Search Results for: COIN

Ashlee Simpson is no more of a threat to Fall Out Boy’s success than Pete Wentz’s affinity for eyeliner. So says the band’s guitarist Joe Trohman, who didn’t take kindly to a New York Daily News gossip item about a source telling OK! that the younger Simpson sis was “poison” to the pop-punk rockers, and could possibly be part of the reason why 2007’s Infinity on High didn’t score any Grammy nods. The group’s “pal” reportedly told the magazine that Grammy voters have been put off by Simpson since she was caught lip-synching on Saturday Night Live in 2004. “This… Read more »

The scope of a yearlong download promotion planned between Pepsi and Amazon, Billboard has learned, is among several developments forcing further consideration by Warner Music Group (WMG) and Sony BMG Music Entertainment to follow EMI and Universal Music Group’s lead in distributing music in the MP3 format. News of the Pepsi promotion, which is expected to be announced Feb. 3 during the Super Bowl, coincides with an ultimatum from Wal-Mart asking major labels to supply walmart.com with their music in MP3, sources say. Labels, meanwhile, say they have been watching the success of an MP3 test UMG began in August;… Read more »

Just as he’s reached the top of the album charts for the first time, Kid Rock has made a major change at the top of his business operations. Rock’s manager, Detroit-based Ed “Punch” Andrews, who also handles Bob Seger, has resigned after seven years of working with the Michigan rocker. Sources tell Billboard.com that Andrews has decided to retire after shepherding Rock’s latest album, “Rock N Roll Jesus,” to release last week. “Rock N Roll Jesus” is Kid Rock’s first No. 1 album on The Billboard 200, selling just over 170,000 copies, according to Nielsen SoundScan. Kid Rock has reportedly… Read more »

Testimony today in Capitol Records, et al v. Jammie Thomas quickly and inadvertently turned to the topic of fair use when Jennifer Pariser, the head of litigation for Sony BMG, was called to the stand to testify. Pariser said that file-sharing is extremely damaging to the music industry and that record labels are particularly affected. In doing so, she advocated a view of copyright that would turn many honest people into thieves. Pariser noted that music labels make no money on touring, radio, or merchandise, which leaves the company particularly exposed to the negative effects of file-sharing. “It’s my personal… Read more »

Van Halen fans, get ready to “Jump.” The rockers have re-formed with original frontman David Lee Roth and will set out on a national tour beginning in October, according to a report posted Wednesday on Billboard Magazine’s Web site. In its report, the music industry trade publication said Van Halen will play 50 dates in arenas across North America. The report coincides with a news release issued Tuesday by touring company Live Nation and Van Halen saying the band will be making “an announcement of monumental proportions” during a news conference Monday in Los Angeles. Representatives of the band and… Read more »

With their blinged-out video for “Clothes Off” still riding high in the “TRL” top five a year after the group’s latest album was released, you’d think Gym Class Heroes would finally be kicking back and enjoying the charts.But instead, the group is prepping a most unusual remix album for later this year; touring Australia opening for Gwen Stefani for the next week; and then heading to Japan for some headlining shows. The guys will then make their way to Paris on August 21 and London the 22nd for the Decaydance Fest, featuring their pals Fall Out Boy, Panic! at the… Read more »

Most of us would love to have a hit song written about us. Seether’s Shaun Morgan isn’t one of those people.But that didn’t stop his ex-girlfriend, Evanescence’s Amy Lee, from penning “Call Me When You’re Sober,” a tune she later admitted was specifically written about her relationship with Morgan . And the timing couldn’t have been worse for Lee’s damning revelation, coming just weeks after Morgan checked himself into rehab for treatment of “a combination of substances” . His rehab stint, coincidentally, began on the very same day the Evanescence track was delivered to the nation’s rock radio stations. As… Read more »

Avril Lavigne is pissed about allegations that she stole a song from ’70s pop act the Rubinoos. So pissed, in fact, that she’s invoking lyrics by the Ramones.In a post on her MySpace page addressed to “My Dear Media [hey, that’s me!], Friends and Fans,” Lavigne ripped the Rubinoos’ claims – and subsequent lawsuit – that her tune “Girlfriend” rips off their 1979 semi-hit “I Wanna Be Your Boyfriend.” She wrote that she “had never heard this song in my life” and “all songs share similar lyrics and emotions. As humans we speak one language.” “You may have heard some… Read more »

Recently, Maureen Callahan wrote a piece for the New York Post about Crush Management, the NYC cadre that shepherds the careers of Fall Out Boy, Panic! at the Disco, the Academy Is … , Boys Like Girls and Armor for Sleep (or, as Callahan puts it, “basically any band that a 13-year-old girl with a blog and a Hot Topic habit obsesses over”). Aside from providing readers with some genuinely bananas quotes from songwriter/ rock-and-roll vampire Butch Walker about credibility (especially considering this is on his résumé), the article is excellent primarily because it floats the hypothesis that the artists… Read more »

It was a good, flatulent, slur-filled and sexist-gag-soaked run, but the bad boys of radio appear to be living on borrowed time. On Tuesday (May 15), XM shock duo Opie and Anthony were slapped with a 30-day suspension for last week’s gag involving a homeless character discussing his desire to sexually assault Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, first lady Laura Bush and the Queen of England. “Nobody in radio thinks they’re a shock jock; they’re entertainers. But if [the genre] isn’t dead, it’s certainly had a storm warning,” said Tom Taylor, editor of Inside Radio, citing last month’s firing of… Read more »