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A guide to upcoming events from and involving CMU, including seminars, masterclasses and conference sessions from CMU Insights and workshops from CMU:DIY, plus other events where CMU journalists are speaking or moderating. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Apple proposes simpler system for paying song royalties in the US (which by pure coincidence screws over Spotify) The payment of publishing royalties on streams is complex, of course, because a stream exploits both the mechanical and performing rights of the copyright, and these two elements have traditionally been licensed separately in the music publishing domain. (On the sound recordings side, labels control both elements and license direct). In many countries publishers and their collecting societies have made efforts to provide streaming services with a combined mechanical/performing rights licence, but that's not possible in the US, where rules stop the big performing rights organisations from collecting mechanicals. So usually BMI and ASCAP collect performing royalties at rates ultimately set by the rate courts, while mechanicals are often paid (or not, as the case may be) direct to the publishers under the compulsory licence that's available in the US. There is added complexity in that streaming services are usually on revenue share arrangements with music rights owners, although in most cases there are minimum guarantees for labels and publishers on top of that. Either way, it's complicated, varies around the world, and in the US gets further mangled by the rate courts or the aforementioned Copyright Royalty Board often deciding what's paid. So, let's cut all that nonsense, and just say that streaming services pay songwriters and publishers 9.1 cents per hundred streams? Anything else, Apple? Oh yes, that set rate would be the same for free and premium streaming platforms, thus utterly fucking up Spotify's freemium level. Ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha. That's not me laughing. That's Apple boss Tim Cook. And it's an evil laugh too. I mean, I know he looks all cuddly and harmless but, hey, he runs Apple, he's clearly an evil motherfucker. "An interactive stream has an inherent value regardless of the business model a service provider chooses", writes Apple into its submission to the CRB's current review of streaming royalties, which was seen by the New York Times. Of course, any new system that may or may not be put in place by the CRB to simplify the licensing of song rights in the streaming domain would only apply in the US, and only to those services utilising the collective and/or compulsory licensing system. Although songwriters and publishers are currently obliged to license streaming services that way, it's a one way obligation, and services can circumvent that system and do direct deals with the publishers if they want. You know, like Apple did. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Fugees' Pras Michel sues Showtime over Haitian presidency documentary broadcast The film follows Haitian popstar Michel 'Sweet Micky' Martelly's successful bid to become president of the country in 2011, with was supported by the musician. The story coincides with the ex-Fugee's former bandmate Wyclef Jean's own failed bid for the post. Michael now says that Showtime is airing the film and making it available to stream online, despite a licensing agreement never actually being signed. "Despite multiple demands by plaintiff to cease the unauthorised exploitation of the Sweet Micky film, Showtime has refused", states the lawsuit, according to The Hollywood Reporter. "Instead, Showtime relies on a licence agreement that was never signed by Plaintiff to justify its blatant copyright infringement". Since April, the lawsuit claims, the film has been broadcast on TV fifteen times, while the number of online streams is unclear. Michel says that this is hindering his ability to sell the film to other third parties. As well as damages, he is seeking an injunction to block the broadcaster from exploiting the film any further. -------------------------------------------------- Lil Wayne sued by American Express According to TMZ, court documents filed last week claim that the amount of $86,396.75 has been outstanding since December last year. The finance firm is demanding that the rapper pay the full amount and cover its legal costs. This is the latest in a string of recent lawsuits for Wayne, in which he has been both the suer and the sued. In March this year, he sued Universal over unpaid royalties, which was the latest twist in a long-running legal dispute with Cash Money Records. Neither the rapper nor American Express has commented on this latest case. