In today's CMU Daily: Properties owned by Sean ‘Diddy’ Combs have been raided by US Homeland Security in relation to allegations of sex trafficking and sexual assault. The hip hop mogul was not present at any of the properties and he has not been arrested

One Liners: BROMIS x Soundmouse; Splash, Universal, Tencent exec moves; Astroworld lawsuit; grassroots venue inquiry; Shindig Festival to close; Broadwick x TCE Presents; Mañana Electronic launches; Spotify adds e-learning; UK Music creator survey; Keychange manifesto; Mariah Carey award; Kiasmos single + more

Also today: Producer updates lawsuit against Diddy and accuses the mogul of harassing his family; Nirvana logo copyright dispute back in court; Law firm begins investigation into allegations of anticompetitive conduct at Live Nation

Plus: Rosie Tee is CMU Approved

Sean Combs properties raided in federal sex trafficking investigation

Properties owned by Sean 'Diddy' Combs in both LA and Miami were raided by US Homeland Security yesterday, reportedly as part of a federal sex trafficking investigation. 

A statement from Homeland Security Investigations provided only basic information about the raids. It said, “Homeland Security Investigations New York executed law enforcement actions as part of an ongoing investigation, with assistance from HSI Los Angeles, HSI Miami and our local law enforcement partners". 

Sources speaking to NBC News claimed that, as part of the same investigation, federal officers in New York have interviewed three women and a man, and have scheduled three other interviews, in relation to allegations of sex trafficking, sexual assault, and the solicitation and distribution of illegal narcotics and firearms.

Authorities have not confirmed whether Combs himself is the focus of the investigation. He wasn't at any of the properties as they were raided, although reports suggest that his sons were among those being questioned at his LA home. 

TMZ also reported that a private jet owned by the musician had flown to the Caribbean shortly before the raids took place, leading to speculation that he was fleeing. However, it then transpired that Combs was not aboard that plane. He was later seen at a Miami airport, seemingly awaiting another private jet that was due to fly to the Bahamas.

According to NBC News, Homeland Security tracked down Combs to that airport, seized some phones and questioned members of his entourage. However, Combs himself was not arrested or taken into custody. It's not clear if he then proceeded with his flight. 

The criminal investigation follows the flurry of recent lawsuits against Combs accusing him and his associates of sexual harassment and assault. 

Many of those were filed last year under the New York Adult Survivors Act, which allowed new litigation to be filed in relation to allegations that would usually be barred by the statute of limitations under New York law. The highest profile of those lawsuits was the one filed by his former partner Cassie Ventura, which was immediately settled. 

More recently, producer Rodney 'Lil Rod' Jones Jr filed a lawsuit making various allegations against Combs stemming from his time working with the musician on his 'The Love Album', which was released in partnership with Universal Music's Motown division.

Combs himself has previously denied all the allegations made against him, but is yet to comment on the criminal investigation. 

A legal rep for Jones did issue a statement about the raids to Rolling Stone, stating, “It’s about damn time. Sometimes justice delayed is not justice denied, so long as justice ultimately arrives". 

Another lawyer who represents Ventura added, “We will always support law enforcement when it seeks to prosecute those that have violated the law. Hopefully, this is the beginning of a process that will hold Mr Combs responsible for his depraved conduct".

Domino // Digital Operations Manager (London)

PRS Foundation // Grants & Programmes Manager (London Hybrid)

AEG Presents // Marketing Executive (London)

The O2 // Junior Accounts Receivable Assistant (London)

Domino Publishing // Assets Coordinator (London Hybrid)

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

Mariah carey, UK Music, Spotify + more

DEALS

The South Korean Broadcast Music Identifying System - aka BROMIS, which brings together South Korea’s key broadcasters and collecting societies - has announced Orfium’s Soundmouse as its music reporting partner for broadcast in the country. “We are excited to be growing our presence in the Asian market to support local creators and rightsholders and look forward to working with all of BROMIS’ stakeholders to strengthen the transparency and accuracy of music reporting processes in the multi-billion dollar broadcast industry”, say Orfium CEO Rob Wells. Soundmouse, acquired by Orfium in January 2023, also works with PRS in the UK. 

