News from the Christmas 2019 break

19 December 2019 - News

News and features will be updated daily over the Christmas break. The daily email returns on 6 January.

 

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BUSINESS
Vivendi has sold a 10% stake in Universal Music Group to a consortium led by Tencent in a deal valuing it at €30bn. (Guardian, FT, Variety) The consortium has the option to buy another stake of up to 10% at the same price by 15 January 2021. Vivendi said Tencent Music Entertainment will also buy a minority stake in Universal Music’s operation across China.
Separately, Vivendi said it entered new talks just before Christmas over the potential sale of an additional minority stake in UMG, at a price “which would at least be identical” to the deal with Tencent, with another unnamed investor or investors.

Global Media and Entertainment recorded a pre-tax loss of £19.4m for the 12 months to March, down from a £25.1m pre-tax profit the year before. (Times) The slide was driven by charges from restructuring its debt and costs linked to takeovers of Outdoor Plus, Primesight and Exterion Media. 

US toymaker Hasbro has closed its $3.8 billion merger deal for Canadian indie studio Entertainment One. (Billboard) Hasbro now owns eOne music subsidiary Dualtone as well as the catalog of defunct hip hop label Death Row Records.

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NEWS
Spending by UK music fans on streaming services exceeded £1bn for the first time in 2019, according to preliminary data compiled by ERA. (ERA, Billboard, Times, Mail, Guardian) Physical sales were down 17% by value on 2018, downloads were down 26.8% while streaming was up 23.5%. Compared with 2010, physical was down 63.5%, downloads were down 68% while streaming was up 3084%. 

More than 100bn tracks were played on audio streaming services for the first time in a single year in 2019, but fans still also love the enduring appeal of analogue and physical formats. (RotD)
UK music purchases hit highest level since 2006. (Guardian, Billboard)
"For the first time, the annual chart contains more releases from previous years than freshly produced work in a sign that albums are becoming increasingly irrelevant to music consumers". "The proportion of music bought as albums, either physical or digital, fell to 24 per cent. CD sales are now half what they were in 2016 and there is no sign the decline is bottoming out". (Times)
The figures don't include any additional revenues from streams of UGC content on upload platforms like YouTube, SoundCloud or MixCloud. Digital and physical album sales were down by 28.2% and 22.8% respectively.

The RIAA tweeted "Over the course of the decade, streaming has surpassed both digital downloads and physical products, now accounting for 80% of the market". 

New Year's Honours:
Olivia Newton-John is to be a Dame. Sir Elton John will have his knighthood upgraded to a Companion of Honour. Queen drummer Roger Taylor becomes an OBE along with Snow Patrol’s lead singer Gary Lightbody. Radio 1 DJ Annie Nightingale will be upgraded to a CBE from an MBE. Billy Ocean, Sheku Kanneh-Mason⁩, along with Mike Pender, singer and founder member of the Searchers receive MBEs. Charlie Kennard from Chase & Status and ELAM receives an MBE for services to Youth Music. Factory Records designer Peter Saville becomes a CBE, as does radio critic Gillian Reynolds. (Sun) 

A judge ruled that Martin Garrix owns the rights to his masters from his Spinnin' Records catalogue, but that his original contracts with Spinnin' and MusicAllStars Management signed in 2012 and 2013 were valid, ending a four-year legal battle between the DJ and Spinnin' Records and MusicAllStars Management. (Billboard) 

Ed Sheeran has announced he is to 'tale a breather from work and social media 'until it's time to come back'. (BBC, Mail, Independent)

Charts 20/12: LadBaby's I Love Sausage Rolls has been crowned the UK Official Christmas Number 1 with sales of 93,000, 85,000 on this was from downloads. It is the second year in a row in which Ladbaby has claimed the Christmas Number 1 spot. (OCC, Times, Mail, Guardian, BBC)

Charts 27/12: Ellie Goulding topped the Singles chart, despite only being on YouTube and Amazon but not on Spotify. Mariah Carey and Wham! were streamed everywhere almost twice as much as her but were penalised for being more than three years old.

US charts 19/12: Harry Styles topped the Billboard 200 with a figure of 478,000, including sales of 393,000. (Billboard) It was the biggest week for a pop album by a male artist in over four years.

US charts 26/12: Harry Styles remained top of the Billboard 200 with a figure of 89,000. (Billboard)

@chartdata tweeted "For the first time in Soundscan history, over 1 million vinyl albums were sold in a single week in the US (1.243m in the week ending December 26). The top seller was @Harry_Styles' 'Fine Line'".

