• Barack Obama, Stevie Wonder Geek
• On the Charts: Coldplay
• Video: Moby Talks Pimp Chicken
• Breaking Artist: Lykke Li
• Bach Says Axl Penning Autobiography
• Gadget Envy: Guitar Hero On Tour
• EMI Layoffs Begin With Small Labels
• Weezer, Virgin Let Fans Call The Shots
• Kanye West Blogs About Bonnaroo
• Daniel Johnston’s Frog Now a Collectible
• State Dept. Comments on Boy George Visa
• Starbucks Scaling Back Music Sales
• Shaq vs. Kobe Rap Feud Escalates
• On Tour: Scars On Broadway, Rev Theory
• News Ticker: Oasis, Ticketmaster

Top stories from the last three days:

• Chinese Democracy Blogger Gets FBI Visit
• Beck Streams Two Full Modern Guilt Tracks
• Sebastian Bach’s Axl, Slash & Sly Stone Fiasco
• New Music Report: Mötley Crüe and Girl Talk
• Liz Phair Plays First Guyville Show in San Fran
• Bono Praises Radiohead’s “In Rainbows”
• In the Studio: Ciara
• Bruce Springsteen Covering Suicide
• Boy George Forced To Cancel U.S. Tour
• Idol Runner-Up Blake Lewis Dropped
• Q&A: Lil Wayne on Weed, Jay-Z and More
• Beck Releases Modern Guilt Teaser
• Smashing Pumpkins Plot Gish Box Set, Tour
• Axl Rose’s Chinese Democracy Tirade
• George Carlin’s First RS Feature
• Beatles Heading to Guitar Hero or Rock Band?
• My Bloody Valentine Return to the Stage

Scroll down for full news stories, commentary and much more in Rock Daily.

System of a Down splinter group Scars on Broadway announce what cities they’ll perform at, Rev Theory gears up for a summer jaunt and Reggie & the Full Effect reveal the dates of their farewell tour. The details for all three treks are after the jump.

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Lykke Li is this week’s featured artist over at the Breaking blog. The Swedish chanteuse has been turning heads with the breathy vocals and sugary pop sensibility of her debut Young Novels. Click below for more on Lykke Li, including the origins of her dance style and clips from her video for “Little Bit.”

• Breaking Artist: Lykke Li

What It Is: The latest in the genre re-defining Guitar Hero series, this time in portable version for the Nintendo DS.

Who It’s For: People so addicted to the faux-guitar awesomeness of GH that they need to take it with them. Also, anybody wanting to make other people on the bus jealous. (more…)

Further proving that illegal downloading is more common than anybody is willing to admit, a study that monitored internet traffic in North America in May discovered that nearly 44% of all activity was dedicated to file-sharing programs. By comparison, plain old web browsing only occupied 27.3% of traffic, with streaming media coming in third place with 14.8%. Sandvine, a networking equipment and technology provider, conducted the study. Last year, a similar study revealed P2P traffic made up 41% of all activity. While the study couldn’t break down how much of that downloading was devoted to music (as opposed to larger files like video or software), the 44% represents a staggering amount of computer owners using P2P programs to get their media via illegal means.

When Rolling Stone spoke with Sebastian Bach about the alleged Chinese Democracy leak, he reported that he’s heard “at least four albums’ worth” of finished Guns n’ Roses tracks, recalling a night in January 2007 when Rose rolled out new songs from midnight to 6 a.m. at New York’s Electric Lady studios. He says Rose told him that a slow, grinding track called “The General” is “the sequel to [Use Your Illusion II’s] ‘Estranged,’ that goes to the parable that Del James wrote of the trilogy” (James penned the short story that inspired the “November Rain” video). “He’s like the George Lucas of rock,” Bach marvels. “I know for a fact it’s not him saying, ‘Let’s wait and work on [Chinese Democracy] some more. He has a whole new business team. (more…)

Problems in Iran and Afghanistan, an Albanian ambassador embroiled in an ammunition cover-up and Boy George’s denial of a U.S. visa were among the topics the U.S. States Department spokesman Tom Casey faced at a press briefing yesterday. Sandwiched between two much more serious subjects, one confused member of the press asked Casey why Boy George wasn’t allowed into the U.S., thus forcing the Culture Clubber to cancel his first American tour in a decade. Nearly choking on his drink after being caught off-guard by the question, Casey replied, “I’ve seen the report that’s out there. Obviously, visa records are confidential. But I’d simply note that there often are difficulties for individuals who either are currently subject to criminal charges or otherwise may have criminal records.” The charges Casey is insinuating about date back to April 2007, when George allegedly imprisoned a male escort in his London apartment as well as 2005 arrest for possessing cocaine in New York City. After being told the decision was “tragic” by the questioner, the quick-witted Casey replied “Do you really want to hurt him?,” referencing one of George’s more famous songs. Check out the video above — the George question pops up at the 2:26 mark.

Moby needs a video for his new single “Ooh Yeah,” and he wants you to shoot it for him. The dance maven announced via his film-music Website MobyGratis that he wants amateur filmmakers to submit their versions of a clip for “Ooh Yeah,” with the winner receiving $10,000 and the title of “official” video (deadline: July 14th). Click above for an interview with Moby about his hilarious video for “Disco Lies,” including what bothered him most about the era of million-dollar video shoots.

