It's Official: Jay Z's Historic Tidal Launches With 16 Artist Stakeholders

Jay Z promotes 'artist-owned' music streaming brand

Jay Z’s ambitious entrance into the streaming music business, which came as a surprise to industry observers, debuted Monday (March 30) at an event at New York's James A. Farley Post Office in Herald Square with 16 Artist stakeholders.

  Tidal and WiMP, the two services under Swedish umbrella Aspiro, which he acquired earlier this month, will be the streaming home for artists like Shawn Carter himself, Beyonce, Rihanna, Kanye West, Jack White, Arcade Fire, Usher, Nicki Minaj, Coldplay, Alicia Keys, Calvin Harris, Daft Punk, Deadmau5,Jason Aldean,J-Cole, and Madonna.

"People are not respecting the music, and devaluing what it really means," Jay Z told Billboard. "People really feel like music is free, but will pay $6 for water. You can drink water free out of the tap and its good water. But they're okay paying for it. It's just the mindset right now."

Jay Z's courting of Aspiro's all-star team began just ahead of the Grammys in a top-secret meeting in Pasadena which brought West, Daft Punk, Minaj, Coldplay's Chris Martin, Jack White and Madonna together. 

Billboard has learned that each artist was offered a 3 percent stake in the company in order to secure exclusives that, Roc Nation is hoping, will drive consumers to subscribe at $19.99 per month for high-def audio, or $9.99 for a standard-definition tier  (Tidal offers superior audio quality, which accounts for the higher price point, and no freemium option).  The artists' total equity in the company comes to just under majority stake, at around 48 percent.
  Significant questions remain about the structure of the company as it relates to its "executive artists," foremost among them how their deals with Shawn Carter will affect their pre-existing record contracts. As well, the service has an uphill battle; Spotify has 15 million subscribers globally and second-place Deezer has 6 million. The most recent numbers for Tidal are at 540,000, according to the company. 

That said, no other company is guaranteed to offer its customers a first listen of Rihanna's new record, or Beyonce's new video, or Calvin Harris' new remix. Beyonce alone created a new paradigm for releases less than a year-and-a-half ago; Jay Z did the same with Magna Carta, Holy the summer before. As well, Jay Z has never had an outright failure in his business dealings -- though he is in the rare position of being an underdog.

"I feel like [an underdog] all the time," Jay Z said. "I feel like I'm always pushing envelopes. I feel like I couldn't get a record deal, I feel like, you know, when Hot 97 was the big station I was the first one on Power 105.  When The Source was the biggest magazine I was first one on the cover of XXL

CELEBRITY TWEETS

MOUTH ODOUR: FOODS THAT HELP REDUCE BAD BREATH

IN my last blog post about mouth odour, I talked about the causes of bad breath and how we can prevent it. Here; I am sharing with you a list of foods that can help reduce that odour that just can’t go away..

Foods that reduce mouth Odour. 

1. YOGURT

Consumption of yoghurt can help reduce odour-causing bacteria hydrogen sulphide. Active cultures in yogurt can help fight bacteria, and yoghurts with probiotics would also help fight bacteria.

2. APPLES

Apples and other fibre rich foods like carrots help fights halitosis (a condition of severe bad breath). Foods like this helps generate saliva and saliva is a natural mouth cleansing agent.

3. VITAMIN C

Eating fruits rich in vitamin c would help make the mouth a danger place for bacteria. Vitamin c would help keep the mouth in check as well as fight gum diseases and gingivitis which is a major cause of halitosis.

4. LETTUCE

Lettuce is extremely useful when it comes to fighting bad breath. Methyl mercaptan is a gas that causes bad odour in the mouth just as the food is digested. Lettuce is useful here because it helps keeps this in check.

5. GREEN TEA

Green tea is very useful for health purposes and it’s also extremely useful in fighting bad breath. Green tea contains polyphenols which is a type of antioxidant that helps fight against the growth of bacteria. Green tea is useful so that bacteria don’t have a hiding place in the mouth.

6. MILK

Drinking milk can help combat bad odour in the mouth, however it would be less effective when it’s taken immediately after a meal. There is an interesting fact about milk; the fat in milk neutralizes sulphur while the water in milk can act as a rinsing agent. Milk really is one effective food to fight stubborn mouth odour.

7.WATER

Interestingly, water can help make your mouth fresh. A dry mouth is a breeding ground for bacteria and this is where the power of water comes in. Clean water just helps keep the mouth fresh for a period of time; so one with bad breath ought to continuously drink water. Water helps flushes away bits of food that bacteria feed on, so drinking water regularly is just a plus for a fresher breath.

However, the best practice to prevent mouth odour is to regularly brush your mouth after every meal and before going to bed.

NOTE: I am not a health professional or a dentist, and definitely not an expert. Please share with us your ideals by commenting on this article. Any comment is a good comment and no comment is a bad comment.

Killer in the cockpit; Suicide Pilot has mental illness

            Crazed pilot should not even have been at work

Investigators trying to piece together why killer co-pilot Andreas Lubitz crashed his plane into a mountain today announced he'd torn up a doctor's sick note for the day of the disaster.

Andreas Lubitz locked the captain out of the cockpit of a Germanwings Airbus A320 on Tuesday before setting the airliner's controls to descend into a rocky valley, obliterating the plane and killing all 150 people on board.

After details of his mental health problems began to emerge today, it was suggested he may have stopped taking his medication so it would not be detected in any medical tests or slipped into desperation during a crisis in his relationship.

Described as a man whose life-long obsession had been to become a pilot, another theory is that he feared his flying licence - due to expire in just three months time - might not be renewed.

