NIALL MCKINNEY UTALK LICENSE

NIALL MCKINNEY UTALK LICENSE

Cohen, who developed the idea at Perform and spun it out in 2008, has since negotiated a series of remarkable deals with labels which either allow LoveLive to license live performance rights for artists or even own them outright.

Since this would be almost impossible to achieve with more than a century of recorded music, the company focused on live performances. In other words, control the rights, help create the content and either own or influence the distribution channels. I started doing to music what Perform had done in sport.” There were too many similarities to ignore. “The clubs are like bands and artists, and the ecommerce requirements are similar – it’s tickets to live events, merchandise and a fan base. Each is an umbrella organisation,” Cohen says. “I thought a football league was not dissimilar to a major record label. As the business has developed, it’s built its own subscription platforms to sell to fans.Ĭohen watched the company grow and had the nagging feeling the model would be perfect for the music industry, where declining physical sales and an inability to control online formats has been undermining traditional record labels for years. It makes money from its rights to leagues and events – which can be sold and sponsored a series of websites, such as, where it sells advertising and by managing the online activities of third parties, such as Chelsea FC. The company, where Cohen led a small entertainment division, has contracts to exploit rights from more than 200 competitions around the world. While Cohen believes LoveLive is certainly that, he admits the concept it’s built on is “shamelessly” adopted from his former business, FTSE 250 digital sports rights firm Perform Group. It’s a great time to start an innovative music business.”

Yes, the major record label model is challenged because technology and time has moved on. “There have never been so many people consuming or creating music or even spending so much money on it. “The music industry has never been healthier,” Cohen says. And with good reason, he argues: he believes he’s got a business model which is opening up a new source of funds for artists and labels. Richard Cohen, boss of Shoreditch-based music agency LoveLive, is pleased to say that the current generation of bands and artists are far less reticent about allowing their tunes to be put in incongruous settings alongside the likes of Ford and Hewlett Packard. Richard Cohen, founder of music agency LoveLive, says his business can open up a new source of funds for artists and labels in The Telegraph today.Ī George Orwell quote printed on the record sleeve of an album by songwriter Martin Carr summarises the default public stance of many musicians when it comes to associating themselves with corporations: “Advertising is the rattling of a stick inside a swill bucket.”įor years, Carr, who led 1990s band The Boo Radleys, stubbornly refused countless approaches from the likes of breakfast cereal manufacturers to let his hit – the uncharacteristically commercial sounding Wake Up Boo! – be used on an advert.

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