Ever since 1997, Cash Money Records has been distributed by Universal Records. This has been through the good times and the bad times. In 2006, they extended their deal for three more years. Those three years ended up being Lil Wayne creating Young Money Entertainment and his two album, Tha Carter III and We Are Young Money. However, recently, there has been a small dispute between Universal and Lil Wayne.

Towards the end of 2008, Lil Wayne announced that he was going to release a rock album called Rebirth. The album was pushed back until 2009 and the album has been steadily pushed back until it is currently set for release in 2010. The issue is that Universal Records does not want to risk Lil Wayne losing his rap music base in an attempt to become a universal artist. Quietly, the rapper has been going back and forth with the label.

Due to his 2007 gun charge, Lil Wayne had to appear in court in New York City. This also happens to be the home of the headquarters of Warner Music Group. The company is lagging behind in hip hop music. The only prominent hip hop label under the music group is T.I. and his label, Grand Hustle. It appears that everyone else has left.

For the past few years, Cash Money Records has become a distributing label. There are not too many artists signed directly to the label. Most of the popular music from the label is coming from the sub-label, Young Money. Aside from Young Money, the label also distributes releases from the Miami-based Dunk Ryders Records, Freeway’s Free Money label and they are in talks to begin distributing releases from B.G.’s Chopper City Records.

The size of Cash Money Records has caused the need for reorganization within the Universal Music Group. It appears that Cash Money needs to be taken from under Universal Motown to become its own group. However, with the money that Cash Money and the labels under it are bringing in, there would be no chance of Universal Motown allowing Universal Music to take the label from under them.

However, a deal can always be worked out that would allow Cash Money to move on elsewhere. If the label were off to itself, only under the big company that would mean that Birdman would be the chairman of a label group and making just as much money as Jay-Z did when he was over the Def Jam Group. With the way that Warner Music has been struggling, they would allow Lil Wayne to release Rebirth and they would probably allow Cash Money to be its own entity.

Lil Wayne and Birdman are rumored to be talking with Warner Music Group chairman, Lyor Cohen about possibly moving Cash Money away from Universal Motown to become its own label group under Warner Music Group.

Muse on Hulu

Not too long ago, Hulu dipped its toes into the music video biz with a limited deal to bring EMI’s Norah Jones on board to promote her new album. Well, now it seems the company will be pushing further into those murky waters by striking a new relationship with Warner Music Group to bring a whole bunch of videos to the premium video site.

For an unconnected old fogie like me, the list of Warner Music artists that will appear on Hulu is a bit of a mixed bag. The first to appear on the video site is British alt-rock group Muse (whose vast success I’ve somehow managed to ignore); Warner will soon follow that up with a page for Jason Mraz (who I think is only slightly more talented than this kid) and one for Paramore (who I actually kind of enjoy). Artist sites on Hulu will reportedly have a mix of music video and live content, including exclusive concert footage, interviews and the like to appease the hoarding masses that watch that sort of thing.

But does this signify that Hulu is starting to think of itself as a possible competitor to Vevo, the joint venture between Universal Music Group, Sony Music and YouTube (s GOOG) that launched earlier this month? Probably not. After all, having a sum total of four artists on the site is probably not going to make it much of a destination site for music lovers everywhere.

What’s more likely is that EMI and Warner Music are just looking for ways to hit as many eyeballs as possible by putting their videos in as many places as possible. EMI isn’t a stakeholder in Vevo, after all; it merely licenses its videos to the site. And Warner Music, after a lengthy spat with YouTube, now has plenty of videos and channels for its artists (including one for Muse!) on the video share site.

Two weeks ago, Warner Music Group Corporation announced their fourth-quarter results and the numbers weren’t positive. According to Wall Street Journal, Warner reported a $18 million loss with the recorded-music business revenue dropping 9.4% and digital-recorded music revenue rising 9.5%.

In the article, Chief Financial Officer Steve Macri blames the transitioning in the music industry and the economy for the revenue slump and this decline is expected to continue into the new fiscal year. (Source)

It’s no surprise, really. As I said in my post on September 19th, the record industry should have seen this coming ten years ago when Shawn Fanning created Napster. Music corporations tried to fight the industry changes and now they’re feeling the heat. Allegedly WMG was “surprised” by the results, considering the success of comeback albums such as Jay-Z’s The Blueprint 3.

CDs aren’t a dead format; last week Susan Boyle’s album “I Dreamed a Dream” debuted at #1 in CD sales (over 700,000 copies sold,) trumping Rihanna, Adam Lambert, Lady GaGa, Shakira, Tom Petty, and Tom Waits, all of whom had new-releases in the same week. “I Dreamed a Dream” also beat first week sales of Eminem’s “Relapse” and took the #1 spot from John Mayer’s “Battle Studies” which dropped to #13. (Source)

I get excited when I see news stories like this because it proves my point: if an artist with pure talent has a strong album release, it is going to fly from the shelves. Susan Boyle is a breath of fresh air. She doesn’t need audio sweeteners or auto-tune and people want to hear something new. That, along with thanks to Britain’s Got Talent and YouTube, is why the album is doing so well.

