01:: Rhythm Slaves . Let It Flow - ECB Remix [DeepFunk CDR]
02:: Iz & Diz . What We Need - Freaks Voodoo Speakeasy [Silver Network]
03:: Tiefschwarz . Renix [Four Music]
04:: Headman . It Rough - Chicken Lips Trax Dub [Gomma]
05:: Brandy . What About Us - Jacob London Remix [CDR]
06:: Sombionx . Introduce an MC - Johnny Fiasco Remix [Doubledown]
07:: Jonene . Freaky Motha Fuckers [CDR]
08:: Telephono All Stars . Big Foot - Urban Magic Original Mix [Shaboom]
09:: Garth & ETI . Twenty Minutes of Disco Glory - Simon’s Come-Unity
Mix [Grayhound]
10:: Alland Byallo . Uptown Recognition [CDR]11:: Manhead . Sister - Volga Select Disco Disco Mix [Relish]
12:: Soulicious . Soulicious . My Life - FM Dub [LSF]
13:: Jacob London . All The Way [CDR]
14:: Skydiver . Think [Piquantrax]
15:: Kenny Hawkes . Play The Game - Mazi & Josh Collins Remix [CDR]
16:: LoSoul 3000 . Chase Chase Chase [Playhouse]
17:: Deep Drawn . Scarab Blue [Moon Harbour]
18:: Harris & Stubbs . My Love - Kinky Joe Mix [Swag]
19:: Johnny Fiasco & Dizzy . Denver Blue [Lowdown]
20:: Veena Harlem . Dub it Down [Urban Torque]
21:: Gemini Sounds . Elevate Your Fellow Man [Earth Recordings]
22:: Alland Byallo . Sleep Naked [CDR]

Koala Bear Studios is now open! We are dedicated to promoting and featuring new local talent from the greater Los Angeles area. Recording is free if we think your music has merit! We will create demo CD’s, white labels, promotional posters, and will also feature MP3’s of a sampling of your music on this site!

Come take a look at www.kbearstudios.com!We are currently featuring two artists. The albums are called Bad Jones by David Silva,
and Shards of Love by Sandra McTiernan (currently being recorded). Both of these artists
are very talented, with very different styles of music. David Silva’s music is of the Classic
Rock/Alternative Rock genre. Sandra’s music is of the New Age/Pop Rock genre. As our featured artist, MP3’s of David’s music is available on our home page. A rough cut of one of Sandra’s songs can be listened to on the Other Bands page for a preview of her music!

WASHINGTON — Internet providers must abide by music-industry requests to track down computer users who illegally download music, a federal judge ruled yesterday in a case that could significantly increase online pirates’ risk of being caught.
The decision by U.S. District Judge John Bates upheld the recording industry’s powers under a 1998 law to compel Verizon Communications to identify an Internet subscriber who was suspected of illegally trading music or movies online. The music industry knew only the person’s numerical Internet address. The ruling means consumers using dozens of popular Internet file-sharing programs can more easily be identified and tracked down by entertainment companies trying to prevent the illegal trading of movies and music. For consumers, even those hiding behind Internet aliases, that could result in warning letters, civil lawsuits or criminal prosecution.

Verizon promised to appeal and said it would not immediately provide its customer’s identity.

Free download and stream mp3 music by Randy Bruce. Gospel and Country:
http://www.mp3.com/Randy_Bruce

Everything you always wanted to know about Jazz…
Q. What is the difference between a pizza and a Jazz musician?
A. A pizza can feed a family of four!

What is it about Jazz that makes a Jazz musician stick to a form of music that A&R managers have scientifically and suspiciously proven to be a musician’s surest route to death by starvation?

