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In just two months, MEOVV has leaped onto the K-pop scene by showcasing a promising range and bold artistry set to claw out a legacy all their own. The five-member girl group is the first-ever launched by THEBLACKLABEL, the agency founded by legendary producer Teddy with over 25 years in crafting K-pop classics by the […]
LONDON — The United Kingdom’s music industry is at a “tipping point” due to increasing competition from other international markets and the threat posed by unregulated generative Artificial Intelligence (AI), the head of umbrella organization UK Music has warned.
In 2023, the music industry contributed £7.6 billion ($9.6 billion) to the country’s economy, up 13% from the previous year, according to the organization’s annual This Is Music study, which measures the economic impact of the U.K. music industry across all income streams including live, record sales, publishing, merch, brand endorsements and public performance revenue for UK based music creators and rights holders.
Huge grossing U.K. tours by Beyonce, Burna Boy and Harry Styles helped drive the record economic contribution, said UK Music, which bases its calculations upon the gross value estimates of money generated through music sales, concerts, recording studios, touring and music tourism — roughly equivalent to pre-tax profits and salaries.
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However, despite strong appetite for British artists and songs, the country’s music market is facing several significant challenges that threaten its continued prosperity, says UK Music. It identifies increasing competition from other international markets, tough financial conditions for grassroots artists and music venues, as well as the potential risks posed by generative AI on music creation as the biggest dangers to the sector.
According to export figures released earlier this year by U.K. labels trade body BPI, artists from the United Kingdom now cumulatively account for less than 10% of global music streams, compared to 17% in 2015. BPI says the U.K.’s declining share of the global music market is partially down to it facing tougher competition from fast-growing international markets such as Latin America and countries like South Korea.
The U.K.’s grassroots live sector is also battling a number of well-documented financial hardships with around 125 small capacity music venues closing in 2023 and more 350 currently at risk of closure, according to the Music Venue Trust (MVT) charity. Additionally, this year has seen 60 U.K. music festivals either postpone, cancel or close due to rising costs, slow ticket sales and poor weather, says the Association of Independent Festivals (AIF).
“We are now at a tipping point, and if the problems we face are not addressed then future growth cannot be guaranteed,” said UK Music chief executive Tom Kiehl in a statement on Wednesday (Nov. 20).
Kiehl said that without tougher regulation “the wild west” of generative AI could further undermine the U.K.’s long-held status as the world’s second biggest exporter of music behind the United States. Kiehl is calling for the British government to press ahead with implementing laws that protect artists and rights holders from AI developers using copyright protected works to train their systems without permission.
UK Music also wants to see ministers establish a legislative framework that will require tech companies to clearly identify AI created music and keep records of works that have they have ingested, akin to what the European Union introduce earlier this year in its AI Act.
Other areas where UK Music said urgent action was needed to maintain the market’s growth in the face of heightened international competition was in music education and the live industry. The organization is urging the Labour government to press ahead with its previously proposed cap on secondary ticket resale prices, as well as secure a cultural touring agreement with the EU that will allow visa-free touring for musicians and crew.
In a statement, U.K. Culture Secretary Lisa Nandy called the country’s music industry “a real British success story” that is “vitally important” to driving overall economic growth. Nandy said she was committed to ensuring that the government works with the music industry to build upon its current success for years to come.
“By supporting vital grassroots venues, introducing new secondary ticketing protections for fans and ensuring all children can access high quality music education in schools, we can help the sector go from strength to strength in the future,” said Nandy.
According to figures released earlier this year by U.K. labels trade body BPI, global superstars like Styles, Adele and Ed Sheeran helped British music exports climb to a record high of £775 million ($974 million) in 2023 based upon estimated label trade revenue — the highest annual total since BPI began analyzing labels’ overseas income in 2000.
UK’s Music’s This Is Music study uses a different methodology to report on export revenues, which it says climbed to a record high of £4.6 billion ($5.8 billion) in 2023, up 15% year-on-year. That export figure is based upon gross income generated overseas by British music companies and creators, including recorded music, publishing, brand endorsements, merchandise sales, international touring by homegrown artists and foreign visitors attending U.K. gigs and festivals (so-called music tourism).
The total number of people employed in the U.K. music industry grew 3% year-on-year to a record 216,000 full-time equivalent posts, reports UK Music.
