Music Industry

Google is taking its business to a smaller screen with the development of a search tool to help cellphone users find and purchase content. Sources tell the Wall Street Journal the company hopes to tap into the small but lucrative world of mobile media, expanding beyond simple Web searches to broker sales of music, ringtones, and games. More »

A young Muslim juror may face jail time for contempt of court after allegedly listening to her MP3 player beneath her hijab during a murder trial in Britain. The judge thought he heard "tinny music" in the courtroom, but chalked it up to his own imagination, reports the Times. More »

It's time AM and FM radio broadcasters started paying for the music they play, a group of music industry types has decided. They're lobbying Congress to amend the federal law that has exempted terrestrial radio from paying artists' royalties for nearly a century, Business Week reports.   More »

Opera singer Luciano Pavarotti is recording songs for what could be his last album as the 71-year-old tenor battles pancreatic cancer. His elder daughter reportedly told a magazine that he "knows he will die soon," but later insisted her words had been twisted. Doctors discovered the cancer last summer during a break in the singer's farewell tour. More »

iTunes and the Universal Music group are still at the bargaining table, and reports that the online retainer and the megalabel have changed the terms of their agreement are "just not true," Apple says. The tech giant contradicted a report in yesterday's New York Times, saying through a spokesman that it's "still negotiating with Universal." More »

In the latest volley in the escalating war between the music industry and Apple's iTunes, Universal Music Group will not renew its contract with the online music seller, the New York Times reports. The digital retailer will still feature artists signed by Universal, the largest music company in the world, but the label can pull out at any time. More »

After nearly seven decades, three locations, and an unforgettable hit song, the Copacabana nightclub closed its doors early this morning to make way for the extension of a subway line. In its latest incarnation, the onetime hangout of the Rat Pack and the Mickey Mantle-led New York Yankees bowed out to a soundtrack of reggaeton, not Barry Manilow's 1978 single. More »

The iPhone became available Friday, and the grousing started minutes later. Customers around the country reported long delays in activating service, and when they weren't able to use their new gadgets to call their friends to complain, they took their frustrations to the Internet, the Mercury News reports. "I have the latest and greatest in paperweights," one user wrote. More »

James Blunt, You're Beautiful : The smarmy, cloying falsetto that made 2005 suck Axel F, Crazy Frog : A German pastiche of club remixes that was less than the sum of its parts Hanson, Mmm Bop : The least annoying #1 hit by androgynous blonde teenagers Mr Blobby, Mr Blobby : Do you really need more than the title? The Tweets, Birdie Song : Classic 80s accordion camp formerly voted #1 More »

And the roughest toughest country singer is... Hank Williams Johnny Cash Willie Nelson Merle Haggard Loretta Lynn More »

Top music labels and wireless providers have launched a new service across the Atlantic, in a bid to undercut the momentously hyped iPhone, Apple's upcoming phone-cum-mp3. MusicStation will be available in Europe and Asia imminently, and lets users tap into a catalog of over a million songs from their cell phones for a weekly charge of $5. More »

Peggy Lee's "Is That All There Is?" may have replaced A3's "Woke Up This Morning" as the song “Sopranos” fans most associate with the show, but Salon TV critic Heather Havrilesky thinks she gets creator David Chase's message. He "played us like a grand piano," she writes, and "got his karmic revenge on us for caring too much." More »

Aging counter-culture arbiter Rolling Stone is discovering it's not easy being green. The Times reports the magazine will soon start printing its wry critique of music and politics on "carbon neutral paper," a unique stock which adds no CO2 emissions to the atmosphere. But none of it is recycled, upsetting one of environmentalists' most sacred hosannas. More »

Apple's announcement that iTunes would make DRM-free music available omitted a significant detail: The personal information embedded in regular tracks is also in the non-privacy-protected tunes. That raises privacy concerns, the AP reports, including the possibility that the unencrypted information might make it easier for music companies to crack down on illegal online sharing. More »

Mike Tyson got a taste of Bollywood—in Vegas, of course—and liked it enough to want more. After dancing in a music video for "Fool n Final," directed by Ahmed Khan, Tyson told the Times of India he'd like to act in a Bollywood movie because of the  "happy and energetic" vibe. More »

The wait will be over for millions of tech groupies on June 29—when the iPhone, the highly anticipated device that merges web browsing, music playing, and telephoning, will hit Apple and AT&T stores worldwide. But the hype over what some call "the God machine" has already reached hysterical proportions, according to the Times . More »

Amazon is going where Apple tried (and failed) to: a DRM-free online music store. Set to launch this year, Amazon’s venture won't sell tracks protected by digital rights management, the anti-copying technology that music labels have required Apple’s iTunes to use. To stay DRM-free, Amazon will partner with EMI Music, home to Coldplay and Norah Jones, and 12,000 independent labels. More »

A song on Rush Limbaugh's radio show that derides Barack Obama is sparking controversy—but not with Obama. In perhaps the most devastating response a blowhard shock jock can provoke, the senator says he hasn't heard the song. Limbaugh has been playing "Barack the Magic Negro" (sung to the tune of "Puff the Magic Dragon") since March. More »

Companies that aren't tuning in to the business implications of sound are missing a beat, the Economist writes. And there are a lot of them. Sound affects everything from office productivity (noisy open-floor plans diminish it) to how much customers buy (slow music makes people linger longer). More »

Add Australia to the list of countries that don't want Snoop Dogg making a mess in their yards. Just weeks after the U.K. turned away the recording artist and actor, Oz canceled his visa. "He doesn't seem the sort of bloke we want in this country," Immigration Minister Kevin Andrews told a Sydney radio station. More »