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BlauBlau Records Cuts Ties With Artist After Allegations of Sexual Harassment
The Zurich-based indie label BlauBlau Records has removed an artist after allegations of sexual harassment.
According to an Instagram post, the Zurich-based indie label BlauBlau Records cuts ties with one of its artist collectives. The label has removed the collective and two of its albums from its catalogue after allegations of sexual harassment were raised against one man of the duo.
BlauBlau Records management writes in its statement:
«The public disclosure of a years-long practice of power abuse and sexualised boundary crossing by a person who has also released music under our symbolic umbrella continues to concern us.»
Swiss public broadcaster SRF first raised the allegations publicly at the end of August as the suspect is also a praised and prize-winning journalist who was lastly employed by the young member-funded outlet «Republik». Investigations into the allegations are underway.
The now-former BlauBlau Records artist has been featured once in our curation format Weekly5. Nevertheless, we chose neither to explicitly disclose the artist's name nor to remove the feature from the website. Instead, we added contextual information about the allegations in the article, which will be updated in case of further development.
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Platform Wants to Expose Violence and Abuse of Power in Music Business
Starting as «DeutschrapMeToo», the project shifts to make violence and abuse of power visible in the German music business.
Two years ago, activists started to collect reports of sexual violence in the German rap music business. Since then, the «deutschrapmetoo» project has gathered a database of 70 artists accused in said reports—some of them multiple times.
The recent news and allegations against Rammstein and their frontman Till Lindemann sparked the project's expansion. Under the new name «Music MeToo», they now expand their work into all of Germany's music business.
After a review, they want to publish the testimonials anonymously on a new website and their Instagram channel.
Further down the road, they plan to offer education and information on discrimination and corresponding contact points. The activists also want to make other experiences—such as racist discrimination or transphobia—visible.
Fight Against Discriminating Structures
Behind the project is an alliance of «deutschrapmetoo», the awareness agency «Safe the Dance», the community «Queer Cheer», the networks «Music S Women*», «Music TH Women*» and other activists.
«It's not just one genre, not just one band, not just one industry. The grievances are overarching, and sexism and sexualised violence are present everywhere,» they write on their Instagram.
Furthermore, they highlight the structural issues around the topic:
«It is not only individual perpetrators or individual acts that constitute the problem. It is deeply rooted structures that run through every public and private sector of society that urgently need to be changed.»
In a report by German «Tagesschau», the project founders state that the protection of offenders is a big topic in the music business. Many people work for the artists at festivals and concerts—from management to stage builders. That's a lot of people who could witness potentially abusive behaviour. «What you can say in any case: These assaults can only happen because very, very many people look away, deliberately look away, again and again.»
Universal Music Halts Collaboration with Rammstein
Universal Music stops collaboration with Rammstein, according to reports.
According to a report from «Süddeutsche Zeitung», the label Universal Music stopped the collaboration with Rammstein after allegations against the band‘s frontman Till Lindemann.
«We are convinced that a full clarification of the allegations, also by the authorities, is absolutely necessary and must also be in the interest of the entire band. After the allegations became known, we have suspended the marketing and promotion activities for the band's recordings until further notice,» a Universal spokesperson told the newspaper on Thursday.
Further, the company said: «The accusations against Till Lindemann have shocked us, and we have the greatest respect for the women who have spoken out so courageously in public in this case.»
The label's announcement is significant. Universal Music Group, the world's biggest major label, has been working with Rammstein since their 1995 album Herzeleid.
Negative White
On Wednesday, it was reported that the public prosecutor’s office in Berlin had initiated preliminary proceedings against Till Lindemann.
According to the public prosecutor’s office, the investigation was initiated ex officio and based on several reports by third parties that were «not involved in any of the offences». There were allegations «in the area of sexual offences and the distribution of narcotics».
The public prosecutor’s office did not provide any further information concerning the personal rights of the potentially injured parties and the accused.
Till Lindemann rejects the accusations against him, his lawyers announced legal steps.
Artificial Intelligence Helps Creating «The Final Beatles Record»
Sir Paul McCartney told the BBC that he used AI to create a «final Beatles record» scheduled to release this year.
The BBC reports that Sir Paul McCartney has employed artificial intelligence to create what the artist calls «the finale Beatles record». In an interview with BBC Radio 4, he explained that the technology had been used to «extricate» John Lennon's voice from an old demo.
«It's kind of scary but exciting, because it's the future. We'll just have to see where that leads,» he told BBC Radio.
He explained that they just finished it and would release the song later this year. Although McCartney didn't reveal the song's title, it's speculated that it will be Lennon's 1978 composition Now And Then.
The song was previously considered a possible «reunion song» for the band back in 1995 when the remaining band members compiled their career-spanning Anthology series.
According to the BBC, McCartney received the demo in 1994 from Yoko Ono. It was part of an array of songs on a cassette labelled «For Paul», created by Lennon shortly before he died in 1980.
Negative White
The release of new material isn't a precedent for the Beatles, who parted ways in 1970. In 1995 and 1996, they released Free As A Bird and Real Love—cleaned up by producer Jeff Lynne. Both tracks were on the mentioned cassette.
While McCartney attempted to release the song Now And Then later, he never succeeded and has repeatedly talked about his desire to finish the song. It seems that with the help of AI, he finally made it.
Negative White interviewed Paul McCartney in 2012. Read it here in German.
