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In true Las Vegas fashion, Sin City will usher in the New Year with “Tribute Palooza,” a concert featuring performances by David Bowie, the Eagles, U2, Kiss, the Rolling Stones, Queen, Aerosmith and Billy Joel… impersonators. 2U will substitute for U2, Queen Nation will copycat Freddie Mercury, Aeromyth will channel Aerosmith, the Long Run will welcome you to the Hotel California and much, much more. Unfortunately, despite the presence of not one but two KISS cover bands, neither act is the Rock Daily faves Mini-KISS. The whole fake fest party will go down at Vegas’ infamously tented Fremont Street, where… Read more »

MTV launches its first-ever music award program for Africa on Saturday, with acts from across the world’s poorest continent nominated for prizes in the Nigerian capital. Winners were being selected by fans sending text messages, said Alison Reid, a spokeswoman for MTV Networks Africa. Africa has long featured a vibrant music scene , but artists have had difficulties breaking into overseas markets. Famous African artists include Senegal’s Youssou N’dour, Nigerian legend Fela Kuti and South African impresario Miriam Makeba , who died this month. MTV hopes the awards can offer the artists more exposure and celebrate the continent’s artistry. Nigerian… Read more »

Pete Wentz and Ashlee Simpson welcomed a son, Bronx Mowgli Wentz, into the world late Thursday night. Little Bronx weighed in at 7 pounds, 11 ounces, according to a statement from the couple’s publicist. “Ashlee, Pete and baby Bronx are all healthy and happy,” the statement read, “and thank everyone for their well wishes!” He’s the first child for both … and his birth was, shall we say, rather anticipated. Several reports had Simpson going into labor last weekend, and though that information proved to be incorrect, Simpson was so close to delivering that Wentz opted to stay with her… Read more »

Quietdrive’s sophomore release Deliverance debuted last week at #1 on Billboard‘s Alternative New Artist Chart, beating out other releases by We The Kings, The Secret Machines, Ludo, Mayday Parade, Ra Ra Riot and Black Kids, among others. Deliverance is currently streaming in its entirety exclusively on Purevolume. Head over to www.purevolume.com/quietdrive to listen to the album now. Tour stalwarts hailing from Minneapolis, Quietdrive feels completely at home on the road which is where they’ll be spending most of their time promoting Deliverance. It’s the life they’ve dreamed of and it’s the life they can’t give up. Having played well over… Read more »

More than ever, it pays to be pregnant in Hollywood. Jennifer Lopez, about to give birth to twins, is reportedly the latest A-lister to strike a deal worth millions for exclusive photos of her children. And the incentive might not be purely financial: Such pacts can also protect celebs’ privacy by thwarting the paparazzi. Those involved in negotiations for Lopez and her husband, Marc Anthony, confirmed that U.S. and Latin American rights were sold to People magazine and other international rights to OK! magazine. Advertising Age reported on its Web site Monday that Lopez and Anthony were negotiating with People… Read more »

Hollywood laid much of the blame for illegal movie downloading on college students. Now, it says its math was wrong. In a 2005 study it commissioned, the Motion Picture Association of America claimed that 44 percent of the industry’s domestic losses came from illegal downloading of movies by college students, who often have access to high-bandwidth networks on campus. The MPAA has used the study to pressure colleges to take tougher steps to prevent illegal file-sharing and to back legislation currently before the House of Representatives that would force them to do so. But now the MPAA, which represents the… Read more »

Record label EMI, bought by private equity firm Terra Firma last year, is set to announce on Monday plans to cut as much as one third of its 6,000 staff, slash marketing costs and drop artists as part of a restructuring, the Wall Street Journal reported. Most of the job cuts are expected to come from EMI’s recorded-music operations, as opposed to its music-publishing business, the paper said, citing unidentified people familiar with the plans. The plans come as the music industry has struggled to return to profitability — and indeed to prove itself viable in the long term, the… Read more »

A revolutionary plan that would effectively legitimize file-sharing here has been slammed as “a pipe dream” by Canadian labels. The Songwriters Assn. of Canada proposes to allow domestic consumers access to all recorded music available online in return for adding a $5 Canadian ($4.96) monthly fee to every wireless and Internet account in the country. The SAC claims that the proposal, which has been presented to labels’ bodies the Canadian Record Industry Assn. (CRIA) and Canadian Independent Record Production Assn. as well as publishers’ groups, would raise approximately $1 billion Canadian ($993 million) annually. Although the SAC does not detail… Read more »

Former “American Idol” contestant Corey Clark is facing up to two years in jail and a maximum fine of $150,000 after pleading guilty to a felony charge of harassment. Clark, 27, is scheduled to be sentenced in early November in Yuma County Superior Court although no date had been set as of Friday. In exchange for entering a guilty plea to one charge of aggravated harassment on Oct. 2, Clark had four other charges dismissed, said Roger Nelson, chief criminal deputy attorney for the Yuma County Attorney’s Office. Authorities said Clark violated a court order in August 2006 by placing… Read more »