THUSDAY 25 APRIL 2019 | COMPLETEMUSICUPDATE.COM | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
TODAY'S TOP STORY: There's a little secret that they teach you at law school. It's a clever little trick that only lawyers know. It goes like this: if you're negotiating a deal with a company, try to remember to actually do the deal. Deal making's super fun, see. And sometimes you get all distracted with the fun times and forget to do the deal. Spotify was having so much fun negotiating its licensing deal with India's oldest record label Saregama, it forgot to do the deal. And now Saregama wants its music taken off the streaming platform... [READ MORE] | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Spotify to remove recordings from India's oldest label following legal action Spotify recently went live in India, of course. It first started talking to Saregama - the music company that began life over a century ago as the Indian wing of EMI - in February 2018. A year later, as the streaming firm's long awaited Indian launch got closer, Spotify asked Saregama if it would send over its recordings catalogue so it could be ingested and therefore be ready to stream at launch, assuming a deal could be done. However, it seems, a deal wasn't done. And yet, as Spotify switched on in India, Saregama's recordings were available to its users. Which is why the music firm headed to Delhi's High Court "seeking [an] ex parte injunction to restrain the defendants, directors, proprietors etc from doing any act including exploitation / use of the plaintiff's works as filed in the digital form, ie sound recordings/songs, including the underlying literary and musical works contained therein which are in infringement of the plaintiff's works". Spotify has seemingly confirmed that it will indeed remove Saregama's music from its platform in an almost speedy fashion. A court filing notes that a legal rep for Spotify has said that "the defendant does not consider this litigation as an adversarial litigation. He submits that whatever work infringed the copyright of the plaintiff would be taken off / deleted by the defendant from its platform within ten days from today. The defendant shall remain bound by the above submission made in court". Which is all nice and lovely. And will amuse, I'm sure, good old Warner Music. Because it - of course - has had its own spat with Spotify in India. The mini-major hadn't reached a deal with Spotify for the Indian market as it went live there, and therefore wanted the streaming firm to remove any recordings that are of songs published by its Warner/Chappell division (or at least those that are recordings of Warner/Chappell published songs that the publisher licenses directly in the digital space). Spotify countered that it reckoned it could rely on a compulsory licence under Indian copyright law for those works. Warner angrily disagreed. Both sides said some snarky things. Warner went legal. The dispute is ongoing. Of course that legal dispute centred on Warner's songs not its recordings, whereas Saregama is mainly requesting the removal of its tracks from Spotify's Indian service. And deleting recordings from a streaming platform is much easier than deleting songs, due to tedious music rights data issues. Though the Saregama legal complaint does reference the company's song copyrights as well as its recordings, so, who knows? Either way, Saregama moans, Spotify removes the content. Warner moans and, well, Warner can fuck off. Sounds sensible to me. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
R Kelly loses civil abuse case by default after failing to appear in court The woman who filed the civil litigation is one of the four whose accusations form the basis of the criminal charges that Kelly is also facing, for which he is yet to stand trial. She filed her lawsuit in February, claiming that she had a number of sexual encounters with the musician, the first in 1998 when she was sixteen years old. According to the Chicago Tribune, Kelly was served a court summons in relation to the action but never responded. To that end, earlier this week, the judge overseeing the case granted a request by the woman's attorney to rule in her favour. Asked why Kelly had failed to defend himself, his publicist Darrell Johnson told the Chicago Sun-Times: "We don't care about the lawsuit. The lawsuit means nothing to us". A hearing has now been set for next month to determine what damages Kelly should pay the woman in the case. Whatever the figure, it will add to mounting debts for the star, who was recently revealed to have just $625 to his name. He is currently facing further jail time as he fails to keep up to date with child support payments. Aside from his financial troubles, Kelly is also facing those criminal charges, of course. Accused of sexual abusing four women, three of whom were underage at the time of the alleged incidents, if convicted he faces up to 70 years in prison. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Ally McCrae and Sophie Paluch front new MMF artist management podcast "The goal of these podcasts is simple", says McCrae. "We wanted to get inside the minds of the most innovative and respected music managers on the planet. We want to find out what makes them tick, what goes on behind the scenes, and the secrets of their success. But we wanted to do it in a low-key, intimate and informative way. 'How Did You Manage That?' is like an hour down the pub, in the company of the most inspirational individuals in contemporary music". Paluch adds: "We're both hugely indebted for the support of both [show sponsor] AWAL and the MMF to make this podcast happen. The role of the music manager has never been as important as it is today, and 'How Did You Manage That?' will offer an incredible insight into the challenges and rewards of being a manager today all wrapped up with some great stories and laughs along the way". Episode one, an interview with The 1975's manager Jamie Oborne of All On Red, is available now through your absolute favourite podcast app. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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New Mark Lanegan Band album coming in October Speaking of being plunged into darkness, Lanegan says: "It seems to me that the entire world is in a weird, precarious place right now. I try to not be someone in a constant state of worry and alarm but watching the massive divide that is taking place and the political situations, especially in the US and UK makes me think, 'what the fuck are these idiots thinking?'". He goes on: "The hatred, racism and all this other fear-driven shit, these 'adults' that continually drive the machine that perpetuates this ignorance to their own ends should all be in prison cells instead of the non-violent drug 'offenders' in them now". "I can't specifically say how any of this effects my writing", he adds. "But I know that most of the things that occupy my thoughts have a way of coming back out in a song". Anyway, as I've sure you're all expecting, the video for the first single for the album, 'Stitch It Up', is like a mini-episode of a silly sitcom. "I had a blast making this video", says Lanegan. "My head was pounding from laughing so hard the day of the shoot. It was extremely tough to keep a straight face when Donal [Logue] was in character. There's a reason it's the first video of mine I've been in for the last fifteen years". 'Someone's Knocking' is set for release on 18 Oct. If you fancy a bit more of Lanegan's characteristic chirpiness, you can catch him and his band on tour at these dates: 10 Dec: London, Roundhouse | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
We Are Scientists announce 50th anniversary tour for debut album "A long time ago our management came to us and suggested we do some 'With Love And Squalor' shows on the fourteenth anniversary of its release, which we thought was pretty dumb", says the band's Keith Murray. "'Come back to us on a real anniversary', we told them. Fast-forward to a couple weeks ago, when they told us the big 50 was coming up. I'd say that's worth celebrating". As well as the tour, the band will be re-issuing the album on vinyl, of which bassist Chris Cain explains: "Fans have been asking us to re-issue 'With Love And Squalor' on vinyl ever since the last printing, in 2006, ran out. The fact that it took 50 fucking years to make this happen still blows my mind". The vinyl will be out on 18 Oct. Here are the tour dates: 4 Dec: Leicester, Academy 2 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
The 1975, Ghetts, Jorja Smith and Arctic Monkeys among Ivor Novello nominees "The works nominated for The Ivors 2019 are brilliantly diverse, and we're delighted to see so many first-time nominees recognised", says Ivors Academy Chair Crispin Hunt. "As the only peer-nominated music award in the country, they are a fantastic reflection of the exciting emerging talent of British and Irish music creators today". The winners will be announced at Grosvenor House in London on 23 May. Here are all the nominees. All of them: Best Song Musically And Lyrically: Arctic Monkeys - Four Out Of Five (Alex Turner), Ben Howard - Nica Libres At Duck (Ben Howard), Hozier - Nina Cried Power (Hozier) Best Contemporary Song: Ghetts - Black Rose (Ghetts, Kojey Radical, Daniel Miles, JoJo Mukeza, Jaime Naldo Menezes), Jorja Smith - Blue Lights (Guy Bonnet, Dizzee Rascal, Roland Romanelli, Jorja Smith), The 1975 - Love It If We Made It (George Daniel, Adam Hann, Matthew Healy, Ross MacDonald) PRS For Music Most Performed Work: Jax Jones - Breathe (Jax Jones, Ina Wroldsen), George Ezra - Shotgun (George Ezra Barnett, Fred, Joel Pott), Rudimental - These Days (Julian Bunetta, Dan Caplen, Macklemore, John Ryan, Jamie Scott) Best Album: Young Fathers - Cocoa Sugar (Kayus Bankole, Graham Hastings, Alloysious Massaquoi), Let's Eat Grandma - I'm All Ears (Jenny Hollingworth, Rosa Walton), Idles - Joy As An Act of Resistance (Jonathan Beavis, Mark Bowen, Adam Devonshire, Lee