One good reason would be the fact that Jazz allows me to be myself as opposed to Pop that wants me to be Madonna. I would rather be me than strut onstage wearing conical jocks. I remember a male indipop album released by some genius A&R manager, titled ‘mai bhi Madonna’ (i’m Madonna too). Jazz as you will see, and if you’ve heard about ‘mai bhi Madonna’, helps me retain my individuality and what’s left of my sanity in this big mad world of music marketing. Jazz, the most open, alive and evolving form of music, is the medium i choose to communicate and express myself musically. I know a lot of people in the audience may not understand my intense shoobee-doo-wop, shoobee-doobee-doo-wop and emotive twidlee-didlee, didlee-doo-dah along with some sensitive chaka-chaka, shaka-dish-boom-thaak. But there’s always the few who can ‘feel’ what they can’t figure. Most of the time the message i communicate may read ‘hey brother, how about a loan..i’m broke again’ but when i have someone in the audience enjoying my music, i become a millionaire.

Colin D’cruz
http://www.hullocheck.com

The first major blues festival of 2003 takes place next weekend in Tallahassee, Fla. The Freedom Blues Festival, in honor of Martin Luther King, will feature Big Daddy and Red Hot Java, Pinetop Perkins, Carey Bell, Bob Margolin Band with Willie “Big Eyes” Smith, Anson Funderburgh and the Rockets with Sam Myers, and the Johnnie Marshall Band with Eddie Kirkland. The event, which runs from Friday to Sunday, Jan. 17-19, at the Bradfordville Blues Club in Tallahassee, is sponsored by the Apalachee Blues Society. The festival will consist of outdoor and indoor music at the club as well as food and retail vendors, blues workshops and documentary films. The Bradfordville Blues Club will provide post-festival indoor blues shows at 10:00 p.m. Friday and Sunday nights for a separate admission price. E.C. Scott will perform on Friday, and Guitar Shorty will perform on Saturday. For more information check the Web site at freedombluesfest.org.

Maurice Gibb, one of the singing Gibb brothers who rose to fame in the 1960s as The Bee Gees, died in Florida over the weekend at age 53. Gibb had complained of stomach pain at his home in Miami Thursday and was hospitalized. After surgery to remove an intestinal blockage Gibb remained in critical but stable condition for three days before passing away. Brothers Barry, Robin and Maurice Gibb began singing together professionally in the late 1950s in Australia and became an international sensation on the strength of a string of 1960’s hits from “The New York Mining Disaster 1941″ to “Lonely Days, Lonely Nights.” In the 1970’s the group enjoyed a remarkable comeback as the premier act of the disco era on the strength of the “Saturday Night Fever” soundtrack” with its signature hits “Stayin’ Alive,” “Night Fever” and “More Than A Woman.”

The lawsuits, which are currently pending in the United States District Court for the District of Maine, relate to the retail pricing of prerecorded music compact discs, cassettes or vinyl albums (collectively known as prerecorded Music Products).

You may be a member of the Settlement Group and your rights against Defendants may be affected if you are a person or entity that purchased these prerecorded Music Products from a retail store during the period of January 1, 1995 through December 22, 2000. Am I a Member of the Settlement Group?

You are a member of the Settlement Group if you are a person (or entity) in the United States or its Territories and Possessions who purchased prerecorded Music Products, consisting of compact discs, cassettes and vinyl albums, from one or more retailers during the period January 1, 1995, through December 22, 2000.

What are my Legal Rights?

How to Remain in the Settlement Group…
If you are a member of the Settlement Group, you do not need to take action, although to share in the Settlement Fund you must file a Claim Form as discussed below. If the Court approves the proposed Settlement you will receive the benefits of the proposed Settlement and you will be bound by all orders and judgments of the Court and your claims against the Defendants for the conduct alleged in these actions will be resolved and released.

Read more at the website:
Compact Disc M.A.P. Settlement

SAN FRANCISCO, CA – APG Label Group of San Francisco is happy to announce the formation of House Cat Records and Volta Vinyl.

House Cat Records (http://www.housecatrecords.com), managed by Bryn Batchelor Boughton, is an Indie Rock/Pop label that will explore new sounds while remaining grounded in the proven foundations of rock, punk and pop principles. House Cat Records first recordings will be from San Francisco’s own, Go Kart Go and Sacramento-based ¡BUCHO!

