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Music driving UK demand for tech, BPI study says The record industry trade group's study states that UK consumers spend around 23% more on music than in other G7 countries, and this in turn correlates to increased tech sales. For every 1% increase in demand for music, for instance, there is a 1.4% correlating increase in smartphone purchasing. And that rises to 2.2% for tablets. Of course, you could argue that gadget-happy people realise the possibilities for consuming more music once they've bought their shiny new internet-connected devices, and that the BPI has got this all the wrong way around. But how's that going to convince government and tech companies to place more value on music? Shut up, you. While over the five years studied, tech companies apparently made £11 billion simply from having music available on their products, the recorded music sector only brought in £4.2 billion for itself. So, you can see why the record industry might now feel like it could do with having its back scratched in return. But how? Well, let's just say it's an amazing coincidence that this study has been published just as the new private copy right comes into effect. This puts into UK law the right for people to legally rip tracks from their CDs to their computers and then put them on their MP3 players. Their MP3 players that over five years put £384 million into the pockets of the tech industry, purely because buying them gave people access to music (says the BPI study). In other European countries, the private copy right (long established there) is offset by a 'levy' charged on tech devices and paid back to the music industry, in recognition that those devices (starting with cassette tapes way back in the mists of time) are used for purposes only possible when recorded music can be copied. The UK government is not putting such a levy in place as the new copyright exemption goes live here, something which music industry trade bodies (like, say, the BPI) are not particularly pleased about. And it's possible that they will challenge this move in the courts, likely arguing that having no levy in place puts the UK out of kilter with the rest of Europe. The tech sector is making a similar argument - though with the slight tweak that the UK not having a levy should be a cue for other European countries to drop theirs as well. So that's fun. Talking up the new study, BPI big cheese Geoff Taylor said this morning: "It is well-known that recorded music is one of the UK's most successful exports, but this study demonstrates that Britain's love of it also boosts our economy by generating billions of pounds a year in additional consumer technology sales". Really pushing the point, he added: "The relationship between music and tech is symbiotic. Record labels work hand in hand with technology companies every day to create fantastic digital music experiences for fans. The spirit of innovation that drives technology forward also lies at the heart of the authentic and unique global appeal of British music - and the fast-growing tech sector stands to benefit from the wonderful creativity of our musicians". Then under his breath, he whispered "you bastards". Maybe. No, I'm sure he didn't. He's very professional. He'd just think it quietly to himself later when no one was looking. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Roam responds to Beats lawsuit against its founder As previously reported, Lamar did have an alliance with Beats founders Jimmy Iovine and Dr Dre when they were first dabbling in the tech space, and their one-time business partner claims the idea of putting Dre's name to headphones was his idea. The partnership fell apart though, with Lamar eventually securing a royalty on some Beats products, though that deal is now the subject of new legal action. Meanwhile Lamar has a new headphones venture called Roam, and has been annoying the management at Beats, and its new owner Apple, by playing on his involvement in the evolution of the Beats headphones business. So much so they are now suing him for allegedly making "false and misleading" statements in promoting his new company. But a spokesman for Roam has hit out at the lawsuit, insisting that Lamar has every right to big up his involvement in the creation of the original Beats By Dr Dre concept. And while Apple/Beats are right to say Lamar was not an employee of or shareholder in the actual Beats Electronics, LLC company, Roam says their founder has never claimed to be either of these things. A Roam spokesperson told CMU: "This lawsuit is filled with erroneous and unsubstantiated claims. Steven Lamar's role and significant contribution as a creator of the Beats By Dr Dre brand and its headphone product line have been acknowledged for nearly a decade. This is the reason for his agreement to receive royalty payments from Beats". They go on: "Mr Lamar does not claim to be a shareholder or employee in