By Sherri L. Smith, BlackWeb20.com

Once upon a time, people used to buy whole albums instead of cherry-picking singles and leaving the rest in limbo like so much musical flotsam. In those glory days, people not only brought albums for the music, but for the cool liner notes that came with it.  Whether it was cool art, bonus music, or some other effect to make the music experience that much more special. One such album was the late “King of Pop’s” Invincible which featured five different album covers.

Apple who has helped to put the music industry in a tailspin is hoping to give a much needed kick in the pants. The project, codenamed “Cocktail,” brings Warner Music Group, Sony BMG, Universal Music Group, and EMI, four of the largest record labels together with Apple to create interactive bundles exclusive to full album purchases. These “booklets” will contain bonus artwork, photos, liner notes, and other content.

While this is a good look for music in general as it will encourage artists to return to a time when musicians worked to perfect their craft from the music to the liner and everything in between, the question remains can this model work for today’s music consumer. While we all love extra content, will it be enough to encourage people to invest in laying down their hard-earned cash for an entire album? For battle-tested artists like Prince, Jay-Z, Kanye West, Mariah Carey, and Beyonce that have a loyal fan base this a great model since but for flash-in-the-pan ringtone artists, where the formula has been make a hot single and run, this could be a problem (which in the grand scheme of things could be the best thing that’s happened to the music industry in a long time, but that’s another post).

Sources have “Cocktail” releasing anytime from this September to sometime in 2010. Why the big time window? It’s been rumored that the project is set to release alongside the as of yet unconfirmed Apple tablet that’s had techies atwitter with excitment for the past week. Ultimately, “Cocktail” has the potential to change the way music lovers engage their music, a simpler time when the music was the focus. But without more details, it seems a little too early to hang the weight of a sagging music industry that has systematically done everything it could to dig itself into such a deep hole.

BlackWeb20.com covers website and application launches; culturally relevant Internet industry news; and mainstream Internet industry news from an African-American perspective.  They also analyze emerging web trends and how they apply to web properties that target African-Americans or African-American culture.

Michael Jackson is set to return to the stage in a series of concerts in London’s O2 Arena. More.

Salsa Great Joe Cuba Dies Joe Cuba, the “Father of Latin Boogaloo,” best known for his electrifying, pulsating salsa grooves, has died, the Latin Examiner reports. He succumbed to complications from a bacterial infection a day after being taken off life support at Mount Sinai Hospital in New York City. He was 78.  ”I’m hurt and saddened because for me he [Joe Cuba] symbolized my birth as an artist and singer,” José “Cheo” Feliciano, 73, told the Latin Music Examiner on Monday. “At the time, I was a fortunate percussionist, but Tito Rodríguez told me that I had to quit the congas and start to sing. So on Oct. 5, 1957, I got married and on the same night, instead of going on my honeymoon, I went to my first gig as a singer with the Joe Cuba Sextet,” he added. Others in the Joe Cuba Sextet were Jimmy Sabater (timbales), Nick jiménez (piano), Tommy Berríos (vibraphone) and Slim Cordero (bass). Joe Cuba was actually born Gilberto Calderón in 1931 into a New York-based Puerto Rican family. A conga player, Cuba revolutionized the percussive sounds of salsa in the late 1960s, the Examiner writes. “Along with fellow salseros Richie Ray, Bobby Cruz and the late Ray Barretto, he was at the forefront of a bubbling Latin soul beat that emerged in New York in the early 1970s.”

No Telling What You Might Land from Neverland Auction For the right price, you could be the proud owner of Michael Jackson’s famous white glove or of a one-of-a-kind photo of the King Of Pop garbed in an Elizabethan dress holding a crown on a pillow or a 1999 Rolls-Royce Silver Seraph limo with an interior of  24-karat gold elaborations. In April, you might just want to show up at the Neverland Ranch auction, where thousands of Jackson’s belongings will go on the auction block. In addition to the aforementioned items, there are at least three suits of armor, fine artworks, costumes, awards, furniture and goo-gobs of other things. “Michael Jackson was a collector of everything,” said Darren Julien, president of Julien’s Auctions, which will conduct the sale from April 22 to 25 in Beverly Hills. “We’ve never seen a collection that is as extensive and eccentric as his.”

Producer James L. Nederlander says his stage show version of Michael Jackson’s “Thriller,” will include songs from the pop star’s best-selling albums, Thriller and Off the Wall. “The Nederlanders and Michael Jackson represent live theater and musical excellence, so let the music begin,” Tohme Tohme, a spokesman for Jackson, said Monday in a statement. Nederlander, who runs the company that owns nine Broadway theaters, said, “I love the idea of making ‘Thriller’ a musical. Girl meets boy, they fall in love, boy has big secret, now what?”

