Ja Rule Finally Has His Say
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Wednesday, October 31, 2007
Monday, October 22, 2007
Jay-Z Plots Brief 'Gangster' Tour
Jay-Z is slated to support his upcoming Def Jam album, "American Gangster," with a short tour next month. The rapper/label honcho will open the five-date run on street date (Nov. 6) at Los Angeles' House of Blues.
During the shows, Jay-Z will only perform material from the new album, which is inspired by but not directly affiliated with the upcoming film "American Gangster."
Jay-Z has made sporadic live appearances in the past few years, most recently during the Screamfest tour's New York stop. Last year, he held court at New York's Radio City Music Hall to celebrate the 10-year-anniversary of his debut, "Reasonable Doubt."
Here are Jay-Z's tour dates:
Nov. 6: Los Angeles (House of Blues)
Nov. 7: Chicago (House of Blues)
Nov. 9: Baltimore (Ram's Head)
Nov. 11: New York (Hammerstein Ballroom)
Nov. 12: Philadelphia (Fillmore
Tuesday, October 16, 2007
Spears Turns Herself In To L.A. Police
Britney Spears reported to a Los Angeles police station last night (Oct. 15) to face charges of hit and run and driving without a valid license, police said.
Officer Mike Lopez said Spears turned herself in around 9 p.m. and left about 45 minutes later. Spears was fingerprinted and photographed, he said. "She was fine, cooperative," Lopez said. "She did her business and came out."
Spears, 25, was wearing large designer sunglasses and a black turtleneck dress and jacket. As she left the station, she told KCAL-TV that all went smoothly.
"They were nice," she said of police. She told the station she was wearing the sunglasses because she had pinkeye.
The charges stem from an Aug. 6 wreck during which paparazzi filmed Spears steering her car into another vehicle as she tried to turn into a spot in a Studio City parking lot. The video showed her walking away after assessing the damage to her own car.
The owner of the other car, Kim Robard-Rifkin, filed a police report three days later. Spears had been ordered to report for booking ahead of an Oct. 25 court appearance.
Can you say Crazy!
Officer Mike Lopez said Spears turned herself in around 9 p.m. and left about 45 minutes later. Spears was fingerprinted and photographed, he said. "She was fine, cooperative," Lopez said. "She did her business and came out."
Spears, 25, was wearing large designer sunglasses and a black turtleneck dress and jacket. As she left the station, she told KCAL-TV that all went smoothly.
"They were nice," she said of police. She told the station she was wearing the sunglasses because she had pinkeye.
The charges stem from an Aug. 6 wreck during which paparazzi filmed Spears steering her car into another vehicle as she tried to turn into a spot in a Studio City parking lot. The video showed her walking away after assessing the damage to her own car.
The owner of the other car, Kim Robard-Rifkin, filed a police report three days later. Spears had been ordered to report for booking ahead of an Oct. 25 court appearance.
Can you say Crazy!
Update: Madonna Confirms Deal With Live Nation
Live Nation president/CEO Michael Rapino confirmed today (Oct. 16) that Madonna has entered into an unprecedented global partnership with the company. She will become the founding artist in LN's new Artist Nation division, led by Rolling Stones tour producer Michael Cohl.
"The idea that an iconic artist like Madonna would pick a promoter to be a long-term partner with truly validates our business model," Rapino tells Billboard.com.
"We put a lot of time and effort into what kind of deals we’re going to do [and] how we’re going to do them, with certainty that we can execute and maximize on those deals," adds LN global music chairman Arthur Fogel. "We are 100% committed, confident and ecstatic about this deal and about our ability to deliver on the economic model for both her and us as partners."
The 10-year deal encompasses all of Madonna's future music and music-related businesses, including the exploitation of the Madonna brand, new studio albums, touring, merchandising, fan clubs/Web sites, DVDs, music-related television and film projects and associated sponsorship agreements. This model will address all of Madonna's music ventures as a total entity for the first time in her career.
"The real story here is while everyone's talking 360 [degree deals], we were quietly building the services to do it right," Rapino says. "We have spent a considerable amount of resources building this Artist Nation division first and then going after artists second. Madonna would not have done a 360 deal with us just because of our touring capability. We had to prove to her and others that we have been working on and built a very good execution capacity at Artist Nation."
The Madonna deal (which has been valued in published reports as worth $120 milion) has not been without its detractors, but Rapino says Wall Street still needs to be educated on new music business models, particularly the global scale of a deal like this.
"We have been consistent for two years talking about taking our global concert business of 10,000 shows and 1,000 artists [annually] and extending them to the fan through our online ticketing, and [forming] longer and deeper relationships with the artist," says Rapino.
A key broker in the deal was Fogel, producer of Madonna's last three worldwide tours. Asked what contractual obligations Madonna might have to tour and record, Fogel says, "We can't get into that other than to say the history of Madonna is very clear. She is incredibly hard working, determined, competitive and creative, and her entire career has been consistently about delivering on all levels, whether it's live or on her records. That's who she is and that's who she will be going forward."
