Katy Perry Honored for Global Sales of 40+ Million Adjusted Albums and 125+ Million Tracks

(pictured L-R Steve Barnett; Chairman & CEO Capitol Music Group, Katy Perry, Sir Lucian Grainge; Chairman and CEO Universal Music Group)

Today, Capitol Records celebrated Katy Perry's 10-year anniversary with the label and honored her extraordinary accomplishments, which include a cumulative 18+ billion streams alongside worldwide sales of more than 40+ million adjusted albums and 125+ million tracks. 

The global superstar was awarded a plaque recognizing her "singular artistry, astonishing creative vision and extraordinary global popularity within every realm of recorded music." The ceremony took place during Universal Music Group Chairman and CEO Sir Lucian Grainge's annual pre-GRAMMY showcase at the Ace Hotel in Los Angeles.

Yesterday's release of Katy's new single, "Chained to the Rhythm," set a new Spotify record. With more than three million streams on its first day of release, it marks the best first day of streaming of a single track by a female artist in Spotify history. Katy will perform "Chained to the Rhythm" for the very first time at the 59^th Annual GRAMMY Awards, which will air on CBS tomorrow, February 12, at 8:00 p.m. ET/5:00 p.m. PT.

The lyric video, which already has more than eight million views, can be seen HERE. Katy co-wrote "Chained to the Rhythm" with Max Martin, Sia Furler, Ali Payami and Skip Marley. The latter is featured on the track. 

Billboard proclaimed, "Katy Perry Embraces Her Wokeness -- And It Works…one of music's biggest stars is once again dominating conversations."

Katy made her Capitol Records debut with 2008's One of the Boys after signing to the label in 2007. She cemented her status as a global superstar with the follow-up album, Teenage Dream (2010). PRISM, her 2013 album, debuted at No. 1 on iTunes in 100 countries and has sold more than 12.5 million adjusted albums worldwide. 

With the singles "Firework" and "Dark Horse" each surpassing the 10 million threshold including song sales and streams, Katy is the first female artist to earn two RIAA Digital Single Diamond Awards. She is also the most-followed person globally on Twitter. 

Katy played to a total of two million people on the sold-out, 151-date Prismatic World Tour and headlined the Super Bowl XLIX halftime show, which set a record as the most-watched Super Bowl halftime show ever. 

For additional information on Katy Perry, visit:

• katyperry.com
• twitter.com/katyperry
• facebook.com/katyperry
• instagram.com/katyperry
• youtube.com/katyperry
• vevo.com/artist/katy-perry

SOURCE: Capitol Music Group

Bonus Videos:

Tonner Doll Company Introduces Jazz Jennings Doll At 2017 New York International Toyfair

Jazz Jennings book cover and Jazz Jennings doll by Tonner Doll Company, Inc., debuting at New York Toyfair February 18, 2017.

Transgender star of TLC's docuseries "I Am Jazz", Jazz Jennings, will take form as the newest Tonner play doll.  The 18" portrait doll was designed and sculpted by renowned doll artist Robert Tonner.

Robert Tonner founded the Tonner Doll Company in 1991 and has continually created the best and most fashionable dolls in the world.  Designers such as Marc Jacobs, Ralph Lauren, Oscar de la Renta, Donna Karan, Betsey Johnson and Anna Sui have dressed Tonner dolls. Tonner has also participated in myriad licensing programs including DC and Marvel, Twilight, Harry Potter, Dr Suess, Peanuts, Gone with the Wind and The Wizard of Oz.

With the Jazz Jennings doll, Tonner continues its history of ground-breaking doll line introductions based on socially transformational heroes, who have included the plus-size model Emme and Carmen Dell 'Orefice, whose first Vogue cover was in 1946 and who remains a working fashion model.  

Robert Tonner, CEO of Tonner Doll, states "Jazz stands for everything I respect from a human nature point of view-she's incredibly brave, intelligent, warm-hearted and creative." 

16 year old Jazz Jennings, is an honorary co-founder of the Transkids Purple Rainbow Foundation.  Jazz speaks at universities, medical schools, conferences, conventions and symposiums all over the country. She's also a Youtube Vlogger, a youth ambassador for the Human Rights Campaign and an advocate for GLAAD.

When she was six, Jazz appeared on 20/20 with Barbara Walters. Since then, she's been featured on a variety of major programs and news outlets, including an Oprah Winfrey Network documentary, "I am Jazz: A family in Transition" and many others. Jazz and her family now have their own GLAAD Media award winning docu-series, "I Am Jazz," now on TLC.

Jazz is the youngest person ever to be recognized in The Advocate Magazine's, "Top Forty Under 40" annual list. She was named as one of TIME Magazine's Most Influential Teens for 2014 and 2015. She is also listed on Huffington Post's 14 Most Fearless Teens of 2014. In 2015 she became one of the faces of Johnson & Johnson's Clean and Clear Campaign: "See the Real" Me. 

