I’m so sick of the disgustingly rich. It’s hard not to be bitter in this sucky economy… Jay-Z just signed a 10-year contract with Live Nation worth $150 mil: a chunk of stock, $5 million per year for “overhead,” $25 million for acquisitions and investments, $10 million an album (for a three-album deal), and $20 million for publishing, licensing, and other rights.

Madonna also signed a 10-year contract with Live Nation worth $120 mil: rumored terms include a signing bonus of about $18 million and a roughly $17 million advance for each of three albums. She also owes Warner Brothers another album plus a greatest hits CD. She’s also negotiating a 2-concert deal in Dubai that will pay $24 mil. If the concert is 90 minutes, that’s $133,333 A MINUTE. All I got to say is, FTS, how about slippin’ me a $50 just for posting this and giving you free press on our super cool blog site? That’ll cover my drinks for the weekend as I attempt to guzzle away my broke ass blues. Send it here:

Synthesis.net: Ms. Nickels

210 West 6th Street, Chico, CA 95928

K, thx! [du]Bai!

Universal Music has signed a deal to make their music available to Imeem users. With the signing of the deal, Imeem now has partnerships with all four major labels, including Warner Brothers, EMI and Sony BMG.

Imeem users can stream songs in full from partner-labels, who get a cut thanks to advertising. As of now, Imeem gains an edge over competitor MySpace because Universal allows only for the streaming of 90-second clips to members of that online social network.

Universal Music Chair and Chief Executive Doug Morris explains the reasons for treating the two sites differently as follows:

“Imeem has developed an innovative way to make our artists’ music a central part of the social-networking experience,” Morris said. “More importantly, they’ve done so the right way–by working with [Universal] to provide an exciting musical experience for consumers, while ensuring that our artists are fairly compensated for the use of their works.”