In today's CMU Daily: Another round of restructuring at a major record company, this time it’s Warner Music. In a global revamp of its recorded music business, more execs will be reporting directly into CEO Robert Kyncl. The major’s current chief of Recorded Music, Max Lousada, is stepping down, while Elliot Grainge is promoted to CEO of Atlantic Music Group

One Liners: Universal Pictures planning Britney biopic, new B-unique label, SM Entertainment unveil British boy band, Believe financials, Bryan Adams launches Bad Records, legal dispute between Journey members, Garbage cancel rest of tour, latest releases + more

Also today: RIAA responds to Suno and Udio’s legal filings, says AI companies have made a “major concession”; one third of Roc-A-Fella up for auction, but you might be bidding against Jay-Z

Warner Music overhauls recordings division: Max Lousada out, Eilliot Grainge promoted

Warner Music has announced a significant restructure of its recorded music business, which will see Max Lousada depart, more execs reporting directly into CEO Robert Kyncl, and UK labels becoming more closely aligned with the rest of the company’s European operations. There’s also a promotion for Elliot Grainge, son of Universal Music boss Lucian Grainge, who becomes CEO of Warner’s Atlantic Music Group. 

Max Lousada’s role as CEO of Warner Recorded Music, a job he’s done for eight years, is being cut as part of the rejig. He will stand down in September but continue to advise the major through to the end of next January. “Max is a true artists’ champion who created a culture that puts artistry first”, says Kyncl about the departing exec, adding, “I'm grateful that he'll be helping to ensure a smooth transition”. 

Elliot Grainge allied his own company 10K Projects with Warner Music last year and took a place on the major’s leadership team in the process. In his new expanded role, which will start in September, he will oversee one of the two big label groups at Warner Music USA. 

The Atlantic Music Group already encompasses Atlantic Records and 300 Elektra Entertainment, and will now also incorporate 10K Projects. The other big label group, Warner Records, will continue to be led by Tom Corson and Aaron Bay-Schuck, and will also include Warner Music Nashville moving forward. 

With Grainge's promotion, the two current CEOs of the Atlantic Music Group - Julie Greenwald and Craig Kallman - will move into new roles. Greenwald will become Chairman of the label group, while Kallman will continue to provide creative and A&R expertise. Quite how responsibilities will be split between the three execs isn’t particularly clear at this point.

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Sentric Music // Revenue Optimisation Manager (London/Liverpool)

Sentric Music // Copyright Manager (Liverpool/London)

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ONE LINERS

Deals

• Universal Pictures has acquired the rights to Britney Spears' bestselling memoir ‘The Woman In Me’ in a deal reportedly worth eight figures, which is reported to include rights to use Spears' music in the film. 
• B-Unique has launched a new independent label called Artist Theory in partnership with former Parlophone executives Nick Burgess and Jack Melhuish. 
• K-pop giant SM Entertainment has unveiled Dear Alice, its first British boy group, part of a collaboration between SM Entertainment, BBC, and Moon & Back Media for the six-part reality series ‘Made in Korea: The K-Pop Experience’

Appointments

• Big Loud Records has promoted Jess Anderson to Senior Director Of Media, effective immediately. 

Labels, Publishing & Distribution

• Believe has reported revenue growth of 14.1% to €474.1 million ($511.9 million) for the first half of 2024. 
• Bryan Adams has launched independent label Bad Records with a double A-side single release in partnership with Platoon.

Legal

• Strife between members of rock dinosaurs Journey as keyboardist Jonathan Cain is suing guitarist Neal Schon over alleged extravagance during the band’s current 50th anniversary tour. 
• K-pop star G-Dragon, former member of BIGBANG, has acquired trademark rights to his stage name from YG Entertainment. 
• Joshua Jaramillo, a music producer, has sued the estate of late rapper Juice WRLD over alleged unpaid royalties for the 2021 song ‘Girl Of My Dreams’. 
• Skylar Gudasz, a North Carolina songwriter, has voluntarily dismissed her copyright infringement lawsuit against French Montana and Sony Music. 

