In today's CMU Daily: Sony Music’s Epic label has successfully had itself removed as a defendant in litigation over the fatal 2021 edition of Astroworld, the festival founded by Epic signed Travis Scott. Apple, two businesses owned by Scott, and a number of security companies were not granted their requested dismissals by the judge, however

One Liners: Round Hill, Warner Chappell appointments; PPL revenues; Believe acquisition update; Elena Segal receives Ivors Academy Honour; James Blake goes independent; new music from PartyNextDoor, Beth Gibbons, Elkka, Ellur

Also today: Silvia Montello out as CEO at indie trade body AIM, Gee Davy will now lead the organisation; Twitter responds to $250 million copyright infringement lawsuit; Hollywood to have another crack at getting web-blocking in the US

Plus: Rats-Tails are CMU Approved

Apple and Travis Scott companies remain as defendants in Astroworld litigation

The judge overseeing the Astroworld litigation has dismissed claims made against Sony Music's Epic Records. However, she has denied requests by Apple and two of Travis Scott's companies to be removed as defendants as the first lawsuits head to trial next month. 

Judge Kristen Hawkins issued a flurry of judgments earlier this week in response to motions for dismissal filed by various people and companies that were named as defendants in at least some of the lawsuits that followed Astroworld 2021. 

Ten people died and hundreds more were injured in a crowd surge that occurred during Scott's headline set at the Houston festival he founded. Hundreds of lawsuits were then filed. 

Scott and the festival's promoter, Live Nation, were key defendants in all that litigation, but - as is often the case in this kind of legal action - many of the lawsuits also named as defendants a wide range of other people and companies with some involvement in the event. 

Most of those other defendants have sought to have their names removed from the litigation before the first case gets to trial. In the main, they have argued that they had no involvement in designing the festival's site, or in planning or delivering event safety and security, and therefore cannot be held liable for any of the deaths or injuries that resulted from the crowd surge. 

Apple was named as a defendant because it was livestreaming Scott's show when the crowd surge occurred. Some of the lawyers representing the Astroworld victims argued that the placing of Apple's cameras impacted on crowd control at the festival. It insisted it had no involvement in event planning or crowd control, but Hawkins wasn't willing to dismiss the claims against Apple on that basis at this stage. 

Epic Records is Travis Scott's record label. Although it may have had some creative or marketing connections to the festival, as Scott's business partner on his recordings rather than live activity, it did seem ambitious to claim it could be held liable in any way for the crowd surge. So, perhaps unsurprisingly, Hawkins granted its motion for dismissal. 

A group of security companies that provided services to Astroworld also filed a motion for dismissal, including Contemporary Services Corp, Apex Security Group Inc, AJ Melino & Associates Inc and Valle Services LLC. 

Contemporary Services and Apex argued that they had provided staff for the festival's gates, but not the main stage where the crowd surge happened. Nevertheless, the judge declined to dismiss the case against any of the security companies, which is perhaps unsurprising. Crowd control across the entire event is likely to be considered when it comes to assessing possible causes for the crowd surge at the end of the day. 

Scott is also seeking to get himself removed as a defendant on the case, as is Drake, who guested during Scott's headline set. Both artists insist that they are not responsible for the management of the events where they perform. The judge is yet to rule on the rappers’ motions for dismissal, although she declined to remove two of Scott's companies - LaFlame and Cactus Jack - as defendants. 

Finally, Live Nation will remain as a key defendant when the cases go to trial, though some of the live giant's subsidiaries have sought to be removed. Hawkins declined to dismiss the case against Front Gate Ticketing, owned by Live Nation's Ticketmaster, but did grant a motion for dismissal for some of Scoremore's companies, it being the Houston-based Live Nation subsidiary that co-promoted the festival. 

The complete list of people and companies who were this week removed as defendants in the Astroworld litigation is as follows: Darryl Platt, Eighteentwentysix LLC, Epic Records, ParaDocs Worldwide Inc, Re:Source Event Group, Scoremore LLC and Scoremore MGMT LLC.  

The people and companies who remain as defendants are: AJ Melino & Associates Inc, Apex Security Group, Apple Inc, Cactus Jack Enterprises LLC, Contemporary Services Corp, Front Gate Ticketing Solutions LLC, LeFlame Enterprises Inc, Sascha Stone Guttfreund, Valle Services LLC and Valle Security Texas LLC.

