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| TOP STORIES |
| - 93 Feet East wins back licence in court - Doors founder Manzarek dies |
| IN THE POP COURTS |
| - Eminem publisher sues Facebook - Elton John collaborator faces DUI charges |
| AWARDS & CONTESTS |
| - Azerbaijan launches investigation into Eurovision voting |
| CHARTS, STATS & POLLS |
| - Spotify launches two charts |
| ARTIST DEALS |
| - Prince announces new partnership with Kobalt |
| RELEASE NEWS |
| - Splashh announce debut album and touring plans |
| GIGS & TOURS NEWS |
| - Paramore add second Wembley date - Rokia Traoré to play Royal Festival Hall - Soundgarden to tour |
| TALKS, DEBATES & CONVENTIONS |
| - More speakers added to MusicTank piracy debate - Next Young Guns Network event announced |
| THE MUSIC BUSINESS |
| - New music export consultancy Sound Diplomacy launches - Indie label Brew Records to close |
| THE DIGITAL BUSINESS |
| - Yahoo!'s Tumblr purchase confirmed - Last.fm and MUZU announce alliance |
| THE MEDIA BUSINESS |
| - Rowland to join X judging panel in USA |
| AND FINALLY... |
| - Love feels the strain of safeguarding Cobain's legacy |
| MUSIC CONCIERGE - MUSIC TEAM ASSISTANT Music Concierge, the award-winning music consultancy for boutique hotels and luxury brands, is looking for a Music Team Assistant to join our small but expanding creative team. This is an excellent starter role giving the opportunity to work in the music industry with an exciting growing company. For more information including a full job description and how to apply click here. |
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| DHP GROUP - PROMOTER/VENUE PROGRAMMER We are looking for a promoter based in Nottingham, who'll have specific responsibility for programming one of our award winning venues, as well as significant roles in our Dot To Dot festival and other activities. This is an exciting opportunity for an enthusiastic, creative, knowledgeable and hardworking individual to join one of the UK's fastest growing national promoters and venue operators, with ever expanding career possibilities. For more information including a full job description and how to apply click here. |
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| CODA - RECEPTIONIST CODA requires a full time receptionist for immediate start within our busy and successful artist music agency based near Farringdon, London. We're looking for someone with excellent communication skills, friendly and motivated who is able to multi-task. We need a "can do" attitude. This is an excellent first step in to the live music industry. For more information including a full job description and how to apply click here. |
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| PARTISAN RECORDS - PRODUCT MANAGER Partisan Records, part of Knitting Factory Group, is looking for a dynamic and forward thinking Product Manager to join the recently established UK office. The successful candidate will have at least two years product management experience and will be experienced in implementing multiple artist campaigns across traditional and digital marketing platforms. For more information including a full job description and how to apply click here. |
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| ELITE MUSIC MANAGEMENT - ASSISTANT BOOKING AGENT (ADMIN/PA TO DIRECTOR) Since 1999, Brighton-based Elite Music Management has represented breakthrough and established DJs, producers and label parties. We are looking for a hard working, exceptionally organised individual to work as part of a small, hard-working team. You will be required to assist the Director with bookings, and the efficient day to day running of the office. You will liaise with artists, managers and promoters on a daily basis. For more information including a full job description and how to apply click here. |
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| CHERRY RED RECORDS - ADMINISTRATIVE ASSISTANT Cherry Red Records requires a full-time administrative assistant for immediate start in our West London office. Playing a key support role across several areas of the business the ideal candidate will be someone with a good working knowledge of, and interest in, catalogue music across several genres, self-motivated, with a keen attention to detail. For more information including a full job description and how to apply click here. |
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| SRD - NATIONAL ACCOUNTS MANAGER Working closely with label managers and reporting to the Managing Director this is an ideal position for someone with experience of dealing with key online and physical accounts as well as taking the initiative in building relationships with new customers. For more information including a full job description and how to apply click here. |
