| We've covered the music business each day since 21 Jun 2002 Today's email is edition #5238 |
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| | In today's CMU Daily: Barclays has ended its sponsorship deal with Live Nationâs UK festivals, following months of controversy about the partnership. Numerous artists pulled out of The Great Escape, Latitude, Download and the Isle Of Wight Festival in protest at the bank providing financial services to defence companies that have supplied weapons to Israel
One Liners: Spotify launches in-house creative agency; Ed Sheeran remains UKâs most played artist; Nas to adapt 1984 hip hop movie for Broadway; Paul McCartney, Crowded House, Headie One tour dates
Also today: Explosive K-pop dispute goes legal; Live Nation arbitration battle discussed in appeals court; Feid sued over uncredited loops Plus: The Setlist podcast examines the latest twist in the music publishersâ battle over Spotifyâs audiobooks bundling
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| Barclays ends sponsorship of Live Nation festivals after growing boycott | Barclays has suspended its sponsorship of Live Nationâs UK festivals this summer, including Download, Latitude and the Isle Of Wight Festival. It follows a high profile campaign against that sponsorship - which led to many artists pulling out of Live Nationâs events - in protest at the bank providing financial services to defence companies that have supplied weapons to Israel.
In a short statement, Live Nation said, âFollowing discussion with artists, we have agreed with Barclays that they will step back from sponsorship of our festivalsâ.
A spokesperson for Barclays itself told The Guardian: âBarclays was asked and has agreed to suspend participation in the remaining Live Nation festivals in 2024. Barclays customers who hold tickets to these festivals are not affected and their tickets remain validâ.
The bank entered into a five year brand partnership deal with Live Nationâs UK festivals division last year. The involvement of Barclays in music events has caused a little controversy in the past because of its investment in fossil fuels. However, this year the controversy surged because of the situation in Gaza and the bankâs investments in the arms industry.
A group of artists and music fans began to protest over the involvement of Barclays in Live Nationâs events, calling on and pressuring other artists to refuse to play at them.
The Great Escape was the first event to see the impact of that campaign, with more than 100 acts who had been booked to play ultimately pulling out of the Brighton showcase festival. It then became clear that all of Live Nationâs other summer festivals, including this weekend's Download, would also have to contend with protests, boycotts and acts pulling out.
Although Barclays will no longer have a presence at Live Nationâs events, it is thought that some other elements of the five year deal will stay in place. Nevertheless, the protest group Bands Boycott Barclays say that the sponsorship announcement is a âvictoryâ for its campaign.
"As musicians, we were horrified that our music festivals were partnered with Barclays, who are complicit in the genocide in Gaza through investment, loans and underwriting of arms companies supplying the Israeli military. Hundreds of artists have taken action this summer to make it clear that this is morally reprehensible, and we are glad we have been heardâ.
âOur demand to Barclays is simple: divest from the genocide or face further boycottsâ, they add. "Boycotting Barclays, also Europeâs primary funder of fossil fuels, is the minimum we can do to call for changeâ.
The sponsorship of cultural events by companies with links to things like arms or fossil fuels has caused controversy in the past. However, the pressure on events to avoid such partnerships - and on performers to boycott events that do - has increased in recent years.
And the pressure is having an impact. Edinburgh-based investment firm Baillie Gifford recently ended its support of various literary festivals, including the Edinburgh International Book Festival, because of controversy over its investments in fossil fuel businesses.
While many may feel that these are positive developments, and that these companies should never have been involved in culture, many events and festivals rely heavily on sponsorship to be viable. As certain potential sponsors withdraw from music and culture - probably diverting their budgets to something like sport - some of those events may struggle to find alternative funding.
This is something Barclays claimed in its statement to The Guardian, saying, âThe only thing that this small group of activists will achieve is to weaken essential support for cultural events enjoyed by millions. It is time that leaders across politics, business, academia and the arts stand united against thisâ. | Read online | |
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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.
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| Spotify Creative Lab, Ed Sheeran, Nas + more | DIGITAL
Spotify has launched an in-house creative agency, Creative Lab, to help brands to create marketing campaigns. It will also experiment with generative AI-created adverts. âAt Spotify, weâre always looking for ways to strengthen creative output and foster deeper connections between consumers and brandsâ, says Spotify Global Creative Director Kay Hsu. âCreative Lab allows us to go a level deeper, working even closer with advertisers to create unique creative experiences that build more meaningful connections with consumersâ.
