Latest Music Updates

• Whatever happened to the "Gotta Digg" girl?: Kina Grannis, the girl behind that "Gotta Digg" video two years ago got signed to Interscope but left the major label scene prematurely. She has brought her fans with her and will be releasing an independent album beginning with the launch of this music video. Read More
• Violin Hero: Judgement Day's 'Cobra Strike': String metal band Judgement Day's music video for the song "Cobra Strike," the first single off their new album Peacocks/Pink Monsters. Video directed by ZZalgern0n Read More
• Cobain's Daughter to Make Singing Debut with Gerard Way: Kurt Cobain and Courtney Love's daughter Frances Bean is to make her singing debut on a track also featuring My Chemical Romance's Gerard Way, Andrew WK, and Weird Al Yankovic. Read More
• The Pirate's Guide To Paying For Music: There is no need to rehash the endless discussion over what the effects of peer-to-peer music transfer are. It does however have one inextricable problem for those engaging in the sharing of music files, how do you support the artists that you love? Read More
• Hey Ayatollah, Leave Those Kids Alone!: The revolution will be downloaded. Read More
• Radiohead Bootleg (With New Song) Posted Online: Radiohead came out of hiding on Jan. 24th to do a special show to help raise money for the people of Haiti (the show raised $572,754 for Oxfam). A podcast from that nights set is up and available for download. It also includes a performance of a new song called Lotus Flower. Read More
• Why "The Day The Music Died" Is Important: Today is the 51st Anniversary of "The Day The Music Died." Here's why this day is so important in music history. Read More
• Sex Pistols singer Johnny Rotten settles physical abuse case: Johnny Rotten, singer of the infamous Sex Pistols, seems to have cleaned up his act in recent years: When he didn't like his room at the posh Ritz Carlton hotel, he punched the woman who booked the room in her face. He's settled the court case. How un-punk of him. Read More
• The 5 Most Awesomely Ridiculous Mashups Ever: There are a million musical mashups out there. But none match the simultaneous awesomeness and ridiculousness of these five gems. Read More
• Madonna is Crazy for Coconut Water : Madonna is coming soon to your neighborhood bodega: The Material Girl has become a major investor in a company that sells coconut water in supermarkets. Read More
• BT Talks These Hopeful Machines, Math and Inspiration: Electronic composer BT talks about his new album These Hopeful Machines, about his love for math and his passion for musical technology. Read More
• Misery music : The ten best break-up albums ever Read More
• Taylor Swift Drops & Breaks Grammy Award: Taylor Swift had the best problem any singer could have on Sunday. The singer, in the press room at the 52nd Grammy Awards, couldn't keep a hold of the four gramophone statuettes she received, dropping one to the ground -- breaking it. Read More
• 8 Most Outrageous Grammy Moments: A duet between Lady Gaga and Elton John, Stephen Colbert with an iPad, and speeches by Michael Jackson's children. Did we mention the 3-D tribute? WATCH VIDEO of the highlights. Read More
• Grammy Awards: The good, the bad and the frankly bizarre: This year's star-studded bash in Los Angeles didn't disappoint with stars including Beyonce Knowles, Lady GaGa, Pink and Taylor Swift making an impression - both good and bad - as they arrived at the bash. Read More
• Creative YouTube Video Annotations w/ Hot Monkey Dancing: Belgian electro band The Subs got in touch with us to let us know how they use video annotations to spice up their The Famous Videocast project, and the result is pretty neat if you ask me.In the videocast, the band members point to other videos which you can easily watch without having to jump to another tab or webpage Read More
• Neil Young Wins First-Ever Grammy Award: Well, that only took, what, 50 years? After a career spanning nearly a half-century as a solo artist & a member of groups like Buffalo Springfield & Crosby Stills Nash and Young, Neil Young won his first Grammy Award in a pre-telecast ceremony in Los Angeles on Sunday afternoon. It was for the boxed set “Neil Young Archives Vol. 1 (1963-1972).” Read More
• Sigur Rós On Indefinite Hiatus : Scrapping finished full length to make some babies (AKA solo projects) places Sigur Rós on the indefinite hiatus list. Why is it always the good bands? . Read More
• Pedophile Alert Mailed in Miami For The Who's Pete Townshend: The Who's Pete Townshend was nabbed in 2003 for child pornography charges, but eventually cleared. That wasn't enough for a child abuse prevention group in the Miami area, which sent out these postcards that are hitting mailboxes today, more than a week prior to The Who's performance during halftime of Super Bowl 44. Read More
• Girl Who Went Missing From Metallica Show Found Dead: Morgan was last seen at a Metallica concert in October when she apparently left her friends to go to the bathroom. She somehow ended up outside, and since security wouldn't let her back in, she phoned her friends to say she would find her own way home. Read More
• Joan Jett: The Press Has Taken "Rock" And Destroyed It: The former member of the seminal all-girl rock band The Runaways says: "You can use the internet and the tech media to get the word out, but that shouldn't be the main thing. You've got to get your ass out on the road, play all the clubs-- yes, it's hard work. That's what it is, it's work." Read More
