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Free Trade Agency // Office Co-Ordinator (London)

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Today's music business news

TOP STORY

US senators propose new law to ban unauthorised AI voice clones

Four US senators have released a discussion draft of proposed new laws that would make it illegal to produce or distribute an "AI-generated replica of an individual to perform in an audiovisual or sound recording" without the consent of that individual.

One of the senators proposing the new laws, Marsha Blackburn, says that performers and creators deserve the right to control their name, image and likeness - or 'NIL' if you prefer' - and "this legislation is a good first step in protecting our creative community, preventing AI models from stealing someone’s NIL, and ensuring that those rights are given primary consideration under the law".

There has been much discussion this year about AI models that can generate audio or video that imitates the likeness and/or voices of actors, artists and other public figures. In the context of music, the Ghostwriter track that imitated the vocals of Drake and The Weeknd got a lot of attention and is mentioned by the senators in a summary of their proposals.

AI models of this type are likely trained with existing content featuring the person being imitated. Copyright owners would argue that to do that, the AI company must first get a licence from whoever controls the copyright in the existing content. However, some AI companies argue that training AI in this way is covered by copyright exceptions in some countries or - in the US - the concept of fair use.

Even if the copyright industries successfully counter that argument and can therefore control what content is used to train AI by choosing to license, or not, each model, many actors and artists don't own the copyright in the films and tracks on which they appear.

In that scenario, the actor or artist would likely rely on the concept of publicity or personality rights to control use of their likeness or voice. However, how publicity rights work varies quite a bit around the world and, in the US, from state to state.

The proposed new law would provide much clearer protection for actors and artists in this domain. If anyone used generative AI to imitate a person's likeness or voice without permission, they "would be liable for the damages caused by the AI-generated fake".

Alongside Blackburn, the proposals are backed by Thom Tillis, Chris Coons and Amy Klobuchar, so two Republicans and two Democrats. The new law has the rather clunky name of the Nurture Originals, Foster Art and Keep Entertainment Safe Act. Because that makes it the NO FAKES Act. Lovely.

The music community has been calling for clearer protections for artists when it comes to likeness and voice in recent months. And the Recording Industry Association Of America recently said that the US government should add websites that facilitate the generation of unauthorised voice clones to its Notorious Markets list of piracy sites.

Yesterday the trade group welcomed the NO FAKES Act, stating: “Our industry has long embraced technology and innovation, including AI, but many of the recent generative AI models infringe on rights - essentially instruments of theft rather than constructive tools aiding human creativity".

"We applaud Senators Coons, Blackburn, Tillis, and Klobuchar for recognising that unauthorised uses of one’s name, image, likeness and voice are a clear threat to artists, songwriters, performers, authors, journalists, photographers and the entire creative community”, it added. “We look forward to engaging in a robust bipartisan process with a strong bill that effectively protects against this illegal and immoral misappropriation of fundamental rights that protect human achievement".

ONE LINERS

Jason Derulo & Meghan Trainor, Ren, Dolly Parton + more

DEALS

Universal Music Publishing has signed Sabrina Carpenter to a worldwide publishing deal. “I am so THIRLLED to have joined the UMPG family and to be a part of an organisation that has such a diverse and iconic catalogue”, she says. “I look forward to bringing my music into a company that houses so many inspirational songwriters and artists”.

APPOINTMENTS

Booking agency Sound Talent Group has opened a new office in Nashville, overseen by Steve Kaul. “I’m excited to be joining some longtime friends at Sound Talent Group”, he says. “Together, they have built a great agency, and I look forward to working closely with some of the best agents in the business, in a positive environment that is all about developing and growing artists”.

DIGITAL

Dolly Parton is to host a four part series on Apple Music 1 called ‘What Would Dolly Do? Radio’ in the run up to the release of her new album ‘Rockstar’. “I’ve lived a life of many colours, and I enjoyed the chance to discuss different areas of my life and career”, she says of the show. “I hope the fans will have as much fun listening as we had recording this!” The first episode will air on 25 Oct.

RELEASES

Jason Derulo and Meghan Trainor have teamed up for new single ‘Hands On Me’.

Fred Again has teamed up with Jozzy for new single ‘Ten’.

Kid Cudi has released new single ‘Heaven’s Galaxy’, a collaboration with the ‘Star Trek’ franchise to coincide with the New York Comic Con this weekend.

Skepta has released new track ‘Can’t Play Myself (A Tribute To Amy)’, which samples Amy Winehouse’s ‘Tears Dry On Their Own’.