But as detectives try to work out what drove him to kill himself and so many others, the grief of victims' families turned to anger at how a man with a history of mental health problems was allowed to fly a plane packed with passengers.

Christian Driessens, whose 59-year-old brother Claude died on the Airbus A320, said the co-pilot should not have been allowed anywhere near the cockpit.

He said: ‘Looking back, I slowly start to be angry. I don’t understand how a serious company can let a depressed man pilot a plane.

‘Because the boy was depressed, it was necessary to say he was. It’s not normal to leave somebody by himself in charge, and who shuts the doors, I’m very angry.'

In a statement released this lunchtime, Ralf Herrenbrueck, a spokesman for the German prosecutors office, revealed that torn-up sick notes for the day of the crash 'support the current preliminary assessment that the deceased hid his illness from his employer and colleagues'.

Mr Herrenbrueck said documents found indicated 'an existing illness and appropriate medical treatment' , but he didn't confirm details of what illness Lubitz was suffering from. Germanwings, a subsidiary of Lufthansa, declined to comment on the new information.

German police are now investigating whether Lubitz had stopped taking any medication he was on and have questioned chemists at the Apotheke am Breidenplatz close to Lubitz's Dusseldorf flat.

Lubitz regularly collected a prescription from the pharmacy, MailOnline understands. A chemist at the Apotheke confirmed she had spoken to the police but declined to offer any details.

The chemist told MailOnline: 'The police have visited the pharmacy this morning. But I cannot talk about anything that occurs inside the pharmacy. We are required to protect all information about patients.' 

As well as having been signed off from training with depression in 2008, it was reported this morning that Lubitz had continued to receive mental health support up until this week's crash.

Friends have told how Lubitz, whose pilot's licence was up for renewal in June, had a life-long obsession with planes and 'would have died' if he had not have passed his flying exams.

SOURCE: DAILYMAIL 

Charles Taylor ordered to serve the rest of his jail term in the UK

Ex-Liberian President Charles Taylor has been ordered to serve the rest of his jail term in the UK, 

He had argued that he was being denied his rights to a family life, because his wife and children had not been granted UK visas.

The judges rejected this argument, saying they had not properly applied.

A UN-backed court convicted him of war crimes over his support for rebels who committed atrocities in Sierra Leone.

The Special Court for Sierra Leone trial was held at The Hague on the agreement that he was jailed elsewhere.

The overseas venue for the court case was chosen in case the trial sparked renewed unrest in West Africa.

 An act of parliament was passed to allow for Taylor to serve his sentence in the UK, at the cost of the British government, following his conviction.

Taylor was sentenced in 2012 and arrived in the UK last October, having unsuccessfully challenged the decision to be detained there.

MOUTH ODOUR: Take action now

                                CAUSES AND PREVENTION OF BAD BREATH

Bad Breath: (Mouth odours) medically call HALITOSIS, can result from poor dental health habits and may be a sign of other health problems. Bad breath can also be made worse by the types of foods you eat and other unhealthy lifestyle habits.

CAUSES OF BAD BREATH:

Causes of bad breath include food, tobacco products, poor dental hygiene, health problem dry mouth, mouth infections, dental problems.

Food: 
Food is a primary source of bad odours that come from the mouth. Some foods, such as garlic onions, and spicy foods, exotic spices (such as curry), some cheeses, fish, and acidic beverages such as coffee can leave a lingering smell. Most of the time, this is short term. Other foods may get stuck in the teeth, promoting the growth of bacteria, which causes bad breath odour.

Tobacco products: 
Smoking and chewing tobacco can leave chemicals that remain in the mouth. Smoking can also precipitate other bad-breath causes such as gum disease or oral cancers.

Poor dental hygiene: 
When a person does not brush or floss regularly, food particles remaining in the mouth can rot and cause bad odours. Poor dental care can lead to a buildup of plaque in the mouth, which causes an odor of its own. Plaque buildup can also lead to periodontal (gum) disease. The mild form of gum disease is called gingivitis; if gingivitis is not treated, it can advance to periodontitis.

Health problems: 
Sinus infections, pneumonia sore throat (pharyngitis) and other throat infections, thrush, bronchitis, postnasal diabetes, acid reflux lactose intolerance and other stomach problems.

Dry mouth: 
Also called xerostomia, dry mouth can also cause bad breath. Saliva helps moisten and cleanse the mouth, and when the body does not product enough saliva, bad breath may result. Dry mouth may be caused by salivary gland problems, connective tissue disorder

Mouth infections:
 Cavities, gum disease, or impacted teeth may cause bad breath.

Morning breath: 
Bad breath in the morning is very common. Saliva production nearly stops during sleep, which allows bacteria to grow, causing bad breath.

 PREVENTION:

Treatment of bad breath depends on the cause.the most common steps thus:

Brush and floss teeth regularly. Remember to brush the tongue, too. This can help with bad breath caused by foods a person has eaten.

See a dentist regularly

Quit smoking or using chewing tobacco.

Keep the mouth moist by drinking water and chewing sugarless gum or sugar-free hard candy to stimulate the production of saliva. Mouthwash may temporarily mask bad breath odours, but it may not treat the underlying cause.

Natural remedies to treat bad breath include chewing on mint or parsley.

If bad breath is due to a health problem such as a sinus infection, diabetes, acid reflux, etc., then the underlying medical issue needs to be treated.

If bad breath is a side effect of taking a medication, discuss with a doctor whether there are other options for medication that can be taken. Never stop taking a medication without first consulting a doctor.

Now you know a little about mouth odour and how to solve the problem. This is the the time to take action and keep smiling and laugh all you can.