Global Citizen has made two key appointments to their executive leadership team, the company tells Billboard. Katie Hill, senior vp of music, entertainment and artist relations, has been promoted to chief music and entertainment officer, while lfeoma Chuks-Adizue has been hired as Global Citizen’s first-ever MD in Africa.
Hill has been at the company since 2014, leading the music, entertainment and artist relations team in securing renowned acts for Global Citizen’s festivals and campaigns to support the international education and advocacy organization’s mission to end extreme poverty. She’s worked closely with Beyoncé, Rihanna, Kendrick Lamar, Billie Eilish, Finneas, Coldplay, BTS‘ Jung Kook, BLACKPINK‘s LISA and many more artists, as well as their management teams, to ensure Global Citizen’s mission is clear and accessible. She also developed the company’s Ambassadors and Advocates for Change program, which has built long-term partnerships with Usher, Hugh Jackman and Priyanka Chopra Jonas.
“I’m thrilled to be joining Global Citizen’s executive leadership team as Chief Music and Entertainment Officer. It’s been an honor to help build such an important movement, which truly leverages the power of music and entertainment to create positive change in the world,” Hill tells Billboard in a statement. “When I reflect on the impact that has been achieved over my last 10 years at Global Citizen, I am inspired by the passion and dedication of so many incredible artists and partners across the industry that have joined us in the fight to end extreme poverty. I can’t wait to build on this collaborative impact.”
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Chuks-Adizue will spearhead Global Citizen’s activities in Africa, implementing its strategy across the continent including the next installment of Move Afrika: A Global Citizen Experience. In November 23, Lamar and his company, pgLang, teamed up with Global Citizen to create Move Afrika, a first-of-its-kind touring circuit across Africa that aims at driving economic investment, creating jobs and supporting entrepreneurship opportunities in each host country. Lamar headlined Move Afrika: Rwanda in Kigali last December, with pgLang set to serve as the curator of Move Afrika until 2028. According to a press release, that event employed more than 1,000 Rwandans and engaged 75% local crew and production staff, with a specific focus on creating opportunities for skill development and international skill training. Ghana joined Rwanda as a host country for Move Afrika earlier this year.
In her new role, Chuks-Adizue will oversee key partnerships that span business development, marketing, broadcast and event production, as well as Global Citizen’s Africa-based teams and operations. Based out of Global Citizen’s office in Lagos, Nigeria, Chuks-Adizue will also work closely with the company’s executive leadership in New York, playing an instrumental role in building relationships with private sector partners and within the philanthropic community.
“I’m honored to be joining the Global Citizen team in this newly created position to drive efforts and impact across Africa. Powered by everyday advocates, campaigns and events that span the world, Global Citizen’s efforts are critical to ending extreme poverty, and I’m humbled to bring my experience and leadership to this vital work,” says Chuks-Adizue. “I look forward to working with many fantastic partners to continue the momentum and growth of Move Afrika, the pioneering music touring circuit, and drive economic investment, job creation and entrepreneurship opportunities across the continent.”
Prior to joining Global Citizen, Chuks-Adizue served as executive director commercial at Chemical and Allied Products PLC (CAP PLC), a prominent paints manufacturer and distributor in Nigeria, and held key leadership roles at Procter & Gamble Nigeria and Cadbury Nigeria.
“Ifeoma’s extensive leadership experience, together with her passion for advocating for women and girls across Africa, perfectly aligns with Global Citizen’s mission,” adds Global Citizen president Liza Henshaw. “Her vast networks of relationships across various sectors will be instrumental in advancing our work across the African continent for years to come.”
Australian ticketing company Ticketek was offline Monday (Nov. 18), causing a major outage across the platform while drawing concerns from fans of bands like Twenty One Pilots that the outage could affect upcoming shows this week.
On social media, ticket holders for a Twenty One Pilots concert at Rod Laver Arena on Tuesday (Nov. 19) are increasingly voicing their concerns that the ticketing company won’t be back online in time for the show. Officials with Melbourne & Olympic Parks Trust, which manages the arena, did not respond to questions from Billboard.