Kiernan, Joseph Talbot) Best Original Film Score: American Animals (Anne Nikitin), Phantom Thread (Jonny Greenwood), Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse (Daniel Pemberton) Best Television Soundtrack: Flowers Series 2 (Arthur Sharpes), Happy New Year, Colin Burstead (Clint Mansell), Requiem (Natasha Khan, Dominik Scherrer) | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Mustard, Madonna, FKA Twigs, more Other notable announcements and developments today... Â Mustard, in the Sony/ATV office, with a pen. Yeah, Mustard's signed a publishing deal with Sony/ATV. "Mustard is an amazing songwriter and producer", says CEO Jon Platt. "I already have friends in the building", boasts Mustard. Â IMPEL, the grouping of indie publishers that does digital licensing gubbins, has appointed music lawyer Sarah Williams as its CEO. Previously an off-shoot of the Music Publishers Association and collecting society MCPS, IMPEL is now an independent entity that works with French society SACEM on licensing its members rights. Â Global Radio's grand plan to become a big fat music company - which included launching units doing management, publishing and touring, as well as setting up shop Stateside - is seemingly at an end. Only the festivals side of that venture still existed in the form of Global's significant stake in Broadwick Live. But, according to IQ, Broadwick's management is now planning to buy Global out of the company. Meanwhile, the newly acquisitive Superstruct is acquiring some of the Global/Broadwick events. Â Madonna has released new single, 'MedellÃn', the first track from her new album, 'Madame X', which is out on 14 Jun. Â PKA FKA Twigs has released her first single in, like, a really long time. Here's 'Cellophane'. "Throughout my life I've practiced my way to being the best I could be, it didn't work this time", she says of recording her new music. "I had to tear down every process I'd ever relied on. Go deeper. Rebuild. Start again". Â Mumford & Sons have released a short behind the scenes video with a performance of their song 'Forever'. So that's nice. Â Diplo has unveiled his new country music alter ego Thomas Wesley. Here's the first single from the project, 'So Long'. Play it to a country music fan today, they are sure to love it and recognise it instantly as pure, authentic country music. You probably won't even get punched that much. Â Two Door Cinema Club have announced that they will release their new album, 'False Alarm', on 14 Jun. This is not a false alarm, it's really happening. Look, they've even released a new single, 'Satellite'. Â The Drums have released the video for 'Body Chemistry' from new album 'Brutalism'. Â Kelly Moran has released 'Night Music', the first track from her new EP 'Origin', which will be released on 17 May. "These recordings show first hand my musical discoveries in real-time for when I was having my major creative breakthrough", she says. Â Sacred Paws have released new single 'How Far'. They've also announced UK tour dates in June. Â Petrol Girls have released the video for new single, 'Big Mouth'. "Thematically, 'Big Mouth' follows on from our previous single, 'The Sound'", says Petrol Girls' vocalist Ren Aldridge. "But it focuses in on voice as a physical sound that comes directly from our bodies, and also more generally as self-expression. There's a lot of politics around who is heard and what that means, and many marginalised groups are only tolerated when they're quiet. When they refuse this containment and control, they're met with attempts to silence them". Â Guitar Wolf are back with new single 'Love & Jett'. And not a moment too soon. Â King Princess has announced that she will play Dublin Academy on 24 Jun and Heaven in London on 26 Jun. Â Entries for this year's Mercury Prize are now open. You have until 6pm on 15 May to submit albums for consideration. Email entries@mercuryprize.co.uk with the subject line 'token jazz act' for more info. Â Check out our weekly Spotify playlist of new music featured in the CMU Daily - updated every Friday. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Tyler, The Creator says video mocking his songwriting style is "spot on" Tackling Tyler's early work, Puff - seemingly a fan of the man she is mocking - first lays down a backing track featuring a "shitty piano" and "an out of key synth that is nowhere near the original key of the song". On top of that come backing vocals made up of a "really pitched-down voice, saying, 'fuck', 'yeah', 'shit', and 'uh'" and finally lyrics featuring "violence, made up words, hating your father and not being gay". "I legit laughed, this [is] lowkey spot on", Tyler said, reposting the video. Although, he observed, "you forgot the 'ayo'", noting another key feature of his vocals. The new video is building on a theme - Puff previously tackled Tyler's Odd Future colleague Frank Ocean songwriting's style. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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