In today's CMU Daily: More information has come to light about the massive Ticketmaster data breach which affected more than half a billion customers. The Live Nation ticketing company has made a filing with the Attorney General in Maine, including a letter it intends to send to customers in the state later this month

One Liners: Armada and Reservoir deals; Universal Nordics appointment; ECSA welcomes AI lawsuits; DoJ v Live Nation timeline; US deepfakes review; UK music channels close; V&A Taylor Swift exhibition; Michael Jackson’s debts; New music from Megan Thee Stallion, Killer Mike, Burna Boy and Ray LaMontagne

Also today: Pharrell is embroiled in yet another trademark dispute, this time over his socks; DNS resolver OpenDNS has switched off its service entirely in France and Portugal because of web-blocking orders secured by Canal+; One Media publishes financials for the first half of 2024

Ticketmaster data breach: new details emerge from official filings

Fresh details are emerging about the scope and impact of the recent Ticketmaster data breach in an official filing with the Attorney General’s office in the US state of Maine obtained by CMU. The filing includes various details of the breach, as well as a copy of a customer notification letter that Ticketmaster will use to inform customers in the state that their data has been compromised.

In the letter, the Live Nation owned Ticketmaster says that it is writing to customers “to notify you of a data security incident that may have involved your personal information”. 

Details in the Maine filing include that the breach, classified as an “external system breach (hacking)”, occurred between 2 Apr and 18 May 2024, and that Ticketmaster discovered the unauthorised access on 23 May 2024. 

The company has confirmed that it will begin notifying customers in Maine on 8 Jul - a delay of more than six weeks. This delay, the letter says, “is not due to law enforcement investigations”, but Ticketmaster is keen for customers to know that it has “been diligently investigating the incident with the assistance of outside experts”, and is “cooperating with federal law enforcement authorities”. 

While Ticketmaster has not publicly confirmed the scale of the breach, ShinyHunters, the hacking group which claimed responsibility, said that it had obtained personal data relating to hundreds of millions of the company’s customers. 

The group alleges that the 1.3TB of data they stole included the names, addresses, email addresses, phone numbers, order information, and partial payment card details relating to more than 560 million people. The paperwork filed with the Maine Attorney General’s office indicates that the number of residents in the state affected is “greater than 1000” - apparently the largest input on the filing scale. 

In its letter, Ticketmaster says that as a response to the breach it will offer affected customers twelve months of free identity monitoring services through TransUnion, which will “look out for your personal data on the dark web”. The company says that it has also implemented several security measures, including rotating passwords for accounts associated with the affected database, reviewing access permissions, and enhancing alerting mechanisms.

The letter advises customers to remain vigilant against potential identity theft and fraud, to monitor their accounts and credit reports, and be cautious of phishing attempts. Ticketmaster emphasises that customer accounts were not directly affected by this incident, but users should be mindful of any suspicious activity.

This new information contrasts with Live Nation’s recent SEC filing, which stated that the company does not believe the incident is “reasonably likely to have a material impact on our overall business operations or on our financial condition or results of operations”. Given the potential scale of the breach and the comprehensive identity protection measures now being offered, this assessment may prove optimistic.

The breach is already facing legal scrutiny, with a class-action lawsuit filed by two Ticketmaster customers. The lawsuit criticises Live Nation’s initial failure to promptly disclose the breach, highlighting the gap between the discovery of the breach and customer notifications.

As investigations continue, the full impact of this breach on Ticketmaster, its customers, and the broader implications for data security in the entertainment industry remain to be seen. This incident adds to the mounting pressures on Live Nation, which is already facing scrutiny over allegations of anticompetitive conduct in the US.

Drumsheds, Broadwick Live // Senior Operations Manager (London)

Drumsheds, Broadwick Live // Duty Operations Manager (London)

Drumsheds, Broadwick Live // Operations Coordinator (London)

terrible* // Finance Assistant/Bookkeeper (London)

SJM Concerts // Event Ticketing Manager (Manchester)

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.

