'Music' Archive
Less than a week after Michael Jackson’s death, and the sharks already are circling.
This morning it was revealed that a 2002 will drafted by Michael Jackson stipulates that his mother, three children, and charities would split the benefits of his estate, estimated at more than $200 million. That will could see a judge as soon as this week.
A lawyer for his parents, Joe and Katherine Jackson, however, disputes that any will ever existed (perhaps, cynically, because Joe was left out of that 2002 will). And, to add spice to the brewing drama, in just the past few days at least one other will has evidently surfaced, which could throw Jackson’s already entangled assets into further disarray.
The bermuda triangle of Jackson’s finances will only make the process that much longer and laborious. In 2007 the singer’s assets, including Neverland Ranch and his 50-percent stake in the Sony/ATV Music Publishing catalog, tallied $567 million. His debts reached $331 million, leaving Jackson with a net worth of $236 million.
Here’s the biggest shocker, though: According to financial documents prepared by accountants Thompson, Cobb, Bazilio & Associates and obtained by the Associated Press, Jackson had little more than $668,000 in cash in 2007.
(Another estimate puts Jackson’s debt at around $500 million, which would certainly put a crimp on his net worth.)
It was no secret that Jackson’s planned “This is It” performances at London’s O2 Arena were, in one way, a debt-relief vehicle. Promoter AEG Live had already sold $85 million in tickets for the 50-date show by June 25, and it was expected to be the highest-grossing concert event ever.
AEG Live said it would return money and fees to ticket buyers, or, alternatively, send a ticket (designed by the Gloved One himself) as a souvenir. “This is It” indeed. Unclaimed cash would go to cover production costs (estimated at up to $30 million) with the rest returning to Jackson’s estate. And depending on Jackson’s cause of death, AEG could join other creditors and family members already lined up to grab a piece of the pie.
However the Jackson empire is carved up, though, don’t expect any swift decisions. Alongside his legacy, his finances will be news for a very long time to come.
Hoover’s is lucky to call Austin, Texas home and we are happy to share our fine city with some of the most talented, witty, and entertaining musicians in the country.
Leave it to long-time local folkies The Austin Lounge Lizards to perform a new song that lampoons the current economic mess we seem to have gotten ourselves into. (You see, The Lizards have made fun of everything from hillbillies to immigration reform since the group was founded in 1980). The band’s latest musical dig, Too Big to Fail, carries on the tradition of timely teasing to proclaim, “I wanna get what rich guys get/I wanna chef and a corporate jet/and a house in the Hamptons if it doesn’t upset Ben Bernanke.”
I couldn’t help but giggle when I first heard the track being played on a local radio station. Come to find out the song also has its own video featuring the band wearing nothing but wooden barrels. The track also will be available beginning July 1 as an iTunes download.
“The Lizards’ songs and their take on the human condition has given me new insight on how important it is to laugh at ourselves and life’s absurdities,” the group’s newest member and fiddle player, Darcie Deaville, explained on the band’s Web site.
The Austin Lounge Lizards probably aren’t the first and surely won’t be the last act to capitalize on or make fun of the state our economy. We all need a nice reprieve from all of the horrible news of late, so why not sing about how horrible things are. And at 99 cents per download The Lizards may have just found their latest cash cow. At least there is still a market for humor.
Thanks, EMI. Just when I thought major music labels couldn’t get more out of touch, you’ve proved me wrong again.
For anyone who even remotely follows indie-rock music, it is practically impossible not to notice news of a little album titled Dark Night of the Soul (DNOTS). It is essentially a collaboration among three of the world’s most respected and eccentric artists, Danger Mouse (of Gnarls Barkley fame), Sparklehorse (né Mark Linkous), and David Lynch. These luminaries in turn corralled a who’s-who of singer-songwriters to contribute tracks to the collection, including Wayne Coyne of the Flaming Lips, Iggy Pop, and Suzanne Vega.
DNOTS is one of the most beautiful, sad, challenging, and ultimately rewarding albums in recent memory, not to mention one of the most hyped. Which makes EMI’s decision to pull the plug on its release one heck of a head-scratcher.
It’s not the first time Danger Mouse has encountered legal trouble with the label. In 2004, he tried to release his Grey Album, which blended the Beatles’ White Album with Jay Z’s Black Album. EMI objected over rights issues, but the album leaked and made its maker a star.
DNOTS appears to face similar problems. According to the album’s official Web site, Danger Mouse cannot release the music for “legal reasons.” (EMI has not issued an explanation.) Instead, he is selling a blank CD-R with a 100-page book of photographs compiled by Lynch. As far as the blank disc goes, the site suggests that buyers “use it as you will.”