Kilimanjaro Live // Promoter Assistant (London)

FKP Scorpio Entertainment // Head of Marketing (London)

FKP Scorpio Entertainment // Ticketing Manager (London)

FKP Scorpio Entertainment // Social Media Manager (London)

foundation.fm // Account Manager (London)

Horizon is CMU's new weekly newsletter - published each Friday - that brings you a hand-picked selection of early-stage career opportunities from across the music industry.

Whether you're looking for your first job in music or you're ready to take a step up, Horizon is here to help you find your dream job faster.

👉 Click through to see the current selection.

ONE LINERS

Believe, James Blake, PPL + more

APPOINTMENTS

Round Hill Music has announced that ‘American Idol’ judge Randy Jackson and artist manager John Greenberg have joined as advisors. “To have respected industry legends Randy and John join the Round Hill family is a testament to our creator first model, which has been at the centre of our music strategy since inception”, says CEO Josh Gruss. “Their association with Round Hill reinforces our relationship with the artist and songwriter community, as well as our fifteen year track record of successful investment into music rights”.

Warner Chappell has promoted Jenni Pfaff to EVP Strategy, Integration & Operations. “For over five years, I've focused on understanding the intricacies of this company and meeting with our songwriters and their teams to create a strategy where our people and business are in sync”, she says. Our technology serves as our foundation, while our strategy ensures everything works cohesively on a global scale. I’m committed to continuing to evolve our products to better serve our songwriters in an ever-changing media landscape”.

STATS

UK recording rights collecting society PPL brought in revenues of £283.5 million in 2023 - the highest in its 90 year history and up 4% year-on-year. The increase was in part thanks to an 11% boost to public performance income, which generated £111 million.

LABELS

Believe has said that its board of directors is expecting to offer a decision on a potential acquisition by a consortium led by CEO and founder Denis Ladegaillerie on or before 19 Apr. This comes after Warner Music pulled out of the running to purchase the distribution and artist services firm. 

AWARDS 

The Ivors Academy has announced that Apple’s Global Senior Director Of Music Publishing Elena Segal is to receive an Ivors Academy Honour. “Elena is one of the most accomplished and respected music executives in the UK”, says Ivors Academy Chair Tom Gray. “Throughout her career Elena has consistently championed the value of songwriters and music publishing. Notably, she has been at the forefront of global music licensing as technology transformed the industry. For her contributions to the music industry, Elena truly deserves this Honour”.

ARTIST NEWS

James Blake has announced that he is now an independent artist, having ended his agreement with Universal Music. “After over a decade on a label it feels scary to go independent but here we are”, he says in a post on Instagram. “As someone who hates spam, I promise not to send you annoying emails. Just trying to break free of the algorithm gods gatekeeping art”. The musician has been critical of the record industry of late and was recently involved in the launch of artist subscription app Vault. 

RELEASES

PartyNextDoor has released new single ‘Lose My Mind’. His new album ‘PartyNextDoor 4’ is out on 26 Apr. 

Portishead’s Beth Gibbons has released new single ‘Reaching Out’. Her debut solo album ‘Lives Outgrown’ is out on 17 Jun and she has a handful of UK shows booked for June. 

Elkka has released new single ‘Your Skin’. Her new album ‘Prism Of Pleasure’ is out on 7 Jun. 

Ellur has released new single ‘Boys’.

Approved: Rats-Tails

South East London quartet Rats-Tails’ sound is irresistibly immersive, with richly textured compositions and ethereal vocals. 

Their latest single ‘Flowers’ segues seamlessly between psychedelic-folk, dream-pop and scratchy indie-disco. Guided by Courtney McMahon's vocals, ‘Flowers’ blossoms with a narrative of redemption and coming-of-age, encapsulating the journey of self-discovery and embracing change.

As described by McMahon herself, she says, “‘You’ll never know all of the flowers’ verbatim was my response to a long term ex-partner admitting he loved the ‘idea’ of me, rather than actual me. After processing the end of this relationship and the weight of his misogyny, I began a journey of discovering what I wish to do in life. ‘Flowers’ is about embracing your personal metamorphosis: the ugly and beautiful parts of you and your history. The sound of the track reflects that metamorphosis”.

The band will be headlining a launch party for the new single at The George Tavern in London on 20 Apr.