If record labels such as Warner Music Group were to focus on releasing albums with less filler and trendy production techniques, they’d have a better chance of selling albums. And if record labels came up with ways to reinvent the compact discs, those would sell better too. Back in 2005, the DualDisc was invented. It was a double sided CD with the traditional audio on one side and video on the other. The video side often included a making of featurette, the album in surround sound, links to exclusive web content, etc. If record labels were to continue finding ways to make CDs appeal to the audience, chances are the sales will increase.

Last month, Warner, Universal and Fox Studios were talking with Netflix about delaying new release movie rentals a month so DVD sales would pick up. (source). Imagine what could happen with CD sales if record labels made a similar agreement with businesses like iTunes and Amazon music. iTunes and Amazon cannot release music without the label’s consent, so as long as a deal that both parties benefit from is drawn up, the new policy could be easily adopted.

There are plenty of options record labels have to fix their situations, but they need to brainstorm quickly or Steve Macri of WMG will be right in saying their revenue will continue to drop.

Rolling into town this week is Kevin Werbach’s Supernova at Mission Bay #SN09, Scott Kirsner’s Building Audiences at BAVC, and Ken Goldberg’s Future of the Forum at UC Berkeley.  Meanwhile in Vegas, the International Film & Music Festival Summit will be training screeners and festival directors, chatting about programming strategies and brainstorming the future role of festivals as distributors. You can follow that conversation at #IFFS09, #IMFCON09.  We’ll be here in San Francisco focusing on Supernova as well as dropping in on the San Francisco International Auto Show at Moscone to check out the latest in auto-entertainment platforms. Supernova will be streaming live at:  http://bit.ly/sn09stream. Network age briefings at http://www.blogtalkradio.com/supernova.  Here’s the guide:

Tu 12/1 Supernova @ Mission Bay
9, Social Networks in the Workplace
Denise Howell, This Week in Law, Alex Macgillivray, Twitter, Kerry Krzynowek, Deloitte, Gabe Ramsey, Orrick
10, Trademarks and Intermediaries
Eric Goldman, Santa Clara University Law School, Samir Jain, WilmerHale, Laura Covington, Yahoo!, Dan Dougherty, eBay
11, Copyright:  A Fair (Use) Fight
Zahavah Levine, YouTube, Ashlie Beringer, Gibson, Colette Vogele, Larry Downes
12, Lunch
1, Opening Remarks
Kevin Werbach, Wharton
1:10, Pervasive Connectivity Alters Everything
Danah Boyd, Microsoft, Adam Greenfield, Nokia
2, Changing Networks
Werner Vogels, Amazon, Jonathan Zittrain, Harvard, Bradley Horowitz, Google
3, Break
3:30 Networks for Change
Umair Haque, Havas, Anil Dash, Expert Labs, David Weinberger, Cluetrain Manifesto, Andrew McLaughlin, Deputy US CTO
4:15, Break
4:30, Strategic Change
Chris Anderson, Wired, Peter Guber, Mandalay, Phil McKinney, HP
5:45, Surprise Entertainment
6:30, Opening Gala & Tech Showcase

W 12/2 Supernova @  Folger, 101 Howard/Spear, Suite 500
7:30 Breakfast
9, Strategies for a Connected World
Kevin Werbach, Wharton, JP Rangaswami, BT, John Hagel, Deloitte, Umair Haque, Havas, Ellen Levy, LinkedIn
10:30, Wharton Talks
Karl Ulrich & Eric Clemons, Wharton, Larry Strickling, NTIA
11, Building Startups Today
Dave McClure, Founders Fund, Rashmi Sinha, SlideShare, Christine Herron, First Round Capital, Bruce Jenett, DLA Piper
11, Is There a Media Business?
Lisa Stone, BlogHer, Jim Griffin, WMG, Catharine Hays, Wharton, Cory Ondrejka, Second Life
11, Privacy and the Social Web
Kraig Baker, Davis Wright, Harriet Pearson, IBM, Anne Toth, Yahoo!, Deirdre Mulligan, UC Berkeley
12:30, Lunch
1:30, Real-Time Flow
Tim O’Reilly, Dick Costolo, Twitter, Brett Slatkin, Google, Monica Keller, MySpace
3, Life in the 21st Century
Esther Dyson, EDventure, Bernardo Huberman, HP Labs, Linda Stone
3, Broadband After Unviersal Connectivity
Joe Waz, Comcast, Paul Brigner, Verizon
4:30, Nicole Wong, Google
6, Cocktails

Th 12/3 Supernova @ Folger, 101 Howard/Spear, Suite 500
7:30, Breakfast
8:30, Fun with Fun with Charles Hudson, Serious Business
8:30, Telecom as Software with Jonathan Christiansen, Skype, Craig Walker, Google
10, Data Minimization
10:30, Taking Data Seriously with Chris Kemp, NASA Ames
10:30, Tech Meets Sustainability with Adam Werbach, Saatchi, Robin Chase, Zipcar..
12, Lunch
1, Roundtables
2:30, Closing Plenary
Jimmy Wales, Wikipedia, Craig Newmark, Craigslist

A few months ago I heard about Warner Music Group’s plan to introduce a blanketed fee for  music downloaded on college campuses.  I wasn’t exactly sure how this would work, but I recently stumbled across an article about the service called “Choruss”.  It isn’t an actual music tax, but it definitely seems like one.