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| LISTEN UP - ONLINE AND PRINT PRESS OFFICER London-based music promotions company Listen Up is recruiting for an experienced online and print press officer to join the expanding company. The ideal candidate should have at least three years experience in a similar role with a thorough knowledge of online and print portals across music, culture and lifestyle. For more information including a full job description and how to apply click here. |
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| MASCOT LABEL GROUP - LABEL/MARKETING MANAGER Mascot Label Group, is looking for a dynamic and experienced UK label/marketing manager. Do you have solid experience in label management, marketing, retail, digital, and promotion and are you looking for a new challenge? Ambitious, hands on, creative, efficient, organised, hungry for success and an affinity with hard rock, metal and blues rock genres in particular is what we are looking for. For more information including a full job description and how to apply click here. |
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| 7DIGITAL - CONTENT OPERATIONS DIRECTOR We are looking for an experienced Content Operations Director to join our ever expanding team here at 7digital. The successful candidate will have experience working in and managing a digital supply chain function, preferably in music, for a digital retailer, label or content aggregator. You will be passionate about content and you must be able to work in a fast-paced and fast-growing environment. For more information including a full job description and how to apply click here. |
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| DHP GROUP - HEAD OF FESTIVALS We are looking for a dynamic individual who will be responsible for delivering music festivals for DHP. The Head Of Festivals will: develop the proposition for new outdoor events in different genres; source suitable locations; develop a model for ticket pricing and suitable artist budgets; work with the promoter team on programming; develop non-music areas of the festivals; take over the management of the existing 20,000 capacity event, Splendour; oversee the city based events, Dot To Dot, Hit The Deck and Gathering. For more information including a full job description and how to apply click here. |
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| DESK SPACE AVAILABLE IN HOXTON We organise indoor and outdoor music & arts events and have two desks available for rent in our friendly and comfortable office. It's a great creative space located in Hoxton for anyone working in the creative industries (ie graphic designers, journalists, digital, marketing). Just five mins from Hoxton Station. The building is very secure and has 24 hour access. Rent is £250 a month plus VAT per desk which is inclusive of all bills and wi-fi. For more information please contact info@festivalproduction.net |
93 FEET EAST WINS BACK LICENCE IN COURT
East London club 93 Feet East is coming back five months after a police raid led to the venue having its licence revoked by Tower Hamlets Council amidst allegations the business had not done enough to combat the dealing and consumption of illegal substances on the premises.
But late last week Thames Magistrates Court seemingly upheld an appeal against the actions of Tower Hamlets Council, which means the venue can now reopen with pretty much immediate effect.
In a statement on the club's website, 93 Feet East management said: "We are delighted to announce that on 17 May 2013, Thames Magistrates' Court allowed 93 Feet East's appeal against the decision of Tower Hamlets Council on 7 Jan 2013 to close 93 Feet East. 93 Feet East, which has been at the heart of Brick Lane's evening economy since the year 2000, is free to reopen immediately".
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DOORS FOUNDER MANZAREK DIES
Ray Manzarek, founder member of The Doors, has died aged 74 after suffering from bile duct cancer for many years.
The keyboardist formed the legendary band after a chance meeting with fellow founder Jim Morrison in LA in 1965. The group's successes were many, but their career was relatively short, the band struggling to continue after the death of Morrison in 1971. They officially split two years later.
But Manzarek continued to perform with many other artists over the years, before regrouping with Doors guitarist Robby Krieger just over a decade ago in a bid to resurrect the band, a project that ran aground in a legal dispute over the Doors trademark.
Paying tribute last night, Krieger said in a statement: "I was deeply saddened to hear about the passing of my friend and bandmate Ray Manzarek today. I'm just glad to have been able to have played Doors songs with him for the last decade. Ray was a huge part of my life and I will always miss him".
EMINEM PUBLISHER SUES FACEBOOK
Facebook is facing a nice little lawsuit from Slim Shady, which would be fun if it got to court, which it almost certainly won't.
Eminem's publishing company Eight Mile Style has accused the social network and its advertising agency of ripping off one of the rapper's tracks for a promotional film flogging the social media company's Facebook Home app, and shown during a webcast by the firm's top man Mark Zuckerberg.
