Setlist

CMU’s Andy Malt and Chris Cooke review key events in music and the music business from the last week, including Coldplay’s update on their work to reduce the environmental impact of their live shows during the first year of their Music Of The Spheres Tour, and the unveiling of Apple’s Vision Pro headset and what it might mean for the music industry.

SECTION TIMES
01: Coldplay (00:04:48)
02: Apple Vision Pro (00:13:51)
(Timings may be slightly different due to adverts)

STORIES DISCUSSED THIS WEEK
• Coldplay provide update on their environmentally sustainable touring efforts
• Apple unveils its Vision Pro headset

ALSO MENTIONED
• Culture Secretary insists new music-maker remuneration working group will not become a mere talking shop
• Coldplay emissions update (coldplay.com)
• Craig Charles’ 1993 VR gameshow CyberZone (YouTube)

MORE FROM CMU
• Upcoming CMU webinars
• Buy MMF and CMU Insights’ Dissecting The Digital Dollar book on Amazon
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• Listen to the full Setlist theme tune

CMU’s Andy Malt and Chris Cooke review key events in music and the music business from the last week, including the US Supreme Court ruling on a long-running copyright dispute between the Andy Warhol Foundation and the photographer Lynn Goldsmith, and Universal getting into bed with AI music company Endel.

SECTION TIMES
01: Prince (00:06:30)
02: AI Music (00:23:37)
(Timings may be slightly different due to adverts)

STORIES DISCUSSED THIS WEEK
• Music industry welcomes US Supreme Court ruling in Prince artwork copyright case
• Universal Music allies with music AI company Endel to create some “science-backed soundscapes”

ALSO MENTIONED
• TikTok sues Montana over ban
• CMU Podcast: Sound Of 2017, AI in music, Kate Bush (December 2016)

MORE FROM CMU
• Upcoming CMU webinars
• Buy MMF and CMU Insights’ Dissecting The Digital Dollar book on Amazon
• Sign up to receive the CMU Daily news bulletin
• Listen to the full Setlist theme tune

CMU’s Andy Malt and Chris Cooke review key events in music and the music business from the last week, including news that more than 20,000 people have made representations to Lambeth Council in support of the Brixton Academy as the local authority considers a request by London’s Metropolitan Police to revoke the licence of current operators Academy Music Group, plus the latest round in the ongoing battle between the Village People and Donald Trump.

SECTION TIMES
01: Brixton Academy (00:06:38)
02: Village People (00:15:39)
(Timings may be slightly different due to adverts)

STORIES DISCUSSED THIS WEEK
• More than 20,000 representations submitted in support of Brixton Academy ahead of licence review
• Village People hit out at lookalike performance at Donald Trump event

MORE FROM CMU
• Upcoming CMU webinars
• Buy MMF and CMU Insights’ Dissecting The Digital Dollar book on Amazon
• Sign up to receive the CMU Daily news bulletin
• Listen to the full Setlist theme tune

CMU’s Andy Malt and Chris Cooke review key events in music and the music business from the last week, including Ed Sheeran’s victory in another high-profile headline-grabbing song-theft legal battle – this time over whether or not he ripped off Marvin Gaye’s ‘Let’s Get It On’ when he wrote his 2014 song ‘Thinking Out Loud’ – plus two sets of proposals for better regulating the sale of tickets put forward in US Congress late last month and another industry-led campaign launched last week that says it will advocate for “a ticketing experience better than the nightmare many fans and artists currently navigate”.

