Islington Assembly Hall // Assistant Bars and Duty Manager (London)

Wienerworld // Social Media and Marketing Assistant (London/Hybrid)

FEAT // Junior Policy Officer/Industry Liaison (Remote/London)

Ninja Tune // Marketing Assistant (London/Hybrid)

Today's music business news

TOP STORY

Spotify confirms changes to its payment process - including the 1000 plays a year threshold

Spotify has confirmed the changes it is making to the way it processes royalties each month. Among the changes is the new 1000 plays a year threshold that each track must pass in order to be allocated any money at all.

Providing a rationale for the revamp, the streaming service states: "As Spotify payouts to the music industry continue to grow … three particular drains on the royalty pool have now reached a tipping point".

Those three “drains” are stream manipulation, functional audio and the millions of tracks uploaded by what could be deemed 'non-professional musicians' that generate minimal streams. Spotify is introducing new rules that it says will deal with each of those challenges.

The new rules aim to either stop or reduce the money that currently flows to artificial streams, functional audio and music made by 'non-professional musicians'. Though that cash will stay in the royalty pool that is then shared out across the music industry, hence the uplift in payments for all the artists and labels not negatively impacted by the new policies.

In terms of stream manipulation, Spotify bigs up the "improved artificial streaming detection technology we rolled out earlier this year" and its involvement in the Music Fights Fraud Alliance, which is coordinating the efforts of streaming services and music distributors to tackle fraud.

It also confirms that "beginning early next year we will start charging labels and distributors per track when flagrant artificial streaming is detected on their content". It has been reported that labels and distributors that deliver tracks shown to be subject to heavy stream manipulation - so that 90% of plays are artificial - will be fined $10 for each offending track.

With functional audio - like white noise and birdsong - a track will need to be played for two minutes for the play to be counted, rather than the current 30 seconds. That's to stop the makers of this kind of content gaming the system by uploading lots of 31 second tracks joined together in a playlist. This content will also be allocated less money per play than music content.

Those changes are likely to be supported by most of the music community. However, the 1000 play threshold - which will stop grassroots artists from earning anything - is more contentious.

Spotify attempts to justify it by pointing out that most distributors have their own thresholds, so an artist needs to have generated a certain amount of money in order to have that cash transferred to their bank account.

It then claims that money which is due to artists that don’t pass those distributor thresholds is “lost in the system” and "these small disregarded payments have added up to $40 million per year, which could instead increase the payments to artists who are most dependent on streaming revenue".

That’s not a great argument, given that not all distributors have such thresholds and with those that do, they tend to be £10 or less. And while musicians falling under Spotify’s new 1000 play threshold may only be making nominal amounts of money from their streams each year, it could be the money that allows them to play a gig or buy some new kit.

And with this change to the system, inevitably most of that redistributed $40 million will end up with the most streamed tracks, ie the major labels and the superstars.

CMU will be scrutinising each of these three proposed changes in more detail in the next few days, looking at the pros and the cons, identifying the winners and the losers, and suggesting the questions the music community should be asking to properly assess Spotify's big reforms.

ONE LINERS

One Liners: Björk x Rosalía, Beverley Knight, Dylan Schneider + more

DEALS

Sony Music Publishing Nashville has signed Dylan Schneider to a global publishing deal, in partnership with Kane Brown’s Verse 2 Music. “I’ve respected Kane for so long, so I’m THRILLED to join the Verse 2/SMP family”, he says. “Writing songs for myself and other artists is so rewarding, I can’t believe I get to call this work. I can’t wait to start this new journey with the best team. Thanks for believing in me. Let’s make some magic!”

RELEASES

Björk and Rosalía have teamed up for new Sega Bodega-produced track ‘Oral’. Originally written by Björk in the late 90s, the track aims to shed light on the environmental and ecological effects of open-pen salmon farming in Iceland.

