Search Results for: The Paradox

Like it or not, major record companies are expected to continue drafting their artist contracts so that labels share a piece of most — if not all — of the artists’ rights in all types of revenue streams, not just record sales, but also concert tickets and t-shirts. Artist lawyers say that their responses are as varied as the rights and terms in each label’s “360-degree” deal. Some labels want to be the merchandiser, while others want rights only in certain types of merchandise connected to album cover artwork. And when it comes to artist royalties, some labels pay a… Read more »

Nashville – Billed as the Best of Both Worlds, the ill-fated co-headlining tour by Jay-Z and R. Kelly ended up with two worlds colliding. The tour’s implosion – at least as a co-headlining attraction – puts a damper on what could have been one of the year’s top-grossing R&B music outings, with a gross potential of about $30 million. Jay-Z is continuing without Kelly under the banner of Jay-Z & Friends. With such marquee artists as Mary J. Blige and P. Diddy in tow, the tour could still be a big winner. But few would argue that Best of Both… Read more »

If you can believe it, Britney Spears would like people to focus on her music, not her midriff. But seeing is believing, and since the debut of her music video “I’m a Slave 4 U” two years ago, fans have seen Spears take an increasingly provocative journey into sexual exhibitionism. From her love life to her infamous MTV Video Music Awards kiss with Madonna to her National Football League kickoff concert and her most recent performance in New York’s Times Square, the artist has tested the limits of her sexuality. But now comes the moment of truth. With her new… Read more »

John Mellencamp has lashed out at PresidentGeorge W. Bush and America’s foreign policy. In an open letter he co-wrote with his wife Elaine, Mellencamp blasts the powers that be for demonizing as “anti-American and unpatriotic” anyone who questions the policies of the U.S. government and the war in Iraq. Mellencamp uses words and phrases like “systematically lied to,” “the political ‘hijacking’ of Iraq,” “this misadventure,” and “the globe’s leading bully. Arrogant and thoughtless” to describe the current situation, before writing, “Now, each day, as the dust settles and the truth slowly surfaces, more and more people come to the inevitable… Read more »

One reason A Perfect Circle resonate with such power is because the bandmembers are dedicated to their art – whether it’s catchy and commercial or sprawling and inaccessible to the mainstream. They immerse themselves in their songs, which are as much a part of themselves as a reflection of their personalities. And they present their vision in a striking and unconventional manner, singing from behind a screen, performing in near darkness and greeting the media with complete indifference. The band’s new album, The Thirteenth Step, due September 16, is textural, evocative and moody – metallic art-rock for the clinically depressed.… Read more »

As the Rolling Stones kickoff their “Licks” world tour in Boston this week, patience is finally paying off for fans who were driven out of their heads over the years by the woeful state of the band’s back catalog of 1960s albums. Key works have long been unavailable on CD, while the albums that are available sounded awful: not surprising since the product on the shelves was transferred to CD back in 1986 when the technology was still in its infancy. But satisfaction has arrived with the recent ABKCO Records release of 22 remastered albums, the fruits of a 10-year… Read more »

Punk as an aid for getting in touch with one’s feelings has superseded the other modes evident at this year’s Warped Tour. As in their ordinary lives, these fans had too many options. Thirty bands played on eight stages, and the event also included professional skateboarding and mountain- biking displays, a wrestling ring, a Playstation tent, numerous ways to spend money or learn about political causes and of course the chance to peruse one another’s concertgoing finery. So most fans locked into a perambulatory pattern, meandering around the festival’s circular layout as the fairground grew dusty, then muddy, from the… Read more »