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ONE LINERS

4music RIP, Taylor Swift at V&A, Megan Thee Stallion, Killer Mike + more

DEALS 

Armada Music has announced a long-term partnership with Slash, the label founded by Amsterdam-based DJ and producer KI/KI. Armada will provide A&R, distribution, marketing and label management support. “Partnering with KI/KI and her label is an exciting venture for Armada Music”, says CEO Maykel Piron. “KI/KI's innovative approach to music and her deep connection with the underground scene make her a unique force in the industry”. The first release under the partnership is KI/KI's latest EP ‘Slash 010’. 

Reservoir Media has announced a worldwide publishing deal with songwriter-producer Lewis Thompson, who has collaborated with the likes of Joel Corry, MNEK, Raye and David Guetta. Says the company’s Senior Creative Manager Russell Hunt, “Lewis has established himself as a proven hitmaker in the UK, working with some of the biggest European songwriters and artists. His talent, ambition and dedication to his craft are second to none, and our global Reservoir team is excited to support him as he earns even more international acclaim”. 

APPOINTMENTS 

Universal Music has promoted Joakim Johansson to the role of President for the Nordics. He will continue to be MD of Universal Music Sweden alongside his new role also overseeing the major’s activities in Denmark, Norway, Finland and the Baltic states. “I am honoured and incredibly excited to step into the role of President for the Nordic region, a powerhouse of musical innovation and creativity”, he says.

LEGAL 

The European Composer And Songwriter Alliance has welcomed last week’s lawsuits filed against music AI companies Suno and Udio by the major record companies. Suno and Udio are accused of copyright infringement for allegedly training their respective generative AI models on large quantities of copyright protected music without getting permission. “We encourage all composers and songwriters’ contractual counterparts and assignees - across Europe and beyond - to engage in similar legal actions to protect the value and creativity of our members’ works”, says the pan-European songwriter group in a statement. 

The judge overseeing the US government’s lawsuit against Live Nation, Arun Subramanian, said last week that he hopes the case can get to trial as soon as March 2026. The US Department Of Justice accuses Live Nation and its Ticketmaster subsidiary of anticompetitive conduct, and wants the court to force the sale of Ticketmaster. Although Subramanian says he would like jury selection to begin in his New York court in March next year, Live Nation seems likely to continue pushing for the case to be transferred to a court in Washington DC.

The US Patent & Trademark Office announced on Friday that it is seeking public input on whether existing US laws are sufficient to protect individuals from having their image, voice or likeness imitated by generative AI without authorisation. A combination of copyright law, trademark law and publicity rights may provide that protection, but there are currently ambiguities. In the US, publicity rights sit at a state-level, and there have been calls for a new US-wide federal publicity right to protect performers - and individuals more generally - from unofficial voice clones and deepfakes. A roundtable to discuss these issues is planned for 5 Aug. 

MEDIA

Channel 4 has today closed its music TV channels, including The Box, 4Music, Kiss, Magic, and Kerrang! The Box first launched in 1992, subsequently becoming an entire network of music TV services. Channel 4 acquired a 50% stake in what became known as The Box Plus Network in 2008, with the 4Music channel launching the following year. The broadcaster took complete control of the music TV company in 2013. Channel 4 announced in January that the music channels would close at some point this year as part of a new five year strategy. 

ARTIST NEWS

London’s Victoria & Albert Museum will host a Taylor Swift exhibition from 27 Jul to 8 Sep with items loaned by the musician herself, including outfits, awards and storyboards. Says Senior Curator at the museum, Kate Bailey, “We are delighted to be able to display a range of iconic looks worn by Taylor Swift at the V&A this summer - each celebrating a chapter in the artist’s musical journey. Taylor Swift’s songs - like objects - tell stories, often drawing from art, history and literature”. 

Michael Jackson had debts in excess of half a billion dollars at the time of his death in 2009, court documents filed last month reveal. Some of the debts were in default and others were “accruing interest at extremely high rates”, the filings show. It was known prior to Jackson’s death that he was facing significant financial challenges, and that that motivated the star to sign up for the London residency at The O2 that he was preparing for when he died. However, the new filings provide more detail about the extent of those debts. 

RELEASES

Megan Thee Stallion has released new album ‘MEGAN’ via her Hot Girl Productions label. It includes collaborations with Victoria Monet, GloRilla, UGK, Big KRIT, Kyle Richh and Yuki Chiba. 

