DEALS
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Spirit Music Group has signed ZZ Top’s Billy Gibbons to a worldwide publishing administration deal. Says the man himself: “Spirit rising! As is with Billy F Gibbons and the bonus of joining the Spirit Music team taking large charge and ready to make loud noise! We roll. Spirit rising”.
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Audio ID company Audoo has partnered with Abu Dhabi-based music rights organisation ESMAA. “This partnership with ESMAA aligns with Audoo’s mission to ensure artists are fairly compensated”, says Audoo CEO Ryan Edwards. “Our technology promises to bring a new level of precision to royalty distribution across the Middle East and we look forward to seeing the positive impact this will have on the music community”.
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Peermusic and digital licensing hub ICE have renewed their partnership in a multi-year deal that will see the music publisher continue to utilise the ICE Core licensing service. “The ICE Core representation assists us with bringing top-tier digital music licensing and processing to our songwriters at optimal terms, using advanced technology which underpins collections and the efficient distribution of royalties to our songwriters”, says Peermusic UK MD Nigel Elderton.
INDUSTRY ORGANISATIONS
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New trade body Music Technology UK has launched, aiming to foster better partnerships between the music industry and tech startups. “We’ve been overwhelmed by the enthusiasm for the launch of Music Technology UK”, says CEO Matt Cartmell. “By working closely with our music industry peers, we’re working towards a thriving future for UK music tech, globally recognised for innovation, collaboration and growth. This is a big tent organisation and all are welcome to join us in this project”.
RELEASES
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Nadine Shah has released new single 'Twenty Things’, the second from her fifth album ‘Filthy Underneath’, which is out on 23 Feb. "It’s a love letter of sorts, to the people I met whilst in recovery”, she says. “No one tells you that you’ll end up feeling so deeply for the people you meet there. What makes it more intense is the fact that you know, statistically, that not everyone is going to make it once they’ve left the place”.
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Chelsea Wolfe has released new single ‘Tunnel Lights’. The song, she says, “is about actually living instead of just ‘getting by’. It’s about waking up to the fact that you’ve been languishing in the dark and it’s time to start taking steps towards the lights that’ll guide you out of the tunnel-cave”. Her new album ‘She Reaches Out To She Reaches Out To She’ is out on 9 Feb and she will play Heaven in London on 21 Apr.
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Sevdaliza has released a short film called ‘I Don’t Know Where To Start’, featuring new track ‘Who Are You Running From?’ “In this film, I wanted to explore the troubled mind and the subconscious narratives that can keep a person accompanied during a challenging period of time”, says director Sharif Abd el Mawla. “Tapping into thematic hues like loneliness, fantasy and intimacy, ‘I Don’t Know Where To Start’ focuses on human imperfection and vulnerability in a picture perfect society that leaves no room for error. One in five adults experience a mental health problem each year”.
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Donna Thompson has released new single ‘Sunny April Showers’. “This song is about that feeling of awareness of multiple states of being existing simultaneously and observing each of them”, she says. “Some of them intense, some of them joyous and others very confusing. Asking questions and trying to figure out if there’s a way to tap into something that calms it all down enough to make some kind of sense of it all. Or figure out if we even need to”. She will play Servant Jazz Quarters in London tonight.
GIGS & TOURS
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Richard Ashcroft has announced a hometown show at Wigan’s Robin Park on 20 Jul, the first time he has played the city since 1998. “After 25 years, I’m back playing in my hometown”, he says. “Looking forward to an amazing night in Wigan”. Tickets go on sale on Friday.