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Paul McCartney: Now We Know Why Sony Music Publishing Settled So Fast– They’ve Lost Bruce Springsteen (in the UK)

Roger Friedman
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Paul McCartney: Now We Know Why Sony Music Publishing Settled So Fast– They’ve Lost Bruce Springsteen (in the UK)

UPDATED To say the least, last week’s announcement that Sony-ATV Music Publishing and Paul McCartney had settled over Paul’s portion of the rights to the Beatles songs in the US came as a huge surprise. In January, Paul had sued Sony saying he was taking back his copyrights as their terms lapsed. Sony balked, saying it was still looking at the situation. Sony had no intention of settling quickly, and was making Paul stew a bit in legal channels.

All of a sudden, last week, Sony caved. The announcement came from McCartney’s lawyer. Although their settlement is confidential, it’s likely similar to the one made by the John Lennon estate. Paul gets his rights back — the ones lost to Michael Jackson in 1985– on 251 Lennon & McCartney songs. In exchange, Sony -ATV gets to administer the rights and collect a fee.

But why settle so out of the blue? It turns out Sony-ATV has lost the rights to Bruce Springsteen’s music publishing in the UK. That huge and profitable catalog is going to Universal Music Publishing. Everything from “Because the Night” to “Fire” to “Born to Run” is in that package. So is “Blinded by the Light” and “Glory Days.” The very short, catchy Springsteen songs are worth a bloody fortune to publishers. (Springsteen’s publishing in the US was with Downtown Music publishing. That goes to Universal as well.)

Springsteen’s recording contract stays with Sony-Columbia Records. McCartney recently returned his whole recording catalog to Capitol/Universal. (Paul’s solo songs are not part of his new deal. He owns the publishing to things like “Band on the Run” and “Maybe I’m Amazed.” John’s solo songs like “Imagine” are also run by a different company, Downtown Music.)

Publishing royalties are where the money is in the music business. That’s why Michael Jackson held the Beatles catalog so close to the vest for years, borrowing hundreds of millions against it. McCartney was taught well by his late father in law, Lee Eastman, a genius who knew the value of a copyright. Lee and his son John were the ones who guided Paul to buy big catalogs of other people– like Buddy Holly– when his own songs slipped away.

Universal Publishing no doubt paid top dollar for Springsteen. Sony was likely unable to match that money while holding on to Paul. In a sense, everyone won.

 

 

Amazon Scores Opening Night and Centerpiece Selections at NY Film Festival– Todd Haynes, Richard Linklater Films

Roger Friedman
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Amazon Scores Opening Night and Centerpiece Selections at NY Film Festival– Todd Haynes, Richard Linklater Films

Amazon has scored the centerpiece selection of the New York Film Festival– Todd Haynes’ “Wonderstruck,” which was a hit in Cannes.

Roy Price, Ted Hope, and Bob Berney can now add this to their opening night film at the New York Film Festival– Richard Linklkater’s “Last Flag Flying.”

I’m not sure if they can get closing night, too. But why not?

Amazon is serious about film making and film makers. They are now going to dominate one of the most important film festivals in the world.

Wait! They could get closing night with Woody Allen’s “Wonder Wheel.” Alexa can get that for them, I guess!

TV: Gabrielle Anwar Joins ABC’s “Once Upon a Time,” Now She Needs a Literary Agent

Roger Friedman
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TV: Gabrielle Anwar Joins ABC’s “Once Upon a Time,” Now She Needs a Literary Agent

Congrats to Gabrielle Anwar. She’s joining the cast of ABC’s “Once Upon a Time.” Will she be good or evil? On “Burn Notice,” she was very good, then stayed on in Miami, got married and has been writing a novel.

So attention Hollywood literary agents. I’ve read Gabrielle’s “Timepiece” and it’s a winner. Set in England, it’s kind of a sweeping romantic mystery– and it takes place in contemporary times. Women are going to gobble up the story of Amelia Beart, who goes on a very intriguing investigation of her family history.

Gabrielle calls it “a lyrical exploration into a variation of the Oedipus complex, the attraction between a child and their opposite gender parent. Due to her absentee father, our heroine discovers the psychological & physiological effect of patriarchal rejection, and then the resulting desire to pursue unrequited love as an adult.”

By the way, Gabrielle will be commuting to Hollywood from Miami. A couple of years ago she married Shareef Malnik, owner of the famous Forge restaurant. A multi-talent, she’s having the best of all worlds!

