Toronto Pictures

Los Angeles, California — Toronto Pictures, Inc (PINK: TTOPF) announced the appointment of Ms. Vivian Afriyie as Chief Financial Officer.

Vivian has over twelve years of experience in the forensic, financial accounting and corporate finance. Prior to joining Toronto Pictures, Vivian was the director of financial planning and business operations at Business Management Solutions where she supported senior management to make major decisions and implement improvements which in turn dramatically increased the performance of the firm’s clients. In many occasions she also managed financial planning and analysis functions for the clients’ operations.

“We are privileged to welcome Vivian to Toronto Pictures’ management team. I am confident that she will make significant contributions to the Company and that she will play an important role in realizing our objectives”, says Daria Trifu, COO.

Born in Accra, Ghana and a resident of Los Angeles, Vivian began her career in the public accounting arena working with PriceWaterhouseCoopers as an associate with financial Advisory Services where she provided consulting services for clients with financial and economic issues in complex litigation and other business dispute cases using forensic accounting techniques to analyze and critique opposing party claims. She then moved into the private sector where she worked for top companies such as Northrop Grumman, Occidental Petroleum, Price and Herbalife as senior financial analyst in corporate finance with experience in SEC reporting, financial planning and forecasting. She has a B.S. in accounting and finance from California State University, Los Angeles.

“Vivian’s appointment is yet another milestone as Toronto Pictures expands its operations to the West Coast as well as the Company prepares compliance with rules and regulations in order to become listed on the London Stock Exchange. Her background in corporate finance is also a key factors in raising the funding for the theatrical release of the feature film PUNCTURED HOPE and for the production of the film THE MINNESOTA PROJECT”, says Bruno Pischiutta, CEO.

About Toronto Pictures:
Toronto Pictures produces Hollywood standard, 35 mm feature films that provoke thought not violence. Targeting a global audience, Toronto Pictures explores different cultures and addresses controversial issues of our time in dramatic format.

Who Needs Labels When You’ve Got ASCAP?
by Laura Sydell for NPR

It’s open mic night at the Bazaar Cafe in San Francisco. A musician who calls himself Porter steps up with a guitar and harmonica strapped around his neck. The small cafe is packed, though it’s mostly packed with other singer-songwriters.

Porter is 27, and he’s making his first album at a local studio, even though he doesn’t have a recording contract.

“The indie music scene has gone beyond record labels now,” Porter says. “We don’t need Sony giving us $200 million to make an album. We can cut an album fairly cheaply and the quality’s still there, and you can play in so many places online. You can get online like CD Baby and all that, and you’re distributing to all those places. You don’t need a label anymore.”

Porter is also signed up with ASCAP — that’s one of the major organizations that collects royalties for songwriters. They keep track of when songs are played on the radio, in clubs and online, then divvy up the royalties. He might even collect a few cents for NPR airplay. Artists used to wait until they had a recording contract to sign up with ASCAP, but not anymore.

“Performance of that music has never been greater,” says Phil Crosland, vice-president of marketing at ASCAP. “It’s just being used in more ways and more places than ever before. Mobile devices — certainly radio, television, video games — are going through the roof in terms of music use.”

New Ways To Get By

Membership is soaring in ASCAP and BMI, the two biggest performing rights organizations. Over the last decade, ASCAP membership has quadrupled. One of its 375,000 members is Jess Furman. Furman says she doesn’t think she’ll make her money selling CDs. After all, record sales are down by half over the last decade.

“If you’re an artist, you’re trying to make money,” Furman says. “The best thing would be getting your song on a TV show or getting it in a film. You get paid residuals for whenever that airs. So I think that artists now — you’re looking at all those multiple income streams because the sales have kind of dried up.”

So far, Furman hasn’t seen much money from ASCAP. She made between $500 and $800 after a short snippet of one of her songs played on MTV in Europe and Latin America — not exactly a living. And without a label, Furman says she has to keep track of her own music, fill out forms and alert ASCAP about where it plays. A lot of independent musicians find that, without a label, they are their own bookkeepers, publicists, designers and bookers.

“And what started out as this enthusiasm started to lead to this kind of slumped-shoulders feeling of, like, ‘Uh, yeah. I can do it all myself. Great. Now that means I have to,’ ” says Derek Sivers, who in 1997 founded CD Baby, one of the first online outlets for unsigned musicians.

Ponying Up Royalties

There is also an imprecise side of how ASCAP does its work. The owner of the Bazaar Cafe has put a large sign on the wall, easily seen from the audience as the musicians perform. It reads, “ASCAP and BMI want my dough. If you play covers, out you go.”

Owner Les Wisner says he doesn’t want to pay royalty fees because he doesn’t trust that ASCAP can keep track of what gets played in his cafe.

But dreams of being a successful musician never die. Musician Alex Stein says he’s hopeful he’ll see royalties someday, but he’s not holding his breath.

ASCAP says that even though the royalty pool is growing, 20 percent of its members get 80 percent of the money.

Since 1995, sales of recorded music have seen a significant decline. On the other hand, live music has become more significant.

