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XM Places $1 Billion Bet On Satellite Radio Launch


From a chair that looked as if it belongs on the starship Enterprise, Hugh Panero flipped a switch Tuesday and formally launched XM, the first of the nationwide satellite radio services to go on the air. While the ceremony marked XM’s official start, it will not be a national service for some months because the signal is being beamed from the company’s two satellites – “Rock” and “Roll” – to San Diego and Dallas. The company plans to roll out service to the southern half of the United States within a month and to the rest of the nation in… Read more »

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BSB Explains Comments


Backstreet Boy Kevin Richardson has released a statement clarifying and apologizing for comments he made on MuchMusic last week. While the group visited the network’s Toronto studio in the wake of the terrorist attacks against the United States, Richardson said, “I just think [the United States] are a little bit of an arrogant nation, and maybe this is a little bit of a humbling experience. It raises questions in my mind, what has our government done to provoke this action, that we don’t know about?” This week, after by beginning with thanks to fans for the “love and support you’ve… Read more »

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Radio Rethinks Playlists In Wake Of Attack


“Things are different now,” a news anchor commented last Tuesday while covering the terrorist attacks in New York and Washington, D.C. Those words continue to resonate a week later, with sports, travel and entertainment all vastly affected by the East Coast tragedies. In the music industry, the biggest changes are occurring on the air as radio stations around the country alter their playlists to reflect the radically different context in which pop music is now heard as compared to when the music was originally written and recorded. As Bob Buchmann, program director at WAXQ in New York, put it, “The… Read more »

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LA Award Shows, Madonna Concert Off; Studios Close


The nation’s entertainment capital shut down Tuesday as two major awards shows and a Madonna concert were canceled and most of Hollywood’s big studios closed their doors in response to horrific terrorist attacks in New York and Washington, D.C. It was the day the music died for the 2nd annual Latin Grammy Awards show, a glitzy music industry event which ironically had been moved to Los Angeles from Miami for security reasons last month. Organizers of the star-studded gala said the $4 million production, which was to have been broadcast Tuesday night in the United States and 120 other countries,… Read more »

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TV Performances At Latin Grammys Key, Execs Say


An eyeball-catching performance on the Latin Grammy awards program not only lifts recordings sales but can transform careers, according to recording executives hoping their musicians pull a Ricky Martin. Executives at Sony Music and BMG said the Latin Grammys, a $4 million production to be broadcast on Tuesday in the United States and 120 other countries, is a venue that can overcome barriers of language, genre and country. Martin’s 1999 performance on the long-running U.S. Grammy awards program mightily boosted sales of his self-named album and other recordings and was widely seen as making the Puerto Rican native an international… Read more »

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Singer Aaliyah's Body Flown To United States


The body of the late pop and soul singer Aaliyah was flown back to the United States Tuesday as safety experts examined the plane that crashed in the Bahamas, killing her and eight others. A private jet carrying the body of the 22-year-old singer and movie actress landed at Newark International Airport in New Jersey, and a hearse carried the casket away to an unknown location, according to sources. Several hours earlier, heartbroken fans gathered outside a Nassau funeral home to watch as a black hearse drove away with Aaliyah’s body. At Nassau International Airport, police stood guard while her… Read more »

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MP3.Com Blamed For 'Viral' Copyright Infringement


A new lawsuit filed against MP3.com seeks to hold the San Diego music-locker service liable not only for songs it improperly copied and distributed, but also for every bootleg track exchanged through Napster and other underground file-swapping services. The suit, filed on behalf of 52 independent songwriters and music publishers, accuses MP3.com of “viral” infringement. It contends that MP3.com’s technology set the stage for widespread music piracy, enabling bootlegged songs to pass from computer to computer faster than you can say “Oops, I Did It Again.” The argument goes like this: MP3.com made compressed copies of about 900,000 songs, which… Read more »

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Pop Goes The Emo On Jimmy Eat World's Bleed American


You might think that after parting ways with a major label, Jimmy Eat World would take the opportunity to further indulge in the thoughtful experimentation that marked 1999’s Clarity, their second and final release on Capitol. After all, no label means no more A&R guys frowning at songs like Clarity’s 16-minute-plus “Goodbye Sky Harbor,” with its drum-loop buildup and crescendo of overlapping, programmed vocals. But left to their own devices, Mesa, Arizona’s favorite sons made their most straight-up pop record to date – Bleed American, which hit stores Tuesday. “Things still got pretty gnarly in the studio as far as… Read more »

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Aguilera Tries To Stop Demos


Christina Aguilera filed a lawsuit on May 18th in U.S. District Court in Los Angeles against the singer’s one-time producers and New York City-based Warlock Records, among other defendants. The suit seeks cost of suit damages and an injunction to stop the release of Just Be Free, a compilation of demos Aguilera recorded when she was fourteen. The album features twelve tracks, including the title track, which Aguilera worked on with defendants, producers Michael Brown and Robert Allecca at BAM Records, Inc. Included in the charges are breach of contract and appropriation of name, voice and likeness for commercial use.… Read more »

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Paul Simon Invites Brian Wilson To Join Him On His 2001 Summer Tour Of The United States


In what promises to be one of the most exciting concert events of the summer season 200l, singer/songwriter Paul Simon and his 11-piece band will kick-off a 28-city tour of the United States Saturday, June 9th, at the Gorge Amphitheatre in Seattle, Washington. Simon will be joined on the tour by one of rock’s most deeply revered figures, the legendary Brian Wilson, co-founder of The Beach Boys. Wilson will be accompanied by his 10-piece band, which includes the four-member group, The Wondermints. The Paul Simon Summer 200l tour comes hot on the heels of Simon’s Grammy Nomination for Album of… Read more »

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