Setlist

CMU’s Andy Malt and Chris Cooke review key events in music and the music business from the last week, including a legal settlement that will see 666 pairs of Nike trainers that were turned – without the sportswear brand’s permission – into Lil Nas X’s Satan Shoes recalled, plus the merger of Scooter Braun’s Ithaca Holdings with the South Korean music company formerly known as Big Hit Entertainment, HYBE.

SECTION TIMES
01: Satan Shoes (00:06:41)
02: HYBE and Ithaca (00:21:13)
(Timings may be slightly different due to adverts)

STORIES DISCUSSED THIS WEEK
• Nike launches lawsuit over Lil Nas X’s Satan Shoes
• Satan Shoes maker responds to Nike lawsuit – it’s all just “conceptual art”
• Nike and MSCHF reach settlement over Lil Nas X’s Satan Shoes
• BTS and Bieber among the artists welcoming the big HYBE Ithaca merger
• HYBE x Ithaca Holdings deal announcement video (YouTube)

ALSO MENTIONED
• Lordi to release seven albums (all at once) in 2021
• Taylor Swift to release new version of Fearless album “soon” (February 2021)
• Sufjan Stevens announces five volume album (Pitchfork)
• South Korean politician suggests BTS members should be offered “special alternative” to mandatory military service (October 2020)
• Korea Music Content Association files complaint about ‘unfair’ mandatory military deferment (Korea Joongang Daily)
• Scooter Braun acquires Big Machine in Taylor Swift’s “worst case scenario” (July 2019)
• Taylor Swift planning to re-record old songs to spite former label (August 2019)
• Scooter Braun sells Taylor Swift’s first six albums to private equity firm for $300 million (November 2020)
• Universal and Big Hit widen partnership, set to launch “global” K-pop group (February 2021)

MORE FROM CMU
• All about the TGE Conference
• Buy delegate passes for TGE Online 2021
• Book your place on CMU’s weekly webinars
• Buy MMF and CMU Insights’ Dissecting The Digital Dollar book on Amazon
• Sign up to receive the CMU Daily news bulletin

CMU’s Andy Malt and Chris Cooke review key events in music and the music business from the last week, including the new songwriter campaign seeking to stop famous artists from grabbing a cut of the copyright in songs that they help make famous but don’t actually co-write, plus Ice Cube’s lawsuit against the “unscrupulous and predatory” Robinhood app.

SECTION TIMES
01: Songwriters v Pop stars (00:03:58)
02: Ice Cube (00:21:14)
(Timings may be slightly different due to adverts)

STORIES DISCUSSED THIS WEEK
• Songwriter group pushes back on superstar artists demanding a copyright cut on songs they didn’t co-write
• Ice Cube sues “unscrupulous and predatory” Robinhood app for posting his photo on its website

ALSO MENTIONED
• FAC, MPA, MU and Sentric Music join Music Copyright Explained debate next Tuesday

MORE FROM CMU
• All about the TGE Conference
• Buy delegate passes for TGE Online 2021
• Book your place on CMU’s weekly webinars
• Buy MMF and CMU Insights’ Dissecting The Digital Dollar book on Amazon
• Sign up to receive the CMU Daily news bulletin

CMU’s Andy Malt and Chris Cooke review key events in music and the music business from the last week, including new stats from trade bodies the IFPI and BPI showing that streaming kept the record industry in growth in 2020, despite COVID-19, plus the new campaign launched by the Ivors Academy calling on labels to better compensate songwriters for their work. 

