In today's CMU Daily: The US Department Of Justice is reportedly planning to launch an antitrust lawsuit against Live Nation to scrutinise its dominance in the US live music market and whether it is exploiting that in a way that breaches competition law

One Liners: Warner Chappell, Josh Hoge deals; Hipgnosis, Secretly Distribution appointments; Anthropic CEO on fair use; Universal’s ongoing TikTok battle; Chaka Khan’s Meltdown line-up expands; Ludivco Einaudi, Public Service Broadcasting shows; new music from Jamie xx, TEMS, Pillow Queens, Group Listening

Also today: BPI publishes 2023 UK record industry stats; Astroworld judge considers Travis Scott’s dismissal request; Swedish bank goes legal over Endeavor Group's plan to delist from NYSE; Apple disputes Epic’s claim that it is not in compliance with App Store injunction

Plus: Thursday are CMU Approved

Live Nation could be facing antitrust lawsuit from US government as soon as next month

The US Department Of Justice could file an antitrust lawsuit against Live Nation as soon as next month, according to sources who have spoken to the Wall Street Journal.

That lawsuit will accuse Live Nation of exploiting its dominance in live events and ticketing in the US in an anticompetitive way, meaning it is in breach of competition law, or antitrust law to use the American term. According to Bloomberg's sources, the aim of that lawsuit - which might also involve several state-level attorneys general - could be to force Live Nation to entirely spin off its Ticketmaster ticketing business.

The dominance of Live Nation in live entertainment - as a concert promoter, artist manager, venue operator and ticket agent - has been very much in the political spotlight in the US over the last eighteen months. This new round of political scrutiny was prompted by the Ticketmaster-managed pre-sale for Taylor Swift's US tour which went specularly wrong in November 2022. Multiple politicians responded to the public outrage that followed the Swift ticketing meltdown by proposing new regulations of the ticketing sector.

It then emerged that the DoJ was already investigating Live Nation even before the Swift ticketing debacle. The live giant has a consent decree agreement with the government department that stems from the 2010 merger of Live Nation and Ticketmaster.

It regulates to an extent how the different divisions of Live Nation interact. That agreement was originally meant to expire after ten years, but following another DoJ investigation, which came amid allegations Live Nation had breached its consent decree, the whole thing was revised and then extended to the end of 2025.

The outcome of any new legal action from the DoJ could be another settlement that extends and possibly further expands the reach of the consent decree. Although the government department could seek tougher sanctions, including fines, or even push for the most dramatic conclusion, that being Live Nation and Ticketmaster being split up.

In October 2022 - a month before the Swift ticketing issues - the American Economic Liberties Project launched a new campaign specifically calling on the DoJ to reverse the 2010 Live Nation / Ticketmaster merger. Among those backing that campaign were music industry groups the Artist Rights Alliance and the Future Of Music Coalition.

Live Nation continues to deny any wrongdoing and insists it has always complied with the terms of its consent decree. In response to the recent political scrutiny, it has supported some of the proposals for further regulation of ticketing, mainly in relation to secondary ticketing and how ticket prices are displayed across the board. But some see that as part of a plan to distract the politicians from any proposals more directly related to Live Nation’s market dominance.

Meanwhile, last month the company's EVP Corporate And Regulatory Affairs Dan Wall wrote a blog post explaining why high ticket prices for the most in demand shows were not really the fault of ticketing companies like Ticketmaster.

The live giant is yet to respond to the news of the impending DoJ action, although its share price dropped about 6% following the Wall Street Journal's report.

Kilimanjaro Live // Promoter Assistant (London)

FKP Scorpio Entertainment // Head of Marketing (London)

FKP Scorpio Entertainment // Ticketing Manager (London)

FKP Scorpio Entertainment // Social Media Manager (London)

foundation.fm // Account Manager (London)

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

Taylor Swift, TikTok, Chaka Khan’s Meltdown + more

DEALS

Warner Chappell and ICE have expanded their partnership, with the music publisher set to move all of its online royalty processing in Europe to the licensing hub, which works with publishers and collecting societies on both negotiating and managing deals with digital platforms. “In today’s digital music market, there are vast volumes of data to process, and we need to work with a reliable partner to ensure we’re delivering best-in-class service”, says Warner Chappell CEO Guy Moot. “ICE has always proved to be an innovative and flexible partner, so we’re delighted to expand our relationship with them”.