Fashion: Fired Vogue Editor Speaks Candidly About Her (Anna) Wintour) of Discontent

Roger Friedman
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Fashion: Fired Vogue Editor Speaks Candidly About Her (Anna) Wintour) of Discontent

Conde Nast editorial director and Vogue impresario Anna Wintour didn’t fire Lucinda Chambers herself from British Vogue after 36 years of employment as an editor. But Wintour did nothing to stop new Vogue UK editor Edward Enninful from cleaning house and sacking Chambers without notice.

Now Chambers is getting the last laugh. Her interview with an obscure fashion blog called Vestoj.com has nearly broken the internet today. Chambers has laid it on the line. She writes: “A month and a half ago I was fired from Vogue. It took them three minutes to do it. No one in the building knew it was going to happen. The management and the editor I’ve worked with for twenty-five years had no idea. Nor did HR. Even the chairman told me he didn’t know it was going to happen. No one knew, except the man who did it – the new editor.”

Chambers blames Enninful, who suddenly replaced her long time boss Alexandra Shulman, last April. She very carefully doesn’t mention Wintour, who’s in charge of everything with the word Vogue on it. But Chambers and Wintour are the same approximately and go back the same amount of time at Conde Nast. Wintour wields an unseen hand in all proceedings.

Chambers admits she stopped reading Vogue a long time ago. “Maybe I was too close to it after working there for so long, but I never felt I led a Vogue-y kind of life. The clothes are just irrelevant for most people – so ridiculously expensive. What magazines want today is the latest, the exclusive. It’s a shame that magazines have lost the authority they once had. They’ve stopped being useful. In fashion we are always trying to make people buy something they don’t need. We don’t need any more bags, shirts or shoes. So we cajole, bully or encourage people into continue buying. I know glossy magazines are meant to be aspirational, but why not be both useful and aspirational? That’s the kind of fashion magazine I’d like to see.”

Well, she’ll see it somewhere else. Vogue has never been known for its loyalty to the people who made it great, if it was ever great. It’s nice to see someone speak up, though.

She concludes: “Most people who leave Vogue end up feeling that they’re lesser than, and the fact is that you’re never bigger than the company you work for. But I have a new idea now, and if it comes off maybe I won’t be feeling so vulnerable after all. We’ll have to wait and see.”

PS Let’s not forget the great Grace Coddington. She came off as a hero in the documentary “The September Issue” in which we got see how Wintour treated her. Coddington, a long time vet, was gone soon after.

Pop Music: 50% of Sales First Half of 2017 Were “Deep Catalog”– Beatles, Elvis, Prince, Michael Jackson, Johnny Cash at Top

Roger Friedman
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Pop Music: 50% of Sales First Half of 2017 Were “Deep Catalog”– Beatles, Elvis, Prince, Michael Jackson, Johnny Cash at Top

Sales figures are out for the record biz first half of 2017. Streaming is booming, and so is vinyl. CD sales are way down and so are downloads. Drake led the pack along with Ed Sheeran. This is all stuff we knew and wrote about as it was happening.

But here’s a statistic from Buzz Angle that’s hidden: 50% or more of all recorded sales were from the “deep catalog.” That’s old music. That’s half of everything. The Beatles, Elvis Presley, Michael Jackson, Prince, Johnny Cash and Pink Floyd finished among the top 25 artists in album sales from January 1st to July 1st.

How crazy is that? The Beatles sold 324,000 albums– mostly their “Sgt, Pepper” box set priced at $117.99. They were 8th on the list. They beat Adele, Lady Gaga, Harry Styles, twentyone pilots, and Zac Brown Band among others.

According to Buzz Angle (a newer service similar to SoundScan), 51.2% of album sales were deep catalog, 49,5% of song sales were from that category as well as 46.7% audio streams. Even more interesting: 59.3% of all video streams were from deep catalog.

People are listening to oldies more than new music. This is certainly reflected in recent radio ratings, in which oldies stations were handily beating Top 40.

What’s going on? Oldies are comfort food, especially in uncertain times. Even classic rock is soothing. Plus, it’s just better. The music is better. It’s not as disposable as current offerings. It means something. I always said, starting around 1990, there was going to be a problem with a generation of sampling in hip hop. A couple of generations are now missing original music from their repertoire. In the end, no one is humming rap songs. But “Motown” songs– they’re forever.

The funniest part of the mid year report: a lot of people bought the “Guardians of the Galaxy” soundtracks on cassette tape. Cassette tape? What are they playing them on? Maybe Sony will bring back the original Walkman!