Meanwhile, Cohl moves forward as chairman/CEO of Artist Nation, a multi-faceted one-stop shop overseeing what Cohl calls "unified rights." "Between CPI and Live Nation at various stages, we've been developing the unified rights model for almost 20 years," he says, adding that while much has changed, "It's still about artists, it's still about music, it's about what they write, it's their babies, their songs and how they perform them. And we're going to do a better job, we believe, of connecting them to a broader audience."
"The idea that an iconic artist like Madonna would pick a promoter to be a long-term partner with truly validates our business model," Rapino tells Billboard.com.
"We put a lot of time and effort into what kind of deals we’re going to do [and] how we’re going to do them, with certainty that we can execute and maximize on those deals," adds LN global music chairman Arthur Fogel. "We are 100% committed, confident and ecstatic about this deal and about our ability to deliver on the economic model for both her and us as partners."
The 10-year deal encompasses all of Madonna's future music and music-related businesses, including the exploitation of the Madonna brand, new studio albums, touring, merchandising, fan clubs/Web sites, DVDs, music-related television and film projects and associated sponsorship agreements. This model will address all of Madonna's music ventures as a total entity for the first time in her career.
"The real story here is while everyone's talking 360 [degree deals], we were quietly building the services to do it right," Rapino says. "We have spent a considerable amount of resources building this Artist Nation division first and then going after artists second. Madonna would not have done a 360 deal with us just because of our touring capability. We had to prove to her and others that we have been working on and built a very good execution capacity at Artist Nation."
The Madonna deal (which has been valued in published reports as worth $120 milion) has not been without its detractors, but Rapino says Wall Street still needs to be educated on new music business models, particularly the global scale of a deal like this.
"We have been consistent for two years talking about taking our global concert business of 10,000 shows and 1,000 artists [annually] and extending them to the fan through our online ticketing, and [forming] longer and deeper relationships with the artist," says Rapino.
A key broker in the deal was Fogel, producer of Madonna's last three worldwide tours. Asked what contractual obligations Madonna might have to tour and record, Fogel says, "We can't get into that other than to say the history of Madonna is very clear. She is incredibly hard working, determined, competitive and creative, and her entire career has been consistently about delivering on all levels, whether it's live or on her records. That's who she is and that's who she will be going forward."
Meanwhile, Cohl moves forward as chairman/CEO of Artist Nation, a multi-faceted one-stop shop overseeing what Cohl calls "unified rights." "Between CPI and Live Nation at various stages, we've been developing the unified rights model for almost 20 years," he says, adding that while much has changed, "It's still about artists, it's still about music, it's about what they write, it's their babies, their songs and how they perform them. And we're going to do a better job, we believe, of connecting them to a broader audience."
Thursday, October 4, 2007
Soulja Boy Still Cranking Atop Billboard Hot 100
Soulja Boy begins his second straight and fourth non-consecutive week atop the Billboard Hot 100 with "Crank That (Soulja Boy)," but he's facing stiff competition from a former pop princess. As reported yesterday, Britney Spears rockets 68-3 on the chart with "Gimme More" after selling 179,000 downloads, her first top 10 hit since "Toxic" in March 2004.
Kanye West's "Stronger" holds at No. 2 on the Hot 100, while Timbaland's "The Way I Are" featuring Keri Hilson slides 3-4. Also down one spot is Fergie's "Big Girls Don't Cry" at No. 5. At No. 6, Timbaland earns his third top 10 from his album "Shock Value" with "Apologize" featuring OneRepublic, which jumps 16 spots.
J. Holiday's "Bed" falls 5-7, while Feist's "1, 2, 3, 4" rockets 28-8 thanks to continued exposure in an iPod Nano TV spot. The track sold 128,000 downloads this week, a 75% increase over the previous frame. Keyshia Cole's "Let It Go" featuring Missy Elliott and Lil' Kim falls 7-9 and Colbie Caillat's "Bubbly" holds at No. 10 to round out the top tier.
Kanye West's "Good Life" featuring T-Pain falls 13-18 thanks to declining digital sales but makes him the first lead artist since Nelly in July 2002 to take successive greatest airplay gainer honors with two different songs. "Stronger" claimed the award last week.
The Hot 100's top debut comes from Jordin Sparks' "Tattoo" at No. 58. It's the first single from the "American Idol" champ's self-titled debut, due Nov. 20. Self-released artist Ingrid Michaelson, who rose to fame after one of her songs appeared on "Grey's Anatomy" in May, scores her first Hot 100 ink with "The Way I Am" at No. 80.
. Holiday's "Bed" is still holding strong atop Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs after four weeks. Mary J. Blige's "Just Fine" is the top debut there at No. 50; her new Geffen album, "Growing Pains," arrives Nov. 27.
On Hot Country Songs, Brad Paisley extends his No. 1 streak to five as "Online" climbs 2-1. It's the longest such streak since Toby Keith scored six chart-toppers in a row between September 2001 and December 2002.
Foo Fighters' "The Pretender" remain a juggernaut on Billboard's rock charts, beginning a seventh week at No. 1 on Modern Rock and a second on Mainstream Rock.
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