Photographers say Britney Spears threatened them

By RYAN NAKASHIMA, Associated Press WriterTue Jul 31, 7:53 PM ET

Britney Spears threw a baby bottle and threatened two photographers after they took pictures of her leaving a Las Vegas spa, the photographers said in a statement on Tuesday.

Spears yelled "I am going to kill you! I am going to f---ing kill you!," at Andrew Deetz, the photographer who was allegedly beaten by Spears' bodyguard on Thursday, according to a statement released by their lawyers. The men, Deetz, 24, and Kyle Henderson, 23, said they were preparing to sue.

The men were taking pictures of Spears, 25, as she and her children — 22-month-old Sean Preston Federline and 10-month-old Jayden James Federline — left the spa at the Wynn Las Vegas casino-hotel at about 11:30 a.m., accompanied by two bodyguards.

One bodyguard, Cesar Julio Camera, 37, pushed Henderson against the wall until Wynn security intervened and asked Henderson to leave, the statement said.

As they were about 30 paces away and walking in the opposite direction, Camera attacked Deetz from behind, threw him on the ground and punched and kicked him until security pulled him off, it said.

Afterward, Spears ran toward Henderson but was stopped by security, and then threw a baby bottle at him, it said.

Then, in front of several other hotel guests and bystanders, Spears threatened to kill Deetz and said he should get a restraining order against her because she was going to kill him or hire someone that would, it said.

Camera also told Deetz on July 23 outside the Lisa Kline boutique in Beverly Hills, "I have unfinished business with you," the statement alleged.

Spears' lawyer Gary Stiffelman declined to comment.

Wynn Las Vegas released a statement confirming Spears stayed at the hotel and left on Thursday, but also declined to discuss the incident.

"We respect the privacy and do our utmost to maintain the anonymity of our guests," it said.

Las Vegas police issued a summons for a charge of battery to Camera, the only person cited in the incident. He could face up to six months in county jail and a $1,000 fine if convicted.

OJ's Killer New Interview

Posted Jul 31st 2007 7:27PM by TMZ Staff
Filed under: Celebrity Justice

OJ Simpson is back to giving interviews again -- and this time it's live on the Internet. Contain your enthusiasm.

MN1.com's Kim Delaney spent an hour talking with OJ today, about everything from his recent book scandal to the latest celebrity on trial, Michael Vick. An hour of unfiltered Juice on the net? How do you fumigate a browser?

The show was comprised of half scripted questions and half interactive audience participation via phone, IM and chat. Questions from the "audience" included, "Do you think it was a bigger feat to break 2,000 yards in one season or slice two necks in one night?" and "Did you kill Bill Walsh?" He blissfully ignored them both.

When OJ got to talking about his kids, he got emotional, saying, "I raised those kids by myself!" That'll happen when you kill their mother!

OJ will be back as a guest -- three more times this week -- because one hour of inflammatory denial just isn't enough.

How to piss off Robert DeNiro

Cindy Crawford Topless in St. Tropez

Posted on July 31, 2007
Filed Under Boobs, breasts, naked, model, bikini, sexy |

I still slip in my Cindy Crawford VHS tape from the early 90’s just to lust for the never-aging sexy Cindy. Luckily for me she is now down in St. Tropez running around topless on her yacht to make sure she doesn’t get any tan lines.

Richard Gere you are an idiot or either very gay.

See Sindy Without Her Cheetah Bikini Top Below

Eminem's Music Publisher Sues Apple Over Downloads

July 31, 2007: 11:10 AM EST

DETROIT (AP)--Eminem's music publisher has filed a multimillion-dollar lawsuit against Apple Inc. (AAPL), accusing the company of violating copyrights by allowing unauthorized downloads of the rapper's songs.

In the complaint filed Monday in U.S. District Court, Eight Mile Style and Eminem's copyright manager, Martin Affiliated, say Apple allowed unauthorized downloads of the Detroit performer's songs onto iPods.

"Eight Mile and Martin have demanded that Apple cease and desist its reproduction and distribution and Apple has refused," the complaint alleges.

An Apple spokesman had no immediate comment, The Detroit News reported. Lawyers for Eight Mile and Martin could not be reached for comment, the newspaper said.

The lawsuit is the latest move by Eminem's music publisher to protect the rights to his music.

Eight Mile Style and Martin also sued Apple in 2004 over its use of the Eminem song "Lose Yourself" in a TV commercial for Apple's iTunes music store. That case was settled out of court.

TorrentSpy lawyer battling 'copyright extremism'

Tue Jul 31 11:08:35 PDT 2007
By Greg Sandoval

Ira Rothken is technology's answer to the radical lawyer, Silicon Valley's version of Johnnie Cochran or William Kunstler.

Tech start-ups sued by media conglomerates for copyright infringement typically call on Rothken, a medical researcher turned lawyer. He's made a name for himself by bucking entertainment empires and by backing long-shot copyright cases, such as those involving RecordTV, ReplayTV and MP3Board.com. His efforts have won him praise from the Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF), the advocacy group that has become synonymous with user rights on the Web.

"Ira has a strong intuition for the little guy," said Fred von Lohmann, an EFF senior staff attorney. "He enjoys these uphill fights. I often refer people to him."

The 44-year-old Rothken is defending another back-against-the-wall company in a case that could set an important legal precedent. Last year, the Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA), the trade group that represents the top film studios, filed a copyright suit against TorrentSpy, a search engine often used by file sharers to locate pirated films. In May, a federal magistrate judge ordered the company to turn over user information stored in its servers' random access memory (RAM).

