ExoticPrincess
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Re: June 20-21,2008
Really, did Mark Ronson have to recount that?.......sometimes I just wish.....*sigh*
Really, did Mark Ronson have to recount that?.......sometimes I just wish.....*sigh*
"We turned around and he was cringing saying, 'Ooh stop it, stop it, ooh it's so silly.' He was not down with the program whatsoever. I think he just had really strong feminist views on porn and the use of it."
I think the Ronson story is quite funny, and as some others have said, is quite a strong argument against the Sneddon theory of MJ showing porn to kids. Not only was that wrong, now it turns out it was the other way around! :lol:
LMP got him into porn??Obviously, at least after meeting closely LMPresley, Jackson got into the porn, but it does not mean he would ever expose it to children. According to witnesses who testified in court, Jackson cared not expose wine and that children would not drink it (even though wine was family tradition for some families).
So Michael views porn, why is that shocking? :lol:
Cause some fans still want him to be this angelic thing which is nutty in itself the guy is nearly 50.
I find it hilarious that people are shocked that michael has seen porn, you know people have to grow up they see things in life. Why is it so strange that michael has seen the same things as the normal guy on the streets. When they hear that mike has done this or that they are shocked, why i just don't get it
he's just flesh and blood.
He was probably cringing because he was afraid he would get blamed for it.
http://www.digitalspy.co.uk/showbiz/a102694/ronson-showed-porn-to-michael-jackson.html
Ronson showed porn to Michael Jackson
Saturday, June 21 2008, 22:02 BST
By Dave West, Media Correspondent
Mark Ronson tried to get Michael Jackson to watch porn during a childhood sleepover at the popstar's house.
"It's a weird story, but I didn't touch him," revealed the musician who, living in the US as a child, met Jackson through John Lennon's son, Sean.
"We just went and stayed at his house and it seemed okay at the time," he said. "I think it's still okay. Unless I'm going to be in therapy in four years' time!"
Ronson, in an interview for tomorrow's Sunday Night Project on Channel 4, added: "We were just hanging out, we used to watch the porn channel because we were like ten and, 'Oh my God, tits!'
"Me and Sean said 'Michael do you want to see something cool?' We turned the dial to the porn channel and there were strippers shaking their tits around. We were like, 'Michael, Michael how cool is this?'
"We turned around and he was cringing saying, 'Ooh stop it, stop it, ooh it's so silly.' He was not down with the program whatsoever. I think he just had really strong feminist views on porn and the use of it."
Let's stop spectulating about the porn lol move on - goes to find a piece of pg rated news :lol: darn kids!
Business of carrying a tune
By Joshua Chaffin
Published: June 22 2008 17:20 | Last updated: June 22 2008 17:20
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As half-owner of Sony/ATV, Mr Jackson holds broad sway over a catalogue that boasts roughly half a million songs, including more than 200 Beatles classics. But while the King of Pop has proved an astute collector of music, his legal troubles and reclusive lifestyle had sometimes paralysed management at Sony/ATV.
“If I wanted to do a deal, I had to have the flexibility to be able to close it quickly,” says Mr Bandier, one of the creators of the modern music publishing industry, as he recalls his concern.
The two men had done business before. In 1993, when he was head of EMI Music Publishing, Mr Bandier paid Mr Jackson a record $70m advance for the right to administer his ATV Music catalogue. As part of the deal, Mr Bandier also agreed to sell three of his favourite Elvis songs to the singer, who was then dating Lisa Marie Presley. This was no small concession for a self-described “song junkie”.
It is unclear whether that favour figured in Mr Jackson’s thinking. But, after a brief phone conversation last year, Mr Bandier was put at ease.
“For me, it’s a piece of cake,” he says of the relationship, still chuckling at Mr Jackson’s insistence on calling him “Mr Bandier”. “To his credit, Michael has given me a green light.”
As Mr Bandier recounts it, the episode is of a piece with his happy tenure at Sony/ATV. With two sizeable acquisitions, he has begun to increase market share at the fourth-largest music publisher. He enjoys the backing of a supportive boss, Sony chief executive Sir Howard Stringer.
Just as importantly, Mr Bandier feels free from the turmoil of his time at his former employer, EMI, where the contribution of music publishing was often overshadowed by the chaos in the rest of the company, and profit warnings and restructurings seemed to lurk around the corner.
“It’s been spectacular. There’s no other way to put it than to say that this has been the best year-and-a-half imaginable,” says Mr Bandier, seated in a mogul-sized office that includes his familiar wooden cigar box and the requisite collection of autographed guitars.
In geological terms, music publishing is one part of the music industry that is not sinking into the ocean. In fact, it continues to grow. Publishers collect a small royalty each time their songs are featured in films, advertisements, concerts, wind-up toys and now video games, among other uses.
