Good job, ASCAP!

ASCAP is demanding a licensing fee from a venue that has the video game Guitar Hero for people to play.

Now, iTunes has joined up with Live Nation to offer a bunch of them, either audio or video.  The thought of going through the Apple TV to download and watch a random concert is kinda cool.  I just hope they have an artist or two in there that I’m interested in.

Speaking of live music, O.A.R.’s next release is “Rain or Shine,” due out in January, with a two disc concert album.  You can buy a special limited edition version of it, too, with a ton of extra goodies for about three times the price, too.

Quoting Rolling Stone:

“. . . the highlights from the five shows will be featured on the upcoming double-disc set Live at the Olympia, due out October 27th.

“In addition to the 39 tracks from the show, a deluxe version of Olympia will feature concert and backstage footage from French director Vincent Moon.”

Sounds good to me!

There you go — proof that someone out there is still using MySpace.

Also, proof that comments on major blogs and social sites are just doomed:  “Hope this one’s actually good…”  Wow, THERE’S a fan for you, Weezer.

Or it might not.  They closed for the day. Nobody knows what’s going on.  Sad.  That place is a local legend.

First, INXS dumps J.D. Fortune, the winner of “Rock Star: INXS.”  JD has returned to his homeland, broke and homeless.  Turns out, he developed a wee cocaine habit while on the road.  You don’t want to do that with a band like INXS, after the troubles their last front man had with the white powdery stuff.

More sadly, Barenaked Ladies’ co-lead singer, Steven Page, has left the group. They say it’s a mutual decision and that he wants to pursue solo projects and acting.  C’mon, that’s like a politicians retiring to “spend more time with family” just before the indictments are handed down or the hidden documents suddenly appear on the front page of the Washington Post.

BNL is set to record and release an album without Page this year, with a tour planned for the end of the year.  It’ll be weird hearing certain songs sung by Ed Roberts, but I imagine they’ll give it a try.

Someone please go check on Bryan Adams.  I’m worried for him.

I’m guessing many of those songs are from British music, and not that I’m completely out of touch.  But it is riveting to hear how many memorable songs use the same chord progression.

If that’s not good enough for you, perhaps 64 part a capella for “Thriller?”

Or four part Super Mario 2 a capella?

Maybe the MacGyver theme song a capella? It’s pretty awful, though the kazoo almost saves it.

How about three part Tetris music?  It builds kinda slowly, really kicking in with the third guy.

• Whoa: The Christian Science Monitor is dropping its print edition. Ironically, this story is brought to you by “The New York Times,” a dead tree newspaper in deep financial trouble.

• Video from London. Turn of the century London. Most impressive.

• How about a Mac utility to play FLAC files in iTunes?  I like that idea.

• Wii Fit has outsold Grand Theft Auto IV!

• Now it can be told: How a Jeopardy! game board is written. (Current up to about a decade ago. ;-)

Country singer Tim McGraw apologized to his fans for his latest greatest hits CD, criticizing his label for not releasing a record with new material, People magazine reported Tuesday.“I am saddened and disappointed that my label chose to put out another hits album instead of new music,� People quoted McGraw as saying.

Even the artists don’t like the recording industry.