In today's CMU Daily: Spotify made a profit in the first quarter of 2024, helped in no small part by sacking a whole load of people just before Christmas. However, growth is slowing and it might have turned out that some of those jobs were actually necessary

One Liners: Range Music, Neil Finn, Randall King deals; Spinefarm, Def Jam Africa appointments; Northern Music Awards winners; Ivors nominees; Olly Alexander on ‘Eastenders’; new music from St Vincent, Knocked Loose x Poppy, Metronomy, DIIV, Ezra Collective, Fat Dog, San Soucis

Also today: TikTok faces big legal battle as US Congress passes sell-or-be-banned law, but at least it still has Donald Trump on its side; former employee sues Megan Thee Stallion over “hostile working environment”; Download has a plan to stop the traffic jams

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“Value, value, value!” is the mantra at Spotify as Ek downplays the negatives

Spotify has released its numbers for the first quarter of this year, and despite best efforts by CEO Daniel Ek to put a positive spin on things during the company’s earning call, if you move beyond the top line they make pretty grim reading. Growth has stalled, total revenue is down, ad-supported revenue has fallen off a cliff, and monthly active users in North America have dropped. But Spotify made €168 million in profit - so everyone, please, focus on that.

Key highlights picked out by the company in its deck were strong year-on-year growth in monthly active users - presented as being up 19% to hit 615 million. However, on a quarter-on-quarter basis, MAU growth was just 2.16% - the lowest quarterly gain seen in years. 

Over the last four years - or sixteen quarters - Q-on-Q growth has averaged 5.13%. This is all explained by the fact - said Ek during the earnings call - that “the MAU and subscription growth we achieved in 2023 not only surpassed our most ambitious forecast, but also set a record for the most significant user growth in Spotify history. While we anticipate robust growth going forward 2023 was a truly standout year and should not be based on expectation for every subsequent year”.

Remember that: 2023 was exceptional, but it was so exceptional that no one should be thinking that Spotify will see that kind of growth going forward.

In fact, 2023 wasn’t all that exceptional - Spotify grew from 489 million users at the end of 2022 to 602 million by the end of 2023, growth of 23%, and average quarterly growth of 5.34%. In 2022 the company added 83 million new users over the course of the year, going from 406 million in Q4 2021 to 489 million in Q4 2022. That’s 20.4% growth, and an average of 4.78% quarterly growth. 

That makes the most recent quarter’s 2.16% quarterly growth look pretty poor. 

But don’t worry! This can all be explained because firing a bunch of people and putting the squeeze on marketing spend had - inexplicably to Ek, it seems - major impacts on growth. “Another significant challenge was the impact of our December workforce reduction, although there's no question that it was the right strategic decision. It did disrupt our day to day operations more than we anticipated”.

Your Culture // Campaign Management Assistant (Brighton)

Gondwana Records // Part Time Social Media, Online Marketing & Digital Content Manager (Manchester Hybrid)

The O2 // Production Supervisor (London)

AXS Europe // Technical Project Manager (London)

The Halls // Assistant Box Office Manager (Wolverhampton)

Como No & La Linea // Operations & Reporting Manager (London Hybrid)

Kilimanjaro Live // Promoter Assistant (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

St Vincent, Knocked Loose, Northern Music Awards + more

DEALS 

Management and production firm Range Media Partners has announced new investment from Liberty Global, Wildcat Capital Management and Playground Productions. “We have been very deliberate during this process, wanting to find top-tier, blue-chip partners who have a unique perspective on our industry and are as committed as we are to an innovative long-term strategy to unlock global value for our clients”, says Range Managing Partner Jack Whigham.

Primary Wave Music has announced a “multi-million-dollar deal” with Crowded House co-founder Neil Finn to acquire his songs catalogue and the writer’s share of his public performance income. “I look forward to seeing Primary Wave’s plan for the ongoing care of my songs”, he says. “I am confident they see the body of my work as music that matters. This deal has been a good while in the making and feels right”.