PinkPantheress has announced that she will release her debut album ‘Heaven Knows’ on 10 Nov. “The record is about grief for a loss but being at peace with yourself in your aloneness”, she says. “Journeying from hell into purgatory, but I'm OK with being there”. Out now is new single ‘Capable Of Love’.

Tom Odell has announced that he will release his sixth studio album ‘Black Friday’ on 26 Jan 2024. Out now is new single ‘Somebody Else’.

The Libertines have released new single ‘Run Run Run’ and announced that they will release their fourth album ‘All Quiet On The Eastern Esplanade’ on 8 Mar. “It's about being trapped, and trying to escape your dismal life, a bit like the man in Bukowski’s ‘Post Office’”, says Carl Barat of the new single. “The worst thing for The Libertines would be to get stuck in a ‘run-run-run’ rut, constantly trying to relive our past”. The band will play two intimate shows at Margate Lido on 9-10 Dec.

Two-time Eurovision winner Loreen has released new single ‘Is It Love’. “It’s a song describing and contemplating a love that's so deep but at the same time filled with confusion”, she says. “It's about realising that to create a deeper understanding of yourself you need to accept the duality of life, that distortion and clarity goes hand in hand and are equally as important”.

Pnau have announced that they will release new album ‘Hyperbolic’ early next year. Out now is new single ‘AEIOU’, billed as a collaboration between Pnau and bandleader Nick Littlemore’s other project Empire Of The Sun. “This is a dream record for us”, says Littlemore. “We’ve had the idea of a vowels-based song [for over fifteen years], but it never came together until now. It turns out it was worth the wait. And in great style we finally present a collaboration with Empire Of The Sun! A voice like no other, let it lead you to the dancefloor”.

Ren releases his new album ‘Sick Boi’ today. Alongside it comes the video for ‘Money Game Part 3’.

Kevin Abstract has announced that he will release new album ‘Blanket’ on 3 Nov. “I wanted to make, like, a Sunny Day Real Estate, Nirvana, Modest Mouse type of record”, he says. “But I wanted it to hit like a rap album”. This follows the recent release of a song also called ‘Blanket’.

Actress has released two new tracks, ‘It’s Me ( g 8 )’ and ‘Oway ( f 7 )’. New album ‘LXXXVIII’ is out on 3 Nov and he will play London’s Studio 9294 on 7 Dec.

Casisdead has released new single ‘Venom’. His debut album ‘Famous Last Words’ is out on 27 Oct.

Jelani Blackman has released new single ‘Feel The Same’. “It’s a reflection of the times we’re in”, he says. “It's like a lost relationship, when you know the best part is over, and you’re hanging onto what’s left, trying to find the love and purpose of things. It’s always the same cycle, except the changing of this relationship is also about reconciling with loss of the innocence we had before COVID, Brexit and the reality of getting older in ideological and economic chaos”. His debut album ‘The Heart Of It’ is out on 10 Nov.

Tom A Smith has released new single ‘Fading Away’. "I wrote this song in a completely different way than I usually do and everything just flowed so beautifully that the demo and everything was completed in under five hours”, he says. “I love space and think the whole thing had a classic vibe. The double meaning of the lyrics and everything works really well for me”.

Dead Times - aka Lee Buford of The Body and Steven Vallot of Muslin - have released new single ‘Be Glad’. Their eponymous debut album is out on 20 Oct.

Hotline TNT have released new single ‘Out Of Town’. These days most people wouldn’t have the foolishness to start a song by singing the words ‘baby girl’”, says frontman Will Anderson. “But I wanted to channel my Minnesotan roots and try it out, Paul Westerberg style”.

GIGS & TOURS

Botch have announced three UK dates in Bristol, Manchester and London in March next year, as they bring their reunion to a close. “Playing in Europe has always been a highlight for us”, says vocalist Dave Verellen, "very stoked to have one last run over there”. Tickets are on sale now.

AWARDS

Rogue Jones won this year’s Welsh Album Prize earlier this week for their second album ‘Dos Bebés’. “It means the world, I can’t really put it into words, I’m literally humbled”, said the band’s Bethan Mai, accepting the £10,000 prize. “It’s great that people have listened to the album and enjoyed it to the extent that they have”.

LIVE

DEAG takes full ownership of I-Motion

German live music firm DEAG has taken complete ownership of festivals company I-Motion, which promotes dance music events like Nature One, Mayday, Toxicator, Ruhr-In-Love and Syndicate. It has had a 50.1% stake in the business since 2019.

DEAG has festival, tour and ticketing businesses in a number of European markets, including in the UK with Kilimanjaro and Belladrum.

