CMU Digest

CMU Digest 10.10.16: MMF, Sony, Russian collective licensing, Global, Mazher Mahmood, Fabric

By Chris Cooke | Published on Monday 10 October 2016

The key stories from the last seven days in the music business…

The Music Managers Forum called for more transparency over the music industry’s deals with the streaming firms and the way digital royalties are processed as it published Part Two of the ‘Dissecting The Digital Dollar’ report. The report presents a management perspective on seven key issues in the current digital music market, though the lack of transparency stood out as the single biggest issue for artists and their representatives. [READ MORE]

Sony Corp confirmed it had completed its acquisition of Sony/ATV, buying the 50% of the company previously controlled by the Michael Jackson estate. The deal was announced at the start of the year but needed regulator approval. It remains to be seen if Sony wholly owning the music publishing business means it will now work more closely with the Sony Music record company. [READ MORE]

The Russian government continued to develop its plans to take over collective licensing in the country, despite the local music industry criticising those proposals. The Economic Development Ministry has presented two possible options to Deputy Prime Minister Igor Shuvalov, neither of which seem to involve the country’s current collecting societies VOIS, RSP and the RAO, the latter of which continues to deny allegations of fraud. [READ MORE]

Radio firm Global expanded its live music operations by announcing it had increased its stake in Broadwick Live and acquired no less than six UK festivals, including SouthWestFour, Field Day, Boardmasters, Rewind, Y Not and Truck. On the radio side, Global announced it was rolling out its My app – piloted with Capital Xtra – to the main Capital FM station. [READ MORE]

Former Sun and News Of The World journalist Mazher Mahmood was found guilty of tampering with evidence in the criminal case against former N-Dubz and ‘X-Factor’ star Tulisa Contostavlos. She was charged for supplying drugs following a sting by Mahmood, but the case against her collapsed after the judge questioned the journalist’s conduct and testimony. He will now be sentenced later this month, while a stack of celebrities that have been targets of his past reports may now sue. [READ MORE]

Fabric confirmed that an appeal hearing has now been set at Highbury Magistrates Court on 28 Nov, as it attempts to overturn Islington Council’s decision to revoke its licence. The London club is posting regular updates on how it is spending the £250,000+ donated to help it fight its licensing battle while also lobbying for new guidelines to be provided to councils about implementing the Licensing Act. [READ MORE]

The big deals from the last seven days in the music business…
• TuneCore acquired JustGo [INFO]
• Deezer announced an alliance with Feature.fm [INFO]
• Sony renewed its deal with China’s Tencent Music [INFO]
• MelodyVR announced an alliance with Telefónica in Germany [INFO]
• Jay-Z signed a deal around TV and film projects with The Weinstein Company [INFO]