In today's CMU Daily: YouTube’s negotiations to agree a new licensing deal with American collecting society SESAC have stalled and its existing deal is now expiring. As a result, videos featuring songs written by SESAC member writers - including Bob Dylan, Adele and Burna Boy - have been blocked on the video platform

One Liners: Jonas Group, HE.SHE.THEY. Records, Blue Lab Beats, Killphonic Rights, Stilwell Creative Capital, Graduation, Livelihood Music Company, MiDIA, Audius, Chartable, Noctil, Meta, Connyct, Spike AI, Level Music, GEMA, InMarket + more

Also today: Two Aussie festivals have been impacted by the collapse of ticketing company Lyte, with one down AUS$30,000 and another putting ongoing sales on hold; Min Hee-jin, ex-CEO at HYBE label Ador, has again said she wants her old job back, insisting that separating her management and production roles makes no sense

Music videos blocked on YouTube after SESAC licensing talks stall 

Videos containing music by the likes of Bob Dylan, Adele, REM, Green Day and Burna Boy have been blocked on YouTube within the US after licensing talks between the video platform and American collecting society SESAC seemingly stalled. 

YouTube says that its existing SESAC licence has now expired, necessitating the takedowns, though sources say that that licence actually expires this week and the takedowns are therefore premature, possibly as a negotiating tactic. 

As users started to note the blocked music videos on social media this weekend, YouTube’s support team on Twitter responded, “our music licence agreement with SESAC has expired without an agreement on renewal conditions despite our best efforts. For this reason, we have blocked content on YouTube in the US known to be associated with SESAC - as in line with copyright law”. 

A spokesperson for YouTube subsequently told reporters, “We have held good faith negotiations with SESAC to renew our existing deal. Unfortunately, despite our best efforts, we were unable to reach an equitable agreement before its expiration. We take copyright very seriously and as a result, content represented by SESAC is no longer available on YouTube in the US. We are in active conversations with SESAC and are hoping to reach a new deal as soon as possible”.

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UK Publicist // Cosa Nostra PR

The Music Works // Artistic Director

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Deals

• Jonas Group Publishing and Jonas Catalog Holdings have acquired a substantial catalogue of music rights, including publishing and recordings, from hit songwriter and artist Julia Michaels.
• HE.SHE.THEY. Records has announced a new global flagship electronic partnership with music distribution platform Too Lost, set to launch at ADE 2024.
• Blue Lab Beats has launched their own record label, Blue Adventure Records.
• Killphonic Rights has raised $3 million in working capital from Stilwell Creative Capital in exchange for a proportional equity stake.
• Vingroup has signed a memorandum of understanding with Warner Music Group and Indochina Productions to promote Vietnam as a destination for international music stars and filmmakers.
• Artist and brand development company Iconoclast has acquired the catalogue of rapper, singer and actress Eve, including her shares of hit singles such as 'Gangsta Lovin'', 'Love Is Blind' and 'Who's That Girl'.

Appointments

• Graduation has appointed Rich Castillo as its new Head Of A&R. Castillo, who will report to Graduation Founder and CEO Charlie Lycett, will oversee the creative direction of A&R strategy for the global music company.
• Livelihood Music Company has appointed songwriter Ali Tamposi as a principal. Streaming, Digital, Broadcast & Retail

Streaming, Digital, Broadcast & Retail

• MIDiA’s latest research on the music creator economy reveals that a quarter of music creators now upload directly to user-generated content platforms like TikTok without using a distributor or label.
• Audius has expanded its music marketplace feature to allow direct fan-to-artist payments for all artists globally.
• Spotify has decided to close Chartable, the podcast analytics platform it acquired in February 2022, as part of a company refocus.
• Noctil has expanded its metadata capabilities to support the DDEX RDR 1.5 standard.
• Meta has announced an overhaul of its metaverse avatars, with upgraded avatars available on Meta Horizon OS, the company's VR operating system, as well as Facebook, Instagram and Messenger from today.
• Warner Music has partnered with Connyct, a new mobile short-form video app focused on college communities, ahead of its launch.
• Spike AI has developed an artificial intelligence model that aims to bring high-quality mixing to musicians worldwide. The technology, set to launch in Q1 2025, translates the expertise of renowned mixing engineer Spike Stent into an AI plugin for digital audio workstations.
• Spotify has resolved a widespread outage that affected over 40,000 users in the United States and Canada on Sunday.
• Warner Music has announced plans to shut down its independent artist distribution service Level Music in 2025.
• German collecting society GEMA has introduced a licensing model for AI providers to address the use of copyrighted music in AI training and the creation of AI-generated songs.
• InMarket has partnered with TikTok to measure the real-world impact of advertising campaigns using its Lift Conversion Index.

