Search Results for: NeX GEn

When her new album, Hotel Paper, hits stores June 24, Michelle Branch wants you to remember what Aaliyah said almost a decade ago: Age ain’t nothing but a number. “I just want [people] to actually listen to the record and, I guess, give me a chance,” the 19-year-old singer said recently. “I don’t know, younger artists, people kind of write us off as being this novelty kind of thing, and people forget that George Harrison was 17 when he was in the Beatles, U2 was my age… the Rolling Stones, everyone. It doesn’t matter how old you are, it shouldn’t… Read more »

As if a live CD of every show on their current tour weren’t enough, Pearl Jam have begun selling a live DVD of a December club gig at the Showbox Theater in Seattle. “Live at the Showbox” is available only on the band’s official Web site and at their concerts and features the full set from a December 6 warm-up for the band’s current world tour. Though it does not have any bonus features, the live disc differs from the group’s extras-laden “Touring Band 2000” DVD thanks to the intimate setting in the 1,000-plus capacity theater. The new DVD boasts… Read more »

The 21st Century Doors have lit a fire under the estate of the late Jim Morrison. Seeing red are George and Clara Morrison, the octogenarian parents of the group’s legendary frontman, who filed a trademark infringement lawsuit against surviving members Ray Manzarek and Robbie Krieger on Wednesday. They claim the rockers swiped their son’s poetry and image and used them in a revamped version of the Doors currently touring the U.S., featuring the Cult’s former frontman, Ian Astbury, as a fill-in for Morrison. The complaint, filed in Los Angeles Superior Court, also names Astbury as a defendant. According to court… Read more »

After nine months of recording with at least five different guitar players, Limp Bizkit still aren’t finished with their new album. Fred Durst has set aside the 19 tracks already recorded and is starting fresh with new guitarist Mike Smith, formerly of Snot. “The chemistry with our new guitar player, Mike, is so dope that we are spending the next couple weeks writing a new album!” Durst wrote on Limp Bizkit’s Web site Wednesday. With less than three months before the band heads out on the Metallica-headlined Summer Sanitarium Tour, Durst nevertheless promised to have what had been tentatively titled… Read more »

Like Steven Segal in 1991, Sharon Osbourne is out for justice. But unlike Gino Felino, the character portrayed by the karate champ turned actor, she’s not looking to settle the dispute that took place in a West Hollywood, California, restaurant last week with martial arts. Neither is she taking the matter to a court of law. Rather, she’s about to bring the case before the court of public opinion. Osbourne is set to appear on the television show “Celebrity Justice” Tuesday (April 15), according to a network spokesperson, to tell her version of how an altercation with a talent agent… Read more »

In a pairing that would alter the architecture of the music business, Apple Computer Inc. is in talks with Vivendi Universal to buy Universal Music Group, the world’s largest record company, for as much as $6 billion, sources said. Such a seemingly unlikely combination would instantly make technology guru Steve Jobs, Apple’s co-founder and chief executive, the most powerful player in the record industry. Universal, which reaps about $6 billion in sales annually from artists such as 50 Cent, Shania Twain, U2 and Luciano Pavarotti, would be controlled by a maverick who revolutionized the computer market and coined the mantra… Read more »

New Jersey-based artist Pat DiNizio, lead singer/songwriter of the Smithereens, has founded Patrons & Artists Together, a boutique entertainment partnership meant to fund his recording and touring projects and reward participants with a unique music experience, as well as provide free music via the Internet. Limited to 100 subscribers at a cost of $1,200 each, the program offers CD releases that will not be available through conventional channels, private concerts, and more. In a statement, DiNizio describes Patrons & Artists Together business model as “a ‘vision quest’ in which an artist partners up with his or her audience to make… Read more »

Japanese electronics and entertainment giant Sony Corp. promoted the executives who run its entertainment and video-game units Monday. Howard Stringer, chief executive of Sony Corp. of America and head of the entertainment group, will become Sony vice chairman. He retains his position as chairman and CEO of Sony Corp. of America. The entertainment group includes music and film operations. Ken Kutaragi, who made the Sony PlayStation console a major moneymaker for the Tokyo-based company, will become executive deputy president of Sony in addition to his current duties as chief executive of Sony Computer Entertainment and as a Sony director. The… Read more »

Zomba Music Group, home to teen-pop powerhouse Jive Records, will be saying “bye, bye, bye” to as many as 350 employees out of its 1,800-strong global staff over the next nine months as part of its long-awaited integration into parent company Bertelsmann Music Group. The layoffs, which will be spread out evenly over the course of the year, are part of a larger effort to bring Zomba’s stable of imprints – including Jive, Verity, Silvertone and Volcano – into the major-label group’s worldwide infrastructure. From a brand standpoint, Zomba will remain very much independent from BMG, with major imprints and… Read more »

EMI Group, home to stars from the Rolling Stones to Norah Jones, came under more pressure to find a suitor on Wednesday after its debt was slashed to “junk,” sending its shares to their lowest level in more than 10 years. EMI, the world’s third-largest music company, saw its stock slump 13 percent after Moody’s slashed its debt below investment grade late on Tuesday on concerns about the weak outlook for the music industry, stoking fears about the group’s profits and dividend. Faced with an increasingly gloomy outlook, EMI has been in talks in recent months with two rivals –… Read more »