Ira Rothken

The courts have never before ruled that RAM, a computer's temporary memory, is a tangible document that must be produced and turned over to litigants in civil cases, according to legal experts. Rothken has filed an appeal, and on August 13 will try to persuade a U.S. District Court judge in Los Angeles to reverse the decision.

At stake is nothing less than Internet anonymity, say some legal experts. If companies can be compelled to turn over RAM any time they face a civil suit, then no U.S. Web site can ever again promise not to share user data, according to Rothken.

Rothken's chances of prevailing are about the same as they usually are in these cases. The odds favor the copyright owners, said Rothken. "Copyright law in this country is Draconian and dramatically skewed on the owner's side," he said.

Until recently, few lawyers would take these cases, said von Lohmann.

First, there's not much money in them. Start-ups typically don't have a lot to spend on legal fees. Then, there is the problem with understanding and then explaining often complicated technical issues to a judge. Finally, there are the opponents--usually crack entertainment lawyers working for the music or movie industries who are famous for going for the jugular.

Representatives from the MPAA and the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) declined to comment for this story.

Going up against big guns
For insight into how tough it is to oppose the entertainment sector, consider the conclusions of some long-shot copyright cases Rothken worked on: RecordTV and ReplayTV ran out of funds before their cases were heard, and MP3Board.com settled.

There's no telling whether the start-ups would have survived had their cases gone to trial, but Rothken argues that shouldering legal fees and bad press didn't help.

Applying financial pressure is only part of Hollywood's strategy, Rothken said. Another tactic is to sue founders as well as their companies. In 2000, the RIAA filed a copyright suit against MP3Board.com, a music-file search engine, as well as the company's founders.

Instead of risking their own income, the operators of MP3Board.com settled the case and decided to stop linking to MP3 files, Rothken said.

"I can't say what the MPAA's strategy is," said Gary Fung, founder of IsoHunt, a TorrentSpy rival and Rothken client who also is being sued by the MPAA for copyright infringement. "But they do know they have more time and money than we do."

Rothken isn't intimidated. According to von Lohmann, Rothken is sought after because he is affordable, creative and tough.

After the MPAA sued TorrentSpy, Rothken filed a countersuit and accused the MPAA of corporate espionage. He alleged in the filing that the MPAA hired a hacker to steal confidential information to help its case against TorrentSpy. That suit is still pending. In 2003, when the RIAA announced it was offering amnesty to file sharers, Rothken dubbed the offer "shamnesty" and sued for deceptive trade practices.

The RIAA ended up settling the case, winding down the program, and paying Rothken's attorney fees.

His aggressiveness is partly what attracts guys like Fung and TorrentSpy's founder, Justin Bunnell.

"I'm all for copyright protection but I take issue with copyright extremism."

--Ira Rothken, copyright attorney

"I think a lot of entertainment litigators aren't used to going up against smart and committed opponents," said von Lohmann, who defended Streamcast Networks after it was sued for copyright infringement in 2001. "Many of them represent big movie studios and when they lean on small companies, they are used to getting them to roll over. That's just not the kind of guy Ira is."

But Rothken denies that he's out to torch copyright law. While he makes headlines for opposing copyright owners, Rothken is himself a stakeholder in the copyright system. A lucrative part of his Novato, Calif.-based law practice is negotiating licensing deals for video game companies.

"I'm in no way on a crusade against copyright law," Rothken said. "I would never say that we should do away with copyright protection. Strong copyright laws are essential for a vibrant and creative economy. That said, I'm hoping that there will be an evolution for U.S. intellectual property law."

It's not unusual for a copyright attorney to represent owners as well as those accused of infringing. But the dual roles have sometimes placed Rothken in peculiar situations.

Some might even wonder if Rothken's video game clients object to his representing accused copyright violators.

"I certainly didn't until I saw one of my games on one of these sites," said a laughing Dan Connors, CEO of Telltale Games, creator of Sam & Max and other video games. "It wasn't too bad because Ira made them take it down."

Rothken, who negotiates publishing and licensing deals for Telltale, acknowledges there's far more money in representing copyright holders. Nonetheless, he's been writing code since he was a kid and believes in innovation. Another motivation is the late Jack Valenti.

It was Valenti, the silver-haired former MPAA director, who testified before a congressional committee in 1982 and compared the VCR to the Boston strangler.

"Hollywood has made billions from video recorders and the home rental business," Rothken said. "They wouldn't have seen any of that money had they succeeded in killing that technology."

He argues that while the services he represents may be favored by pirates, the technologies also have legitimate uses.

"I'm all for copyright protection but I take issue with copyright extremism," said Rothken. "Hollywood says that these sites can be used for infringing purposes and therefore should be snuffed. We say 'Wait a second, this site can be used for noninfringing uses as well.' What we're after is a better balance."

Victoria Beckham: opening a boutique in Hollywood

July 30th, 2007 at 2:44 pm by Alexandra M.

Melrose Avenue has lately become home to a few internationally recognized fashion houses such as Max Azria, Miu Miu, Paul Smith, Oscar de la Renta, Marc Jacobs, Diane von Furstenberg and others like Vera Wang and Balenciaga are expected to open soon. That is also where Victoria Beckham plans to open her own fashion store carrying her DVD line. Although Victoria’s line is already selling at Saks Fifth Avenue and a few boutiques around the country, this Rodeo Drive for the young is the place to have a store if you are a designer.

