MUSIC NEWS: SONY MUSIC TO PROVIDE SONG LYRICS ON WEBSITES

GREAT NEWS FOR ALL MUSIC FANS, MYSELF INCLUDED. EVEN GREATER NEWS FOR ALL KARAOKE’ERS. LOL NO MORE GUESSING ARTIST’S LYRICS, OR DOING THAT EVER EMBARASSING LOWERED HUMMING WHEN YOU GET TO THE POINT IN THE SONG WHERE YOU’RE UTTERLY CLUELESS. READ BELOW TO KNOW OF WHAT I SPEAK. ENJOY, & LEAVE YOUR COMMENTS

Sony Music Becomes 1st Music Major to Provide Song Lyrics on Label and Artist Websites

Britney Spears, Ciara, John Legend, Kelly Clarkson and Michael Jackson are among the first official artist websites to add Gracenote lyrics.

NEW YORK, NY—Sony Music Entertainment (SME) today announced a new initiative to add robust on-demand audio streaming and song lyrics features across its network of artist websites. Fans will now be able to listen to tracks from the catalog of many of their favorite artists, create multiple personalized playlists, and follow along with the words to songs.

Sony Music's websites will encourage a deeper connection between the fan and artist by featuring on-demand audio players that will make it possible for fans to explore and discover both current hits and previous releases. To add to the experience, the sites will also include lyrics licensed by Gracenote, which offers the world's largest catalog of complete, accurate and licensed song lyrics. Sony Music's agreement with Gracenote spans all of its label groups in the U.S. and Canada and establishes it as the first music major to broadly offer song lyrics on its artist websites. The roll out will begin in early summer.

The new lyrics service, which complements current features like music videos, artist photos, song recommendations, buy links and customizable playlists, further enhances Sony Music's websites as go-to destinations for fans to connect with the artists they love. Sony Music's web network already draws more than 18,000,000 visitors from around the world each month.

"We think fans are going to love the new Sony Music audio players and song lyrics feature," commented Thomas Hesse, President, Global Digital Business, U.S. Sales, Corporate Strategy, Sony Music Entertainment. "These compelling additions represent our ongoing commitment to creating the most interactive and authoritative official artist pages online."

"Song lyrics are extremely important to music fans and are among the most searched topics on the Web, so they're a natural fit for Sony Music's fan-focused websites," commented Craig Palmer, President, Gracenote. "Following the lyrics of your favorite song while you're listening to it or while you're watching the video is an exciting way to experience music."

The introduction of the audio players builds on Sony Music Entertainment's 2006 launch of the MyPlay-branded platform, which includes online video players that are deployed across Sony Music's web network.

SOURCE: POPTOWER

POP CULTURE

Check out these hush hush, recently spilled secrets from some of hollywood’s stars . some are juicy, others mundane, but all are true. I’ll give you one a day for the next few days. Stay tuned.

Jennifer Coolidge: Because I'm big, it doesn't look like I can run fast. But I can run really fast. When I was a waitress, and this guy ran out on my tab, and I had all the drinks in my hand, I ran with all the drinks and caught him and he couldn't believe it. He's like, "that fat girl just...!" he couldn't believe that I caught him. And also, I'm a slob. When I valet my car I'm just really embarrassed about all the crap in my car.

SOURCE: PEOPLE MAGAZINE

POP CULTURE

iTunes to offer feature films in HD 'Twilight,' 'Quantum' among upcoming titles By Paul Bond The iTunes store has begun selling HD movies for the first time, Apple said Thursday. Titles available immediately include "Transporter 3" and "Punisher: War Zone," while more popular titles, like "Quantum of Solace" and "Twilight," can be preordered. Apple had already been renting movies in HD, but Thursday marked the first day consumers could buy them, for $19.99 per download. Standard-definition titles are sold at prices ranging from $9.99-$14.99. Television content in HD was made available five months ago. Apple vp Internet services Eddy Cue said that when TV shows are available in both standard-definition and HD, more than half choose the HD version. Apple said Thursday that it has sold more than 250 million TV episodes through iTunes, and 33 million movie titles have been rented or purchased. Of 5,000 movie titles, more than 1,200 are available for rent in HD. ITunes rents movies for $2.99 for library titles and $3.99 for new releases and an extra dollar for HD versions. The company sells TV episodes for $1.99 apiece $2.99 for HD. It does not rent TV shows.

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