Search Results for: Download Fest

Just as sound bites get reworked into tunes that multiply over the Internet – Remember all the songs based on Howard Dean’s yelp? – a widely seen TV ad is getting the hack-and-slash treatment. The target is Pepsi’s current promotion giving away 100 million free song downloads from Apple’s iTunes Music Store. The company promises one in three bottlecaps on certain Pepsi products carries a code for a free iTunes download. Pepsi is airing a 45-second spot featuring 16 crestfallen music downloaders who have been sued by – and settled lawsuits with – the record industry for illegally snagging songs… Read more »

On Jan. 6, San Francisco’s Moscone convention center pulses with all the energy of a rock concert. A crowd sprinkled with hip-hop teenagers, digerati, and aging hippies streams in to hear the annual state-of-the-Mac keynote from Apple Computer Inc. Chief Executive Steven P. Jobs. Every facet of the event bears the fingerprints of the obsessive Jobs – right down to the music that fills the air. This year, it’s the King himself, Elvis Presley. Later, Jobs rolls the tape of Apple’s famous “1984” ad that ran on Super Bowl Sunday that year – and hasn’t been broadcast since. Only this… Read more »

The great digital music giveaway is about to begin. In the new year, some of the world’s biggest brands will promote their products and services by doling out millions of free downloads through alliances with digital music services. “You’re going to see lots of free music given out via third-party companies,” buymusic.com founder Scott Blum says. “It’s not going to be Apple and iTunes driving the business. It’s going to be companies like Pepsi and other third parties that are promoting digital music on bottle caps and on labels.” Indeed, Apple Computer has inked a deal with Pepsi to give… Read more »

In their 13 years together, the members of P.O.D. have never denied their faith. And frontman Sonny Sandoval says the group never will. “It’s going to come out, whether I build houses or collect garbage,” he says. Spirituality and positivity have saturated the band’s material to date and have helped turn P.O.D. into a multiplatinum-selling act in the wake of Sept. 11, 2001. With the new Atlantic effort, “Payable on Death,” both band and label hope that the faith of the 2.7 million U.S. fans who bought P.O.D.’s previous album also remains intact, as the new set – the group’s… Read more »

When the record industry announced in June that it would begin filing individual lawsuits against hundreds of illegal file-swappers, it was not just a bad PR move, it was a signal that the music business is more desperate than ever. Halfway through 2003, sales continue to slump, down eight percent from the first six months of last year. Three of the ten best-selling albums so far this year were actually released in 2002, and only three artists – 50 Cent, Norah Jones and Linkin Park – managed to sell more than 2 million copies between January and June. 50 Cent,… Read more »

Alternative rock outfit Dashboard Confessional has unveiled plans for a fall tour, beginning Aug. 30 in Pittsburgh and wrapping Oct. 7 in St. Paul, Minn. The Chris Carrabba-led band will be touring in support of its upcoming Vagrant album, “A Mark, a Mission, a Brand, a Scar,” due Aug. 12. The first single, “Hands Down,” is now available for paid download from Apple’s iTunes Music Store. The new disc was produced by Gil Norton (the Pixies, Foo Fighters) and includes such songs as “Carry This Picture for Luck,” “Rapid Hope Loss,” “Ghost of a Good Thing,” “Several Ways To Die… Read more »

Assembling a promotional campaign for a veteran band that has been out of the spotlight is a tough enough feat. But Capitol Records is facing the daunting task of reintroducing a group that hasn’t released a new album in 13 years. Luckily, the campaign behind pioneering alternative rock outfit Jane’s Addiction’s “Strays,” due July 22, has had a huge prerelease boost from first single “Just Because.” The song is No. 4 on Modern Rock Tracks after four weeks, returning Jane’s Addiction to the top of the format at which it scored five top 15 hits between 1988 and 1991. The… Read more »

Independent music company FullAudio Corp. on Wednesday launched MusicNow, the latest digital music service to enter the race to woo music fans from the tempting free, song-swapping services inspired by Napster. Boasting an easy-to-use magazine-like format, FullAudio, which has been developing the service for several years as it has obtained licensing from the big five major labels, said that MusicNow is designed around 36 channels. “MusicNow is on the forefront of a dramatic market paradigm shift beyond the labor-intensive ‘search and browse’ database model developed by Napster,” said Scott Kauffman, president and chief executive officer of Chicago-based FullAudio, which is… Read more »

Nearly 7,000 music industry representatives and more than 1,000 bands are descending on Austin this week for the 17th annual South by Southwest Music Conference and Festival. Even for a place that calls itself the “Live Music Capitol of the World,” the planes, buses and vans arriving full of shaggy-haired men and tattooed women carrying guitars and drums adds a new dimension to the city. The musicians and industry representatives have come for four days of industry panels, discussions and trade shows. To balance out the shop talk, the festival features four intense nights of live music with 1,000 acts… Read more »

Record labels and artists were out in force Thursday to reiterate their blunt assessment of digital piracy’s effects on their financial well-being at a state government hearing in Sacramento. “I would like to begin with a simple proposition,” said Recording Industry Assn. of America president Cary Sherman. “The one-two punch of physical and digital piracy is threatening the livelihood of the music industry.” The hearing, convened by the California State Assembly’s Committee on Arts, Entertainment, Sports, Tourism & Internet Media, was the second piracy gripefest in as many weeks for the industry, which is increasingly turning to the government for… Read more »