TORONTO – As music lovers approach a new decade in this still-young century, a recording technology once considered old and obsolete — vinyl — has been making a strong comeback.
Pop star Britney Spears plans to set the record straight about her personal and professional woes in a documentary to be aired shortly before the release of her new album "Circus" in December. In the 90-minute film, "Britney: For the Record," Spears talks about her high-profile meltdown, which included stints in rehab and psychiatric hospital units, an ugly divorce, losing custody of her two sons and shaving her head. "I sit there and I'll look back and I'm like: I'm a smart person. What the hell was I thinking?" the 26-year-old singer says in the documentary shot by filmmaker Phil… Read more »
Madonna kicks off her “Sticky & Sweet” world tour at Cardiff’s Millennium Stadium on Saturday, the latest test of her enduring appeal just a week after her 50th birthday. The “queen of pop” will be hoping to eclipse her last trot across the globe in 2006. “Confessions” became the top-grossing tour ever by a female artist, with ticket sales of $195 million. “Sticky & Sweet,” featuring hits that span nearly 30 years in pop music including her latest album “Hard Candy,” includes 49 dates and is due to wrap up in Sao Paulo on December 18. As of Thursday, roughly… Read more »
As I write this, iTunes ranks as the 2nd largest seller of music in the U.S. — only Wal-Mart’s physical stores sell more. Digital revenue is real, and there is a lot of it being earned. Sales from iTunes alone can provide a band enough revenue to achieve true financial success. Don’t take my word for it, just look at some of the sales by the following unsigned artists utilizing the Net for both digital distribution and marketing: Kelly sold over 500,000 songs in five months, Eric Hutchinson sold 120,000 songs in three weeks, The Medic Droid sold over 25,000… Read more »
Sumner Redstone, the billionaire businessman who grew up in Boston’s former West End and went on to build a career at the forefront of the entertainment industry, delivered a message to a standing-room-only crowd at Boston University yesterday: content is still king, but in the digital age, copyright is what matters. Redstone, 84, the majority owner of National Amusements and the chairman of the boards of Viacom, the CBS Corporation, and the MTVi Group, spoke at the School of Law Auditorium about the challenges of keeping a media company profitable in the digital age and answered questions from Bill Schwartz,… Read more »
LYNWOOD, California – Paris Hilton was released from jail at around 12:15 a.m. on Tuesday, exiting the Century Regional Detention Facility through a mob of photographers, press and onlookers.Hilton – wearing a tight pair of dark jeans, high-heeled shoes, a cropped grey jacket, a white short-sleeved shirt, a braided pony tail and a slight smile – was escorted by a cluster of sheriffs to her parents’ waiting SUV, which had arrived just before midnight. A handful of bystanders cheered as cameras flashed and helicopters buzzed overhead. Hilton walked calmly through the crowd, and then jogged the last few steps as… Read more »
For a few hours on Friday (June 8), it looked like Paris Hilton wasn’t even going to show up for a hearing to determine whether she would be sent back to jail. And then, when she finally did make it to the courthouse, she probably wished she hadn’t. Judge Michael Sauer ordered Hilton back to jail, to serve out “the remainder of her sentence,” after a brief hearing, despite her lawyer’s pleas that a return would be “dangerous” to the heiress. The exact length of her stay was unclear at press time, though Sheriff Lee Baca, who released Hilton from… Read more »
Paris Hilton’s “simple life” has just gotten a lot more complicated. On Friday (May 4), a judge sentenced the hotel heiress to 45 days in Los Angeles County jail for violating the terms of her probation, Los Angeles Superior Court confirmed to MTV News. Hilton must report to the Century Regional Detention Facility in suburban Lynwood on June 5 or face a 90-day sentence. She will not be allowed work release, leaves of absence or an electronic-monitoring device instead of jail, Superior Court Judge Michael T. Sauer ruled after a hearing, according to The 36-month probation stint stems from Hilton’s… Read more »
Apple Inc. added Metro-Goldwyn- Mayer Inc. movies for sale on the iTunes Web site, offering customers such classic titles as “The Great Train Robbery” and modern hits like “Rocky.” MGM, owner of the world’s largest film library, will sell about 100 of its movies on iTunes, Derick Mains, a spokesman for Cupertino, California-based Apple said today in an interview. Films from MGM, the fourth studio to sign on since Apple started the movie-download service eight months ago, boost the iTunes catalog to more than 500 films, Apple said in a statement. Except for Walt Disney Co., where Apple Chief Executive… Read more »
If 2006 was the year of user-generated content, 2007 will be the year the music industry learns to generate new revenue from the hugely popular trend. Labels are striking licensing deals with sites like YouTube so that fans can post copyrighted content or include it in videos they make themselves. Additionally, labels are expected to start releasing new types of content — such as unused clips or video montages — specifically created for fans to manipulate in new ways. By doing so, record labels can then share in the advertising revenue these sites collect. Rather than just suing YouTube and… Read more »
