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| JOHN JANICK NAMED PRESIDENT/COO OF INTERSCOPE GEFFEN A&M: It’s official: John Janick has been named president and chief operating officer of Interscope Geffen A&M, the label announced today. Janick joins the company after 16 years at the helm of the indie Fueled By Ramen (fun., Fall Out Boy, Paramore, Panic! at the Disco) and three as co-president of Elektra Records, where he saw success with Bruno Mars, Cee Lo Green and others. Janick has been touted as IGA chairman/CEO Jimmy Iovine’s heir apparent. Billboard.biz |
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ALBUM SALES SLIGHTLY DOWN, DIGITAL LP SALES UP 15% SO FAR IN 2012: SOUNDSCAN: Album sales continue to decline slightly because of an accelerating drop in CD sales, but digital track sales passed the billion-unit mark for the first time in the first nine months of 2012, according to a new report by Nielsen SoundScan. U.S. album sales were down 4.4% while digital album sales are up 15.3% and Universal Music Group remained the top U.S. album distributor. For Glenn People’s Business Matters analysis on Nielsen’s numbers click here. |
JUSTIN BIEBER, RIHANNA FAN SITES OPERATOR TO PAY $1 MILLION IN PRIVACY SETTLEMENT: The FTC filed charges against Warner Music Group division Artist Arena LLC for violations of the Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act that forbids websites from collecting personal information from users under 13 years of age without parental consent. According to the filing, more than 100,000 users’ information was gathered illegally through websites for fans of four pop stars: Rihanna, Demi Lovato, Justin Bieber and Selena Gomez. The company is being fined $1 million.
Wall Street Journal
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YOUTUBE ALTERS COPYRIGHT ALGORITHMS, WILL ‘MANUALLY’ REVIEW SOME CLAIMS: Google-owned YouTube is altering its algorithms to reduce invalid copyright infringement claims and will begin manually reviewing some claims instead of the system automatically blocking disputed footage. The development comes a month after First Lady Michelle Obama’s speech at the Democratic National Convention was wrongly flagged by algorithms just after it aired. Wired has labeled the algorithm “streaming video’s robotic overlord.”
Wired
MUMFORD & SON CHALLENGERS: MUSE, MIGUEL AIM FOR TOP OF NEXT WEEK’S BILLBOARD 200 CHART: Rock band Muse and R&B singer Miguel are aiming for the top five on next week Billboard 200 albums chart, while reigning kings Mumford & Sons should hold the top slot for a second week. Other artists primed for a high entry next week include Diana Krall, Three Days Grace and Jackie Evancho.
Billboard.biz
RUSH, DEEP PURPLE, PUBLIC ENEMY, KRAFTWERK, NWA, THE METERS AMONG ROCK HALL NOMINEES: Deep Purple and Rush, long considered glaring oversights for the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, are among the finalists on this year’s ballot. They join returning artists Kraftwerk, Donna Summer, Chic and the Meters and a pair of groundbreaking first-time-nominated rap groups Public Enemy and N.W.A. among others for the 2013 slate.
Billboard.biz
ANDREESSEN HOROWITZ INVESTS $15 MILLION IN RAP GENIUS: Silicon Valley venture capital firm Andreessen Horowitz, whose co-founder Marc Andreessen helped build Mosaic as one of the first Web browsers nearly 20 years ago, on Wednesday announced it has invested $15 million in Rap Genius. The site, dedicated to analyzing hip-hop lyrics — or, as they put it, “critiquing rap as poetry — is a New York-based startup founded in 2009 by Mahbod Moghadam, Ilan Zechory and Tom Lehman.
Billboard.biz
THE REPLACEMENTS REUNITE FOR SLIM DUNLAP BENEFIT RECORD: In late September, singer Paul Westerberg and bassist Tommy Stinson spent a day in a Minneapolis studio and cut four cover songs that will be released later this year as a limited edition 10-inch vinyl EP. All 250 copies will auctioned online, and the proceeds will benefit Slim Dunlap, the Replacements’ guitarist from 1987 to 1991, who had a severe stroke in February. Does this augur a new tour or album from the Replacements, one of the best American bands of the Eighties? “It’s possible,” Westerberg says.
Rolling Stone
FACEBOOK HITS 1 BILLION USERS: Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg revealed this morning in a Facebook post that his social networking site hit the 1 billion milestone. He also said that Facebook employees counted down to hitting the milestone, then went back to work. “Helping a billion people connect is amazing, humbling and by far the thing I am most proud of in my life,” he wrote.”
Facebook
