| All about CMU: Some Frequently Asked Questions |
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What is CMU?
CMU is a UK-based ‘online network’ for everyone who makes, plays and/or loves great music. It exists to bring together everyone working in music, from the suits at the biggest music and media firms, to the people keeping it very real in the grass roots music community – whether they be artists, songwriters, club night promoters, fanzine editors, college radio presenters, student newspaper reviewers or simply those obsessive and vocal music fans which marketing types like to call opinion formers.
We endeavour to provide all these people with an ‘insider’s guide’ to the music business and all it creates – ensuring everyone has equal access to information on all the latest corporate wheelings and dealings, copyright shenanigans, digital music innovations, download upturns and retail downfalls, media and label launches and revamps, appointments, signings, releases, tours, litigation, arrests, feuds, fisticuffs and incidents of tabloid note, the drinking, the drug taking, the inappropriate remarks, and, let’s not forget, the creation, launch and response of and to the very finest new music, of all kinds.
As you can see, it’s quite a wide remit. We keep ourselves busy.
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How do I access CMU?
CMU currently has two main outputs, both of which are available completely free of charge, because we’re lovely.
First, the CMU Daily. This is a daily email bulletin with all the latest music news – a one stop round up of everything of note that has happened in music in the last 24 hours. The Daily is free. To subscribe, send an email with your name, company or band name, and job title or role (as is relevant to you) to daily.subscribe@cmumusicnetwork.co.uk.
Second, the CMU Music Network. That’s this website. Here you will find the latest edition of the CMU Daily, plus the more or less complete CMU Daily archives all lined up way back into the distance, all the way back to June 2002 in fact. Also on the website are regularly updated interviews with artists and industry people, plus the always informative CMU Directory, a big bucket of information about the music industry and music media in the UK, plus lots of useful contacts.
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Why should I subscribe to the CMU Daily?
The CMU Daily is aimed at anyone working in music – and we define that very widely.
You may work for a record company, or a music publisher, or a concert promoter, or a download platform, or a music retailer, or a radio station, or a music magazine, or a management or booking or PR agency, or a music legal firm. If so, the CMU Daily is for you. You may be an artist, a musician, a songwriter, a producer, a studio engineer, a DJ, a designer, a stylist, a journalist or a head of music. If so, the CMU Daily is for you too. You may work for a brand that sponsors music, or a company that works on the peripheries of the music business. You might run a fanzine or write a music blog, or stage occasional club nights, or run a record label out of your kitchen. Or you might just be someone who is hugely passionate about their music. Either way, you guessed it, the CMU Daily is for you.
To put it another way. The music business is undergoing a revolution as we speak. This makes it a very exciting industry, but also a very chaotic and unpredictable place to be. If you want to work in that industry, in a creative or corporate capacity, you need to know what’s happening across the wider music world. The CMU Daily is the simple way to have that knowledge. Plus we’ll let you know what Amy, Pete and Britney have been up to. Which is always fun.
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Who makes CMU?
CMU is owned, published and loved by UnLimited Media, a Shoreditch based media and marketing company. It is edited by Chris Cooke and Caro Moses, who also run UnLimited Media, while reviews and insights come from a UK-wide team of reviewers and college correspondents, plus a small team of dedicated CMUers based at the Shoreditch HQ.
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How do you make money?
Aha, a good question, well done.
Both the CMU Daily and the CMU Music Network carry advertising, which covers some of the costs. There are details of how you can advertise here.
UnLimited Media also funds CMU – in return gaining unrivalled knowledge of and contacts in the UK music business, and a load of top music content expertise. This knowledge, contacts and expertise is made available to other media and brands through UnLimited’s marketing and content services businesses, which in turn help to fund CMU. For details of these services, click here.
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Why is it free?
Did we mention that we’re lovely? Both the CMU Daily and the CMU Music Network website are free because, well, that’s the point. Other trade media provide information on the music and media businesses for a fee – but 80% of the people making music simply can’t afford to pay it. Think of us as the great equalizer. We’re here to ensure everyone involved in music is on the inside, and not just those with a subscriptions budget.
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Can we use your content?
If you are another media who wants to carry our editorial content, you may do so providing you let us know in advance by emailing cmu@unlimitedmedia.co.uk, and providing you clearly credit any news stories or articles to UnLimited/CMU with a link to www.cmumusicnetwork.co.uk.
This does not apply to any music or video content on the site, simply because we ourselves may not own the copyright on that content. If you want to enquire about carrying some of that content email cmu@unlimitedmedia.co.uk first.
If you want bespoke music content – of the editorial, audio or video kind – then we can provide that too. Not for free, obviously, but we are known for providing top quality music-themed content at competitive prices. Email chris@unlimitedmedia.co.uk for details.
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Where do you get your news from?
Everyone asks this question. We monitor over 40 news sources from around the world every single weekday to pick up the big music stories. We also receive over 200 press releases each day, plus we get fed stories from our readers across the music and media industries.
All stories are analysed in context of their genuine newsworthiness, and how widely they have been reported on, and are added to by our own in-house experts on the music business and music law. Yes, even that one about Amy Winehouse having a new hair cut.
