Festival Republic launches studio support scheme to facilitate gender rebalance on festival line-ups
Live Nation's Festival Republic yesterday launched a new initiative called ReBalance which is seeking to support the next generation of female musicians and record producers.

The scheme - also backed by the PRS Foundation - hopes, in part, to try and overcome the male dominance of festival line-ups, which has become a talking point in recent years. Not least in 2015 when music blog Crack In The Road edited the poster for Festival Republic's Leeds and Reading festivals so to remove all the male artists, resulting in an almost a solid block of yellow and only a smattering of artist names.

Of course, some of the most successful British artists in recent years have been female, though stats for the overall music community remain dramatic in their lack of gender balance. PRS Foundation recently noted that only 16% of songwriters and composers in the UK are women, and there are certain behind the scenes roles in the music industry that remain very much male domains too, such as studio work and sound engineering.

Although the lack of gender diversity within the artist community becomes most apparent when festivals list all their acts on one poster, Festival Republic boss Melvin Benn argues that this is a problem for the wider music industry, not just the festivals sector, with label rosters also being male dominated, especially outside of pop music.

Benn said yesterday: "There is a significant lack of female acts with recording contracts and, indeed, airplay. It's quite astonishing. Artists like Maggie Rogers, Halsey, Zara Larsson and Ray BLK are all playing festivals and succeeding in the music industry, so in that respect there has been a surge, comparably, to previous years. But all these artists have a very mainstream presence. Mainstream pop doesn't seem to have an issue, but the festival environment caters for all genres, hence this being a wider problem".

Announcing the ReBalance initiative, Benn went on: "Something needs to be done about gender equality in the music industry. It's a wider issue that involves us - the live industry - but the solution doesn't rest only with us. I have decided to be proactive in working towards this no longer being an issue in the future, and that's what this project is about".

The three year ReBalance programme will provide free studio time to British female musicians - including bands with mixed-gender line-ups - at the Old Chapel Music Studio in Leeds, with an industry panel selecting a different artist to benefit from the support each month. As well as providing studio time and access to a sound engineer, Festival Republic will also cover travel and accommodation costs, and will commit to offer participating artists a slot at a relevant Live Nation-owned festival.

Meanwhile there will be an accompanying apprenticeship scheme training up two female sound engineers, who will initially work alongside the project at Old Chapel Music Studio and ultimately lead on it.

Confirming her organisation's support for the programme, PRS Foundation's Vanessa Reed said: "We look forward to helping Festival Republic to deliver this important and exciting programme and to following the results of the monthly studio sessions planned. We need more male leaders like Melvin Benn to recognise the ongoing gender gap in music and to use their position to do something about it. Coming up with campaigns and initiatives like ReBalance, will ultimately strengthen our industry and be of benefit to us all".

We can only hope that schemes like this - and there are others - will help ensure that future festival posters won't become a block of yellow just because you remove the names of the male performers. And while we're talking about this, festival promoters... You know your comedy stages? You do know there are more than two female comedians in the world don't you? Many of them are performing at the Edinburgh Fringe right now, so maybe talent scout there rather than just watching 'Mock The Week'. And you can, of course, check the comedy coverage of our sister mag ThreeWeeks, that'd be a start.

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RIAA urges court to keep Cloudflare order in place in relation to MP3Skull domains
The Recording Industry Association Of America has urged a US court to keep an order in place telling internet services firm Cloudflare to block certain domains linked to possibly defunct piracy site MP3Skull, even though those domains are no longer active and/or are no longer using the Cloudflare platform.

As previously reported, last year the RIAA successfully sued MP3Skull, partly because the piracy set-up failed to defend itself against the copyright infringement lawsuit filed by the American record companies. The court awarded the record industry $22 million in damages and the rights to seize and block the copyright infringing service's domains.

The chances of the labels ever seeing any of those damages seemed slim, but the domain blocking order was a useful tool for the RIAA in its ongoing bid to block access to unlicensed sources of music content. And it used that tool to seize or block various domains linked to MP3Skull. The piracy site initially responded by doing the domain hop thing.

As part of that activity, the RIAA demanded that Cloudflare - a provider of so called reverse proxy services, among other things - block certain domains that the labels said were [a] linked to MP3Skull and [b] navigating traffic through the Cloudflare system.

The tech firm countered that under the US Digital Millennium Copyright Act it was wasn't required to instigate such blockades. But when the RIAA took the matter to the court, the judge sided with the labels, saying the DMCA wasn't relevant here.

More recently, Cloudflare went back to court asking that the order be vacated, because - it said - MP3Skull is no longer active and domains linked to it are no longer using Cloudflare's services. The court order against it, therefore, is no longer necessary, it argued.

But in a new submission, the RIAA has urged the court to keep the order in place. It claims that domains linked to MP3Skull were actively using Cloudflare as recently as April, while adding that - either way - the order should remain in place because MP3Skull's domains could pop back up - on the internet and on Cloudflare - at any point in the future.

