Wienerworld // Social Media and Marketing Assistant (London/Hybrid)

FEAT // Junior Policy Officer/Industry Liaison (Remote/London)

Ninja Tune // Marketing Assistant (London/Hybrid)

Erased Tapes Records // Label & Production Manager (London)

ICE Licensing // Senior DSP Audit & Assurance Manager (London)

ICE Licensing // DSP Audit and Assurance Manager (London)

Today's music business news

TOP STORY

LIVE calls on government to “urgently redesign” proposed terror attack law

UK live music industry trade body LIVE has urged the government to rethink the Terrorism (Protection Of Premises) Bill - aka Martyn’s Law - which was included in the King’s Speech earlier this week. If passed, the legislation would require venues to put in place new safety measures to protect attendees of shows from terrorist attacks.

The proposals were developed in the wake of the 2017 attack on the Manchester Arena following an Ariana Grande show, which killed 22 people, including Martyn Hett for whom the Bill is named. It requires venues to scale up preparedness for terrorist attacks, dependent on the size of the venue and type of event taking place.

Earlier this year the Home Affairs Select Committee published a report warning that, as written, the bill would “place a significant and disproportionate burden on smaller venues”. It also said that it would ultimately fail “to ensure adequate safety measures at all public events at risk of terror attacks”, thus failing short of its aim.

“The live music sector fully supports cooperative efforts to make venues as safe as possible for fans”, says Jon Collins, CEO of LIVE. “Venues and festivals throughout the country are already working extensively with relevant authorities and continuously review security arrangements”.

“We share the assessment of the Home Affairs Committee which identified serious concerns about the proportionality of the Bill and a range of unfinished provisions”, he goes on. “The Committee’s report vindicated our members’ view that the draft Bill is impractical, misses its core aim, and, through the excessive penalties it proposes, would create existential risk for live music venues”.

“Government must urgently redesign the Bill to ensure it is workable, places no disproportionate burdens on venues and crucially delivers greater reassurance and safety for concertgoers”, he concludes. “We will continue to engage with government and parliamentarians to ensure the Bill is appropriately revised and strengthened as it goes through parliament”.

LIVE has three key concerns surrounding the Bill. First, that it was rushed through the scrutiny stage without a proper impact assessment, leaving it in a “sub-optimal state”. Secondly that it also does not consider the role of existing licensing legislation in protecting the public. And finally that restriction notices and fines that would be imposed on venues seen not to adhere to the new law are not proportionate and put venues - particularly smaller venues - at risk of permanent closure.

ONE LINERS

Peggy Gou x Lenny Kravitz, Confidence Man + more

DEALS

Universal Music has partnered with Indian talent management agency Represent. The label will offer distribution, publishing and brand partnerships support to artists signed to the agency, and the two companies will develop new talent together.

APPOINTMENTS

Warner Music has promoted Sean Michael Gross to VP Warner Classics UK & North America. He joined the company in 2021 to head up Warner Classics in the UK. “I’ve been honoured to serve as the steward of our incredible artists and catalogue in the UK these past two years, and am excited to now add North America to my remit”, he says. “In my view, there has never been a more exciting time for classical music, with the breadth of new artists and repertoire that are expanding our definition of the genre, and more than a century of recorded music accessible at every curious listener’s fingertips”.

RELEASES

Peggy Gou has teamed up with Lenny Kravitz for new track ‘I Believe In Love Again’. “The 90s have had such a huge influence on my music”, she says. “People know about my love of the dance/house/rave scene from that time but I’ve always been a big R&B fan, and also a huge fan of Lenny. I listened endlessly to his 1998 album ‘5’ - my personal favourite - but his whole discography is great, totally timeless. He came into the studio and transformed the guide vocal into magic, writing new lyrics and creating that incredible guitar riff”.

Confidence Man have released new single ‘Firebreak’. The band say of the track: “Can’t stop won’t stop. We’re relentless. Almost incessant. So here’s ‘Firebreak’, custom made for the next Super Bowl halftime show. We got one word for you - phenomenal”.

Laura Jane Grace has released ‘Hole In My Head’, the title track of her new album of the same name, which will be out on 16 Feb.

HAAi has released new single ‘Always Ascending’ with Jon Hopkins and Kim-Bu. The track is taken from her DJ-Kicks compilation, which is out tomorrow.

Logic1000 has released new singe ‘Self To Blame’ featuring Kayla Blackmon. Her debut album ‘Mother’ will be out on 22 Mar.

Tycho has released new single ‘Small Sanctuary’ featuring Chris Taylor of Grizzly Bear. “Innocent and unburdened by the trappings of modern life, children are a pure expression of the human condition”, says Tycho. “To watch them grow and learn is to witness a sanctuary for the human spirit. I wrote this song for my daughter who brings me limitless joy and inspiration”.

Ellur has released new single ‘The Woman’. “I wrote ‘The Woman’ with no intention of showing it to anyone or releasing it”, she says. “I wrote it just for me. But after slipping it into a few acoustic performances early this year, I received really inspiring feedback from people in the audience. Women were approaching me to tell me they liked the song with this knowing look and I felt an immediate connection to them. It actually felt pretty devastating that we had these experiences in common”.

