Ninja Tune // Marketing Assistant (London/Hybrid)

Erased Tapes Records // Label & Production Manager (London)

ICE Licensing // Senior DSP Audit & Assurance Manager (London)

ICE Licensing // DSP Audit and Assurance Manager (London)

Nonclassical // Executive Director (London)

Today's music business news

TOP STORY

Competition law expert raises concern about Spotify's new two-tier payment system

A competition law expert has written to Spotify boss Daniel Ek to express concern about the company's plan to introduce a two-tier payment system, so that tracks on the streaming platform will need to meet a threshold in order to earn any royalties.

The plan means that tracks which currently collectively receive about 0.5% of the monies paid by Spotify to the music industry will earn nothing, with that money allocated to more popular tracks instead.

Amelia Fletcher, Professor of Competition Policy at the University Of East Anglia, writes in her letter: "Spotify’s ability to demonetise this tranche of music is exploitative and reflects the huge discrepancy in bargaining power between Spotify and these smaller business users”.

“The vast majority of these artists and labels really have no other option than to stream through Spotify”, she adds, “given its huge footprint with single-homing listeners, since this is a critical way to establish themselves".

Spotify's plan is a response to calls from the major record companies to evolve the streaming business model. Sources now say that the initial threshold a track must pass to be allocated any revenue will be 1000 plays a year.

Supporters of the plan argue that tracks that fall below the threshold are currently earning a tiny amount of money anyway and are likely made by "non-professional" artists who are not seeking to make money from their music.

The plan nevertheless involves the biggest streaming service in the world and the biggest music rights owners in the world agreeing and then presenting as a fait accompli a new model that diverts money away from grassroots music-makers to superstars and major corporations.

Fletcher is a musician and label owner as well as being an expert on competition law. Noting Spotify's dominance in a market where most consumers subscribe to a single music service - so they are 'single-homing' - she writes: "While the proposed demonetisation might seem like a small change to Spotify’s policies, I would argue that it is akin to Amazon simply deciding not to pay the many small traders that account for the last 0.5% of its revenues".

Pointing out that, once the plan is implemented, the threshold could increase over time, she argues that the new system is "not only discriminatory and exploitative of music creators, but also creates an unlevel playing field in the market for music creation".

Universal Music supports the scheme, she adds, "on the basis that it will 'reward real artists with real fanbases for the platform engagement they drive'. This is bordering on offensive. It fails to recognise that this ‘long tail’ includes a huge number of ‘real’ emerging artists, emerging genres and emerging small labels, as well as artists and labels who are culturally important in smaller geographic territories, ethnic groups or genres".

"It includes many musical seeds that have huge potential to grow into exciting new musical forces and change the future of music and culture", she goes on. "Demonetising these smaller ‘grassroots’ artists is clearly discriminatory".

Fletcher also points out that Spotify has long claimed that it “exists to connect creators with fans and empower creators to live off of their art". It is also busy urging lawmakers to tackle what it sees as the anti-competitive conduct of Apple and Google when it comes to rules around in-app payments.

"Spotify’s current proposal is at odds with these worthy corporate statements. Not only is it intrinsically unfair, but it is also anticompetitive and seriously risks constituting an abuse of dominance under UK and EU competition law".

Commenting on why she decided to send the letter, Fletcher tells CMU: “When I heard about Spotify’s proposal, it felt both unfair and anti-competitive to me. I was unclear how much it was a Spotify-initiated scheme, as opposed to them being bullied into it by Universal Music. But either way it felt like the thin end of a very dangerous wedge".

"I decided to write the letter as I am in a pretty unique position as an expert in competition policy who is also an artist and co-runs a small independent label", she goes on.

"As an artist, with a reasonably popular back catalogue, I might well benefit overall from this change. But the label would definitely suffer. We mostly release new bands, who are still building their profiles and fanbases. This change would severely dent the viability of these releases".

You can read Fletcher's full letter here.

ONE LINERS

The Pretenders, I Monster, 6 Music + more

RELEASES

I Monster have released their first new music in fifteen years, ‘The Weather’. “Originally titled ‘Sweet Day’, [the song] was rediscovered this year when archiving old I Monster material”, say the duo. “It was like finding lost treasure. [Vocalist] Tiana Krahn’s original lyric was written in the sultry heat of California 20 years ago. We have added some new music and lyrics from the perspective of Europeans dealing with the extremes of climate 20 years later”.