In June of 2015, Jazz was invited to the White House where she met President Obama.  In October of 2015 she was honored as Miss Teen Pride USA.  In August of 2016, Jazz was recognized on Teen Vogue's 21 under 21 list.  Jazz served as Grand Marshall during the 2016 New York City Heritage of Pride March. She is the youngest person to serve as Grand Marshal in the history of the march.

In 2014, Jazz co-wrote a children's picture book with Jessica Herthel titled "I Am Jazz". She and her family continue to participate in many media projects with a goal to educate, and spread the message of tolerance and acceptance for all Transkids.  

Jazz's memoir, "Being Jazz: My Life as a (Transgender) Teen" was released in bookstores and digitally on June 7th, 2016.

The Jazz Jennings dolls will be available in specialty stores and on www.tonnerdoll.com in July, 2017.    

SOURCE: Tonner Doll

Bonus Video:

Berkeley, #Milo Yiannopoulos And The Lessons Of Free Speech

Protestors at the University of California, Berkeley campus oppose the appearance of Breitbart News editor Milo Yiannopoulos. AP Photo/Ben Margot

By Erwin Chemerinsky, University of California, Irvine and Howard Gillman, University of California, Irvine

Recent events at the University of California, Berkeley reflect the enormous difficulties that campuses can face when trying to ensure freedom of speech while, at the same time, meeting their duty to ensure an inclusive learning environment and to protect everyone’s safety. Many, including President Donald Trump, spoke out about these events, but with apparently little understanding of what actually occurred or all that the campus did to try and protect speech.

On Wednesday, Feb. 1, Milo Yiannopoulos, a controversial speaker who prides himself on being inflammatory, was scheduled to speak at the University of California, Berkeley, at the invitation of the College Republicans student group. A demonstration of approximately 1,500 people developed to protest his presence and to stand against what they considered to be “hate speech.”

Masked protestors speak out against Yiannopoulos’ appearance on campus. pietropiupparco/flickr, CC BY-SA

A few hours before the scheduled talk, a group of protesters pulled down police barricades, hurled Molotov cocktails, smashed windows, and threw fireworks and rocks at police, resulting in US$100,000 of property damage. According to the university, the violent protesters were “150 masked agitators” who had come to campus to disturb an otherwise peaceful protest.

Perceiving a serious threat to public safety, campus officials called off Yiannopoulos’ talk, while also condemning the violence and reasserting their commitment to free speech principles. As university administrators and professors who teach and write about First Amendment law, we see what happened at Berkeley as enormously important in our current debate over free speech.

Did campus officials infringe Yiannopoulos’ freedom of speech and the rights of the College Republicans to hear his views?

The event has triggered intense debates about the scope and limits of free speech. However, to understand who did the right thing and who did the wrong thing, you must also understand a few basic First Amendment principles.

Basic free speech principles
First, by law campuses must allow all views and ideas to be expressed, no matter how offensive. Above all, the First Amendment means that the government cannot prevent or punish speech based on the viewpoint expressed. This also is a crucial aspect of academic freedom.

Milo Yiannopoulos speaking at the LeWeb13 Conference in London. LeWeb14/flickr, CC BY

Even the expression of hate is constitutionally protected; court cases have addressed this very issue on college campuses in the past. Although hate speech unquestionably causes harms, it nonetheless is expression that is covered by the First Amendment. We therefore strongly disagree with those who say that campus officials at Berkeley could keep Yiannopoulos from speaking because of his hateful and offensive message.

Campus officials at Berkeley recognized that Yiannopoulos had a First Amendment right to speak. Berkeley Chancellor Nicholas Dirks rightly resisted demands, including from Berkeley faculty, to ban Yiannopoulos’ appearance.

Second, campuses must do all they can to ensure that audience reactions against a speaker are not allowed to silence the speaker. Free speech can be undermined, not only by official censorship and punishment, but also by individuals who seek to disrupt or shut down others when they attempt to exercise their rights. If officials do not work to prevent or punish disruption then there will be a “heckler’s veto” of all unpopular or controversial speakers, and this is not consistent with free speech principles. Campus officials have a duty to protect the free speech rights of protesters, but they must also protect speakers and prevent heckling. Apparently, this, too, occurred at Berkeley. Staff members spent weeks planning extensive security arrangements, including bringing in dozens of police officers from nine other UC campuses.

Third, there may be situations where controlling the audience proves impossible and there is no choice but to prevent a speaker’s presence to ensure public safety. This should be a last resort taken only if there is no other way to prevent a serious imminent threat to public safety. This appears to be exactly what occurred at Berkeley, where the riotous demonstrators could not be controlled. In such cases, authorities should do all they can, after the fact, to identify and punish those who used violence and violated the law, and should assess how different security arrangements might be more effective in preventing future disruptions. Campus officials should also do what they can to reschedule the speaker for another time.

