CMU Daily 16.03.16: ATP moves second festival to Manchester warehouse, Dubset brings mixes to Apple Music, Wireless objections raised

ATP moves Drive Like Jehu event to Manchester
All of you eagerly awaiting confirmation that the upcoming Drive Like Jehu-curated ATP festival will be going ahead at Prestatyn Pontins next month as planned, wait no more. It's not. But, crucially, it hasn't been cancelled. I bet you thought it was cancelled, didn't you? You're SUCH a pessimist.

The event will now take place at Victoria Warehouse in Manchester. Things you may have already noted: that is not a holiday camp; it is also not in Prestatyn; I mean bloody hell, it's not even in Wales. The dates are still the same though - 22-24 Apr - so that's something.

As previously reported, doubt was cast on the future of two upcoming UK ATP festivals - the other one curated by comedian Stewart Lee - when Pontins put chalets at its Prestatyn park on sale on the weekends the music events were due to take place. Initially the holiday company said that the promoter had cancelled the festivals. Then ATP said that they were going ahead and everything was fine. Then, eventually, it emerged that ATP had missed some payment deadlines with Pontins, which is where the problem lay.

Throughout all of this uncertainty, ATP maintained that Pontins would imminently confirm that everything was perfectly fine and both events would happen as planned. And the venue did then confirm that the first Stewart Lee-curated event was definitely on. However, at that point ATP said that "organisational difficulties" meant that there would be a further delay in getting confirmation on the Drive Like Jehu festival.

And then yesterday ATP issued a new statement announcing that the second festival had just undergone a fairly dramatic shift in its staging. Now based in the multi-room Victoria Warehouse, one of the biggest changes will be the lack of on-site accommodation. However, ATP has said that all of those who paid for chalets at Pontins will be provided with a hotel room near to the venue.

A pessimist like you might ask how - if ATP had, as it appears, missed a payment deadline with Pontins - is it now going to find the cash to rent out a load of hotel rooms in Manchester. Though a cynic like me might counter that, given that the bigger draw was definitely the Stewart Lee event, it's quite possible a modest number of tickets have been sold for the second weekend so far, meaning not so many hotel rooms may actually need to be booked.

Indeed, it's certainly the case that the event has plenty of spare capacity. As well as full weekend tickets still being on sale, the venue change has also meant that ATP can offer cheaper single day tickets too. Presumably the hope is that, if people can't be convinced to travel to the event, the space can at least be filled out by locals with a day to spare.

Confirming all of this from his side, Victoria Warehouse owner James Cohen said in a statement: "After a successful four years of running music events at Victoria Warehouse, we are very excited to be working alongside ATP to bring you the venue's first three day music festival this April. ATP join a list of ever increasing promoters - such as Live Nation, 6 Music, Vevo, Cosmosis and more - who are opting to work within our venue".

Though presumably none of those companies arrived at the venue under quite the same circumstances. Further taking advantage of the opportunity to provide a sales pitch for his new-ish venue complex, Cohen added: "The beauty of the Victoria Warehouse is the flexibility of the space creating both intimate and expansive areas, which allow us to create an ideal setting for hosting indoor music festivals. The sheer raw industrial feel of the buildings, which have kept many of its original features, mirrors ATP Festival's ethos of originality and independence. We look to forward to hosting ATP's debut event at our venue and building a long standing relationship which such an iconic brand".

Come on James, let's just make it through this one first. Don't get over excited.

Ladyhawke signs up to Absolute Label Services
Absolute Label Services has announced a new deal with Mid Century Records, the label founded by Pip Brown aka Ladyhawke, brokered by her management company ie:music.

Absolute Label Services Senior Label Manager Kate Hendry said: "We are SO THRILLED to be working with Ladyhawke and our long-term friends at ie:music. We are empowering them to create and manage a fantastic campaign and arming them with the access to cutting edge retail marketing, advertising and project management facilities they need to have maximum impact. We will also be using our market-leading analytics and sales platform Project to help shape key marketing decisions which will help target core fans and regions as well as growing Pip's already impressive fanbase".

ie:music's Tim Clark added: "We are delighted to be working with the brilliant team at Absolute again. They have proved themselves to be incredibly effective and we have Absolute faith in them!"

This is all good news, as there's a new Ladyhawke album, 'Wild Things', coming out on 3 Jun, which could presumably do with some label servicing.

Former Chrysalis chief back in music publishing, announces first signing
The former CEO of the Chrysalis music publishing firm, Jeremy Lascelles, is getting back into songs through his new company Blue Raincoat Music, and the establishment of a publishing division to be called Blue Raincoat Songs.

