A BLOG OF SORTS FROM CHRIS COOKE
June 2025 Updates
Edinburgh this year
I’m going to be at the Edinburgh Fringe for a whole week this year, my longest stint there in a while – looking forward to seeing lots of great comedy shows. And, given the current London heat, I’m even looking forward to the inevitable Edinburgh drizzle and mist. I’m getting in the mood by reading Caro’s ThreeWeeks Q&As for this year, which are appearing here.
Thank you Warsaw
Great few days in Warsaw at the rather magnificent Music Week Poland – lots of great panels and conversations. Then, today, a wander around Warsaw’s quite new Old Town. And now, back to London…
Copyright socks
You can access my explanation of copyright via slides, a guide, a website, our on-demand training videos and in the Digital Dollar book. But having gone through the Music Week Poland bag I now realise I’ve been missing a key educational medium all this time! Big fan of the Zaiks copyright socks…
Proofing in the park
Really interesting on-stage conversation at Music Week Poland this afternoon on the value of music streaming with Rachel Cartier and Miłosz Bembinow. Followed by some sneaky proof reading in the park, finishing off our article on the second big AI fair use judgement of the week. A pretty good temporary office.
Stamped
First stamp in my brand new passport! The Polish border guard didn’t seem to share my excitement about the new passport – not sure he realised how amazing it is I actually got round to getting that sorted before embarking on this trip. Or maybe he was just unimpressed with the colour.
To Warsaw this week
Heading to Warsaw this week for Music Week Poland where I’ll be moderating two panels – one on the value of music streaming, and the other on innovations in music licensing and the evolving role of CMOs. If you’re attending the event, let’s catch up!
Setting five at 9am
When your fan’s on setting five at 9am, you start to wonder if ten settings is going to be enough to see you through the day. And I know I shouldn’t be moaning about the warm weather, but doing so is one of the few British pastimes I like to embrace.
TikTok no ban
Trump has again extended the deadline for TikTok to find a new owner in the US, which makes you wonder if Congress’s sell-or-be-banned law will ever be enforced. Having now written thousands of words about that law – and all the Congressional concerns about China-based ByteDance’s ownership of the app – you’d think I’d at least get a sensational sale or bombastic ban to report on eventually! Anyway, here’s the my CMU report on the latest developments.
Edinburgh Q&As
We’ve started interviewing performers who are appearing at the Edinburgh Festival this year. Well, I say “we” have, so far Caro has. And there’ll be more Q&As appearing each week. You can check them all out here.
Lots to digest
Here I am at the IMBRA event on Friday with a brand new slide! On a panel later in the day talk turned to the need to educate the educators, which is exactly what we’ve been doing this weekend with our latest Pathways Into Music event in Southampton – which once again sparked lots of great ideas and debate. Lots to digest on my train ride back to London.
Campus tour
I’m on a short tour of university campuses. Tomorrow, University Of Southampton for our Pathways Into Music Weekend. Today, University Of Hertfordshire for this here conference. A super interesting day on a very pleasant campus.
Passport is here
My new passport has arrived in good old Brexit Blue (aka black). I got extra pages to accommodate more stamps, so if you’re outside the UK and would like to book a lecture or briefing about copyright or streaming or data, then get in touch – my passport can definitely accommodate you and hopefully my diary can too!
Passport funtimes
Did I forget to order a new passport, meaning I’m now going through the fast track route which involved a quick trip to the Passport Office earlier today? Maybe. I mean, if the Polish border guards were willing to be creative, I reckon you could fit two more stamps in my old passport. But probably not wise to be having that argument while standing at the actual border.
Edinburgh reviews
We’ll be publishing our first ThreeWeeks performer Q&A of the year tomorrow, which means the Edinburgh Festival is getting close again. But there’s still time to apply to join our review team – if you or anyone you know is interested, all the info you need is here.
At Canva
First time in Old Street / Hoxton Square in a very long time – the station’s concourse was a bit of a surprise. I’m at the offices of Canva to run a Pathways Into Music session as part of a MOBO Unsung day. Hope nobody finds out I’m a luddite Adobe user (though CMU is a Canva user, I should add!)
Radio royalties
The record industry has been campaigning for decades to fix a quirk in US law which means AM/FM radio stations don’t have to pay royalties to artists and labels. Now car manufacturers are backing the campaign. Why? It’s a bit complicated. Here’s my CMU report.
Talent House
This week I’m back at Talent House in Stratford, one of my favourite places, running some sessions for the UD Incubator Programme. A great team of music-makers have been asking some super insightful questions of our brilliant industry guests – and I got to run through my revenues and rights guides
More Chris Cookes
As I’ve mentioned before, there are lots and lots of Chris Cookes in the world, including the cricketer, whose birthday was also on Friday, weirdly. Yesterday, while in Brighton, I discovered there’s even a bus called Chris Cooke.