Live Nation will bring $5 million in seed money annually for Jay-Z own label Roc Nation, publishing arm and management company, with significantly more funds available for future acquisitions and expansion. He will also receive a $25 million upfront payment and $10 million per album for a minimum of three albums over the next decade.

This deal would give Live Nation a stake in everything from his music to his music-related business for 10 years.

Jay himself sees the deal as a way “to reach the consumer in so many different ways right now. Everyone’s trying to figure it out. I want to be on the front lines in that fight,” he said.

“In a way I want to operate like an indie band,” he said. “Play the music on tour instead of relying on radio. Hopefully we’ll get some hits out of there and radio will pick it up, but we won’t make it with that in mind.”

You know Jay-Z is a clever business man : despite the stagnation of record sales, the concert industry keeps booming. Last year revenues were up 8% to $3.9 billion, and Live Nation is in perfect position to expand its market share.

Live Nation recently announced a 10 year deal with Madonna, while U2 revealed a 12 year touring and merchandising partnership earlier this week.

But the Jay-Z deal is a major coup for Live Nation. He is not only one of the world’s top-selling rappers and concert draws, he’s also a former record company president who decides that “it’s really about trying to invest in the future, trying to invest in maybe coming up with a new model, because going in hard making records with artists and throwing those records into a system that’s flawed is not exciting for me”.

The social-networking site MySpace is today expected to announce a new online music download service that will pit it directly against iTunes.

The service, dubbed MySpace Music, will allow users of the social-networking site to buy songs and albums, and to listen to full-length music tracks over the internet.

According to sources close to the deal, three of the “big four” record labels - Universal, Sony BMG and Warner Music - have signed up to the service, meaning that users will be able to download tens of thousands of songs from artists such as Led Zeppelin, REM, Amy Winehouse and Britney Spears. It is not clear whether an agreement has been reached with the other major label, EMI, home to artists such as Coldplay.

U2 have inked a 12-year deal with Live Nation, the concert promoters who recently signed a groundbreaking touring and recording contract with Madonna.

The contract, signed for an undisclosed fee, will cover the Irish rockers’ merchandising, digital and branding rights, with the band continuing to release records through Universal.

“We’ve been dating for over 20 years now,” singer Bono told BBC News. “It’s about time we tied the knot.”

“U2 has created some of the greatest rock music of all time,” added Live NationMichael Cohl. “It has long been our intention to consolidate and extend our relationship.”

chairman

Madonna signed a groundbreaking $120m (£60m) ‘360 degree deal’ with Live Nation

last year - a contract that combined her recording, publishing and touring revenues.

R & B singers and rappers are musical codependents. The former sing the hooks that stick in your head, the latter serve up the urban street cred that’s an essential hip-hop selling point.And Mary J. Blige and Jay-Z have needed each other from the get-go. As far back as 1996, she sang the chorus on “Can’t Knock The Hustle,” the very first song on his now-revered first album, Reasonable Doubt.

So it’s a wonder that the two leaders in their respective fields have taken this long to embark on the collaborative “Heart of the City” tour that brought them to the Wachovia Center on Sunday for a seamless two and a half hour show packed with hits from both sides of the hip-hop soul coin.

Mariah Carey has said she doesn’t “have birthdays” and claimed that she still feels like a 12-year-old.

The singer insisted that she has the innocence of a young child, revealing that she has anniversaries rather than birthday celebrations.

She told Parade: “I’m eternally 12. And that 12-year-old inside me is an eternal optimist.

“I know what it feels like not to have fame or money, and I do still feel like that same person in many ways.

“Honestly, I don’t even have birthdays. I call them ‘anniversaries’. It really is about being as young as you feel.”

Carey added: “I will still always choose a day at Disney World over a night in Las Vegas, because that’s who I am.”