In today's CMU Daily: A performer who appeared in the video for DaBaby track ‘Couple Cubes Of Ice’ has accused the rapper’s label of violating Californian law by treating her, and others, as independent contractors when they should have been classified as employees and therefore paid the minimum wage provided by LA rules

One Liners: Legends deal to acquire ASM Global closes; Apple's deal with Indian tel-co Bharti Airtel prompts Wynk Music closure; Meta and Spotify plotting more integration; BMG financials, PRS Foundation promoter grants, BRIT Awards presenter talent search; latest new releases + more 

Also today: Law-makers in California have passed a new law giving performers more protection over digital replicas; the record industry welcomes latest anti-piracy efforts in Brazil

Plus: Cyanite CEO Markus Schwarzer on why keywords still matter for music data

DaBaby’s record label “disparaged, ridiculed” and exploited performers in music video says California lawsuit

DaBaby’s record label Billion Dollar Baby Entertainment has been accused of mistreating and under-paying performers who appear in its music videos. 

A lawsuit filed by one of those performers, Rebekka Lien, says that during a video shoot for DaBaby track ‘Couple Cubes Of Ice’ she was “disparaged, ridiculed and required to work additional hours without compensation”. 

Breaks, including bathroom breaks, were dictated by DaBaby’s staff, she alleges, and when she called family members to let them know the shoot was overrunning she was criticised, had her phone confiscated and was told to “pull her big girl pants up”. 

Lien’s lawsuit seeks class action status, meaning it could end up seeking damages for more than 500 people who have worked with the label on video content, including dancers, models, actors and what it calls ‘background talent’.  

Project Manager // Full Time Hobby (London)

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Horizon is CMU's new weekly newsletter - published each Friday - that brings you a hand-picked selection of early-stage career opportunities from across the music industry.

Whether you're looking for your first job in music or you're ready to take a step up, Horizon is here to help you find your dream job faster.

👉 Click through to see the current selection.

ONE LINERS

Deals

• Mattel has released a signature Barbie doll commemorating legendary Mexican singer-songwriter and actor Juan Gabriel ahead of Hispanic Heritage Month. 
• The Other Songs and Universal Music Publishing Group have announced a new deal that will see them collaborating on publishing projects with Bruno Major the first major signing under the new arrangement.
• Prada has announced Karina of K-pop group aespa as its newest global brand ambassador.
• Prescription Songs and Disruptive Label Publishing have signed Nigerian artist, songwriter and producer JAYA to a global publishing deal. 
• Bass guitar maker Spector has welcomed ANTHRAX bassist Frank Bello to its artist roster. 
• ASM Global's $2.3 billion sale to Legends has closed, ten months after its initial announcement. The delay was due to a US Department of Justice investigation into Legends for alleged antitrust violations during the deal's review.
• Symphonic Music Publishing has signed an exclusive publishing agreement with songwriter and producer Logan Turner.

Appointments

• Dr Kenji Kitatani has been named as Chairman of Warner Music Japan. 
• The US Artist Rights Alliance has announced new additions to its music council, including Aerosmith, Creed, Jerry Flowers, Myles Kennedy, Sevendust and Wolfgang Van Halen. 
• Universal Music Group Nashville has appointed Derek Anderson as Senior Vice President of Commerce in a newly-created role overseeing e-commerce, retail and streaming teams for the label group. 

Streaming, Digital, Broadcast & Retail

• Apple has partnered with Bharti Airtel to offer its music and video streaming services free to the Indian telecom company's premium customers. Apple Music will be made available to premium users of Airtel’s Wynk Music app, which will then be closed down. 
• Meta and Spotify are exploring deeper music integration in Instagram, with new findings indicating a feature in development that would allow users to continuously share their listening activity through Instagram's Notes. 
• Song Sleuth has announced a partnership with Regalías Digitales to deploy its UGSeeker platform across the digital rights management company's catalogue. 
• Tesla has reportedly expanded its integration with SiriusXM, with a leak suggesting the streaming service will soon be available on new Tesla models.

Live

• Disclosure's surprise Boiler Room set at the Lee Valley Showground this weekend was cancelled due to a crowd surge. 
• Bree Runway, Connie Constance, Matilda Mann and RORY have announced intimate live shows in London venues during the week of 7 Oct in support of War Child.
• Jack Daniel's Tennessee Whiskey has announced the artist line-up for its Live To Vinyl series, featuring performances by Ezra Collective, Pale Waves, Maverick Sabre and Nova Twins at Metropolis Studios in London. 

Other Industry News & Events

• BMG has reported a 11.1% increase in revenue to €459 million ($491.7 million) for the first half of 2024. 
• US collecting society AllTrack has been accepted as a rights management entity by CISAC, the global organisation for songwriter societies, and has integrated with CISAC's data exchange tools. 
• PRS Foundation has announced the first round of promoters receiving support through its Early Career Promoter Fund. The charity has awarded more than £50,000 in grants and wraparound support to eighteen early career promoters across England, with 57% of selected grantees being women and gender-diverse promoters and two-thirds based outside of London. 
• The Vinyl Record Manufacturer's Association and Vinyl Alliance have released their First Carbon Footprinting Report, examining the environmental impact of vinyl records from production to disposal.
• Sotheby's has announced its inaugural popular culture auction, featuring personal items from Amy Winehouse and Marianne Faithfull.
• The BRIT Awards has launched a nationwide search for presenters to host The BRITs POV, a new content series for the awards' social media channels.
• MUSEXPO has announced that Mark Beaven, Co-Founder & Co-CEO of Advanced Alternative Media , will receive its Lifetime Achievement Award at the 25th edition of the annual music conference and showcase.
• Kin-Tu, a new Glasgow-based record label, has launched with the release of a three-track EP titled 'Romance' by local artist NÄMEN. 

