NetRatings said traffic to American Idol’s site went bananas during the final episode last Wednesday night: Traffic to Fox Television’s “American Idol” Web site skyrocketed during the finale of the popular twice-weekly TV series, Internet audience measurement service Nielsen//NetRatings said on Friday. Daily overnight analysis from NetRatings showed that traffic …

According to the NY Times, Kelly Clarkson is attempting to assert her independence already: Ms. Clarkson, 20, the former comedy-club waitress who triumphed on “American Idol” on Wednesday night, said in an interview that she was considering withdrawing from singing the national anthem at a Sept. 11 commemoration at the …

Per Seattle Times report: “Where Do We Go From Here?” That was topic Thursday at Experience Music Project, where a panel of experts tapped into an optimistic, can-do mood at the packed JBL Theater. Organized by EMP and the Future of Music Coalition, a think tank in Washington, D.C., the …

From the National Journal: Hollywood versus Silicon Valley. Over the past year, the two mega-industries have been locked in a highly public fight in Washington, unable to agree on how to keep the Internet from becoming a pirates’ haven. The stakes are high, because the outcome of the battle will …

EMI is doing very well on the charts, but having nothing but trouble as a corporation: There should be a party atmosphere at the headquarters of Britain’s biggest music company this Sunday as the weekly album and singles charts are released. In a rare double for the industry, the number …

You might as well stop fighting all of the 9/11 anniversary activity out there for the next week and go with the flow. Steve Kelly has just launched “36 Views of the World Trade Center,” “a communal art/photography project commemorating the WTC, inspired by the Japanese artist Hokusai’s ’36 Views …

I should have gone to law school – maybe I still will. Verizon vs. RIAA: The recording industry and the nation’s largest telephone company are crossing legal swords in what could be a test case of how far big record labels can go to track down computer users who swap …

If you’re in the NY area on 9/11/02, consider this show at CBGB featuring the Fleshtones and about 15 other bands.

deviantArt’s Angelo Sotira on the demise of Napster: While we all knew Napster was probably not going to be making a strong come-back, many of us wanted it to live on. Same with Audiogalaxy, Scour.Net and others centralized, fast, efficient and quality P2P networks that gave us a glimpse of …

Per the ever-penetrating and perspicacious Declan McCullagh in CNET: Sen. George Allen, R-Va., said he could no longer support a proposal titled Anticounterfeiting Amendments of 2002 because of changes that came just before a committee voted in July to send it to the Senate floor. The bill originally targeted the …