 

Song of the Summer? Wyclef Goes Disco with the Very Listenable “What Happened to Love?”

Roger Friedman
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Song of the Summer? Wyclef Goes Disco with the Very Listenable “What Happened to Love?”

Lunchbox Lewis provides the rap, Wyclef Jean and team bring the disco. I swear, play this a couple of times and you are never going to forget “What Happened to Love?” THIS is a dance song. Wyclef’s “Carnival 3” is coming September 15th and features a track sung by Emeli Sande and another with Teddy Riley. Wyclef has written a lot of terrific songs over the years. He got suckered into politics. Everyone makes mistakes. Now he’s back with the music!

(Watch) Lady Gaga Had a “Million” Reasons to Do Private Show for Russian Oligarch Wedding at Oscars Theater in Hollywood

Roger Friedman
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(Watch) Lady Gaga Had a “Million” Reasons to Do Private Show for Russian Oligarch Wedding at Oscars Theater in Hollywood

Over the weekend, Lady Gaga raked in anywhere from $500,000 to a million dollars playing on the stage where the Oscars take place.

Gaga was the private entertainer for billionaire Russian oligarchs at the wedding of their children held– are you ready?– at the Dolby Theater in Hollywood. That’s where the Academy Awards are handed out. Gaga last performed “Til it Happens to You” on the 2016 broadcast. The wedding cost around $10 million according to reports and featured a 10 tier cake.

Performance fees for such private events range from half a mil to a mil– and hopefully Gaga got the good money. She certainly put on a real show for them, as recorded on Instagram.

The bride was Lolita Osmanova, the daughter of energy tycoon Eldar Osmanov, and considered to be Vlad Putin’s goddaughter. The groom was Gaspar Avdolyan, the son of Albert Avdolyan, a Russian-Armenian telecommunications mogul.

#ladygaga #thebestwedding

A post shared by Карапетян Артур Каренович (@drkarapetyan) on

I hope Jimmy Kimmel makes a joke about this soon. Here’s the altar, where Kimmel will stand next March to hand out the Oscars:
snimok_ekrana_2017_07_03_v_12.00.37

Kanye West Leaves Jay Z’s Tidal Service and Looks 100 Times Happier than Ever in Photos

Roger Friedman
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Kanye West Leaves Jay Z’s Tidal Service and Looks 100 Times Happier than Ever in Photos

Kanye West has left Jay Z and his Tidal streaming service. The issue is money. Frankly, Kanye has a case against Jay Z. The rollout of “The Life of Pablo” was the most botched release by a superstar ever.

Anyway, we all know what else happened: Kim was robbed in Paris, Kanye walked out of some shows, and had a nervous breakdown. As they say on “Veep,” he’s been “at the spa.” The last we heard he was on a mountaintop somewhere.

And then Kanye closed down all his social media. Yet there he is on 2Chainz’ Instagram account in three photos. And what is that expression on his face? Kanye West is SMILING. To quote Sly Stone: “You caught me smilin’, again.” What a nice smile. He looks HAPPY. And if that’s the case, maybe there’s a light at the end of the tunnel for everyone.

 

Happy Sunday

A post shared by 2 Chainz Aka Tity Boi (@hairweavekiller) on

Family pic

A post shared by 2 Chainz Aka Tity Boi (@hairweavekiller) on

Thank you @uclambb for letting me and Ye ball out at the court today

A post shared by 2 Chainz Aka Tity Boi (@hairweavekiller) on

Everything About “Baby Driver” is (Edgar) Wright: Best Movie of the Year So Far

Roger Friedman
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Everything About “Baby Driver” is (Edgar) Wright: Best Movie of the Year So Far

By now maybe you’ve seen Edgar Wright’s “Baby Driver.” If not, today is the day. It’s the best movie so far of 2017, a real light touch tour de force that will leave you breathless and applauding at the end.

“Baby Driver” is powered by exceptional performances by everyone– Ansel Elgort, Jon Hamm, Jamie Foxx, Kevin Spacey (worst toupee ever), plus Lily James from “Downton Abbey” (that’s right, Cousin Rose), and Eiza Gonzalez. CJ Jones is kind of a revelation, and there’s a small but memorable turn by Paul Williams (what a great idea).

