CMU Daily 13.11.18: Music attorneys lay out action plan to move on from #MeToo, YouTube boss takes her article thirteen griping to the FT

Music attorneys lay out action plan to move on from #MeToo
A group of American music business attorneys have called on the industry to properly capitalise on the #MeToo movement and start taking proactive steps to stopping harassment and abuse within the music sector.

Monika Tashman, Dina LaPolt, Debbie White and Jessie Winkler have put their names to a new op-ed in Billboard, outlining changes they think should be made at contract level by the American music industry. They also call on others to actively join them in pushing for and achieving this goal.

As #MeToo spread from the movie industry to the wider entertainment industry last year and into 2018, many women came forward with stories of harassment and assault in the music industry. However, while action was taken against several execs, and some initiatives were launched in some countries (such as the UK), it is still felt by many that globally speaking the industry has done little, if anything, to make long term changes.

"As attorneys who help craft deals and set clients' internal policy agenda, and as women in a position to make a difference, we are putting in the work towards real and long-lasting change", they write.

"To that end", the say, "we would like invite the esteemed attorneys at law in our industry who share our objectives and feel like they have an obligation to their clients, and the business as a whole, to join us in the push to bring the industry into a new era where we are all free to pursue careers without having to deflect the bows and arrows of harassment and abuse along the way".

They say that while #MeToo has been "a deeply inspiring moment", it is now "time to change the rules, not just by raising our voices in a chorus of condemnation, but by taking concrete action".

Setting out the basis for their argument, they go on: "We believe that the first step is to make a clear statement of standards and expectations in all service agreements across the music industry".

That would include, the say, "artist agreements, employee agreements, management and agency agreements, production related agreements (producer, mixer, side artists) and employee manuals which includes specific language that declares a zero-tolerance policy on sexual harassment and discrimination and a specific protocol to address violations".

Acknowledging potential criticism, they add: "This may at first seem controversial and ripe for abuse, but we argue that it is quite the opposite - every agreement done in this business sets forth the minimum expectations of each of the parties for the business relationship".

"There are warranties in every agreement", they explain, "where the parties promise to perform their obligations, not to lie, not to commit copyright infringement, how to deliver a record, to act in good faith and so on - why shouldn't there be something in the agreement itself that sets forth some basis for proper behaviour and general decency?"

The authors note also that New York and California have both already introduced new anti-harassment and anti-sexual discrimination legislation at a state level, which mandates some of what they are proposing. However, they go further in the list of new standards that they believe the music industry should be implementing. Much of which could actually be implemented globally.

Their list includes, music industry specific anti-harassment and anti-bias training, the development of multiple routes for reporting incidents, exempting instances of harassment from NDA agreements, and to ultimately "create a healthy workplace culture where sexual harassment is inconceivable".

"For too long the business has normalised sexual predatory, outrageous and/or degrading behaviour, allowing it to persist without imposing consequences", they conclude, before calling on the business at large to act.

"If we as an industry want change, then the entire industry needs to adopt policies that are loud, clear and prominent, with serious consequences for violators; we all need to do the work; we all need to have the hard conversations, to face the realities of the past and set the stage for the future we all want - but it takes action".

Read the article in full here.

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YouTube boss takes her article thirteen griping to the FT
Google execs continue to sneak article thirteen gripes into many of their communications. Yesterday YouTube CEO Susan Wojcicki even snuck some article thirteen griping into an op-ed piece for the Financial Times all about article thirteen. Super sneaky.

"Creators have used YouTube to share their voices, inspire their fans and build their livelihoods", Wojcicki declared. "We have worked hard to ensure creators and artists are fairly compensated for their work. However, this creator economy is under threat from a section of the EU's efforts to revise its copyright directive, known as article thirteen, which holds internet companies directly responsible for any copyright infringement in the content shared on their platform".

Article thirteen, of course, seeks to reform the copyright safe harbour, which says that internet companies cannot be held liable when their users use their servers or networks to distribute content without licence.

The music industry argues that companies like YouTube have exploited the safe harbour to force record companies, music publishers and collecting societies into deals that pay much lower royalties. Article thirteen of the European Copyright Directive would increase the liabilities of user-upload sites like YouTube which, music rights owners hope, would force the Google video site to enter into deals more in line with those of Spotify and Apple Music.

