In today’s CMU Daily: The EU is currently compiling the next edition of its Piracy Watch List, with rightsholders submitting lists of their main piracy concerns. In some cases that includes grievances about internet services companies like Cloudflare. But that’s not what the Watch List should be about, insists Cloudflare

Also today: PRS has responded to the claim by PACE Rights Management that it recently implied that smaller venues, and the managers of artists that play them, are “inefficient” and “unprofessional”. The claim - based on something PRS said in recent a filing as part of an ongoing legal battle - is “false”, the collecting society insists; the UK government has reaffirmed its commitment to the Creator Remuneration Working Group which is trying to address issues that have been raised about how music creators share in streaming income. The MU says that for that process to succeed, the majors now need to “step up and make some offers”

Plus: Horizon Future Leaders interview with Ollie Rankine

Cloudflare says EU piracy list should focus on “truly bad actors”, not companies like Cloudflare

Internet services company Cloudflare has urged the European Commission to ensure that the Piracy Watch List it is currently compiling focuses on “truly bad actors” and doesn’t also list law abiding businesses based on the griping of copyright owners who want those businesses to go beyond their legal obligations in policing online piracy. Law abiding businesses like, say, Cloudflare. 

“We want to reiterate our concern that many stakeholders have again approached the Watch List as an opportunity to advocate for policy changes”, Cloudflare says in a submission to the Commission. 

Which is to say, rather than just listing piracy sites, copyright owners - including the music industry - are using the Watch List consultation process to complain about companies like Cloudflare which, they believe, should be obliged to go further in combating piracy.

The Watch List, Cloudflare adds, should be seen as “a means to identify entities that are truly bad actors”. If the Watch List report also sets out the grievances of copyright owners regarding companies like Cloudflare, that “has the potential to inappropriately suggest that the Commission endorses” those opinions, “a view that could influence ongoing legal discussions and policy debates”. 

Cloudflare is right that the primary aim of the Watch List is to identify websites that exist primarily to facilitate piracy, to encourage national governments to take action against those sites, and to ensure other companies don’t do business with them. 

However, copyright owners have always sought to pressure legitimate companies that provide products and services to the pirates...

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Assistant Bars and Duty Manager | Islington Assembly Hall

Regional General Manager | AEG Presents

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PRS says claim it dubbed venues and managers “inefficient” and “unprofessional” is “utterly untrue” 

PRS has said that a statement published this week by the songwriters suing the UK collecting society over the way it licenses live shows was “false” and “unfortunately aimed at being deliberately divisive”. 

It mainly takes aim at the rights agency involved in that litigation, PACE Rights Management, rather than their songwriter clients, which include Robert Fripp and Jim and William Reid from The Jesus And Mary Chain. 

Among other things, their lawsuit criticises the PRS Major Live Concerts Service, which offers an enhanced service to artists performing at venues with a capacity in excess of 5000. PACE and the songwriters argue that PRS shouldn’t be offering a preferential service for superstars. 

In a recent legal filing, PRS justified the MLCS by stating that shows at bigger venues “tend to be administered efficiently by professional rightholders, managers and venues with whom PRS has strong working relationships”. 

PACE and the songwriters argued that, in that statement, PRS implied that smaller venues, and the managers of artists that play them, are “inefficient” and “unprofessional”. However, PRS insists that, to imply it “made any reference to smaller venues and managers being inefficient” is “utterly untrue”. 

“This false narrative has clearly been constructed with the purpose of creating division within the industry..."

MU calls on major labels to “step up” in creator remuneration negotiations 

The General Secretary of the Musicians’ Union, Naomi Pohl, has called on the major labels to “step up and make some offers” to address the issues that have been raised around creator remuneration in streaming. 

She was commenting on the UK government’s response last week to the ‘Creator Remuneration’ report which was published earlier this year by Parliament’s culture select committee. 

In that response, the current Labour government reaffirmed its commitment to the Creator Remuneration Working Group that was set up by the last Conservative government, and which brings together stakeholders from across the music industry to discuss how streaming money is shared out between platforms, record labels, music publishers and music creators. 

The MU is part of that working group and, says Pohl, will continue to work with it to try to address the issues that have been raised by artists, musicians, songwriters and studio producers regarding how they share in streaming income. 

However, she adds, “Musicians and music creators have been waiting far too long for a fair deal on music streaming”. Ever since streaming became the main way people consume recorded music, she says, the MU and other music creator organisations “have been arguing that there should be guaranteed royalty streams for all performers and that contracts should be upgraded to fair and modern terms”...

🌅 Horizon Future Leaders - Ollie Rankine Q&A

As part of our new Horizon Future Leaders series, we’re connecting with the music industry’s next generation of leaders to gather candid advice and insights into their career journeys. 

This week, we caught up with Ollie Rankine, Account Manager at Name PR.

From starting as a freelance journalist to becoming an Account Manager at Name PR, Ollie offers a detailed look at his career path in the music industry. He shares how his early experiences, from interning at Measure PR to co-founding the Plans For Nigel gig series, shaped his understanding of the business. 

Ollie also provides advice on building a network, adapting to the evolving digital landscape and staying ahead of industry trends, emphasising the importance of diversifying skills and perseverance in a competitive field.