Setlist – Details, episodes & analysis

On this week’s show, we discuss the launch of the record industry’s first major lawsuits against music-generating AI companies - with the RIAA coordinating litigation against Suno and Udio - plus a group of songwriters are suing PRS.

SECTION TIMES
01: Labels v Suno + Udio (00:04:30)
02: News in brief (00:15:20)
03: Songwriters v PRS (00:18:05)
(Timings may be slightly different due to adverts)

THIS WEEK'S MAIN STORIES
• Suno and Udio’s “lawless” behaviour cheapens human creativity with sound-a-likes and knock-offs says watershed RIAA lawsuit
• Suno boss accuses music industry of “reverting to its old lawyer-led playbook”
• Udio responds to record label lawsuit insisting its AI model ‘listens’ rather than ‘copies’
• PRS sued over “unreasonable and unnecessary hurdles” for writers directly licensing their live performances

NEWS IN BRIEF
• UK Music names Tom Kiehl as new CEO
• Live Nation boss Michael Rapino sued by shareholder over DoJ action
• SiriusXM breaches consumer rights by charging an extra music royalties extra fee, says lawsuit
• KKR acquires Superstruct

ALSO MENTIONED
• SXSW ditches weapons sponsors to burnish brand - so why won’t it ditch its ties to Saudi Arabia?

On this week’s show, we discuss the latest escalation in the fight over Spotify’s reclassification of its premium subscription as an audiobook and music bundle in the US, the lawsuit against Drake for putting one of his own song titles on a t-shirt, and the return of the band formerly known as Easy Life, who have nothing to do with easyJet.

SECTION TIMES
01: Spotify (00:10:22)
02: News in brief (00:17:24)
03: Drake and Hard Life (00:19:28)
(Timings may be slightly different due to adverts)

THIS WEEK'S MAIN STORIES
• Music publishers now fighting Spotify audiobook bundling trick on multiple fronts
• Drake sued over t-shirts referencing his track ‘Members Only’
• Easy Life return as Hard Life following easyGroup legal battle

NEWS IN BRIEF
• The COVID trend of late-in-the-day ticket purchases has continued, says Eventbrite
• Musicians now see success from a more long-term perspective, study finds
• Martin Shkreli ordered to hand over copies of Wu-Tang album

ALSO MENTIONED
• Touting, touring and AI in the spotlight in election manifestos

On this week's show we discuss the ruling in the long-running noise dispute involving Manchester's Night & Day that allows the venue to continue running club nights but potentially puts other nearby venues at risk, plus the BPI’s legal threats against a service that uses AI to create cover versions of songs in seconds.

SECTION TIMES
01: Night & Day (00:08:13)
02: News in brief (00:15:15)
03: Voicify (00:19:57)
(Timings may be slightly different due to adverts)

THIS WEEK'S MAIN STORIES
• Night & Day ruling makes it “open season” on Manchester’s night-time economy says Music Venue Trust boss
• BPI threatens to sue voice cloning site Voicify

NEWS IN BRIEF
• More performers seeking specialist health support, says BAPAM
• Music and visual arts organisations back new climate change charity Murmur
• Black Eyed Peas sued for licensing interpolation but not sample of Scatman
• IFPI report shows 10.2% growth in global recorded music market
• MIDiA shows $35.1 billion in global recorded music revenues - but what does that number actually mean?

ALSO MENTIONED
• Spotify publishes new Loud & Clear, says the focus now is artists “dependent on streaming as part of their livelihood”
• Thom Yorke calls Spotify 'the last desperate fart of a dying corpse' (The Guardian)

CMU’s Andy Malt and Chris Cooke review key events in music and the music business from the last week, including Coldplay’s plans to employ various technological solutions to reduce the environmental impact of their world tour next year, plus the music publishers' plans to push for the mechanical royalty rate on streaming in the US to be increased again in 2023. 

SECTION TIMES
01: Coldplay (00:07:52)
02: Copyright Royalty Board (00:23:48)
(Timings may be slightly different due to adverts)

STORIES DISCUSSED THIS WEEK
• Coldplay announce plans for environmentally friendly world tour
• US music publishers to push for new streaming rate of 20%

ALSO MENTIONED
• That song that almost got to Christmas number number one

MORE FROM CMU
• 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 Tina Turner’s wide-ranging deal with BMG in which she has given up her recordings, songs and brand for a reported $50 million, plus Friendly Fires’ anger after British Prime Minister Boris Johnson walked onto the stage at the Conservative Party’s annual conference to the sound of their song, ‘Blue Cassette’.

SECTION TIMES
01: Tina Turner (00:06:02)
02: Friendly Fires (00:22:34)
(Timings may be slightly different due to adverts)

STORIES DISCUSSED THIS WEEK
• BMG announces wide-ranging rights deal with Tina Turner
• Friendly Fires hit out after their track is used at start of ‘Boris’ Johnson speech

ALSO MENTIONED
• Kanye West accepting admissions for his new school

MORE FROM CMU
• 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 Donald Trump's failed attempt to have a copyright infringement case brought against him by Eddy Grant dismissed on the grounds of fair use, and the attempt by the man who (as a baby) appeared on the cover of Nirvana's 'Nevermind' album to have the artwork on the record's 30th anniversary reissue censored. 

