Music Business Times - Opinionshttp://app.feed.informer.com/digest3/R8OUGAC8IK.html Respective post owners and feed distributors http://feed.informer.com/ Jackson was working on the pop album with songwriter Claude Kelly and R+B star Akon, who says that Jackson was motivated by the ticket sales for his performances. He told Akon, 'My fans are still there. They still love me. They're alive.' Akon said: 'His kids are like his first priority, and they had never seen him perform live. He was trying to create the most incredible show for his kids.' http://www.reuters.com/article/entertainmentNews/idUSTRE5624GH20090703 Delicious/mbtimes/oticker http://www.reuters.com/article/entertainmentNews/idUSTRE5624GH20090703? Sat, 04 Jul 2009 02:55 GMT Broadcasters call the Performance Rights Act a tax. To the music industry, it's more like a royalty fee. But the legislation, which is gaining momentum in both the House and the Senate, is making radio stations nervous. For more than 80 years, commercial stations have aired songs without paying royalties to musicians. Sound recordings were exempted from performance rights fees even after they became copyrightable in 1972; and the Digital Performance Right in Sound Recordings Act, passed in 1995, applied only to new technologies such as cable, satellite and Internet radio. http://www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-ct-radio3-2009jul03,0,6937549.story?track=rss Delicious/mbtimes/oticker http://www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-ct-radio3-2009jul03,0,6937549.story?track=rss? Sat, 04 Jul 2009 02:48 GMT For major label Sony Music, the idea of distributing artists from the fat part of the long tail has proven too tempting to resist. The media giant announced on Wednesday that it acquired an undisclosed percentage of longtime independent music bastion IODA, short for Independent Online Distribution Alliance. Sony now stands to profit from the distribution of music formerly considered too niche to garner major label interest... http://www.wired.com/epicenter/2009/07/sony-buys-part-of-the-long-tail/ Delicious/mbtimes/oticker http://www.wired.com/epicenter/2009/07/sony-buys-part-of-the-long-tail/? Sat, 04 Jul 2009 02:39 GMT The former nanny of Michael Jackson's kids painted a picture of the faded singer as a delusional nomad hopelessly addicted to prescription drugs. 'I had to pump his stomach many times. He always mixed so much of it,' Grace Rwaramba, 42, said. 'There was one period that it was so bad that I... http://www.nydailynews.com/entertainment/michael_jackson/2009/06/27/2009-06-27_coroner_releases_michael_jacksons_body_shattered_family_gathers_to_plan_king_of_.html Delicious/mbtimes/oticker http://www.nydailynews.com/entertainment/michael_jackson/2009/06/27/2009-06-27_coroner_releases_michael_jacksons_body_shattered_family_gathers_to_plan_king_of_.html? Sun, 28 Jun 2009 03:11 GMT It was clear that he was in no condition to do a single concert, let alone 50. He could no longer sing, for a start. On some days he could barely talk. He could no longer dance. Disaster was looming in London and, in the opinion of his closest confidantes, he was feeling suicidal.To understand why a singer of Jackson... http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1196009/Im-better-dead-Im-How-Michael-Jackson-predicted-death-months-ago.html Delicious/mbtimes/oticker http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1196009/Im-better-dead-Im-How-Michael-Jackson-predicted-death-months-ago.html? Sun, 28 Jun 2009 03:03 GMT Already there is an all-too familiar rumor along the internet that Jackson employed a look-alike to double for him as he was to embark on his world tour, eerily similar to the 1966 urban legend that Paul McCartney died and was replaced by a body double. The legend goes on to speculate that many clues about the switch... http://www.examiner.com/x-14743-San-Antonio-Local-Music-Examiner~y2009m6d27-Michael-Jackson-the-latest-conspiracy-theory Delicious/mbtimes/oticker http://www.examiner.com/x-14743-San-Antonio-Local-Music-Examiner~y2009m6d27-Michael-Jackson-the-latest-conspiracy-theory? Sun, 28 Jun 2009 00:39 GMT During his life, Jackson sold hundreds of millions of records, and his musical legacy should easily have led him to amass one of the greatest fortunes in show-business history. But instead, a history of bad management, excessive personal spending, and big legal bills left him, at his death, facing continual rumors... http://www.newsweek.com/id/204011?from=rss Delicious/mbtimes/oticker http://www.newsweek.com/id/204011?from=rss? Sun, 28 Jun 2009 00:33 GMT There are major differences between the big music download shops, particularly when it comes to selection. That was the findings of chip.de, a Munich-based technology portal. Because it is difficult to determine how many songs in total are offered by any given shop, the testers selected 50 representative artists... http://www.earthtimes.org/articles/show/275131,big-differences-between-online-music-stores.html Delicious/mbtimes/oticker http://www.earthtimes.org/articles/show/275131,big-differences-between-online-music-stores.html? Sun, 28 Jun 2009 00:28 GMT A secret library of over a hundred songs recorded by Michael Jackson could be released following his death. One of the singer's biographers, Ian Halperin, claimed that the unheard songs had been made for his children. Mr Halperin, author of Unmasked, The Michael Jackson Story, said before his death:He wants to... http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/us_and_americas/article6584011.ece Delicious/mbtimes/oticker http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/us_and_americas/article6584011.ece? Sat, 27 Jun 2009 01:47 GMT The source said investigators conducting the autopsy were surprised at how healthy Jackson was. While he wasn't necessarily normal, he appeared to be stronger than they expected. Investigators were surprised to see significant scarring on his face, this being the first time they had seen Jackson without makeup... http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,529226,00.html Delicious/mbtimes/oticker http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,529226,00.html? Sat, 27 Jun 2009 01:45 GMT The finances of Michael Jackson, the pop icon who died this week at age 50, remain largely a mystery after a riches-to-rags story of one of the leading figures in the music world. The music legend may have been a billionaire at the time of his death Thursday but his finances saw a roller-coaster ride that left him... http://www.vancouversun.com/entertainment/Jackson+riches+rags+story+still+mystery/1736661/story.html Delicious/mbtimes/oticker http://www.vancouversun.com/entertainment/Jackson+riches+rags+story+still+mystery/1736661/story.html? Sat, 27 Jun 2009 01:13 GMT Michael Jackson was the greatest solo act in the history of pop, bar Elvis Presley. Millions of people who never otherwise ventured into a record shop in their lives bought Thriller, which remains the biggest selling album. In the 1980s he revolutionised the sound and presentation of pop by importing the values of... http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/us_and_americas/article6580541.ece Delicious/mbtimes/oticker http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/us_and_americas/article6580541.ece? Fri, 26 Jun 2009 00:27 GMT I don't know of many pundits who think that the digital economy should be a new wild west at all. I think that many of them are actually just focused on preserving individual rights against a constant landgrab by an industry whose history has shown it to not be above removing right after right after right from people. http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20090623/1651345334.shtml Delicious/mbtimes/oticker http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20090623/1651345334.shtml? Fri, 26 Jun 2009 00:25 GMT Michael Jackson, the 'King of Pop' who once moonwalked above the music world, died Thursday as he prepared for a comeback bid to vanquish nightmare years of sexual scandal and financial calamity. He was 50. Jackson died at UCLA Medical Center after being stricken at his rented home in Holmby Hills. Paramedics tried to... http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090626/ap_on_en_mu/us_obit_michael_jackson Delicious/mbtimes/oticker http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090626/ap_on_en_mu/us_obit_michael_jackson? Fri, 26 Jun 2009 00:02 GMT The tragedy of Michael Jackson's death at age 50, reportedly from cardiac arrest, pales in comparison to the tragedy of his life. To understand all that Jackson had and lost requires wiping away three decades of plastic surgeries that deformed him, erratic behavior that made his name synonymous with the warping powers... http://news.yahoo.com/s/time/08599190726900 Delicious/mbtimes/oticker http://news.yahoo.com/s/time/08599190726900? Fri, 26 Jun 2009 00:00 GMT Maybe Michael's career had reached its peak, but I was not convinced that he was done with music. When he turned 50 last August, I did a series of interviews with radio stations. All of the DJs asked me if I thought Michael Jackson could make a comeback. They wanted to know if he could get past the controversies that... http://new.music.yahoo.com/blogs/hiphopmediatraining/120653/rip-michael-jackson-the-greatest-of-all-time/ Delicious/mbtimes/oticker http://new.music.yahoo.com/blogs/hiphopmediatraining/120653/rip-michael-jackson-the-greatest-of-all-time/? Fri, 26 Jun 2009 00:00 GMT Michael Jackson didn't want to be just a superstar. Like the Beatles, he wanted to be the biggest, the king. He wanted to topple the reigning man with the crown, Elvis. In life and in death, there was Elvis. 