📑 CMU Digest: TikTok v the indies, plus CAA sues Range Media Partners

CMU Digest is our weekly round-up of the most interesting music business news stories from the last seven days. 

This week: TikTok goes to war with the indie label community as it cutsMerlin out of licensing negotiations; more ticketing issues exposed by the sale of tickets to Oasis, Coldplay and Taylor Swift shows; talent agency CAA sues Range Media Partners, which isn’t a talent agency, except CAA says it is; YouTube and SESAC have a very short licensing dispute; and streaaming platforms are ramping up their campaign against Canada’s streaming levy. 

ICYMI: Diddy’s legal woes escalate; Garth Brooks is accused of sexual assault; Kesha reveals a plan to address issues in the music industry; Fleetwood Mac producer sues over Broadway play that seems similar to his memoir; more HYBE/Ador dramas; the fallout of Lyte’s collapse continues.

Indies criticise TikTok as it cuts Merlin out of licensing negotiations 

The independent label sector’s digital licensing organisation Merlin wrote to members last week to let them know that TikTok has walked away from licensing negotiations. With its current licensing deal due to expire at the end of the month, TikTok says that it now plans to enter into deals directly with labels and distributors that previously used the Merlin licence. It claims that this is so it can better tackle streaming fraud and the uploading of copyright infringing music by certain labels and distributors, but indie execs told CMU that it might make that problem worse, not better and that it is “disingenous” for TikTok to “pretend this is about content integrity”.

Organisations representing the indie label community across the world have spoken out against TikTok’s attempt to circumvent Merlin, saying that TikTok actually wants to cut Merlin out of the equation so that it can force indie labels into a worse deal. AIM’s Gee Davy told CMU, “Fraud is best combatted by the industry engaging and working collaboratively, as Merlin have been doing effectively with platform partners”, while Dan Waite, Chair of IMPALA’s Digital Committee and boss of Better Noise, said, “Like a supermarket chain negotiating directly with individual farmers for the price of their milk, it’s difficult to see how this can work out in the farmers’ favour”. 

Oasis, Coldplay and Taylor Swift tickets put ticketing issues in the spotlight

The sale of tickets for the Oasis reunion shows in North America have prompted a mini-controversy – but this time it’s not about dynamic pricing. Instead, the issue is that thousands of tickets for Oasis shows in the US were listed on resale sites StubHub and Vivid Seats before tickets were even officially released for sale. The National Independent Venue Association said this demonstrated why new laws are required in the US to stop speculative selling, where tickets touts advertise for sale tickets they are yet to secure. 

In India, tickets to Coldplay’s 2025 shows sold out in minutes last month only for large numbers to pop up on resale sites at significantly marked up prices. There were allegations that primary seller BookMyShow had connections to the resellers or the resale sites they use, like Viagogo. BookMyShow has denied that claim, as has Viagogo. That wasn’t enough to stop Mumbai police questioning BookMyShow’s CEO as part of an investigation into the touting of tickets for the Coldplay shows. 

Back in the world of primary ticketing, poor old Ticketmaster is getting it in the neck after multiple reports in the US media that tickets were disappearing from concert-goers’ Ticketmaster accounts, including tickets for Taylor Swift shows. Third parties were using Ticketmaster’s ticket transfer tool to move tickets to other accounts without the buyer’s permission. There was speculation this might be linked to the massive data hack of Ticketmaster’s platform earlier this year, but the ticketing firm says passwords were not taken in that incident. Instead Ticketmaster claims that in most cases the illegal ticket transfers are the result of customers’ email accounts being hacked.

Talent agency CAA says rival Range Media Partners is “built on deceit”

Range was set up in 2020 by five former CAA agents, four of whom, says CAA in a new lawsuit, illegally accessed confidential information while they were still working at CAA, in order to give their new business a competitive advantage. The lawsuit claims that the four were posing “as loyal CAA members, sitting shoulder to shoulder in confidential CAA meetings about clients and business”, but were actually “covertly working to benefit Range and themselves, and to harm CAA”. 

