James McCartney's debut EP, Available Light, is set to be released on September 21 and is now available for pre-order on iTunes. The EP contains 4 original tracks plus a cover of the classic Neil Young song, "Old Man."

Listen here to the first single, "Angel" written by James and co-produced by Paul McCartney and David Kahne.

Mario Cantone welcomes Barbara Walters back to The View after her recent open-heart surgery.

Hear the original.

After being presented the Gershwin Award at the White House in June, Paul McCartney will be one of five artists receiving the 2010 Kennedy Center Honor. The honor is given in recognition of a lifetime achievement in entertainment and popular culture. Also being recognized is the great Broadway composer, Jerry Herman, whose shows include Hello, Dolly!, Mame, and La Cage Aux Folles which recently won the Tony award for best revival.

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Washington Post - "McCartney, who received the Library of Congress Gershwin Prize for Popular Song in June and performed at the White House, has long led the list of most beloved and influential musicians. Now 68 years old, he transformed the music scene with the Beatles and, after their breakup in 1970, enjoyed success with his own band Wings and continues to be an exhilarating performer on tour, drawing crowds of all generations. Music authorities rank his 1965 composition "Yesterday" as one of the best songs ever and declare that it has been played more than 6 million times on American radio."

Read the entire article

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Also being honored is Oprah Winfrey, Merle Haggard, and dancer-choreographer, Bill T. Jones.

The U.S. 9th Circuit Court of Appeals has ruled against Universal Music Group in a case involving digital music sales, which includes downloads and ringtones. The decision states that record labels providing songs to on-line retailers such as iTunes are entering into a 3rd party license, therefore, the standard royalty rate that an artist has negotiated with a label for typical record sales does not apply to on-line sales. Artists would now be free to negotiate a new royalty rate for digital sales. The ruling would affect artists whose contracts do not specifically address royalty rates for digital downloads.

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Freep.com - "The suit was filed by Ferndale's FBT Productions, which administered Eminem's record deal with Universal.

Today's ruling could have fallout in the evolving world of digital music, experts said, pushing other artists to negotiate with their labels for higher online royalty rates. It could even pave the way for some holdouts, including Detroit’s Bob Seger, to finally offer their songs online."

Read the entire article

 ASCAP, the American Society Of Composers, Authors and Publishers, has launched a free app available for iphone, ipad and ipod touch. It allows users to search ASCAP's song database, and gives members access to their song and royalty information.

ASCAP collects performance royalties on behalf of writers and publishers.

www.ascap.com

CNN will be airing a tribute to the great Les Paul on their international program, Icon. The broadcast celebrates the life and legacy of Les Paul and will air Thursday (with future repeats). It features interviews with Paul McCartney, Slash, and Billy Gibbons among others. Here's a clip of Sir Paul discussing Les Paul's guitars.

Preview of tonight's "Icon" on CNN:

Pokey LaFarge, featured on MPL's indie one-stop site, fresh from playing Glasgow's Celtic Connections Festival, is about to embark on a European tour. Here, Pokey talks about his music, influences and his growing career.

 Hear Pokey's music.

Dan Zanes spoke with Knoxmoms.com about his recent concert in Knoxville, TN, and his latest album comprised of classic Broadway songs from the MPL catalogue.

Dan Zanes' Web Page

Businessweek - Aug. 11 (Bloomberg) -- Lime Wire LLC, the operator of a file-sharing website that a judge said infringed copyrights on recordings, requested a jury trial in a separate lawsuit filed by music publishers. Lime Wire, based in New York, denied the accusations of copyright infringement made by publishers including Warner Music Group Corp. in an answer to their complaint filed today in federal court in Manhattan. U.S. District Judge Kimba Wood ruled in May that Lime Wire was liable for inducing copyright infringement on 30 recordings by allowing Web users to share them without authorization by record labels. The publishing companies, which collect royalties for songwriters, sued a month later.

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“Thousands upon thousands of American songwriters have been harmed by the illegal activities of Lime Wire,” David Israelite, the president of the National Music Publishers’ Association, said in an e-mailed statement. “We look forward to their day in court.”

Read the article

Paul McCartney will be playing two concerts in Toronto and one in Montreal next week. Here is a recent interview (audio) conducted by Canadian radio host, Jian Ghomeshi.

Read the full article

Broadcast Music Inc. (BMI) collects performance royalties on behalf of publishers and songwriters. Radio and TV stations, most restaurants and bars, music venues, among other establishments must pay a licensing fee in order to play copyrighted music in their places of business. Here's an interesting look at the lengths a BMI licensing executive goes through to see that businesses license and pay due royalties.

The Music-Copyright Enforcers

Few things can make Devon Baker cry.

There was the time her pet hamster, Herschel, died. There was the time she was run over by a car. Neither episode provoked tears. Not even close. And yet, on a recent Thursday, as Baker drove down Highway 60, about 55 miles northwest of Phoenix, she had to wonder, Is today one of those days when I’m gonna cry?

Baker, who has preternaturally white teeth, green eyes, soft brown hair and a friendly way that she’s the first to describe as “country,” was on her once-a-month, weeklong road trip. She’d flown to Phoenix to meet with bar and restaurant owners to discuss a rather straightforward business proposal. Off she went on her rounds each day, navigating with a special Microsoft Streets and Trips plan she prepared in advance, with 60 to 80 venues marked with dots, triangles or blue squares, according to size, dollar value and priority, wearing her company badge with photo ID, hoping for a little friendly discussion. Except it didn’t always work out so friendly.