@Ticketek_AU @LiveNationAU when will the ticketek app and website be working again? i have a twenty one pilots show tomorrow and can’t access my tickets and i need to add them to my apple wallet!— val (@kilIersqueen) November 18, 2024
@Ticketek_AU website and app are still down. I want to buy presale tix for @KasabianHQ at @Enmore_Theatre How can I make the purchase if the site is down?— Mick Gee (@boomshanka1976) November 18, 2024
On Monday, visitors to Ticketek’s main web page discovered a message reading, “The Ticketek website is currently undergoing maintenance. We apologize that the update is taking longer than anticipated.”
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The cause of the outage is unknown, although a memo circulating online that appears to have been issued by a venue using Ticketek claims the company had voluntarily taken its network offline to “investigate some unusual cyber activity and, as a precautionary measure, the Ticketek Australia and New Zealand Websites and Apps have been temporarily offline today.”
The note adds, “Ticketek are working to reinstate access as soon as possible and apologise for any inconvenience caused. Ticketek are working hard to reinstate the site in the coming few hours.”
Ticketek’s pages in the United Kingdom, Singapore, the Philippines and Malaysia remained operational during Monday’s outage.
Billboard reached out to representatives from Ticketek but did not receive a response.
Ticketek is one of the largest ticketing companies in Australia and falls under the umbrella of Australian promoter Paul Dainty‘s company TEG, which today is majority-owned by Silver Lake and was recapitalized in February in a deal with KKR Credit Markets and the Singapore government-owned investment firm Temasek. TEG’s portfolio also includes TEG Sport, TEG Experiences, TEG Dainty, SXSW Sydney, Qudos Bank Arena, Softix, TicketCharge, TicketWorld and Ovation.
Brazilian superstar Alok is gearing up to launch the official one-year countdown to COP30 on Saturday (Nov. 23). Located in the fringes of the Amazon jungle in Belém, Pará, Brazil, at the 55,000-capacity Mangueirão Olympic Stadium, the free event is a celebration of the forthcoming international climate summit and also part of Alok’s Áurea Tour.
During the event, the Brazilian bass DJ will host six indigenous ethnic groups that are part of his United Nations-supported Future Is Ancestral project. The stage itself will be a technological marvel, featuring a pyramid-like structure with over 100 tons of equipment, a 360-degree rotating platform rising as high as a ten-story building, and more than 2,000 LED panels.
Alok was recently nominated twice at the Latin Grammys in the new category of best Latin electronic music performance for two tracks: “Drum Machine” with Pickle and “Pedju Kunumigwe” with Guarani Nhandewa. On Friday (Nov. 15), he released his latest track, “Looking For Love” with Anitta.
As Alok continues to foster cultural celebration through his music and influence, his commitment to ensuring justice has also been noteworthy.
In a legal dispute in June, São Paulo’s civil court system ruled in favor of Alok against Kevin Daniel Brauer de Oliveira, affirming the DJ as the creator and holder of adaptive rights to the song “nananana Un Ratito,” which subsequently extends to “Un Ratito” with Luis Fonsi, Lunay, Lenny Tavárez, and Juliette, according to court documents. The judgment obliges Brauer de Oliveira to pay Alok $20,000 Brazilian reals ($3,475.78) in compensation for “moral damages.”
The legal outcome is the culmination of several conflicts between Alok and the Brauer brothers — Kevin and Sean — who formerly collaborated with Alok as part of the duo Sevenn. Over the years, their partnership helped escalate Brazilian bass music onto the world stage, but that partnership eventually soured. As articulated in a 2022 Billboard article, the Brauer brothers had accused Alok of exploiting their work — including their contributions to at least 14 tracks — without appropriate credit or compensation.
“I have always had full confidence in the justice system. My work is transparent and everything is clarified and proven,” Alok said in a statement regarding the court ruling. “I will take this opportunity to donate the compensation from this case to the victims in Rio Grande do Sul. This is the best way to respond to the wrong they tried to do, by doing good for those who need it most at this moment. I hope the compensation also serves as a lesson to deter malicious people from defaming others’ honor with the simple sense of impunity.”
Taylor Swift began her two-week Eras Tour run in Toronto Thursday night (Nov. 14), and the city is going all out.
Before she hit the stage, footage circulated of her arriving with a whole police cavalcade on the Gardiner Expressway – which is normally filled with traffic during rush hour.
There were plenty of Swifties seen following the Taylor Swift Way signs throughout downtown. Only ticketholders could get near the Rogers Centre before the show – including the city’s unhoused population, who were cleared from encampments and compelled to move to shelters.
