Neil Young, The Doors and others excluded from BBC radio because of rights concerns over iPlayer upgrade
Songs by Neil Young, Bonnie Raitt, Journey and The Doors - including cover versions and any tracks containing samples of their work - are to be excluded from BBC radio because of concerns over licensing stemming from an upgrade to the Corporation's iPlayer Radio app.

This is because music from each of the affected artists is not represented by the UK publishing sector's mechanical rights collecting society MCPS - even though performing rights are repped by PRS - and offline caching due to be added to the BBC's radio app will exploit mechanical as well as performing rights.

As much previously reported, the music publishing sector deals with the reproduction and distribution of its songs (the mechanical rights) separately from the public performance or communication of compositions (the performing rights), and in the UK there are separate collecting societies for each set of rights, even though licensees can usually get joint licenses from PRS For Music, which works on behalf of both PRS and MCPS.

Collecting societies usually provide licensees with so called blanket licences, which means said licensee can use any of the songs the society represents directly or via reciprocal agreements with other societies around the world. This never means all songs ever, but on the performing rights side broadcasters and promoters usually act as if it does.

But licensees need to be more careful about repertoire gaps when making mechanical copies - so pressing CDs or syncing music to video, for example - because publishers representing mechanical rights outside the collective licensing system are much more likely to enforce their rights when songs are used without a direct licence.

As always, things get more complicated once you get into digital, because whenever music is delivered digitally a content provider is exploiting both mechanical and performing rights at the same time. Though the music industry has differing polices around the world as to how much of a stream is the mechanical right and how much is the performing right, and it varies according to service type and country. Radio-style webcasting services may be treated as just performing right exploiting set ups.

The timing of the BBC memo presumably means that lawyers at the Beeb reckon that its past online radio services have been covered entirely by the Corporation's PRS licence, but that the offline listening function soon to be added to iPlayer Radio will require a combined MCPS/PRS licence, and that excludes those songwriters who are MCPS hold outs.

It's thought the four artists being excluded - three of whom are published by Wixen Music - chose to withdraw from MCPS not because of digital matters (they have been outside the society for some time), but because they didn't want to participate in MCPS's blanket licences for TV sync (participation in which is compulsory for all members). These artists presumably prefer the US approach where television sync is negotiated directly with the publisher, as with ads, film and games over here.

Once outside of MCPS, the four songwriters' publishers then licensed labels and sync clients directly in the UK, which was all pretty manageable, but gets more complex in the digital domain, as the BBC's latest move shows.

It's not clear if the BBC's memo was motivated by a specific intervention by Wixen over the new radio app, though it's more likely that past disputes between the publisher and the Corporation over TV sync still haunt the broadcaster's legal department, and it is now being extra careful with each new development in digital.

Of course, there is nothing to stop BBC radio from continuing to air songs from all four acts over the airwaves under its PRS licence. Though shows from the Beeb's radio stations usually slip through to iPlayer Radio automatically, so bosses will be nervous of accidentally infringing mechanical rights via digital delivery even if the original broadcast is all covered.

Commenting on the developments, MCPS told reporters last night: "MCPS endeavours to offer blanket licences to broadcasters to enable them to enjoy 'all you can eat' access to record all repertoire into programmes. However membership of MCPS is optional and these repertoires haven't been members for several years. MCPS therefore has to ensure that any blanket licences transfer appropriate value back to the rights holders in order to be able to continue to offer as much repertoire as possible to broadcasters. PRS, which administers performing rights, however, confirms the works remain available for simple radio broadcast".

Madonna hacker jailed
The Israeli man who hacked into the servers of Madonna and her business associates, and then sold demo tracks he accessed, which subsequently leaked forcing the singer to rush release the finished versions of said songs, has been jailed for fourteen months.