Zooey Celeste has released new single ‘Big Trouble’ featuring Tei Shi. His debut album ‘Restless Thoughts’ is out tomorrow.

Sarasara has released new single ‘The Horrible Things’. Her third album ‘Elixir’ is out on 1 Mar.

DIGITAL

Sony Music has a new, logo Deezer and SiriusXM have a brandwank

It must be new logo week, because Sony Music, Deezer and SiriusXM have all got new ones. Sony’s simple and understated logo seems to nod back to the iconic ‘It's A Sony!’ campaign from the 80s, while Deezer and Sirius are going for an overall... well, maybe it's better to let Deezer and SiriusXM explain exactly what they are doing in their own words.

If 'words' is a term that adequately captures the high levels of first class brandspaffing nonsense that they've both come up with to explain why they've swapped their perfectly decent logos for new ones.

"Deezer”, warbles Deezer, “is reinventing itself as an experience services platform, with expression and connection as guiding principles to help artists, fans and partners to be and belong through music. To highlight the transformation and recharge people's emotional connection to the brand, Deezer is refreshing its visual identity".

We can all get behind that, I'm sure. But wait! There's more...

"The company now embraces a bold, fresh and quirky personality", it rambles on, "brought to life through a striking new visual profile and a unique purple heart logo. Matching the new direction, Deezer is also introducing an enhanced user experience and design in the app, to inspire and empower music fans to 'live the music' through personalised experiences".

Great. Lovely. I feel inspired. And empowered. So what does Sirius have to say?

"The new SiriusXM logo takes inspiration from the night sky," they patter, breathlessly explaining that they have put "a star at the centre of its iconic 'S' to represent Sirius, the 'Dog Star'. The star harkens back to the brand’s origins as well as gives a nod to the service’s consumer value proposition, bringing subscribers closer to the artists, hosts, celebrities, journalists, newsmakers and personalities they love. Interwoven into the new logo is this concept of 'closer', a refreshed brand platform that aligns with the heart and soul of the SiriusXM brand".

Everyone can definitely get behind subscribing to feel closer to the artists, hosts, celebrities, journalists, newsmakers and personalities that we all love. And it's nice to see all that lovely subscriber money being sensibly invested in self-referential nonsense like this. 

"SiriusXM’s updated logo and branding come with a new colour system, born of the company’s name and star, Sirius, the brightest in Earth’s night sky”, it goes on, somewhat repetitively. “The blue, black and white logo colours reflect those that can be seen when observing the Sirius constellation from Earth. The brand’s secondary colour palette, the firepower colours, reflects how stars vary in colour and heat during their life cycle".

Like anyone cares.

The re-brand comes ahead of the launch of a new SiriusXM app next month which will more closely align the company's radio, music and podcast offerings, it having discontinued its standalone podcast app Stitcher earlier this year.

Sony Music hasn’t issued any statement on its new logo, which - going by the nonsense above - is probably a good thing.

APPROVED: CLARISSA CONNELLY

Following two self-released albums - 2018’s ‘Tech Duinn’ and 2020’s ‘The Voyager’ - experimental folk musician Clarissa Connelly has signed to Warp for the next phase of her career. Her first release for the label is new single ‘Wee Rosebud’.

For the song’s paired back sound, Connelly performs with only layered vocals for its first half, before introducing a simple, percussive guitar part. Despite the intimacy created through this sparse instrumentation, the recording also has a grandness to it, with the lead vocal rising up above the rest of the track to touch every inch of space available.

You can catch Connelly live at the Vortex Jazz Club in London on. 24 Nov.

Watch the video for ’Wee Rosebud’ here.

LEGAL

LA Reid sued by former Arista A&R over allegations of sexual assault

Record industry veteran LA Reid has been sued over allegations of sexual assault and harassment made by a former colleague from his time running Sony Music’s Arista Records.

In her lawsuit filed with the courts in New York, Drew Dixon claims that Reid sexually assaulted her twice in 2001 during her time working as A&R at the major label. The first alleged assault occurred on a private plane on the way to a company retreat in Puerto Rico.

She had been led to believe that a number of execs from the label would be joining Reid on that plane, but in fact she was the only one. He began sexually harassing Drew almost immediately, subsequently “kissing her and digitally penetrated her vulva without her consent".

The second incident occurred in the back of a car in New York. Dixon says that she only agreed to join him in the car because there was a driver and she thought she would be safe.

However, the driver simply “stared straight ahead" as Reid began “to grope and kiss” her, even though she “squirmed and pushed him away”. Reid then became visibly irritated, and once again “digitally penetrated” her vulva without her consent.

Dixon says that she knew formally reporting the assaults within the record company would be "career ending", so she simply sought to avoid Reid whenever possible.

But he continued to harass her, she claims. And as she continued to resist his advances, he started retaliating by de-prioritising her artists, including those that she was looking to sign. That included passing on both Kanye West and John Legend.