Says the trade body: "Given [MP3Skull's] established practice of moving from domain to domain and from service to service throughout this case in contempt of this court's orders, [it] could easily have resumed - and may tomorrow resume - their use of Cloudflare's services".

The labels group then added that if - as Cloudflare says - there are currently no MP3Skull domains utilising its services, then why does it matter if the court order stands because that means the tech firm won't actually have to do anything.

There are still file-sharing services using the MP3Skull name, which may or may not be linked to the people behind the original MP3Skull site, meaning the RIAA might be right to say that currently dormant domains could suddenly spring back into life in the future.

Though for the labels, the court's ruling in this case also sets a wider more important precedent: ie that Cloudflare can be asked to remove or block domains on its platform where a copyright owner has successfully sued a site linked to those domains.

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US ISP says record industry safe harbour case doesn't prove any actual infringement
A US internet service provider is pushing back against a copyright action launched by the Recording Industry Association Of America, arguing that the trade group hasn't provided sufficient evidence of copyright infringement for the case to proceed.

As previously reported, the RIAA sued net firm Grande Communications earlier this year. The labels group is capitalising on the landmark ruling in the dispute between music rights firm BMG and ISP Cox Communications, in which the latter was held liable for the copyright infringement of its customers because of evidence it operated a deliberately shoddy system for dealing with repeat infringers amongst its user base. That fact, the court ruled, means Cox was no longer protected by the often controversial copyright safe harbour.

The RIAA likewise wants Grande Communications held liable for the infringement of its users on the basis it hasn't done enough to deal with repeat infringers.

But the ISP has been fighting back by arguing that, while the record labels have definitely been sending the net firm a steady stream of takedown notices in relation to alleged copyright infringement on its network - mainly via anti-piracy agency Rightscorp - that isn't in itself evidence of said infringement. And the record companies must prove users have been infringing specific recordings in order to hold Grande liable.

According to Torrentfreak, in a recent legal filing in relation to the case, lawyers for Grande stated that: "Importantly, plaintiffs do not allege that Rightscorp has ever recorded an instance of a Grande subscriber actually distributing even one of plaintiffs' copyrighted works. Plaintiffs certainly have not alleged any concrete facts regarding such an act. Plaintiffs cannot allege direct infringement without alleging concrete facts which show that a Grande subscriber actually infringed one of plaintiffs' copyrights".

The ISP also takes issue with the RIAA referring to all of the takedown notices issued to Grande by Rightscorp, rather than specific takedowns in relation to specific recordings controlled by labels repped by the RIAA in the case. "It is incredibly misleading for plaintiffs to repeatedly refer to Grande having received 'millions' of notices of alleged infringement" says the ISP, "as if those notices all pertained to plaintiffs' asserted copyrights".

The RIAA maintains the evidence it has provided is sufficient to prove the ISP has not been fulfilling its obligations under the safe harbour, and therefore should be held liable for its customers' infringing activity. Grande also argues that - if it is found liable - that would set a dangerous precedent and put an unreasonably onerous obligation on all ISPs, though similar things were said in the Cox case and BMG still won at first instance.

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Blue Raincoat's management wing signs Cigarettes After Sex
Independent music firm Blue Raincoat has added Cigarettes After Sex to its artist management roster in a deal that also sees the New York band's manager join the business. Ed Harris will continue to manage both Cigarettes After Sex, and psychedelic band Celebration, from New York as part of the Blue Raincoat family.

Confirming the new alliance, Blue Raincoat Music CEO Jeremy Lascelles said: "This is an exciting moment for us for two reasons. Ed Harris is one of the brightest, smartest most dedicated new managers I have met for many years and it is a delight that he has chosen to continue his great management work as part of Blue Raincoat Artists. Secondly, from the moment I first heard Cigarettes After Sex, I was completely blown away and knew I wanted to work with them. It is an honour to now be part of their management team".

Meanwhile Harris himself added: "This is a wonderful opportunity for both myself and the artists I work with. I'm looking forward to being able to build on what we have done with both Cigarettes After Sex and Celebration, as well as seeking out new musical talent as part of one of the industry's most forward-thinking organisations".

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Warner financials confirm streaming boom continues to fuel record industry growth
Praise the Lord that we live in the era of Spotify. Hallelujah that we live in the age of Sheeran. If only we could merge the two somehow - make this the epoch of Sheerify - the entirety of Warner Music could retire forthwith to the Caribbean.

Warner Music yesterday confirmed that, if nothing else, the major record companies are doing very well thank you very much for asking out of the premium streaming boom, with overall revenues up 13.1% (15.5% if you ignore currency fluctuations). Digital income was up a pretty damn decent 30.2% (33% in constant currency), so that that revenue stream now accounts for 54.1% of total income. Monies from physical product were down of course, but not enough to stop the booming streams resulting in overall growth.

