News Roundup: 04/08/2009

Rapper Nas, reggae artist Damian Marely, and others will headline this summers traveling Rock the Bells festival. Beginning on June 27, the festival will hit 10 cities in North America including Toronto, Denver, Los Angeles, and more. [Billboard.com] Courtney Love has revealed that over $360 million dollars left by the late Kurt Cobain to her and her daughter, Frances Bean, has gone missing. Presumed to be stolen, the money was left to Cobains family, as well as Love and Bean, after the singers death in 1994. [NME.com] Franz Ferdinand has recorded a cover of Britney Spears Womanizer for the BBC program Live Lounge. Asked why the band chose the song, lead singer Alex Kapranos explained that Womanizer is the best song to come out in the past several months. [Stereogum.com] Amazon has lowered the price of some of its top-selling songs in an attempt to strengthen competition with its main competitor, iTunes. Over 100 songs on the Amazon site now cost $0.30 less per download than their iTunes equivalent. [PCWorld.com] Jessica Simpson was recently dropped by Sony Music Nashville, a move that may mark the end of her short-lived country career. A Simpson representative says the singer will return to pop music with her next release. [CMT.com] Conductor Sir Charles Mackerras has won two 2009 BBC Music Magazine awards for recording excellence. [Independent.co.uk.]