Search Results for: Mariah Carey

The world’s largest record company will be the first of the major labels to release a copy-protected CD in the United States, signaling a new chapter in the industry’s efforts to stem music piracy. When Universal Music Group on Tuesday releases the soundtrack, “Fast & Furious – More Music,” consumers won’t be able to copy the music onto another CD or use their PCs to “rip” tracks in digital MP3 format. The copy-protection technology will also render the disc unplayable on Macintosh computers, DVD players and game consoles, such as Sony’s PlayStation 2. It might not even play in some… Read more »

Veteran rocker David Bowie has quit the Virgin Records label, which released his last three albums, and set up an independent music company, he announced on his Web site. “I’ve had one too many years of bumping heads with corporate structure,” Bowie, 54, said in a fresh blow to the record label this year. “Many times I’ve not been in agreement with how things are done and as a writer of some proliferation, frustrated at how slow and lumbering it all is. I’ve dreamed of embarking on my own set-up for such a long time and now is the perfect… Read more »

The third time turned out to be not so charming for Now That’s What I Call Music! Vol. 8. For three consecutive weeks, the latest installment in the hits-laden compilation series couldn’t occupy the #1 slot three of its predecessors (volumes 7, 6 and 4) have enjoyed, thanks to Creed’s Weathered, which will remain reigning king of the mountain on next week’s Billboard 200 albums chart. The band’s third album continues to meet staggering sales, moving more than 458,000 copies last week, according to SoundScan figures released Wednesday (December 12). Weathered’s three-week total stands at more than 1.7 million. Now… Read more »

There’s little cheer at the beginning of the holiday sales season. With the exception of the new releases and Christmas discs from Barbra Streisand and Mannheim Steamroller, every album in the top 50 had fewer sales in the week ending Dec. 2 than the week before, according to SoundScan figures issued Wednesday. Creed’s “Weathered” (Wind-Up) continues to hold the top spot with second-week sales of 417,000 units, a 53% drop. For the rest of the holdovers in the top five, “Now That’s What I Call Music Vol. 8” (Virgin) fell 46% to 353,000 units; Garth Brooks’ “Scarecrow” (Capitol Nashville) slid… Read more »

Despite recent box office duds from Mariah Carey (Glitter) and ‘NSync’s Lance Bass and Joey Fatone (On the Line), musicians are continuing to pile up the film roles. Rapper Snoop Dogg, who most recently starred in Bones and The Wash (with Dr. Dre), has signed on to appear in the upcoming big-screen adaptation of the classic ’70s police-action series Starsky and Hutch, starring Ben Stiller and Owen Wilson, according to Australia’s News Interactive (www.news.com.au). The Warner Bros. film is being directed by Todd Phillips (Road Trip) and is due next year. Snoop Dogg will also appear as himself, along with… Read more »

Britney Spears, a former Mousketeer, is at the center of an aggressive drive into the movie business by a handful of young pop stars molded by the music industry and MTV. Not since the 1960s, when singers like Elvis Presley, Frankie Avalon, Fabian and Johnny Cash crooned their way onto movie screens, have studios produced as many star vehicles to showcase the hip-shimmying musical talents of the day’s teen idols. Their holy grail is “The Bodyguard,” starring Whitney Houston, which grossed $122 million and relaunched a pop song that became a perennial hit. The soundtrack is one of the best… Read more »

EMI’s glittering roster of recording artists, from Mariah Carey to the Rolling Stones, failed to save the music giant from a dismal year, but investors are pinning hopes on new recruit Alain Levy to bring sparkle back to the balance sheet. In an industry facing its worst ever year, EMI is reeling from two failed mergers and a lack of big hits. Jaded investors are eager to hear Levy’s plans as the new head of recorded music when the group reports an expected sharp fall in first half profits Monday. EMI warned in September that full-year profits would slide 20… Read more »

Jive Records recording artists Aaron Carter, and his older brother, Backstreet Boy Nick Carter, were among a number of recording artists that recently helped Michael Jackson record the single “What More Can I Give” to benefit the orphans and survivors of the September 11 attacks on America. Carter revealed about his recording session for Jackson’s charity single. “I had a good time,” he said. “My brother and I did this line…the line was ‘brother to brother lets lay down our fears to reach out make a pact.’ Everybody was involved. Tiger Woods was in it, Beyonce (Knowles of Destiny’s Child),… Read more »

Cue ear-splitting shrieks from millions of preteen girls. For Lance Bass, as most adults don’t know, is one-fifth of ‘N Sync, the mega-selling boy-band that has helped keep the music industry afloat in recent years. It’s hard to imagine ‘N Sync winning a Grammy Award for its lightweight pop. So – strange but true – Bass is setting his sights on winning a coveted Academy Award from stuffy Hollywood for his role as a moonlighting movie producer. The 22-year-old Mississippi native set up a movie production company earlier this year, naming it A Happy Place, and is holding meetings like… Read more »

In a move seen as almost inevitable by many in the music business, Nancy Berry has resigned as vice chairman of Virgin Records Group. The move comes just days after her estranged husband Ken Berry was replaced at the helm of Virgin parent EMI Recorded Music by ex-Polygram chief Alain Levy. Nancy Berry’s departure marks Levy’s first visible action to reshape EMI’s embattled U.S. label divisions, which have given up substantial market share over the past few years; EMI is currently in last place among the big five record congloms. Nancy Berry, who has been with Virgin’s U.S. operations for… Read more »