U2 Remains On Universal: Roger Friedman reported that the band was in talks with the concert industry’s biggest player Live Nation and could walk away from their 28-year relationship with Universal. But in a statement to EW.com, U2 manager Paul McGuinness says, “This is untrue. As I said in my MIDEM speech, U2 has an excellent relationship with Universal. We have recently re-licensed both masters and copyrights to them.”

Next Major Milestone: Microsoft made an unsolicited $44.6 billion cash and stock bid for Yahoo, setting the stage for a deal that would shake up the competitive market for online advertising.

Montana Mania: Disney’s Hannah Montana “Best of Both Worlds Concert Tour 3D” a concert tour movie, had an impressive $8.6 million at 683 locations, putting the pic on track to make box office history according to Variety. “Hannah” also owned yesterday’s best theater average of $12,550.

Wired Mag: Read the column ‘Want Better Music? Don’t Stiff the Songwriters‘ that discusses the battle being fought over royalties between songwriters and publishers. The Copyright Royalty Board has begun hearings to determine publishing royalties for CDs, downloads, subscription music services, and ringtones.
“Why should you care? Because music is bad enough already. Cutting songwriters out of the equation not only means that manufactured bands that rely on them will sound worse. It also means bands that do their own songwriting will have a tougher time surviving.”

New Music: listen to the track Hearts and Minds by Ivory Line. Their new record, “There Came A Lion” will be released February 5th through Tooth and Nail.

Study: A new NPD Group report finds that while most teens are using paid music download services, they’re also still using pirate sites at a high rate. The research group estimates up to 70% of U.S. kids aged 9 – 14 download music in a given month – 49% use iTunes, 26% use Limewire, and 16% use Myspace for sharing music.

U2 In Talks With Live Nation: FOX News columnist Roger Friedman has claimed the Rolling Stones are looking at a Madonna prototype deal with concert promoter Live Nation that would cover the release of their CDs, and now U2 are engaging in similiar talks. Sources say the group’s most recent release, 2004’s “How to Dismantle an Atomic Bomb,” fulfilled their Interscope contract. Mega christian artist Michael W. Smith is also talking to Live Nation about career options.

New Music: Hollywood/Fearless Records have signed female fronted rock act Valora. The band participated in MTV’s virtual battle of the bands in November and they cite AFI, My Chemical Romance, and Tool as influences.
Check out the track ‘Can You Save Me Now‘ which is reminiscent of the Courntey Love track Celebrity Skin

A Billboard staff report, Cannes

McGuinness: “Good afternoon and thank you for giving me this opportunity. I don’t make many speeches and this is an important and imposing occasion for me. What I’m trying do here today is identify a course of action that will benefit all: artists, labels, writers and publishers.

I have been managing the best-known of my clients, U2, for exactly 30 years. Sure we’ve made mistakes along the way but the lineup hasn’t changed in 31 years. They are as ambitious and hardworking as ever, and each time they make a record and tour, it’s better than the last time. They are doing their best work now. During that time the music business has been through many changes.

At the beginning U2’s live appearances were loss-making and tour support from our record label was essential for us to tour and that paid off for the label as U2’s records went to No.1 in nearly every international territory starting in the mid ’80s and I’m happy to say that continues to the present day. They have sold about 150 million records to date and the last album went to No.1 in 27 territories.

CONTINUE READING

Illegal Sharing Is Not Caring: A Swedish prosecutor filed charges against the popular Internet file-sharing site The Pirate Bay which users can share films, music and other copyright material.

The Material Girl: According to E! Online, Madonna was paid $10 million to appear in a new advertising campaign for Sunsilk hair-care products that will premiere during the fourth quarter of Sunday’s Super Bowl. The material girl also banked $72 million between June 2006 and June 2007, according to Forbes. Watch the commercial here.

The Signs of a New Era: MTV’s Kurt Loder discusses the delusions of celebrity culture, the coming collapse of mainstream media outlets, and the rising tide of free expression that can’t be stopped in the article titled
“Dinosaur Media DeathWatch“.

Recommended Listening: Check out the track Losing You by Camera Cant Lie.
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A New Circus Comes To Town: The creators of Warped Tour, Kevin Lyman, John Reese and CAA’s Darryl Eaton have announced plans for a new hard rock festival named ‘Rockstar Energy Mayhem Festival’. Kevin Lyman added: “It was very important to us to create an atmosphere that allows career advancement for new artists, and this partnership ensures artist development opportunities for a multitude of new artists for a reasonable price for fans”.

Fox News’ Roger Friedman discusses the current state of the CD and Radio: ‘The end of the physical CD is just moments away. Last week, according to hitsdailydouble.com, CD sales totaled just over 400,000 copies for the top 10. The best-selling CD was the soundtrack to “Juno,” with 65,000 copies. Alicia Keys was second, with 59,000. The lowest-selling CD on the top 50 was Kanye West’s “Graduation,” with about 12,000.’

Radio programmers think they know what they’re doing, but they’ve simply forced listeners away. I’ve spent a lot of time in the car this month. Stations I’ve listened to in both New York and Los Angeles have been horrendous. The funny thing is, I’ve left the car in the evening, returned the next afternoon and heard the exact same songs. I’ve come to guess that programmers think listeners are just stupid.

I won’t tell you which stations did this, but it was embarrassing. Each time, I simply turned either to Sirius or to the in-dash CD player. I doubt I’m alone. ( Fox News)

The Future of Rock Radio: Idolator has posted a column entitled
‘Is Rock Radio Slowly Going Post-Modern?‘ that discusses the recent state of alt-rock radio stations flipping formats and what it might mean for the future of the Alternative and Active Rock formats.

New Music, Artist Updates and Recommended Listening:

A Verse Unsung will be performing SXSW and the dates can be found on their myspace. If you are a fan of Rise Against and Bad Religion then check these guys out.

Check out the track Hollow Pointe Escape by New Jersey post punk rockers Missiles And Markers.

Crash Parallel who draws comparisons to artists such as Coldplay, The Fray, David Gray and Counting Crows have signed to Sony/BMG. The frontman Tim Edwards has a damn good voice, check out the track ‘World We Know‘.