Needless to say, DNOTS has leaked online since the drama between its producers and EMI has unfolded, giving plenty of fans a chance to put that disc to good use.
To be fair, there may be a perfectly valid reason to EMI’s decision. Perhaps the potential costs of litigation outweigh any record sales forecasts. With all the excitement surrounding DNOTS, though, it would seem like the label could have at least seen a return on its investment, if not much more.
Instead, we are left with a very good album which can be had only by the very means that companies like EMI have been fighting for years: illegal download.
When Josh Freese struggled to devise a marketing plan for his new self-released album, he had an epiphany: Instead of aiming high, why not aim ridiculously high?
So, the former Nine Inch Nails drummer created a tiered marketing program that allowed fans to not only buy his album, but earn certain “perks” for their money. For $7, fans could download the album from his website. And for $75,000, Freese would write an album about the buyer’s life, join and tour with the buyer’s band, take the buyer to a flying trapeze lesson with Nine Inch Nails guitarist Robin Finck, and give the buyer one of his drum kits.
Other packages ranging from $15 to $20,000 each came with their own equally amusing perks. Needless to say, it wasn’t long before Freese’s extreme promotional plan went viral, garnering national press and interview offers from radio stations. Mission accomplished.
It’s not the first time an artist has dreamed up such a plan. In fact, in a world of crumbling record labels and disappearing financial support, it has become the norm. Songwriter Jill Sobule launched a similar — though comparatively restrained — campaign to raise money to record her most recent album. And thanks to social networking sites like ThePoint.com, artists of all stripes are finding new and innovative ways to corral new investors. Not only are they finding capital, but these folks are getting their core constituents — the fans — fully engaged in the creative process.
To date, Freese has sold all 25 of his $250 premiums (lunch with Freese at PF Chang’s or the Cheesecake Factory); one $2,500 item (a drum lesson and visit to the Hollywood Wax Museum with a member of Devo or the Vandals); and two $5,000 packages (including a private tour of Disneyland). And for $20,000, 19-year-old Thomas Mrzyglocki won a week-long hang with the drummer, including miniature golf with members of Tool and Devo and a night on the Queen Mary.
It just goes to show that a little ingenuity (however outlandish), and a working knowledge of the Internet, can go a long way in getting a little recognition for your work.
Many momentous events took place in 1959. Fidel Castro, Che Guevara, and their communist guerrilla forces took over Cuba. A Raisin in the Sun opened on Broadway. The Dalai Lama fled Tibet and went into exile in India. Khrushchev and Nixon had their “kitchen debate” in Moscow. The St. Lawrence Seaway was opened. Miles Davis released Kind of Blue.
In the world of business, Honda Motor opened its first overseas subsidiary, American Honda Motor, in a Los Angeles storefront. Hitachi established Hitachi America. And National Semiconductor was born.
National Semiconductor makes its headquarters in Silicon Valley, of course, but the company was started in Danbury, Connecticut, on May 27, 1959, and incorporated in Delaware. It was less than a year after the integrated circuit (IC) was invented by Jack Kilby at Texas Instruments, and not long after Fairchild Semiconductor’s Robert Noyce came up with an IC design that was easier to manufacture than Kilby’s design.
National Semi moved its headquarters from Connecticut to Santa Clara, California, in 1967, before Intel or Advanced Micro Devices were established, and about the time people started talking about the Santa Clara Valley, “the Valley of Heart’s Delight” that was covered with fruit orchards (Orchard Supply Hardware got its start there in 1931, and still makes its headquarters in San Jose), as this “Silicon Valley,” filled with companies making semiconductors on silicon wafers.
National’s been around for 50 years, but it’s not half as well known as AMD, Fairchild, or Intel. In fact, it bought Fairchild from Schlumberger in 1987, and then spun off the venerable chip company a decade later. National became famous in the industry for churning out low-cost logic devices, analog chips, and transistors. The company became infamous for a long-standing practice of reverse-engineering its competitors’ devices (an entirely legal yet costly and time-consuming way of designing ICs).
National pioneered many industry firsts in semiconductor products, yet it never really launched a home-run chip, like Intel did with the microprocessor, TI did with the digital signal processor, and ZiLOG did with the microcontroller. It was content to make huge volumes of microchips for its customers and never saw the need for a “National Inside” marketing campaign. National now is pinning hopes on its SolarMagic line of power management devices.
The company is noted for some long tenures among its CEOs. Charles (Charlie) Sporck led National for 25 years, from 1966 to 1991; he helped establish the SEMATECH research consortium. The incumbent CEO, Brian Halla, has held the job for 13 years, which is close to a lifetime appointment in hard-charging Silicon Valley.
Happy 50th, National Semiconductor Corporation! Here’s to 50 more.