Search Results for: Record Store Day

The biggest metalcore band in the land happens to be a Christian sextet that, for a second time, is primed to crash into the upper echelons of the Billboard  200. Underoath will on Tuesday release its fourth album, “Lost in the Sound of Separation.” It’s the follow-up to 2006’s  “Define the Great Line,” which debuted at No. 2 without any significant radio play or mainstream push; it has sold 366,000 copies in the United States, according to Nielsen SoundScan. Instead of the typical avenues of exposure, the Florida band has relied on a fierce, two-pronged model of touring and  Internet… Read more »

Quiet time is a rarity for the Jonas Brothers these days. Following a special performance for more than 500 screaming tween and teen girls at Apple’s downtown Manhattan store on Tuesday night, the brothers – Kevin, 20, Joe, 18, and Nick, 15 – huddled in a stairwell, trying to find a quiet space to conduct an interview with The Associated Press. Good luck with that. Even as they spoke, their words were almost drowned out by deafening, doglike shrieks from girls still trying to find a way to get at their idols, who have set off a boy-band pop craze… Read more »

Tapping on fake instruments and screeching into microphones connected to video game consoles has become lucrative for both the music and gaming industries. Downloadable tunes for music-based games “Guitar Hero,” “Rock Band” and “SingStar” have become as vital as iTunes itself – and one of the last ways to expose youngsters to classic rock. The genre will evolve again later this month when game publisher Activision and developer Neversoft release “Guitar Hero: Aerosmith,” the first such play-along rhythm game pegged to one music group, instead of featuring a multi-artist compilation more akin to one of those “Now That’s What I… Read more »

Even with the overwhelming success of the acoustic ballad “Hey There, Delilah” last year – which earned the band two Grammy nominations – Plain White T’s lead singer Tom Higgenson says he’s been writing songs for the band’s next record since they finished their last one. Today, the Chicago-based quintet headed into a Malibu recording studio to begin work on their second major label album, the band’s fourth overall, which is expected to hit stores September 24th. While the band isn’t consciously trying to create a “Delilah Part II” (Higgenson points out all of the band’s albums have had slower… Read more »

A stark truth facing any aspiring digital music service these days is that working with record labels is going to carry a hefty price. The last 18 months have seen the major music labels accept new technological and business models — such as dropping digital rights management and allowing ad-supported free music — that have given rise to a new generation of digital music services. But the flip side of this willingness to experiment is a demand for higher upfront advances for licensing music and in some cases a substantial equity stake in the company. Ad-supported download service SpiralFrog, for… Read more »

As I write this, iTunes ranks as the 2nd largest seller of music in the U.S. — only Wal-Mart’s physical stores sell more. Digital revenue is real, and there is a lot of it being earned. Sales from iTunes alone can provide a band enough revenue to achieve true financial success. Don’t take my word for it, just look at some of the sales by the following unsigned artists utilizing the Net for both digital distribution and marketing: Kelly sold over 500,000 songs in five months, Eric Hutchinson sold 120,000 songs in three weeks, The Medic Droid sold over 25,000… Read more »

You’ll usually find R.E.M. playing arenas and esteemed concert halls. But this week, the rock hall of famers were among the acts trying to catch a break and artists looking to build their audience at the sprawling South by Southwest music festival. The multiplatinum rockers played Stubbs BBQ shortly after midnight Wednesday before an energetic crowd of a couple thousand, marking the first time they’ve played the annual extravaganza in their nearly three-decade career. But it’s hardly a downgrade: Playing a showcase at SXSW has often been a way for a veteran act to make a big splash with a… Read more »

Multi-platinum Island Records group Fall Out Boy kicks off the new year with “****LIVE IN PHOENIX,” their first long-form CD+DVD two-disc package, set to arrive in stores on April 1st.   The core of the program will be their full-length Honda Civic Tour concert of June 2007 from the Cricket Pavilion in Phoenix, with all 22 songs contained on both the CD and DVD layers. In addition, the DVD layer will include all 8 of Fall Out Boy’s Island Records video clips in chronological order — from their debut single “Sugar, We’re Going Down” (MTV2 Award winner for 2005), “Dance,… Read more »

“SIMPLE PLAN,” the long-awaited new album from Lava/Atlantic recording group Simple Plan, has made a triumphant chart debut, both here and around the world. The Montreal-based band’s third studio effort — which features the singles “When I’m Gone” and “Your Love Is A Lie” — was the Billboard 200’s highest-charting debut of the week at #14, while also placing high on a variety of additional tallies, including #3 on “Top Rock Albums,” #4 on “Top Modern Rock/Alternative Albums,” and #7 on “Top Digital Albums.” In addition, the album reached the #1 spot on the iTunes Store’s “Top Pop Albums” ranking.… Read more »

Eminem is about to lose himself with his word processor. The rap megastar, who has chronicled his turbulent life on his albums and the film 8 Mile, is now cranking out an autobiography, his U.K.-based publisher revealed Friday–to the chagrin of the hip-hopster’s camp. Titled Eminem: The Way I Am, the memoir is scheduled to arrive in book stores in Great Britain on Oct. 16, according to a statement from the Orion Publishing Group. “Everyone has their own take on Eminem. Because of where he is from, people think they know where he is at, what kind of person he… Read more »