Why does America pay Entertainers and Athletes so much money, and teachers so little?

Source of this topic: http://www.time.com/time/arts/article/0,8599,1727519,00.html

Jay-Z: Music's $150 Million Man
Thursday, Apr. 03, 2008 By JOSH TYRANGIEL

In a $150 million deal certain to rock what remains of the record industry, Jay-Z has announced plans to depart Def Jam records and give the totality of his creative output — from songs to touring revenue to un-hatched entrepreneurial ideas — to concert promotion behemoth Live Nation. As Jay-Z told the New York Times, which broke the story on its website last night, "I've turned into the Rolling Stones of hip hop."

Jay-Z is not the first A-list recording artist to leave a traditional label for a truck full of Live Nation cash. Madonna announced a 10 year, roughly $120 million deal in 2007, while U2 revealed a 12 year touring and merchandising partnership earlier this week. Still, luring Jay-Z is a major coup for the publicly traded Live Nation. He is not only one of the world's top-selling rappers and concert draws, he's a former record company president. "If the [ex] president of Def Jam decides it's time to get off the sinking ship," says a producer who has worked for Jay-Z, "everyone else is going to start figuring out how to follow."

Live Nation is expected to furnish Jay-Z, born Shawn Carter, with $5 million in seed money annually for his own label, publishing arm and management company, with significantly more funds available for future acquisitions and expansion. He will also receive a $25 million upfront payment and $10 million per album for a minimum of three albums over the next decade.
Given the trajectory of Jay-Z's record sales — 2003's The Black Album sold 3 million copies while 2007's American Gangster barely cracked 1 million — he would have been crazy to turn down the deal. But how sane is Live Nation? Last year the company reported a $12 million loss, and even the most optimistic projections for Jay-Z's sales and entrepreneurship would make it tough for the company to recoup its investment.

But the key to the company's strategy is live performances. Despite the stagnation of record sales, the concert industry is booming. Last year revenues were up 8% to $3.9 billion, and Live Nation is in perfect position to expand its market share. Eight years ago, Live Nation, then a part of Clear Channel Communications, struck a deal with Ticketmaster that gave Ticketmaster exclusive rights to sell most of Live Nation's 30,000 nationwide events. That deal, which accounted for nearly $200 million in revenue in 2007, expires in 2008, and Live Nation's own ticketing system, already the third-largest in the United States, is prepared to ramp up. With top grossing pop (Madonna), rock (U2) and rap (Jay-Z) acts in its stable, the company certainly won't be short on inventory.

Having a single company control so much of the live music market is almost guaranteed to mean one thing: ungodly ticket prices. In 2007, the cost of two seats to see Phil Collins and a re-united Genesis warble Mama was around $400, while two of the best seats for Jay-Z's current 28-date Live Nation tour with Mary J. Blige go for $500.00. Anti-trust laws prevent Live Nation from selling more than 10% of its own tickets, but at those prices, 10% adds up fast. For consumers, the pain could be acute. But for Jay-Z, it's a wonderful morning to be in the music business.

Source of this Topic: http://www.time.com/time/arts/article/0,8599,1727519,00.html

Toni Braxton in Hospital!

Source of Topic: http://www.fox5vegas.com/news/15824104/detail.html

Strip Headliner Braxton In Hospital
Officials Say She's In Good Condition

LAS VEGAS -- Strip headliner Toni Braxton has been admitted to a local hospital. Braxton was admitted to St. Rose Dominican Hospital sometime after her show Monday night at the Flamingo. Hospital officials said she is in good condition. It is not clear why she is in the hospital, but Braxton does have a heart condition called pericarditis, an inflammation of the sac surrounding the heart. She found out about the condition after the birth of her second son.

Braxton is the spokeswoman for the American Heart Association. Her show is dark on Tuesdays, but ticket holders should contact the Flamingo about her Wednesday night show.

Source of topic: http://www.fox5vegas.com/news/15824104/detail.html

Is this how future stars will make it to the top in America?

Source of Topic: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/24000857/

Will Ray J’s sex tape lead to success in music?
Singer was featured in a notorious sex tape with

Kim Kardashian

LOS ANGELES - Ray J is cruising down the Hollywood Freeway in his black Lamborghini when fans in a passing car recognize him. The singer/actor/sex-tape star slows down so they can snap a photo. The fans giddily check their digital camera as the $200,000 sports car speeds away.
Ray J, born Willie Ray Norwood Jr., started acting at age 8 and released his first album in 1997. But Brandy’s little brother became freeway-photo material just last year, when his homemade sex tape with Kim Kardashian hit the Internet and he was linked with a freshly divorced Whitney Houston, Lil’ Kim and tell-all seductress Karrine “Superhead” Steffans. Now the 27-year-old hopes to shift the focus back to his music with the release Tuesday of his fourth album, “All I Feel.”

If it’s a hit, Ray J will have effectively slept his way to the top. “My main goal was to make sure I got my music out there and make sure I put my acting skills back out in the forefront because that’s what I can do,” he says. “I really know how to sing and create and put things together that entertain ... be it controversially or be it from music or acting.” Though he says he’s not sure what impact his salacious reputation will have on his career, he clearly enjoys his sex-symbol status.

“The energy around Ray J and the movement is just very sensual, sexual. You can feel it in the air when you hit the club,” he says (yes, referring to himself in the third person), adding that he’s turned down offers to direct adult films and serve as “the face of the X-rated world.”

