Music Industry News

Ringtone Sales Fizzling

Source: Just Roots PR
August 16, 2009

Broadcast Music Inc. (BMI), an organization that collects royalties for song writers and publishers, is forecasting that overall ringtone sales in the US will fall 7 percent in 2008 to approximately $510 million.

“The ringtone market continues to decline as the novelty phase wears off,” said Richard Conlon, BMI’s vice president of new media and development.

Major music companies have been counting on sales of digital products – ringtones included – to offset sinking CD sales.

Album sales, including downloadable ...

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Lesh, Weir, Russo, Lane, Chimenti: New Group "Furthur" for Sept.

Source: JamBase
August 15, 2009

Phil Lesh, Bob Weir, Joe Russo, Jay Lane, Jeff Chimenti and John Kadlecik Form New Band “Furthur" / Set Dates For September

Phil Lesh The Dead's Phil Lesh and Bob Weir have formed a new band with drummer Joe Russo (Benevento/Russo Duo), guitarist John Kadlecik (Dark Star Orchestra), as well as Weir's RatDog bandmates Jeff Chimenti (keys) and Jay Lane (drums). The new band has taken the name Furthur.

As of now the band only has three dates ...

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Firefly Club, Ann Arbor's Jazz Beacon, Closed by the State

Source: Michael Ricci
August 15, 2009

Ann Arbor’s Firefly Club, a beacon for live jazz for nearly a decade and regarded by aficionados as metro Detroit’s finest all-around jazz club, has been closed and its property seized by the Michigan Department of Treasury due to a delinquent sales tax bill. Club owner Susan Chastain said the dispute boils down to overdue sales tax payments totaling just $1,000 for the months of June and July, though the club ultimately still owes the state $120,000 in back taxes, ...

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For Sale: Eternity with Marilyn Monroe

Source: Michael Ricci
August 15, 2009

Elsie Poncher wants to sell the crypt, now occupied by her husband, above the actress to help pay off her Beverly Hills mortgage. Her starting price on EBay: $500,000. The crypt of her husband, Richard, which is directly above that of Marilyn Monroe.

Richard Poncher's eternal sleep will soon be disrupted.

The onetime Beverly Hills resident, who died 23 years ago at the age of 81, will be moving out of the crypt above Marilyn Monroe's resting spot at the ...

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You're Bob Dylan? Police Need to See Some ID

Source: All About Jazz
August 15, 2009

Rock legend Bob Dylan was treated like a complete unknown by police in a New Jersey shore community when a resident called to report someone wandering around the neighborhood.

Dylan was in Long Branch, about a two-hour drive south of New York City, on July 23 as part of a tour with Willie Nelson and John Mellencamp that was to play at a baseball stadium in nearby Lakewood.

A 24-year-old police officer apparently was unaware of who Dylan is and ...

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Don't Let Something as Wonderful as Jazz Slip Away

Source: Michael Ricci
August 15, 2009

Regarding Terry Teachout's “Can Jazz Be Saved?The audience for America's great art form is withering away" (Leisure & Arts, Aug. 8): Miles Davis once said that “jazz is folk music"a music enjoyed by folks for entertainment, inspiration and even sometimes to provoke thought. It was Miles's music and overall persona that people found entertaining. Dizzy Gillespie and Charlie Parker were once performing together in a ballroom in Harlem and Diz was overheard telling Bird that “We better be careful 'cause ...

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Arrest Warrant Issued for Singer Bobby Brown

Source: All About Jazz
August 14, 2009

An arrest warrant has been issued for Bobby Brown after he failed to appear in a Massachusetts court on a contempt complaint.

Norfolk Judge Christina Harms ordered Brown arrested the next time the singer is in Massachusetts. He failed to appear at a June 29 hearing.

Register of Probate Patrick McDermott said Friday that by June, Brown had fallen $45,000 behind in child support payments for the two teenage children he had with former girlfriend Kim Ward.

The 40-year-old Brown ...

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Does Holywood Share the Same Problems as the Record Industry?

Source: HypeBot
August 13, 2009

Kyle Bylin, Associate Editor

In his article, Paul Suarez of PC World rightly observes that, “Hollywood has a problem. It's red, boxy, lets you rent DVDs for $1 a night, and is severely threatening movie studios from making money. The threat is Redbox self-serve DVD rental kiosks outside McDonalds and in grocery stores."

Further detailing how major motion picture company's like 20th Century Fox have, “ordered its wholesalers not to sell DVD discs to Redbox until 30 ...

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