Search Results for: Refused

Four years ago, Sean “Diddy” Combs took his hip-hop swagger across the nation in an effort to get young people to vote, with the bold slogan “Vote or Die.” Now, on the eve of Super Tuesday’s primary contests, the entertainer has just a simple message: Go vote. “If we want to stop the war, if we want to get the economy better, I think that young people need to understand they have to take matters into their own hands,” Combs, 38, told Some political analysts believe the youth vote could be a key factor in this year’s presidential election. On… Read more »

The striking Hollywood writers guild said Tuesday it will refrain from picketing the upcoming Grammy Awards, possibly allowing the music ceremony to escape the fate of the wrecked Golden Globes show. The guild’s board of directors has yet to grant the music industry show a waiver that would allow union writers to work on the ceremony, but the Grammys typically depend more on performances than scripted lines or comedy. The guild previously said it was unlikely to grant the Recording Academy a waiver for the Feb. 10 show, the music industry’s most important event, set to be broadcast live on… Read more »

As the Hollywood writers’ strike threatens to disrupt the 50th annual Grammy telecast, some in the music industry are befuddled, frustrated and even resentful. “I feel torn, because I’m a writer,” R&B singer-songwriter Jill Scott, who is nominated for three Grammys, told The Writers Guild of America, which went on strike two months ago, has said it was unlikely to grant the Recording Academy a waiver to allow writers to work on the Feb. 10 show, the music industry’s most important event, set to be broadcast live on CBS from Los Angeles. The guild, which is seeking compensation for programs,… Read more »

The Recording Academy has asked its members to sign a petition urging the Writers Guild of America to accept an agreement that would grant a waiver for writers to work on the upcoming Grammys, The fate of the Feb. 10 telecast was put in doubt after the WGA announced that it was unlikely to grant a waiver for music’s biggest night. If a waiver is not granted, its members could picket the event, set to be broadcast live by CBS. The online petition reads in part: “As a member of The Recording Academy, I would like to express my strong… Read more »

Britney Spears was derailed yet again in her struggle to get her life back on track, losing custody of her two sons to ex-husband Kevin Federline. A court commissioner Friday gave sole physical and legal custody of the former couple’s two little boys to Federline and suspended the troubled pop star’s visitation rights. Spears was hauled away from her home to a hospital by paramedics a day before, after police had to intervene when she refused to return the children to Federline after a court-monitored visit. Commissioner Scott Gordon ordered another hearing to be held Jan. 14. Federline had previously… Read more »

Hannah Montana fans are getting the best of both worlds, leaving the less entertaining aspects to the show’s lawyers and publicists. A lawsuit brought against the Disney Channel by an award-winning comedy writer who claims he pitched the original idea for Hannah Montana and was never compensated for his efforts was referred Friday to mediation in the hope that the two sides can cut a deal. Buddy Sheffield sued parent company ABC Cable Networks Group on Aug. 23, alleging breach of implied contract, breach of confidence, unfair competition and unjust enrichment. He is seeking unspecified damages. ABC Cable has denied… Read more »

In a move that would mark the end of a digital music era, Sony BMG Music Entertainment is finalizing plans to sell songs without the copyright protection software that has long restricted the use of music downloaded from the Internet, BusinessWeek.com has learned. Sony BMG, a joint venture of Sony and Bertelsmann, will make at least part of its collection available without so-called digital rights management, or DRM, software some time in the first quarter, according to people familiar with the matter. Sony BMG would become the last of the top four music labels to drop DRM, following Warner Music… Read more »

The other high-heel shoe has dropped. With no end in sight for the Hollywood writers’ strike, the 34th annual People’s Choice Awards will slash its red carpet, it was confirmed Wednesday. Organizers, meanwhile, announced a “reinvention” of the telecast as a pretaped, “magazine-style format” show: Think two-hour special, rather than Christine Lahti-caught-in-the-bathroom live TV. People’s Choice spokeswoman Jeannie Tharrington said the show requested, and was denied, a waiver from the Writers Guild of America that would have allowed union writers to work on the Jan. 8 CBS telecast. Later, WGA spokesman Greg Mitchell said the union had taken no action… Read more »

Rocker Scott Weiland was charged Wednesday with driving under the influence of drugs in a car crash last month, prosecutors said. The 40-year-old rocker was arrested Nov. 21 after crashing his car on a highway. He refused to take a blood or urine test as required by law, city attorney spokesman Frank Mateljan said. The Stone Temple Pilots and Velvet Revolver singer, who had a DUI conviction in 2004, could face eight days to a year in jail and a $1,000 fine if convicted of the misdemeanor count, Mateljan said. Weiland, who is free on $40,000 bail, was to be… Read more »

The scope of a yearlong download promotion planned between Pepsi and Amazon, Billboard has learned, is among several developments forcing further consideration by Warner Music Group (WMG) and Sony BMG Music Entertainment to follow EMI and Universal Music Group’s lead in distributing music in the MP3 format. News of the Pepsi promotion, which is expected to be announced Feb. 3 during the Super Bowl, coincides with an ultimatum from Wal-Mart asking major labels to supply walmart.com with their music in MP3, sources say. Labels, meanwhile, say they have been watching the success of an MP3 test UMG began in August;… Read more »