Sony Music Publishing Nashville has signed Randall King. “Can’t begin to say how excited I am to be joining Sony Music Publishing”, he says. “It’s a new era of writing for me and I couldn’t have joined a better team”.

APPOINTMENTS 

Spinefarm Music Group has hired Radio 1 presenter and former A bassist Dan P Carter as Director Of Artist Development. “Starting this new role as Director Of Artist Development at Spinefarm is an exciting new chapter where I feel I can contribute as part of a fantastic team at one of the foremost rock and metal labels in the world”, he says.

Universal Music France has hired Binetou Sylla -founder of indie label Wèrè Wèrè Music - to lead Def Jam Africa in the continent’s French-speaking territories. “We are incredibly honoured to be able to draw on the unique expertise of Binetou Sylla and her team to bring new talent from French-speaking Africa to Africa, France and the rest of the world”, says Universal Music France President Olivier Nusse. “In the wake of recent worldwide successes by English-speaking artists, I'm absolutely convinced that the French-speaking scene will also without doubt shine on the world stage, with Def Jam Africa as the spearhead”.

AWARDS 

Former One Direction member Louis Tomlinson was named Artist Of The Year at Nordoff And Robbins’ inaugural Northern Music Awards last night. Among the other winners, The Courteeners were named Band Of The Year and Spice Girl Melanie C took the Special Recognition Award. 

The nominees for this year’ Ivor Novello Awards have been announced. Leading the pack is Sampha with two nominations in the Best Album and Best Song Musically And Lyrically categories. See the full collection of shortlists here. 

ARTIST NEWS

Ahead of his upcoming turn representing the UK at Eurovision, Olly Alexander is to appear in an episode of BBC One soap opera ‘Eastenders’ next month. “I’m THRILLED to be making my first appearance on ‘Eastenders’”, he says. “I’m so happy I got to meet some true screen legends and spend time on set with the brilliant cast and crew. I wanted to surprise my mum as it’s her favourite show, but I guess the cat is out of the bag now, she’s gonna love it”.

RELEASES

St Vincent has released new single ‘Big Time Nothing’ ahead of new album ‘All Born Screaming’, which is out this Friday. 

Knocked Loose have teamed up with Poppy for new single ‘Suffocate’. The track is taken from the band’s upcoming third album ‘You Won’t Go Before You’re Supposed To’, which is out on 10 May. 

Metronomy will release ‘Posse EP Vol 2’ on 12 Jul, featuring collaborations with Miki, Faux Real, Nourished By Time, Naima Bock, Joshua Idehen, Lynks, Spider, Master Peace and TaliaBle. Out now is ‘With Balance’ featuring Naima Bock and Joshua Idehen.

DIIV have released new single ‘Frog In Boiling Water’, the title track of their upcoming album, which is out on 24 May. 

Ezra Collective are back with new single ‘Ajala’. 

Fat Dog have announced that they will release their debut album ‘Woof’ on 6 Sep. Out now is new single ‘Running’.  

San Soucis has released new single ‘Sexed & Sexual’. It’s the first track from her debut album ‘Circumnavigating Georgia’, which is set for release later this year.

The clock is now TikTokking as US Senate votes through sell-or-be-banned law

The US Senate yesterday passed the law that orders China-based ByteDance to sell TikTok or face a US-wide ban of the video-sharing app. The tactic of attaching the proposed law to a wider bill that also included aid packages for Ukraine, Israel and Taiwan - so to force a speedy vote in the Senate - worked. 

President Joe Biden is now set to sign the bill into law at some point today. Meanwhile, Donald Trump is against the new law - despite having tried to ban TikTok himself when he was President - and is already trying to make a possible incoming TikTok ban a key issue in this year's US elections. 

