In today's CMU Daily: Kanye West and Ty Dolla $ign asked the Donna Summer estate if they could use a sample of ‘I Feel Love’ on their ‘Vultures 1’ album. The estate said no. The rappers recorded their own interpolation of the sample and used that instead. Now the Donna Summer estate is suing

One Liners: Chelsea Songs launch; Bella Figura, DiMA, APRA AMCOS appointments; Spotify is great, says Ek; Kate Bush <3 RSD; Key Production expands; sustainable disabled access; Black music exhibition; BRIT and IFPI awards; new music from Nick Cave, Cat Burns, Rachel Chinouriri, Knocked Loose, Les Savy Fav + more

Also today: Warner Music is working on a superfan app; UK Music calls on Jeremy Hunt to cut VAT on tickets to 10%
Plus: Supertramp co-founder Roger Hodgson wins a legal battle over sharing royalties (or not) with former bandmates

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Donna Summer estate sues Kanye West over “shameless” uncleared sample

The Donna Summer estate has sued Kanye West and Ty Dolla $ign for “shamelessly” including an interpolation of her song 'I Feel Love' in 'Good (Don't Die)', a track on their new collaborative album 'Vultures 1'. The estate says that it explicitly denied permission to West when approached about licensing the interpolation because it didn't want Summer to be associated with the controversial rapper.

"Summer’s estate … wanted no association with West’s controversial history and specifically rejected West’s proposed use of Summer’s 'I Feel Love'", the lawsuit states. As a result, it "unambiguously denied defendants’ clearance request. This unequivocal denial was communicated not only in writing, but also twice verbally over the phone".

"Despite this denial", the lawsuit goes on, West and his collaborators "shamelessly used instantly recognisable portions of Summer’s hit song 'I Feel Love' on their recently released collaborative album 'Vultures 1' and in recorded live concerts".

The Summer estate owns a third of the publishing in 'I Feel Love', with the rest managed by Warner Chappell on behalf of co-writers Giorgio Moroder and Pete Bellotte. The recording rights in the Summer track are controlled by Universal Music.

Representatives for West also approached Universal, seemingly hoping to sample Summer's track, according to the lawsuit. The label also declined permission, resulting in a new recording being made, utilising the distinctive melody of 'I Feel Love', but with altered lyrics. This “unauthorised interpolation” should still have been licensed, says the estate.

“West and his co-defendants used the song’s iconic melody as the hook for their infringing song and essentially re-recorded almost verbatim key, instantly recognisable portions of 'I Feel Love' using a singer soundalike to Summer", says the lawsuit.

Both Spotify and Apple Music removed 'Good (Don't Die)' after being approached by the Summer estate. However, says the lawsuit, "By the time Spotify removed the infringing song 'Good (Don't Die)' from its music streaming platform on 14 Feb 2024, the song had garnered over eight million streams in just four days, contributing to West overtaking the number one spot on Spotify’s list of most streamed artists".

With all that in mind, the Summer estate would like some lovely damages.

The Summer estate isn't the only party annoyed at an uncleared sample on 'Vultures 1'. As the album was released earlier this month, Ozzy Osbourne hit out at the inclusion of a uncleared Black Sabbath sample in the original version of the track 'Carnival'.

After the version of that track with the sample was played at a pre-release listening party, Osbourne declared on X that, "Kanye West asked permission to sample a section of a 1983 live performance of 'Iron Man' ... and was refused permission because he is an antisemite and has caused untold heartache to many. He went ahead and used the sample anyway at his album listening party last night. I want no association with this man!"

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ONE LINERS

Kate Bush, Seventeen, Spotify + more

DEALS

Veteran music publisher Eddie Levy - who was a founding director of ATV Music (ultimately bought by Michael Jackson and then merged with Sony) and later ran Chelsea Music (which he sold in 2019) - has launched new publishing company Chelsea Songs as a joint venture with Bucks Music Group. "This is a relationship between two indies coming together”, he says. “I think we will attract people who are less than happy with their current situation and are interested in a relationship deal rather than a money deal”.

APPOINTMENTS

Music rights company Bella Figura Music has hired Billy Millar - previously at BMG and Hipgnosis - as SVP Creative, and Chris Presland - who joins from AWAL - as Catalogue Project Manager.

