In today's CMU Daily: Atlantic Music Group’s great big game of snakes and ladders continues, with seventeen promotions announced as Elliot Grainge preps to take over on 1 Oct. The new promotions are big, bold, brave, thoughtful, meaningful and dynamic. If only someone had thought to add demure. Next time, perhaps

One Liners: New releases from St Vincent, Bon Iver, GloRilla, Rahim Redcar, Chris Lake, Disclosure, Bad Bunny, Military Genius, Yseult + more

Also today: The Michael Jackson estate has begun legal action after a former associate of the pop star reportedly demanded a payment of $213 million to stop him going public with new abuse allegations; David Joseph, CEO of Universal Music UK, has announced he is standing down and is off to study religion and theology; The MLC urges a court not to dismiss its Spotify lawsuit; Live Nation has made another filing with the New York court where it has been sued by the US government over allegations of anticompetitive conduct

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Out with the old, in with the new: Atlantic Music Group annoints its new top team

Hot on the heels of Atlantic’s red wedding on Friday, and with barely enough time for outgoing execs to clear out their desks and be hustled into the lifts, the Warner Music US division has - in an announcement replete with buzzwords - unveiled its new “dynamic leadership team and structure”, which will “maximise Atlantic Music Group’s cultural impact”.

That dynamic leadership team includes a whopping seventeen execs, with “more appointments regarding department heads” to be made “over the coming weeks”, so you might want to hold off updating your address book for a little while yet.

This is all, in case you’ve forgotten, part of WMG boss Robert Kyncl’s project in which he and his fellow execs have been “thoughtfully working on how to evolve” Atlantic, including a new “flatter” structure, of which recent announcements have been part.

“This great label,” says new top dog Elliot Grainge, “has moved through a meaningful transition, and emerged with a world-class team, made up of ambitious innovators and veteran visionaries”. With alliteration like that, there’s surely huge hope for a fantastic future. Or, indeed, “a future filled with opportunity”, in the words of Grainge himself.

As part of that, “Elliot’s thoughtfully chose a team that combines a wealth of experience, a diversity of expertise and a commitment to excellence”, and has issued a laundry list of execs who have been upped to a raft of very impressive and important sounding job titles.

Those execs include...

Touring Coordinator – Europe // Allotment Productions SRL

UK Publicist // Cosa Nostra PR

Sales & Logistics Assistant // Snapper Music Ltd

The Music Works // Artistic Director

Account Director // DIABOLICAL

Senior PR Manager/Publicist // Infectious PR

Paid Media Manager // Playliveartist

👉 See all current jobs at https://completemusicupdate.com/jobs

Horizon is CMU's weekly newsletter that brings you a hand-picked selection of early-stage career opportunities from across the music industry. Whether you're looking for your first job in music or you're ready to take a step up, Horizon is here to help you find your dream job faster.

👉 Click through to see the current selection.

Former Michael Jackson associate wants $213 million to stop allegations of abuse being made public

The Michael Jackson estate has begun legal action after a former associate of the late pop star allegedly demanded a payment of $213 million to stop him from going public with new allegations of abuse. The estate has reportedly referred the matter to the US Attorney's Office in LA, basically accusing the former associate of extortion, while also filing an arbitration claim on the basis the new threat violates an earlier secret legal settlement.

According to the Washington Informer, estate co-executor John Branca accuses the former associate of seeking to “exploit Jackson’s legacy for financial gain”, adding that the man’s lawyer “even said to us, if you don’t meet our demands, we’re going to have to share these allegations with a wider group of people. It was a shakedown. Enough is enough”.

Jackson’s music and legacy has become a massive revenue generator under the estate’s management, with Sony Music recently agreeing a $600 million deal to acquire a 50% stake in the musician’s catalogue.

Lucian Grainge or God? Universal’s UK big cheese David Joseph is off to study religion

David Joseph, CEO of Universal Music UK, has announced he is standing down after seventeen years in the role and 26 years with the major. While any future plans within the music industry are not yet known, next week he starts studying for a master’s degree in religion and theology at King’s College London.

In a memo to staff, Joseph declares, “It has been an honour to work alongside you, creating something truly exceptional, a company that wasn’t only number one but also led with heart and creativity. We’ve done that together. This career, once impossible to imagine, has been a gift for which I'm deeply grateful”.

He then adds, “after seventeen years in this role, it’s time to step into something new. Next week, a new chapter begins with a master’s in religion and theology at King's College London’. But, “before stepping away”, he goes on, “there's one thing I need to say: ‘You’ve got this’”.

The MLC and Spotify’s legal back-and-forth rumbles on as MLC says Spotify is “relying on new purported facts”

US collecting society The MLC has asked the courts to reject an attempt by Spotify to dismiss its lawsuit over the big bundling discount dispute.

We already know the arguments of both sides in this bust up and the latest court filing from The MLC doesn’t add anything to that. However, the collecting society insists that the complaints set out in its lawsuit cannot, as Spotify claims, be dismissed at this stage without full scrutiny.

The MLC says that, in the motion it filed last month, Spotify failed to meet the legal standard necessary for dismissal, first by “disregarding or mischaracterising well-pleaded allegations”, then by “relying on new purported facts outside of the complaint”, and finally by “making merits-based arguments concerning mixed questions of law and fact that are inappropriate for adjudication at this preliminary stage of this case”.

Live Nation says antitrust lawsuit is already “complicated enough” without the DoJ adding “legal theories”

Live Nation has urged a New York court to dismiss two elements of the lawsuit filed against it by the US Department Of Justice and a plethora of state-level Attorneys General.

It says that the DoJ’s claim that it created an “unlawful tying arrangement” between its amphitheater venues and concert promotions business is “legally defective”. Meanwhile attempts by the US states to secure damages for their citizens should fail because those citizens haven’t suffered any “discernible injury” from the live giant’s alleged anticompetitive conduct.

“This case will be complicated enough”, Live Nation says in its court filing, going on to add that the judge should dismiss these two elements now so that - as both sides move into the discovery phase - they don’t have to concern themselves with “extraneous claims that fail as a matter of law”.

The DoJ accuses Live Nation and its Ticketmaster subsidiary of exploiting their dominance of the US live entertainment market in ways that violate antitrust law.

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