Boss of Russian collecting society arrested over fraud allegations
The boss of the Russian music industry's collecting society RAO - Sergei Fedotov - has been arrested on suspicion of fraud following an investigation into allegations royalties collected by the organisation were used to buy properties which were then transferred over to third parties.

As previously reported, last summer it was announced that RAO, the Russian collecting society for music publishers and songwriters, would merge with record industry society VOIS and private copy levy body RSP, to create one super music rights organisation in the country which, RAO chiefs said, would be more efficient and more transparent.

But then the boss of VOIS said he'd not been consulted about any merger. Then there was talk of changing Russian law to allow new rival collecting societies to be set up to compete with the merged RAO/VOIS/RSP super society. And alternative proposals were also floated to abolish all that entirely and just have a government department manage the collective licensing of music rights.

It was in among all of this that RAO confirmed it was under investigation over the embezzlement allegations, with the society insisting that its past property transactions, worth some 500 million roubles, were all legit. That investigation has seemingly been going on ever since and, according to local media, Fedotov's office and home were both searched by police on Monday resulting in the RAO chief's arrest yesterday. So far bail has been denied.

Fedotov's legal rep is quoted by Russian news agency RBC of denying all of the allegations against his client, while RAO itself continues to insist nothing illegal has occurred. A spokesman told Billboard: "RAO's General Director Sergei Fedotov and the organisation's other employees are fully cooperating with the investigation, helping it to find out the truth. We are sure that a qualified investigation will lead to establishing no wrongdoing in Sergei Fedotov's action".

The big RAO/VOIS/RSP merger was seemingly called off last autumn, though RAO insists a reform of collective licensing in Russia is still needed. The Russian government seems to agree, though has alterative proposals to those put forward by RAO. But the country's Communications Minister, Nikolai Nikiforov, insisted to local media that Fedotov's arrest is unrelated to disagreements about collective licensing reform.

Roc Nation launches Nashville-based company with Warner/Chappell
Roc Nation has partnered with Warner/Chappell in order to launch a new division, Roc Nation Nashville. The new joint venture will then partner with songwriter and producer Jesse Frasure on another company, Rhythm House, which will oversee Frasure's own activities as well as developing new artists.

Roc Nation President Jay Brown says in a statement: "There is nothing like working with the right individuals, at the right time, forming the right partnership. Launching Roc Nation Nashville with Warner/Chappell Music Nashville is a natural extension of the relationship we started so many years ago, and our venture with Jesse Frasure and his Rhythm House take the possibilities to a next level. Jesse's talent, understanding of the craft and creativity are unmatched".

"I am THRILLED to welcome Roc Nation to Music City and to our Warner/Chappell Nashville family", adds Warner/Chappell Music Nashville's EVP Ben Vaughn. "All of us at WCM are excited to expand our already successful relationship that started with Jon Platt, Jay-Z, and Jay Brown".

Meanwhile, Frasure wants a word: "I'm honoured and grateful to begin this next chapter with partners like Roc Nation and Warner/Chappell, whom I've admired throughout my career. Having this opportunity is a dream come true".

Rhythm House will be overseen day-to-day by BJ Hill, who will split his time between the company and his A&R role at Warner/Chappell.

Data firm Entertainment Intelligence launches playlist tracking app
Music data firm Entertainment Intelligence has announced the launch of a new playlist tracking app designed to help artists and labels understand the impact of playlists on how much their music is streamed, and therefore what income is generated.

Analysing and utilising the flood of social, sales, consumption and other data that is now available to music companies has been a challenge for a number of years now, of course, with various agencies offering platforms to collate and crunch all the stats. Though a number of those have subsequently been bought by digital music firms as in-house insight services.

Still independent Entertainment Intelligence says it "has been quietly working on a suite of [data] applications, including catalogue and campaign management; social and sales reporting and analytics; and playlist tracking. The company is working directly with record labels, music publishers, booking agents and management companies to craft the ultimate tools the music industry needs to solve the challenge of refining data to create actionable intelligence".

Working out what impact the playlists on different streaming services have on consumption and therefore revenue has been rising up the data crunch priority list for a while now. Says EI of its new playlists-focused app: "The playlist app allows unprecedented insight into consumer behaviour, and the impact of playlist inclusion, with a significant level of granular data".

EI director Sammy Andrews adds: "We're building tools that will take your data, clean it and present it in a way that allows all stakeholders in the artist ecosystem to make informed decisions. We look forward to working with many more labels, artists and managers who want to understand their playlisting landscape, as well as working with the rest of the industry on some amazing tools we have in development".

