In today's CMU Daily: Both Kanye West and Snoop Dogg are facing new lawsuits over uncleared samples and beats. West is accused of using a sample on two ‘Donda’ tracks after a licence request was rejected. Snoop’s accuser says he did provide the rapper with two instrumentals, but only for use in the studio 

One Liners: JCB x Joe Walsh, Warner Music goes big in Brazil, Finger Eleven x Better noise, Cooking Vinyl teams up with V2 to sign Razorlight, Mae Estes x Kobalt, ORCA think tank, European Commission v Elon Musk’s X, festival streaming deals, yet another Young Thug judge recusal, Westlife’s Tencent Music Kugou AIK deal, Chief Keef medical emergency, why Donald Glover is ditching Childish Gambino moniker, Damon Albarn given honorary doctorate by Essex University, Fantasy Orchestra plays Union Chapel plus releases from Overmono, Palms Trax, Lava La Rue and more

Also today: Yesterday the new UK government set out its legislative agenda via the King’s Speech. The music industry has responded, welcoming commitments on EU, devolution, skills and AI. Ministers have also been urged to liaise with industry on planning reform and Martyn’s Law; EU court upholds decisions by European Commission that TikTok is a gatekeeper and needs extra regulation

Plus: Dutch Mustard is CMU Approved

Kanye West and Snoop Dogg sued over uncleared samples and beats

Kanye West and Snoop Dogg have both been sued, separately, over the use of uncleared samples and beats. West is accused of using the same sample on two tracks on his 2021 album ‘Donda’, despite being explicitly denied permission from the owners of the sampled track. Snoop has been sued over two tracks on his 2022 album ‘BODR’ which used beats that had been provided for studio use but were not cleared for commercial release. 

West’s team allegedly sought permission to sample a song called ‘MSD PT2’ on ‘Donda’ tracks ‘Hurricane’ and ‘Moon, but that permission was denied. Having failed to get a licence - says Artist Revenue Advocates, which controls the earlier track - West “decided to steal it”. 

“This lawsuit is about more than defendants’ failure to pay a fee”, ARA’s legal filing states. “It is about the rights of artists, musicians and songwriters to determine how their works are published and used. Intellectual property owners have a right to decide how their property is exploited and need to be able to prevent shameless infringers from simply stealing”.

The four creators of ‘MSD PT2’ - Khalil Abdul-Rahman, Sam Barsh, Dan Seeff and Josh Mease - are among the 24 co-writers credited on ‘Hurricane’, though only Abdul-Rahman gets a credit on ‘Moon’. According to the database of US collecting society the MLC, Abdul-Rahman also seems to have a small share of the ‘Hurricane’ and ‘Moon’ copyrights, though it’s not clear whether the other three creators of ‘MSD PT2’ have been allocated anything. 

The fact the ‘MSD PT2’ creators are credited, despite them declining to grant West permission to use their track, is “blatant brazenness”, the lawsuit goes on. Because, after all, even if they are credited, and even if they have been granted a share of the ‘Hurricane’ and ‘Moon’ copyrights, their explicit permission was still required before the sample was used. 

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Sentric Music // Revenue Optimisation Manager (London/Liverpool)

Sentric Music // Copyright Manager (Liverpool/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

DEALS

Construction and agricultural equipment behemoth JCB has struck what has to be one of the most left-field brand partnerships in recent years, cosying up to Eagles guitarist Joe Walsh to raise money for US military veterans charity VetsAid. 

Warner Music Brazil and the major’s services business ADA have invested in Sua Música, Brazil's largest music platform and digital distributor, to expand the reach of Brazilian regional music globally. 

Finger Eleven has signed with independent label Better Noise Music and announced a new album due in 2025, with the first single ‘Adrenaline’ releasing on 2 Aug. 

Cooking Vinyl and V2 Records have partnered to sign Razorlight, with Cooking Vinyl releasing the band’s fifth studio album in the UK and V2 handling the rest of the world.