SECTION TIMES
01: Stats! Stats! Stats! (00:05:15)
02: #PaySongwriters (00:21:40)
(Timings may be slightly different due to adverts)

STORIES DISCUSSED THIS WEEK
• Global record industry revenues grow 7.4% to $21.6 billion in COVID year
• BPI stats show slowed growth for UK record label revenues in 2020
• Wider music copyright market grew by 7% to $31.6 billion in 2019
• Ivors Academy calls on labels to #PaySongwriters 

DIRECT LINKS TO REPORTS
• IFPI Global Music Industry Report 2021
• UK recorded music revenues grew 3.8% in 2020 (BPI)
• Music needs to know how much it’s worth (Will Page/Tarzan Economics) 

ALSO MENTIONED
• Initial artists and keynote interviewees confirmed for The Great Escape Online
• All about the TGE Conference
• Buy delegate passes for TGE Online 2021 

MORE FROM CMU
• Book your place on CMU’s weekly webinars
• Buy the new Dissecting The Digital Dollar book on Amazon
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CMU’s Andy Malt and Chris Cooke review key events in music and the music business from the last week, including Spotify’s new website formally laying out its positions on the different aspects of the economics of streaming debate, and calls for the Recording Academy to support publishing contract reform.

SECTION TIMES
01: Spotify on the streaming economics (00:03:15)
02: The campaign against ‘minimum delivery and release commitment’ (00:28:23)
(Timings may be slightly different due to adverts)

STORIES DISCUSSED THIS WEEK
• Spotify formally enters the economics of streaming debate with new Loud & Clear website
• Songwriter groups call on Recording Academy to support campaign against minimum release commitments in publishing deals

ALSO MENTIONED
• Music Copyright Explained – download the new guide from the Intellectual Property Office and CMU Insights
• Music Copyright Explained – sign up for free webinars
• Setlist: Deezer’s big push to get support for user-centric royalty distribution (September 2019)
• NMPA boss hopeful streaming rate increases will stay despite appeals court forcing a review (August 2020)

MORE FROM CMU
• Book your place on CMU’s weekly webinars
• Buy the new Dissecting The Digital Dollar book on Amazon
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CMU’s Andy Malt and Chris Cooke review key events in music and the music business from 2021 so far, including UK parliament’s inquiry into the economics of streaming, the debate around user-centric streaming royalties, and the issues facing UK musicians who want to tour Europe post-Brexit. 

SECTION TIMES
01: Economics of streaming (00:07:33)
02: User-centric royalties (00:17:15)
03: Brexit and live music (00:23:31)
(Timings may be slightly different due to adverts)

STORIES DISCUSSED THIS WEEK
• UK parliament’s economics of streaming inquiry
• SoundCloud announces shift to user-centric royalty distribution for its 100,000 independent creators
• MU and ISM call for more urgency from government over post-Brexit touring issues

ALSO MENTIONED
• Spotify confirms launch in 85 new markets, plus new tools galore and high quality audio, in big announcements splurge
• Jay-Z sells “significant majority” of Tidal to Jack Dorsey’s Square
• Get the lowdown on the CMU+TGE programme at The Great Escape Online
• New series of white papers on Building Trust puts the spotlight on the copyright safe harbour
• CMU Insights: Copyright webinars on artist rights, piracy and US copyright law

MORE FROM CMU
• Book your place on CMU’s weekly webinars
• Buy the new Dissecting The Digital Dollar book on Amazon
• Sign up to receive the CMU Daily news bulletin

CMU’s Andy Malt and Chris Cooke review key events in music and the music business from the last week, including the UK’s Music Managers Forum and Featured Artists Coalition anger at PRS For Music's “unworkable” proposed royalty rates for livestreamed shows, plus our favourite music of 2020.

SECTION TIMES
01: Livestream rates (00:04:43)
02: Tracks of 2020 (00:23:57)
(Timings may be slightly different due to adverts)

STORIES DISCUSSED THIS WEEK
• MMF and FAC hit out at proposed PRS royalty rate for livestreamed shows
• On The CMU Stereo 2020 playlist

ALSO MENTIONED
• Taylor Swift releases her second surprise album of 2020
• Rina Sawayama barred from entering this year’s Mercury Prize for not being British enough (July 2020)

MORE FROM CMU
• Book your place on CMU's weekly webinars
• Buy the new Dissecting The Digital Dollar book on Amazon
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CMU’s Andy Malt and Chris Cooke review key events in music and the music business from the last week, including the accusations of corruption levelled at the Grammy Awards by The Weeknd and Halsey (among others) and whether the big US music industry awards show can ever escape criticism, plus the $3 million lawsuit launched by Chance The Rapper's former manager that calls his last album a “freestyle-driven product of sub-par quality”.