Valentina has released new single ‘Deadweight’. “The keys came first when I made this track and I think the wobbly, unstable feeling to them matched my mood”, she says. “Despite this, there is a hopefulness to this song, hidden somewhere in the feeling of the music. I like the way it has a summery kind of vibe, almost light and fun, and poppy against the dark subject matter”. New EP ‘All Are Lost’ is out on 1 Dec.

Delilah Holliday has released new single ‘Long Time Coming’. Catch her live at Hackney Social in London this Thursday.

GIGS & TOURS

The Pretenders have announced UK tour dates in February and March next year, including two nights at the London Palladium on 28-29 Feb. Tickets go on general sale on Friday.

Bruce Dickinson has announced solo tour dates in the UK next May, including a performance at the Kentish Town Forum in London. His new album and comic book series ‘The Mandrake Project’ is also out next year.

Fightstar have announced that they will play Wembley Arena in London on 22 Mar 2024, which will be their first gig in over eight years. “Next year marks 20 years since Fightstar played our first show in a tiny night club in Northampton, mainly in front of friends and family”, says frontman Charlie Simpson. “To be sat here today about to play our biggest ever headline show at London’s legendary Wembley Arena is something that is hard for us to comprehend”. Tickets are on sale now.

The Sherlocks have announced that they will play Don Valley Bowl in Sheffield on 7 Jun 2024. “It’s something that’s needed to happen for a while now and next year is the perfect time”, says the band’s Kiaran Crook. “We’ve got four albums under our belt now and the fans have taken this journey to the next level for us. It’s only right we repay them with a proper day out and a memorable gig that will go down in our own history”. Tickets are on sale now.

AWARDS

BBC Radio 6 Music has launched a new 6 Music Artists Of The Year prize. So that’s fun. The ten winners are: Blur, Boygenius, Christine And The Queens, Gabriels, Loraine James, The Last Dinner Party, Nia Archives, Say She She, Antony Szmierek and Young Fathers. “The line-up for the inaugural 6 Music Artists Of The Year is just bursting with music talent, innovation and inspiration”, says presenter Lauren Laverne. “Huge congratulations to the acts who have all had an incredible 2023. I’m looking forward to following all your sonic journeys in 2024 and beyond!”

LABELS & PUBLISHERS

Will Page study concludes that total music copyright revenues in 2022 grew 14% to $41.5 billion

Economist Will Page has published his annual study on the value of the wider global music rights business, concluding that in 2022 "music copyright was worth $41.5 billion - up 14% from 2021".

For this study, Page first pulls in previously published data from IFPI and CISAC, but then fills in the gaps left by those reports in order to get the full picture of the music rights business at large.

"Labels made up most of the 2022 stack", he notes in a breakdown of the $41.5 billion, "with an adjusted $26 billion, and publishers directly licensed $4.1 billion; but the real story this year is the [song right collecting societies], whose collections topped $11.4 billion".

CISAC recently reported that society collections were up 28% in 2022. Though that was in part because of a post-COVID resurgence in revenues from the live and public performance of music. Given that some of the uplift on the songs side comes from a post-COVID revival, Page asks whether the continued growth of the music rights sector that we saw in 2022 is a blip or a trend.

"Three factors point to the latter", he then says. First, “live music today is far bigger than it was pre-pandemic, albeit lopsided in favour of stadiums and festivals". Second, inflation is often embedded into the blanket licences of the collecting societies, and there’s lots of inflation at the moment. And third, digital growth is also significant on the songs side, plus performance collections in 2022 were still below pre-pandemic levels, meaning there is more room for improvement.

He then notes: "The labels’ digital income growth shows signs of slowing down, especially in western markets. Yet, in what feels like an episode of ‘Tales Of The Unexpected’, this slowdown is being offset by the resurgence in adjusted physical income which has exploded by over $1 billion since 2020, thanks to accelerating demand for CDs in Asia and insatiable need for the ‘platters that matter’ in Europe and America. And this isn’t going to slow down".