Volta Vinyl (http://www.voltavinyl.com), managed by Matt Laszuk, is a shocking exercise in portable electronics. Releasing remixes by the best electronic artists, Volta explores the meaning of electronica in context of indie and its associated energy. Volta’s first release, “Creepy", includes remixes by Westside Chemical featuring UFO! and Fernando Garro, de Giere, and the Drunkin Unkelz.The two recording joined forces to launch publicly at Bottom of the Hill in San Francisco on November 18th, 2002

The evening featured music from a number of up-and-coming artists connected to the labels, including: Westside Chemical featuring Big Bola, The SubterraneanZ, the Fresh Blend, ¡BUCHO!, Go Kart Go, and additional musical surprises.

The APG Label group is the music recording division of APG Studios. APG Studios is a full-service music, photography, film, and digital-output studio located in SOMA, San Francisco. APG Studios can be reached on the Internet at http://www.apgstudios.com.

-30-

CONTACTS:

Batchelor Batchelor Boughton, House Cat Records
bryn@housecatrecords.com
415-979-9342

Matt Laszuk, Volta Vinyl
matt@voltavinyl.com
415-979-9342

NEW YORK — The five largest music companies and three of the USA’s largest music retailers agreed Monday to pay $67.4 million and distribute $75.7 million in CDs to public and non-profit groups to settle a lawsuit led by New York and Florida over alleged price-fixing in the late 1990s.

Attorneys general in the two states, who were joined in the lawsuit by 39 other states, said that the industry kept consumer CD prices artificially high between 1995 and 2000 with a practice known as “minimum-advertised pricing” (MAP). The settlement will go to all 50 states, based on population. Consumers may be able to seek compensation.

Under MAP, the record companies subsidized ads by retailers in return for agreement by the stores to sell CDs at or above a certain price.

“This is a landmark settlement to address years of illegal price-fixing,” New York Attorney General Eliot Spitzer said in a statement. “Our agreement will provide consumers with substantial refunds and result in the distribution of a wide variety of recordings for use in our schools and communities.”

The companies, including Universal Music, Sony Music, Warner Music, Bertelsmann’s BMG Music and EMI Group, plus retailers Musicland Stores, Trans World Entertainment and Tower Records, admitted no wrongdoing.

The companies have not practiced the pricing agreement since 2000. At that time, they agreed in settling a complaint by the Federal Trade Commission that they would refrain from MAP pricing for seven years.

Former FTC chairman Robert Pitofsky said at the time that consumers had been overcharged by $480 million since 1997 and that CD prices would soon drop by as much as $5 a CD as a result.

In settling the lawsuit, Universal BMG and Warner said they simply wanted to avoid court costs and defended the practice.

“We believe our policies were pro-competitive and geared toward keeping more retailers, large and small, in business,” Universal said in a statement.

Previously, the companies said that MAP was needed to protect independent music retailers from rising competition from discount chains such as Wal-Mart, Circuit City and Best Buy. They had slashed CD prices, below cost in some cases, in the hope that once consumers were in their stores they would buy other, more expensive products.

The music companies said that MAP did not directly help them because it didn’t affect wholesale prices. Retailers added that they needed support to keep prices up because their rents, particularly for stores in malls, were higher than the discount chains.

Lately, several record companies have cut prices on some CDs, particularly for new acts, to counter the continuing industry slump. Album sales are off nearly 11% this year compared with the same period in 2001, according to Nielsen SoundScan.

Here is a full list of the Grammy Nominees…

THE NATIONAL ACADEMY OF RECORDING ARTS & SCIENCES, INC.
Final Nominations List
45th Annual GRAMMY® Awards
(For recordings released during the Eligibility Year October 1, 2001 through September 30, 2002
Note: More or less than 5 nominations in a category are as a result of ties)General Field
Category 1 - Record Of The Year
(Award to the Artist and to the Producer(s), Recording Engineer(s) and/or Mixer(s), if other than the artist.)

