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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 »

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 »

Punk poet Patti Smith and Split Enz veteran Tim Finn lead the lineup of musicians performing at the Sundance Film Festival in Park City, Utah (January 17-27). Along with such artists as Gavin DeGraw, Pat Monahan, Peter & Gordon, Sea Wolf, Butch Walker, and Missy Higgins, they will perform at the Music Cafe, a daily afternoon showcase for established and emerging acts. Other music events at Sundance include a January 20 “Celebration of Music and Film” concert, which will feature performers connected to movies at the festival, including Smith (“Patti Smith: Dream of Life”), and composer Jean-Michel Bernard and director… Read more »

2007 was a year of duality for music. While the industry continued to tank, it was quietly a very good year for rock ‘n’ roll and indie music. The Boss returned with his old band, the Police actually got along and even Led Zeppelin reunited. The most exciting music was busy breaking down barriers. Arcade Fire played in intimate churches; Web site TakeAwayShows.com and the film “Once” returned music to the streets; and a certain British band eliminated a very big middle man. “In Rainbows,” Radiohead: The much-ballyhooed online release of “In Rainbows” in some ways obscured what an excellent… Read more »

Just when it seemed erosion of music sales during the holiday season couldn’t get worse, December snowstorms compounded the retail industry’s misery. Album sales for 2007 are now down 15.3% for the year, compared with 2006. But for the four weeks beginning with Thanksgiving week and ending December 26, U.S. album sales were down 20% to 84.2 million units from 105.3 million a year ago, according to Nielsen SoundScan. The last week before Christmas didn’t help matters much, with sales totaling 25.6 million vs. 31.3 million units in the same period last year. The season got off on the wrong… Read more »

A children’s album, a new studio effort and a cruise are on the docket for Canadian rock band Barenaked Ladies next year. The quintet is in a Toronto studio finishing up the children’s set with Michael Phillip, who produced its 1992 debut “Gordon” and 1996’s “Born on a Pirate Ship.” The as-yet-untitled record, which boasts such tunes as “Humongous Tree” and “Polywog in a Bog,” should come out in the spring on the group’s own Desperation Records label. “We wrote just as hard for these as we did for any other record, but you have to think from a kids’… Read more »

Singer-songwriter Dan Fogelberg died Sunday (Dec. 16) at his home in Maine after fighting prostate cancer for several years. He was 56. Although he made his biggest impact in pop music — via such hits as “Longer,” “Same Old Lang Syne,” “Hard to Say” and “Leader of the Band” — he had strong ties to Nashville and country music.Daniel Grayling Fogelberg was born Aug. 13, 1951, in Peoria, Ill. His father, whom he would immortalize in song, was a band leader, his mother a classically trained singer. Fogelberg dabbled in art and acting at the University of Illinois at Champaign-Urbana… Read more »

The Department of Justice on Thursday slammed intellectual property legislation that would re-organize its IP enforcement structure, calling it unnecessary and counterproductive to the work it has already accomplished. “We have a current structure … that works quite effectively,” Sigal Mandelker, deputy assistant attorney general, told the House Judiciary subcommittee on Courts, the Internet, and Intellectual Property. Judiciary Chairman John Conyers last week introduced H.R. 4279, which would further crack down on intellectual property violations, and create several new government positions with the power to enforce the new law. It is intended to preserve American economic prosperity, according to sponsors.… Read more »

The Material Girl is about to become a Hall of Famer. The ever-evolving Madonna was announced as a Rock and Roll Hall of Fame inductee on Thursday along with John Mellencamp, The Ventures, Leonard Cohen and The Dave Clark Five. A panel of 600 industry figures selected the five acts to be inducted at the annual ceremony, to be held March 10 in New York. “The 2008 inductees are trailblazers – all unique and influential in their genres,” Rock and Roll Hall of Fame Foundation President and CEO Joel Peresman said in a statement. “From poetry to pop, these five… Read more »

Josh Groban’s “Noel” led the U.S. pop album charts for a third week Wednesday, tying Elvis Presley as the record-holder for the most consecutive weeks at No. 1 with a Christmas album. Now in its ninth week of release, “Noel” moved 581,000 units in the period ended December 9, according to Nielsen SoundScan, an 8% boost over the previous frame. Presley’s “Elvis’ Christmas Album,” meanwhile, ruled the charts for three weeks in 1957. Alicia Keys’ “As I Am” rose one to No. 2 with 234,000 copies, swapping places with the Eagles’ “Long Road Out of Eden,” which sold 204,000. The… Read more »