Putting the latest figures into the context of the general good news narrative being pushed by the major record companies in the last couple of years, Warner boss man Stephen Cooper noted that: "Our momentum continues with our eighth consecutive quarter of revenue growth - the last seven of which were up double digits. Our artists and songwriters are creating great music and our team is outperforming in a growing industry".

Artists doing more than their fair share to boost Warner financials include Bruno Mars, Gorillaz, Clean Bandit and, of course, Ed Sheeran.

Though the wider record industry's return to growth is thanks mainly, of course, to the boom in premium streaming services, chiefly Spotify and Apple Music. Which, of course, all continue to be loss-making. So there you go, still room for pessimism if you wish. But eight consecutive quarters of revenue growth, woo!

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Artists line up to pay tribute to Glen Campbell
A plethora of artists last night paid tribute to country star Glen Campbell - possibly best known for his country-pop crossover hit 'Rhinestone Cowboy' - who has died aged 81.

The singer's family said in a statement that "it is with the heaviest of hearts that we announce the passing of our beloved husband, father, grandfather" who had died after "a long and courageous battle" with Alzheimer's disease.

Other country music legends were among those paying tribute, with Dolly Parton telling reporters: "Glen was one of the greatest voices that ever was in the business and he was one of the greatest musicians. He was a wonderful session musician as well. A lot of people don't realise that, but he could play anything. And he could play it really well. So he was just extremely talented. I will always love you, Glen!"

Meanwhile Kenny Rogers noted the illness Campbell faced in the final years of his life, remarking that "it's always tragic when you hear of a friend passing, but he had to be miserable that last few years of his life - at least he doesn't have to deal with that anymore".

Referencing his own former band, Rogers added: "We worked together a lot through the years. In fact, Glen played on almost all First Edition music. He played a dynamic riff on the guitar that was trend setting. I also shot a few of his album covers back in the day and, at the time, I never knew people were paid to do that, but a few weeks later I received a cheque in the mail that was unexpected and highly received. I'll never forget that. He was a good friend and it breaks my heart that he's not here to contribute to music anymore".

Meanwhile Billy Ray Cyrus told media: "Glen Campbell was such a huge influence on me. Growing up, I studied his writing, songs and how he was an 'entertainer's entertainer'. Along with Johnny Cash, Dolly Parton and Porter Wagoner, Glen Campbell was one of the first to parlay country music into mainstream television and broaden the entire country music fanbase across the globe. Ride on Rhinestone Cowboy. God Bless".

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FastForward, Daughter, The Shins, AIM Awards, more

Other notable announcements and developments today...

• Organisers of the FastForward music conference this week added a bunch of presentations to the line-up of its upcoming London event, with Deezer's Sulinna Ong, FUGA's Dorothée Imhoff, DHP Family's Kelly Bennaton and AEI Group's Farhana Aboo among those due to talk. The event takes place at the British Library on 15 Sep.

• Daughter have teamed up with gaming company Square Enix to create an original score for its new game 'Life Is Strange: Before The Storm'. The soundtrack will itself be released on 1 Sep and here is a track from it, 'Burn It Down'.

• The new video from The Shins for their track 'Half A Million' features "5566 stickers, hand cut from the 4868 frames and animated by sticking them down on top of each other at each of the 40+ locations". Imagine that! No, actually, just watch it, that's gotta be easier.

• Here's a new Lil Wayne track via his producer friend ONHEL. It's called 'Like A Man'.

• The National have cranked up the internets and posted a new track called 'Carin At The Liquor Store'. And it only has a video to go with it! The track appears on the band's new album 'Sleep Well Beast', out on 4AD on 8 Sep.

• Dälek have posted a video for 'Echoes Of...' And yes, that is the opening track off the hip hop outfit's forthcoming new album 'Endangered Philosophies' out on Ipecac Recordings on 1 Sep, well spotted.

• That there Association Of Independent Music announced the shortlists for this year's Independent Music Awards yesterday. And here they are!

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Rihanna tells Diplo he makes "airport reggae"
Rihanna has apologised - sort of - for once telling Diplo that one of his tracks sounded like "airport reggae". Even though that sounds like a genre we could all get behind.

In a recent GQ interview, Diplo described a time when he was hanging out with other artists, including Future and Rihanna. "Future played her, like, 700 songs", he recalled. "It was four in the morning. Finally, I was like, 'I'm leaving unless you let me play her a song'".

"So I played her a song", he continued, "And she was like, 'This sounds like a reggae song at an airport'". Laughing, Diplo concluded: "I was like, I'm gonna go kill myself".

Linking through to the interview via Instagram yesterday, Rihanna responded "my bad @Diplo" alongside the hashtag #dutyfree. Good times.

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