Killer Mike has released a new track that discusses his arrest for assault backstage at this year’s Grammy Awards in February. The release follows the news last week that LA prosecutors have chosen not to pursue a criminal case in relation to the incident, and also the rapper winning the Album Of Year award at this weekend’s BET Awards for his most recent album 'Michael'. The new track is called ‘Humble Me’. 

Burna Boy has released ‘Higher’, a song that aims to “elevate his hometown of Port Harcourt, Nigeria”. The accompanying video “documents Burna Boy’s emotional return to Port Harcourt, where he engages in community upliftment activities”. 

Ray LaMontagne has released new single ‘Long Way Home’, the title track from his forthcoming album, which is out on 16 Aug.

Pharrell and Louis Vuitton told to pull their socks up in another trademark spat

Pharrell Williams is embroiled in yet another trademark dispute, this time in his guise as a celebrity Creative Director for luxury fashion house Louis Vuitton. 

Evan Papel, CEO of a company called Pocket Socks Inc, has filed a lawsuit, describing it as a “real David and Goliath story”, asserting that “massive luxury brand” Louis Vuitton “and their designer Pharrell Williams should know better and behave within the law”.

The lawsuit all comes down to a pair of socks designed by Williams and sold by the fashion brand as part of its partnership with the music producer. 

The socks in question have a pocket and are therefore, perhaps not unreasonably, sold under the name “Pocket Socks”. Only problem is, that’s pretty much identical to the brand used by Pocket Socks Inc, which specialises in making and selling… socks with pockets.

“I feel like a small business owner representing others, standing strong as David in this classic David versus Goliath situation”, continued Papel.

Williams’ trademark attorneys are already pretty busy. There’s a lawsuit filed by the producer’s long-term creative collaborator Chad Hugo over the trademark in their collaborative brand The Neptunes. And, in April, Pink formally objected to Williams’ bid to register the name P.INC with the US Trademark Office in various music and merchandise categories. 

While both Louis Vuitton and Williams are named as defendants in this new litigation, you have to think it will be the fashion company that leads on any response. 

The Pocket Socks Inc lawsuit explains how Papel came up with the idea of having socks with a pocket after he had money stolen while traveling in Europe. The idea is that the sock’s pocket can be used for storing valuables when travelling around. His product was originally branded Zip It Sox, with the alternative name Pocket Socks being launched and trademarked in 2012. 

Meanwhile, Louis Vuitton started marketing and selling socks with a pocket as part of its partnership with Williams in June 2023. The products are clearly listed and described as Pocket Socks on the Louis Vuitton website. And, says Pocket Socks Inc, the bigger fashion company's use of that name has “irreparably” damaged its brand and trademark rights. 

As well as trademark infringement and unfair competition, Pocket Socks Inc also accuses Louis Vuitton and Williams of ‘trade dress infringement’. 

Trade dress relates to the overall appearance of a product and can be protected as a trademark where certain features are sufficiently distinctive to identify the source of a specific product. Providing any distinctive features are not essential components of a generic product that competitors will necessarily need to replicate. 

Pocket Socks Inc uses a zip to protect a sock wearer’s travel cash, while the Pocket Socks sold by Louis Vuitton and Williams use a good old fashioned button, which may or may not be relevant here. 

The Pocket Socks Inc socks usually retail at around $20, while the Louis Vuitton Pocket Socks are sold for $565 a pair. Which isn’t relevant to any intellectual property dispute, though there should probably be some kind of criminal proceedings against anyone selling socks at $565 a pair.

OpenDNS pulls plug on France and Portugal after web-blocking injunctions targeting football piracy

OpenDNS,the Cisco-owned DNS resolver, has switched off its service in France and Portugal because of web-blocking court orders targeting football piracy. The dramatic move by OpenDNS comes in response to legal action by French broadcaster Canal+, which sought to prevent access to unlicensed sports streaming sites.

In a statement on Friday, the DNS resolver said that, due to “a court order in France issued under the French Sport code” and “a court order in Portugal issued under the Portuguese Copyright Code, the OpenDNS service is not currently available to users in France and certain French territories and in Portugal”. 

The company apologised for the inconvenience to its users, though it remains unclear if shutting off the service in France and Portugal entirely is a temporary measure or permanent solution in order to comply with the court orders.

