Turner, Skoll Receive Environmental Media Awards
LOS ANGELES (AP) – Green is always in fashion in Hollywood, and two American entrepreneurs are being honored for their ecological contributions.
The Environmental Media Association says Jane Fonda and Natalie Portman will present Ted Turner and Jeff Skoll with Environmental Media Awards at a private ceremony next month.
The awards recognize people, organizations, and TV and film productions that help raise awareness of environmental issues.
Skoll’s namesake foundation has funded organizations such as the Amazon Conversation Team, the American Council on Renewable Energy and Global Footprint Network.
Turner, who founded CNN, supports wildlife habitat preservation, promotes sustainable energy and furthers other environmental causes through his Turner Foundation.
The 20th annual Environmental Media Awards will be presented Oct. 16 at Warner Bros. Studios.
Soundgarden Releases New Album Through Video GameNekesa Mumbi Moody, Music Writer
NEW YORK (AP) – After a 13-year break, Soundgarden is releasing its new album through the “Guitar Hero” video game series – and its frontman believes it’s the perfect way to reintroduce the band to a new generation.
“In the obvious way, it’s going to reach a certain amount of younger people that either may or may not know about Soundgarden,” frontman Chris Cornell said in a recent interview. “No matter what, I feel like releasing it this way is going to reach a lot of people who have not heard our music or have not heard a lot of it.”
“Telephantasm” is a retrospective CD that features some of the grunge band’s biggest hits from its 1990s heyday, as well as unreleased cuts.
It was released this week as part of “Guitar Hero: Warriors of Rock.” It’s being touted as the first time a new album has been released in conjunction with a video game; it’s already been declared platinum, based on the games shipped. It will be released Tuesday as a tradi tional CD.
Cornell said this isn’t the first time Soundgarden has had its music featured in a video game, but this new partnership is a rarity, and the “Guitar Hero” partnership is the perfect marriage.
“I thought about doing this ever since I’ve heard about the game and what it is. I think the musical arrangements lend itself so well to what the video game is,” the 46-year-old singer said.
Associated Press writer Carmen Castro contributed to this report.
Paramount To Lay Off 53 people; Save $10 million
LOS ANGELES (AP) – Viacom Inc.’s movie studio, Paramount Pictures, is laying off 53 people worldwide, most of whom are based in Los Angeles, in a move that will save about $10 million a year.
Chief Operating Officer Frederick Huntsberry and Vice Chairman Rob Moore informed staff of the move in an e-mail Thursday.
The layoffs come amid an industrywide decline in DVD sales and as Paramount has pared back the number of movies it releases every year.
In the quarter that ended in June, Paramount’s revenue fell 10 percent to $1.25 billion, but it posted $69 million in operating profit, reversing a small loss, as it cut costs by releasing fewer movies.
The layoffs came by eliminating redundant positions and merging certain divisions, including folding the direct-to-home-video team under Paramount Digital Entertainment, which produces made-for-Internet videos.
The home video team, operating the Paramount Famous brand, had released movies that bypassed theatrical release such as “Road Trip: Beer Pong.” It was set to release “Mean Girls 2” to home video next year.
Now that team will work under the president of Paramount’s digital arm, Tom Lesinski. In 2007, the digital unit experimented with the release of “Jackass 2.5” by allowing people to watch it for free online at a site owned by Blockbuster Inc., before sales and rentals of physical DVDs were made available.
That model was repeated last year with the made-for-Web horror movie “Circle of Ei8ht.”
“The restructuring we are announcing today consolidates our operations in a way that is consistent with how more of our customers are exploring multiple facets of the film experience,” Huntsberry and Moore said in their memo. “Paramount as a company simply must keep evolving and refining its operations.”
Paramount’s licensing and consumer products division is also being merged into its motion pictures promotions division, overseen by executive vice president LeeAnne Stables.
French Music Industry Reaches Deal with YouTube
PARIS (AP) – Songwriters and composers will get paid when their videos are seen on YouTube in France, under a deal announced Thursday by the online video sharing site and France’s leading music industry group.
The industry group SACEM called the deal difficult to reach but innovative, and a victory in its efforts to protect copyright and make money online.
