Music Business Times Legal News

Producer files $30M suit against Lady Gaga in NYC

Fri, 19 Mar 2010 00:24 GMT

A songwriter and music producer who claims he helped launch pop star Lady Gaga says she squeezed him out of her lucrative career after he co-wrote some of her songs, came up with her stage name and helped get her record deal. Rob Fusari filed a $30.5 million lawsuit against the Grammy Award-winning performer, saying his protege and former girlfriend ditched him as her career soared. 'All business is personal,' said the lawsuit, filed Wednesday in a Manhattan state court...

Nasdaq Warns Sirius of Possible Delisting

Fri, 19 Mar 2010 00:05 GMT

It was inevitable, really. Having given up the gains that pushed its shares past $1 and failed to close over that threshold for 10 straight days by March 15, Sirius XM invited a delisting notice. And Wednesday afternoon, Nasdaq gave it one, warning that the company's shares have fallen out of compliance with its minimum bid requirement of $1 and that Sirius is in danger of being kicked to the Pink Sheets. An ominous threat, but one not likely to be carried out. Sirius said back in February that it would appeal such a delisting notice and seek an extension from Nasdaq, and that’s exactly what the company is doing...

Pandora: These Numbers May Surprise You

Thu, 18 Mar 2010 23:54 GMT

The bigger Pandora gets, the bigger its royalty bill, a variable cost structure that makes it difficult for many content-based businesses to scale. Pandora is a serious chunk of total SoundExchange royalty revenues from online radio. Despite all of the wrangling over non-interactive royalties on recordings, Pandora now accounts for roughly 44-45% of total SoundExchange royalties for non-interactive streams, according to details confirmed by both companies...

Gene Simmons' NGTV Files for Bankruptcy

Thu, 18 Mar 2010 23:48 GMT

Online celebrity news and entertainment site No Good TV (NGTV), backed by entertainment industry veterans including company chairman Gene Simmons, also of the rock band KISS, and Al Cafaro, music industry veteran and former chairman and CEO of A&M Records, filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection on February 25. Kourosh Taj, co-president and head of programming, confirmed the news, saying: 'NGTV filed for chapter 11 protection primarily to implement a reorganization plan with the cooperation and consent of our senior secured lenders...

Who killed the music video star?

Thu, 18 Mar 2010 01:24 GMT

The anticipatory press, the fans champing at the bit for a leaked video still and the premiere during E! News would have been considered par for course in the music industry 10 years ago. But lately, that kind of event has been few and far between. There are a few reasons for that shift, but the most crucial one is the reality of the recording industry: a blockbuster, big-budget video no longer means blockbuster record sales...

Time for Guy Hands to face the music at EMI and sell?

Thu, 18 Mar 2010 01:19 GMT

An anxious music industry is watching to see whether debt-laden EMI is about to fall into the hands of its US bankers Citigroup. All the signs are that one of the great sagas of the credit crunch — private equity firm Terra Firma's $6.3 billion purchase of EMI, made at the height of the boom in 2007 — is heading for a climax. First, Edgar Bronfman, boss of rival US record label Warner Music, who has long coveted EMI, moved from New York to London last autumn. His office in Kensington Church Street is a couple of hundred yards from EMI, although he keeps a low profile here...

MP3tunes' Copyright Conundrum

Thu, 18 Mar 2010 01:14 GMT

Most entrepreneurs are best known for the enterprises they have founded. Michael Robertson certainly has been associated with successful companies, enough of them to probably put his net worth in nine figures. His considerable reputation in tech circles, though, isn't based on his companies as much as on the lawsuits launched in their wake. There have been three, the most recent of which is heading to a trial in a few months. Each has raised a fascinating issue that ought to concern everyone who uses a computer, especially if you listen to music...

Tories fight back against digital-music tax

Thu, 18 Mar 2010 01:11 GMT

Conservatives are Canada's new iPod freedom fighters. Cabinet ministers and MPs are putting up a vigorous defence against the NDP's move to have a levy applied to all new MP3 players, hard drives and laptops. The money would theoretically go into a fund for Canadian music artists the same way as the current 29-cent levy on blank CDs and cassettes...

Music Services Partners With RightsFlow for Blanket Mechanical Licensing and Royalty Services

Thu, 18 Mar 2010 01:09 GMT

Music Services, a publishing company administering the licensing and administration for over 100,000 copyrights has formed an alliance with RightsFlow. The blanket agreement provides RightsFlow access to Music Services' catalog, allowing identification and accounting for interactive streaming and limited downloads on any pending and future works to the compositions. Considered a leader in the Christian music market, Music Services represents some of the largest Christian music publishers in the US. These include Vineyard Music, Maranatha Music and...

Mobile Apps Will Outsell CDs by 2012

Thu, 18 Mar 2010 01:06 GMT

The global mobile apps economy is set to be worth $17.5billion by 2012, according to an independent report commissioned by GetJar, the world’s second largest app store. Mobile app downloads across all types of handset are also expected to increase from over 7 billion downloads in 2009 to almost 50 billion in 2012 – a year on year growth rate of 92%. This would mean that the value of apps sold would be greater than the value of CDs sold in 2012 ($13.83bn)...

YouTube Launches Partner Program for Indie Bands

Thu, 18 Mar 2010 01:04 GMT

If you can play the guitar, you can quit your day job! Well, maybe. But independent musicians who are accepted by YouTube's 'Musicians Wanted' section will be able to do just that if their music videos and live musical performances draw enough views through a new feature of Google's YouTube Partner Program...

Private bank launches pop star division

Wed, 17 Mar 2010 00:18 GMT

Investec Private Bank, the UK wealth manager, has launched a specialist division aimed at wealthy individuals in the music and film industry. The bank is targeting music and entertainment stars, managers and agents, which it believes is an under-serviced market.
Nicky Walden, head of specialist banking at Investec Private Bank said: 'During our discussions with leading individuals in the entertainment industry it became apparent that this is an area that has largely been under serviced by the financial services sector...

Not So Fast? Levi and Korsinsky 'Investigating' Orchard Purchase

Wed, 17 Mar 2010 00:07 GMT

Is the Orchard buyout kosher? Not according to New York-based firm Levi and Korsinsky, which is now investigating a possible breach of fiduciary responsibility by the Orchard Enterprises, Inc. On behalf of participating shareholders, Levi alleges that a more serious shopping effort should have happened before the Dimensional deal was announced. 'The investigation concerns whether the Orchard Board of Directors breached their fiduciary duties to Orchard stockholders by failing to adequately shop the Company...

The Orchard Signs Merger Agreement with Dimensional Associates

Tue, 16 Mar 2010 23:48 GMT

The Orchard, a global leader in music and video distribution and comprehensive digital strategy, has announced that it has entered into a definitive merger agreement with Dimensional Associates, LLC, a private equity affiliate of JDS Capital, L.P. Dimensional currently owns approximately 42% of the Company's outstanding common stock and 99% of the Company's outstanding Series A Preferred Stock, representing an aggregate of approximately 53% of the Company's voting securities...

Wyclef Jean Paid His Mistress $105,000 Through His Haiti Charity

Tue, 16 Mar 2010 00:07 GMT

Yele Haiti, the sketchy foundation that Wyclef Jean founded to help the Haitian people —which received millions in the outpouring of generosity following the wake of the earthquake there — paid Jean's mistress and personal assistant $105,000 in 2008...