The Federal Trade Commission has approved a Sony-led consortium’s purchase of EMI Music Publishing, without having to make any divestitures, the FTC said on Friday.
U.S. antitrust regulators gave the nod to the $2.2 billion deal in a brief letter to the companies.
The EMI Group, at the center of an acrimonious legal dispute between the buyout house Terra Firma and Citigroup, posted a full-year £1.56 billion net loss and said it needed more money to stay afloat, Reuters said.
It was another brush-with-an-icon moment for the Killers : back in May of this year, joining Duran Duran – the first name in ’80s fashionista Britpop – onstage, aptly in Las Vegas, to perform the vets’ chestnut “Planet Earth.” Brandon Flowers, resplendent as ever in a tux, looked like a young James Bond. And you know he had to have been stirred, if not a little bit shaken. There are no more unabashed Anglophiles among U.S. pop-rockers than the Killers. From day one, they have made that clear: They took their name from a New Order video, they’ve covered Joy… Read more »
Coldplay sold 125,000 copies of its new album on the first day of release in Britain, a solid tally industry experts say should be music to the band’s ears and those of its ailing record label EMI. “Viva La Vida or Death And All His Friends” now looks “certain” to top Sunday’s album chart, according to The Official Charts Company which tracks record sales, even though it was released on Thursday rather than at the start of the week. “Coldplay are an international act … and these sales figures in the UK are the first indication of how the album… Read more »
Amy Winehouse and Paul McCartney set their recent troubles aside to steal the show Wednesday at the Brit Awards, the British music industry’s most prestigious prizes. Rockers Foo Fighters and British bands Take That and Arctic Monkeys were all double winners at Britain’s equivalent of the Grammys. Although she wasn’t up for any awards, troubled retro-soul diva Winehouse received a rapturous reception when she appeared to perform “Valerie” with Mark Ronson. She followed that up with the sultry ballad “Love is a Losing Game” from her breakthrough album “Back to Black.” Winehouse, who appeared composed and confident, urged the crowd… Read more »
In a dramatic demonstration of the economic toll of digital piracy on the music industry, EMI Group is expected to fire more than a quarter of the London-based company’s employees and radically alter the way it does business to further cut costs. Guy Hands, who was installed as chief executive of the world’s fourth-largest record company after it was bought last year by investment company Terra Firma, is expected to announce cuts of at least 1,500 employees today as part of a major restructuring, two EMI executives said. EMI also will become the first major label to eliminate the large… Read more »
Music management groups representing some of Britain’s biggest acts are seeking a share of the proceeds from concert tickets re-sold over the Internet on Web sites like eBay, Viagogo and Seat Exchange. But they are likely to face stiff resistance from the sites, one of which has argued that such a levy would effectively mean paying an artist twice for the same ticket. Management organizations behind more than 400 performers, including Robbie Williams, the Arctic Monkeys and Radiohead, aim to unite the live music industry in a new Resale Rights Society that would license the unregulated secondary ticket market. Tickets… Read more »
Season 3, Episode 6. Originally aired March 15, 2007 on idobi Radio. Music from Mae, Arcade Fire, Tilt, Robbie Williams, Blink-182, Army Of Freshmen, Gorillaz, Me Mom and Morgentaler, and Donovan Frankenreiter.
Struggling music company EMI Group PLC, beset by profit warnings and an accounting scandal in Brazil, was thrown a potential lifeline Tuesday with a possible new takeover bid by former suitor Warner Music Group. A tie-up would bring a badly needed infusion of top U.S. artists including Madonna and the Red Hot Chili Peppers to London-based EMI – whose Beatles remix album has dropped off Billboard’s top 40 and whose great hope for cross-Atlantic appeal, Robbie Williams, has drawn more publicity for rehab than music. EMI confirmed Tuesday it had been approached by Warner, but that it has received no… Read more »
The Killers and the Arctic Monkeys, indie rockers from opposite sides of the Atlantic, took two trophies apiece Wednesday at Britain’s prestigious music-industry awards, the Brits. Las Vegas natives The Killers, who broke out in Britain before finding success at home, were named international group of the year at the British equivalent of the Grammys. They also took the international album prize for “Sam’s Town.” Infectious rockers the Arctic Monkeys – who released Britain’s fastest-selling debut album after building a cult Internet following – were named best British band. The Sheffield quartet also took the British album prize for “Whatever… Read more »