Ultimately she quit Arista, opting to study for an MBA at Harvard Business School instead. She later pursued other projects in the music industry, but said that coming into contact with Reid's "enablers" at other major labels “triggered depression”, while some opportunities in the business were cut short because of her history with the label boss.

Dixon's lawsuit is being filed under New York’s Adult Survivors Act, which provides a one year window in which the alleged victims of sexual offences can file new civil proceedings in relation to past incidents that would usually fall outside the statute of limitations. The deadline for filing litigation under the act is 24 Nov.

Although this is the first time she has gone legal, Dixon previously made allegations against Reid, as well as Def Jam co-founder Russell Simmons, in a New York Times article in 2017.

Reid had a long career in the major label system, ultimately ended up at Sony Music's Epic Records. However, he exited that role somewhat abruptly in 2017 following allegations of sexual harassment. He subsequently set up new music company HitCo which he then sold to Concord last year.

STREAMING

Spotify brings audiobook listening to US Premium accounts

Spotify has made audiobook listening available for free to premium subscribers in the US, following on from the introduction in the UK and Australia last month.

As in the UK and Australia, paying users will be able to listen to fifteen hours of audiobook content per month as part of their existing subscription. Anyone who hits that limit can also pay for a ten hour top up.

Why is Spotify doing all this though? Well, says the company: “We believe that offering personalised music and podcasts, and the best audiobooks on a single platform, gives you a superior way enjoy more than 100 million tracks, five million podcasts, and 200,000 audiobooks - and to connect with your favourite artists, podcasters, creators, and authors - all in one spot”.

So that's nice. Maybe Daniel Ek should compare notes with Elon Musk on how X's strategy to become an 'everything app' is going...

LEGAL

Former Recording Academy CEO Neil Portnow accused of sexual assault

Former head of Grammy Awards organiser the Recording Academy, Neil Portnow, has been accused of sexual assault. The lawsuit filed by an unnamed musician says that he drugged and raped her in a hotel in 2018.

The lawsuit - which also names the Recording Academy as a defendant - alleges that the “internationally acclaimed musician, inventor, and former member of The Recording Academy” who is making the complaint first met Portnow at an event in New York in January 2018. Through further contact, she arranged to meet him in a hotel room in the same city six months later to interview him for a magazine she was running.

She says that she “began to feel woozy” after drinking a glass of wine Portnow offered her. When she attempted to leave, the lawsuit claims, he refused to let her. She then lost consciousness and occasionally awoke to find Portnow assaulting her.

The lawsuit alleges that the woman attempted to speak to Portnow a number of times in the days afterward “to understand and gain clarity as to what had occurred” but was ignored. She also contacted The Recording Academy in October 2018, but after an initial email response received no further contact from the organisation.

The following month, she received a letter from Portnow via his attorney - which is included in the lawsuit - saying that he was “deeply saddened by your communications which unfortunately now require me to have an attorney involved” and that “it is important that we hear each other with compassion and care”.

A police report was filed in December 2018, naming Portnow as the woman’s attacker. She is now is suing him for sexual battery and the Recording Academy for negligent hiring, supervision and retention. Both are also accused of perpetuating gender-motivated violence. The lawsuit demands a trial by jury.

Both Portnow and the Recording Academy deny the claims. In a statement to Billboard, Portnow’s attorney said: “The claims are the product of the plaintiff’s imagination and undoubtedly motivated by Mr Portnow’s refusal to comply with the plaintiff’s outrageous demands for money and assistance in obtaining a residence visa for her”.

The Recording Academy stated: “We continue to believe the claims to be without merit and intend to vigorously defend the Academy in this lawsuit”.

This is not the first time that these allegations have hit the headlines. After Portnow stepped down as CEO the Academy in 2019, he was briefly replaced by Deborah Dugan. However, she was quickly pushed out of the organisation, prompting a legal battle. She made various claims about her time there, which included implying that the reason for Portnow’s departure was an allegation of sexual assault that had been made against him.

In a response then, he confirmed that the allegation had been made, but said that he had been “completely exonerated” following an investigation and that the claims were “ludicrous and untrue”.

AND FINALLY

Iron Maiden’s Bruce Dickinson to star in Abba zombie movie

Iron Maiden frontman Bruce Dickinson has signed on to star in new horror movie ‘Bjorn Of The Dead’, which sees an Abba tribute act go from a battle of the bands to battling zombies.

It’s not clear exactly what role Dickinson will play in the movie, although he is apparently one of a number of rock and metal musicians who will appear, reports Deadline.

Set to be directed by Elza Kephart, the film is co-produced and co-written by Andrew Prendergast and Austin Dickinson. The latter is frontman of metalcore band Rise To Remain. Oh, and he’s also Bruce Dickinson’s son.

“We are THRILLED to be making this blood-drenched gore fest from Austin’s super funny, terrifying, cautionary tale about the inner workings of the music industry”, says Prendergast.

Dickinson Jr adds: “I’m absolutely honoured to be working with [distributor] Raven Banner on this crazy adventure. Andrew, Elza and myself can’t wait for you guys to see what’s in store. Get your spandex on, preen your wigs, and sharpen your axes. Bjorn is coming”.

The movie is set to go into production next year.