🎧 Watch the video for 'Flowers' here

Gee Davy to take over as head of indie label trade body AIM as Silvia Montello exits

Gee Davy has been appointed to the new role of Chief Policy Officer at the UK’s Association Of Independent Music, and will also take on duties as interim CEO as Silvia Montello exits the indie label trade body after just over a year in the role. This morning AIM has indicated to CMU that there is no current plan to recruit a new CEO.

Responding to a question from CMU about when AIM would be announcing the recruitment process to replace Montello, an AIM spokesperson said, “The board is fully behind Gee and the senior management team at this time, with no current plans to recruit for a new CEO. This will be reviewed in due course”.

Davy joined AIM in 2017, and has led on the trade body’s policy work for some time, having developed a solid grounding in the legal and business affairs side of the industry in her previous roles in the independent music sector, as well as having a firm grasp of the opportunities and challenges offered by technology and innovation, drawing on her background as an electronics engineer. 

That the trade body is not actively seeking a new CEO marks an interesting shift, indicating that the organisation may see greater value in leadership based in policy and strategy, rather than a more traditional CEO leadership role. 

While AIM plays a key role in supporting and championing its members, the lobbying and policy work the organisation conducts is arguably more important than ever. With current issues around major label dominance, streaming, AI, transparency, distribution and various government inquiries, it makes a lot of sense for the organisation to be led by someone who is not only exceptionally well informed in these areas, but also has widespread - and long term - support and visibility within the independent music community. 

While Montello’s next move has not been confirmed, she’s held a number of roles across the industry and should not be short of offers. 

Before she was appointed as CEO of AIM in December 2022, Montello was briefly CEO of the Association For Electronic Music, joining the organisation in April 2022 after a year as Head Of Operations at Audio Network, and prior to that spent eleven months as Head Of Business Development for music licensing and reporting platform Blokur, which was recently acquired by Music Reports. She has also had stints at Kobalt and BMG, as well as nearly eleven years at Universal Music Group.

In a statement this morning, AIM Chair Ruth Barlow said, “It’s unfortunate that we are losing Silvia so soon into her tenure, but on behalf of the board I wish her well in her next endeavours. I’m very pleased that Gee Davy has agreed to step up into a newly expanded role as AIM’s Chief Policy Officer and Interim CEO. The board and I are working closely with Gee and the AIM team as we continue to support and promote the independent music sector, delivering and creating value for our community via our membership events and activities schedule, industry affairs work and beyond”.

Davy herself added, “I am honoured that the board have asked me to take on the position of Interim CEO, as well as creating a new Chief Policy Officer role to reflect my contribution to AIM’s growth in that arena. With the trust of the inspirational team and board, and our excellent senior management at my side, I am looking forward to delivering on AIM's commitment to support the UK's innovative independent music community and level the music playing field”.

X responds to $250 million copyright lawsuit filed by music publishers

X has filed a formal response to the $250 million copyright infringement lawsuit filed against it by a group of music publishers. The social media platform you probably still call Twitter says the music companies have failed to prove that it is liable for ‘contributory infringement’, while the request for mega-damages is “unconstitutionally excessive and disproportionate”.

The music publishers’ infringement claim is based on a number of allegations. They say that X has failed to deal with copyright takedown notices in a timely manner, failed to deal with prolific repeat infringers, and applied more lenient copyright enforcement against paying users. 

However, X says in its new legal filing that the claim for contributory infringement is barred, because it “did not have the requisite knowledge of the alleged primary infringement and did not cause, encourage, or induce the alleged primary infringement". Not only that, but X has "substantial non-infringing uses", it did not "cause, encourage or induce the alleged primary infringement", and "any infringement was innocent and was not willful". 

X was previously successful in getting the lawsuit cut back considerably. As well as contributory infringement, the music companies also accused X of direct and vicarious infringement in relation to videos posted by users onto the social media platform that include unlicensed songs.  

The judge ruled that X's involvement in the infringement was too passive to be liable for direct infringement. Also, she said, the publishers had not sufficiently proven a claim for vicarious infringement, which would mean that X was "profiting from direct infringement while declining to exercise the right to stop or limit it".

However, the claim for contributory infringement was allowed to proceed, with the focus now on how X deals with the copyright takedown notices it receives from the music industry. As X has no music licences, it is obliged to remove unlicensed music on its platform whenever it is made aware of it by copyright owners in order to avoid liability under US copyright law. 

