Morning Fix: BET Brawl Video; Artists Protest Parlophone Sale; Big Album Debuts; Jay-Z Opens Barclays
Head HERE to subscribe to Billboard’s free music-business newsletters
More from Billboard
BET HIP-HOP AWARDS MARRED BY SCUFFLE: Atlanta police officers broke up an altercation Saturday evening between groups at the seventh annual BET Hip-Hop Awards though no arrests were made (video below). Initial reports said the conflict was between Rick Ross and Young Jeezy, two rappers who had worked together until a rift in 2010. Subsequent reports now claim the fight also involved members of Ross’ Maybach Music posse and 50 Cent’s G-Unit Crew. Rick Ross & Young Jeezy — The BET Awards Brawl Footage – Watch More Celebrity Videos or Subscribe |
GREEN DAY, NO DOUBT, LUPE FIASCO, DEADMAU5 HEADED FOR BIG ALBUM DEBUTS Green Day, No Doubt, Lupe Fiasco and Deadmau5 are all on course for top 10 arrivals on this week’s Billboard 200. Green Day’s latest, ?Uno!, may move some 150,000 — good enough for a No. 2 entry, according to industry forecasters. And No Doubt’s long-awaited new studio album Push & Shove may bow in the No. 3 slot with 125,000. None, however, will likely match the projected retail might of Mumford & Sons’s Babel, which is projected to sell a whopping 600K. |
BLUR LEAD PROTEST AGAINST UMG’S PARLOPHONE SALE: Blur are leading a revolt against the sell-off of Parlophone, part of the EMI group which Universal Music has been ordered to shed as part of its $1.9 billion takeover of EMI. The artists say they object to being treated as pawns in a corporate takeover. Blur have joined forces with their label-mates to collectively lobby potential bidders for the company, calling on them to place the interests of artists first. According to the report, artists could withhold future releases in protest.
The Independent
IS LYOR WORKING AT, WITH TOMS CAPITAL?: Hits Daily Double is claiming that former WMG CEO Lyor Cohen was spotted moving into offices in the 14th St headquarters of private equity firm TOMS Capital LLC, headed by mega-mogul Forbes 400 Israeli businessman and hedge fund manager Noam Gottesman. A friend of Lyor’s, Gottesman has a personal wealth estimated at $1.6 billion. Cohen has been reported to be planning launch a “talent management” company that helps coordinate artists’ careers with their record labels.
Hits Daily Double
JAY-Z WOWS A SOLD OUT BARCLAYS CENTER ON OPENING NIGHT: Jay-Z doesn’t just put on shows — he stages events. After invading Philadelphia last month for his first annual “Made in America” festival, Hov returned to his native borough to christen Brooklyn’s Barclays Center for the first of eight shows in a sold-out run. Here the likes of Mario Batali, Magic Johnson and Dave Chappelle rubbed shoulders with Pepsi CMO Frank Cooper, Irv Gotti and Hot 97’s Mister Cee.
Billboard.biz
PRS LICENSES AMAZON CLOUD PLAYER: PRS for Music, a UK copyright collection society has signed a licensing agreement for Amazon’s new server-based music service Cloud Player. The Amazon Cloud Player lets users ‘scan and match’ their music collection and access it anywhere simultaneously on any device they own including Kindle Fire, Android phones and tablets, iPhones, iPod Touches, Macs and PCs.
Music Week
RUSSIAN COURT ADJOURNS PUSSY RIOT APPEAL HEARING UNTIL OCT. 10: A Russian court on Monday adjourned an appeal hearing for three members of the Pussy Riot punk band against their conviction for a protest against President Vladimir Putin in a church after one of the trio sacked her lawyers. About a hundred people — Pussy Riot supporters in colorful T-shirts as well as mainly elderly Russian Orthodox Christians — filled corridors of the Moscow court and others stood outside.
Reuters
KANYE WEST SUED OVER SONG SAMPLING: TufAmerica says two tracks on West’s 2010 disc My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy include a bit from of “Hook and Sling, Part 1” by New Orleans singer-pianist Eddie Bo. TufAmerica says it bought the rights to the 1969 single more than 15 years ago. The sample appears in West’s “Who Will Survive in America?” and “Lost in the World.”
Billboard.biz
TV ON THE RADIO’S DAVE SITEK LAUNCHES LABEL WITH TRENT REZNOR REMIX: TV on the Radio’s Dave Sitek is launching his own record label today. It’s called Federal Prism, and the first release features a remix from a major label veteran Trent Reznor. Reznor, along with his longtime collaborator Atticus Ross and Nine Inch Nails bandmate Allesandro Cortini, remixed Telepathe’s “Destroyer.”
Pitchfork
Best of Billboard