You can read Page's full study here.

SETLIST PODCAST

Tech companies say fair use trumps copyright in AI

CMU’s Andy Malt and Chris Cooke review key events in music and the music business from the last week.

On this edition, big tech companies' insistence that training AI on existing content constitutes fair use under US copyright law, and the Grammy Awards' insistence that Christians do not swear.

LABELS & PUBLISHERS

IPO seeks industry and music-maker input on music metadata study

The UK government's Intellectual Property Office is inviting stakeholders from across the music rights industry to input into a study looking at music metadata.

The study has been commissioned as part of the ongoing economics of streaming work that was the instigated by the government following Parliament's inquiry into the digital music business. Among many other things, that inquiry considered metadata issues that stop many music-makers from being credited in the digital domain and also impact how songwriters get paid - if at all - when their music is streamed.

Earlier this year, companies and organisations from across the music industry signed an agreement on metadata, committing to try harder to get more data about songs and music-makers into the system when new music is released. The IPO has now convened two working groups to help the industry make good on the commitment, one focused on technical solutions and another on education.

The former is overseeing this study, which is looking at how metadata around a new recording is gathered and managed in different music-making scenarios, and what challenges need to be met in order for more extensive metadata to be routinely delivered to the streaming services with each new release.

Specific questions being considered include: “What ‘identifiers’ are used for works, recordings, writers and performers? What problems exist when dealing with incoming metadata? What works and what does not?”

The IPO says: "The Technical Solutions Group wants to hear from anyone in the music industry involved with music metadata. Interviews can be in person, virtually or by correspondence [and] the results will be anonymised".

Anyone wishing to take part in the study should email musicstreaming@ipo.gov.uk

LEGAL

Amy Winehouse estate sues friends of the late musician over auctions

The Amy Winehouse estate has gone legal over an auction of items that belonged to the late musician by two of her friends.

The estate says that while it also auctioned off some of Winehouse's belongings in 2021, in part raising money for the Amy Winehouse Foundation, it has concerns about Catriona Gourlay and Naomi Parry personally profiting from the sale of such items, both at the 2021 auction and more recently.

According to The Sun, the item that fetched the most money at the 2021 auction was a dress designed by Parry and worn by Winehouse at her final performance in 2011. It went for £200,000.

Confirming that it had filed a lawsuit with the High Court in London, the estate said in a statement: "In 2021, Amy's estate auctioned items from her life and career with 30% of the proceeds going to the Amy Winehouse Foundation. Two individuals sold a number of items at that auction and have retained the proceeds: the items were all Amy related".

Claiming that the 2021 auction and another earlier this year “generated six figure sums” for each of friends, the lawsuit also says that: “The estate has questioned how [the] items [they sold] came into their possession and has not had satisfactory answers”.

According to the Daily Mail, Gourlay and Parry are expected to dispute the estate's allegations, although neither has yet commented publicly.

ARTIST NEWS

Slipknot make “creative decision” to part with drummer Jay Weinberg

Slipknot have parted ways with drummer Jay Weinberg, citing a “creative decision”. Weinberg replaced original member Joey Jordison in 2014.

“We would like to thank Jay Weinberg for his dedication and passion over the past ten years”, say the band in a statement.

“No one can ever replace Joey Jordison’s original sound, style or energy, but Jay honoured Joey’s parts and contributed to the last three albums and we, the band, and the fans appreciate it”, they go on. “But as ever, Slipknot is intent on evolving. The band has decided to make a creative decision and to part ways with Jay. We wish Jay all the best and are very excited for what the future holds”.

Son of Bruce Springsteen drummer Max Weinberg, the musician joined Slipknot following the controversial departure of Jordison. As noted in the band’s statement, he appeared on three Slipknot studio albums: 2014’s ‘.5: The Gray Chapter’, 2019’s ‘We Are Not Your Kind’, and last year’s ‘The End, So Far’.

He has also recorded and performed with various other acts, including Madball, Against Me! and Hesitation Wounds, as well as standing in for his father on tour with Springsteen’s E Street Band in 2008 and 2009.