A music-lover who trained as a lawyer, Mr Bandier got into publishing in the 1970s when it was the decidedly un-sexy side of the business. His big score came in 1986, when he and two partners acquired the CBS Songs catalogue for $125m. Two years later, they sold to Thorn-EMI for $340m. For the next 17 years, Mr Bandier worked to build EMI Music Publishing into the industry leader, snapping up the Motown catalogue, among others, and aggressively marketing their hit songs. “It’s not just being a bank,” he says of his approach. “It’s about being proactive and going out and getting commercials or film and TV opportunities.”
In spite of EMI’s success, it came as little surprise in late 2006 when Mr Bandier bowed out. The relationship had frayed over the years as Mr Bandier took an increasingly dim view of senior management. “It was one fiasco after another,” he says. For their part, EMI’s top brass tired of the griping from an executive who was being paid more money than the company’s then-chief executive, Eric Nicoli.
At 64, and wealthy, Mr Bandier could easily have retired. But he was restless. At Sony/ATV, he saw a publishing business with room to grow. Sony sweetened the forthcoming deal by offering equity, making him a partner as opposed to a salaried employee. “I’m at the stage of my life that I’m doing this because I want to – not because I have to,” he says.
Once in the job, Mr Bandier wasted little time fulfilling industry expectations that he would become an aggressive bidder for any and all catalogues. Last April, he paid $45m for the Leiber and Stoller catalogue, which includes Elvis’s “Hound Dog” and “Jailhouse Rock”.
A month later, he won a $350m auction for Viacom’s Famous Music Publishing, which boasts the soundtracks to Paramount films such as The Godfather.
There are whispers in the industry that Mr Bandier has overpaid, but he is unapologetic. “My philosophy has always been that I would rather spend more on something that is climbing the charts and going to be successful than spend half that on something where you just don’t know,” he explains.
For all the happy talk, though, Mr Bandier admits to suffering an emotional period following his EMI break-up and the loss of a business he had spent his career building. It was particularly wrenching when he would drive to his beach house and one of his old EMI songs would come on the radio. “My wife said my face would sort of change,” he recalls.
Six months ago, he went for lunch with his old friend Berry Gordy, the legendary Motown Records founder who sold his own catalogue of songs to Mr Bandier in 1997.
“I said, ‘Berry, let me ask you a question: Do you ever feel like you were lost? Do you ever feel anger that you still don’t own Motown Records . . . when you hear a song being played, and you know that you were there when Smokey Robinson wrote it?’”
“He said, ‘yeah, all the time,’” Mr Bandier recalls. Then Mr Gordy offered a blunt bit of advice: “Get over it.”
Mr Bandier says he finally has. The question now is, how will he take Sony/ATV forward? Mr Stringer, he says, publicly pledged at a recent gathering of Sony/ATV executives that he was prepared to bankroll further acquisitions.
Mr Bandier would jump at the opportunity if EMI were to unload all or part of its publishing group – either to raise cash or to satisfy regulators as part of a future merger with Warner Music.
At present, though, Sony seems more focused on trying to buy out Bertelsmann’s share of their recorded music joint venture, Sony BMG. The cost could exceed $1bn (€641m, £506m).
Another problem is that Mr Bandier’s success has encouraged a legion of imitators. As the recorded music business collapses and the value of publishing becomes clear, new competitors – including private equity firms – have entered the fray and pushed up prices.
Mr Bandier is convinced that many have overpaid, and – lacking experience – will be forced to sell sooner or later. “At some point in time, we’re going to be able to buy those things back at a much cheaper rate,” he predicts.
He also foresees an eventual windfall from a host of new social networks, such as MySpace, which are ramping up their music offerings and will have to pay royalties.
In the meantime, he is focusing on Sony/ATV’s most valuable asset – its trove of Beatles songs. “There’s no bigger star than ‘All You Need is Love’,” he says, calling the collection “unique”.
In 1985, he travelled to Perth to try to buy the catalogue from Australian tycoon Robert Holmes à Court. But another collector – Mr Jackson – bested him.
Although their offers were comparable, Mr Jackson played a charity show in Australia. He also gave the song “Penny Lane” to Mr Holmes à Court’s daughter, Penny.
Apple Corps, the company the Beatles created to manage their business affairs, has balked at licensing deals over the years. Yet that seems to be changing under Jeff Jones, the new chief executive. In the past year, Apple and Sony/ATV have licensed Beatles compositions for use in American Idol, a Las Vegas show and a Hollywood film. They are closing in on a multi-million dollar deal to create a Beatles-themed video game.
“It’s about making sure that the songs that we control are used in every manner, shape and form possible,” Mr Bandier says, “and hopefully with good taste.”
http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/1ce3ccbe-3eed-11dd-8fd9-0000779fd2ac.html
Sorry, if this was already posted I haven't taken the time to check - more important to change the topic :yes:
dangerous_88: You don't mean Cat Stevens (Jusuf Islam), do you?
eternitys_child: That is something what I would love to read every day. Heal the world.