It’s an experimental service involving a few colleges.  According to the article “Music Industry Changes Tune of New Program to Fight File Sharing,“

“the colleges would pay the music industry a blanket licensing fee, similar to what radio stations pay to air popular songs. There was also discussion of the record labels’ signing a ‘covenant not to sue’ for any illegal downloading of their songs by users on participating campuses, he said.”

Who does this really help?  Not necessarily the consumers.  First, from what I understand, this only applies to music under the Warner Music Group (WMG) label.  Second, there are other music services out there that are of higher value than Choruss.  If consumers pay for the music they download, they want to have choices.  Consumers do not want to be limited in their purchases.  Lastly, does WMG think that this will stop file sharing?  It seems like it could be a good deterrent against piracy, but it definitely won’t stop it.

Additionally, It’s hard to tell by this article whether or not the fee paid by students is required.  It seems like it is a fee forced upon all students, which is why it is negatively referred to as a “music tax”.  If it is required, this isn’t fair to students.  Hey, not all of us download music illegally or WANT to pay for WMG’s music downloading service.  We may prefer to get our music from other sources and don’t want to be forced to pay for Choruss.

The one major upside of this service: Unlimited use of the music you download.

“The most unusual feature of Choruss is that users would be able to download any song in the collection to their own computers, with no restrictions. Unlike Apple’s iTunes, which charges about a dollar per song for unrestricted downloads, this would be an all-you-can-grab song buffet. Want to make CD’s? Sure. Put thousands of songs on your iPod? No problem. Even after students stop paying the Choruss subscription fee, they will be able to keep all the songs they have downloaded. ‘They get to keep them the rest of their lives,’ as Mr. Griffin put it. That differs from some subscription music services, which allow access only while users are active members of the service.”

Before boarding in this institution for my Masters here in New York Institute Of Technology, I was quite speculative about the way my career path would turn out to be. Seems by the looks of it, it not only turned out to be good, it was mindbogglingly awesome to study here. If, I was a guy studying to get the best of education that the US universities are renowned to be, I would not be extremely happy. But interestingly, I was not looking for a better education, I was looking for people who obtained this so called ‘high framed’ education and the calibers that they exhibited as a result. The place was NYC. Ranking 3rd on the ‘Washington Post’ as the ‘best places to work in US after graduation’, I couldn’t have asked for anything more. Got to learn much of the ’street smartness’ from the streets themselves. My internships from Warner Music Group and Ziff Davis Enterprise got me closer to corporate giants like Warner, Sony, IBM, Google, Microsoft. Not to mention the guidance of my supervisors Mike, Spike, Rob and Tom have always been a bliss. I never would like to lose their contacts.

Yes, NYIT is not MIT but I have always believed that best is not always the best and so far, this belief hasn’t failed me. I love this institute like a baby chick loves momma hen!

SKY has launched a beta website for their brand-new music-subscription service which allows DRM-free song downloads and streaming for all UK and Irish music lovers. In case you’re wondering, the DRM-free songs offered are truly DRM-free, untethered as the day they were digitally born (or made, if you will). For a simple fee every month, subscribers get a certain number of DRM-free songs to download, as well as unlimited streaming of music on the Sky music website. So far, as usual, only the pro-digital Universal Music Group has jumped right in with the utmost of enthusiasm.

While Sky assures that there are ‘talks’ for other labels to come onboard, I can assure you that it’s not going to happen anytime soon. If Sony, Warner and EMI are not already laughing at UMG for their overzealousness for such digital projects, then they are definitely bidding their time, waiting in line to see if UMG’s throat gets cut first, and when. These three giant labels are more concerned about profits first, and not about paving the way to building new digital business models.

Or maybe they are actually concerned about the latter, but in any case, they still have naught to show for it.

As of 12 October 2009, all four major labels have come onboard with offerings from their catalogue, making SKY a true model of the new digital music business. Wonderful news!

Sky, a self-proclaimed ‘communications’ corporation, has implemented a sleek look for their beta music site, which can be found here. Simple, elegant, and easy to use, Songs.Sky.Com has all the offerings from UMG’s huge catalogue, which consists of jazz great classics from the VERVE and ECM catalogues, hip-hop gems from the Def Jam catalogue, and of course chart-topping hits from pop and rock acts like the Black Eyed Peas, the soon-defunct Pussycat Dolls, Mariah Carey, No Doubt, Pixie Lott, Snow Patrol, Hoobastank, Keane and much more.

Mike Darcey, COO of BSkyB, sums it up, “We aim to offer an easy and affordable service for all UK music fans, while ensuring that artists are properly rewarded for their creativity.” While it has yet to be proven that digital profits from such straight-to-the-label tie-ups will blow through the roof anytime soon, it is heartening to see that a certain digital music business model is taking shape all over the world. To sum it up:

And there you have it: the new digital music business model of the 21^st-century:

HHHTime Travelers,

With the 4th quarter upon us and several projects from tons of amazing people still awaiting release, HHHT gets into a few in particular that we’re eye-spyin’ for.

