Search Results for: marvin gaye

Indie heavyweights Nettwerk, INgrooves, IRIS Distribution, RoyaltyShare and Wind-up have all signed deals to have their music featured and sold on MySpace Music. Indie aggregators The Orchard and IODA signed on several months ago. Today’s announcement leaves Merlin and its supporters including Koch and Beggars as the last large indie holdouts. When MySpace Music launched late last year, the indie community cried foul because they had not been offered the same equity position that the social networker gave the four major label groups. “Without an equitable participation by independents, that creates a situation that is both unhealthy and dangerous,” Merlin… Read more »

On Monday, August 18, 2008, the Jonas Brothers unveiled their wax figures for the first time at Madame Tussauds Wax Museum in Washington, DC. On the heels of the release of the group’s hotly anticipated new album, “A Little Bit Longer,” the Jonas Brothers posed side-by-side with their wax figures. In order to create the incredibly lifelike wax figures, Madame Tussauds’ studio artists spent several hours with the Jonas Brothers, taking hundreds of measurements and photos to ensure that the figures would be as accurate as possible. The Jonas Brothers even donated the retro style suits and accessories from their… Read more »

Amazon today launched a public beta of “Amazon MP3”, a new digital music download store with a huge selection of a la carte DRM-free MP3 music downloads. Amazon MP3 has over 2 million songs from more than 180,000 artists represented by over 20,000 major and independent labels. Every song and album on Amazon MP3 is available exclusively in the MP3 format without DRM software. This means that Amazon MP3 customers are free to enjoy their music downloads using any hardware device, including PCs, Macs, iPods, Zunes, Zens, iPhones, RAZRs and BlackBerrys; organize their music using any music management application such… Read more »

Word on the street was that Justin Timberlake was sick, but MTV News found out another one of the night’s big performers was also under the weather. So who used to perform Lionel Richie songs at talent contests, and what exactly did Christina Aguilera say about private parts? Check out what we discovered by poking around backstage where the cameras didn’t go at the Grammys: · The night before the big show , Justin Timberlake was feeling chatty during Grammy rehearsals and sat down at the piano to treat everyone in the room to an impromptu, slowed-down rendition of “Di–… Read more »

Los Angeles – Given such song titles as “Baby Hold on to Me,” “Can You Handle It,” “The G Spot” and “U Got That Love,” the general theme of Gerald Levert’s music is easy to divine. His brand of sensuous R&B has provided romantic sustenance to a devoted fan base ever since his 1991 solo debut, “Private Line.” But Levert takes an unexpected turn on his eighth solo outing, “Do I Speak for the World?” As the title implies, the Nov. 30 release finds the 38-year-old singer/songwriter/producer pursuing more socially conscious topics: patriotism, activism, religion and the future of mankind.… Read more »

New York – “eMOTIVe,” the new album from Virgin Records recording group A Perfect Circle, was greeted with spectacular one-day sales upon its Tuesday arrival in stores. The collection, which sees APC reimagining radical rock classics for a new generation, is the week’s #1 album on iTunes. In addition, “eMOTIVe” is expected to debut as the top-selling rock record on next week’s Soundscan charts. The album’s first single, a twisted take on John Lennon’s “Imagine,” is lighting up the switchboards at rock radio outlets coast to coast. The song is quickly bulleting up the chart at both Active Rock and… Read more »

eMOTIVEe(Virgin/EMI) Laced with cover songs and rush-released as an anti-war, anti-Bush protest record, there’s no denying A Perfect Circle’s noble intent with eMOTIVe. The checkered musical adventure features, amongst others, takes on Depeche Mode’s “People Are People,” Black Flag’s “Gimme Gimme Gimme,” Marvin Gaye’s “What’s Going On” and the ubiquitous “Imagine.” The problem though, is the atmospheric, swirling and, frankly, passive reinterpretations APC present. Dressed with little more than the occasional industrial splurt, Maynard sings almost exclusively in hushed tones and the guitars are all but muted throughout. The result is a record more suitable as a soundtrack for pushovers… Read more »

Billy Howerdel is usually the quiet giant in A Perfect Circle. Sure, the guitarist does most of the interviews, but frontman Maynard James Keenan has always been the band’s mouthpiece, even if he traditionally has been press-shy. With an important presidential election on the horizon, however, Howerdel is through keeping his thoughts to himself. “Ordinarily, I hate talking about politics,” he said. “I usually heed the warning of many elders that say, ‘Never discuss it with your friends, or certainly publicly,’ but it’s an important time to voice your opinions and feelings.” It’s hardly a secret which candidate A Perfect… Read more »

JC Chasez has more reason to rue the day that his ‘N Sync mate Justin Timberlake exposed Janet Jackson’s right breast at the Super Bowl. The blossoming solo artist, who was banned from the Pro Bowl half-time show a week after “Nipplegate,” says radio stations are shunning his new single “All Day Long I Dream About Sex” because they are “terrified” of FCC fines. “When I go to radio stations to visit, they’re like, ‘Oh, man, it’s just so tough right now with the FCC cracking down,’” says Chasez, who is currently touring the U.S. in support of his debut… Read more »

If Sting wins a Grammy for Best Pop Male Vocal Performance this year, it will be the fourth time he will have had the honor bestowed upon him since 1992. Eric Clapton didn’t release a studio album in 2003, but if he had, you could wager with confidence that he’d be up for the award too, having won three times since 1992. As usual, most of the Pop Male Vocal playing field this go-round is dominated by old-timers: Sting, Michael McDonald, Warren Zevon, who died of lung cancer last September, and George Harrison, who died of cancer in 2001. One… Read more »