YouTube’s owner, Google Inc., has faced lawsuits in France over use of copyrighted content online, and criticism from the entertainment industry and the French government.
The agreement means songwriters, composers and music publishers “will be paid for the distribution of their works on YouTube,” according to a statement by YouTube and industry group SACEM.
The statement did not say how they would be paid, or how much. The deal affects any music managed by SACEM, a group that has 132,000 members and copyright to more than 40 million musical works. The deal will be in effect through 2012.
The deal also covers “Anglo-American repertoires from multinational publishers” broadcast in France. The statement did not elaborate.
“This deal shows again SACEM’s will to favor legal use of works on the Internet, in particular on video sharing sites,” SACEM President Bernard Miyet said.
Google has sought to improve relations in France, and CEO Eric Schmidt promised at a meeting last month with President Nicolas Sarkozy to invest more in France.
“The deal represents another milestone in the transformation of YouTube from an anarchic presence on the Internet before its acquisition by Google to a more mainstream public source for video content,” said Bruce Sunstein, of law firm Sunstein Kann Murphy and Timbers in Boston.
“It is inevitable that if YouTube seeks to become a universal source for video content … YouTube must make deals with the owners of copyright in that content,” he said.
The announcement comes a few weeks after a German court ruled that YouTube must pay compensation after users uploaded several videos of performances by singer Sarah Brightman in violation of copyright laws.
The Hamburg state court said the standardized question to users about whether they have the necessary rights to publish material is not enough to relieve YouTube of the legal responsibility for the content, especially because the platform can be used anonymously.
Senate Votes To Turn Down Volume on TV CommercialsBy Andrew Taylor
WASHINGTON (AP) – Legislation to turn down the volume on those loud TV commercials that send couch potatoes diving for their remote controls looks like it’ll soon become law.
The Senate unanimously passed a bill late Wednesday to require television stations and cable companies to keep commercials at the same volume as the programs they interrupt.
The House has passed similar legislation. Before it can become law, minor differences between the two versions have to be worked out when Congress returns to Washington after the Nov. 2 election.
Ever since television caught on in the 1950s, the Federal Communication Commission has been getting complaints about blaring commercials. But the FCC concluded in 1984 there was no fair way to write regulations controlling the “apparent loudness” of commercials. So it hasn’t been regulating them.
Correcting sound levels is more complicated than using the remote control. The television shows and ads co me from a variety of sources, from local businesses to syndicators.
Managing the transition between programs and ads without spoiling the artistic intent of the producers poses technical challenges and may require TV broadcasters to purchase new equipment. To address the issue, an industry organization recently produced guidelines on how to process, measure and transmit audio in a uniform way.
The legislation, sponsored by Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse, D-R.I., requires the FCC to adopt those recommendations as regulations within a year and begin enforcing them a year later. Rep. Anna Eshoo, D-Calif., is the driving force behind the bill in the House.
Its title is the Commercial Advertisement Loudness Mitigation Act, or CALM.
Sen. Charles Schumer, D-N.Y., a co-sponsor, said it’s time to stop the use of loud commercials to startle viewers into paying attention. “TV viewers should be able to watch their favorite programs without fear of losing their hearing w hen the show goes to a commercial,” he said.
Father Featured in Ad ‘Insulted’ by Paul ResponseBy Bruce Schreiner
LOUISVILLE, Ky. (AP) – A Kentucky man who recounts his son’s lost battle with drug addiction in a TV commercial for Democrat Jack Conway says he was insulted when Republican Rand Paul termed the Senate campaign ad “creepy.”
Mike Donta, who is shown standing at his son’s grave in the ad, says “it’s a shame that Rand’s reaction is to attack me instead of focus on solutions” to Kentucky’s drug problems.
Paul campaign manager Jesse Benton said Paul’s criticism wasn’t directed at Donta.
“Dr. Paul has deep sympathy for Mr. Donta and all of the Kentucky families that have suffered from the scourge of drug abuse,” Benton said. “His comment was about Jack Conway and his attempt to politicize this tragedy, which we found in poor taste.”
Donta’s son committed suicide in July after fighting an addiction to prescription painkillers for three years.
The 30-second Conway campaign ad is airing in eastern Kentucky, where addiction to prescription painkillers has become rampant. A Conway campaign spokesman called it a significant ad buy, but wouldn’t give a dollar amount.