‘Letting it all hang out’The infamous sex tape, which also shot Kardashian to a new level of notoriety, was made in Cabo San Lucas on the socialite’s birthday five years ago. Ray J says the two had been a couple for “four years off and on,” and insists the video was made strictly for private purposes.

“We were just having fun, letting it all hang out,” he says. “But I didn’t think they were going to see it actually hanging out.” He says he doesn’t know how porn purveyors Vivid Entertainment got a hold of the video, but he and Kardashian filed lawsuits after its release. Both reportedly settled for multimillion-dollar sums.

The experience and its aftermath inspired his new music. He says that Lil’ Kim lured him into the studio, and his mom and manager, Sonja Norwood, urged him to release the album on his own Knockout Entertainment label.

Mom just hopes people are as interested in the album as the sex tape. “I can’t say whether it’s done good or bad for him,” she says. “I can say there has been more exposure for him because of it.” That’s the manager in her talking. “As a mom,” she says, “I wanted to kill him.”

Musically, things are looking good so far. The album’s single, “Sexy Can I,” is a legitimate hit, currently sixth on the Billboard Hot 100 chart, and the video is getting play on MTV and BET.
Can a sex tape translate to music success? But blog editors say sex-tape celebrity doesn’t typically translate to record sales.

“You get the young girls who say, ‘Oh he’s adorable,”’ says Karu F. Daniels, senior entertainment editor at AOL’s BlackVoices. “You get the guys who say, ‘Ray J is my idol. He’s having sex with all these celebrity women,”’ but no one is writing about the new record, he says.

Fred Mwangaguhunga, managing editor of MediaTakeout.com, says most readers on his popular gossip site aren’t aware of Ray J’s new album. But the popularity of the sex tape, and the new single, could pay off.

“It’s definitely one of the hottest songs out now. If the rest of the album is like his single, he will have a lot of success,” he says. “Whenever you have publicity, it’s always a good thing. A lot of celebrities now are fighting it, particularly when they might not be seen in the best light, but in long run it’s always best to have your name out there.”

A story about Ray J’s run-in with Kardashian’s new boyfriend, football star Reggie Bush, was one of the most read stories on the site last week, Mwangaguhunga says.

Ray J says he expects to work hard to make his album and his label a hit. He plans to tour — he hopes with Mariah Carey or Usher — and develop new artists through Knockout Entertainment. Then he wants to get back into acting, and possibly even produce and direct. “I already had my directorial debut,” he says with a laugh. “I just want to continue to tackle the industry.”

Source of Topic: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/24000857/

Did Entertainment Powerhouse's, Jay Z and Beyonce marry?

Source of this article: http://omg.yahoo.com/report-beyonce-and-jay-z-wed/news/7985?nc



Report: Beyonce & Jay-Z Wed

NEW YORK, NY -- Singer Beyonce Knowles reportedly wed rapper Jay-Z on Friday, a source close to the couple told People magazine.
"It happened earlier this evening. Jay wanted it to be a really private affair - close friends and family," the source said.

News of the reported wedding comes after days of speculation following reports, which surfaced on Tuesday, that Jay-Z and Beyonce had taken out a marriage license in Scarsdale, New York.
The couple reportedly followed their private ceremony with a star-studded reception that included Destiny Child members Kelly Rowland and Michelle Williams, Tina Knowles, Solange, and close friends Gwyneth Paltrow and Coldplay singer Chris Martin, and Jay-Z's close friends.


Jay-Z's favorite man on the turntables, DJ Cassidy, was at the reception spinning, according to the source.
"Cassidy mentioned a week ago that he was really excited for the Jay Z and Beyonce's wedding party to happen," the source said.


Earlier in the day, speculation that the new couple was marrying reached a new high outside Jay-Z's Tribeca building.


Just before 8 PM local time, Gwyneth Paltrow and her husband, Coldplay singer Chris Martin, pulled up to the locale, where a rooftop event, believed to be the nuptials of the singer and her beau may be taking place later tonight.


Beyonce's former Destiny's Child bandmates - Kelly Rowland and Michelle Williams also arrived, but hid behind an umbrella as Gwyneth and Chris were mobbed by paparazzi on the scene.
A fight broke out between paparazzi as Beyonce's father, Mathew Knowles arrived and dozens of them surrounded the vehicle he was being carried in.


Beyonce's sister, Solange arrived shortly after her father, dressed in a white dress.
Earlier in the evening an SUV believed to be carrying Oscar winner Forest Whitaker also turned up.


The number four has particular significance to the couple. Both Jay-Z and Beyonce were born on the 4th - Jay Z was born on December 4, 1969, while Beyonce was born September 4, 1981.


A host of media including four live trucks are currently stationed outside the location in preparation for coverage of the suspected nuptials. More than three dozen reporters and paparazzi are also outside with the numbers growing.


Throughout the day SUVs were seen entering and exiting the garage located underneath Jay-Z's building.


The rooftop penthouse, owned by Jay-Z is adorned in flowers and tented scaffolding.


A Maybach luxury vehicle arrived at the location shortly before 7 PM local time and drove past as it was mobbed by paparazzi. Jay-Z reportedly owns one of the super high-priced cars.
Source of this article: http://omg.yahoo.com/report-beyonce-and-jay-z-wed/news/7985?nc

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