In today's CMU Daily: Anti-touting campaigners have reacted to an “astounding” exposé on a recent meeting of representatives of the secondary ticketing industry. The group of around 100 touts pledged thousands of pounds to lobby against Labour’s plan to introduce a price cap on the resale of tickets if elected to government

One Liners: HYBE sells SM shares; emPawa Africa, Eli Brown, Cheerful Music deals; Towersey Festival to close; FREENOW supports MVT; Pandora price increases; Transgressive, Amyl & The Sniffers, DIIV, Senses Fail, University Of Westminster shows; new releases from James Blake, Romy, Alien Chicks

Also today: TikTok ban battle fast-tracked through courts; Cox claims record label misconduct in latest damages appeal; Record performing rights royalties in Sweden

Campaigners respond to “astounding” report on the “sinister” lobbying plans of ticket touts

A group of UK ticket touts have committed £73,000 towards a lobbying campaign to fight the Labour Party’s plan to put a 10% cap on the resale of tickets. According to an investigation by Rob Davies at The Guardian, that financial commitment was made at an event in London involving US lobbying group the Coalition For Ticket Fairness. Attendees were told that if Labour’s plan is implemented “we are all fucked”.

Speaking to CMU, Adam Webb from FanFair - which campaigns against for-profit ticket touting or scalping - says, “The level of detail in The Guardian’s report is pretty astounding. It certainly reveals the true face of what we now commonly refer to as 'secondary ticketing', which is essentially a deep-seated collusion of interests between touts and platforms, all dancing to the tune of US scalpers and their investors. In this case, that’s the laughably-named Coalition For Ticketing Fairness”.

Although the recent event sought to put in place a lobbying scheme that could stop any incoming Labour government from implementing its proposed new anti-touting laws, Webb adds that touts and ticket resale platforms coming together in this way could actually rally public support for Labour’s proposals. “I suspect this self-serving lobbying effort will actually have the opposite effect”, Webb says, adding, “I truly hope so”.

Certainly Labour MP Sharon Hodgson, a long-term advocate of ticket touting regulation in Parliament, reckons that any move to employ Coalition For Ticket Fairness type tactics in the UK will only strengthen her party's resolve to get the price cap in place.

She told CMU, “Following fourteen years of my campaigning on this issue, I am immensely proud that Labour has decided to put fans first and include regulating the secondary ticketing black market into its election manifesto. It is therefore unsurprising that these parasitic touting websites are pushing back against these common-sense consumer-friendly reforms. However, I was shocked at Rob Davies’ exposé and just how sinister these websites have become in their recent lobbying of MPs and their staff”.

According to Davies’s report in The Guardian, the recent event was attended by more than 100 people who had each paid £189 to be there. Attendees heard from ticket trader Tony McGowen, who is now President of a newly formed UK branch of the CTF. “We are going to fight Parliament, we’re going to fight government … because if we don’t, bottom line is we are all fucked”, he declared.

Attendees also heard from two representatives of CTF in the US, Jason Berger and Scot Tobias. They explained that, in lobbying terms, it is easier to stop a law from being introduced than it is to get an existing law changed. Professional lobbyists could be hired in the UK to try to stop any new Labour government from going ahead with its anti-touting plans, they said, but getting that kind of support “doesn’t come for free”.

The unofficial resale of tickets for profit is regulated to an extent in the UK. New regulations - and the better enforcement of existing laws - have gone into effect over the last decade, usually in response to campaigning by the likes of FanFair and Hodgson.

However, last year those campaigners ramped things up by calling for an outright ban of for-profit resale in the UK, similar to a law now in force in Ireland. The Labour Party hasn't gone quite that far, but in March said that, if it formed the next government, it would put a 10% cap on the resale of tickets, which will hit industrial-level touts hard.

Neither the touts nor the resale platforms they use want any kind of price cap to become law. In terms of the platforms, The Guardian reports that the founder of Gigsberg has already committed £5000 to any lobbying scheme, and Tobias from CTF US said that Viagogo and StubHub are “committed to the cause”. Representatives from the separate StubHub International company and US resale platform Vivid Seats - which is apparently about to launch in the UK - were also reportedly in attendance at this month’s event.

