In today’s CMU Daily: If you thought you’d managed to tune out the endless droning of budget coverage and analysis, think again. CMU tells you (almost) everything you need to know about this year’s budget, announced yesterday by the UK government 

Also today: Tidal is about to instigate a significant downsizing, with up to a quarter of its 400 employees facing redundancy; internet companies tell US government web-blocking orders targeting DNS resolvers can “fragment the global internet”; Megan Thee Stallion has sued YouTuber Milagro Gramz for allegedly publishing false statements and malicious content

Plus: JAGGED BAPTIST CLUB is CMU Approved

NTIA lashes out against minimum wage increase for hospitality sector workers as music industry comments on the budget’s impact

Budget day! Every political nerd’s favourite day of the year, replete with archaic traditions, including the right to drink booze in the House Of Commons, using a ratty old box made in 1860 to carry important government papers, and hours long discussions about who lives at which number of Downing Street.  Absolutely fascinating for everyone, but mainly because it lets you know how bad your financial outlook is going to be for the next year. 

Unless you fly around the place on private jets or have kids at a posh school, this year’s budget - for most people - didn’t deliver any nasty shocks. However, for many businesses the news was somewhat less rosy. In particular, the impacts of this year’s budget on parts of the music industry may be significant.

Given the UK government had been trailing most of the key bits of the budget since pretty much the day they took office in July, there wasn’t much yesterday that was a huge surprise. 

Everyone knew that national insurance contributions were going to go up, but yesterday’s announcement clarified the fine detail. This is likely to be the thing that has the most immediate impact on smaller music businesses and particularly those in London where median wages are higher than the rest of the UK. 

However, this was not a huge shock to anyone, having been trailed for some time prior to the budget announcement. Nor was the annual rise in the minimum wage, which will increase from £11.44 to £12.21 an hour from April 2025. 

That didn’t stop the Night Time Industries Association lashing out against the 6.7% increase for the UK’s lowest paid workers. In a statement sent out in advance of the budget announcement, Michael Kill, CEO of NTIA, said that the pending increase “feels like a distraction from the main budget”, before going on to say that “minimum wage hikes may seem like a win for workers, but for small nightlife and hospitality businesses already stretched thin, it’s at breaking point”. He then claimed that the result might be that night time businesses start “cutting shifts and jobs” so that companies can survive...

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Tidal to make up to a quarter of its employees redundant

Tidal is instigating another round of downsizing that will reportedly impact on up to a quarter of its employees, which is about 100 people.

According to Fortune, the CEO of parent company Block - Jack Dorsey - yesterday told the music streaming service’s team that Tidal needs to operate “like a start-up again”, which means reorganising the business so that it is run by a “much smaller team”. 

Dorsey wrote, “we’re going to part ways with a number of folks on our team”. Although he didn't state how many jobs would go, he did give an indication on which departments will be most affected, with the restructure involving the removal of the “product management and product marketing functions entirely”...

Internet companies say anti-piracy web-blocks “can fragment the global internet”

A coalition of internet companies has raised concerns with the US government about the use of web-blocking by courts and governments in various other countries, including as part of anti-piracy measures. They raise particular concern about web-blocking orders being enforced against so called DNS resolvers, something the music industry has been seeking in Europe in recent years. 

“Blocking at the global DNS resolver level is especially problematic”, says a submission to the US Trade Representative from the Internet Infrastructure Coalition. Interfering with the domain name system in that way, it adds, “not only restricts access but can fragment the global internet, jeopardising the trust and integrity of the DNS as a core global infrastructure”. 

The US government, it goes on, “should work with other nations to facilitate adherence to international norms that prioritise an open and secure internet”. That means reducing “the impact of site-blocking regimes”, supporting “cross-border digital trade” and preventing the break up of “the global internet”. 

The internet group’s submission discusses various uses of web-blocks in different countries, including by those governments that simply seek to censor what content their citizens can consume for political reasons. However, it also considers efforts to block access to specific websites on copyright grounds. 

Web-blocking has been an anti-piracy tactic of choice for the music and movie industries for many years now...

Megan Thee Stallion sues YouTuber over false statements, malicious content and deepfake pornography

Megan Thee Stallion has sued YouTuber Milagro Gramz for allegedly publishing false statements and malicious content as part of a campaign to “denigrate, belittle and insult” the rapper. 

The YouTuber, real name Milagro Cooper, is also accused of promoting a pornographic deepfake depiction of Megan Thee Stallion, real name Megan Pete, in violation of a Florida law that bans “altered sexual depictions” of real people.

Cooper’s campaign against Pete is connected to the conviction of Tory Lanez, who is currently in jail after being convicted in relation to a violent incident in 2020 during which he shot at Pete. The YouTuber, it’s alleged, is basically a “mouthpiece and puppet” for the incarcerated Lanez. 

“Enough is enough”, attorneys representing Pete say. Their client, they add, is “a victim of violent crime and champion of women’s rights to her millions of fans worldwide” and “will no longer stand for defendant’s campaign of harassment”.

Pete herself states, “I’ve endured countless attacks on my character based on false narratives from social media bloggers misrepresenting themselves as journalists. It’s unacceptable behaviour and these individuals need to understand there will be repercussions for recklessly posting lies and defamatory falsehoods”...

🎧 Approved: JAGGED BAPTIST CLUB

Self-described as “like Blur and Public Image Limited trying to cover The Rapture and Happy Mondays while Division of Laura Lee and The Vines throw tomatoes at them”, LA band JAGGED BAPTIST CLUB navigate the messy intersection of abrasive grit and addictive hooks with deft precision. 

Their latest single ‘Blow Dry Nation’, from their forthcoming album ‘Physical Surveillance’, sheds any illusions of polish, instead embracing a lo-fi, aggressive ethos that demands to be heard loud. With jagged guitar riffs, propulsive drums and frontman Blake Stokes’ sharp vocals, the track pulsates with an exciting sense of urgency and disillusionment. 

“Politics, sex, greed and ice cream all collide on ‘Blow Dry Nation’”, says Stokes. “What is a Blow Dry Nation?, if you have to ask, then you’re probably not living in one. But for the rest of us, it’s a nation where greed, selfishness, brutality and stupidity are the law of the land. Sound like anywhere you know?”

🎧 Watch the video for ‘Blow Dry Nation’ here.