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Calif. lawmakers consider record industry probe


Pop stars, led by Courtney Love and Don Henley, have been talking to members of the California state legislature about probing music industry accounting practices, lawmakers and artists said this week. Henley, frontman for veteran rock band the Eagles, has been leading a group of recording artists lobbying for repeal of a loophole in state labor law they claim gives record companies unfair commercial control over performers’ careers. More recently, Democratic members of both the California Assembly and Senate have spoken to Henley and his supporters about launching a legislative probe into the broader issues of record company accounting practices,… Read more »

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Music stars lobby Calif. lawmakers on contracts


Beck, Deftones and Offspring singer Dexter Holland joined Recording Artists Coalition founders Don Henley and Sheryl Crow at California’s State Capitol on Wednesday to support new legislation that could change the relationship between recording artists and their labels. Rage Against the Machine’s Tom Morello, Matchbox Twenty’s Paul Doucette, Stevie Nicks, John Fogerty, Carole King, Ray Parker Jr. and Jonatha Brooke also appeared in Sacramento, California, calling on legislators to support Democratic Sen. Kevin Murray’s Senate Bill 1246, legislation that would allow artists to function more like free agents, according to a spokesperson for the Recording Artists Coalition. Murray’s bill aims… Read more »

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Universal settles Calif. lawsuit with performers


A Los Angeles judge has tentatively approved a deal requiring record giant Universal Music to pay $4.75 million in back royalties to as many as 300 performers to settle a class-action lawsuit led by torch singer Peggy Lee, court papers showed Wednesday. Lee, 81, was the lead plaintiff in the two-year court case that claimed that Universal, a unit of Vivendi Universal, failed to pay her and other artists – many of whom are now dead – millions of dollars by underreporting sales figures and overcharging for services. Legal experts said this was the first class-action lawsuit on behalf of… Read more »

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Calif. lawmaker wants music contract law repealed


A California state senator on Monday launched a legislative assault against the music industry on behalf of recording stars like Courtney Love and Don Henley who have been crusading to free artists from record company control. California State Sen. Kevin Murray (D-Culver City) Monday introduced the bill to repeal an amendment won by the music industry in 1987 that keeps recording artists tied to personal contracts longer than talent in other industries like film and television. In announcing the bill at the Future of Music conference in Washington, D.C., Murray said the artist community should take its cue from the… Read more »

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McCartney spokesman denies UPN Harrison story


Just when you thought the mystery of where ex-Beatle George Harrison died might have been solved, it may actually have deepened. A spokesman for ex-Beatle Paul McCartney Thursday strongly denied a local television report that said Harrison, who died of cancer in Los Angeles on Nov. 29, passed away at a house owned by McCartney. He also said McCartney did not even own a house in California. The Los Angeles affiliate of the UPN network, UPN News 13, reported Tuesday that Harrison died at a secluded home in Beverly Hills that McCartney bought from rock star Courtney Love six months… Read more »

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Late rocker Cobain's mom blasts former bandmates


The mother of Kurt Cobain, the late singer of grunge rock group Nirvana, says she is “shocked and disgusted” by the two surviving band members’ attempts to oust his widow, Courtney Love, from a board controlling the band’s musical legacy. Wendy Fradenburg Cobain O’Connor’s comments stem from a bitter court battle between her son’s widow, rocker and actress Courtney Love, and surviving Nirvana members Krist Novoselic and Dave Grohl, over a boxed set of the band’s greatest hits. The set was planned for release in October – to coincide with the 10th anniversary of the band’s chart-topping “Nevermind” album –… Read more »

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Calif. Senator Prepares Measure on Music Contracts


A California state senator plans to draft a bill that would free recording artists from restrictive, multi-year contracts, a system stars have attacked as unfairly stacked in favor of the major music labels. Under current California law, record companies are granted a special exemption that allows them to sue musicians and singers for albums not produced over the course of seven-year contracts. Stars including Don Henley, Courtney Love and the Dixie Chicks testified in the state Senate last month that the special status granted to the record labels in California in 1987 was unfair and should be repealed. State Sen.… Read more »

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Bing Crosby estate sues Universal Music for $16 mil


A suit that pits the estate of legendary crooner Bing Crosby against Universal Music Group alleges that the family has been cheated out of royalties to the tune of $16 million. A hearing in the case, filed last year in the Santa Monica branch of L.A. Superior Court, is scheduled for next month. The plaintiffs – the estates of Crosby and his first wife Wilma Wyatt (the actress known as Dixie Lee, who died in 1952) – are seeking documents, including 10 email messages, they expect will support their breach of contract claims. The attorney representing the Crosby estate did… Read more »

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2001 'VH1/Vogue Fashion Awards' To Feature Alicia Keys, Lenny Kravitz And John Mellencamp


Music superstars Alicia Keys, Lenny Kravitz and John Mellencamp will be among the featured performers when the 2001 “VH1/Vogue Fashion Awards” is presented from the Hammerstein Ballroom in New York City on Tuesday, October 23 at 9:00 p.m. (ET/PT). Celebrities making appearances at the seventh annual ceremony include No Doubt’s Gwen Stefani, Dylan McDermott from “The Practice,” Salma Hayek, “Law & Order” star Angie Harmon, New York Giants cornerback Jason Sehorn, hip-hop queen Lil’ Kim, rap superstar Sean “Puffy” Combs, Renee Zellweger (“Bridget Jones’ Diary”), screen star Christian Slater, supermodel Gisele Bundchen, singer Enrique Iglesias, Chris Noth of “Sex and… Read more »

News

New York In Vogue With VH1


VH1 is going bananas with New York-based music events. On Thursday the music cable channel announced it was joining with Miramax and Cablevision to present a Madison Square Garden benefit concert featuring Paul McCartney and the Who for victims of the attack on the World Trade Center. On Friday, VH1 said it would tape the seventh annual “VH1/Vogue Fashion Awards” in New York on Oct. 19 for cablecasting as a two-hour primetime special Oct. 22. But the plan is to tone down the glitter and frivolity, said Todd Schwartz, executive producer of the awards show, and “tip our hat to… Read more »

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