Morning Fix: Broadcasters Get Earful at House Hearing; Rihanna Rules Charts; Dre Tops Forbes; iTunes 11 Today?
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BROADCASTERS GET AN EARFUL AT INTERNET RADIO FAIRNESS HEARING: In a rather lively Congressional hearing that was supposed to be about Internet radio royalties, lawmakers and speakers instead spent a good portion of their time taking aim at the National Broadcasters Association for not having to pay performance royalties to artists — although the Internet-radio companies supposedly at the center of the debate took plenty of lumps as well. |
RIHANNA SCORES DOUBLE DOMINATION ATOP BILLBOARD 200, HOT 100: As Rihanna soaks in the success of ” Unapologetic,” which, as previously reported, becomes her first Billboard 200 No. 1 album with 238,000 copies sold, according to Nielsen SoundScan, she maintains her No. 1 ranking on the Billboard Hot 100 for a second week with the set’s lead single, “Diamonds.” Rihanna is just the second artist this year to lead both of the album and song rankings simultaneously since Adele doubled up atop the tallies in February. |
EMI PUBLISHING’S ROSETTA CATALOG DOWN TO FOUR BIDDERS: According to sources, those still in contention to buy a portfolio of EMI Publishing songs — dubbed the Rosetta catalog, which contains Virgin Music Publishing and Famous Music U.K. songwriters — are BMG Rights Management, France’s Because Music, and a joint bid from the Kobalt Music Group and G2 Investment Group. Warner Music Group is expected to turn in its second round bid by the end of the week. |
SONGWRITER ORGS PEN LETTER TO CONGRESS OPPOSING INTERNET RADIO FAIRNESS ACT: In conjunction with the House Intellectual Property Subcommittee hearing on music licensing reform held Wednesday, performance right org’s ASCAP, BMI, SESAC and the Nashville Songwriters Association International collectively wrote a letter to Congress opposing the Internet Radio Fairness Act. |
VEVO: WE’VE PAID ARTISTS $200 MILLION SINCE 2009: Vevo announced at the Business Inside: Ignition Conference in New York City that the company has paid $200 million in revenue back to the music industry since being founded in 2009, a figure it touted as higher than any other music-video service… |
WILL APPLE’S ITUNES 11 LAUNCH TODAY? After a month-long delay, the next generation of Apple’s popular iTunes music software could launch as early as today, the Wall Street Journal reported in a profile of Apple Senior Vice President Eddy Cue. Originally slated for release in October, the program was delayed, a company spokesman said earlier this year, because Apple “wanted to take a little extra time to get it right.”
CNET
DR. DRE TOPS FORBES’ WORLD’S HIGHEST-PAID MUSICIANS OF 2012 LIST: Hip-hop superproducer Dr. Dre leads the pack this year with $110 million, thanks largely to his Beats headphone line. He collected $100 million pretax when handset maker HTC paid $300 million for a 51% stake in the company last year. Pink Floyd rocker Roger Waters ranks second with $88 million, nearly all of it coming from his The Wall Live tour. Fellow Brit Elton John claims the third spot with $80 million, culled from over 100 shows .
Forbes
GOTYE’S ‘SOMEBODY’ IS SPOTIFY’S SONG OF THE YEAR: Gotye’s smash hit ” Somebody I Used to Know” is Spotify’s top song of the year. The digital music service said Wednesday that the multiplatinum pop song is the most streamed track globally this year.Carly Rae Jepsen’s “Call Me Maybe” and “We Are Young” by fun. are second and third, respectively. “Somebody I Used to Know” was also most streamed in the United States and most shared globally, on platforms like Twitter and Facebook. David Guetta’s “Nothing But the Beat” was the most streamed album globally.
Associated Press
‘SIX-STRIKES’ ANTI-PIRACY CAMPAIGN POSTPONED UNTIL 2013 DUE TO HURRICANE SANDY: The “six strikes” copyright enforcement plan that aims to curb illegal downloads and peer-to-peer file-sharing has been postponed until 2013. Jill Lesser, The executive director of the Center for Copyright Information, which is in charge of the copyright warning system wrote in a blog post that, “Due to unexpected factors largely stemming from Hurricane Sandy which have seriously affected our final testing schedules, CCI anticipates that the participating ISPs will begin sending alerts under the Copyright Alert System in the early part of 2013, rather than by the end of the year.”
CNET
CAN BROOKLYN BOWL BE EXPORTED TO LAS VEGAS? Brooklyn Bowl co-founders Peter Shapiro and Charley Ryan are planning to bring their NYC venue to Las Vegas while staying true to their independent-minded music bookings, Blue Ribbon food and, of course, bowling. But can it possibly translate in Sin City’s new $550 million entertainment complex?
Billboard.biz
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