A BLOG OF SORTS FROM CHRIS COOKE
May 2019 Updates
Roundhouse Insights Day
I am taking part in the Music Industry Insight Day at the Roundhouse tomorrow leading a session on the role of record labels and music publishers, and how record and publishing deals work. They also asked me for my top three tips for those embarking on a music career and I decided to make them artist-centric. Here they are!
Birthdays + Podcasts
While it’s my 44th birthday today (thanks for all the greetings!), earlier this month it was CMU’s 21st. Over the last year we’ve been putting out special editions of Setlist running through the 20 biggest stories CMU reported on during it’s first two decades covering the music business. We recorded the very final one today which will go out in a couple of weeks time – it’s all about the ever resilient and occasionally entertaining Pirate Bay. Check out all the others here.
Streaming chatter on R4
Grown up music business chatter today. I was in at BBC Radio 4 to talk all things streaming on Money Box with my fellow in-studio guests Alice Enders and Chiedu Oraka Official. You can tune in over on BBC Sounds if you like.
Tickets on sale now!
Blatant Plug Alert! Tickets are now on sale for all of this autumn’s CMU Insights seminars and masterclasses. The copyright ones, the marketing ones, the streaming one and the other copyright one. Turns out I have a lot to say about copyright. They kick off in September, all very kindly hosted by our friends at Lewis Silkin. Info here.
Nothing to like!
Back home from Ibiza after a fascinating IMS. I stayed with Playasol Ibiza Hotels, the first hotel I’ve ever seen that reports its Facebook likes in the foyer. If it hadn’t been for the shocking customer service, terrible IT systems and circa 1999 internet speeds, I might have given them another thumbs up! Though the view from the breakfast room – I have to concede – was magnificent. If there was a Facebook page for the view, I’d like that.
Wolves FC copyright case
Still in Ibiza, but was on-air on BBC local radio in the Midlands this morning to talk about this interesting if slightly depressing copyright story involving Wolves FC. A pensioner unsuccessfully argued in court that the Wolves logo rips off a design he came up with in the 1960s. Will the club now go after the £300,000 legal costs it was awarded? I guess that’s more a PR question than a legal one.
In Ibiza (WiFi pending!)
I have arrived in Ibiza! Just need to animate some slides and then I’m ready for the International Music Summit. I have a rather nice view while I work! I just need to get some working WiFi (40 mins stood at a somewhat useless Playasol Ibiza Hotels reception to no avail!) and we’ll be sorted.
Heading to Ibiza
I’m heading to Ibiza this week for my first ever visit to the International Music Summit. I’ll be talking all things fan data and will be running IMS delegates through the key recommendations in the MMF’s Fan Data Guide – which you can still download for free here.
Chatting to Cassandra at TGE
Last TGE 2019 photo, promise! It’s me interviewing the marvellous Cassandra Gracey from Sony’s 4th Floor Creative last Friday. Don’t forget, you can download all the slides I presented at The Great Escape this year from this link. (Also, thanks to Tia Johnson for taking all the other CMU+TGE photos I’ve shared, and to Patrick Gunning for this one).
My CMU+TGE co-hosts
I spent a lot of time on stage at the CMU+TGE conferences last week, but I wasn’t the only person allowed to ask questions, honest! I mean nearly, but not quite. Thanks to my brilliant co-hosts, including Jen Long who led half the discussions at our Music Marketing Conference on the Friday, like this one about all the ‘content’ artist campaigns now need.
Article Thirteen chatter at TGE
This year we got to do the ‘Article Thirteen’ bit at CMU+TGE with an actual ratified ‘Article Thirteen’ on the screen. Progress! Except, of course, it’s now Article Seventeen. And what will it actually look like when implemented at a national level across the EU? That’s what we discussed on stage. You can get my beginner’s guide to safe harbour reform in the Digital Dollar Conference slides here.
Song Royalties Guide at TGE
After we launched the MMF Song Royalties Guide at TGE last week I asked Nigel Dewar Gibb from Lewis Silkin to provide some practical tips for how songwriters can reduce the negative impact of all those royalty chain complexities, which he is doing here. Then MMF Chair Paul Craig set out the management community’s priorities for ensuring more writers get paid more of their digital dollars. You can download the actual guide here.
Chatting to Gonzo at TGE
In the post-TGE haze, I’m just going back through the photos and remembering all the great conversations that took place on stage during the three CMU+TGE conferences last week. Obviously being able to chat to Chilly Gonzales about his experiences of traditional music education and why he established the Gonzervatory programme was a stand-out moment for me!
TGE Elevate class of 2019
And that’s another TGE completed. This year we launched the all-new TGE Elevate professional development programme for early-career delegates thanks to support from Arts Council England and I got to meet all these guys, ie my keynote speaker bookings of the future. Thanks to everyone who took part in and supported Elevate, it was a really great first year. TGE 2020 kicks off in 366 days time!
Final day of TGE 2019
It’s the final day of The Great Escape Festival and after our three high-speed CMU+TGE conferences on Wednesday, Thursday and Friday, some more laid back Elevate Seminars today. Plus we finale, as always, with Heroes & Villains in Conference Room 2 in Jurys Inn Waterfront at 5pm – it’s going to be a good one!
TGE 2019 is go!
So that’s two CMU+TGE conferences done. Too many highlights to list! But launching our latest Digital Dollar guide and getting to interview my musical hero Chilly Gonzales would definitely be high up on the list if I did. Tomorrow the focus is music marketing and then, on Saturday, we present the all-new Elevate seminars.
Friday at CMU+TGE
So we are presenting three – yes, THREE – full day CMU+TGE conferences as part of The Great Escape this year. The third is on Friday and will put the spotlight on how music marketing continues to evolve thanks to the rise of social and the big shift to streams. I wrote an intro to it all here.
Thursday at CMU+TGE
Not only are we presenting a full day conference at The Great Escape this year based on all our Digital Dollar work for the MMF, we are also launching the latest Digital Dollar guide, explaining why many songwriters are missing out on a chunk of their streaming money. It’s all happening on Thursday and I wrote a little intro about the day’s proceedings.
Wednesday at CMU+TGE
So somehow it’s very nearly time for The Great Escape. Quite how that came round so quickly is anyone’s guess. It all kicks off at 10am on Wednesday with our CMU+TGE Music Education Conference, a full day for music employers, music educators and everyone who cares about the future of the music talent pipeline. Plus musical genius Chilly Gonzales will be providing the all-important artist perspective shortly after 4pm. I wrote an quick intro to it all here.