EmuBands // Artist Relations Assistant (Glasgow/Hybrid)

SJM // VIP Assistant (Manchester)

PPL // Senior Communications Manager (London/Hybrid)

terrible* // Production Assistant (London)

Republic of Music // Digital Operations Manager (Brighton/Hybrid)

IDOL // UK Label Manager (London/Hybrid)

ALSO TODAY

TOP STORY

Lizzo faces second lawsuit from former employee

Lizzo and her Big Grrrl Big Touring company have been sued by another former employee in a lawsuit that alleges, among other things, racial and sexual harassment, assault and illegal retaliatory termination.

The plaintiff this time is Asha Daniels, a clothing designer who worked on Lizzo's recent tour. Her lawsuit principally targets the wardrobe manager on that tour, Amanda Nomura, but also makes more general allegations about the working practices put in place by Lizzo and her management team.

This follows the lawsuit filed last month by three former member's of Lizzo's dance team, which also made allegations of sexual harassment, and which claimed that the three dancers were forced to endure a hostile work environment.

In the new lawsuit, Daniels says that - given how Lizzo talks about diversity and positivity in public - she was expecting to be working in a “healthy, diverse environment with virtues of respect and empowerment of women. Unfortunately, the opposite turned out to be true".

Daniels, a black woman, claims that she was forced to hear “racist and fatphobic comments from Nomura”, while witnessing her “mock both Lizzo and Lizzo’s background dancers on multiple occasions".

Honing in on one specific incident, Daniels describes how - in February - Nomura rolled a heavy rack of clothing over the plaintiff's foot, causing considerable pain.

When Daniels tried to sit down to deal with that pain, Nomura "proceeded to shove plaintiff into the rack of clothing". And then, the next day, Daniels was told that she wasn't allowed to wear more comfortable shoes that would minimise the pain from the previous day's injury.

Echoing complaints made in the earlier lawsuit filed by Lizzo's dancers, Daniels also says that those working on the tour were pressured to attend social gatherings where nudity and sexuality were a focal point. Plus, on one occasion, images of male genitalia were inappropriately shared on a group text sent to the tour crew, but "Lizzo's management found the image to be comical".

Daniels says she ultimately made a formal complaint to tour manager Carlina Gugliotta, who was apologetic and confirmed that everyone knew "Nomura is crazy". But, Gugliotta added, Nomura was too hard to replace, and now wanted Daniels to be removed from the tour for "speaking up". Daniels was then fired.

Lizzo has strongly denied all the allegations made in the first lawsuit. But lawyers working on both cases say that "we’ve heard from more than two dozen former Lizzo employees sharing similar stories of abuse and harassment".

And while many of the complaints are specifically made against senior staff on the musician's tour, "Lizzo certainly knows what’s going on but chooses not to put an end to this disgusting and illegal conduct and participates herself".

ONE LINERS

Tom Walker, Tom Odell, Holly Humberstone + more

RELEASES

Tom Walker has released new single ‘Burn’. The song was written after his label, Sony’s Relentless, was less than complimentary about the demos he’d recorded for his second album last year. “I had just done seven days of rehearsal in a row, straight into a UK tour, then into two weeks of writing, worked my arse off every hour of every day for months”, he says. “When the powers that be came back having a dig at the songs I'd poured my heart and my soul into, I absolutely lost it. I honestly thought ‘I’m going to have to call it a day with music’, it was making me miserable. I was angry, and you can hear that in ‘Burn’. In many lines of work, music included, you give it everything and sacrifice every other aspect of your life and it's never enough”.

Tom Odell has released new single ‘Black Friday’. “I wrote this song on my birthday last year, which happened to be the day before ‘Black Friday’”, he says. “The song is inspired by my admiration and love for the people in my life, but also my proclivity to be unkind to myself. It’s a love song, I think, and I’m very proud of it, and I hope people like it”.

Holly Humberstone has released new single ‘Into Your Room’. Her new album ‘Paint My Bedroom Black’ is out on 13 Oct.

Dhani Harrison has released new single ‘Damn That Frequency’, featuring Graham Coxon off of Blur. He is also set to play two nights at Omega in London on 18-19 Oct.

Girli has released new single ‘Matriarchy’. “I wrote ‘Matriarchy’ about sapphic relationships and how they feel like an act of rebellion towards the patriarchy”, she says. “Women are taught that they exist for the male gaze, so when women love women, it's like putting a massive middle finger up to the society we live in. Existing in the female gaze feels so liberating”.

Balming Tiger have released new single ‘Kamehameha’. The South Korean group explain that the song “expresses the psychology of a heavily drunk character and is inspired by a Korean alcohol game song that any Korean adult can sympathise with. This track also contains the meaning of satire that the momentary bravado after drinking alcohol is not the real self”. They will release their debut album ‘January Never Dies’ on 19 Oct.

Tebi Rex have released new single ‘Main Character’. The track is taken from new EP ‘Sitcom’, which is out today. "We don't know if this is the best thing we've ever made”, say the duo. “Whoever is kind enough to listen gets to make that call. It's definitely the funniest though”.