The new DVB collection, which consists of jeans, skirts and shorts, is currently being sold at exclusive stores since May (such as Saks Fifth Avenue), with global distribution scheduled to start in September. The denim collection featurea Japanese fabrics, contrast stitching, colored zippers, purple lining, and either a star or the DVB logo on the pocket. The jeans have a price ranging from $285 to $325. Forget the Victoria Beckham Crown jeans and get ready for the Star jeans…

Google's battle for wireless spectrum

Mon Jul 30 11:39:27 PDT 2007
By Marguerite Reardon

An upcoming Federal Communications Commission spectrum auction is pitting search giant Google against the largest phone companies in the country in a public-policy battle that could determine how Americans access the Internet in the future.

The 700MHz spectrum, which has been used to provide analog TV service, is considered the last piece of prime real estate left among wireless airwaves because it's able to travel long distances and penetrate walls. Everyone from mobile operators to public-safety companies to Google sees the spectrum as a perfect opportunity to extend mobile broadband services.

Google's plans to participate in the auction is a move likely to upset the traditional spectrum auction applecart.

The company is pushing the FCC to adopt rules in the upcoming 700-megahertz auction set to ensure that winners of certain spectrum licenses will have to adhere to four openness principles. These include guaranteeing that consumers can use any device or software on the network, as well as forcing winning bidders to offer spectrum at reasonable wholesale prices to ensure that small companies can get access to wireless capacity to build competitive wireless services.

AT&T and Verizon Wireless, the two largest wireless operators in the United States, say they would accept an open-access rule for devices, but they are against any rules guaranteeing open access for companies seeking to buy wholesale capacity.

Chris Sacca, head of special initiatives at Google, is in charge of looking for alternative forms of broadband access for the company. And he's one of the leaders in Google's fight in Washington to guarantee open access in the upcoming auction.

Up to this point, Sacca, who came to Google in 2003, was best known for initiating Google's free citywide Wi-Fi projects being built in San Francisco and Mountain View, Calif.

CNET News.com talked with Sacca recently to find out why this issue is so important to Google, whether the company really plans on bidding in the auction slated for early next year, and what it plans to do with the licenses if it wins them. Below are edited excerpts of the conversation.

Q: Why is Google so interested in the upcoming 700MHz auction?
Sacca: The 700MHz spectrum auction represents the last big chance that the United States has to create an opportunity for meaningful change in access to the Internet for the broadest set of people possible.

We have fought hard on a number of fronts to make the Internet as available as possible to the largest number of people as possible. Right now, the Internet is not available in too many places. And it's still too expensive for most folks.

But why is Google, in particular, interested in this spectrum?
Sacca: I think it's consistent with our company mission statement and consistent with our history of interaction with users. We have fought hard on a number of fronts to make the Internet as available as possible to the largest number of people as possible. Right now, the Internet is not available in too many places. And it's still too expensive for most folks.

If Google bids and wins licenses in the spectrum auction, does the company have plans to build and operate its own wireless network, or would it wholesale the capacity to other providers?
Sacca: The strategy is best defined by the goal. And the goal is, "What is going to make the Internet most available to the broadest number of people at the lowest price possible?"

Right now, in an environment where there isn't a lot of competition in the wireline or the wireless space, we have seen the impact. Prices are too high, availability is restricted to some geographic areas, and too many people are left off the Net.

But today, there are at least four nationwide carriers to choose from in almost every major city. So competition seems to be working well in the wireless market, wouldn't you say?
Sacca: But four doesn't necessarily create a competitive environment. And four doesn't necessarily reflect what consumers demand. Think of the issue of local-number portability. For years, consumers demanded the ability to take their mobile-phone numbers to another operator, and it wasn't until the FCC actually acted and mandated number portability that it became a reality.

So this isn't an entirely competitive marketplace right now. Prices are still way too high, and I think you'd be hard-pressed to find a large number of consumers who are satisfied with the cost of their service, the availability of their service and the features that the service offers.

To go back to my question, does Google want to own and operate a wireless network of its own?
Sacca: Google is willing to do anything necessary to introduce some competition into this space and to really drive the prices of service to where they are most affordable to the broadest number of people. It is reprehensible that there are still so many people left off the Net.

That entails everything from building and operating a network, if necessary, to partnering with the vast number of companies left out of this game--for whom $5 billion is an insurmountable hurdle to participate meaningfully in an auction that could introduce true competition--to any of the existing carriers, if they want to put users first in their business models and prioritize those customer experiences.

Google has recently said it would bid on the 700MHz spectrum only if the FCC guarantees certain open-access principles, including open access for companies wanting to buy wireless capacity wholesale. Does this mean that Google won't bid on spectrum if the rules aren't adopted?
Sacca: To be clear, what we said was not exactly that. What we said was that there had been some concerns that somehow imposing these openness principles on the spectrum might diminish its value at auction. And we wanted to reassure the FCC that embracing a path of full openness in the interest of users and the interest of consumers would not reduce the total revenue of the auction. And we wanted to put our money where our mouth is, and we are putting our money where our principles are. So we committed to spending a minimum of $4.6 billion in the auction, if they adopted all four principles.

So it's not out of the question that Google would participate in the auction, even if the FCC doesn't adopt all four principles?
Sacca: We are deeply committed to changing this industry for the benefit of end users.

Do you think FCC Chairman Kevin Martin's proposal, which includes open-access requirements for handsets and software applications but not for wholesale, goes far enough in ensuring competition in the market?
Sacca: I don't. But I am proud of the chairman for taking some pretty significant steps. And I think what we have seen is that he has support on both sides of the aisle to embrace these openness principles.