Mae Estes has renewed her worldwide publishing deal with Kobalt, which was originally signed in 2020. 

Independent publisher Livelihood Music Co has added songwriters Jacob ‘JKash’ Kasher Hindlin and Michael Pollack as principals and owners, while appointing Wendy Christiansen as President.

K-pop label JYP Entertainment is launching a Latin music division, with plans to develop artists for the Spanish-language market. 

Jason Newsted, former Metallica bassist, has partnered with online instrument marketplace Reverb to sell over 60 guitars and basses from his personal collection. 

APPOINTMENTS 

Discogs has unveiled the inaugural members of its new Community Advisory Turntable, comprising active users representing record collectors, independent sellers and music archivists. 

Warner Chappell Music has appointed Tat Tong as Vice President of A&R And Creative for Asia Pacific, based in Shanghai. 

Universal Music’s Virgin Music Group has appointed Justin Bumper Reeve as Senior Vice President of Global Sync. 

Distiller Music Group has appointed Ian Carew as Managing Director of Distiller Records as well as promoting Lois Burdett Proctor to Campaign Manager, appointing Nick Gartland as Rights Management Executive and Khobiyb Elsamani as an A&R Scout.

The British Association For Performing Arts Medicine, or BAPAM, has appointed PET NEEDS lead singer Johnny Marriott and actor and musician Sheila Atim as patrons. 

LABELS

A number of indie labels have come together to launch creatively named talking-shop Organization for Recorded Culture and Arts - or ‘ORCA’ -which the group describes as a “ground-breaking think tank”.

The Warehouse Project has launched WHP Records in partnership with David Dollimore’s Disorder Records. 

DIGITAL

Japan’s Fuji Rock Festival 24 will be livestreamed for free on Prime Video and Amazon Music’s Twitch channels from 26 to 28 Jul. 

The European Commission has released preliminary findings claiming that X’s blue checkmark system deceives users and violates the Digital Services Act. 

YouTube has announced a partnership with Tomorrowland to livestream the electronic music festival’s 20th anniversary edition. 

LEGAL

The judge newly assigned to Young Thug’s ongoing racketeering trial has already recused herself from the case, because her former courthouse deputy had a romantic relationship with one of the other defendants. 

INDUSTRY

Yesterday’s fiercely-fought Miloco Music Industry five-a-side tournament saw twenty teams from a range of music companies go head-to-head in frenetic ten minute bouts of mini-footballing glory at Shepherd’s Bush Powerleague.

ARTIST NEWS

Westlife has released a Mandarin version of Chinese singer Jason Zhang’s ‘Love + Courage’ using AI technology created by Tencent Music Entertainment. 

Chief Keef has postponed his seventeen date North American ‘A Lil Tour’ due to a medical emergency. 

Donald Glover has announced that ‘Bando Stone & The New World’, releasing 19 Jul, will be the final album under his Childish Gambino moniker. 

Damon Albarn has received an honorary DLitt from the University Of Exeter, recognising his musical innovation and environmental advocacy. 

GIGS & TOURS

The Fantasy Orchestra, a community ensemble of over 80 musicians from the UK and Paris, is set to perform a “vibrant Tropicalia-inspired” concert at Islington's Union Chapel on 20th July. 

RELEASES

Overmono have released their new single ‘Gem Lingo (ovr now)’, featuring Ruthven.

Palms Trax has collaborated with Myd on new single ‘One Thousand Waves’.

Lava La Rue has released her new single ‘Better’, featuring Cuco. Her new album ‘STARFACE’ is out tomorrow.

Lamb of God have released their new remixed single ‘Laid to Rest (HEALTH Remix)’.

Shelf Lives have released their new single ‘Where Did I Go?’. Their new EP ‘No Idea’ is out 23 Oct.

Bronski Beat have released their new official remix by Planningtorock,‘Smalltown Boy (Planningtorock’s ‘The Love That You Need’ Rework)’.

NOUN have released their debut single ‘WANTED’.

