In today’s CMU Daily: DNS resolver Quad9 has been hit with a web-blocking injunction in France, forcing it to block access to sports piracy sites following legal action by Canal+. However, Quad9 previously successfully appealed web-blocks requested by Sony Music in Germany and says it intends to do the same in France

Also today: A Californian court has declined to dismiss a sexual assault lawsuit filed against Garth Brooks. He has also sued his accuser through the courts in Mississippi and says she should make her allegations in a counterclaim to that lawsuit. She argued that that amounted to unfair “forum shopping”

Plus: Universal Music and marketing agency group WPP have announced a big old partnership that will see them working together on “cutting-edge audience engagement strategies” for brand clients, using data, technology and “the power of music” along the way

Horizon Future Leaders: Q&A with Robert Kilpatrick, CEO at Scottish Music Industry Association

Quad9 vows to fight “absurd” web-block injunction in France

Quad9, the DNS resolver that previously fought and ultimately won a legal battle against Sony Music in the German courts, is the latest company to be hit by a web-blocking injunction in France instigated by broadcaster Canal+. It has complied with that injunction but intends to appeal.

Dubbing the Canal+ injunction “an absurd application of copyright law”, it says forcing DNS resolvers to block access to specific websites on copyright grounds “risks breaking a system that works well”. Noting its success against Sony in the German courts, it adds “Quad9 has evidence that fighting works - we have already won one ruling in our favour and we expect that trend to continue”.

With web-blocking, copyright owners secure injunctions through the courts that order internet companies to block their customers from accessing specific piracy websites.

Music companies have sought web-blocks against numerous piracy sites in multiple countries, usually targeting internet service providers. However, in more recent years they have also sought web-blocking orders targeting other kinds of internet companies, including DNS resolvers, which help direct traffic around the internet, routing URLs and domain-names to the underlying web services that serve content.

When Sony Music went legal in Germany seeking a web-blocking order against Quad9 it was initially successful. However, Quad9 fought back, pursuing all available routes of appeal in the courts, while speaking out about the legal battle and rallying the support of its users. Ultimately it won the case.

Writing about the Sony dispute in a new blog post about the Canal+ web-blocks, Quad9 says, “After several appeals, the courts in Dresden found in favour of Quad9 in a way that was not merely a win - it was determined to be such a clear victory for Quad9 that no [further] appeals were permitted”.

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Regional General Manager | AEG Presents

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Senior Label Manager | The Orchard

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Court declines to dismiss sex assault lawsuit against Garth Brooks, after accuser accused the country star of “forum shopping”

A Californian judge has declined to dismiss a lawsuit that accuses Garth Brooks of sexual assault, though mainly on a technicality pending the outcome of litigation filed by Brooks himself in another court.

An unnamed women who previously worked as a stylist for Brooks, listed as Jane Roe in legal papers, filed a lawsuit with the courts in California in October, making various allegations of sexual harassment and assault against the country star. However, by that point Brooks had already filed a lawsuit in Mississippi accusing Roe of defamation and extortion.

Speaking to Deadline in October, Brooks said that he sued Roe after being “hassled to no end with threats, lies and tragic tales”, with Roe allegedly demanding millions to stop her going public with her allegations. Brooks went legal instead, because, he said, if he paid Roe the “hush money” she was demanding, “that means I am admitting to behaviour I am incapable of - ugly acts no human should ever do to another”.

After Roe had filed her lawsuit in California, Brooks tried to get it dismissed on the basis that, because he had filed his lawsuit first, Roe should have made her allegations in a counterclaim to his litigation. Lawyers working for Roe then disputed that claim, arguing that Brooks was simply “forum shopping”, ie trying to force the dispute to a court in Mississippi rather than in California.

Which state the litigation is fought out in is important because Brooks’ claim of defamation against Roe might be harder to win in California where there are particularly strong anti-SLAPP rules.

Those rules seek to stop ‘strategic lawsuits against public participation’, basically lawsuits that are mainly filed to pressure another party to not speak out on a specific issue, usually an issue of public interest. Such lawsuits are seen as an attack on free speech rights.

Universal forms partnership with marketing group WPP

Universal Music has announced one of those strategic partnerships with WPP, the group of advertising and marketing agencies that insists on calling itself a “creative transformation company”.

Under the partnership, WPP’s brand clients will be provided with, and I quote, “cutting-edge audience engagement strategies leveraging the power of music”. Because, if you’re going to have cutting-edge audience engagement strategies, you might as well leverage the power of music while you’re at it.

That said, it’s not just music that’s being leveraged here, because these cutting edge strategies will also involve a whole load of data and technology. “Music is becoming an even more powerful cultural force and technology is rewriting how we experience it”, says WPP CTO Stephan Pretorius. Partnering with Universal, he adds,will “allow us to leverage emerging technologies and data insights to create truly innovative music-driven campaigns for our clients, shaping the future of brand engagement”.

Universal has worked with various advertising and marketing agencies over the years as it has dabbled in the only slightly sinister world of band-brand partnerships. Though for a time it was closest to Havas, which, like the major, was owned by French conglomerate Vivendi. However, Vivendi spun off Universal to be its own company in 2021 and is currently in the process of doing the same with Havas.

The new partnership with WPP will see artists and labels from across the Universal empire, as well as the major’s global data and insight teams, collaborate with the marketing group’s agencies and their brand clients on delivering all these music and tech leveraging cutting edge whatnots.

🌅 Horizon Future Leaders - Robert Kilpatrick Q&A

As part of our new Horizon Future Leaders series, we’re connecting with the music industry’s next generation of leaders to gather candid advice and insights into their career journeys.

This week we caught up with Robert Kilpatrick, CEO and Creative Director of the Scottish Music Industry Association.

In 2014, Robert was an intern at the Scottish Music Industry Association, or SMIA. Now, a decade on, he's that same organisation's CEO and Creative Director. Today, Robert oversees SMIA’s initiatives, including the prestigious Scottish Album Of The Year Award, while successfully working to strengthen Scotland’s music industry.

By completing his music business studies and, more crucially, gaining a better understanding of what industry roles involved in practice, building his network and developing hard skills, the first chapter of Robert's career was underpinned by a hunger to get involved and be part of it all in any way he could.

In this Q&A, Robert reflects on his transition from intern to leader, the lessons he’s learned along the way, and practical advice for those at the start of their careers in music.