It was amazing to see at the hearing last week Democrats and Republicans both cheering efforts to correct some of the deficiencies in this market. Users are unhappy. They don't have choice in software. They don't have choice in where to go on the Internet. They don't have the choice of which handset to use. And the costs for service have been too high.

We think, in addition to the principles of open handsets and software, it's important to embrace wholesale as well, because wholesale will provide the opportunity for other smaller entrants to come up and be meaningful competitors.

When I saw that Verizon Wireless and AT&T said they would support Chairman Martin's proposal, it raised a red flag to me. I mean, you know as well as I do, these guys don't give up any fight that they think could damage their businesses. So it made me think that maybe Martin's proposal wouldn't have much impact on the market anyway. What do you think?
Sacca: I think your instincts are probably right. I think we do have to question when Verizon and AT&T jump to accept any proposal. We have to look at what their ulterior motives are. And that is why it was great to see Congress and so many activists be clear about the need for specificity and the need for timeliness and the need for clear enforcement for any of these openness principles.

You can't really find anyone who is satisfied with their mobile service right now. When you start talking to people, and they start to see the issues at stake, that is when we start to see the impetus for real change.

But one thing that everyone has been underestimating here is the will of the American people. We have seen so much press and coverage on this issue that we're starting to understand the frustration with mobile services that American consumers feel. You can't really find anyone who is satisfied with their mobile service right now. When you start talking to people, and they start to see the issues at stake, that is when we start to see the impetus for real change. I expect the change to impact well beyond the 700MHz auction as consumers become more aware of their options and start to demand improvement.

Chairman Martin has rarely proposed any regulation that could hurt the phone companies. Do you think his proposal was an empty attempt to show that he cares about consumers?
Sacca: No, I think he is trying to balance a lot of different interests. And so far, I think he has done a pretty good job. But as more and more people come up to speed on the nuances of this debate, I think we are starting to see consumers feel more empowered to express themselves and to demand the service that they really deserve.

Does the 700MHz auction plan fit into Google's citywide Wi-Fi plans at all? For example, is this a way to knit Google's citywide networks into a bigger nationwide network?
Sacca: I started the citywide Wi-Fi project not to become an ISP (Internet service provider), but because we saw that entrepreneurs around the country were willing to take the entrepreneurial risk to build networks and grant customers a meaningful alternative choice of access in what for most of the country is a duopoly but for half the country is just one or zero broadband access providers.

And yet incumbents were suing the cities, who were collaborating with entrepreneurs to try to build Wi-Fi access across their cities. I was frustrated by that, so I said, "Let's go ahead and show the country that these networks work. And we can act as a model to hopefully inspire development in other places." So far, we have seen 400-plus cities build out these networks.

Google has a lot of initiatives going on around wireless. What is its strategy when it comes to mobile? Does it differ from the company's traditional Internet strategy?
Sacca: The company's mission statement is to organize all the world's information, make it universally accessible and useful. So mobile really homes in on the universally accessible piece, which is answering questions like, what information do you need when you're not at your desk or when you're not tethered to your DSL or cable connection? What device will you use to access it? What are the input or output constraints on that device? And how can we improve and tailor our services for that environment?

So you've seen us launch some really cool mapping stuff with Google Mobile Maps, which embeds local search, traffic and driving directions into a mapping format that is really accessible on a mobile device. And I think it's been shown to be a pretty valuable service in that context. So we will continue to pursue that strategy.

The universally accessible part also means that we are trying to do what we can to remove obstacles that are standing in the way of making the Internet available to the largest number of people possible. The technology is there to make the Internet available to everyone today. But for various reasons, whether commercial or political, it hasn't happened yet. We are trying to look one by one at those obstacles to see where we can have an impact to make the Internet available to everyone.

Downloading More Than Ever Before, Brits Care Less About Getting Caught

Written by enigmax on July 30, 2007

The Brits are downloading more free music than ever before and are less concerned about getting caught than they were last year. Why are they going to download even more next year? 91% say: “Because it’s free!”

According to the Digital Music Survey 2007, downloading unauthorized media is soaring amongst young Britons. Conducted by Entertainment Media Research and intellectual property lawyers Olswang, the survey found that 43% of those questioned admitted to downloading music for free from BitTorrent and other services such as Limewire. This compares to 36% in 2006 and 40% back in 2005.

Of all the men asked, 47% admitted to unauthorized downloading - up from 43% in 2006 - and from the women, 40% admitted doing the same - up from just 29% in 2006.

Asked to look into the future to predict next year’s downloading habits, 18% of those asked said they were likely to download more often, up from 8% in 2006 and just 6% in 2005. 41% said they would download the same next year while an identical number said they would download less.

The number one reason people gave when asked why they would download more next year was “Because it’s free” with a massive 91% of the vote. 42% said it was because of the great choice available on file-sharing networks. However, women were more satisfied with the choices available as 55% manage to find the thing they are looking for on free P2P, compared to just 28% of men.

When asked about legal issues, 33% admitted being worried about being caught, down from 40% in 2006. While 25% felt that they were more familiar with the law, 5% said they didn’t care about it. Just 4% felt it unlikely that they would have legal proceedings brought against them.

When asked about reasons to download less next year, 51% said that their main concerns were getting viruses and spyware, down from 59% in 2006. The report doesn’t breakdown which network’s users were most concerned about such malware but it’s likely the majority of worriers are users of Limewire-like services, as getting viruses and spyware is rare when using BitTorrent.

