in artists that take pride in themselves, you know what I'm sayin? She's somebody whose hand you don't have to hold. She's got a creative mind, she's got a great spirit. She's a good girl and I'm proud of her. She's making me very proud".

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FOUR TET ANOUNCES FABRICLIVE COMPILATION
Four Tet, aka Kieran Hebden, has been announced as the next DJ to curate a compilation in the 'fabriclive' series. The 59th edition, to be exact.

Of the mix, which is due for release on 19 Sep, Hebden says: "This mix is not about my DJing. It's about London and Fabric and nights out and my take on all that. The memories and the influences. I used old and new music, I used recordings of Fabric, and I made new tracks of my own for it. I hope people play it fucking loud and lose their minds in it and remember or imagine what it's all about".

Here's the tracklist:

Michel Redolfi - Immersion Partielle
Crazy Bald Heads - First Born
Persian - Feel Da Vibe
KH - 101112 (previously unreleased)
Youngstar (Musical Mob) - Pulse X
Crazy Bald Heads - First Born (Four Tet Remix) (previously unreleased)
Floating Points - Sais (Dub)
Apple - Mr Bean
Manitoba [aka Caribou] - Webers
Big Bird - Flav (Urban Myths Remix)
Genius - Waiting
Four Tet - Fabric (previously unreleased)
David Borden - The Continuing Story Of Counterpoint, Part Nine
STL - Dark Energy
Percussions - Percussions One (previously unreleased)
C++ - Angie's Fucked
Burial - Street Halo
KMA - Cape Fear
WK7 - Higher Power
Ricardo Villalobos - Sieso
Four Tet - Pyramid
Red Rack'em - How I Program
Active Minds - Hobson's Choice (Tune For Da Man Dem)
Armando Gallop & Steve Poindexter - Blackholes
Four Tet - Locked

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ÅRABROT ANNOUNCE NEW ALBUM
CMU approved Norwegian noisemakers Årabrot have announced that they will release their fifth album, 'Solar Anus', on 12 Sep through Fysisk Format. The follow-up to last year's 'Revenge' was recorded with Steve Albini. The band will also tour the UK in October.

If you thought the title of the album sounded like fun, why not check out this track from the album, 'Madonna Was A Whore':

soundcloud.com/tigerfysisiskformat/rabrot-madonna-was-a-whore

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AZARI & III ANNOUNCE LONDON SHOW
Azari & III, who release their eponymous debut album on 1 Aug via Loose Lips, have announced that they will play a one-off show in London next month. The Canadian electronic quartet will play XOYO on 11 Aug.

That's a few weeks away now, so why not fill a few minutes of that time by watching the censored version of their previously banned from YouTube video, 'Hungry For The Power'.

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FESTIVAL LINE-UP UPDATE

THE BIG CHILL, Castle Deer Park, Herefordshire, 4-7 Aug: Hot Chip man Alexis Taylor tops the bill at The Big Chill's Radio Stage, atop a line up that also include BBC Three-featured comedy chav Lee Nelson, Craig Charles' Funk And Soul Show, BBC 6music's Chris Coco and Cerys Matthews, and Maurice Faulton. This latest portion of announcements forms but the tip of the super-cool iceberg that is this festival's overall line-up, which stars headliners The Chemical Brothers, Kanye West and Rodrigo Y Gabriela, plus a host more acts including Neneh Cherry, 2manydjs, Warpaint, Janelle Monáe, Ariel Pink's Haunted Graffiti, Chipmunk and Calvin Harris. www.bigchill.net/festival

HARVEST FESTIVALS, Pannington Hall Lane, Ipswich/Kingham, Oxfordshire, 9-12 Sep: Taking place in two locations, as hosted by Jimmy Doherty and Alex James on their respective farms, each Harvest leg is to host all-new headliners The Kooks, who will partake in the music and food-fuelled festivities whilst raising money for the Teenage Cancer Trust. The multi-tasking indie troupe join the likes of The Futureheads, KT Tunstall, Eliza Doolittle, The Feeling, Athlete and Benjamin Francis Leftwich. www.harvestatjimmys.com / www.alexjamespresentsharvest.com

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ALBUM REVIEW: Lazersonic & Zak Frost - Adventures In Stereo Vol One (Adventures In Stereo)
DJ Zak Frost and producer Irfan Nathoo frequented the same clubs for over a decade until they met at T In The Park a few years back and subsequently decided to collaborate. Their initial releases together, on Tiga's Turbo Recordings, received critical acclaim - with some terming their output "7am sound" - electronica with soul. And now they're back with a new album via their own label.

