Search Results for: rivals

The Grinch might be stealing Christmas from music retailers, but thanks to Josh Groban and Oprah, there’s still some singing in Whoville. For the sales week kicked off by Super Tuesday–the release date before Thanksgiving when record labels typically schedule their big guns–the figures were abnormally bad, with only one Top 10 bow and a seven-week-old album topping the charts. Still, that album, Groban’s Noël, can thank last week’s performance on The Oprah Winfrey Show for driving it past Alicia Keys and into the number one spot. Noël crowned the Billboard 200 by selling 405,000 copies for the week ended… Read more »

Vivendi condemned as “indecent” the contract terms between its Universal Music Group (UMG) unit and Apple Inc, the computer maker whose iTunes online store dominates the digital music market. Vivendi is one of many large media companies that are trying to challenge Apple’s grip on the digital entertainment market and obtain more control over pricing. It said it was in talks with rival distributors. “The split between Apple and (music) producers is indecent… Our contracts give too good a share to Apple,” Vivendi Chief Executive Jean-Bernard Levy told reporters at a gathering on Monday organized by the association of media… Read more »

The last time Apple Chief Executive Steve Jobs took on major recording companies, he refused to budge on his 99-cent price for a song on iTunes. As a new round of talks ramp up this month, however, Jobs has opened the door to higher prices – as long as music companies let Apple Inc. sell their songs without technology designed to stop unauthorized copying. Jobs contends that would “tear down the walls” by allowing consumers to play music they buy at Apple’s iTunes store on any digital music player, not just the company’s iPods. Although most of the major labels… Read more »

Every day, the roughly one million people who visit the iTunes Store home page are presented with several dozen albums, TV shows and movie downloads to consider buying — out of the four million such goods the Apple site offers. This prime promotion is analogous to a CD being displayed at the checkout stands of all 940 Best Buy stores or featured on the front page of Target’s ad circular. How do bands get these boosts? Who decides whether Arcade Fire is plugged at the top of the iTunes site — or whether Nickelback gets no mention? Apple has jettisoned… Read more »

One of the most astonishing things about the new Apple iPhone, introduced yesterday by Steve Jobs at the annual Macworld trade show, is how Apple managed to keep it a secret for nearly two-and-a-half years of development while working with partners like Cingular, Yahoo and Google. The iPhone, which won’t be available in the United States until June, represents a close development partnership with America’s largest wireless phone company (Cingular, now a part of AT&T, has 58 million subscribers), the world’s largest e-mail service (Yahoo has a quarter-billion subscribers worldwide), and the world’s dominant search company. Although speculation was rampant… Read more »

We know Coldplay are capable of wooing Gwyneth Paltrow, creating a media circus in Toronto and selling out concert halls in a matter of seconds. But it turns out the British softies are also responsible for a declining profit from EMI Group, their record company. Reuters reports British-based EMI, the world’s third-largest music company, said its full-year profit fell after delays in two key albums from Coldplay and the animated band Gorillaz. According to The New York Daily News, EMI’s stock plummeted 16 per cent in one day when the company announced the latest releases by Coldplay and Gorillaz would… Read more »

Washington – Congress is toying with the idea of mandating one standard for all online music platforms. Thanks but no thanks – the industry can figure it out, said music industry and consumer groups at a congressional hearing about the plan Wednesday. During a hearing to discuss mandating interoperability standards between competing music platforms such as Apple’s iTunes and RealNetworks’ Rhapsody, lawmakers sounded off on the lament of some hipsters frustrated by playback snafus when they try to transfer music files from other platforms to their iPods. Although Real and Apple support Advanced Audio Coding (AAC), a compression format defined… Read more »

Miami – The glitz and glam of the MTV Video Music Awards are returning to sunny Miami for the second straight year, the network said Tuesday. MTV said it was seeking to repeat the success of last year’s show, which featured arrivals by yacht by stars such as Shaquille O’Neal and Usher, an appearance by the Kerry and Bush sisters and a tribute to Ray Charles. The show is scheduled for Aug. 28, the steamiest time of the year for South Florida. It’s also in the middle of hurricane season. “Miami radiates an energy that was clearly visible in last… Read more »

Los Angeles – Recording industry executive Andy Gershon sees opportunity in the online file-sharing networks that most of his rivals decry as havens for music pirates. As president of V2 Records, home to such established acts as The White Stripes and Moby, Gershon mines such Internet distribution channels for new fans and revenues. “The cat is so far out of the bag and so far gone that it’s pointless to keep fighting it,” Gershon said. “I might as well make as many people fans of our music, whether they illegally download it or not.” A number of mostly independent recording… Read more »

Tokyo – Sony Corp. reported Thursday a 55 percent rise in earnings for the October-December quarter on home entertainment revenue from “Spider-Man 2,” although its core electronics sector was battered by sluggish sales and price declines. The Tokyo-based electronics and entertainment giant said its group net profit for the fiscal third quarter totaled 143.8 billion yen ($1.4 billion), up from 92.6 billion yen a year earlier. Sales for the quarter dipped 7.5 percent to 2.15 trillion yen ($20.9 billion) from 2.32 trillion yen. Sony’s profits got a lift from improved results at Sony Ericsson Mobile Communications, its mobile phone unit,… Read more »