CMU | the music business explained (Page 19)

Live Nation boss dismissive of streaming platforms’ superfan ambitions as company reports record year

Spotify wants to be “the best in the world at building AI products” and is focused on “accelerated execution”... but still no super-premium launch

Judge throws out MLC’s audiobooks bundle lawsuit, says Spotify can keep cutting songwriter royalties through its “cynical trick”

Universal Music’s new Spotify deal could be a knock-out blow for streaming platform’s audiobook bundling trick

Universal put “corporate greed” before Drake’s safety, says defamation lawsuit filed over Kendrick Lamar diss track

Beware the “wolf under the cape” in Universal’s Downtown land grab, warns Beggars boss as IMPALA calls for regulators to block the deal

EU AI Act can only provide a “temporary fix” to the “darker aspect” of AI’s “profound disruption” to creative industries says open letter

AI generated music will suck €4 billion a year away from music creators by 2028 says CISAC

Village People founder loves Trump using YMCA, but hates people calling it a gay anthem

Executives from BMG, Absolute Label Services, Mahogany Music, Punch Records and more to join award winning female entrepreneurs in Liverpool as first Sound City+ 2025 speakers unveiled

AIF makes desperate call for government to “step up, and step up now” to get festivals through “devastating period”, as MVT launches new Liveline fund

New AI transparency proposal in US Congress will “pave the way” for creator compensation says ASCAP boss

SXSW ditches weapons sponsors to burnish brand - so why won’t it ditch its ties to Saudi Arabia?

SXSW London could disrupt delicately balanced music ecosystem and should reconsider its date

Releases & Tours • 1 min read

⏩ Releases & Tours: Nov 2024 (Week 45)

Each week CMU rounds up standout releases and tour announcements from the last seven days This week: Brian Jonestown Massacre, GRIFF, Ab-Soul, Celeste, Alice Phoebe Lou + more, while tour announcements include DEFTONES, Scissor Sisters + more…

Kaya Robertson • 11 Nov 2024

Musicians’ Union • 2 min read

MU calls on major labels to “step up” in creator remuneration negotiations

The UK government has reaffirmed its commitment to the Creator Remuneration Working Group which is trying to address issues that have been raised about how music creators share in streaming income. The MU says that for that process to succeed, the majors now need to “step up and make some offers”…

Chris Cooke • 08 Nov 2024

Cloudflare • 3 min read

Cloudflare says EU piracy list should focus on “truly bad actors”, not companies like Cloudflare

The EU is currently compiling the next edition of its Piracy Watch List, with rightsholders submitting lists of their main piracy concerns. In some cases that includes grievances about internet services companies like Cloudflare. But that’s not what the Watch List should be about, insists Cloudflare…

Chris Cooke • 08 Nov 2024

PRS For Music • 2 min read

PRS says claim it dubbed venues and managers “inefficient” and “unprofessional” is “utterly untrue”

PRS has responded to the claim that it recently implied that smaller venues, and the managers of artists that play them, are “inefficient” and “unprofessional”. The claim - based on something PRS said in recent a filing as part of an ongoing legal battle - is “false”, the collecting society insists…

Chris Cooke • 08 Nov 2024

Kem • 2 min read

Kem manager dispute puts sunset clauses in the spotlight

A dispute between Kem and his ex-manager highlights the importance of management deals being properly documented in writing. The manager claims she is still due commissions on his income despite not managing him since 2016. That depends on whether agreements from 2003 or 2005 are still in force…

Chris Cooke • 07 Nov 2024

PRS For Music • 4 min read

PRS thinks managers and venues are “inefficient” and “unprofessional”, claim songwriters suing PRS

The songwriters who are suing PRS in a dispute about how the society deals with artists directly licensing live shows have criticised a statement defending the PRS Major Live Concerts Service, which implies that most managers and venues are “inefficient” and “unprofessional”…

Chris Cooke • 07 Nov 2024

TikTok • 2 min read

Canadian government wants TikTok out of Canada for national security, but avoids outright ban on app

Canada has forced the shutdown of TikTok’s operations in the country on national security grounds, but Canadians will still be free to use the TikTok app. Meanwhile in the US there is speculation newly elected President Donald Trump will reverse the pending TikTok ban there…

Chris Cooke • 07 Nov 2024

Horizon Future Leaders • 6 min read

🌅 Horizon Future Leaders - Ollie Rankine Q&A

As part of our new Horizon Future Leaders series of interviews, we are connecting with the music industry’s next generation of leaders to gather candid advice and insights into their career journeys. This week, we caught up with Ollie Rankine, Account Manager at Name PR.…

Horizon Music Jobs • 07 Nov 2024

CMU Approved • 1 min read

🎧 Approved: Somebody's Child

Dublin’s Somebody’s Child merge the yearning spirit of post-punk revivalists with a cinematic indie-rock edge. Their new single, ‘Time Of My Life’, is a two-chord anthem that encapsulates the bittersweet nostalgia of life’s fleeting moments…

Kaya Robertson • 07 Nov 2024

Intellectual Property Office • 4 min read

Proposed UK copyright amendment will see US performers frozen out of equitable remuneration deal

The government has been reviewing the rules about which foreign performers should get equitable remuneration when their recordings are broadcast or performed in the UK. There was a plan that all foreign performers should earn ER, but a compromise means some performers will still miss out…

Chris Cooke • 06 Nov 2024

Cox Communications • 3 min read

Cox again urges Supreme Court to review major label dispute, to stop “innocent users” losing internet access because “a guest downloaded a couple of songs”

Cox Communications has made another filing with the US Supreme Court, which it wants to intervene in its billion dollar legal dispute with the major record companies. Much of the submission deals with legal technicalities, but it also makes some bombastic ‘save the internet’ type statements…

Chris Cooke • 06 Nov 2024