There are four major record labels that dominate recorded music — Sony Music Entertainment, Universal Music Group, Warner Music Group and EMI. The major labels own many smaller labels that serve niche markets and different regions.

Nielsen SoundScan reported for 2005 that the major labels accounted for about 82% of the U.S. music market:
Universal Music Group (USA/France based) — 31.71%
Sony Music Entertainment (Japan based) — 25.61%
Warner Music Group (USA based) — 15%
EMI Group (UK based) — 9.55%
Independent labels — 18.13%

The business of live music, concerts and tours is dominated by Live Nation, the largest concert promoter and music venue owner. Live Nation use to be a subsidiary of Clear Channel Communications. Clear Channel is the largest owner of radio stations in the United States.

In recent years, Apple has become a major player through iTunes. Apple had entered into an agreement with Apple Records to stay out of the music business. Apple continues to face trademark challenges by Apple Records over the matter.

Muse performing a concert at the Wachovia Center in Philadelphia, PA.

The Silversun Pickups opening for Muse at the Wachovia Center in Philadelphia, PA.

James William “Jimmy” Buffett was born December 25, 1946. He is a singer, songwriter, author, businessman and movie producer.

Jimmy Buffett is one of the most successful musicians-turned-businessman. He is a best selling writer and oversees two restaurant chains named after his most famous songs, “Cheeseburger in Paradise” and “Margaritaville”. Jimmy owns the Margaritaville Cafe restaurant chain, as well as co-developed the Cheeseburger in Paradise restaurant concept with OSI Restaurant Partners. OSI, the parent of Outback Steakhouse, operates the chain under a licensing agreement with Buffett.

The income from his restaurants, album sales, and tours brings in an estimated $100 million a year.

Jimmy Buffett and the Coral Reefer Band will be playing:
Sat. Aug. 07, 2010
Camden, NJ
Susquehanna Bank Center

By Scott Rappaport for the University of California at Santa Cruz

The Grateful Dead announced today that the band will donate its archives to the University of California, Santa Cruz.

Band members Bob Weir and Mickey Hart made the announcement this morning at a press conference held in the poster room of San Francisco’s historic Fillmore Auditorium.

Documenting the history of the band from 1965 to the present, The Grateful Dead Archive will reside in the University Library’s Special Collections at UC Santa Cruz. The focal point of the collection will be a dedicated room named “Dead Central,” where both academic researchers and the general public will have access to the archive.

“The Grateful Dead Archive represents one of the most significant popular cultural collections of the 20th century; UC Santa Cruz is honored to receive this invaluable gift,” noted UC Santa Cruz Chancellor George Blumenthal. “The Grateful Dead and UC Santa Cruz are both highly innovative institutions—born the same year—that continue to make a major, positive impact on the world.”

The Archive includes business records and correspondence, photographs, and show files with tickets and backstage passes–as well as promotional items such as flyers, posters, shirts, press clips and awards. Framed photos by renowned photographers and unreleased videos of interviews and TV appearances will be available for viewing. Large stage backdrops, stained-glass pieces, and props from live performances are also featured. An extensive collection of Deadhead fan mail and gifts is an important part of the collection.

“We are excited that The Grateful Dead Archive will now have a home at UC Santa Cruz,” said Christine Bunting, the head of Special Collections at the University Library. “It will provide extraordinary opportunities for researchers and the public to examine the music of one of the most influential bands in history, as well as explore the cultural phenomenon of Deadheads—the most dedicated and celebrated fans in music. The study of popular culture has become an important focus in the academic disciplines of the arts, humanities and social sciences.”

Bunting added that as it works to preserve and prepare the archive for public use, UC Santa Cruz will be forming creative partnerships with Rhino Entertainment (distributor of the band’s music and home of the Grateful Dead web site, dead.net), as well as the Rock ‘n’ Roll Hall of Fame and key high-tech companies in Silicon Valley.

Two foundations established by members of the Grateful Dead previously contributed to UC Santa Cruz in 2004. The Rex Foundation, founded by the Grateful Dead and friends, and the Unbroken Chain Foundation, established by Phil and Jill Lesh, each donated $10,000 to support the campus’s archive of maverick composer Lou Harrison. UC Santa Cruz music professor Fred Lieberman helped to facilitate those gifts; Lieberman is coauthor of two books with band member Mickey Hart–Planet Drum and Drumming at the Edge of Magic.

Bunting noted that due to the monumental size and scope of the archive, a fundraising campaign is now being launched to support it and to endow a permanent Grateful Dead archivist position. She said that she anticipates the archive will be of great interest to thousands of people around the world.

“We looked around, and UC Santa Cruz seems the best possible home,” Weir noted. “If you ever wrote the Grateful Dead a letter, you’ll probably find it there!”

Harrisburg, PA — An antitrust settlement has been reached regarding the merger of Ticketmaster Entertainment Inc. and Live Nation Inc., to preserve competition for concert ticket sales and address other anti-competitive concerns raised by the combination of these two companies.

“The goal of this agreement is to maintain competition in the ticket marketplace for the benefit of concert fans throughout Pennsylvania and across the country,” said Attorney General Tom Corbett.