Once, a venue owner exploded, kicked her off his property and told her, as she recalled, “to get the bleep outta here.” Another hissed at her that she was “nothing more than a vulture that flew over and came down and ate up all of the little people.” It wasn’t fun. It was just the sort of thing, in fact, that could bring Devon Baker to tears.

Baker, 30, is a licensing executive with Broadcast Music Incorporated, otherwise known as BMI. The firm is a P.R.O., or performing rights organization; P.R.O.’s license the music of the songwriters and music publishers they represent, collecting royalties whenever that music is played in a public setting.

Read the article: NYT

PBS will be broadcasting the 2010 Gershwin Award tonight at 8:00 pm given to Paul McCartney for Popular Song. Highlights included "Michelle" sung to Michelle Obama, "Ebony And Ivory" performed with Stevie Wonder, and a singalong of "Hey Jude" with the Obamas. The event took place in the East Room of the White House.

Read Billboard's Q&A with Paul McCartney.

Frank Loesser's "How To Succeed In Business Without Really Trying" will be returning to Broadway in the Spring of 2011 starring Daniel Radcliff of Harry Potter fame.  Please visit the official "How To Succeed..." website for more information.

Singer-songwriter Devendra Banhart has announced nine U.S. tour dates beginning August 14 in Columbia, MD:

Columbia, MD Merriweather Post Pavilion (August 14)
Norfolk, VA The Norva (August 16)
Richmond, VA The National (August 17)
New York, NY Terminal 5 (August 19)
Atlanta, GA Variety Playhouse (October 4)
Nashville, TN Exit/In (October 5)
Houston, TX Warehouse Studio (October 8)
Dallas, TX Palladium Showroom (October 9)
Austin, TX Austin City Limits (October 10)

Devendra Banhart's music is now available for licensing from MPL's one-stop music library. Check it out here!

New from Sony Classical, "Heart & Soul: Celebrating The Unforgettable Songs Of Frank Loesser" showcases 19 of Frank Loesser's works, from his early career composing for Hollywood films to his later classic Broadway show scores. To hear even more unforgettable classics from the Frank Loesser song book, click here.

Apple Records will be remastering 15 classic albums for release on CD and Digital Download on October 26, 2010. Titles include James Taylor's self-titled debut, and several albums by Badfinger, Mary Hopkins, and Billy Preston among others.

PR Newswire - Launched by The Beatles in 1968, as the new outlet for their own recordings as well as the music of an eclectic roster of artists - James Taylor, Badfinger, Billy Preston, Mary Hopkin, Doris Troy, and Jackie Lomax among them - who were all personally brought to the label by The Beatles (individually and/or collectively), Apple Records made popular music history from the very moment it opened its doors.

Four decades later, Apple Corps Ltd. and EMI Music raise the curtain on remastered CD and digital download releases of 15 key albums from the Apple Records catalog.  All 15 titles will be released on October 26, 2010.  Most of the physical CDs will include bonus material.  Together, the 15 albums represent the first ever Apple Records releases to be available via digital download.

In the revolutionary spirit of 1968, The Beatles' explosive musical output (characterized by their double-LP White Album) was only exceeded by their fascination with what they saw and heard going on around them.  Five years into The Beatles' reign, Apple Records afforded them the unique opportunity to sign new (and established) artists who appealed to each of them.  In turn, the introduction of an artist on The Beatles' record label was an imprimatur taken very seriously by fans across the universe.

This marks the first time an Apple Records release will be available for digital download.

The Hollywood Chamber of Commerce has announced that rock n' roll pioneer Buddy Holly will receive a posthumous star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. The induction ceremony is scheduled on or around September 7, 2011, which would have been Buddy's 75th birthday.

Lubbock Online - The Hollywood (Calif.) Chamber of Commerce announced Thursday that the late Charles Hardin "Buddy" Holly, a Lubbock native, is one of two recording artists who will receive stars on the Hollywood Walk of Fame in posthumous ceremonies.

Also being honored posthumously is the late Louis Prima.

Read the entire article..

Hear Buddy's biggest hits here.

Jersey Boys and La Cage Aux Folles, both Tony award winners for Best Musical, remain strong at the box office. Jersey Boys features several MPL songs and tells the story of the rise and fall of The Four Seasons. MPL publishes the La Cage score, written by the great Broadway composer Jerry Herman.

Jersey Boys - $1,083,587 - 99.3% capacity

La Cage Aux Folles - $747,616 - 95.3%

-week of 6/27/2010

Source: BroadwayWorld.com

After almost 5 years on Broadway, Jersey Boys shows no signs of slowing down!

Jersey Boys official web page

La Cage official web page

Paul McCartney was the headliner this past Sunday, June 27, at the annual Hard Rock Calling festival in Hyde Park, UK. Paul teamed up with the "Born HIV Free" charity to broadcast the concert on the internet and raise awareness for HIV transmission between mother and child. Please show your support to the charity by adding your name to their Global Fund petition to eradicate HIV transmission by 2015. You can watch clips from Paul's entire performance at the special You Tube channel that has been set up by Born HIV Free. Here's Paul performing "Jet" in front of 40,000 fans.