The ad accuses Paul of being out of touch on the severity of the drug problem. It shows Donta holding the hand of his young grandson, who was left fatherless when Donta’s son died.
Donta, a Conway supporter and longtime union activist from Boyd County, was appointed to a state labor post by Democratic Gov. Steve Beshear. Organized labor is among Conway’s staunchest supporters.
In the ad, Donta says he can’t believe Paul said that drugs aren’t a pressing issue in Kentucky. Paul, a Bowling Green eye doctor, was quoted by the AP last summer as saying he doesn’t think drugs are a “real pressing issue” in the Senate race, but has since stressed that he realizes drug abuse is a problem.
While campaigning in eastern Kentucky this week, Paul called the drug ad “kind of tacky and really dishonest and kind of creepy.” Paul said it brought up a personal tragedy “for political purposes, as if I’m somehow responsible.”
“That was directly an insult to me,” Donta said, adding that it was also insulting to other families dealing with drug addiction tragedies.
“I never once claimed that he was personally responsible for the death of my son,” Donta said. “My ad only claimed that he wasn’t on top of the drug crisis and just doesn’t understand what’s going on within this state.”
Donta said that he would be willing to meet with Paul to discuss the drug problem, which is a sensitive subject in eastern Kentucky, a crucial battleground in the Senate race and a hotbed for marijuana growers and drug dealers selling prescription pills and methamphetamines.
Conway, the state’s attorney general, has tried to portray Paul as out of touch on crime issues, and has highlighted his efforts to curb an illegal prescription pill pipeline feeding the addiction of many Kentuckians.
Paul has said he prefers local initiatives over federally based responses to combat drug trafficking and addiction problems. However, Clay County Sheriff Kevin Johnson said Paul assured him recently that he won’t seek funding cuts for regional drug task forces.
Associated Press writer Roger Alford in Frankfort, Ky., contributed to this report.
Michelle Obama Promotes Health in Disney CampaignBy Darlene Superville
WASHINGTON (AP) – World famous for her White House vegetable garden, first lady Michelle Obama is sharing her expertise in a Walt Disney Co. ad campaign designed to show parents and children that eating well and exercising can be fun, too.
“Eating better and getting more active is easier than you think,” Mrs. Obama says in the first of eight public service spots she’s starring in as part of Disney’s “Magic of Healthy Living” campaign. The entertainment company planned to announce the campaign Thursday.
The first lady appears with various Disney stars, including Nick Jonas of the Jonas Brothers and Brenda Song, of the Disney Channel’s “The Suite Life on Deck.”
In another of the ads, she helps other Disney stars who want to plant a garden.
“You don’t need a big backyard or even pots to start your own garden,” Mrs. Obama says. “All you need is sunlight, water and a little imagination. So let’s get moving and get planting because a great w ay to get fresh, healthy produce is to grow it yourself.”
Mrs. Obama launched her own campaign this year, called “Let’s Move,” to raise public awareness about the country’s childhood obesity problem. One in three American children are overweight or obese, increasing their risk of developing life-altering illnesses like diabetes.
Disney’s new campaign includes a yearlong series of public service announcements airing on the Disney Channel, Disney XD, Radio Disney, Disney.com and on the ABC television network. The ads will also air on the Ad Council’s network of 1,700 stations.
Besides the ads, Disney has created two websites focused on healthy living – one for children and one for parents – and is sponsoring a national essay contest for kids. Fifty winners are to spend a weekend at Walt Disney World in Orlando, Fla.
The company is also investing $1 million to help build playgrounds and gardens in 10 underserved communities nationwide.
Study: Audio Recordings of US History Fading Fast
By Brett Zongker
WASHINGTON (AP) – New digital recordings of events in U.S. history and early radio shows are at risk of being lost much faster than older ones on tape and many are already gone, according to a study on sound released Wednesday.
Even recent history – such as recordings from 9/11 or the 2008 election – is at risk because digital sound files can be corrupted, and widely used CD-R discs only last three to five years before files start to fade, said study co-author Sam Brylawski.
“I think we’re assuming that if it’s on the Web it’s going to be there forever,” he said. “That’s one of the biggest challenges.”
