Search Results for: 2007

If you’re ever in some dingy watering hole and a lad wearing a panda costume walks in and sits down at the bar, don’t be alarmed. He might not be just some wacko, and he might not pose any kind of real threat. In fact, there’s a good chance he’s just a bored member of post-hardcore six-piece Chiodos, trying to abolish the ennui that comes with life on the road. “Every single day something ridiculous happens out here,” frontman Craig Owens explained. “We’ll dress someone up to go to a bar in a panda suit, and we’re always playing jokes… Read more »

“Dashboard,” the first single from Modest Mouse’s upcoming Epic album ” We Were Dead Before the Ship Even Sank ,” will hit U.S. radio outlets Jan. 16, Billboard.com has learned. A poor quality version of the cut, which was roadtested during the band’s fall shows in Los Angeles, New York and London, has already leaked online. Among the other tracks tipped for inclusion on the album, which is due in March and introduces former Smiths guitarist Johnny Marr into the Modest Mouse fold, include the more sedate “Fire It Up” (sample lyric: “even if we knew which way to head,… 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 »

You can’t blame U2’s concert promoter for wondering just how big the band’s Vertigo world tour could have been if it had simply kept on playing. After all, not one ticket went unsold for the 131 shows on the trek, which began March 28, 2005, in San Diego and wrapped December 9 in front of 47,000 fans at Honolulu’s Aloha Stadium. Having been on the road in fits and starts since March 2005, U2 was clearly in a celebratory mood in Hawaii, as Bono danced onstage with a woman from the crowd during “Mysterious Ways” and even pulled a lucky… Read more »

With its monster-selling Vertigo world tour complete, U2 may be ready to rock less, according to frontman Bono “Our band has certainly reached the end of where we’ve been at for the last couple of albums,” the newly dubbed honorary knight said during a BBC Radio interview earlier this week. “I want to see what else we can do with it, take it to the next level; I think that’s what we’ve got to do.” Asked if that might mean a move away from rock ‘n’ roll, Bono replied, “We’re gonna continue to be a band, but maybe the rock… Read more »

UNIVERSAL CITY, California – If you’re Panic! at the Disco, how do you end a year in which you went from relative unknowns to one of the hottest bands on the planet? “I might get a tattoo that just says ‘2006,’ ’cause it was such a big year,” bassist Jon Walker said. “Really, just the whole year in general has been amazing to us.” So a tattoo (maybe?) and “a little time off for the holidays,” added drummer Spencer Smith. “Then we’re going to start writing a new record over the winter and hopefully we have something out next fall.”… Read more »

New York/London – EMI Music Publishing will begin a three-year transition Feb. 1 as it grooms its next chairman/CEO. Roger Faxon, the chief financial officer at London-based EMI Group PLC, will return to the publishing unit in New York – where he had spent three years as CFO – to become its worldwide president/COO and eventual successor to veteran chairman Martin Bandier. Bandier will remain the company’s chairman/CEO until April 1, 2006, when the two will share the CEO title. Faxon will become sole CEO April 1, 2007, while Bandier will remain as full-time chairman until March 31, 2008. After… Read more »

Hewlett-Packard on Friday unveiled its much-anticipated HP-branded iPod, a deal that instantly gives the company a popular product and greatly extends the retail reach of its partner, Apple Computer. Currently, Cupertino’s Apple has a healthy lead over its competition with its iPod digital music players and its iTunes Music Store. But competition is heating up. Other companies including Creative, Samsung and Sony have their own lineups of portable music players. Microsoft is expected to jump into the fray next week with its own online music service and an updated version of the Windows Media Player software. As for Friday’s unveiling… Read more »

The results of a new survey find that consumers don’t see digital music downloads as an alternative to buying CDs Video may have killed the radio star, but Forrester Research has said Internet piracy was not to blame – as record labels have claimed – for the 15 percent drop in music sales in the past two years. “There is no denying that times are tough for the music business, but not because of downloading,” said Josh Bernoff, principal analyst at Cambridge, Massachusetts-based research firm Forrester Research, who released a report on the digital music market on Tuesday. Based on… Read more »

The dueling satellite radio companies need to rein in previous expectations, but they are still poised to create thriving new businesses that will challenge terrestrial radio, a new report suggests. In a research paper titled “Satellite Radio: Get Outta My Dreams, Get Into My Car,” Webnoize Inc. estimates that 19.1 million Americans will subscribe to either the XM Satellite Radio or the Sirius Satellite Radio service by 2005, representing 9.3% of the adult population in the United States. The study contradicts earlier estimates touted by the satellite radio industry. Various sources had predicted such lofty numbers as 42 million subscribers… Read more »