Search Results for: Body Count

Apple’s iTunes online music store may reach more customers throughout Europe after the body tasked with collecting artist royalties in France agreed to allow counterparts elsewhere to license its catalog. SACEM, which collects royalties for about 128,000 artists, said it would be willing to drop territorial restrictions and allow national counterparts to license its repertoire, European antitrust regulators said on Tuesday. If pan-European licensing becomes a reality, Apple, which controls slightly more than half of global digital music sales through iTunes, may look at broadening access to the system, European Competition Commissioner Neelie Kroes added. “If iTunes was readily able… Read more »

Call him the “dark horse,” the “Come-From-Behind Kid,” the humble crooner. Call him whatever you like. But from now on you also need to call Kris Allen your “American Idol.” After a historic tally of nearly 100 million votes, the shy 23-year-old singer from Conway, Arkansas, pulled off one of the most surprising wins in the show’s nearly decade-long history by taking the crown from the theatrical season-long frontrunner, Adam Lambert. After nearly two hours of anticipation, when the time came for host Ryan Seacrest to announce the results, Allen and Lambert stood arm-in-arm, their friendship looking much more like… Read more »

LOS ANGELES – There was a mariachi band, flaming margaritas and lots of musicians on Monday night at the El Compadre Mexican restaurant as Blink-182 took over the joint for a fiesta in celebration of their upcoming summer tour. And while there were many festivities – the mariachi band belted out Blink tunes and the margaritas went late into the night – the party also served another function: breaking the ice. After all, when you’ve got a tour that’s positively packed with bands (not just Weezer and Fall Out Boy, but a rotating cast of opening acts like Panic at… Read more »

Print Back to story By ANTHONY McCARTNEY, AP Entertainment Writer Anthony Mccartney, Ap Entertainment Writer 1 hr 14 mins ago LOS ANGELES — Chris Brown pleaded not guilty Monday to threatening and assaulting his girlfriend, fellow music star Rihanna The 19-year-old R&B singer entered his plea, speaking in a soft voice, while standing alongside his lawyer, Mark Geragos His mother sat in the first row, red-eyed. Within moments of the hearing, a lawyer for Rihanna said the singer was hoping a plea deal could be reached before the case goes to trial. “She would be pleased if this was over… Read more »

NEW YORK –  Longtime New York radio newsman  George Weber  was found stabbed to death in his  Brooklyn  apartment Sunday morning, cops said. The bloody body of Weber, a passionate fan of the city who spent a decade doing local news on WABC morning radio, was found just after 9 a.m. when he didn’t show up for work. “I used to hear his voice in the top and the bottom of the hour. It’s a voice New Yorkers know. Now that voice has been silenced,” said  Aaron Katersky, 33, an ABC colleague who found himself covering a friend’s murder. Weber,… Read more »

One night in the late 1990s, Conan O’Brien was hanging out in a Detroit bowling alley after shooting a remote segment with Ted Nugent (”I rode around in the woods with him, we had a guitar duel and then fired guns,” he recalls). “I have this vague memory of these really cool kids coming over and hanging out with us,” he says. “I knew nothing about them or what they did.” A few years later, O’Brien learned he had met Jack and Meg White that day when he popped into a Saturday Night Live rehearsal to check out the White… Read more »

It’s early January, and occasional downpours drench thousands of fans as they file into Nashville’s Municipal Auditorium for Sound & Speed, an annual event featuring country stars and NASCAR drivers. Camo-clad devotees and their children, some dressed in miniature racing suits, line up for an autograph and a picture. The event is the perfect mix for those who consider autographs from Dierks Bentley and Dale Earnhardt Jr to be treasured booty. NASCAR fans and country music fans are eager to rub elbows with drivers and artists alike, something both circuits are eager to take advantage of. The 2009 race season… Read more »

The Alameda County district attorney’s office has dropped charges against a member of the group Saving Abel and an employee of the band accused of forcing a 17-year-old girl to perform oral sex after a concert in Oakland, Calif.Prosecutors and defense attorneys for 33-year-old Jason Null of Corinth, Miss., and 21-year-old Brandon Danger of Tampa, Fla., say a video recording contradicted the girl’s claims. The charges were dropped Tuesday. Assistant District Attorney Tom Rogers says the video taken after a concert in Oakland last week shows the girl led people to believe she was older and was not forced into… Read more »

For anybody wondering why Microsoft and the top record labels continue to promote subscription music services, the answer was revealed Thursday. David Ring, executive vice president of business development for Universal Music Group’s digital arm, said at the EconMusic Conference that the recording industry simply can’t sustain itself with download sales alone. “If what we’re trying to do is one-by-one downloads…that’s not a business that can grow,” Ring told conference attendees during panel discussion he participated in. “It won’t be healthy for the industry.” Prior to Ring’s statement, Chris Stephenson, an executive in Microsoft’s entertainment unit, was ballyhooing the progress… Read more »

Television networks paid more than $5 million for exclusive rights to show events surrounding President-elect Barack Obama’s inauguration, including Sunday’s Lincoln Memorial concert and the Neighborhood Ball where Beyonce will serenade the new first couple.Nearly half the money, $2.5 million, will be paid by HBO. The cable network is showing Sunday’s concert – featuring U2, Bruce Springsteen, Stevie Wonder and others – live and will repeat it that night. Obama’s inaugural committee said the Walt Disney Co. is paying $2 million to show Tuesday’s Neighborhood Ball on ABC and for a kids’ concert Monday on The Disney Channel. MTV is… Read more »