Search Results for: EUROPE

Geneva, NY-based crossover rap/rock group Gym Class Hero’s are here to put fun back into hip-hop. As frontman Travis McCoy reveals, we couldn’t agree more; “Everybody takes themselves so seriously, it’s become a fashion show more or less. We want the vibe to be as fun as possible.” It’s hard to imagine anything less fun than their new single “Cupid’s Chokehold”, set for it’s UK release this month (February 12th) after already burning up across North America. The band have even catapulted themselves from relative newcomers to serious U.S. chart contenders with the cut – currently being featured atop MTV’s… Read more »

In a rare open letter from CEO Steve Jobs on Tuesday, Apple urged record companies to abandon digital rights management technologies. The letter, posted on Apple’s Web site and titled “Thoughts on Music,” is a long examination of Apple’s iTunes and what the future may hold for the online distribution of copy-protected music. In the letter, Jobs says Apple was forced to create a DRM system to get the world’s four largest record companies on board with the iTunes Store. But there are alternatives, Jobs wrote. Apple and the rest of the online music distributors could continue down a DRM… Read more »

Warner Music Group has signed a deal to allow its entire catalog to be played over the fast-growing social networking music service Last.fm, the innovative site that links music fans to new and old hits. With more than 15 million active users per month, Last.fm has earned glowing praise for its system which recommends songs by tracking a listener’s music-playing habits and automatically linking them to fans with similar tastes. The deal with Warner, the world’s fourth-largest music company, is the first with one of the major labels and the network’s co-founder Martin Stiksel said they were in talks with… Read more »

Sony Corp and Bertelsmann AG have refiled a request for EU regulators to clear a 2004 deal merging their music units, the European Commission said Thursday. Regulators have to re-examine the deal they cleared in July 2004 because an EU court struck down their original approval last July, citing “manifest errors” in how authorities decided that combining the two music majors would not restrict customer choice. The judgment sent lawyers into a flurry because it undermined the legality of the Sony BMG deal that formed the world’s second-largest record label behind Universal, bringing Sony artists like Aerosmith, George Michael and… Read more »

By now, you might be aware that Fall Out Boy’s new album, Infinity on High, somehow leaked online over the weekend. What you might not know is what FOB’s label, Island Records, plans to do about it. You may have heard that the label was thinking about moving the album’s release date up a week, from February 6 to January 30. And you probably read the reports on various message boards that FOB mouthpiece/bassist Pete Wentz all but confirmed that move onstage at a Friends or Enemies Tour stop in Atlanta. Well, it turns out that none of that information… Read more »

Gwen Stefani has a pair of complaints about her last solo tour: One, she didn’t feel she had as much material to showcase as she did with No Doubt; and two, she was pregnant. “I was about four and a half months pregnant, which was totally not a good idea,” Stefani said. “I highly recommend not getting pregnant and going on tour! So if you’re thinking about going on tour, do not get pregnant” . With no impending morning sickness or mood swings, the singer can’t wait to start her 40-city Sweet Escape tour “It’s so much fun to create… Read more »

Drummer Travis Barker is leaving a European tour with his new band +44 because of an unhealed fractured arm. The former Blink-182 drummer had been on tour despite a fractured right arm he suffered Sept. 9 while filming a video, according to Interscope Records. Barker, 31, will return to Los Angeles to be treated. The band, fronted by former Blink-182 singer and bassist Mark Hoppus, has not announced a replacement drummer. A message left at Interscope Records was not immediately returned Sunday. Barker starred in the MTV reality series “Meet the Barkers” with former Miss USA Shanna Moakler, to whom… Read more »

EMI Group Plc, which ousted its two top music executives last week after issuing a profit warning, announced on Thursday two key appointments to its EMI Music management team. JF Cecillon will become chairman and chief executive of the newly established EMI Music International unit which will focus on EMI’s recorded music business outside the UK and North America. Cecillon, who was previously in charge of EMI Music for continental Europe, will now oversee Asia, Latin America and Australia and New Zealand. Ian Hanson, previously senior vice president, chairman’s office, EMI Music, has been promoted to the global role of… Read more »

In their never-ending quest to secure ‘hood status, Fall Out Boy have tapped Babyface as a producer on their Infinity on High album, recruited Def Jam honcho Jay-Z to drop a verse on the upcoming disc and spent copious interview space praising the lyrical skills of Lil Wayne. And yet, none of those things seemed to land them the cred they so desperately sought . So in a move that’s bound to leave fans on both sides of the aisle pumped yet flustered, they’ve turned to Kanye West to remix the first single from Infinity, “This Ain’t a Scene, It’s… Read more »

EMI Group PLC said Friday two top music executives are leaving the company and said it expects revenue to fall at its music division after lower-than-expected sales over the Christmas period. EMI Music Chief Executive Alain Levy and Vice-Chairman David Munns will leave the world’s third-largest music company with immediate effect, EMI said. EMI, home to Coldplay and Robbie Williams, said in October that it expected the bulk of its full-year sales to be generated in the second half of the financial year ending March 30. However, on Friday, the company downgraded its full-year revenue forecast significantly. It expects a… Read more »