Misguided criticism of Berkeley officials
A number of commentators were outraged that Yiannopoulos was not able to speak, and claimed that free speech was under attack at Berkeley. But the campus itself consistently reaffirmed his right to speak, resisted calls to cancel the event and arranged for extraordinary security at great expense. The vast majority of the demonstrators were also merely exercising their free speech rights. Thus, the campus efforts were consistent with free speech principles. If there is blame to be assigned it should focus on the small number of outsiders who were intent on using violent and unlawful means to disrupt the event.

Nonetheless, President Trump tweeted after the event that federal funds might be withheld from Berkeley unless it allowed freedom of speech.

Putting aside that he lacks the legal authority to do this, Trump ignored the fact that freedom of speech never is absolute. Campuses can punish speech that constitutes true threats or harassment or incitement of illegal activity. Campuses also need to act to protect the safety and welfare of all on campus.

Campus officials at Berkeley faced an enormously difficult situation. They were not insensitive to speech and they did not deserve the disapproval of the president. The campus did not keep Yiannopoulos from speaking because of his views, but because public safety at the time necessitated it.


About Today's Contributors:
Erwin Chemerinsky, Dean of the School of Law, University of California, Irvine and Howard Gillman, Chancellor, University of California, Irvine

This article was originally published on The Conversation. 

Other Milo Yiannopoulos Related Posts:

• A Storm In A Twitter Cup... [The One About That Milo Unverified Account Thing]
• Tell Colleges: Don't Let Milo Yiannopoulos Harass Your Students [Petition]

Discipline Kellyanne Conway For Violating Federal Ethics Rules [Petition]

Another day, another email about the current White House's Administration...

No surprise, really, as it seems that so-called President Donald Trump and the members of  his team keep doing their best (or is it their worst?) to look/sound stupid on a daily basis.

On the bright side, some of the people who didn't care about politics a few months ago are now interested again. Silver lining and all that...

Anyway, today's email is from our friends at the Daily Kos. As usual, feel free to read it and act accordingly.

Thanks in advance

Stay safe!

Loup Dargent

Click here to read recent Guardian's article about Conway

The Email:
"Loup,

On February 9, Kellyanne Conway—counselor to President Trump—went on Fox News, and with the White House seal in the background urged viewers repeatedly to buy Ivanka Trump's clothing line.

This is a blatant violation under federal law.

§ 2635.702 Use of public office for private gain.
An employee shall not use his public office for his own private gain, for the endorsement of any product, service or enterprise, or for the private gain of friends, relatives, or persons with whom the employee is affiliated in a nongovernmental capacity ...

We now have a White House whose publicly paid employees go around promoting the commercial interests of the President's family members. 

Congressman Elijah Cummings called this a "textbook violation" of ethics laws and recommended that it be referred the Office of Government Ethics.

Sign the petition to the Office of Government Ethics and U.S. General Services Administration: Discipline Kellyanne Conway for violating federal ethics rules.

Keep fighting,
Paul Hogarth, Daily Kos"

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Stop #Trump's Marriage Made In Hell [Petition]

Image via Avaaz.org

Dear friends,

This is urgent! Trump is ready to bless a merger between chemical giants Monsanto and Bayer to create a $100 billion agribusiness beast designed to dominate our earth's food system.

It's not only bad business to allow one company to grow this huge, it's against the law. And two little known regulators in the US and Europe can stop the deal. The problem is they're being pounded by lobbying from two of the world’s most powerful corporations and a President hell-bent on seeing the deal succeed. 

Only a massive movement like ours can counter the assault.

We beat Monsanto twice last year in exactly this way, but this time we need unprecedented numbers to show the regulators people everywhere want to stop a megaplan backed by President Trump. Add your name:  

>> Click to stop this monster marriage made in hell

Monsanto and Bayer combined would dominate global crops and pesticides, and control our food system! And these are companies that have poisoned bee populations, river water, food and created seeds that die after one generation so that small farmers remain loyal customers under crippling debt. 

Bayer and Monsanto met with Trump before he took office and he released a statement afterwards taking credit for large pieces of the merger megaplan. But luckily the EU’s competition commissioner still has the power to block the deal and the US antitrust chief can file a lawsuit if they decide it goes against the public interest. 

Both regulators are under massive pressure to waive the deal through. But we've foiled this kind of contract before. Let's build a call so strong that these public defenders move to protect the common good:   

>> Click to stop this monster marriage made in hell

We already blocked the license renewal of Monsanto's biggest product, glyphosate, and helped ban one of Bayer's bee-killing pesticides in Europe. Let's show them that even if they try to team up, we will stand up and fight together for our health, our food, our farms, and our earth.