Best Buy Fires Geek Squad Supervisor Following Negative Newspaper Articles About Porn Pilfering of Customers Pics and Video Files

Best Buy is on the offense, launching an internal witch hunt to unmask the "rogue employees" responsible for exposing Geek Squad's pervasive culture of porn pilfering. Their first victim is the Geek Squad supervisor of the Santa Clarita store, one of the only Best Buy locations whose former employees were quoted in recent articles, print as being a center for porn pilfering.

Former Geek Squad agent Brett Haddock, quoted in recent articles in the Minneapolis Star-Tribune and the LA Daily News, reports, "I have confirmation that the direct Supervisor of the Geek Squad in the Santa Clarita store was asked to step down, but I do not have exact numbers right now as to how many employees have been terminated."

Furthermore, Haddock says that some of his fellow coworkers are none too happy with his whistleblowing. "Some employees have been terminated as a direct result of the articles," writes Haddock. "Said employees are a tid bit "miffed" with me, and the article I rode in on. I have already been sent text messages and emails from people upset with "what I did."

I'm standing up for what I believe is moral and right. I'm sorry for any legitimately innocent person that works for Best Buy whom was wrongfully terminated. It is obvious that Best Buy will seek a fall guy for the incident, so they can site it as "an isolated one" but what they do not realize is the stories that run on Consumerist.com depict a nationwide epidemic with Agents of the Geek Squad."

Hopefully, Best Buy/Geek Squad's vigor will extend to a systematic investigation of every single Geek Squad for possible breaches of customer privacy. An isolated report from a Geek Squad agent in the northeast that they had to remove their precinct's harddrives and mail them to Geek Squad headquarters to check for "privacy issues" could be signs of steps in the right direction.

Army ending its operation in Northern Ireland

Soldiers have spent the last 38 years in action in Northern Ireland

The British army's operation in Northern Ireland will come to an end at midnight on Tuesday after 38 years.

Operation Banner - the Army's support role for the police - has been its longest continuous campaign, with more than 300,000 personnel taking part.

A garrison of 5,000 troops will remain but security will be entirely the responsibility of the police.

British troops were sent to Northern Ireland in 1969 after violent clashes between Catholics and Protestants.

When the first soldiers were deployed in August 1969, commanders believed they would be in Northern Ireland for just a few weeks.

The Army melted away, rather than marched away Kevin Connolly, BBC Ireland correspondent

But the Army quickly became involved in what came to be known as Operation Banner.

A total of 763 military personnel were killed during the campaign.

At the height of the Troubles, there were about 27,000 soldiers in Northern Ireland. From Wednesday, there will be no more than 5,000.

The head of the Army in Northern Ireland, General Nick Parker, said the operation helped create the conditions for a political solution.

"What I believe the military have done here is make a significant contribution to the security in Northern Ireland that has allowed other people to make the difference through politics, social programmes and economics," he said.

Jeffrey Donaldson, DUP, paid tribute to the Army.

"If they had not been here to hold the line against terrorism, I don't think we would have made the progress that we have made," he said.

"I think that we owe them a great debt of gratitude for a huge sacrifice that they have paid to help make this possible."

Gerry Kelly, Sinn Fein, said it was the government who made decisions concerning the Army.

"Was there a honeymoon period when people were relieved that they weren't the heavily armed RUC? Of course there was," he said.

"That was short lived. The reason why is because they are an Army, a blunt instrument, it was the British government who made the decision to use them against republicans, nationalists and Catholics."

In future, soldiers based in Northern Ireland will be involved in training and will be available for deployment in foreign trouble spots, not on local streets.

---

July 31, 2007

Sirius Satellite Radio Posts $134.1 Million Loss

By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

Filed at 9:47 a.m. ET

NEW YORK (AP) -- Sirius Satellite Radio Inc. on Tuesday said its net loss slimmed substantially in the second quarter, as it added more than a half-million new subscribers and revenue grew by about 50 percent.

New York-based Sirius reported a net loss of $134.1 million, or 9 cents per share, compared with a loss of $237.8 million, or 17 cents per share, a year earlier.

On an adjusted basis, excluding stock-based compensation costs, Sirius lost 8 cents per share in the period. Revenue rose to $226.4 million from $150.1 million a year earlier.

Analysts polled by Thomson Financial on average expected a loss of 10 cents per share in the quarter on revenue of $228.3 million.

In other key metrics watched by investors, Sirius' cost for adding each subscriber fell to $108 from $131 in the same period a year ago.

Average monthly revenue per subscriber, however, fell to $10.71 from $11.71 in the same period a year ago, partly on a decline in average advertising revenue per subscriber.

Average monthly churn -- reflecting the rate at which users drop out of the service -- edged up to 2.1 percent from 1.8 percent in the same period a year ago.

Sirius reported net subscriber additions of 561,493 for the quarter, taking its total to more than 7 million.

The company also said it continues to expect that its combination with XM Satellite Radio Holdings Inc. will be completed by the end of the year.

The deal is facing tough regulatory scrutiny in Washington, and the two companies recently announced proposed pricing plans that would allow users greater choice in which channels they receive and how much they pay.

Sirius shares rose 10 cents to $3.07 in early trading Tuesday.

TEENAGE TASTELAND

Fall Out Boy

By MAUREEN CALLAHAN

June 6, 2007 -- ONLY a few years ago, Jonathan Daniel had hit 40 as a failed hair-metal god replete with gray hair, stolid paunch and a penchant for faded, tapered denim jeans. Bob McLynn, a Mr. Clean look-alike one decade younger, was a failed post-hardcore bass player living off a deficit account.

So it makes an odd kind of poetic sense that together, as the masterminds behind the New York-based agency Crush Management, they are responsible for some of the most popular, ubiquitous and critically savaged emo/pop-punk bands of the moment - Fall Out Boy, Panic! At the Disco, The Academy Is . . . basically, any band that a 13-year-old girl with a blog and Hot Topic habit obsesses over.

