NEW YORK, June 11 /PRNewswire/ -- Recording artist Justin Timberlake has joined with the American Music Conference to champion the cause of music education for every student.
The partnership will kick off Wednesday, June 12 when Timberlake, who created The Justin Timberlake Foundation to promote this goal, is scheduled to make a special phone appearance on MTV's Total Request Live to encourage viewers to get involved in music education. He will direct them to AMC's web site, http://www.amc-music.org, to learn more about the issue and to sign an online teen petition by June 30 and/or write their Congressional representatives. Timberlake recognizes the important role that youth can play in the political process, and is confident that their voices will be heard as a result of this campaign.
"Everyone knows how important music is to me, but this issue goes beyond performing and recording," Timberlake says. "This is about an opportunity that every young person should enjoy, no matter what career they aspire to. I want to do everything I can to make sure other people can benefit from music education."
"Justin is a wonderful spokesman for the cause of music education," says AMC Executive Director Joe Lamond. "Today's young people will determine where we stand in the years ahead. Will music be a core subject, or will it be left behind? When we talk about the things music can do to enhance one's life, there's no better example than Justin, and he brings a terrific outlook to the work we're going to do together."
The mission of The Justin Timberlake Foundation is to promote music education as essential to a child's development. "The Foundation is excited to play a role in encouraging people to become advocates on behalf of this important cause," says executive director Nina Biggar. For more information on the Foundation, contact Biggar at (646) 437-3632.
The American Music Conference is dedicated to promoting the importance of music, music making, and music education to the general public. For more information about AMC and this new partnership, visit http://www.amc-music.org.
Posted by Jen on Wednesday, June 12, 2002 @ 10:07 a.m.
PHILADELPHIA (AP) - Two musicians have filed a lawsuit against Britney Spears, claiming that a couple of songs on her multiplatinum second album, "Oops! ... I Did it Again," were based on a tune they wrote.
Philadelphia songwriters Michael Cottrill and Lawrence Wnukowski claim in the lawsuit that they authored, recorded and copyrighted a song called "What You See Is What You Get" in late 1999 and submitted it to one of Spears' representatives for consideration on a future album.
The song was rejected, the lawsuit says, but the musicians claim that the 20-year-old pop singer later released two songs, "What U See (Is What U Get)" and "Can't Make You Love Me," that were "virtually identical" to the song they submitted.
The lawsuit, filed Friday in U.S. District Court in Philadelphia, names Spears, Zomba Recording Corp., Jive Records, Wright Entertainment Group and BMG Music Publishing.
A call to Spears' publicist was not immediately returned.
The liner notes for "Oops! ... I Did it Again" credit both songs to several writers and producers at Cheiron Studios, the Swedish recording studio that also wrote hits for the Backstreet Boys ( news - web sites), 'N Sync ( news - web sites) and Celine Dion.
Posted by Jen on Wednesday, June 12, 2002 @ 10:06 a.m.
Tue Jun 11, 5:56 PM ET
By Merissa Marr, European media correspondent
LONDON (Reuters) - Zomba Music, the U.S. creative powerhouse that has churned out stars from Britney Spears to 'N Sync ( news - web sites), said Tuesday it was selling out to German media group Bertelsmann [BERT.UL] in a deal worth close to $3 billion.
Cashing in on an agreement that could boost Bertelsmann's BMG music arm into the world's top three music giants, Zomba exercised an option to sell BMG the shares it does not already own in its leading independent business.
In addition to pop princess Britney, Zomba will add acts such as boy band the Backstreet Boys ( news - web sites), crooner Michael Bolton and rapper Mystikal as well as a library including blues legend Buddy Guy to BMG's roster. But it comes at a hefty price.
BMG, currently last among the world's five major music groups whose own artists include pop stars Alicia Keys and Pink, already owns 25 percent of Zomba's music publishing division and 20 percent of its record division. Bertelsmann said in its recent annual report Zomba's option was worth some $3 billion.
"While the exercise of this option will undoubtedly be a surprise to many in the music industry, this is a natural culmination of many years of close business ties and a complex series of agreements negotiated 12 years ago," Zomba's chief and founder Clive Calder said in a joint statement.
At the height of the boom in the 1990s, Calder agreed the "put" option to sell the remainder of Zomba to BMG some time this year. Calder's decision to exercise that option immediately raised questions over whether he would stay at the company he founded which now ranks as the top independent music house.
WILL CALDER STAY?
Calder, 55, has been key to Zomba's success since setting up the company in 1975, playing a large role in discovering and developing its top acts signed to labels such as Jive and Mojo.
"This is a great time for Clive to exit but I don't see him staying at BMG," said music consultant Nick Henry-Stolz. "It may also not be one of the easiest mergers ( news - web sites) given mixed feelings between Zomba's labels and BMG in the past."
While figures for Zomba are not made public, it has some of the best margins in the industry. Analysts estimate it makes a profit of around $300 million on $1 billion of sales.
Meanwhile, BMG has historically suffered some of the lowest margins after years of management in-fighting, a dearth of hits and monster losses. However, it has started to show signs of a turnaround after a radical shake-up last year.
BMG said it was not immediately clear where it would rank among the top five music majors after the acquisition, especially given a lack of global data on the industry.
However, analysts estimate BMG had an 11 percent global market share in 2000, ranking last after EMI with 12 percent, Warner Music with 13 percent, Sony with 16 percent and Universal Music with 22 percent.
Meanwhile, analysts estimate Zomba had a global market share of five percent. While a joint BMG/Zomba market share would not simply equate to the combination of their separate market shares, some analysts said it may boost BMG into the top three.
"Over the years, I have admired Zomba's impressive results, which are perhaps the most spectacular in the industry. We are very excited about its future prospects and it will definitely strengthen our music business," Bertelsmann chief Thomas Middelhoff said in the statement.
LIMITING ACQUISITION OPTIONS
Some analysts suggested the Zomba deal would limit Bertelsmann's ability to do long sought-after deals in publishing and television empire.
Bertelsmann has been sitting on a $6.75 billion cash pile from the sale of a savvy investment in AOL Europe, but will have spent a large part of that buying out a partner in pan-European broadcaster RTL Group as well as Zomba.
To help fund the Zomba acquisition, Bertelsmann said last week it was planning to raise up to one billion euros in a bond.
The two companies made no mention of a price for Zomba in their statement. However, Bertelsmann said in its annual report the $3 billion price tag would be verified by due diligence.
A $3 billion price is equivalent to the market value of EMI which had once planned to join forces with BMG before regulators made clear they would not put up with a merger ( news - web sites).
Tuesday's transaction, announced in London, will close later this year. Both companies said they had agreed not to comment further due to the ongoing legal and regulatory process.
Posted by Jen on Wednesday, June 12, 2002 @ 10:03 a.m.
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