The US-based Digital Media Association - which represents the streaming services - has appointed Colin Rushing as Executive Vice President and General Counsel. “I am THRILLED for Colin to join DiMA as we embark on our new strategy”, says CEO Graham Davies. “He brings all his invaluable expertise of US copyright law and a reputation for achieving consensus solutions. Colin’s knowledge of the US licensing system combined with his passion for championing streaming will be hugely valuable”.

Australian collecting society APRA AMCOS has promoted Karen Don to Head Of Membership. “I am very excited to be stepping into the position of Head Of Membership, which is such an important role, both within APRA AMCOS and the wider music industry”, she says. “I look forward to leading the organisation’s membership initiatives and service delivery, and am committed to championing the creativity and professional growth of our songwriter, composer and music publisher members”.

DIGITAL

Spotify CEO Daniel Ek has posted a video to counter the regular criticisms of the streaming service regarding the amount of money artists receive from plays on the platform. If three and half minutes seems like too much of your day to give up to that, here’s the thrust: There are way more artists hoping to make a living from music than the industry can sustain, but it’s not just the superstars taking all the cash - half of Spotify’s payouts go to the independent sector. He doesn’t discuss the recent move to freeze millions of grassroots creators out of the royalty pool entirely.

RETAIL

Kate Bush has been announced as ambassador for Record Store Day in the UK this year. “It really is a great privilege”, she says. “Isn’t it great to see how the resurgence in vinyl has taken the music industry by complete surprise? It had decided to leave vinyl far behind, but it would seem that not everyone agrees! I love that!” RSD is on 20 Apr.

Key Production has announced that it is expanding into Europe with a new division in Germany to be headed up by European Operations Manager Andreas Kohl. “I am absolutely THRILLED to be bringing the services of Key Production to the German market”, he says. “In a setup that is lacking in comparison pretty much in all aspects in Europe and the EU in particular, Key Production offers expertise and power in all fields of manufacturing vinyl, digital data carriers such as CDs, DVDs and Blu Rays, and first and foremost outstanding packaging”.

LIVE BUSINESS

Attitude Is Everything, Julie’s Bicycle and A Greener Future have published a new toolkit on how to make disabled people’s access to live events environmentally sustainable, based on a survey of live events and festivals last summer. Find out more here.

EVENTS

An exhibition documenting 500 years of black music in Britain - called ‘Beyond The Bassline’ - is set to open at the British Library in London on 26 Apr and run until 26 Aug. “The exhibition represents a timely opportunity to broaden our understanding of black British music and situate it within a historical conversation”, says curator Aleema Gray. “Black British music is more than a soundtrack. It has formed part of an expansive cultural industry that transformed British culture”.

AWARDS

Ahead of the ceremony this Saturday, the BRIT Awards has announced Raye as the winner of its Songwriter Of The Year prize. "I am so, so honoured and blown away, honestly, to be given this prestigious award for Songwriter Of The Year, it is my very first BRIT award and I will treasure this trophy very much”, she says. “I am so grateful to be recognised as a songwriter as this is a craft I am so passionate about and have been since I started my journey as a musician, and I'm very grateful to those who voted for me to have this award”.

K-pop boy band Seventeen’s ‘FML’ has been announced as the most successful album worldwide in 2023 by the IFPI. Second place went to another K-pop group Stray Kids with their album ‘5-STAR’. Both bands also have albums at numbers eight and nine in the top ten list. Taylor Swift, meanwhile, has five albums in the top thirteen. Greedy. Find out more here.

RELEASES

Nick Cave has released a cover of ‘La Vie En Rose’, the latest track taken from Jack Antonoff’s soundtrack to Apple TV+ series ‘The Look’.

Cat Burns has released new single ‘Alone’.

Rachel Chinouriri has released new single ‘What A Devastating Turn Of Events’, the title track of her debut album, which is set for release on 3 May.

Knocked Loose have announced that they will release new album ‘You Won’t Go Before You’re Supposed To’ on 10 May. Out now is first single ‘Blinding Faith’.

Les Savy Fav will release new album ‘OUI LSF’ on 10 May. Out now is new single ‘Guzzle Blood’.

Ho99o9 have released new track ‘A Machine Of’. A new album is due later this year.

CLT DRP are back with new single ‘Until You Showed Me’.