The Blue Raincoat Music business, which also works in artist management, is a partnership between Lascelles and record producer Robin Millar, and boasts the backing of former Chrysalis owner Chris Wright and one time Virgin Entertainment Chairman Robert Devereux. The company says it aims to "bring back the true spirit of independent music to the industry". And we all love a bit of true spirit, surely?

The first signing to the Blue Raincoat publishing business is pop writing veteran Mike Chapman, who has written, co-written and produced hits for the likes of Suzi Quatro, Mud, The Sweet, Tina Turner and Blondie over his long career. Oh, and Pat Benatar's 'Love Is A Battlefield'. Classic. The new deal covers a chunk of Chapman's oeuvre in various markets, notably the UK, France, Australia, Japan and South Africa.

Confirming his move back into publishing, and the first deal, Lascelles told reporters: "It is incredibly exciting for us to make Mike our first signing. His track record as a writer of era-defining seminal hit songs is quite extraordinary. It's wonderful that we are able to represent a part of his amazing catalogue, but Mike is still a very active writer and producer and I'm THRILLED that together we will be looking to find new opportunities and new artists for him to work with. On top of that, he is a great bloke".

Chapman himself added: "There should never be a formula for writing hit songs and Blue Raincoat, with all of their experience in the music business, understand this better than most. It's good to be working with Jeremy and Chris again, who get that when you write to a formula your songs don't have a real lasting value. My musical history with Chris goes back to the 70s and what was true then is true now, no hit hook, no hit song. I look forward to getting stuck in with them".

Boris Johnson launches investigation into saving London's night time economy
Mayor of London Boris Johnson has announced the launch of a Night Time Commission, whose first job will be to run a six month investigation into what can be done to protect London's night time economy. Build a time machine and stop Boris Johnson from becoming Mayor of London, maybe? Though I'm not sure that's particularly practical.

"There is no doubt that the night time economy is hugely important to our prosperity and the life of our city, but there is insufficient oversight for the way it is managed and problems are mitigated", said Johnson in a statement. "It is brilliantly successful, but night time activities can be seen as causes of noise and nuisance, whilst businesses complain that rising property values, the need for housing, licensing requirements and other red tape are damaging their operations, even leading to closures. If we are to compete against other world cities is vital that we develop policies to reconcile the competing needs and concerns".

Small music venues in the capital have been particularly affected in recent years, of course. The new Crossrail network saw the demolition of several popular central London music spaces, while property developers running rampant in a bid to make the city as soulless as possible saw off many of the rest.

There has been lots of chatter about all this of late, in no small part led by the Music Venue Trust. Indeed, this new Commission is the result of that report published last October, which was the result of the task force put together the previous January, which was the result of Music Venue Trust lobbying the previous year. Let's just hope the new Commission's main proposal isn't a symposium to form a think tank to set out a strategic agenda.

Meanwhile, Boris Johnson continues his campaign for clowns with funny hair to have their own sovereign state.

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Finsbury Park residents step up campaign against Wireless festival
An organisation called Friends Of Finsbury Park, which has a certain Jeremy Corbyn MP as its patron, is stepping up its campaign to try and stop Live Nation's Wireless festival from returning to the North London park again this summer.

Locals were not happy when Wireless moved from Hyde Park to Finsbury Park (after a brief stop off at the Olympic Park) in 2014, while last year promoters were called into a meeting by Haringey Council after footage of gatecrashers at the event circulated online.

The local residents organisation has said that its campaign to stop Wireless 2016 is "gaining momentum", even though tickets are already on sale for the three day July bash.

The event is yet to be granted a licence by Haringey Council, with the Friends Of Finsbury Park saying "we are staggered that Live Nation would promote and sell tickets ... without the venue being confirmed already". Though, to be fair, it's not uncommon for festival promoters to start announcing line-ups and selling tickets with licences from relevant local authorities still pending.

The residents group also criticises the council itself, which has said it works "closely with the Finsbury Park events stakeholder group - which includes the Friends Of Finsbury Park - when planning for events". But, says the Friends, "the stakeholder group that Haringey Council are referring to has not meet since June 2015, when [meetings] were stopped by Cllr Stuart McNamara. So far we have had no word from the Council about when the stakeholder meetings will be reconvened despite numerous attempts to contact the Council by email".

The residents group has raised a number of concerns about Wireless continuing to take place at Finsbury Park in a submission to the Council, including loss of amenity, increased traffic and noise, the event's capacity and alleged security failings. Meanwhile, the group says it is considering a fundraising campaign to take any decision by Haringey Council that would allow Wireless 2016 to go ahead to judicial review.

