A popular and eye-popping mix of stars like Beyonce, Taylor Swift and Lady Gaga drew a TV audience of 25.8 million Americans to the Grammy Awards — the biggest TV audience for the telecast in six years, according to preliminary television ratings on Monday.
For years there’s been speculation that Apple would supplement their $1/song (now $1.29) iTunes business with a monthly subscription service, but their upcoming plans are quite different and once again are positioning them to lead the digital music industry into a new era. Leveraging their ubiquitous iTunes software Apple plans to upgrade their users almost over night to a cloud music service in an ambitious move to beat Amazon and others to a cloud music service. Record labels are wary to give Apple even greater dominance which is why Apple’s new strategy is designed to sidestep new licenses from the major labels.
More than six months after pop icon Michael Jackson’s passing, the Los Angeles Police Department has reportedly completed its investigation into his death and is preparing to send the case to the district attorney’s office within weeks.
NEW YORK – Music fans were certainly surprised by Lady Gaga’s performances at the beginning of her career, but no one was more surprised than her father.
MySpace has acquire Imeem, the social music service, as it seeks to boost its music offerings. The deal, thought to be worth less than $1 million, will give MySpace access to Imeem’s 16 million users, as well as its suite of mobile applications and services.
Nine Inch Nails began their Wave Goodbye tour with a pair of small venue concerts in New York City this weekend. The group performed Saturday at the Bowery Ballroom and last night at Webster Hall. Yesterday’s performance was especially noteworthy as Trent Reznor and Co. played their entire 1994 classic The Downward Spiral from start to finish, plus nearly a dozen more of NIN’s greatest hits. These 11 shows represent the last time Nine Inch Nails will perform live. Rolling Stone was crammed up near the side of the stage Saturday night at the Bowery Ballroom near an army of… Read more »
In early 1984, when Epic Records executives presented their slate of upcoming releases at the convention in Hawaii of parent company CBS Records they couldn’t resist playing up the success they were experiencing. So between the pitches for new albums, Epic inserted stock footage of semi trucks and a voice-over that thunderously announced, “There goes another load of Michael Jackson’s Thriller albums!” Trucks weren’t really leaving the warehouse every few minutes, but Thriller was still shattering expectations more than a year after its November 30, 1982, release. Epic was selling more than 1 million copies per month in the United… Read more »
List of winners at the 51st Annual Grammy Awards Album of the Year: ” Raising Sand” Robert Plant and Alison Krauss ; T Bone Burnett producer; Mike Piersante, engineer/mixer; Gavin Lurssen, mastering engineer (Rounder) Rap Album: ” Tha Carter III” Lil Wayne (Cash Money/Universal Motown) Male Pop Vocal Performance : “Say,” John Mayer ; track from “Continuum” (Columbia) Record of the Year: “Please Read The Letter,” Robert Plant and Alison Krauss; T Bone Burnett, producer; Mike Piersante, engineer/mixer; track from “Raising Sand” (Rounder) New Artist: Adele Rock Album: “Viva La Vida Or Death And All His Friends,” Coldplay (Capitol) Pop… Read more »
Fourteen news organizations, including The brief filed Thursday in the 1st U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals argues that allowing webcasting of the Feb. 24 hearing is in the public interest, and is in keeping with camera access already granted in the courts. The Recording Industry Association of America is appealing a Boston judge’s decision to allow the webcast, which it says goes against federal court guidelines on cameras and threatens its ability to get a fair trial. “It is hard to imagine a hearing more deserving of public scrutiny through the same technological medium that is at the heart of… Read more »
Could the Jonas Brothers become the next Beatles ? Or merely the new Monkees ? The chart-topping teen idols, who elicit piercing shrieks from their young fans wherever they go, are starring in a Disney Channel series inspired by the Beatles’ movies as well as the zany American made-for-TV group the Monkees The Jonas siblings — Kevin, 21, Joe, 19, and Nick, 16 — will appear as themselves in the barely fictional comedy series “Jonas,” premiering on the cable channel in May. The squeaky clean brothers, beloved by the young daughters of President-elect Barack Obama, play members of a popular… Read more »