Adi Lederman, who it transpired was a former contestant on Israel's version of 'Pop Idol', hacked into Madonna's computers last year, having accessed passwords from the email accounts of her manager and musical director. It's thought Lederman also accessed part of the singer's work schedule in addition tothe unfinished tracks from her album 'Rebel Heart'.

He was arrested in January after an investigation suggested the hacking had originated in Israel and a private investigator hired by Madonna identified Lederman as the culprit. According to Reuters, the hacker's lawyer said his client was just "a very fired-up and impassioned collector who went too far", while citing health problems as a reason for leniency.

But the judge hearing the case said that the ease with which people like Lederman could access the private online files of third parties meant that sentences for hacking crimes needed to be severe, so to provide a strong deterrent for future would-be hackers.

Union Square founder to lead worldwide catalogue recordings business at BMG
BMG has appointed Peter Stack to head up its catalogue recordings business worldwide, the music rights firm having acquired his reissues and catalogue label Union Square late last year.

In his new role as Executive VP for Global Catalogue Recordings, Stack will also oversee the marketing and exploitation of other sound recording catalogues controlled by BMG, which include releases by the former Sanctuary, Skint, Echo, Trojan and v1 Mute labels. And be charged with seeking new catalogue acquisitions and licenses as part of BMG's plan to become "the world's leading catalogue recordings operation".

Confirming the appointment, BMG boss man Hartwig Masuch told reporters: "Catalogue artists have not always been given the respect they deserve by the record business. That's why it has always been a key strategic priority for BMG to develop a world-class catalogue operation bringing together our strengths in sync and licensing and all forms of physical and digital exploitation. Already we have built strong strategic positions in the rock and dance genres. With many prized recordings now reverting to artists, Peter will not only be a great ambassador for BMG, he will help us further build our service offering".

Stack himself added: "BMG's ability to combine ambition and scale with a real respect for artists is unique. Artists whose work has proven itself over time deserve a world-class service and we are determined to give it to them".

Facebook plays down rumoured music plans beyond video
So is Facebook heading into the streaming music quagmire, sorry, land of hope and opportunity, or is it not heading in the streaming music blah blah? Well, that's the big question isn't it? Which is why I asked it. In case you wondered.

As previously reported, the social networking firm has been busy talking to the major record companies, though mainly about adding music to its growing video platform and therefore taking on YouTube at its own game. It's thought that Facebook is planning to match the Google-owned video site's Content ID system allowing music rights owners to manage and monetise pop promos uploaded to its video platform. Word has it the majors hope that Facebook might be able to better target ads around their videos, and therefore charge a premium to advertisers, boosting the ad revenue in which labels share.

So that's all rather interesting. But then earlier this week a source told Music Ally that pop videos were just stage one of Facebook's music plans, and that chiefs at the social network also had ambitions to launch an audio streaming service up against Spotify and Apple Music. But not so, says an official spokesman for the social media firm, which told Billboard yesterday that the company has "no plans to go into music streaming". A major label source also verified that Facebook's discussions with rights owners to date have only mentioned video.

There has been loads of speculation about Facebook moving into streaming music pretty much ever since MySpace did the same, and various partnerships have been rumoured to make such a thing happen, for example between the social network and Vevo in 2012. A much hyped alliance was struck between Facebook and Spotify, though that proved to be somewhat lacklustre despite Facebook chief Mark Zuckerberg's constant wiffle waffle about removing all the "friction" from the social music experience.

But for now, music videos do seem like they'll come to Facebook this year, initially as a bit of an experiment, though any audio-based play doesn't seem to be on the agenda for the near future at least.

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Spotify tells users paying the "Apple tax" how to save three dollars a month
Spotify is seemingly in the process of proactively telling premium subscribers who signed up to the service via its iOS app that they are paying extra each month because Apple charges a 30% cut on any transactions that go through its platform, and Spotify's margins are so tight that it has to pass on that cost to the customer.

