Setlist

CMU’s Andy Malt and Chris Cooke review key events in music and the music business from the last week, including the UK’s Music Managers Forum and Featured Artists Coalition anger at PRS For Music's “unworkable” proposed royalty rates for livestreamed shows, plus our favourite music of 2020. SECTION TIMES 01: Livestream rates (00:04:43) 02: Tracks of 2020 (00:23:57) (Timings may be slightly differe...

CMU’s Andy Malt and Chris Cooke review key events in music and the music business from the last week, including the accusations of corruption levelled at the Grammy Awards by The Weeknd and Halsey (among others) and whether the big US music industry awards show can ever escape criticism, plus the $3 million lawsuit launched by Chance The Rapper's former manager that calls his last album a “freesty...

CMU’s Andy Malt and Chris Cooke review key events in music and the music business from the last week, including the first parliamentary hearing in the culture select committee inquiry into the economics of streaming, plus Instagram's insistence that no one would ever confuse its Reels feature with US cable TV channel Reelz.  SECTION TIMES 01: Streaming inquiry (00:05:36) 02: Reels/z (00:28:35) (Ti...

CMU’s Andy Malt and Chris Cooke review key events in music and the music business from the last week, including Taylor Swift's anger upon learning that the master rights in her first six albums have been sold without her knowledge for a second time, plus music publisher Wixen's lawsuit against TikTok rival Triller.  SECTION TIMES 01: Taylor Swift (00:08:24) 02: Triller (00:23:37) (Timings may be s...

CMU’s Andy Malt and Chris Cooke review key events in music and the music business from the last week, including Ticketmaster's proposal to use its app to verify that ticketholders have had a COVID-19 vaccination or negative test before attending shows, and the latest twist in the copyright infringement battle between Nirvana and fashion designer Marc Jacobs. SECTION TIMES 01: Ticketmaster (00:03:5...

CMU’s Andy Malt and Chris Cooke review key events in music and the music business from the last week, including Spotify's new pilot scheme allowing artists and labels to influence its music-selecting algorithm in return for a lower royalty rate, plus Live Nation's beaming positivity in the face of another round of definitely not positive financial results.  SECTION TIMES 01: Spotify algorithm (00:...

CMU’s Andy Malt and Chris Cooke review key events in music and the music business from the last week, including global collecting society grouping CISAC's positive revenue stats for 2019 and very gloomy predictions for 2020, and the news that Harry Styles has invested in a new arena venue in Manchester. SECTION TIMES 01: CISAC figures (00:04:45) 02: Harry Styles (00:20:16) (Timings may be slightly...

CMU’s Andy Malt and Chris Cooke review key events in music and the music business from the last week, including the UK competition regulator's conclusion that a merged Viagogo and StubHub would likely result in a “substantial lessening of competition in the online secondary ticketing market” and proposal that the whole thing be called off, plus the new report that warns that 170,000 live industry...

CMU’s Andy Malt and Chris Cooke review key events in music and the music business from the last week, including the announcement that the culture select committee of the UK Parliament is opening an inquiry into the economics of music streaming, and the music industry's positive response to the number of venues, festivals and other music organisations who will receive support from the Culture Recov...

CMU’s Andy Malt and Chris Cooke review key events in music and the music business from the last week, including BMG's announcement that it is eliminating a controversial, artist unfriendly clause from its record contracts and whether other labels might follow suit, plus what the members of BTS serving military service could mean for both the band and the South Korean economy. SECTION TIMES 01: BMG...

CMU’s Andy Malt and Chris Cooke review key events in music and the music business from the last week, including Travis Scott being sued by gaming accessory company KontrolFreek over some (allegedly) dodgy thumbsticks that (allegedly) rip off the company's designs, and why John Lennon's former personal assistant is being sued for speaking publicly about his time as John Lennon's personal assistant....

CMU’s Andy Malt and Chris Cooke review key events in music and the music business from the last week, including OfCom's announcement that it intends to investigate whether the BBC Sounds app is competing with commercial media, and YouTube hitting back at a lawsuit arguing that it should not enjoy protection under the copyright safe harbour because it doesn’t make its Content ID rights management s...

CMU’s Andy Malt and Chris Cooke review key events in music and the music business from the last week, including Kanye West's big dispute over the structure of record company deals with artists (and the contents of the deals he dumped on Twitter), and Facebook's deals with the music industry to include music in video game livestreams on its Twitch rival Facebook Gaming. SECTION TIMES 01: Kanye v Un...

