CMU Daily 08.11.16: KickassTorrents man "like a drug broker", Musicians rally for Clinton as US votes

KickassTorrents man "like a drug broker" of piracy, says US government
The US government has responded to efforts by lawyers working for the alleged owner of KickassTorrents to have the criminal case against their client dismissed. United States Attorney Zachary Fardon rejects claims that Kickass man Artem Vaulin can't be held criminally liable for the copyright infringement he enabled, likening the KAT website to a "flea market" and Vaulin himself to a "drug broker".

As previously reported, Vaulin, who is Ukrainian, was arrested in Poland earlier this year at the request of the American authorities as the Kickass site was taken offline. Extradition proceedings are now underway, though legal reps for Vaulin are trying to have the case dismissed in the US courts, on the basis that the secondary or contributory infringement he may or may not be liable for is not a criminal matter under American law.

KAT, like most file-sharing apps and websites, did not itself distribute or host any copyright infringing content. Which is why file-sharing set-ups are usually sued for so called secondary, contributory or authorising infringement. But Vaulin's legal reps argue that while the KAT operation may be liable for that kind of infringement in the civil courts, the Americans can't use that liability to pursue a criminal case and extradition.

Fardon does not agree. He argues that when it comes to the charge of "conspiracy to commit copyright infringement", the distinction between 'direct' and 'secondary' infringement is irrelevant. "A defendant is accountable for any act of reasonably foreseeable infringement committed by any co-conspirator that furthers the conspiracy", he says.

And: "For the defendant to claim immunity from prosecution because he earned money by directing users to download infringing content from other users is much like a drug broker claiming immunity because he never touched the drugs".

Fardon then argues that the defence in the case are down-playing the role KAT had in encouraging and enabling music and movie piracy.

Far from being a simple neutral search engine, he says, "they sought out infringing material and trumpeted that to their users, targeting the infringement-minded with rewards and honours for posting torrents for copyright infringing material in order to blatantly promote and encourage the availability of entire categories of infringing works".

KAT, he continues, "enabled users to obtain copyrighted content from other users, including from the defendant's own servers" and therefore "functioned like a (lucrative) flea market for infringing movies, television shows, video games, music and computer software".

It remains to be seen how the US court now responds. Meanwhile efforts also continue in Poland on Vaulin's part to argue against America's extradition application.

Physical product firms Key Production and Modo combine
London-based CD, DVD and vinyl maker Key Production has announced a merger with Brighton-based Modo Design & Production, which specialises in devising creative packaging for entertainment and other products. The deal further expands the creative services Key can offer entertainment clients making physical product, it having previously merged with luxury packaging company Think Tank Media in 2011.

Confirming the merger, Key said this morning that the move "strengthens both companies' core business and expertise within the field of specialist packaging". While on more practical matters it added: "The alliance will take effect immediately and will not affect the day-to-day running of either business nor will this see any redundancies".

Key Production chief Karen Emanuel added: "I am very excited and proud to be working with Modo - they have already established themselves within the specialist packaging market and their knowledge and portfolio of clients is perfect synergy with our business. This also allows Key Production and Think Tank Media to expand into the market within the south of England and to better serve our clients".

Meanwhile Modo's directors, Henry Lavelle and Tim Bevan, said in a statement: "This new venture with Key Production is great news for our business and for our customers, as we bring together our teams of expert staff - who will continue to produce creative solutions to all their packaging requests".

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Faction Entertainment allies with Kobalt
Faction Entertainment, the artist management services business set up by INgrooves founder Robb McDaniels last year, has announced an alliance with Kobalt. Under the deal, Faction managers will, says the official statement, use "Kobalt as their preferred partner for publishing, label and digital distribution services, effective immediately". And it's always good to have a preference, isn't it?

"As Kobalt continues to expand its creative offerings and partnerships, we remain loyal to our mission of transparency, trust and innovation; this partnership reflects all of those key pillars", reckons Kobalt's Richard Sanders. "Robb McDaniels is an industry leader with a progressive and innovative approach that perfectly aligns with ours, we are looking forward to collaborating with him and his team at Faction".

McDaniels, meanwhile, also had some words to share, declaring that: "Having a world class digital distribution and publishing administration partner was a priority for us as we look to empower Faction's managers and their artists. After an in depth analysis of the marketplace, it is clear that Kobalt has made the necessary investment in its people and infrastructure over the past few years to create the best global partner for our company".

Yay in depth analysis! I hope he doesn't just mean he read that Wired cover feature.

Electric Jukebox is actually going to launch
So here we go people, Electric Jukebox, the latest digital music venture from the people who brought you Omnifone and, erm, Rara.com, is finally set to launch tomorrow.

