WEDNESDAY 7 JUNE 2017 | COMPLETEMUSICUPDATE.COM | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
TODAY'S TOP STORY: Two people have been charged with 36 counts of involuntary manslaughter in connection to the fire that occurred at the Ghost Ship warehouse in Oakland, California last December, which took place during a party headlined by electronic group Golden Donna... [READ MORE] | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Two charged over deadly fire at Ghost Ship party A total of 36 people died in the blaze, including artists Cherushii, Joey Casio, Nackt, and Cash Askew from dream-pop band Them Are Us Too. According to the New York Times, the two men who have been charged - Derick Almena, who leased the warehouse, and Max Harris, who had a supervisory role at the building - are accused of failing to put in place basic safety measures at the informal arts complex they ran. District Attorney of Alameda County, Nancy E O'Malley, who has brought the charges against the two men, told reporters that Almena and Harris had "knowingly created a fire trap with inadequate means of escape [and] then filled that area with human beings and are now facing the consequences of their actions". The DA continued: "The paying guests at the event were faced with a nearly impossible labyrinth of the defendants' making. They allowed individuals to live in the warehouse and deceived the police, the fire department and the owner of the building to that fact. They allowed large groups to assemble in the warehouse for unpermitted and unsafe musical events in that space". A spokesman for the DA's office, Teresa Drenick, added that the actual cause of the fire had not been identified and probably never would "because of the nature of the fire and its consumption of nearly all of the evidence". The investigation into the blaze was now complete, she added, and no additional people would be charged. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Outgoing boss of Hollywood trade group praises European web-blocking Speaking at an event in Italy, Dodd noted how a number of European countries now provided systems via which copyright owners - including movie studios and record companies - can seek injunctions forcing internet service providers to block their customers from accessing piracy platforms. Web-blocking is not currently available in the US - and proposals to introduce such measures there in 2011 and 2012 proved very controversial - though the MPAA has been quietly trying to put the anti-piracy tactic back on the agenda Stateside. The event where Dodd was speaking reviewed the current state of play regarding online piracy in Italy, which remains an issue despite measures such as web-blocking now being available there. According to Torrentfreak, the boss of local anti-piracy organisation FAPAV said: "The research tells us we cannot lower our guard - we always have to work harder and with greater determination". He added that: "The pillars of anti-piracy protection are: the judicial authority, self-regulatory agreements, communication and educational activities". Although Dodd, the MPAA and FAPAV all advocate web-blocking and other legislative measures to try to combat piracy online, the outgoing movie industry chief also conceded that education was a key element too. "Today's youth are the future of the audiovisual industry. Young people must learn to respect the people who work in film and television that in 96% of cases never appear [in front of camera] but still work behind the scenes". He added: "It is important to educate and direct them towards legal consumption, which creates jobs and encourages investment". | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Glastonbury urges festival-goers to travel light, confirms extra security checks In a post on the event's website, organisers say: "We wanted to update you with some extra information about entrance to this year's festival, in light of the recent tragic events in Manchester and London. As always, we have put in place all necessary measures to maximise public safety, working closely with the authorities". They go on: "For security reasons, all ticketholders will be subject to extra searches of their vehicles, their bags and their person at this year's festival. This will make entrance slower than in previous years. Please be patient if there are queues, and please co-operate with any security requests and all searches". Given the extra security measures, festival-goers are encouraged to travel as light as possible and, if possible, to try and arrive at the site at less busy times. The message continues: "We do appreciate that you're going to be staying on the farm for several days, but the less you bring, the quicker you'll get through the gates. As a general rule, we would ask you to only bring as much as you can carry yourself. It really will make things quicker. There will be separate search lanes for those with large luggage and trolleys, and we anticipate that these lanes will be significantly slower". | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
