Search Results for: french

French-American media giant Vivendi Universal confirmed on Tuesday its profit and sales targets for this year and said it was well positioned for additional growth despite the uncertain economic environment. The company issued its bullish outlook as it reported that net profit dwindled to a meager 22 million euros ($20.3 million), weighed down by goodwill from its Seagram merger, provisions and losses at companies in which it holds stakes. The company’s outlook compared favorably with those of its top competitors, several of which have issued profit warnings in recent days. Media firms, particularly those exposed to the tumbling advertising market,… Read more »

Zomba Records, the powerful independent record label that is home to the Backstreet Boys and Britney Spears, said Thursday it had settled a copyright infringement lawsuit with online music company MP3.com Inc., a unit of Vivendi Universal. “The parties have settled the litigation between them and resolved their differences to their mutual satisfaction and have entered into a licensing arrangement for the My.mp3 service,” Zomba said in a statement. The terms were not disclosed. The settlement with Zomba comes just about a week after more than 50 music publishers and songwriters, including country artist Vince Gill’s publishing companies filed yet… Read more »

Though they’d rather be making their own movies, Sonic Youth are back in the studio laying down atmospheric music for a French film and noisy dinosaur rock for their next album. “We’re improvising and getting into these long, elaborate stretches of music and keeping an ear for soundtrack cues but at the same time listening for how they would work for song elements,” singer/guitarist Thurston Moore said last week. “We sit around drinking iced coffee, and then we start getting it together and playing and all hell breaks loose and it just becomes like a creative mosh pit for a… Read more »

Once a punk rock outcast who was locked up in a psych ward, Iggy Pop is now a celebrity, a Reebok model who rubs shoulders with the cream of society. But his elevated status does not stop him from noticing the absurdity of the situation, as he told Reuters in a recent interview: the kid raised in a Michigan trailer park is often the center of attention at various phoney-baloney shindigs. “Occasionally I’ll go to one of these VIP affairs or parties, and I always sorta look around thinking, ‘My God, how shallow and crass these people are! Not like… Read more »

If anything, the Moby-spearheaded Area:One package, which wrapped up its tour at the Glen Helen Blockbuster Pavilion on Sunday, suffered from an embarrassment of riches. With nearly 20 bands and DJs arrayed on three stages over nine hours, there was something worth checking out at given moment, and often two or three. This meant that choices had to be made: to see the Orb in an automaker-sponsored DJ tent meant missing the reunited New Order on the main stage, or forgoing one of the impressive collection of turntablists and MCs holding court on the small urban stage. With the eclectic… Read more »

French techno dance act Daft Punk have been tooned by the Cartoon Network. This week, the cable channel merged the music of Daft Punk with a serialized story created by famed Japanese animator Leiji Matsumoto. The featured videos, “One More Time,” “Aerodynamic,” and “Digital Love,” make up the first three chapters of a story. The fourth video, “Harder, Better, Faster, Stronger,” will exclusively premiere on Cartoon Network during a special music-video edition of Toonami Midnight Run – scheduled to air August 31. Daft Punk has been on the cutting edge of dance music since 1995. Their Homework release achieved sales… Read more »

RealNetworks today announced the immediate availability of commercial content offerings for Symbian OS-based mobile handsets, demonstrating a new generation of media applications for users of advanced mobile devices. European content providers are making audio and video programming available for consumers in English, French, and German. These content providers include Virgin Radio, BMG Entertainment, Kirch New Media, TF1, Darker Than Blue, Aestheticom, and Supersoni.com. Today’s announcement marks the industry’s first commercially available offerings for the Symbian OS platform. RealPlayer Mobile ships with the new Nokia 9210 Communicator, which is available for purchase in Europe. “Virgin Radio has always sought to be… Read more »

Sevendust have chosen Animosity as the title of their third LP, set to drop in late October. The Atlanta metal quintet are putting the finishing touches on the album with producer Ben Grosse ( Filter, Fuel) in the unlikely location of Orlando’s boy band breeding ground, Trans Continental Studios, working next door to Lou Pearlman’s latest boy toys, O-Town. Additional tracks were laid closer to home at Treehouse Studios in Atlanta. The band and Grosse will head to Los Angeles in mid-July to master the record. New songs that will likely make the record include “Leech,” “Trust,” “Follow,” “Shine” and… Read more »

Movie soundtracks, led by the cover-version-heavy Fox musical “Moulin Rouge,” gained significant ground in the nation’s album sales last week. “Moulin Rouge,” featuring the hit single “Lady Marmalade” by Christina Aguilera, Lil’ Kim, Pink and Mya, moved up five spots on the pop album chart to No. 3 on sales of nearly 134,000 copies for the week ended June 3, according to data compiled from SoundScan. The Interscope album has moved nearly 450,000 copies in four weeks. The “Pearl Harbor” score (Warner Bros.) jumped 17 spots to No. 14, boosting its sales by 59 percent from the week before to… Read more »

Napster, the former music industry bad-boy, is close to inking a distribution deal with three major record labels that are launching a music subscription service this summer, sources familiar with the matter said Tuesday. An agreement between Napster and the members of MusicNet, which could be announced as soon as Wednesday, would be the biggest step Napster has taken so far toward legitimacy. MusicNet is a venture between record label owners AOL Time Warner Inc., Bertelsmann and EMI Group, as well as Seattle-based RealNetworks, whose software allows users to listen to music and watch video via streaming technology over the… Read more »