CMU@TGE: Who the hell is buying all these t-shirts?
Look out for insights, advice and viewpoints dished out at this year's CMU Insights @ The Great Escape conference here in the CMU Daily throughout June and into July. This week, some of the takeaways from the physical products strand.

Having looked at the CD market and how it remains more buoyant than we might have expected in 2016, talk at the CMU@TGE physical strand moved on to merchandise. There is a perception that this is now an area where artists make their money, but is that the case? And who is buying all these t-shirts anyway?

Many would have you believe that it's The Kids who are stocking up on merch with all the money that they're not spending on recorded music - though we found out earlier in the day that more young people are actually buying CDs than you probably think. And, said Media Insights Consulting CEO Chris Carey, who kickstarted CMU@TGE's merch discussion, there are many merch selling opportunities to be had with older music fans too.

"Merch is not only a young person's activity", said Carey, citing his company's own consumer research. "We assume that old people buy CDs, young people buy t-shirts. It's not necessarily the case. Looking at 16-24s, about 23% have engaged with merchandise over the last three months, but what's interesting is that there are still opportunities in the 35-44 and 45-54 year old groups. Those groups have some cash to spend and they're interested in buying merch".

While for younger consumers merch purchases might be hoodies, older buyers are actually more likely to buy something like a book. Therefore it's important for artists and their business partners to consider who their audience is and what sort of products they might be interested in buying.

Carey also noted that while 25% of the UK population have bought some merch in the last year, more than 55% have bought a CD. This doesn't tally with the common narrative of how the music industry is evolving, and could lead to opportunities being missed, he said.

"The risk is that merch is seen as the only way of making money, and therefore you go after a quarter of the population, rather than also respecting the other revenue streams that can be valuable", he added. "Different types of people need different products".

"I think that there is a misconception about what's gone on with merch", cautioned BSI Merch's Andy Allen in the subsequent discussion. "Just because people have started spending less on recorded music, doesn't necessarily mean that they've transferred that available disposable income to purchasing merchandise within the music world".

Music competes with other entertainment products, he added. "For example, when I grew up, there were maybe one or two cartoons that came out per year, now we're talking about two or three animated films being made available per week. All I feel is that the money has been distributed elsewhere. I'm not saying that certain artists haven't benefitted, but what has happened is that those artists have been highlighted, and then we start perceiving that automatically more money is being made through music merchandise. I wouldn't agree with that particularly".

However, that's not necessarily a doom and gloom observation, more it means that the potential of merch hasn't been fully tapped by many artists. Allen added: "Predominantly within the industry there's a lack of focus on merchandise. For the artist, it isn't usually their core business. There are exceptions - a lot of metal acts and a variety of pop acts, and others - who have seen their brand appeal with a specific audience and they have seized on it. But in general, most artists tend to not focus attention on their merch, so the sector is actually still in a very embryonic stage".

Focusing on some of those opportunities, David Boyne of Universal's merch company Bravado talked up the potential of working more closely with the fashion industry. "I talk quite often about that fusion of fashion and music and that's been responsible for a lot of the growth that we've seen over the last four or five years", he said. "Yes, you've got the fan that wants to buy into merchandise, but actually it needs to be credible and relevant from a fashion perspective. I think working with key fashion retailers, both in the UK and Europe, has certainly allowed us to drive that".

"In the music business, historically the official t-shirt was a Fruit Of The Loom shirt with a print on", he continued. "But how has that expanded in the last few years? Is it v-neck, is it cap sleeve, what sort of embellishment is it? I think as fashion becomes so much more relevant, the t-shirt today is not the basic Fruit Of The Loom shirt that perhaps people bought ten years ago".

On that front, Rob Brown from management business Disturbing London praised Kanye West's approach to merch and fashion, saying: "If you look at Kanye West, who is very much immersed in the fashion world, he separates his fashion brand from his merchandise brand".

And that means artists having more than one brand. Brown continued: "If you look at the Yeezus brand, which was the name of his album and has the merchandise line attached to it, that is readily available in ASOS, Urban Outfitters, Topshop, all places like that. Then you have the Yeezy brand, which is a partnership with Adidas, with sells out almost immediately".

"That is a separate brand associated to one artist", he went on. "It is marketed differently, priced completely differently as well, but is a way to tap into the fashion side of things and still have the merchandise running separately and capitalising on all aspects of it".

Brown also raised Chance The Rapper as an example, discussing how he engages his younger audience: "He's very forward thinking in the way he approaches merchandise. His project that came out last week sees the merchandise very much being driven by the aesthetic. All the merchandise is customisable, so you go on his website and it's very engaging. And because his target market is probably 16-25, he understands the way that they consume and the way that they engage with things digitally. They feel like they're creating and designing, it further cements that relationship between the artist and the fan, just by adding a bit of engagement and interactivity".