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An official Taylgate event took place at the nearby Metro Toronto Convention Centre with photo ops, silent discos and friendship bracelet making stations. A similar “Swift Station” activation offered similar experiences on Queen Street while decked out to look like a subway station.
News stations broadcast live from outside the stadium throughout the night, while Swift took the stage inside. Stories abounded about fans who tried and failed to get tickets, or who ended up getting scammed (the Canadian Anti-Fraud Centre issued warnings as they were overloaded with complaints). Ticketmaster did, however, release some last minute tickets on the day of the show, though they were gone quickly.
Inside at the concert, Taylor Swift made some nods to the Canadian crowd. “Doesn’t it seem like the entire Folklore era just belongs in Canada?” she asked before launching into that section of the show. “The place that I envisioned in my mind where Folklore took place, it’s very natural, wilderness, beautiful, forests that have been there since the beginning of time. And it just kind of feels like we’re returning the Folklore era to where it belongs anyway.”
Her dancer, Kam, also added a Canadian touch during “We Are Never Ever Getting Back Together,” with an exaggerated “Soorry aboot it!” during his line.
There are two more Eras Tour shows this weekend, on Nov. 15 and Nov. 16, before she returns to Rogers Centre next week for shows on Nov. 21, 22 and 23. – Richard Trapunski
Canadian Songwriters Earn Grammy Nominations for Beyoncé’s Cowboy Carter
The 2025 Grammy nominations were announced last week, and Beyoncé leads the list — along with her Canadian collaborators.
“Texas Hold ‘Em,” co-written by three Canadians, has been nominated for two of the biggest awards, Record of the Year and Song of the Year.
Writers Nathan Ferraro, Lowell, and Megan Bülow all picked up nominations for Song of the Year, which is awarded to the writers and composers behind the track, as well as Best Country Song. Ferraro talked with Billboard Canada earlier this year about his Canadian writing team.
“[The collaboration] works well for us,” Ferraro told Billboard Canada. “We’re such good friends and we know each other’s strengths and weaknesses. I think we all have a lot of mutual respect, so we have a lot of confidence together and that allows us to take risks.”
Lowell, meanwhile, won the inaugural Billboard Canada Non-Performing Songwriter Award this summer.
Beyoncé’s country album Cowboy Carter is also nominated for Album of the Year with Canadian Dave Hamelin (formerly of Montreal indie rock band The Stills and now a regular collaborator with 070 Shake) named in the nomination for his work as a producer and songwriter across the album.
In total, Beyoncé picked up a whopping 11 nominations for her history-making Cowboy Carter, which features a slew of Canadian contributions.
Serban Ghenea, meanwhile, racked up the highest number of Canadian nods: a grand total of five nominations, for his work with a trifecta of pop stars: Sabrina Carpenter, Taylor Swift, and Ariana Grande.
Other Canadian nominees included The Weeknd, Kaytranada, Charlotte Day Wilson, Spiritbox and Cirkut, for his work on Charli XCX’s cultural phenomenon, Brat.
Read about all the Canadian nominees here. –Rosie Long Decter
Quebec Government Pursues Action Against Ticket Resale Site Billets.ca
The Quebec government is taking action against ticket resales.
The province’s Office of Consumer Protection announced Wednesday, Nov. 13, that the Director of Penal and Criminal Prosecutions has served 26 statements of infraction to Billets.ca.
If proven guilty, each infraction could merit a fine between $2,000 and $100,000 for the company, and between $600 and $15,000 for President Éric Bussières.
The Office is accusing Billets.ca of reselling tickets at higher prices than those advertised by authorized salespersons. It also charges that the site is reselling tickets it does not possess. The infractions took place between November 2022 and September 2023.
Ticket resales have become an increasingly hot topic in the industry. Ticketmaster issued a warning in advance of Oasis’ North American tour dates going on sale, advising consumers not to trust resale sites that were already advertising tickets. The ticketing giant has also faced allegations in the past of working with resale sites.
Earlier this year, over 250 artists signed a letter titled Fix the Tix, addressing American legislators. “Predatory resellers have gone unregulated while siphoning money from the live entertainment ecosystem for their sole benefit,” the letter stated.