Warner Chapell has also agreed a publishing deal with gaming company Electronic Arts. “Warner Chappell Music is more than just a giant of music publishing; they’re a visionary group of global professionals who understand that video games will play a vital role in the future of music itself”, says EA’s President Of Music Steve Schnur. “The administration of our music catalogue is now in the best hands possible, and we look forward to the opportunities that this partnership will create for our game soundtracks, and beyond”.

Sony Music Publishing Nashville and Verse 2 Music have renewed their joint publishing agreement with country musician Josh Hoge. “Josh is a creator who is always carving his own lane”, says SMP Nashville CEO Rusty Gaston. “He’s passionate, enthusiastic and delivers great songs again and again. We couldn’t be happier to continue this successful relationship”.

APPOINTMENTS

The board of Hipgnosis Songs Fund - that being the Hipgnosis entity that is listed on the London Stock Exchange - has appointed Cindy Rampersaud as Senior Independent Director. She has been Non-Executive Director since August 2023 and will remain Chair of the Audit And Risk Committee.

Secretly Distribution has appointed Rich Thane as Associate Director Of Artist & Label Strategy. He joins from Warner Music and is also the founder of music website The Line Of Best Fit. “I’ve been a huge fan and supporter of Secretly Group and their respective labels for many, many years”, he says. “So to be able to join them at such an exciting time of growth is a dream to me”.

DIGITAL

Dario Amodei - CEO of AI company Anthropic, which is currently being sued for copyright infringement by Concord, Universal and ABKCO - has said that he believes that the courts will agree that training AI on copyright protected material is fair use. “I think everyone agrees the models shouldn’t be verbatim outputting copyrighted content”, he tells the New York Times. “For things that are available on the web, for publicly available, our position - and I think there’s a strong case for it - is that the training process, again, we don’t think it’s just hoovering up content and spitting it out, or it shouldn’t be spitting it out. It’s really much more like the process of how a human learns from experiences. And so, our position is that that is sufficiently transformative, and I think the law will back this up, that this is fair use”.

When Taylor Swift’s music reappeared on TikTok last week, it came as something of a surprise, given that her label Universal Music is currently boycotting the video-sharing platform. However, according to the Wall Street Journal, she was made aware of the boycott before it was announced and made it clear all along that she would not be part of it. “Universal asked Swift’s camp to reconsider”, writes the newspaper. “Over more than a week of discussions, the label reiterated its position, laying out why it was holding firm on its stance, why it felt it was important for the industry and what is at stake. Swift’s camp didn’t budge. Neither did Universal. The star didn’t need permission to return to TikTok. Acts of her stature have more flexible deals, and Swift’s agreement with Universal allowed her to strike a direct agreement with TikTok”.

Taylor Swift aside, Universal is holding fast to its anti-TikTok stance and is now reportedly considering legal action that would accuse the video-sharing platform of failing to properly comply with copyright takedown notices. According to Digital Music News, the label has filed “tens of thousands” of takedowns over videos on TikTok containing its music since January, and believes that the app is failing to remove the accounts of repeat offenders.

GIGS & FESTIVALS

A raft of new names have been announced for Chaka Khan’s Meltdown festival at the Southbank Centre in London in June. New performers include Emeli Sandé, Bruce Hornsby and War. There will also be a free programme of events over the festival’s first weekend, starting 14 Jun, with events hosted by Habibti Nation, London Queer Sound System Day, Queer Cuntry and more.

Ludovico Einaudi has announced that he will play two nights at the London Palladium on 11-12 Nov, ahead of a new album release in January 2025. Tickets go on sale on Thursday.

Public Service Broadcasting have announced UK and Ireland tour dates in October this year, including a show at the Roundhouse in London on 29 Oct. Tickets go on sale on Friday.

RELEASES

Jamie xx has released new track ‘Baddy On The Floor’ featuring Honey Dijon.

TEMS has announced that she will release her debut album ‘Born In The Wild’ in May. Watch a trailer here.

Pillow Queens have released new single ‘Heavy Pour’. Their new album ‘Name Your Sorrow’ is out on 29 Apr.

Group Listening have released new single ‘Shopping Building’. Their new album ‘Walks’ is out on 10 May. They will also be touring the UK in May and June.

UK recorded music grows for ninth year running to £1.43 billion

The BPI has published its annual ‘All About The Music’ report on the British record industry's performance in the previous calendar year. The topline stat is that revenues grew by 8.1% in 2023 to £1.43 billion. That’s the ninth consecutive year of growth.

