Rhapsody America: Joint Collaboration Between MTV, Real, Verizon; Urge Dead

I received an email yesterday announcing a partnership between MTV, Real, and Verizon. MTV has ditched its Microsoft partnership, Urge, in favor of what will be called Rhapsody America. MTV has yet to finalize negotiations with Microsoft, so Urge will go on for the foreseeable future.

The service is designed to be DRM-free competetion with iTunes, offering a "jukebox in the sky" courtesy of Verizon Wireless, and marketing that is much more aggressive than that utilized for Urge. No data has been released about subscriptions, prices, and the like.

Band In A Bubble featuring Cartel; Win A Prize Pack From Cartel, Dr. Pepper, and M80

Dr. Pepper and M80 have informed Any Given Tuesday about a project called Band In A Bubble featuring Cartel. Cartel will be sealed inside a huge transparent bubble on Hudson River Park's Pier 54 in New York City from May 24 through June 12, and every move they make will be live for the world to see as they eat, breathe, sleep and record the follow-up to their debut album, Chroma.

Cartel will be trapped inside the bubble for the duration of recording, with webcams streaming, and there will be a music special in four 30-minute episodes aired on MTV.

As for the bubble itself, it is a 40-by-40 foot state-of-the-art recording studio equipped with everything Cartel needs to record their next album. Designed by international firm TPG Architecture, the 2,000-square-foot structure will consist of 55,000 pounds of steel truss and quarter-inch-thick fireproof rigid fiber glass. Three semi-circular steel arches will loop the bubble and act as light trusses to provide a glowing effect. While in the bubble, Cartel will have access to a custom kitchen and dining room, a casual lounge area and a spa-like bathroom as well as a “Sleeping Bubble,” or mezzanine level, which will be a giant pod elevated nine feet off the ground and hung in place with airplane hanger cables, that will house the band's sleeping quarters.

Click the banner above to check out the Band In A Bubble. You can also join the Band In A Bubble Street Team.

To top it all off, Cartel, M80 and Dr. Pepper have been generous enough to offer a Cartel prize pack (containing CDs, posters, and more) for giveaway on Any Given Tuesday. Leave a comment or send Any Given Tuesday an email and you'll have the chance to win something out of the prize pack when Cartel comes out of the bubble!

Viacom Files Suit Against YouTube

MTV parent company Viacom has filed suit in the U.S. District Court in New York against YouTube and its parent, Google, seeking more than $1 billion in damages on claims of widespread copyright infringement relating to the alleged displaying of more than 160,000 unauthorized video clips from Viacom subsidiaries.

The parties had been in negotiations for several months, however, after the talks broke down last month Viacom demanded YouTube to remove more than 100,000 unauthorized clips. YouTube said at the time that it would comply with the request and said it cooperates with all copyright holders to remove programming as soon as they're notified.

A statement issued by Viacom states that YouTube's business model, "which is based on building traffic and selling advertising off of unlicensed content, is clearly illegal and is in obvious conflict with copyright laws." Viacom and other objectors to YouTube's practices hold that YouTube fails to take the reins and police the site for copyright infringement, instead shifting the burden onto the "victims of its infringement."

Universal Music Group had previously threatened suit before reaching a licensing agreement with the company. Others who have signed licensing agreements include CBS and NBC.

Rage Against The Machine's Tom Morello Discusses RATM Reunion

Rage Against The Machine's Tom Morello recently took a few minutes to talk about the recently-announced reunion, saying that there was a political element involved with the band getting back together (you don't say?). As Morello put it, "It occurred to all of us that the times were right to see if we can knock the Bush administration out in one fell swoop, and we hope to do that job well."

Morello told MTV that, although the Coachella show is a one-off, he would not rule out future collaboration.