Seems everyone wants a piece of Justin Timberlake and Timbaland these days. Duran Duran is the latest to court the dynamic duo for a project. Hey, those boys may be old, but they're not dumb!

If you haven't heard them by now, there are some cool collaborations out between of The Buena Vista Social Club & Chris Martin of Coldplay, Dido, Jack Johnson, Franz Ferdinand, Sting, Bono, Maroon 5, The Kaiser Chiefs, The Arctic Monkeys and Radiohead. A portion of the proceeds from sales of the collection called Rythms Del Mundo go to the Music Rising charity. You check out some of the collaborations here: Dancing Shoes (Arctic Monkeys), Fragilidad (Sting), Killing Me Softly (Omara Portuondo).

Ari Hest has a cover out of Fleetwood Mac's "Little Lies." Ari's full length The Break In (recorded with Mitchell Froom) is set for a March 2007 release.

Lots of folks are sending us their holiday songs. Here's one from Ken Tizzard.

Our buddy Rinjo Njori has a new blog "Slave to Shuffle" where he's streaming a handful of songs a day with some commentary on each.

The Democrats may not have Ted Nugent, but they've still got a cool house band for their upcoming celebration concert to mark Nancy Pelosi becoming the first woman elected Speaker of the House.

Scotland continues to be a source for new music. If you missed them, Driveblind played on the Craig Ferguson show, check out the YouTube clip here.

Finally, Schultz Says:

London's High Court awarded Procol Harum keyboardist Matthew Fisher 40% of the copyright in the group's enduring classic "A Whiter Shade Of Pale." Since its release, the copyright had been held by Gary Brooker, Procol Harum's lead singer. In claiming entitlement to half the copyright, Fisher pointed to his creation of the song's memorable organ riff; an argument the High Court agreed with, finding the organ solo "a distinctive and significant contribution to the overall composition." As Fisher waited 40 years to assert his rights, the Court awarded him future, not past, royalties.

Brooker and his attorneys see the decision as a time bomb set to detonate and destroy the entire music industry. In a statement through his attorneys, Brooker pleaded that, "the repercussions of this decision are so far-reaching that any musician who has ever played on any recording in the last 40 years may now have a potential claim of joint authorship."

Somewhere in Europe, the heirs of Johann Sebastian Bach must be scratching their heads . . . and contacting their attorney. (Yes, yes, I know -- public domain. Never let a fact ruin a good finishing line).

Labels: Arctic Monkeys, Bono, Chris Martin, Coldplay, Franz Ferdinand, Kaiser Chiefs, Mp3s, Radiohead, Scotland, U2