According to the record industry trade group’s stats pack, more than half of that (58%) came from subscription streaming, sync and public performance combined contributed 13.6%, vinyl sales 9.9%, ad-funded audio and video streams 9.5%, and CDs 6.8%.

Physical media actually saw stronger percentage growth than streaming last year, with CDs, vinyl and other formats all up individually, and collectively up 12.8% on 2022 - vinyl seeing the biggest jump, up 18.6% year-on-year. Streaming overall saw revenues rise by 8.4%, with ad-funded streaming growing fastest at 12.4%. In terms of actual revenues, physical brought in £243.4 million, while streaming generated £962.1 million.

In terms of what people were listening to, Miley Cyrus came out top with her song ‘Flowers’, which enjoyed ten consecutive weeks at number one in the UK singles chart. This run helped female artists to score a record tally of weeks at the top of the UK top 40 - 31 out of 52 weeks. Women appear in seven slots in the top ten for the full year, including Raye, Taylor Swift, Ellie Goulding and SZA.

The top ten singles for the year lean heavily towards new music, with the oldest track on the list Harry Styles’ ‘As It Were’ from 2021. However, the top ten most popular albums of 2023 skews far more to catalogue. Only one release from 2023 makes the list - that being Taylor Swift’s ‘Taylor’s Version’ rework of her 2014 album ‘1989’. Number one is The Weeknd’s 2021 greatest hits compilation ‘The Highlights’, and other best of compilations from Elton John, Fleetwood Mac, Eminem and Abba also make the list.

While the most popular singles and albums on streaming services in 2023 are much the same, things do look different for CD and vinyl sales specifically, where there is more new music to be found. Take That’s ‘This Life’ was the most popular album on CD - despite only coming out in November. The rest of the CD top ten features 2023 releases exclusively, with albums by Taylor Swift, The Rolling Stones, Lewis Capaldi, Ed Sheeran, Pink, Foo Fighters, Metallica, plus the year’s two ‘Now That’s What I Call Music’ compilations.

Vinyl skews slightly more to older releases, but only just. Seven of the top ten releases there came out in 2023 - two of them the ‘Taylor’s Version’ re-records of ‘1989’ and ‘Speak Now’. Swift’s 2022 album ‘Midnights’ also makes the top ten, while two much older releases - Pink Floyd’s ‘Dark Side Of The Moon’ and Fleetwood Mac’s ‘Rumours’ - drag down the average age of albums in the top ten.

As ever, there is also information on the different ways music is consumed, and this year the report also includes details on people’s engagement with AI-generated music.

A fifth of people surveyed by the organisation said that they had heard music created by AI. Younger people were far more likely to answer affirmatively to this question - 45% of sixteen to 24 year olds. However, a collection of responses on people’s feelings about AI music shows that most value human creativity more highly.

That said, when asked more generally about AI, more than 60% of people said that they didn’t fully understand what it is, had no idea what it is, or just didn’t understand the question. This suggests that, when it comes to it, people may not actually realise that what they are engaging with is computer generated.

The BPI’s key focus in its own top level summary of ‘All About The Music’ this year is on the success of independent music, with indie releases making up 29.2% of ‘album equivalent sales’. This included releases by artists such as Raye - whose ‘Escapism’ album was the tenth most popular indie release of 2023 - and Arctic Monkeys, whose 2013 album ‘AM’ comes out top.

“The UK music industry has always had a healthy and vibrant independent sector made up of an eclectic mix of many hundreds of labels supporting an extraordinary range of British talent”, says BPI CEO Jo Twist. “Their success is underlined by a sixth consecutive year of growth, reflecting both the popularity of their artists on streaming platforms and demand for their releases on vinyl and CD, where they continue to find success with music fans across demographics”.

“The growing success of the UK’s independent sector is just one of many stories in the BPI’s essential ‘All About The Music 2024’”, she goes on. “At a time when the ways we can enjoy music continue to evolve, our yearbook unpicks and analyses this ever-complex ecosystem. It shows an energetic and hugely successful UK recorded music sector, driven by our incredible artists and the record labels that support them”.

This line of back-slapping may also have something to do with the upcoming first meeting of the Creator Remuneration Working group that has been convened by the UK government.

That will put the spotlight on grievances expressed by artists and songwriters regarding how digital income is shared out across the industry, with many arguing that the current streaming business model is too stacked in the favour of the major record companies. In the context of that conversation, the majors will be understandably keen for everyone to know about the success of independent artists and labels.

Approved: Thursday

Post-hardcore legends - and inspiration for an entire generation of sensitive youth - Thursday are back with their first new song in thirteen years.

