Setlist

CMU’s Andy Malt and Chris Cooke review key events in music and the music business from the last week, including songs rights data announcements that saw PRS For Music in the UK set out plans to launch a new online portal that will provide easy access to key data linked to the songs catalogue it represents and American collecting society MLC launch a new tool that allows music distributors to easily access data on unclaimed mechanical royalties in the US for over two million recordings, plus Pusha T's latest entry into the world of corporate diss tracks.

STORIES DISCUSSED THIS WEEK
• PRS announces plans for new portal offering easy access to song rights data
• MLC launches unmatched royalty identification tool
• Pusha T drops second McDonald’s diss track

ALSO MENTIONED
• Listen to the full Setlist theme tune
• The Great Escape announces First Fifty shows and 2023 CMU+TGE themes
• Buy your TGE delegate pass
• Dissecting The Digital Dollar reports
• Pusha T - Spicy Fish Diss Track
• Pusha T - Rib Roast
• Pusha T’s New Diss Track Is an Arby’s Ad. Here’s Why He’s Laughing All the Way to the Bank (Rolling Stone, March 2022)
• The Contentious Tale of the McDonald’s “I’m Lovin’ It” Jingle (Pitchfork, July 2016)
• Pusha T McDonald's advert (2003)
• Arby's x Pusha T merch

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

CMU’s Andy Malt and Chris Cooke review key events in music and the music business from the last week, including the Recording Industry Association Of America’s stats about the US recorded music market in the first half of 2022, and the live music and night-time sectors’ response to the UK government’s energy price cap for businesses and new budget.

STORIES DISCUSSED THIS WEEK
• RIAA stats confirm 9% growth in US recorded music market so far this year
• Live sector cautiously welcomes energy price cap, but says more action still needed

ALSO MENTIONED
• Triller Verzuz Timbaland and Swizz Beatz is settled

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 ruling that Lizzo can keep the $5 million fee she was paid to play the 2020 LA Virgin Fest that never happened because of COVID, and YouTube's announcement that it handed more than $6 billion over to the music industry in the twelve months to June this year.

STORIES DISCUSSED THIS WEEK
• Lizzo can keep $5 million fee from COVID cancelled Virgin Fest, judge rules
• YouTube paid out $6 billion to the music industry over the last year

ALSO MENTIONED
• Worldwide FM to pause new programmes so to “re-organise and re-evaluate”
• Loud & Quiet financial troubles statement (Twitter)
• Loud And Quiet announces subscriptions to help weather COVID-19 crisis (April 2020)
• CMU Podcast: Convergence Sessions Special (March 2016)
• Lyor Cohen blog post (YouTube Official Blog)

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 new figures from the UK's Entertainment Retailers Association showing that, so far this year, vinyl albums have risen up the ranks to become the second most successful form of physical media in terms of revenues, plus Taylor Swift's efforts to block two expert witnesses from testifying, and limit the testimony of a third, in the upcoming ‘Shake It Off’ song theft trial. 

STORIES DISCUSSED THIS WEEK
• Vinyl overtakes Playstation games, DVDs and CDs as UK’s second best-selling physical entertainment format
• Taylor Swift asks for expert witnesses to be dropped from upcoming Shake It Off trial due to lack of expertise

ALSO MENTIONED
• Music community pays tribute to Queen Elizabeth II

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 calls from various music industry organisations urging the incoming new UK Prime Minister to provide urgent support for music venues, recording studios and the wider night-time sector as they tackle surging energy bills and the cost of living crisis, plus bad news for people who invested in merch company Awesome after it went into administration.

STORIES DISCUSSED THIS WEEK
• UK Music and NTIA call for urgent support for music companies facing surging energy bills
• Awesome Merchandise founder comments on firm’s pre-pack administration

ALSO MENTIONED
• Streaming services and music publishers reach deal on song royalty rates in the US

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 claims of racism that saw 'virtual' rapper FN Meka dropped by Universal's Capitol label, and the controversy surrounding the discovery that digital processes have been used by a supposedly analogue reissues label for more than a decade.

STORIES DISCUSSED THIS WEEK
• Capitol drops ‘virtual’ rapper FN Meka after claims of racism
• Human voice of ‘AI’ rapper FN Meka says he was cut out of the project
• FN Meka spokesperson Anthony Martini quits project, admits there was less AI involved than claimed
• Audiophile label sued over misleading statements regarding its mastering process

ALSO MENTIONED
• Michael Jackson’s nephew says Harry Styles cannot be the ‘new king of pop’
• Capitol Drops ‘Virtual Rapper’ FN Meka After Backlash Over Stereotypes (New York Times)
• This robot rapper and 9m following on TikTok. The company that created him thinks traditional A&R is 'inefficient and unreliable' (Music Business Worldwide, April 2021)

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 Timbaland and Swizz Beats suing video sharing platform Triller over $28 million they say the company owes them from a deal relating to the popular livestream DJ battle series Verzuz, Snoop Dogg's new breakfast cereal, and the legal battle over the name of Nicki Minaj's Barbie-Que Honey Truffle potato chips.

STORIES DISCUSSED THIS WEEK
• Timbaland and Swizz Beats sue Triller
• Snoop Dogg launches breakfast cereal, Snoop Loopz
• Mattel sues over Nicki Minaj’s Barbie-Que snacks

ALSO MENTIONED
• HitPiece back from the dead

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 Taylor Swift's statement to a US court as part of the long-running song-theft legal battle over her 2014 hit ‘Shake It Off’ in which she explains how she came up with the lyrics for her track, while also insisting there was no way she could have been exposed to the song she is accused of ripping off before creating ‘Shake It Off’, plus some interesting new stats comparing consumer spending in the UK on recorded music and live music - and the impact of COVID-19 on all that.

STORIES DISCUSSED THIS WEEK
• Taylor Swift submits statement to court in ongoing Shake It Off song-theft legal battle
• From Suffering to Recovering: The stats that explain why the UK music industry is set for a dramatic post-lockdown comeback (Music Business Worldwide)

ALSO MENTIONED
• UK label spend on A&R and marketing reach almost £500 million last year

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. Well, this week we are looking at just one of the biggest and most interesting news stories of the last week, because last Tuesday the UK’s Competition & Markets Authority published an interim report based on its market study into the streaming music sector - and given it’s 97 pages long, we figured that was probably enough material to fill an edition of Setlist.

STORIES DISCUSSED THIS WEEK
• CMA declines to recommend a full market investigation into music streaming

OTHER LINKS
• Full CMA Music And Streaming report
• Mixed response from music industry to CMA’s decision on streaming investigation
• Full DCMS Economics Of Streaming Inquiry timeline
• Buy MMF and CMU Insights’ Dissecting The Digital Dollar book on Amazon

MORE FROM CMU
• Upcoming CMU webinars
• 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 Warner Music joining SoundCloud’s user-centric Fan-Powered Royalties initiative, and Spotify CEO Daniel Ek’s continued, but seemingly futile efforts to avoid giving a deposition in a legal battle with Eminem’s publishing company, Eight Mile Style. 

STORIES DISCUSSED THIS WEEK
• Warner Music signs up to SoundCloud’s user-centric initiative
• US judge again declines to delay Daniel Ek deposition in Eminem v Spotify case

ALSO MENTIONED
• YoungBoy Never Broke Again found not guilty of illegal gun possession in LA
• AIM publishes insights on the artist growth model for streaming royalty distribution (July 2021)
• Deezer steps up endorsement of user-centric approach to digital royalties (October 2019)
• Eminem publisher sues Spotify, declares Music Modernization Act unconstitutional (August 2019)

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