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Guess who’s coming to town? The House Judiciary Committee!
Congressman Darrell Issa will host a Field Hearing this Friday in LA connected to the recording industry. The meeting is set for 9am at the Los Angeles Convention Center. It’s all about AI, of course, as well as copyrights, trademarks, and artists rights.
The players will be from a subcommittee on all these issues. The 10 reps want to hear what’s going on with all these things. Issa, a Republican, is “very involved in artists rights,” a source says. Among the subjects will be radio monetization — in other words, radio companies trying to avoid paying performance royalties. )We’re always up for that conversation.)
AI is a looming problem for the music industry as Frankenstein records are being created without anyone’s permission. A fake song by Drake and The Weeknd turned up last year, and since then Spotify has been on the lookout for equally fake albums by many artists.
Issa is serious about this stuff. He holds 37 patents himself. So he knows the perils of what’s coming. It’s hoped that some name recording artists will rouse themselves out of bed and participate in the conversation. So far they’ve got country star Lainey Wilson. They’ve also got Recording Academy CEO Harvey Mason Jr.; Christopher Mohr, president of the Software and Information Industry Association; and Jennifer Rothman, professor of law at the University of Pennsylvania Law School.
The hearing will be in person and also live streamed. So stay tuned…
The Oscars are not until March 10th, but the swag that tinsel town loves is in full swing.
Recently, GBK hosted their Pooph’s luxury lounge by LA Smile and GBK Brand Bar at the Beverly Wilshire Hotel. Angela Bassett, Mira Sorvino, ‘Succession’s’ Brian Cox, Shari Belafonte, William Stanford Davis from ‘Abbot Elementary’ ‘The Bear’s’ Liza Colon Zayas and more visited.
ROOT Brands products were a hit, with celebs sampling their Zero IN, Rahm Roast Coffee, ReLive Greens, Give Me Back My Youth, Restore, Immune Defense Shield and more. Co-founder Clayton Thomas was explaining to all, as well Dr. Christina Rahm who was touting her book ‘Cure The Causes.’ Pooph, the best-selling pet eliminator and Care A2+, an Australian wellness formula for babies. (ROOT will be back for the GBK suite for the Oscars,)
Michael Todd Beauty proved to be a highlight; he had his widely popular organically based skin care products and at home beauty devices that ‘bring the spa home’ by Spa Sciences. Todd’s products are sold through prestige retailers and exclusive spas throughout the world. Other cool stuff was El-Cristiano’s ultra-premium tequila, Ike’s Love and Sandwiches and Milena’s Los Angeles vegan candles and body butter.
For the doggies there was Glow Pups, an LA based doggy life style brand and Angel City Pit Bulls and Paws for Life K9 Rescue were featured. Also showcased was Rear Ended “Frame the Beauty” luxury athleisure brand that is hip, functional and stylish. Lo & Sons and their globally recognized travel essentials brand which includes eco-friendly weekender bags, crossbody bags, laptop bags and wallets, one of the celeb faves of the event.
Celebs were also drawn to the Rest Duvet’s Evercool Cooling Comforter’s game-changing temperature regulating technology and moisture-wicking fabric, designed to deliver a cool, dry and restful sleep experience for all types of sleepers. Comfy and cozy, you can’t go wrong. GBK of course, always gets it right with their buzzy suites with their unique assortment of swag!
Joni Mitchell will perform at the Grammy Awards next Sunday.
The famed pop/folk/jazz singer songwriter has won 10 Grammys in her lifetime but never performed on the show.
This is big, big news and a stunning comeback for Joni. Nine years ago Joni suffered a brain aneurysm that almost killed her. Initially she couldn’t walk or talk. But she battled back, mightily, to the point where this year she is nominated for Best Folk Album, for her live performance at the Newport Folk Festival.
Will Brandi Carlile join her? Carlile has been a huge part of Joni’s career recovery. Will Taylor Swift be part of the proceedings? Taylor is nominated for 6 Grammys this year including Album, Song, and Record of the Year. This Grammy show could be her own Super Bowl!
Joni Mitchell has blazed a path in all genres of music, especially folk, pop, and jazz. Her hits include Both Sides Now, Big Yellow Taxi, Help Me, Free Man in Paris, The Circle Game, River (It’s Coming on Christmas), and many, many more. They could do a whole tribute to her on the Grammys– and maybe they will.
Kudos to Grammy producer Ben Winston for pulling this off!
Unable to attack E. Jean Carroll on social media, Donald Trump has returned to squawking about Judge Engoron and the impending decision in the New York fraud over-value case.
Trump just forgets that he’s already lost that case. Judge Engoron is just deciding by how much.