The residents conclude: "We are not against Wireless Festival, but its sheer size and scale is totally inappropriate for Finsbury Park. We are happy to see events staged which don't involve the closure of one third of the park in high summer, are more inclusive of the local community, and benefit the park itself".

Dubset deal brings unofficial mixes to Apple Music
Apple Music is getting all mixed up via a new deal with distribution firm Dubset, which has developed a technology to identify what tracks are included in DJ mixes and has arrangements in place with labels and publishers to license said works.

It means Dubset can then provide such mixes to streaming services, with the owners of featured songs and recordings getting a cut of the royalties, along with the mixer. The aim of the new service is to enable streaming platforms to legitimately carry unofficial mixes, which have always been popular but, due to licensing issues, have generally been limited to platforms which just ignore licensing obligations, or which operate under blanket licences from collecting societies, like Mixcloud.

Labels could try to put such mixes out legitimately, of course, by getting licences from each and every rights owner, though most mixes posted online don't come from a legit source of this kind. And when it comes to the unofficial mixes on unlicensed platforms, labels can either issue a takedown notice, which may or may not have an effect, or can just ignore the mix and/or hope it will have some sort of promo value.

Announcing his new mix-monitoring technology and licensing service, and the deal to provide licensed mixes to Apple Music, Dubset boss Stephen White told reporters: "This is a very important day for the music industry. Until now the major music services could not offer DJ mixes and unofficial remix content on their services".

He went on: "Although DJs were able to sample tracks during live performances, they were not allowed to legally distribute the recordings. Most of this content has lived in the shadows of unlicensed pirate distribution channels with neither the original artist, composer, nor the DJ getting compensated for their creative work. We are THRILLED to make this amazing new content available on Apple Music, as it will only enhance the listener experience on one of the largest music distribution platforms in the world".

Perhaps most interesting about Dubset's set-up is that the mixer also earns royalties in addition to the artists, songwriters, labels and publishers whose tracks and songs feature, which makes sense, though online curators have to date struggled to grab a cut of the digital music dollar. Quite how Dubset-delivered mixes are licensed, whether participating rights owners get a veto on a mix-by-mix basis, on what terms Apple pays, and how royalties are then split between all the stakeholders, are all things it would be interesting to know. We'll make sure to ask.

Mix makers interested in getting their mixes into Apple Music via Dubset can find out how it all works at www.dubset.com

CBS planning to sell off US radio business
Want to own an American radio station? Want to own 117 American radio stations? Then you are in for a treat, my friend. US media firm CBS is planning to sell its radio business. What glorious times we live in.

The company is planning to sell - or spin off into a standalone entity - its network of US stations because the radio advertising market remains challenging. Traditional radio faces new(ish) competition from satellite radio set-up Sirius, personalised radio services like Pandora, and other online music platforms, especially as the internet reaches more and more cars.

CBS boss Leslie Moonves told investors that he was considering the sale or spin-off of CBS Radio at an investor day in New York. Flogging off radio would enable the firm to focus on "content production and digital endeavours", he said, which could "unlock" more value for shareholders. Fun times.

But don't be expecting to be able to buy CBS Radio on eBay right away. "We will begin to explore strategic options", Moonves said, according to Reuters. "We will be prudent and judicious. We will take our time to make sure that we do it right".

Yeah, being prudent and judicious! If I was going to explore strategic options, that would be my approach too. I just don't have any radio stations to prudently and judiciously sell off at the moment.

All Saints announce first UK tour for fifteen years
All Saints have announced their first UK headline tour for over a decade and a half. The delay between road trips was caused, of course, by them not existing for a while.

While existence (or a lack thereof) is no longer an issue for the Saints, you might wonder if they can all still sing. Well that's an easy question to answer. Check out this statement they all sang together to announce the tour: "We couldn't be more excited to be heading out on the road to perform across the UK this October".

And now the chorus: "Playing live is our favourite thing to do as a band and we can't wait to perform all our hits plus some new tracks from [upcoming new album] 'Red Flag'. It's incredible to think our last proper tour was over fifteen years ago. So we've been waiting for this moment for a very long time. From the feedback we've read online it seems like A LOT of our fans have been anxiously waiting too. We can't wait to get out there and see everyone".

Lovely stuff. You could also check out new single 'One Strike', or hang around for 'Red Flag', which is out on 8 Apr.

Here are those tour dates, tickets for which will be available on Friday:

6 Oct: Newcastle, Academy
7 Oct: Glasgow, Academy
8 Oct: Manchester, Academy
10 Oct: Bournemouth, Academy
11 Oct: Liverpool, Academy
13 Oct: London, Brixton Academy
14 Oct: Birmingham, Academy
15 Oct: Sheffield, Academy
17 Oct: Southend, Cliff Pavilion
18 Oct: Norwich, UEA

They're also playing at Koko in Camden on 4 Apr, but that's not important right now.

