In today's CMU Daily: Following all the criticism of the use of dynamic pricing for the sale of tickets to the Oasis reunion shows last weekend, both the UK’s Competition & Markets Authority and the European Commission have announced they are reviewing this practice to check if it is compliant with consumer rights laws 

One Liners: Sounds Like Gold, Virgin Music Group, Stone Island, Warner Chappell Music, A2IM, GoGoods, Bucks Music Group, Sony Music Publishing, Position Music, Songtools, Sonicbids, CAPIF, Gigantic, Music Venue Trust + more

Also today: A judge has issued an injunction ordering Donald Trump to not use Isaac Hayes song ‘Hold On, I'm Coming’ at his rallies; LIVE has published a report that says live music delivered a £6 billion boost to the UK economy last year; WINCON event to take place in Belgrade

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Oasis brings dynamic ticketing practices under fire from UK’s competition and advertising regulators, plus EU

The UK’s Competition And Markets Authority has announced that it is “urgently reviewing” the use of dynamic pricing in the ticketing market following the controversy around the sale of tickets for the Oasis reunion shows last weekend. The European Commission has also said it is assessing use of dynamic pricing within the EU after one MEP called for new regulation. 

That MEP was Lara Wolters from The Netherlands who expressed concern that dynamic pricing in ticketing, which is generally much more common in the US, was starting to be employed more in European markets. She told The Guardian, “The only winners in this situation are big ticketing platforms, at the expense of fans who find themselves priced out of gigs. Companies know far more about their customers than vice versa”. 

“This is not a system that seeks to maximise joy by filling the stadium with an artist’s biggest fans, but to maximise profit from music like any other product”, she added. “As a music fan, I find this soulless and I want to put a stop to it, so I’m pleased to see the UK government is looking into this, and I expect the new European Commission to follow suit so we can finally bring in new rules against unfair ticketing”. 

Event Ticketing Manager // The O2

Sales & Logistics Assistant // Snapper Music Ltd

Digital Channel Executive // Demon Music Group

The Music Works // Artistic Director

Account Director // DIABOLICAL

Project Manager // Full Time Hobby

Bars & Duty Manager // Islington Assembly Hall

Advancing & Touring Assistant // terrible*

Senior PR Manager/Publicist // Infectious PR

Paid Media Manager // Playliveartist

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ONE LINERS

Deals

• Three Norwegian record labels - Propeller Recordings, Indie Recordings, and 777 Music - have merged to form a new label group called Sounds Like Gold, headquartered in Oslo. The new label group has partnered with Universal Music’s Virgin Music Group.
• Liam Gallagher and Peggy Gou have been announced as the new faces of fashion brand Stone Island for its autumn and winter campaign. 
• Alexander Palmer has signed a joint global publishing deal with Warner Chappell Music and Cornman Music. 
• US indie label trade group A2IM has partnered with GoGoods to increase revenue for independent artists through a new digital music ownership platform. 
• Bucks Music Group has signed Nadine Shah to an exclusive worldwide music publishing deal.
• Sony Music Publishing has signed an exclusive worldwide co-publishing agreement with songwriter and producer Jeremy Stover. 
• Warner Chappell Music has signed a global publishing agreement with songwriter John Ryan. 

Appointments

• Position Music has expanded its A&R team with the addition of Josh Deane, Shannon Corsi and Josh Tangney. 

Legal

• Martin Shkreli has submitted fifteen digital copies of the Wu-Tang Clan album 'Once Upon A Time In Shaolin' to his attorneys, following a federal judge's order in an ongoing lawsuit. 
• Young Thug's defence lawyer Brian Steel has gained support from the American Board Of Criminal Lawyers in his appeal against a contempt of court conviction. 
• Prakazrel "Pras" Michel of the Fugees has been denied a new trial by a DC federal judge following his April 2023 conviction on charges including money laundering and illegal lobbying.

Streaming, Digital, Broadcast & Retail

• Spotify has announced the global expansion of its 'daylist' feature, now available to both Free and Premium users.
• SongTools has announced a partnership with Sonicbids, giving SongTools customers preferential access to Sonicbids' revamped suite of artist services. 

Live

• Cher has reportedly entered into discussions to perform in the legends slot at Glastonbury Festival in 2025. 
• Gigantic Tickets has announced a partnership with Music Venue Trust, offering donation options on all transactions made during September.

Other Industry News & Events

• Argentina's recorded music industry grew by 8.2% in 2023, according to the latest stats from national trade body CAPIF. Digital revenue accounted for 74.6% of the industry's income, with physical products generating 8.2%, public performances 16.4%, and sync and other sources 0.8%. 
• NewJeans fans have sent an official letter to Ador and parent company HYBE demanding the reappointment of Min Hee-jin as CEO of the label until November 2026.
• Epiphone has introduced the Jimi Hendrix "Love Drops" Flying V, a recreation of the Gibson guitar played by Hendrix from 1967 to 1969.
• Invasion Group has opened a new office in Nashville, expanding its presence beyond its existing locations in New York City and Boston. 

