MTV Exec Fears Pop Is Dead 

MTV Europe head fears that current �pop� trend is winding down. This revelation came as Brent Hansen, President and Chief Executive of MTV Networks Europe, was finishing last minute plans for his stations annual awards show. 

While speaking to a reporter for the Reuters newswire service, Hanson said that he thinks that people, �will get sick of identikit bands.� 

"The difficulty is when you start to get very cynical about putting together paint-by-number identikit bands," Hanson said. "You then tend to devalue   the face of performing arts."

He added, "The proliferation of them will, I think, turn the public against that style of  band for a little while." 

This comes as major label companies are struggling to reshuffle their priorities to turn around their current sales slump. 

Hanson also elaborated on the danger of the shortsightedness that has overtaken the music industry over the past few years. Speaking to the labels indirectly he said, "The old-school way was to give them [recording artists] three or four years to build themselves. We would encourage people to take a longer-term view on the development of artists. That is the only way you are going to create the next wave of superstars who will give you a sense of solidarity behind your label." 

He ended the interview by offering a positive outlook for the future, "It is tough and there is a lack of confidence in the industry. But I have the utmost belief that artistic merit is out there. These people will rise to the top." 

Congress Give Webcasters A Pass 

The U.S. Congress passed legislation last Friday (Nov 15th) that would allow small Internet-based radio stations to pay out lower royalty rates to the musicians and record labels. 

The deal that was spearheaded by North Carolina Sen. Jesse Helms allows small webcasters the ability to bypass the royalty rates set by the Library of Congress and negotiate separate rates that are more in line with their income. 

If enforced for all webcasters, the Library of Congress royalty payment guidelines would have forced most smaller scale online radio stations off the air due to their inability to pay what they considered �excessive� royalty rates.  That would have left the world of online radio in the hands of big corporations like Clear Channel and online giant AOL, who would be able to payout the established rates. 

The new royalty rates for small broadcasters will to be greatly reduced, up to 90%, from the Library of Congress rates. 

Clive Davis� Revenge 

Clive Davis is man that can�t be held down for long. After he was forced out of the presidency of CBS records in 1973 under a cloud of controversy, he went on to form Arista Records, which has a string of hit. 

After Davis was forced to retire as the head of Arista in 2000, he partnered with BMG to form a new label called J Records. Due to success of J Records, BMG has now purchased the 50% stake in the company held by Davis and plans to combine the label with RCA records to form a new division of the BMG empire. 

Davis who was chairman/CEO of J Records will head the new label. 

Allstar Closes

Allstar news is no more. One of the longest running music news resources on the web, Allstar news officially folded this week. 

Over the past six years, Allstar News, has been a top music news destination on the web. However, Cdnow.com, who has hosted the news service for the past few years, has decided to close down Allstar news. Allstar News Managing Editor Carrie Borzillo-Vrenna, said in a statement issued yesterday (Nov 20), �CDNOW is undergoing some changes and will no longer need daily news� 

Allstar news was a valuable music news resource and we are sad to see it go.