• A Thousand Miles
Vanessa Carlton
Ron Fair, producer; Tal Herzberg, Jack Joseph Puig & Michael C. Ross, engineers/mixers
Track from: Be Not Nobody
[A&M Records]

• Without Me
Eminem
Jeff Bass & Eminem, producers; Steve King, engineer/mixer
Track from: The Eminem Show
[Aftermath/Interscope Records]

• Don’t Know Why
Norah Jones
Norah Jones, Arif Mardin & Jay Newland, producers; Arif Mardin & Jay Newland, engineers/mixers
Track from: Come Away With Me
[Blue Note Records]

• Dilemma
Nelly Featuring Kelly Rowland
Bam & Ryan Bowser, producers; Brian Garten, engineer/mixer
Track from: Nellyville
[Universal Records]

• How You Remind Me
Nickelback
Nickelback & Rick Parashar, producers; Joey Moi & Randy Staub, engineers/mixers
Track from: Silver Side Up
[Roadrunner Records]

General Field
Category 2 - Album Of The Year
(Award to the Artist(s) and to the Album Producer(s), Recording Engineer(s)/Mixer(s) & Mastering Engineer(s), if other than the artist.)

• Home
Dixie Chicks
Dixie Chicks & Lloyd Maines, producers; Gary Paczosa, engineer/mixer; Robert Hadley & Doug Sax, mastering engineers
[Open Wide/Monument/Columbia Records]

• The Eminem Show
Eminem
Jeff Bass, Dr. Dre, Eminem & Denaun Porter, producers; Steve Baughman, Mauricio “Veto” Iragorri & Steve King, engineers/mixers; Brian “Big Bass” Gardner, mastering engineer
[Aftermath/Interscope Records]

• Come Away With Me
Norah Jones
Norah Jones, Arif Mardin, Jay Newland & Craig Street, producers; Husky Huskolds, Arif Mardin & Jay Newland, engineers/mixers; Ted Jensen, mastering engineer
[Blue Note Records]

• Nellyville
Nelly
Jason “Jay E” Epperson, Just Blaze, The Neptunes, The Trackboyz & Waiel “Wally” Yaghnam, producers; Steve Eigner, Brian Garten, Russ Giraud, Gimel “Young Guru” Keaton, Greg Morgenstein, Matt Still & Rich Travali, engineers/mixers; Herb Powers, mastering engineer
[Universal Records]

• The Rising
Bruce Springsteen
Brendan O’Brien, producer; Nick Didia & Brendan O’Brien, engineers/mixers; Bob Ludwig, mastering engineer
[Columbia Records Group]

General Field
Category 3 - Song Of The Year
(A Songwriter(s) Award. A song is eligible if it was first released or if it first achieved prominence during the Eligibility Year. (Artist names appear in parenthesis.) Singles or Tracks only.)
…

Nominations for the 45th annual Grammy Awards, honoring the best of the music industry, were announced in New York today.

A diverse group of artists, including rock, R&B, rap and country musicians, picked up nominations for the 45th annual Grammy Awards.

This year no single artist dominated, although eight performers received five nominations each. Grammy awards in 104 categories are presented every year in an internationally televised ceremony by the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences. The Academy invited recording artists like Justin Timberlake to present the major nominations. “For album of the year, the nominations are: “Home,” Dixie Chicks; “The Eminem Show,” by Eminem; “Come Away With Me,” by Norah Jones’ “Nellyville,” by Nelly; and “The Rising,” by Bruce Springsteen,” Timberlake announced. “The Rising,” Bruce Springsteen’s response to the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, was expected to feature prominently in this year’s Grammys.

In addition to recognizing the year’s prominent popular rock and R&B hits, the Grammys recognize diverse genres including gospel, jazz and classical music.

While Grammy veterans James Taylor, Elton John, Sheryl Crow and controversial rapper Eminem all received nominations, the awards ceremony also serves to recognize new and promising artists.

Rapper Nelly, himself the recipient of five nominations, announced the cream of this year’s crop.

“Best new artist nominees, of course, Ashanti, Michelle Branch, Norah Jones, Avril Lavigne and John Mayer,” he said.