Artist News

• Britney Spears has said that a biopic about her life is not, in fact, currently in development after all. 
• Black Midi have broken up, confirms frontman Geordie Greep.
• GloRilla has received a key to the city of Memphis as part of the city's 901 Day celebrations on 1 Sep. 
• Catfish And The Bottlemen have cancelled their Australian and North American tours. 

Judge orders Trump to stop playing Isaac Hayes song amid dispute over date of BMI exclusion

A US judge has issued an injunction ordering the Donald Trump election campaign to stop using the Isaac Hayes written song ‘Hold On, I'm Coming’ at his rallies in response to legal action filed by the Hayes estate. It comes as Hayes’ son, Isaac Hayes III, disputed claims by the Trump campaign that even recent use of the song was covered by a licence from collecting society BMI. 

It seems likely that the Trump campaign weren’t planning on using the song anymore anyway. Despite initially opposing the injunction, Trump attorney Ronald Coleman didn’t seem too bothered that it had been issued, telling reporters, “the campaign has no interest in annoying or hurting anyone. And if the Hayes family feels it hurts or annoys them, that’s fine, we’re not going to force the issue”. 

The Hayes estate accuses the Trump campaign, and various other organisations that have hosted Trump speeches, of copyright infringement for playing the Sam & Dave version of ‘Hold On, I'm Coming’ at their events. Legal reps for the campaign filed a formal response to the estate’s lawsuit at the weekend, basically echoing everything that had been said in an earlier filing from co-defendant the Republican National Committee.

Live sector provides £6 billion boost to UK economy, but grassroots still in crisis

The live music sector provided a £6 billion boost to the UK economy last year according to new data from trade group LIVE, while also employing nearly 230,000 people. However, LIVE stresses that many of those operating at the grassroots of the sector are nevertheless struggling to survive and therefore the long called for VAT cut on tickets is still essential.

LIVE member the Music Venue Trust has also been calling once again for another measure to support grassroots live music: a levy on tickets for large-scale shows to fund schemes supporting venues, promoters and artists at the grassroots. 

It has pointed out how much the rush to buy tickets for the Oasis reunion shows could have helped grassroots music if such a levy scheme was in place. Instead, it said, out of all the tickets sold “a Big Fat £Zero” has been “invested in the grassroots sector”. Unlike the VAT cut, though, the levy isn’t supported by all members of LIVE.

RELEASES & TOURS

• Nice Biscuit have released their new single ‘Love That Takes You Up’. Their new album ‘SOS’ is out 4 Oct.
• Rejjie Snow has released his new single ‘Karen’. His new album ‘Peace 2 da World’ is out 25 Oct. He has also announced a headline tour, including a show at London’s Shepherds Bush Empire on 20 Nov. Tickets are available here.
• BABii has released her new single ‘Sweet Tooth’. Her new album ‘DareDeviil2000’ is out 11 Oct.
• Konyikeh has released her new single ‘Sit Down’.
• CKay has released his new single ‘EGWU EJI’. 
• Sleater-Kinney have released their new single ‘Here Today’. Their new album ‘Little Rope Deluxe’ is out 4 Oct.
• Demae has released her new single ‘Bloody Bouquets’.
• Bikôkô has released her new single ‘FORÇA’, featuring AMORE and irenegarry. Her new EP ‘A 1 IS BETTER THAN A 0’ is out 7 Oct.
• Yuneki has released her new single ‘Over Again’. Her debut EP 'Born Without Skin' is out 27 Sep.
• San Soucis has released their new single ‘Dancing On This’.
• Chilly Gonzales has released his new single ‘Open The Kimono’, featuring Bruiser Wolf. His new album ‘GONZO’ is out 13 Sep.
• Mount Eerie has released two new singles ‘Broom of Wind’ and ‘I Walk’. His new album ‘Night Palace’ is out 1 Nov.
• Cairo has released his new single ‘Godspeed’. His debut EP ‘Double Love’ is out 27 Sep.
• PAS TASTA have released their new single ‘BULLDOZER’. Their new compilation album ‘REDLINE IMPACT’ is out 16 Oct.
• MEYY has released her new single ‘12345’, featuring Moon Sujin. Her new EP ‘our wedding’ is out 21 Nov.
• Bricknasty have released their new single ‘mouthy’. Their new EP ‘XONGZ አስቀያሚ ጡብ’ is out 2 Oct.
• Bilk have announced their headline UK and EU tour, including a show at London’s Electric Ballroom on 7 Feb. 
• IBIBIO SOUND MACHINE have released their new EP ‘The Black Notes’. They have also announced new tour dates, including a show at Concorde 2 in Brighton on 14 Nov.

Op-ed: Jonathan Coote of Bray & Krais on AI and fair use

As the Suno and Udio lawsuits make their way through the courts, the fundamental issue in the cases is likely to be whether the 'fair use' defence can be successfully run for the training of AI tools on copyright works. Jonathan Coote examines the issue in more detail.

WINCON indie label event to take place in Belgrade on 23-24 Sep

Worldwide Independent Network, the independent record industry’s umbrella trade organisation, has confirmed that the 2024 edition of its conference WINCON will take place in Belgrade, Serbia, at the end of this month. The flagship event brings together WIN member participants from more than 30 territories and will be delivered in partnership with the Runda Digital Day conference, organised by Balkan indie label trade body RUNDA.