Search Results for: vision video

The industry gets upset when anyone calls this a “tax” so I’ll use the “voluntary license” term, even though tax is much more accurate. A true voluntary license wouldn’t require everyone having a certain provider to opt-in, but that’s exactly what this plan would require. In fact, as the slides indicate, eventually it would basically require all ISPs to “opt-in” forcing all of their members to “opt-in.” Suddenly, everyone has to pay. That’s not a voluntary license. It’s a tax. However, even if we step back and pretend it’s really a voluntary license, and even if we grant the premise… Read more »

SAN FRANCISCO —-  Blockbuster Inc . will begin selling concert tickets at about 500 of its video rental stores, bolstering its effort to create a one-stop shop for entertainment. Under a three-year agreement announced Tuesday, Blockbuster ‘s stores next month will become the primary brick-and-mortar sales outlet for music concerts staged by promoter Live Nation Inc. in the United States. Dallas-based Blockbuster will supplant a hodgepodge of department stores, supermarkets and other retailers that Live Nation had been relying upon as part of an unraveling partnership with Ticketmaster Entertainment Inc. Beverly Hills-based Live Nation is breaking away from Ticketmaster to… Read more »

Since MP3s first became popular a decade ago, music industry executives have obsessed over this question: when would digital music revenue finally surpass compact disc sales? For Atlantic Records, the label that in years past has delivered artists like Ray Charles, John Coltrane and Led Zeppelin, that time, apparently, is now. Atlantic, a unit of Warner Music Group, says it has reached a milestone that no other major record label has hit: more than half of its music sales in the United States are now from digital products, like downloads on iTunes and ring tones for cellphones. “We’re like a… Read more »

It was another brush-with-an-icon moment for the Killers : back in May of this year, joining Duran Duran – the first name in ’80s fashionista Britpop  – onstage, aptly in Las Vegas, to perform the vets’ chestnut “Planet Earth.” Brandon Flowers, resplendent as ever in a tux, looked like a young James Bond. And you know he had to have been stirred, if not a little bit shaken. There are no more unabashed Anglophiles among U.S. pop-rockers than the Killers. From day one, they have made that clear: They took their name from a New Order video, they’ve covered Joy… Read more »

Among the most notorious on-screen gaffes ever, Janet Jackson’s breast-baring “wardrobe malfunction” on CBS during the 2004 Super Bowl halftime show drew a $550,000 indecency fine from the Federal Communications Commission. Now a federal appeals court has thrown it out. A panel of the 3rd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled Monday that the FCC “acted arbitrarily and capriciously” in issuing the fine for the fleeting image of nudity, which it noted lasted just over half a second. An estimated 90 million people watching the Super Bowl heard Justin Timberlake sing, “Gonna have you naked by the end of this… Read more »

“PRETTY. ODD.,” the eagerly awaited sophomore album from Decaydance/Fueled By Ramen recording group Panic At The Disco, has made a stellar debut on this week’s SoundScan/Billboard 200 album chart. The critically acclaimed collection enters in the #2 spot with sales of 139,000. “PRETTY. ODD.” — which follows the Las Vegas-based band’s RIAA platinum-certified 2005 debut, “A FEVER YOU CAN’T SWEAT OUT” — debuted at #1 on SoundScan’s “Current Alternative Albums” chart and #2 on the “Digital Albums” chart. In addition, “PRETTY. ODD.” debuted at #2 in the UK, Canada, and Mexico, with top 10 debuts in New Zealand, Austria, and… Read more »

LOS ANGELES, CA – New Jersey artist, Socratic will release their sophomore full-length, Spread the Rumors on May 6th 2008. Produced by Mark Hoppus (Blink 182, +44), Spread the Rumors is the full-length follow-up to 2005’s Lunch For The Sky. Socratic envisioned recording an album with the same impact as blink 182’s Enema of the State, where every song is a single. Imagine their excitement when Mark Hoppus not only liked their demos, but also agreed to produce Spread the Rumors. Duane Okun, Socratic’s lead singer says, “Although we’re kind of at opposite ends of the musical spectrum from Blink… Read more »

The integrity of “American Idol” as a contest for raw, undiscovered talent was called into question again after an Irish singer who once had a major-label deal, and solo album that flopped, advanced to the top rung of the competition this week. Dublin native Carly Smithson, who formerly recorded for MCA Records under her maiden name, Carly Hennessy, was one of the 24 “Idol” contestants who made it on Wednesday to the semifinal rounds voted on each week by the show’s home TV audience. Online critics immediately seized on her initial success, and her professional recording background, as further evidence… Read more »

Touring and promotion company Live Nation Inc said on Monday it has elected Michael Cohl as chairman of its board, effective immediately. Cohl, who was previously vice chairman of the company’s board, will continue in his role as chairman and chief executive of Live Nation Artists. Live Nation said Cohl is credited with developing the concept of ‘global’ touring and aftermarket tour revenue opportunities such as books, television shows, videos and merchandise.

Feist’s musical palette contains many emotional colors, but there’s something to be said for joy. More than anything, a playful spirit explains why this was the Canadian singer-songwriter’s breakout year – that, and a well-timed iPod commercial. She’s up for four Grammy Awards at the Feb. 10 ceremony, including best new artist. One of Feist’s videos shows her flying through the air and literally being pulled back to Earth by someone suspicious of her fun. Another depicts her dancing through fireworks in what one onlooker at the production told her “looks like what falling in love feels like.” Her clip… Read more »