Two of the biggest hip hop MCs are preparing to join forces during a special one time event. Reportedly, Lil Wayne and Eminem are scheduled to perform together on December 1 at Etihad Stadium. A slug fest of six hours will be headlined by the superstar rappers, with the pair trading many of their most memorable rhymes for an international audience.

Paul Mr. Dainty, the promoter of the event said, there aren’t any problems and it is very professional.

The space is a different one than it was ten years ago with Eminem. He is mainstream now and has turned into an icon of pop culture.

In the past, the two rappers both have had run ins with the law which resulted in the two MCs turning away from alcohol and drugs. The new career take of Eminem’s has garnered him rave reviews for his shows and music, particularly during the past year, which included a performance at the Lollapalooza annual concert.

The other MC Lil Wayne has been on quite a run also. The head of Young Money is currently on the second leg of “I Am Still Music II,” his highly touted tour. He has spent most of the last eight months touring. This week he’s expected to make a big splash on Soundscan’s chart, with the album “Carter IV” poised to post some huge numbers that could be near one million.

For the gig in Australia, Hilltop Hoods, who are local rappers, will be performing with Lil Wayne and Eminem at the Docklands.

This year Bonnaroo music festival is celebrating its tenth anniversary. They are bringing their A-game when it comes to the lineup. Headliners include The Black Keys, Arcade Fire and Eminem. It should come as no surprise that the festival has officially sold out. The only surprise is that it took three months for Bonnaroo tickets to sell out instead of weeks or days.

The festival audience is estimated to be 80,000. In addition to the big three acts, concert goeers can expect to see String Cheese Incident, The Decemberists, The Strokes, Mumford & Sons, Widespread Panic and Lil Wayne as part of the festival’s lineup, which proves the event will have a little something in the mix for everyone.

If the names just mentioned aren’t your thing, how about Scissor Sisters, Robyn, Grace Potter & the Nocturnals or Florence & the Machine. For lovers of country music, there’s icon Loretta Lynn.

In spite of some complaints about Bonnaroo (between the crowd and camping, things can get pretty backwoods and dirty), with this kind of lineup it isn’t hard to picture a sold out Bonnaroo when the festival opens on June 9.

In 2010, the money generated from recorded music dropped a whopping 8.4%. According to a person close to Universal Music Group, the company’s owner, Vivendi, has demanded that the company shave $100 million off its expenses in 2011. It is little surprise then that the company is attempting to perform damage control on a recent United States Supreme Court ruling that denied its appeal of an earlier ruling that said Eminem and his producers should receive half of all money that is generated from iTunes purchases. This is about triple the amount that has been given to the artist thus far.

FBT Productions’ manager, who was the first to sign Eminem and who keeps getting commissions on Eminem’s songs, indicated to the New York Times that the ruling means Universal needs to pay between $17 and $20 million for songs and albums that have been previously sold. Over the next decade, if Eminem’s music continues to sell, Universal could end up paying an additional $40 million to the company. Eminem, who did not participate in the lawsuit, will still benefit from the ruling in terms of millions of dollars. In addition, Universal could face even more problems. Rick James’ estate has initiated a lawsuit in federal court in an attempt to receive the same 50% of the sales of digital music and ringtones. The estate is asking other artists to join the class action suit.

The essential point of these suits is the unclear definition of a download. Is it a sale or a license? A typical deal with a record company these days would give the musician between 12% and 20% of all money generated by the sales of the album. This percentage would be based upon the popularity of the musician at the time the deal was signed. However, if a song is used in a television program or in a movie, the musician gets 50% of the money that license generates. People might think they own the songs they download from iTunes, but in reality, all they have really done is purchase a license to play it. As such, the court has affirmed FBT’s contention that the digital Eminem downloads are in fact licenses.

