Report claims Apple could face an antitrust probe in the US
The debate about how Apple runs its App Store continues to rumble, and politics website Politico suggests that there could be a significant development in the US soon.
“The Justice Department and a coalition of state attorneys general are taking the first steps toward launching an antitrust probe of Apple,” it claimed, adding that the probe may focus on “Apple’s ironclad control of its App Store, the source of frequent griping by developers who say the company’s rules are applied inconsistently — particularly for apps that compete with Apple’s own products — and lead to higher prices and fewer choices for consumers”.
Any such investigation would run in parallel with the European Commission’s formal investigations into Apple, including one partially sparked by last year’s complaint from Spotify.
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Source: Music ally
Lady Gaga launches creative Chromatica contest with Adobe
In May we reported on Marshmello teaming up with creative-software firm Adobe on a ‘Be Kind’ campaign, getting fans to create a short video based on his new single. Now the company is launching a new contest with Lady Gaga based around her latest album ‘Chromatica’.
Gaga is providing her own assets for the competition: photos, illustrations, logos, icons and typography, with fans challenged to “create your Chromatica” using Adobe tools like Photoshop and Illustrator. A grand prize of $10k plus a print of their creation autographed by Gaga herself is up for grabs.
There are echoes (possibly unwanted, given its mixed reception) of Lady Gaga’s ‘ARTPOP’ app back in 2013, which included its own section for creating Gaga-inspired digital art.
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Source: Music ally
Suicide Silence and Bandsintown launch geofenced virtual tour
Livestream music concerts can air globally, but that doesn’t mean they have to. We’re seeing a growing number of artists experiment with geofenced online concerts, which can only be viewed by fans in a particular part of the world – sometimes as part of virtual ‘tours’ with a string of performances.
Now deathcore band Suicide Silence are partnering with Bandsintown on what they’re calling “the most extensive geofenced virtual tour experience to date”. That means a series of concerts between 2 July and 30 July, each one a 90-minute performance filmed with multiple cameras, geofenced for 39 cities.
Video Q&As, skits and chatrooms for song requests are all promised as part of the experience. There’ll be exclusive merchandise for sale, and the shows will be ticketed: the details are also geofenced, but so far we’ve checked London and Bangalore, and both will see tickets priced at $10.
The tour will also take in Mexico City, Bangkok, Jakarta, Tokyo and Moscow as well as major cities in Europe and North America. It’s set to be one of the most ambitious and involved livestreams we’ve seen yet under lockdown.
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Source: Music ally
DJ Regard gets his own Regard Runner promotional game
Music Ally last covered Kosovo-based artist DJ Regard in September 2019, when his ‘Ride It’ track became a TikTok-assisted viral hit. Now the artist, signed to Ministry of Sound, is getting his own casual game, Regard Runner, which can be played on mobile devices and computers alike.
Ministry commissioned digital agency The Creative Corporation to make the game, which is in the ‘endless runner’ genre. Players have to keep DJ Regard running (hence the title) across platforms that fall away as he goes, jumping over gaps and other obstacles.
Fans can also play tracks by the artist as you play if they sign in using Spotify, which like other marketing campaigns of this kind, gives Ministry of Sound and parent company Sony Music access to data including their email address, music recently played and saved to their library, top artists and playlists they have made and followed.
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Source: Music ally
RightsHub reveals data deals with music recognition firms
RightsHub is one of the companies developing technology for managing music rights data and assets. It’s just announced five partnerships with music recognition technology (MRT) companies to help its customers get their music registered with those services.
The five are: Gracenote, DJ Monitor, Soundmouse, BMAT, Yacast. The company says that getting music registered with MRT companies as early as possible will help the process of tracking usage and collecting royalties by collecting societies. A sixth deal has also been announced, with music credits database Jaxsta.
“It’s vital that rights holders take responsibility for registering their rights with MRT companies in the same way as they do with their distributors, CMOs and PROs,” said RightsHub CEO Lee Morrison. “With the correct data, revenue can flow to the rightsholder as it should.”
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Source: Music ally
Sonos to lay off 12% of staff due to Covid-19 pandemic
Connected audio firm Sonos is the latest company to announced plans for layoffs as a result of the Covid-19 pandemic.
“The Company initiated a plan on June 23, 2020 to eliminate approximately 12% of its global headcount. In addition, the Company is closing its New York retail store and six satellite offices,” revealed Sonos in a regulatory filing yesterday.
The last time Sonos revealed a headcount figure, for the end of September 2019, it had 1,446 full-time employees, so the layoffs are likely to be at least 173 staff.
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Source: Music ally
Fair Trade Of Music campaign aims to support US musicians
A coalition of US music industry organisations has launched a campaign called Fair Trade of Music, banging the drum for American musicians to be paid what it sees as their rightful royalties for usage of their music abroad.
“Many countries deny some non-native music creators royalties for the use of their work even though royalties are otherwise paid to artists who are nationals of those countries,” claims the campaign, which is backed by SoundExchange, A2IM, the Future of Music Coalition, MMF US and the Recording Academy among other bodies.
“As a result of this discrimination, music creators lose hundreds of millions of dollars every year. Annual losses to U.S. creators alone total more than $330 million globally. That’s a lot of lost royalty payments.”
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Source: Music ally
Rostr report claims music managers’ rosters are still male-dominated
Last December, Music Ally wrote about a report from startup Rostr analysing its database of music management companies and their artists. Now it has repeated the trick for 2020. Its report, which is free, is based on more than 3,000 management firms’ data, and ranks them by roster size, Spotify audience and YouTube subscribers.
It also looks at how the rosters of these companies break down in terms of genre, gender and major vs independent label deals. Among the findings: Red Light has the largest roster by far: 376 artists are on its books, compared to 84 for the next-biggest agency Maverick. However, when it comes to Spotify reach, Maverick is top dog with 565 million monthly listeners across its roster, ahead of second-placed Full Stop (501 million) and third-ranked Red Light (396 million).
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Source: Music ally
Controversy grows over Live Nation artist terms for 2021
Attempts by Live Nation to change its agreements with artists for concerts and festivals in 2021 have sparked a big row in the US which shows little sign of abating, even as the company began to row back from some of the controversial changes.
A memo sent to talent agencies had suggested that “unprecedented times” required pay cuts “adjusted downward 20% from 2020 levels”; paying artists 25% of the guarantee if a festival was cancelled due to poor ticket sales rather than 100%; and a cancellation fee of “two times the artist’s fee” if the artist cancelled a festival appearance. Unsurprisingly, agents were not happy.
This week, three organisations – the Artist Rights Alliance, Center for Digital Democracy, and Future of Music Coalition – have written to the US Committee on the Judiciary, Subcommittee on Antitrust, Commercial, and Administrative Law calling for an investigation of the “abusive 2021 performance terms, which would unfairly cut artist fees and shift the risk of pandemic cancellations to performers”, suggesting that in many areas, artists have “no practical alternatives to Live Nation facilities” to play.
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Source: Music ally