Search Results for: AVOID

File traders, Madonna has a question for you: “What the fuck do you think you’re doing?” That’s the message you’re likely to get if you try to download songs from the singer’s upcoming American Life, due April 22, on peer-to-peer networks such as Limewire or KaZaA. The spoofed file – a planted fake meant to thwart illegal downloading – recently began flooding P2P networks. Madonna’s spokesperson could not be reached for comment. Other spoofed files containing Madonna’s salty tirade appeared on KaZaA in versions of the new songs “Nobody Knows Me” and “X-Static Process.” If you don’t get the foul-mouthed… Read more »

The recording industry and Internet music broadcasters hope a new agreement will prevent a repeat of their recent battle over online music royalties, allowing them to focus instead on providing better music services for consumers. The two sides agreed Thursday on how much big webcasters like Yahoo!, America Online, Microsoft and RealNetworks must pay to broadcast songs over the Internet during 2003 and 2004. The new deal, if approved by the U.S. Copyright Office, will allow the two industries to avoid a lengthy arbitration process to set the royalty rates. “We are delighted to have reached an agreement that will… Read more »

Roxette singer Marie Fredriksson has threatened to sue a Swedish tabloid for an article alleging she could be suffering from a second tumor. Fredriksson is recovering after having had a brain tumor removed last fall. The Stockholm daily tabloid Expressen wrote last month that doctors had discovered another possible tumor. In a letter to the newspaper, Fredriksson’s lawyer, Leif Silbersky, said the report was false and violated Fredriksson’s integrity. Silbersky said Expressen could avoid a lawsuit by publishing an apology on its front page, pay Fredriksson $59,000 in damages and cover her legal fees. The 44-year-old singer would give the… Read more »

The lawyer now representing Aretha Franklin in the investigation of an arson fire that destroyed her $1.8 million mansion here says the singer has nothing to hide. Franklin fired attorney Elbert Hatchett, who had advised her not to speak to investigators, and hired former Detroit U.S. attorney Saul Green. “All she wants to do is to get a positive resolution to this,” Green said Monday. Oakland County Prosecutor David Gorcyca said there is “a new discourse” between his office and Franklin’s new attorney, who met with prosecutors Monday. Gorcyca hopes to meet with Franklin by week’s end. Franklin’s son, Edward,… Read more »

Six retail record store chains ? hurting from competition from CD burning, online music and large discount stores ? are teaming to offer consumers digital music downloads in their stores and over the Internet. The stores have formed a joint venture called Echo that will provide technology and allow them to offer individual tracks for downloading to portable devices and computers. The stores are Best Buy, Tower Records, Virgin Entertainment Group, Wherehouse Music, Hastings Entertainment Inc. and Trans World Entertainment Corp., operator of FYE, Strawberries and Coconuts stores. “We’re trying to make digital music work in a mass market way,… Read more »

The recording industry and several high-tech groups battling over copyright laws declared a tentative truce on Tuesday and said they would try to hash out rules to govern how to protect digital movies and music from widespread bootlegging. The two sides hope to avoid a big lobbying battle this year in Congress over whether to enhance digital copyright protection or preserve the rights of users to make copies. They said they will try to settle their differences and devise rules to govern how movies and music may be used, instead of looking to Congress or the Federal Communications Commission. But… Read more »

Sprint Corp. on Wednesday said it would offer Listen.com’s Rhapsody music subscription services to its broadband customers, joining a growing list of such providers to provide music services. Sprint also said it would offer its PCS wireless customers Rhapsody 411, a music information service, including album reviews, artist recommendations, album art and full-color artist photos directly from their phones. Sprint is the second wireless company to offer Rhapsody 411 after AT&T Wireless Services Inc, underscoring the trend that wireless carriers are increasingly looking to offer music features. Sony Corp., for instance, recently bought a provider of cellphone ring-tones while two… Read more »

In just eight months’ time, Justin Timberlake’s feelings toward former love Britney Spears have gone from hurt to hate. At least that’s what Us Weekly alleges in its current cover story, “Britney Vs. Justin: The War Is On.” The article, which surfaced on New York newsstands Wednesday and will be available nationwide Friday, suggests that pop music’s hottest couple are feuding like the Hatfields and the McCoys, singling out Timberlake’s video for “Cry Me a River” as the latest, and loudest, bomb dropped. The video, which premiered November 25, features 18-year-old model/actress Lauren Hastings playing what could only be construed… Read more »

Concert tours to Southeast Asia have become the latest casualty of recent bomb blasts in Bali and the Philippines with veteran jazz guitarist George Benson and rock groups Red Hot Chili Peppers and Oasis canceling shows. “George Benson did cancel some dates that he had lined up for Indonesia,” promoter Nigel Peters said on Tuesday. “It’s obviously a direct relation to the Bali bombing. That’s the only reason this decision was taken.” A bomb attack at a nightclub on the Indonesian holiday island of Bali on October 12 killed more than 180 people, most of them Australian. Ten people were… Read more »

Smaller Internet music broadcasters are getting an extension on copyright royalty payments that would have been due Sunday, which means they can avoid shutting down. The webcasters will still have to pay up to $2,500 each in fees by Monday. But that is far less than the tens of thousands of dollars that many of them would have owed. The extension, granted by the recording industry and performance artists Friday, came a day after the Senate recessed for the elections without approving copyright rate revisions negotiated between webcasters and the copyright holders. The changes, unanimously approved by the House earlier… Read more »