'Application For Release From The Dream' is their first new material since the 2011 album 'No Devolución' and manages to scratch an itch I'd almost forgotten I had. Thursday have a revered back catalogue and have been successfully touring again in recent years with the addition of Norman Brannon (Texas Is the Reason) on guitar, but new material seemed highly unlikely despite their clearly energised revival. And yet, here we are, with brand new Thursday in 2024.

'Application' manages to pull off that rarest of feats by sounding like classic Thursday - to the point where on first listen it almost sounds familiar - whilst remaining singular in their catalogue. It's the Thursday that has lain dormant in my brain for all these years, a wormhole back to my blossoming interest in hardcore and all things adjacent as a teenager, and a beacon for what is still possible in a scene that has changed and evolved so much over the last 20 years.

A triumphant return. And if you want in on the live experience, Thursday are playing Outbreak Festival in Manchester on 30 Jun, as well as The Garage in London on 2 Jul.

You can also read more from Brannon in his hardcore zine Anti-Matter - itself a revival of a project many of us missed the first time round, and an insight into hardcore that just isn't available anywhere else.

🎧 Listen to 'Application For Release From The Dream' here

Astroworld lawyers argue “this event was Travis Scott’s festival” as judge considers musician’s motion for dismissal

Lawyers were in court in Houston yesterday arguing over whether or not Travis Scott should be cut free from the ongoing Astroworld litigation. Noah Wexler, an attorney representing victims of the crowd surge tragedy that occurred at Astroworld 2021, insisted that “this event was Travis Scott’s festival and it was crafted through his tour agreement with Live Nation”. That agreement, he added, gave Scott a large degree of control over the festival he had founded.

When exercising that control, decisions made by Scott and his team contributed to the crowd management issues, Wexler then argued, according to Law360. Scott, he said, “demanded that he have his own custom stage, that he be the only performer that played on that stage for the entirety of Friday evening, and that he be the only performer while he was giving his headline performance”. The crowd surge occurred during Scott’s headline set on that main stage.

The musician's representatives reasserted arguments made in his earlier motion for dismissal, in which he requests to be removed as a defendant in all of the Astroworld lawsuits. Basically, performers are not responsible for crowd management and event security. “There’s no evidence of extreme or outrageous conduct on the part of my client”, Scott’s attorney Steve Brody added.

Elsewhere it was argued that, while Scott's demands to have his own stage did create some crowd management issues, they were identified before the event and changes were made to the site set up to deal with those challenges. Meanwhile, on the night, Scott stopped his performance four times when he saw issues in the crowd, but he was simply not aware of the crowd surge and ended his set when instructed to do so.

Ten people died and hundreds more were injured during the crowd surge at Astroworld 2021. Hundreds of lawsuits were filed, with the first due to get to trial next month. Scott and his primary business partner in the festival, Live Nation, are the core defendants, although many other people and companies connected to the event are also listed as defendants on at least some of the lawsuits.

Most of those people and companies, like Scott himself, have been trying to get themselves removed from the legal action. That includes Drake, who guested during Scott's Astroworld set, and Sony Music’s Epic Records, which releases Scott’s recordings. Last week, judge Kristen Hawkins agreed to remove both Drake and Epic from the litigation. However, she denied a motion for dismissal filed by two of Scott’s own companies, LaFlame and Cactus Jack.

Hawkins also last week denied a motion for dismissal from Apple, which livestreamed the festival. However, the tech giant is still trying to get itself removed via a separate motion making different arguments, and therefore also had a lawyer at yesterday's court hearing.

According to the Houston Chronicle, that attorney, David Singh insisted that, “A livestreamer at an event has no affirmative duty to ensure an event is safe or to rescue concert-goers from harm”. Countering claims that Apple’s team had placed some of its cameras around the stage area without permission, Singh stated that the placing of his client’s recording equipment was approved in advance by the festival’s organisers.

Judge Hawkins didn't reach any decisions yesterday, but should rule on the remaining motions for dismissal pretty quickly.

Endeavor shareholder goes legal over proposed $13 billion deal to take the business private

Swedish bank Handelsbanken Fonder has filed legal action in the US seeking to block a $13 billion deal that would take Endeavor Group Holdings - the owner of talent agency WME which is currently listed on the New York Stock Exchange - back into private ownership.