APPOINTMENTS 

Former SoundCloud exec Tracy Chan has joined AI music company Splash as its CEO. “I’m absolutely THRILLED Tracy is joining the team”, says former CEO Stephen Phillips, who moves into the role of Chair. “His experience working across tech and music, always with an eye on creating value for creators and fans, is going to be a huge accelerant for Splash”.

Adriana Ramos has been named Managing Director of Universal Music Publishing Brazil, replacing Marcelo Falcao. “I am excited to mould the future of Universal Music Publishing Brazil alongside our outstanding team, creating new possibilities for our songwriters and pushing UMP forward as the most innovative, proactive and creative-driven publisher”, she says. “It is also a historical moment and I’m very proud to extend UMP female leadership to Brazil”.

Tencent Music CTO Zhenyu Xie has announced his resignation from the company, citing “personal reasons” for his decision to depart. In a statement, Chair Cussion Pang said: “On behalf of the board and the company, we would like to express our gratitude to Mr Xie for his remarkable service at TME, as well as his dedication to the innovation and growth of the digital music industry. Zhenyu has played a vital role in leading our teams to significant breakthroughs, which has greatly enhanced TME’s product appeal and user experience. We appreciate his contributions and wish him well in all future pursuits”.

LEGAL 

According to The Blast, merchandise company Ceremony Of Roses has dismissed its lawsuit against Travis Scott and Live Nation in relation to its involvement in the 2021 Astroworld festival, where ten people died in a crowd surge. Ceremony Of Roses provided “carnival-style games and amusements on the festival grounds", but was unable to recoup its costs when the second day of the festival was cancelled following the tragic events of the previous day. It's not known if the dismissal of the lawsuit means a settlement deal was reached. 

LIVE BUSINESS 

UK Parliament’s Culture, Media & Sport Select Committee this morning held a hearing on issues facing grassroots music venues in the UK. Speakers included LIVE CEO Jon Collins, Music Venue Trust boss Mark Davyd, and Kilimanjaro Live chief exec Stuart Galbraith. You can watch the hearing here. We will be reporting on the session in detail tomorrow.

Shindig Festival has announced that its 2024 edition will be its last. Says Association Of Independent Festivals CEO John Rostron, "We are sure that if the government were to intervene with a temporary reduction of VAT on ticket sales to 5%, Shindig and many of the independent festivals that have fallen in 2024 would have continued. According to AIF's ongoing research, this is the 28th festival to have suffered such a fate so far this year. We require action and support now, before our hugely successful commercial and cultural sector is eroded further”.

UK live company Broadwick and New York promoter TCE Presents have announced that they are joining forces for a series of US-based events. Details are yet to be announced. 

MANAGEMENT 

Glasgow-based artist management company Mañana Music Management has launched new electronic music-focussed full service company Mañana Electronic, which will offer management, recording and publishing services. “It seems to me that there is endless talent making incredible music in the electronic sphere, especially in Scotland” says co-founder Nathan Dunphy. “Mañana Electronic is here to serve that talent”.

DIGITAL

Having filled its app with music, podcasts and audiobooks, Spotify is now moving into online learning. The streaming service has partnered with companies including BBC Maestro, PLAYvirtuoso, Skillshare and Thinkific to test out offering video-based learning courses in the UK. “Testing video courses in the UK allows us to explore an exciting opportunity to better serve the needs of our users who have an active interest in learning”, says Babar Zafar, VP Product Development.

INDUSTRY PEOPLE 

UK Music has launched its 2024 survey for music creators. The study will aid the trade body in calculating the economic contribution of people who make music, which it can then use to lobby government for greater support. It is open to all full-time and part-time professional music-makers, including artists, musicians, composers, songwriters, lyricists, singers, producers and sound engineers. Fill out the questionnaire here to take part and be in with the chance of winning a £100 voucher. 

Music industry gender equality initiative Keychange has announced that it will unveil a report looking at its impact during its first five years and an updated manifesto at Tallinn Music Week next month. Both documents will be available from the Keychange website following the launch event on 5 Apr. 

AWARDS

Mariah Carey has received a Hall Of Fame Award from US collecting society SoundExchange. “It should come as no surprise Mariah Carey is among SoundExchange’s most streamed creators”, says CEO Michael Huppe. “She is an accomplished artist who has reached cultural icon status and that is reflected in the data. Mariah has created an enduring catalogue of incredible music that delights across generations. We are honoured to present Mariah Carey with the SoundExchange Hall Of Fame Award”.

