In today’s CMU Daily: Kneecap went legal earlier this year after the then Conservative government stopped them from receiving funding via the Music Export Growth Scheme on political grounds. The new Labour government agrees that blocking the grant in that way was unlawful, meaning the rap trio has won their legal action

Also today: Liverpool’s Sound City+ conference has unveiled the first batch of speakers for its eighteenth edition in May 2025. The line-up includes award winning female entrepreneurs Karen Emanuel and Olivia Hobbs in conversation with Rosanna Connolly plus ten more high profile speakers; The EU’s Intellectual Property Office has published its latest report on piracy across Europe. Although music piracy in 2023 was up slightly, it’s down significantly compared to 2017. Europeans are also illegally accessing unlicensed TV services much more frequently than they are pirating music

Plus: A committee in the Australian Senate has published a report on AI urging the country’s government to help creators stop the “unprecedented theft of their work” by AI companies. Unsurprisingly, the music industry has welcomed the report and its key recommendations

Releases & Tours: Each week CMU rounds up standout releases and tour announcements from the last seven days. This week: James Blake, Brian Nasty, Sally C, Eliza Rose + more, while tour announcements include My Bloody Valentine, 808 State + more

UK government “broke own laws” by blocking Kneecap export grant

Belfast-based rap trio Kneecap have won their legal battle with the UK government over the decision of former business secretary - and now leader of the Conversative Party - Kemi Badenoch to block the Music Export Growth Scheme grant they had been awarded because of the politics of their creative output.

Badenoch and the Conservative government she was part of “acted unlawfully, this is now a fact”, the group said on Friday. They “broke their own laws in trying to silence Kneecap”, they added, simply because they “didn’t like our art, in particular our beautiful 2019 tour poster of Boris Johnson on a rocket”.

The group’s lawyer, Darragh Mackin, also welcomed the outcome of the dispute while paying tribute to his clients. “Kneecap continue to lead by example in practising what they preach”, he told reporters. “Not only do they sing about cearta”, the Irish word for ‘rights’, “but today they have shown they will even hold the British government itself to account to protect them”.

The Music Export Growth Scheme, or MEGS, supports independent artists and labels looking to pursue opportunities in new markets. It is funded by the government’s Department For Business And Trade, but run by record industry trade group BPI, with a panel of industry experts deciding who to award grants to.

The government is generally very hands off with the scheme, but the Department For Business And Trade needs to rubber-stamp each grant. In February, it emerged that the department had blocked a decision by the MEGS panel to award the group a £14,250 grant.

It was an overtly political decision, with a spokesperson for Badenoch stating that her department did not want to hand taxpayers’ money “to people that oppose the United Kingdom itself”. That was a reference to Kneecap’s support for a united Ireland.

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Executives from BMG, Absolute Label Services, Mahogany Music, Punch Records and more to join award winning female entrepreneurs in Liverpool as first Sound City+ 2025 speakers unveiled

Sound City, the music festival and conference that takes place each year in Liverpool, has announced the first batch of speakers confirmed to participate in its music business conference, Sound City+, which takes place on Friday 2 May 2025.

Becky Ayres, Managing Director of Sound City says, “This year’s first speaker announcement confirms the calibre of the Sound City+ conference, and I’m delighted to welcome some of the industry’s most powerful voices to Liverpool to lead the discussion on the ‘here and now’ of the modern music business”.

Speakers announced include: Ammo Talwar, the CEO of Punch Records; Ben Hughes, founder of artist mentoring programme CherryUp; Fiona McAuley, BMG’s Senior Director Of Digital Marketing UK & EU; James Gaster, Managing Director of Mahogany Music; Karen Emanuel, founder and CEO of Key Production; Kate Hendry, Head Of Label Operations at Absolute Label Services; Marcel Hunziker, founder and Managing Director of direct-to-fan and digital marketing agency Playliveartist; Matha Cleary, founder of artist management and PR company Glow Artists; Matt Hanner, founder of independent booking agency Runway; Nina Kehagia, the marketing and content manager for SheSaidSo; Olivia Hobbs, founder of marketing agency Blackstar; Rosanna Connolly, founder of PR consultancy Morena Comms; and Stephanie Haughton-Campbell, Chief Operating Office at UK Music.

“This year’s line up of speakers already shows the incredible talent that exists in the independent music sector, with a wide range of founders and business owners coming to share their experiences at the conference”, continues Ayres. “Sound City demonstrates again and again that it is a key part of the UK’s music ecosystem. With more speakers joining the line-up between now and May, this year’s Sound City+ Conference will be an unmissable date for people at all stages of their industry journey”.

Music piracy in Europe down 75% in seven years, and significantly behind TV piracy

Music piracy that takes place online grew slightly in Europe last year, according to a new report from the European Union Intellectual Property Office based on data from piracy protection service MUSO. However, music piracy levels today are down by 75% from 2017.

Consumers also now use music piracy services less than piracy platforms that provide access to TV programmes, films, software and publications. In the case of TV, considerably less.

The study also looks at differing levels of piracy across the various EU states, explaining that a country’s “wealth, inequality, population structure and youth employment opportunities”, as well as “attitudes towards piracy” and availability of legal content services, all impact on how many people choose to access content from unlicensed platforms.

Most of which is unsurprising, though when it comes to levels of youth unemployment, the findings are sometimes somewhat counterintuitive.

With film, higher levels of young people being unemployed results in higher levels of piracy, which makes sense as those people will have less expendable income. However, with TV and music piracy, higher levels of youth employment in a country seems to actually reduce piracy levels.

“Unprecedented theft” by AI companies of creators' work must be tackled say Australian senators

A committee of Australian senators has told the country’s government to work with the creative industries to find “appropriate solutions to the unprecedented theft” of creative works “by multinational tech companies” that are developing generative AI models.

The select committee also urged government ministers to work with creators and copyright owners “to consider an appropriate mechanism to ensure fair remuneration is paid to creators for commercial AI-generated outputs based on copyrighted material used to train AI systems”.

The select committee has made a number of recommendations which, says Dean Ormston, CEO of Australian collecting society APRA AMCOS, “offer a pathway to protecting the creators who form the cultural backbone of this country” and whose works “enrich our lives and power an industry worth billions to our economy”.

A committee focusing on AI was established in Australia’s Senate in March this year, tasked with running an inquiry into, and then reporting on, “the opportunities and impacts for Australia arising out of the uptake of AI technologies”.

A report published as a result of that work is wide-ranging, examining the evolution and regulation of AI in both Australia and around the world, as well as the potential impacts AI might have on industry, business and workers. There are also specific sections looking at the impact of AI on the creative industries and the healthcare sector.

⏩ Releases & Tours: Dec 2024 (Week 48)

Each week CMU rounds up standout releases and tour announcements from the last seven days. This week: James Blake, Brian Nasty, Sally C, Eliza Rose + more, while tour announcements include My Bloody Valentine, 808 State and others

Tour announcements