Search Results for: GERMANY

BMG Entertainment said Monday it will work with security technology provider SunnComm to create copy-protected CDs, one of a growing number of efforts by the record labels to combat alleged Internet piracy at the source. Under the deal, SunnComm said BMG will use its technology, dubbed MediaCloQ, which prevents people from being able to “rip” songs directly from a CD onto a computer. BMG said it is testing SunnComm’s technology and is starting to implement it on promotional CDs. BMG said it will decide later whether to use SunnComm’s technology for commercial releases. The announcement comes as major record labels… Read more »

Macy Gray picked up more than postcards and passport stamps during her world tour supporting On How Life Is – she also brought home inspiration for her second album, The Id. The charismatic songstress says her world travels supporting her 1999 breakthrough exposed her to an eclectic mix of styles and sounds that inspired her to get wild in the studio. “You go to France and African rhythms are really big over there and then you go to Germany and you’ve got like German hip-hop,” Gray said Wednesday. “And then there’s all kinds of techno clubs and drum’n’bass and jungle… Read more »

Microsoft Corp. said Monday it is enlisting three companies to sell plug-ins to enable its upcoming media player software to record music in the MP3 format and play DVD movies. Microsoft’s Windows Media Player, a new version of which will debut in the software giant’s new Windows XP operating system in late October, has not supported high-quality music recording in MP3, the most popular format for storing songs and CDs as digital files on a computer. Critics have said lack of MP3 support was evidence that Microsoft was trying to drive users to its own format, called Windows Media Audio,… Read more »

BeMusic, the world’s largest music services group owned by Germany’s Bertelsmann, unveiled a new structure and management team on Tuesday that will oversee the group’s joint venture with Napster. Bertelsmann’s eCommerce arm, which agreed an alliance last year to help build a legitimate version of online rebel Napster, said its Chief Executive Officer Andreas Schmidt would take the top post at BeMusic, home to the world’s largest music club and online CD retailer. Bertelsmann is developing BeMusic as a one-stop music shop, bringing together its online music store CDNow, music club division BMG Direct, recently acquired online song-storage company Myplay… Read more »

German media giant Bertelsmann’s shakeup of its flagging music division looks set to continue with U.S.-based subsidiary Bertelsmann Music Group (BMG) reportedly looking to lay off hundreds of employees in its efforts to cut costs and raise profits. Rumors followed the appointment last week of former BMG Germany chief Thomas Stein to head BMG’s European division. Stein replaces Richard Griffiths, who is leaving the company by mutual agreement after six months in the job. “We have a new European management team and everything is being reviewed,” said a BMG Europe spokeswoman in Munich, who confirmed that BMG’s top management would… Read more »

Pudgy and shy, 13-year-old Matt Shafer had an outlet in rap but few to really share it with – until a chance day he saw Bob Ritchie work the deejay’s turntable. “Wickie-wickie-wickie,” was how the skinny, smug 16-year-old Ritchie scratched records during a deejay contest, his baseball cap’s visor flipped up and a rapper’s clock dangling from his neck. The showman did his thing backward, even upside down. “Everything about him was cool – the way he dressed, the way he talked. I admired him, looked up to him. He was kind of like an older brother to me,” Shafer… Read more »

Prodigy will be playing four European shows in August. Prodigy are currently in the studio working on new material for their fourth album, to be released on Maverick Recording Co. Maverick anticipates an early 2002 release date. Prodigy’s 1997 release, “Fat of the Land”, entered the Billboard Album Chart at #1 and went on to sell two and a half million copies in the U.S. and over seven million copies worldwide. With hits like, “Firestarter,” “Smack My B**** Up” and “Breathe,” the band received major radio airplay and MTV exposure. Prodigy has played to sold-out concert venues nationwide and headlined… Read more »

Southern California punk stalwarts Bad Religion were forced to cancel their European tour due to drummer Bobby Schayer’s shoulder injury. Moreover, the damaged rotator cuff will take him out of the band’s lineup permanently. The injury prohibits Schayer from lifting his arm above his shoulder, effectively ending his drumming career, according to the band’s publicist. Suicidal Tendencies drummer Brooks Wackerman is slated to replace the fallen percussionist. Schayer’s injury has “left us stunned and greatly saddened,” the bandmembers posted on their official Web site (www.badreligion.com). “His doctor tells us that he has lost a very significant amount of motion in… Read more »

Alanis Morissette has returned to the jagged little sound that made her famous. The Canadian singer debuted eight new songs during a show Friday night, providing a generous preview of her next album, which is sitting in limbo while she fights a contract dispute with Maverick Records. Much of the new material harked back to the edgier pop-rock of Morissette’s 1995 smash, Jagged Little Pill, and steered away from the moody, Eastern-influenced sound of its follow-up, 1998’s Supposed Former Infatuation Junkie. Accordingly, the two-hour performance – the first of two consecutive nights at Los Angeles’ El Rey Theatre – was… Read more »

Guns N’ Roses have canceled their entire European tour, which was to kick off June 1 at the Rock Im Park festival in Nurnberg, Germany. Guitarist Buckethead has suffered hemorrhaging and has missed rehearsals, according to Helter Skelter, the band’s European management agency. Doctors have been unable to determine the hemorrhaging’s cause, though the guitarist is going through extensive testing in California. With the deadline looming to ship the band’s equipment overseas, and given the rehearsal time required for a band that’s only performed together twice, the situation was deemed unworkable, according to a source close to the band. The… Read more »