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The Radio Licensing Music Committee, which represents radio stations across the country, is taking a new tactic in its ongoing battle over songwriter royalties.
In an apparent move to throw a wrench into the proceedings at the National Music Publishers’ Association annual meeting in New York on Wednesday (June 15), the RMLC filed a petition in the Federal Southern District of New York to hold consolidated rate proceedings before a single designated judge. That would, in effect, pit performance rights organizations ASCAP and BMI against each other, if the motion is approved.
The RMLC’s move takes advantage of the Music Modernization Act that passed in 2018 and included a provision moving rate hearings for the PROs to a revolving roster of Southern District judges, if the PROs can’t reach agreement on rates with the RMLC. Traditionally, Judge Louis Stanto has heard rate trials for BMI and Judge Denise Cote for ASCAP. Now, by asking the court to designate a single judge, the RMLC’s plan appears to be to have BMI and ASCAP argue against one another over market share and thus what percentage of radio advertising each should be paid.
In response to the filing, BMI said in a statement, “We are astonished that the RMLC has decided to bring an unprecedented joint action against BMI and ASCAP, relying on a gross mischaracterization of the Music Modernization Act. We are also disappointed that the RMLC opted to commence this action rather than engage in negotiations with BMI. We will vigorously oppose the improper joint action and look forward to establishing the significant value of the BMI repertoire to radio before the BMI rate court.“
Likewise, ASCAP CEO Elizabeth Matthews said in a statement, “The litigation filed today is squarely aimed at reducing what powerful RMLC radio stations pay songwriters, who are the lifeblood of the radio industry. The RMLC is weaponizing their market power to punish the songwriters whom it relies upon for its business. ASCAP will vigorously fight for the right of our members to be paid fairly.”
Alternative asset management company HarbourView Equity Partners announced Tuesday that it has acquired the publishing catalog of songwriting and production duo Andre Harris and Vidal Davis, better known as Dre & Vidal. Deal terms were not disclosed.
Dre & Vidal have written songs and produced for major artists including Jamie Foxx, Kanye West, Justin Bieber, Musiq Soulchild, Robin Thicke, Fantasia and Charlie Wilson. Some of their biggest Hot 100 hits include “Caught Up” by Usher, “Yo (Excuse Me Miss)” by Chris Brown, “Oh” by Ciara, and “The Way” by Jill Scott.
HarbourView, founded by Sherrese Clarke Soares, launched seven months ago and has acquired 30 catalogs so far. Most recently, the company purchased Latin superstar Luis Fonsi‘s catalog.
DLA Piper served as legal counsel to HarbourView in the transaction. Dre & Vidal were represented by the Law Office of Brad A. Rubens, LLC.
Vidal opened up to You Know I Got Soul in 2012 and explained how he and Dre became a duo, “Me and Andre knew each other just from the musician scene in Philly and two of our uncles are best friends. My uncle was the music director for Phyllis Hyman, for the Winans, and just various artists. Those two were together; Andre’s brother played the bass with Andre’s uncle for the Winans. We kinda linked up during rehearsals here and there, and then we just started hanging out when we were teens.”
And speaking on breaking outside of the neo-soul genre they had been known for, he added, “We had a point where we were just stagnated as just being neo-soul producers. We just wanted to let everybody know that it wasn’t the case. We wanted to step outside the box even though we had been doing a lot of stuff, people just didn’t know it. The first thing that kinda made everybody say “Oh man!” was ‘Oh’ for Ciara. After we did that song, it was like “Uh oh”.
An international music festival founded by the father of singer-songwriter Dua Lipa to promote his native Kosovo has led to recriminations for the small European country after it lost the event to neighboring Albania.
The Sunny Hill Festival made its debut in Kosovo’s capital, Pristina, in 2018 and took place again in 2019, bringing artists like Miley Cyrus, Calvin Harris, Martin Garrix and Action Bronson to one of Europe’s youngest and poorest nations. British-born Dua Lipa also was a featured headliner.
Dukagjin Lipa, the singer’s father and manager, said the festival brought Kosovo priceless publicity, including coverage in more than 500 international media outlets. The event was put on hold in 2020 and 2021 due to the coronavirus pandemic.
It is set to return this summer, but Lipa said late Tuesday that “after a long wait, many efforts, requests,” he’d made “a difficult but necessary” decision to stage the Aug. 4-7 event in Albania’s capital, Tirana. He said a political dispute between Kosovo’s ruling party and the one in power in Pristina prevented organizers from getting permission to put on the festival.
He and the festival’s other directors had spent three years trying to convince the national government to allow them to manage a 17-hectare (42-acre) area of parkland and to build the appropriate infrastructure for the annual festival. They also did not receive permits for the August festival.
Pristina Mayor Perparim Rama, of the opposition Democratic League of Kosovo, favored having the music festival. He accused the national government, which is led by the Self Determination Movement!, of delaying the decision and trying to change the city council’s decision.