SECTION TIMES
01: Electric Avenue (00:02:19)
02: Nevermind (00:18:13)
(Timings may be slightly different due to adverts)

STORIES DISCUSSED THIS WEEK
• New York judge declines to dismiss Eddy Grant’s copyright case against Donald Trump
• Nevermind baby demands that the album’s artwork be edited on all future re-releases

ALSO MENTIONED
• R Kelly is guilty
• Britney Spears’ father removed from conservatorship role

MORE FROM CMU
• 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. This week we focus on just one story – because there’s a lot to say about it – the British government’s response to Parliament’s big ‘Economics Of Music Streaming’ report published by Parliament’s Digital, Culture, Media & Sport Select Committee in July.

SECTION TIMES
01: Economics of streaming response (00:03:52)
(Timings may be slightly different due to adverts)

STORIES DISCUSSED THIS WEEK
• Government responds to Parliament’s economics of streaming report
• Responses to the UK government’s response to Parliament’s Economics Of Streaming Report
• Merck Mercuriadis responds to NMPA chief and UK government on impact of majors on song royalties
• MU and #brokenrecord welcome government’s economics of streaming response, but want more commitment on copyright reforms
• Intellectual Property Office publishes report on music-makers’ earnings

ALSO MENTIONED
• Music Copyright Explained (IPO & CMU Insights)
• Dissecting The Digital Dollar (MMF & CMU Insights)
• Good 4 Who? How Music Copyright Has Gone Too Far (The Verge’s Decoder podcast)

MORE FROM CMU
• Buy MMF and CMU Insights’ Dissecting The Digital Dollar book on Amazon
• Sign up to receive the CMU Daily news bulletin

Setlist’s Chris Cooke presents a live version of the programme at the Spot+ conference in Aarhus, Denmark. He is joined by a panel of industry experts to review key events in music and the music business from the last week, including the RIAA’s latest stats, Portishead’s user-centric royalties on SoundCloud, Epic Games and Apple, COVID passports, and why Ed Sheeran hates American awards ceremonies. 

PANEL
• Maria Borg, Digital Partners & Export Manager at discowax / Sony Music
• Helienne Lindvall, songwriter + board director at Ivors Academy
• Daniel Nordgård, Associate Professor in music business at University Of Agder
• Josh Greenberg, Creative Strategy Consultant at Green Mountain Lodge
• Stein Bjelland, President at Stein70000 + Chair of Music Norway

SECTION TIMES
01: RIAA (00:04:37)
02: SoundCloud (00:26:05)
03: Epic v Apple (00:35:00)
04: COVID passports (00:48:28)
05: Ed Sheeran (00:55:46)
(Timings may be slightly different due to adverts)

STORIES DISCUSSED THIS WEEK
• US record industry scores 27% growth in first half of 2021
• SoundCloud says user-centric boosted the royalties for Portishead’s SOS by 500%
• Epic v Apple ruling favours the tech giant, but forces big concession on the App Store’s payment rules
• COVID Passports remain in UK government’s Plan B for tackling the next phase of the pandemic
• American awards ceremonies are “horrible”, says Ed Sheeran

MORE FROM CMU
• 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 Sex Pistols’ appearance in the High Court in a dispute over a sync deal to include the band’s music in a new show directed by Danny Boyle based on the memoir of guitarist Steve Jones, plus Sony Music’s lawsuit against sportswear brand Gymshark accusing it of using unlicensed music in social media promos for years.

SECTION TIMES
01: Streaming royalties (00:12:49)
02: Sainsbury’s (00:28:51)
(Timings may be slightly different due to adverts)

STORIES DISCUSSED THIS WEEK
• Sex Pistols in court over sync deals and a 1988 band agreement
• John Lydon is a “total dick”, former bandmate confirms in court
• Sex Pistols are probably “gone for good” following sync deal bust up, Paul Cook confirms
• John Lydon says he doesn’t remember signing “terrifying” Sex Pistols band agreement as sync deal dispute continues
• John Lydon lawyer says he wasn’t aware of 1988 band agreement until a previous licensing dispute

ALSO MENTIONED
• The Mercury Prize shortlist has only gone and been announced
• Danny Boyle to direct Sex Pistols TV series
• John Lydon calls Sex Pistols TV series “disrespectful”
• Sony Music sues Gymshark over unlicensed recordings in its social media videos

MORE FROM CMU
• Buy MMF and CMU Insights’ Dissecting The Digital Dollar book on Amazon
• Sign up to receive the CMU Daily news bulletin

Taking a break from the usual format, on this week’s Setlist CMU’s Andy Malt and Chris Cooke discuss the culture select committee of the UK parliament’s newly published report based on its inquiry into the economics of the music streaming business, including the key findings, what the committee got wrong, and an important question that should probably get answered before anyone instigates the “complete reset” of the entire music streaming business that the committee called for. 

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STORIES DISCUSSED THIS WEEK
• UK Parliament calls for “complete reset” of music streaming, including ER for performers and competition investigation into the majors

ALSO MENTIONED
• The full Economics Of Streaming report
• Setlist: The ten things people get wrong about streaming (part one)
• Setlist: The ten things people get wrong about streaming (part two)
• Buy MMF and CMU Insights’ Dissecting The Digital Dollar book on Amazon

MORE FROM CMU
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