RELEASES

Kiasmos - aka Ólafur Arnalds and Janus Rasmussen - have released a three track EP called ‘Flown’ - their first new music together since 2017. Watch the video for the title track here. 

Charlotte Day Wilson has released new single ‘Canopy’. Her second album ‘Cyan Blue’ is out on 3 May.

Diddy accused of harassing family of producer after he filed a sexual misconduct lawsuit

Producer Rodney 'Lil Rod' Jones Jr has updated his lawsuit against Sean ‘Diddy’ Combs, one of a number of sexual misconduct cases filed against the music mogul in recent months. He’s also alleged that Combs has been harassing his family since he filed his lawsuit last month. 

Jones worked with Combs on his LP 'The Love Album', which was released in partnership with Universal Music's Motown division. During that time, he alleges, he was subjected to sexual harassment and assault, and other unlawful activities. 

Universal Music, its CEO Lucian Grainge and former Motown CEO Ethiopia Habtemariam were all named as defendants on the lawsuit, although Habtemariam has now been removed. 

Jones claims that Universal sponsored, and Grainge attended, listening parties at Combs' LA home where sex workers and underage girls were present and the drinks of female guests were routinely drugged. 

While Habtemariam has been removed as a defendant in Jones' litigation, actor Cuba Gooding Jr has been added, according to NBC News. 

The lawsuit already made allegations against the actor. Jones claims that Combs tried to "groom and entice" him "to engage in homosexuality", so that he could be “passed off” to the musician’s friends. That led to an incident involving Gooding Jr, when Jones says he had to use force to stop unsolicited groping. 

In addition to changing the list of defendants on his lawsuit, Jones has also made a new filing with the courts accusing Combs of harassing him and his family since going legal. 

According to AllHipHop, in a letter to the court, Jones accuses Combs of responding to his lawsuit by feeding "manufactured stories" to TMZ and sending associates to harass his eight year old daughter, her mother and his ex-spouses. This has left all of them in “fear of potential harm by defendant Combs", the letter states.

Approved: Rosie Tee

Set to release her debut mini-album ‘Night Creature’ next month, Rosie Tee has released the title track and its accompanying video. 

The new single follows last month’s ‘Lectern’, a more ethereal effort than its new counterpart. While ‘Night Creature’ does maintain an otherworldliness, it rapidly picks up the pace, delivering a whirlwind of a psychedelic pop song with a bassline that will embed itself in your head for days.

The mini-album is set for release on 26 Apr, and you can catch Tee live on tour in April and May - kicking off with a show at London’s Servant Jazz Quarters on 22 Apr. She will also be appearing at the festival she co-founded, NightGarden, near Manchester on 27 Jul.

🎧 Watch the video for ‘Night Creature’ here.

Nirvana ‘smiley face’ copyright dispute back in court

A long-running legal dispute over the Nirvana ‘smiley face’ logo was back in court yesterday. The former Geffen Records art director who says he created the logo - Robert Fisher - wants another chance to claim ownership of the copyright in it. It's a complicated case that reminds artists and labels about the need to be clear regarding the copyright status of logos and artwork, even when employees are involved in their creation. 

This all began as a dispute between Nirvana and fashion designer Marc Jacobs over a 2018 clothing line that included a t-shirt based on the classic design of Nirvana's merchandise, featuring a version of the smiley face. Nirvana’s company, Nirvana LLC, sued for copyright infringement. Then it transpired that Fisher was claiming he owned the rights in the logo. 

The judge hearing the case, John A Kronstadt, dismissed Fisher's copyright claim last year. As a result Nirvana LLC now wants its copyright infringement case against Marc Jacobs, which has been dragging for more than five years, to proceed. 

However, according to Law360, Fisher's legal rep told the court yesterday that his client should be able to appeal the judgement regarding his copyright claim first. To have a "fair chance to represent himself in this case, he should be able to participate in the trial as a party rather than a witness" and "the only way he can achieve that is if he's allowed to appeal now". 

Lawyers representing the Marc Jacobs company agreed. They said that allowing its legal battle with Nirvana LLC to proceed to trial without “someone who might have an ownership right” of relevance participating would be unfair, and would potentially lead to extra complications further down the line. 

This case has become complicated because there are actually three elements to it. Who created the smiley face logo? Who owns the copyright in the logo? And whether or not the smiley face on the Marc Jacobs t-shirt was sufficiently similar to the original to constitute infringement. 

