Search Results for: Interscope Records

Though U.S. album sales were down last year for the third year in a row – the longest stretch in 20 years – Nielsen SoundScan numbers still contain some bright spots for 2003. For the full year, album sales declined 3.6% to 667.9 million units from the 693.1 scanned in 2002. But when looking at the fourth quarter, album sales rose 4.7% from the October-December period in 2002. That has caused some executives to proclaim that the industry has hit bottom. Indeed, at mid-year, sales were down 8.6%. That gap was closed by the fourth-quarter surge. What’s more, 2004 is… Read more »

On Tuesday a federal court judge granted Eminem an injunction against The Source,blocking the hip-hop publication from releasing a CD containing a controversial freestyle by the rapper. Last month the magazine’s owners, Ray “Benzino” Scott and David Mays, held a press conference to expose the old recording in which a young Marshall Mathers talks disparagingly about black women. The Source’s owners said a CD of the freestyle would be included in their February issue, due on newsstands January 13. Eminem admitted to making the song in anger and issued an apology. In a statement released two weeks ago, he said,… Read more »

Online music piracy isn’t likely to vanish soon, but the rise of paid online services and the growing popularity of portable digital music players portends greater demand for digital music next year and better fortunes for the embattled recording industry, music executives said Monday. Taking a mostly positive outlook on an industry racked by a three-year slide in CD sales, executives for recording companies and Internet music retailers told hundreds at the Music 2.0 conference in Universal City that online music sales should take off in 2004. “What we see is an explosion of interest in this space. It’s a… Read more »

As the early buzz over new music services such as Apple Computer’s iTunes fades, record labels and technology companies are struggling to turn the services into profitable businesses. Speaking at the iHollywood Forum’s Music 2.0 conference in Los Angeles Monday, executives on both sides focused on the 99-cent price tag that has become the market’s standard for downloadable music. Critics say that that price needs to come down if mainstream consumers are to start buying in large numbers, making the Internet a serious factor in the record industry’s bottom line. Record labels say they can’t afford to go lower. “There’s… Read more »

Universal Music Group said Tuesday it reached a deal to buy DreamWorks Records, the music unit of the entertainment company formed by film and music moguls Steven Spielberg, Jeffrey Katzenberg and David Geffen. Terms of the deal were not disclosed. The purchase is expected to be completed early next year, subject to regulatory approval. Universal plans to fold DreamWorks Records into its Interscope Geffen A&M label, which is run by veteran music executive Jimmy Iovine, sources said. DreamWorks Records launched in 1996 and is home to a number of established rock and country acts, such as Nelly Furtado, Papa Roach,… Read more »

Shady Ltd. will sponsor the Obie Trice “Rock the Mic” tour bus. Obie, a hip hop artist from Eminem’s Shady Records label, will be the tour’s opening act and share the bill with 50 Cent and Jay Z. Over the course of July and August, the tour will visit 46 cities, throughout the U.S. and Canada. It is expected to be the biggest hip-hop show of the summer. Obie, who will perform his own set in each city, is gearing up to release his debut album, “Cheers,” executive produced by Eminem and due out this September on Shady/Interscope. The Detroit… Read more »

50 Cent’s empire continues to expand courtesy of deals for namesake shoe and clothing lines with Reebok and Ecko, but the Queens rapper is not forgetting that music is the foundation of the phenomenon. On November 4th, his Interscope imprint G-Unit Records will release the self-titled debut album by his G-Unit crew, featuring Tony Yayo, Lloyd Banks, Young Buck and 50 himself. And 50’s already recording the follow-up to his smash debut Get Rich or Die Tryin’ for release early next year. “February or early March,” he clarifies. And what about producers? “Dre and Em – absolutely,” 50 says of… Read more »

The former music exec, who stepped down as head honcho at Sony Music in January, has teamed up with Universal Music Group to head up a modern-day version of a retro record label. The mastermind behind the careers of Mariah Carey, Celine Dion and Jennifer Lopez will run Casablanca Records, a label founded by Neil Bogart that had its heyday in 1970s with acts like KISS, Donna Summer and the Village People. According to UMG execs, a five-year contract was inked Monday (reportedly to the tune of $50 million), and Mottola is ready to start producing for the New York-based… Read more »

The way things are shaking out, Eminem will go down in history as starting more feuds than Richard Dawson. Last week the rapper’s latest battle, pitting his Shady Records camp against Ja Rule and Murder Inc., took center stage at Giants Stadium during Summer Jam, the annual hip-hop fest thrown by Big Apple radio’s Hot 97. Em protégé 50 Cent started his set with several Ja digs accompanied by a video display. Then Eminem delivered da bomb, performing the blistering Ja Rule-dissing salvos “Doe Ray Me” with D12 and “Hail Mary” with 50 Cent and Busta Rhymes. But don’t start… Read more »

Godsmack takes over the Billboard 200 with a No. 1 debut for “Faceless,” and leads the charge of seven top-20 entries on the album chart. The Universal album sold 269,000 copies in the U.S., according to Nielsen SoundScan, giving the band its best debut week on the chart. The total is easily enough to end the two-week reign of Linkin Park’s “Meteora” (Warner Bros.), which falls to No. 2 on a 30% sales decline to sales of 186,000 copies. “Faceless” is Godsmack’s third major label album and its entry bests the opening position of its last set, “Awake.” That release… Read more »