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Travis Barker settles plane crash lawsuit
Blink-182 drummer Travis Barker has settled a lawsuit over the deadly 2008 plane crash in South Carolina that killed four people and caused severe injuries to him and late friend DJ AM.
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Blink-182 drummer Travis Barker has settled a lawsuit over the deadly 2008 plane crash in South Carolina that killed four people and caused severe injuries to him and late friend DJ AM.
LOS ANGELES – Michael Jackson’s arms were covered with punctures, his face and neck were scarred and he had tattooed eyebrows and lips, but he wasn’t the sickly skeleton of a man portrayed by tabloids, according to his autopsy report obtained by The Associated Press. In fact, the Los Angeles County coroner’s report shows Jackson was a fairly healthy 50-year-old before he died of an overdose. His 136 pounds were in the acceptable range for a 5-foot-9 man. His heart was strong with no sign of plaque buildup. And his kidneys and most other major organs were normal. Still, Jackson… Read more »
LOS ANGELES — In an election otherwise full of liberal triumphs, the gay rights movement suffered a stunning defeat as California voters approved a ban on same-sex marriages that overrides a recent court decision legalizing them. The constitutional amendment – widely seen as the most momentous of the nation’s 153 ballot measures – will limit marriage to heterosexual couples, the first time such a vote has taken place in a state where gay unions are legal. Gay-rights activists had a rough election elsewhere as well. Ban-gay-marriage amendments were approved in Arizona and Florida, and Arkansas voters approved a measure banning… Read more »
Jared Leto is keeping the eyeliner on for the foreseeable future. The actor-musician-ladies’ man has released a statement addressed to friends and fans making absolutely clear that his band, 30 Seconds to Mars, has no intention of breaking up–despite Virgin Records America suing the group for $30 million for failing to deliver on a five-album contract. “We are incredibly happy, healthy and very much together here, in Los Angeles, recording our new record,” the 36-year-old Leto says in a forum posting on 30 STM’s website. “Besides this ridiculously overblown lawsuit…we are having one of the most inspiring, wonderful and exciting… Read more »
More than a dozen recording artists, including the estates of Count Basie and Benny Goodman, sued Universal Music on Friday, saying they had been cheated out of more than $6 million in royalties since 1998. The artists, many of whom signed with recording companies that were later bought by Universal, sued the world’s largest music label for breach of contract and breach of fiduciary duty in a lawsuit filed in New York State Court. In a statement, Universal, which is owned by the French company Vivendi, denied the allegations. “We believe that these claims are baseless, and we are confident… Read more »
Lily Vasquez, a marketing manager from Clifton, New Jersey, spent nearly eight years trying to break into the music business as a singer before she stumbled across SellaBand.com. The Web site is one of several where artists can have their albums funded by fans — a proposition that takes advantage of digital technology, online social networking and the current uncertainty in the established music industry. The sites are reinventing the relationship between artists and their fans, upsetting the traditional role of the record label as the tastemaker, promoter and distributor of music. “I didn’t really understand the site when I… Read more »
Lily Vasquez, a marketing manager from Clifton, New Jersey, spent nearly eight years trying to break into the music business as a singer before she stumbled across SellaBand.com. The Web site is one of several where artists can have their albums funded by fans — a proposition that takes advantage of digital technology, online social networking and the current uncertainty in the established music industry. The sites are reinventing the relationship between artists and their fans, upsetting the traditional role of the record label as the tastemaker, promoter and distributor of music. “I didn’t really understand the site when I… Read more »
At Thursday’s Congressional hearing about the new rates for online radio that would essentially destroy it, SoundExchange, which was scheduled to receive the new royalty payments on Monday morning (since the enforcement date falls on a Sunday), made a startling statement. The SoundExchange executive [Jon Simson, executive director] promised — in front of Congress — that SoundExchange will not enforce the new royalty rates. Webcasters will stay online, as new rates are hammered out. I just spoke with Pandora founder Tim Westergren, who expressed relief that Pandora wouldn’t have to shut down on Sunday in response to the new rates.… Read more »
Small Webcaster Community Initiative (SWCI), a coalition of streaming-media companies, today announced their intent to form a U.S. trade association. The new organization aims to promote and protect independent online music radio through grassroots civic campaigns, including political action and educational outreach. In addition they should not try to silence an entire industry. People need choices, and currently terrestrial radio does not offer that choice. Internet radio does. This announcement comes in the immediate wake of a determination by the U.S. Copyright Royalty Board for significantly higher royalty rates for all Internet radio stations operating under the Section 114 and… Read more »
Ten years ago, as the Internet began to mushroom in popularity and emerging technologies enabled consumers to make nearly perfect copies of digital content, the recording industry embarked on a two-pronged strategy in response to the changing business environment. First, it emphasized copy-control technologies, often referred to as digital rights management (DRM), that many in the industry believed would allow it re-assert control over music copying. Second, it lobbied the Canadian government for a private copying levy to compensate for the music copying that it could not control. While the industry’s approach proved successful on the legal front — the… Read more »
