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For Simple Plan, the multimillion-selling pop-punk band from Montreal, “The End” was also a new beginning. After a year writing material for the follow-up to 2004’s “Still Not Getting Any…,” the band was struggling to find a way forward, drummer Chuck Comeau says. But last spring in Miami — where Simple Plan had gone to test-drive some songs in the studio with producer Danja (Nelly Furtafo, Justin Timberlake) — it became clear the group could forge a bold new sound. “It really clicked for the first time in Miami when we came up with ‘The End,”‘ Comeau says, referring to… Read more »

After 2006 — a year when virtually no one managed to launch a digital music service in competition with Apple’s dominant iTunes — 2007 was a refreshing change of pace. Several fresh faces emerged onto the digital music scene this year, buoyed in part by record companies’ newfound willingness to experiment with different business models, but also by the departure of several high-profile competitors. By far the most visible service to throw in the towel this year was MTV’s Urge; now, a new entity called Rhapsody America joins Rhapsody’s technology with MTV’s editorial and music curation staff. Sony began the… Read more »

Hoping to broaden its relevance to the music industry in the face of increasing competition from other social networking sites, MySpace will roll out a suite of services and initiatives as part of what company officials are calling MySpace Music 2.0. But a new policy at Universal Music Group (UMG), the world’s biggest record company, limiting full-song streaming on the site illustrates the challenges ahead. The first hint of MySpace’s music effort is Transmissions: The site features video of participating artists in the MySpace studios, performing select songs and conducting interviews, both of which MySpace has the exclusive rights to… Read more »

Warner Music Group Chief Executive Edgar Bronfman on Tuesday raised the possibility of selling digital music without copy protection, in what appeared to be a softening of his previous outright opposition. Bronfman told an investor conference that while he did not see a world without digital rights management (DRM), there was a possibility of certain business models working without DRM software, which prevents music fans from sharing songs. “DRM is here to stay, whether it’s here to stay on every business model in the music business is open to question,” he said at the Goldman Sachs Communacopia conference. Bronfman has… Read more »

The U.S. music industry is becoming more open-minded about working with online music stores from the tiniest start-up to Amazon.com, hoping to boost digital music sales and erode the dominance of Apple Inc’s iTunes. U.S. music companies, once paranoid about the wide-scale piracy enabled by Web-based companies like Napster and KaZaa, are now embracing new business models such as giving away free song downloads. Their goal is: to increase digital revenue as CD sales drop more sharply than anticipated; and to create alternatives to iTunes to boost their negotiating power against Apple when licensing contracts are renewed. “Any viable music… Read more »

Carson Daly will host the first-ever “TRL Awards,” which take a wacky look at celebrity appearances on MTV’s “Total Request Live.” The awards will be given out live on Feb. 17 at 4 p.m. EST, the new time slot for the afternoon video countdown show. Viewers can long onto MTV’s Web site to vote for winners now through Feb. 10. Categories include Best Live Performance, the Most Revealing Moment Award and The Gridlock Award, for drawing the biggest crowds outside MTV’s Times Square studio. Nominees in various categories include Jennifer Lopez, Justin Timberlake, Britney Spears, Shakira and Eminem. Daly, the… Read more »

The MTV pop channel is using its global reach, the sparkle of its stars and the moral authority of South Africa’s Nelson Mandela to send a message of AIDS awareness and tolerance to young people worldwide. Video footage from a Cape Town concert Saturday featuring stars Sean “P. Diddy” Combs and Alicia Keys will be combined with an earlier concert in Seattle to produce a 90-minute program, likely to reach up to two billion people around the world, MTV executive Bill Roedy told Reuters Friday. The Cape Town concert – which the stars will be performing for free – and… Read more »

Maverick Records and the Music & Media Group of Vivendi Universal Net USA (VUNet USA) today announced that celebrated bass phenom Meshell Ndegeocello is the first major label recording artist to offer her fans a downloadable track for sale in the MP3 format. Starting today, a special dance version of the song “Earth” remixed by Lazy Dog (Ben Watt & Jay Hannan) will be available exclusively for purchase and download for 99 cents from VUNet USA’s music and media Web sites – MP3.com, RollingStone.com, GetMusic.com and MP4.com. Additionally, the 50,000 subscribers to VUNet USA’s EMusic MP3 music service will be… Read more »