May 4, 2012

Adam Yauch of the Beastie Boys dies at 47
Jake Coyle, Entertainment Writer
NEW YORK (AP) – Adam Yauch, the gravelly voiced Beastie Boys rapper and the most conscientious member of the seminal hip-hop group, has died, his mentor Russell Simmons said Friday. He was 47.
    Calls and emails to representatives for the Beastie Boys were not immediately returned. Simmons’ Def Jam label released the Beastie Boys’ first album, “Licensed to Ill.”
    The cause, time and whereabouts of death weren’t immediately known. Yauch, who’s also known as MCA, was diagnosed with a cancerous parotid gland in 2009. He had undergone surgery and radiation.
    At the time, Yauch expressed hope it was “very treatable,” but his illness caused the group to cancel shows and delayed the release of their 2011 album, “Hot Sauce Committee, Pt. 2.”
    He hadn’t performed in public since 2009 and was absent when the Beastie Boys were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in April.
    The Brooklyn-born Yauch created the Beastie Boys with high school friend Michael “Mike D” Diamond. Originally conceived as a hardcore punk group, it soon became a hip-hop trio after Adam “Ad-Rock” Horovitz joined. They released their chart-topping debut “Licensed to Ill” in 1986, a raucous album led by the anthem “(You Gotta) Fight for Your Right (To Party!)”.
    But in the seven studio albums that followed, the Beastie Boys expanded considerably and grew more musically ambitious. Their follow-up, 1989’s “Paul’s Boutique,” ended any suggestion of the group as a one-hit wonder. Extensive in its sampling and sonically layered, the album was ranked the 156th greatest album ever by Rolling Stone magazine in 2003.
    The Beastie Boys would later take up their own instruments – a rarity in hip-hop – on the album “Check Your Head” and subsequent releases.
    The Beastie Boys – a trio of white Jewish kids – established themselves as one of the most respected groups in hip-hop at a time when white rappers were few.
    Introducing the group at the Rock Hall, Public Enemy rapper Chuck D said the Beastie Boys “broke the mold.”
    “The Beastie Boys are indeed three bad brothers who made history,” said Chuck D. “They brought a whole new look to rap and hip-hop. They proved that rap could come from any street – not just a few.”
    Yauch also went under the pseudonym Nathanial Hornblower when working as a filmmaker. He directed numerous videos for the group, as well as the 2006 concert film “Awesome: I F—– Shot That!” He also co-founded the film distribution company Osciolloscope Laboratories, named after his New York studio.
    Yauch is survived by his wife, Dechen Wangdu, and his daughter, Tenzin Losel Yauch.

Ashton Kutcher ad is called racist, yanked offline
LOS ANGELES (AP) — An online ad featuring Ashton Kutcher as an Indian man has been pulled offline after viewers called it racist.

The images and video for Popchips feature the 34-year-old “Two and a Half Men” star in brown makeup portraying a Bollywood producer named Raj who is “looking for love.” They were removed from YouTube and Facebook after being criticized online.

Other videos featuring Kutcher as a stoner, tattooed Southerner and pasty fashionista remain online.

A spokeswoman for Popchips says the dating parody featuring the four characters was “created to provoke a few laughs and was never intended to stereotype or offend anyone.” She added that the company hopes “people can enjoy this in the spirit it was intended.”

A spokeswoman for Kutcher hasn’t return messages seeking comment.

Oscars to stay in same theater for 20 more yearsBy Derrik J. Lang, Entertainment Writer
LOS ANGELES (AP) — The Oscars will be in Dolby.

The CIM Group, which owns the Hollywood & Highland Center, announced a 20-year deal on Tuesday with the audio technology company Dolby Laboratories Inc. to rename the Academy Awards venue as the Dolby Theatre.

In a separate deal, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences revealed a new agreement to keep the annual Oscars extravaganza at the theater for 20 more years.