The CAA lawsuit also includes another big allegation, which is that, although Range positions itself first and foremost as a management company, it is really a talent agency. “Range is an unlicensed talent agency built on deceit”, thunders CAA in its legal filing. This matters for two reasons: most importantly by positioning itself as a management company Range is not subject to the regulation that applies to talent agencies in some US states, including California. But also, that positioning means that the Range founders can claim that they are not competing with their former employer. 

YouTube and SESAC had a very short-lived licensing dispute that was over before it ever really got started

YouTube videos containing songs written by SESAC members started being blocked in the US in the final days of September. It transpired that YouTube’s licensing deal with the US collecting society was about to expire and negotiations on a new deal had stalled. 

YouTube said “despite our best efforts, we were unable to reach an equitable agreement” for the performing rights repped by the society, which is why the videos were blocked. In fact, videos started being blocked a couple of days before the previous SESAC deal expired, a move that some saw as a strong-arm negotiating tactic on YouTube’s part. 

Whether or not that’s true, SESAC and YouTube kissed and made up, announcing that they had agreed to the terms of a new deal before the situation escalated. YouTube said, “We’re pleased that SESAC reconsidered our offer, we’ve reached a deal and content will come back up shortly”. SESAC itself added, “We have reached an agreement with YouTube to equitably compensate SESAC’s songwriters and publishers for the use of their music”. 

Streaming services launch campaign against Canadian levy

Earlier this year, Canadian broadcasting regulator CRTC announced a 5% levy would be applied to all streaming services in Canada. The levy stems from the country’s Online Streaming Act. Of the money generated from audio services, half will go to existing schemes that support independent artists and labels, with 10% supporting Indigenous music and audio content, and the rest funding community radio and commercial radio news. The indie label community has welcomed the levy, but it is strongly opposed by streaming platforms and the major record companies. 

So much so, the streaming companies are taking legal action in Canada to fight the levy, but are also urging users to write to their MPs to criticise the levy, mainly on the basis the services will pass the levy onto the consumer, increasing the price of a subscription. A template letter provided by streaming service trade body DiMA says, “It’s time to scrap this tax and focus on measures that genuinely support Canadian creators without placing additional financial strain on consumers”. 

ICYMI:

🚨 Diddy’s legal woes are escalating, with numerous new lawsuits set to be filed including allegations of sexual assault from 120 people. The lawyer representing the new accusers has also pledged to “expose the enablers who enabled this conduct behind closed doors”. The musician is still in jail following his arrest on sex-trafficking charges last month. Last week he started expanding his legal team while planning to ask the Second Circuit Appeals Court to overturn a lower court ruling denying him bail. 

👩‍⚖️ A new lawsuit accuses Garth Brooks of sexual assault, though he denies the allegations and claims a former employee is trying to extort money from him. His accuser sets out various incidents of alleged sexual harassment and assault, and accuses Brooks of filing his own lawsuit in a bid to silence her.

🎢 Kesha finally fulfilled all the obligations on her 2005 record deal with Dr Luke’s Kemosabe Records last year allowing her to release recent single ‘Joyride’ on her own label. Now in control of her recordings, she has a plan to address issues in the music industry, including unfair record contracts.

🎭 In 2012, producer Ken Caillat published a memoir about his work on Fleetwood Mac’s ‘Rumours’. He reckons that book formed the basis of the Broadway play ‘Stereophonic’, about a band working on a new album. The writer of the play denies that’s the case, but Caillat has sued for copyright infringement.

🇰🇷 Min Hee-jin, ex-CEO at HYBE label Ador, has again said she wants her old job back, insisting that separating her management and production roles makes no sense. Meanwhile HYBE is investigating claims Min inappropriately intervened into an inquiry into sexual harassment allegations at the label.

🎫 The fallout from the collapse of ticketing company Lyte continues. Two Aussie festivals have been impacted, with one down AUS$30,000 and another putting ongoing sales on hold. Meanwhile the two US festivals suing Lyte have clarified how they used the company’s secondary ticketing marketplace.