Digital

• Apple has intensified pressure on Chinese tech giants Tencent and ByteDance to close payment loopholes in their popular apps WeChat and Douyin.
• Roland Corporation has established Roland Future Design Lab, a new R&D group led by Paul McCabe, SVP Of Research And Innovation. 
• The Fairly Trained initiative has introduced stricter certification standards for AI music platforms. 
• Google is developing a Spotify extension for its Gemini AI assistant, following its recent YouTube Music integration, according to findings by Android Authority. 

Live

• Broadwick Live has announced DRUMSHEDS' third season, featuring over 20 shows and 100+ artists from September to December 2024. 
• Garbage have cancelled all remaining 2024 tour dates due to an injury Shirley Manson sustained during their recent European tour, requiring surgery and rehabilitation.
• An outbreak of valley fever, a potentially deadly fungal infection, has been linked to California festival Lightning In A Bottle, with three attendees hospitalised.

Artist News

• Chance The Rapper has announced an immersive art experience in Washington, DC on 8 Aug, following successful events in Chicago, Atlanta and New Orleans. 
• Prince has been posthumously inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame following a 40th anniversary screening of ‘Purple Rain’ at Minneapolis' Target Centre. 
• A new Hulu documentary will explore a catfishing scheme that targeted Tegan And Sara fans.
• Aerosmith may produce new music despite their ongoing farewell tour, guitarist Joe Perry has revealed. 

Other industry news & events

• US collecting society the Mechanical Licensing Collective says that it has received widespread support during the Register of Copyrights' periodic review of its designation.
• UK radio group Global has reported record audience figures for Q2 2024, reaching 28.6 million weekly listeners across its brands.
• Tame Impala's Kevin Parker launched electronic instruments company Telepathic Instruments at the end of June, which  has now revealed its first product in a video. 

Releases & Tours

• Nicole Moudaber has collaborated with House Of Molly on new single 'Slap Back'.
• A$AP Rocky has released new track ‘Highjack’ featuring Jessica Pratt, from forthcoming new album ‘Don't Be Dumb’.
• The Offspring have released new single ‘Light It Up’ from upcoming album ‘Supercharged’, which is due on 11 Oct. 
• Illuminati Hotties has posted new single ‘The L’.
• Jake Blount is collaborating with bassist and composer Mali Obomsawin on a new album called ‘symbiont’, which will be released on 27 Sep by Smithsonian Folkways. From it, this is ‘My Way's Cloudy’ featuring Joe Rainey.
• Here's new Big Sean track ‘On up’.
• George Daniel, drummer in The 1975, has shared his debut solo single ‘Screen Cleaner’. 
• Grimes has remixed Sophie Powers’ ‘Obsessed’ and that remix has been released.

Suno and Udio’s training admission is a “major concession” says RIAA

The Recording Industry Association Of America says that legal filings from both Suno and Udio - the music AI companies being sued by the major record companies - include a “major concession”, in that both companies admit that they used - without permission - music owned by the majors to train their respective generative AI models. 

The trade body also, unsurprisingly, rejects the fair use defence presented in the new filings, while adopting a similarly forthright tone to that used by the AI businesses and their lawyers. 

Suno and Udio’s “vision of the ‘future of music’ is apparently one in which fans will no longer enjoy music by their favourite artists, because those artists can no longer earn a living”, an RIAA spokesperson says. Meanwhile, with their new legal filings, the AI companies “continue to deliberately misinform” and “misdirect” the public.

Damon Dash’s Roc-A-Fella stake to be auctioned off by US authorities, but buyers may be bidding against Jay-Z

Damon Dash’s stake in the old Roc-A-Fella Records label will be auctioned off later this month by the US Marshals Service in order to pay off a debt relating to a past legal battle and failed film project. 

The label still controls Jay-Z’s debut album ‘Reasonable Doubt’, which means the successful bidder will in essence get a 33% stake in the copyright in that recording. Although sources speaking to Billboard have cautioned that, because its shares in the label being sold, not a slice of the copyright itself, any buyer will be subject to the company’s by-laws, restricting what they can do with the album. 

Roc-A-Fella is currently owned by its three co-founders, Dash, Jay-Z - real name Shawn Carter - and Kareem ‘Biggs’ Burke. When the hype around NFTs was peaking in 2021, Dash tried to sell his stake via an NFT drop, but the sale was successfully blocked by Carter and Burke through the courts. Which was just as well for Josh Webber, the movie producer who had a business partnership with Dash for a time, which ultimately fell apart.