In today's CMU Daily: A musician who says he played drums on a demo version of Billy Joel hit ‘You May Be Right’ all the way back in 1979 has filed a lawsuit over allegedly unpaid royalties. He says his work on the song was never acknowledged or rewarded - he now wants at least $15 million in damages 

One Liners: Downtown ups David Driessen to Chief Commercial Officer, Bytedance board rejig, DJ & producer revenue sharing platform Aslice to shutter; Polish broadcaster says not in discussions about Jojo Siwa Eurovision slot

Also today: The corporate dramas in the world of K-pop continue, with ousted Ador boss rejecting the offer of a new role with the label by parent company HYBE. Now members of the group most impacted by these dramas - NewJeans - have finally spoken out

Plus: LaFrantz are CMU Approved

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Billy Joel sued by musician who says he helped create ‘You May Be Right’

Billy Joel is being sued by a musician who claims that he played drums on a 1979 demo that became the hit ‘You May Be Right’, but that he was frozen out of any rights and royalties in relation to the track. 

Representing himself in a lawsuit filed with the courts in Arizona, Joseph Roderick Jr accuses Joel - and his label Sony Music and publisher Universal Music Publishing - of breaching a verbal contract. In addition, he’s claiming what the lawsuit calls “detrimental reliance on a promise” as well as good old fashioned copyright infringement. 

The lawsuit is ambitious: Roderick is asking for at least $15 million in damages and “all performance, mechanical royalties, publishing and sales, which includes: television, motion pictures, radio, social media, internet sales, anywhere the song ‘You May Be Right’ has been played, and future royalties as long as the song is being played and performed”. 

Digital Channel Executive // Demon Music Group (London)

The Music Works // Artistic Director (Gloucester)

Account Director // DIABOLICAL (London)

Project Manager // Full Time Hobby (London)

Bars & Duty Manager // Islington Assembly Hall (London)

Advancing & Touring Assistant // terrible* (London)

Senior PR Manager/Publicist // Infectious PR (Bristol Hybrid)

Paid Media Manager // Playliveartist (London)

Horizon is CMU's new weekly newsletter - published each Friday - that brings you a hand-picked selection of early-stage career opportunities from across the music industry.

Whether you're looking for your first job in music or you're ready to take a step up, Horizon is here to help you find your dream job faster.

👉 Click through to see the current selection.

ONE LINERS

Deals

• Berlin-based producer Objekt  - aka TJ Hertz - has launched a new record label called Kapsela.
• Country artist Levi Hummon and songwriter Eric Arjes have launched 3686 RECORDS, a new fully-independent record label distributed by Sony Music’s The Orchard. 

Appointments

• Downtown Music has promoted David Driessen to Chief Commercial Officer. 
• Comms agency Zeno London has hired former Warner exec Catherine Smiles as a director to lead its new sports and entertainment practice in the UK.
• TikTok owner ByteDance has announced changes to its board of directors, with Philippe Laffont, founder of New York-based Coatue Management, stepping down and French businessman Xavier Niel joining as a new member. 

Digital, Streaming, Broadcast & Retail

• Aslice, a revenue-sharing platform for DJs and producers, has announced its closure. 

Live

• South East London’s Creekside Festival has finalised its line-up for 2024. 

Other Industry News & Events

• Saudi Arabia’s culture-washing agenda continues apace, as the KSA’s Public Investment Fund-owned MDLBEAST touts the second edition of its Artist Management Bootcamp. Applications close on Saturday. Given Saudi Arabia’s track record for persecution and extra-judicial murder, you probably don’t want to apply if you’re part of the LGBTQIA+ community.
• Polish broadcaster TVP has denied holding discussions with JoJo Siwa about her representing Poland at the 2025 Eurovision Song Contest. 

Artist News

• Kanye West has fired his sneaker designer Steven Smith from YZY, who says that West has “lost his mind” and “surrounded himself with toxic, C-grade losers”.

Op-ed: Jonathan Coote of Bray & Krais on AI and fair use

As the Suno and Udio lawsuits make their way through the courts, the fundamental issue in the cases is likely to be whether the 'fair use' defence can be successfully run for the training of AI tools on copyright works. Jonathan Coote examines the issue in more detail.

