LATEST ADDITIONS

Little Feat: Hotcakes & Outtakes: 30 Years of Little Feat
Warner Archives/Rhino R2 79912 (4 CDs). 1970-2000. Russ Titelman, Ted Templeman, Lowell George, Van Dyke Parks, Erik Jacobsen, George Massenburg, Bill Payne, Paul Barrère, Bill Wray, Ed Cherney, Frank Zappa, Michael O'Bryant, Richard Moore, orig. prods.; Gary Peterson, Bill Payne, Paul Barrère, reissue prods.; Bill Inglot, reissue sound. AAD. TT: 5:13:48
Performance *****
Sonics ****

American radio stations which stream music programming over the Internet may be facing substantial outlays in royalty fees paid to record companies, under a December 8 ruling by the US Copyright Office, a division of the Library of Congress. After months of legal wrangling, the office decided that radio stations are just as liable for such fees as other music sites. "Transmissions of a broadcast signal over a digital communications network such as the Internet are not exempt from copyright liability," the ruling states.

The fate of Hales Loudspeakers has been a subject of much concern and discussion among audiophiles since the shuttering of parent company Wadia Digital a few months ago. There is now considerable light at the end of the tunnel, as revealed by Hales founder L. Paul Hales in a telephone interview December 22.

Music industry veteran Rudi Gassner died Saturday, December 23 at his vacation home in the Bavarian town of Samerberg. Recently appointed as president and chief executive of BMG Entertainment, Gassner had yet to assume the helm at the record label. The cause of death was a heart attack, according to a statement issued by his family. Gassner was 58.