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Today's music business news

TOP STORY

BBC must do more to move music and radio out of London says National Audit Office

The UK’s National Audit Office has published a report tracking the progress of the BBC’s ‘Across The UK’ - or ATUK - initiative. That’s a scheme via which the broadcaster aims to spend at least an extra £700 million outside London between March 2021 and March 2028, so that more of the UK sees an economic benefit from the BBC’s operations.

The report confirms that progress has been made in some areas but criticises the BBC’s strategy - originally published in October 2021 - as “underdeveloped, with no options appraisal for meeting objectives and no assessment of the local labour market”. It also criticises that the BBC has failed to move any spend on audio programming - music and radio - out of London.

ATUK is planned in three phases, the first of which ended in March 2023. During that period, the BBC set itself a target of moving £87.5 million of spending outside of London, but achieved only £67.5 million. Overall, by March 2023, the BBC had transferred 9.6% of its £700 million target, against a planned 12.5%.

While the BBC has moved 58% of its TV production spend out of London, the majority of money spent on audio programming of music and radio - 59% - remains in the capital with just 41% being spent outside London, a figure that has not changed since March 2020.

The BBC’s goal is to spend at least half of its music and radio budget outside London by 2028, with the NAO saying that the BBC has “yet to finalise its plans to get audio back on track”.

Responding to the NAO report, Rhodri Talfan Davies, the BBC’s Director Of Nations and Executive Sponsor of ATUK, notes that: “We met our overall programme phase one target for transferring expenditure outside London in June 2023”.

“We are building on our progress in audio, recognising specific plans have evolved in the context of other organisational priorities”, he adds. “We are focused and confident of delivering our target of 50% of audio production expenditure outside London by March 2028”.

ONE LINERS

One Liners: Paloma Faith, F-List, Kali Uchis + more

APPOINTMENTS

Hannah Peel has been announced as the new President of The F-List For Music, the support network for female and non-binary musicians in the UK. “I am extremely passionate about the work that The F-list carries out and how essential it is for our UK music industry”, she says. “It is not an easy industry to navigate and there is no secret formula to ‘success’, however, knowing that there is a talented and dedicated community, not only collating our talents and skills, but helping make connections and shouting about our assets to the world is vitally important”.

RELEASES

Paloma Faith has released ‘Bad Woman’, the second single from new album ‘The Glorification Of Sadness’, which is out on 16 Feb. “This song stands out as a personal favourite from the album”, she says. “It delves into the myriad societal challenges women confront, illustrating the exhausting struggle to meet expectations. The pressure to conform or risk being labelled 'incompetent' or a 'Bad Woman' can be overwhelming”.

Kali Uchis and Karol G have released new collaboration ‘Labios Mordidos’.

Feeder have released a new double A-side single, featuring the songs ‘The Knock’ and ‘Soldiers Of Love’. With new album ‘Black/Red’ out on 5 Apr, the band have also announced UK tour dates in March.

English Teacher have shared new single ‘Mastermind Specialism’. “Decision paralysis is an ache that has murmured in me through sitting on smaller fences, through to questioning my theology, my sexuality, my career and so on”, says frontwoman Lily Fontaine. “My life has been consistent in its inconsistency. Twelve different houses across the country and mixed race, I’ve always been a bit in-between and I think that’s where this song, and a lot of the songs we’re due to release, come from".

Blackout Problems have released new single ‘GLOFS’, featuring Rou Reynolds of Enter Shikari. “I was honoured to have been asked to jump on this song by my friends Blackout Problems”, says Reynolds. “It’s such an excellently sculpted track and I can’t wait to perform it with them on our tour together in Europe next year!” The band’s new album ‘Riot’ is out on 23 Feb.

Elliphant has released new single ‘Trench’. The song, she says, “is about feeling exposed and condemned in society. I’ve always experienced the public space as very problematic and bordering on fake and my reaction to that has often been anger even though I'm really just scared. I sometimes feel like a hunted animal ready to get killed”. Her new album ‘Troll’ is out next year.

