Search Results for: EUROPE

As Britney Spears readies for her tour, she’s making sure there’s plenty of her to go around while fans wait for her to come around. The singer’s about to release a DVD that’ll include pre-tour concert footage as well as bonus tracks. Two new songs are found on the CD portion of Spears’ “In the Zone” DVD, due March 23. The first is called “Don’t Hang Up,” and it finds the singer pleading on the phone for her lover to keep her satisfied long-distance. The second song is the P. Diddy-produced “The Answer,” which both artists had talked up before… Read more »

Trademark rivalry between Apple Computers and Beatles company Apple Corps re-emerged in court today in a clash over the computer giant’s iTunes online music store. London-based Apple Corps, owned by Sir Paul McCartney, Ringo Starr and the widows of John Lennon and George Harrison, is suing the United States computer company for allegedly breaching the terms of a 1991 peace pact signed after a long-running multi-million pound trademark war. ple Corps claims that the use of the Apple name and logo to promote music products through the iTunes facility – which enables computer users to download and save thousands of… Read more »

Confirming that interest in the Pixies’ music has not waned since the band’s 1993 demise, 11 of the 12 shows scheduled for the group’s impending reunion tour sold out within minutes over the weekend. At the 1,600-seat Prairieland venue in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, capacity has been doubled to accommodate additional fans. “The demand has been so great,” Prairieland events manager Carl Schlosser told Billboard.com. “We are the largest venue, so we’ll be that overflow for fans who may have been shut out in other cities.” Tickets for the 12th show on April 29 in Davis, Calif., go on sale March 1.… Read more »

It was a breakthrough deal that would have put the Napster kitty on millions of Hewlett-Packard computers. But in the days leading up to Napster’s re-launch in late October, HP suddenly – and without explanation – returned Napster’s $250,000 check and canceled the agreement to install a link to Napster’s online music service on its computers. Worse, in January HP announced a surprise partnership with Napster rival Apple Computer to feature the iTunes Music store on HP computers and sell Hewlett-Packard branded iPod music players. Neither HP nor Napster’s parent company, Roxio, would comment on the soured deal, whose details… Read more »

Veteran Los Angeles punk outfit Bad Religion will release a new studio album, “The Empire Strikes First” June 8 via Epitaph. Like its predecessor, 2002’s “The Process of Belief,” the forthcoming disc was co-written and co-produced by guitarist Brett Gurewitz and frontman Greg Graffin. “It’s not ready for public consumption yet, but it’s basically recorded and finished,” Graffin told Billboard.com. “We really put a lot of pressure on ourselves to make the best album we could. ‘The Process of Belief’ is considered by many to be our comeback, since Brett and I started writing together again. After so many years… Read more »

Apple, the US computer company behind the iTunes music service, has become the latest group to oppose the proposed deal between Sony Music and BMG, the recorded music arm of Germany’s Bertelsmann media group. The development comes as the European Commission begins an intensive second-stage investigation of the merger, a probe it is due to close by June 22. In an announcement on Thursday, the Commission said it had “decided to investigate whether the deal might create or strengthen a collective dominant position between the remaining four major record companies”. It said it would examine “the extent to which the… Read more »

No Doubt and Blink 182 will team up for a coheadlining U.S. amphitheater tour beginning June 1 in Indianapolis and wrapping June 26 near Los Angeles. The summer dates will be planned around No Doubt singer Gwen Stefani’s work on an Interscope solo album and her role in the upcoming Martin Scorsese film “The Aviator.” “I was like, ‘Gwen, can you give me three weeks?”‘ No Doubt manager Jim Guerinot told Billboard. “I would have loved to have had a whole summer of this tour.” Added No Doubt bassist Tony Kanal in a statement: “It’s been a while since we’ve… Read more »

Fresh off a stint on the Big Day Out tour of Australia and New Zealand, the Strokes have unveiled plans for a six-week spring outing in the United States, with an excursion to Mexico City. Dates get underway March 9 in Washington, D.C., and are confirmed through April 25 in Minneapolis, although Strokes manager Ryan Gentles told Billboard.com the tour is expected to run through May 19. Support acts have not yet been announced. The New York rock quintet is touring in support of its sophomore RCA album, “Room on Fire,” which debuted in October at No. 5 on The… Read more »

Their last recording had a budget of about $300. Still, Toronto duo Death From Above managed to use that small sum to create an aural masterpiece that led to worldwide attention and a tour across the Great White North with Billy Talent andAlexisonfire. It was probably the best three bills the band ever spent. And now they’ve got a solid grand – $1,000 – burning a hole in their pockets. You can just imagine how giddy bassistJesse F. Keeler and drummer/singer Sebastien Grainger must be as they gear up to record an 11-song full-length. “Considering what we spent with the… Read more »

In what looks like the first big heavyweight arena tour of the year, Beyoncé, Alicia Keys and Missy Elliott are joining forces for what promises to be a sizzling, sassy bill. Beyoncé and Keys will co-headline the monthlong springtime trek. According to a schedule provided by Keys’ representatives, the tour starts in Ft. Lauderdale, Florida, on March 12 and wraps up on April 18 in Oakland, California. Label representatives said some of the dates could change. Talk of the three pop stars getting together has been circulating for the past few weeks. For Alicia and Beyoncé, it’ll be the first… Read more »