Search Results for: Alan Day

A group of researchers who foiled four different copyright protection technologies in a contest launched last year by the music industry is now being asked by the record companies to suppress its findings, one of the researchers said Tuesday. The research group – composed of students and professors from Princeton and Rice Universities and an employee of Xerox Palo Alto Research Center – had initially planned to present its findings Thursday at a Pittsburgh conference on information security but was then threatened with legal action by the forum, the Secure Digital Music Initiative (SDMI), a forum representing music and technology… Read more »

One day Australia’s hottest new rock exports are opening for heavy metal heroes AC/DC, the next day they are sharing the bill with race horses. Bands that want to make it big sometimes have to swallow their pride. During the 1960s, rock acts appearing on Ed Sullivan’s prestigious TV variety show were squeezed in between chimpanzees and circus clowns. In 2001, Australian punk-rock trio the Living End recently played for several thousand fans at a Los Angeles racetrack. But their afternoon set was punctuated by a 10-minute break so the horses would not panic as they galloped past the makeshift… Read more »

Along with a tall stack of budget documents, a White House official Monday gave a handful of reporters a copy of their unofficial theme song: the 1969 Rolling Stones classic “You Can’t Always Get What You Want.” The song’s refrain “You can’t always get what you want. But if you try sometimes, you might find, you get what you need,” has become a mantra for President Bush’s budget writers as they have tried to balance the many interests vying for a piece of the $1.96 trillion U.S. federal budget. “It’s been kind of our internal battle cry for the last… Read more »

Napster interim CEO Hank Barry calls upon Congress to enact compulsory license laws that include direct payment to artists. Testifying before U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee, Napster’s chief executive officer said that an act of Congress is required to remedy the issues facing Internet music. Barry called on Congress to enact a compulsory license analogous to laws already in place for radio, for the delivery of music over the Internet. He urged that any such license should include language that enables direct payment to artists similar to the “writer’s share” of public performance payments that are collected by ASCAP and BMI.… Read more »

Don’t focus only on major labels’ interests when considering legislation, they say. Alanis Morissette and Don Henley urged the U.S. Senate to heed the voices of artists – and not just their record labels – during a hearing Tuesday morning on the future of online entertainment. Senators should take artists’ concerns into account if they decide to write any legislation related to the online future of the recording industry, Morissette and Henley said in testimony before the Senate Judiciary Committee. “The reason that I am here is that although these intermediaries claim to represent the creators, and while there certainly… Read more »

For years recording artists and the executives who promote their work have had a love-hate relationship. Executives at recording companies, which make billions of dollars a year distributing music on compact discs and in other formats, say their business is risky and they should be compensated for taking chances on young talent. Recording artists, for their part, have long grumbled that companies are too controlling, lining their pockets by exploiting musicians unschooled in business. Now, while the debate in the music industry has focused on how recording companies should deal with the public online, the controversy has also reheated long-simmering… Read more »

‘N Sync premiered ‘BIGGER THAN LIVE’, the giant screen version of the group’s ‘No Strings Attached’ tour at the IMAX theatre at LOS ANGELES CALIFORNIA SCIENCE CENTRE yesterday (March 30). The group arrived with a fleet of limousines and heavy security presence, and faced a barrage of media attention as they walked the 200-metre red carpet outside the cinema. Christopher Alan Kirkpatrick quipped: “I see they have a lot of popcorn around. I really want nachos. Can I get nachos?” Justin Timberlake said: “This is a way for all our fans to experience the front row experience.” He declined to… Read more »

Most major rock bands are good for one or two live albums during their careers. As of this week, Pearl Jam have 73 live albums to their credit. The Seattle rockers, now in their 11th year together, took the unprecedented step of releasing a budget-priced “official bootleg” CD from almost every show on their 2000 tour in order to combat pirates and to give fans a good deal. The roll-out occurred in three stages, ending Tuesday with the retail release of 24 CDs from the second half of the U.S. tour. Already in stores were 25 CDs from Europe and… Read more »

Melanie Chisholm, aka Sporty Spice, told Reuters Thursday she does not plan to keep working with Britain’s biggest pop phenomenon since the Beatles and will instead focus on her burgeoning solo career. Her decision could effectively mark the death knell for a mega-selling act whose rallying cry of “Girl Power!” reverberated around the world when they burst on the scene six years ago. While Chisholm specifically said twice in the interview that she no longer planned to work with the group, a Spice Girls spokesman insisted to the BBC that the group was still together. Chisholm, 27, who is widely… Read more »