Search Results for: NeX GEn

Los Angeles – Epitaph Records built its foundation on punk rock. But just before last year’s presidential election, the label’s most biting political commentary arrived courtesy of Sage Francis, a 27-year-old rapper from Providence, R.I. The song “Slow Down Gandhi” sarcastically rips into liberals and conservatives alike, casting a cynical eye at warmongers and the “cool kids” who “were rocking votes.” With a perfectly articulated delivery that recalls Chuck D, Francis builds each verse with a mixture of activism, paranoia and humor. “If they could sell sanity in a bottle, they would be charging for compressed air,” he quips. Epitaph… Read more »

CANNES, France – In the music business, it’s a vision that may soon be consigned to history: Grandpa slumping into the recliner, closing his eyes and enjoying a favorite rendition of an operatic solo. For music lovers these days, the sedentary lifestyle is out. A generation after the birth of portable tunes on the Walkman, technology has made music available nearly everywhere for today’s on-the-go consumer – and the recording industry sees a new wave to ride. The buzzwords Sunday at the Midem music industry conference in the French Riviera resort town of Cannes were mobile music, seen as the… Read more »

Las Vegas – Satellite radio providers XM and Sirius used the 2005 International Consumer Electronics Show here to outline a bold agenda for market expansion. Both introduced new products and programming for the new year. XM unveiled a major push into the home audio market via its Connect and Play initiative, which consists of an XM-ready chip and data port. More than 10 major home entertainment equipment providers have agreed to incorporate XM’s technology and logo into such appliances as DVD players, stereos and boomboxes. Customers will have to connect a $50 XM home antenna to their devices to play… Read more »

Los Angeles – In a natural extension of its live-event business, Clear Channel Entertainment is moving into the music DVD market this spring. Clear Channel Entertainment Television, a division of CCE, has signed a multiyear DVD distribution deal with Ventura Distribution. Thousand Oaks, Calif.-based Ventura handles more than 60 home video product lines and has special-content units focusing on urban, family/pop and Latino titles. Ventura will release at least 12 music DVDs, culled from CCE concerts, in the next two years. All projects will be filmed in high-definition video and include extra features. The first title, “Produced by Trevor Horn:… Read more »

Nashville – Backstreet Boy Brian Littrell will make his first foray into the Christian music market next fall when he releases his debut solo album. Littrell is talking to producers, but hasn’t nailed anyone down. He does have some songwriters in mind, though. “I would like to collaborate with Michael W. Smith,” he says. “We’ve been talking about that for years, and now we can start getting these things in motion. I’m looking for outside stuff, and I’ve got a lot of material in my head as well.” Littrell, who grew up attending a Baptist church with his family in… Read more »

Many artists say the greatest reward is to have an effect on people’s lives. Johnny Borrell, 24-year-old frontman for Razorlight, won’t settle for merely having an effect, he wants his music to save the lives of others. After all, it was his music that saved his life. When he was 17, Borrell started shooting heroin, and for the next two years, he made a daily habit of shooting up and snorting cocaine. Over time, he lost most of his friends, some who overdosed, and some who couldn’t stand watching Borrell destroy himself. It was only after he decided to mold… Read more »

They had throngs of screaming fans, surging popularity and an album gaining chart momentum – but John Nolan and Shaun Cooper, formerly of Taking Back Sunday, left it all behind. “We were just more and more not on the same page as the rest of the band,” said Nolan, now Straylight Run’s frontman. “As time went on, we just had different ideas of what we wanted to do, and eventually it got to the point where it didn’t make sense for us to be in that band anymore”. So Cooper and Nolan ditched the emo-centric Taking Back Sunday and started… Read more »

SANTA MARIA, Calif. – A judge denied a defense bid to delay Michael Jackson’s child molestation trial, saying it would be “a huge step backward” and clearing the way for the trial to begin next month as planned. Judge Rodney S. Melville also refused to dismiss the case for what his defense lawyers had argued was “vindictive prosecution and outrageous government conduct.” Jackson attorney Robert Sanger had asked Melville to postpone the trial for three months, allowing attorneys time to sort through 14,000 pages of evidence filed by prosecutors. The request stalled at Monday’s pre-trial hearing for Jackson, who was… Read more »

London – The new Strategy Analytics Wireless Internet Applications report, “Mobile Music on Demand Goes Centre Stage at Vodafone 3G-But Service Concept Questionable,” recognizes that mobile operators will struggle to generate volume sales of music through their new Music on Demand (MMoD) services, and alternative strategies are needed for success. Strategy Analytics predicts that these services will be generating $2 billion per year, compared with $57 billion for SMS, by 2009. Over the past six months, mobile network operators, including Vodafone, Orange and O2, have set up digital music retail stores, which allow their customers to download full music tracks… Read more »

December 21, 2004 09:00 AM US Eastern Timezone Beverly Hills Film Studios Announces Strategic Alliance with Award-Winning Music Production Company Touch-Tone Productions LOS ANGELES-(BUSINESS WIRE)-Dec. 21, 2004-Beverly Hills Film Studios Inc. (OTC: BVHJ) management is pleased to announce today a joint alliance with Touch-Tone Productions, a California-based music production company. With special focus on the production of music for movie soundtracks, Beverly Hills Film Studios Inc. (BHFS) has teamed with Touch-Tone as producers/composers. Touch-Tone is a dynamic conduit to the music industry and will be involved in all aspects of film music development and production, song placements and recording artist… Read more »