• 'Pants on the Ground' a Green Brothers Ripoff?: As 62-year-old General Larry Platt and his "Pants on the Ground" video became the stuff of viral gold over the past two weeks, scores of people were probably sitting around kicking themselves for not thinking of it first. Read More
• Jay-Z's 'Empire' Strikes Back at Last: Jay-Z talks about his first #1 pop single. Read More
• Kings of the Four String: 10 Legendary Bassists (Videos): Some of these guys are groovy, some of them are fast. Some think they’re guitarists, and a lot of them like to slap and pop. But one thing they all have in common: it’s fun to watch them play. Read More
• 10 Best Old-School Rock Band Logos Ever (PICS): We're not saying that a cool logo makes a rock band, but it sure doesn't hurt. Well, unless you're Mr. Mister. Read More
• Rage against the Mail machine: the genesis of Letters: Inspired by a call for an open source e-mail client geared towards power users, independent Mac developers are rallying around the cause. Ars spoke with NetNewsWire's Brent Simmons and elected project leader John Gruber to get an idea of the proposed application's focus. Read More
• German Hardrock Band Scorpions end career after 44 years: The German rock band Scorpions is bringing down the curtain on a career spanning more than four decades. The band, known for its early 1990s hit "Wind of Change" among others, said on its Web site Sunday that "we agree we have reached the end of the road." Read More
• How to Fake Talent: Using The Acoustic Guitar As a Prop: Before everything from books to porn or, in this case, guitars were electronic, there existed a thing called the Acoustic Guitar. Anthropologists believe these were once used to create music, but are now mostly used as talent beards. Read More
• Taiwan Rocks: They're Loud, Angry & They Hate the Government: Bassist Yeh's sex appeal can't hurt, either. She's posed for FHM Taiwan and, to judge by fan websites, has already inspired more than a few metalhead crushes. Chthonic has played Taiwan since the mid-1990s, mixing an "extreme metal" sound, derived from Scandinavian bands, with Asian flavors and a strong pro-Taiwan political stance. Read More
• Five Weirdly Innovative and Crazy Music Instruments: Some of the most beautiful melodies have come from artists who chose to do their own thing despite conventional wisdom. The same is true for artists who create new instruments. Where would modern music be without the “crazy” instruments and techniques invented and modified over the years? Read More
• ‘Piracy Isn’t Killing Music’ Radiohead’s Guitarist Says: Last year, Radiohead expressed their growing discomfort with record labels that abuse copyrights for their own benefit, while harassing their fans. In a recent interview, Radiohead guitarist Ed O’Brien said that he doesn’t believe piracy is killing the music industry, but that the industry will kill itself if it doesn’t adapt to the digital age. Read More
• Celebrities Go Low-Key, and Sometimes Nameless, in the Haiti: The star-studded fund-raiser for victims of the Haiti earthquake on Friday was a study in carefully muted star power. Read More
• Are You Listening with Kirk Franklin + Friends Haiti Relief : Song for earthquake victims in Haiti Read More
• Judge reduces RIAA's $2 Million penalty against woman: A federal judge cut the $2 million penalty against a Minnesota woman charged with file-sharing. A federal judge on Friday drastically reduced a nearly $2 million verdict against a Minnesota woman found guilty last year of sharing 24 songs over the Internet, calling the jury’s penalty “monstrous and shocking.” Read More
• RIAA-Defying Creator of @diditleak, Alan Carton, Dead at 23 : For two years, the Twitter account @diditleak was the secret weapon of online listeners and music critics alike. In real time, the account, which ultimately garnered over 11,500 followers, announced whenever a digital copy of a particularly desirable record first hit the Internet. For that it became a beloved resource of torrent-hungry music fans… Read More
• Music biz: piracy our 'climate change,' governments must act: The global music business used a major report on digital music to demand worldwide three-strikes laws backed by the power of the state."We look to governments for action," it says while largely ignoring the shift to digital singles and drop in CD sales. Read More
• Mexican Government Looking to Ban Popular "Drug Ballads" : As the Mexican government's war on drugs continues to produce lackluster results, Mexico's ruling party is taking aim at a different enemy: Musicians. Read More
• Prince Pens Fight Song For Minnesota Vikings: Yes, THAT Prince and believe me, it ain't no "Super Bowl Shuffle" Read More
• Guns 'n Roses: Appetite for Destruction (Word Cloud): So what's an Appetitie for Destruction cloud look like? We love the big NIGHTRAIN running straight through the middle, and the smaller cluster of "sweet," "honey" and "mine." So much to peruse: "JUNGLE" big, next to a small "feelin'" and a smaller "Michelle." You can practically hear Axl Rose yowl the words in the cloud. Read More
• Haitian radio helps keep country afloat: Radio presenter and DJ, Jean Gary Apollon, had just put a new thumping track of Caribbean bachata music on the air when the earth moved below this sprawling seaside city. For some 60 seconds he felt the building of his station Signal FM sway back and forth like the bricks were made of rubber. But miraculously, the music never stopped. Read More