We always endeavour to verify the accuracy of stories we run – and will always say so if we are dubious of a story even though it has been widely reported on.
Genre wise, we do our best to give coverage to all music genres, and as for what artists we regularly cover, well, obviously, we do sometimes prioritise stories involving those so called ‘CMU favourite’ artists.
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How do I get you to write about my band?
Simple – email news stories and press releases to musicnews@unlimitedmedia.co.uk. Obviously we get hundreds more press releases each week than we have space to report on, but we do check the musicnews inbox daily and pick out the best.
Your press release has more chance of making it as a story if all the text is in the body of the email (ie not as an attachment) and if the release includes a quote from the artist/company it is about.
If you are an unsigned band or independent label, don’t worry about crafting up a full press release. When anything vaguely newsworthy happens email the basic details, if possible a quote, and any relevant factual information (eg release date, tour dates) – we are just as likely to report on a short email than a full blown press release.
As a general tip – avoid including large graphics in the email or including large image/audio file attachments – large emails that take an age to download generally piss off journalists (not us, we’re too nice, but most other journalists).
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How do I get you to review my music?
The best thing to do is to mail a review CD and press release to CMU, UnLimited Media, Floor 3 Unicorn House, 221-222 Shoreditch High Street, London, E1 6PJ. All CDs are entered into our reviews database which is distributed to our nationwide review team each Tuesday. They pick what they want to review and we send the CDs to them. It normally takes about ten days from receiving a CD to have a review published in the CMU Daily.
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How do I get my band as SNAP/MySpace Of The Day?
Easy, email owen@unlimitedmedia.co.uk with any info, and he’ll consider it for our daily Social Network Artist Page of the day. Most SNAPs are MySpace pages, but artist pages on any social networking websites are considered.
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I subscribed to the CMU Daily but am no longer getting it – how come?
99 times out of 100 if you are not receiving the CMU Daily it is because something on your company’s server is blocking it, either some kind of block on bulk emails (ie emails going to more than one person) or some kind of ‘profanity’ filter which is blocking the Daily because we’ve quoted a musician saying “fuck” (which they’re prone to do). You should take this up with your company’s IT department.
If you are using a home email account, it could be a junk mail filter that is stopping the Daily getting through. If so, you will probably find the Daily in your junk mail / spam folder. Either way, you should add daily@cmumusicnetwork.co.uk to your ‘safe list’. If you need help doing this, or if that doesn’t work, then you should contact your internet service provider.
If you are using a webmail service it is also likely to be a junk mail filter problem, and putting daily@cmumusicnetwork.co.uk on your ‘safe list’ may also help. However, if you are using Hotmail or Windows Live even this may not work. Unfortunately this is because Hotmail is shit and there is nothing we can do about it. All we can recommend is that you move to a better webmail provider – we’d recommend Google Mail.
If you are still having problems, by all means email support@unlimitedmedia.co.uk and we will double check you are on our mailing list, and look if there are any problems we can see at our end.
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How can I get a job at CMU?
We’re a small team but do occasionally recruit new staff members. If you email your CV to recruitment@unlimitedmedia.co.uk we’ll keep your info on file. Jobs will generally be advertised in the CMU Daily.
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How can I review for CMU?
To join the CMU review team you need to become a CMU college correspondent. This is a voluntary role, but students who become CMU college correspondents have the chance to hone their reviewing skills, to widen their knowledge of and contacts in the music business, to get their worked published, and to expand their CD collections. For details of how to apply to become a CMU college correspondent check www.collegemedianetwork.co.uk.
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How can I get an internship at CMU?
We have three internship places at CMU. These are unpaid posts, but give anyone considering a career in music or the media a brilliant opportunity to learn about and experience the wider industry, and pick up a wide range of skills. Interns will also attend media training workshops run by UnLimited’s College Media Network. To be considered for an intern position email a CV to recruitment@unlimitedmedia.co.uk
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Why do you never answer my emails or return my calls?
It’s normally PR people who ask this question. CMU is a small but very very busy operation, with a daily deadline to meet. We simply don’t have the time to respond to every email or phone call that is chasing a review or following up a press release – if we did respond to every email and every phone call we’d publish a lot less news stories and reviews. So – we’re sorry. But we do check every press release sent to the musicnews email, and open every CD pack sent to CMU HQ.
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Who created CMU?
CMU was created in 1998 by Chris Cooke, Alastair Walker and Fraser Thomson with the aim of creating something which brought together everyone working in music and the music media, utilising the college network to reach the grass roots. This was done initially through a print magazine and, since 2002, through the CMU Daily.
Chris continues to head up CMU to this day, while Fraser remains a good friend of CMU since returning to his first love of radio – he currently works for Xfm Scotland.
Unfortunately Alastair is no longer with us. He died, quite suddenly, in August 2001 after suffering a heart attack brought on by diabetes – he was only 29. CMU’s eclectic, wide-reaching and sometimes bizarre music policy was created by Alastair, and we feel that while we continue to adopt that attitude to music – always looking for something a little bit different – his passion for music lives on.