Lawyers for Eight Mile Style say that ad company Wieden+Kennedy deliberately lifted from Eminem track 'Under The Influence', from 2000 album 'The Marshall Mathers LP', because they knew Zuckerberg was a fan of the rapper's work (something suggested by a teenage webpage created by the Facebook boss that re-emerged online last month).
After fans of the rapper noticed the similarities between the music in the Facebook Home ad and 'Under The Influence', legal reps for Eight Mile Style quickly sent Wieden+Kennedy a cease and desist.
Possibly as a result of that, when the ad was subsequently formally posted to YouTube, a new soundtrack had been added to it. The soundtrack switch, now says Eight Mile Style, implies acknowledgment on W+K's part that the original ad infringed the publisher's copyrights.
But, presumably knowing that Slim Shady's publisher was now likely to sue over the original webcast, lawyers for the ad company hit back in a formal response to the cease and desist, which is quoted in Eight Mile Style's lawsuit.
In it W+K's lawyers seemingly suggest that 'Under The Influence' itself lifts music from another track (a Michael Jackson song apparently), a practice producer Dr Dre is known for, the letter adds. But, counters Eight Mile Style, no one has ever noted any similarity between the music used in Zuckerberg's webcast and any Jackson work, and anyway, although a frequent Eminem collaborator, Dre didn't work on 'Under The Influence'.
Says Eight Mile Style's lawsuit: "The 29 Apr 2013 reply from counsel was brimming with bellicose language and replete with gross factual inaccuracies. First, counsel falsely and wrongfully alleged that Andre Young, professionally known as Dr Dre, composed 'Under The Influence'. Yet, a simple internet search of the Eminem/D12 Composition would have revealed that 'Under The Influence' was composed by Marshall Mathers III and members of D12, including Denaun Porter, Von Carlisle, Ondre Moore, R Arthur Johnson, and DeShaun Holton. Dr Dre likewise did not produce 'Under The Influence'".
It goes on: "After wrongfully disparaging Dr Dre with inflammatory accusations about his practices as a producer and his alleged 'long, well-documented history of copyright infringement', (which is misguided, gratuitous and irrelevant since Dr Dre was not involved in the creation of the Eminem/D12 Composition), the letter continues with bizarre allegations that Dr Dre has actually stolen from Michael Jackson because 'Under The Influence' is supposedly a rip-off of one of Michael Jackson's songs. Not one person, however, who heard the Facebook advertisement, and commented about it on the blogosphere, noted any similarity between the Facebook advertisement and any Michael Jackson song. To the contrary, it is clear that the advertisement copied directly the Eminem/D12 Composition, and ordinary observers have so concluded".
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ELTON JOHN COLLABORATOR FACES DUI CHARGES
Elton John's songwriting partner Bernie Taupin is facing DUI charges after an incident on 5 May in Santa Barbara, California.
According to reports, the lyricist was originally arrested on 5 May after driving his truck into a wooden fence. The resulting DUI charges have now been made, according to the Santa Barbara Independent.
No court date has as yet been set.
AZERBAIJAN LAUNCHES INVESTIGATION INTO EUROVISION VOTING
The President of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev has ordered an inquiry into why his country gave the Russian Eurovision entry no points on Saturday. Apparently 'they just didn't like it very much' isn't an adequate answer.
According to officials, reports the BBC, voters and Azerbaijan's jury were strongly in favour of the Russian song, 'What If' by Dina Garipova, which came fifth overall in the competition.
Azerbaijan's ambassador to Russia Polad Bulbuloglu confirmed that an investigation was being launched, saying: "According to this data, Russia should have received ten points from Azerbaijan".
The head of the country's state broadcaster Camil Guliyev added: "We sincerely hope that this incident, possibly initiated by certain interest groups, will not cast a shadow over the brotherly relations of the Russian and Azerbaijani peoples".
