The Love/Hate News Report 12.15.11: UMG And The Holidays Don't Mix

Posted by John Downey on 12.15.2011

News and thoughts on Drake's fans doing crazy things with tattoo ink, Megaupload taking Universal to court, Janet Jackson becoming the face of Nutrisystem, the Black Keys explaining why they don't want their music to be streamed, Sinead O'Connor getting married, Fantasia Barrino giving birth and more!

Welcome to the only music news report that doesn't mind saying "Happy Holidays", the Love/Hate News Report! I know that a lot of people have made a fuss about not being able to say "Merry Christmas", but c'mon, folks, it's a Pavlovian response driven home for many people since childhood, and there are other holidays to celebrate in December. Oh, wait, I forgot about the "war on Christmas", which somehow involves gay people in the military. Um, next paragraph!

The torrent of "end of the year" lists has already begun, and man, have the guys at Earbuddy been cooking up a hell of a list. I won't spoil anything, but I think that it's a fantastic representation of the best music of 2011. It will be up soon, so check the site daily.

You should also spend more time reading other people's columns. Nick Krenn has two columns going: Major Bands, Minor Labels for the people who visit 411mania Music to hear about music, and The Music 3R's for your weekend LOLs. C.A. Bell's Ten Deep took a look at women who made great music in 2011. The comments section lit up asking why he didn't put Paramore or Nicki Minaj on his list. Sigh.

I've grown to like this eight story format. I think I'll keep it for a while—ten stories exhausts me. Anyway...

Okay, here's how this works: I find eight news bites per week, and complain about them. Except when I like them, in which case I'll rave about them. That is relatively speaking, of course. I'm a bit of a scoundrel who remains negative about most matters, so to let you know when I'm not trying to drown you in sarcasm/hate, I have helpful little visual reminders letting you know when I think something is a good thing. For reasons concerning symmetry, I've put indicators around the parts where I'm ranting.

If you don't agree with me, that's what the comment section is for. Go ahead and air your grievances in a matter that you find to be most appropriate. If you troll hard enough, I might cry. I will never admit to tearing up, of course, but you'll know when it happens when you get that warm feeling in your heart.

Anyway, let's get down to business...



Most news items are from 411 Music's newswire.

Janet Jackson Is The New Face Of Nutrisystem
A few weeks ago, I reported that Weight Watchers wanted to sign a deal with Jessica Simpson, paying her to lose weight after she gives birth next year. I said that it was tasteless and insulting, so of course Simpson agreed to the deal earlier this week. Rather than give that deal more publicity, though, I'd like to highlight a celebrity weight-loss deal that doesn't piss me off—Janet Jackson's deal with Nutrisystem.

Jackson has spent most of her time in the public eye in great shape, but whenever she did put on a few pounds, the tabloids had a field day. She's in great shape these days, though, and that makes her a great choice to represent Nutrisystem. The best spokesperson (bleurgh) you can get for a weight loss program is someone who is not only in shape but has been perceived by the general public to have been out of shape at some point, and Jackson fits the bill. She hasn't officially announced this deal as of this writing, but her image has already appeared on a print ad, so it's pretty official. Seems like good business all around.




This Is A News Story About The American Rock Band The Black Keys
Everyone seems to love the Black Keys, and I'm not sure why. I think they're a good band, but they seemed to have exploded in popularity in the past year for little discernible reason. It's like when everyone suddenly became huge fans of Muse a few years back—I kept wondering if I missed a publicity stunt or two.

Patrick Carney, the drummer for the Black Keys, commented on the band's decision to not allow their latest album, El Camino, to be streamed on Spotify. Cue quote machine:

[The album is] becoming more popular, but it still isn't at a point where you're able to replace royalties from record sales with the royalties from streams. So it felt unfair to people who purchased our album to allow people to just go on a website and stream the album for free whenever they wanted. For a band that makes a living selling music, it's not at a point yet to be feasible for us. It's set up to be a little bit more fair for the labels than it is for the artists, I think.

