In today’s CMU Daily: An open letter signed by more than 600 musicians strongly criticises a lawsuit filed by Universal and Sony against the Internet Archive. It says the majors should work with the non-profit on archiving old recordings. The letter also sets out various grievances about the state of the music industry

Also today: TikTok wants a Washington DC court to delay a 19 Jan deadline for owner ByteDance to sell the app, so it can take its battle against the law that set that deadline to the Supreme Court. The US government says that’s not necessary because the Supreme Court itself can pause the deadline if required

Plus: Indie label House Anxiety has been sued by Bad Boy Chiller Crew who say they are owed around £400,000 in unpaid royalties, a claim the label says it “totally refutes”. It follows a dispute earlier this year when House Anxiety said the group self-releasing new music breached their record contract

CMU Approved: Monobloc

Corporate profiteering is destroying music history says letter signed by 600+ musicians demanding majors drop Internet Archive lawsuit

“The music industry is not struggling anymore - only musicians are”, declares a scathing open letter signed by over 600 musicians - including Tegan And Sara, Amanda Palmer and Cadence Weapon.

The letter demands immediate action from record labels, streaming platforms, ticketing companies and venues to protect musicians’ livelihoods and music history, while also taking aim at Live Nation, Spotify, the major labels and the equity funds buying up music rights,

At its core is opposition to what they call an “unjust lawsuit” filed by Universal Music, Sony Music and Concord against the Internet Archive’s Great 78 Project.

“We don’t believe that the Internet Archive should be destroyed in our name”, they write, adding that, “artists and labels alike should partner with valuable cultural stewards like the Internet Archive - not sue them. It’s time to support non-profit music preservation to ensure that our music and our stories aren’t lost to history”.

That lawsuit is part of a trend of normal musicians being “screwed over” by the “corporate profiteering” of big music companies, say the letter’s signatories.

Although “music industry revenues will exceed $100 billion” by 2031, it adds, “a disproportionate cut of those billions are made by private equity exploiting the back catalogues of legacy musicians, many of whom are no longer living”, while “working artists” get “as little as 12% of music industry revenue”.

The IA’s Great 78 Project has digitised and made available over 400,000 recordings that were originally released as 78rpm records. The venture, according to the majors’ lawsuit, is “wholesale theft of generations of music”, making IA liable for “blatant” and “immense” copyright infringement.

Not so, say the musicians, who state that “the music industry has a moral imperative to keep its history archived”, but that the industry itself can’t be trusted to meet that task. As a result, old records “are falling to pieces” and “without proper digital preservation, they’ll be gone for good”.

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TikTok’s attempt to delay ban is just a rehash of previously rejected arguments says US government

The battle over TikTok’s future in the US intensified this week as it filed an emergency motion with a Washington DC appeals court seeking to pause the deadline set by US Congress for owner ByteDance to sell the short form video app. However, the US government has now urged the court to reject that motion, arguing that TikTok’s latest legal manoeuvre simply repeats previously rejected arguments while downplaying serious national security concerns.

TikTok’s filing, “merely rehashes the assertions this court already rejected”, and gives “short shrift to the national-security harms” that Congress, the President and the judiciary “have now credited”, says the government in a court filing.

The government argues that TikTok’s reasons for requesting a deadline delay are not credible, nor are its claims about the minimal impacts delaying the deadline would have.

TikTok filed its emergency motion with the same court that last week rejected its challenge to the sell-or-be-banned law passed by Congress earlier this year, which it says is unconstitutional on free speech grounds.

Under that law, China-based ByteDance must sell TikTok by 19 Jan 2025, otherwise the app will be banned in the US. In its filing on Monday, TikTok asked the DC court to pause the 19 Jan deadline while it continues its fight against the sell-or-be-banned law in the US Supreme Court.

However, the government claims TikTok’s arguments in favour of pausing the deadline are mainly a “rehash” of points the DC court already rejected when considering the platform’s free speech challenge.

Bad Boy Chiller Crew sue House Anxiety for £400,000 in royalty dispute

Bad Boy Chiller Crew have filed legal proceedings against their label House Anxiety in the UK high court seeking approximately £400,000 in allegedly unpaid royalties.

The lawsuit also alleges breach of contract relating to royalty reporting obligations and claims that the group’s deal with the indie label, which released their 2020 mixtape ‘Full Wack No Brakes’, is now terminated.

The dispute over the status of the group’s record deal kicked off earlier this year after they self-released a new single and EP in June. House Anxiety insisted that that independent release breached its contract with the group, resulting in the new music being removed from Spotify.

Commenting on the legal action, the band told the BBC, “Like all other bands, we don't look for litigation, but when faced with a label that won't let us put our own music out ourselves for our fans and not pay us royalties owed from our own music, we felt we had no other option”.

🎧 Approved: Monobloc

Rising out of the underground of NYC’s DIY scene, Monobloc is a project born from the shared vision of vocalist Timothy Waldron and bassist Michael Silverglade, and a shared ear for merging pop sensibilities with a distinctly metropolis post-punk attitude.

Completed by Zack Pockrose on drums and guitarists Ben Scofield and Nina Lüders, Monobloc excels at delivering music that feels warm and wistful, almost nostalgic, without losing its edge.Their latest single, ‘Take Me’, serves as both the final release of their breakthrough year and a defining statement for the band.

As frontman Waldron explains, “Musically, ‘Take Me’ was written around the time we were exploring Phil Spector’s Wall Of Sound - massive songs that weren’t just drenched in reverb but built with well-placed illusions. We wanted a song for a room we’re not yet big enough to play. A goalpost”.

“Lyrically”, he adds, “it’s a confession from someone knowingly drinking the Kool-Aid: ‘Take me where you want me. I want to be your fool’. It transitions from desperate shouts into the void to a laid-back, tongue-in-cheek croon”.

‘Take Me’ captures the sound of a band finding its footing and setting their sights high.

🎧 Watch the visualiser for ‘Take Me’ here