“[I thought] as long as I could figure out how to make money with artists, it’ll be a business,” says Daniel, whose face shines with a fine film of sweat and who punctuates nearly every thought with a high-pitched, machine-gun-style laugh. “And the turning point came when I found Fall Out Boy.”

How Daniel found Fall Out Boy is in dispute (he says he stumbled across a song on the Web; FOB bassist/lyricist Pete Wentz recalls mailing in a tape), but the band was the first act Daniel and McLynn signed to their struggling company - though Daniel was skeptical.

“I was like, ‘I don’t know. They’re so green,’ ” he recalls. “But Bob was like, ‘I know what to do.’ ”

McLynn threw the band in a van and had them tour the country for a year, while Wentz intuitively built up a fan base - albeit primarily among 13-year-olds - by creating a patina of intimacy with them online. Which, to suburban girls suffering from strip-mall ennui, felt very real.

“And then I went to see FOB down at the Continental for a little Sunday afternoon show, and there were 300 kids there, at 3 in the afternoon, singing every word to every song,” says Daniel. “I started going crazy. This was the new way to reach kids.”

Fall Out Boy’s success has spawned a legion of sound-alike, look-alike bands, several of which are now signed to Crush, including Panic! and Academy - both discovered by Wentz. He also encouraged Crush to sign the supremely goofy rap-rock outfit Gym Class Heroes, who just had a No. 1 hit with “Cupid’s Chokehold.”

Much like Lou Pearlman - the crooked impresario who created and controlled the ubiquitous boy bands of the mid- to late ’90s - the guys behind Crush

have successfully marketed a critically dismissed, yet commercially successful, stable of cute boy bands to timid teenage girls not yet ready for real rebellion.

“It’s no different than *NSYNC with guitars,” says Butch Walker, a producer and songwriter who has worked with FOB and Academy. “Which they’re not. But I don’t think [these] kids are as critically discerning as they would be if they were older.”

Crush’s management style borrows from Pearlman’s business model, as well as parts of Motown and the Brill Building. They’re a factory, operating out of a single loft-like office space on East 11th Street.

The recording studio is in the back, as is the in-house producer, a lanky, talkative 37-year-old journeyman named Sam Hollander. The merchandising is run out of the front. The on-call video director, a super-chill 38-year-old “Sound of Music” obsessive named Alan Ferguson, has a room of his own, littered with candles and DVDs of old Hollywood musicals, while core songwriter and producer Walker is based out of Los Angeles.

Shrewdly, Crush simply manages this team. None of these artists is on the Crush payroll, but when they work with Crush artists, Daniel and McLynn - who pointedly and often refer to their company as a “family” - get a cut.

“It’s not as ugly, seedy, inside-job as it seems with us,” says Walker. “It’s really like a family.”

Until now, Daniel and McLynn have intentionally remained anonymous, which allows their biggest bands to seem like part of an organic movement rather than extensions of a calculated, cultivated brand.

Fall Out Boy, Panic! and Academy specialize in baroque videos with narratives not seen since the ’80s, as well as logorrheic song titles only an adolescent could love: “Get Busy Living or Get Busy Dying (Do Your Part To Save the Scene and Stop Going to Shows),” “Champagne for My Real Friends, Real Pain for My Sham Friends” - Fall Out Boy tracks both. “The kids get so deep on the lyrics,” says McLynn. “They speak to kids on a level that no one’s spoken to them before.”

Also unofficially employed by Crush is Fall Out Boy lyricist/bassist Wentz, the band’s most famous member and the elfin, guylinered mascot of the entire scene. A pop-culture obsessive who spends an inordinate amount of time online, Wentz basically works as their A&R guy, having signed all three bands to his own label, Decaydence, which is also managed by Crush, as is Wentz’s clothing line, Clandestine.

“It can get incestuous,” Wentz concedes. “Crush manages everything I do - almost everything. I pee on my own. But it’s a trickle-down theory of economics that really works.”

“Wentz is an entrepreneur,” says Walker. “He was a bored kid from the suburbs who was like, ‘I’m gonna have more T-shirts to sell than songs in my set list.’ ”

Wentz himself - who recently hit a new, Us Weekly level of celebrity by hooking up with the dubious likes of Ashlee Simpson - admits that “Fall Out Boy is the way I support my lifestyle.”

“All the bands judge each other by how much merch they sell,” says Daniel.

Such crass commercialism has long had its place in hip-hop - Wentz himself aspires to be like his mentor and Island/Def Jam president Jay-Z - but in Wentz’s scene, not so much. This makes him one of the most loathed figures in rock, suspected of exploiting his fans’ false sense of a confessional community in the interest of selling CDs at $20 a pop. And the Crush bands are among the very few, in the age of file-sharing and downloads, who can; FOB’s latest record, “Infinity on High,” debuted at No. 1 on the Billboard charts.

Yet these profit-margins haven’t translated to critical respect, or fans over the average age of 15. Daniel, to his credit, isn’t so shocked. He admits that the bulk of his bands aren’t so familiar with rock.

Bob McLynn (left) and Jonathan Daniel

“Panic! in particular - I think their musical history traces back to the first Third Eye Blind album,” he says. “That’s it. Like, the guy producing their record gave them ‘The Beatles Anthology.’ And they were very excited, but they didn’t know any of it.”

