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Briefly: Wilco, Usher, Brian Wilson, Ozomatli
While many bands go to great lengths to keep their new music from reaching fans before it's officially released, Wilco is again going to the opposite extreme.
The group's new album, "A Ghost is Born," isn't due in stores until June 22, but it is currently streaming in its entirety at the band's website.
Wilco streamed its previous album, "Yankee Hotel Foxtrot," over the Internet long before the set's official release--and even before the band had signed with Nonesuch, the label that eventually released it. The set turned out to be Wilco's best-selling album to date.
R&B singer Usher held off Janet Jackson to keep his claim on the No. 1 spot on the U.S. album chart for a second straight week.
Billboard reports that Usher's "Confessions"--despite a slip in sales of 56% from the previous week--sold 486,000 copies, besting the debut week of Janet Jackson's "Damita Jo" by about 150,000 units.
Charting at No. 3 on The Billboard 200 is the hits compilation "NOW That's What I Call Music! Vol. 15," while Lil' Flip's "U Gotta Feel Me" debuts at No. 4.
Rounding out the Top 5 is Aerosmith's "Honkin' on Bobo."
Singer-songwriter Brian Wilson , who came to fame as a member of The Beach Boys, will be honored on May 11 as a BMI ICON during the 52nd annual BMI Pop Awards dinner at the Regent Beverly Wilshire Hotel in Beverly Hills, CA.
The performing rights organization BMI created the ICON award in 1993 "to honor an exceptional person in the entertainment industry deserving of special recognition," according to a press release.
Past winners of the award include Isaac Hayes, Bill Anderson, Chuck Berry, James Brown, Bo Diddley, Lamont Dozier, Brian Holland, Eddie Holland, Dolly Parton and Little Richard.
Los Angeles-based Afro-Latin act Ozomatli will issue its first full-length studio album in three years, "Street Signs," on June 22.