Golf

• Max Homa and Schoolboy Q have teamed up for the first episode of ‘Artists And Athletes’, to discuss their shared love of golf and perspectives on success. 

Artist News

• Drake has previewed an unreleased collaboration with Kendrick Lamar as part of his latest '100 Gigs' content release. 
• Netflix has announced that BTS's Jin and actor Ji Ye-eun will appear as fixed guests in its upcoming variety show 'Kian's Bizarre B&B', set to release next year. 
• Singer/songwriter Bill Anderson has received the 2024 TAB Impact Award at the Tennessee Association Of Broadcasters' 76th annual Excellence In Broadcasting Awards Dinner. 

Releases & Tours

• Mustafa has released his new single ‘Old Life’. His debut album ‘Dunya’ is out 27 Sep.
• Orla Gartland has collaborated with Declan McKenna on new single ‘Late to The Party’. Her new album ‘Everybody Needs A Hero’ is out 4 Oct.
• Ben Lukas Boysen has released his new single ‘Quasar’. His new album ‘Alta Ripa’ is out 29 Nov.
• The Waeve have released their new single ‘Broken Boys’. Their new album ‘City Lights’ is out 20 Sep.
• Oslo Twins have released their new single ‘Sally’.
• Kit Sebastian have released their new single 'The Kiss'. Their new album ‘New Internationale’ is out 27 Sep.
• Godspeed You! Black Emperor have released their new single ‘GREY RUBBLE - GREEN SHOOTS’. Their new album ‘NO TITLE AS OF 13 FEBRUARY 2024 28,340 DEAD’, referring to the number of Palestinians killed by Israeli strikes on Gaza since 7 Oct 2023, as of 13 Feb 2024, is out 4 Oct.
• Soap&Skin has released her new single ‘Mystery Of Love’. Her new album ‘TORSO’ is out 22 Nov.
• Draft Day has released his new single ‘CRACK THE CODE’.
• Jessy Fury has released his new single ‘Heaven’.
• two blinks, i love you has released his new single ‘my girl’.
• Military Genius has released his new single ‘Darkest Hour’. His new album ‘Scarred For Life’ is out 1 Nov.
• CASISDEAD has announced his UK headline ‘Artificial Interference’ tour, including a show at O2 Institute Birmingham on 23 Oct. Tickets go on sale this Friday here.
• Crawlers have announced their first UK headline tour, ‘The Mess We Seem To Make’ tour, including a show at The Dome in London on 7 Dec. Tickets go on general sale this Friday here.
• French Polymath ALIAS has announced a UK headline tour, including a show at The Lexington in London on 25 Oct.

Op-ed: Cyanite CEO Markus Schwarzer on why keywords still matter for music data

Keywords are dead - long live keywords!

How we should think about music data, catalogue management and search when everything is a prompt-based AI.

As the use of prompt-based AI-driven search algorithms becomes more widespread, many AI companies are talking up the end of keywords. Whether that’s in regular searches, or using keywords to search for music, a lot of people are pointing to the advantages that using prompts has for users, including greater freedom of language, and individual contextual understanding. 

At Cyanite we were the first music company to launch a search algorithm that could understand natural language when our users were searching for music, and with this we saw a shift in how the music industry thinks about AI.

But are keywords actually obsolete? Should we be abandoning keywords and allowing AI to execute searches instead?

We don’t think so. In fact, at Cyanite we think there’s a strong argument that keywords empower content teams and streamline global marketing operations by enabling two key mechanisms for navigating music catalogues: generalisation and a unified understanding.

Digital replica law passed by California Senate to “protect next generation of performers” rights from AI exploitations

US performer union SAG-AFTRA has welcomed the passing by the California Senate of a new ‘digital replica’ law that will require studios to seek specific approval before using generative AI to replicate the voice or likeness - the image or physical appearance - of performers.

The new law is “a huge step forward”, according to the union’s Executive Director Duncan Crabtree-Ireland, who adds, “Voice and likeness rights, in an age of digital replication, must have strong guardrails around licensing to protect from abuse. This bill provides those guardrails”.

Many contracts between performers and studios or labels contain wide-ranging clauses regarding likeness rights. Those clauses are meant to allow the release and marketing of specific productions, but actors and musicians fear that some studios and labels might claim those clauses allow them to generate digital replicas of a performer's likeness or voice without getting explicit permission.

Record industry welcomes takedown of eight piracy sites in Brazil

The record industry has welcomed the latest efforts by government and law enforcement agencies in Brazil to target websites that facilitate music piracy. Called Operation Redirect, the agencies behind the new scheme say that a particular focus this time was piracy sites that expose users to malware and viruses. 

Welcoming the work, Paulo Rosa, President of record industry trade group Pro-Música Brasil, says, “This is another important operation which benefits creators and producers of music, as well as the Brazilian population vulnerable to malware distribution. We thank all the authorities involved for their hard work”. 

The Brazilian government has been particularly proactive in targeting music piracy sites in recent years. A previous programme called Operation 404 secured the suspension of hundreds of domains, and the removal of hundreds of apps, that were allowing people to access unlicensed music.