CMU Daily 19.12.16: Ticket firms sign FanFair's anti-tout declaration, Anthrax say GMR hindering airplay

See Tickets among ticketing platforms to sign up to FanFair's anti-tout declaration
The FanFair Alliance has announced that four more ticketing platforms have signed up to its declaration against online ticket touts, including Vivendi's See Tickets.

As much previously reported, FanFair, launched earlier this year, is campaigning to slow the flood of tickets that flow from the primary ticketing sites onto the secondary market, while seeking extra regulation of the touting business.

The UK-based campaign has been leading the charge to get a specific touting bots ban added to the Digital Economy Bill that is working it's way through Parliament. But it has also been calling on people within the music industry to do their bit to ensure more tickets to in-demand events are sold directly to fans, and that when tickets are resold, they are sold on at face value, or near enough.

A key part of that is the FanFair Declaration which "asks that supporters take five actions to ensure face value tickets reach fans, as well as measures to disrupt the practices of online ticket touts". Managers, agents, promoters, trade groups and ticketing platforms are amongst those to have already signed up to the declaration.

The latest signatories also include Skiddle, The Ticket Factory and Gigantic, the latter of which recently announced a tie-up with Twickets, which helps individuals looking to resell tickets for events they can no longer attend at face value. The four new signees join rival ticketing platforms Songkick, Dice, Music Glue, Active Ticketing, Billetto, Pledge, Scarlet Mist, WeGotTickets and the aforementioned Twickets in backing the declaration.

Confirming all this, FanFair Campaign Manager Adam Webb told reporters: "There is a clear trend emerging between those who want to tackle industrial-scale touting and those who profit from it, and we are delighted that Gigantic, See Tickets, Skiddle and The Ticket Factory have signed the FanFair Declaration. We will be encouraging more to come on board in 2017. Working together, and with the right political support, our goal is to help recalibrate the ticketing market to make it fairer and more transparent to fans".

Back in Westminster, with momentum gathering for the ban on the bots used by touts to access large quantities of tickets off the primary sites, FanFair is also calling on the government to enact other recommendations contained within Professor Michael Waterson's review of the secondary ticketing market, which was instigated by the 2015 Consumer Rights Act and published earlier this year.

Premium CMU subscribers can catch up on all the many recent developments in the secondary ticketing debate via the latest CMU Trends article.

Anthrax fear they could lose airplay as a result of the RMLC v GMR legal battle
Personally I think that "a dark chasm of mystery" sounds rather exciting, though I suppose when you keep banging on about how there needs to be more transparency in the music licensing process, you can't then turn around and call for more mystery. However intriguing that dark chasm of mystery might sound.

Metallers Anthrax have hit out at Irving Azoff's Global Music Rights for including them in a list of artists whose songs are represented by the veteran artist manager's mini performing rights organisation. Given that GMR is limbering up for an unholy legal battle with the American radio industry, Anthrax fear that by being included on the list US radio stations will stop playing their music.

As previously reported, Azoff set up Global Music Rights to represent premiere league songwriters in the performing rights licensing domain. He reckons that a boutique rights agency representing only top name writers can secure better royalty rates than the big American PROs ASCAP and BMI, and even the smaller SESAC, which are all subject to some sort of regulation or mediation when negotiating licensing deals.

The US radio industry doesn't like the sound of paying higher royalty rates, and the Radio Music Licence Committee that negotiates such deals for American broadcasters has now gone legal accusing GMR of creating and exploiting a monopoly. Meanwhile GMR is suing the RMLC, arguing that given the size of the repertoire it represents it doesn't have anything like a monopoly, but by insisting it speak for the entire radio industry as one, the RMLC is definitely monopolistic.

If no settlement can be reached, the dispute could result in US radio stations at least temporarily pulling any songs in which GMR writers have a stake from their output. Azoff may insist on such a move in order to put pressure on the stations, or the stations might instigate the songs-pull themselves in order to put pressure on Azoff. Or the broadcasters' lawyers might say playing GMR-repped songs without licence could result in a copyright infringement action.

