Search Results for: aly & aj

A week after paying Mariah Carey nearly $30 million to walk away from her contract, EMI Recorded Music CEO Alain Levy took the wraps off a massive restructuring at the top of the company’s North American unit, marking his most aggressive moves yet to yank the British music major out of a persistent financial slump. Levy’s plan infuses EMI’s U.S. executive suite with new blood: His longtime deputy David Munns becomes chairman and chief executive of EMI North America, overseeing the flagship Capitol Records and Virgin Records America imprints. Veteran producer Matt Serletic has been named chairman and CEO of… Read more »

Clear Channel Entertainment, the world’s leading producer and marketer of live entertainment, announced today the acquisition of Italy’s two leading music promotion businesses, Milano Concerti and Trident Agency. The addition of Milano Concerti and Trident Agency represents Clear Channel Entertainment’s entry into the Italian live entertainment market, providing a significant in-market position while expanding the company’s growing European network. The new businesses will be merged and operate as Clear Channel Entertainment Italia. Milano Concerti, founded by Roberto de Luca in 1985, and Trident Agency, founded by Maurizio Salvadori in 1971, work with Italy’s top touring artists, including Vasco Rossi, Eros… Read more »

With only days to go before the top music companies start selling music online, they appear unwilling, at least initially, to support most of the digital music players currently sold. Analysts have dim expectations for the new ventures because their music will remain largely chained for now to the computer desktop – and only for as long as subscribers pay to “rent” it. “What’s the use if I’m going to have it on my desktop and I can’t take it with me?” says Jackie DeLeon, 26, a student housing coordinator at the University of Illinois-Chicago who uses her portable MP3… Read more »

Britney Spears’ third album, “Britney”, debuts at no. 1 on the album sales chart this week with 745,744 units sold, more than doubling last week’s top selling album. This gives Britney Spears the second best selling album of 2001 according to Soundscan (the no. 1 best selling album of 2001 goes to her label mates *NSYNC). Beyond all of this, Britney also becomes the first solo female performer in the history of The Billboard 200 to have her first three albums debut in the no. 1 spot. Britney demonstrates the artist’s global appeal with debuts at number one in Canada,… Read more »

ABC Radio Networks and Radio One, Inc. have partnered to form a history-making platform that creates the largest radio network reaching the African-American marketplace. The new partnership enables ABC Radio Networks’ Urban Advantage Network (UAN) to be available to more than 93 percent of African-American consumers. The two companies have established an expanded network to create the most wide-reaching radio infrastructure to access the African-American market. Radio One will allocate a portion of its commercial time to ABC Radio Networks’ existing Urban Advantage Network. The alliance bolsters the reach of UAN and provides Radio One with a vehicle to reach… Read more »

The Yankee Group today released a new study that examines the viability of webcasting, even as online-only broadcasters such as Live365, RadioWave, ClickRadio, and NetRadio suffer losses, announce layoffs, and face the specter of shuttering operations altogether. Ryan Jones, the analyst who authored the report, said in the executive summary, “The challenges facing Internet-only webcasters are significant enough to keep broadcasters in the lead for the foreseeable future. But a growing listener base, falling streaming costs and an increasingly cooperative advertising community are all aligning to mark webcasting as a soon-to-be profitable complement to broadcast radio.” The report indicates that… Read more »

MusicNet, Pressplay working out kinks in technology, licensing – now they need paying users. Although the major labels have been making strides in their efforts to deliver music to listeners’ desktops while collecting money for themselves and their artists, the road ahead is still littered with questions, and the labels’ long-promised services still are not a reality. When will music fans see them? When they do, will they be willing to pay for something they now can get for free? Can the industry shoot down all the new hotshot – and free – file-trading services? And whatever happened to Napster,… Read more »

This is a difficult transition for the entertainment community. There is a growing desire, if not need, to return to some form of business as usual, yet an uncertainty as to whether this is a viable option. Parties and premieres are being resurrected, but companies are doing so furtively, like children worried about parental admonition. Stars are returning to the business of hyping their movies, albeit sheepishly. The TV trade wants its Emmys, yet seems bent on making the ceremony at once non-competitive and non-ceremonial. Dealmakers who have been struggling with the rules of the “new civility” are starting to… Read more »

You might think that after parting ways with a major label, Jimmy Eat World would take the opportunity to further indulge in the thoughtful experimentation that marked 1999’s Clarity, their second and final release on Capitol. After all, no label means no more A&R guys frowning at songs like Clarity’s 16-minute-plus “Goodbye Sky Harbor,” with its drum-loop buildup and crescendo of overlapping, programmed vocals. But left to their own devices, Mesa, Arizona’s favorite sons made their most straight-up pop record to date – Bleed American, which hit stores Tuesday. “Things still got pretty gnarly in the studio as far as… Read more »

Former Beatle George Harrison told his fans on Monday “I am feeling fine” after successfully undergoing radiotherapy at a Swiss cancer clinic. A statement from his London lawyer disclosed that the 58-year-old guitarist and singer underwent treatment at the hospital in Bellinzona over a month ago. It said Harrison had a course of radiotherapy. Doctors do not see any need for further treatment. In a message to fans, Harrison said: “I am feeling fine and I am really sorry for the unnecessary worry which has been caused by the reports appearing in today’s press. Please do not worry.” Swiss cancer… Read more »