A BLOG OF SORTS FROM CHRIS COOKE
Here is some stuff I did in October 2021…
This week’s talk
Super busy week talking music copyright, record deals and music streaming for BPI, Sony Music, Tileyard Education and that great panel event in Brussels on Monday night. This is me clicking through my presentation at said event (photo courtesy of Karel Uyttendaele). You can actually watch the panel discussion back online here. And my presentation – including three brand new slides! – is available to download here.
Powerless
Here’s the dodgy hotel power socket I encountered yesterday and the plug adaptor it ruthlessly killed with a dramatic spark. Leaving me without power. You know, with my laptop and phone batteries on single figure percent – and with a webinar and live presentation to deliver! But hey, thanks to the plug adaptor for sacrificing itself to save my laptop. And thanks to the team at Ancienne Belgique for coming to the rescue with a replacement adaptor just in time for the webinar. Nothing like being powerless to make you feel powerless.
Home time
Today I at was at HOME in Manchester for the first time since 2019. Now I am heading home to Holmes Chapel for the first time since 2019. The pandemic has definitely turned otherwise routine occurrences into major life events!
Is it fair?
Next week I’ll be in Brussels for an event called ‘Is Music Streaming Fair?’ I guess the choices are: [a] “Hell yeah!” [b] “What, are you kidding me, of course not!” [c] “Well that kind of depends on each specific deal” [d] “What do you mean by fair?” Will let you know which one I go with after Monday night’s discussion. Event info here.
Back up north!
This weekend I’ll be back in the good old North West for the first time since the pandemic began for the first in-person Artist:Entrepreneur Day since – well, you know. Looking forward to hearing from three great artist entrepreneurs and a team of music industry experts at the annual English Folk Expo edition of A:E Day in Manchester. Get the lowdown and tickets here.
BIMM lecturing
It’s great to be lecturing to real live audiences in real live rooms again. Today it was a guest lecture at BIMM in London all about music copyright. Mainly the top five music copyright facts. What are they? Well, I also run through them in the ‘Music Copyright Explained’ guide which – don’t forget – is free to download. Download here!
Pigeon game
Since most of London’s pigeons decided to make my roof their home (believe me, this is just the management committee), I’ve developed a fun new game to play every morning called ‘Can You Open The Window Without Scaring Away Any Pigeons?’ Now I just need to know who I should be pitching this to at Netflix.
Buying what?
As Hipgnosis and Blackstone confirm that they’ve got another billion dollars to spend on music rights acquisitions, have you ever wondered what is actually being bought in these deals? Well, as it happens, we discuss that very thing on this week’s Setlist, in the context of BMG’s Tina Turner deal. Sometimes copyrights are being bought. But sometimes it’s royalty rights or remuneration rights or the writer’s share of song revenues. Confused? Setlist should help.
Back from Tampere
I’m back from a great couple of days in Tampere in Finland – thanks so much to Teosto and Music & Media for inviting me. The trip was only partly about stocking up on Moomin snacks – I was also there to deliver my 30 minute speed briefing on the big old streaming debate. My slides for that are available in the CMU Library here.
Moomin snacks
Whenever I’m in a new city my first task is finding a nearby supermarket to stock up on some sneaky snacks, so I don’t accidentally buy over-priced hotel snacks. Though this strategy mainly fails if you go to a Finnish supermarket and buy over-priced Moomin-branded snacks.
Setlist on tour
So this week we experimented with me recording my side of the Setlist podcast from a hotel room in Finland. Do you think this set-up is going to work? Once – many years ago – I recorded my half over the phone from a cupboard in Edinburgh, and that was a total disaster. We’re hoping this way, things will work a bit better. Tune in on Monday to see if we’re right!
Tina talk
So the BBC called to talk about Tina Turner’s big BMG deal. Well, they actually called Sammy Andrews, and she kindly sent them in my direction, because this is basically tedious copyright chatter, and no one loves tedious copyright chatter more than me. You can tune in at this link. It’s not really tedious at all, promise.
Music & Media
This Friday I’m speaking at Music & Media in Finland and – in an unprecedented move – I have already finished my slides and submitted them to the conference organisers! I don’t know what I’ll be doing in the ten minutes before the session with no animations to finish off. Of course, this presumably means every music company will now launch new logos tomorrow so to mess up my digital licensing slide.