ARTIST NEWS
UK record industry collecting society PPL has announced that Ed Sheeran was the most played artist in the UK in 2023, continuing his unbroken seven year run at the top of the most played list. âThank you for naming me the most played artist for last yearâ, says Eddo. âI want to say thank you to my promotions teamâ - thatâs the Atlantic Records promotions team - âyou have consistently done amazing things, not just for me but for all the other artists you work with and Iâm happy that you get this recognition - thanks so much and hereâs to the next year!â
Nas has announced plans to adapt 1984 hip hop film âBeat Streetâ into a Broadway musical. ââBeat Streetâ wasnât just a film â it spread the revolution of hip hop culture throughout the country and the world. It left an indelible mark, inspiring generations of young artists and creating new hip hop fans alikeâ, he says. âItâs an honour to breathe new life into this iconic work and celebrate its enduring legacyâ.
GIGS & FESTIVALS
Paul McCartney has announced his first UK shows since headlining Glastonbury in 2018. There will be two nights each at Manchesterâs Co-op Live and Londonâs O2 in December. Tickets go on general sale on Friday.
Crowded House will be in the UK for a run of arena shows in October, including one night at the O2 in London on 11 Oct. Tickets go on general sale on Friday.
Headie One has announced UK shows in November this year, finishing with a performance at Wembley Arena in London on 29 Nov. Tickets go on general sale on Friday. The rapperâs new album âThe Last Oneâ is out on 28 Jun. | Read online | | Bitter dispute between members of K-pop group EXO and SM Entertainment goes legal | A dispute between K-pop agency SM Entertainment and three members of the boy band EXO has exploded into a âfull-on warâ. The agency has now sued over claims made by Chen, Baekhyun and Xiumin - collectively known as EXO-CBX - with the singers saying that they will countersue and refer the agency to South Koreaâs Fair Trade Commission.
SM accuses EXO-CBX of failing to pay a 10% intellectual property royalty fee, after leaving the company to set up their own agency to manage their solo careers. CBX say that SM has reneged on a promise to allow them to pay a reduced fee to distribute their music via SMâs majority shareholder Kakao.
Following some heated press statements from both sides last week, SM went legal on Thursday, saying that âCBX's nonsensical actions cannot be tolerated anymoreâ. CBX responded by saying that they were ready to reveal âeverythingâ about how the company has allegedly mistreated them.
This dispute dates back to last year, when Chen, Baekhyun and Xiumin reached a new agreement with SM, allowing them to manage their solo careers through their own agency INB100. The group is still managed by SM, although the semi-split came after CBX accused SM of mistreatment.
Under the agreement they reached, EXO-CBX were reportedly required to pay a 10% royalty in order to use their stage names and the EXO name in relation to their solo activities. They are now refusing to pay this, as they claim that SM is not upholding the agreement on the distribution fee, which was why they agreed to the royalty.
At a press conference last week, President of the holding company that owns INB10, Cha -Ga-won, said that SM had breached the deal by failing to honour a 5.5% distribution fee - much lower than the usual 15-20% for acts operating outside SM.
This fee was not mentioned in the written agreement but - said Ch Ga-won - it was âverbally promised by then-CEO Lee Sung-su of SM Entertainmentâ. They have a recording of this deal being offered, she said, adding that a verbal offer is âlegally binding by the Korean legal systemâ.
âWe declare a full-on war against SM Entertainment, which has made a promise that it could not keep and committed what could be perceived as fraudâ, she said at the press conference on 10 Jun.
SM quickly responded with its own statement, saying that âwhat INB100 argues is an unfair act on our side is different from the truthâ.
âThe item was discussed as a gesture that we would help CBX negotiate with the distributor. We never had the power to decide the distributorâs fee rateâ, it went on. âCBX did in fact ask that a clause regarding the distribution fee be put in the agreement, but we explained that it couldnât be included because we just donât have the power and took it out, which means that no such clause is included in the agreementâ.