[Video: Pete Maiden]

Perhaps Rivers Cuomo should collaborate with the YouTube nation more often. The fan-assisted song “Turnin’ Turnin’” hit the internet today, which was the result of Cuomo’s call to the fans for songwriting advice. The surprisingly tight, catchy track would have fit right in on “The Red Album” and is certainly better than “Everybody Get Dangerous.” Click above for the full tune.

But Weezer aren’t the only band looking to their followers for guidance. (more…)

It appears that the massive layoffs long expected at EMI have begun. The major label, which previously announced plans to fire up to 2,000 employees — about one-third of its work force — as part of a massive restructuring, began lowering the boom at its Nashville office and at subsidiary labels Blue Note and Caroline, according to reports. Billboard confirmed that Nashville bigwigs including VP of A&R Larry Willoughby and VP of sales Bill Kennedy were among those given notice. Blogs and industry bulletin board the Velvet Rope have listed the names of several others fired, along with reports that more layoffs are expected today at core EMI subsidiaries Virgin Records and Capitol Records, although that rumor is unconfirmed.

Related Stories:

• What’s Next for Coldplay, Spice Girls Label? EMI’s Guy Hands Speaks Out
• EMI/Capitol Catch Vinyl Fever with Radiohead, Pet Sounds Reissues
• Thom Yorke Responds to EMI’s Airing of Dirty Laundry

[Photo: Getty]

The googly-eyed amphibian known as Jeremiah the Frog of Innocence has been associated with eccentric singer-songwriter Daniel Johnston since the creature first appeared on the cover of his 1986 album Hi, How Are You. A few years later, Johnston pained a mural of Jeremiah in Austin (fans fought to save it in 2004 when the building was threatened with demolition), and the toad’s image was memoralized on T-shirts favored by Kurt Cobain. Now you can own your very own Jeremiah — white, green and orange figurines have been produced in limited editions of 250 by New York history teacher/artist Jeffrey Newman.

“I had been thinking for a while that I wanted to find another way to connect to and support some of the artists I admired,” Newman says. (more…)

Once viewed as a potential heavyweight in the industry, Starbucks continues to scale back on their music presence, this time ridding most stores of their music retail offerings. Instead of those spinner racks that can house a dozen or so CDs, the coffee chain will now only offer four CD “slots” per store, which will likely be devoted to albums released on their label. Additionally, those iridescent iTunes album cards will also be driven out. Starbucks made a splash last year with the creation of Hear Music, the chain’s label that partnered with big names like Paul McCartney, Carly Simon and Joni Mitchell, but Starbucks handed the reigns over to the Concord Music Group. Upcoming high-profile releases from the label include albums from John Mellencamp and James Taylor.

[Photo: Getty]

The Big News: As predicted, Coldplay’s Viva La Vida cruised to the top, selling 722,000 copies in its debut week. Lil Wayne’s Tha Carter III followed up a million-selling week by placing second with 308,000 copies, a 69% sales drop. Still, the big weeks by Coldplay and Weezy represent only the second time in Soundscan history that two different albums had sales over 700,000 in consecutive weeks. The feat was last accomplished in May 2000, when Britney Spears‘ Oops… I Did It Again and Eminem’s The Marshall Mathers LP both sold over a million in their debut weeks. Rounding out the top five, the soundtrack for Camp Rock came in at three, NOW 28 took four and Plies’ Definition of Real bowed at five.

Debuts: It’s not quite a debut, but the reissue of Rihanna’s Good Girl Gone Bad helped the album jump from 124 to seven. (more…)

Shaquille O’ Neal’s hilarious Kobe Bryant-trashing freestyle at a New York club on Sunday night has escalated into a proper rap beef. First, the former Los Angeles Lakers center/Fu’Schnicken guest was asked to turn in his Sheriff’s badge — Shaq Diesel volunteers as a police officer during the off-season — for using vulgar language, including the now-infamous “Kobe, tell me how my ass tastes.” The freestyle also had after shocks in the hip-hop community, with rappers quickly taking sides. Nas joined Team Shaq, saying “Shaq is my man, fuck Kobe.” Even Snoop Dogg calls the new Shaq/Kobe feud “beautiful,” hoping the fight would lead to a better rivalry on the court. Snoop, despite being a Lakers fan, said he wouldn’t write some comeback verses for Kobe because he “couldn’t disrespect Shaq.” He did offer to help find Kobe someone who would, however. Bryant, who made his own rap album that was supposedly so terrible it was buried for good, has yet to formally respond to O’Neal’s verses.

• Oasis have announced their new album Dig Out Your Soul will be released October 7th. “The Shock of the Lightning” will be the album’s first single.
• A judge has ruled in favor of Ticketmaster in its case against software company RMG Technologies, forcing the company to stop creating programs that allow scalpers to scoop up tickets before the general public.
• Jacob the Jeweler, who helped bling out pretty much every rapper you know, pleaded guilty to lying about his involvement in a drug ring and will spend two-and-a-half years in prison.
• Former Korn guitarist Brian “Head” Welch will release his debut solo album Save Me From Myself on September 9th. The album details Head’s exile from Korn and his search for spirituality.

[Photo: Getty]