“We are thrilled that Dolby is now the name of the theater because Dolby stands for excellence,” said Tom Sherak, president of the motion picture academy. “It’s a no-brainer for us.”

The posh four-level, 3,400-seat theater, formerly known as the Kodak Theatre, has been home to the Academy Awards since 2002. CIM Group dropped the Kodak name from the theater earlier this year after a bankruptcy court judge approved the early exit of 131-year-old Eastman Kodak Co. from a 20-year naming rights deal it signed with CIM Group in 1999.

During this year’s Oscar ceremony, host Billy Crystal jokingly referred to the space as the “Chapter 11 Theatre.”

Sherak said the motion picture academy, which did not immediately renew its deal with CIM Group last year, briefly considered moving ceremonies to another venue but decided to keep the Oscars in Hollywood.

“We got a number of suggestions from people saying, ‘we’d love to have you,'” said Sherak. “We talked to them, and they gave us some offers that they would have loved to negotiate with us, but we stopped there because the board met and we decided we wanted to be in Hollywood with the awards show.”

Sherak said the motion picture academy has approval over the theater’s name as part of the deal it negotiated with the theater’s previous owner.

No financial details of the new agreements were disclosed. Kodak previously paid a $3.6 million annual fee for the naming rights.

Dolby, which creates audio technologies spanning from homes to theaters, said in a statement that it will use the Hollywood venue to “create a world-class showcase for Dolby’s current and future technologies, beginning with the company’s revolutionary new Dolby Atmos sound technology released last week.”

The 47-year-old company said it would began enhancing the theater’s sound system this summer when the naming agreement commences.

The 85th annual Academy Awards are scheduled for Feb. 24, 2013.

Campaign to encourage US tourism launchesBy Samantha Bomkamp, Travel Industry Writer
NEW YORK (AP) — Residents of Japan, Canada and the United Kingdom are getting a taste of the United States’ first-ever marketing campaign to try and stave off declining tourism.

The print, web and video ads released Tuesday were created by Brand USA, a partnership of government agencies and private companies. The consortium was developed to act as a tourism ministry in other countries.

The group is operating with funds set aside under the Travel Promotion Act.

While tourism has increased globally over the last decade, the U.S. slice of those travelers has fallen, due in large part to complicated visa procedures and heightened security.

Brand USA is also working with government agencies to reduce wait times for visas and make other changes to encourage more international visitors.

Pepsi partners with Twitter on deal bringing music to marketing mix
NEW YORK (AP) — PepsiCo Inc. is tweeting to a new generation of music lovers.

The No. 2 soda company said Monday that it’s partnering with Twitter to provide streaming videos of live music concerts to Pepsi’s followers on the social networking site. The deal is part of Pepsi’s new global ad campaign that will also feature a TV ad with singer Nicki Minaj.

The company, based in Purchase, N.Y., isn’t yet saying which musicians will be featured for the Twitter concerts this summer, but the first concert is slated to take place in June. Additional details on the Twitter partnership will be unveiled next week.

Terms of the deal with Twitter were not disclosed.

The marketing push comes as Pepsi looks to revive the cola wars with The Coca-Cola Co., with up to $600 million in additional marketing slated for this year. Investors have criticized PepsiCo for letting its namesake soda lose market share to Coca-Cola in recent years. In 2010, Pepsi was bumped from its No. 2 spot by Diet Coke in the U.S., with Coca-Cola remaining in the top spot, according to the industry tracker Beverage Digest.

Pepsi isn’t the only one using music to tap into the youth market. Coca-Cola earlier this month announced a partnership with the online music provider Spotify; the companies are unveiling the details of their campaign later this year.

Coke and Pepsi both have a long history of using music to connect with young consumers. Over the years, Pepsi has featured musicians including Michael Jackson, Ray Charles, MC Hammer, Britney Spears and Beyonce in its marketing.

7 films added to Cannes festival lineup
PARIS (AP) — A documentary about the world’s waste and a musical about an Australian aboriginal singing group are among seven films added to the lineup of the Cannes Film Festival.