Sleaford Mods have released a cover of Pet Shop Boys’ ‘West End Girls’ in aid of homelessness charity Shelter. The release will include a remix by the Pet Shop Boys themselves, who say: “Sleaford Mods have brought East End boys back to the West End streets for a great cause and we love their new version”.

Bonnie ‘Prince’ Billy has released new single ‘Keeping Secrets Will Destroy You’, a song that shares its name with - but does not appear on - his latest album released in August. Also (pretty much) sharing the name is a new beer the musician has launched with the Gan Yam brewery, called Destroy You, Keeping Secrets Will.

My Life Story have announced that they will release new album ‘Loving You Is Killing Me’ on 9 Feb. Says frontman Jake Shillingford: “’Loving you is killing me’ is a lyric taken from the album’s opening track ‘Running Out Of Heartbeats’. Despite its pessimistic inference, I like to think that it’s more generally about investment in relationships. Is there a price to pay for unconditional love?”

GIGS & TOURS

Beverley Knight will host the annual Nordoff And Robbins Christmas carol service at St Luke’s church in Chelsea on 12 Dec. Also performing will be Joe Stilgoe, as well as Carrie and David Grant. Tickets are available now.

Das Koolies - aka Super Furry Animals minus Gruff Rhys - will be touring the UK at the beginning of next year, including a show at London’s Moth Club on 26 Jan. Tickets are on sale now.

LIVE

Malaysian government will have ‘kill switch’ for Coldplay show tonigh

A Coldplay concert in Kuala Lumpur tonight could be cut short by the Malaysian government’s new ‘kill switch’ for live music shows, Malaysian communications minister Fahmi Fadzil has warned.

Fadzil told reporters that he did not foresee any issues with the concert that would require its use, but confirmed that promoter Live Nation had agreed to put in place a system via which government reps can cut power to the stage if rules governing performances in the country are broken.

There had already been some controversy surrounding the Coldplay gig, with calls for it to be cancelled by conservative Muslims in the country - similar to recent protests in Indonesia.

Responding to those protests, Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim said that he would review the previous government’s approval of the concert, ultimately allowing it to go ahead - apparently won over by the band’s past support for Palestine.

“The Prime Minister has … said the band is very supportive of Palestine”, Fadzil said, according to The Straits Times. “So, we are upbeat about the concert today”.

The requirement for the Malaysian government to be able to pull shows by foreign artists already in progress was announced last month. It follows The 1975's performance at the Good Vibes Festival in Kuala Lumpur back in July.

During the band’s headline set, frontman Matty Healey heavily criticised Malaysia’s anti-LGBTQ+ laws. His on-stage comments violated those rules governing performances in the country and resulted in the band's set being cut short, and the following days of the festival being cancelled altogether.

However, seemingly the government felt that the end of the band’s performance did not come quickly enough, hence the demand for its own kill switch at future concerts.

The protests outside Coldplay’s show in Indonesia earlier this month were over claims that the band’s presence in the country was damaging to its “faith and morals” because of the “LGBT propaganda” attendees would be exposed to.

DIGITAL

Specifics of Spotify's deal with Google on in-app payments revealed in Epic court case

Details about Spotify's deal with Google for taking in-app payments within its Android app have been revealed as part of a legal battle involving Fortnite maker Epic.

Spotify and Google announced a partnership last year that would allow the music service to start taking in-app payments on Android devices through its own transactions system as well as via Google's commission-charging system, with the user getting to choose which system they use.

It was thought that Google would still charge a fee on payments made directly to Spotify. However, it has now been revealed that that is not the case, meaning Spotify gets to keep 100% of the money when in-app payments are made via its own transactions system. If the user chooses to pay via Google, Spotify is charged a 4% commission, considerably less than the 30% usually charged.

Spotify, and many other app-makers, have long been critical of Google and Apple's app store rules that force in-app payments to be made via the commission-charging transaction systems run by the two tech giants.

