Search Results for: Jay Som

Just like in professional wrestling, a band’s entrance music provides a pretty good forecast of what’s to follow. When Survivor’s “Eye of the Tiger” filled an arena, Hulk Hogan’s irrepressible fortitude wasn’t far behind. The sound of glass shattering typically prefaced a Stone Cold-style beat-down. And this past summer, when Joe Esposito’s “You’re the Best,” off “The Karate Kid” soundtrack, rained down upon an unsuspecting rock club, it meant that one of the most immodest bands around was about to deliver its musical equivalent of a jump-front kick to the head. “We thought it was the funniest thing,” explained Fall… Read more »

Record labels are embracing new technologies in search of music’s next big thing Joe Berman looks for new bands. Typically, that means hanging out in dive bars, enduring hours of unlistenable music by groups whose rock-and-roll dreams far exceed their talent, praying for the occasional act that shows promise. About 16 months ago, however, the Los Angeles-based talent-finder sat at home scouting the globe for groups. He typed “New Zealand indie rock bands” into his computer search engine and found Steriogram, five lads from the town of Whangarei in New Zealand. They had a song and a video posted on… Read more »

Los Angeles – Chicago rapper Kanye West, who survived a near-fatal car crash to record a debut album that ranked among the year’s biggest sellers, led the field of Grammy Award contenders with 10 nominations, organizers said on Tuesday. R&B singers Alicia Keys and Usher picked up eight nominations each, followed by late “Genius of Soul” Ray Charles with seven, and punk rock band Green Day with six. Jazz pianist Norah Jones, country veteran Loretta Lynn, funk musician Prince and engineer Al Schmitt each earned five. “If I get any nominations, I’m good,” West told Reuters after a press conference… Read more »

Anyone who visited their Web site and thought that Hearts That Hate were the next big thing out of the emo scene is about to get a reality check from MC Lars. The fictitious band has a starring role in “Signing Emo,” the second single off Lars’ Laptop EP. The song, a send-up of the bandwagon-jumping that goes on in the music industry, finds a 40-year-old, overweight and out-of-touch A&R exec named Marty feeling pressure from his boss to ink an emo band – any emo band – to the label because the boss’ daughter likes Dashboard Confessional. Just before… Read more »

It’s finally happened. After putting up with Celine Dion, Rod Stewart and Shania Twain, someone representing the kids has made it to the top. It only took Eminem five days to sell over 79,000 CDs, last week, so imagine what a full week of sales could do? After a full seven days, Em took over the top spot selling 82,300 CDs, blowing away Twain, who was #1 last week. The controversial rapper has gone more than platinum in both Canada and the U.S..in just under two weeks, which isn’t much of a surprise as he is one of the most… Read more »

SANTA MONICA, Calif. – The evolution of digital downloads marks another milestone on November 23, 2004, with the debut of UMe Digital, the world’s first all-digital download label from a major music company. UMe Digital product – individual songs, EPs, and full-length albums – will be distributed exclusively online. With its unparalleled music and video marketing capabilities and the power and scope of UMe to place songs in films and TV shows and commercials, UMe Digital offers unprecedented access and exposure for artists. The releases on UMe Digital will be consistent with UMe’s philosophy of marketing established acts and acts… Read more »

It’s not homicide authorities are investigating over at the rap label formerly known as Murder Inc. Instead, federal investigators are slowly putting the pieces together of an alleged dirty-money operation-with some big names in the rap world involved. On Wednesday, cops arrested the manager of the label’s flagship rapper, Ja Rule. Ron “Gutta” Robinson, 29, was rung up on money-laundering charges in federal court and released on $500,000 bond. The 29-year-old’s legal rep, Stacey Richman, told the Associated Press her client would fight the charges against him. The indictment specifically alleges Robinson conspired to launder more than $1 million between… 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 »

Los Angeles – Will it be a blue Christmas in the music business? The first eight months of 2004 were a romp, when labels and retailers were measuring their progress against the soft numbers from the first two trimesters of 2003. The question looming then was how numbers would hold up when we got to September, which was the point last year when same-week increases bloomed for the first time in almost three years. The answer so far? Not so great. Even with collective sales of this week’s top 10 on the Billboard 200 outweighing that from the comparable week… Read more »

After making his final appearance with Jay-Z last week on their ill-fated co-headlining tour, R. Kelly made a different sort of appearance on Thursday (November 4) – in court. In a procedural victory for the R&B singer’s defense team, the Chicago judge presiding over Kelly’s child-pornography case granted the defense’s request to have a hearing to determine the alleged victim’s age. While the prosecution has alleged that the female in question was 14 years old when the tape was made, some of the defense’s actions – such as when Kelly’s attorney Ed Genson previously argued in written motions that it’s… Read more »