Corbett noted that Ticketmaster is the largest primary ticketing company in the United States, while Live Nation is the largest concert promoter in the country. The February 2009 merger proposal involving the two companies triggered a review by the Attorney General’s Antitrust Section, along with other states and the U.S. Department of Justice, to evaluate the impact on ticket pricing, availability, competition and other related concerns.

Corbett said the antitrust settlement will require Ticketmaster to sell or license its ticket-selling programs in order to enable two new, independent and economically viable competitors to enter the market for ticket sales at major concert venues across the United States.

Additionally, Corbett said the agreement prohibits Ticketmaster and Live Nation from engaging in conduct that would impede competition, including retaliation against the owners of concert venues that might use other businesses for primary ticket sales. They are also prohibited from abusing their position in the ticket sales market to impede competition by concert promoters or artist managers.

Corbett said the settlement also prohibits Ticketmaster from requiring the use of its ticket sales service if concert venues want to promote shows or artists that are managed by Ticketmaster or Live Nation, or requiring venues to take certain shows or artists in order to be able to obtain Ticketmaster’s services for ticket sales.

Finally, the agreement requires Ticketmaster and Live Nation to provide formal notice, at least 30 days in advance, before acquiring any assets or interest in any business that provides primary ticket sales services in the United States.

Corbett said the antitrust investigation involved Pennsylvania, Arizona, Arkansas, California, Florida, Iowa, Illinois, Louisiana, Massachusetts, Nebraska, Nevada, Ohio, Oregon, Rhode Island, Tennessee, Texas and Wisconsin, along with the U.S. Department of Justice.

The complaint and settlement agreement were filed today in U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia.

The Pennsylvania portion of the case was handled by Chief Deputy Attorney General James A. Donahue III, along with Deputy Attorneys General Jennifer A. Thomson, Joseph S. Betsko and Norman W. Marden, of the Attorney General’s Antitrust Section.

The band 30 Seconds To Mars (30STM) has a member that is also an actor, as well as, being into guerrilla marketing. Yesterday the band held a screening for his new project and it turned into something beyond real.

The FaceBook and Twitter crowd showed up in droves to see the band in response to their new album “This Is War”. Unfortunately, the marketing treat had a nut on top. A man evoked the LAPD bomb squad. Needless to say, it was if martians had landed into the crowd of fans. Guerrillas and martians… the King Kong of how not to advertise the War Of The Worlds?

“Jared Leto decided to hold an impromptu gathering of 30 Seconds to Mars fans at the Hive, the gallery/communal space he and his bandmates run on Melrose Avenue in Los Angeles. The plan was to treat them to a glimpse of “Artifact,” the 30STM documentary he’s been working on for more than a year now,” MTV news reported.

Jared Leto said, “We have wonderful fans and what I said was taken out of context online. After police let everyone back in to the area, a number of people gathered outside and there were media outlets and cameras there too,” Leto explained. “And during all this, someone says that a fan had put a sticker on a police car, a 30 Seconds to Mars sticker, and I joked that we definitely have the craziest fans in the world. That was in reaction to the sticker, not the guy. I mean, someone put a sticker on a cop car in the middle of a bomb scare.”

Have you ever wondered who owns the TV show “American Idol”? The answer is CKx Inc. (NASDAQ: CKXE)

Simon Fuller is a manager and agent for stars like the Spice Girls. He developed the idea for Idol.

What does CKx stand for? “The “C” and “K” stand for “Content is King” which represents the core focus of the Company’s business strategy which is to acquire established content and to improve and enhance the development and marketing of such content. Other company’s previously founded by Robert F.X. Sillerman, our Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, also utilized three letter names including an “X” and the Company wanted to take advantage of that recognition.”

In 2005, CKx’s took over Simon Fuller’s company, 19 Entertainment.” Recently, CKX, Inc. announced that Robert Dodds has been appointed CEO of 19 Entertainment. Mr. Dodds, who will assume responsibility for the day-to-day operations of 19 Entertainment, has served as its President since the company acquired his brand content firm, Freedom Media, in August 2006.

In his CEO role, Mr. Dodds succeeds Simon Fuller, who recently signed a long-term deal with CKX to continue to executive produce and provide overall global executive direction to CKX’s hit television and online shows.

Commenting on the announcement, Robert F.X. Sillerman, CKX’s Chairman and CEO said, “Robert has been central to the success of 19 Entertainment over the past three years. He has helped drive the growth of the IDOLS and So You Think You Can Dance franchises, and was pivotal in the development of our recently announced new multimedia initiative, If I Can Dream. As 19 continues to exploit these three and other lucrative opportunities, it is only appropriate that Robert assume the CEO’s role. We’re thrilled that he will be able to continue his excellent work with 19, while maintaining the Company’s strong ties to Simon.”‘

CKx has a record label deal with SonyBMG:
“SonyBMG will continue as the designated record label for winning American Idol contestants and 19 Entertainment will receive from SonyBMG a larger percentage of the revenue from the sales of recorded music from future American Idol artists.”