Russia gave Azerbaijan's entry, 'Hold Me' by Farid Mammadov, the maximum twelve points.
SPOTIFY LAUNCHES TWO CHARTS
Spotify has launched two new weekly charts tracking activity related to music on the streaming service, the first simply based on the number of plays for any one track in a week, the second on sharing activity within the Spotify app itself, and on Facebook and Twitter.
The new charts will be made available for each country in which Spotify operates, and a widget will enable media, bloggers and whoever else might be interested to post relevant weekly charts on their own sites.
The weekly charts follow Spotify's recent decision to start showing how many times tracks have been played on the streaming platform, something currently being rolled out to the service's desktop app.
PRINCE ANNOUNCES NEW PARTNERSHIP WITH KOBALT
Prince has signed a new deal with Kobalt Label Services, which will see the musician release his own new music, as well as projects by other artists that he has produced. He will also provide artist development and recording services for new artist, while Kobalt will handle marketing and distribution for music released under the partnership.
Kobalt president Richard Sanders told CMU: "This new venture gives Prince the flexibility and freedom he's always sought in a label partner. We're providing a high level of diverse services that will be particularly customised to his vision for each release, allowing the world to experience more music from Prince and his creative community".
SPLASHH ANNOUNCE DEBUT ALBUM AND TOURING PLANS
It's generally considered important to have a name that Googles well these days. Some acts disagree and go with names that make them all but undiscoverable online, but mostly bands try to put the effort in. Well, not all bands. Some bands just stick an extra letter on a word and hope for the best. Splashh are one of those bands. Lazy.
Lazy in naming themselves they might be, but lazy in the studio they are not. They've got together and recorded ten whole songs to put out as what is termed in the industry an 'album'. They've called that album 'Comfort'. And it is out through Luv Luv Luv Records on 3 Sep.
As well as that, the band will be playing live over the next couple of weeks, further shunning claims made by some that they are a lazy band. These are the tour dates:
30 May: Newcastle, Think Tank
31 May: Glasgow, Nice N Sleazy
1 Jun: Nottingham, Chameleon
2 Jun: Birmingham, Hare & Hounds
4 Jun: London, Cargo
5 Jun: Manchester, The Soup Kitchen
7 Jun: Southampton, Lennons
8 Jun: Brighton, The Hope
PARAMORE ADD SECOND WEMBLEY DATE
Paramore have added a second Wembley Arena date to their upcoming UK tour, having sold out the first in just ten minutes (apparently). The tour was originally supposed to come to a close on 27 Sep with the first Wembley show, but will now finish the night after.
There are still tickets available for the new show, so maybe they should have a little think about rushing into booking extra dates in future. Well, I suppose they've got a while to try to fill it out.
Anyway, the band also have a new single out this week. It's called 'Still Into You' and it has a video that looks like this.
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ROKIA TRAORÉ TO PLAY ROYAL FESTIVAL HALL
If you failed to get tickets for Rokia Traoré's sold out show at Cargo in London this week, never fear, she will be back later this year. Also, she'll be playing the considerably larger Royal Festival Hall, so you're in with a better shot of getting some ticketing goodness.
Tickets for the new show went on sale this morning, and you can then exchange those tickets for live music on 13 Nov (ie that's when the gig takes place. The Royal Festival Hall one, I mean. The Cargo one's this Thursday. But that's sold out. I already told you that, didn't I? Good. OK, well the Royal Festival Hall gig is the one on 13 Nov, just so we're clear).
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SOUNDGARDEN TO TOUR
Soundgarden will be coming back to the UK and Ireland later this year, so that's good, right? Well, it would have been in the late 90s, anyway. The tour will coincide with a newly repackaged edition of the band's sixth album, 'King Animal', originally released last year.
Here are the tour dates:
13 Sep: Manchester, Apollo
14 Sep: Birmingham, Academy
16 Sep: Dublin, The O2
18 Sep: London, Brixton Academy
MORE SPEAKERS ADDED TO MUSICTANK PIRACY DEBATE
A new spate of speakers have been added to the line-up of the next MusicTank debate, which will look at advertising on file-sharing sites, asking if it's really a problem and, if so, what can be done about it.