DIGITAL

Deezer instigates second price rise in key European markets

Another price increase, already? Yep, Deezer has announced it is increasing the cost of a premium subscription in some key European markets - including Spain, France, Italy and the Netherlands - to €11.99. Family plan pricing will also increase, including in the UK, from 17.99 to 19.99.

Confirming the next round of price rises, Deezer said yesterday: "Since the creation of Deezer more than a decade and a half ago, we have been fully committed to recognising the true value of music created by artists. As a result, and to support continuous investment in innovation to deliver valuable support for artists and enhance fan experiences, Deezer has decided to adjust its prices".

The changes will go into effect immediately for new subscriptions, and will apply to existing subscribers from next month.

Deezer was the first streaming service to start pushing the baseline price of a premium subscription above the 9.99 price point that had been standard in Western Europe and North America ever since the music streaming services first launched in the late 2000s and early 2010s.

The music industry, which has revenue share deals with the streaming services, had been calling for price increases for some time, given that - when inflation is factored in - the cost of a subscription had been declining each year.

Apple, Amazon, YouTube and then Spotify all ultimately followed Deezer's lead, pushing the price in key markets from 9.99 to 10.99.

In a recent call with investors, Deezer boss Jeronimo Folgueira confirmed that the initial price increase hadn't resulted in any major uplift in churn, ie subscribers didn't cancel when the price went up. Which possibly motivated the decision to apply a second price increase quite so quickly.

Many in the industry hope that now a first price increase has been applied across the sector, we will see semi-regular price increases in line with inflation.

But could some extra price increases also be applied to reclaim some of the value lost during the fifteen years when the baseline was fixed at 9.99? Well, although inflation is generally high at the moment, Deezer going from 10.99 to 11.99 is more than an inflationary increase. So, maybe.

LIVE

Steve Lamacq announced as new Chair of LIVE

Steve Lamacq has been announced as the new Chair of UK live music trade body LIVE. The news comes after he announced earlier this month that he is to cut back his radio presenting work.

“I am absolutely THRILLED to have been offered the chance to work with an organisation which is right at the centre of live music in the UK”, says Lamacq.

“As someone whose life has been indelibly shaped by the gigs that I’ve seen, it is a terrific opportunity to be a part of the future of live music in this country and to be given the responsibility for helping promote, support and define it for generations to come”, he adds.

Lamacq announced earlier this month that he would be stepping down from his weekday show on BBC Radio 6 Music next month, after eighteen years. He will continue to present a show for the station on Monday afternoons.

At the time, he said that - as well as needing “a breather” from radio and some more family time - he also planned to see “if there's a more practical role I can play in supporting the live music circuit and the venues across the country that I owe so much to”. Apparently there is.

As Lamacq takes on the Chair role, there will also be a number of new directors on the LIVE Board. They include Charisse Beaumont of Black Lives In Music, Christine Osazuwa of Shoobs, and Lucy Noble of AEG Presents.

The Musicians’ Union has also been announced as the sixteenth member of LIVE, which is basically a trade body of trade bodies. The union’s National Organiser For Live Performance, Kelly Wood, is another new addition to the board.

“We are proud to support the entirety of the live music ecosystem and represent their interests and the appointment of music legend Steve Lamacq, the MU’s Kelly Wood, Charisse Beaumont, Christine Osazuwa and Lucy Noble to LIVE’s board will enable us to further extend the work we’re doing”, says CEO Jon Collins.

“Steve will bring to LIVE unrivalled recognition of the power of the UK’s live music industry along with the challenges it faces. We are honoured to have such notable industry figures sitting on our board who will be key to enabling our enviable live music industry to thrive”.

AWARDS

Abbey Road Studios' photography awards presented

Abbey Road Studios in London has confirmed the winners of its Music Photography Awards for 2023.

Commenting on the winners, Abbey Road’s Managing Director Sally Davies says: "The standard of all the images submitted for this year’s MPAs was incredibly high across the board and we are particularly proud of this year’s winners".

Organisers also revealed that there was a 480% increase in entries for this year's awards compared to last year's first edition, with over 14,000 images from 30 countries being submitted for consideration across the open categories.

"The growth that the MPAs has already achieved in only its second year is testament to the overall quality of the awards and the way in which it has been embraced and celebrated across the artistic landscape", Davies continues. "Recognising and promoting talent in this important field is something that we at Abbey Road are committed to and we are already looking forward to 2024!"

And now a list of winners, with the subjects of each photographer’s images in brackets...