The opener, 'Kaleidoscope', leans heavily on Orbital's epic 'Belfast', but is lovingly crafted, and an exemplary start that's hard to match. As the guy's prove with what follows. 'Strange' is a peculiar meandering, trippy number, and next track 'Levels' just doesn't cut it.

Things do improve with 'Aquaplane', a fine slice of old school electro tinged house, but other tracks that follow don't really deliver on their potential. Until the finale 'Stars', that is, a lush vocal over uplifting synths and a tight beatsy background.

So, overall, more misses than hits, I'm afraid. But there are three decent tracks here, and 'Kaleidoscope' is highly recommended. And plans are afoot to take this show on the road, so perhaps unrealised potential will in deed be realised once this album is reworked for live performance. PV

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NEW MIDEM BOSS TALKS REVAMP
The new boss of European music business junket MIDEM has been speaking to Billboard about his plans for revamping the event, which has seen attendance levels decline in recent years as cash strapped record companies reduce the size of their delegations.

The biggest change is the axing of the digitally focused MidemNet spin off event, which has seemed increasingly daft in recent years as digital matters started to fill the main MIDEM conference as well. Though, needless to say, the digital sector, as well as the advertising and branding industries, all of which MIDEM has been successful in wooing in recent years, will still be a key part of the overall proceedings, which will now carry the strapline "connected by music".

Other innovations include a bigger focus on the direct-to-fan space, a new 'innovation zone' for tech companies, more live music, and a cheaper delegates fee.

Says new chief Bruno Crolot: "We are not moving away from music. I think we are moving with the music business to a broader eco-system, where music is the glue, and where technologies are used by brands, artists or labels to re-engage with audiences on a direct basis. This eco-system is much wider than the traditional industry, so we want to bring to the industry all these new players".

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SEAT STRIKES UP UNIVERSAL PARTNERSHIP TO SELL MORE MOTORS
Seat UK has entered into a partnership with Universal which will see the car firm offer free music via its Facebook, Twitter and YouTube pages, including some tracks created exclusively for the campaign. Although most of that content will be streamed, anyone who visits a Seat showroom, or who books a test drive, will get a voucher that enables them to download fifty free tracks for keeps.

The car firm has also commissioned a series of behind the scenes reports and mini-documentaries which will feature as yet to be confirmed Universal artists. This content will not only feature across Seat's social media accounts, but will also be compiled for a new TV show set to be aired by Channel 4 from September.

New Media Age quotes Seat UK's marketing man Steve Robertson as saying: "We want to extend our target demographic to encompass a younger age group - which music and social networks are perfectly tailored toward".

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LA REID CONFIRMED AS BOSS OF EPIC US
I must admit, I didn't even realise that LA Reid's new job atop Epic US hadn't been officially announced yet. But apparently not. Until yesterday.

As previously reported, Reid, who officially left his job running Universal's Island Def Jam division earlier this year to concentrate on his role as judge on 'X-Factor USA', was tipped for a job at Sony Music before he'd even cleared his desk at Universal Towers. Sony, of course, owns half of the 'X' franchise, plus Reid's old boss at Universal is the new boss at Sony.

And that new boss, Doug Morris, confirmed Reid is now Chairman and CEO of Epic Records yesterday, saying: "LA has repeatedly proven over the course of his celebrated career that he knows how to develop world class artistry. We are very happy to have an executive of his talents leading Epic Records as we begin an exciting new chapter of growth for Sony Music Entertainment".

