With two hit singles on the top five of the R&B/Hip-Hop charts, and a Grammy Award nomination for his third studio album Ready, which has sold 438,000 copies, Trey Songz has much to be happy about. In addition to the singer’s success and growing popularity, he will soon join rapper Jay-Z on the Blueprint 3 tour.
Songz will also join Young Jeezy as one of the opening performers for the tour starting on Feb. 20 in Fort Lauderdale, Florida. The tour will wrap up on Mar. 27 in Las Vegas, Nevada.
In other news, performance rights group Broadcast Music Incorporated, or BMI, is targeting T-Mobile for the company’s use of ringback tones according to DigitalMusicNews.com. “Despite extensive BMI efforts spanning several years,” said BMI in a statement, “T-Mobile has not signed a license agreement.”
However, T-Mobile presents a plausible argument for the legality of its ringback tones. The music used cannot be considered “public” because only one person, the caller, can hear it. US District Court judge Denise Cote explained in October, “When a ringtone plays on a cellular telephone, even when that occurs in public, the user is exempt from copyright liability.”
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Lastly, two young Hip Hop artists, Christopher Dupree and Joya Morris have recently made their transitions from YouTube obscurity, to collaborating with fast food mega-giant McDonald’s for its nation-wide radio and television campaign.
“I couldn’t believe it,” said 25 year-old Dupree, a DXnext alum by the name of Wordspit. “Never in a million years did I fathom that I’d be selling you McDonald’s. Major artists don’t get this opportunity.” The two newcomers use their musical talents to promote McDonalds’ $1 breakfast menu.
“I’m just appreciative that they’d want to use me in this,” said 23 year-old violinist, Morris. “It’s such a cute concept. I’m really proud of it.”
