Search Results for: Nick Major

Bertelsmann Music Group has completed its Jive lessons. The major label group said Tuesday it has closed its acquisition of Zomba Music Group, home to teen-pop label Jive Records, paying more than $2.74 billion to acquire the stakes in the closely held group it didn’t already own. BMG already held 20% of Zomba’s record labels and 25% of its music-publishing portfolio. The deal, which got rolling in June after Zomba owner Clive Calder triggered a long-standing “put” option to sell his interest, gives BMG full access to Jive’s roster of pop megastars, including ‘N Sync, Britney Spears and the Backstreet… Read more »

‘Tis the season for holiday radio shows. As much a tradition as eggnog, mistletoe and broken resolutions, December always brings a bumper crop of all-star shows in which bands give back to their fans (and the radio stations that play their music) by jetting around the country and serving up short hit-heavy sets. The month of December will be especially star-packed for those living near Indianapolis, San Diego or Philadelphia. If you love Good Charlotte, Coldplay, Destiny’s Child and Queens of the Stone Age, you might want to cash in some frequent flyer miles, because those bands are among a… Read more »

If music school grades are a barometer of success, John Mayer should be living under a bridge busking for nickels. During an abbreviated tenure at Boston’s Berklee College of Music in 1998, the now platinum singer/songwriter found himself out of his element and overwhelmed. He had no formal musical training and his class marks reflected his lack of preparation. “They were pronounced like ‘d-d-d-f-f-f-f-f ‘ – like static,” he said of his grades during an interview in New York’s Central Park. “So I had to kind of totally burn that bridge because I didn’t know what I was doing. But… Read more »

Like so many one-hit wonders before it, the demise of the once iconic online song-swapping service Napster has failed to stir much sympathy. “Really, who cares?” Sebastian, a student at the Technical University of Darmstadt, Germany, told Reuters as he heard that Napster would likely be forced into Chapter 7 liquidation as early as Thursday. “Everybody’s moved on to other file-sharing (services). The interest for Napster in the Internet community just wasn’t as high as everybody originally thought,” said the 28-year old student of IT engineering. During its heyday in 2000, Napster attracted tens of millions of music fans who… Read more »

Michael Jackson’s list of grievances with Sony Music has grown from complaints about the promotion of his Invincible album to include accusations that the label blocked the release of his “What More Can I Give” charity single. Jackson predicted last fall that the “We Are the World”-type song – recorded with a sizable list of participants including Mariah Carey, Ricky Martin, Usher, Beyoncé Knowles, Shakira and Nick Carter – would raise $50 million for victims of September 11. Eight months after Jackson announced he was ready to release it, the issues surrounding why the song never came out are starting… Read more »

The Courtney Love vs. Dave Grohl and Krist Novoselic case is on its way to court, and in late September the world should know more about the fate of unreleased Nirvana material. But Grohl is beginning to question whether all the legal mumbo jumbo is worth the hassle. In April the surviving members of Nirvana asked that Love be forced to undergo a psychiatric evaluation to test her sanity, and later in the month a judge denied the request, causing Grohl to bang his head against the wall as forcefully as he pummels his drum kit. “At the end of… Read more »

No wonder pop fans are singing the blues. Radio sounds like a broken record. CD prices are heading off the charts. Labels are out of tune with the digital age. New acts fail to strike a chord with listeners. It’s time to face the music. The $14 billion recording industry, struggling through its first sales slump in a decade, faces challenges on several fronts, not the least of which is a tarnished image in the eyes and ears of fans who feel ripped off by greedy, tone-deaf bean counters. In 2001, album sales dropped 2.8% compared with 2000, the first… Read more »

Despite what Lil’ Bow Wow and Britney have shown us, stardom doesn’t always come before you can vote or get behind the wheel of a car. The past few years have been a boon for the high school (Aaron Carter, B2K, Lil’ Romeo) and graduation set (Michelle Branch, Vanessa Carlton). Even though it may have felt like it, it hasn’t been all teens all the time, though. Veteran acts such as U2, Nickelback, Creed, No Doubt, Train, Sugar Ray and R. Kelly have been banging the charts all along. And lately, singers like Tweet and rockers Unwritten Law and Jimmy… Read more »

A study by market-research firm Odyssey shows that 31% of online users over the age of 16 – or over 40 million U.S. consumers – report they have downloaded or transferred music online in the past six months, and they do so an average of 11 times per week. These findings were part of Odyssey’s Breadbox, a semiannual study of U.S. consumers focused on attitudes toward, and usage of, e-commerce and other retail channels. Affecting The Industry While the music industry tries to restrict file sharing among online users, consumers continue to transfer and download online music. Later this week,… Read more »

311’s spring tour with Hoobastank, which launches next month, will include a very, very special holiday show in New Orleans. No, not Valentine’s Day. Not Saint Patrick’s Day. We’re talking 311 Day, and for the second time in three years, the hip-hop-reggae-rockers will celebrate their self-declared March 11 holiday in the Big Easy, complete with a proclamation by New Orleans Mayor Marc H. Morial. Circus performers and other surprise guests are expected at the concert, which will be an extended show with rare live items on the set list. Hotel packages are being offered in New Orleans for out-of-town guests,… Read more »