Which is why Anthrax don't like being on the list of artists whose music is repped by GMR. Because, say they, no member of Anthrax is affiliated with GMR in any way. Rather, they assume they have made it to the list because of an old cover of Metallica track 'Phantom Lord', the latter metal outfit being part of the GMR party.

In an open letter Anthrax write: "The credited composers for 'Phantom Lord' are our good friends James Hetfield, Lars Ulrich, and then-Metallica member Dave Mustaine. As you included Metallica and Megadeth on your GMR rights list, we believe our having recorded that one song some seventeen years ago may be the only reason we are included on your list". That's a bit misleading, they reckon.

"Mr Azoff", they continue, "you and the songwriters you represent have every right to fight for fair compensation, and we would completely understand if you were to inform the more than 10,000 US-based radio stations that they cannot programme the Anthrax cover of 'Phantom Lord' unless they agree to the GMR licensing terms".

"But you don't provide that information, you've merely listed 'Anthrax'", they add. "Which does nothing other than create a dark chasm of mystery for radio programmers. Without offering responsible specificity for the programmers, such as the actual title of the song that we recorded, written by the particular GMR client, you've created a precarious situation".

Ah, dark chasms and precarious situations. What a time to be alive! Team Anthrax go to great lengths to insist that they "appreciate anyone's efforts to see that [musicians and songwriters] are paid a fair wage for the use of our music", but they say that Azoff's misleading list "could be very damaging to us and to our fellow performers who may find themselves in a similar situation".

They conclude: "Please do the right thing, not just for Anthrax, but for all of the artists you've listed on your GMR site - provide specific information to radio about what songs are affected and cannot be programmed without the required GMR licence".

For his part Azoff responded via Twitter to suggest Anthax take some time off press releasing open letters and get on the phone. He tweeted at the band: "If you want to reach me, you don't need a press release. Just return my call".

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Visit Florida CEO resigns following $1 million Pitbull deal controversy
The head of Florida's tourism board, Will Seccombe, has resigned after it emerged that he paid Pitbull $1 million to be a "celebrity ambassador" for the state.

Controversy erupted around the deal after the Florida state government sued to have details of the secret agreement between the popstar and Visit Florida released last week. Pitbull's lawyers argued that the contract should be kept under wraps, due to trade secret concerns. However, on Thursday, the rapper himself undid all of that by posting the full contract on Twitter.

In a statement, Pitbull said: "It's been an honour to represent Miami and the Sunshine State. I've taken Miami and Florida worldwide - WAY before any contract, and will continue to do so after". Yes, who had ever heard of Florida outside the US before Pitbull came along? No one, that's who.

Among the commitments in the one year deal, signed in August last year, Pitbull agreed to perform a New Year's Eve show in Miami with a live broadcast on the Fox Network, to make a video for his song 'Sexy Beaches' which prominently featured Florida's (presumably sexy) beaches, and to display the "#LoveFL" hashtag on screens at his live shows during the term of the agreement.

Following the release of the contract, Florida Governor Rick Scott wrote to Visit Florida chair William D Talbert III calling on Seccombe to resign in a bid to improve transparency at the publicly funded agency.

"I believe it would be best for the future efforts of Visit Florida for Will to step down and allow new leadership to come in at this critical time", wrote Scott on Friday.

It was later confirmed that Seccombe had agreed to stand down and "will be working with the Visit Florida board of directors on next steps" over the next few weeks, according to the Orlando Sentinel.

Visit Florida's Chief Operating Officer Vangie Fields and Chief Marketing Officer Paul Phipps also resigned on Friday.

Warner's ADA signs up Defdisco
Warner Music's label services division ADA has signed up US music company Defdisco. The partnership further boosts the indie's operations, which have been built up over the last two years by pairing new acts with brands and sync opportunities.

"The quality of the artists, brands and agencies we are working with on both sides of the pond is first rate", says Defdisco's co-founder Barry Gilbey. "Defdisco's understanding of music publishing and digital culture, and how they fit together for brands and broadcast, is very exciting for the future".

