A proposed “digital tax” in the North Carolina General Assembly would tax movies, music, ringtones and software bought and delivered over the Internet, the TBJ reports.

RALEIGH, N.C.  – A host of “North Carolina’s Finest” musicians will help celebrate the state’s new governor-elect and council of state at the Governor’s Inaugural Ball Jan. 8-9, 2009, in Raleigh. The two-day series of events is organized and hosted by the Junior League of Raleigh (JLR).

From Durham resident and jazz great Branford Marsalis to national country artist and Granite Falls native Eric Church, from Raleigh’s bluegrass favorite Chatham County Line to Chapel Hill’s own pop funk band Dillon Fence, the talent appearing at the Inaugural Ball offers something for any musical taste.

The schedule of events featuring musical entertainment at the 2009 Inaugural Ball “North Carolina’s Finest” is as follows: Read the full story

WASHINGTON – What does it take for a song to make the campaign playlists of both the Democratic and Republican presidential tickets?

It should be a little bit country and a little rock n’ roll. It should have a beat you can groove to and a dash of patriotism. And hold the controversy.

Mix it together and what do you have? You might hear “Only in America,” a Brooks & Dunn country song that crosses party lines.

Both presidential tickets have played the song at campaign rallies, as did President Bush four years ago. Its uplifting message: “Only in America, where we dream as big as we want to.” In fact, the song says, “one might just be president.”

“Only in America” hits just the right note for presidential campaigns, where a song is more than a song. The soundtracks of rallies don’t happen by chance. The campaigns search for the right message, style and tone.

“The whole emotional point is to draw people in and to get them excited,” said Cathi C. Wilson, an independent music and political communications researcher.

Campaigns want to create a sense of community at a rally, and it’s more about beat than lyrics, said Patrick Warfield, assistant professor of musicology at Georgetown University.

“Playing songs that have strong beats, songs that have riff patterns, songs that have well-known choruses are a way a getting a body of people in sync before a candidate comes out,” he said. “To sort of pump them up in the way athletes use music.”

Andy Greene, an assistant editor at Rolling Stone magazine, said the feelings a song generates are what’s important.

“They want a really uplifting song that seems full of promise, even if it’s not patriotic,” he said.

At rallies in Virginia with the vice presidential candidates – Democrat Joe Biden in Sterling and Republican Sarah Palin in Richmond -the campaigns played popular rock, country and R&B songs, many of them decades old.

Wilson said both campaigns were attempting to capture the same demographic – middle-aged voters – and touched on similar themes by creating uplifting soundtracks that project an image of the candidate as patriotic, battle-ready and a change agent.

“They might not agree, but I think they’re actually sending similar messages,” she said. “These could be interchangeable.”

The lyrics do matter, Wilson said, and are an attempt by campaigns to reinforce the message they are pushing.

Biden walked onstage to the U2 song, “Beautiful Day.” The upbeat rock song’s lyrics touch on themes of change and overcoming obstacles. Palin walked onstage to “She’s Not Just a Pretty Face” by Shania Twain.

“It’s pretty obvious they want to counter the perception she’s just a beauty queen,” said Rolling Stone’s Greene.

The McCain and Obama campaigns were unwilling to talk about their use of music at rallies. But Kevin Madden, the senior communications strategist for Mitt Romney during his run for the Republican nomination, said the campaigns’ playlists are calculated by staffers.

The campaigns develop a list of songs and tweak playlists to cater to their audience. Romney usually came onstage to Elvis Presley’s “A Little Less Conversation” because his message was that Washington is all talk and no action, Madden said.

“It helps set a mood for the media images people see on TV that night,” he said. “It’s part of the pageantry of a campaign in a 24-7 news cycle.”

The goal is to make the songs fit a theme, but they also must be generic and non-abrasive, he said. A song with offensive lyrics or by an artist that may not support a candidate can prove to be a distraction by generating “silly news stories,” Madden said.

