NEWS MAKERS

NEWS MAKERS

Concert ticket-sales ebb

LOS ANGELES

Concert promotion giant Live Nation Entertainment Inc. said Thursday that ticket sales for the Top 100 bands are down 12 percent in the first half of the year, and sales will likely fall further in the second half. Shares of the company plunged. Shares dropped $1.50, or 13 percent, to $9.93 in afternoon trading Thursday.

Hank Cochran dies

NASHVILLE, Tenn.

Hank Cochran, a songwriter who composed a string of country hits including “Make the World Go Away” for Eddy Arnold and “I Fall to Pieces” for Patsy Cline, has died. He was 74. Publicist Martha E. Moore said Cochran died Thursday morning at his home in Hendersonville north of Nashville. He had been in declining health in recent years and suffered an aortic aneurysm in March.

Mel Gibson tapes

LOS ANGELES

A Los Angeles County sheriff’s spokesman says detectives investigating Mel Gibson have received audio recordings from a court hearing the actor’s child custody matter.

Sheriff’s spokesman Steve Whitmore says detectives received the recordings Thursday after a court hearing. All of the attorneys declined comment.

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