Reid himself added: "I look forward with great enthusiasm to joining the Sony Music family as it affords us the opportunity to build Epic Recordings as the revolutionary music company of tomorrow. We are deeply committed to discovering and developing the next generation of superstars as well as implementing a fresh and innovative business model. It is also my distinct pleasure to be once again joining Doug who is an amazing leader and the most visionary and forward-thinking executive in the music entertainment industry".

Reid joined Sony at the start of the month, having been first linked to the Epic job in mid-June. The new role will also see Reid back overseeing the La Face imprint, the label he founded back in 1989.

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BELIEVE DIGITAL MAKES VARIOUS APPOINTMENTS
Digital distributor Believe Digital this morning announced a stack of new executive appointments.

First up, the firm's UK MD Stephen King will be expanding his remit, becoming MD for the company's US operations too, plus a Senior VP of A&R.

Also expanding his remit is Leigh Morgan, the company's Trade Marketing Manager, who will become International Trade Marketing Manger, promoting the company's services worldwide.

William Headlam-Wells, who was previously UK Manager for Believe's direct-to-fan service Zimbalam, will become A&R and Label Manager for Believe Digital in general, while Hannah Donovan, who joined the firm as an intern, will take over the Zimbalam UK Manager role.

And finally another former intern, Shanni Elcock, has been taken on full time as Social Media Manager.

Says Believe Digital founder Denis Ladegaillerie: "Believe Digital is committed to offering a clear career path to the people who work for us so I am delighted that we have been able to fill all of these key positions by promoting from within. The ongoing success of our company relies heavily on the skills and commitment of our personnel and it is extremely gratifying to know that we have people with exceptional talent on our team".

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BORDERS US TO CLOSE
Books and music seller Borders is planning on shutting down its 399 North American shops, having failed to find a bidder for the retail company. The Borders Group applied to the New York bankruptcy courts last week for permission to begin a liquidation of the firm's assets, which will likely result in closing down sales in all of the company's stores from this weekend.

Borders US is the latest victim of the declining entertainment retail sector, as high street sellers with sizable overheads struggle to compete with online mail-order and digital content stores. Of course Borders UK, which span off from its American parent company in 2007, bit the dust in 2009.

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NINJA TUNE OUTS ALBUM LEAKER
I was saying just the other day that one of the big hurdles for Grooveshark, as it tries to convince us all that it is a legal digital music service, is that you frequently find unreleased albums in its library, tracks you won't find on any legitimate digital platform because they haven't been distributed yet. Which allows more comparisons between Grooveshark and the file-sharing networks, even if the former can and does block access to that content when a takedown notice is issued. Illustrating my point, I noted that Toddla T's 'Watch Me Dance' was in there, despite not being released until next month.

But that's not what this story is about, we're here to discuss the actual initial leaking of that Toddla T album that enabled it to appear in Grooveshark. Clearly it was leaked by someone, and that someone, says the label releasing the album, Ninja Tune, was Benjamin Jager at Backspin magazine in Germany. He wins the whole of the Backspin staff the chance to not receive any more Ninja Tune albums.

In a statement, the label said: "It was with considerable disappointment that we learnt in the last week that two records we have been working on have been leaked, despite the use of watermarked CDs. Toddla T's 'Watch Me Dance' and Thundercat's 'The Golden Age of Apocalypse' were both leaked from copies sent to the journalist Benjamin Jager at the offices of Backspin magazine in Germany".

It continued: "The availability of these records online for free has meant a rush release of the digital version of Toddla's record, which, after the years of work put in, will seriously affect the ability to make any kind of financial return from commercial release. No one at the magazine has yet taken responsibility for uploading these records to the internet, but until the situation is resolved, we will no longer be servicing Backspin with promo copies. It's very hard for young, up and coming artists to make a living from their music. People uploading their music months before it is commercially available are not doing them any favours".