TIL THE CASKET DROPS

Oh Clipse, this one better be good.

I’ve said this before on this blog, but I’ll reiterate one more time.  I’m a huge Clipse fan.  Really and truly I am.  Like, I’ve gone on record as saying that as far as Street lyricists are concerned, they’re the closest thing we’ve had to Wu-Tang in a long long time.  HOWEVER, that last Re-Up gang record was not only unfocused in terms of production and direction, but lyrically they were barely punching their way out of that proverbial wet paper bag (see ‘Fast Life’ produced by Scott Storch).  And to that end…I’m scared.  Nonetheless, I’ve heard 3 cuts off the album thus far and have been relatively content.  Perhaps because they’ve all been Neptunes beats and that’s, at the end of the day, what I think the Clipse should sound like.  Also, Mr. ‘Bison in his studio’, the legendary Rick Rubin is overseeing this album so I can only hope that means any loose ends the Star Trak boys miss, Rick’s holdin down.  Anyway, here’s a new cut featuring Pharrell and the former Dipset General, Cam’ron, whaddya think?

THE CLIPSE – POPULAR DEMAND (POPEYE’S) ft. PHARRELL & CAM’RON

JACK & BROOK

Jack Davey & Brook D’Leau, better known as J*Davey have been a favorite group of mine ever since I saw them perform at this little spot in Toronto some years back.

A clash of about a half dozen genres in one, they were just starting to get their buzz in the scene when the Roots, who obviously felt they were of a particular quality decided to bring them on the Beginner’s Guide… tour.  Unfortunately for them, when they reached Toronto, the type of music they did matched with the venue they were performing at and the audience that was in attendance made for a vinegar/oil type of situation as these 2 were completely drowned out with Boo’s for damn near the entirety of their set.  However, unlike most acts that would’ve packed it up mid-way through the shit storm, they persevered through and finished the set graciously.  Score 1 for J*Davey.  Then, a smart move on their part, they booked a show the next night here in a much smaller club and they absolutely demolished.  They then went on to feature on the Roots next record Game Theory (which is in IMO their best record to date), the late great J Dilla’s Dilla Loves Japan EP, and release 2 EP’s to critical acclaim.  Now, after being picked up by Warner, their preparing to drop their first full length (apparently) soon.  In the meantime, here’s some new ish.

J* DAVEY – END OF YOUR WORLD (MAMA’S BACK)

BLAKROC

I’m not gonna say ANYTHING  about this.  Just watch the video below and digest it yourself cause I’m still convulsing.

I’ll be posting webisodes from the recording sessions on a regular from now on in.  GET FAMILIAR!

**Bonus**

This is kinda old news but for those who don’t know…Allhiphop.com and Jumpoff.TV have been doing a series called ‘48 Hours’ where they follow major artists on the first 2 days of releasing a brand new album.  Thus far, the people they’ve picked have been interesting and the series has been relatively entertaining.  For your viewing pleasure, I thought I’d start posting these up and give you a behind the scenes look at some serious players hard at work.

We start with a Kiss…

We tha ish folk.  There’s no denyin it.

HHHT all day e’yday.

Be well world.

Triple
www.ppfhouse.com

Billboard
Google Inc is partnering with major music labels to launch a new feature to make it easier for music fans to discover, sample and buy songs on the search engine, according to two people familiar with the plan. The new feature will be facilitated by start-ups iLike and LaLa, which will enable songs to be streamed on the Google page that will also feature a “buy” button to help reduce the number of steps fans need to acquire music. The new service has been lined up to launch next Wednesday by iLike and LaLa and all the major labels — including Universal Music Group, Sony Music Entertainment, Warner Music Group and EMI Music — will be involved in the launch.

Cosa è successo recentemente in ambito di mercato digitale? (fonte HypeBot –  Wondermark NetVibes Page). Tra le novità più importanti segnaliamo:

• YouTube domina ancora le statistiche di consumo video, in termini di accessi e streaming. Un fenomeno che non conosce alcun arresto.

• The Orchard, principale operatore mondiale nel settore della distribuzione digitale, licenzia il 20% del personale nello stesso giorno in cui il direttore generale, Greg Scholl rassegna le sue dimissioni, operative dal prossimo 1 Novembre. Le azioni di The Orchard quotate al Nasdaq di Wall Street perdono il 12% in un solo giorno.

• Twitter lancia una nuova opzione (per ora solo per invito e in fase beta) chiamata “Are you on the List”. Il motivo per questa nuova opzione è dato dal fatto che una volta che una persona inizia a seguire un numero elevato di persone, il numero di “Tweets” che può ricevere può diventare un ammasso incontrollato. Creando invece delle “Group List” seguire un numero elevato di amici, colleghi, bands e quant’altro potrà risultare molto più semplice e ordinato

• FreeAllMusic.com – Un’altra azienda, mossa dalla filosofia “Scarica gratis con pubblicità” riceve importanti fondi di finanziamento per partire. Un mercato, quello della musica scaricabile tramite pubblicità, che sembra non avere ancora un riscontro globale, nonostante le molte valide idee messe in campo.

