Search Results for: MAX

Los Angeles – America Online is set to reveal a dramatic new addition to its public Web presence Tuesday (April 19) with the announcement that it will make thousands of music videos available for free and on demand. The media company disclosed an agreement with Universal Music Group (UMG), and a deal with Warner Music Group is expected shortly. Additional labels already are in negotiations as well. AOL has begun encoding the videos and plans to put them up at www.aolmusic.com gradually as the technical work is completed, beginning this week. America Online senior vp programing Bill Wilson said that… Read more »

New York – Radio’s playlist liberation movement hatched in late 2001 at a birthday party in Winnipeg, Manitoba. A radio was blasting when Howard Kroeger, director of operations and programing for CHUM Broadcasting’s Winnipeg stations, arrived at his friend’s 40th-birthday bash. It was a competitor’s classic rock station, and Kroeger used the occasion to conduct an informal focus group among the partygoers, most in their mid- to late 30s. Whenever Boston, the Cars, Meatloaf, Supertramp or some other ’70s staple came on, it got an overwhelming thumbs-up from the Molson-enhanced crowd. But there was a noticeable lack of enthusiasm when… Read more »

New York – As U.S. pop radio stations begin to embrace the Backstreet Boys single “Incomplete,” Jive Records has set June 14 as the release date for the vocal group’s fourth studio album, “Never Gone.” The new album features the writing and production talents of Five For Fighting’s John Ondrasik, Savage Garden’s Darren Hayes, Max Martin, Billy Mann (Pink, Sting), Dan Muckala (Jump5, the Afters) and John Fields (Switchfoot), as well as John Shanks, who in February won the Grammy Award as producer of the year for his work on releases by Sheryl Crow, Clarkson, Hilary Duff and Ashlee Simpson.… Read more »

Washington – Congress is toying with the idea of mandating one standard for all online music platforms. Thanks but no thanks – the industry can figure it out, said music industry and consumer groups at a congressional hearing about the plan Wednesday. During a hearing to discuss mandating interoperability standards between competing music platforms such as Apple’s iTunes and RealNetworks’ Rhapsody, lawmakers sounded off on the lament of some hipsters frustrated by playback snafus when they try to transfer music files from other platforms to their iPods. Although Real and Apple support Advanced Audio Coding (AAC), a compression format defined… Read more »

Perhaps Simple Plan and Good Charlotte will spend their upcoming co-headlining tour discussing the works of existentialist Jean-Paul Sarte or decrying the appointment of ultraconservative Paul Wolfowitz as the head of the World Bank. Because, wow, both groups have gotten plenty serious all of a sudden. It all started last week, when Good Charlotte filmed the woe-is-the-world video for their new single, “We Believe”. And now Simple Plan are upping the angst ante with the clip for their new single, “Untitled.” In the video – directed by Marc Klasfeld (Sum 41, Thursday) – the normally rambunctious Montreal pop-punkers are tackling… Read more »

New York – It looks like music retailers will soon be getting their wish: At least one major is getting aggressive with copy-protected CDs. Sony BMG Music Entertainment is stepping up the rollout of what it calls content-enhanced and copy-protected CDs, according to company executives. It began with the Chieftains’ “Live From Dublin” album, released Feb. 22. Upcoming albums that will receive the treatment are from Kasabian (March 8) and Susie Suh (March 29). Sony BMG expects that by year’s end a substantial number of its U.S. releases will employ either Sunncomm’s newly enhanced MediaMax or First4Internet’s XCP to address… Read more »

Los Angeles – All the Backstreet Boys ask is that you give them a fair chance. The quintet is set to return with a new Jive album in June preceded by a single in March. “That’s the first thing we thought about when we started making the record,” the group’s Howie Dorough says. “That’s why we said we weren’t going to give ourselves a time limit. We wanted to make sure this album would give us a shot again to be around for the long haul so people will realize that we’re not, hopefully, a flash in the pan in… Read more »

MONTEREY, Calif. – U2 frontman and global activist Bono targeted worldwide poverty in his wishes as he was a recipient of the inaugural TED Prize from the Technology, Entertainment, Design conference. The three winners were given four months to come up with their wishes, with TED agreeing to spend $100,000 on each winner to help make them come true. Bono wished Thursday night for the creation of ONE, a social movement he hopes will have more than 1 million Americans fighting worldwide poverty. He also wished to tell people of this movement 1 billion times and wants TED to help… Read more »

New York, Ny – U.K. ragga-metal hybrid Skindred, who are currently on a packed-house tour with Papa Roach, will hit the road with Sevendust following. The U.K. lads will continue to support their Lava Records debut album Babylon, which has captured the #1 spot on the Reggae chart for 10 weeks, selling over 100,000 copies to date. The South Wales, four-piece band, fronted by former Dub War vocalist Benji Webbe, unleashed their experimental reggae/rock hybrid on America August 31, 2004. Not only has the album seared a lasting impression on the Reggae chart, it has hovered in the Top 10… Read more »