Akon pleaded guilty to second-degree harassment for throwing a young fan offstage at a concert in 2007. The singer will have to pay a $350 fine and must serve 65 hours of anti-gang and anti-violence community service.

Coldplay frontman Chris Martin confessed on BBC Radio 1 that the band's 2000 single 'Shiver' was a rip-off of their hero, the late Jeff Buckley.

Brian Weitz, aka 'Geologist' from Animal Collective, wrote a letter encouraging the full leak of the band's forthcoming album. Deerhunter's Bradford Cox responded, calling the e-mail a fake and the work of a hacker.

Ambient rockers the Appleseed Cast are heading out on a US tour in support of their upcoming release, 'Sagarmatha.'

Composer Clint Mansell tapped Slash to perform guitar on his score for the much-buzzed-about new film, 'The Wrestler.'