• Warner Music Group riattiva i suoi contenuti all’interno di YouTube.

• L’artista e rapper americano T-Pain riesce a vendere 300.000 applicazioni iPhone, un vero record per un applicativo musicale mobile.

• Warner Music Group annuncia ulteriori tagli di personale. Voci di acquisizione di EMI Music da parte della stessa Warner.

• Spotify annuncia una versione “Offline” del suo servizio di streaming musicale. Diverse nuove acquisizioni di catalogo, in corso rendono sempre più appetibile questo nuovo servizio, disponibile anche su iPhone e Android.

Photo Attribution: http://bit.ly/3Oa2PP

Warner Music Group and YouTube are close to finalizing a deal which would bring Warner’s music catalog back onto the internet’s most popular video website.

The impending deal appears to end a feud between the two media giants that began after negotiations to renew their licensing contract fell apart.

Last year, unhappy with the ad revenues it was receiving, Warner issued this statement, “We simply cannot accept terms that fail to appropriately and fairly compensate recording artists, songwriters, labels and publishers for the value they provide.” Contract talks ceased and Warner pulled its content from YouTube, barring users from including Warner’s songs in their video clips.

However, it appears the two companies have made up, and now Warner’s recording artists and music fans stand to benefit.

While the details of the deal have not been made public, sources close to the agreement claim that Warner will retain the majority of revenue from advertisements appearing alongside music videos, and could sell advertising space to third parties wanting to sponsor particular musicians and videos. In return, Warner would be unable to create its own independent video music site such as Universal’s forthcoming Vivo service.

Most importantly, the agreement ensures YouTube’s dominance over online media content, having licensing deals in place with the big four recording companies in addition to a rumored deal with major movie studios to bring streaming movie rentals to YouTube.

Sources: Wall St. Journal. MacWorld

YouTube and Warner Music reach deal on music videos

YouTube and Warner Music have reached an unprecedented agreement in which Warner Music has agreed to allow its artists’ music videos to be posted on YouTube in exchange for its ability to sell ad space on the YouTube website. The videos were removed in December as a result of a copyright dispute and are scheduled to return to YouTube by the end of this year. The two companies will split the proceeds generated from the advertising.

It’s a pretty innovative solution if you ask me. We’ll see if other record labels follow suit…

Posted using ShareThis

As has been rumored for quite some time now, Warner Music Group (s TWX) and YouTube (s GOOG) have realized they needed each other — and the label will make its way back to the site to offer music videos and fan use of its artists’ music for their own videos. The two companies announced today that they’d reached a deal and Warner content will return to YouTube “in the near future.” WMG videos had been removed from the video site nine months ago.

While YouTube has had trouble negotiating with the music labels, they continue to provide the most popular content on the video site. Warner has missed out on hundreds of millions of views and their associated revenue since it pulled the plug. Though YouTube did not disclose terms of the deal, it said Warner would be able to sell its own advertising on its content and YouTube would take a cut.

“Warner and YouTube have a long relationship,” said Chris Maxcy, head of music partnerships at YouTube, noting that Warner was actually the first label on the site in 2006. “Our door’s always been open to Warner. It was a continual conversation.”

One interesting aspect of how this has played out is that Warner’s approach is different than that of Sony (s SNE) and UMG, which are taking their music videos off YouTube and creating an entirely different site, Vevo, though it’s powered by YouTube. “We see Vevo as something very separate; we do have a partnership with Vevo” said Maxcy, who declined to comment on behalf of the labels about their relationship with each other. Warner and YouTube say they want to make a “premium” experience around the label’s videos, but we don’t know what that will look like yet.

Pitchfork
Back in December, a breakdown in negotiations led Warner Music Group to pull all its music from YouTube, which has seriously damaged our ability to hear any song ever just by typing it into YouTube’s search engine. (Warner artists like Death Cab for Cutie weren’t too thrilled about it, either.) But now Advertising Age reports that Warner and YouTube have completed a deal to allow the label’s music back on the site (via Rolling Stone). So: We’ll no longer have to hit up MySpace or DailyMotion or OnSmash or any of the other bajillions of video websites to watch Warner music videos! According to Advertising Age, Warner is also in talks to join Vevo, the music video site that YouTube and Universal Music Group are planning to launch.

But no…they have enough problems!….

They just don’t get it and have my sympathy.

October 09 Update: Apparently You Tube and WMG have reached some sort of agreement. That’s great for Youtube, but I still will never trust them. Trust, like fine China, is never the same once broken.

Contrary to Sony who removed all copyrighted videos, Warner Music has upload on Youtube an exclusive video of Superfly – 「Alright!!」 from her 2nd album “Box Emotions“.

It’s official and free so enjoy!

