Chinaydu out with new single
Ruggedman’s rap
protégé, Chinaydu of the ‘9ice the Ingrate’ fame has released a new
single, ‘Falling’. The rapper who is the first artist on Rugged
Records, yet again featured label boss Ruggedman in ‘Falling’ released
yesterday on Notjustok.com. The track borrows a satirical opening from
the multiple award-winning title track by American singer, Alicia Keys.
The track features a Ruggedman verse sandwiched between two from
Chiynadu. Chinaydu’s first single was released late last year in the
thick of Ruggedman’s feud with singer 9ice. The track, ‘9ice The
Ingrate’ took jabs at the multiple award-winning singer.
Phil Collins announces retirement
British singer,
drummer and actor Phil Collins, who has enjoyed international chart
success both as a solo artist and with the band Genesis, announced on
his website that he has retired. Media reports in recent days have
given conflicting accounts of Collins’ intentions, with some saying he
has retired and others denying it.
“Why they were
printed at all is a mystery, as I haven’t spoken to anybody in the
press for a few months,” wrote the 60-year-old from London.
In a bid to set the
record straight, he said he was not quitting due to bad reviews, poor
treatment by the press, because he did not fit in or because he felt
unloved.
“I am stopping so I can be a full-time father to my two young sons on a daily basis,” Collins added.
“Some of the things
mentioned above have been said by me in various interviews, but said as
asides with a smile on my face and in passing.
“They were not
meant to be ‘headlines’, they were small parts of a conversation. This
clearly doesn’t come over in print and I should know better.” He said
some of the press coverage had portrayed him as a “tormented weirdo,”
but he reassured fans there was “no need for the straitjacket.” He made
no mention of reports that health problems,
including nerve damage in his hands, had forced him to retire.
Collins, singer of
hits like “In the Air Tonight” and “Against All Odds,” has won multiple
Grammy awards, an Academy Award for his soundtrack to the film “Tarzan”
and has sold an estimated 100 million albums as a solo artist. Genesis
is estimated to have sold around 150 million albums.
Warner Bros to offer movies through Facebook
Warner Bros is
making some of its films available on Facebook, opening up a new
revenue source for the Internet social network and signaling new
competition for online entertainment companies. Consumers can pay for
the movies using Facebook Credits, a virtual currency so far used
mainly in social games on the site, according to Warner Bros, a unit of
Time Warner Inc, on Tuesday. Facebook, which makes money mostly through
online advertising, takes 30 percent of the revenue from sales by third
parties on the website using Credits. The service will initially be
available in the United States, the company said. The streaming of
full-length Hollywood films on Facebook creates a new role for the
500-million-plus member social network, which has grown into one of the
most powerful Web players by making it easy to share photos, videos and
other content with friends. In a note to investors on Tuesday, Goldman
Sachs analyst Ingrid Chung said Facebook represents a long-term threat
to online rental service Netflix Inc that caught Wall Street investors
by surprise. “The ‘wisdom of friends’ could be a bigger driver of movie
viewership than the ‘wisdom of crowds,'” wrote Chung.
Shares of Netflix
closed 5.8 percent lower at $195.45 on Nasdaq. However, Lazard Capital
Markets analyst Barton Crockett said in a note to investors that online
pay-per-view services have not proved as popular as subscription-based
movie services, and noted that the Warner Bros offering is a “far cry”
from Facebook launching a subscription service. Shares of Apple Inc,
which offers pay-per-view movies online, rose 0.1 percent to $355.76.
Amazon.com Inc, which also rents movies online, fell 1.3 percent to
$166.89.
It was not immediately clear whether other movie studios were planning similar projects with Facebook.
A new record imprint berths
A new record label,
YBillion Records, is set to commence operation within the Nigerian
entertainment industry. The imprint, which is powered by two young
entrepreneurs, Ayodele Alakija and Kolawole Ajayi who work in the
capacities of chief executive officer and executive director
respectively, have signed up an artist, Threat King.
According to a
press release from the imprint, Threat King was given a N3.8 million
Cadillac sedan among many other signup benefits.
According to a
press release: “YBillions Records is a project we have been working for
a while now. We didn’t just wake one morning and decide to start a
record label. Before leaving Malaysia to Nigeria to invest heavily in
the music industry, we took our time drawing up a business plan and the
money needed to execute the project successfully too was raised. We
gave our artist a car because it was already in our plans. We
understand the need to make the artist very comfortable so that he can
bring out mind blowing great songs. We are just about to start.”
