The music business explained: news, analysis, insights and jobs for music industry professionals

📑 CMU Digest: Spotify damps supremium hype, PRS sues Live Nation, hammer falls on Utopia

PRS files lawsuit against Live Nation over VIP ticketing saying live giant shows “disregard” for creators rights to proper payment

Mitchell Asset Management boss says the future of the music business is kids “buying P Diddy skins” in Fortnite. Is it time for Proper Group's investors to ask for their money back?

Triller brings in former VEVO exec to kickstart “transformation journey” as vertical video’s poor cousin licks its lips at prospect of TikTok ban

Sony Music shows off “next-generation immersive technologies”, trails upcoming Myles Smith Fortnite event

The music industry is entering the era of “Streaming 2.0” and could be on course for 2 billion paying subscribers says Universal Music boss Lucian Grainge

The 1975 respond to Malaysian festival promoter’s lawsuit

New York District Attorney brings criminal charges against man accused of sophisticated streaming fraud that raked in more than $10 million

Hipgnosis “fraudulently induced” Barry Manilow to sell his artist royalties with “false promises”

Michael Rapino knew about Travis Scott’s “dangerous concert antics” says court filing as Live Nation desperately tries to avoid CEO’s deposition in Astroworld case

Rachel Chinouriri cancels US support shows, putting the spotlight back on the ‘cost of touring crisis’

Isaac Hayes estate sues Donald Trump for copyright infringement

📑 CMU Digest: Cox takes major label dispute to Supreme Court + court dismisses Eminem publisher's Spotify lawsuit

Anthropic’s “tired arguments” and “scare tactics” should be rejected, say music organisations

TikTok forced to ditch “addictive” Lite rewards scheme in the EU

Suno admits it trained on major-owned music, accuses labels of misusing copyright

Lucian Grainge is back on the win-win, but which DSP is off his christmas card list? It’s not hard to guess.

Major label trade group criticises Canada’s 5% streaming levy

Spotify’s Q2: Cost cutting is paying off, Ek teases Supremium launch, hints at secret features beyond hi-res audio

SXSW London could disrupt delicately balanced music ecosystem and should reconsider its date

Could Co-op Group terminate Manchester arena naming rights deal? Fury mounts as safety incident forces yet more Co-op Live show cancellations

CNM statement shows that Spotify’s rage about new French streaming levy misrepresents key facts

France has stood firm against Spotify’s bullying - and Spotify is having a tantrum

WMG is toying with an offer for Believe that would wipe out Warner’s cash reserves - but is it serious, would Believe shareholders sell and can WMG afford to bet the farm?

Mean Millennials scrap streaming subscriptions, mail order music is booming - and Apple Music might be making £500 million or more in the UK

Manchester City Council has spent nearly £90,000 fighting Night & Day legal battle

Hipgnosis Songs Fund takes a haircut - and might have bigger problems to come

Dodgy distributor 3tone linked to company being investigated by Serious Fraud Office

Artificial Intelligence and the music industry in 2023

UK Music • 3 min read

UK music industry's economic impact up 13% to £7.6 billion, but this is no time to be complacent, says UK Music

The UK music industry’s economic impact increased last year, with the sector’s ‘gross value added’ rising 13% to £7.6 billion. That’s according to a new report from UK Music which says that, although the industry is growing, it still needs more support from the government…

Chris Cooke • 20 Nov 2024

Amazon • 3 min read

Amazon adds audiobooks access to its music service, though won’t rely on bundling discount in the US

American music publishers say they are “optimistic” that Amazon adding audiobooks to its music subscription service won’t impact on the royalties received by songwriters. Unlike with Spotify, which used the addition of audiobooks to claim a discount on what it pays under the US compulsory licence…

Chris Cooke • 20 Nov 2024

Ed Sheeran • 3 min read

Ed Sheeran song-theft case should be reconsidered because of fishy Supreme Court ruling, says SAS

The Second Circuit Appeals Court recently ruled that Ed Sheeran’s ‘Thinking Out Loud’ doesn’t rip off Marvin Gaye’s ‘Let’s Get It On’. But the company involved in that lawsuit says a recent US Supreme Court ruling impacts on a copyright technicality that could change that judgement…

Chris Cooke • 20 Nov 2024

TikTok • 3 min read

Trump nominates outspoken TikTok critic for top FCC position

Despite previously trying to ban TikTok when he was President, Donald Trump vowed to save the app during the recent election campaign by overturning the sell-or-be-banned law passed by US Congress earlier this year. But now Trump has nominated a very outspoken TikTok critic to chair the FCC…

Chris Cooke • 19 Nov 2024

Musi • 2 min read

Labels told Apple six times to kick Musi out of App Store, new legal filing reveals

In September, Apple kicked music app Musi out of its App Store following a complaint from YouTube. Musi then sued Apple. In response, Apple says that it also received numerous complaints from the record industry, and that Musi knows what the issues are with its repurposing of YouTube content…

Chris Cooke • 19 Nov 2024

Diddy • 3 min read

Diddy accused of contacting witnesses from prison; while he accuses prosecutors of breaching attorney-client privilege

In a busy day for Diddy legal news, the musician has been accused of breaking prison rules by contacting witnesses in the case against him; his lawyers have accused prosecutors of breaching attorney-client privilege; and a lawyer working on lawsuits against Diddy has been accused of extortion…

Chris Cooke • 19 Nov 2024

CMU Approved • 1 min read

🎧 Approved: TYSON

Emerging from the fringe R&B scene during the pandemic, TYSON has gradually and artfully carved out her own space in the landscape of modern soul. Balancing the introspection of new motherhood with a shedding of her late 20s uncertainties, her new EP ‘Chaos’ is brimming with clarity and purpose…

Kaya Robertson • 19 Nov 2024

Kanye • 2 min read

“Antisemitic tirades and conspiracies” a daily occurrence when working for Kanye West, claims latest lawsuit from ex-employee

Kanye West is accused of spouting “antisemitic tirades and conspiracies” on a daily basis, and of making an employee wait for a meeting while he had sex in an adjacent room, twice, in the latest lawsuit filed against the rapper by an aggrieved former employee…

Chris Cooke • 18 Nov 2024

Robbie Williams • 3 min read

Robbie Williams hits out at former manager Nigel Martin-Smith saying he had “the brain but not the heart” to manage him

Both Robbie Williams and original Take That manager Nigel Martin-Smith appear in a new BBC documentary called ‘Boybands Forever’. Martin-Smith says Williams was “smart” to blame him for his drug taking in the 1990s, prompting Williams to urge his former manager to show some “contrition”…

Chris Cooke • 18 Nov 2024

The Loop • 3 min read

Major breakthrough for drugs safety as The Loop announces year round drug monitoring at key London and Manchester venues

The Loop has secured a licence from the Home Office that will allow it to undertake year-round drug monitoring at venues in London and Manchester, to better “inform our understanding of the UK’s changing drug market”, with learnings communicated to the public and emergency services…

Chris Cooke • 18 Nov 2024

Releases & Tours • 2 min read

⏩ Releases & Tours: Nov 2024 (Week 46)

Each week CMU rounds up standout releases and tour announcements from the last seven days This week: 070 Shake, FKA twigs, Jack White, TYSON + more, while tour announcements include Tommy Richman, Robbie Williams + more…

Kaya Robertson • 18 Nov 2024

CMU Digest • 11 min read