However, with lobbying campaigns like this, the platforms don't usually want to be seen leading the charge, which is why you create organisations with names like the Coalition For Ticket Fairness. The touts would also rather remain anonymous, and - when speaking at the recent event - McGowen was keen to stress that those financially supporting the CTF UK campaign would not be publicly linked to any lobbying activity.

“No one in this room needs to have their name put near anything that we are doing”, McGowen reportedly said. “Everything is done through another source, so don’t worry about identities coming out, because it’s not something that anyone in this room wants and it’ll never happen”.

Although most of the specific backers of the CTF UK lobbying work may well remain anonymous, following The Guardian’s report anti-touting campaigners will be keen to spot and highlight any outcomes of those lobbying efforts. And, as Webb and Hodgson note, that could actually aid their campaign to get the 10% cap into law and properly enforced.

BSI Merch // Digital Content & Campaign Manager (London)

terrible* // Finance Assistant/Bookkeeper (London)

Secretly Distribution // UK Account Relations Director (London)

Republic of Music // Label Manager (Brighton Hybrid)

Domino Publishing // Copyright & Royalties Assistant (London Hybrid)

All Flowers Group // Project Manager (London)

Your Culture // Campaign Management Assistant (Brighton)

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ONE LINERS

SM Entertainment, Pandora, James Blake + more

DEALS

K-pop company HYBE has sold around $50 million worth of stock in SM Entertainment - roughly 3% of the company. Last year, HYBE got caught up in a battle to control SM with South Korean internet firm Kakao. It lost and ended up with a minority stake in the company. Following the share sale, HYBE still owns 9.4%.

Tekno has announced a new deal with Mr Eazi’s emPawa Africa company. The agreement will see the producer become a partner and investor, as well as bringing his own Cartel Music venture into the business. “This strategic alliance with Empawa promises to be a gamechanger for the African music industry and a beacon of opportunity for artists”, says Tekno. “We look forward to seeing how this partnership will catalyse the growth of emPawa Africa, its artists, and the broader African music ecosystem”.

Warner Music Canada has signed hip hop producer Eli Brown through a partnership with his own Loophole Records. “Our shared aspirations extend beyond reshaping Canadian music history to revolutionising the entire music industry as a whole”, says the producer. Sure.

Universal Music Publishing China has signed record label Cheerful Music to a global publishing deal, excluding mainland China. “International expansion is intrinsic to our ethos, and I am profoundly confident that our partnership with UMP China - with their expansive network and proven success - will propel our journey of internationalisation even further”, says Cheerful Music CEO Snow J.

LIVE BUSINESS

Celebrating its 60th anniversary this year, the Towersey Festival in Buckingham has announced that its 2024 edition will be its last. “Like so many other independent and grassroots festivals, we have faced too many forces outside of our control which have made it increasingly difficult to operate and survive”, say the event’s organisers. According to the Association Of Independent Festivals, this is the 42nd UK festival to postpone, cancel or close this year.

Taxi app FREENOW has announced its continued support for Music Venue Trust following a number of initiatives over the last three years. If passengers choose to round up their cab fare to the nearest pound, the extra money will now be donated to MVT. “FREENOW have already proved themselves to be great supporters of grassroots music venues and the broader live music ecosystem”, says MVT CEO Mark Davyd. “This new initiative takes our partnership to the next level, offering a chance for everyone to contribute to the music ecosystem”.

DIGITAL

US streaming service Pandora has increased the prices of its individual, family and student plans. The individual and student plans are both now up a dollar to $10.99 and $5.99 per month respectively, while the family plan goes from $14.99 to $17.99. “Despite the continual rise in music licensing costs, we have been able to maintain consistent subscription prices”, the company told disgruntled users, who were informed of the increases last month. “However, the current increase in our fees indicates how significant those licensing costs are”.

GIGS & FESTIVALS

Transgressive Records has announced a series of events this autumn to mark its 20th anniversary, including headline performances from Arlo Parks, Mystery Jets and Kokoko! “To kickstart our anniversary, we wanted to reflect the eclecticism and inclusivity of the company’s roster and culture by putting together some communal moments”, says company bosses Toby L, Tim Dellow and Lilas Bourboulon. Tickets go on general sale on Friday. Find out more here.

Amyl & The Sniffers will be in the UK for shows this November, including a performance at the Roundhouse in London on 15 Nov. Tickets go on general sale on Friday.