Posting on his own social network Truth Social yesterday, Trump wrote, “Just so everyone knows, especially the young people, Crooked Joe Biden is responsible for banning TikTok. Young people, and lots of others, must remember this on 5 Nov, ELECTION DAY, when they vote!” 

The sell-or-be-banned law was motivated by concerns that the Chinese government has access to TikTok user data via ByteDance. Confirming her support for it, senator Maria Cantwell - Chair of the Senate Commerce Committee, which had been scrutinising the proposals - said, “Congress is not acting to punish ByteDance, TikTok or any other individual company”. 

“Congress is acting to prevent foreign adversaries from conducting espionage, surveillance, maligned operations, harming vulnerable Americans, our servicemen and women, and our US government personnel”, she added. 

TikTok has vowed to fight the law in the courts, claiming that it is unconstitutional on free speech grounds. Though senator Marco Rubio has told reporters that he thinks those efforts will fail. “We're not banning a company”, he said, “we're not banning speech, we're banning the Chinese Communist Party controlled-entity from operating in the United States, and we've done that with Huawei, we've done that with ZTE, and we might have to do it with some more”. 

The House Of Representatives originally voted through the sell-or-be-banned law in March, but it wasn't clear how quickly the Senate would consider the proposal. Then the law was added to the wider bill that included the aid packages, which the House voted through over the weekend. 

In the original version of the law, ByteDance would have six months to sell TikTok to avoid the ban. Concerns were then raised in the Senate that it was unrealistic to expect a sale to be completed in that time. The new version of the law provides more time - 270 days with the option for the President to extend the deadline by 90 days - so just under a year. Though some critics argue that even that is unrealistic. 

It seems unlikely that ByteDance would just accept the ban and bail on the US market, where ad revenues topped $16 billion last year, though sources say that selling TikTok still remains a last resort option for ByteDance bosses. Not least because the sale would need government approval in China, which could prove tricky. 

When Trump tried to ban the app, the plan was to spin-off the US TikTok business, with ByteDance retaining control in the rest of the world. Though that approach would likely prove even more complex, making the twelve month deadline even harder to meet. 

The sell-or-be-banned law enjoyed cross party support in Congress, with the politically balanced Senate voting it through 79 in favour and 18 against. And the against votes included Rubio, who supports the TikTok measure but objected to it being attached to the aid packages. 

Nevertheless, the law seems set to become a talking point during this year's Presidential election, because of Trump's current position. With TikTok planning to fight the law in the courts and any subsequent sale likely to be complex, the future of TikTok in the US will definitely still be topical as Americans go to the polls this autumn. 

Although he is now using his opposition to the TikTok ban as a way to connect with younger voters, Trump’s support of TikTok is really part of his ongoing beef with Facebook and Instagram owner Meta. 

Biden “is the one” pushing TikTok to close, his Truth Social rant continued, adding he is “doing it to help his friends over at Facebook become richer and more dominant, and able to continue to fight, perhaps illegally, the Republican Party”.

TikTok is yet to comment on yesterday's vote, though it continues to deny there are any data security issues on its platform in the US. 

When the latest bill was introduced into the House last week, a spokesperson for the company said, “It is unfortunate that the House Of Representatives is using the cover of important foreign and humanitarian assistance to once again jam through a ban bill that would trample the free speech rights of 170 million Americans, devastate seven million businesses, and shutter a platform that contributes $24 billion to the US economy, annually”.

Megan Thee Stallion sued by former employee over allegations of hostile work environment

A man who previously worked as a personal cameraman for Megan Thee Stallion has sued the rapper over allegations of harassment, failure to prevent a hostile work environment and other violations of California employment law. 

Emilio Garcia worked as a cameraman for the rapper, real name Megan Pete, from 2018 to 2023. His allegations of improper conduct include Pete having sex in front of him as they travelled together in Ibiza, the rapper making “fat-shaming” remarks, Garcia being underpaid for his work, and Pete and her management at Roc Nation incorrectly classifying him as an independent contractor. 

