by Ryan Barkan

The B.I.G.gest music licensing story last week was the release of Notorious, the film based on the life story of Brooklyn rapper Notorious B.I.G. As you may already know, a virtual unknown was cast to play Biggie. The film hit theaters Friday and so far has received mixed notorious reviews. Notorious contains a number of Biggie's music; the official soundtrack even contains three unreleased songs (listen to them here).

The movie ended up in fourth place on the holiday weekend box office list, grossing an estimated $24 million. According to Variety, Notorious had the best per-location average of the weekend with $14,652 earned (approx) at each of the 1,638 theaters screening the film. I personally didn't see it this weekend because I was too busy helping Paul Blart Mall Cop take top spot on the weekend draw.

Other Notable Licensing News:

Commuters in Liverpool Station were surprised last week with the spontaneous (yet meticulously calculated) filming of a T-mobile commercial. The spot started with music coming over the loudspeaker and igniting a few members of the crowd to begin dancing. As the songs change (there are eight of them), more dancers join in until the entire station is engulfed in the excitement. The spot was created then on air within 48 hours and was shown as an exclusive premier on BBC 4. The songs in the spot, in order, are: Lulu's "Shout", Yazz's "The Only Way Is Up", Pussycat Dolls' "Don't Cha", Viennese Waltz, Kool & the Gang's "Get Down On It", Rainbow's "Since You've Been Gone", Millie Small's "My Boy Lollipop", and Contours' "Do You Love Me". Watch the spot below.

Another spot out of the UK recently is this lyrically driven commercial for the Ford Ka appropriately using Soundtree's "Go Find It".

The Roots really like Cody Chesnutt; so much so they remade one of his songs ("The Seed") for their 2002 album and even had him play and sing on the record. Not sure if The Roots like Axe products, but the band and brand have mutual love for Chesnutt - his jam "Look Good In Leather" is the feature of a new claymation spot for the Lynx line. Check the spot below.

Continuing with the cool Euro commercials trend, Dutch snowboard gear company Protest uses a great Josh Ritter tune, "To The Dogs Or Whoever", in their new campaign. One interesting jump over to Protest's website finds some more interesting licensing: the brand hopes you will enjoy tunes by The Beastie Boys, N.W.A., The Kooks, and MGMT while you get your shop on. Watch the commercial below.

Fox TV show Fringe is running a promo that features Lykke Li's "I'm Good, I'm Gone". Watch it below.

Animal Planet is stepping up its entertainment offerings with a new show called Jockeys. No, it does not have to do with undergarments; it will follow a group of riders and will debut next month on the channel. The promo steps up the cool factor a bit by including Kanye West (and Daft Punk's) "Stronger". Watch the promo below.

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Continue reading "This week in Music Licensing"

The assets of Death Row Records, said to include master recordings of Tupac Shakur, Snoop Dogg and Dr. Dre, were auctioned off today (Jan. 15) for $18 million to WIDEawake Entertainment Group, a development company out of Canada. Because of the less-than-expected acquisition price, the only creditor likely to capture a return after lawyers and other Chapter 11 administrative fees are paid is the Internal Revenue Service.

That means other creditors, including unsecured ones like co-founder Lydia Harris, will be left out in the cold. Harris isn't content with the verdict.

"This was all a scam from the beginning," a disgruntled Harris tells Billboard. "Everyone wanted me to bring judgment down, and so I brought on the case. But now I'm not getting paid because I'm an unsecured creditor? Yet, administrators are getting paid and Suge [Knight]'s bills are still getting paid? If it wasn't for me no one would be getting money. They made sure it happened this way because I was the biggest creditor. There must be some internal thing going on and I'm obviously not in on it." [Billboard]

In related(???) news, the movie Notorious opens today ("The life and death story of Notorious B.I.G. (a.k.a. Christopher Wallace), who came straight out of Brooklyn to take the world of rap music by storm."). Trailer below...

Continue reading "Death Row Records sold for for $18 Million, Notorious opens"

In a potentially controversial chat with Blender mag, Alicia Keys, 27, says, "Gangsta rap was a ploy to convince black people to kill each other. Gangsta rap didn't exist."

Ms. Keys, sporting a gold AK-47 pendant around her neck, says she has been reading books by some of the members of the Black Panthers.

She says the feud between East Coast and West Coast rappers, which led to the murders of Tupac Shakur and Notorious B.I.G., was fueled "by the government and the media, to stop another great black leader from existing." [Dallas News]

Jamal Woolard will play Biggie

Biggie is coming to the big screen. Fox Searchlight has hired Jamal Woolard, a Brooklyn-based rapper, to play late rap icon Biggie Smalls, a.k.a. the Notorious B.I.G., in its upcoming biopic "Notorious."

Derek Luke, Angela Bassett and Anthony Mackie also have been cast in the movie, the art-house studio said. Directed by George Tillman Jr. ("Soul Food"), it goes into production this month and is set for release in January.

Luke ("Catch a Fire") will play Biggie record producer Sean "Diddy" Combs, who off-screen is an executive producer on the film. Mackie ("Brother to Brother") will play rival rapper Tupac Shakur, while Bassett ("Akeelah and the Bee") will play Biggie's mother Voletta Wallace. [Billboard]