Founded in the 1990s, in 2013 I-Motion was acquired by SFX Entertainment, which at the time was in the process of buying up as many dance music events as it could.

After the collapse of SFX, I-Motion became a subsidiary of LiveStyle, the company that came out of the SFX bankruptcy. Following the 2019 deal, LiveStyle retained 49.9% of the company, which is the stake DEAG has now acquired.

DEAG co-CEO Detlef Kornett says that, since taking a controlling stake in I-Motion in 2019, "our expectations have been more than fulfilled, both strategically and economically, so that the acquisition of all shares in one of Europe’s most successful EDM event promoters is now the logical next step for us".

"Together with the long-standing Managing Director of I-Motion, Oliver Vordemvenne, and his great team", he goes on, "we have steadily expanded our open-air and EDM events in recent years and see high potential for expansion in this area, also in other European countries".

Vordemvenne himself adds: "We are very pleased that we are now fully part of the DEAG family and will continue to write our success story. Together with a strong team, we want to further develop our event formats and expand into new markets. We still have a lot of plans for the future".

MEDIA

1Xtra confirms host of new Birmingham-based morning show

The BBC has announced more details about the new 1Xtra morning show that will launch next year. Hosted by Day Day, it will be the second daytime show on the station broadcast from outside London.

It was announced in July that the current morning show presenters on 1Xtra - DJ Ace and Nick Bright - would stand down at the start of next year, and that their replacement would broadcast from Birmingham instead of London. The station's early afternoon show is already broadcast from the city as part of ongoing efforts by the BBC to be less London-centric.

Birmingham native Day Day will start presenting the 1Xtra morning show from his home city next January. He has been presenting a weekly show on BBC Radio West Midlands ever since May, and has a big following for his mixes online.

Confirming his new job at the Beeb, he says: "I can't believe it! Being a 1Xtra presenter has been one of my career goals for years. It's on my vision board and it's now become my reality! I'm extremely blessed and honoured to be given this opportunity and I can't wait to connect with the 1Xtra audience!”

Head Of 1Xtra Faron McKenzie adds: “Once again BBC 1Xtra are delivering on our promise to increase investment and support broadcasting talent across the UK and in creative and diverse cities like Birmingham. Day Day is a top-tier DJ with an incredible passion for black music who comes from the heart of Birmingham, and we’re very excited to welcome him to the 1Xtra family”.

LABELS & PUBLISHERS

SACEM formally opts out of European data mining exception, so permission must be sought for AI training

French song rights collecting society SACEM has issued a statement confirming that anyone training AI with its members’ music needs prior authorisation from the rights organisation, it having formally opted out of a data mining exception that exists in European law.

The society insists that it does not "intend to oppose the development of artificial intelligence" which "offers tremendous opportunities to music creators". However, it wants to "establish a sustainable and virtuous balance between the rights of the creators and publishers it represents and the ambitions of the players in the artificial intelligence field".

The music industry is adamant that any technology company training an AI model with existing music must first get permission from the relevant copyright owners. However, some AI companies have argued that some training processes are covered by copyright exceptions.

Within the European Union, the 2019 copyright directive introduced an exception for text and data mining that AI companies could seek to rely on. Article four of that directive says: "Member States shall provide for an exception or limitation [to copyright] for reproductions and extractions of lawfully accessible works and other subject matter for the purposes of text and data mining".

However, the same article also provides an opt out of the exception for copyright owners. It states: "The exception or limitation shall apply on condition that the use of works ... has not been expressly reserved by their rightholders in an appropriate manner, such as machine-readable means in the case of content made publicly available online".

So, just to be clear, SACEM has now expressly reserved the use of its works - the data mining exception and accompanying 'right to reserve' having been incorporated into French copyright law.

"By exercising this right to opt out", it says, "SACEM intends to restore the exclusive rights of creators by making data-mining operations subject to prior authorisation. Entities that use SACEM's works to feed their training databases and carry out data mining activities based on them will have to request prior authorisation from SACEM and expressly negotiate the conditions of use".

Adds SACEM CEO Cécile Rap-Veber: "Our aim is not to ban AI, or to slow down its development, but to make it more virtuous and transparent. Our members' creative works must not be used without their consent to enrich and train AI tools".

LEGAL

Family of late Kiss guitar tech sue band over their COVID protocols during 2021 tour

The family of a Kiss guitar tech who died in 2021 after contracting COVID on their End Of The Road World Tour has sued the band, claiming that they didn't have sufficient protections in place while touring during the pandemic.