Most of the new legal filing is taken up with X going through each of the statements the publishers made in their original lawsuit, agreeing with those that provide a simple outline of how X works, and denying those that accuse it of copyright infringing conduct. It then sets out an assortment of defences regarding the infringement claims, as well as taking issue with the damages the publishers are demanding.

The publishers are seeking statutory damages of $150,000 for each of the 1700 specific songs that they have identified as being made available on the Twitter platform without licence, which would exceed $250 million. That damages claim, X writes in its new legal filing, is "unconstitutionally excessive and disproportionate to any actual damages that may be sustained, in violation of the due process clause of the United States Constitution".

Op-ed: Forget AI vocal clones - the real impact of AI in music is personalised discovery

AI is going to hyper-accelerate the shift to personalised discovery of music, by making the existing discovery algorithms of the various platforms much more sophisticated and much more customised to the tastes of individual listeners say Duetti CEO and co-founder Lior Tibon.

At Duetti, our focus on developing sophisticated predictive technology and pricing models means that we are closely monitoring these underlying trends. Coupled with our innovative data-driven track management and marketing tactics, this enables us to purchase older catalogues of tracks from artists of all sizes - knowing that we can help these tracks perform in that new model of discovery. This in turn expands the financing options which are available to artists.

Hollywood movie studios aim to put web-blocking back on the agenda in US Congress

The boss of the US Motion Picture Association announced in a speech this week that getting web-blocking into American copyright law is now a priority again. 

He added that none of the doom and gloom predictions made the last time this was discussed in US Congress have come to pass in the numerous countries where web-blocking is now an anti-piracy tactic available to copyright owners. 

Speaking at CinemaCon in Las Vegas, MPA CEO Charles Rivkin hailed the launch of “the next major phase” of the Hollywood trade group’s anti-piracy work, stating, “the MPA is going to work with members of Congress to enact judicial site-blocking legislation here in the United States”.

Web-blocking allows copyright owners to secure injunctions in court that force internet companies, usually internet service providers, to block access to piracy websites. They have become an anti-piracy tactic of choice for both music and movie companies in those countries where they are available. 

Proposals to make web-blocks available in US copyright law back in 2011 and 2012 resulted in a major backlash from the internet sector, with Wikipedia taking its English language content offline for 24 hours in protest. The proposals were quickly abandoned by Congress members in the wake of those protests, and US politicians have been nervous about revisiting them ever since. 

That said, behind the scenes the MPA has been seeking to get web-blocking back on the agenda in the US for some time, arguing that since 2012 web-blocks have been introduced in numerous other countries - including the UK - and that hasn’t resulted in any of the problems critics of the proposals raised. 

Rivkin told CinemaCon, “Back then, we heard claims that site-blocking would ‘break the internet’. Well, I’m not sure if anyone’s noticed, but even after site-blocking became commonplace around the world, the internet is doing just fine”.

“Back then, we heard concerns about the potential use of site-blocking to stifle free speech”, he added. “Well, that’s something we take seriously in an industry that embraces an unflinching commitment to the First Amendment. But again, real-world experience proved those dire predictions wrong. Examples of free speech violations are practically non-existent. Safeguards exist to ensure the protection of everyone’s legal rights”. 

In most countries where web-block injunctions are now common, the ISPs have generally accepted web-blocking on copyright grounds as a routine part of doing business. Although there remain plenty of critics of the anti-piracy approach. 

Most criticism today centres on the argument that web-blocking doesn’t really work, because a Google search will tell people how to get around the blockades, including by using a VPN or third-party DNS resolver. That has resulted in copyright owners in some countries seeking to get web-blocking orders against VPNs and DNS resolvers too. 

In Europe, that has led to legal battles between music companies and DNS resolvers Quad9 and Cloudflare's 1.1.1.1. In Germany, Sony Music took on Quad9 and Universal Music 1.1.1.1. Although Sony initially had some success in court, more recent judgements have concluded that because a DNS resolver is a “mere conduit” in the process of accessing a website, it is not liable to instigate web-blocks. 

So, as the MPA becomes more up front in its demands on US politicians in this domain, we can expect a new round of pushback. 

Nevertheless, Rivkin concluded, “We can get this done - and do it right. And even if Members of Congress can’t seem to agree on much these days, surely they can find common ground on action to protect American businesses, defend American workers, and strengthen our public safety. It’s long past time to bring our laws in line with the rest of the world”.