DIIV have announced a run of UK shows in December, which will follow two nights supporting Fontaines DC at London’s Alexandra Palace in November. Tickets on sale now.

Senses Fail and Saves The Day have announced a co-headline UK tour in September, kicking off with a show at the Kentish Town Forum on 24 Sep. Tickets go on general sale on Friday.

The University Of Westminster will showcase artists graduating from its music degrees at Signature Brew in Haggerston tonight. Set to perform are Duccbod, Temm, Whereslm, Svirgo19 and Bradley Jago. Free entry if you sign up here.

RELEASES

James Blake has released new single ‘Thrown Around’, his first since becoming a fully independent artist earlier this year.

Romy has released new single ‘Always Forever’.

Alien Chicks have released their new single ‘Qwerty’. It’s the second track from their upcoming debut EP ‘Indulging The Mobs’, which is out on 18 Jul.

US court agrees to fast-track legal challenge over TikTok ban

The US appeals court that will consider the legal case against the TikTok-targeting sell-or-be-banned law that was passed by US Congress has agreed to fast-track the proceedings. Given that the law gives TikTok’s China-based owner ByteDance until 19 Jan 2025 to sell the app or face a ban, all parties involved in the legal challenge agreed that a speedier than normal timeline was required.

TikTok itself and a group of TikTok creators are seeking to block the law, mainly by arguing that a sale of the app is unrealistic and a ban unconstitutional on free speech grounds. The lawsuits name US Attorney General Merrick Garland as the defendant. Earlier this month TikTok, the creators and Garland’s office all asked the Washington DC appeals court that is considering the legal challenge to “expedite briefing, argument and decision in this case”.

The court has agreed to a timeline pretty much in sync with what was requested. TikTok and the creators must file legal briefs with the court by 20 Jun, and Garland’s team at the Department Of Justice by 26 Jul. Reply briefs will then be submitted by 15 Aug. That will then allow oral arguments to be made in court in September.

In the proposed timeline presented earlier this month, lawyers said that they were aiming for a ruling by 6 Dec. Given whichever party loses the case will almost certainly appeal to the US Supreme Court, that will allow a little time to begin that process.

Lawmakers in Washington passed the sell-or-be-banned law over concerns that the Chinese government has access to TikTok user-data via ByteDance, something TikTok denies. Supporters of the law claim that ByteDance will ultimately sell TikTok, meaning it isn’t really a ban that will negatively impact American consumers.

However, ByteDance insists that, for technical, commercial and legal reasons, selling TikTok - even just within the US - isn’t an option, meaning, if these legal challenges fail, the app will be closed off to American creators and users.

Cox tells Fourth Circuit it should overturn copyright case because of record label misconduct

US internet service provider Cox Communications has filed another appeal with the Fourth Circuits Appeal Court in its ongoing legal battle with the music industry. It previously got the Fourth Circuit to force a review of the billion dollars in damages it was ordered to pay the record companies. However, it still quite likes the idea of paying no damages at all, and so is ploughing on with a second appeal.

This time the ISP wants the appeals court to consider some very specific grievances. In a recent legal filing, it explains that the issue here is alleged “litigation misconduct” by the record companies and “newly discovered evidence” which “reveals that the initial jury verdict was unfairly procured”.

Cox Communications was involved in two key cases testing the copyright liabilities of ISPs in the US. First, BMG successfully argued that Cox didn’t do enough to stop repeat copyright infringers among its customer base and could therefore be held liable for the infringement of its users. Then the majors sued making the very same argument and, in 2019, won the headline-grabbing billion dollars in damages.

Since then Cox has pursued various routes of appeal. Its first trip to the Fourth Circuit resulted in a mixed bag judgement, partly in favour of the ISP.

In 2019, Cox was found liable for both contributory infringement - having contributed to its users’ illegal distribution of music - and vicarious infringement - on the basis it profited from that illegal distribution. The Fourth Circuit ruled that there was only a case for contributory infringement, which is relevant because that would normally reduce the damages bill. To that end, the district court where the legal battle began now has to reconsider what damages Cox should pay.

While all that was ongoing, Cox also launched a separate appeal which is where the allegation was made that the record labels were guilty of “litigation misconduct”.