The band resumed touring in the US in August 2021 as COVID restrictions started to lift. Kiss and their management insist that they had safety protocols in place to restrict the spread of the virus on the tour which met or exceeded official guidelines.

However, a few weeks after the death of Francis Stueber - a guitar tech who had worked with Kiss for more than 20 years - three other people working on the tour told Rolling Stone that they felt the safety measures were insufficient.

One roadie said at the time: “I couldn’t believe how unsafe it was and that we were still going. We’d been frustrated for weeks and by the time Fran died, I just thought, ‘You have to be fucking kidding me’”.

Several of the specific allegations made in the Rolling Stone article are mentioned in the new lawsuit filed by Stueber's family against Kiss members Gene Simmons and Paul Stanley, as well as their longtime manager Doc McGhee and tour promoter Live Nation.

According to Rolling Stone, the lawsuit alleges that “the failure to enforce or have adequate COVID-19 policies or procedures caused a COVID-19 outbreak amongst band members and tour personnel”. After Stueber tested positive for COVID, it claims, he was “abandoned in Detroit” at the Four Points Hotel By Sheraton to quarantine.

The lawsuit also alleges that, when Stueber contacted McGhee to tell him his condition was worsening, the manager said he would send medical personnel to see him. But instead he sent another crew member. When that crew member couldn't make contact with Stueber he called the police who entered his hotel room and found him unresponsive.

“As a direct and proximate result of the dangerous condition created by defendants", the lawsuit concludes, “decedent suffered fatal injuries and plaintiffs suffered damages, including, but not limited to funeral and burial expenses, the permanent deprivation of the love, companionship, affection, solace, society, comfort, assistance, services and financial contributions, and moral support of decedent in an amount according to proof at trial".

AND FINALLY

National Oasis Day

It’s National Album Day in the UK tomorrow, as I’m sure you all know. The anticipation on the streets of Great Britain and Northern Ireland is palpable.  Everyone’s eager to hit play on those albums and find out what all the fuss is about. And now Oasis are getting in on the whole thing in the most perfect way. They’re celebrating the art of the LP by putting out a lyric video for a B-side.

Come on, people, what says ‘I love albums’ more than listening to a single track that was rejected from the tracklist of a long-player? I mean, to be fair, Oasis were always a pretty good B-sides band, back when such things existed.

The B-side in question is 'Listen Up’, which was released alongside ‘Cigarettes & Alcohol’ from the band’s 1994 debut album ‘Definitely Maybe’. It also features on their 1998 B-sides compilation ‘The Masterplan’, which is set to be re-issued to mark its 25th anniversary on 3 Nov. And a compilation is a bit like an album, isn’t it?

Anyway, this video will be exclusively available to stream on the National Album Day website from 10am tomorrow and for 24 hours only.

If you’re still thinking you might like to celebrate an actual Oasis album or two tomorrow, you’re in luck. Steve Wright is set to host a countdown of the UK’s top 40 most streamed albums of the 90s - this year’s National Album Day focussing on that particular decade - and the band’s first two albums ‘Definitely Maybe’ and ‘(What’s The Story) Morning Glory?’ have come out top. I won’t spoil the surprise by telling you which one was at number one.

“I’m THRILLED, but I wouldn't say I was that surprised that ‘(What’s the Story) Morning Glory?’ has been voted the most streamed album of the 90s - I still do have my faith in the taste of people in this country”, says Noel Gallagher. “I mean if you've got ‘Wonderwall’ and ‘Don’t Look Back In Anger’ on an album, you're gonna be all right aren’t ya?”

Fuck’s sake, Noel. I thought we agreed we weren’t going to spoil the surprise? Also, I don’t think this was a public vote. That’s not really how deciding on the most streamed album works, is it? That’s not something you can have an opinion on.

Whatever, he’s started talking now, so we might as well let him finish. He goes on: “For certain people, it'll be bringing back memories of their youth in the 90s and that brilliantly amazing decade we all lived through, and then for the young people coming to it now, the songs deal with just the universal truths of life, and they will always be timeless”.

“You know, of love and loss and heartbreak and friendship and the weather”, he muses on. “All the universal things that we that we live through on a day-to-day basis that we don't really notice. So thanks to everybody”.

This lyric video is going to be right here tomorrow from 10am. Don’t forget to stop listening to whatever album you’ve got playing so you can have a little look. Then later in the day, Steve Wright’s most-streamed albums of the 90s countdown will air on BBC Radio 2 from 1-3pm.

Find out more about Beyond The Music here.