With determination,

Loup Dargent

On behalf of Pascal, Nick, Dalia, Alice, Bert, Danny and the rest of the Avaaz team

SOURCES:

• Trump Is Ready to Bless Monsanto and Bayer's Massive Merger
• Bayer-Monsanto Pledge Investment, Jobs After Trump Meeting
• Bayer to Buy Monsanto, Creating a Massive Seeds and Pesticides Company

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Behind Enemy Lines: Will #Trump's America Become Hostile Territory For Journalists?

Donald Trump’s campaign manager Corey Lewandowski allegedly grabbed former Breitbart reporter Michelle Fields as she asked Trump a question at the Trump National Golf Club in Jupiter, Florida.EPA/Jupiter police handout

By James Rodgers, City, University of London

It was high summer on the edge of Siberia and suddenly there came the hardest question of a tough assignment. I had travelled to Yekaterinburg for a story about the spread of HIV. The city’s location made it a crossroads for the trade in many goods, including heroin. As a result, HIV infection rates were rising frighteningly rapidly among drug users. The trip involved encounters with sources, many of whom were distressed – some of whom who were frankly scary. But it was questions from the journalism students who were with us that really stumped me.

The questions – including the size of my salary – were largely predictable. One was not: “What do you do when the governor does not like a story you have written?”

The obvious answer from a Western reporter might have been something about the noble notion of the fourth estate speaking the truth to power. But I knew that such an answer would not work in the lawless Russia of the post-Soviet era. Journalists – especially those who uncovered incompetence or corruption among the powerful – could find themselves in serious, even mortal, danger. So I offered a reply which blended the ideal with a more realistic point about it being important, as a reporter, to manage one’s relationships.

Hostile environment
I was recently reminded of that day. Reuters editor-in-chief Steve Adler sent out a message to staff in which he outlined the challenges of working in countries where the “media is unwelcome and frequently under attack”. The message listed “places such as Turkey, the Philippines, Egypt, Iraq, Yemen, Thailand, China, Zimbabwe, and Russia, nations in which we sometimes encounter some combination of censorship, legal prosecution, visa denials, and even physical threats”.

His point was that experiences such as these would now prove useful in covering the United States under the presidency of Donald Trump. The administration is still in its first month, but this is hardly the kind of company in which the US would wish to find itself.

My own experience covering international news included being stopped from filming on many occasions in Russia: including even once during a British ministerial visit. The location was a rusting naval dockyard which the minister was visiting to see how funds allocated to make safe ageing nuclear reactors were being spent – and a man in a shiny suit demanded to see what the cameraman I was working with had shot.

On another occasion, a reporting trip to some glasshouses ended in a police station. The Federal Security Service, or FSB, detained my colleagues and me for filming flowers. The year-round rose-growing business was close enough (some 20km, as far as I remember) to a naval base to be off limits to foreigners.

Reporters will need to get used to separating truth from ‘alternative facts’. EPA/Michael Reynolds

Many international journalists could add plenty of anecdotes to that list: being stopped at roadblocks by heavily armed men in plain clothes; having their phones tapped or their equipment confiscated or damaged; being issued with threats – this especially applies to local people helping journalists from beyond its borders. The difference now is that Reuters journalists are being asked to draw on such experiences in a country which sees itself as leading “the free world”.

Dishonest people
Western coverage of the world is not perfect. It frequently provides fuel for its critics, journalists among them. Yet at a time when journalism is under all kinds of political and economic pressures, this is actually a chance for it to shine; to prove its worth.

Repressive governments often criticise the kind of “objective” journalism prized as a model in the Western world. They argue it is not, in fact, objective. State media in countries where dissent is discouraged howl that international news organisations are merely acting at the bidding of other “political demands”.

As a correspondent, I have covered armed conflict, political upheaval and refugee crises – but most of that was outside Western Europe. Now political uncertainty is shaking the Western world and with it come attacks on the media, may of them from the latest occupant of the White House. As Adler’s message to his staff noted: “It’s not every day that a US president calls journalists ‘among the most dishonest human beings on earth’ or that his chief strategist dubs the media ‘the opposition party’.”

It is good to see organisations such as Reuters publicly reporting the situation for what it is. Historically, one of the influences which shaped ideas of objective journalism was economic. In capitalist economies, news had to sell – so offering a version of events which could be widely accepted made business sense. In a political and media world increasingly shaped by emotion and belief, this is arguably less important.

Reuters’ statement is valuable in another sense. For journalism is also about recognising era-defining change when it comes. Allies can become adversaries; good governments can give way to bad ones. Confrontation between political power and the press can become repression. When it does, or threatens to, that’s news wherever it happens. Journalists need to report it.


About Today's Contributor:
James Rodgers, Senior Lecturer in Journalism, City, University of London

This article was originally published on The Conversation. 

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