CMU’s Andy Malt and Chris Cooke review key events in music and the music business from the last week, including the increase in US record revenues, the cost of ‘Boris’ Johnson’s ‘Operation Moonshot’, the boost in users of Fender’s guitar tuition app, the settlement reached in the legal battle between Sony Music and the estate of 1950s pop star Ricky Nelson, and the festivals people have most been...

CMU’s Andy Malt and Chris Cooke review key events in music and the music business from the last week, including the Ford motor company's accusation that production music library Freeplay Music intentionally chose a name to make it seem like its music was free to use in order to sue it (and others) for copyright infringement, plus the crackdown on the boom in illegal raves during the pandemic. SECT...

CMU’s Andy Malt and Chris Cooke review key events in music and the music business from the last week, including Tracy Chapman's accusation that Nicki Minaj is ignoring both the facts and the law in their sampling legal battle, plus the row over the inclusion of 'Rule, Britannia' and 'Land Of Hope And Glory' in this year's BBC Proms. SECTION TIMES 01: Tracy Chapman v Nick Minaj (00:03:13) 02: Rule,...

CMU’s Andy Malt and Chris Cooke review key events in music and the music business from the last week, including the escalation of ‘Fortnite’ video game maker Epic Games’ legal battle against Apple over its App Store rules, plus two copyright cases that weren’t copyright cases which failed because they were copyright cases. SECTION TIMES 01: Epic v Apple (00:04:18) 02: 50 Cent v Rick Ross and Geniu...

It’s the eighth in our series of special editions of Setlist looking at some of our favourite music industry legal battles of all time. This time, CMU’s Andy Malt and Chris Cooke look back at the copyright battle over authorship of Procul Harum's 1967 single, 'A Whiter Shade Of Pale', which was fought all the way up to the appellate committee of the UK's House Of Lords. Organist Matthew Fisher arg...

CMU’s Andy Malt and Chris Cooke review key events in music and the music business from the last week, including what Donald Trump's pending ban on TikTok and messaging app WeChat means for the music industry, and Live Nation's optimism for the future despite seeing revenues fall by 98%. SECTION TIMES 01: Donald Trump's TikTok ban (00:04:39) 02: Live Nation's optimism, despite everything (00:19:50)...

CMU’s Andy Malt and Chris Cooke review key events in music and the music business from the last week, including Wiley’s antisemitic social media posts and what responsibilities the social media platforms have when their users offend, plus the call from various big name musicians for politicians to stop using their music (or any music) without permission. SECTION TIMES 01: Wiley antisemitic social...

CMU’s Andy Malt and Chris Cooke review key events in music and the music business from the last week, including Taylor Swift’s surprise new album and latest legal win, plus Spotify’s new deal with Universal and TikTok’s litigation-avoiding agreement with the US National Music Publishers Association. SECTION TIMES 01: Taylor Swift new album (00:03:44) 02: Taylor Swift lawsuit (00:10:34) 03: Spotify...

CMU’s Andy Malt and Chris Cooke review key events in music and the music business from the last week, including Migos suing their former layer over claims that he “robbed” and “cheated them out of millions of dollars, and Billboard’s amazing ability to make some seemingly simple updates to its chart rules incredibly complicated. SECTION TIMES 01: Migos sue their lawyer (00:04:31) 02: Billboard upd...

CMU’s Andy Malt and Chris Cooke review key events in music and the music business from the last week, including Lady A suing Lady A over who really owns the name Lady A, and the UK government's latest concessions to the live music industry as the COVID-19 shutdown begins to lift. SECTION TIMES 01: Lady A sue Lady A (00:04:18) 02: UK government's support for live music (00:18:35) STORIES DISCUSSED...

CMU’s Andy Malt and Chris Cooke review key events in music and the music business from the last week, including the announcements that Mixmag and Kerrang! will keep their print editions on hiatus for the foreseeable future, and the Rolling Stones' threat to sue Donald Trump if he plays their music at another campaign rally.  SECTION TIMES 01: Music magazines stay off the shelves (00:03:45) 02: Rol...

CMU’s Andy Malt and Chris Cooke review key events in music and the music business from the last week, including fears that with lockdown lifting and the economy getting started again that live music industry will be left to collapse without much needed government support, and the two house music pioneers suing the Trax record label. SECTION TIMES 01: The COVID crisis pushes the live industry to th...