Eighteen-year-old Avril Lavigne’s hit “Complicated” was also nominated for song of the year. R&B artist Ashanti received five nominations, as did singer Nora Jones.

Jones was a big winner in the nomination competition. Her hit “Don’t Know Why” was nominated for Record, Album and Song of the year.

The February 23 Grammy ceremony returns to New York for the first time in five years after a headline grabbing rift between former New York Mayor Rudolph Giuliani and a Grammy official.

Current mayor Michael Bloomberg lobbied to bring the ceremony back to the city.

“This sends a message to all 175 countries around the world that will watch the Grammys that this is the happening place,” said the mayor. “This is where showtime really takes place. Whether it is on court or on the stage, New York is where you want to be.”

The Grammy Award Ceremony is expected to generate $40 million.

New 24 hours nonstop 70’s disco radio! To check it out go to: www.70sdiscoradio.com

After a four-year absence–which, curiously, ended just after Mayor Rudy Giuliani left office–the Grammy Awards will return to Gotham for the 45th annual ceremony, to be held February 23, 2003, at Madison Square Garden.

The awards fest, typically held during the week, will air on CBS for the first time on a Sunday night.

Mayor Michael Bloomberg, Senator Charles Schumer and singer Marc Anthony joined Recording Academy chief Michael Greene Wednesday to trumpet the news from the Garden, the site of the last New York Grammys in 1998. The ceremony moved to Los Angeles after a bitter public feud erupted between Greene and then-Mayor Giuliani. Giuliani accused the Recording Academy president of being abusive to one of his aides (allegedly telling her to “Go [bleep] yourself!").

Greene denied making the remarks and then blamed the aide, leading Giuliani to lash out at the academy honcho. “If they want to go back to L.A., they can,” he fumed at the time. “We could replace the Grammys in a day. You say we’re going to lose $40 million? We’ll replace that with three other things.”

On Wednesday, however, all was peaceful again between New York’s top officials and the Recording Academy. Next year will mark the tenth time the Grammys have been held in the Big Apple.

“This is just wonderful news for this city,” said Mayor Bloomberg, who reportedly began lobbying the academy just days after his election. “It will show the terrorists they can’t win. New York City is the capital of culture and music. This is where the Grammys belong.”

Greene, meanwhile, took one last parting shot at Giuliani, telling New Yorkers “you’ve got a great new mayor.”

Either way, it’s good news for the city, still recovering from the post-September 11 economic fallout. The Grammys are expected to generate an estimated $40 million for the local economy.

“It feels great to be back at the Garden and it is with great pride that CBS will broadcast the Grammy Awards from New York next February on a new night,” CBS president Les Moonves said in a statement.

The artistic life of Henry Rollins is entering yet another cycle. The punk rocker is returning to his spoken word performance schedule with a tour opening Jan. 7 in San Juan Capistrano, Calif. Rollins tells muziqnet.com he’s not surprised audiences have continued to pay to here him voice his ideas for more than two decades."What is surprising is that it gets bigger every year, and that every time we go out, the tickets sell out faster,” Rollins says. “What is intense for some guy with no real HBO exposure, no MTV exposure, no FM radio exposure, is that it seems to work.”

As far as Rollins the musician is concerned, the soon-to-be 42 year old says he’ll take a hiatus from his spoken word tour in the summer, at which time he hopes to take his band back on the road. He will then return for the final leg of his spoken word tour in the fall and early winter. In addition, the former Black Flag singer just finished filming a role in the anticipated blockbuster “Bad Boys 2,” which is due out next summer. All told, Rollins isn’t one to waste time between projects.

“I view all of this stuff like Man Ray the artist views things – ‘I am, therefore I art out,’” explains Rollins. “I am open to whatever offer comes in. Some acting? Yes, I’ll try that. Voiceovers? Sure. Talking tour? Great. Band stuff? Great. Talk show, TV? Can do, am interested. It’s not really like an investment thing as much as I think it is the job of an artist, especially these days with all of the media that are in existence. I think there is really something to be said about keeping yourself artistically a little off balance.”

