1 minute ago

TUPELO, Miss. - A Mississippi Blues Trail marker will be placed at the birthplace of Elvis Presley on Tuesday.

The ceremony will honor Presley for his contribution to Mississippi and America’s blues heritage.

He was born in Tupelo on Jan. 8, 1935. Presley died at his Graceland mansion in Memphis, Tenn., on Aug. 16, 1977. He first encountered the blues in Tupelo, and it remained central to his music throughout his career.

His early recordings helped revolutionize popular music with a unique mix of blues and country music, which led many rock ‘n’ roll artists to follow his lead.

“By all accounts, Elvis Presley was the single greatest influence on modern-day rock ‘n’ roll in America, and much of his musical inspiration drew on the Mississippi blues,” Gov. Haley Barbour said in a statement Friday.

The event is sponsored by the Mississippi Development Authority’s Tourism Heritage Trails Program, the Mississippi Blues Commission, the Tupelo Convention & Visitors Bureau and the Elvis Presley Birthplace Museum.

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On the Net:

Mississippi Blues Trail:

http://www.msbluestrail.org

Elvis Presley:

http://www.elvis.com/

34 minutes ago

PARIS (Reuters) - It was rumored for some time but seems finally to have been confirmed: Pierre Sarkozy, the French president's eldest son, aged 22, is a hip hop producer.

Parisian rapper "Poison" told hip hop radio Generations 88.2 in an interview last week that Pierre Sarkozy, also known as "Mosey," had composed "La Rue," one of the titles on his upcoming album "Mec de Tess" (city guy), the daily Liberation reported on Monday.

"Hey, I'm Mosey, a young Parisian producer, with my crew: Da Crime Chantilly we produced hip hop, soul and rnb beatz."

That's how "Mosey" — which means to amble along — describes himself on the Myspace page of his label: Da Crime Chantilly: www.myspace.com/Moseyproducer.

Pierre Sarkozy is one of President Nicolas Sarkozy's two sons from his first marriage to Marie-Dominique Culioli.

"I have known him for five years," "Poison" was quoted as saying. "I met him at a party. When I heard (who he was), I lost it, I called him. He told me: 'Poison, I did not want to tell you, you would not have wanted to hang out with me'."

During his time as interior minister, Sarkozy initiated cases against French rappers such as Mohamed Bourokba, better known as "Hame" from the group La Rumeur, for defaming the police. Sarkozy is also known for his tough approach to curbing violence in the suburbs.

(Reporting by Dominique Vidalon, editing by Tim Pearce)

By Yinka Adegoke 16 minutes ago

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Sony BMG Music Entertainment, the world's second largest music company, will this month become the last of the big four majors to drop copy protection software on music downloads, also known as digital rights management (DRM).

Sony BMG, home to artists including Beyonce, Britney Spears and Celine Dion, said on Monday it will launch a gift card service on January 15 called Platinum MusicPass that will feature digital albums from its artists in the MP3 format. The format does not use DRM protection.

Fans will be able to buy the digital album cards in stores and download full-length albums from a MusicPass Web site after they type in an identifying number. The cards will be available at U.S. retail outlets such as Best Buy and Target.

"The introduction of MusicPass is an important part of Sony BMG's ongoing campaign to bring its artists' music to fans in new and innovative ways, and to develop compelling new business models," said Thomas Hesse, Sony BMG president, global digital business & U.S. Sales.

The music industry posted a 15 percent drop in album sales in 2007 as fans bought fewer CDs. Digital music sales did not make up for the revenue shortfall, forcing executives to explore new business models and ways of attracting consumers.

One of the biggest issues for music companies last year was whether dropping DRM would help drive digital sales.

In February, Apple Inc founder Steve Jobs called on music companies to stop requiring retailers to use DRM for services like his company's iTunes Music Store. Jobs said dropping DRM would help boost sales.

Digital music buyers have been frustrated by the limitations imposed by DRM, prompting industry analysts to support the call to drop copy protection. Music companies had required DRM to prevent users from making multiple copies or sharing songs with friends for free.

EMI, the number four music company in market share became the first major to drop DRM in April and was later followed by Vivendi's Universal Music Group. Last month, Warner Music Group said it would start selling its music in MP3 format through Amazon.com.

(Reporting by Yinka Adegoke; Editing by Tomasz Janowski)