The audience never knew. The crowd never knew. Fans were blowing up Facebook and Twitter describing the beauty of Beyonce’s voice.

Beyoncé did not sing the national anthem live at President Obama’s inauguration.

Millions of viewers around the world were stunned by the singer’s spectacular rendition of the anthem but The Times has learnt that she was lip-syncing to a pre-recorded backing track.

A spokeswoman for the Marine Corp Band Kristen DuBois said it was standard procedure to record a backing track and Beyoncé decided shortly before her performance to rely on the studio version father than risking singing it live on the Capitol. Read more

Buzz Track: Character

April Kry, although just getting started has already become a Kings favorite and receiving interest from publishing companies. She performs around the Nashville area drawing influences from Rachael Lampa and Colbie Caillat. She has been working with talented people in the industry including Javier Colon-winner of “The Voice” Season 1, Lead guitarist and founder of “The Bomb Squad”, Ian McHugh, Tom Jackson who has worked with Taylor Swift and Jordin Sparks, ZodLounge music, and many more.
Contact: Brett@zodlounge.com

Kim Dotcom, the larger-than-life personality accused by the U.S. of operating a website used to pirate half a billion dollars in entertainment, introduced a new version of his controversial file-storage service on Sunday. Mega, as his new service is known, features a technology that won’t necessarily shield the company or its users from liability in copyright infringements but may make it harder for copyright holders to identify illegal content.

Mr. Dotcom’s Megaupload site was shut down a year ago by the U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigation during its largest-ever criminal copyright enforcement. The FBI alleged Megaupload was used to pirate entertainment content.

The launch of a similar site may antagonize the U.S., since the Justice Department has labored in court for a year to have the 39-year-old, originally from Germany, extradited to the U.S. to stand trial. Read more

Buzz Track: Favorite Girl

The Icarus Account who hails from Fort Myers is a two-piece acoustic/indie pop project made up of twin brothers Trey and Ty Turner. They have released three full-length albums, and three EPs. Ty and Trey debuted their first EP in 2006 when they were freshmen in College. Over the years the band has created a dedicated fanbase and a niche audience across the world. The band released their newest full-length album, “Carry Me Home” which propelled them to new heights as the album debuted at #5 on the iTunes Singer/Songwriter charts. They sold over 250 physical pre-sales of the album and nearly 500 digital copies were purchased in the first week. They have toured with Hey Monday,Twenty-One Pilots and many others.
Contact: danielrfriedman@aol.com

Fox’s American Idol returned Wednesday night to its lowest-rated and least-watched regular-season premiere telecast ever (the first season aired during the summer and generally isn’t counted). Idol delivered 17.9 million viewers and a 6.0 adults 18-49 demo rating. That’s down 19 percent from last year’s opener, which was the previous lowest-ever record-holder.

The numbers also mean last night’s Idol premiere will not be the most-watched entertainment show this week — Tuesday’s NCIS had 22.9 million viewers. This is the first time another series was seen by more viewers than Idol during its regular season premiere week.

Fox was braced for worse. Last year Idol was down an unprecedented 24 percent after the network launched The X Factor in the fall. This fall had both X Factor and NBC’s powerful The Voice, so competition show burnout by the time Idol opened seemed likely. Idol still managed to rank as the top-rated singing show premiere this season. Read more