"For us this relationship really is proof of concept. We set out to build a record label for how things work today: music, sync and brand", adds Paul Herron, who works out of the company's UK office in Sheffield.
"I've always described Defdisco as a 'mini-major' and now we truly are", he adds, entirely incorrectly. "Joining forces with ADA Warner gives our artists, and the brands we work with, worldwide exposure faster and better than we could ever do on our own".

Chart revamp means more streams needed to equal a sale
So, are you all excited about this week's race for the Christmas number one spot? Perhaps thingy will win it. Or whatnot. I reckon it'll be whatnot. But what an exciting battle it's proving to be. Good luck thingy!

Anyway, the charts. Everyone likes chatting about the charts don't they? Well, some people do. Record industry people for example. They like chatting about the charts, don't they? Though it's true that that chart chat might these days mainly consist of waffling on about how the inclusion of streaming data has "broken" the Top 40.

Worry not though, that's all about to be fixed. From January, rather than 100 streams being equated to the sale of a track, it'll take 150 whole streams for a dash to be chalked on the big chart counting board.

It's hoped that the statistical rejig will halt a recent trend for the big streaming hits to clog up the charts for weeks on end, stopping newer releases and newer talent from getting a few days of chart-style glory. I mean, Drake's 'One Dance' spent fifteen weeks at number one earlier this year and, as Bryan Adams will tell you, shit like that never happened in the old days.

Says chief chart overseer Martin Talbot about updating the Official Charts Company's methodology just two and half years after first putting streaming data into the main singles chart: "It is testament to the rapidly changing nature of music consumption in the UK - and the huge shift we are seeing towards streaming - that we are updating the way we measure the contribution of streams to the make-up of the official charts as quickly as we are. Streaming is growing exponentially and the weighting we use to reflect its impact will inevitably keep evolving with it".

Bruno Brookes was unavailable for comment.

Nine Inch Nails announce new EP, vinyl reissues
Trent Reznor has announced that a new Nine Inch Nails EP, 'Not The Actual Events', will be released this Friday. Just in case you were starting to worry that his promise of new music from the project this year was going to come to nothing.

"It's an unfriendly, fairly impenetrable record that we needed to make", says Reznor of the EP, recorded with his soundtracking partner Atticus Ross. "It's an EP because that ended up being the proper length to tell that story".

The EP will be released digitally on 23 Dec. Pre-orders are also being taken for a vinyl edition and a high quality audio version with "physical component". Those will be shipped in the spring and this coming January respectively.

As well as that, Reznor has announced a new series of vinyl re-issues, which will see NIN's 'Broken' EP, 'The Downward Spiral' and 'The Fragile' available remastered and pressed on 180g vinyl.

"We want to present the catalogue as it was intended to be, with no compromises", says Reznor. "That means a careful remastering of the audio from the original sources, a painstaking recreation of the artwork, pristine materials, some surprises and an insane attention to detail that you probably won't notice, but it matters to us. No extra bullshit and gimmicks - the 'real' records in their truest form".

If you're a fan of bullshit extras and gimmicks though, he's also got you covered. In addition to all of this, Reznor's also announced another limited edition release, 'The Fragile: Deviations 1', which features instrumentals, alternate versions and previously unreleased tracks from the recording sessions of 'The Fragile'.

"'The Fragile' occupies a very interesting and intimate place in my heart", explains Reznor. "I was going through a turbulent time in my life when making it and revisiting it has become a form of therapy for me. As an experiment, I removed all the vocals from the record and found it became a truly changed experience that worked on a different yet compelling level. 'The Fragile: Deviations 1' represents Atticus and I embellishing the original record with a number of tracks from those sessions we didn't use before. The result paints a complementary but different picture we wanted to share".

A high quality download of that release will be available on Thursday this week, although it will not be released digitally elsewhere. The vinyl edition will also not be re-pressed once it has sold out. Hooray for extras and gimmicks!

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Julia Holter to launch Domino's new live album series, Documents
Domino has launched a new series of live albums, Domino Documents. First to contribute is Julia Holter with 'In The Same Room', recorded at RAK Studios, which is due to be released on 31 Mar.

