CMU Daily 06.12.18: Apple trademark application suggests planned push into B2B streaming, Indian streaming service Saavn becomes JioSaavn

Apple trademark application suggests planned push into B2B streaming
Apple has applied to register the trademark 'Apple Music For Business' in the US and - in that application - reveals that it has made similar applications with trademark registries elsewhere in the world. All of which suggests that Apple is planning a push into B2B streaming.

Although plenty of businesses currently play streaming services like Spotify or Apple Music in public spaces, doing so breaches the terms and conditions of those digital platforms. And that's true even if the place of business has the appropriate public performance licences from collecting societies like PRS and PPL.

Some reckon that B2B streaming - ie selling higher-priced subscriptions to businesses that allow them to stream music in public spaces - could provide a significant extra revenue stream for the likes of Spotify and Apple, which could help those currently loss-making streaming operations become profitable. Broadcasters like Sky have always had a lucrative second revenue stream selling higher priced subscriptions to business users.

The Spotify-backed B2B streaming outfit Soundtrack Your Brand recently published a report that reckoned that the music industry was losing out on $2.65 billion per year by failing to truly exploit the potential of selling higher-priced subscriptions to business users.

Legally streaming music in a public space needs two things. Firstly the terms and conditions of the Spotify or Apple account need to allow it, which in turn means that Spotify and Apple's licensing deals with the music companies need to grant the required permissions. Secondly a separate licence is needed for the public performance of music, which in the UK would now mean the single licence provided by the PRS/PPL joint venture.

Those dabbling in B2B streaming are trying to see if they can bundle the latter licence in with their own packages, thus allowing businesses to legally stream music with just a single account and one monthly payment. Soundtrack Your Brand already has alliances with BMI and ASCAP in the US and SOCAN in Canada.

That company's recent report and bold claims about potential overall revenues suggests that the Spotify-backed B2B streaming service is looking to ramp up its profile and boost its B2B customer base. Which it should do pronto, because Apple's trademark application might mean that it has a major rival player entering that market very soon.

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BMG restructures US operations as Zack Katz departs
BMG has announced that it is splitting its US operations into three units which will be respectively run out of the company's LA, New York and Nashville offices. The move comes as BMG's country-wide President Of US Repertoire, Zach Katz, confirms he will depart the music rights firm at the end of the month.

Explaining the rationale behind the restructure of his company's US business, BMG boss Hartwig Masuch said in a statement: "The US represents more than 50% of BMG's business. To give you a sense of scale, if it was a country, our Los Angeles operation would be our biggest territory some way ahead of the UK; Nashville would be our third-biggest territory, just ahead of Germany; and New York would be sixth biggest, just behind France".

Which that in mind, he went on, "putting this new structure in place will empower local management and enable us to better deliver our mission of offering artists and songwriters a genuine alternative to the established companies".

In terms of that local management, Thomas Scherer will run the LA office, Jon Loba and Kos Weaver will jointly run the Nashville office, and John Loeffler will lead the New York base. They will all take on these new roles from 1 Jan next year.

Delivering the customary big-ups to departing US chief Katz, Masuch went on: "Zach has made a substantial contribution to BMG over the past six years, most notably in helping our US operation make the transition from an acquisition-driven start-up to an organically-driven music publishing and recordings company which genuinely delivers on its core values to its clients".

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Indian streaming service Saavn becomes JioSaavn
Indian streaming platform Saavn has formally merged with rival JioMusic, the music service of Indian telco Jio. The move had been expected ever since the owner of the latter - Reliance Industries - acquired a majority stake in Saavn back in March.

The combined operation will be known as JioSaavn and will offer the usual freemium and premium options, with customers of Jio's mobile services being offered a free 90 day trial of the premium set-up. The original podcasts and programming that was previously part of Saavn will also continue under the new brand.

Confirming all this, Saavn co-founder Rishi Malhotra said: "Since announcing our merger in March 2018, the Jio and Saavn teams have been working to integrate and reimagine a combined platform in JioSaavn. Today, we have one of the most personalised and capable media platforms in the world, an unmatched content catalogue, regionalised editorial and original programming and music that's redefining how artists and creators connect directly with audiences worldwide".

There has been increased attention of late on the rapidly growing Indian streaming market. Saavn has probably enjoyed the highest profile of the locally-based services. Though also of note is Gaana.com, owned by Indian media giant the Times Group, which also secured investment earlier this year from China's Tencent, operator of the market-leading Chinese streaming music platform QQ Music.

Meanwhile, the global streaming services are also competing for a slice of the Indian market, with Apple and Amazon already operational there, and Spotify's launch in India being much anticipated (and, of course, the possible licensing challenges that are delaying that launch much gossiped about).

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Hrishikesh Hirway to step down as Song Exploder host
Hrishikesh Hirway has announced that he is stepping down as host and producer of 'Song Exploder', the song-dissecting podcast he launched in 2014.

Taking over from him in the new year will be Thao Nguyen of the band Thao And The Get Down Stay Down. She has previously appeared as an interviewee, and guest hosted an episode earlier this year, speaking to Neko Case.

Hirway will remain attached to the show as Executive Producer, with current Associate Producer Christian Koons moving into the Producer role.

"Hosting and producing the show for the past five years has been exciting and educational", says Hirway. "I've had the chance to speak with some of my favourite artists, and learned so much about music, and podcasts, and what goes into both of them. The show has evolved and grown over the years, and I'm THRILLED that 'Song Exploder' will be able to continue its evolution next year".

On each episode of 'Song Exploder', an artist deconstructs one of their songs, telling the story behind it. The 150th episode has just been released, with Lindsey Buckingham discussing Fleetwood Mac's 'Go Your Own Way'.