That’s why you don’t hear any hip-hop or rap music at the events, Warfield said, but that could change as audiences age.

“I bet you in 20 years we will hear hip-hop at a rally,” the Georgetown professor said.

Warfield said that campaigns historically used existing music the public was familiar with because voters would join in singing. The campaigns changed the words to fit their candidate, such as when Harry Truman chose a 1920s Broadway show tune, “I’m Just Wild About Harry,” for his 1948 campaign song.

Bill Clinton encouraged the trend of using contemporary pop music in 1992 by choosing songs familiar to Baby Boomers, such as Fleetwood Mac’s “Don’t Stop.” The song became synonymous with the campaign.

This election year, some songs have become hits online – like “Yes We Can” by Obama supporter Will.i.am. But neither presidential candidate has used a song that’s become his own alone, Wilson said.

“I haven’t seen either campaign grab onto something that brands the candidate,” she said.

“Only in America,” which came out just before the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, may come closest to being a universal choice, Greene said.

“It’s used by everybody,” he said. “It’s sort of that rare non-partisan song.”

Sampling of Biden’s playlist from a rally in Sterling, Va.

“The Rising” – Bruce Springsteen

“Won’t Back Down” – Tom Petty & the Heartbreakers

“A Change Will Do You Good” – Sheryl Crow

“Beautiful Day” – U2

“Our Country” – John Mellencamp
Sampling of Palin’s playlist from a rally in Richmond, Va.

“Eye of the Tiger” – Survivor

“Johnny B. Goode” – Chuck Berry

“You’ve Got to Stand for Something” – Aaron Tippin

“God Bless the U.S.A.” – Lee Greenwood

“She’s Not Just a Pretty Face” – Shania Twain
Played at both the Biden and Palin rallies

“Life is a Highway” – Rascal Flatts

“Only in America” – Brooks & Dunn

“Ain’t No Stopping Us Now” – McFadden and Whitehead

LOS ANGELES (AP) – Sheryl Crow is giving away free music – a tactic she calls the “Tupperware” party approach to inspiring young people to vote.

The Grammy Award-winning singer announced a plan Wednesday to give a digital copy of her album “Detours” to the first 50,000 people who register three friends to vote.

“I hope people wake up and emotionally engage in issues,” Crow told The Associated Press in a telephone interview during a visit to Los Angeles.

Crow’s giveaway is a kickoff to Rock the Vote’s voter registration drive. She is also offering a free download of her politically charged song “Gasoline” to anyone who logs onto the Rock the Vote Web site or anyone on the group’s mailing list, said the organization’s executive director Heather Smith.

Crow, 46, was one of the founding artists of Rock the Vote 18 years ago. She said the “Detours” album fits perfectly into the group’s cause since the lyrics touch on topics such as adoption, breast cancer, the war in Iraq, the environment and Hurricane Katrina.

“It’s about the issues that everyone’s talking about, but there’s a lot of hope,” Crow said. “At this moment in my life, writing about anything else would be uninteresting and impossible because I feel such urgency.”

Crow, who has advocated for environmental, health and humanitarian causes, said her fans know where she stands politically. But in this voter registration campaign she’s concerned only for the future of her 1-year-old son, Wyatt, and the future of American democracy.

Crow suggested that more musicians should use their music to promote issues that affect Americans. She said she was inspired by pop musicians from the 1960s and 70s, when political songs were performed by Edwin Starr, Buffalo Springfield, Marvin Gaye and Peter Paul & Mary.

“There was healthy competition among artists to create art that was commercial and political at the same time,” Crow said.

“Our music (now) is not representing the times – at least not socially and politically. Or maybe we’re just distracted.”

Rock the Vote aims to register 2 million young people to vote by November – the largest youth voter drive in history by three times, Smith said.

“These musicians speak to millions of people every day so for them to use their voices to inspire people is a key part of our program,” she said.

Anyone who recruits three people to vote will have to log onto the Rock the Vote Web site and go through a verification process before receiving Crow’s album, Smith said.