Madonna plenty busy with music and helping Malawi

NEW YORK — Timbaland and the Neptunes are so dominant as producers, they can sometimes upstage the artist they're working with ... unless that artist is Madonna.

On her new album, "Hard Candy," Madonna made sure that she wasn't a guest star on her own album.

"I thought of it as a true and equal collaboration. ... I like to think that when you listen to the record, you don't just go, 'Oh, that is a Timbaland record or that's Pharrell (of the Neptunes).' That you hear it and you go, 'There is something new and different about it."'

Finding something new and different has kept Madonna on top for most of her 25-year recording career — and made her a member of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame this year.

The 49-year-old pop queen is once again dominating music airwaves, but she's also making her mark far away from the celebrity spotlight, in Malawi. The impoverished African nation — from which she found David, the young child she is in the process of adopting — is the subject of her new documentary, "I Am Because We Are," and her charitable efforts.

Madonna sat down with The Associated Press recently and chatted about music, Malawi and raising kids, among other things.

AP: You recently signed a deal with Live Nation and "Hard Candy" is your last on Warner Brothers Records. What do you hope to accomplish with the deal?

Madonna: No. 1, coming up with new interesting ways of releasing music. Finding new ways to get music to people, that is one thing. Two is being an equal partner on my records, which I have never been before. I have always been signed to a label and I get a percentage of what I earn and now it is 50/50, which is great, and three, is all the great shows I plan on doing.

AP: Would you ever do a pay-for-play with your music similar to Radiohead?

Madonna: No ... I don't know. I am not sure I like the idea of saying pay whatever you want for it. I think it is good to be specific. ... Put a value on it.

AP: Your film, "I Am Because We Are," is about Malawi, a country that has been ravished by AIDS and poverty. Is it difficult to find hope in such depressing circumstances?