The first comprehensive study of the preservation of sound recordings in the U.S., released by the Library of Congress, also found many historical recordings already have been lost or can’t be accessed by the public. That includes most of radio’s first decade from 1925 to 1935.
Shows by musicians Duke Ellington and Bing Crosby, as well a s the earliest sports broadcasts, are already gone. There was little financial incentive for such broadcasters as CBS to save early sound files, Brylawski said.
Digital files are a blessing and a curse. Sounds can be easily recorded and transferred and the files require less and less space. But the problem, Brylawski said, is they must be constantly maintained and backed up by audio experts as technology changes. That requires active preservation, rather than simply placing files on a shelf, he said.
The study co-authored by Rob Bamberger was mandated by Congress in a 2000 preservation law.
Those old analog formats that remain are more physically stable and can survive much longer than contemporary digital recordings, the study warns. Still, the rapid change in technology to play back the recordings can make them obsolete.
Recordings saved by historical societies and family oral histories also are at risk, Brylawski said.
“Those audio cassettes are just time bombs,” Brylawski said. “They’re just not going to be playable.”
The study recommends several solutions and its findings will be followed by a National Recording Preservation Plan being developed by the Library of Congress later this year.
New training and college degree programs for audio archivists are essential to improve preservation, the study found. Currently, no universities offer degrees in audio preservation, though several offer related courses.
The study also calls for legal reforms to enable more preservation. A hodgepodge of 20th century state anti-piracy laws has kept most sound files out of the public domain before U.S. copyright law was extended to sound recordings in 1972. The study found only 14 percent of commercially released recordings are available from rights holders.
Later this year, the library will debut a National Jukebox online after securing a license to stream sound recordings controlled by Sony Music Entert ainment.
“The more copies of historical recordings are out there, the safer they are,” Brylawski said.
The study also calls for changes in copyright law to help preservation. As it stands now, Brylawski said, copyright restrictions would make most audio preservation initiatives illegal, the authors wrote.
Dwindling resources also hamper preservation efforts at many smaller libraries and archives. The study calls for more coordination among preservationists to prioritize efforts and develop techniques that can be used by institutions with smaller budgets.
Dick Griffey, SOLAR Records Founder, Dies at 71
Nekesa Mumbi Moody, Music Writer
NEW YORK (AP) – Dick Griffey, a key figure in black music whose record label SOLAR churned out classic R&B hits including “Fantastic Voyage” and “Rock Steady,” has died. He was 71
Griffey died Friday in Los Angeles of complications from quadruple bypass surgery, according to a family statement released Tuesday. The Nashville, Tenn.-born entreprenueur was instrumental to soul and funk music and in black entertainment.
Island Def Jam Chairman and CEO Antonio “L.A.” Reid, who got his start with SOLAR as a member of the group the Deele, said Wednesday that SOLAR made black pop music for the 1980s and was a cultural force.
“When we look at Motown as an example, the nearest competitor was SOLAR,” he said in an interview Wednesday. “The talent under that roof was insane.”
SOLAR was home to such top acts as the Whispers, Shalamar, Lakeside, Midnight Star and Klymaxx – groups that helped keep the label at the forefront of R&B music with hits including “As the Beat Goes On,” ”Second Time Around” and “I Miss You.”
Griffey is also credited with giving the upstart production duo of Jimmy Jam & Terry Lewis early work paving the way for their blockbuster songwriting and production career. SOLAR was also home to the group the Deele, which featured Reid and Grammy-winning singer-songwriter Babyface.
Reid said it was Griffey who suggested he start producing when Reid told him he couldn’t start work on the Deele’s second album because the chosen producers were busy. With Babyface, Reid produced some of the biggest acts in the 1990s and created LaFace Records.
“That was a life-changing moment in our careers,” he said.
Griffey’s first major success came as a concert promoter, when he worked with superstar acts such as Stevie Wonder and the Jacksons.
But Griffey soon turned his talents to creating new hitmakers. In 1975, after working for Don Cornelius as the talent coordinator on “So ul Train,” he partnered with Cornelius to start Soul Train Records. Cornelius and Griffey split two years later, and Griffey went on to found SOLAR Records.
Survivors include his wife and five children.