Kosovo’s culture minister Hajrulla Ceku, said the holdup resulted from festival organizers seeking a 99-year lease. The government could not rush into such an agreement, and “the decision-making process needs time to be complete and not wrong or abusive,” Ceku said.
Lipa, however, attributed the delay to a power struggle between the ruling Self Determination Movement! and the Democratic League of Kosovo came “at the expense of the festival and the usefulness it creates for the state’s image and the values its society represents.”
Either way, the festival’s move has not sat well with people in Kosovo. Another opposition party, the Alliance for Kosovo’s Future, asked for the resignation of the government that “lost a festival which would promote Kosovo,” said Besnik Tahiri, a senior party leader.
Tirana Mayor Erjon Veliaj told The Associated Press his government immediately offered Albania’s capital “as a replacement in an effort to keep the international festival in a major Albanian city.” Ethnic Albanians make up a majority of Kosovo’s population.
As proof that the Summer Hill Festival is in the right place, the mayor noted that the European Union named Tirana as the EU’s Youth Capital for this. He also named several VIPs with Albanian roots, from the late comedian John Belushi to the late Mother Teresa, now known as Saint Teresa of Calcutta.
“Dua Lipa and her festival do just as much, if not more, in promoting a nation that punches above its weight,” Veliaj said.
Cardi B took to Twitter on Wednesday (June 15) to respond to a Twitter thread addressing Lizzo‘s recent lyric controversy.
A Twitter user named @FeministaJones wrote about the “Bodak Yellow” rapper’s ability to use an offensive word in a song without backlash, while Lizzo changed her “Grrrls” lyrics after receiving criticism for using an ableist slur in the opening verse.
“Cardi is slim and light-skinned,” the Twitter user wrote. “She will often ‘get away’ with more than other women, especially those who look like Lizzo, will. That’s the world we live in. People may get mad but I don’t care lol Colorism and fatphobia shape SO MANY reactions and extensions of ‘grace.’”
In response, Cardi wrote, “Ya will do mental gymnastics to include me in anything that people are getting dragged for …People have called me out for plenty of sh–.”
Cardi is slim and light-skinned
She will often “get away” with more than other women, especially those who look like Lizzo, will. That’s the world we live in. People may get mad but I don’t care lol Colorism and fatphobia shape SO MANY reactions and extensions of “grace” https://t.co/Q6HK7u2SHr— patreon.com/FeministaJones (@FeministaJones) June 14, 2022
Cardi concluded with her take on the Lizzo situation. “Yall do it every week SOMETHINGS I apologize for & some things I will tell y’all TO SUCK DI– & personally If I was Lizzo I would of said SMD [suck my di–].”
Ya will do mental gymnastics to include me in anything that people are getting dragged for …People have called me out for plenty of shit .Yall do it every week SOMETHINGS I apologize for & some things I will tell y’all TO SUCK DICK & personally If I was Lizzo I would of said SMD https://t.co/UrYnQaSYMf
— Cardi B (@iamcardib) June 15, 2022
On Monday, Lizzo revealed that she would be releasing a new version of “Grrrls” following the backlash. “It’s been brought to my attention that there is a harmful word in my new song ‘GRRRLS,’” she wrote in a statement posted to Twitter. “Let me make one thing clear: I never want to promote derogatory language. As a fat black woman in America, I’ve had many hurtful words used against me so I overstand the power words can have (whether intentionally or in my case, unintentionally).”
She continued, “I’m proud to say there’s a new version of GRRRLS with a lyric change. This is a result of me listening and taking action. As an influential artist I’m dedicated to being part of the change I’ve been waiting to see in the world.”
Could you imagine Robert Plant as a Stark or a Lannister? It was almost a reality.
During an interview this week for Apple Music 1, the Led Zeppelin icon told Canadian media personality George Stroumboulopoulos that he was offered a role in Game of Thrones. “I don’t want to get typecast,” the musician joked of his reasoning for declining the part.
“I started that s— — go back to ‘Immigrant Song’ and Led Zeppelin being part of cultural exchange in Iceland with the Icelandic government. So they didn’t know what they’d invited onto their little island,” Plant said.
“I love Western European history from maybe the Bronze Age up through all the old religion … when we were really in touch with our Earth,” he continued. “The Viking thing, the whole idea of playing in Iceland and experiencing this landscape and people. Yeah, I’ve got a lot to answer for, because I’ve never seen so many bands with double-bladed axes.”
As for what role he was offered in the wildly popular HBO series, Plant could not remember. “I got to ride a horse and go [lifts head],” he cheekily added.
The final episode of Game of Thrones, which aired on May 19, 2019, brought in a series record of 19.3 million viewers. The viewership for the episode, titled “The Iron Throne,” included 13.6 million people who watched the episode on HBO when it aired, making it the most-watched telecast in the network’s history, according to HBO. The rest were viewers who watched an encore presentation.
Watch the interview clip below.
Did you know Robert Plant was offered a role in Game of Thrones? Here’s why he turned it down. pic.twitter.com/vc00AenZNq
— George FKN StroumbouloPHÒulos 🐺 (@strombo) June 14, 2022
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