any 'Beats' related businesses established after he, Jimmy Iovine and Andre Young settled their dispute in 2007. We look forward to an immediate and positive resolution to this matter". | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Neil Diamond signs with WME Confirming the deal, WME's Head Of Music Marc Geiger told reporters: "Neil is truly a living legend and remains one of the most influential and prolific artists of all time. We are incredibly honoured to be working with him as he embarks on another step in his remarkable career". -------------------------------------------------- Adam Alpert launches alliance with Sony/ATV Confirming the new business alliance, Sony/ATV boss man Marty Bandier told reporters: "Adam Alpert is a clued-up young businessman who has demonstrated with The Chainsmokers that he can turn his extensive knowledge of the dance music world into real commercial success. We at Sony/ATV are excited to now be partnering with him in this new venture and look forward to enjoying more hits together". Meanwhile Alpert added: "Selector Songs will be both a home for the most exciting and established producers, songwriters, and musicians as well as an incubator for the burgeoning talent of the future. Rounding out the one-stop shop of Disruptor Management and Disruptor Records, Selector Songs will focus on long-term artist development and modern recipes for success". | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Ariana Grande ties up with water brand for kids Grande now even has an equity stake in the company, which peddles water in a bottle to American children six to thirteen (an admirable endeavour, of course, designed to counter the subtle kid-targeting marketing-machines of the much less reputable sugary-syrup-peddlers that certain music stars endorse). Pop's 'Problem' maker will now feature on a limited edition Wat-AAH! bottle and in a bigger marketing campaign for the water product next year. She's also contractually obliged to issue statements like this: "Living a healthy lifestyle is so important to me, and this is one of the reasons I chose to partner with Wat-AAH! My fans are my everything, and because of this, I could only endorse something I believe in. Also, I love drinking water and I want to inspire my fans to do the same. Now as a partner in the company, I am excited to share Wat-AAH! with everyone!" | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Baboom cuts ties with Kim Dotcom As previously reported, Dotcom announced his direct-to-fan music service, originally called Megabox, not long after US authorities took his file-transfer service offline in January 2012. After numerous delays, and the name change to Baboom, the service was demoed in January this year with Dotcom's own album, 'Good Times'. However, since then, despite suggestions of a stock market floatation and the hiring of former Sony man Tony Smith as CFO, word on the full launch has not been forthcoming. Earlier this year, CMU was told that it was hoped that the launch would come in Q4 this year. And, as I'm sure you're all aware, we entered Q4 yesterday. What Dotcom's departure from the company means for that elusive launch date is unclear, but in a tweet this morning he was clear that he didn't feel like he was helping, saying: "Goodbye Baboom. I was holding you back. The music industry hates me. You'll do better without me. Good luck, my love". Indeed, trying to get the music industry to sign up to a service co-owned by Kim Dotcom was always going to be a hard sell, though the company seemed confident that the quality of its product could overcome this. Possibly it could not. Confirming Dotcom's exit this morning, Baboom CEO Grant Edmundson told Stuff: "The transaction means Dotcom no longer has any equity or role in Baboom, nor any relationship with the company. Kim is moving on to focus on other projects and both camps wish each other well with future plans". Last year Dotcom also stepped down as a director of new file storage service Mega, and after failing to gain many votes for his political party in the recent New Zealand general election he admitted that his 'personal brand' was "poisoned". In leaving Baboom, he seems to concede that - at least at the moment - his involvement in new projects puts them at a severe disadvantage. Which is a bit of a problem for someone whose job is launching new projects. -------------------------------------------------- Tesco looking to get shot of Blinkbox The supermarket chain bought video streaming site Blinkbox in 2011. A year later it bought the We7 music streaming service, later relaunching that as Blinkbox Music. Adding an ebook service to the mix too, Tesco put the expanded Blinkbox brand at the heart of its Hudl tablet, which launched a year ago. With the retailer's profits for the first half of the year recently announced to be £250 million less than previously stated, and with the company losing market share in the supermarket