USA Nails have released new single ‘On Computer Screen’. The song, says the band’s Steve Hodson, is about the TV show ‘Catfish’, “a concept that fascinated me. Both the catfished and catfisher would put themselves on global television, both parties displaying their vulnerability to the world for entertainment purposes”.

Blue Lab Beats have shared new single ‘Never Doubt’. “This was quite a lesson for us and we learnt when life offers you a challenge, sometimes embrace that it might be really difficult and just from trying you could potentially achieve a better result than what you first came with”, say the duo. “This is very much why we gave this song the title ‘Never Doubt’”.

GIGS & TOURS

Squeeze have announced 50th anniversary tour dates in October and November next year. They’ll finish the run at the Royal Albert Hall in London on 11 Nov. Tickets go on general sale on 1 Dec.

EDUCATION

Oxford Brookes music department closure “mistake for the jobs and skills of the future,” say prominent academics

A group of prominent academics from five committees representing the interests of various parts of the higher education music landscape has written an open letter to Professor Alistair Fitt, the Vice Chancellor of Oxford Brookes University, after the university announced that it is closing its music department.

In the letter, the group says that it hopes the university will revise its decision and engage in discussions “urgently and as soon as possible” in the hope that “this painful decision can be overturned and alternative plans put in place”.

The unexpected and sudden announcement by Oxford Brookes University that it plans to close its music department caused “alarm, distress and shock”, says the letter.

The decision has attracted widespread criticism of the university alongside statements of support for the music department from individuals and organisations across the music and wider creative industries. However, many staff and students are angry, upset and bewildered, with many unclear on what consultation procedures have been followed.

One particular point that a number of people, including the group who wrote the letter, have highlighted is the university’s move from its existing Wheatley campus to a new site at Headington.

In June 2022, Oxford Brookes was granted planning permission for two “cutting edge, sustainable buildings” at the Headington campus to “enhance STEM and creative industries activity”. This move to bring together ‘science, technology, engineering and mathematics’ with the creative industries was used heavily by the university during local community engagement efforts that were a critical part of its campaign to get planning permission.

It was the move to the new Headington site that allowed Oxford Brookes to sell its existing 53 acre Wheatley campus - comprising land worth an estimated £70 million - to house-builder Crest Nicolson in March this year.

Despite that, the university claims that it is primarily financial challenges that have led to its decision to close the music department.

>>> There's more on this story - click through below to read online

LEGAL

Creator groups call for EU AI Act to retain strong transparency obligations

A group of organisations representing creators, including artists and songwriters, has called on European lawmakers to "put transparency back at the heart of the European Union's AI Act". The call comes amid fears that the new AI regulations in Europe could be watered down during the final phase of negotiations.

"As the AI Act is entering into the final round of negotiations, we urge all policymakers to prioritise maximum transparency on training data and artificially generated content", they state.

The EU’s AI Act is not specifically focused on generative AI, ie the AI models that generate original content. However, it contains various transparency obligations for AI companies, and the music and wider copyright industries want more transparency about what content is being used to train generative AI models, as well as clear labelling of AI-generated works.

The act is currently in the 'trilogue phase', where the European Commission, European Parliament and EU Council all seek to agree on a final version of the legislation. It's known that tech companies and some EU governments are seeking to get the current draft of the act revised to reduce some of the obligations contained in it. But the European Parliament and current Spanish presidency of the EU are keen to ensure practical transparency obligations remain.

"We strongly feel", the creator groups continue in their statement, "that the datasets used by generative AI should be informed by the highest level of transparency. The AI Act should also impose strict visible and/or audible labelling obligations to all deployers of generative AI-powered technologies, warning the public about the fact that what they are watching, listening to or reading has been altered or generated by AI".

>>> Check the full story on the CMU website for comments from ECSA and IMPALA on this issue.

AWARDS

BRIT Award organisers announce changes to increase gender and genre diversity

Organisers of the BRIT Awards have announced some changes for 2024 that seek to boost gender and genre diversity across the event's shortlists.