Are you excited? No, of course you're not, but Robbie Williams and Alesha Dixon are dead excited. Quivering in their boots they are. Dixon just fell over, that's how excited she is. And to be fair, your current lack of excitement is mainly because you're yet to learn that the Electric Jukebox dongle will be available in three colours, including charcoal!

When Electric Jukebox was first unveiled last year at a cheese-heavy launch we couldn't even be bothered to mock the damn thing. Though the UK-based streaming start-up could now be seen as a competitor to Amazon's recent move into standalone music streams, ie a cheaper way to stream music that is locked to a specific device, but which therefore requires a more hefty upfront investment. Which almost makes it interesting.

In the case of Amazon, its lower price streams are locked to the firm's Echo speaker device, which retails at £150 - or £50 for the low-end version that needs to be plugged into an existing speaker system. The streaming music bit is only currently available in the US, but if it is launched here at the same price point except in pounds it would cost £4 a month, so £48 year.

Electric Jukebox is locked to a proprietary dongle that you stick into the back of your TV and operate with a special remote. It costs £169, of which £52 is your first year's subscription to the tunes, so it's basically £117 for the device itself. When the first year's subscription is up users will need to hand over another £52, though Electric Jukebox says it will also have an ad-funded free option for people to fall onto after twelve months, if they so wish.

So, like Amazon, Electric Jukebox is playing with the mid-price model that everyone agrees the digital music market needs to master for streaming to work long term, ie once CDs and downloads have declined so much they are niche products. Amazon, of course, has a massive advantage in terms of an existing customer base and, in the Echo, a multi-tasking product that had been very well received before the cheap streams were even added in the US.

Electric Jukebox, which has raised in the region of £7 million in finance to date, will be hoping that its celebrity backers and playlist curators - like the aforementioned Williams and Dixon - coupled with support from high street retailers and a to-be-confirmed TV channel partner will help it attract consumers in the run up to Christmas, before Amazon launches its Echo-plus-cheap-streams offer over here. Which, it has to be said, all seems rather ambitious.

Though the sales pitch actually being employed by Electric Jukebox centres on simplicity more than price point. Possibly because the upfront cost of £169 is pretty high given that, unlike the Echo, the device doesn't offer other functionality. And if mainstream consumers are put off the likes of Spotify by the £120 a year price point, £169 upfront is going to seem pretty pricey for some streaming tunes, even if long term it works out cheaper per year.

So the firm is instead going with a sell along the lines of "give us 169 quid, plug this little dongle into the back of your telly, and boom, streaming music!" No apps to download! No form to fill out! No smart phone to turn on! Which basically makes it's a product for people who are tech illiterate but have spare cash, but not enough spare cash that they can pay someone who is tech literate to set up a Sonos system with Spotify. Those people do exist, I suppose. But yeah, it still all seems rather ambitious.

Though did I mention it's available in red, blue and charcoal! Charcoal!

Here's Electric Jukebox chief Rob Lewis with some words: "Streaming is the future but today only 8% of UK consumers subscribe because it is expensive, difficult and complicated. We want to give everyone access to all the music in the world in their living rooms by making streaming as simple as using a radio. [And] we want music to be affordable and easy to access so everyone can enjoy it. Our one year premium music pass for Electric Jukebox will cost the equivalent of just £1 a week: £52 pounds for the year. That's makes it affordable for everyone".

Jimmy Young dies
BBC radio veteran Jimmy Young has died aged 95. A spokesperson for his family said that the former DJ died "peacefully at home" on Monday afternoon with his wife Alicia by his side. One of the original DJs at Radio 1 when it launched in 1967, Young moved to Radio 2 six years later and continued to present for the BBC station until his retirement in 2002.

Prior to his radio career, Young enjoyed success as a singer, being signed to Polygon Records and then Decca in the 1950s. He had most success recording versions of US hits for the British market, as was common at the time, and scored two number ones in 1955 with his versions of 'Unchained Melody' and 'The Man From Laramie', both linked to movies that came out that year.

Paying tribute to Young yesterday, BBC radio chief Bob Shennan said: "He was a truly unique broadcaster who pioneered a form of presenting that generations have followed. He made current affairs relevant to millions of listeners and helped shape Radio 2 into the station it is today".

Meanwhile Tony Blackburn - who was just last month paying tribute to another original Radio 1 presenter, Dave Cash - told the BBC: "Jimmy was a legendary broadcaster, there at the very start of Radio 1 and then, for so long, the voice of Radio 2. 2016 has been a terrible year for losing iconic figures from our youth. Today we lost another".