In new rants, Trump says the value of his assets didn’t include his “good will” or “name.” He doesn’t realize he has NO good will whatsoever. He especially doesn’t now after being judged guilty of sexual assault and defamation, and being ordered to pay E. Jean Carroll $88 million. And that’s just this week!
What about Stormy Daniels? And a thousand other things?
The good news is, his comeback on “SNL” after six years was a hit. Timberlak sang live, which was great, and performances of new songs “Sanctified” and “Selfish” went over like gangbusters. The production for each song was very high and skillful. The songs will be on his new album, coming in mid March.
The weird news is, Britney Spears fans exacted revenge* on Justin by fishing out a 2011 track also called “Selfish” and bombarding the iTunes charts with it. The result was that Britney’s “Selfish,” jumped ahead of Justin’s.
But even the Britney fans couldn’t have imagined the curve ball they got when right wing personality Ben Shapiro released a “rap” record with singer Tom Johnson and it went to number 1. So the ballot boxes were double stuffed tonight, iTunes was gamed, and it was all a chart mess.
As for “SNL,” something seemed ‘off’ in the sketches. Host Dakota Johnson wasn’t in rhythm with anyone, and some of the skits just didn’t make sense. The best bits where Jimmy Fallon and Timberlake reviving The Barry Gibb Talk Show, and Weekend Update. Otherwise, the whole thing felt disjointed. The cold open with NFL football players was a waste of time. The opener should have been about Trump and the $83 million judgement in the E. Jean Carroll case. Big missed opportunity.
On Thursday, Timberlake performed “Selfish” with Fallon and co on the Tonight Show (see below) plus a medley of his hits. He performs this coming week in New York for one night only at Irving Plaza. By then I would think the Spears record — was not even a single in 2011 — will be gone.
*If you don’t know what the revenge was for, I can’t get into it now.
Mark Knopfler, leader of the Dire Straits, established himself a long time ago as a Sultan of Swing.
The good news is, he’s not done. Knopfler has a new single, “Ahead of the Game,” from a solo album called “One Deep River.” If the rest of the album is this good, we’re in for a real treat!
And talk about ‘no one can write a new song.’ Knopfler has found a haunting riff with a strong beat that will stick in your head for a long time. I love this record!
E. Jean Carroll has landed on Monday night’s biggest news show.
Carroll, the $83 million woman, will be interviewed by MSNBC’s Rachel Maddow at 9pm.
Literally, stop the presses! Maddow’s Monday shows are typically the highest rated cable show of the week.
Carroll is the Person of the Moment having taken Donald Trump to the cleaners yesterday. A New York jury awarded her $83.3 million in the defamation case that resulted from her lawsuit against Trump in which he was found guilty of sexual assault.
Carroll had already won a judgement of $5 million against Trump. So that makes the total $88 million.
Look for Maddow to score her highest ever ratings on Monday. All eyes will be on this conversation!
If you’re looking at real revenue, congratulate Green Day.
The punk rock band’s exceptional new album. “Saviors,” sold 40,000 copies of CDs and paid downloads.
The album swamped all the competition in hard sales per individual album. But overall, with streaming, it finished fourth behind the new 21 Savages album, “American Dream.”
Curiously Green Day, fare more insightful, has a new song called “The Death of the American Dream.” 21 Savage should listen to it.
“Saviors” sold a total of 51,000 copies including specious streaming. 21 Savage sold 74,000 streaming equivalent copies, but only 1.500 CDs or downloads.
I’d say “Saviors” was number 1.
The total sales for the whole top 50 was very low and Christmas is over and the Taylor Swift onslaught has cooled finally. Now we’re waiting for new albums from Justin Timberlake and Ariana Grande, and made a bump from the Grammy Awards for a couple of winners.
As for Taylor, she sold around 160,000 copies in the top 50. Some “cooling off”! Her album, “Midnights,” is the likely Album of the Year winner, too, unless SZA can stop her.
How could any Republicans — or anyone at all –vote for Donald Trump after today?
This supercilious piece of trembling lard was told by a New York jury today to pay E. Jean Carroll $83 million. Of that $18 million was damages. The rest of it was just punishment for defaming the woman he’d already been convicted of sexually assaulting, for a second time.
Do you need to be painted a picture?
Trump already owes Carroll $5 million from the first round. He refused to offer any contrition. Instead, he tried to re-litigate the case he’d already lost. In the process, he insulted the judge and the jury. This morning he stormed out of court after speaking for a few minutes and completely turned off the jury, reminding them that he has respect for no one.
Trump will appeal the verdict, but as every legal expert has weighed in this afternoon, it will be futile. The amount could be cut, but even if it’s half it’s still a huge amount and one that will follow Trump to the grave.