I won't the band apart, as they usually come across as likeable dudes in interviews, but the highlighted sentence is what set me off. If the band wants to claim that they don't want their album to be streamed because the money isn't worth it, they have every right to. It's their music, they should have the right to promote it as they see fit. But claiming that fans who bought the album are pissed would be pissed that other people would be able to hear the album for free via a legal streaming service? That's grasping for straws—people like sharing their music tastes using Spotify, and I would imagine that people who bought and loved El Camino would like to share it with their friends. I can accept the money angle, but not the "we're doing it for our fans" angle.




Marriage News
Sinead O'Connor got married to Barry Herridge on December 8. This is her fourth marriage, with her most recent divorce being finalized this past April. I'm trying to stay classy, so I won't make the obvious jokes—that's up to you.

Peaches Geldof, the daughter of Bob Geldof, announced that she is engaged to Tom Cohen, the lead singer of S.C.U.M. She made it known that the wedding won't occur for a few years, but she has already bought a house with Cohen.

Congratulations to both couples, and here's hoping that this marks the irrational behavior of both women.


Why does the unicorn distract me so?


Universal Vs. Megaupload
First, the usual disclosure: piracy is bad and you shouldn't do it. Got it? Great—now I'll explain why Universal Music Group can cram it.

Megaupload, a file-sharing service, uploaded a music video to YouTube this past weekend featuring endorsements from many celebrities, including artists who are under UMG contract. See for yourself (while you can):



Megaupload had the folks in the video sign agreements to appear in the video, and the backing music is original material. Despite owning nothing in the video, UMG filed a takedown notice for the video citing copyright infringement. Now, YouTube has an ID service in place to identify material that could infringe on copyrights, and for a short time, it seemed as though their service was mistaken, but salty e-mails sent from UMG to Megaupload's office leave little doubt the reason why the video was taken down.

Again, piracy is ruining the business, and UMG should go after folks who are hurting their business, but Megaupload, by itself, isn't illegal, just as any file-sharing service isn't illegal. Files that could be shared on the service might be infringing, but from what I understand, Megaupload are good at responding to claims in quick fashion. The problem seems to be on UMG's end as they've gone a bit nuts in trying to stop piracy, including their fervent support of SOPA, and they are already in a legal battle with Grooveshark with little solid evidence on their side. Their Grooveshark case still looks a bit shaky, but this looks like an open-and-shut case—UMG took down a video that didn't infringe on their copyrights and acted like presumptuous dicks in doing so. Megaupload isn't run by the best people in the world, but I hope they take a good deal of UMG's money with this lawsuit.


Queens Of The Stone Age Working On New Album
Josh Homme, the driving force behind Queens of the Stone Age, recently sent out a notice saying that he was in the process of recording new music for his band. Allow me to express my jubilation for this news in an appropriate manner.

Ahem:



Also,



If the news of new QOTSA doesn't get you excited, you don't have a pulse. It's as simple as that.


Moron Gets Drake's Name Tattooed On Her Forehead
I still haven't gotten around to listening to Drake's latest album, though the general consensus among the usual 411mania seems to be that it sucks because Drake is not much of an imposing force, which is like Empire Strikes Back is the worst Star Wars movie because there isn't much action in it. As this story goes, Drake rapped, "Tat my name on you so I know it's real"—an okay line, but whatever. One enthusiastic fan decided to call his bluff and got Drake's name tattooed on her forehead.

No, really.



This is the world we live in, folks. Pray for the Apocalypse.


Fantasia Barrino Gives Birth
Fantasia Barrino was due to give birth near the end of the month, but we went into labor Tuesday night and gave birth to her second child (and first boy), Dallas Xavier Barrino. I'd harp on that first name, but I went to college with a guy named Boston, so it's not the strangest thing I've ever heard.

Congratulations to Fantasia Barrino and Antwaun Cook, and here's hoping their child spends the rest of his life being early for things, if only for my amusement.




Deaths In Music This Week
Music executive and former Death Row VP John Atterberry passed away after sustaining injuries in a shooting in Hollywood. Atterberry's career included working with Jessica Simpson and the Spice Girls. Atterberry is the only person killed in the shooting (not including the shooter himself, Tyler Brehm, who was killed by police). Atterberry was 40.

Dan "Bee" Spears, Willie Nelson's bassist, passed away after falling at home. Spears had played with Nelson's band for over forty years and appeared on several of his albums. He was 62.