SECTION TIMES
01: Ed Sheeran (00:05:36)
02: US tickets (00:18:52)
(Timings may be slightly different due to adverts)

STORIES DISCUSSED THIS WEEK
• Non-idiot (allegedly) Ed Sheeran testifies on first day of Thinking Out Loud song-theft trial
• Ed Sheeran gets his guitar out in court as song-theft case continues
• Ed Sheeran calls musicologist’s actions “criminal” in Thinking Out Loud song-theft trial
• Ed Sheeran losing will remove “an essential element in every songwriter’s toolkit”, argues lawyer in song-theft case
• Ed Sheeran did not rip off Let’s Get It On says jury in song-theft case
• Live Nation responds to proposed new ticketing regulations in the US

ALSO MENTIONED
• The Great Escape conference

MORE FROM CMU
• Upcoming CMU webinars
• Buy MMF and CMU Insights’ Dissecting The Digital Dollar book on Amazon
• Sign up to receive the CMU Daily news bulletin
• Listen to the full Setlist theme tune

CMU’s Andy Malt and Chris Cooke review key events in music and the music business from the last week, including Universal Music latest call for streaming platforms to play their part in ensuring that generative AI tools are not infringing the copyrights of the music industry, plus the news that cassette sales are booming and driving chart success in the UK.

SECTION TIMES
01: AI (00:05:49)
02: Cassettes (00:27:31)
(Timings may be slightly different due to adverts)

STORIES DISCUSSED THIS WEEK
• Universal Music again demands streaming platform support over AI-created music as fake Drake goes viral
• Drake says AI generated Ice Spice cover is “the final straw”
• Liam Gallagher says AI version of himself sounds “mega”
• Idiots rejoice! The cassette revival continues

ALSO MENTIONED
• The Great Escape conference
• Download the TGE app

MORE FROM CMU
• Upcoming CMU webinars
• Buy MMF and CMU Insights’ Dissecting The Digital Dollar book on Amazon
• Sign up to receive the CMU Daily news bulletin
• Listen to the full Setlist theme tune

A special edition of the show recorded live at Wide Days in Edinburgh. CMU’s Chris Cooke is joined on stage by Clara Cullen from Music Venue Trust, Toni Malyn from EmuBands and Silvia Montello from AIM. As Setlist returns after a short break, our guests dissect three topics that have been big talking points within the music industry in recent months: the ongoing challenges in the live sector, the debate around making streaming more “artist-centric”, and the increasingly urgent discussions about music-making AI.

SECTION TIMES
01: Live sector (00:04:25)
02: Streaming (00:23:40)
03: AI (00:43:15)
(Timings may be slightly different due to adverts)

STORIES DISCUSSED THIS WEEK
•  Music Venue Trust annual report says grassroots venues are “operating on razor thin margins” and often “struggling to survive”
• Own Our Venues initiative to move onto venue-buying phase, MVT confirms
• Universal boss says streaming needs to shift to an “artist-centric” model
• Universal Music announces alliance with Tidal to shake up the streaming business model
• Universal and Deezer’s alliance to find “potential new economic models for streaming” officially announced
• Music industry organisations back Human Artistry Campaign putting the spotlight on generative AI debates

ALSO MENTIONED
• An edition of Setlist where we explained user-centric royalty distribution

MORE FROM CMU
• Upcoming CMU events
• Buy MMF and CMU Insights’ Dissecting The Digital Dollar book on Amazon
• Sign up to receive the CMU Daily news bulletin
• Listen to the full Setlist theme tune

CMU’s Andy Malt and Chris Cooke review key events in music and the music business from the last week, including Hybe CEO Park Ji-won’s defence of his company’s recent acquisition of shares in rival SM Entertainment after its management hit out at the deal, plus concerns raised by two more US senators about TikTok and its Chinese parent company Bytedance and what access the Chinese government has to users and user-data on the video sharing platform.