YouTube, however, argues that article thirteen will have unintended consequences. "The European Parliament's current proposal will create unintended consequences", Wojcicki wrote in her piece for the FT, "that will have a profound impact on the livelihoods of hundreds of thousands of people".

It's well known that Google has been lobbying hard to have article thirteen cut or watered down. Earlier this year, a lot of the web giant's efforts went on supporting grassroots campaigners who declared that the proposed copyright reforms would kill the internet as we know it.

That strategy initially worked - with the European Parliament voting down the directive in July - but there was then a backlash over a major corporation hiding behind grassroots campaigners. Google and its allies were also accused of employing dodgy tactics to exaggerate public concerns over the proposed copyright reforms.

With a big push from the music industry over the summer, Parliament then passed the directive and article thirteen in September.

A final version of the directive is now being agreed by the Parliament, the European Commission and the EU Council, which is why Google and YouTube continue to speak out, now pushing their own people much more to the fore. Though those execs continue to present themselves as champions of the small-time creators who are finding an audience and building a business on YouTube.

Wojcicki's latest intervention also takes a swipe at the music industry's never-ending music rights data problem, arguing that bad and missing data will make it impossible for a company like YouTube to meet its new obligations under article thirteen. Because videos uploaded to its platform routinely contain music owned by multiple parties, not all of whom are easy to identify, and some of which might disagree about who owns what.

"Take the global music hit 'Despacito'", Wojcicki writes. "This video contains multiple copyrights, ranging from sound recording to publishing rights. Although YouTube has agreements with multiple entities to license and pay for the video, some of the rights holders remain unknown".

She goes on: "That uncertainty means we might have to block videos like this to avoid liability under article thirteen. Multiply that risk with the scale of YouTube, where more than 400 hours of video are uploaded every minute, and the potential liabilities could be so large that no company could take on such a financial risk".

That, Wojcicki threatens, means that article thirteen won't just hit the YouTubes of the world in the pocket, but also negatively impact the creators and viewers who currently upload and stream on the Google site.

For its part the music industry argues that YouTube is misrepresenting and exaggerating the potential impact of article thirteen. It reckons that, through technology and licensing deals, a company like YouTube would be able to deal with any new liabilities. The copyright reforms, therefore, would just mean the Google business investing more of its revenues into content and content management.

YouTube, obviously, does not concur. Wojcicki wants some last minute edits to article thirteen so that it "protects rightsholders while also allowing the creative economy to thrive".

"This", she explains, "could include more comprehensive licensing agreements, collaboration with rights holders to identify who owns what, and smart rights management technology, similar to Content ID. Platforms that follow these rules, and make a good effort to help rights holders identify their content, shouldn't be held directly liable for every single piece of content that a user uploads".

The griping, and the lobbying, continues.

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Keith Richards moves solo recordings to BMG
Keith Richards has signed a new worldwide deal with BMG that will see it represent his solo recordings. The company already represents the Rolling Stone's publishing catalogue.

In one of the least verbose press statements in recent memory, Richards says: "Looking forward to working with Hartwig Masuch and everyone at BMG".

Aw, that's nice. Bumping up the word count, but only a little, BMG boss Masuch adds: "It has been a pleasure to build a relationship with Keith and his exceptional team over the past five years. It is a real honour now to extend that relationship even further to work with his classic solo releases".

Desperately trying to get some substance into all this commenting, BMG EVP Global Catalogue Recordings Peter Stack chips in: "This agreement paves the way for a reappraisal and repositioning of the solo work of one of rock n roll's true originals and arguably its most pre-eminent guitarist. Fans can expect a programme of releases which truly does justice to these great recordings".

Ah yes, a "reappraisal and repositioning of [his] solo work". I think that's a nice way of saying that, in the main, most people currently think Richards should stick to the day job.

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Dan Hancox's grime history book to be turned into TV series
Journalist Dan Hancox's book on the history of grime, 'Inner City Pressure', is set to be turned into a TV series by Pulse Films and Paramount Television, it has been announced.