Instead, it said, it allowed Baekhyun to release his solo album through INB100, rather than SM as was originally planned, and paid a cancellation fee when he pulled out of a concert in Japan. As a result, the company said, âCBX never really suffered any damageâ.
When it filed legal action the following day, it added claims that EXO-CBX had been âstolenâ by Cha Ga-won and business partner MC Mong. This is something it claimed during last yearâs dispute, but ultimately it retracted and apologised for that allegation. The key demand of the lawsuit is that EXO-CBX honour the 10% royalty clause in their contract. However, it is expected that a separate suit calling for damages is also likely to be filed.
EXO-CBX said on Friday that they plan to countersue and would reveal âeverythingâ that led to their split from SM last year. They will also ask for the South Korean governmentâs Fair Trade Commission to investigate the company.
âWe will prove, in court, that SM's payment system is wrongâ, they said in a statement. "We will also report the unfair exclusive contract [of SM Entertainment] to the FTC and have it judged by the justice systemâ.
There have been fears that this all puts an upcoming EXO album in jeopardy. In their statement last week, EXO-CBX said that they would âearnestly participate in EXOâs full group activities with SM in the futureâ. That was before everything went legal though.
| Read online | | Live Nationâs chosen arbitrator has rules that are âjust nutsâ | The Ninth Circuit Appeals Court in the US has considered ongoing efforts by Live Nation to force a lawsuit accusing it of anticompetitive behaviour to arbitration.
A lower court blocked those efforts mainly because the live giant changed its chosen arbitrator to a company called New Era. Earlier in the dispute the processes employed by New Era were dubbed âKafkaesqueâ, and it turns out the appeal judges have some similar criticisms.
According to Law360, the judges variously referred to New Eraâs arbitration rules as âcircular and problematicâ, âcrazyâ, âcockamamieâ and âjust nutsâ, none of which is exactly a ringing endorsement. And possibly suggests Live Nation should have stuck with its former arbitrator of choice, JAMS.
Live Nation and its Ticketmaster division have a long history of seeking to force legal disputes initiated by ticket-buyers to be settled via private arbitration. Under Ticketmasterâs terms, agreed to by any ticket-buyer, any disputes must be taken to arbitration first. As a result, its attempts to go to arbitration - rather than court - are usually successful.
In theory, the arbitration approach should be simpler, cheaper and more efficient for both parties than filing a lawsuit in court. Another attraction - and perhaps of particular significance for Live Nation - is that arbitration happens in private whereas litigation is fought out in public.
Thatâs especially important when customers accuse Live Nation of anticompetitive conduct, because the market dominance of the live giant is of great interest to regulators and lawmakers in the US at the moment.
This particular ticket-buyer-led lawsuit, which accuses Live Nation of breaching competition law, would probably have been forced to arbitration had it not been for Live Nation switching its chosen arbitrator from the long-established JAMS to New Era.
Live Nation argues that New Era is better set up for disputes that involve multiple customers, which is often the case with its ticketing business. However, the ticket-buyers involved in this lawsuit said Live Nation picked New Era because its processes favour the live music company.
Last year judge George H Wu declined to force arbitration, saying that the change in arbitrator resulted in an âunfair surpriseâ for the ticket-buyers and made forcing arbitration âprocedurally unconscionableâ. Itâs that decision that Live Nation wants the Ninth Circuit to overturn. But given last weekâs hearing, thatâs looking unlikely.
The judges raised issues with various rules employed by New Era. That included the rule that allows the arbitrator to decide whether any one question is âarbitrableâ, meaning it is capable of being settled by arbitration. Itâs âjust crazyâ to ask the arbitrator to rule on âarbitrabilityâ, one of the judges said, because thatâs an obvious conflict of interest.
After calling the New Era process âa really cockamamie way to set up a systemâ, another judge asked Live Nationâs lawyer who came up with the rules. The lawyer said it was probably the founders of the arbitration company. That didnât seem to placate anybody.
The judges are yet to make a final decision. If this case does end up in court, it will be running in tandem with the US governmentâs own lawsuit accusing Live Nation and Ticketmaster of exploiting their market dominance in an anticompetitive way. | Read online | | Setlist Podcast: Spotify referred to FTC over âunlawful conductâ | In this week's Setlist Podcast: Chris Cooke and Andy Malt discuss the latest escalation in the fight over Spotifyâs reclassification of its premium subscription as an audiobook and music bundle in the US, the lawsuit against Drake for putting one of his own song titles on a t-shirt, and the return of the band formerly known as Easy Life, who have nothing to do with easyJet.