In order to hold the ISP liable for contributory infringement, the labels had to show that the internet company’s customers had directly infringed the copyright in their recordings. They did that with a hard disk of data gathered by anti-piracy company MarkMonitor, which related to music files that had been downloaded illegally between 2012 and 2014.

“The reliability of MarkMonitor’s system was all-important”, Cox states in its new filing with the Fourth Circuit. However, it claims, the ISP “was deprived of the opportunity to scrutinise MarkMonitor’s system fully”.

Such scrutiny, however, did occur when the record labels sued other ISPs like Charter Communications and Bright House Communications. That scrutiny, Cox argues, highlighted issues with the MarkMonitor data that would have been relevant in its case, and which should have been disclosed by the labels during its trial.

In the Charter litigation, Cox writes in its new legal filing, the labels “were forced to disclose a project they had commissioned from MarkMonitor in 2016 to re-download, from random sources on the internet, the songs purportedly reflected in the MarkMonitor database. Why commission such a project? Because MarkMonitor had deleted critical direct-infringement evidence: the original files on which its database was founded”.

That revelation, Cox claims, forced the labels to change their arguments in the Charter case. Those arguments were then not tested in court because that particular lawsuit was settled. As was the separate case involving Bright House.

Cox says that the revelations in the Charter and Bright House cases are sufficient to overturn the original ruling against it, citing Rule 60 of the US Federal Rules Of Civil Procedure. That rule says that a court can “relieve a party from a final judgement” for various reasons, including newly discovered evidence or misconduct by an opposing party.

However, when it made that argument to the district court where it fought the original legal battle, the judge who oversaw the case concluded that there wasn’t, in fact, sufficient grounds to overturn the jury’s ruling. The new evidence, he said, was “not material, nor is it likely to produce a new outcome if the case were retried”.

It is that conclusion that Cox is now appealing in the Fourth Circuit. “The interests of justice demand a new trial in which Cox will have the opportunity to test the labels’ evidence of direct infringement”, it concludes.

Setlist Podcast: “Spotify is not a business partner”, says NMPA boss

In this week's Setlist Podcast: Chris Cooke and Andy Malt discuss the battle between the music publishers and Spotify as it ramps up another gear, Sony Music's lawsuit accusing the Marriott hotel chain of “rampant” copyright infringement, and more.

🎧 Click here to listen - or search for 'Setlist Podcast'

Record performing right royalties in Sweden

Swedish performing rights organisation STIM has announced record revenues for 2023. It brought in 3.095 billion krona (around $291 million) last year, an increase of 14.2% on 2022. Distributions to rightsholders were also up by 20%, at 2.753 billion krona ($242 million).

“It’s fantastic to see the impact of Swedish music creation, as we once again witness record figures”, says STIM CEO Casper Bjørner. “Sweden’s songwriters and composers succeed year after year in creating and spreading music that is loved all over the world - they have truly found the magical formula”.

The biggest contributor to STIM’s income was digital, which increased 8% to 942 million krona ($88.6 million), making up 42% of the total for 2023. Income from music streamed internationally was up 27%. A key driver of this success, says Bjørner, is ICE, the digital licensing hub that was set up by STIM in partnership with PRS For Music in the UK and GEMA in Germany.

“The successes of STIM in collecting musician fees from around the world are largely thanks to ICE”, he says. “This has greatly benefited our rightsholders. Over a four-year period, ICE has collected nearly 50 billion krona from around the world”.

International revenues more generally are important for STIM, which operates in a relatively small market but - as Bjørner notes - has plenty of songwriters in its membership that enjoy success globally. Income under the international category was the second largest driver of revenue last year, accounting for 30% of the total.

Beyond digital and international, which brought in the vast majority of Swedish performance royalty income, broadcast revenues were up 8% to 382 million krona, income from music played in businesses such as bars and shops increased 13% to 227 million krona, and live performance revenue was also up 13% to 133 million krona.

STIM’s announcement comes just after UK collecting society PRS For Music also announced record figures for 2023. PRS obviously operates in a bigger market than STIM, and also has a membership that includes lots of writers who enjoy global success.

Therefore, unsurprisingly, total collections at PRS are significantly higher, exceeding £1 billion in revenues last year. Even though, with the UK repertoire, not all digital income flows through the collecting society, because - unlike in Sweden - many publishers have direct deals with the digital platforms.