“Trashed,” by British director Candida Brady, will have a special screening at the May 16-27 festival, while Australian director Wayne Blair’s “The Sapphires” joins the midnight movies roster along with Franck Khalfoun’s Franco-American horror remake “Maniac.”

Organizers added three films Monday to the festival’s Un Certain Regard sidebar — “Djeca,” by Aida Begic from Bosnia-Herzegovina; “Renoir,” by France’s Gilles Bourdos; and “Gimme the Loot,” Adam Leon’s film about Bronx graffiti artists.

The Cannes lineup also includes “Final Cut,” a montage film produced by Hungarian auteur Bela Tarr.

UK court tells service providers: Block Pirate Bay
By Jill Lawless
LONDON (AP) — Britain’s High Court has ordered the country’s Internet service providers to block file-sharing website The Pirate Bay, the U.K.’s main music industry association said Monday.

A High Court judge told Sky, Everything Everywhere, TalkTalk, O2 and Virgin Media on Friday to prevent access to the Swedish site, which helps millions of people download copyrighted music, movies and computer games.

Music industry group BPI welcomed the order by justice Richard Arnold that the service providers block the site within the next few weeks.

BPI chief executive Geoff Taylor said sites like The Pirate Bay “destroy jobs in the U.K. and undermine investment in new British artists.”

The service providers said they would comply with the order. A sixth provider, BT, has been given several weeks to consider its position, but BPI said it expected BT would also block the website.

Providers who refuse could find themselves in breach of a court order, which can carry a large fine or jail time.

Monday’s announcement follows a February ruling by the same judge that the operators and users of The Pirate Bay have “a common design to infringe” the copyright of music companies.

The Pirate Bay has been a thorn in the side of the entertainment industry for years. In 2010, a Swedish appeals court upheld the copyright infringement convictions of three men behind the site, but it remains in operation.

The website, which has more than 20 million users around the world, does not host copyright-protected material itself, but provides a forum for its users to download content through so-called torrent files. The technology allows users to transfer parts of a large file from several different users, increasing download speeds.

Defenders of such sites say old creative industry business models have been overtaken by technology that allows music, movies and games to be acquired at the touch of a finger on computers, tablets, phones and other devices.

Both O2 and Virgin said banning orders against copyright-breaching sites had to be accompanied by other measures that reflected consumers’ behavior.

O2 said in a statement that “music rights holders should continue to develop new online business models to give consumers the content they want, how they want it, for a fair price.”

FCC requires TV stations to post rate info onlineWASHINGTON (AP) — The Federal Communications Commission voted Friday to require broadcast TV stations to post online the advertising rates they charge political candidates and advocacy groups.

The vote came despite strong opposition from many broadcasters, who have argued that making sensitive advertising rate information so publically available will undermine stations’ competitiveness and give advertisers unfair leverage over how much they are willing to pay. A coalition of broadcasters put forth a compromise plan that would have required TV stations to put public files online while shielding information about political spending.

FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski rejected the compromise, noting stations already make available paper records of what they charge political advertisers. He said there was no reason such information should be “stuck in a filing cabinet” in an online world.

Genachowski and another Democratic commissioner, Mignon Clyburn, voted in favor of the new disclosure rules. Commissioner Robert McDowell, a Republican, voted in favor of an overall measure requiring stations to move their public files online but dissented on disclosing the political file.

By law, television stations offer political candidates the lowest available advertising rates. Stations also allow the public to review paper records of what they charge political advertisers.

But disclosure advocates say the process of retrieving the information is far too cumbersome, requiring someone to show up at the station during office hours and photocopy many pages of records. More important, advocates argue the public should have easy access to information about how much candidates and other groups are spending on television to lure voters.

The new rule will require stations to digitize and upload the information, in real time, to the FCC’s website.

Network-affiliated stations in the top 50 markets will have six months to comply. For all others, the deadline is 2014.

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