Search Results for: good terms

PressPlay, an online music venture between Universal Music and Sony Music, said on Thursday it signed licensing deals with six independent record labels that offer music by a wide variety of acts, from rappers 2 Live Crew to country singer Kenny Rogers to jazz legends Charlie Parker and Billie Holiday. PressPlay, set to launch its service to subscribers this fall, noted that its latest deals with Madacy, Navarre, OWIE, Razor & Tie, Roadrunner and Rounder will add music from hundreds of artists to its already large catalog of music for streaming and downloading. The company said the six labels were… Read more »

Hellraising rock star Ozzy Osbourne sought solace in a Manhattan church after witnessing the Sept. 11 attacks, while Alanis Morissette clung to her boyfriend all day in Los Angeles, according to the latest issue of Rolling Stone magazine. Grim rocker Lou Reed watched the World Trade Center towers burn from the roof of his Greenwich Village apartment, and girlfriend Laurie Anderson was one of the few artists to perform that night. The magazine compiled a round-up of rock-star reactions to the tragedies, and found that many were defiantly trying to get back to business as usual. “During times of war,… Read more »

American songwriters and music publishers have reached preliminary agreement with the on-line file sharing service Napster to settle the class-action lawsuit currently pending in federal court in California. The agreement includes terms under which the songwriters and music publishers will license their music to Napster’s new membership-based service. The announcement of the proposed settlement was made jointly by Edward P. Murphy, president and CEO of the National Music Publishers’ Association, Inc., Gary L. Churgin, president and CEO of The Harry Fox Agency, Inc., George David Weiss, president of The Songwriters’ Guild of America, Inc., and Napster president and CEO Konrad… Read more »

Key Capitol Hill politicos on Wednesday sent a letter urging colleagues to reject legislation that would force recording labels to offer the same price and terms when cutting licensing deals with Internet ventures. The measure in question was introduced this summer by Rep. Rick Boucher (D-Va.), who’s concerned that the major labels will control the flow of songs on the Internet by giving special permission to those online services they back. But some of Boucher’s colleagues on the House Internet Subcommittee say it’s far too early in the game to regulate the Internet. Those signing the letter opposing Boucher’s bill… Read more »

By the close of business Wednesday, concert promoters across the country will know how many Internet-savvy baby boomers are hungry for the music of a generational hero, Bob Dylan. Dylan, whose “Love & Theft” album will be released Sept. 11, is taking a page from mega-sellers such as the Backstreet Boys and U2: a limited number of tickets for 32 North American concerts will go on sale Wednesday for fans who follow his activities on the Web site http://www.BobDylan.com. Although Dylan has toured relentlessly since the release four years ago of the album “Time Out of Mind,” which won three… Read more »

Nearly a week into his stay at a live-in rehab center, Backstreet Boy A.J. McLean is learning how to surrender, addiction experts say. “The first thing you have to do is give up – you have to say, ‘This thing is bigger than I am,’” said Buddy Arnold, president of the Musicians’ Assistance Program, an organization that helps musicians get clean. “You’re being asked to give up your best friend, your coping tool that works all the time.” McLean entered an undisclosed rehab facility on Sunday to deal with alcohol abuse, depression and anxiety, according to his Backstreet bandmates. The… Read more »

Rock band the Black Crowes, who kicked off a North American tour with Oasis last weekend, took time out Monday to immortalize their handprints in concrete. As about 200 fans looked on, the group’s members dipped their hands in wet concrete at the Rockwalk, joining a display that includes such artists as Willie Dixon, Jerry Lee Lewis, Bonnie Raitt and Black Sabbath. “We’ve had an amazing journey the last 10 years and we couldn’t be happier,” singer Chris Robinson told the fans gathered on Sunset Boulevard outside the guitar store that operates the exhibit. “From Robert Johnson and Muddy Waters… Read more »

With the Hollywood-Washington war expected to be reignited today, Motion Picture Assn. of America prexy-CEO Jack Valenti on Monday warned lawmakers in no uncertain terms to back off. “May God save the First Amendment,” Valenti said during a keynote speech before the National Assn. of Broadcasters, which is meeting here for its annual confab. Valenti, like his counterparts in the music biz, was gearing up for the release this morning of a Federal Trade Commission report that will chart how well the entertainment biz has done in stopping the marketing of violent or suggestive fare to kids. The FTC reportedly… Read more »

A possible deal between major record labels and Internet media software firm RealNetworks Inc. to offer online music subscriptions could breathe new life into delivering entertainment over the Web, a goal held up by bitter fighting over copyright issues. Seattle-based Real, which makes the popular RealPlayer software for playing audio and video on a personal computer, was reported by the Wall Street Journal to be in talks with three record companies to license their music for use in a subscription service. Citing people familiar with the talks, the paper said AOL Time Warner Inc.’s Warner Music Group, Bertelsmann AG’s BMG… Read more »