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Universal settles with vKontakte, signs on to legit music services As expected, Universal Music has finally signed on the dotted line to work with vKontakte on legit music services, and in doing so the mega-major ends its long running litigation against the social media firm. At one point all three major record companies were suing vKontakte, which was a definite contender for enemy number one in music industry circles for a while, it having long turned a blind eye to the rampant copyright infringement occurring on its networks. But Sony called off its lawsuit having reached a 'goodwill agreement' with the tech firm just under a year ago, while Warner settled in April. The various deals will actually see the majors work with vKontakte on a number of different music ventures, including, presumably, the social media firm's recently launched music app. And those ventures will go beyond vKontakte itself, involving other platforms owned by the Mail.ru Group, the Russian internet firm that took complete ownership of the social network in 2014. As with the Warner deal, the Universal settlement also involves an alliance with a company called the United Music Agency, which seems to be aggregating the music content to be distributed via Mail.ru's channels. And as with both the Sony and Warner deals, there seems to be some flexibility in the new Universal alliance to allow the tech firm to experiment with various music service models, albeit while paying the majors the multi-million dollar advances they like so much. Confirming that the biggest of the world's record companies was now finally on board, the Chairman of the Mail.ru Group, Dmitry Grishin, said on Friday: "Our partnership with the leading rights holders will take the Russian music market to a whole new level and allow us to offer users the best music from around the world through existing and new digital products". Meanwhile vKontakte CEO Boris Dobrodeyev added: "Following extensive negotiations, we have agreed terms with all of the major music rights holders, enabling us to draw a line under this process. This is a historic moment and a new milestone in vKontakte's history. Our constructive and mutually beneficial collaboration has put an end to earlier disputes with the record companies. Following the removal of legal barriers, we can now create new products based on vKontakte's music service that users will value". | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Sony Music's Ole Obermann reportedly heading to Warner Music Currently London-based Obermann, Sony's EVP Of Digital Partner Development & Sales, will move to New York to secure his snappier job title at the mini-major. He will report into Warner Music CEO Stephen Cooper in the new role, and will seemingly take over business development duties from the firm's Executive Counsel Ron Wilcox, who has been doing such things on an interim basis in addition to all his legal gubbins. Obermann joined Sony Music in 2006, moving into the digital team in 2013. The new job hasn't been confirmed by either Sony or Warner as yet. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Radio 1Xtra's Austin Daboh to move to Spotify Speaking to Music Week, Daboh said: "I've had an amazing journey at BBC Radio 1 and 1Xtra, and will miss the team greatly. Spotify is the future of music consumption and I'm excited to be joining as a Senior Editor - I look forward to working with my new colleagues in breaking emerging acts and helping music lovers in the UK (and globally) discover new sounds". Daboh, of course, joins former Radio 1 and Radio 1Xtra Head Of Music George Ergatoudis, who became Spotify's UK Head Of Content Programming earlier this year. And he's not the only former BBC radio exec jumping over to the streams, with Ergatoudis also confirming that former Beebers Dexter Batson, Rob Khan and Sara Sesardic are - or soon will be - doing curation type nonsense at Spotify HQ too. And, of course, Apple also nabbed some BBC talent for its streaming set up as well. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
CMU:DIY x Urban Development session looks at 'Getting Noticed' Writes CMU Business Editor Chris Cooke in his pre-event blog: "So, you've written the songs, you've recorded some tracks, your socials are sorted and you're starting to gig. Well done. What next? Well, it's probably time to try to get yourself onto the radar of the music media and the music industry". "Why?" he goes on. "Well, because, despite the undeniable power of digital channels and the social networks, so many musicians are trying to get noticed today that many music fans still look to blogs, magazines, websites and radio shows for a guide to which new artists and new tracks are worth checking out. And assuming you want to start forming partnerships with music companies, which you almost certainly do, they too are influenced by bloggers, journalists and radio DJs". "Of course, while media can help you get noticed by a wider potential fanbase, first you need to get noticed by the media, which is no simple task. Did I mention how many musicians are trying to get noticed today? Though there are plenty of bloggers, journalist and DJs out there who make it their mission to discover great new music, and great new artists, so there are people waiting to discover you, you just need to get your music into their ears". How do you do that? Well, Cooke has a few more tips in his blog post here, but the really good advice will come tomorrow evening from the panel: Sam Potts from Columbia Records, Simon Rugg from [PIAS], Tobi Oke from Complex UK and Jake Helps from Spinnup. Click here to book tickets. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Sziget's Dan Panaitescu dies A statement posted to Facebook on Saturday reads: "Tragic news has hit the Sziget crew this morning. Our colleague and friend, Dan Panaitescu, who has worked on Sziget and all of our festivals from the very beginning, and who is one of the most well-known promoters, died in a car accident last night". "We have always envied him for not getting older, but we have never ever thought that he would not get old", it continues. "For hours now we are receiving condolences from musicians, managements, agencies and bookers from all over the world. The whole festival industry is grieving. Dan was an acknowledged professional, a great colleague, our friend and a caring father to two children". This year's Sziget festival is due to take place in Budapest on 10-17 Aug, headlined by Rihanna, Muse, David Guetta, Hardwell, The Chemical Brothers, Manu Chao, Sigur Rós and Noel Gallagher's High Flying Birds. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Suicide's Alan Vega dies Saying that the musician "passed peacefully in his sleep", the statement went on to remember Vega as "the quintessential artist on every imaginable level". "His entire life was devoted to outputting what his vision commanded of him", it went on. "Alan's life is a lesson of what it is to truly live for art. The work, the incredible amount of time required, the courage to keep seeing it and the strength to bring it forth - this was Alan Vega". Born Alan Bermowitz in New York in 1938, Vega formed Suicide with multi-instrumentalist Martin Rev in 1970. The duo released their debut album, 'Suicide', in 1977, going on to become widely influential on bands up to the present day. Vega also worked with Andrew Eldritch of The Sisters Of Mercy under the name The Sisterhood and released a number of solo albums. Suicide's fifth and final LP, 'American Supreme', was released in 2002. Among many tributes, Blondie posted a picture of Vega and Rev with Debbie Harry in the mid-1970s to Facebook, saying that Vega's "innovations will be missed". Peaches said that Vega was "a huge influence on me and my idea of synth punk music", while Zola Jesus said that he was "one of my biggest heroes and musical influences". And former Majical Cloudz frontman Devon Welsh uploaded a previously unreleased song written about Vega to his Bandcamp profile after learning the news of his death, saying: "Suicide has been very inspiring and influential to me ever since I first heard their music. I made this song in 2011 but never released it, I feel like posting it as a small tribute". | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
MIA dropped from Afropunk London line-up As previously reported, comments about the Black Lives Matter movement made by MIA in an interview with the Evening Standard sparked controversy earlier this year. The musician suggested that she would pull out of the festival in a tweet last month, though this was followed by a statement from the festival itself saying that her set would still go ahead. "To us, the fact that MIA's comments sparked dialogue about a global view of the Black struggle is not a failing", said organisers at the time. "The debate is healthy and as people who have long been silenced, we refuse to participate in silencing of other voices". However, in a new statement last week, they said: "We are excited and honoured to do our first Afropunk Festival in London and want to do it right. After discussing the situation with the artist and the community, a decision was agreed upon by all involved that MIA will no longer headline Afropunk London". A replacement is due to be announced tomorrow, along with the next wave of acts on the line-up. The event itself will take place on 24 Sep at Alexandra Palace. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Alice Cooper to simultaneously stand for UK PM and US President In fact, although unorthodox, Cooper has gone pretty old school with his campaign by setting out some actual policies. Remember policies? No, me neither. But here are all eight of his: 1. Getting Brian Johnson back in AC/DC Although I'm not sure about this plan for snakes and pots, it's certainly the most well thought out and achievable political campaign we've seen recently. Also, Cooper doesn't have to contend with the problem of musicians complaining about him using their music, as he's just gone ahead and re-recorded his 1972 hit 'Elected'. "Alice Cooper is tired of the rhetoric - the mudslinging - the media frenzy", says a statement announcing the campaign. "Keeping his snake in his cage and the guillotine in storage, he is putting people before career. Alice Cooper wants to be elected. He is asking his fellow Americans, his British friends and all those around the world who are disillusioned with their leaders, to join The Wild Party". It adds: "Alice Cooper is tackling the everyday concerns discussed among his fellow woman and man - the ordinary, decent hard working (and rocking) people he meets and entertains every day while performing nearly 100 concerts a year around the world". More information (and a free download of the new version of 'Elected') at aliceforprimeminister.com | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Send ALL press releases to [email protected] - this is checked daily by the whole editorial team meaning your release will definitely get to the right person. For details of the training and consultancy services offered by CMU Insights click here - Andy and Chris are also available to provide music business comment, just email them direct. To promote your company or advertise jobs or services to the entire UK music industry via the CMU bulletin or website contact Sam on 020 7099 9060 or email [email protected] | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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