Canal+, owned by former Universal Music owner Vivendi, initiated legal action against various internet companies last year in a bid to block people from accessing unlicensed sports streaming sites. The broadcaster’s primary aim was to block access to websites illegally streaming Premier League and Champions League football matches, for which Canal+ holds broadcasting rights in France

Web-blocking has become a favoured anti-piracy tactic for the music, movie and TV industries in territories where copyright law permits such measures. The process usually begins with a copyright owner securing an injunction that compels internet service providers to block access to specific websites that primarily exist to facilitate copyright infringement. 

Once the ISPs put the web-blocks in place, more savvy consumers can often circumvent the blockades by using alternative DNS resolvers instead of those provided by their ISPs. This has resulted in copyright owners seeking separate web-blocks against third-party DNS resolvers. 

There have been a number of similar cases elsewhere in Europe in recent years. Sony Music attempted to get a web-blocking injunction against Quad9 through the German courts, while Universal Music went after the Cloudflare DNS resolver 1.1.1.1 through courts in both Germany and Italy. Ultimately the German courts decided that there were insufficient grounds for forcing a DNS resolver to instigate web-blocks because such a service is a “mere conduit”. 

The Canal+ case in France began in 2023 when the broadcaster secured an injunction ordering ISPs in the country to block access to over 100 pirate sport sites. 

Subsequently, Canal+ returned to court and successfully secured additional web-blocks against DNS resolvers operated by Google and Cloudflare, as well as Cisco’s OpenDNS. According to Torrentfreak, Google has said that it will comply with the web-blocking order, while OpenDNS has now also complied, albeit in a pretty dramatic fashion.

Setlist podcast: AI lawsuit warns of “devastating impacts” on human creativity

In this week's Setlist Podcast: Chris Cooke and Andy Malt discuss the launch of the record industry’s first major lawsuits against music-generating AI companies - with the RIAA coordinating litigation against Suno and Udio - plus a group of songwriters are suing PRS. 

🎧 Click here to listen - or search for ‘Setlist Podcast’

One Media iP releases first half numbers, goes big on vinyl revival

One Media iP Group Plc (AIM: OMIP), which specialises in acquiring and monetising digital music rights and other intellectual property, has released its interim results for the six months ending 30 Apr 2024, showing stable revenues, but delivering only modest growth.

Net revenue was flat at £1.8 million which was, according to the company, due to the cash drag of anti-piracy subsidiary TCAT, which “diverted revenues from the core business” and has “restricted management’s ability to invest in new catalogues” to further expand the company’s portfolio of rights. 

One Media’s most recent catalogue acquisition - which completed in November 2023 - was the licensor’s income share of the Entertain Me catalogue of rights on an in-perpetuity basis. This saw One Media acquire an income stream derived from a substantial catalogue comprising over 15,000 tracks recorded from the 1940s to 1970s from a range of artists including Dean Martin, Gloria Gaynor and Louis Armstrong, and which spanned genres from classical to disco.

Commenting on that deal back in late 2023, CEO Michael Infante said, “This acquisition not only gives us income exposure to new songs in our sweet spot of music nostalgia, it also allows us to strategically consolidate certain income streams where we also have a portfolio exposure to some of the tracks in the Entertain Me catalogue”.

The Entertain Me deal completed at what the company describes as an “advantageous earnings multiple”, and was facilitated via One Media’s ‘Harmony IP asset release programme’, which “allows music rightsholders advanced access to the future earnings of their intellectual property by purchasing a portion of their rights upfront”.

Focusing in on the latest numbers, the company’s revenues were up very slightly year-on-year, at £2.8 million, compared to £2.7 million for H1 2023. The majority of that revenue - £2.6 million - came from intellectual property royalties.

Despite no significant additions to its music catalogue, One Media’s core business delivered a robust EBITDA of £1.1 million. Overall group EBITDA saw a 14% increase to £0.9 million (H1 2023: £0.8 million), largely due to cost efficiencies within its technology subsidiary.

Infante commented, “One Media’s principal expertise is in managing and investing in music copyrights and this core part of our business continues to perform well and in line with expectations. Our capacity to grow our Group profits, however, is somewhat constrained by the continued strategic allocation of resources, including management time, towards establishing and growing our music anti-piracy technology tool, TCAT”.