(Superfly – Box Emotions Album Regular Edition)

http://www.cdjapan.co.jp/detailview.html?KEY=WPCL-10740

http://www.yesasia.com/global/box-emotions-normal-edition-japan-version/1020529382-0-0-0-en/info.html

(Superfly – Box Emotions Album Limited Edition)

http://www.cdjapan.co.jp/detailview.html?KEY=WPZL-30158

http://www.yesasia.com/global/box-emotions-album-dvd-first-press-limited-edition-japan-version/1020529383-0-0-0-en/info.html

PS: Thank you WMG.

*LISTEN TO AUDIO OF HammondCast Early Edition KYOU Radio, STAN GETZ “Darn That Dream” in tribute to Ertegun Brothers Ahmet & Neshui, also SYLVIA SYMS “Skylark” backed up by BOBBY SHORT and PHIL COLLINS solo “In The Air Tonight” JON at piano “Witchcraft” & “Misty” Vintage ‘Blues Hour’ on NYC Street, Jon’s band at Birdland “BBQ Lily” in Hamburg, Studio Jam and HORACE SILVER “Liberated Brother”, Jon’s group “Girl From Ipanema”

http://www.kyouradio.com/media/mpeg-2007122507331198596792.mp3

*WATCH THE VIDEO HERE:

*WATCH THE VIDEO HERE:

http://ia341037.us.archive.org/1/items/JonHammondAhmetErtegunEulogyToMyBrotherNesuhi/AhmetErtegunEulogyToNesuhi_512kb.mp4

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XiEHOvVqAqw

From Jon Hammond N.Y., NY: I was honored to be invited to be with friends, family and Atlantic Records WEA and so many Musicians on this day in 1989 in Lincoln Center. I arrived with Bernard Purdie long-time Atlantic recording artist and we sat together amongst the Musicians, in concert were Modern Jazz Quartet, Roberta Flack, Phil Collins, Manhattan Transfer, Ron Carter, Sylvia Simms and at end after Ahmet’s eulogy George Wein played a piano blues with Claude Nobbs on harmonica. Cocktail reception followed, it was somber but warm and joyful at the same time. Now Ahmet has passed RIP, he was always nice to me so I pass this on in their memory.
Sincerely,
Jon Hammond
© www.HammondCast.com
*Ahmet Ertegun was “one of the most significant figures in the modern recording industry” who “co-founded Atlantic Records in 1947 with partner Herb Abramson. Atlantic was at the forefront of great independent labels that sprang up in the late Forties, challenging the primacy of the major labels of the time (RCA, Columbia and Decca) by discovering, developing and nurturing new talent. Under the guiding hand of Ertegun – the son of a career diplomat and a lifelong jazz and blues aficionado – Atlantic became the nation’s premier rhythm & blues label in a few short years. The label’s artist roster in the Fifties reads like an honor roll of R&B talent: Ruth Brown, Big Joe Turner, Ray Charles, LaVern Baker, the Drifters, the Coasters, the Clovers, and many more. During this period, Ertegun produced or coproduced the vast majority of records released on Atlantic. He even wrote songs for Atlantic artists in the early days using the pseudonym “Nugetre” (Ertegun spelled backwards). Though he was less directly involved as a producer, Ertegun continued at the helm of Atlantic in the Sixties and Seventies as the company conquered the realms of soul and rock, from Aretha Franklin to Led Zeppelin, with phenomenal success. Ertegun serves as chairman of Atlantic Records to this day. At the tenth annual Rock and Roll Hall of Fame Induction Dinner in 1995, it was announced that the museum’s main exhibition hall would be named after Ertegun.” (quote from Museum)

Nesuhi Ertegun “spent most of his lifetime working at Atlantic Records and associated labels. He joined Atlantic in 1956, nine years after its founding by his brother Ahmet and Herb Abramson. Nesuhi initially developed Atlantic’s album department and built up the label’s extensive catalog of jazz long-players. The list of jazz artists he produced at Atlantic over the years reads like a who’s who: John Coltrane, Charles Mingus, Ornette Coleman, the Modern Jazz Quartet and more. Nesuhi also became involved with the label’s rhythm & blues and rock and roll roster as well, producing several hit records for Ray Charles, the Drifters, Bobby Darin and Roberta Flack. The son of a Turkish diplomat, Nesuhi acquired his taste for black music while growing up in Washington D.C., where he and Ahmet would frequent the Howard Theater and scour the community for records by their favorite musicians. In 1944, he moved to Los Angeles to run the Jazzman Record Shop. While there he created his own label, Crescent Records (later Jazzman), on which he recorded the likes of Kid Ory and Jelly Roll Morton. Nesuhi also served as editor of Record Changer magazine and taught the first accredited course in jazz offered in the U.S., at UCLA. In addition to founding the jazz division at Atlantic, Nesuhi later went on to spearhead the label’s international operations, expanding the business and opening up new markets overseas. After the merger of the Warner Brothers, Elektra and Atlantic labels in 1971, he headed WEA International. He later oversaw the special projects division of Warner Communications and launched East/West, a Atlantic-distributed label, in 1988.” (quote from Museum)

