Search Results for: plan b entertainment

iM Networks, a leading provider of Internet audio programming solutions for consumer electronics companies, today announced a marketing alliance with Listen.com for Rhapsody, the company’s premier digital music subscription service. iM Networks will offer the Rhapsody service directly to iM Radio users, including those that have purchased iM Ready devices from consumer electronic manufacturers Philips, Panasonic, and Creative. iM Radio listeners will receive an introductory e-mail message with information on how to subscribe to Rhapsody, and will be offered a 30-day free trial through iM Networks. Soon, iM Networks will also make it easier for users to obtain their favorite… Read more »

Newly installed VH1 toppers Brian Graden and Christina Norman are moving quickly to put their stamp on the struggling music cable network, greenlighting an aggressive fall slate of series and specials aimed at building on the channel’s still-strong retro music brand. VH1 is also beefing up its “Movies That Rock” franchise, snagging the broadcast premiere of the Oscar-winning “Moulin Rouge” and several other theatricals. And rather than simply repurposing other networks’ music specials, Graden wants VH1 to sign A-level talent for original concert specials. The flurry of activity comes barely three months after Graden was named entertainment president of the… Read more »

Struggling media giant Vivendi Universal on Wednesday named Jacques Espinasse, head of a French satellite television channel, as its new chief financial officer. He replaces Guillaume Hannezo, who was retained on a six-month contract as a special adviser to Vivendi’s new chairman and chief executive officer, Jean-Renee Fourtou, the company said. Hannezo left his post less than a week ago. Espinasse, chief operation officer of French satellite television channel TPS, had been tipped as Hannezo’s most likely successor. He joins the company at a critical time. Debt-ridden Vivendi is negotiating a second round of short-term financing with its creditor banks,… Read more »

Online music company Liquid Audio Inc. on Monday rejected a buyout offer from one of its investors, choosing instead to amend a current takeover agreement that has been criticized by some major shareholders. Liquid Audio, based in Redwood, California, said the offer by Steel Partners II L.P. to buy it for $2.75 per share was inadequate. Steel Partners owns 9.1 percent of the company and has opposed Liquid Audio’s reverse-merger deal with Alliance Entertainment Corp. Under the amended terms of its deal with privately held Alliance, Liquid Audio now will first buy 10 million of its shares – about 44… Read more »

Michael Jackson’s list of grievances with Sony Music has grown from complaints about the promotion of his Invincible album to include accusations that the label blocked the release of his “What More Can I Give” charity single. Jackson predicted last fall that the “We Are the World”-type song – recorded with a sizable list of participants including Mariah Carey, Ricky Martin, Usher, Beyoncé Knowles, Shakira and Nick Carter – would raise $50 million for victims of September 11. Eight months after Jackson announced he was ready to release it, the issues surrounding why the song never came out are starting… Read more »

Pressplay, the online music subscription service, today announced that Michael Bebel is being promoted to the role of president and chief executive officer. Bebel has served as chief operating officer of pressplay for more than a year and will succeed Andy Schuon, who is leaving the company to return to the radio industry. Formed in April 2001, pressplay is a joint venture between Universal Music Group and Sony Music Entertainment. Its service was made available to consumers in the United States in December 2001. Doug Morris, Chairman and CEO of Universal Music Group, and Thomas D. Mottola, Chairman and CEO… Read more »

Fresh off the 50-date Civic Tour 2002, Incubus have finalized plans for a new tour. Launching August 31 in Reno, Nevada, the Morning View fall tour will make stops throughout the U.S. and once in Canada, concluding in November. More dates will be announced in the coming weeks, and all dates and venues are subject to change. The plan for this outing is to hit the smaller cities the group missed on its last tour, bringing Incubus’ music to a larger audience. Morning View Tour Dates, According To Epic Records: 8/31 – Reno, NV – Lawlor Events Center 9/2 –… Read more »

Sony/ATV Music Publishing had a lot more country tunes to croon Tuesday after it paid $157 million to acquire the storied Acuff-Rose music publishing catalog fromNashville-based leisure and resort firm Gaylord Entertainment. The purchase adds 55,000 copyrights to the Sony/ATV catalog, including popular work from such country and pop acts as Roy Orbison and Hank Williams, as well as newer stars such as Brooks & Dunn and Tim McGraw. Sony was already far and away the largest country-music publisher in the world, with more than 150,000 titles in its archives before the Acuff-Rose deal. But as songwriters have become increasingly… Read more »

Stunned fans of The Who’s John Entwistle left flowers and consoled each other outside a casino concert hall where the bass player who helped make the band one of the biggest in rock history had been expected to perform Friday. Entwistle was found dead Thursday in his Hard Rock Hotel room of an apparent heart attack. He was 57. “The Ox has left the building – we’ve lost another great friend,” bandmates Pete Townshend and Roger Daltrey wrote on Townshend’s Web site. The Who’s celebrated drummer, Keith Moon, died in 1978. Former Rolling Stones bassist Bill Wyman described Entwistle as… Read more »

Acknowledging that online piracy is forcing dramatic changes in the music industry, the world’stwo largest record companies are poised to make it easy and cheap for fans to buy-rather than steal-songs off the Internet. The moves by Universal Music Group and Sony Music Entertainment accelerate the industry’s transition to an era in which music is distributed electronically. Other major labels are likely to follow as the record business grapples with the rise of online music copying through unauthorized services such as Napster, Kazaa and Morpheus and potentially billions of dollars in lost sales. Rather than trying to force consumers to… Read more »