Quebec’s Loi sur la protection du consommateur forbids sellers from boosting prices during resales without express permission from the original authorized vendor. It also prohibits the use of technology to bypass controls on obtaining tickets. Sites like Billets.ca have often skirted these rules by acting as a broker for individual sellers, instead of selling the tickets themselves.
Quebec music association ADISQ welcomed the news.
“It’s a relief to see charges finally laid against Billets.ca and the practice of fraudulent ticket resale,” says Eve Paré, Executive Director of ADISQ, in French.
ADISQ states that it has made numerous complaints to Quebec’s Office of Consumer Protection regarding unauthorized ticket resales.
ADISQ notes that it is also eagerly awaiting the outcome of a class action lawsuit filed against Billets.ca on October 13, 2023. –RLD
LONDON — The British government is calling on the live music industry to introduce a voluntary levy on stadium and arena tickets sold in the United Kingdom “as soon as possible” to “safeguard the future of the grassroots music sector.”
“We believe this would be the quickest and most effective mechanism for a small portion of revenues from the biggest shows to be invested in a sustainable grassroots sector,” said the Department for Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS) in a report published Thursday (Nov. 14).
Earlier this year, a cross-party committee of MPs said a new levy on arena and stadium tickets was urgently needed to stem the tide of small grassroots music venue closures in the United Kingdom.
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According to the Music Venue Trust (MVT), the number of grassroots music venues (defined as limited capacity venues regularly staging live music) in the U.K. declined from 960 to 835 in 2023, a fall of 13%, representing a loss of as many as 30,000 shows and 4,000 jobs.
Responding to the Culture, Media and Sport Committee’s report on the grassroots live music sector, published in May, the government said Thursday that it was “deeply concerned” with the rate of venue closures and that “a small industry-led levy within the price of a ticket” would benefit the U.K.’s live music system “as a whole.”
The government said it wanted the voluntary levy to come into effect “as soon as possible” so that it could be applied to arena and stadium music shows taking place in 2025. How the funds raised will be used to support small and low-capacity music venues should be clearly explained to ticket buyers, said the government.
“We urge the live music industry, and in particular the biggest commercial players who will have the biggest impact on the success of an industry-led levy, to act and to do so swiftly,” said DCMS.
Exactly what form such a levy on arena and stadium shows will take is still to be determined. While there is broad support throughout the U.K. live music industry for a voluntary levy, some promoters would prefer that it is applied on a case-by-case basis and stakeholders are divided on whether the levy should be included within the ticket’s price or as an additional fee on top of the face value of the ticket.
The size of venue the levy would be applied to and its cost/rate is also yet to be decided, although the Music Venue Trust has previously called for a £1 levy ($1.26) to be applied to arena and stadium shows above 5,500 capacity, excluding festivals. Discussions are currently taking place between live executives around what charitable body should collect, manage and distribute proceeds from the fund.
In a statement, Jon Collins, chief executive of live music industry umbrella organization LIVE, said driving forward “an industry-led solution to the challenges currently being experienced by venues, artists, festivals and promoters remains our number one priority.”
The idea of a voluntary arena tickets levy to support the grassroots music sector is one that has already received support from several high-profile U.K. artists and organizations.
In September, Coldplay announced that it would be donating 10% of the band’s proceeds from their 2025 dates at London’s Wembley Stadium and Hull’s Craven Park stadium to the Music Venue Trust.
Other acts backing the initiative include rock band Enter Shikari, who donated £1 from every ticket sold on its February U.K. arena tour to the trust, and Sam Fender, who has pledged to do the same on his forthcoming U.K. dates. This year, Halifax-based venue The Piece Hall became the first U.K. venue to give ticket-buyers the option to donate to the charity.
A similar scheme to support grass roots music creation exists in France, where a statutory 3.5% levy on the gross value of all concert tickets sales goes into a central fund administered by the Centre National de la Musique (CNM), France’s public agency for the music industry.
“This is the beginning of a way forward,” Kwame Kwaten, director of artist management company Ferocious Talent, whose roster includes Blue Lab Beats, Hak Baker and Caitlyn Scarlett, tells Billboard.
“If [the levy] happens, it will at least begin the process of addressing something that has been left out to dry with humongous consequences, especially at the kind of levels that we have to operate at before an artist gets to the arena, stadium level, which is where 80-90% of [touring] artists are,” says Kwaten, who gave evidence to the CMS committee during the inquiry.