“Emilio should never have been put in a position of having to be in the vehicle with [Megan] while she had sex with another woman”, Garcia's lawyer Ron Zambrano states. “Inappropriate is putting it lightly. Exposing this behaviour to employees is definitely illegal”. Pete, he added, should “pay our client what he’s due, own up to her behaviour and quit this sort of sexual harassment and fat shaming conduct”. 

Expanding on the Ibiza incident, the lawsuit explains that this happened in June 2022 when Garcia was on tour with Pete. At the end of a night out, the legal filing claims, he was in a car with Pete and three other women. The rapper and one of the other women then starting having sex in the vehicle. 

Garcia “could not get out of the car as it was both moving and he was in the middle of nowhere in a foreign country”. He was “embarrassed, mortified and offended throughout the whole ordeal”. The following day Pete told him to never discuss what he had witnessed.

Elsewhere, Garcia alleges, Pete “directed her fat-shaming comments” towards him, including remarks like “fat bitch”, “spit your food out” and “you don’t need to be eating”. 

In terms of his classification as an independent contractor, Garcia argues that under employment rules in California he should have been treated as an employee. Among other things, he claims, Pete directly controlled and managed his work, he was obliged to undertake creative and administrative duties beyond filming the rapper, and he was told he couldn't take on other clients or projects. 

However, by being classified as a contractor he was “left without basic insurance coverage, depriving him of essential healthcare”. It also allowed Pete and her management to change the way he was paid - moving from a monthly retainer to working on a project fee basis - which, he says, resulted in him earning less money despite working “all waking hours of a day”. 

Garcia continued to work with Pete until 2023. After he communicated some of his grievances to a make-up artist who was also on Pete’s team, the rapper “drunkenly FaceTimed” Garcia. On that call, he says, he “expressed his belief he was being underpaid for the amount of hours actually asked of him”. He claims “they reached an ‘understanding’”, with Pete confirming “we're good”. However, Roc Nation then contacted him shortly before a scheduled gig and informed him that his services were no longer required. 

Neither Pete nor Roc Nation have as yet commented on the lawsuit.

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

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'

Download Festival announces plans to avoid last year’s “unprecedented” traffic congestion

The Live Nation-owned Download Festival, which takes place atDonington Park in Leicestershire,has announced a new traffic plan after “unprecedented” congestion at the start of last year’s event caused hundreds of people travelling to the nearby East Midlands Airport to miss flights. 

“We knew it was something that we had to focus on for this year”, festival organiser Andy Copping tells the BBC, explaining that a specialist traffic management company has been brought in. “We feel that with their experience and their knowledge, any issues that we faced last year will be eradicated”.

Expressing his anger at the delays caused for people travelling to the airport and elsewhere locally during last year’s festival, leader of Leicestershire County Council Nick Rushton warned at the time that, if changes weren’t made in 2024, he would be “pressing that the damn thing is cancelled”. 

While an inquiry by North West Leicestershire District Council found that the 2023 edition of the event did not breach traffic licence conditions, organisers have nonetheless gone ahead with efforts to improve the situation. 

Among the changes, which are being overseen by Far And Beyond Events, are more efficient methods of getting people into car parks, including moving the location of positions where tickets are scanned before festival-goers can park further into the site. 

“We're looking at the way people drive into the car parks to get them off the road quicker, so that where you're having your car parking scanned, it isn't immediately where you drive in”, says director of Far And Beyond Events, Jess Shields. “We're pulling people into the site a bit further and taking them off the road that they were on for the last couple of years which I think caused a lot of backlog”.

“As you can imagine, we're under big scrutiny with the council and the local residents because of the impact we have”, she adds. “But we are working really hard to make sure that any of the things that could be improved upon from last year will be”.

Set to be headlined by Queens Of The Stone Age, Fall Out Boy and Avenged Sevenfold, this year’s Download Festival will take place on 14-16 Jun.