It means that a US subscriber who would be paying $9.99 if they had signed up via Spotify's own website is paying $12.99 a month to access the streaming music platform. Those who subscribe via spotify.com - avoiding the "apple tax" - can still access the service via the iOS app once signed up, Apple only takes a cut if actual transactions take place via the iPhone, not if services paid for elsewhere are delivered through the Apple device.

An email published by The Verge, which is seemingly being sent to users currently paying the extra monthly charge, explains in detail how customers currently paying the additional Apple fee can switch their account to secure the $9.99 rate. It does involve closing and re-opening an account, so isn't a seamless process, but is still worth doing given the saving.

Of course, the customer comms exercise is being spun as an attack on Apple Music, Spotify no longer wanting its now head-on rival to cash in on its own customers, nor its iPhone-owning subscribers to assume that Spotify premium is more expensive than Apple Music's on-demand streaming service (which will also be $9.99 a month once the free trials are over).

Though, while the email may be in part motivated by the launch of Apple Music, any Spotify user paying the extra three dollars each month is an idiot, so the streaming service could say it's just providing extra support for the idiots among its paying userbase.

Years & Years debut release to be promoted with quirky ad break
So it's New Music Friday everybody, a brave new age in putting CDs on racks and uploading WAV files to servers. Excited? Of course you are. Stop pretending you're totally indifferent.

To celebrate new music coming out on Fridays in general, and more specifically new music from Years & Years coming out this very Friday, tonight Channel 4 will air a very special ad break at 9.45pm in amongst the latest edition of '8 Out Of 10 Cats Does Countdown', so people will be looking forward to the ads more than you might normally think.

But what will happen in this very special ad break? Well, the Years & Years boys have recorded three different performances of their new single 'Shine' and viewers will be able to control which one is seen at any one moment by tweeting with special hashtags.

It's a "global broadcasting first" by the way, the hope being that such innovation will be sufficiently exciting to tear the kids away from Snapchat and Yik Yak for just two minutes, and onto the social network of choice for aging broadcasters and ad industry execs, to have some Years & Years social interaction good times. Which means it's also actually a highly academic social experiment. Someone's going to get an MSc out of all this if nothing else.

The whole thing's the result of a collaboration between the band's label Polydor, Channel 4 Sales and ad/marketing firms MediaCom and The Outfit. Say Years & Years of the quirky ad campaign: "We love the idea of giving our fans control of a music video and the immediacy of it happening live. We had a lot of fun playing with the different themes of light and we hope the audience enjoy experiencing our music in this new way".

Any "kids" out there wondering what the hell Channel 4 and "TV advertising" are, don't worry, you can also experience all this via the band's website. Though, alas, there wasn't time to have the whole venture integrated with the interactive video tab in the super buzzy FlibFlob Android app, mainly on account of it being a figment of my imagination. Anyone want to set up the super buzzy FlibFlob Android app with me? It'll be fun.

Talking of social experiments, which we were, as one of the most anticipated debuts of the year, Years & Years' album 'Communion' will provide an interesting case study to assess the impact of both Apple Music and the global release day on new albums and new artists. From a label perspective mind, the band themselves seem to be doing fine whatever happens.

And if you want to know even more about Years & Years here's an interview Popjustice did with frontman Olly Alexander. Just mentioning it here because I don't think it got enough tweets yesterday. And even if it did, as discussed, all the kids were too busy FlibFlobbing to notice.

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NME to launch Japanese website today
NME is to launch a Japanese website today, as part of a partnership with concert promoter Kyodo Tokyo.

The site will seemingly carry mainly translated content from the British version, but will also feature some coverage of Japanese artists. The deal will also see a number of NME-branded live events take place in Japan, starting with a Jesus & Mary Chain show in November.

President of Kyodo Tokyo, Yoshito Yamazaki, says of the partnership "We are extremely excited to work with NME, an innovative and renowned media brand with a long history. It is our pleasure and responsibility to introduce live entertainment by talented, international artists to the Japanese market while our Japanese artists are introduced to the world".