Ministers have pledged £80m to ensure “all children” have access to music lessons and can leave school able to read and write music. (Mail) The BPI's Geoff Taylor said "It's encouraging to see the Government's manifesto commitment acted on swiftly, and new funding for hubs and charities that will help more young people develop their creative and social skills through music. BPI has highlighted the gulf in music participation between state and private schools, and we will continue to press for further investment to ensure that all young people have the opportunity to develop their musical potential. This is good news with which to start the New Year."

 

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DIGITAL
8tracks, an internet radio and social networking website revolving around the concept of streaming user-curated playlists consisting of at least 8 tracks is shutting down "because we can’t generate enough revenue, at our current scale, to cover royalties that continue to increase". (8tracks)

On-demand audio and podcasting distribution platform AudioBoom has appointed former BBC Radio executive Stuart Last as CEO. (RadioToday)

ByteDance & TikTok have secretly built a deepfakes maker. (TechCrunch) 

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COMMENT, ANALYSIS AND OPINION
UMG's Lucian Grainge calls Tencent deal 'strong validation of our business strategy'. (Billboard) 

James Masterton's chart analysis. (26/12, 02/01, 09/01)

'Streaming has killed the mainstream': the decade that broke popular culture. (Guardian - Simon Reynolds)  

Streaming means we are awash with music, but is the UK music scene nurturing the talent who will be able to headline festivals and fill arenas in the coming decades? (Telegraph)

CEO Graham Davies reflects on a fantastic year at The Ivors Academy making progress on all of the objectives. (Ivors)

This wild orgy of music consumption is mostly about streaming. (Guardian - Ben Beaumont-Thomas)

Digging into 8tracks’ shutdown, and what it reveals about the state of music streaming. (Cherie Hu)

Major labels often receive flack from the artists, and the recent acquisition of Universal Music by a group of private equity investors and China’s Tencent isn’t likely to improve their opinion. (Music3.0)

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MEDIA

 

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ARTIST AND MUSIC FEATURES
Jimmy Iovine looks back on the decade in the music business, and sees a major problem on the horizon. (NYTimes) "Margin. It doesn’t scale. At Netflix, the more subscribers you have, the less your costs are. In streaming music, the costs follow you".

The major battle of the 2020 streaming wars will be over ads. (FastCo)

Soaring choruses are out – but cross-genre sounds and lyrics about mental health are in. The brains behind hits for Lewis Capaldi, Camila Cabello and more reveal all. (Guardian - Aimee Cliff)

Making new songs from a favourite rapper’s offcuts has delighted fans and angered artists. But is it so very far from hip-hop’s roots? (Guardian - Jamie Ryder)

Why all eyes are on Billie Eilish, the new model for streaming era success. (Billboard)

With a record label and an academy, the Notting Hill Arts Club is rethinking what a music venue can be. (FT - En Liang Khong)

These are the future stars who will make the Twenties roar. (Mail)

Searing interviews Beatles gave 50 years ago pouring out their frustration on brink of break-up - and then tried to ban - are published for the first time and reveal how they really couldn't work it out. (Mail)

Please Don’t Touch by Raye and other new tracks (Guardian - Graeme Virtue)

10 musicians to look out for this year. (Independent)

10 musical moments to look out for in 2020. (BBC)

Tones and I interview: 'I don't think Dance Monkey is my best song' (Standard - David Smyth)

Rapper Dave talks fame, family and hype music with England Ace Marcus Rashford. (Guardian)

Kylie Minogue takes a tour through 30 years as a pop pioneer - with a little help from her friend Alan Carr. (Guardian - Michael Cragg)

TV choirmaster Gareth Malone talks about his challenging year. (Times - Nina Myskow)

The life of a song: Last Christmas (FT) 

Virtually Famous: Arizona Zervas (Standard - David Smyth)

The 50 best albums of 2019 – from Tyler, the Creator’s IGOR to Weyes Blood’s Titanic Rising. (Independent) 

Life of a Song: New Year’s Day (FT - Jude Rogers)

Bradford bassline and ketamine-charged punk – 50 new artists for 2020. (Guardian)

My haven: James Blunt in the pub he owns in London’s Chelsea (Mail) 

Eli Winter: discover the young folk guitarist making sense of loss. (Guardian - Laura Snapes)

2020 is shaping up to be a big year for concert-goers. (Mail - Adrian Thrills)

Robbie Williams slept with his drug dealer the night he met wife, his and Ayda's fears over raising 'maladjusted brats' and why Louis Walsh is 'two-faced'. (MoS - Roxy Simons)

Fame and fortune: Paul Carrack (Times) "It’s the last 20 years that have been most lucrative. Doing everything myself, I’ve made more money than being No 1 in America".