sector, Lewis has been tasked with doing whatever it takes to turn around the company's fortunes. And it's possible he's being told that one of Tesco's recent problems has been over-diversification (HMV-style). Or maybe Team Tesco just all prefer Netflix and Spotify. Whether Blinkbox will be split into its constituent parts or be sold as a whole is unclear. Blinkbox Music claims one million registered users on its own, though in an increasingly competitive market this may not be attractive enough to potential buyers. Earlier this year Bloom failed to find new investment, despite a similar-sized userbase and a similarly interesting business model. According to The Guardian, Blinkbox co-founder Michael Comish, who was made Tesco's Digital Officer last year, will likely stay on with the supermarket company after any sale. Neither Tesco nor Blinbox has commented on the reports, as yet. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Malcolm Young dementia diagnosis confirmed This follows a statement made by the rest of AC/DC last week, announcing that Young was retiring from the band for good because of an unnamed "condition", and won't appear on their new LP 'Rock Or Bust'. Instead, he's been replaced in all capacities by his nephew, Stevie Young. A rep for Young and his family released a brief statement to People in light of questions over the details of his ill health, telling the site: "Malcolm is suffering from dementia and the family thanks you for respecting their privacy". -------------------------------------------------- Mastodon defend silly video Certain viewers of the clip, like for instance The Guardian's Dom Lawson, had disapproved of its wealth of zoomed-in ass-shaking imagery on the basis that, like, maybe it was 'a bit sexist' and a bit cheap and a bit inappropriate, seeing as said shaking half-naked behinds are all attached to female dancers, whilst the all-male Mastodon appear in the vid in all their (quite baggy actually) clothes. Hmm. Following the considerable 'online backlash' against the video, Mastodon's Brann Dailor was moved to talk to Pitchfork and explain why the band had gone with the twerking concept, instead of say, well... a less twerk-y option. "I just wanted to make something that was bizarre, that would confuse people", he tells Pitchfork, adding: "I also thought to myself, what's the most bizarre thing, or what's something people would say completely does not belong in a Mastodon video? And the twerking was sort of what I came up with. I had a bunch of music video ideas but this was the one we were able to do in [one] day, because we didn't have a massive budget and we couldn't pull off some of the other concepts I had". So, twerking dancers are relatively cheap to hire, good to know. Dailor, who says he isn't really keyed in with the Minaj/Swift/Allen/Cyrus-featuring twerking boom of the day, goes on: "It was a fine line, because I didn't want it to come off being sexist, so I thought that maybe the females took centre stage and looked powerful and had this dance battle. It really blossomed and turned into this dance video, and I was like, holy shit, we have a dance video! That's amazing. Some amazingly talented dancers showed up, so it turned into something else". Finally, asked specifically to consider the 'that video's a bit sexist'-themed Guardian piece, he said: "The last thing that I wanted to do was come on and be defensive, because I don't feel like I should have to defend it. It's a music video and it's really not supposed to be something that gets people this upset because this was really a fun thing that doesn't really mean too much. It's not to be taken so seriously". Ergh. The fact that the video was made recently (like a few weeks back recently) places it inevitably on the highly topical, and still developing, 'sexism v feminism' debate timeline, one that's still so visible in the media, in celebrity, and in everyday life itself. And, as blind as Dailor et al might've been to the potential wider ripple-effect resonance of the video, he still says he "knew there was going to be some negativity". So why release it? Why indeed. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Wu-Tang to release album on portable speaker Previously, as you may remember, they announced plans to press up a single copy of their first album since 2007, 'The Wu - Once Upon A Time In Shaolin...' with plans to tour it around art galleries and then flog it to the highest bidder. A group of fans attempted to raise money to get hold of it via Kickstarter. Sadly, they failed to reach their target of $5 million - managing just $15,406 from 688 backers. Ah well, it saves all the arguments over how to share ownership of it, anyway. But, you may remember, 'The Wu' wasn't really the official new album from The WTC anyway. That honour fell on the long-in-production and for a time delayed due to rapper strike 'A Better Tomorrow'. That album was to have a 'more traditional' release. And