Also on Rollins’ calendar is the spring release of his DVD/CD package “I Am Spazticus,” which features excerpts from nine spoken word shows filmed at Los Angeles’ Luna Park in 1999. He’s also releasing two double-disc spoken word albums – “Talk Is Cheap I & II.” The releases, which were recorded in Sydney in 2001, are only available at shows on his current tour but eventually will go on sale through his official Web site. Rollins is only charging $10 per double-disc release.

“In a way, I think, it is good that major labels have all charged this much money for their wares [because] it’s going to cave in and there will be one record company putting out CDs [without] names,” Rollins offers. “It will just say, ‘FM Music’ and it will sound like Britney Spears, Justin Timberlake, and Jennifer Lopez put in a Cuisinart with the Korn guitar player, who will be out of a job, as the house guitar player, a la Motown, just to go ‘Ugh, ugh, ugh’ all over dance beats.”

“And the whole thing will be produced by the same guy,” he continues. “And there will be no jobs for the industry because the industry, through greed and only seeing the fiscal quarter rather than seeing the world of music, caved in under the weight of its own ambition and desire to be on top of the mountain. And thankfully, all of the independent labels will go ‘weee’ and music will once again flourish. So, I’m in a really good mood about what is going on out there because the state of music is great if you look in the right place.”

Here are Henry Rollins’ upcoming spoken word tour dates:

Jan. 7: San Juan Capistrano, Calif. (Coach House)
Jan. 8: San Francisco (Palace Of Fine Arts)
Jan. 10: Seattle (Moore Theatre)
Jan. 11: Vancouver (Vogue Theatre)
Jan. 12: Portland, Ore. (Roseland Theater)
Jan. 14: Salt Lake City (Kingsbury Hall)
Jan. 15: Denver (Paramount Theatre)
Jan. 17: St. Louis (The Pageant)
Jan. 18: Minneapolis (Historic Pantages Theatre)
Jan. 19: Lawrence, Kan. (Liberty Hall)
Jan. 22: Chicago (Vic Theatre)
Jan. 23: Indianapolis (Murat Egyptian Room)
Jan. 24: Cincinnati (Bogart’s)
Jan. 25: Columbus, Ohio (Newport Music Hall)
Jan. 26: Cleveland (Odeon Concert Club)
Jan. 28: Madison, Wis. (Barrymore Theatre)
Jan. 29: Milwaukee (Rave / Eagles Ballroom)
Jan. 30: Ann Arbor, Mich. (Michigan Theater)
Jan. 31: Rochester, N.Y. (Harro East)

With the best-selling album and soundtrack of the year, Eminem dominates U.S. year-end certifications from the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA), Billboard Bulletin reports. The rapper’s third album for Interscope, “The Eminem Show,” exceeded platinum shipments (1 million copies) in its first week and closed out the year at seven-times platinum. In addition, the Eminem-led soundtrack to “8 Mile,” also on Interscope, went triple platinum.St. Louis rapper Nelly had the second biggest album of the year with “Nellyville” (Fo’ Reel/Universal), which shipped more than 5 million. With her quadruple-platinum Arista debut, “Let Go,” Avril Lavigne had the highest-shipping debut of the year and highest-shipping album by a female artist.

Also scoring big were the Dixie Chicks, who received a diamond award for 10 million shipments of their sophomore set, “Fly” (Monument/Sony), just a few months before their August release, “Home” (Monument/Columbia), crossed the triple-platinum mark.

In an exceptionally successful year for rock legends, the Rolling Stones’ “Forty Licks” (ABKCO/Virgin) and Elvis Presley’s “ELV1S: 30 #1 Hits” (RCA) were both certified triple platinum, while Bruce Springsteen’s “The Rising” (Columbia) and Santana’s “Shaman” (Arista) went double platinum.

Meanwhile, in December certifications, Justin Timberlake proved his mettle as a solo artist, as “Justified” (Jive) reached double-platinum status. Also during the month, Elton John received his 35th gold and 25th platinum award for “Elton John’s Greatest Hits: 1970-2002″ (Island).