Eli & Fur have released their new single ‘Missing You’. Their new album ‘Dreamscapes’ is out 27 Sep.

jasmine.4.t has released her new single ‘Skin on Skin’.

‘Bones UK’ have released their new single ‘Fix’. Their new album ‘SOFT’ is out 13 Sep.

Primal Scream have released their new single ‘Love Insurrection’. Their new album ‘Come Ahead’ is out 8 Nov.

Natty has released his new single ‘Fiyahman’.

Rex Orange County has released two new singles ‘Guitar Songs’ and ‘Alexander’. His new album ‘The Alexander Technique’ is out 6 Sep.

Music industry responds to King’s Speech 

Music industry organisations have welcomed yesterday’s King's Speech, which set out the new UK government’s legislative agenda. There are a number of specific legislative reforms of relevance to the music industry, where music companies will want to influence the debate, as well as other commitments that have been welcomed by the music community.

For touring artists and the live sector more widely, a key concern in recent years has been the extra bureaucracy that was introduced by Brexit. Yesterday’s speech confirmed that the new government will “seek to reset the relationship with European partners and work to improve the United Kingdom’s trade and investment relationship with the European Union”.

That commitment was noted by John Collins, CEO of LIVE, which represents the live music industry. Saying that he looks “forward to working collaboratively with Labour in government to unleash the potential of our sector”, he added, “The government’s plans to reset relations with the EU can enable UK artists to tour more easily and we urge quick action on this”. 

Collins also welcomed plans to devolve more power in England down to mayors and local authorities, which he called a “positive step”. In the King's Speech, the government said it “believes that greater devolution of decision making is at the heart of a modern dynamic economy and is a key driver of economic growth”. LIVE presumably hopes that the mayors and authorities getting more power will better understand the challenges facing local music scenes. 

The government has also committed to pass the already in development Terrorism (Protection Of Premises) Bill - commonly known as ‘Martyn’s Law’- which was developed in response to the 2017 terrorist attack on the Manchester Arena and will put in place new rules around venue safety and security. 

🎧 Approved: Dutch Mustard

Dutch Mustard - the moniker of Sarah-Jayne Riedel - marries a blend of ethereal dream-pop and 90s alt-rock with timeless shoegaze touches. While echoes of Slowdive and My Bloody Valentine are present, Riedel has established her own distinct sonic identity.

Latest release ‘Loser’ is a testament to her tenacity, as she boldly dropped the demo into the DMs of big-name producers she admired to make this track a reality. 

‘Loser’ is now co-written and co-produced with indie icon Bill Ryder-Jones, with mix notes from TV On The Radio’s Dave Sitek and arrangement input from William Doyle. The result is a compelling blend of poignant guitar riffs and heartfelt vocals, narrating a story of vulnerability and resilience.

🎧 Watch the video for ‘Loser’ here

TikTok owner is a gatekeeper subject to extra regulation, EU court rules

TikTok owner Bytedance has failed to get itself removed from the list of ‘gatekeeper’ platforms that are subject to extra regulation in the European Union under the Digital Markets Act. An EU court has rejected arguments put forward by Bytedance that it isn’t big or dominant enough to be regulated in the same way as companies like Apple and Google owner Alphabet. 

Unsurprisingly, Bytedance says it is “disappointed with this decision”. TikTok, it reckons, “is a challenger platform that provides important competition to incumbent players”. Bytedance will now review its options and could as yet appeal this ruling, although, it adds, “we already took measures to comply with the relevant obligations of the DMA ahead of last March’s deadline”. 

The EU passed two major pieces of regulation in the digital market in 2022, the Digital Services Act which sets out how digital platforms should deal with harmful content, and the DMA that seeks to stop the biggest players from exploiting their market dominance. 

The European Commission last year identified the gatekeeper platforms that would be subject to extra regulation under the DMA, they being the platforms which the EC believes “provide an important gateway between businesses and consumers in relation to core platform services”.