In response, Universal is claiming that Eminem’s deal includes wording that led to the loss of the lawsuit. This is because Eminem’s deal was inked before iTunes was even invented and contracts these days clearly indicate that all digital downloads are considered sales and not licenses. Even so, there are thousands upon thousands of musicians who are in the same position as Eminem and signed their contracts long before iTunes came about. Contracts signed prior to 1980 give the artists about 10%, while artists from the 1960s and 1970s get about 4%, after deductions for packaging are taken. In these cases, musicians could earn up to 10X more than they are currently earning from digital downloads. Most of the biggest names in music have probably resigned deals as their careers advances and so probably include the verbiage stating that downloads are sales.

Even though FBT isn’t the only company to sue a record label over downloads, they are the first company not to settle with the record label before the case ever saw the inside a courtroom. In these cases, the participants all signed non-disclosure agreements so they can’t discuss the specifics. Cheap Trick and the Allman Brothers Band initiated a court case against Sony BMG stating that they were not receiving enough money from their digital music. When that case began, these artists were getting just 4.5 cents whenever a song sold for .99 cents. This case was settled out of court and when one of Cheap Trick’s band members was questioned about the specifics, he said, “I’m not allowed to say anything about it, but I’m smiling.”

Pink Floyd sued EMI, recently, and part of that court case dealt with the revenue sharing of digital downloads. Even though rumors were rampant that Pink Floyd prevailed in the lawsuit, because the record company would not be allowed to sell individual songs from albums, the label demanded that the digital download hearing not be made public. This is probably due to the fact that the company did not want other musicians that have signed with the label to think they could sue them successfully as well.

On occasion, it is not even been necessary to file a lawsuit. A 1980s star was going over his contract and learned that any of his songs that were distributed via “wireless telephony” would fall under the license category and would mean he should receive 50% of the revenue. He opened up discussions with the record label that had signed him when he was at the top of his game. They gave him what he wanted, but he had to also sign a non-disclosure agreement.

Essentially, what this means is that musicians should carefully inspect their contracts. It might be expensive to take a record company to court, though. In the United Kingdom, class action lawsuits such as the one being filed by Rick James’ estate are not allowed so musicians would all have to file their own lawsuits. Even so, there are some managers in the United Kingdom who are considering whether or not to pool their resources for these court actions. If many suits were to succeed, Universal would no longer have to worry about trimming $100 million in expenses because it would no longer be in business. Neither would any other major record company.

Justin Bieber, Bruno Mars, Lady Gaga, Eminem and Rihanna are the leading finalists for Billboard’s 2011 Music Awards. They were announced on April 13 during a Las Vegas press conference.

The leading finalist is Rihanna with 18 award categories. They include Top Dance/Electronic Artist, Top R&B Artist, Top Female Artist and Top Hot 100 Artist. Rihanna’s chart-topping track “Love the Way You Lie” with Eminem placed her as a finalist in six of the song categories.

Eminem, meanwhile, is included in 16 award categories as a finalist, including Top Rap Artist, Top Male Artist and Top Billboard 200 Artist.

Lady Gaga is next with 12 category finalist placements. Three of her releases are competing in the Top Dance/Electronic Album: “The Remix,” “The Fame Monster” and “The Fame.”

Justin Bieber and Bruno Mars, the pop heart throbs, are each competing in 11 categories. They will face off in the Top Male Artist and Top New Artist categories. Other contenders for Top New Artist are Taio Cruz, Nicki Minaj and Ke$sha. Taio Cruz’ song “Dynamite” has been nominated for five awards, which includes Top Hot 100 Song.

Billboard’s Music Awards show will take place in Las Vegas at the MGM Grand Garden Arena on Sunday May 22 to announce the winners. The show will air on ABC from 8-11 pm ET and PT. To purchase tickets visit Ticketmaster.com.

A holistic view of artist performance is taken by Billboard’s Music Awards. It is based on musical-finalists’ interactions with the fans. Winners are determined from looking at streaming and social activity as well as chart performance chronicled on Billboard.com and Billboard Magazine during the February 28, 2010 through March 1, 2011 eligibility period.

The basis for Billboard’s 46 award categories are from measures that are provided by their data partners. They include Nielsen SoundScan sales data, radio airplay that Nielsen BDS monitors, streaming data that Neilsen BDS and Tubemogul measures, social media consumption measured by Next Big Sound, as well as tour grosses that Billboard Boxscore tracks.

