CMU Daily 13.12.17: Over 300 women call out sexual harassment and abuse in the Australian music industry, Der Spiegel releases Morrissey interview audio

Over 300 women call out sexual harassment and abuse in the Australian music industry
Inspired by the nearly 2000 women working in the Swedish music industry who last month demanded an end to a corporate culture that too often tolerates sexual harassment and abuse, over 300 women working in the Australian music business have now signed an open letter calling for similar reform.

As previously reported, as Hollywood dealt with the fallout of the Harvey Weinstein scandal, and as the #metoo movement gained momentum online, a much more frank conversation began within the music community about sexism - and sexual harassment, abuse and assault - within the music sector.

Last month's open letter in Swedish newspaper Dagens Nyheter overtly put the spotlight on the misogynistic culture within Sweden's music industry that allows incidents of sexism and sexual harassment to become common place, and which makes victims of such harassment nervous of speaking out, fearing the negative impact doing so could have on their careers.

Just as that letter was being published, it emerged a senior executive at Warner Music Sweden had been suspended over allegations of sexual misconduct. That exec has since been fired, with Warner insisting it was seeking to learn from the incident and put better procedures in place to protect its employees from such abuse.

The new letter signed by women working in the Australian music business begins: "We are artists, musicians, managers, lawyers, booking agents, record label employees, publicists and more. We are not whingers or vibe-killers. We are passionate people dedicating our lives to music. In the face of uncountable discrimination, harassment, violence and the general menace of sexist jargon, we have gritted our teeth and gotten on with the job. But today we say, no more".

As with the open letter from the Swedish music community, the new letter describes various specific incidents of sexism and sexual harassment experienced by some of the signatories.

It then goes on: "Together we say #meNOmore. Together, we give a voice to these issues and demand zero tolerance for sexual harassment, violence, objectification and sexist behaviours. There is no place for sexual entitlement in the workplace and in our industry. Change starts today".

It continues: "We have listened to our friends. We have names of perpetrators. We know the same names that are repeated in unrelated circles. It saddens us that the people who hold us in fear and keep us silenced are people we work with, people who many of us have aspired to work under, and people who some of us have known as friends. These people need to be held accountable".

"To the men who support and work alongside us - you are a vital part of this conversation. Be kind, listen and act if you know of something happening. Stand beside us and call out those who let us all down and who hurt our friends. To everyone who has a story to share, we hear you and this letter is for you to know that you are not alone".

Concluding, the letter states: "To future workers of the Australian music industry - this is for you. We will continue to fight together so that one day, we can all work safely in a respectful, inclusive and supportive industry".

The 300+ women signing the new letter also acknowledged their Swedish counterparts. They say: "We want to thank our colleagues in the Swedish music industry who came forward with a powerful open letter that inspired us to do the same. In its honesty and precision, it relays an experience which is so often hard to pinpoint or qualify".

You can read the Swedish letter here and the new Australian letter, via The Industry Observer, here.

As previously reported, in the UK, the Musicians' Union has staged open meetings for their members to discuss harassment and will be working with its counterparts elsewhere in Europe to identify practical initiatives to make the music industry a better place to work. Commenting on those conversations, the Union's Assistant General Secretary Naomi Pohl recently wrote: "We need nothing short of wholesale cultural change in our industry, for every musician to understand what is acceptable in a workplace and what is not".

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Sony/ATV extends deal with Jamie Scott
Sony/ATV has extended its existing worldwide publishing agreement with songwriter Jamie Scott. The deal covers his entire catalogue, including work for One Direction, Major Lazer, Rag N Bone Man, The Vamps, Jessie Ware and Rudimental.

"Jamie Scott is a true melodic genius and a songwriter who develops hits constantly with a real understanding of the artist", says Sony/ATV UK MD Guy Moot. "He has a unique perspective of what it means to be a new artist, with a compassion for and an understanding of where they come from".

Scott adds: "I'm so grateful that Guy and the great team at Sony/ATV have given me so much support over the last few years. I'm excited for the years ahead and for all that we can achieve together".

Among Scott's credits, he has contributed his songwriting skills to all five of One Direction's albums. He also continues to work with 1Der Niall Horan on his solo career. He was executive producer of Rag N Bone Man's 'Human' album, as well as co-writing a number of its songs, and also co-wrote 'Cold Water' by Major Lazer, featuring MØ and Justin Bieber.

As well as working behind the scenes, he also released a solo album, 'My Hurricane', in 2014, and two LPs as Graffiti6, a collaboration with producer Tommy D.

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Richard Howle joins The Ticket Factory
Ticketing firm The Ticket Factory has appointed Richard Howle as its Director Of Ticketing, which seems like a good thing for a ticketing firm - not to mention an actual ticket factory - to have.