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Sleeper announce new album new single, tour dates
Sleeper have announced that they will release their first album for more than 20 years, 'The Modern Age', next spring. Alongside this news, they released new single 'Look At You Now' and announced UK tour dates.

"We had no plan to get back together", says frontwoman Louise Wener of her band getting back together. "Sometimes life throws you a massive curve ball. You end up jumping off the cliff, just to see what it feels like".

The album is out on 22 Mar and you can listen to 'Look At You Now' here. Also, look at the tour dates below. Now.

21 Mar: Glasgow, Garage
22 Mar: Newcastle, Riverside
23 Mar: Edinburgh, Liquid Rooms
28 Mar: Southampton, Engine Rooms
29 Mar: Northampton, Roadmender
30 Mar: Leeds, Church
1 Apr: Derby, The Venue
5 Apr: Cardiff, The Globe
12 Apr: Bristol, Academy
14 Apr: London, The Forum

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Taking Back Sunday announce 20th anniversary shows
Taking Back Sunday have announced UK and Ireland tour dates next summer as part of celebrations for their 20th anniversary as a band. They are also set to release a new compilation, titled '20', on 11 Jan. As well as tracks from all seven of their albums, there will be two brand new songs, including new single 'All Ready To Go'.

"This song is a great example of how in tune we have become with one another, our collective musical instincts", says frontman Adam Lazzara of the single. "It was an idea Mark and Shaun laid the bones down for in New York and then sent them down to Charlotte, where John and I continued to arrange and add our individual contributions. This made for a great demo and a fair amount of time for everyone to sit with it before we all were able to get in the studio together and hash out the different parts and details with one another".

"It sounds like a lot when I say it like that", he goes on. "But the process itself was a cohesive and relatively quick one. Having the space to live and breathe with the idea before all coming together to shape it, and knowing where we can lean on one another as the song progresses is both insightful and exciting to all of us. It's one of my favourite parts of being in Taking Back Sunday".

You can listen to the track here. And here are the tour dates:

13 Jun: Birmingham, Institute
14 Jun: Glasgow, Barrowland
15 Jun: Belfast, Limelight
16 Jun: Dublin, Vicar Street
18 Jun: London, Troxy
19 Jun: Manchester, Academy
20 Jun: Bristol, Academy

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Liquid Cinema, Kurt Weill, CamelPhat, more

Other notable announcements and developments today...

• Universal Publishing Production Music has signed a deal to represent Hollywood-based music library Liquid Cinema in the UK. "We began our catalogue in the UK and we are THRILLED to have the best home there now", says Liquid Cinema founder Jeff Rona.

• BMG has announced a deal to administer the catalogue of late German composer Kurt Weill, which includes the song 'Mack The Knife'. "It is quite simply an honour for BMG to represent the Kurt Weill catalogue", says BMG CEO Hartwig Masuch.

• CamelPhat have signed a new deal with Sony's RCA label. "We had four majors chasing the deal all summer long so at times it was a lil stressful, but we're both feeling very excited and thankful we finally got the deal we always wanted", humblebrag the electronic music duo, inventing an extra major label in the process.

• The Association Of Independent Music has announced a new sync-focussed music conference, cunningly named AIM Sync. It will take place on 28 Jan at the Barbican Centre in London. More info here.

• The FastForward music conference has announced its first batch of speakers for its 2019 event in original home Amsterdam and announced dates for its second event in Sydney. Speakers for Amsterdam, which takes place 14-15 Feb, include artist manager Jazz Sherman and former O2 Arena Head Of Marketing Emily Scoggins. The Sydney event is due to take place on 14-15 Apr. More info here.

• Morrissey has announced plans to release a new covers album featuring versions of songs by artists including Bob Dylan, Joni Mitchell, Roy Orbison and Carly Simon. No release date has been announced yet, but it'll be called 'California Son'.

• Robyn has released the video for the title track of her new album 'Honey'.

• Tove Lo has release the video for 'Cycles' from her 'Blue Lips' album.

• Noname has release the video for 'Blaxploitation' from her 'Room 25' album.

• La Dispute have released a video featuring two new tracks, 'Rose Quartz' and 'Fulton Street'. Their fourth album, 'Panorama', is due out on 22 Mar.

• Ishmael Ensemble have released the video for new track 'The River (Reprise)', featuring Yazz Ahmed.

• Check out our weekly Spotify playlist of new music featured in the CMU Daily - updated every Friday.

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Spice Girls headlining Glastonbury "has been talked about"
Stormzy has already taken one of next year's Glastonbury headline slots, could the Spice Girls be about the take another? Mel B says that the possibility "has been talked about". She doesn't say who with, mind, but maybe it could happen.

Appearing on Jessie Ware's 'Table Manners' podcast, Mel B said: "That's been talked about. But we're so pop and [Glastonbury's] so cool and indie, that would be funny to me. That would be great. I think Mel C would really appreciate something like that, cos she's the cool indie chick".

Mel B also revealed that, having proposed the idea a couple of months ago, Katy Perry has now agreed to appear with the group as they reform in place of Victoria Beckham. At least for a song and a show.

"I said, you know, we can get people to join us on stage, and sing like a fill in. Katy Perry's said yes, and hopefully - fingers crossed - Adele says yes. You know, just to do the odd song".

So, watch this space. It could happen. Actually, with Take That also out on an anniversary tour this year, and Boyzone on a farewell trek, the Eavises really missed out on a perfect triple whammy of headliners. Maybe Stormzy could just be one of the Posh Spice stand-ins instead.

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