NME Publishing Director Joe Smalley adds: "I'm absolutely delighted to be working with Kyodo Tokyo to bring NME to Japan. It's a brilliant opportunity to deliver our content to an appreciative Japanese audience boosted by an exciting experiential strategy. Both our companies are rich in heritage - NME has been the definitive voice of everything that matters in music since 1952, while Kyodo Tokyo has been putting on world-class events in Japan since 1962 and continues to do so with the likes of Sir Paul McCartney and Taylor Swift this spring and The Rolling Stones in February 2014".

He continues: "This partnership represents an exciting new chapter for both brands, as we work together to make NME-jp.com the most influential music site in Japan".

The other new chapter in NME's history, announced earlier this week of course, is that the printed magazine will drop its cover price and go free from September. Hear all about that bit of news in this week's CMU Podcast here.

And you can find the NME Japan website here.

Ariana Grande offers second apology on donut incident
Ariana Grande's previous attempt to apologise for her antics in a donut shop in California turned into a bit of a rant about the food industry, so she's had another go. This time in video form, so you know she really means it.

First, let's have a quick recap. Earlier this week, TMZ obtained security camera footage of Grande waiting to be served in a donut retail establishment, in which time she: licked a donut that she did not intend to buy; shouted "What the fuck is that?" at a separate tray of donuts; and then announced that she hates both America and Americans.

Entirely ignoring the whole licking of produce element of the story, Grande's first apology concentrated on her perceived lack of patriotism. She insisted that she actually loves America and is proud to be an American. However, as "an advocate for healthy eating" she finds the fact that the US has the highest childhood obesity rate in the world upsetting. And that's what she meant by the whole 'what the fuck/America/Americans' thing.

But some people pointed out that going into a food shop and licking the goods is pretty disgusting, and even if her points about the US food industry are valid, she still comes out of this whole thing looking bratty and entitled. And so, Grande took a break from recovering from wisdom tooth surgery yesterday to apologise further for "the whole donut fiasco and craziness".

"I feel like [in] the [previous] apology that I posted I missed my opportunity to sincerely apologise and express how I was feeling, because I was too busy preaching about my issues with the food industry", she begins.

She then reiterates again what a proud American she is. She has "never been prouder to be an American", she'll have you know. From there she waffles on about the "rude awakening" of the CCTV footage, how "disgusted" she is with herself, and how as a 22 year old human she is still learning from her mistakes.

"I never want to be anything but a positive influence for my babes, or my loves, or anyone who pays attention to me for that matter", she continues. "I feel like I've let you all down, which sucks. It has not been an easy 24 hours. It's been rough, but I made a mistake and I'm being judged for it, which I understand because I watched [that video] and I was just as disappointed".

At no point does she specifically reference the aforementioned unapproved "lick", or apologise to the owners and staff of the shop. Which means, I think, that there's going to have to be a third apology, which I can get another 500 words out of next week. Actually, at this stage the only option really is for Grande to go on self-imposed community service and work in the donut shop. Or possibly not self-imposed, if the police decide that there is actually a criminal case to be heard.

By the way, anyone seething at our use of the American spelling of 'donut' in our coverage of this story (I know there are some of you out there), let me explain: First, you're thinking too much about this. And secondly, 'doughnut' is far too long a word for such a foodstuff. Anyway, however you spell it, they have been so tainted by this whole incident that I think a rebrand would be wise. We are currently leaning towards calling them 'jamballs' from Monday, though we are also considering a proposal for 'Ariana's fatballs'.

Feel free to submit your own ideas. While you have a think, here's Ariana's latest apology for you.

Julia Holter announces new album, tour dates
Total CMU fave Julia Holter has announced that she will release a new album, titled 'Have You In My Wilderness', on 25 Sep through Domino. She'll also be touring the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland (well, the England and Scotland bits) in November.

