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Briefly: Bon Jovi, iTunes, Bo Bice, Ben Kweller
Bon Jovi played a sold-out performance in Las Vegas last weekend as part of the 10th annual Tiger Jam benefit concert and auction, which this year raised a total of $1.5 million for the Tiger Woods Foundation and local charities.
In addition to its sold-out show, Bon Jovi also helped raise funds by auctioning off a meet-and-greet lunch with the band, which sold for $64,000.
Apple today (5/29) unveiled iTunes Plus, a collection of high-quality, DRM-free songs from record lable EMI's digital catalog.
Priced at $1.29 per song, the iTunes Plus collection is characterized by 256 kbps, AAC-encoded songs that boast audio quality that is "virtually indistinguishable from the original recordings," according to a press release. Most notably, the files carry no copyright-protection features, which, to date, have been a standard--and restrictive--part of all major-label tracks available legally online.
Today's launch of the iTunes Plus catalog follows EMI's early April announcement that it would be the first--and, so far, only--major label to eschew the embedding of digital-rights-management software in its iTunes song files. The company made the move following Apple CEO Steve Job's early April plea--via an open letter posted online--that all of the majors ditch DRM.
"We expect more than half of the songs on iTunes will be offered in iTunes Plus versions by the end of this year," Jobs said in a statement released today.
Singer Bo Bice , a runner-up from 2005's "American Idol," is back in the recording studio working on a follow-up to his 2005 debut, "The Real Thing."
"I think this CD will really showcase all I've wanted to with my music," Bice said in a prepared statement. "It's a chance for me to go out and rock in a way that I'm really comfortable with."
A planned mid-September release prompted Bice to return to the studio, and the "pressing deadlines" have resulted in the cancellation of previously scheduled acoustic shows in Tucson, AZ; Odessa, TX; and Dallas, according to a press release.
Ben Kweller has announced a special, three-night stand in Brooklyn, NY, on each night of which he plans to perform a different album in its entirety.
Scheduled to take place at Southpaw, the shows will feature Kweller performing "Sha Sha" on July 30, "On My Way" on July 31 and "Ben Kweller" on Aug. 1. Ticket prices are set at $18 for a single night ($20 day of show), and three-day passes are set at $50 apiece, according to a press release, which adds that three-day pass-holders will receive a "a private hang with the band." More information is available at Kweller's website.
