Platinum selling singer-songwriter Jack Johnson will sit down for an intimate interview on Sirius Satellite Radio to discuss his upcoming album Sleep Through The Static.

Johnson will share with listeners his inspiration for the album, and discusses other topics like his life as a parent and his new “green” studio where the album was recorded.

Sleep Through The Static is his 5th studio album and is due for release on February 5, 2008. It was being recorded at L.A.'s Solar Powered Plastic Plant - he has recorded all of his previous albums in Hawaii.

Jack Johnson also will treat fans to an acoustic performance of the album’s title track, "Sleep Through The Static."

You'll have plenty of opportunities to hear this interview/performance. Sirius will air it on Friday, February 1st at 5pm ET; on Saturday, February 2nd at noon ET; and February 3rd at 3pm and midnight ET - all on The Spectrum (ch 18).

View a video about the making of Sleep Through The Static after the jump...

During the interview, Starr discusses with Sirius host Meg Griffin his early musical influences, favorite drummers and the making of his latest album Liverpool 8.

Immediately following the interview, Sirius will broadcast live from the Liverpool 8 album release party at LA’s House of Blues. The event will included a performance by Ringo Starr and Dave Stewart, the albums co-producer and half of the British music duo, Eurythmics.

Listen in today, January 25th, on Sirius Disorder (ch 70) and The Spectrum (ch 18). The interview starts at 3:15pm ET and the album release party and performance starts at 4pm ET.

Radiohead is using the momentum created by giving In Rainbows away for "any" price, and is launching a free concert on New Year's Eve which will be webcast on Current TV and Current.com.

"This is a wee celebration of the release of the physical manifestation of 'in rainbows'," said frontman Thom Yorke on the group's site.

On Tuesday, January 1st, In Rainbows will go on sale in CD format, as well as in digital format at sites like Amazon's MP3 store. Despite reports that Radiohead was "in talks" with iTunes, there are still no signs of In Rainbows (pre-orders, etc.) on Apple's music service at this time.

As for the New Year’s Eve concert, it will air on both television and the Internet, on Radiohead's website, Current TV and Current.com. The hour-long performance will begin airing starting at 12am ET on December 31st, and Current TV will rerun the program another three times throughout the day.

Here's the promotional video below:

Radiohead is paving the way for bands looking at independently promoting their music, but it's not a situation that any ol' unsigned group can pull off. Radiohead has an established fan base that doesn't require the backing of a record label to market to (anymore). But the beauty behind all this is that the Internet is the great equalizer in distribution, and Radiohead is using this to its greatest potential.

[Silicon Alley Insider via Masable]

Mary J. Blige is celebrating her new album Growing Pains with a special pre-Christmas live performance, entitled "Mary Xmas and Mary New Year," at Sirius' Rockefeller Center studios in NYC.

Blige will spend an hour performing songs from her new album including her Grammy nominated single "Just Fine." Mary will also discuss the process of making the album with the audience.

Mary J. Blige has sold over 40 million albums and received six Grammy wins over her 15 year career. Growing Pains, set to go on sale tomorrow, features guest appearances by Ludacris and Usher.

"Mary Xmas and Mary New Year" will air live on Hot Jamz (ch 50), December 21st at 6pm ET.

XM Satellite Radio and ABC are teaming up to air a regular music segment highlighting XM’s "Artist Confidential" series on the weekend edition of ABC's “Good Morning America.”

The monthly segment, called the “XM Artist Confidential® Series,” features video highlights from XM’s original performance/interview show “Artist Confidential.” The GMA Weekend broadcasts mark the first time music fans are able to see as well as listen to their favorite artists from the popular XM series.

Apparently this is following the success of October’s GMA Weekend broadcast from the “Artist Confidential with Faith Hill” episode. I never actually realized that ABC aired the Faith Hill episode - though there was a web version made available for free. Looks like that was a test run of sorts, because now it's become a regular segment.

The weekend morning news broadcast will begin airing “XM Artist Confidential® Series” as a regular monthly feature starting this Sunday, November 18th with the Mandy Moore episode (pictured above).

More artists will be announced soon, and video from XM's original series will also be available for all to watch on ABC's website.

Looks like XM reserved some key OEM announcements for SEMA 2007 this year. First we had the Hyundai announcement this morning, and now the word is out that Toyota's first factory-equipped XM vehicles are set to available this upcoming spring.

The all-new 2009 Toyota Corolla and Matrix (pictured) will be the first Toyota cars to offer XM as factory-installed equipment. The popular models will also offer XM NavTraffic as an option when equipped with a navigation system... another first from Toyota. XM and XM NavTraffic are already available as factory installed features on the Lexus LS 460 and 600h models, and will be available factory installed on the upcoming 2008 LX 570.

XM will be a standard feature on all 2009 Corolla and Matrix vehicles that come with the JBL premium audio system. These will of course include the standard 3-month free trial subscription.

Toyota announced earlier this year that they've extended their partnership with XM through 2017. They've also stated that the annual factory production of XM-equipped vehicles is expected to exceed one million by 2010.

[Photo courtesy of Jalopnik]

Sirius will be airing an exclusive performance by Alicia Keys at Sirius' New York City studios on November 9th at 5 pm ET.

"Up Close and Personal with Alicia Keys" will air live on Heart & Soul (ch 51) in celebration of the release of her third studio album, As I Am.

During the one hour special, Alicia Keys will perform songs from As I Am and share stories from the album's two year journey.

As I Am, which debuts worldwide on November 13th, features collaborations with John Mayer, Marsha Ambrosius, Linda Perry, Harold Lilly and many other artists.

Alicia Keys began playing the piano at the age of 7 and writing her own music by the age of 14. She made her debut in 2001 with the release of Songs In A Minor, and subsequently sold over 11 million copies worldwide.

Matchbox 20 will be celebrating the release of "Exile On Mainstream" with a live performance at Sirius' NYC studios (aka "the 1221").

The album, released on October 2nd, is the band's fourth album and features their greatest hits with six additional new tracks. Matchbox 20 will perform songs from the album as well as chit-chat with Sirius host Kim Ashley.

Tune in to the performance on October 24th at 9am on The Pulse (ch 9). Encore broadcasts will air October 24th at 8pm ET, October 25th at 3am and 12pm ET, and October 26th at 11am ET.