Variety reports that Sony has completed its acquisition of BMG. It will now be known as Sony Music Entertainment.
“Bertelsmann will receive $1.2 billion dollars from the deal, including $300 million of its share of the cash on Sony BMG’s balance sheet.” Arigato, danke schön, etc.
Neil Diamond – Home Before Dark (SonyBMG)
Rick Rubin pisses me off. What’s he got against drums? I could almost forgive the lack of drums on Rubin’s first Neil Diamond production, 12 Songs. Back then, one could argue that it was necessary to clear the slate of all the sequins and spangles that Diamond had been building up since 1973. I wasn’t happy about the lack of drums, but I could understand it.
But two in a row without drums? That trick’s a gimmick, Rick. You don’t need to beat us over the head with intimacy. Especially not when the songs are (once again) this good.
The music giant agreed Tuesday to cease embedding compact discs with digital rights management software that limited the number of copies consumers can make of the music and harmed the computers of some consumers. It also agreed to pay fines in California and Texas.
Sony BMG entered a stipulated judgment with the Los Angeles County District Attorney’s Office and the California Attorney General’s Office to remedy a civil consumer protection complaint filed by the D.A.’s Consumer Protection Division and the attorney general’s Consumer Law Section. They made a similar agreement in Texas.
Each state will receive $750,000 in civil penalties and costs.
Fuckers.
Rick Rubin is not God. He has produced more than a few bad albums in his day. Yes, his early work the Beastie Boys, Run-DMC and Slayer is undeniably awesome. But after that, for every Johnny Cash record, there have been plenty of mediocre releases by the Cult and Red Hot Chili Peppers. And Weezer. The magic that he created on Cash’s 1994 American Recordings is not that easy to replicate.
He tried with Donovan in 1996 on Sutras but failed. I might be the world’s biggest Donovan apologist, but that album is just not that good. It’s out of print now, so most people will never even know. The problem was that when Rubin stripped Donovan down to his bare essence, all that was left was a sweet old guy singing boring (but pretty) ballads that didn’t really go anywhere or make you feel anything.
Sony BMG – malware feature comparison: Suncomm’s MediaMax isn’t getting as much attention as the XCP shit, but it looks almost as bad. When will the major labels realize that DRM only hurts their real customers who actually purchase their cds? Boycott Sony until they stop using bullshit DRM. And that includes the Strokes on RCA.
A recent story in the New York Times described a new cruise ship that’s being built. It will be christened the Pride of America. It is being built in Germany. It will be an American-flagged vessel. That means it will have the opportunity to cruise between American ports. There’s a law that prohibits foreign-flagged vessels from doing that. So the Pride of America will have a leg up on the others. A few other things to know, however. The Pride of America is owned by Norwegian Cruise Lines. Last I checked, Norway isn’t a U.S. state. But that doesn’t matter much. Norwegian Cruise Lines is owned by Star Cruises. Star is headquartered in Hong Kong. Which isn’t in the U.S., either. But that doesn’t matter because Star Cruises is actually a unit of Genting Berhad. That company is actually based in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. All of which is beginning to make me feel like I’ve got a bad case of novovirus that’s now seemingly one of the perks of taking a cruise nowadays.
This isn’t about ships. It’s about the fact that an independent record store in my town just closed.