Tickets for Sting-headlined Bataclan re-opening show go on sale
Tickets for the first show at the Bataclan Theatre in Paris since last year went on sale this morning. Sting will headline the show on Saturday, with proceeds going to the 13Onze15: Fraternité-Verité and Life For Paris charities.

The venue has been closed since attackers opened fire on the audience at an Eagles Of Death Metal show on 13 Nov last year. Eighty nine people were killed in the biggest of a number of terrorist attacks on Paris that evening.

"In re-opening the Bataclan, we have two important tasks to reconcile", said Sting in a statement. "First, to remember and honour those who lost their lives in the attack a year ago, and second to celebrate the life and the music that this historic theatre represents. In doing so we hope to respect the memory as well as the life affirming spirit of those who fell. We shall not forget them".

Announcing the show, the venue said: "We are pleased to announce the reopening of the Bataclan on Saturday 12 Nov with a concert from Sting. No event is planned at the Bataclan on 13 Nov 2016, the room will remain closed in tribute to the victims".

Performances by Pete Doherty, Youssou Ndour, Marianne Faithful, Nada Surf and Messhuggah are among those lined up in the coming weeks. Meanwhile you can book tickets for the Sting show here.

As previously reported, London's Shepherd's Bush Empire will also host a show in memory of those who died at the Bataclan last year on 15 Nov. Billed 'A Peaceful Noise', the Maximo Park-headlined show has been organised by Zoe Alexander, sister of Nick Alexander, the British music merchandiser who was killed during the attack.

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Robbie Williams announces tour, picks up silly award
Robbie Williams has announced that he will head out on a tour of stadiums next summer, starting out in good old Manchester. Erasure will be the support act at the shows, tickets for which go on sale on Friday.

Had you been quicker off the mark, you could have seen Williams performing live at that daft BRITs Icon Award show at the somewhat smaller Troxy venue in East London last night. But you weren't. So stadium-ville it is for you. Unless you were there. In which case, how was the coffee?

Anyway, here are the dates for the UK and Ireland stadium shows next year:

2 Jun: Manchester, Ethid Stadium
6 Jun: Southampton, St Mary's Stadium
9 Jun: Edinburgh, Murrayfield Stadium
13 Jun: Coventry, Ricoh Stadium
17 Jun: Dublin, Aviva Stadium
21 Jun: Cardiff, Principality Stadium
23 Jun: London Stadium

Making BRITs voters more diverse will change nothing, says fRoots editor
The editor of folk and roots music magazine fRoots, Ian Anderson, has said that changes to the diversity of the BRITs Voting Academy will have little effect on the diversity of the eventual award winners. The true power is still held by "the same little self-appointed cabals who dictate the playlists for our main radio channels and the same editors who call the shots over which records get reviewed", he reckons.

In a letter to the Guardian, he said: "It's a fine thing that the BPI, which oversees the BRITs, has radically overhauled its voting academy for the awards to correct the gender, age and ethnicity imbalance. However, the fact that 'for music to be nominated for a BRIT award, it still must have charted in the Top 40 that year' means that not a lot will really change. It will still be the same little self-appointed cabals who dictate the playlists for our main radio channels and the same editors who call the shots over which records get reviewed and which artists get featured in our mainstream newspapers and magazines. The gatekeeper selection is already made long before what's left reaches the [BRITs voting] panel".

As previously reported, the BPI yesterday began inviting music industry professionals and commentators to vote in the 2017 edition of its big awards, with a focus on bringing in more women and fewer white men to the process. This follows criticism of last year's ceremony, at which every single winner was white, despite the musicians finding success in 2015 having been pretty diverse.

"I'm really proud that we've taken firm action to refresh the Academy to ensure that it keeps up with trends in music and society at large", said the Chair of BRITs owner the BPI, Ged Doherty. Although Anderson's comments highlight that within the mainstream music and media industries, these trends are not necessarily being matched.

Kings Of Leon, Sony/ATV, Epitaph, more

Other notable announcements and developments today...

• Kings Of Leon have signed a new deal with US collecting society SESAC to collect their performance royalties. "Few rock bands have garnered a global following as extensive as Kings Of Leon", claims SESAC CEO John Josephson.

• Sony/ATV has signed up a load of new artists to its neighbouring rights roster. Lady Gaga, Sting, Nile Rodgers, Mark Ronson, Slash, Snoop Dogg, Ginger Baker, French Montana, Grace, Kyla, Erick Morillo, Alan Walker, plus the estates of Lou Reed and Amy Winehouse are all on board, while The Weeknd and Pharrell Williams have extended their existing deals.

