The RIAA's Gold And Platinum Certifications: April

The RIAA has handed out its Gold and Platinum certifications for the month of April, with Britney Spears' new album Femme Fatale already going Gold and Platinum. All seven of Spears' albums have gone Platinum.

Chris Brown's F.A.M.E. and Jennifer Hudson's I Remember Me both were certified Gold within a month of their respective releases as well. Rockers Five Finger Death Punch also earned their first two Gold records, for 2009's War Is The Answer and 2010's Way Of The Fist.


Katy Perry's latest hit "E.T." was certified double-Platinum last month, with "Firework" going 4X Platinum. Taio Cruz's smash "Dynamite" was also certified 4X Platinum. "Only Girl (In The World)" from Rihanna was certified double-Platinum in April as well.
A number of tracks were certified Platinum in April, including Jennifer Lopez's "On The Floor," Adele's "Rolling In The Deep," Kristinia DeBarge's "Goodbye" and Diddy Dirty Money's "Coming Home."

Keri Hilson Joins Lil Wayne's "I Am Still Music" Tour

Keri Hilson will join Lil Wayne on his North American I Am Still Music 2 tour throughout the summer. The trek also includes opening acts Rick Ross, Far East Movement and Lloyd. Hilson is touring in support of her latest effort, No Boys Allowed.

Prince Rogers Nelson Continues Los Angeles "Welcome 2 America" Residency With 5 More Shows

Prince has announced that he will continue his Los Angeles residency with five more Welcome 2 America dates. Furthermore, he gave fans in California an even bigger shock earlier this week when he announced at the last minute that he would play two sets Wednesday night at the 500-capacity Troubadour club. According to the Idolator blog, Prince used his first set to transform the Troubadour into a Jazz club and put the spotlight on his band. For two hours, Prince led the band through extended interludes and encouraged frequent solos by his longtime sax player Mike Phillips. But for the second set, Prince turned up the Rock, pulling out "Endorphinmachine," a cover of the Troggs’ "Wild Thing" and Wild Cherry’s "Play That Funky Music."

Katy Perry Breaks Yet Another Music Industry Milestone

Katy Perry has set a new record with her sophomore album, Teenage Dream. With the album's wealth of hit singles, Perry has now become the first artist in the Billboard Hot 100's more than five-decade history to spend 52 consecutive weeks in the Top 10. On the chart released May 12, the song "E.T." featuring Kanye West descends to #2 after five weeks at the top, granting Perry an unprecedented full year lodged in the chart's highest bracket.

Lil Wayne To Appear on MTV2's Unplugged June 12

Lil Wayne has been tapped to film an episode of MTV2's Unplugged. The program, which is set to premiere across MTV2, MTV and MTV.com on Sunday, June 12 at 9 p.m. EST, will feature Weezy performing acoustic versions of select hits from his classic catalog. The show will be MTV's first televised rap unplugged concert since Jay-Z's 2001 special featuring The Roots as his backing band. "Lil Wayne is an amazing choice for Unplugged as he is at hip-hop's forefront — leading a new generation of artists whose appeal spans across music genres and playlists," Amy Doyle, MTV's EVP of Music and Talent, said in a statement. "Lil Wayne's skills, influence, and catalog are a powerful addition to the legacy of artists who have rocked the Unplugged stage."

Beyonce's New Album To Be Simply Entitled "4"

Beyonce has revealed that her upcoming fourth solo album will be aptly titled 4. However, the numeral not only represents her number of solo works, but it also has other significant meanings in her life. "We all have special numbers in our lives, and 4 is that for me," she told Billboard.com while revealing the album title. "It's the day I was born. My mother's birthday, and a lot of my friends' birthdays are on the fourth; April 4 is my wedding date."

Fans already have heard the rhythmic, drum-heavy first single from 4, "Run The World (Girls)," so it's not surprising to learn that Afrobeat pioneer Fela Kuti inspired much of the songwriting. But Beyonce was listening to a variety of other music as well while she took her time working on the new effort, recording more than 60 songs in the process.

Spears & Minaj Talk "Femme Fatale Tour"

Britney Spears will release "I Wanna Go" as the next single from Femme Fatale. The song was produced by Max Martin and Shellback ("3," "If U Seek Amy"). A Britney Spears fan site posted a message saying, "BreatheHeavy.com can officially announce Britney's third music video off Femme Fatale is 'I Wanna Go.' The shoot will take place May 25-26 in Los Angeles." The single follows "Hold It Against Me" and "Till the World Ends," as Spears gears up to kick off her summer tour on June 16 in Sacramento.


After recently wrapping a tour with Lil Wayne, Nicki Minaj is now working on expanding her live show for her upcoming opening run with Britney Spears. However, she is neither taming nor tailoring her act for a different audience. "People think (Spears) is a pop tour and (Lil Wayne) was a hip-hop tour and Nicki's going to completely change -- I think that's the biggest misconception," Minaj told Billboard.com. "I think people don't understand that I remain myself, whether I'm on a hip-hop tour or a pop tour."



Minaj, who's just started rehearsals for the two-month Spears tour, says she plans to "continue with the theatrics and stuff I started with on the Wayne tour and expand that a little bit, and expand the dancers and just (use) more props and all that stuff. I just really try to create my own world on that stage, so that's what I'm working on. Obviously I want to make it a little bit bigger for this one. Right now I'm just feeling out ideas." As for collaborating with Spears onstage, Minaj says that, "It's definitely been mentioned, but I can't say yet. I'm not positive."