LEGAL

First Astroworld lawsuit could get to court next May

Yesterday was the second anniversary of the fatal crowd surge that occurred at Travis Scott's Astroworld festival in Houston, Texas. With the statute of limitations on personal injury cases in that state being two years, that means yesterday was also the deadline for anyone wishing to file legal proceedings in relation to the tragedy.

Ten people died and hundreds more were injured in the crowd surge, which occurred during Scott's headline set at the Live Nation promoted event he founded. Hundreds and hundreds of lawsuits were filed by those impacted by the incident, including the families of those who died, festival-goers who suffered physical injuries, and others who primarily suffered emotional distress.

With the two year anniversary and litigation deadline passing this weekend, legal news site Law360 has published a review of the proceedings so far.

Some of the families of those who died have settled their lawsuits, which mainly targeted Scott and Live Nation. However, others remain. And, according to Law360, the first case to get to trial will be a wrongful death lawsuit. That trial is currently scheduled for next May, though it is not currently known who the plaintiff will be. Possibly due to a wide-ranging gagging order previously issued in relation to all the Astroworld litigation.

Despite the gagging order restricting information about the cases, Law360 notes, citing court documents, that "as of mid-April, there were more than 1500 cases ... seven of which were wrongful death or survival claims”.

“Around 40 cases relate to serious injuries requiring surgery, with nearly 1000 relating to less serious injuries. A further 200 were filed by people with injuries of undetermined severity, while just over 300 relate to claims of emotional distress and mental anguish”.

With so many lawsuits filed, for each category of plaintiffs other than the families of those who died, a small number of 'bellwether cases' will be selected to go to trial, to test the likely outcome of all the other lawsuits.

There is seemingly a disagreement between plaintiffs and defendants as to whether there should be five or three bellwether cases for each group. Either way, there could be plenty of court time dedicated to this litigation in the next couple of years.

It will only be civil litigation that moves forward though. A grand jury previously concluded that there were no grounds for pursuing criminal charges in relation to the tragedy against either Scott or various executives involved in running the festival.

AND FINALLY

GHR listeners vote Bohemian Rhapsody best ever song yet again

Greatest Hits Radio listeners have voted Queen’s ‘Bohemian Rhapsody’ the best song of all time. Freddie Mercury vehemently disagrees with them. Yeah, you read that right. He thinks everyone who voted is an idiot.

With over 6500 votes cast, the Queen song topped the radio station’s annual best song chart for the fifth time in a row, with more people choosing it than the rest of the top ten combined. And let me tell you, that list is pretty strong. But, like Mercury’s views, we’ll get to that.

“Congratulations to the immovable ‘Bohemian Rhapsody’”, says Simon Mayo, who revealed the list on his GHR show on Friday. “It defined what an epic pop song can be and is also the only track I ever wrote about in my teenage diary, which sounds a little bit sad but is quite true”.

Wheeled in to talk further, Queen biographer Peter Hince says of ‘Bohemian Rhapsody’: “The video is arguably what helped it become so huge in Britain. And the other thing is that, sadly, Freddie isn’t around anymore and, it’s one of his legacies that piece of music, so is still something people find very emotional”.

“Also, nothing really had been done like it before and probably nothing since. With all the technology now it is easier to get certain studio effects, whereas with Queen it was all about spending enormous amounts of time and being incredibly innovative. So I think part of [its appeal] is in the fact that it took so long to do and it was this real labour of love for Fred”.

Despite that, Hince says that the song was not Mercury’s favourite. As in, not even his favourite Queen song. “Freddie actually said ‘Somebody To Love’ was a better piece of songwriting than ‘Bo Rap’”, he explains. “He felt that as a pure piece of songwriting it was better”.

So now we know Mercury’s view. But surely what you all want to know is whether or not Mayo agrees with the outcome of the GHR poll. And let me tell you, he does not. He also thinks that GHR listeners are wrong, wrong, wrong.

“If I could have voted, my number one would have been ‘Bridge Over Troubled Water’ - the first album I ever bought in the Bullring in Birmingham for £2.17 - an extraordinary vocal that I still love, so I was pleased to see that it only just missed out at number two”.

Well, I said we’d get to the rest of the list, and now Mayo has given away part of the surprise, we might as well get on with it. Here’s the full top ten: