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Music publishers, the record labels and digital music distribution outlets began a three-way legal wrestling match Monday over just how much songwriters and the publishing houses should get paid for digitally delivered music.The case before a panel of copyright judges is different from the usual squabbles over money that pit the major record labels against new-media companies because it also features a family fight between the music publishers and songwriters and the rest of the music industry.At issue is the so-called “mechanical royalty” — payments made for copies of sound recordings, including those made by digital means, to songwriters and… Read more »

British scientists are ready to turn female bone marrow into sperm, cutting men out of the process of creating life. The breakthrough paves the way for lesbian couples to have children that are biologically their own. Gay men could follow suit by using the technique to make eggs from male bone marrow. Researchers at Newcastle upon Tyne University say their technique will help lead to new treatments for infertility. But critics warn that it sidelines men and raises the prospect of babies being born through entirely artificial means. The research centres around stem cells – the body’s ‘mother’ cells which… Read more »

Acclaimed artist/producer BT speaks out on his missing daughter, Kaia Transeau, age 3- ½.   Kaia was abducted over three weeks ago by her mother. There has been no contact since the first few days.   BT is making all reasonable efforts to find his daughter. Currently Kaia has been placed on the national missing persons NCIC (National Crime Information Center) list (phone number 1-304-625-2000). BT states, “I am diligently and delicately working to do everything possible to amend this tragic family situation.   As a father my only goal is to get my daughter back home.     I… Read more »

Getting fired wasn’t the first time Don Imus had hit rock bottom. Like his stumble into addiction in the 1980s, Imus fell into a personal purgatory after calling the Rutgers University women’s basketball team “nappy-headed hos.” “I analogize it to being an alcoholic and a drug addict, which I also am,” the talk-show host said during an apologetic return to the airwaves Monday. “If you get into recovery, as I am for 20-some years now, you have the opportunity to be a better person, to have a better life than you ordinarily would have had. And that’s true in this… Read more »

Nick Haley took just 30 minutes to pluck the Brazilian band CSS from obscurity and hurl it into the national spotlight. In September, Haley paired the band’s dance-pop song “Music is My Hot, Hot Sex” with his 30-second amateur video, displaying the capabilities of Apple’s new iPod Touch. The video ends with the lyrics, “My music is where I’d like you to touch.” “I was like, ‘This song is too perfect,’ ” said Haley, 18, by phone from the University of Leeds in England, where he studies politics. “It’s punchy, loud, fast and naughty.” Marketers at Apple headquarters in Cupertino… Read more »

The world was treated to “Gimme More” this summer. But Perez Hilton may have given his readers too much, too soon. Zomba Recording LLC, which is owned by Sony BMG, filed a federal copyright-infringement lawsuit Thursday against the online gossip purveyor, saying that over the past three months he illegally posted at least 10 new Britney Spears tracks, both completed cuts and unfinished demos, on perezhilton.com. “The unauthorized dissemination of recordings is a serious violation of copyright law,” said a Zomba spokesperson. “In addition, posting demos and unfinished songs as if they were final versions is grossly unfair to the… Read more »

The Justice Department is moving “as quickly as possible” in its antitrust review of Sirius Satellite Radio Inc’s acquisition of XM Satellite Radio Inc, a senior department official said on Tuesday. XM Satellite and Sirius have defended their planned merger, saying it is not anti-competitive because they compete with broadcast radio as well as MP3 players and other technology. Thomas Barnett, assistant attorney general at the Justice Department, was asked about the review at a congressional hearing but declined to say when it would be completed. “We want to do that as quickly as possible, but we also want to… Read more »

Student loans got you down? Well, get ready for what is being touted as the biggest increase in higher-education funding since the GI Bill enabled millions of veterans to attend college after World War II. On Wednesday (July 11), the House of Representatives passed the College Cost Reduction Act of 2007 and – pay attention – backers say it could save students thousands of dollars.The bill passed by a vote of 273-149, and the Senate is set to take up the issue later this month. The White House released a statement on Tuesday that stated the president would veto the… Read more »

Lady Bird Johnson, the former first lady who championed conservation and worked tenaciously for the political career of her husband, Lyndon B. Johnson, died Wednesday, a family spokeswoman said. She was 94. Johnson, who suffered a stroke in 2002 that affected her ability to speak, returned home late last month after a week at Seton Medical Center, where she’d been admitted for a low-grade fever. She died at her Austin home of natural causes about 5:18 p.m. EDT. Elizabeth Christian, the spokeswoman, said she was surrounded by family and friends. Even after the stroke, Johnson still managed to make occasional… Read more »

Some of the world’s biggest names in music were all about Saving Our Selves this weekend. SOS, of course, referring to the campaign being touted Saturday across the globe at the seven-continent, 24-hour Live Earth concert extravaganza, a worldwide shout-out to individuals, political leaders, corporations and every other entity capable of helping put a stop to the environmental scourge that is global warming. In a partnership with Al Gore’s Alliance for Climate Protection and other U.S.-based and international organizations, Live 8 executive producer Kevin Wall put together a bill that included the Police, Madonna, the Red Hot Chili Peppers, Metallica,… Read more »