ASCAP Network Behind The Beat with Jon Hammond “LATE RENT”

Elmar Lemes photo of Jon Hammond playing XK-3 organ at Local 802 Monday Night Jazz Session sponsored by Jazz Foundation of America

Jon Hammond MySpace

HammondCast

ASCAP Network Behind The Beat “NDR SESSIONS Projekt”

Jon Hammond is an endorsed artist of Hammond Suzuki USA

Ahmet Ertegun, Atlantic Records, Funky Jazz, HammondCast, John Coltrane, Jon Hammond, KYOU Radio, Nesuhi, Phil Collins, Rhythm and Blues, Roberta Flack, Ron Carter, B3, XK-3c, Accordion, Local 802 Musicians Union

*LISTEN TO AUDIO OF HammondCast Early Edition KYOU Radio, STAN GETZ “Darn That Dream” in tribute to Ertegun Brothers Ahmet & Neshui, also SYLVIA SYMS “Skylark” backed up by BOBBY SHORT and PHIL COLLINS solo “In The Air Tonight” JON at piano “Witchcraft” & “Misty” Vintage ‘Blues Hour’ on NYC Street, Jon’s band at Birdland “BBQ Lily” in Hamburg, Studio Jam and HORACE SILVER “Liberated Brother”, Jon’s group “Girl From Ipanema”

http://www.kyouradio.com/media/mpeg-2007122507331198596792.mp3

*WATCH THE VIDEO HERE:

*WATCH THE VIDEO HERE:

http://ia341037.us.archive.org/1/items/JonHammondAhmetErtegunEulogyToMyBrotherNesuhi/AhmetErtegunEulogyToNesuhi_512kb.mp4

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XiEHOvVqAqw

From Jon Hammond N.Y., NY: I was honored to be invited to be with friends, family and Atlantic Records WEA and so many Musicians on this day in 1989 in Lincoln Center. I arrived with Bernard Purdie long-time Atlantic recording artist and we sat together amongst the Musicians, in concert were Modern Jazz Quartet, Roberta Flack, Phil Collins, Manhattan Transfer, Ron Carter, Sylvia Simms and at end after Ahmet’s eulogy George Wein played a piano blues with Claude Nobbs on harmonica. Cocktail reception followed, it was somber but warm and joyful at the same time. Now Ahmet has passed RIP, he was always nice to me so I pass this on in their memory.
Sincerely,
Jon Hammond
© www.HammondCast.com
*Ahmet Ertegun was “one of the most significant figures in the modern recording industry” who “co-founded Atlantic Records in 1947 with partner Herb Abramson. Atlantic was at the forefront of great independent labels that sprang up in the late Forties, challenging the primacy of the major labels of the time (RCA, Columbia and Decca) by discovering, developing and nurturing new talent. Under the guiding hand of Ertegun – the son of a career diplomat and a lifelong jazz and blues aficionado – Atlantic became the nation’s premier rhythm & blues label in a few short years. The label’s artist roster in the Fifties reads like an honor roll of R&B talent: Ruth Brown, Big Joe Turner, Ray Charles, LaVern Baker, the Drifters, the Coasters, the Clovers, and many more. During this period, Ertegun produced or coproduced the vast majority of records released on Atlantic. He even wrote songs for Atlantic artists in the early days using the pseudonym “Nugetre” (Ertegun spelled backwards). Though he was less directly involved as a producer, Ertegun continued at the helm of Atlantic in the Sixties and Seventies as the company conquered the realms of soul and rock, from Aretha Franklin to Led Zeppelin, with phenomenal success. Ertegun serves as chairman of Atlantic Records to this day. At the tenth annual Rock and Roll Hall of Fame Induction Dinner in 1995, it was announced that the museum’s main exhibition hall would be named after Ertegun.” (quote from Museum)

Nesuhi Ertegun “spent most of his lifetime working at Atlantic Records and associated labels. He joined Atlantic in 1956, nine years after its founding by his brother Ahmet and Herb Abramson. Nesuhi initially developed Atlantic’s album department and built up the label’s extensive catalog of jazz long-players. The list of jazz artists he produced at Atlantic over the years reads like a who’s who: John Coltrane, Charles Mingus, Ornette Coleman, the Modern Jazz Quartet and more. Nesuhi also became involved with the label’s rhythm & blues and rock and roll roster as well, producing several hit records for Ray Charles, the Drifters, Bobby Darin and Roberta Flack. The son of a Turkish diplomat, Nesuhi acquired his taste for black music while growing up in Washington D.C., where he and Ahmet would frequent the Howard Theater and scour the community for records by their favorite musicians. In 1944, he moved to Los Angeles to run the Jazzman Record Shop. While there he created his own label, Crescent Records (later Jazzman), on which he recorded the likes of Kid Ory and Jelly Roll Morton. Nesuhi also served as editor of Record Changer magazine and taught the first accredited course in jazz offered in the U.S., at UCLA. In addition to founding the jazz division at Atlantic, Nesuhi later went on to spearhead the label’s international operations, expanding the business and opening up new markets overseas. After the merger of the Warner Brothers, Elektra and Atlantic labels in 1971, he headed WEA International. He later oversaw the special projects division of Warner Communications and launched East/West, a Atlantic-distributed label, in 1988.” (quote from Museum)

