British songwriters and composers have launched a new website — www.fairplayforcreators.com — to highlight concerns over the use of their work on the Internet. The site, an online forum set up by UK performing rights society PRS For Music, was created in response to the March 9 decision by Google to block access to premium […]
Nashville Earth Hour 2009 celebrity spokeswoman Jo Dee Messina will debut her new single, “Shine,” in the dark. The Curb artist will perform for the crowd gathered at Nashville’s Sommet Center Plaza moments after Nashville’s Lower Broadway and major skyscrapers go dark to celebrate Earth Hour this Saturday, March 28 at 8:30 PM/CT. More than […]
Gibson Guitar has announced that it will lay off 70 workers. News of these additional layoffs comes on the heels of an earlier announcement that the company would lay off 50 workers worldwide. At the time of that announcement, the company pointed out that the move involved less than 5 percent of the company’s total […]
Universal Music Nashville’s Jason Owen has been promoted to Senior Vice President of Artist Development and Marketing for the label. In his new position, Owen will wear many hats. In addition to directing all publicity, creative and video activities for MCA and Mercury Nashville, he will also oversee the digital and marketing departments for both […]
The Academy of Country Music has announced winners of awards that will not be televised during the live telecast of the 44th Annual Academy of Country Music Awards broadcast on April 5. Dolly Parton will receive the Jim Reeves International Award, presented to an individual for outstanding contributions to the acceptance of country music throughout […]
The New Zealand government has rejected legislation that would have required Internet service providers to terminate accounts of chronic copyright offenders. In a defeat for content owners, the government announced that they would scrap a key section of the legislation, which was due to be implemented this Friday (3/27). Although both the copyright owners and […]
Universal Records South artist Phil Vassar will be featured on Feed The Children’s one-hour special on Hallmark Channel’s Americans Feeding Americans this Wednesday (3/25) at 6 PM/CT. Americans Feeding Americans reaches out to viewers to help Feed The Children in their ongoing effort to get emergency food to families caught in the current economic crisis. […]
The ever-youthful Dolly Parton is no stranger to magazine covers, but the singer’s appearance on the cover of the May/June issue of AARP Magazine may turn a few grey heads. In the cover story, Parton, 63, is candid about growing up poor, never having children, and clearing up rumors about her closest relationships. She also […]
U.S. music rights licensing organization The Harry Fox Agency, Inc. (HFA), announced today that its 2008 royalty collections from all sources was $307.1 million, a 22% decline from 2007. Also in 2008, HFA issued over 2.44 million mechanical licenses, a 62% increase over 2007. Digital downloads also increased, by almost 47% over 2007, bringing the […]
EMI Music announced today (3/23), that its President of Digital Music, Douglas Merrill will leave the company as its digital unit is integrated into its main operations. Formerly with Google, Inc., Merrill has been with EMI less than a year. EMI has promoted Cory Ondrejka to the newly created title of Executive Vice President of […]