Three headliners for this summer’s Lollapalooza have been confirmed by anonymous industry sources according to Billboard. Allegedly the Foo Fighters, Muse and Eminem will receive top billing for the three day event at Grant Park in Chicago on August 5-7.

The news about Eminem is refreshing since hip-hop isn’t always hit very hard by the festival. It’s isn’t surprising given the comeback energy the rapper from Detroit has shown. The world is still buzzing over his acclaimed Chrysler Super Bowl ad. It is also expected he will be making multiple trips up to the podium on Sunday during the Grammy Awards. His album “Recovery” has received ten Grammy nominations. It will be the first Lollapalooza booking for Eminem.

This year the Foo Fighters are getting back into the game following the release in April of their new albums along with many other festival appearances. In 2010, Muse headlined Glastonbury and Coachella and this year is joining U2′s world tour.

Lollapalooza spokesmen wouldn’t confirm the report. It is expected that an official announcement will be made in April.

Despite the late charges  from Taylor Swift and Susan Boyle, the No. 1 artist on Nielsen SoundScan’s year end sales totals was Eminem.  According to Billboard magazine compiled figures, “Recovery,” the return-to-form CD from the rapper in 2010 was the leading new release with 3.4 million copies sold.  In the No. 2 spot was “Need You Now” by Lady Antebellum with 3.1 million copies sold, “Speak Now” by Taylor Swift with 3 million in sales, “My World 2.0” by Justin Bieber at 2.3 million copies and “The Gift” by Susan Boyle at 1.85 million in sales.

Other top-selling albums of the year include “The Fame,” the still moving debut album of Lady Gaga‘s, which last year sold an additional 1.5 million copies, “Soldier of Love” by Sade with 1.2 million copies sold,  “Thank Me Later” by Drake with 1.2 million in sales, “Raymond v. Raymond” by Usher with 1.18 million copies sold, and “Animal” by Ke$sha with 1.1 million in sales.

“Recovery” also was the No. 1 ranked digital album with 852,000 copies sold.

The combination of Swift’s back catalog still selling briskly and the release of a new hit album, resulted in Swift being the top-selling artist of the year overall with over 4.4 million copies sold.  Slim Shady followed with 4.3 million units sold, then Lady Antebellum at 3.8 million copies sold, Bieber with 3.7 million in sales, and the “Glee” cast with 3.6 million copies sold.

Kate Perry led in the digital songs category, selling almost 4.4 million downloads of “California Gurls,” her hit collaboration with Snoop Dogg.  “Hey Soul Sister” from Train was second with 4.3 million downloads, followed by “Love the Way You Lie” by Rihanna with 4.2 million, “Dynamite” by Taio Cruz with 4 million, and Hayley Williams and B.o.B’s “Airplanes” with 4 million.

The decade long slide for album sales continued, with a drop of 12.8 percent down to 326.2 million copies sold.  For the fourth consecutive year CD sales fell by nearly 20 percent.  However sales for individual digital tracks increased by 1 percent to 1.17 billion over last year.  Sales for digital albums were 86.3 million, an increase of 13 percent, accounting for over 26 percent of 2010 album sales in the U.S.

In 2010 vinyl was also big,  The vintage category increased by 13 percent.  The uptick largely was fueled by “Abbey Road” from the Beatles, which sold a total of 35,00 copies.  “Suburbs” by Arcade Fire followed with 18,000 copies sold, “Brothers” by the Black Keys with 18,000 copes sold, “Contra” by Vampire Weekend with 15,000 in sales and “Thriller” by Michael Jackson with 14,000 copies sold.

The new song from rapper Eminem and Rihanna, the singing sensation from Barbados, for its second week in a row is topping the Billboard Hot 100 Singles chart.

Their domestic violence duet “Love the Way You Lie” knocked “California Gurl,” the breezy summer anthem from Katy Perry, from the top spot.

Rihanna, while discussing the abusive relationship theme of the song said to Access Hollywood, that was something necessary to do.