"I am THRILLED to join The Ticket Factory and to bring my experience of running in-house ticketing operations to the role", says Howle. "It is a company I have long admired with a well-deserved reputation for delivering excellence".

You see how Howle mentioned his experience of running "in-house ticketing operations" just there? Well, that was in his previous job as Commercial Director of Really Useful Theatres, a position he held for nearly five years.

Howle goes on: "I am looking forward to building The Ticket Factory brand at this pivotal point in the company's history, having just celebrated its tenth anniversary. Over the past decade, The Ticket Factory has established itself as an industry challenger in a highly competitive, fast-moving industry and has an exciting future ahead".

The Ticket Factory is owned by Birmingham-based venue operator the NEC Group, whose MD Phil Mead adds: "Richard's appointment will serve to further strengthen the offering of The Ticket Factory in an increasingly competitive marketplace. It has a unique partnership with the NEC Group Arenas, and with Richard's direction, the businesses will be able to work even closer together to provide a seamless experience for clients and customers alike".

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Der Spiegel releases audio from Morrissey interview
Having been accused of fabricating quotes by Morrissey, German news magazine Der Spiegel has released the full unedited audio of its interview with the former Smiths frontman. And, hey, it turns out he did say those things.

"Morrissey said in a Facebook post that Der Spiegel had incorrectly reproduced his statements, concluding that the fact that we have not yet published the recording of the conversation is an indirect admission of guilt", said the publication. "To counter this, we have decided to put the interview online now - even if it is self-evident from our point of view that interviews published in Der Spiegel do not contain false or misleading citations".

As previously reported, Morrissey has twice denied that he said a number of the things that were quoted in the original published interview. In a written statement over the weekend, he specifically denied that he'd said he would kill Donald Trump or that he defended Kevin Spacey against sexual assault accusations.

However, in the recording, he is heard to say that he would press a button to kill Trump if such a thing existed. He also suggests that the teenage boy who Spacey is accused of assaulting, and the teenager's parents, should accept some responsibility for what happened. Other comments on Brexit, nationalism and Harvey Weinstein that were widely reported also feature the recording.

Listen to the full interview here.

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Lyor Cohen to give SXSW keynote
Record industry veteran Lyor Cohen has been announced as the keynote speaker for SXSW's music conference next year. It'll be Cohen's first big speaking engagement since becoming Head Of Music at YouTube, and since the music industry subsequently turned on him.

As previously reported, YouTube hired "lion of the music industry" Cohen last year. It was seemingly hoped that the former Universal and Warner exec would rebuild some bridges between the video platform and an increasingly hostile music industry. To date, it's not gone so well.

In August this year, Cohen wrote a blog post, in which he basically said that music companies should just trust that YouTube is going to deliver them big revenues eventually.

He added that the music industry's campaigning against YouTube's use of safe harbour law is "a distraction". If you've somehow missed all this, I hope I'm not spoiling it when I tell you that Cohen's optimism and advice was not received positively.

Various music industry trade bodies - including the RIAA and AI2M in the US and the BPI in the UK - quickly moved to reject Cohen's proclamations. Which is why, with some heckling already done in written form, this SXSW keynote may become a sequel to that MIDEM panel a few years ago, where Vice President of YouTube Content Tom Pickett was the recipient of a lot of angry shouting.

SXSW Chief Programming Officer Hugh Forrest managed not to rub his hands together and say "I hope so" when announcing the keynote yesterday. Instead, his statement on the matter went like this: "Over his 30 year career Lyor Cohen has been behind the most prolific musical acts and at the helm of the biggest labels. His creativity and passion to keep the music industry innovative continue to flourish with his leadership at YouTube".

So, yes, get ready for some shouting in March.

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Miguel denies re-emerging sexual assault accusation
Miguel has denied an accusation of sexual assault, initially made earlier this year, which has re-emerged in a new article published by Spin.

In March, a woman named Xian Bass said in two Instagram posts that she had met the musician in a club and approached him for a photograph. After she'd taken a selfie, she says he pulled one of her breasts out from her top without consent.

"You then proceeded to look at my naked breast with such a disgusting look on your face", she said. "Have you gotten away with this in the past? Well, it stops HERE and NOW. I will not sit in shameful silence and allow sexual assault to be normalized".

Asked about the accusation by TMZ at the time, Miguel said: "I think we're just in a time where people are really looking for attention in the wrong ways. In this age, I guess, you just gotta be more aware of how things can be and how things can be spun".

Speaking to Spin in a newly published article, Bass has further detailed the alleged incident. She also says that she reported it to police the same night, but that she was subsequently told that - without other women coming forward to say that they had also been assaulted or harassed by the musician - there was little that could be done.

In a new statement, Miguel says: "I felt I had already addressed how bizarre and twisted this accusation was when I was asked about it in March. Her story of what transpired is not accurate and the accusation is unfair and unwarranted".