Then there’s a soundtrack, the likes of which must have taken forever to clear the rights. The Simon & Garfunkel title track is the point of the whole film but you’ve got to work for it– you won’t hear it til the end. First we’re going to hear a lot of songs with the word “baby” most especially the amazing Carla Thomas singing “BABY (Baby)” plus a few versions of “The Harlem Shuffle” and Barry White writ large and placed perfectly. I want that CD! (There’s also Sam & Dave’s “When Something is Wrong with My Baby”– but not enough!)

Elgort plays Baby, an ace getaway driver who’s been blackmailed into work by Spacey (looking puffy). The rest of the aforementioned names work for Spacey as armed bankrobbers, and they mean business. They’re shot like villains from the Batman TV show, but Wright resists camp– well almost resists it because Baby’s flirtation with Debora, waitress in the diner where everyone comes and goes, is his nod to nostalgia. (I did love when Baby thought the song “Debora” by T. Rex was by something called Trex.)

Like Bruce Wayne, Baby has lost his parents in a terrible accident. But instead of becoming Batman, he’s just trouble. He lives with his foster father, implausibly by fabulously embodied by CJ Jones as a deaf mute.

All the actions and emotions are heightened, there’s lots of adrenaline, and more than enough character development– for so many characters, they are well delineated. We get a little of everyone’s history.  Hamm and Foxx are really outstanding. Hamm is like Don Draper on meth. Foxx just grabs his closeups. And Wright gives everyone their moment, even newish Gonzalez.

All the below the line stuff crackles– crisp cinematography, and mind blowing editing. I sure “Baby Driver” makes it to the Oscars because it’s full of life and originality. It’s what movies can be when no one is interfering. Bravo Edgar Wright.

DA Pennebaker on Making Monterey Pop 50 Years Ago: “ABC was afraid when they saw Jimi Hendrix singing “Wild Thing” and humping the speaker”

Leah Sydney
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DA Pennebaker on Making Monterey Pop 50 Years Ago: “ABC was afraid when they saw Jimi Hendrix singing “Wild Thing” and humping the speaker”

DA Pennebaker’s classic concert film, “Monterey Pop,” is celebrating its 50th anniversary with a newly restored version, courtesy of the noted Criterion Collection.   The film, documenting the 1967 festival, features iconic performances by Janis Joplin, Jimi Hendrix, The Mamas and the Papas, Otis Redding, The Who, Jefferson Airplane, Ravi Shankar and more.  

‘Penny’ as friends know him, is still as sharp and relevant as ever. The 92 year old– the first recipient of a Lifetime Achievement Oscar for documentaries– was recently in LA for a screening. His collaborator wife Chris Hegedus (a past DGA winner for Best Doc), accompanied him to the hip Cinefamily (formerly the Silent Movie theater) for a Q an A moderated by director Allison Anders along with rock legend Bob Neuwirth.

The devoted crowd learned that Penny’s cameras were homemade. “We made 5 or 6 of them,” Penny explained.  “They were the first to synch with the sound.”  Producer Thiago Da Costa asked him what his biggest anxiety was ?  He quipped,  “that one of the cameras would break down.  If that happened with Janis, I would have had to flee.”

What made him do this particular film?  He quipped, “It was cold in New York.” He also said the beginning was challenging.  “The closer I got to the opening door the less I understood what the hell to do. The  cameramen and I [including the legendary “Grey Gardens” director Albert Maysles] would meet every morning at this awful waffle house.  We would write notes on the back of the menu.  I guess I was avoiding professional film making.”

Penny and Bob noted of the singular time that it took place.  “One of the great things about this film is that people were not afraid. The audience, the police, humanity wasn’t afraid.  People on screen were really free.  After that was the Altamont festival, then RFK getting shot.  Perhaps the last innocent portrayal of that time.” 

A few more tidbits?  Penny added,  “At first ABC was supposed to air it, but they pulled out after they say Jimi Hendrix singing “Wild Thing” and humping the speaker. “ Bob added, “Jimi was completely burnt at the time, they all were.  None of them even tried to hide it. “

The film wasn’t  successful at the beginning.  Penny explained, “We then we got wonderful press.  “Life Magazine” and such and then we played at Lincoln Center.  After that it caught on.  But I never intended it to be a sociological thing.  I wanted it to be about the music.  And it did find its’way. “

The next night Penny and Chris went over to the Sunset Marquis Hotel, the  ultimate rock and roll hotel destination with it’s own recording studio and still as lively as ever, for a Morrison Gallery photo exhibition of classic stills from the movie. 

Chris and Penny never stop, they just were at the Piazza Maggiore in Bologna Italy for a screening of the film at the Il Cinema Ritrovato. 

 

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