Search Results for: alternative press

Webnoize, a Cambridge, Mass.-based media and entertainment research firm that rose to prominence as a sage of the booming Net economy, has fallen victim to that industry’s bust. The firm announced on its Web site Monday that it plans to cease temporarily its regular online publication of news and research reports. Webnoize also said it will begin an immediate restructuring of its business, in the hope of opening its doors again as early as the first quarter of next year. Sources familiar with the company said the eight-year-old firm employed about 25 people at its peak but that the number… Read more »

Napster, the Web service the music industry sued for copyright infringement, Monday said it was delaying the launch of its new secure service due to difficulties in getting major record label content – a complaint raised by other online start-ups and the focus of a U.S. government anti-trust probe. “The biggest hurdle Napster faces is obtaining content,” said Konrad Hilbers, Napster’s chief executive officer, adding that the company’s new service would now launch in the first quarter of 2002 – months later than originally planned. Hilbers gave the keynote speech at Webnoize, a digital media industry gathering, which kicked off… Read more »

The U.S. government has expanded its antitrust investigation of online music ventures backed by the recording industry, a trade group confirmed Monday. A spokesman for the Recording Industry Association of America said the trade group had received a subpoena from the Justice Department seeking to determine the extent to which the industry sought to control distribution of music over the Internet. “Yes, we did receive a CID,” or civil investigative demand, RIAA spokesman Jano Cabrera said. A Justice Department representative did not immediately return phone calls. The Justice Department launched an investigation last summer of two industry joint ventures, Pressplay… Read more »

When Arista President Antonio “L.A.” Reid signed recording group Adema he made sure they did it the right way – after completing their debut album they hit the road on a series of shows opening for Staind, and the commitment has paid off with an impressive top 5 entry for their self-titled debut album on Soundscan’s Hard Music, Hard Music Core Albums and Alternative Core Albums charts. “The buzz is strong, the music stronger,” raved Billboard, as the momentum carried over to ADEMA’s #27 debut on the all-ruling Billboard Top 200 Albums chart (issued dated September 8th). “Moody, hard and… Read more »

Music buyers kept a tighter hold on their purse strings in the first half of 2001, but for those who did hit the stores, full-length CDs accounted for even more purchases than they did last year, according to data released Monday by the Recording Industry Assn. of America. Unit shipments of music in all formats tumbled nearly 10% in the first six months of the year compared with the same period a year ago, while their dollar value slipped by 4.4% to $5.9 billion, the RIAA said. Accounting for part of that discrepancy was the relative strength of the industry’s… Read more »

Epic Records, is proud to announce the signing of Flickerstick, winner of VH1’s 2001 “Bands On The Run” contest. Flickerstick, an emotionally charged, melodic five-piece rock band from Dallas, TX, competed for several months against three other talented, unsigned bands for the top prize in VH1’s Emmy nominated and critically acclaimed series (currently being re-run in its entirety). In the end, Flickerstick was left standing as the victor in both the main contest and the on-line competition, which was decided exclusively by viewers of the show. “We think it’s great that the exposure from “Bands On The Run” has lead… Read more »

The Beastie Boys, Alanis Morissette, the Dave Matthews Band and Phish guitarist Trey Anastasio are among the artists banding together in the “New Power Project,” an effort to fight President George W. Bush’s energy plan. The members of the coalition – which also includes Tom Petty, Jackson Browne and Blues Traveler – hope to use their Web sites, online fan mailing lists and tours to get their fans to petition Congress and the Bush administration to alter federal energy policy. “President Bush’s energy plan recommends drilling for oil in the biological heart of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, bringing back… Read more »

Radio airplay is and has been the primary driver of retail record sales in the United States. Some estimate that nearly 90 percent of sales is the direct result of an artist being exposed on radio. But today, radio is joined by an array of other media choices: MTV, BET, and VH1, digital downloads, and streamed audio. Consumers borrow friend’s CDs and tapes, and see live performance. Any record label or promoter would be remiss by ignoring any one of these outlets since they all help to sell music. In the first-ever project of its kind, James Schureck at Jeff… Read more »

U.S. album sales have declined in the first half of the year, despite the demise of song-swap service Napster, which the recording industry claimed would depress sales and hurt their bottom lines. According to New York-based SoundScan, which tracks music retail trends, sales of current albums – recordings released less than 18 months ago – have fallen about 8 percent year-to-date, while sales of all albums fell about 2.8 percent. Many music company officials shrug off the decline, blaming it on a lack of mega-hits and a slowdown in the economy. Many also predict the trend will improve in the… Read more »

Synonymous with the name, Dead Kennedys have always been controversy – beginning with their moniker and continuing with their vigorous punk activism that was an authority in the early San Francisco punk scene. However this time around, the controversy concerns not strife with the government, but a battle between the former bandmates themselves. An upcoming release of live Dead Kennedys’ recordings called Mutiny on the Bay has exacerbated the punk pioneers’ state of mutiny from outspoken ex-frontman Jello Biafra. While Kennedys’ guitarist East Bay Ray, bassist Klaus Fluoride and drummer J.H. Peligro are endorsing the latest goods, Biafra is in… Read more »