“We are standing at a massive crossroads,” he says, “and we have now got a chance to do something about it.”
In a statement, CMS Committee chair, Dame Caroline Dinenage, said she welcomed the government’s recognition that “swift action on a levy is needed from the bigger players who pack out arenas and stadiums,” but warned that “the lack of a firm deadline for movement risks allowing matters to drift.”
“Without healthy roots, the entire live music ecosystem suffers,” said Dinenage, who is calling for government ministers to set a clear deadline for the industry to act. If no significant progress is made within six months, she said the CMS committee will hold another hearing with representatives of the U.K. live music industry.
“Every week I hear from music managers trying to do the impossible and bridge catastrophic shortfalls in their artists touring budgets,” said Annabella Coldrick, chief executive of U.K. trade body the Music Managers Forum (MMF), in a statement. Coldrick says it is “imperative” that the music industry comes together to establish a ticket levy on “all large-scale live music shows” to support smaller scale touring artists. “The current situation is untenable,” she says.
The U.K. government’s support for an arena ticket levy is the latest in a long line of Parliament-led interventions into the music industry that have taken place in recent years, including a nine-month probe into the music streaming business and a subsequent review of the sector by the U.K. competition watchdog.
More recently, authorities have turned their attentions to the live industry. In September, the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) launched an investigation into Ticketmaster over its much-criticized use of dynamic ticketing for Oasis‘ reunion tour, which prompted hundreds of complaints from fans and fierce condemnation from British politicians.
The British government has also said it would be looking into the practice of dynamic pricing for music concerts as part of its consultation into the secondary ticketing market, which is due to begin in the coming weeks.
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Canadian Music Week is undergoing a major identity shift.
For the first time since 1982, the music festival and conference will have a new name: Departure. The newly-christened Departure Festival + Conference will take place from May 6-11, 2025.
Loft Entertainment and Oak View Group (OVG) bought the festival from retiring founder Neill Dixon this year. They announced the changes in a cocktail reception on Tuesday (Nov. 12) at the festival’s new Toronto headquarters, Hotel X.
“Departure honours where we’ve come from and celebrates where we are going,” said Kevin Barton, executive producer at Loft Entertainment. “We’re creating a launchpad that opens doors to deeper, more inclusive conversations and showcases the richness of Toronto’s cultural scene, celebrates Canadian creatives, and welcomes global artists.”
In speeches and a fireside chat, Barton along with Loft co-founder Randy Lennox and chief operating officer Jackie Dean joined OVG Canada president Tom Pistore to share the new vision for the festival.
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Lennox and Barton pointed to the ambition of the event, which will expand to include comedy, tech and food in year one — plus film, fashion and other subjects in the near future. They will take big swings, which might mean they may have misses along the way, they acknowledged.
This year’s festival will include a songwriter showcase, comedy performances, food trucks, and a new app and digital infrastructure.
The goal with Departure is to expand and modernize, they said, while honouring the history of Canadian Music Week. Next year, they will honour CMW’s former leader Neill Dixon with a lifetime achievement award.
Comedian Russell Peters opened with his own less rehearsed speech, and shared his hopes for the festival. He’s both a comedian and a DJ, but says he and his friends had avoided CMW in the past “because it was soup — full of crackers.” He joked that the festival’s idea of diversification was Kardinal Offishall and that’s it.
Barton stressed an inclusivity mandate and said they have been meeting with different equity-seeking communities in the Canadian arts industry. Over 160 languages are spoken in Toronto, and the goal is to represent that multiculturalism.
Pistore said Departure is part of the Denver-based Oak View Group’s expanded footprint in Canada, which includes new hires and a $280 million project to transform an arena in Hamilton, Ontario. There is an ambition to be bigger, “but rooted in a Canadian foundation.”
The response on social media and at the industry event was mixed. Some were optimistic for the long-running conference to change and evolve and provide a bigger platform for Canadian artists. Others hoped that the new ownership, including the American Oak View Group, and removal of “Canadian” from the name, will not sacrifice the Canadian identity or the focus on the homegrown industry.
Karan Chahal is a music and business lawyer and agent at LSC Law. A former musician and engineer himself, he now works with independent artists, especially in Punjabi music, including producer Deep Jandhu.