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Gene Simmons denies doing anything to warrant Fox News ban
Gene Simmons has denied doing anything to warrant being banned from appearing on Fox News. Despite being banned from appearing on Fox News.

As previously reported, a source recently told The Daily Beast that Simmons had barged into a meeting at Fox after appearing on Fox Business's 'Mornings With Maria' programme to promote his new book. It was claimed that he shouted "hey chicks, sue me", and then tore open his shirt, before making jokes about Michael Jackson and paedophilia, and hitting two people on the head with his book.

Simmons subsequently said that the report was "highly exaggerated and misleading" but that he was "sincerely sorry that I unintentionally offended members of the Fox team during my visit".

Now, speaking to BBC News's 'Hardtalk' show, he denied that he did anything at all, saying: "Somebody there apparently had the goods in for me and called something called The Daily Beast or something and said whatever they said I did. I did nothing. I always had people around me. Like when I come here, I've got handlers and everybody sees what I'm doing. You can't go into a public area and do anything".

He added that Fox had "closed ranks" because the broadcaster is "afraid of getting sued by everybody".

As for questions about further allegations of sexual misconduct made against the Kiss man in the wake of the Harvey Weinstein scandal, he said: "All of a sudden, 44 years on in a rock band, somebody's coming up and saying, 'This guy is a bad guy'. It's not true. I think the climate is horrifically bad and yet at the same time empowering to the right women. There are some really bad guys out there, I just happen not to be one of them".

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Cibo Matto split
Cibo Matto have announced that they are splitting up again, with the group's two members Yuka Honda and Miho Hatori returning to their solo projects.

The duo reformed in 2011, having originally split in 2002, and released an album, 'Hotel Valentine', in 2014. Despite a flurry of activity around the world around the release of that album, they have done little together since 2015.

Confirming that their creative relationship has again halted, they said in a statement: "We'd like to announce that Cibo Matto is moving to a new phase. Miho and Yuka will be doing their solo works and 'Hotel Valentine' will be our last album. We'd like to thank you so much for your love and support. Hopefully you understand that this is a necessary and positive change for us".

Their third long player, 'Hotel Valentine', came fifteen years after their second, 'Stereo Type A'. We made them one of our artists of the year that year, because it's a great album. Go and listen to it now.

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Frank Ocean, Lily Allen, The Cure, more

Other notable announcements and developments today...

• BMG has promoted Allegra Willis Knerr to the role of VP Film & TV Licensing. "Over the last years she has played an invaluable part of building and growing the US Film & TV Licensing team to what it is today and we are confident this success story is going to continue", says Global EVP Licensing & Marketing Patrick Joest.

• Frank Ocean now has his own radio station in videogame 'Grand Theft Auto V'. As well as six Ocean songs, it also features music from Migos, Aphex Twin, Chief Keef, JME, Marvin Gaye, Todd Rundgren and more.

• Lily Allen has released a new single, 'Trigger Bang', featuring Giggs.

• MGMT have released the second single from their upcoming new album 'Little Dark Age'. This is 'When You Die'.

• Austra have released 'Future Politics' outtake 'Change The Paradigm'. "I wish 'Change The Paradigm' had made it onto the record because it directly embodies what I wanted to express on 'Future Politics'", says band leader Katie Stelmanis.

• Susanna has released the second single from her upcoming new album 'Go Dig My Grave', a cover of folk song 'Freight Train'.

• Girl Ray's Christmas single, '(I Wish I Were Giving You A Gift) This Christmas' now has a video.

• The Cure will play a 40th anniversary show in Hyde Park in July next year, as part of the British Summer Time festival. Tickets go on general sale on Friday.

• Chloe Howl has announced that she will play The Pickle Factory in London on 7 Feb. She's just put out a video for recent single 'Do It Alone' too.

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

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Harry Styles (briefly) replaces James Corden as Late Late Show host
Sometimes you forget that James Corden hosts a major late night chat show in the US now, don't you? It just doesn't seem like a thing that would happen. Well, last night we could all pretend it never did happen, because Corden was nowhere to be seen when the show went to air. Instead, that bloody Harry Styles was there, cracking jokes and grinning to the camera.

Styles stepped in to host the show at short notice after Corden's wife Julia went into labour with their third child. Explaining his presence as the show opened, Styles said: "This is very exciting, just half an hour ago, James and his wife Jules had a beautiful baby girl. In fact, I was just at the hospital before I came to fill in, and she looks a lot like James. Mainly because James looks like a giant baby".

He added: "I want you to know that I of course realise that this is James's show and this is a one time only thing. Unless, CBS like what they see".

If his success on the show does mean he becomes a permanent replacement for Corden, it could mean the end of Styles' singing career. Which would be two birds, one stone I guess. Corden doesn't seem too concerned though. He later thanked Styles for stepping in at "two and a half hours' notice".

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