Search Results for: EUROPE

Kazaa, the wildly popular free music-swapping service that emerged in the wake of Napster’s decline, may finally have shown a chink in its armor. Consumer Empowerment, the Amsterdam-based company that developed Kazaa and the Fasttrack file-sharing network on which it operates, has suspended all new downloads of the software, pending a decision by a Dutch judge in a copyright suit filed against the company by a European publishers’ rights group. The move doesn’t affect users who have already downloaded the Kazaa software; they were still able to swap music and other digital files via Fasttrack last week. Consumer Empowerment also… Read more »

311’s spring tour with Hoobastank, which launches next month, will include a very, very special holiday show in New Orleans. No, not Valentine’s Day. Not Saint Patrick’s Day. We’re talking 311 Day, and for the second time in three years, the hip-hop-reggae-rockers will celebrate their self-declared March 11 holiday in the Big Easy, complete with a proclamation by New Orleans Mayor Marc H. Morial. Circus performers and other surprise guests are expected at the concert, which will be an extended show with rare live items on the set list. Hotel packages are being offered in New Orleans for out-of-town guests,… Read more »

Billy Joel and Elton John are back together in the new year for the continuation of the pair’s magical “Face To Face” performances kicking off on Sunday, January 13th in Washington, DC at the MCI Center. Billy and Elton first toured the successful “Face To Face” tour in the United States in 1995 and again in 1996. The tour was extended to Japan, Australia, New Zealand and Europe in 1998. The 31-date “Face To Face” 2001 tour grossed $59 million. Early sales for the Billy Joel/Elton John “Face To Face” 2002 tour of the American northeast immediately set box office… Read more »

Jon Lee, drummer for the Brit-rock band Feeder, was found dead in at his home in Miami on Monday. He was 33. Lee hanged himself in his garage and was discovered by his wife, Brazilian model Tatiana Englehart, according to a spokesperson for the Miami-Dade County Medical Examiner’s office. “We will miss him more than melody,” Feeder frontman Grant Nicholas and bassist Taka Hirose said in a statement. “We’re utterly devastated.” Nicholas elaborated in an interview he gave to BBC Radio 1 on Wednesday, saying he “really can’t understand why he chose to take his own life when he had… Read more »

Five months after being hospitalized for what was called an “overindulgence,” Foo Fighters drummer Taylor Hawkins is healthy, happy and making music with his bandmates once again. The 29-year-old drummer was hospitalized in the U.K. in August for a health crisis that led to the cancellation of the Foo Fighters’ European tour (see “Foo Fighters’ Drummer Hospitalized; European Tour Canceled”). Hawkins came clean on the causes of his recent hospitalization this week, and admitted that the “overindulgence” was drug-related and that he has taken subsequent steps to get clean and sober. “I was just definitely a little out of control,… Read more »

Napster launched a test version of its new copyright-compliant service Thursday in a bid to restart the once wildly popular song-swap Web site that was shut down by a record industry lawsuit. The test or “beta” version, which lacks content from the major music labels, is not open to the public. Instead, it will be offered to 20,000 people randomly selected from a group of more than two million who e-mailed Napster showing interest in participating in the beta test. Napster’s service has been sidelined since July as a result of an injunction issued by U.S. District Court Judge Marilyn… Read more »

Thieves broke into the DJ/producer’s Los Angeles studio over Christmas while he was recording in London and made off with more than $75,000 worth of equipment, including computers storing 11 tracks for his upcoming album and hundreds of other recordings, he said. “One of the FireWire hard drives that was stolen included my sound library since I was 15 years old,” a shaken BT said. “It’s a really heavy thing, a really hard thing to have happen when you are gone. The guys that work for me were crying over the phone – grown men crying. It was a really… Read more »

The music industry is having to rethink its drive towards copy-protecting music CDs, following people-power protests and probing questions from US politicians. BMG in Europe had launched two of its chart CDs, Natalie Imbruglia’s White Lilies Island and Five’s Greatest Hits, with copy protection technology but have now switched production to “clean” unprotected CDs, following consumer complaints. The discs were launched “clean” in Australia. In the US, Universal’s new compilation CD of Fast and Furious rock music is copy-protected but is clearly marked with consumer warnings, unlike previous discs. BMG released both their CDs with only a small print reference… Read more »

Irish rock band U2, which enjoyed a triumphant 2001 playing to sold-out crowds in support of its acclaimed new album, led the list of nominees Friday for the Grammy Awards, the music industry’s top prizes. U2 picked up eight nominations, including the key album, song and record of the year categories, organizers announced at a news conference in Beverly Hills. The group’s four members were “thrilled and really excited, and not at all blase,” U2 manager Paul McGuinness told Reuters from the band’s Dublin base after he tracked them down across Europe to break the good news. “There’s a lot… Read more »

They may be critical of the U.S. government, but System of a Down love the people of this nation – so much so that they’re slipping in 12 North American theater dates between tours in Australia and Europe instead of taking a well-deserved month off. The band will start the jaunt with openers Clutch on Valentine’s Day in Las Vegas at the Joint, and then they’ll hit 11 other cities. The tour will conclude in Verdun, Quebec, on March 1. System of a Down will begin their European tour in Coimbra, Portugal, on March 5. That trip will conclude in… Read more »