First, the shortlists for the flagship Artist Of The Year awards - both UK and international - will be extended from five contenders to ten. That follows the controversy this year when all of the nominees for the UK Artist Of The Year prize were men.

Previously, of course, there were separate awards for best male and best female artist, and one concern expressed when the event shifted to gender neutral prizes was that you'd end up with no women being nominated. That didn't happen the first year after the change was made, but did this year.

Presumably, the proposal to move to a longer shortlist with artist of the year is based on the knowledge that - after the 1200 members of the BRIT Voting Academy had voted - the female artists that should have been on 2023 shortlist were just below the top five in the rankings.

The other change is to the genre-specific awards that were added in 2022. Previously R&B was lumped in with pop music, which - it was argued - made it hard for R&B artists to get shortlisted, given the profile of the big pop acts. So, in 2024, there will be separate awards for pop and R&B.

BRIT producer the BPI says that these changes to improve representation and inclusion follow "extensive consultation within the BRITs organisation, relevant industry and Equality, Diversity & Inclusion groups, including the BPI's own Equity & Justice Advisory Group, and was a key part of The BRITs' annual review of all show elements following the 2023 ceremony".

But what, I'm sure you are all now wondering, will the awards handed to the surely super diverse mix of 2024 BRIT winners look like? Well, this year the actual BRIT statues have been designed by visual artist Rachel Jones click "read online" below to see the new award.

LABELS & PUBLISHERS

US ISP hits out at anti-piracy agency used by the music industry in copyright dispute

US internet company Altice - which operates the Optimum internet and cable TV service - has hit out at Rightscorp, the anti-piracy agency employed by the record companies that have sued it for copyright infringement.

According to a legal filing made earlier this month, and now published by Torrentfreak, Altice says that Rightscorp is "a company whose business practice is to 'spam' ISPs … with thousands of notices a day to manufacture the appearance of repeat infringement by its subscribers".

Universal Music, BMG and Concord together sued Altice late last year over allegations it does not do enough to deal with copyright infringement on its networks and should therefore be held liable for that infringement. Specifically, it doesn’t do enough to deal with customers who are subject to repeated copyright notices submitted by music companies and their agents, in this case Rightscorp.

When facing lawsuits of this kind, ISPs generally take issue with the entity submitting the copyright notices, questioning the processes they use to identify apparent infringement.

To that end, Altice has demanded lots of information about how Rightscorp goes about its work. It seems the anti-piracy agency has only provided basic information so far, so the ISP is seeking a court order granting it access to everything else.

"Given that the plaintiffs’ case for infringement relies substantially if not entirely on Rightscorp’s notices”, its legal filing states, “the accuracy and reliability of Rightscorp’s systems, Rightscorp’s investigation of and supposed 'matching' of files located on Altice’s network to the plaintiffs’ works, and subsequent notices it sent to Altice ... are directly relevant to the case".

LEGAL

Diddy and Justin Sane sued over allegations of sexual assault ahead of today's Adult Survivors Act deadline

Lawsuits have been filed against Sean ‘Diddy’ Combs and Anti-Flag frontman Justin Sane ahead of today’s deadline for submitting new legal claims under New York state's Adult Survivors Act.

The act allows victims of sexual assault or abuse to file new legal proceedings even if alleged incidents occurred sufficiently long ago that a legal claim would usually be barred by the statute of limitations.

Combs was sued under the act last week by his former partner Cassie Ventura. However, that litigation was settled the day after it was filed. But he now faces another lawsuit from a woman who says he sexually assaulted her in 1991.

Joi Dickerson-Neal claims that she knew Combs via mutual acquaintances and had appeared in one of his music videos. She says that, while spending a day with the rapper in 1991, he drugged her and then, having taken her to a place where he was staying, sexually assaulted her. She adds that she later learned he had recorded the incident and shared the video with acquaintances.

A legal rep for Combs said in a statement to the BBC that Dickerson-Neal's allegations were "made up and not credible", and that her lawsuit "is purely a money grab and nothing more".