Live

• Oasis has announced they will not use Ticketmaster's dynamic pricing model for their upcoming 2025 North American concerts.
• Andrew Lloyd Webber has condemned dynamic pricing for show tickets as "racketeering" following the outcry over prices for the Oasis concerts.
• Music Venue Properties has announced the purchase of a venue in Swansea, The Bunkhouse.
• The Last Dinner Party has addressed a security incident at their cancelled Lincoln Engine Shed gig on Saturday, which reportedly involved questioning male attendees extensively about their knowledge of the band.
• Music therapy charity Nordoff And Robbins has announced that tickets are now on sale for its annual Carol Service, taking place on 10 Dec at St Luke's Church in London's Chelsea.
• Live Nation has revealed plans to construct a temporary 50,000-capacity open-air music venue at the former Downsview Airport in north Toronto.
• Glastonbury Festival has launched a redesigned website, featuring improved mobile functionality and accessibility options.

Other Industry News & Events

• BPI has released the fourth episode of its BPI Innovation Podcasts series, focusing on the collaboration between LSO Live and Popins.
• Music conference and showcase festival BIME has announced its return to Bilbao, Spain, for its fifteenth edition from 29 Oct to 1 Nov.
• The UK Music Video Awards has revealed the nominations for its 2024 ceremony, set to take place on 24 Oct at Magazine London.

Artist News

• Coldplay has confirmed they will retire after releasing their twelfth album.
• James Blunt has announced he will change his name to whatever the public wants if the re-release of his debut album 'Back To Bedlam' reaches number one, 20 years after its original release.
• Queen's Brian May has resigned as vice president of the RSPCA after serving in the role since 2012.
• Bright Eyes have cancelled all remaining 2024 tour dates due to frontman Conor Oberst's unspecified vocal condition.
• Lynyrd Skynyrd has cancelled several upcoming shows due to health emergencies affecting frontman Johnny Van Zant's family and crew.

More festivals impacted by collapse of ticketing company Lyte 

Two Australian festivals have revealed that they have been impacted by the collapse of US ticketing company Lyte, with one reckoning that it will lose AUS$30,000. 

Meanwhile two American festivals which have already sued Lyte for money they are owed have issued statements clarifying how they used Lyte’s secondary ticketing marketplace. This comes after a Billboard report implied they were touting, or scalping, their own tickets for profit. Both insist that wasn’t the case. 

Lyte offered both primary and secondary ticketing services, with Australian festivals Rabbits Eat Lettuce and Lost Paradise both using Lyte for primary ticketing. According to Pollstar, Rabbits Eat Lettuce promoter Erik Lamir told radio station Triple J that he has now switched to an Australian ticketing platform after his experience with Lyte, which he says turned out to be a company which could “talk the talk, but - in the end - they didn’t walk the walk”. 

Lamir explained that he started looking for an alternative ticketing provider after his festival’s Lyte-powered ticketing page went down in mid-September. He subsequently discovered that Lyte was in the process of falling apart. “Fortunately”, he added, “there was a skeleton crew still left in Lyte that have hung around long enough to at least provide us with all of the ticketing data”. 

HYBE reopens investigation into sexual harassment claims at Ador, as label’s ousted CEO says she’s selling her house to cover legal costs

South Korea’s HYBE last week confirmed that it has reopened an investigation into allegations of sexual harassment at its Ador label. Specifically, it is looking into whether the label’s former CEO, Min Hee-jin, inappropriately interfered in the original investigation. 

Reports of that new inquiry emerged as Min spoke at an event in Seoul where she restated her wish to be reappointed as CEO at Ador, as well as heading up all creative projects of Ador-signed NewJeans in her role as producer. 

During a lecture at the Seoul event on Friday, Min claimed that separating her management and production roles at Ador made no sense. HYBE “ordering me to just be a producer proves just how ignorant they are of the job”, she added, according to Korea JoongAng Daily.

Min was pushed out of the CEO role at Ador last month. At the time, HYBE announced that Min would stay on in a creative role as producer of NewJeans’ upcoming projects. Min then announced that that had not been agreed, that a new contract offered by Ador to that effect was not acceptable, and that she wanted to be reappointed as CEO. 

Releases & Tours

• Justice have released their new EP ‘Neverender’.
• Kylie Minogue has released her new single ‘Lights Camera Action’. Her new album ‘Tension II’ is out 18 Oct.
• TruththeBull has released his new single ‘HYPE ME UP’.
• Gyptian has released his new single ‘In The Dark’.
• mikah has released his new single ‘MAYBE IT'S ME’.
• Dillon Francis has collaborated with Yeah Boy on new single ‘Jet Setter’.
• S.C.Y. Jimm has released his new single ‘Marry The Trap’.
• Kelly Clarkson has released her new Christmas(?!) single ‘You For Christmas’.
• Michael Bublé has released his new album ‘The Best Of Bublé’.
• Bryan Adams has announced his ‘Roll With The Punches’ 2025 UK arena tour, including a show at The O2 on 15 May. Tickets go on general sale this Friday here.