Here is some stuff I did in December 2020…

Vinyl stats

If I write “LP” do you just think “album” or do you specifically think “vinyl album”? When you’re only writing one CMU news story a day, there’s time to ponder about these things. At CMU I think we assume the former, but the BPI stats go with the latter. Anyway, did I mention I’m doing a CMU news story each day over the Christmas break? Today it was about the latest vinyl and cassette sales figures.

2020 playlists

As well as all the music industry chatter, we also report on and recommend lots of really good music in the CMU Daily. Well, I say we do. Andy does really. And he’s put together some end-of-year mixtapes of everything we CMU approved this year and the very best 40 tracks of 2020. Well, technically they’re Spotify playlists. Which aren’t as fun but less likely to snap. Read about them here.

Platform responsibility

Interesting proposals in both the UK and the EU yesterday regarding possible new laws increasing the responsibilities of digital platforms. Neither are really about copyright and safe harbour reform yet, though that’s sure to come up, alongside all the measures to try to combat other forms of illegal content. Either way, lots to dissect and report on in 2021, that’s for certain. And depending how things turn out, I might have to write another free speech about free speech. But for starters, here’s our report on the proposals.

Last year’s view

According to my iPhone, this was my view a year ago, staying in a hotel overlooking the Gulf Of Thailand. Which was nice. I mean, I enjoy chatting about copyright and streaming and other music business nonsense from the comfort of my desk in Leytonstone, but I do miss the nice views. Here’s hoping that copyright-chatter-with-nice-views might be back on the agenda by 12 Dec 2021!

Copyright webinars

The CMU weekly webinars are now done for 2020, but we’ll be back in the new year with three sessions on music copyright. I’ll tell you all you need to know about copyright law, collective licensing and music rights data in three easy-to-follow one-hour webinars. If you – or anyone else – is interested in getting to grips with the business of music rights, you’ll find all the info here.

Playlists Report

Last week we published the first of the One Step Ahead reports with IMPALA – this one looking at playlists and curation on the streaming platforms. It reviews five key trends in that domain and also includes a guide to best practice playlist marketing, identifying a load of action points and talking points along the way. We’ll be talking about those talking points during a special webinar this Friday. If you are an IMPALA member – or a member of an IMPALA affiliated organisation – you can download the report and join us at that webinar. Info here.

DCMS Inquiry timeline

There’s another hearing taking place this week as part of the ongoing parliamentary inquiry into the economics of music streaming – three more artists and three more industry reps will speak. Ahead of all that, we’ve put together a timeline in the CMU Library bringing together some useful downloads on all the digital dollar debates and our coverage of the culture select committee’s inquiry itself. You can check that out here.



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