OPEN CATEGORIES

Undiscovered Photographer Of The Year: Chris Allmeid (Lil Uzi Vert)

Music Moment Of The Year: Anthony Pham (Harry Styles)

Underground Scenes: Alex Amorós (Margate Mod Weekender)

Live Music: Carlo Cavaluzzi (Jpegmafia)
In The Studio: Victoria Sanders (Benjamin Earl Turner)
Hip Hop 50: Clay Patrick McBride (Jay-Z and Kanye West, 2005)

INVITED CATEGORIES

Editorial: Aidan Zamiri (Caroline Polachek)
Portrait: Samuel Ibram (Shygirl)
Artist At Work: Tom Pallant (Yungblud)
Icon Award: Henry Diltz

RELEASES

Ezra Furman releases three new songs from final series of Sex Education

Ezra Furman has released three songs that she wrote for the new (and final) series of Netflix show ‘Sex Education’.

“What a songwriter craves is an outlet for her songs”, says Furman. “Somewhere to put them, something to do with her passion for arranging words into melody and maximising their impact. And, of course, an audience”.

“In this regard, the job of writing and recording music for ‘Sex Education’ was all that I craved and more”, she goes on. “Here was a whole world of empathetic characters and a compelling plot that had space for my voice and my band’s music to punctuate it”.

“I have loved the task of making music for this brightly-coloured landscape and its tales of teenagers finding their way to better and healthier sex lives”.

“Being asked to write songs that match the tone of the show, I was surprised by how deeply I engaged with the characters’ emotions”, she continues. “Effective music has to come from an emotional place, and at first I wasn’t sure I could do it”.

“It is a testament to the show’s writing, acting and direction that it wasn’t hard at all for me to connect to the characters’ inner lives. They awakened genuine feelings about my own life, and allowed me to create with sincerity and heart”.

Furman has contributed new and existing songs to all four series of ‘Sex Education’, and she and her band also appeared in an episode of the first series.

The release of new songs ‘Tether’, ‘You Like Me’ and ‘Honeycomb’ coincides with the launch of the fourth series of the show on Netflix. Listen to all three songs here.

LEGAL

Zayn Malik accused of ripping off earlier track to make his song Better

Zayn Malik is the latest artist on the receiving end of a song theft lawsuit. He is accused of ripping off a 2018 song written by Patrick Simmons, who performs as Havyn, on his 2020 track 'Better'. Maybe because stealing from the earlier work made Malik’s song, well, better.

Simmons' song is called 'Somebody Tonight', and his lawsuit doesn't go into any great detail about the similarities between his track and Malik’s. But it does say that the two songs "contain essential compositional elements so similar as to evidence the conscious copying of one in pursuit of the creation of the other".

"Resulting from this unlawful copying", it adds, "are two songs so similar that the ordinary observer can only conclude that 'Better' would not exist but for the copying of 'Somebody Tonight'".

The lawsuit does provide a more detailed theory for how Malik and his collaborators on 'Better' might have heard 'Somebody Tonight' before writing their song.

Simmons says that, in April 2020, he hired the services of Modern Music Marketing to promote one of his songs called 'People Change’. His contact at the marketing agency, Jonah Rinder, subsequently took a particular interest in 'Somebody Tonight' - the lawsuit alleges - and he asked for permission to send the track to his industry contacts.

Rinder said he'd promote the song, including within the industry, for free, on the basis that he would get a finder's fee should a label sign the track or another artist seek to record a version of it. Simmons and Rinder then corresponded about the latter's promotional efforts through to October 2020.

Then Simmons heard 'Better'. Noting the similarities, he asked Rinder about Malik’s track, which Rinder confirmed he had “worked”. When Simmons asked Rinder whether 'Better' sounded familiar, he replied "kind of". When more specifically asked whether Malik and his team might have actually based 'Better' on 'Somebody Tonight,' Rinder replied: "How would I know?"

So, the theory goes in the lawsuit, Team Malik got a copy of Simmons' track via Rinder and his marketing agency, and then the process of song theft began.

Does this kind of song theft allegation sound familiar? Kind of. Does Simmons have a viable case? How would I know?

AND FINALLY

BTS’s Suga begins military training

BTS member Suga has begun his three weeks of military training as he becomes the third member of the group to enter two years of mandatory military service. As he did so, he sent a farewell message to fans, telling them to wrap up warm as the seasons change. So thoughtful.

“I am here safe and sound, thanks to Army”, he wrote on Weverse, referring to the band’s fanbase - known as Army - rather than the actual South Korean army, which was presumably actually responsible for his safe transport to the training centre.

“The time has come”, he went on. “I will return after diligently serving my mandatory service. Please be mindful of the change of seasons as we transition to a chilly season of fall. Stay healthy, and see you all in 2025. Army, I always thank you so much, and I love you”.

And with that, he was gone. Although he still has to complete the initial round of military training, Suga will not then join his bandmates Jin and J-Hope in the army once that is completed.

As confirmed last year, he is set to take up a role as a “social service agent” instead, due to a shoulder injury sustained in 2020.

Suga’s plans to enlist were announced last week, with BTS’s record label BigHit urging fans “to refrain from visiting Suga at his workplace during the period of his service”, and instead convey “your warm regards and encouragement in your hearts only”.

It was then announced this week that the seven members of BTS have all renewed their contracts with BigHit, ready for their post-military return in 2025.