Maxwell's 'BLACKsummers'night' - 7/7/09

Finally, Maxwell is back! The long, long, long anticipated album (the first of the trilogy), BLACKsummers'night is set to be released on July 7th. I usually wait a few days or weeks before I purchase an album because it's not a priority, I can always buy it, but this one I will, I repeat, I will be purchasing BLACKsummers' night the DAY it comes out and I suggest you do the same because the music is that phenomenal. The first single from the album is "Pretty Wings," and the video was directed by Philip Andelman. I am thrilled that Maxwell is back and it feels great to see him and have his music pumping back through the airwaves. BLACKsummers'night has nine tracks all produced by Maxwell and co-produced by Hod David and features a live ten-piece band. The other two albums off the trilogy are titled, BlackSUMMERS'night and blacksummers'NIGHT, scheduled to be released in 2010 and 2011 respectively.

Maxwell will be touring this summer and headlining the Essence Music Festival on July 4th. For full tour schedule, check out Billboard.biz. Words from Maxwell about returning to the music stage -- "After I toured I remembered faces and encouragement and got so much inspiration. In today's time you need so many bells and whistles, but to be able to feel people's need for me made this record better" - and on the upcoming release -- BLACKsummers'night, Maxwell hopes "people enjoy the music, put songs into your lives and apply them to your experiences -- clean your kitchen, make love to your girl, have children, all that." Keep up with Maxwell by visiting his site, Musze Watch "Pretty Wings" below..

Kid Cudi - 'Dat Kid from Cleveland' Mixtape

Kid Cudi's latest mixtape, Dat Kid from Cleveland has me real excited for the newest wave of next-gen rappers. This mixtape is definitely something you can rock to from start to finish...I've been listening to it since Friday. I really love the track with 88-keys, "Ho' is short for Honey," "Welcome 2 the World," featuring Kevin Rudolf, "She Came Along" featuring Sharam, "Look Up In Da Stars," featuring Wale. The album comes with your autotune effects, electronic sound, samples and heavy hitting backbeats. Download Dat Kid from Cleveland gratuit.

We Are Hunted - A New Way to Measure Music Popularity

Music executives have always been dependent on and obsessed over charts, whether it be the Billboard Top 100, No. 1 singles or radio format charts. Appropriately, a new website has emerged, We Are Hunted that publishes the most popular 99 artists and 99 songs by day, week and month based on online activity - music blogs, Twitter, forums, Torrents, P2P networks and social networks. It has a cool interface and when you click on an artist or song there is a page that displays a feed of articles and a NOISE marker that keeps track of the number of posts. You can also play the top 99 songs directly from the site.

Nyle and 88 Keys Rock the House at NYU

On Thursday, I went to a show at NYU to support my friend Nyle and check 88 keys, I lost my voice the next day...that's how dope it was. With performances by Izza Kizza, Kidz in the Hall, Asher Roth (surprise), 88 keys and headliner, Nyle it truly was an incredible show, complete with live instruments, comedy and crowd interaction + Nyle stage diving. 88 keys made us all laugh like crazy when he announced that Kanye was coming through, went backstage, adjusted his wardrobe and came out impersonating Ye during his "Stay Up (Viagra)" performance. Before appearing on stage delivering the most substantive hip hop I've heard in a long time, Nyle debuted his "Let The Beat Build" music video (see below). Please check the video out - I love it, love the song, great quality and excellent bop ya head hip hop. Nyle and his band killed it, performing originals, "Feels Like I Just Got Here" and "Fu*k a Nice Guy," among others. Support great music, check out Nyle at nyellee.com.

2009 MTV Africa Music Awards in Kenya

The second annual MTV Africa Music Awards will be held on October 10, 2009 in Nairobi, Kenya at the Moi International Sports Centre, which is an indoor venue that seats 5,000 people. The event is being sponsored by Zain, a telecommuncations company based out of Bahrain. The first annual was held in Abuja, Nigeria in November of 2008. The event will air in sub-Saharan Africa through several networks beginning Oct. 17th and afterwards it will air across the globe via all MTV networks (MTV2 in the US). Alex Okosi, SVP and managing director of MTV Networks Africa says that the event is "a global platform that highlights the passion, impact and creativity of Africa's best contemporary artists." For more info, read Billboard.biz.

La Roux's - "In For The Kill (Skream's Let's Get Ravey Remix)"

Some cool f*n pop, electronic, smooth stuff I like. Take a listen at The Fader. La Roux is from the UK based out of London. She has a very distinct voice and a retro style reminiscent of the 80's. Her album is set for release on June 29th in the U.K. No word on when she'll be breaking into the U.S. market. Check La Roux on MySpace.

What's the Deal with the 360 Deal?

Yesterday, I attended a panel on 360 deals at Cardozo School of Law which featured speakers Amaechi Uzoigwe (Entrepreneur and co-owner, Definitive Jux Records), Elliot Resnik (Entertainment Attorney at Law) and Rand Levin (VP of Business and Legal Affairs, Universal Motown Republic Group). The panel which was moderated by Jeff Liebenson (Counsel at Herrick, Feinstein LLP) unleashed a wealth of viewpoints but still left me frustrated because there still seems to be an unwillingness to change. Amaechi who is a strong advocate for artists made the point that there are many other industries benefiting from the production of music and that the music industry should get a piece of those revenues. He pointed out that the $20 billion radio industry which was once a tool to promote recorded music no longer serves that purpose and as a result should now pay recorded music royalties as the rest of the world does. Amaechi also proposed a royalty on mp3 devices and video games instead of the current flat rate model. The 360 deal enables the record label to partake in an equity role with the artist, taking a piece of publishing, touring, merchandising and whatever revenue streams the artist generates via acting, sponsorship, etc. This potentially puts the label at war with the artist manager who traditionally gets a piece of everything the artist makes. Amaechi believes that industry people need to stop cannibalizing one another and work together to grow the pie and bring in music royalties. As the 360 deal becomes more prevalent it inherently changes the position of the record label and makes it well..no longer a record label and in a sense an entertainment agency. The biggest argument over 360 deals is that it is unfair to the artist and that major labels don't have the capacity to fulfill and work on the revenues they're claiming pieces of. Why should a record label receive money from an artist appearing on a television show or film which they had nothing to do in setting up? Rand argues that artists know they have to do more than music to do well and a 360 deal can help support that. I say only if the record labels are willing to change, completely change and serve the interest of the artists. The first step that majors should take is earning a stake in touring and being dedicated 100 percent in the success of an artist's tour and at the same time work with artists for their long term success not turning a hit every quarter. But corporate interests will always get in the way of this unfortunately, which is why the rise of the artistic middle class is so vital...so we can still have great music.

Free Download: Kanye's The Lost Songs Welcome 2 Chicago

I haven't taken the time to listen to the mixtape yet but Kanye usually doesn't disappoint. The mixtape features Freeway, John Legend, Consequence, Malik Yusef with Carl Thomas, Talib Kweli, N.O.R.E., Rhymefest, Slim Thug and many others. Download the The Lost Songs Welcome 2 Chicago now.

New Web Anti-Piracy Regulations Come to France

France has voted to for Internet user's broadband access to be disabled after illegally downloading or sharing music files. 'Creation and Internet Law' permits "a state body to cut off copyright infringers' broadband access after two warnings were issued." The iniative is meant to prevent Internet users from sharing music and not punishing them with ineffective lawsuits. There are a few consumer rights groups and politicians who oppose the plan but the initiative will pass into law after being proofread and confirmed starting Aprill 9th. IFPI, world representative body of music recordings was pleased with the iniative as was European independent label rep, IMPALA. See Billboard.biz for more details.