They've invented the solution to the music industry's 'black box'. And it's free.

 

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Max Martin, ABBA's Björn Ulvaeus, and songwriter and producer Niclas Molinder say they've invented the solution to the music industry's 'black box'. And it's free. Each year, royalties worth an estimated $655 million (£500m) globally are not paid to the correct rightsholders due to bad data. To address the issue of hundreds of millions of dollars' worth of royalties landing in the industry's so-called 'black box', rather than in the bank accounts of rightsholders, ABBA's Björn Ulvaeus launched the 'Credits Due' campaign in 2021 to get creators paid for their work. BMG became one of the first international music companies to commit to the initiative, and the likes of SoundCloud, Hipgnosis and Kobalt Music Publishing are also listed amongst the campaign's supporters. Now, with Credits Due having caught the attention of the music business, Ulvaeus is going one step further to fix music's missing data problem. The superstar artist has teamed up with his fellow Swedish producer/songwriters Max Martin and Niclas Molinder to develop technology that aims to directly combat inadequate creator data collection. The trio's new data tool is called Session Studio. It's already secured over £1 million ($1.3m) in funding from two notable investors – Spotify and YouTube – while its other supporters include ProTools-maker Avid, Universal Music Group, and DDEX. Niclas Molinder tells MBW that incorrect metadata is a big problem for the modern music business, for both music's creators and its investors. "The vast amount of new songs released on a daily basis, many with very little metadata and missing linked identifiers causes enormous problems for the music industry," he says. Molinder adds: "These problems are the reason why so much royalty money each year is unidentified and not paid out to the people who created the music." Session is an evolution of Auddly, which was launched by Max Martin, Niclas Molinder and Björn Ulvaeus a few years back to "fill the gap in the music industry’s data and money flow". With Session and its free Session Studio app, Martin, Molinder and Ulvaeus are aiming to take this idea global, enabling music-makers to capture accurate song data at the point of creation. Cleverly, Session Studio is actually embedded within Digital Audio Workstations (DAWs) to capture authoritative song information and data as soon as creators get to work. The platform enables songwriters/producers to assign credit to multiple creators in the studio via its unique 'Creator Credits' system – and to set the splits of royalties each of these creators will receive in future. Explains Molinder: "Every creator that has a Session profile, can ensure all the information is captured. When it’s time to release a track, Session can send releases downstream in the music ecosystem to labels, publishers and societies in the necessary format with all the correct information attached."  In a joint statement, Molinder, Martin, and Ulvaeus say: "By using innovative technology and working with industry partners, we’re creating a trusted reference point, open to everyone who needs to register, credit and pay the right people. "This saves time, effort and money for all those involved – from song idea to release and beyond – making music work better for everyone. "We do it for the love of the music and passion for those who make it. That’s why Session Studio is free of charge for creators and always will be, we will never charge for the collection and management of credits and metadata. " Here, Molinder tells MBW why Session was founded, how it is tackling the issue of so-called 'black box' revenues in the music business, and how it hopes "to transform the industry’s ability to create and reward creators". READ THE FULL INTERVIEW ON MBW

These Planes Are Propelled With Ionic Thrust

Joan Shelley

I wish You'd know it You're a powerline Hello,  A few words from here under the crackle of fireworks and mournful goat calls:  I'm pleased to bring something new out, though it feels awkward to present anything now. After some requests and the prodding of the wonderful No Quarter label, we decided to press a limited run of the live album onto vinyl. The double LP is available today on Bandcamp. Also out today is my longtime partner Nathan Salsburg's hypnotic instrumental album LANDWERK. If you haven't heard any of that yet, I can't urge you enough to go check it out. We're offering them as a package to get folks a little discount. It's all up on that bandcamp page.  I hope they may bring some pleasure.  LIVE AT THE BOMHARD limited edition vinyl LANDWERK - Nathan Salsburg limited edition Bandcamp is a magical land full of sonic treasures. While you are there, look around and support as much as you can. My friend Elephant Micah alerted me to this user-generated and searchable list of black artists on Bandcamp, which I am grateful for.  NEW TOUR SCHEDULE The tours for the fall are, of course, postponed. We've got rescheduled 2021 dates for the UK/Benelux tour and Primavera festival, listed below. The fall U.S. dates are cancelled, but we're working to find a time to reschedule as many of those as possible.    May 21- Mono - Glasgow, UK May 22 - Gosforth Civic Theatre - Newcastle, UK May 23 - Deaf Institute - Manchester, UK May 24 - Kings Place - London, UK May 26 - Brudenell Social Club - Leeds, UK May 27 - The Louisiana - Bristol, UK May 28 - Hope & Ruin - Brighton, UK May 29 - De Roma - Antwerp, BE May 31 - Paradiso Upstairs - Amsterdam, NL Jun 1 - Merleyn - Nijmegen, NL Jun 3 - Primavera Sound - Barcelona, ES If you have tickets already for the fall and can't commit to the spring, please request a refund. If you have any trouble, reach out to me and I'll try to help. I'll miss being over there this fall, but I am heartened that everyone is on board and taking care. Lastly, I just want to say that Nathan and I are missing touring and seeing our friends and new faces and places out there. We are reimagining what a musician's life may look like in times of viruses and the climate crisis. I've doubled down, in a sense, by acquiring dairy goats, but I very much want to be a part of what comes out of these new constraints. I hope that we can stay connected to the world while building stronger local scenes that are plugged into our local communities in meaningful ways. So thanks for being here on the list to provide one of the means of connection. If you want to share any ideas or examples with me, I would love to hear them.  Be safe and well and keep working and loving each other. Love from us animals here,  Joan

Copyright © 2019 Absolute Anthem Music

St. Lundi

Record of the Day - In tune. Informed. Indispensable.

In tune. Informed. Indispensable. Thursday 7 May 2020

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Ruin St. Lundi Propeller Recordings Released: Out now

We say Let us introduce you to the gorgeous sounds of 22 year old singer-songwriter Archie Langley aka St. Lundi. Having grown up on Hayling Island, Archie found himself living with family, in and out of dead-end jobs, whilst trying to build a name for himself as a singer-songwriter in the Portsmouth and Hampshire area until one night last year he decided to buy a one-way ticket to London. The next evening he played an open mic night where he met some new friends who offered him a couch as accommodation which soon became his home for the next six months whilst laying the foundations of a new life in the capital. His debut single You’ve Got The Wrong Guy released earlier this year clocked up over 250k combined streams with support from Apple Music’s New Music Daily and In My Room playlists, as well as support from YouTube channels Mahogany, Alexrainbird and Indievibes. Radio support has come from BBC Introducing and Amazing Radio, plus tastemakers including When The Horn Blows, Gig Goer’s 'artist of the week' and more. Now back with this heartfelt and delicious piano ballad yesterday (6 May), expect to see more tastemaker love for this atmospheric and touching number. With echoes of Chris Martin and Ben Howard, St. Lundi could quite quickly become your favourite new emerging singer-songwriter this year.   Contact Label & Management: Tom Rose, Propeller Records Publishing: Available Radio: Nick Bray  Online: Lorraine Long, Longevity PR Live: Sarah Casey, UTA

HEADLINES Kraftwerk co-founder Florian Schneider dies (see News, Features) Peloton spent $49m in settlement and litigation costs, likely to get it out of a copyright suit (see News) Miquela, a CGI-generated influencer & music artist, signs to CAA (see Digital)

AND ALSO JOB OPPORTUNITIES [PIAS] Group seeks a Metadata Coordinator (RotD)

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