Justin Sane - real name Justin Geever - has been sued by Kristina Sarhadi, who earlier this year spoke to the podcast Enough about a violent encounter she had with an unnamed punk singer back in October 2010. Anti-Flag abruptly split up shortly after that interview was published.

According to Rolling Stone, in her lawsuit Sarhadi says that Geever invited her back to his motel room so that he could play her an unreleased song. Once there, he restrained and strangled her, and forced her to perform oral sex on him. He ignored her repeated pleas for him to stop and she only escaped after the musician passed out.

As the various lawsuits brought against musicians and music executives under the Adult Survivors Act go through the motions, it will be interesting to see the extent to which consideration is given to how the wider music industry tolerated and facilitated this kind of conduct.

One of the lawyers working for Sarhadi - Dr Ann Olivarius - is quoted by Rolling Stone as saying: “I predict that in five years the music industry will be viewed the same way as the Catholic Church or the Boy Scouts - a powerful force that also enabled and shielded sexual predators for decades”.

AND FINALLY

Official Charts Company reveals Christmas number one contenders

One month from now it will be Christmas Eve. You’ll be wrapping presents and gently sliding them under a perfectly decorated tree. Or maybe frantically trying to buy last minute gifts, the slow realisation dawning on you that your significant other is going to receive a bag of charcoal from the petrol station.

Did you learn nothing from last year? At least one thing will be certain - we’ll know who has won the race to Christmas number one.

Earlier this week, LadBaby counted themselves out of that race, announcing that they’d sit at least this year out, having been at number one for Christmas Day for the last five years. So that means it’s all to play for. Who could make it to the top? Well, the Official Charts Company has put out a long list of contenders, including Christmas classics, worthy charity singles and puppets.

"Yes, it is that time of year again”, says Official Charts Company boss Martin Talbot. “You can always tell when we are in the final run up to Christmas”.

“Festive lights switching on in high streets across the country”, he muses on, “chocolate tubs appearing in all of our supermarkets, the arrival of Xmas channels appearing on our TVs… and, of course, the starting pistol firing on the Christmas number one race. And, with LadBaby stepping back after five years as winners, this year’s race looks as open as ever”.

Having supported food bank charity The Trussell Trust with all five of their songs, LadBaby said they wanted to give other charities the chance to receive the sort of exposure a Christmas chart-topper brings. And in that domain there are plenty of hopefuls.

They include Nala The Station Cat - a TikTok-famous cat raising money for the RSPCA and Stevenage homelessness charity Feed Up Warm Up with the song ‘Check Meowt’. Yes, a cat singing a song might sound implausible. Although it seems more likely than famously silent puppet Sooty warbling something out. But still, he is releasing a cover of The Nolans’ ‘I’m In The Mood For Dancing’ in aid of Great Ormond Street Hospital.

Among the other charity singles on offer, they’re up against Sleaford Mods, whose cover of the Pet Shop Boys’ ‘West End Girls’ is raising money for Shelter. Will the absence of cats or puppets on that track help or hinder them? We’ll have to wait and see.

Of course, doing things for a good cause is nice, but you know what people also like at Christmas? That’s right, Christmas songs. As ever, Mariah Carey’s ‘All I Want For Christmas Is You’ and Wham’s ‘Last Christmas’ are likely to put in a strong showing in the Christmas chart. But one of the favourites this year is Slade’s ‘Merry Xmas Everybody’, which has been re-released in Dolby Atmos to mark its 50th anniversary. What drives consumer demand like a Dolby Atmos mix? Very little that I can think of.

Sooty isn’t the only puppet going for the top spot. He will have to fend off The Krackpots for the title of highest-charting hand puppet. “The identity of the band behind The Krackpots, a mystery group with several top ten hits and millions of streams, is a closely guarded secret, and an intriguing mystery, a bit like Banksy”, says the official website for their single ‘Proper Christmas’. The puppets do look a lot like members of The Kunts though.

Check out the Official Charts Company’s full list of Christmas number one contenders here.