"I think people really recognise that you can't tell the story of grime without telling the story of the city and society around it", says Hancox. "Likewise, if you want to understand London, its politics, poverty, riots, gentrification, frustrations, tensions and joys, there's no better insight into the first two decades of 21st century London than grime".

He adds: "The fact that a company with a track record as fantastic as Paramount TV and Pulse want to bring all those interlocking threads to life as well is tremendously exciting, and I can't wait to get started".

Pulse Films CEO Thomas Benski adds: "'Inner City Pressure' vividly depicts the origins of grime from a burgeoning subculture into a tour de force of British influence from a cultural, social and political point of view. The way punk marked a generation, grime has become the symbol of a movement that now reaches beyond the UK".

"As a studio we try to find high-end IP that can create moments of culture", he goes on. "The book, the story and this new series all have the components of a genre defining show that is ready to cross-over and shine a light on a defining contemporary story".

No release date has yet been announced for the show.

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Duke Special joins line-up for Artist:Entrepreneur Day Belfast
Duke Special will be in conversation at this weekend's Artist:Entrepreneur Day in Belfast. He will be discussing his career in music to date, what he has learned along the way, and what tips he has for early-career artists.

The interview will conclude the latest edition of the A:E Day from the Featured Artists Coalition and CMU:DIY, which will also see artist entrepreneurs Lisbee Stainton, Jack Gourlay and Cormac Neeson open up their artist businesses and talk music revenues, music rights, going live, building a fanbase and choosing business partners.

CMU's Chris Cooke will provide five A:E Guides, plus a team of music industry experts will be on hand to share their knowledge and advice, including marketing expert Caroline Fleck, Quiet Arch Records' Francesca O'Connor, AIM's Gee Davy, promoter Joe Dougan, Sentric Music's Levi Deeble, Do The Rights Thing's Lucilla Green, Champion Sound's Lyndon Stephens, Score Draw Music's Mark Gordon and AWAL's Will Edge.

The Belfast edition of A:E Day, enabled by Help Musicians NI, takes place this Sunday, 17 Nov, at The Black Box in Belfast. For more information and tickets go to artistentrepreneurday.com

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Jarvis Cocker to publish Brexit book
The next contributor to the Rough Trade Editions series of books will be Jarvis Cocker, which is nice. Although it will force you to think about Brexit a bit more, which is less so. Still, I guess it's good for all of us who think exiting the EU is a really bad idea to do a bit more agreeing with each other and hoping it'll all go away.

Titled 'Good Pop, Bad Pop', the book features the text of two speeches that Cocker gave last year. "They both concern Br**it", warns the blurb, "but please don't let that put you off".

You'll be able to get your hands on the book on 27 Nov, by which time there might be some clarity on what Brexit even is, possibly making the book a bit out of date. Though I think it's probably more likely that the whole thing will still be a chaotic mess. Which will at least make the book more relevant. More info here.

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Dido announces new album and tour
Yeah, we've got Dido news, what of it? Dido has announced that she will release her first album for five years, and head out on her first tour for fifteen, in 2019.

New album, 'Still On My Mind', is out on 8 Mar. Like three of her four previous efforts, it was written and recorded with her brother, Rollo of Faithless.

"It was simple, I only wanted to make another album if it was with him", she says. "It was made in such an easy way, all the vocals recorded on the sofa, a lot of it recorded at home".

That process was, she says "an absolutely magical experience", adding: "I wanted to capture the feeling I still get from listening to music, just that rush like you don't need anything more than this".

First single, 'Hurricanes', is out now. And here are the tour dates:

26 May: Glasgow, Royal Concert Hall
27 May: Dublin, Olympia Theatre
29 May: Manchester, Albert Hall
30 May: London, The Roundhouse

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You Me At Six, WMA, Kanye West, more

Other notable announcements and developments today...

• You Me At Six have signed a global publishing deal with Universal Music Publishing that will kick off with new album 'VI'. The band are "really excited". The publisher is "so chuffed".

• Music and entertainment PR firm WMA has promoted Shane Hawkins to the job of Head Of PR Creative & Media Relations. He originally joined the company in an assistant role back in 2013, being steadily promoted through to the new post.