Universal Music Publishing, Kobalt, Deadmau5, more

Other notable announcements and developments today...

• Alexandra Lioutikoff is the new EVP for Latin Music at Universal Music Publishing. She will lead the major's regional Latin American and US Latin operations from Miami. Universal Music Publishing chief Jody Gerson is "THRILLED" to have the former ASCAP exec on the staff. Lioutikoff, meanwhile, is "THRILLED" with her new job.

• If your money was on Jesse Willoughby to be promoted to the role of General Manager for Kobalt's Nashville division, then you make bets on weird shit. Still, Willoughby is "incredibly grateful" for the promotion.

• Tidal shareholder Deadmau5 is, erm, joining Apple's Beats 1 to front a weekly radio show called Mau5trap Presents. Awkward handshakes all round! Maybe he reckons no one actually listens to Beats 1 so none of Team Tidal will notice. If there's anyone left in Team Tidal, that is.

• Spotify has headhunted a top legal brain from Microsoft to be its New York-based general counsel. Horacio Gutierrez will take over the streaming service's legal affairs from next month. I'm thinking there might be some interesting things in his in-tray on day one.

• Music Week this week published its annual 30 Under 30 list, which is always interesting to look at. Though after noting the lack of ethnic diversity on that list, both DJ Semtex and Complex magazine published alternatives. The 90 Under 90 if you like. Music Week Editor Mark Sutherland then responded to the criticism.

• Michelle Obama's previously reported keynote at this year's SXSW music conference will also feature discussion with Missy Elliott, Diane Warren, Sophia Bush and Queen Latifah. The Parkwood Entertainment-signed Halle and Chloe Bailey will open the show with a song too.

• The death of Keith Emerson has been officially ruled a suicide, following the publication of the County Of Los Angeles coroner's report on the incident. As previously reported, Emerson was found dead at his Santa Monica home last Friday.

• Amon Amarth have premiered the video for 'At Dawn's First Light', taken from their latest album 'Jomsviking'. You can catch the band live at The Underworld in Camden on 22 Mar.

• Wild Belle have made available the video for 'Throw Down Your Guns'. The song is the first single from their second album, which will be out on 15 Apr.

• The full line-up for a tribute show to Viola Beach has been announced. The Coral, Liam Fray, The Kooks, Blossoms, Eliza And The Bear, Hidden Charms, The Vryll Society, The Strawberries and Psyblings will all perform in memory of the band at Warrington Parr Hall on 2 Apr.

• The line-up for this year's Somerset House Summer Sessions shows, which will run from 7-17 Jul, has been announced. Among those performing will be Everything Everything, Courtney Barnett, Benjamin Clementine, and St Germaine. Full details here.

• The Manic Street Preachers are going to play at of those Eden Sessions on 9 Jul. "Without doubt", says Eden Project Marketing Director Rita Broe.

Son of Malcolm McLaren to burn £5 million punk collection
Joe Corré, the son of Malcolm McLaren and Vivienne Westwood, has announced plans to burn his collection of punk memorabilia in protest at what he sees as a state-sanctioned celebration of the 40th anniversary of the musical movement. Corré claims that the collection is worth over £5 million. Because nothing says 'anti-establishment' like a man with vast personal wealth wilfully destroying a minor asset.

Still, he has a point. This year's Punk London campaign of events, funded by lottery money and supported by the Mayor of London, does seem to make something of a mockery of what punk stood for in the first place.

"The Queen giving 2016, the Year Of Punk, her official blessing is the most frightening thing I've ever heard", says Corré, co-founder of the Agent Provocateur lingerie brand. "Talk about alternative and punk culture being appropriated by the mainstream. Rather than a movement for change, punk has become like a fucking museum piece or a tribute act".

You could argue that, if history is written by the winners, then the fact that punk is now a celebrated part of our history is a positive thing. Or you could assume that the establishment likes to hold it up as an example of how little anyone can achieve, regardless of how much they shout about it.

Corré reportedly continues: "A general malaise has now set in amongst the British public. People are feeling numb. And with numbness comes complacency. People don't feel they have a voice anymore. The most dangerous thing is that they have stopped fighting for what they believe in. They have given up the chase. We need to explode all the shit once more".

The rich man with nothing to lose will set fire to some stuff he found lying around the place in Camden on 26 Nov, the 40th anniversary of The Sex Pistols' 'Anarchy In The UK' single. He invites others to set fire to their punk-related valuables too. I'm sure the Queen is quaking in her boots.