For newer artists of differing genres, however, is putting time and money into merch something worth considering? "It doesn't matter what stage you're at, if you're conscious about what you're trying to establish in your brand, that will see you through if you're laying the correct foundations", said Allen.

Thinking beyond just the t-shirt is a big part of that. "It isn't just about doing a t-shirt" Allen confirmed. "You can go into other areas where there's a lower amount of risk, in terms of badges, stickers. You can source stuff now at low volumes, at an affordable level".

The value of that wider product range is upsell. "Certainly when you're going out and playing live, and the fact that if you are selling the t-shirt for 20 quid or whatever, and you've got other things there that are a fiver or a couple of quid, you are going to encourage upsales and you are going to develop further sales out of it".

Again, it comes down to knowing your fanbase. "Music is very much attached to wider culture, and culturally you could be influencing a lot of skateboarders, for example", said Brown. "So if you're an artist who has a lot of skateboarding fans, why not release a line of skateboards with your logo on, as people like Odd Future have done. I've got a friend who runs a club night in Brighton called Donuts, and they very much attract the skate crowd, so they do competitions where they give away Donuts skateboards. It's engagement, and it's a real passionate engagement".

"What about Snoop Dogg?" he continued. "Everyone knows what Snoop Dogg does - he smokes. So therefore he sells you vapour pens, he sells you rolling papers, he sells you lighters, he sells you ashtrays. We've got an artist at Disturbing London called A2, who's very much that ambient, smoking vibe. We're looking at doing some lighters and ashtrays with him, because we know very much what his audience do. They like to smoke - sell them a lighter at £1.50. It doesn't have to be a t-shirt at £20. You're part of something, you engage with it".

Although positive about the wide variety of opportunities out there for creating new merch products around artists to engage fans and drive sales, the panel were more cautious of the other approach - licensing an artist's brand out to other companies who then make the new products.

"We have a fairly unique position that we don't license much", said Boyne. "It concerns me sometimes that if you're licensing out to a third party, they don't have the integrity that we have dealing directly with management. It kind of becomes Chinese whispers, because you're at a distance. If there's a product where we have no expertise, then we would do a licensing deal, just because we don't have that core competency. But we always like to do things ourselves".

"I would never do a licensing deal unless I was at a stage where my brand was very difficult to destroy and it's at a very established point", added Brown.

Lady Gaga reportedly banned from China, following meeting with Dalai Lama
Lady Gaga has reportedly been banned from China after meeting with the Dalai Lama. The singer met the exiled Tibetan spiritual leader - deemed a dangerous separatist by the Chinese government - at the US Conference Of Mayors in Indianapolis earlier this week.

Although not commenting directly on whether Gaga had been added to the Chinese Foreign Ministry's blacklist, according to Reuters a spokesperson said in a regular press briefing: "There is a broad consensus internationally about what kind of person the Dalai Lama is and what he does internationally. After the relevant incident happened, if you look at comments on the Chinese internet, their anger has welled up".

Gaga posted a backstage interview with the Dalai Lama to her Facebook page, followed by their full panel discussion at the conference, as well as publishing other images of the pair together across her social media channels.

Although there has indeed been criticism on Chinese social media about the meeting, others have praised the singer for appearing with the Dalai Lama while knowing exactly what reaction it would receive from the Chinese government.

Underworld's Karl Hyde to publish autobiography
Karl Hyde is to publish a collection of diaries and photographs he has been posting on the Underworld website since 1999. The book, titled 'I Am Godboy', will be available through Faber & Faber on 3 Nov.

Designed by longtime Underworld collaborator John Warwicker, the book picks a selection of diary entries and re-orders them into an autobiography, covering his childhood to Underworld's early days. Various other standalone pieces of writing will intersperse the story.

Elsewhere in Underworld news, the duo have announced that they will play Alexandra Palace in London on 17 Mar next year.

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White Lies announce new album, tour
White Lies have announced that they will release their fourth album, 'Friends', on 7 Oct. It is not a concept album based on the sitcom of the same name, but imagine if it was.

Explaining what it's actually all about, bassist and lyricist Charles Cave says: "In the past couple of years, we've noticed friends' life situations causing them to make big decisions - marriages, kids, moving out of London. Friendships have begun to feel adult and our perception of time has changed. As kids, if you didn't see a mate for a fortnight, you'd wonder what was wrong. Now you might not see someone for six months and it doesn't matter".

The album's first single, 'Take It Out On Me', is out now. It started out as an experiment to write a chorus using only numbers. A failed experiment, Cave notes.