It's not the first time someone has outed a reviewer they believed to be behind an album leak. In 2009, Converge tweeted the name of a journalist they believed had leaked their 'Axe To Fall' album, urging fans to retweet the name to their own accounts.

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NEW POP MAG TO LAUNCH TOMORROW
Children's publisher Egmont are launching a new pop music magazine aimed at thirteen to fifteen year old girls, with a first edition due out tomorrow.

Egmont says it reckons there is a gap in the market for a new teenage pop mag, a market pretty much dominated by one title these days, BBC Worldwide's Top Of The Pops Magazine. The TOTP title is actually one of the biggest selling music magazines in the UK, though with an ABC below 100,000, its sales are nothing compared to what Smash Hits and its competitors sold back in the hey day of the printed pop mag.

Egmont's We Love Pop will launch with a cover prize of just one pound, a lot cheaper that TOTP, and will be backed up by a substantial advertising campaign. An online blog will carry news and pop tips between issues, though it seems, for the time being at least, Egmont's ambitions are to launch a printed title that is commercially viable in its own right, and not to simply develop what will ultimately be a primarily online pop media brand.

The magazine will be edited by Malcolm Mackenzie, formerly Music Editor for News International's now defunct free London paper thelondonpaper. He told reporters: "Pop music, and following the antics of pop stars, has always been a fundamental part of growing up, but it has seen a real resurgence in the past couple of years. With pop domination of the charts, and a host of TV shows like 'Glee' and 'X-Factor' feeding the buzz, we believe the time is right to bring the pop world to life for a new generation of teens".

Despite Mackenzie's optimism, We Love Pop is definitely entering a difficult marketplace. Efforts last year to build a magazine around the 'X-Factor' franchise failed pretty damn fast and, while that title was aiming for a different audience, arguably the demographic We Love Pop is going after are even less likely to spend money on a printed product. But the pop industry will certainly embrace any new platform to reach music fans, and will be hoping this one can last the distance.

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IT'S FINE TO IMAGINE GARY GLITTER DEAD, SAYS OFCOM
OfCom has dismissed a complaint made by Gary Glitter, real name Paul Gadd, about a 2009 TV drama which depicted the former singer being executed.

The hour long TV drama, 'The Execution Of Gary Glitter', imagined a Britain where capital punishment had been reintroduced for cases of serious child abuse, and focused on a fictional trial of the one time pop star. It saw Gadd, played by Hilton McRae, tried for child rape. Filmed in a documentary style, it also used real news footage from Gadd's real life arrests and convictions of child abuse.

Gadd complained that the show had treated him unfairly, as its blend of fact and fiction may have led viewers to believe that he had committed "terrible crimes which have gone unpunished".

Channel 4, which broadcast the programme, refuted all of Gadd's claims. OfCom agreed, saying in a statement: "In reaching its conclusion, the Committee carefully weighed up all the circumstances of the case and the submissions by Channel 4 and the complainant, taking into consideration the signposting and the fact that viewers were informed a number of times that it was a fictional drama (albeit based on a real person) set in a fictional Britain where the death penalty had been reintroduced; as well as the particular background of Mr Gadd and his well-publicised reputation for child sex offences".

Finally, OfCom said: "The Committee concluded that in these particular set of circumstances there was no unfairness to Mr Gadd in the programme as broadcast. Accordingly, Ofcom has not upheld Mr Gadd's complaint of unfair treatment in the programme as broadcast".

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JUSTIN BIEBER SMELLS EXPENSIVE
Justin Bieber's new perfume for ladies, Someday, has generated $3 million during its first month on sale. That's a lot of women (or more likely girls) who think a seventeen year old boy is the best person to tell them how they should smell.

Head of US department store Macy's, Terry Lundgren told reporters: "Justin Bieber's Someday fragrance, propelled by Justin's incredible personal appearance at Macy's Herald Square, has resonated with our customers, and has now become the biggest celebrity fragrance launch on record".

When I was seventeen pretty much the only smells I could distinguish from any others were cigarette smoke, food, and my own farts, but I'm sure the Biebster is far more discerning than I was.

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