Also, Daniel thinks that FOB and its spawn are disparaged by critics because “they’re very much like the hair bands of the ’80s, like Motley Crue - it’s, like, heavy metal for girls. This scene is very much like that. It’s very female-based.”

“He couldn’t be more on the mark,” says producer Hollander of Daniel’s assessment. “Dead on. If you were a hipster, like I was at that, age - God, you wanted to laugh at it. That’s exactly right.”

“It’s not edgy,” says songwriter Walker (he’s also written and produced for Pink, Avril Lavigne and Bowling for Soup). “It’s no different than the hair metal movement that Bon Jovi pioneered,” he says. “When those girls outgrew New Kids on the Block and Debbie Gibson and started smoking cigarettes and hanging out with boys who drive Camaros, they started listening to Bon Jovi. And that music was not good either.”

Walker, whose tastes run more toward the Arcade Fire, concedes that a lot of the Crush bands sound “so same-y - they all have the same look, play the same guitar songs, all the songs are about the same s - - -. I think that’s why the critics don’t like it.” He pauses. “Jonathan may not be the poster boy for what is indie-cred cool, but if he was, he wouldn’t be successful. Let’s not have our head up our ass and shoot ourselves in the head with the hipster gun. And I think that’s why the company is equally loved and loathed.”

To Wentz, it’s all just white noise. He sees himself as one in a long line of great artists who, in their prime, were profoundly misunderstood: “You know, Bob Dylan plugged in and everyone started booing,” he says. “Thirty years later, he’s hailed as one of the greatest artists of all time. There are plenty of ways to get rich. It’s very easy. But if you want to be involved in this, you want to be involved for the legacy of your art.”

He prefers to see himself and Crush as a latter-day version of Andy Warhol’s Factory. “The most important thing is the brand, and the shift in popular culture we’re making,” he says. “We don’t have meetings about what color we should dye our hair.”

And so next month, the band - which to date has employed monkeys, Wentz’s dog Hemingway, and Kim Kardashian in its videos - will expand its navel-gazing oeuvre by shooting its next video in Uganda.

“Pete and the band want to focus a lot of attention on humanitarian efforts,” says director Ferguson. “The band is going to meet at orphanages, political leaders. Fall Out Boy will play at a school, for example. You know those big, inflatable things that kids jump on at carnivals? We’re gonna bring one of those to the orphanages for a day so the kids can play with it.”

Trickier, he says, is capturing the mood: “I need to make it compelling. You don’t want it to look like a Sally Struthers commercial. This is a ‘TRL’ video.”

But for now, there’s a tour to wrap up: FOB played Jones Beach last night, along with Crush stablemates Academy and Cobra Starship, after which Wentz headed over to his 28th birthday party at Angels & Kings - a theme park-y dive bar in the East Village recently bought by Crush (all their artists are investors).

The opening night party hosted Jay-Z, Helena Christensen and Kate Bosworth, though of course the Crush guys prefer to position it as just a dirty little clubhouse for their artists. Wentz, hilariously, told The Post at the opening that his own bar was a necessity because he wasn’t “cool enough” to get into most clubs. “We just want someplace where we can hang out and be ourselves.” And which, no doubt, will lure kids from Long Island and New Jersey, hoping to “hang out” with their favorite uncool, superfamous rock stars.

Wentz and Crush, though, aren’t worried about the little girls catching on. “I feel like our fans could smell a fake,” Wentz says. “I do the things I believe in.”

“Wentz, as much as he is hated on by the cred kids - they have no idea what kind of force they’re reckoning with,” Walker adds. “A lot of people think he’s cashing in on empathy and pain. But whatever.”

Thursday Knew Victory Records Treaty 'Would Confuse Everybody'

Frontman Geoff Rickly says the band nearly threw in the towel before re-teaming with its former label for a retrospective package.

Thursday

Jul 10 2007 7:55 AM EDT

By Chris Harris

There wasn't a Thursday fan alive who wasn't floored by last month's announcement that the New Jersey emo innovators will be working with Victory Records on a retrospective CD/DVD package that, as a press release noted, will "tell Thursday's 10-year-career story from the beginning to the present." After all, Thursday's 2002 split from Victory — which issued the band's landmark 2001 LP, Full Collapse — was the very definition of cantankerous. Mud was flung from both sides when the band joined Island Records, and lawyers were eventually called in to clean up the mess.

At the time of the band's break from Victory, Thursday issued a statement on the matter, saying that the original contract they had signed with the label "stated that any movement away from Victory had to be towards a major label, which at the time seemed like a far-fetched idea to say the least." Friction had arisen on both sides regarding the packaging for Full Collapse, and, according to the band's statement, things got worse when the label, "for promotional purposes, had made 'Thursday Whoopee Cushions' that they intended to have passed out at the Warped Tour."

The statement described communication breakdowns between Thursday and Victory's owner, Tony Brummel, who they accused of caring more about sales than songs. In time, Thursday started generating interest from major labels, and the boys decided to sign with Island, a deal "subject to our getting released from Victory Records." The band further slammed Brummel, saying that he had "deceived" and "bullied" the act. So to see Thursday returning to Victory was unexpected, to say the least.

"We thought it would just confuse the f--- out of everybody," joked frontman Geoff Rickly. "The line of events that led us back to doing a release with Victory is so convoluted, but really kind of interesting. When we parted ways with Victory, we got our asses kicked. The lawyers killed us. Victory's lawyers were so strong. So when we started having trouble with Island with certain things, and we were asking to be let go and they didn't want to let us go — we actually got the lawyers that beat us up from Victory, because they were the fiercest we had ever encountered."