"Right up until we recorded the song it was called '89-1-3'", he says. "It was inspired by a lunatic on Instagram who kept commenting on a friend's photos in pseudo Biblical verse. From his profile I discovered he lived in a remote cabin with a rough-looking dog. He posted weird videos in which he quoted random numbers. As a challenge, I turned them in to a song. The only problem was that it went so well everyone said it should be the first single, so I relented and gave the chorus real lyrics".

Yeah, 'lunatic' isn't really a word you should be throwing around quite so readily, it being 2016 and all. Still, you can listen to the de-numbered song here.

The band will be touring later this year. Here are their UK dates:

22 Nov: London, Shepherd's Bush Empire
24 Nov: Nottingham, Rock City
25 Nov: Manchester, Albert Hall
26 Nov: Liverpool, Arts Club
27 Nov: Glasgow, ABC
29 Nov: Birmingham, Institute
30 Nov: Leeds, Stylus
1 Dec: Bristol, Academy

Ludacris to perform at Guantanamo Bay
Ludacris is to perform at Guantanamo Bay, entertaining the troops stationed there and their families, rather than the remaining inmates. The rapper will headline the ironically named Freedom Festival on 4 Jul, aka the US's Independence Day (Brexiters note: a day marking actual independence from something - Britain, as it happens).

According to the Miami Herald, there is a great deal of excitement about Ludacris's appearance, the audience having had to endure Magic! last year and Jimmy Eat World the year before.

"Every year we get a special guest around the Fourth of July, but Gitmo hasn't seen a star with as big a name as Ludacris in several years", Navy Chief Monique Hilley reportedly told Radio Gitmo. "The base is really looking forward to it".

Barry Gibb, Roger Waters, One Little Indian, more

Other notable announcements and developments today...

• Following his stand out cameo at this weekend's Glastonbury Festival, surviving Bee Gee Barry Gibb has signed a new deal with Sony - Columbia in the US, RCA in the UK - to release a solo album written with his sons.

• BMG is "delighted", don't you know, to have signed a long-term deal to represent Roger Waters' Pink Floyd catalogue. And who can blame them? Not me.

• Jockey Club Live, the venture that stages gigs at racecourses, has a new Chairman in the form of Nicky Dunn, who previously worked in the arenas business before setting up an entertainment industry consultancy in 2011.

• One Little Indian has released a sampler to mark its 30th anniversary, featuring Fufanu, Samaris, Tucks, Wild Palms, Foxtrott, and Olga Bell. Listen here.

• Those new Metronomy tracks just keep coming. Here's 'Hang Me Out To Dry', featuring Robyn.

• Rae Sremmurd's second album, 'Sremmlife 2' is due out on 12 Aug. From it, this is new track '#DoYoga'.

• They, as in the hip hop duo They, have released a new track, 'Say When'. The politically charged track is the first taste of what they assure us is "the strongest project of 2016".

• Ezra Furman has announced a new EP, 'Big Fugitive Life', featuring tracks that didn't make it onto previous albums. Here's one, 'Teddy I'm Ready'.

• Mabel's released a new single, 'Thinking Of You'. Watch the video here.

• Mauritanian desert-rock musician Noura Mint Seymali will release her second album, 'Arbina', on 16 Sep. Listen to the title track now.

• Chance The Rapper will play Brixton Academy on 22 Nov. Tickets here.

• Belly have announced UK shows, which will take place in July and wind up at The Forum in London on 21 Jul.

• Allusondrugs have announced UK tour dates in August, which they say "shall be the full and final musical undertakings of the entity known as Allusondrugs". Dates here.

• Entries are open for this year's UK Music Video Awards, which are now in their ninth year. The awards themselves take place on 20 Oct. Go here for info on how to enter.

Apple granted patent for system to block music fans from filming live shows
Apple has been granted a patent for a system that would block iPhones from taking photos and videos at live shows (or anywhere else you didn't want them to).

The patent for the technology was originally submitted by Apple in 2011, then resubmitted in 2014, before being granted this week, according to Patently Apple. Using infrared light invisible to the human eye to transmit data to smartphone cameras, its primary use would seemingly be to provide augmented reality experiences in places like museums. However, a secondary use could be to disable the cameras.

The use of phones to photograph and video gigs has become a controversial topic in recent years, of course. Some feel like it's a perfectly acceptable way to engage with a performance, while other people aren't dickheads. Some artists have taken to putting up signs asking fans not to use their phones during the show, others have taken to shouting at people from the stage, and then there's this frankly unworkable-sounding system. Contrary types Radiohead, of course, are encouraging fans to film their current shows.

Whether or not Apple's system will ever get beyond the patent stage remains to be seen. If it does, it'll be interesting to see what take up it has with artists and venues, and what reaction it would get from fans.