As previously reported, a keynote to kick off the event will provided by singer-songwriter David Lowery, the frontman of Cracker and Camper Van Beethoven, who has been particularly vocal recently on the issues of piracy and digital licensing through his blog, The Trichordist.
Also already announced was Google's UK Policy Manager Theo Bertram, who, along with Lowery, will also be joined in the debate by BPI chief exec Geoff Taylor and artist manager James Barton.
The event will take place at Fyvie Hall in the University Of Westminster on 28 May. More information here.
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NEXT YOUNG GUNS NETWORK EVENT ANNOUNCED
The Young Guns Network, a newish initiative that looks to provide networking opportunities for 18-25 year olds working, interning or looking to get into the music industry, has announced its third event.
Due to take place on 30 May at PRS For Music's London HQ, the event will also feature a talk on music licensing and publishing with speakers including Director of Westbury Music Paulette Long and BSkyB's Senior Music Co-ordinator Louisa Rainbird.
The Young Guns Network was founded by Sony/Columbia Head Of Radio Sam Potts and music industry consultant Remi Harris after conducting research that found that many young people in music were not attending or even aware of the various networking and training events that exist in the business, particularly if interning or working independently.
The first event was held at Sony Music's offices in February, followed by another at Somethin Else in April. Sony Music's Director Of Communications Paul Bursche commented: "Young Guns bring a new attitude to the usual networking theme, based on their 'what hands-on information do you have to impart right here, right now' manner, and I think is very impressive. We were pleased to host the first ever session and I look forward seeing their influence spread".
For more information and to apply for a free place on next week's guestlist, go here, and check out a video of highlights from the Somethin Else event here.
NEW MUSIC EXPORT CONSULTANCY SOUND DIPLOMACY LAUNCHES
A new company offering consultancy services on music export, founded by Shain Shapiro, UK rep for the Canadian Independent Music Association, and the former UK head of Catalan Arts Jordi Puy, officially launches today. Called Sound Diplomacy, the company has offices in London and Barcelona, and launches with clients including CIMA, HootSuite, ICEC and Osheaga MEG Pro.
Advisors to the company include Spotify's Will Page, The Orchard's Scott Cohen and Damon Forbes of Sheer Music, while further insights will come from Shapiro's own research - he is currently completing work on a PhD thesis entitled 'The History Of Popular Music Funding In Canada'.
Shapiro told CMU: "It's an exciting time for Jordi and I. With his experience working with the Catalans and mine with the Canadians, we're hoping to build this into a modern consultancy focused on export research, coordination and intelligence. We're looking forward to continuing to work with our existing clients while building the business in both Dalston and Barcelona".
Celebrating the official unveiling of Sound Diplomacy, the company is holding a launch party at the Servant Jazz Quarters in Dalston tonight, with performances from Lab Coast, Foam Lake and Theo Bard. For more info the free event, go here.
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INDIE LABEL BREW RECORDS TO CLOSE
Leeds-based independent label Brew Records is to close after six years in operation, the company has announced. This leaves Kong, Humanfly, Blacklisters, Castrovalva and Nine Black Alps label-less, please help them out if you can.
Announcing the news on its website, the company said: "We've had the pleasure of releasing some incredible records over the years and have been fortunate to work with so many amazing people. We'd like to thank everyone that has ever supported us, bought a record or a t-shirt and spread our music in general. Humanfly's 'Awesome Science' is our final release and we couldn't think of a better record to go out on which sums up what we love about physical records both musically and aesthetically. The label will still remain active for a while as we wind things down and continue to take and fulfil orders".
To celebrate its demise, Brew has dropped prices on its online store and set (almost) all releases on its Bandcamp page to pay-what-you-want.