The lawyers did eventually help Thursday break free from Island; Rickly said the band wanted out after it was told, two months into the release of 2006's A City by the Light Divided, that the label would not be spending any more promotional dollars on the LP. "We were on Warped, and AFI came onto the tour, and we're very good friends with them," Rickly recalled. "And [AFI frontman] Davey [Havok] asked me when our record was coming out. This was my friend, who actually looks for my music, and Island wasn't even getting it out to the people who love us.

"We basically asked Island, 'Hey, if you're not going to push the record, why don't you just let us go?' " he continued. "And they gave us some grief about not being as big as the Killers and Fall Out Boy, and they'd tell us we had a lot of star qualities and that we could be that big if we applied ourselves. It's just not what I've ever been interested in."

It was a lonely time for Thursday, and the stress of the situation led to infighting among the bandmembers. With no support from their label, Rickly said they started contemplating retirement.

"When we were touring on the last record, I was like, 'We're f---ed — our career's over. We're not going to do anything interesting again. Everyone's starting families. Maybe we're just getting too old for this. Maybe 10 years will be a good mark to stop at,' " he recalled. "But at the same time, I felt we had been given such a good opportunity, and I wanted to deliver a few more albums that touched people, or at least try to."

During the split with Island, Rickly said his lawyers told him that, despite all of the acrimony, Brummel still spoke fondly of his band.

"It's funny because after we got off Victory, [Tony] sent us the royalty checks more regularly than anybody else we know," he said. "It was weird. They were like, 'Yeah, he still talks about you guys positively.' And that was strange for us because it was so f---ed up at the end there."

Thursday decided to sit down with Brummel, and after a few discussions, they decided to release their forthcoming DVD through Victory.

"It just makes sense," Rickly said. "Because he owns the publishing on the Full Collapse songs, we'd be working with him on the DVD no matter where we did it. A lot of the footage is Full Collapse-heavy because that was one of the most interesting times in the band. We realized it would be better to work with him, not against him."

But Thursday's deal with Victory doesn't extend past the forthcoming, yet-untitled CD/DVD package, which will be in stores in October. The set, which the boys are working on with Sal Villanueva and Tim Gilles, who worked on Full Collapse, will include a full-length feature DVD, containing interviews with the band and archived live footage, along with some behind-the-scenes clips. The companion CD will include three new tracks and several unreleased and live songs.

Thursday's next studio effort, which they're currently writing material for, could end up on another label altogether.

"We've met with a bunch of people," Rickly said. "We've had interest from Ferret, Atlantic, Fueled by Ramen. We want to meet with everybody. I'm really interested in Saddle Creek and Epitaph — I love those labels."

But signing with Victory isn't out of the question. "We even spoke with Koch Records and talked about signing with Death Row Records, of all places," he said. "How crazy is that?"

---

July 31, 2007

Music From Independent Labels to Be Sold via Cellphones

By ROBERT LEVINE

EMusic, the nation’s second-largest online music seller after Apple’s iTunes, plans to announce a deal with AT&T today that will allow people to buy songs from independent labels through their cellphones, without the need to go through a personal computer.

Several services, including those run by Sprint and Verizon, let people buy songs directly over the air. But they focus on songs by mainstream performers like Prince, who has a deal with Verizon. EMusic sells music only from independent labels, a category that these days includes the new album from Paul McCartney as well as obscure punk bands. The arrangement with AT&T Mobile Music will make those songs available just as easily as the more conventional ones.

Nearly all of the 2.7 million tracks eMusic has the rights to sell will be available through the service, which will work on several handsets by Samsung and Nokia.

“We know that we have a lot of customers in the segment that eMusic is trying to reach,” said Mark Collins, vice president of consumer data services for AT&T’s wireless unit.

Record labels have long believed that selling songs in mobile phone-based music stores will encourage impulse purchases. EMusic will encourage consumers to browse, reading about bands and hearing snippets of songs to discover music they might like.

Tracks will cost more than they do over the Internet — $7.49 for five songs, as opposed to $9.99 for 30 at the online site — because of the expense of sending them over a mobile network to a user’s phone. For that price, however, users can also get another copy of the song, which they can download from the Internet as an MP3.

EMusic, which is owned by Dimensional Associates, the private equity arm of JDS Capital, currently has a marketing deal with AT&T to encourage consumers to “sideload” their phones with MP3s from its existing Internet store — meaning that they can plug their phones into their computers to transfer the music. But this will be its first time selling music on a mobile network.

“We think there are customers that are ready for eMusic, but they haven’t heard of it yet,” said David Pakman, the company’s president and chief executive. “We’ve focused on making this easy to use.”

Few of the albums that eMusic carries are likely to sell as briskly as the kind of pop singles the mobile-phone services have concentrated on selling so far. But its strategy has always been to sell comparatively fewer copies of the vast number of releases available on independent labels. For some of those labels, rarely seen in big-box retail stores, eMusic has become an important partner.

“EMusic isn’t pushing top 40 on you when you get to the front page,” said Allison Robertson, guitarist for the Donnas, a rock band with its own label, Purple Feather. “You find stuff that you can’t find on the iTunes top 100.”

This service could make some independent music even easier to find.

“For eight bucks a month, you can get exposed to music you can’t hear elsewhere, so you might be more likely to experiment,” said Mike McGuire, a vice president of research at Gartner Inc. “It could be an interesting way to discover music.”

AT&T is also the service provider for Apple’s iPhone, but eMusic’s over-the-air service will not work on that device. Although the iPhone is fully compatible with Apple’s iTunes program, it does not allow users to buy songs without signing on to a computer.