it will, in good time. But before its released through the usual channels, it'll be made available hard-coded into a portable Bluetooth speaker. Made by Boombotix, the £50 device will also come with an exclusive bonus track, bringing the number of tracks on the record up to a cool eight. Well, if you count the two instrumental versions of other songs on the album as proper tracks. If not, you'll have to make do with six. Basically what I'm saying is that this 'album' only really has five proper songs on it. But anyway, what's the big idea, RZA? Well, he says: "To me, there's something transcendent about being able to physically hold music. With this project, I hope to strengthen the bond between fan and artist. Boombotix puts the artist back in your hands so you can stay connected to your music". Yeah, OK. But it's still inside a portable speaker. And the beauty of portable speakers is that you can hold them in your hand, regardless of whether the music they're playing was pre-loaded onto them or not. So that's where this whole idea basically falls down. But, hey, people will buy them at 50 quid a pop, so who cares if it makes sense or not, right? Pre-order yours here. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Benicassim, Deezer, Skrillex and more • Grime innovator Mumdance and Logos, aka Jack Adams and James Parker, are now the co-directors of their own new label, Different Circles. Dip into its first release, a vari-artist compilation titled 'Weightless Vol 1', here, ahead of its 17 Nov sale-date. • Ticketmaster has teamed up with Spain's Benicassim festival in an international ticketing partnership. We wish them every happiness. Interestingly Festival Republic's Melvin Benn confirmed the deal on behalf of Benicassim rather than the event's more prominent director Vince Power, presumably as a result of FR co-owner Denis Desmond buying into the Spanish fest last year. • Oh so international streaming service Deezer has this week revealed a "stripped back, smart, clean and refined" new design for its user interface, featuring many new features. It pushes music recommendations to the fore. Fancy that. • Mercury nominated GoGo Penguin and Everything Everything launched a thing called Songs For Manchester yesterday. It's a PRS For Music initiative that "celebrates the crucial link between its members and the high street" don't you know. More info here. • Popstar and label boss VV Brown will take part in a Q&A later today at the previously reported 'How To Get Ahead In The Music Industry Without Being A Dick' which is happening at London's Red Bull Studios between 1-10pm. Register for free last minute tickets here. • Skrillex is premiering a new 'concert film', filmed by the people at Red Bull on his 'Mothership' tour, at the Austin City Limits festival in Austin, Texas, on 17 Oct. Have a lil look at its trailer via this link. • Hip hop rappin Compton man YG is playing a show at London's Electric Brixton on 2 Dec. Yay! | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Slipknot festival to stink of camel shit The band's Shawn Crahan tells Rolling Stone how a Slipknot 'museum' set up at the first Knotfest in 2012 was made to smell of camel dung, explaining: "It was awesome; it was beautiful ... A very distinct smell. You can't huff it, but it's got this smell. And it's not necessarily the most comfortable thing, but its not necessarily the worst thing, it's just remembering thoughts - it's gonna be a reoccurring thing". He continued: "I write down things in life that are special, that only living in this thought process can you ever obtain. Freshly mowed grass. How it smells when a nice spring rain hits. Because of Iowa, I like being in a different state that doesn't even have grass and think that I smell fresh-cut grass. It brings me home. Makes me feel safe... So, I figure, since we're not a band anymore - we're a culture, everybody needs to get used to that real quick - that the culture has to have a smell. You have to be able to be somewhere in the world, maybe be in a little pain, and then all of a sudden smell that and feel good again". And so, this year the whole site at Slipknot's festival will have the ban... sorry culture's distinct stink wafting over it. Get your tickets now, folks. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Send ALL press releases to musicnews@unlimitedmedia.co.uk - this is checked daily by the whole editorial team meaning your release will definitely get to the right person. For details of the training and consultancy services offered by CMU Insights click here - Andy and Chris are also available to provide music business comment, just email them direct. To promote your company or advertise jobs or services to the entire UK music industry via the CMU bulletin or website contact Sam on 020 7099 9060 or email ads@unlimitedmedia.co.uk | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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