As reported at the beginning of August, Suno and Udio have now filed their defences in the ongoing lawsuits brought by the Recording Industry Association Of America on behalf of the major labels. As predicted, with Suno admitting that it has trained on copyrighted recordings, the cases are set to be primarily about whether the ‘fair use’ defence in the US for infringement can be successfully run for the training of AI tools on copyright works.

Whilst there is not actually much information disclosed about how the companies trained their models in the submissions, Suno notes that its training data “includes essentially all music files of reasonable quality that are accessible on the open Internet, abiding by paywalls, password protections, and the like, combined with similarly available text descriptions”. This shifts the burden from the RIAA to prove its works were in the original dataset and could potentially open the way for more lawsuits - for example, from publishers - whose underlying works would inevitably be found in those files. Notably, Udio doesn't make the same statement.

In another notable difference, Udio states that its tool “does not store copies of any sound recordings”. Suno doesn’t make the same assertion, and elsewhere refers to “copies never heard or seen by anyone”. Whether copies are stored could have important copyright implications, and whether Large Language Models do actually store copies is an ongoing and contentious technical and legal debate - such as concerns surrounding a technical issue known as ‘memorisation’.

🎧 Approved: LaFrantz

Los Angeles-based duo LaFrantz (Jack and Meg) have swiftly made their mark with a keen ability to craft irresistibly catchy music, seamlessly blending the bite of Southern rock with sultry pop undertones.

Their debut single, ‘RATTLESNAKE’, serves as a bold statement of purpose. The track is driven by a foot-stomping beat and sharp, twangy guitar riffs that channel the spirit of 70s rock legends like The Allman Brothers Band, all while being laced with contemporary pop hooks.

‘RATTLESNAKE’ is a raucous reminder to embrace the wildside, with LaFrantz explaining, “Blast this song when you're in the car with your windows down and wanting to feel like a badass, when you're at a party with your friends wanting to DANCE, or when you're on a dusty desert road-trip wanting to feel like an outlaw”. 

🎧 Listen to ‘RATTLESNAKE’ here

NewJeans finally comment on corporate dramas at Ador and HYBE

Members of K-pop group NewJeans have made public statements for the first time about the corporate bust up between the founder of their label Ador, Min Hee Jin, and its parent company HYBE. 

It follows the removal of Min as CEO of Ador last week and her subsequent rejection of an offer to stay on with the label in a producer role. With fans of K-pop taking a particularly active interest in all the corporate dramas within the South Korean music industry, the affected artists finally speaking out is a noteworthy moment. 

NewJeans member Minji shared her thoughts on recent events with the group’s fanbase, known as ‘bunnies’, via fan platform Phoning. She said, “It’s been almost a week since I wanted to share with you all the things that have been happening, but I couldn’t”. 

RELEASES & TOURS

• Thandii have released two companion albums 'Dream With You' and 'Come As You'.
• Stevie Wonder has released his new single ‘Can We Fix Our Nation’s Broken Heart’.
• Issam Alnajjar has released his new single ‘YA LEIL’.
• Aitch has released his new single ‘Maybach Wallet’.
• Corinne Bailey Rae has released her new single 'SilverCane'.
• FLO have released their new single ‘Bending My Rules’. Their debut album ‘Access All Areas’ is out 15 Nov.
• A$AP Rocky has released his new single ‘Tailor Swif’.
• Fiona-Lee has released her new single ‘Nothing Compares To Nineteen’.
• Peter Alexander Jobson has released his new single ‘Please Please Please’. His his debut solo album 'Burn The Ration Books Of Love' is out 15 Nov.
• Dillon Francis and Julian Jordan have collaborated on new single ‘The Sound’.
• Andrea Bocelli and Karol G have collaborated on new single ‘Vivo por Ella’.
• Michael Ball and Alfie Boe have collaborated on new single ‘Proud’. Their new album ‘Together At Home’ is out 8 Nov.
• Halina Rice has added new dates to our 2025 UK headline tour, including a show at The Old Market in Brighton on 14 Mar. Tickets go on sale tomorrow here.
• The Rifles have announced a UK headline tour for 2025, including a show at London’s KOKO on 7 Feb. Tickets go on sale this Friday here.