Life of a Song: Fire and Rain (FT - Dan Einav) 

Now 36, Cheryl Tweedy tells Louise Carpenter why she is searching for a sperm donor. (Times)

Relative Values interview: Greg James and his wife, Bella Mackie. (Times)

Breaking act: David Keenan (SundayTimes - Dan Cairns) 

On my radar: Anna Meredith (Observer)

Obituary: Allee Willis, songwriter who composed the theme tune for Friends and hits for Earth, Wind & Fire (Times)

Obituary: David Balfe, co-songwriter of Chelsea FC's Blue is the Colour, 1976 Eurovision Song Contest entrant, founder of the Sound House in Edinburgh. (Times) 

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SHOWBIZ AND NEWS
Vaughan Oliver, the artist who created 4AD’s classic album covers, has died aged 62. (NME) 

Neil Innes, the songwriter and comedian who collaborated with Monty Python and co-founded the Beatles pastiche band The Rutles, has died at age 75 of natural causes. (Billboard)

End-of-year accounts reveal Robbie Williams’s firm raked in profits of £49,919 a day in 2018, while Harry Styles earned £8,051 in the year to March. (Mail) 

James Blunt's company, James Blunt Ltd, posted earning of £3.5m for the most recent financial year. (Mail) 

George Michael’s sister Melanie Panayiotou was found dead at her home on Christmas Day. Her death is not being treated as suspicious. (Guardian, Mail)

Stormzy has claimed in an interview with Italian newspaper La Repubblica that Britain is racist "definitely 100%" even if it is "hidden" and added Boris Johnson has made it worse since he came in to power: "Before, people had to hide their racism. If you felt something bad about black people, about Muslims, you had to shut up. Now, these people have the confidence to come out in public to say everything. This is scary to me, that scares the shit out of me." (Guardian) 

Flamur Beqiri, known as Alex, was shot dead on Christmas Eve in front of his wife and child. (BBC) He ran electronic label 20/20 Records. (RA) He ran a hip-hop record label called Skrilla in Malmo and a firm called Fantabolous Music. (Mail, Mail)

Rod Stewart has been charged with assault by American police after allegedly punching a hotel security guard in Florida. (Times, Mail)

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REVIEWS

ALBUM:
Los Lobos (FT - 4* Ludovic Hunter-Tilney)

Kacey Musgraves (FT - 2* Ludovic Hunter-Tilney)

Robbie Williams (FT - 3* Ludovic Hunter-Tilney, Standard - 3* David Smyth)

Jack Johnson and Friends (Standard - 3* Rachel McGrath)

Josh Rouse (Standard - 3* Jochan Embley)

Keb' Mo' (Standard - 3* Phoebe Luckhurst)

Harry Styles (MoS - 4* Adam Woods)

Camila Cabello (MoS - 3* Adam Woods)

Katie Melua (MoS - 4* Adam Woods)

Kylie Minogue (MoS - 3* Adam Woods)

Octo Octa (FT - 4* Ludovic Hunter-Tilney)

Field Music (MoS - 3* Adam Woods)

Gabrielle Aplin (MoS - 4* Adam Woods) 

The Police 'Every Move You Make' (MoS - 5* Adam Woods)

Pink Floyd 'Later Years' (MoS - 4* Adam Woods)

Alexandr Savior (SundayTimes - Mark Edwards)

Poppy (SundayTimes - Dan Cairns)

The Big Moon (SundayTimes - Dan Cairns)

Kaytranada (FT - 3* Ludovic Hunter-Tilney, SundayTimes - Lisa Verrico)

Burial (FT - 4* Ludovic Hunter-Tilney)

Lee ‘Scratch’ Perry (FT - 4* Ludovic Hunter-Tilney)

Griselda (FT - 4* Ludovic Hunter-Tilney)

Georgia (SundayTimes - Lisa Verrico)

Field Music (SundayTimes - Mark Edwards)

LIVE: 

Harry Styles - Electric Ballroom, London (Standard - 4* Andre Paine, Telegraph - 4* Alice Vincent, iNews - 4* Sarah Carson)

Van Morrison - Brighton Dome (MoS - 4* Tim de Lisle)

Madonna - Brooklyn Academy of Music (MoS - 3* Tim de Lisle) 

FILM: 
Cats (FT - 4* Nigel Andrews, Standard - 2* David Sexton)

Mystify (FT - 2* Raphael Abraham) 

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INTERNATIONAL
Rage Against The Machine, Travis Scott and Frank Ocean are to headline Coachella 2020. (Billboard)

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THE BIGGER PICTURE
The UK is at the “end of the queue” for a deal to allow data to continue to flow freely with the EU after Brexit, according to a senior European official. (FT, BBC)

TikTok steps up efforts to protect teenagers from improper content with new teams to moderate content. (FT) 

The speaker maker Sonos has been accused of “corporate pseudo-greenery” by claiming to be sustainable while encouraging customers to scrap products that are still in good working order. (Times)