On behalf of 411mania, I extend my condolences to the friends and families of the deceased.




COMPLETELY UNNECESSARY WANKERY BROUGHT ABOUT BECAUSE IT IS MID-DECEMBER
As mentioned, I've already come up with a list of my favorite albums of the year, but while I can't (and won't) divulge what's on my list, it's tempting to compare this year in music to what came out in 2010. It's so tempting, in fact, that I decided to do just that. Here's my list of the top ten albums of 2010—and what I think of these albums now.

10.) Album Of The Year, Black Milk
At the time, I said that I didn't think this was better than his previous album, Tronic. On second thought, I'm not sure that this album is better than Popular Demand. The second half sags a bit, Black's lyrics never live up to the quality of his beats, and the tracks that are longer than five minutes are begging to be skipped on repeated listens. If I were to judge the best albums of 2010 today, I don't think that Album Of The Year would make the top ten.

9.) Downtime/Uptime, The Kleptones
This free mashup is a Godsend for a NaNoWriMo individual such as myself, as it is the perfect soundtrack for writing late at night. Well, at least the Downtime part of the album is. I still think this is better than anything Girl Talk has ever made, but had the guy behind this mashup fleshed out more of his ideas, this would have cracked my top five.

8.) The ArchAndroid, Janelle Monae
I haven't listened to this album in months, and I don't see myself going through this whole album again in the near future. It's likeable, sure, but it's also unwieldy. Also, Of Montreal show up and remind me why I don't like them.

7.) A Badly Broken Code, Dessa
With the number of times I have gone through this whole album in the past year, I criminally underrated this one. Honestly, this should have been #2—that's how much I've grown to love it.

6.) Plastic Beach, Gorillaz
Quick question: how many of y'all listen to this album past "Superfast Jellyfish"? Yeah, that's what I thought.

5.) Sir Lucious Left Foot: The Return Of Chico Dusty, Big Boi
I know I placed this in my top five, but I still think I underrated this one. SLLFTROCD is better than most OutKast albums, including Stankonia. Yeah, I said it.

4.) Dreams, Multfaros
This remains one of the few 8-bit albums that I can actually get into. It remains good stuff, though I might have ranked it too high.

3.) Paul's Tomb: A Triumph, Frog Eyes
Wow, I haven't touched this album at all since last December. I maintain that this is one of the best guitar albums of 2010, but this is probably the most difficult album to "get into" on this list. It's great, sure, but I don't know that anyone reading this would appreciate it.

2.) Sit Down, Man, Das Racist
The album's best cuts make up some of the best songs of 2010…and then there's the rest of the album. A redone version of this list would likely still include this album, though it would be much lower.

1.) My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy, Kanye West
I've changed my opinion on this album quite a bit. Somehow, I love it even more than I did when I made this list up.

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Hey, at least I disclosed that it was wankery. And with that, we come to this week's playlist. I'm trying to get into the holiday spirit, but I can't find any good Christmas albums. Here's the best I could find—Jim Jones's A Dipset X-Mas. Hey, it's good for a laugh at the very least. Enjoy.



If the widget doesn't work, click here. If the widget doesn't show up, then it REALLY didn't work.

Albums To Love
January: Kaputt, Destroyer
February: Higher Learning 2, Fashawn
March: All Eternals Deck, Mountain Goats
April: Return Of 4eva, Big K.R.I.T.
May: Own Your Ghost, 13 & God
June: Blacked Up, Shabazz Palaces
July: Punch Perm, Dream Jefferson
August: Watch The Throne, Jay-Z and Kanye West
September: Father, Son, Holy Ghost, Girls
October: Hurry Up, We're Dreaming, M83
November: iSLAND, G-Side

Cheap plug: Earbuddy. Damn good source of music news and views. "Like" it on Facebook, too. I wrote reviews for Asobi Seksu's Fluorescence, Joker's The Vision, A Loud Heart's self-titled EP, and the latest edition of my other column, "Own It Or Disown It", in which I look at OutKast's Stankonia, is up as well.

And here it is, this week's Video To Love…



THAT'S ALL, FOLKS!
See you in seven...if you're lucky.

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