Madonna mocks Lady Gaga and covers Born This Way mashing it up with Express Yourself.

“Here’s an interesting way to throw shade: months after referring to Lady Gaga’s single “Born This Way” as “reductive” of her own work, Madonna was caught on tape rehearsing a mash-up of “Born This Way” and the song it’s said to very closely resemble, “Express Yourself.” (She’s going on tour this summer.) Madonna didn’t have to work too hard to mash them up–they are, indeed, quite similar–though the final song in the medley is a bit pointed. The rehearsal video concludes with a snippet of the 2008 album track “She’s Not Me,” about a younger pretender who tries to copy the older icon’s style, while lacking her je ne sais quoi” (17)

In many cases, idol winners don’t end up with the American dream. Sanjaya Malakar tends bar in the East Village. Camile Velasco worked at a Subway in Los Angeles. A.J. Gil became homeless. And Jessica Sierra checked into rehab . Find out the rest here.

Madonna producer William Orbit says some of the best songs created for Madonna’s MDNA went to Chris Brown. Orbit first posted an audio link of the first “Ray of Light” mix he did with Madonna after they recorded the vocals and, as he put it, “went berserk with his guitar”.

A Madonna fan, Madonna Express Yourself, then mentioned what a lot of other Madonna fans are thinking: the lack of promo and the way the singles have been released, especially in the UK, have prevented MDNA to reach its full potential. Read more here…

Boston indie rocker Amanda Palmer has been called “the social media queen of rock and roll has raised $250,000 in one day on Kickstarter. In fact, she has surpassed $437,000 from 7,300 backers in just 72 hours. She has more funds for a record a release than a new artist on a major music label.

“Palmer asks people for money, “to promote, mix, manufacture and distribute” her new release. She offers fans incentives for contributing to her effort — like a $1 digital download of her album, limited editions, signed art books, special invites to “backer parties,” even dinner with Palmer and her band. Oh, and hand-written thank you notes, too”. (WBUR)

“Palmer launched her Kickstarter campaign Monday. In the first seven hours it brought in more than $100,000. By day’s end the total was a quarter million, making it the most funded music project on Kickstarter ever. And now the effort is approaching $500,000.”

“I don’t want people to just know me for my clever internet marketing skills and all that,” Palmer said. “I want to focus people back on the music and back on the art that these people are making.”

“The people Palmer is referring to include the members of her new band, the 30 artists who made original works for her world tour, and everyone it will take to pull it off. She has to pay all of them. The entire project will cost a ton, according to Palmer. Likely more than the $400,000-plus raised on Kickstarter so far. Then she added, “We probably haven’t broken even yet.”

When you walk into a movie theatre you will see rolling credits listing the most important members of the production as well as the cast and crew involved in the project. Music services like Pandora, iTunes, Spotify, and Amazon along with others do not list credits of those who were involved.

“That’s the basis for a metadata movement being spearheaded by producer, mixer and engineer Count (aka Mikael Eldridge), whose ‘credits’ include artists like DJ Shadow, Radiohead, The Rolling Stones, Frank Sinatra, New Order, No Doubt, Galactic, Zoe Keating, and Tycho. ”
(Digital Music News)

Count wants his name included in these artists’ digital works – just like physical formats – which is why he’s pushing to properly credit performers, producers, and engineers on all online music services. He offers a solid case as well.

“If Led Zeppelin had only sold albums digitally when they started, it’s very unlikely that many people would know who Jimmy Page or Robert Plant are because the digital music files you purchase for download or streaming can’t show you who played on them.”

(1) Better credits make better user experiences. For example, if I like Radiohead or the Roots, I would want to know who produced them, what other albums they’ve done, and who’s performing on the recordings. Chances are I might like their other work.

(2) This is Marketing 101. It’s an opportunity for these companies to share and sell more music.

(3) Hollywood does it, so why don’t we? The Screen Actors Guild, Directors Guild, and Writers Guild along with the studios would sue if the credits were not there.

(4) This is not about egos. It’s about survival. Producers, engineers, and musicians need these credits in order to survive in this business. Nobody knows the producers work without credit.

(5) It’s an easy fix. Internet distributors to simply require the following info for all releases: list all performers, producers, engineers, mixers, and mastering engineers for each song and provide their preferred web link. Without this data, the release simply shouldn’t be accepted by distributors.

Click here to ‘Like’ the campaign to credit performers, producers, and engineers on all online music services.

“It’s absolutely unbelievable that I can go online and instantly have access to Roger Federer’s obscure tennis stats but I can’t even see who is singing a song on iTunes or Pandora.” – Count