Waka Waka - This Time For Africa 2010 World Cup Official Song

Shakira and South Africa's Freshlyground teamed up to make an incredible song infused with afro-Colombian rhythm, soca and overall African sound. Waka Waka - This Time For Africa delivers the energy and excitement that will ensue the 2010 World Cup hosted in South Africa. The video features some emotional and incredible moments in football - World Cup history.

Nneka - Amazing Artist from Nigeria

I had the great opportunity of seeing Nneka at Joe's Pub a couple of weeks ago (yeah, I know I'm late) and she was phenomenal. Half Nigerian and half German, the girl has soul and heart and depth. Real music. Nneka's EP, The Uncomfortable Truth is available now courtesy of Decon Records. Nneka pours out some actionable words and verbs that really get you thinking and truly move you. "The Uncomfortable Truth," "Hearbeat," "Africans" all really powerful songs with great sounds, reggae, hip hop and soul infused. Get a taste of the performance I witnessed at Joe's Pub below.

Higher Music Fees at Nightclubs

In Australia, nightclubs pay record labels and artists a royalty fee of 7 Australian cents per guest but "under a recent copyright settlement [the] rate has risen to 50 cents per customer, and it is set to jump to 1.05 dollars, or 84 U.S. cents, in a few years." The Phonographic Performance Co of Australia chief executive, Stephen Peach argues that "Without music, there wouldn't be a nightclub," therefore paying only 7 cents out of a $10-15 cover for music plus the money that comes in from people buying liquor just "doesn't seem right."

The international body that governs record royalty payments, IFPI notes that royalty revenue has increased for the record industry by 16 percent, while music sales have fell by 8 percent. IFPI is urging that other countries follow Australia's lead because it is aggressively pushing to raise royalty revenues for the industry. Do you think nightclubs should pay fees for playing music? They pay fees for selling liquor, so why not? But it would have to be reasonable because owning and profiting from a nightclub is hard enough. We'll see if this discussion gets here soon as the concern now seems to radio. For more info on this visit the NY Times.

Youssou N'Dour To Close Africa Vive Series

Youssou N'Dour is wrapping up his month long series of the Africa Vive festival all throughout Spain. The festival celebrates Africa Day which takes place on May 25th. "The last concert of the series will take place on May 29th in Santa Cruz de Tenerife in the Canary Islands (Spain) off the coast of West Africa. Africa Vive is organized by public consortium Casa Africa and Fundación Autor, the promotion arm of the Spanish authors' and publishers' collecting society, SGAE." Africa Vive's promise is to celebrate and encourage the coming together of African and Spanish cultures through art exhibitions, music, cinema and cultural workshops. Visit Africa Vive to learn more.

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.

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.

Universal Music Japan Launches Delicious Deli Records

Universal Music Japan's Delicious Deli Records will be open for business beginning January 1, 2009 in an effort to bolster sales for existing U-music labels (Universal J, Nayuta Wave, Universal Sigma, Far Eastern Tribe and Milestone Crowds) in Japan. The idea for the new label is to track down Japanese artists who are active and successful in other geographic regions and import their music to Japan. Delicious Deli will also have the task of developing Japanese artists to groom them for success in other territories. Unlike Delicious Deli's sister labels its focus is much more concentrated on delivering content in a cross-cultural manner. Kimitaka Kato, managing director of Delicious Deli informed Billboard.biz that "Teaming up with artists who share the same vision as us, we would like to deliver good music that is loved by people across borders and generations."

A few artists that I checked out under the Universal Music Japan label include: Aoyama Thelma (pictured), Greeeen, Infinity 16 and Kimaguren. My personal favorite is Aoyama Thelma. Another Japanese artist to check out although not on the Universal Music Japan label is Utada Hikaru (EMI).