The deal, announced earlier this month, is being led by private equity firm Silver Lake Capital, which already has a 71% voting stake in the business. Under the arrangement Silver Lake will acquire the rest of the company's stock at $27.50 per share, although with a few exceptions. Some specific shareholders, including Endeavor co-founder Ari Emanuel, have the option to rollover their equity interests into the new privately owned entity.

It’s that preferential treatment of some shareholders that Handelsbanken Fonder objects to. Dubbing the deal a ‘squeeze out merger’, the bank says that Endeavor Group Holdings is violating an ‘equal treatment provision’ in its own charter, which was agreed by shareholders back in 2021.

“In violation of the equal treatment provision”, says the bank’s lawsuit, “Class A stockholders are being treated differently based on their identity. On one hand, preferred insiders have the ability to roll their equity into the post-squeeze out company. On the other hand, unfairly low consideration of $27.50 per share is being foisted on the company's public Class A stockholders”.

“Simply put”, it goes on, “the squeeze out does not respect the public Class A stockholders’ charter-enshrined right to ‘have the right to receive, or the right to elect to receive, the same form of consideration’ as the consideration received by the preferred, insider Class A stockholders. Moreover, there was no vote or waiver pursuant to this provision permitting the disparate treatment the squeeze out contemplates. Thus, the squeeze out plainly violates the charter”.

Endeavor is yet to respond to the lawsuit.

Setlist Podcast: MPs want to see action on musicians’ income

In this week's Setlist Podcast: Chris Cooke and Andy Malt discuss the warning from UK politicians that there need to be “tangible steps to improve musicians’ remuneration and performer rights” by this time next year, and Blur drummer Dave Rowntree’s class action lawsuit against PRS For Music over songwriter royalties, and more.

🎧 Click here to listen - or search for 'Setlist Podcast'

Op-ed: Forget AI vocal clones - the real impact of AI in music is personalised discovery

AI is going to hyper-accelerate the shift to personalised discovery of music, by making the existing discovery algorithms of the various platforms much more sophisticated and much more customised to the tastes of individual listeners say Duetti CEO and co-founder Lior Tibon.

At Duetti, our focus on developing sophisticated predictive technology and pricing models means that we are closely monitoring these underlying trends. Coupled with our innovative data-driven track management and marketing tactics, this enables us to purchase older catalogues of tracks from artists of all sizes - knowing that we can help these tracks perform in that new model of discovery. This in turn expands the financing options which are available to artists.

Apple says it is compliant with App Store injunction, judge should reject Epic's latest objections

Apple has insisted that it is now compliant with an injunction issued as part of its legal battle with Fornite maker Epic Games in the US. That injunction ordered the tech giant to make some changes to its App Store rules so that app developers can sign-post alternative payment options outside an app. Those changes have been made, but not in a way that pleases Epic.

The gaming company says Apple's changes reflect “neither the letter nor the spirit” of the court's order. However, says Apple in a new legal filing, Epic just wants the court “to micromanage Apple’s business operations in a way that would increase Epic’s profitability”. Meanwhile, Epic's motion that asks the court to “enforce the injunction” is the Fornite company's “latest attempt to gain access to Apple's iOS platform and user-base for free”.

Epic sued Apple over its App Store rules relating to in-app payments, which it claimed breach competition law. Most of its arguments failed in court, but the judge did conclude that the specific rule regarding sign-posting other payment options violated California law. Many app developers are obliged to use Apple's commission-charging transactions system for in-app payments, which is why directing users to options outside the app is attractive. The judge issued an injunction stating that Apple must allow that to happen.

“Apple takes this court’s orders, including the permanent injunction, very seriously”, the new court filing states. “Well before the injunction went into effect, Apple invested significant resources into developing a new framework that would comply with the injunction while also protecting users and Apple’s investment in the App Store”. And when it was clear Apple had exhausted all routes to appeal the injunction, “Apple implemented that framework immediately”.

The change means app developers in the US can now sign-post other payment options, but on the condition that Apple can still claim a commission on any transaction that began within an iOS app. Epic argues that that means it is no better off despite the rule change. Claiming that Apple's approach was a “blatant violation” of the court’s order, Epic asked the judge to intervene.

A number of other app developers, including Spotify, have supported Epic through amicus briefs. Apple has already urged the judge to ignore those interventions, and it does that again in the new legal filing. “Epic’s amici, which are all enormous developers, similarly seek to pad their own profits without concern for consumers or the integrity of the iOS ecosystem. This court already rejected those arguments on the merits, and the limited anti-steering injunction neither addresses nor provides a vehicle to revisit that decision”.