Search Results for: 2003

Music fans in Britain, France and Germany downloaded more than 800,000 tracks from Apple Computer Inc’s iTunes online music store in its first week of operations in Europe, the company said on Wednesday. The strong start makes the much-heralded download service already a top player in Europe’s brutally competitive music download market. “In the UK alone, iTunes sold more than 450,000 songs in the last week – 16 times as many as OD2, its closest competitor,” Apple CEO Steve Jobs said in a statement issued on Wednesday. Apple launched iTunes in France, Germany and the UK on June 15 to… Read more »

Record labels have historically invested significant financial resources toward new acts’ touring efforts, whether it be $20,000 for a regional van trek or $200,000 for a national bus outing. But in today’s world of shrinking revenue and tight budgets, tour support funds – though almost always recoupable against album sales – are becoming harder to come by. “There’s not as much money at any level, whether it’s signing bonuses, (recording) albums, tour support or anything else,” says Tim DuBois, senior partner of Nashville-based record label Universal South, home of such ascts as Pat Green and Joe Nichols. “But even in… Read more »

A month after promoters declared the concert industry healthier than ever, big summer tours such as Ozzfest, Fleetwood Mac, the Dead and Lollapalooza have run into a concrete wall of slow sales. “Ticket sales are mixed, and in some cases they appear to be substantially off from the past,” says Alex Hodges, executive vice president of House of Blues Concerts, one of the three major U.S. promotion companies. The summer’s success stories so far are big-buzz superstar events such as Prince and Madonna, plus low-cost packages including the long-running Warped Tour, Alanis Morissette/Barenaked Ladies and No Doubt/Blink-182. Also, the three-day… Read more »

Universal Music maintained its status as the world’s market leader in 2003, but a combined Sony/BMG would have challenged its dominance. The International Federation of the Phonographic Industry (IFPI), a music industry trade group, released market share figures that show BMG and Sony had an aggregate share of 25.1% in 2003. Universal posted a 23.5% share, down from 25.4% in 2002. The Sony-BMG merger plan cleared a major hurdle June 17 when European competition commissioner Mario Monti gave his approval of the deal. BMG was among the companies posting a share gain in 2003, increasing to 11.9% from 9.6% in… Read more »

The unclassifiable rock band Coheed and Cambria has signed with Columbia Records, who, in conjunction with Equal Vision Records, will re-issue the group’s watershed album, In Keeping Secrets of Silent Earth: 3, on Tuesday, June 29. One of the biggest indie band breakout stories of the year, Coheed and Cambria, already legendary for delivering incandescent live performances, will be among the headliners on this year’s Vans Warped Tour. Coheed and Cambria is: Claudio Sanchez (lead vocals, guitar), Michael Todd (bass, backing vocals), Travis Stever (lead guitar, backing vocals), Josh Eppard (drums, backing vocals). Officially christened Coheed and Cambria in 2001,… Read more »

Not one rock-based track has reached the top two slots of the Billboard Hot 100 during the past couple of years until this week. The dearth of retail singles for such songs, coupled with the massive audience potential of R&B/hip-hop titles, has all but relegated rock, and some pop titles, to the middle of the top 10. But Hoobastank defies the recent trend, as “The Reason” jumps 5-2 to become the highest-charting rock track on the Hot 100 since Linkin Park took “In the End” to No. 2 in March 2002. With the surrounding R&B tracks having reached their peak… Read more »

Apple and Napster, two of the world’s leading online music providers, are this week announcing separate initiatives to expand their distribution services internationally. Apple, the US computer maker, is expected to launch its popular internet music store in Europe tomorrow, in an attempt to build on the company’s considerable success in the US online music market. Napster, a subsidiary of US media company Roxio, will today unveil a partnership with NTL to offer music subscriptions to the UK cable group’s 1m broadband customers. The two initiatives follow agreement with music publishers over complex distribution rights in Europe. Apple, whose iTunes… Read more »

Avril Lavigne joins music’s most exclusive club with her May 25th Arista/RCA release UNDER MY SKIN debuting at #1 on Billboard’s US album chart. UNDER MY SKIN also debuted at #1 in Germany, the United Kingdom, Japan, Australia, Canada, Spain, Ireland, Thailand, Korea and Hong Kong! UNDER MY SKIN is the follow-up to Avril’s 2002 debut album “Let Go,” which sold 15 million copies worldwide. The album has generated tremendous media excitement starting with Avril’s appearance as musical guest on the May 8th broadcast of Saturday Night Live. She went on to perform on “The Today Show” outdoor summer concert… Read more »

The newly private Warner Music Group, having significantly reduced its worldwide staff, is now turning its cost-cutting efforts toward its artists. As part of the integration of Atlantic and Elektra into one label, Warner Music Group’s new management team is looking at the artist roster with the goal of paring it “from 180 to below 100,” says WMG U.S. Recorded Music chairman/CEO Lyor Cohen. The company is attempting to get the roster down to a size that’s in proportion with the organization and respectful of the acts remaining on the roster, Cohen says. It’s unclear which specific artists might get… Read more »

Linkin Park are saving the best for last. The final single from their 2003 album, Meteora, will be their favorite track, “Breaking the Habit.” They dig the tune so much, in fact, that they’re planning to use it as a model when they start working on their next album in October. “Creatively, ‘Breaking the Habit’ is one of the songs we’re most proud of,” guitarist Brad Delson said. “It’s so familiar, but at the same time it’s so foreign to anything we’ve ever done. It really is just a unique animal, and when we approach making the next record, I… Read more »