Music News Blog

Britney Spears has launched an attack on US tabloid magazines who, she claims, have printed lies and untruths about her personal life.

The broadside was issued on the singer's website and addressed in the form of an open letter to the Us Weekly, Star and other "desperate magazines".

Apparently, there's a limit on how much Master P can get away with.

The rapper and his brother, Silkk the Shocker, were formally charged Monday with carrying unregistered loaded guns after police stopped their car near the University of California, Los Angeles in January.

P (born Percy Miller) and Silkk (real name: Vyshonn Miller) were arrested on Jan. 27 after cops discovered two loaded guns hidden underneath the seats of P's leased Chrysler 300M after a routine traffic stop.

For its first issue, the bi-monthly mag will distribute 75,000 copies to newsstands in California, New Jersey, New York, Miami and Chicago. The brainchild of founders Charlie Nunez, 21, and Ariel Gonzalez, 22, the publication will cater to Latinos and center around fashion, urban music and graffiti. Bridgez was initially intended to target African American males, but Nunez and Gonzalez decided to give it a Latin twist after a test launch late last year.

Israeli hip-hop group Hadag Nachash is set to take the United States by storm.

The seven-member band that had recently gained fame among Jewish-American students after playing at a number of colleges last year, is scheduled to embark on a new U.S. tour in April, starting with the University of Pennsylvania.

It will then hit up the Knitting Factory nightclub and Columbia University in New York, as well as a venue in Los Angeles. They will play at the House of Blues in Chicago on April 17.

On the eve of the release of his solo album, “Gutta Mixx,” on Dollars-N-Cents/Adex/Lightyear/WEA, Bushwick Bill of The Geto Boys is pleased to announce that he will be going on a major concert tour with the Grammy-winning Bone-Thugs-N-Harmony.

The first three confirmed dates and venues on the tour will be as follows: On May 5, Robert Stadium in Evansville, IN, on May 6, the Delta Plex in Grand Rapids, MI, and on May 7, the U.S. Cellular Arena in Milwaukee, WI. At press time, more dates are being added, which will be announced at a later date.

More than two decades have passed since MTV ushered in a new era of glitz, hype and art by kicking off with that Buggles song, a tune that foretold the murder of music as we knew it at the hands of the new video god.

If nothing else, the song flatlined the Buggles into a one-hit wonder. But that hardly stopped MTV from going on to shift the entire pop landscape.

Consider even a smattering of the network’s impact:
On the plus side, MTV encouraged videos to evolve into a genuine art form, at least during the network’s most musical years.

MICHAEL JACKSON has claimed his recent legal troubles are the result of a conspiracy against him.

Speaking on an internet radio show hosted by the Rev Jesse Jackson over the weekend (March 26), the singer said he was the latest in the line of “black luminaries” to have been unfairly accused of crimes, although he would not discuss details further citing a strict gagging order imposed by his current court case.

Only one year after her reported stay in a drug rehabilitation clinic, pop diva Whitney Houston has checked herself back into rehab.

Although it was never made clear where Houston, 41, sought treatment or when she first entered the program, it has been confirmed by her publicist that she did enter a rehab facility.

Now that her just-released debut album has hit No. 1, maybe Miranda Lambert will think about upgrading her means of transportation.

"When my manager called with the news, I was driving home from the gym, and I had to tell him to hang on because my truck had just died," Lambert said. "I had to pull over to the side of the road. I'd like to say it was just because of the shock I was feeling, but my truck really wouldn't start. It's an old beat-up Ford, and it's always doing that, but it picked the perfect moment."

Prosecutors in Michael Jackson's Santa Maria, Calif., trial could finish presenting evidence about accusations that the singer molested a 15-year-old as early as this week, though they are waiting to see if evidence of alleged prior offenses also can be included.

District Attorney Tom Sneddon said in a hearing last week that prosecutors may finish presenting evidence about the current molestation claims by Friday (March 25).

Ringtones Get Anti-Competitive in Japan

With ringtones big business in Japan, several big labels are now being ordered to stop their anti-competitive licensing practices. A recent probe by Japanese Fair Trade Commission reported that the top five Japanese labels are monopolizing the distribution of rights for master ringtones, the high-end tones that require master recording licenses. The FTC took special interest in a joint venture known as Label Mobile, which functions as a mobile content provider to various carriers. Label Mobile has been commanding a very high percentage of the ringtone market, while other providers have mostly been locked out of the licensing discussions. The labels in question include Sony Music Entertainment, Avex, Toshiba-EMI, Universal Music K.K. and Victor Entertainment.

Now, those labels have been ordered to stop their collusive practices. The Japanese FTC recently raided various label offices in an attempt to uncover evidence of wrongdoing, with more enforcement action expected. Already, the Japanese master ringtone market is estimated to be worth $113 million annually, with the high-end tones rivaling the entire US ringtone market. That has more wanting a piece of the pie, with over-the-air, full song downloads potentially receiving additional scrutiny.

Gorillaz have confirmed final details of their comeback single ‘Feel Good Inc'.

The track is the first to be lifted from the animated group’s second album ’Demon Days’, and will be released on May 9. It features a guest rap from De La Soul.

’Feel Good Inc.’ will be released on CD, DVD and 7” picture disc. Additional tracks across the formats include ‘Spitting Out The Demons’, ‘68 State’ and ‘Bill Murray’, which features a guest spot from The Bees .

The video for the single has been directed by longtime collaborators Jamie Hewlett and Pete Candeland.

Speaking recently about ’Demon Days’, drummer Russell Hobbs told NME.COM: “We've noticed that some people have picked up on 'Reject False Icons' as being the new Gorillaz album title. This was actually more like the motto we used while we were working on the tracks to keep us fresh.”

He added: “The album title now is 'Demon Days'. We've pretty well finished. Noodle and Danger Mouse are just trimming the last bits of the back and then this cut should be razor sharp. I guess we're looking at a May date for this thing to drop.”

The title has, according to guitarist Noodle, a number of different meanings. She said: “Its’ interpretation is completed by the instinct of the listener. In one sense the Demon is a disease and the disease is an absence of thought, a state where people make action without consideration. This is the invisible evil, with a million eyes. This is the return of the ogre, the rise of the beats. Its time is now.”

“The moment we live in has agitated this slumbering giant, the dormant illness,” she explained. “These are the Demon Days, and the land it stalks is the on cusp of a thick fog. In another sense it is time to become the Demon. A time for an action, made with less contemplation, but from a disciplined and considered instinct. Strike with perfection and effect…These are Demon days we exist in. We strike to capture the moment. And hope to contain it, in a balance.”

THE PRODIGY have announced a warm-up date for their appearances at T IN THE PARK and OXEGEN.

The dance veterans, who play in Ireland on July 9 and at the Scottish festival on July 10, will appear at the London Carling Academy Brixton on July 7.

For the last six months, Oliver Wang, a thirty-two-year-old San Francisco DJ and freelance writer, has been transferring soul and hip-hop classics from vinyl to MP3 and posting them on the Internet. "I have 7,000 albums," he says. "I figured I might as well digitize some of them." With the record industry increasingly turning to the courts to stop illegal file-sharing, Wang, who posts the MP3s without permission, would seem to be setting himself up for a lawsuit. But record labels are taking a hands-off approach to his MP3 blog, Soul Sides, and dozens of others like it. And some labels, particularly indies, have started sending bloggers promotional CDs in the hopes that their music will be posted on the sites.
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