November 9, 2007

Friday Says Bye-Bye Music News Day

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And now, the Riff‘s crack Music News department follows up on stories we brought you here first. …Well, maybe not “first,” but, uh, in the past at some point, at least?

  • Okay, sorry, Prince. The Minneapolis superstar says he’s not suing fans (as we mocked here on the Riff the other day), but in fact just the opposite: his promoter released a statement saying that Prince wants to “provide Prince fans with exclusive music and images entirely free of charge, and bypassing unofficial and unauthorized phony fan sites that exploit both consumers and artists. The action taken earlier this week was not to shut down fansites, or control comment in any way.” So this turns into another one of those “he-said, Prince-said” things.

  • My Bloody Valentine: is really, truly going to release something new before the end of 2007, says bandleader Kevin Shields. The album will likely consist of “this 96-97 half-finished record, and then a compilation of stuff we did before that, and a little bit of new stuff.” Whatever, anything, who cares, just give it to us!!!

  • Radiohead are denying stuff too: they’re contradicting the recent reports suggesting 60 percent of fans who downloaded In Rainbows paid nothing, calling the data “wholly inaccurate,” and saying it “in no way reflected definitive market intelligence or, indeed, the true success of the project.” Hmm, sounds like one of those denials-of-everything-but-the-facts. Anyway, you’ll be able to buy the physical version of In Rainbows on December 31st, and hopefully somebody will count those.

  • And finally, following up on the continuing Amy Winehouse saga: police raided the singer’s home and then arrested her husband, Blake Fielder-Civil, in East London on Thursday, while a tearful Winehouse was present. Fielder-Civil was allegedly involved in an attempt to fix his own trial in an assault case of a bartender earlier this summer. The victim was apparently offered $400,000 to keep quiet. Mr. Winehouse sounds awesome, can I just say that? Anyway, Winehouse’s wobbly, slurring performance at the MTV Europe awards last week raised some eyebrows as well, and oh, it’s Friday, why not watch that here:
    •

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    WE CAME UP SHORT.

    We just wrapped up a shorter-than-normal, urgent-as-ever fundraising drive and we came up about $45,000 short of our $300,000 goal.

    That means we're going to have upwards of $350,000, maybe more, to raise in online donations between now and June 30, when our fiscal year ends and we have to get to break-even. And even though there's zero cushion to miss the mark, we won't be all that in your face about our fundraising again until June.

    So we urgently need this specific ask, what you're reading right now, to start bringing in more donations than it ever has. The reality, for these next few months and next few years, is that we have to start finding ways to grow our online supporter base in a big way—and we're optimistic we can keep making real headway by being real with you about this.

    Because the bottom line: Corporations and powerful people with deep pockets will never sustain the type of journalism Mother Jones exists to do. The only investors who won’t let independent, investigative journalism down are the people who actually care about its future—you.

    And we hope you might consider pitching in before moving on to whatever it is you're about to do next. We really need to see if we'll be able to raise more with this real estate on a daily basis than we have been, so we're hoping to see a promising start.

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