Supertramp songwriter defeats former bandmates in song royalty dispute

A Californian court yesterday ruled that Supertramp co-founder Roger Hodgson was within his rights to end a past commitment to share songwriter royalties with three of his old bandmates, because a 1970s agreement didn’t explicitly say it applied in perpetuity, meaning it could be cancelled after a “reasonable time”.

Both sides in the case said that the legal battle centred on greed, but there was a difference of opinion over who was being greedy. According to Law360, Hodgson's lawyer, Alan S Gutman, summed up at the end of a week-long trial by stating that the dispute is “all about greed”, adding, “This is about a pack of wolves coming after my client for a piece of the songwriting royalties - for the songs that he wrote, that came from his soul, that he developed".

Responding, David M Given - representing former Supertramp members John Helliwell, Robert Siebenberg and Douglas Thomson - motioned to the ageing musicians and said, "Pack of wolves? Do these guys look like a pack of wolves to you? This is about greed and keeping your promise".

Hodgson co-wrote Supertramp's songs during the band's heyday in the 1970s with fellow founder member Rick Davies. However, in a 1977 agreement the two co-writers agreed to share royalties generated by those songs with Helliwell, Siebenberg and Thomson.

All of the band's members who testified during the trial said that that agreement was reached to help the other three band members financially because - despite their success in the charts at the time - their label kept most of the money generated by their recordings. So at least they were in agreement about who was greedy back in the day. But who is being greedy now?

Helliwell, Siebenberg and Thomson received their cut of the song royalties for decades, but then the payments stopped in 2018. They sued both Hodgson and Davies in 2021, though Davies subsequently reached an out-of-court settlement. However, Hodgson and his company Delicate Music insisted that they could unilaterally cancel the 1977 agreement if they so wished, and therefore allowed the dispute to proceed to court.

Although it was a jury trial, a decision made by the judge as the proceedings progressed greatly aided Hodgson's case. Judge André Birotte Jr ruled that, because the 1977 agreement didn't state that the royalty commitments would apply in perpetuity, nor did it set an explicit expiry date, either party had the right to terminate the contract after a "reasonable time". It was then for the jury to decide if 41 years was reasonable. Which they did.

Speaking for the three musicians during the trial, Given argued that in perpetuity agreements are common in the music industry - or certainly were - and therefore it was understood that the 1977 agreement would be in place until the copyrights generating the royalties being paid to his clients expired.

Following the judgement, the lawyer told reporters that the "judge made a grievous error" in his ruling, adding "the duration of the contract should be implied to extend to as long as the asset is generating revenues".

Meanwhile, speaking to the media on behalf of his client, Gutman said, "I want to applaud Mr Hodgson's courage of his convictions. He believed very strongly as a moral imperative that this was the right thing to do, and that these are his songs and he wanted them back. And I think to correct a portion of the history with his legacy".

UK Music again calls for VAT cut on tickets ahead of budget statement

Cross-sector trade group UK Music has called on Chancellor Of The Exchequer Jeremy Hunt to use his budget statement next month to finally cut the VAT charged on tickets.

"Cutting VAT on tickets to 10% would be a vital lifeline and could mean the difference between saving and losing some of our most loved music venues, which are key parts of many local economies and communities”, says the organisation’s interim CEO Tom Kiehl.

"Reducing the tax burden will help boost investment at grassroots level and give local venues and economies across the UK a much needed shot in the arm”, he adds.

The music industry has repeatedly called for a VAT cut on tickets to be introduced, like that implemented during the COVID-19 pandemic. That would mean artists and promoters could make more money from each ticket sale without increasing the price the fan pays.

Currently, on a £24 ticket, £4.00 is paid in VAT, leaving £20.00 in the pot to be shared by artist, promoter and venue. If the VAT was halved, there would be £21.82 in the pot instead. And while that’s a small difference on each ticket, it results in decent extra revenue when, for example, 500 tickets are sold - because there would be an additional £910.

Artists, promoters and venues operating at the grassroots and even mid-tier of the live sector are struggling as their overheads surge but the cost of living crisis is already affecting the amount of disposable income people have available to spend on going out. The VAT cut, therefore, could prove to be a lifeline for many live businesses.