• Kanye West has postponed the release of his 'Yandhi' album again, after performing live with Kid Cudi - in their Kids See Ghosts guise - convinced him it wasn't good enough. When a previous release date was missed, we were told to expect the record around Thanksgiving. "After performing again, I realise the new album I've been working on isn't ready yet", he has now tweeted. "I'll announce the release date once it's done".

• In other Kanye West and Kid Cudi news, Lorde has accused them of stealing her stage design. "I'm proud of the work I do and it's flattering when other artists are inspired by it, to the extent that they choose to try it on themselves", she wrote in an Instagram story. "But don't steal".

• Busted have released the video for new single '90s'. It's got all 90s stuff in it.

• Roisin Murphy has released the video for 'The Rumble', completing a set of four videos released over the last few months.

• Tommy Genesis has released a new short film, 'God Is Wild', featuring songs from her recently released debut album.

• Zilla has announced that she's changing her name to Zilla With Her Eyes Closed. It helps differentiate her from the other Zillas out there, although she says: "I decided to add the epithet 'with her eyes shut' because the music that I create revolves around the unconscious mind". Her first single under the new name is 'Cut Me Boy'.

• Norma has released new single 'Hysterical Wife'. The track is taken from her upcoming debut album.

• Robbie Williams has announced his first Las Vegas residency. A fairly light one, it'll see him play a six night run at the Wynn casino in March. "I'm beyond excited to announce my first ever residency in Las Vegas", says Williams. "To follow in the footsteps of some of the greatest entertainers of all time is a dream come true - I can't wait".

• Ahead of UK shows supporting Courtney Barnett, and a headline set at London's Sebright Arms tonight, Laura Jean has released the video for the title track of her album, 'Devotion'.

• Deus have announced a European tour to mark the 20th anniversary of their 'The Ideal Crash' album. The run will see them in London at The Electric Ballroom on 8 May and at The Academy in Dublin on 9 May.

• Soap & Skin will play EartH in London on 15 Apr, in support of recently released new album, 'From Gas To Solid / You Are My Friend'

• Vera Sola is set to play a free show at the Shacklewell Arms in London this Thursday. Here's recent-ish single 'The Colony'.

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

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Trent Reznor says Oscar win boosted his ego for "maybe eighteen hours"
Trent Reznor reckons that winning an Oscar only stops you from thinking you're "not good enough" for "maybe eighteen hours". He's speaking from personal experience, of course. I'm still not sure that's true of everyone.

Speaking to Variety, he explains: "Your head spins a little bit when your first film goes on to win an Oscar. There's nowhere to go but down from there, right? And you start to wonder - should it be, 'fuck rock n roll! I've got a new lease on life that doesn't have quite the age limit restrictions that playing in a rock band does? Should I put all my eggs in that basket? Should I take every film that comes around?'"

Of course, prior to working on 'The Social Network' soundtrack, which was what won Reznor and his musical partner Atticus Ross their Oscar, he had already thrown in the towel on his band life. "I did a farewell tour, ten years ago or whenever it was, and then ate my words", he notes. "Because something about being able to step away from it gave me a fresh perspective I was lacking when it was the only thing".

Although Reznor returned to his other musical exploits, there were plenty of offers on the table for more film work. He had worked on movie projects before, but 'The Social Network' saw him established as a composer of film soundtracks, and an in-demand one at that. However, he and Ross managed to keep things in perspective, he reckons.

"Lots of films were coming by", he recalls. "It wasn't that our egos were out of control. Because one thing about us is, as great as winning an Oscar is, the next day by lunchtime, we were back to being the same not-good-enough assholes that we were before we'd won one. It felt good for maybe eighteen hours. It was a great experience and I have a lot of respect for the institution, but it didn't fix everything that's wrong with our brains, and our inadequacies remained".

Actually, he says, the award caused them to reflect more deeply on what they wanted to achieve: "It caused us to kind of think about, if we do take on more roles of scoring, are we trying to be completists? Are we trying to tick every box, to want to be able to do everything from a complicated orchestral score to a rom-com? Do we want to be journeymen, or jacks of all styles and techniques?"

I'm not a massive rom-com fan, but I would definitely watch one soundtracked by Reznor and Ross. Someone make that happen.

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