Nirvana LLC actually claims that Kurt Cobain came up with the smiley face logo and then assigned the rights to his band’s company. If that could be proven, then the only remaining question to be answered relates to the similarity between the two smiley faces. 

Then there is Fisher’s claim to have created the logo. Even if that could be proven, there is still a question over copyright ownership, because he would have created the image while he was an employee of Nirvana’s label Geffen. 

Usually under US law, when an employee creates a work protected by copyright, it is considered a 'work for hire', meaning the employer would be the default owner of the copyright. 

However, Fisher argued that designing the logo was not actually part of his remit at Geffen. That basically means he designed the logo in his own time and it was therefore not a work for hire. And in the absence of a contract saying otherwise, that would make Fisher the copyright owner. 

Judge Kronstadtrejected that argument last December, concluding that, if the logo was created by Fisher, it was a work for hire, making Geffen the copyright owner. A factual dispute remains regarding whether the logo was Cobain or Fisher's work. However, either way Fisher is not the copyright owner and therefore not a party to this case. 

Fisher is appealing that specific judgement and wants the wider dispute stayed while he goes through that process. Kronstadt did not reach a conclusion on that request yesterday, but indicated he probably won't stay the case pending Fisher's appeal.

Setlist Podcast: Is Manchester's nightlife at risk?

In this week's Setlist Podcast: Chris Cooke and Andy Malt discuss the ruling in the long-running noise dispute invovling Manchester's Night & Day that allows the venue to continue running club nights but potentially puts other nearby venues at risk, plus the BPI’s legal threats against a service that uses AI to create cover versions of songs in seconds.

🎧 Click here to listen - or search for 'Setlist' wherever you normally listen

US law firm announces investigation into Live Nation prompted by investor lawsuit

A New Orleans-based law firm has announced that it has “commenced an investigation” into concert and ticketing giant Live Nation. This has been prompted by ongoing litigation pursued by Live Nation investors whose grievances relate to the allegations of anticompetitive conduct that have been made against the live entertainment business. 

Charles C Foti Jr - a partner at law firm of Kahn Swick & Foti and former Attorney General of Louisiana - is leading the investigation which, a statement says, "is focusing on whether Live Nation's officers and/or directors breached their fiduciary duties to its shareholders or otherwise violated state or federal laws". 

The statement cites a lawsuit that was filed in August 2023, led by Live Nation investor Brian Donley. That lawsuit claimed that - by not addressing allegations of anticompetitive conduct in its disclosures to investors - Live Nation’s “positive statements about the company’s business, operations and prospects were materially misleading and/or lacked a reasonable basis”.

“Defendants failed to disclose to investors that Live Nation engaged in anticompetitive conduct, including charging high fees and extended contracts with talent, and retaliated against venues”, the lawsuit claimed. That alleged conduct, it added, meant Live Nation was “reasonably likely to incur regulatory scrutiny and face fines, penalties, and reputational harm", something which, it added, investors should have been made aware of. 

Live Nation sought to have Donley's case dismissed on the basis that his lawsuit did not "plead facts” which indicated it had “omitted material information” it was required to disclose or had made statements that were false. But last month a judge rejected Live Nation's motion for dismissal. 

In reaching that decision, the judge honed in on a specific allegation in the original lawsuit, that Live Nation issued a misleading statement about the growth of ticketing revenues in 2022. The company attributed that growth to the "quality of the Ticketmaster platform and its continued popularity with clients", but did not mention the importance of Ticketmaster's dominance in the US market, in part aided by long-term exclusivity contracts with venues. 

By not providing the information regarding Ticketmaster’s “control in the market”, it was argued, Live Nation presented what a “reasonable investor” might consider “a state of affairs that differs in a material way from the one that actually exists”. Based on that, the judge concluded that the “plaintiffs have sufficiently alleged ... a material misrepresentation". 

That doesn’t necessarily mean Donley’s case will succeed, but it will proceed. 

With the market dominance of Live Nation still very much in the spotlight in the US, Kahn Swick & Foti clearly sees the opportunity for further work in this domain, hence instigating its own investigation into the live company's conduct. 

Indeed, the law firm is calling for any "long-term" Live Nation shareholders to get in touch to discuss their "legal rights" in relation to the allegations of misrepresentation.