'It's just so weird. He even married Elvis' daughter,' said author-music critic Greil Marcus, who wrote at... http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/michael_jackson_elvis Delicious/mbtimes/oticker http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/michael_jackson_elvis? Thu, 25 Jun 2009 23:58 GMT Alas, poor CDs and DVDs, we hardly knew ye. After an all-too-brief relationship, your shiny-silver, coaster-size discs are being replaced by an invisible stream of numbers hidden away on some faceless hard drive. Tangible is giving way to convenience. http://www.toledoblade.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20090621/ART16/906209966/-1/RSS05 Delicious/mbtimes/oticker http://www.toledoblade.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20090621/ART16/906209966/-1/RSS05? Mon, 22 Jun 2009 00:13 GMT Can the sheer size of the damages could lead to a backlash against an industry that is already portrayed in some quarters as overreaching? Sony BMG attorney Wade Leak, who testified at the trial, said he was shocked by the damages award. No one expects that the labels will collect the entire amount from Jammie Thomas... http://www.reuters.com/article/musicNews/idUSTRE55K07E20090621 Delicious/mbtimes/oticker http://www.reuters.com/article/musicNews/idUSTRE55K07E20090621? Sun, 21 Jun 2009 02:30 GMT So far, U.S. music fans can only read about the much-hyped service, as it isn't yet available domestically. But as the company prepares to launch the service stateside before the end of the year, let's examine why Spotify has been anointed the iTunes of streaming music. Compared with its competitors in the... http://www.reuters.com/article/musicNews/idUSTRE55K07U20090621 Delicious/mbtimes/oticker http://www.reuters.com/article/musicNews/idUSTRE55K07U20090621? Sun, 21 Jun 2009 02:22 GMT Under the law the jury could have imposed statutory damages up to $150,000 per work. So perhaps Thomas got off light with a $2m fine instead of the $3.6 million she coulda got. Not exactly. The verdict should be set aside because it is not supported by the evidence. The jury was bound by the terms of Title 17... http://government.zdnet.com/?p=4994 Delicious/mbtimes/oticker http://government.zdnet.com/?p=4994? Sat, 20 Jun 2009 01:06 GMT It's been interesting to see the aftermath of the Jammie Thomas $1.92 million ruling, as it appears that even the RIAA is recognizing that such an insanely large award gives them something of a black-eye and has the possibility of creating a bit of a backlash. However, apparently they forgot to send out that message... http://technews.am/conversations/techdirt/and_of_course_riaa_mouthpieces_defend_1_92_million_judgment Delicious/mbtimes/oticker http://technews.am/conversations/techdirt/and_of_course_riaa_mouthpieces_defend_1_92_million_judgment? Sat, 20 Jun 2009 01:02 GMT His death has always been blamed on a drugs binge. But a new book reveals startling details about the debauched last hours of Jimi Hendrix - and the extraordinary 'confession' from the man who made him a star. http://www.dailymail.co.uk/tvshowbiz/article-1193752/Was-Jimi-Hendrix-murdered-manager.html Delicious/mbtimes/oticker http://www.dailymail.co.uk/tvshowbiz/article-1193752/Was-Jimi-Hendrix-murdered-manager.html? Thu, 18 Jun 2009 03:34 GMT We've already discussed how silly the Performance Rights Act is - and how it's basically an attempt by the record labels to get their own bailout courtesy of radio stations. There are all sorts of problems with it, and Jess Walker does an amazing job explaining just how ridiculous the Performance Rights Act is. In... http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20090614/2223175228.shtml Delicious/mbtimes/oticker http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20090614/2223175228.shtml? Thu, 18 Jun 2009 00:46 GMT While LaToya’s cut was expected, most observers thought either untalented brother Randy or patriarch Joseph would be the other one to get the axe. Jermaine, at least, had top 10 hits in the 1980s. He was considered the fourth-most talented Jackson, behind siblings Michael and Janet, and a distant cousin, L.A. Laker coach Phil Jackson... http://thepeoplesnewsonline.com/2009/06/17/jermaine-latoya-dropped-from-jackson-family/ Delicious/mbtimes/oticker http://thepeoplesnewsonline.com/2009/06/17/jermaine-latoya-dropped-from-jackson-family/? Thu, 18 Jun 2009 00:21 GMT