Frank Ocean’s year keeps getting better. The “Thinkin Bout You” singer has been announced as a performer for the 2012 MTV Video Music Awards. Ocean will make his VMA debut, delivering material off his critically-acclaimed album channel ORANGE. He is nominated for three awards including Best New Artist and Best Male Artist. In addition, Rihanna…

On August 6th, NASA’S Jet Propulsion Laboratory landed the Curiosity on Mars. The JPL will hold an educational event on August 28th to discuss the findings thus far. JPL is scheduled to broadcast will.i.am’s song “Reach For The Stars” directly from Mars. In addition: “During the press conference, will.I.am’s i.am.angel Foundation will launch a new…

If you have read anything about digital music recently, you have probably encountered two names over and over: Spotify and Pandora. Both offer an abundance of free listening on easy-to-use interfaces, and music fans have embraced them. At least 33 million people have tried Spotify, more than 150 million have registered for Pandora.Those are extraordinary…

Pusha T Speak on the “Cruel Summer” project: “It’s like a melting pot of music,” Pusha explained to MTVafter saying he might be on “six or seven songs.” “And I say that to say there are records that I rhymed on that Kid Cudi had like two verses of singing and I just come in, and…

There’s more music being created than ever before, but paradoxically, musicians are making less. Which means there are also fewer musicians and music professionals enjoying gainful employment, thanks to a deflated ecosystem once primed by major labels and marked-up CDs. It’s a difficult reality to stomach, especially given years of misguided assumptions about digital platforms….

So who’s right? Is Pandora screwing artists, or getting screwed by SoundExchange, Congress, and the majors?  Pandora cofounder Tim Westergren wants parity with other radio formats, but parity also means ‘cheaper’ as well.  Which is why New York Representative Jerrold Nadler is proposing a different sort of parity, one that would lift rates for all…

Ad revenue barely pays the bills, if that, and it rarely supports music startup models. It’s not happening for Pandora, and it’s not a meaningful revenue source for Spotify, either.  According to financial filings spilling this week, Spotify now counts 83.5 percent of its revenue from paying, premium subscribers.  Which means that free listeners are…