Beyoncé debuts charity single God Bless the USA

Beyoncé is releasing her second new single in as many weeks, following Run the World (Girls) with new charity track God Bless the USA. She unveils patriotic power-ballad on Piers Morgan Tonight, with proceeds going to families of 9/11 victims.

God Bless the USA was written and originally released in 1984 by country musician Lee Greenwood, and was played at this year's Republican party convention. Its popularity increased after 9/11, and it was re-released following the 2003 invasion of Iraq. Beyoncé's version will raise funds for the New York Police and Fire Widows' and Children's Benefit. The singer originally recorded the track in 2008 for the Obama presidential campaign, but never released it. It seems likely the death of Osama bin Laden on Monday has been the spur for this release.

Blavatnik's Access Industries Buys Warner Music Group For $3.3 Billion

Warner Music Group Corp., the world's third-largest recording company with such artists as Eric Clapton, Michael Buble, Green Day, Metallica, and Bruno Mars was purchased by billionaire Len Blavatnik’s Access Industries. Earlier today the two sides announced the deal: a $3.3 billion all-cash buyout of the world’s third-largest music company.

Blavatnik’s company will pay $8.25 per share for publicly-traded Warner, a 34.4% premium over the stock’s six-month average price. The Russian-American billionaire is no stranger to Warner and its management–he served on the company’s board from 2004-2008 and purchased a Manhattan townhouse from chairman Edgar Bronfman, Jr. in 2007 for $50 million.

The deal immediately opens the door to the possibility of Access Industries emerging as a serious bidder for record label EMI.

Blavatnik stated: “I am excited to extend my longstanding involvement with Warner Music,” Blavatnik said in a press release today. “It is a great companywith a strong heritage and home to many exceptional artists. I look forward to working closely with the many talented people within the company.”

Despite all the news stories, blog entries and numerous other articles about the falling of the "Empire Of Music", due to piracy, file sharing, Limewire, etc., if it was so, why would anyone be willing to put over $3 billion dollars into a company in a dying industry? What may be partially true, hasn't made the business insolvent to the point where it can't rebound and make a complete turn around. This has been proven by the rise of digital sale over the past several years, and the undeniable fact that this is giving birth to more and more digital and cloud based companies that want to capitalize off the resurgence of the industry.

Why do I say this? Even the remaining 4 majors knew that their business model would not be sustainable for the long haul, and this year, lead by SONY Music, launched a cloud based music portal "Music Unlimited" powered by Qriocity.

Beastie Boys Talk Tour And New Album

With the new Beastie Boys album finally arriving in stores this week, Mike D and Ad-Rock sat down with WRXP/New York's Matt Pinfield to discuss their new opus for FMQB's national radio special, Inside Beastie Boys: Hot Sauce Committee Part Two. They touched on a number of topics, such as recording with guest stars Santigold and Nas, why they're not presently touring, and MCA's ongoing cancer treatment. They also explained why Hot Sauce Committee Part Two is coming out before Hot Sauce Committee Part One ever saw the light of day.


"We were gonna put out the Hot Sauce record a while ago, and we had a whole bunch of songs, so we thought we should have Part One and Part Two," explained Ad-Rock. "We were like 'We should put out Part One on this date and Part Two on this date.' And we missed the Part One date so badly that the Part Two date was coming up. So we said, 'Let's put out Part Two, and Part One will just sit on ice for a while.'"

Dr Dre's Next Single "Die Hard" From Detox Debuting On Final Episode Of "Pacquiao vs Mosely" May 6

"Die Hard," the next single from Dr. Dre's Detox album, will be unveiled during this week's episode of Showtime's Fight Camp 360°: Pacquiao vs. Moseley. The song features Eminem, and the world premiere was announced in a promo for the boxing show, which will air its final episode on Friday, May 6. "Die Hard" is the third song to be released from Detox, following "Kush" and "I Need a Doctor." However, Detox still does not have a release date.

Clint Eastwood and Beyonce Negotiating Remake Of "A Star Is Born"

According to a recent Associated Press report confirmed by Warner Bros., Eastwood and Knowles are negotiating the details of another remake of the film. Eastwood is a well known and celebrated actor, director, and producer in Hollywood. Beyonce Knowles is mostly known for her singing and writing talents, first as a member of Destiny's Child, then later as a solo act. As an actress, she has come a long way from her role in "Carmen" to receive praise from fellow actor Idris Elba in "Obsession", while receiving rave reviews in her starring role in "Cadillac Records" as Etta james.


The film’s story evolves around a young aspiring Hollywood actress who has a relationship with a famous older self-destructing legendary actor. He offers the starlet advice on how to ascend into a successful career while at the same time his own is declining.

The film was originally released in 1937, remade in 1954 starring Judy Garland and James Mason, and in the 1976 version, Barbra Streisand and Kris Kristofferson played the main roles. This time Billy Gerber, Basil Iwanyk and Jon Peters producers of the 1976 version are hoping for another Hollywood hit.


No announcements have been made about Beyonce’s male costar, but a Warner Bros. spokesperson said negotiations are currently taking place, therefore deals are not yet finalized.