Her fourth album was recorded in LA, produced by Cole Greif-Neill, and is apparently, we are told, her most personal work to date. I don't know about that, but I do know I like this new song 'Feel You'. Have a watch of the video if you like Julia Holter and/or dogs.

Tour dates? Yeah, here:

9 Nov: Brighton, Komedia
10 Nov: Bristol, The Lantern @ Colston Hall
11 Nov: Birmingham, Glee Club
12 Nov: London, Islington Assembly Hall
13 Nov: Glasgow, The Hug And Pint
14 Nov: Leeds, Brudenell Social Club

Scooter Braun managing Black Eyed Peas, TIMM dates, new Krept & Konan single, and more

Other notable announcements and developments today...

• The Black Eyed Peas are now listed as a management client of Scooter Braun. So there you go.

• This year's Tokyo International Music Market will take place on 20-22 Oct. Here's a trailer for it.

• Elliphant will finally release her debut album on 25 Sep (second album if you're in Sweden). It's called 'Living Life Golden'.

• Krept & Konan have released the video for their new single 'Do It For The Gang', which features the rapping of Wiz Khalifa.

• Girl Band have announced that they will release their debut album, titled 'Holding Hands With Jamie', on 25 Sep through Rough Trade. Here's some footage of them in the studio.

• Queen Kwong will release their debut album, 'Get A Witness', on 28 Aug. The title track will be released as a single on 24 Jul, listen to it here.

• Chelsea Wolfe has released a new track called 'After The Fall' into the world. It's from new album 'Abyss', which is out on 7 Aug.

• Nicolas Jaar will release a compilation of live recordings by Lydia Lunch's Teenage Jesus And The Jerks later this year. More info here.

• Viet Cong will be playing The Scala in London on 19 Aug.

• The Orb will be touring the UK in November, including a London show at Hackney's Oval Space on 13 Nov.

• Richard Hawley will be touring the UK in October and November, including a show at The Roundhouse in London on 8 Nov.

• Tiga will be bringing his live show to London's Village Underground on 24 Oct. Here's a quick trailer for the show.

CMU Beef Of The Week #261: Shaggy v Islamic State
Now, you don't need me, a pop beef correspondent, to tell you that the rise of Islamic State is a complex issue. Just what we're supposed to call the terrorist group and the region they now control is a can of worms. The BBC recently refused a call by politicians to use the term "Daesh", opting instead for "the Islamic State group" or "the so-called Islamic State". Others are using IS or ISIL. Shaggy, for what it's worth, is still saying ISIS.

Asked by the Miami New Times who he thinks should "go fuck themselves" - the title of a recent single being 'Go Fuck Yourself' - he quickly responded: "ISIS can go fuck themselves. That's some crazy shit what they're doing. It's horrible, man. I don't get that much hate. I just don't get that level of evil. I can't understand it".

He added: "I get someone having a cause. I get somebody fighting for their cause. And I get that people struggle; I get that they suffer. But how does that justify killing your brother? Taking their heads off and filming it... That's a different level of evil right there".

But Shaggy has a solution. In fact, he's planned out a whole way to bring IS down. A military solution based on his time as a member of the US Marine Crop you say? No. It's a solution based on his experience in music. And before you say it, no, he isn't just going to advise them to say, "It wasn't me".

"If you're able to cut a man's head off, you're sick", he continued. "But music evokes emotion. So if they're listening to Shaggy music or reggae music, they're not going to want to cut somebody's head off".

He continued: "There're two things you want to do when you listen to reggae: you get somebody pregnant or you're fucking high. High people don't want to kill nothing; they want to love. They need to bag some Jamaican weed and distribute it amongst ISIS. I guarantee there won't be any more wars out there".

Now you might think that's all a bit flippant of Shaggy, given the complexities and horrors of the conflict in Iraq, Syria and elsewhere. Though if we start examining his words then people might start asking questions about this whole article. So let's just park it here shall we?