SECTION TIMES
01: Hybe (00:06:51)
02: TikTok (00:19:11)
(Timings may be slightly different due to adverts)

STORIES DISCUSSED THIS WEEK
• Hybe CEO defends his company’s bid to control rival SM Entertainment
• Hybe boss sets out vision for SM alliance
• Two more US senators hit out at TikTok over data concerns
• European Commission bans staff from using TikTok on work devices over data concerns

ALSO MENTIONED
• David Bowie archive acquisition (V&A press release)

MORE FROM CMU
• Upcoming CMU webinars
• Buy MMF and CMU Insights’ Dissecting The Digital Dollar book on Amazon
• Sign up to receive the CMU Daily news bulletin
• Listen to the full Setlist theme tune

CMU’s Andy Malt and Chris Cooke review key events in music and the music business from the last week, including the boss of Scottish live music firm DF Concerts' proclamation that any ban on alcohol brands sponsoring shows and festivals would be “nothing short of disastrous for Scotland’s live music industry”, plus the Australian record industry’s anger at TikTok over its ongoing experiment in the country to test the role music plays on the video-sharing platform. 

SECTION TIMES
01: Alcohol ban (00:05:28)
02: Merch fees (00:20:14)
(Timings may be slightly different due to adverts)

STORIES DISCUSSED THIS WEEK
• DF Concerts chief says that alcohol sponsorship ban in Scotland would be “nothing short of disastrous” for the country’s live sector
• TikTok is working super hard on tackling harmful content and data concerns, says TikTok

ALSO MENTIONED
• CMU at SXSW, MENT and Liverpool Sound City

MORE FROM CMU
• Upcoming CMU webinars
• Buy MMF and CMU Insights’ Dissecting The Digital Dollar book on Amazon
• Sign up to receive the CMU Daily news bulletin
• Listen to the full Setlist theme tune

CMU’s Andy Malt and Chris Cooke review key events in music and the music business from the last week, including Live Nation and Ticketmaster coming under fire from both sides of the political spectrum, as the US Senate Judiciary Committee staged a session looking at ticketing following the problems that occurred last year when tickets for Taylor Swift’s upcoming tour went on sale via Ticketmaster’s Verified Fan system, plus one US venue company’s decision to stop taking a cut of income when artists sell merch at gigs.

SECTION TIMES
01: Live Nation (00:07:53)
02: Merch fees (00:29:12)
(Timings may be slightly different due to adverts)

STORIES DISCUSSED THIS WEEK
• Live Nation’s market dominance in the spotlight at Congressional hearing
• US venue owner axes merch commissions following artist’s testimony in Congress
• Artists welcome progress on venue merch commissions, but call for more venues to drop their merchandise fees

ALSO MENTIONED
• Rick Astley says Yung Gravy track infringed his publicity rights
• Clyde Lawrence’s full statement to US Congress (judiciary.senate.gov)

MORE FROM CMU
• Upcoming CMU webinars
• Buy MMF and CMU Insights’ Dissecting The Digital Dollar book on Amazon
• Sign up to receive the CMU Daily news bulletin
• Listen to the full Setlist theme tune

CMU’s Andy Malt and Chris Cooke review key events in music and the music business from the last week, including the campaign against proposed cuts to BBC Music Introducing, which gained momentum last week after a plethora of music industry organisations published an open letter to the board of the BBC seeking reassurance that the service does not become an “unintended victim” of any changes being made to ensure the “future stability and viability” of the broadcaster.

STORIES DISCUSSED THIS WEEK
• Music industry groups say cuts to BBC Introducing local radio shows would be “fundamental blow to the health of the entire grassroots sector”
• Tom Robinson urges artists and music fans to communicate their appreciation for the local BBC Introducing shows
• BBC provides update on local radio cutbacks
• BBC execs defend local radio cuts to MPs (December 2022)
• BBC boss Tim Davie talks about an internet-centric future with fewer TV channels and radio stations (December 2022)

ALSO MENTIONED
• PRS announces new funding model for PRS Foundation, securing current levels of support
• Full transcript of Tim Davie's Royal Television Society speech (BBC)

MORE FROM CMU
• Upcoming CMU webinars
• Buy MMF and CMU Insights’ Dissecting The Digital Dollar book on Amazon
• Sign up to receive the CMU Daily news bulletin
• Listen to the full Setlist theme tune