ASCAP Network Behind The Beat with Jon Hammond “LATE RENT”

Elmar Lemes photo of Jon Hammond playing XK-3 organ at Local 802 Monday Night Jazz Session sponsored by Jazz Foundation of America

Jon Hammond MySpace

HammondCast

ASCAP Network Behind The Beat “NDR SESSIONS Projekt”

Jon Hammond is an endorsed artist of Hammond Suzuki USA

Ahmet Ertegun, Atlantic Records, Funky Jazz, HammondCast, John Coltrane, Jon Hammond, KYOU Radio, Nesuhi, Phil Collins, Rhythm and Blues, Roberta Flack, Ron Carter, B3, XK-3c, Accordion, Local 802 Musicians Union

Via Allhiphop.com

Pioneering Hip-Hop executive Kevin Liles will leave Warner Music Group it was announced today (September 3). Liles recently appeared at a press conference promoting Jay-Z’s upcoming album Blueprint 3, which is being distributed by Atlantic, a subsidiary of Warner Music Group. “In the past couple weeks I’ve made one of the most important decisions of my life – to depart the Warner Music Group in order to focus more on new entrepreneurial endeavors in talent management, entertainment, media and my personal philanthropic and political passions,” Liles told AllHipHop.com in a statement. “I am thankful for the opportunities that Edgar and Lyor have given me, most recently in entrusting me with driving the company’s global artist services strategy, which is redefining the way labels and artists work together. My work here is now complete and I’m excited about the next chapter of my life.”

Did he really decide to leave or was he pushed?

“Personal philanthropic and political passions” – Oh great Kevin’s going to turn in to Russell Simmons part 2 (he’s already half way there anyway). A know it all who believes his word is law.

Pioneering Hip-Hop executive Kevin Liles will leave Warner Music Group it was announced today (September 3).

Liles recently appeared at a press conference in New York promoting Jay-Z’s upcoming album Blueprint 3, which is being distributed by Atlantic, a subsidiary of Warner Music Group.

Today, Liles announced he was steppding down from his role as Executive Vice President, to pursue other business ventures.

“In the past couple weeks I’ve made one of the most important decisions of my life – to depart the Warner Music Group in order to focus more on new entrepreneurial endeavors in talent management, entertainment, media and my personal philanthropic and political passions,” Liles told AllHipHop.com in a statement. “I am thankful for the opportunities that Edgar and Lyor have given me, most recently in entrusting me with driving the company’s global artist services strategy, which is redefining the way labels and artists work together. My work here is now complete and I’m excited about the next chapter of my life.”

Kevin Liles started his career at Def Jam as an unpaid intern in 1991. By 1993, he was the Mid-Atlantic Marketing Manager.

By 1998, he was anointed President of the Def Jam Music Group. During his time at the label, he doubled the company’s revenues, by signing acts like Jay-Z, Irv Gotti and Murder Inc., DMX and numerous others.

Liles was named EVP of Warner Music Group in 2004, shortly after Def Jam Chairman Lyor Cohen took over as CEO of Warner Music Group.

“Kevin and I have worked together since the day he joined Def Jam as an intern 18 years ago,” said Lyor Cohen, WMG’s Chairman and CEO of Recorded Music. “He has become a trusted friend, a brilliant executive and an incredible business partner. Together, we have built companies, signed and developed fantastically talented artists, and brought some outstanding music to the world. Even though Kevin’s chosen to pursue a new challenge, we’ll continue to work together in many aspects of the entertainment industry. I’m so excited to see what’s next for Kev, and he takes with him all my love and respect.”

Liles will continue to act as a consultant to Warner Music Group, in addition to pursuing other business ventures.

Via AllHipHop.com

For several years now old skool rapper Roxanne Shante (real name Lolita Shanté Gooden) has been telling the world that she earned a Bachelor’s Degree from Marymount Manhatten  College and received her PhD in Psychology from Cornell University.

We were also led to believe that Warner Music Group funded Roxanne’s education because of some clause in her recording contract with them.

But it was all lies I’m afraid!

Slate Magazine decided to investigate the story after a ‘feel-good’ article about Roxanne appeared in the NY Daily News, and this is what they discovered…

New York state records indicate that no one named Lolita Gooden or Roxanne Shanté is licensed to practice psychology or any related field.

According to Warner, neither it nor any of its subsidiary record labels ever had a contract with Shanté, and it was not obligated to pay for her education. Indeed, there’s no evidence that it ever did.

Shanté—real name Lolita Shanté Gooden—doesn’t have a Ph.D. from Cornell or anywhere else. Indeed, she admitted it in an interview with Slate. And Cornell has no record of Gooden (or “Shanté”) ever attending or receiving a degree.

According to Marymount Manhattan College records, Shanté enrolled there but dropped out less than four months later without ever earning a degree

Click HERE to read more.

 This is just sad and disappointing.

I don’t understand why she felt it necessary to lie!