Michael Jackson reportedly very ill. King of Pop Michael Jackson is gravely ill and needs a new lung to save his life, says a best-selling author who has penned a new biography of the singer. Ian Halperin writes that the 50-year-old entertainer “suffers from Alpha-1 antitrypsin deficiency, a potentially fatal genetic illness, as well as emphysema and gastrointestinal bleeding,” People magazine reports. Read more of the shocking details here.

Taco Bell calls 50 Cent lawsuit publicity stunt. The Taco Bell restaurant chain says rapper 50 Cent’s $4 million trademark infringement lawsuit is just Fiddy’s attempt to draw attention to himself. And while it’s true that Fiddy’s known for drawing attention to himself, the company’s recent court filing would have a judge believe the rapper’s music, not his claim against them, should be the issue. Taco Bell’s lawyers say 50’s work “falls in the subgenre of hip hop music known as ‘gangsta rap,’ a style associated with urban street gangs and characterized by violent, tough-talking braggadocio.” The rapper objected to a campaign the restaurant launched this summer, linking him to a promo that asked him to change his name to the restaurant prices of 79, 89 or 99 Cent. Taco Bell lawyers argue that Fif took them to court only to “burnish his gangsta rapper persona.” Guess nothing says “gangsta” like a civil action.

Singer to defend himself against lawsuit. Having previously said he’s too ill to travel, Michael Jackson reportedly plans to testify in a London courtroom Monday. The singer faces a $7 million lawsuit from a Middle Eastern sheikh who says Jackson backed out of a music and book deal. Among the sheikh’s claims are that Jackson never showed for a recording session on a song that was intended to raise cash for New Orleans hurricane survivors in 2005. Jackson’s last high-profile court appearance was during his criminal child sexual abuse trial, where he was acquitted.

 There’s absolutely no end to Neverland – unless your name is Michael Jackson. The world’s oldest wannabe child has been forced out of his 2,500 acre property in Santa Ynez, Calif. Jackson handed over the title Thursday to a company made up of himself and the firm that holds his $24 million loan on the property.  The new owner, Sycamore Valley Ranch Company LLC, is a joint venture between the 50-year-old “King of Pop” and Colony Capital LLC, a source close to the deal told Reuters. Jackson averted a foreclosure sale on Neverland when Colony Capital in May bought the loan from Fortress Investment Group, a New York-based private equity and hedge fund group.

Justin Timberlake’s sexy shoot stirs tension. Actress Jessica Biel is said to be none-too-pleased about sexy Rihanna’s recent video shoot with Biel’s boyfriend Justin Timberlake. The singer’s performance with a provocatively dressed Rihanna resulted in promo photos and some Web reports about the pair’s on-set chemistry. Star magazine quotes a source as saying, “That’s not the kind of news a girl who’s waiting on a proposal wants to hear, and she was fuming.”

Michael Jackson mini-movie changed music TV. In his haste to refute a family announcement that he’d tour with his famous siblings next year, Michael Jackson’s celebration of a career landmark lost a little steam. Fans gathered at Madame Tussauds wax museum in New York to observe the 25^th anniversary of Jackson’s groundbreaking, horror-film-inspired “Thriller” music video. The extended, mini-movie received heavy rotation on music TV channels and inspired future drama-infused music vids. Jackson told People that he approved of the fan observance on Halloween eve, saying: “I always thought Halloween and ‘Thriller’ fit each other like a glove.”

Former First Family of R&B takes stage in 2009. A long-rumored reunion tour between singer Michael Jackson and his Jackson 5 siblings has been formally announced. Jermaine Jackson, an original J5 member, says the former First Family of R&B has confirmed that they will perform together in the United States come 2009. Janet Jackson will reportedly open the show. The announcement follows rumors that many Jackson siblings have fallen upon hard financial times, ranging from working at grocery stores, in one case, to performing at local nightclubs in another. Michael Jackson has battled foreclosure to save his famed California ranch. In their 1970s heyday, the Jacksons were the world’s top singing group, inspiring fashion and even earning their own Saturday morning cartoon.

Bring That Week Back! Rapper T.I. takes on his babies’ mother in court; a man is arrested after coming too close to Obama’s home; and Michael Jackson escapes another court appearance. Get the week’s hottest stories with pics here.