Oxford English Dictionary recognizes another hip-hop term: The venerable definitions resource has already added other hip-hop-turned-mainstream terms like “jiggy,” “breakbeat,” “dope” and “phat” to the online updates of the 20-volume dictionary, and now it has started drafting an entry for the latest OED-approved term, “bling bling.” The term, which is …

Having sought billions from four college students who created “mini-Napsters,” the RIAA has settled with each for between $12-17.5K: The Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) sued four students separately last month for running services that searched computers connected to their college networks for MP3 song files. The students also …

Down to the final five contestants, Tuesday’s American Idol was outstanding musically and dramatically as all five did surpassing renditions of first, ’60s faves, and then guest judge Neil Sedaka’s songs (they now perform two songs each) – that is all five OTHER than US Marine Joshua Gracin, who was …

George Zieman is a thorn in the side of the RIAA, questioning their statistics, their ethics, their methods. He was the artist nuked from selling his own recordings on eBay by DMCA rules last October. Now Zieman is seeking to become not just a thorn in the side, but a …

According to Eurweb and Soul Patrol, Grammy winning singer Billy Paul has scored a major legal victory against the legendary songwriting and production team of Gamble & Huff and Philadelphia International Records. Paul was awarded $500,000 by a Los Angeles jury for unpaid royalties on his classic recording 1971 of …

I still feel pretty left out because I am not an Apple-head, but the rave reviews keep coming in about the new Apple music service. A point I missed in the initial release is that while tracks are $.99 each, most albums in the catalogue are available for $10. The …

Iraq? Afghanistan? No, movie theaters.

Today a letter co-signed by a bewilderingly diverse list of musicians (Toby Keith and Ian MacKaye?) was sent to FCC’s chairman Michael Powell. The letter urges the FCC to grant Congress and the public a full opportunity to review any proposed changes of media ownership rules before they are enacted. …

Andrew Ian Dodge is an author, reviewer, blogger and soon to be game designer, as well as an occasional actor and lead singer of a rock band, Recently he was the solo star of a documentary filmed in London. Here we release the first in his series of three cyberpunk …

But I joke. France wants its own version of CNN to spread its propaganda, er, worldview: It turns out that French President Jacques Chirac does have a battle plan. Late last month he called for a 24-hour news channel, dubbed “CNN à la française,” that will push the French point …