Those rules, the app-makers argue, are anti-competitive, because app-makers have to cut their profit margins, pass on the fees to the consumer or just not take in-app payments. And that, they say, gives Google and Apple’s own content services an unfair advantage.

For its part, Spotify has urged lawmakers to intervene and force a change to the rules. Epic, meanwhile, has sued both Apple and Google in various jurisdictions. It was during a court session in the Epic v Google litigation that the specifics of the latter's deal with Spotify were revealed.

Google's lawyers had tried to keep the deal terms secret, presumably because they didn’t want the world at large to know that Spotify was getting such preferential treatment. According to reports, Google has in the past also offered deals on in-app payments to both Epic and Netflix, but with much less favourable terms. As a result, neither of those companies took up the offer.

According to The Verge, Google's Head Of Global Partnerships Don Harrison - who confirmed the specifics of the company's deal with Spotify in court - sought to defend why one app-maker should get such a favourable deal when others are still obliged to use Google’s transactions system and pay up to 30% in commission charges.

He argued that Spotify was offered such favourable terms because of its “unprecedented” popularity. “If we don’t have Spotify working properly across [Android devices]”, he added, “people will not buy Android phones".

LEGAL

OpenAI sued again over claims of copyright infringement, with financial backer Microsoft named as a co-defendant

Another lawsuit has been filed in the US courts that will test the copyright obligations of companies developing generative AI models. This time it's journalist and author Julian Sancton suing OpenAI and Microsoft. The new litigation comes amid chaos at OpenAI following the sudden sacking and then speedy reappointment of its CEO Sam Altman.

In his lawsuit, which is seeking class-action status, Sancton claims that OpenAI used his writing to train its ChatGPT model without getting his permission and, in doing so, infringed his copyright. His lawyer added in a statement: "While OpenAI and Microsoft refuse to pay non-fiction authors, their AI platform is worth a fortune. The basis of OpenAI is nothing less than the rampant theft of copyrighted works".

There are now a number of cases working their way through the courts that make similar claims against OpenAI and other AI companies. Creators and copyright owners insist that if their copyright-protected works are used to train an AI model, the AI company must first get their permission. The AI companies generally argue that using existing content in that way constitutes 'fair use' under US copyright law, and therefore no permission is required.

What's most interesting about Sancton's case is that it names Microsoft as a co-defendant. It has invested billions into OpenAI and integrated the AI company's systems into its products. Though, it will likely argue, it was not directly involved in deciding what datasets to use to train OpenAI's model.

Sancton is not the first author to sue OpenAI for alleged copyright infringement. Three writers - Christopher Golden, Richard Kadrey and comedian Sarah Silverman - filed a lawsuit in July, and then John Grisham, Jonathan Franzen, Mary Bly, Jodi Picoult, David Baldacci and George RR Martin together went legal in September.

Golden, Kadrey and Silverman also sued Meta over its LLaMA AI model. As expected - following a court session earlier this month - much of that lawsuit has now been dismissed by the judge overseeing the legal battle, although the core copyright infringement claim remains.

However, the lawsuit also accused Meta of vicarious copyright infringement, unfair competition, unjust enrichment and negligence and those elements of the case have been dismissed. Although Silverman et al do now have an opportunity to submit an amended complaint refining and narrowing those other claims.

DEALS

BMI confirms deal to sell to New Mountain Capital

An investor group led by private equity outfit New Mountain Capital has agreed a deal to buy US collecting society BMI. The society says that $100 million of the money generated by the deal will be distributed to publishers and songwriters allied to the organisation.

“Today marks an exciting new chapter for BMI that puts us in the best possible position to stay ahead of the evolving industry and ensure the long-term success of our music creators”, reckons BMI boss Mike O’Neill. “New Mountain is an ideal partner because they believe in our mission and understand that the key to success for our company lies in delivering value to our affiliates".

"We are excited about the many ways New Mountain will accelerate our growth plan, bringing new vision, technological expertise and an outstanding track record of strengthening businesses, all of which will help us build an even stronger future for BMI and our songwriters, composers and publishers", he goes on.

