Bands want to know if their music was used on Gitmo detainees. Creed only wishes for a captured audience
22nd October 2009
CNN – A coalition of top musicians, including R.E.M. and Pearl Jam, want to know if their music was used by the U.S. military as part of controversial interrogation methods at the detention facility at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.
The artists have endorsed a series of Freedom of Information Act requests, which were filed Thursday morning, asking the U.S. government to declassify documents that would reveal which artists’ work was used on detainees at U.S. prison facilities and military detention centers, including the one at Guantanamo Bay.
The National Security Archive, a Washington-based independent research institute that advocates “for the right to know,” filed the requests on behalf of the Close Gitmo Now campaign, which launched this week, the archive’s senior analyst Kate Doyle said.
The multimillion-dollar national grassroots Close Gitmo Now campaign is aimed at pressuring members of Congress to support President Obama’s endeavor to close the Guantanamo Bay prison. It is supported by a coalition of retired generals and liberal activists.
Now the music industry wants royalties for the 30 second preview clips on iTunes. Next up, being charged for having a song stuck in your head.
17th September 2009
Gizmodo – Music royalty groups ASCAP and BMI are harassing online music stores such as iTunes to pay performance fees not only for the songs that they sell, but for the short clips that they use as previews. You know, the things that entice people to pay for music. They want to be paid for advertisements for their product.
Just how backwards is this industry? How many years can they continue to just not get it in such an extreme way? You would have thought that maybe it would have taken a few years for them to figure out the internet, but we’re way beyond that. This entire industry seems to be run by people who don’t just not understand the internet, but are aggressive about not understanding the internet. They have their old way of doing business and the old way the world works, and they’ll be damned if any new fangled thing like a complete upheaval in the way people acquire and listen to music is going to change that.
After last nights VMA’s the boycott of Kanye West is on. And it’s about time.
14th September 2009
TMZ – Celebs
are speaking out about Swift-gate ‘09. The general consensus — Kanye West sucks.
We got Pitbull last night after the show, where he called Kanye a “f**king disrespectful motherf**ker” — and he’s not alone. Just check out these Twitter updates.
Pink: Kanye west is the biggest piece of s**t on earth. Quote me. Beyonce is a classy lady.I feel for her, too.Its not her fault at all, and her and taylor did their thing. And douche bag got kicked out. HA.
Katy Perry: F**K U KANYE. IT’S LIKE U STEPPED 0N A KITTEN.
Joel Madden: WOW Taylor Swift’s first VMA and she didn’t even get to ENJOY it. Kanye You were just a bully on that one man.
Adam Lambert: Kanye needs to chill. He freaks out every year. It ain’t that deep man.
John Mayer: Big love to my girl @taylorswift13. A class act.
Kelli Pickler: Tator Tot, you handled yourself with Grace. Kanye, go grow some f-ing b*lls bitch! don’t mess w/my lil sis!!
Read more: http://www.tmz.com/2009/09/14/rappers-singers-unite-to-bash-kanye/#ixzz0R7Nc8ZOr
Calm down, people. The Disney/Marvel deal does not mean Miley Cyrus is starring in Iron Man 2. Probably
02nd September 2009
The Examiner – This is the first part of a three-part series. Check back here tomorrow for part 2, and Thursday for part 3.
I don’t know if you heard this or not, but something kind of major happened yesterday. One of the largest media companies in the world announced the acquisition of the largest comic book company in North America. Maybe you read about it.
Yesterday I posted a “Breaking the Internet in half” column discussing some of the knee-jerk comments that popped up after the announcement. I’m revisiting the issue because the comments haven’t gotten any better in the past 24 hours. Some folks have taken a step back to really start thinking about the long-term ramifications of the acquisition, but there are others that are like this, which I just read, and responded to, from Newsarama:
“This is all just terrible. Disney is a souless company that eats up younger more vibrant creative companies… This merger is just terrible. It will come back to bite Marvel, and the industry, over the next few years.”
“This was a money decision. And a bad one. Probably the worst. Marvel has had the best few years of it’s [sic] life.”
Today and tomorrow, I’d like to examine in more detail both extremes of the comments, and inject a little common sense. On Thursday, I’m going to go into more detail into an aspect of the story that isn’t getting enough examination, and one that may end up being the most important.
Matt Lauer: “What was your inspiration for your new album?” Miley Cyrus: This was mainly written for my clothing line.” Like Party in the USA.
28th August 2009
SkyNews – Michael Jackson fans have launched a campaign calling for the superstar to be nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize.
The late star’s fans have flocked to sign online petitions supporting the move.
They say he should be honoured for his charity work and “lifelong dedication to the well being of humanity”.
So far, more than 2,000 people have added their names to the campaign started by Los Angeles student Anneliese Nichole Brown.
She hopes 100,000 will lend their support for the Thriller singer who died on June 25.
A similar petition has been signed by 10,000 fans.
News of the campaign is spreading virally online on sites such as Twitter.
However, nominations for the peace prize are not made according to public demand.
Members of governments, professors, and former winners of the prize are among those who can suggest names.
The campaign would need to win the support of someone eligible to nominate to get the musician’s name in the running.
Submissions start in September and the name is then announced the following October.
If the star did make the shortlist but he did not win, fans would have to wait a long time to find out – as the names of unsuccessful candidates are not revealed for 50 years.
Former winners of the prize include Nelson Mandela, Al Gore and Jimmy Carter.
I’m sure this makes MJ’s creditors just smiling happy.
03rd July 2009
TMZ – A $25,000, solid bronze, 14-karat gold plated, custom casket has been ordered for Michael Jackson.
The casket ordered last night from Batesville Casket Company — is called a Promethean and will feature a flame blue velvet interior and a hand-polished, mirror finish.
This is the same casket used to bury James Brown… and is extremely rare.
Chris Brown Cops a Plea
22nd June 2009
Gawker – Brown will plead guilty to a felony and receive six months in jail or community labor — such as graffiti removal or trash pickup — and five years’ formal probation. He will also undergo domestic violence counseling.
thisis50.com – 50 Cent and Bette Midler first got to know each other when they collaborated developing a public garden in 50 Cent’s old hood Jamaica Queens. Now according to EOnline there might be a duet in the works.
25 Random Things!
21st May 2009
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