SECTION TIMES
01: Grammy Awards (00:05:35)
02: Chance The Rapper (00:19:32)
(Timings may be slightly different due to adverts)

STORIES DISCUSSED THIS WEEK
• Grammys fail to avoid controversy with 2021 nominations
• Halsey says getting Grammys nominations is about “knowing the right people”
• Ellie Goulding weighs in on music awards
• Chance The Rapper sued for $3 million in commission by former manager

ALSO MENTIONED
• Culture select committee chair says he will name and shame anyone trying to stop artists from speaking out about streaming
• Ousted Recording Academy CEO goes nuclear in legal filing alleging sexual harassment, rape claims, corruption, misogyny and vote fixing (January 2020)

MORE FROM CMU
• Book your place on CMU's weekly webinars
• Buy the new Dissecting The Digital Dollar book on Amazon
• Sign up to receive the CMU Daily news bulletin

CMU’s Andy Malt and Chris Cooke review key events in music and the music business from the last week, including the first parliamentary hearing in the culture select committee inquiry into the economics of streaming, plus Instagram's insistence that no one would ever confuse its Reels feature with US cable TV channel Reelz. 

SECTION TIMES
01: Streaming inquiry (00:05:36)
02: Reels/z (00:28:35)
(Timings may be slightly different due to adverts)

STORIES DISCUSSED THIS WEEK
• Performer ER in the spotlight at first parliamentary hearing on the economics of music streaming
• No one would confuse Reels with Reelz, says Instagram

ALSO MENTIONED
• Setlist: Parliament probes the economics of streaming (from October 2020)

MORE FROM CMU
• Book your place on CMU's weekly webinars
• Buy the new Dissecting The Digital Dollar book on Amazon
• Sign up to receive the CMU Daily news bulletin

CMU’s Andy Malt and Chris Cooke review key events in music and the music business from the last week, including Taylor Swift's anger upon learning that the master rights in her first six albums have been sold without her knowledge for a second time, plus music publisher Wixen's lawsuit against TikTok rival Triller. 

SECTION TIMES
01: Taylor Swift (00:08:24)
02: Triller (00:23:37)
(Timings may be slightly different due to adverts)

STORIES DISCUSSED THIS WEEK
• Scooter Braun sells Taylor Swift’s first six albums to private equity firm for $300 million
• Wixen sues Triller for copyright infringement

ALSO MENTIONED
• Warner Music creates new radio edit of Fairytale Of New York, to the annoyance of homophobia fans
• Def Leppard re-record their old songs

MORE FROM CMU
• Book your place on CMU's weekly webinars
• Buy the new Dissecting The Digital Dollar book on Amazon
• Sign up to receive the CMU Daily news bulletin

CMU’s Andy Malt and Chris Cooke review key events in music and the music business from the last week, including Ticketmaster's proposal to use its app to verify that ticketholders have had a COVID-19 vaccination or negative test before attending shows, and the latest twist in the copyright infringement battle between Nirvana and fashion designer Marc Jacobs.

SECTION TIMES
01: Ticketmaster (00:03:51)
02: Nirvana (00:18:04)
(Timings may be slightly different due to adverts)

STORIES DISCUSSED THIS WEEK
• Ticketmaster planning to use app to verify COVID status, in hopes of return to full capacity shows in 2021
• Ticketmaster says it won’t be barring people from entering shows based on their COVID status (that’ll be the promoter’s job)
• Nirvana company files another lawsuit over the band’s smiley face

ALSO MENTIONED
• Twitch responds to music takedown frenzy, says music licences will take time or may never happen
• Boris Johnson gives cautious welcome to COVID-19 vaccine news (Sky News)

MORE FROM CMU
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