đ§ Click here to listen - or search for 'Setlist Podcast' | Read online | | Feid sued after allegedly using producerâs guitar loops without credit and compensation | Colombian artist Feid - also known as Ferxxo - and his label Universal Music have been sued for copyright infringement by a producer who claims that his guitar loops were used in three tracks without proper credit and compensation. That includes âFerxxo 100â, the third single on Feidâs 2022 album, the somewhat ironically named - given the copyright dispute - âFeliz Cumpleaños Ferxxo Te Pirateamos El Ălbumâ or âHappy Birthday Ferxxo We Pirated Your Albumâ.
The producer, SĂ©bastien Graux, says that his guitar loops have previously been used in tracks by the likes of Ricky Martin, Rema, NBA YoungBoy and Booba. His lawsuit explains how he met with the team at Columbia-based Icon Music during a trip to the country in 2021. They then introduced him to a producer called Jowan, who Graux subsequently met in Miami, where he shared several audio files containing his loops.
Jowan was a producer on âFeliz Cumpleaños Ferxxo Te Pirateamos El Ălbumâ and, following their meeting, Graux was told that his loops would be used on three tracks on Feidâs then upcoming album. He says that he was âecstatic at the opportunityâ to feature on Feidâs next record, and that he âlooked forward to receiving a producer credit for his contributionsâ to the three songs: âFerxxo 100â, âX20Xâ and âDe Tanto Chimbiarâ.
However, âdespite months of reassurances from Jowan and others associated with defendants that Graux would be credited and compensated appropriately for his contributionsâ, no such credit or compensation has occurred since the albumâs release in September 2022.
He suspects that the âfalse reassurancesâ provided in 2022 âwere merely guises to ensure that Graux did not upset the release schedule for the songs and so that defendants could avoid their obligations with regard to Grauxâs copyrighted contributions to these hit songsâ.
The lawsuit says that Graux has been attempting to settle this dispute ever since, but without success. This is why he is now suing. Icon Music and Jowan are also listed as defendants alongside Feid and Universal. | Colombian artist Feid - also known as Ferxxo - and his label Universal Music have been sued for copyright infringement by a producer who claims that his guitar loops were used in three tracks without proper credit and compensation. That includes âFerxxo 100â, the third single on Feidâs 2022 album, the somewhat ironically named - given the copyright dispute - âFeliz Cumpleaños Ferxxo Te Pirateamos El Ălbumâ or âHappy Birthday Ferxxo We Pirated Your Albumâ.
The producer, SĂ©bastien Graux, says that his guitar loops have previously been used in tracks by the likes of Ricky Martin, Rema, NBA YoungBoy and Booba. His lawsuit explains how he met with the team at Columbia-based Icon Music during a trip to the country in 2021. They then introduced him to a producer called Jowan, who Graux subsequently met in Miami, where he shared several audio files containing his loops.
Jowan was a producer on âFeliz Cumpleaños Ferxxo Te Pirateamos El Ălbumâ and, following their meeting, Graux was told that his loops would be used on three tracks on Feidâs then upcoming album. He says that he was âecstatic at the opportunityâ to feature on Feidâs next record, and that he âlooked forward to receiving a producer credit for his contributionsâ to the three songs: âFerxxo 100â, âX20Xâ and âDe Tanto Chimbiarâ.
However, âdespite months of reassurances from Jowan and others associated with defendants that Graux would be credited and compensated appropriately for his contributionsâ, no such credit or compensation has occurred since the albumâs release in September 2022.
He suspects that the âfalse reassurancesâ provided in 2022 âwere merely guises to ensure that Graux did not upset the release schedule for the songs and so that defendants could avoid their obligations with regard to Grauxâs copyrighted contributions to these hit songsâ.
The lawsuit says that Graux has been attempting to settle this dispute ever since, but without success. This is why he is now suing. Icon Music and Jowan are also listed as defendants alongside Feid and Universal. | Read online |
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