YAHOO!'S TUMBLR PURCHASE CONFIRMED
As expected, Yahoo! yesterday announced that it had purchased blogging platform Tumblr for $1.1 billion - less than a third of the $3.6 billion it paid for Geocities in 1999, which may or may not show that the company's learned its lesson when it comes to overpaying for things. Another lesson users will be hoping it's learned is to not buy popular websites and then run them into the ground. CEO Marissa Mayer yesterday said (not in quite so many words) that this was the case.
Announcing the purchase on Tumblr (how modern), Mayer said: "We promise not to screw it up. Tumblr is incredibly special and has a great thing going. We will operate Tumblr independently. David Karp will remain CEO. The product roadmap, their team, their wit and irreverence will all remain the same as will their mission to empower creators to make their best work and get it in front of the audience they deserve. Yahoo! will help Tumblr get even better, faster".
Karp added via Tumblr's official blog: "Before touching on how awesome this is, let me try to allay any concerns: We're not turning purple. Our headquarters isn't moving. Our team isn't changing. Our roadmap isn't changing. And our mission - to empower creators to make their best work and get it in front of the audience they deserve - certainly isn't changing. So what's new? Simply, Tumblr gets better faster. The work ahead of us remains the same - and we still have a long way to go! - but with more resources to draw from".
While it's very easy to be cynical about this story, Yahoo! does badly need a new success, and Tumblr needs help maintaining its recent impressive momentum, which may mean this alliance goes alright. Well, at least they didn't feel the need to make up a job for a popstar as part of the new deal. Yet.
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LAST.FM AND MUZU ANNOUNCE ALLIANCE
Music video platform MUZU and music whatnot thingy Last.fm have announced one of those strategic partnerships. As a result, music videos from the MUZU catalogue will start to appear on Last.fm artist pages in nineteen countries in Europe, and videos watched on the MUZU platform will scrobble, and therefore be counted towards Last.fm users' personal charts.
Confirming the alliance, MUZU CEO Ciaran Bollard told CMU: "By partnering with Last.fm we significantly extend the reach for the MUZU.TV music video catalogue to an audience of almost 45 million users, enhance the user experience on both sites and drive additional revenue for artists and label partners".
While Last.fm's Simon Moran added: "Watching music videos on Last.fm has grown significantly in the last two years, so with more demand for video, it made sense to partner with a company who has one of the most extensive catalogues of music videos on the web. The addition of these videos to our artist pages further enhances Last.fm's position as one of the largest collections of music information in the world".
ROWLAND TO JOIN X JUDGING PANEL IN USA
Kelly Rowland and Mexican singer Paulina Rubio will join the judging panel of 'The X-Factor' in the US it has been confirmed, replacing Britney Spears and Epic Records boss LA Reid, who have both bowed out of the show. 'X' chief Simon Cowell and Demi Lovato will both return for another series of the show in a judging role.
Confirming the new recruits, Cowell told reporters: "It's taken more than a decade, but I'm delighted to finally be on a panel with three girls (I think!). Paulina and Kelly both have great taste and massive experience in the music industry and together with Demi, this is going to be a fun panel. It just feels like the time to do something different".
LOVE FEELS THE STRAIN OF SAFEGUARDING COBAIN'S LEGACY
Courtney Love sometimes feels the strain of having to guard the Nirvana catalogue from Broadway opportunists, or so she says in a new interview with Bust magazine.
Says Love of her role in protecting the songs catalogue of late husband Kurt Cobain: "The Nirvana stuff is fucking cursed in my opinion... Somebody has to guard the gates of this thing, because you know what would happen? The second I sell [all the rights], it becomes a jukebox musical, makes a billion dollars, and you've got jazz hands on Broadway. Or he'll be in Gatorade commercials".
She goes on: "I will never sell the fucking stakes I have in it, because no one else will bother protecting him. [Though] some days I look at my passport and I'm like, 'Can I just leave?' Because it's so much pressure".
The Cobain catalogue is actually administered by Primary Wave Music, of course, which acquired a 50% stake in the songs in 2006. It's not entirely clear what rights of veto Love retains over the catalogue, though seemingly not enough to stop Kermit The Frog "raping" Cobain's legacy.
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