Earlier this month, the Association Of Independent Festivals launched its ‘5% For Festivals’ campaign, calling for an even more dramatic VAT cut to 5%

In its latest statement, UK Music contrasts the VAT rate on tickets in the UK with elsewhere in Europe. “At present, UK gig-goers must pay 20% VAT on their tickets - almost double the EU average (10.3%) and around triple the rate in countries like Belgium (6%) and Germany (7%)”, it explains. “The 20% rate is the third highest rate of cultural ticketing in Europe. Music lovers pay more tax on UK tickets than anywhere else in Europe, bar Denmark and Lithuania”.

"We urgently need to see some action from the Chancellor in the budget to support the UK music industry at what is an immensely tough time for many venues and for those working in our sector”, Kiehl continues. "Venues are part of a wide music ecosystem, which needs support in a number of important areas to help the sector grow and thrive”.

UK Music also lists its other priority issues ahead of the government’s budget statement on 6 Mar, including the need for more support in music education and music export, the extension of orchestra tax relief, and clarity on the copyright obligations of AI companies.

Setlist Podcast: The music business in 2024

In this special edition of Setlist, Andy Malt and Chris Cooke dive into topics covered in CMU's latest series of masterclasses, which look at the music business in 2024. We talk through key trends in streaming, copyright, AI and more.

🎧 Click here to listen - or search for 'Setlist' wherever you normally listen

Warner boss teases superfan app that will be "a cross-platform solution"

Warner Music boss Robert Kyncl has provided more information about the major's plans to better capitalise on the superfan opportunity during a conversation at Web Summit Qatar. He also again claimed that the majors - with their scale and global reach - are best positioned to help artists capitalise on the next round of digital opportunities.

In a conversation with Bollywood star Nora Fatehi - who is newly signed to Warner - Kyncl said, "I firmly believe in the power of the superfan, [but] it hasn't really been figured out. So something we're working on at Warner are these direct-to-superfan experiences”.

“I've assembled a team of incredible technology talent”, he added, “who are working on an app where artists can connect directly with their superfans - who are generally the people that consume the most and spend the most - and we’re focused on making sure that artists get data on these superfans".

Both Kyncl and Universal Music CEO Lucian Grainge talked up the superfan opportunity in their start-of-the-year memos to staff. At the time Kyncl wrote, “We need to develop our direct artist-superfan products and experiences. Both artists and superfans want deeper relationships, and it’s an area that’s relatively untapped and under-monetised”.

The direct-to-fan opportunity isn't new. Plenty of artists have generated additional revenues by selling products and experiences directly to the core fanbase, sometimes working with their labels on that activity. However, whereas in the past direct-to-fan often meant selling physical products to fans via an online store, many artists are now seeing opportunities to generate new income by offering superfans extra digital content and experiences.

One dilemma is deciding whether it is best to offer that content and those experiences via an existing digital platform - say YouTube or Spotify - and, if so, which platform is best.

Kyncl reckons that his company can provide the best solution for artists seeking to capitalise on all this, including helping deal with that dilemma. That’s partly because Warner has relationships with most digital platforms, and also because of the new tech teams he has been recruiting since joining the major at the start of last year.

“Music is omnipresent, it's everywhere", he continued. "Artists want to work with every single platform, they don't want to optimise just for one platform over another. So a solution like this for superfans has to be a cross-platform solution”.

“We, as a record label, are in a perfect position to do that”, he reckoned, “because we work with all of the platforms. Historically, we haven't had the technology talent to do this, but now we do. It's an exciting piece of work that will launch later this year".

The benefit of having scale and reach is becoming a common theme when Kyncl talks about the role of major record companies.

Earlier this month he told his investors that by representing a large catalogue of popular music - as Warner does, even as the smallest of the three majors - it has "more collective bargaining power when dealing with complex existing and new distributors and technologies”.

That scale, he added yesterday, is also important for capitalising on the superfan opportunity and for simply standing out in such a competitive music marketplace.

“We have a global infrastructure, with marketing and promotions teams in many countries", he mused. "That’s what it takes to create a global star, if you want to do it on a sustained basis. You need to understand the ignition cities or countries, and how demand on the internet grows”.

Stressing that Warner can collect and analyse data from across its roster and all the digital platforms to inform every release marketing campaign, he added, "That’s something only a large music company can do because of the global resources that we have. And I'm excited to keep investing into this expanding global demand for content”.