Chahal has been attending CMW for years, and credits it as one of the most important conferences in Canada. He especially appreciated last year’s edition, which included a spotlight on India’s music industry and Punjabi music in Canada, he says.
“It’s an amazing platform, because everyone there is there for the same reason: music,” he says. “The music industry in Canada is still growing, and artists need support. There’s so much incredible talent here, and CMW is a spot where the artists, the labels, the agents can gain those relationships in the industry.”
Chahal’s hope is that Departure’s expanded focus into other areas will not dilute the support for music, specifically.
“I think we need more eyes on it, we need to grow it. More strategic individuals getting involved is only going to help,” he says. “I just hope we aren’t going to lose what it initially stood for, and will uphold the duty to support the culture.”
Rudy Blair is an independent music journalist and interviewer who has been covering Canadian Music Week for nearly 30 years. Over the past few years, he’s also worked for the festival under Dixon as a conference host.
Blair says the new name will take some getting used to, but he thinks the growth can only be a good thing.
“We always have to move forward, and as long as it shows respect for what came in the past, change is a good thing,” he says. “Moving forward, looking at things differently, presenting things differently, that always needs to happen. Departure is part of that evolution.
“The mandate from day 1, 42 years ago, to 2025 is the same,” he continues. “It is all about fans, artists, educating people, and making sure the rest of the world knows that Canada has some of the best talent in the world. As much as they’re looking at other things, I hope they keep the dream Neill (Dixon) had, which is promoting Canadian talent.”
This story originally was originally published by Billboard Canada.
BERLIN — GEMA, the German performing rights organization (PRO), today sued OpenAI for copyright infringement in Munich regional court, alleging that the technology company used without permission lyrics from songs to which GEMA licenses rights. This makes GEMA the first PRO to file such a lawsuit, although it controls some rights that U.S. societies do not. This also seems to be the first case involving only lyrics; the case does not involve recordings. In its announcement, GEMA described the suit as a “model action,” aimed at clarifying copyright law in Germany, and potentially all of Europe.
Since OpenAI offers copyrighted song lyrics in response to prompts, GEMA is alleging that the company trained its software on song lyrics that it has the rights to license, so it is suing the company for violations of the making available and reproduction right. (Making available is a right under European law that in this case is roughly analogous to the right of public performance, or in this case public display. It’s also alleging two infringing reproductions – one to ingest the lyrics for training purposes and another when they are output.) In the U.S., PROs do not control mechanical rights, so they would not have the standing to file such a lawsuit.
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So far, most of the music business lawsuits involving AI companies have been over the ingestion of recordings, although that by definition would also involve the underlying compositions. But OpenAI is already facing a considerable amount of litigation, including a putative class action from authors, a lawsuit from The New York Times, and one each from online publishers and other newspapers. The issue in the U.S. is whether or not copying to train an AI qualifies as a “fair use” exception to copyright law. The record label cases against Suno and Udio will involve the same principle.
European copyright law provides “exceptions and limitations” to copyright, rather than fair use, and the 2019 Copyright Directive allows text and data mining unless rightsholders opt-out. In this case, however, GEMA has opted out for all of the works it licenses. (GEMA does not license the lyrics for all the songs in its repertoire, but the lawsuit involves ones for which it does.) This lawsuit aims to clarify the law, and it has the support of some big German songwriters, as well as their publishers.
“Our members’ songs are not free raw material for generative AI systems providers’ business models,” said GEMA CEO Tobias Holzmüller in a statement. “Anyone who wants to use these songs must acquire a license and remunerate the authors fairly. We have developed a license model for this. We are taking and will always take legal action against unlicensed use.”
The lawsuit comes as rightsholders around the world are becoming more concerned about how AI will affect the value of their works, as well as how they should be compensated for how it is trained. At the end of September, GEMA presented a licensing model for generative AI software that would compensate songwriters and publishers. It has also sent letters to AI companies stating they must license GEMA works in order to use them.
Since OpenAI both operates servers and makes content available in Germany, it will presumably have to operate according to German law. This seems clearer than the U.S. system, where fair use often involves considerable uncertainty. However, European countries do not offer rightsholders the opportunity to collect damages as high as they can get in the U.S.
A representative for OpenAI did not immediately return a request for comment.