Katy Perry will not give up until she beats Michael Jackson - listen to her new single 'Part of Me' now!

"Sir I'm afraid this is for first class passengers only"

Oh Katy Perry.

Maybe it's her ruthless and insatiable desire for success.  Maybe it's that she just broke up with her husband and wants to prove he's missing out.  Or maybe she's just a vapid cog in her management team's moneymaking scheme.  But regardless of the reason, Katy is soldiering on in her quest to shatter the record for most number 1 singles from an album.  And that, friends, means 'Teenage Dream' is getting re-released, BECAUSE OF COURSE IT IS.

'Teenage Dream: The Complete Confection" is the star's last ditch attempt at landing a giant, noteworthy chart record of her very own.  She recently tied none other than THE ACTUAL MICHAEL JACKSON, who until recently was the only artist in history to notch 5 number ones from a single LP, but obviously Katy won't settle for second best unless we're talking about men or album producers. 

It almost happened a couple weeks ago, but things didn't go quite as planned for 'The One That Got Away,' Katy's last single, though it did make it all the way to #3 before it sputtered out.  But NEVER FEAR, POP FANS - since the words "flogged to death" mean nothing in this day and age, the entire parent album is being retooled, some mixes added, and of course, it will feature a BRAND NEW TRACK which may very well set the charts alight.

Whether new single 'Part Of Me' will hit the top is still to be determined, of course, but even if it does it will likely have a dubious place in the record books.  Does having 6 #1 singles from an album really count if one of them wasn't even on the album in the first place? (everyone: "NO.")

Our guess is Katy Perry's management thinks so, and so will just about every press release that Capitol Records chucks out for the next year if they pull this thing off.

In any case, the new track is "very good" in that way that Katy Perry songs are "very good" if you like Katy Perry.  If you don't, you probably aren't reading this post anyway, so we'll just save the typing and get right to the preview:



"so there's that then."

Youtube and PRS kiss and make up

UK Youtube viewers can once again watch their favorite music videos, thanks to a deal with PRS Music, the creators collecting society. PRS collects and doles out performance royalties for music played in clubs, pubs, restaurants, etc., and, of course, online. In March 2009, Youtube and PRS failed to negotiate an agreement by which artists would be compensated for their work broadcast on the website, with Youtube claiming that PRS was being greedy, and PRS accusing Youtube of not giving adequate remuneration to the creative types. Adding fuel to PRS's fire, Pete Waterman famously claimed that during the whole 'RickRolling' craze he received an £11 royalty check for Rick Astley's 'Never Gonna Give You Up' despite the video receiving over 100 million hits. All this resulted in the public losing out, as Youtube blocked all premium music content on the site rather than give a dime to PRS. In an age when MTV and VH1 show more reality schlock than videos and an increasing number of consumers catch their videos online, this meant that many clips would remain unseen or have their audience severely reduced. The fewer video views, the fewer sales, etc etc until the music industry implodes and we're all banging on pots and pans in our basements.

It didn't get quite that far, of course, but both Youtube and PRS wised up and agreed to a 'lump sum' settlement that will return premium music content to UK computer screens and mobiles.

Now. Lets everyone play nice, shall we?

iTunes controls 25% of U.S. music sales

Apple now controls a full quarter of all music sales in the U.S., a report has revealed. The iTunes store is the driving force behind a dramatic increase in digital music sales - this year 35% of music sold in the U.S. was digital, up from 20% just 2 years ago. The full article mentions that in the U.K. only 8% of albums are sold in digital form. This is a bit misleading. While CD's might be the preferred format for full albums, single-song digital sales are quite strong. The article also notes a rumored Apple announcement to accompany the digital release of the Beatles' catalog, an event that many analysts predict will be one of the biggest boons yet for digital music sales. Stay tuned!

7digital One-Ups iTunes

Online MP3 retailer 7digital and Warner Records today announced a new deal that will give 7digital the broadest European coverage of any outlet. Warner, which converted to an all-digital catalog recently, is allowing the retailer to offer high quality downloads of its tracks not only online, but in a number of shops around the EU. Unlike iTunes, 7digital was never bogged down with DRM issues, and seems to have largely side-stepped international licensing concerns. Now that 7digital is available in more European countries than iTunes, the startup certainly seems the retailer to beat. All the details are here.

The new Mariah album will be even tackier than expected

Mariah's label is hoping that her tunes sell more than just sex and earplugs. Apparently her new album 'Memoirs of an Imperfect Angel' (don't get me started again) will include a 34-page booklet with advertisements for things like champagne (because Mariah fans love to drink) and the Bahamas (because they like to drink in beautiful tropical places). The plan is part of the effort to bring the Majors back into the black, but there's something a little disturbing about the whole thing. This month's Billboard magazine has more, or check out digitalspy's article here

Cocktail: Apple paves the way for albums to include video, liner notes, lyrics etc.

Apple has developed something called 'Cocktail,' which will attempt to recreate the LP sleeves of days gone by. The idea is to bundle videos, lyrics, liner notes, and other media along with music. As the article says, details are sketchy, but it sounds pretty interesting.

Click here to read all about it