Most of the music industry collecting societies are not-for-profit organisations owned by their members. The other big song rights society in the US - ASCAP - operates on that model. BMI was also not-for-profit until last year, although, unusually, it was actually owned by a group of broadcasters.

The society undertook a review of its operations last year, including considering whether or not to seek a buyer. Initially it decided not to sell, but still decided to move to a for-profit business model. Then, earlier this year, it emerged that the society was working with the bankers at Goldman Sachs once again to sound out entities that might be interested in acquiring the organisation. New Mountain Capital was rumoured to be the likely buyer in August.

O'Neill insists that moving to a for-profit model and seeking a new owner will help the society to invest in new technologies to better administer the rights of the songwriters and publishers it represents, to boost the payments they receive, while also allowing it to pursue other opportunities in the rights management space.

However, the changes have caused some concern among the songwriting community, with questions being asked about the impact the introduction of a profit margin will have on payouts to writers and publishers, and who exactly will profit from the sale.

BMI has generally done a very good job of not answering any of the questions that have been posed, further raising concerns about the direction the society is taking. Perhaps getting a share of that $100 million will placate concerned writers, although it's not clear what will happen to the rest of the money generated by a deal that was reported to be worth $1.7 billion.

The deal is still to be approved by BMI's current shareholders and is subject to regulatory approvals. The official statement on the deal also confirms that CapitalG - an investment fund owned by Google parent company Alphabet - will "invest a passive minority stake in BMI" as part of the transaction.

ARTIST NEWS

A$AP Rocky to stand trial on firearms charges

A$AP Rocky will stand trial on charges that he fired a gun at former friend Terell Ephron - aka A$AP Relli - in 2021, a judge has ruled.

The rapper, real name Rakim Mayers, appeared at a preliminary hearing on Monday, where the judge overseeing the case, ML Villar, ****said that the “totality of video and testimony” warranted sending the case to a full trial.

The rapper’s attorney Joe Tacopina told reporters that they always "expected to go to trial" so they were “not disappointed, not surprised” by the decision.

Mayers pleaded not guilty to firearms charges last year. He is accused of firing twice at Ephron during a “heated discussion in Hollywood” in November 2021.

CCTV footage put forward as evidence by the prosecution shows two men in an altercation, during which one of them apparently pulls out a gun. In a second video, two gunshots are heard and a man is seen leaving the scene.

Prosecutors say that they have confirmed that the man holding the gun in the video is Mayers, although he denies this.

No date has yet been set for the start of the trial. If found guilty, Mayers faces up to nine years in prison.

AND FINALLY

Final four members of BTS enlist in military

The four members of BTS yet to begin their military service in South Korea have enlisted, their label BigHit Music has announced.

“We would like to inform our fans that RM, Jimin, V and Jung Kook have initiated the military enlistment process”, said the label in a statement. “The artists are preparing to fulfil their military service duties. We will inform you of further updates in due course”.

“We ask you for your continued love and support for RM, Jimin, V and Jung Kook until they complete their military service and safely return”, it continued. “Our company will spare no effort in providing support for our artists”.

All able-bodied men in South Korea must serve between eighteen and 21 months in the military at some point between the ages of eighteen and 28.

The oldest member of the group, Jin, was the first to enlist a year ago, followed by J-Hope in April. Both were able to sign up after their 28th birthdays, thanks to an exception made by the South Korean government for pop musicians who met certain criteria.

In September, Suga became the third member of the group to enter service. Although, due to a past shoulder injury, he was posted in a role as a “social service agent”.

It is expected that, once all seven BTS members have completed their mandatory service, the group will reunite at some point in 2025. Meanwhile, a new eight part documentary to remind you why you should wait around for their return - called ‘Monuments: Beyond The Star’ - is set to launch on Disney+ on 20 Dec.

Watch a trailer for that here.