Label:Life

Reportedly under pressure from the music industry, Yahoo! is raising its prices on the Yahoo! Music Unlimited service.

From 1 November, the company will be hiking the annual subscription fee by five dollars to $9.99 per month from the current $4.99 a month, making a total of $119.88. This represents a whopping rise over the current annual fee of $59.88. The monthly fees will rise from $6.99 to $11.99.

The service allows free access to over a million songs – providing the subscription is kept up to date. If the subscription is allowed to lapse, the songs that have been downloaded through the service become unplayable.

More@pcpro

Pop composer Burt Bacharach has written his first lyrics in a career spanning nearly 50 years, expressing his disillusionment over the war in Iraq.

The 77-year-old, who wrote songs such as Walk On By with lyricist Hal David, has written a number of political songs on his latest album At This Time.

“I had to do it. This is very personal to me,” he said.

More@bbc

Linktone Ltd., a leading provider of wireless interactive entertainment services to consumers in China, announced it has entered into an agreement to make a strategic investment in 9Sky International Ltd., a leading digital music download provider in China. For more information on 9Sky, please visit http://www.9sky.com.

9Sky is one of the most widely recognized consumer brands for music downloads in China. The company differentiates itself by offering licensed music downloads to Chinese consumers. 9Sky currently has agreements with many local and international record labels such as Sony BMG and EMI, and offers digital music streaming services to a community of approximately one million registered users, and is in the process of introducing licensed full-track download services. 9Sky’s services also enable users to download music content from the internet to their home or office computers. The users in the 9Sky music community map closely to Linktone’s target user demographic of 16 -to-30 year-olds with disposable income to spend on digital music entertainment.

More@mi2n

Don’t call it the Video iPod, the vPod, or anything that indicates that this is a video player. It’s the new iPod, period. Though it does have video-playback capabilities, Apple has chosen to keep the iPod’s focus on audio (for now). That said, video looks excellent on the new model’s 2.5-inch screen, and the thinner profile—not to mention new audio capabilities such as high-quality stereo recording—makes it more versatile than previous generations. Consider that you can now get the 30GB model for the same price as the previous-generation 20GB model, and you have a pretty impressive product.

More@pcworld

A Texas minister who tours, preaching that hip-hop was created by the devil, is coming back to Detroit for a mixed reception.

G. Craige Lewis of EX Ministries travels the country to spread the word that hip-hop music is rooted in witchcraft and voodoo—the mark of Cain that destroys the youth, the Detroit Free Press reports. (more…)

Comedian Richard Pryor has sued Universal Music Group for allegedly marketing and selling 11 of his recordings without having the license to do so.

Pryor’s suit, filed last Wednesday in Los Angeles Superior Court, seeks unspecified damages for unfair competition, conversion, unjust enrichment and other claims. UMG representatives said they had not seen the case and could not comment.

More@billboard

THE Australian record label Festival Mushroom Records (FMR), which includes Kylie Minogue among its artists, has been bought by Warner Music Australasia.

“We are absolutely delighted to acquire this iconic Australian music company,” Warner Music Australasia president and chief executive Ed St John said yesterday.

“FMR and its foundation labels have been the home for Australian music since the dawn of our industry.”

More@thecouriermail

Madonna has revealed that she wrote a letter to the members of Abba begging to use their music on one of her tracks.

The star wanted permission to sample the Swedish pop titans’ massive 1979 disco hit ‘Gimme, Gimme, Gimme (A Man After Midnight)’ for her latest single ‘Hung Up’, out on November 7.

Songwriters Benny Andersson and Bjorn Ulvaeus very rarely allow other artists to use their tracks.

More@nme

Yusuf Islam, who became famous as Cat Stevens, was named songwriter of the year, his “The First Cut Is the Deepest” was lauded as song of the year and BMG Music Publishing was cited as publisher of the year at the American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers’ annual U.K. awards ceremony Wednesday.

More@hollywoodreporter

Britons spend £21,000 of their savings on CDs, stereos, music magazines and concerts over their lifetime, accoring to a new survey from Prudential.

And that’s only for the average music lover.

Music fanatics who buy hi-tech speakers and stereos, follow their favourite bands and go to gigs, can expect to spend up to around £44,000 during their lifetime.

More@fairinvestment