SoundCloud licensing guy moves to YouTube He joins his former Warner Music colleague Lyor Cohen at the Google video site, who confirmed the hire yesterday. "At YouTube, we have over a billion viewers and thousands of label partners and Stephen is going to be the bridge that brings them together", Cohen told reporters. "As that crucial link, he's going to help labels and artists dream up new opportunities to reach fans around the world". Hurrah! Meanwhile, labels across Europe are ramping up their "YouTube is evil" rhetoric as EU law-makers consider amendments to the draft European Copyright Directive, including the article that seeks to limit the so called safe harbour which music companies argue YouTube exploits in order to under-pay for the music it streams. For more safe harbour good times, check out the value gap panel moderated by CMU at MIDEM in Cannes tomorrow. Free "YouTube is evil" t-shirts for everyone. We're just getting them reprinted with "but Steve's alright" on the back. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
CMU@TGE 2017: A Beginners Guide To Brexit With export under the spotlight as part of CMU Insights @ The Great Escape this year, it was impossible to ignore bloody Brexit. Ian Moss - Director Of Public Affairs at record industry trade body BPI - led the debate, with Proper Music's Vangel Vlaski, the Musicians' Union's Naomi Pohl, FAC's Lucie Caswell and music export expert Anna Hildur among those considering the challenges Brexit poses the music industry. "All the meetings I've gone to since the referendum have had Brexit on the agenda", began the MU's Noami Pohl. "We're totally obsessed with it, and it's probably taken a lot of people away from doing more valuable work, frankly". A key topic at many of those Brexit discussions has been the future of copyright, she added, with concerns about what might happen to UK copyright law once it is cut free from the European copyright regime. "We are reassured again and again by the government and the Intellectual Property Office that there's no planned overhaul of copyright [post-Brexit]", said Pohl. "We hope that is indeed the case, because we believe the current copyright regime in the UK basically works well". Pohl added that she hoped the UK would continue to work closely with the EU on copyright matters post-Brexit, to keep our copyright system in tandem with that on the continent. Noting the current copyright review in the EU as part of the digital single market project, she noted: "There are various copyright changes that are planned at an EU level to make it easier for people to trade in the digital single market and we still want to be part of that". Beyond copyright law itself, what about British recorded music? It is assumed that there will still be a demand for UK artists across Europe and beyond, but could Brexit impact on how records are sold? Especially when it comes to physical product which - while still in decline - nevertheless continues to make up a decent slice of UK record industry revenues. A lot of the CDs and vinyl records sold in the UK are actually pressed in Eastern Europe, while British labels need to get their physical stock into EU markets. If new tariffs or bureaucracy occur once the UK is outside the European Union, that will impact on the manufacture and distribution of all those discs. "There are real concerns about how it will impact on the logistics of physical product", said Proper Music's Vangel Vlaski. "Things like manufacturing timelines are going to change. The cost of production is going to change. The free movement of goods and stock is going to change, and in a way that we can't really predict right now. Our main clients - the labels - are concerned and we're in constant discussion about the possible implications". Any increase in costs will hit smaller labels the hardest, he added, because they operate on tighter margins already. "Another implication is at retail", he went on. "The faltering pound since last year's referendum means it is already more difficult to import goods from the EU. Are we prepared to see the retail prices for music rise up?" And could rising prices increase the decline in physical sales overall? Away from recordings, what about live? For many artists, the prospect of new restrictions on being able to freely tour and play around the EU will likely be the single biggest concern. Pohl agreed: "You have musicians who freelance for different orchestras across Europe, who are crossing borders independently of any one orchestra, meaning there's not somebody there to do any new paperwork that may be created when we leave the EU. That's a concern". "And for bands who are touring", she went on. "Especially grassroots bands who don't necessarily have the support and finance behind them - could that be the extra cost that stops the tour from happening?" Noting that many of the potential extra costs associated with making and selling music post-Brexit will hit grass roots artists and labels the hardest, the recently appointed CEO of the Featured Artists Coalition, Lucie Caswell, said that: "One of my fears for the wider business is very practical. You increase the administrative costs of making music, you increase the need for resources, and you actually reduce the pool of who can become involved in music" "Does that then restrict the kind of music that you're going to hear produced?", she continued. "That's a far more worrying prospect for me". With a wide range of concerns having been raised by his panel, BPI's Ian Moss then asked, seeking a positive: "Are we being a bit pessimistic here? Is it possible that the great benefit of not being in the EU is that we'll be in a country that is already a bit ahead of the curve on some key issues - like the anti-piracy injunctions and the duty of care of online intermediaries - and we might be able to take those initiatives further?" Despite having raised a number of concerns herself earlier in the debate, Anna Hildur did agree that there was an exciting side to travelling into the unknown. "We're living in an experiment", she said. "Which is, in one way, a little bit exciting, even if we would like to avoid the uncomfortable side effects of that excitement sometimes". She went on: "It's an experiment and I can see that maybe, all this pessimism is... maybe this will be the greatest country in Europe. 