• Cooking Vinyl Australia and Epitaph Records have announced a new label services partnership, which will see the latter's Dave Jiannis join the former as Senior Product Manager. "We are THRILLED", says CV's Stu Harvey. "I see", adds Jiannis. "We are really looking", chips in Epitaph's Dave Hansen.

• More speakers have been announced for next year's Fast Forward conference in Amsterdam. Among the new additions are Warner/Chappell's Mike Smith, Communion's Claire Mas, 7digital's Emma McIntyre, Warner Music's Emmy Lovell, and Deloitte's Nina Kahn. "We are hugely excited", says FastForward founder Chris Carey.

• Green Day have released the video for new single, 'Still Breathing'.

• The BBC is releasing a new compilation on 18 Nov featuring some of Terry Wogan's favourite music. "Over the years I shared many happy memories with Terry, and this album is the soundtrack to all of them", says 'Weekend Wogan' producer Ste Softley. 50% of profits will go to Children In Need.

• Metronomy's collaboration with Robyn, 'Hang Me Out To Dry', is out now as a single.

• Cosima has released a new single, 'Hymns For Him'. "'Hymns For Him' is about trying to put love into a relationship where it really does not exist", she says.

• Jaakko Eino Kalevi has shared the video for 'I'm Always Crying (Itken Aina)', his cover of Véronique Vincent & The Honeymoon Killers' song. It's right good.

• Diana have shared new single, 'What You Get'. Their new album, 'Familiar Touch', is out on 18 Nov.

• Japandroids have announced that they will be touring the UK in April and May next year, finishing up at The Shepherd's Bush Empire on 6 May.

• Jess Glynne and MNEK will both receive the ASCAP Vanguard Award at the ASCAP Awards in London on Thursday. ASCAP President Paul Williams is "THRILLED". Glynne "can't even believe" it. And MNEK is "grateful, honoured and humbled".

Musicians rally against Trump as America goes to the polls
So, the good old US of A goes to the polls today for a bizarrely close vote threatening to be a Brexit-style disaster. By this time tomorrow, Donald Trump could be the leader of the free world.

Actually, given that he wouldn't be sworn in until January, that gives him plenty of time to get bored and decide he'd rather do something else. It'll be America's "maybe Brexit just won't happen". But anyway...

The world of music, on the whole, is not in favour of a President Trump outcome, which is why the Donald hasn't been getting the stars up on stage to sing with him in the final stages of the election campaign. Or, as he would tell you, it's because he doesn't need any star power other than his own to get people to come to his rallies.

As both presidential candidates held events to gain last minute support yesterday, Trump said that when they appeared at a Hillary Clinton rally at the weekend, Jay-Z and Beyonce used language that was "so bad that many of the people left ... using words that if I ever used those words, it would be the reinstitution of the electric chair - it's true!"

He also offered a critique of their performance, in which he said: "And as they were... singing? Singing, right? Talking? Was it talking or singing? I don't know".

So, there you go, Trump's view of rap remains in the 'they're just talking' camp, and he also seems to think that Beyonce is a rapper. Maybe in the event he doesn't win this election, he could start a YouTube channel doing comedy reviews of musicians. Because there are plenty more musical Clinton supporters to get his teeth into.

Trump also claimed yesterday that he gets "far bigger crowds" at his rallies than Beyonce and Jay-Z do at their concerts. Which quickly became another statement made by the Republican hopeful to be debunked.

Speaking of getting crowds, last night Madonna made a surprise appearance at Washington Square Park in New York to play an acoustic performance, and reiterated her support for Clinton, saying: "Vote with your heart, vote with your mind, vote with your spirit, vote with your soul. Save this country, please".

Grimes recreated a famous 1964 advert, switching support for Lyndon Johnson to the more current Hillary Clinton. Chance The Rapper, meanwhile, took to the streets. After performing a free show in Chicago, he led thousands of audience members to early voting locations in order to cast their votes.

Lady Gaga didn't lead a legion of fans to the polls, but she did make the location of her local polling booth more obvious with a striking voting outfit. She also tweeted her support for Clinton, telling fans: "We need to mobilise now, vote Hillary and stop this dangerous man from continuing to divide and wreck our democracy".

And if you were in any doubt about the danger he presents, Aphex Twin took the nuclear war theme of Grimes' aforementioned video to further extremes. Although he also pulled back and revealed that he was using nuclear attack as a metaphor for an upcoming performance at the Day For Night festival in Houston on 17 Dec.

Happy voting America. I'm going to hide under a blanket just in case.