"Documents [is] an irregular new series of live studio recordings designed to capture the ever-evolving arrangements of our artists and their bands in high fidelity", says the label. "Taking its inspiration from classic BBC sessions, each Documents release will be recorded in no more than a day or two at a world class studio in London. Or at least that's the plan".

"The first official Documents release is 'In The Same Room' by Julia Holter", the label continues. "Although Domino count Villagers' 'Where Have You Been All My Life?' as the honorary inaugural Document in all but name".

Too late, we've already said Julia Holter is first twice. Bad luck, Villagers.

Listen to Holter's live version of 'So Lillies' here.

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Brian Eno to release 'endless' album
Brian Eno has revealed that his new album, 'Reflection', will see him achieve a long held goal to create an ambient record that does not end.

As well as releases in time-limited standard formats, the album will be available through apps for iOS and Apple TV on which the music on the record will play endlessly until the sun explodes and destroys all evidence of the human race having ever existed. Either that or until you get bored and turn it off. Whichever comes first.

"'Reflection' is the most recent of my ambient experiments and represents the most sophisticated of them so far", says Eno, explaining his ambitions for the app-version of his new record. "My original intention with ambient music was to make endless music, music that would be there as long as you wanted it to be. I wanted also that this music would unfold differently all the time - 'like sitting by a river': it's always the same river, but it's always changing".

He continues: "Recordings - whether vinyl, cassette or CD - are limited in length, and replay identically each time you listen to them. So in the past I was limited to making the systems which make the music, but then recording 30 minutes or an hour and releasing that. 'Reflection' in its album form - on vinyl or CD - is like this. But the app by which 'Reflection' is produced is not restricted: it creates an endless and endlessly changing version of the piece of music".

"The creation of a piece of music like this falls into three stages: the first is the selection of sonic materials and a musical mode - a constellation of musical relationships", he carries on further still. I'll tell you what; this quote is starting to feel endless. "These are then patterned and explored by a system of algorithms which vary and permutate the initial elements I feed into them, resulting in a constantly morphing stream (or river) of music. The third stage is listening. Once I have the system up and running I spend a long time - many days and weeks in fact - seeing what it does and fine-tuning the materials and sets of rules that run the algorithms. It's a lot like gardening: you plant the seeds and then you keep tending to them until you get a garden you like".

The album is out on 1 Jan.

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Song, By Toad releases Die Hard themed Christmas single for charity
Song, By Toad Records has released a charity single for Christmas. Titled 'Yippee Kay Yule', it features songs from eagleowl and Jonnie Common. It is also, as you may have guessed, 'Die Hard' themed.

"Because the world had a collective idiot spasm in 2016 and elected all sorts of lunatics to run our countries (yeah yeah Canada, piss off) loads of crucial work is being undermined in a wide variety of areas, and we feel it is our duty to help address this", says label boss Matthew Young. "Consequently all revenue (not just all profit) from this release will be going to charities which protect the NHS, support migrants, refugees, victims of rape and domestic abuse, and those who suffer physical or mental disabilities - you know, the work our governments should be doing, if they weren't a bunch of total wankers".

In addition to that, the label will match those revenues, so whatever you pay counts as double.

You can get eagleowl's 'Let's Save Christmas (The Ballad Of Nakatomi Plaza)' and 'Yippee Key Yule Father Christmas' for £2 (or more, if you like) on Bandcamp here.

Liam Payne is "certain" that One Direction will return
One Direction will "100%" get back together at some point in the future. Not my words, people. The words of Liam 'Big Payno' Payne. Such is his lack of confidence in his own solo career, and those of his former bandmates.

During a Twitter Q&A on Saturday, Payno was (inevitably) asked if his former group would ever reunite, having gone on 'hiatus' last year. "I'm 100% certain that we will", he replied. Even though you can't ever be 100% certain about anything. Irresponsible.

He also said of his solo album that he is "making it right now" and that it would be available "soon". Asked to define "soon", he came up with a pretty good response.

And if you were wondering who his favourite artist is, it's Drake. Yep, Drake. Not Harry. Not Louis. Not Niall. Not even Zayn. You heard it here first, he thinks the solo work of every other member of 1D is shit. Good luck getting back together with them once they find that out.