'Make Britain Great Again' and we can all be happy ever after". Though achieving that for the music community will definitely require politicians - currently being lobbied hard by every sector - to tackle the various potential issues Brexit poses for musicians and their business partners. Check out all the reports and resources CMU has published around this year's CMU Insights @ The Great Escape conferences here. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Ariana Grande's One Love Manchester show released on Spotify Already, £2 million was added to the We Love Manchester Emergency Fund - which has now raised over £10 million in total - during Grande's benefit concert. The fund was set up by Manchester City Council and the British Red Cross in the wake of the bomb attack which killed 22 people leaving a Grande concert at the Manchester Arena last month. The popstar is already set to appear highly on this week's UK singles chart, too possibly at number one, with her song 'One Last Time', which fans have been buying since the attack. That single has been repackaged as a charity release, with 76p of every 99p download on iTunes going to the We Love Manchester fund. Meanwhile, Noel Gallagher is reportedly donating any new song royalties generated by Oasis track 'Don't Look Back In Anger' to the We Love Manchester Fund. The song has become something of an anthem to the city's resilient response to the attacks, and Coldplay's Chris Martin performed it alongside Grande at Sunday's show. Those royalty reports follow criticism from Gallagher's brother Liam that Noel did not appear at Sunday's concert. However, according to The Sun, Noel was not asked to perform at the show. Chris Martin meanwhile tweeted: "Thank you Noel Gallagher for giving your blessing and encouragement to play 'Don't Look Back In Anger' and 'Live Forever' on Sunday. Everyone knew in advance you couldn't be there physically, so thank you for being there in spirit and for lending us those incredible songs". Anyway, I'm not sure this is really the place for continued Gallagher brother bickering. Here's the One Love Manchester show on Spotify. -------------------------------------------------- Nine Inch Nails announce new EP "Did you know there's a new top-secret Nine Inch Nails EP that will be released before the first shows we do this summer?" asked band leader Trent Reznor in an email to fans this week, knowing full well that they did not. "Did you know 'Not The Actual Events' was the first part of a trilogy of related EPs that will be released about six to eight months apart? Now you do. More information on this shortly". The email actually largely dealt with various logistical issues on the Nine Inch Nails online store which have caused delays to new vinyl re-issues being shipped -------------------------------------------------- Alvvays announce second album "This record is a fantasy breakup arc and my life nearly imitated [in] art", says vocalist Molly Rankin. Here's first single, 'In Undertow'. The band will also be touring the UK in August and September in order to flag the release. Here are the dates: 26 Aug: Leeds, Belgrave Music Hall | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Capitol, Björk, She Makes War, more Other notable announcements and developments today...  Universal's Capitol Music Group in the US has made Dion 'No ID' Wilson its new Executive Vice President. The company's President Ashley Newton is "absolutely THRILLED". CEO Steve Barnett "couldn't be happier". And Wilson himself is "look[ing] forward to helping create more history and building upon the company's great brand".  Björk has released a second video for 'Notget', this one not in VR.  Korn have released a new video for 'Black Is The Soul' from last year's 'The Serenity Of Suffering' album.  She Makes War has released new single 'I Want My Country Back', which she describes as "a roar of defiance and a heartfelt plea to my fellow British citizens to unite against the deafening rhetoric of 'the other' peddled in the mainstream press".  Zola Jesus has announced that she will release new album 'Okovi' on 8 Sep. From it, this is 'Exhumed'.  Rapper Pharoah has released his debut EP 'Reggae Zema', produced by Novelist.  Kaitlyn Aurelia Smith has released a synthy cover of Sade's 'By Your Side'. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Theresa May "doesn't much like" that song about her The song, of course, went into the UK singles chart at number four last week. It uses samples of May's speeches to support claims that she is a liar. The Prime Minister doesn't think this is much fun. "I've heard bits of it and to be perfectly honest I'm not very happy about it", May told BBC Newsbeat. "I don't much like it, I don't think anybody would when they heard a song about themselves like that". Maybe she would prefer Cassetteboy's latest effort. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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