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EMI sues Def Jam Rapstar creators
EMI Music Group has filed a suit against Def Jam Rapstar creators 4mm Games and Terminal Reality, claiming the game contains unlicensed tracks from Kanye West, Lil Wayne, DMX and more, and uses unlicensed compositions from DJ Khaled, MIMS and Daft Punk.According to statements given to The Hollywood Reporter, EMI demanded royalties from the game makers but never received a response. EMI is looking for compensation on 54 songs from Def Jam Rapstar's total tracklist, and with EMI looking for upwards of $150,000 for each "infringement" that total tab is looking mighty steep. In the worst case, that brings us to total of $8.1 million.The karaoke aspect of Def Jam Rapstar, and its online video-sharing capabilities, also make this dispute trickier, since EMI owns the rights to display, publicly perform and distribute these songs. Please excuse us while we try to get Richard a good lawyer in case EMI targets us next.
Sword and Sworcery LP sampled by Lil Wayne
If you're a human being with ears and a heart, we're going to assume you loved Sword and Sworcery EP just as much as you loved Sword and Sworcery LP - The Ballad of the Space Babies, its ethereal, lovely soundtrack. Know what? We're going to go out on a limb and also assume that you love Lil Wayne -- because, really, who doesn't -- and therefore will double-love his new track, "She Will," which samples a selection from the iOS gem's score. We've contacted Superbrothers to find out the terms behind this auspicious partnership. You can listen to a brief chunk of the track after the jump, provided you're in a place that doesn't mind NSFW language. (Like, you know, not-work.)
T-Mobile finally getting in on the mobile 3G (or 4G) router craze next March?
Sprint, Verizon, and AT&T have all deployed MiFis (and MiFi equivalents) at this point, leaving T-Mobile as the sole US national carrier to do without a dedicated mobile router -- some sort of device you can throw in your pocket and turn on for those occasions when you need to turn a cellular data signal into a nice little pocket of WiFi. Looks like that's finally changing, though, with TmoNews leaking some shots suggesting that a device codenamed "Lil Wayne" -- yes, Lil Wayne -- will be introduced in March of next year, offering full 21Mbps HSPA+ speeds, followed by a second model in the second quarter of the year. The move makes a whole lot of sense for T-Mobile now that they're offering WiFi tethering on select phone models... and really, shouldn't we be using that shiny, new "4G" network in as many data-intensive ways as possible, anyway?
Free Weezy ... album with purchase of Def Jam Rapstar at Best Buy
Best Buy's got a rather appropriate incentive to shore up purchases of Def Jam Rapstar from tomorrow until Tuesday, October 19: Anyone who purchases the title during that week gets a free copy of Lil' Wayne's recently released album, "I Am Not A Human Being."
Celebrity Nerds: Lil' Wayne's got a modded Xbox
Celebrity Nerds confirms what you always knew, deep in your heart of hearts: that stars are nerds like us. Send in your own confirmations of this fact right here. Now, we don't have photographic evidence of this one, so Wayne, if you happen to be a reader, feel free to snap a pic of yourself with the console. Either way, we have enough proof to proudly classify Lil' Wayne a... you know, nerd. GTR has published a video of the New Orleans-born rapper having a conversation with KRS-One during which he says he's got an "Xbox that has every game from A-Z, Atari, Nintendo, pong, movies & even porn." Whoa. Where can we get one of those? Wayne claims that the Xbox was a gift... but we bet he hacked it himself. Video is embedded after the break.[Via Joystiq]
Lil' Wayne apparently has a modded Xbox
It must be great to be a celebrity. Take rapper Lil' Wayne for example. In a GTR video clip, he tells about an Xbox he received from a friend that plays "every game from A-Z, Atari, Nintendo, pong, movies & even porn." Can you imagine? We didn't even know Microsoft made an Xbox like that, and here celebrities are getting them as gifts. ... What's that? ... It's a modded Xbox? Oh come on, now you're just being naive. Kidding aside, you can say what you will about our close personal friend Soulja Boy, but at least he pays for his games before he totally misunderstands them to be about drugs and alcohol.
Complete My Album is selling music
I was just as much a naysayer as Dave was when the service first came out (and for the record, I haven't used it all either), but apparently there are lots of people who do use Apple's "Complete My Album" service in iTunes -- the NYT says that it has become a prime selling tool, especially for bands and labels that pre-release singles from their album in a digital format. A whopping 52% of Lil Wayne's latest album sales on iTunes were sold through the "Complete My Album" feature. That means half the people who bought the album on iTunes had previously purchased one of the singles, and clicked through that way to buy the rest of their music.And though neither Dave or I use "Complete My Album," that's a good sign for consumers, and a nice wake up call for the record industry -- the days of playing a song on the radio to up album sales are over. Digital releases are what sells music, and though "Complete My Album" currently only works on music previously purchased in the iTunes store, Apple could very easily extend that to all music in iTunes -- if you like a song that you've downloaded as a free single from the artist's website, it's just as easy to find music of theirs to buy in iTunes the same way.We're done with a world where radio airplay determines what sells at the record store. These days, consumers are the ones who tell record makers what they want to buy -- it's already in their iTunes playlists.
