Music News

Lauryn Hill has opened up about her recent tax troubles, which have her facing possible jail time. She released a lengthy public statement, saying she's setting up her own label with Sony to break free of bad business arrangements that got her into financial trouble in the past. "Yes, I have recently entered into an agreement with Sony Worldwide Entertainment, to launch a new label . . ."

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Neil Diamond's "Sweet Carolina" has enjoyed a nearly 600% sales boost following the Boston Marathon bombing. The track is the team anthem for the Boston Red Sox and is played at every home game. In a showing of solidarity with the people of Boston, fellow MLB clubs including the New York Yankees and Los Angeles Dodgers have begun playing the song at their games.

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Former American Idol winner Scotty McCreery has revealed that he is almost done with work on his second album, the follow-up to his number one 2011 debut Clear As Day. "We're in the studio right now," he tells Billboard, "and we've got about 12 songs cut." Of the new material McCreery is working on, he is excited about one song in particular.

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Frank Ocean, who was recently honored as one of Time's 100 Most Influential People in the World at a NYC gala, was given the opportunity to open up about his sophomore follow up to his hit debut Channel Orange. "When I was making the first [album] there were a group of artists that I listened to, just for inspiration and to absorb the energies," he told MTV News.

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Elton John and his partner David Furnish asked Lady Gaga to be the godmother to their newly adopted son, Elijah-the Mother Monster is also the godmother to John's first son, Zachary. In an interview with Extra, Elton says that Gaga is the ideal godmother to his and Furnish's sons: "She's a great role model, she's young, she's been a great godmother to Zachary, she came to bathe him in Las Vegas."

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The Rolling Stones played a surprise gig at the Echoplex Nightclub in Los Angeles ahead of the launch of their 50 and Counting tour. "Welcome to Echo Park, a neighborhood that's always coming up -- and I'm glad you're here to welcome an up-and-coming band," fronter Mick Jagger jested with the crowd of a few hundred people.

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Kanye West has finished his new album, reports a New York Radio station, and according to the station, the album is a hit but also "dark." Speaking with The Line of Best Fit, DJ Paul Rosenberg said: "Everyone at the label that listened to the album loved it. I've heard it's dark, but really good."

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Tim McGraw is once again in a legal battle with his former label Curb Records. The label has now filed a lawsuit against McGraw in a federal court alleging that both McGraw and his new label Big Machine Records have committed copyright infringement. McGraw left Curb last year after a protracted legal battle over his final release, Emotional Traffic, on that label.

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Cheap Trick celebrated the 35-year anniversary of At Budokan with two concerts. The original shows took place in Tokyo, Japan on April 28 at 30 in 1978, while the memorial concerts went down on the same dates this year in New York City and Los Angeles. The April 28 gig took place at a John Varvatos boutique in NYC, where the famed CBGB's once stood.

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Sara Evans is kicking off the string of summer CMA Music Festival concerts with a showing at Nashville's Riverfront Park on June 6. "Sara is the perfect choice to launch the daily concerts on the Chevrolet Riverfront Stage because of her great repertoire of hit music and undeniable connection to our fans," said CMA exec Steve Moore in a statement.

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