It was so clever how he did that said Rihanna, who is sporting a dramatic new red hairdo. Eminem just basically broke domestic violence’s cycle down. It’s something not too many people have lots of insight into.

Rihanna is a domestic abuse survivor. Last year Chris Brown, performer and former boyfriend, physically assaulted her while in a Lamborghini.

Buzz surrounding the music video is nearly as hot as the duo’s song.

Dominic Monaghan from Lost and his obsession over Megan Fox has been captured on film. It’s rumored that the video will be released sometime next week. MTV is reporting that the two actors were captured by a long lensed camera sharing a kiss while filming the video.

Rihanna and Eminem make appearances in the video as well. It is being filmed in Los Angeles. Rihanna, building on her experience on stage, will be trying big screen acting out soon.

When talking about his new collaboration with the singer Pink that will appear on “Recovery,” the rapper’s upcoming seventh album, Eminem described her as a rebel.

Pink sings on “Won’t Back Down.” The track is available currently for fans to listen to over the internet.

Eminem said in an interview with Fearne Cotton from Radio 1, I have always had respect for her and her work.

When we were working on the track, I listened and knew that she would smash it vocally.

Also appearing on Eminem’s new album, due to be released on June 22, is Rihanna. She is featured on “Love The Way You Lie.”

Eminem said, The same with Rihanna as it was for Pink. The album is more special having her as part of it.

Eminem joined Cotton and played a set of two songs for a Radio 1 Live Lounge special. It was recorded at Maida Vale studio in London. Eminem played his single “Not Afraid” as well as “Stan,” his single from 2000 which was a Dido sample and mixed in a “Forever Means Forever” by Jason Derulo cover.

The rapper said I am in a lot better place now than a couple years ago and am in fantastic spirits.

In July, Eminem will be making his UK live return. He will have a headlining appearance for T In The Park. The gig will be his first in the UK since 2003.

I’m excited about getting back out and doing shows, Eminem said. Hitting the stage is a rush.

Late this summer, Jay-Z and Eminem will be teaming up for two co-headlining concerts in major league baseball parks: Comerica Park in Detroit and Yankee Stadium in New York City.

The first show will be in Detroit, Eminem’s hometown, on September 2. On September 13 the pair will be in Jay-Z’s New York City. In the past, the two have performed together frequently. However it hasn’t been on the same scale. The shows were announced live from Fox Sports Detroit at a doubleheader at Comerica Park in the second game between the New York Yankees and Detroit Tigers.

In a statement, Eminem said, this set of shows is a once in a lifetime experience. We will both be really bringing it for our home town fans. They will love it and so will I. It will be historic.

Jay-Z added, the shows are a dream coming true. I have always dreamed of hip-hop being able to play in stadium just like other kinds of music. It’s perfect for me and Eminem to be able to play in our hometowns so we can show them just how far live rap experiences has made it. Historic and fun. The combination is going to be a great one across the board.

Jay-Z earlier this year wrapped up a tour to support “The Blueprint 3, his last chart topping set. It is his 11th studio set and final “Blueprint” trilogy installment, which started with “The Blueprint” in 2001 and continued with “Blueprint 2: The Gift & The Curse” in 2002.

Jay-Z’s last album debuted in the No. 1 spot on Billboard’s 22 chart. During the first week of its release the set sold almost 500,000 copies. The rapper has now had 11 top-selling albums and is now had the most No. 1 sets by a solo artist on the top chart of Billboard. Jay-Z previously shared that record with Elvis Presley.

The latest set from Eminem, “Recovery,” is due to be released to stores on June 22. “Not Afraid,” the album’s first single, debuted in the No. 1 spot on the Billboard Hot 100 chart. He became just the 16th artist ever in the history of the chart to have his song in the No. 1 spot during its debut week. The last song with a No. 1 debut was “3” by Britney Spears in October 2009.

2010 Jay-Z & Eminem Concert Tour
September 2010
2 – Detroit, MI – Comerica Park
13 – New York, NY – Yankee Stadium