Search Results for: Radiohead

One hundred acts on 700 acres can mean only one thing. It’s time for Bonnaroo, dude. The four-day festival of music, art, movies and comedy kicks off on Thursday in Manchester, Tenn., and promises a musical experience designed to please, well, almost everyone who likes music, laughter and $7 showers. Launched in 2002, the festival was largely a gathering of jam bands in the beginning, but has expanded its reach over the years to include performances by Radiohead, the Police and a diverse mix of artists spanning a range of genres. And since the word “bonnaroo” is said to be… Read more »

The album that will put the new EMI under its greatest global scrutiny to date is also 2008’s most eagerly awaited release. That’s the official word from Coldplay’s new boss. The band’s “Viva La Vida or Death and All His Friends” will be released June 12 internationally on Parlophone/EMI and on June 17 in North America on Capitol. EMI Group chairman Guy Hands, who led the buyout of the music company last summer through his private-equity firm Terra Firma, says, “Right across the world, this is the most anticipated album of the year.” As the follow-up to the British melodic… Read more »

As expected, Nine Inch Nails is utilizing the Internet to disseminate its new instrumental album, “Ghosts I-IV,” which went live at 9 p.m. ET tonight (March 2) via the Trent Reznor-led group’s Web site. “Ghosts” will also see physical release via RED Distribution on April 8, Billboard has learned. Fans can receive the first nine songs from the 36-track project, which was recorded during “an intense 10-week period last fall” and likely to spawn additional volumes, for free, or the entire album can be obtained digitally for $5. “I’ve been considering and wanting to make this kind of record for… Read more »

British rock band Coldplay will release its new album through EMI Group this summer, the band’s manager was quoted as saying on Thursday, a month after he threatened to withhold the record in protest of major cost-cutting by the beleaguered London label’s new owners. The album will be a key test for private-equity investor Guy Hands, who led a 3.2 billion pound ($6.25 billion) buyout of EMI last year. He quickly unnerved musicians by looking for ways to trim the fat in an industry known for its wanton excess and loss-making deals. Hands’ strategy includes laying off up to a… Read more »

Troubled British singer Amy Winehouse is the perfect poster girl for the current state of the music industry. Music isn’t her problem. Everything else is. That’s exactly the same situation that the music industry – faced with lagging sales, a lack of star power and defection from its biggest moneymakers – finds itself in these days. And when the music industry has problems, the Grammys – celebrating their 50th anniversary Sunday – do as well. Winehouse and her stunning R&B revivalist debut “Back to Black” (Universal Republic) are up for six awards; she’s the only artist nominated in all four… Read more »

Lily Vasquez, a marketing manager from Clifton, New Jersey, spent nearly eight years trying to break into the music business as a singer before she stumbled across SellaBand.com. The Web site is one of several where artists can have their albums funded by fans — a proposition that takes advantage of digital technology, online social networking and the current uncertainty in the established music industry. The sites are reinventing the relationship between artists and their fans, upsetting the traditional role of the record label as the tastemaker, promoter and distributor of music. “I didn’t really understand the site when I… Read more »

Lily Vasquez, a marketing manager from Clifton, New Jersey, spent nearly eight years trying to break into the music business as a singer before she stumbled across SellaBand.com. The Web site is one of several where artists can have their albums funded by fans — a proposition that takes advantage of digital technology, online social networking and the current uncertainty in the established music industry. The sites are reinventing the relationship between artists and their fans, upsetting the traditional role of the record label as the tastemaker, promoter and distributor of music. “I didn’t really understand the site when I… Read more »

Coachella’s indie roots will be watered down with classic rock this year. Pink Floyd frontman Roger Waters has been tapped for the festival’s closing slot, performing the band’s 1973 opus, Dark Side of the Moon, in its entirety, organizers announced. The full lineup for the 2008 edition of the music festival was revealed Monday at a news conference in Mexico, with mellow rocker Jack Johnson and trip-hop trio Portishead set to hold down the other two headlining slots. Other highlights at this year’s Coachella include Kraftwerk, the Breeders, the Verve, Death Cab for Cutie, My Morning Jacket, Rilo Kiley, the… Read more »

In a dramatic demonstration of the economic toll of digital piracy on the music industry, EMI Group is expected to fire more than a quarter of the London-based company’s employees and radically alter the way it does business to further cut costs. Guy Hands, who was installed as chief executive of the world’s fourth-largest record company after it was bought last year by investment company Terra Firma, is expected to announce cuts of at least 1,500 employees today as part of a major restructuring, two EMI executives said. EMI also will become the first major label to eliminate the large… Read more »

After 2006 — a year when virtually no one managed to launch a digital music service in competition with Apple’s dominant iTunes — 2007 was a refreshing change of pace. Several fresh faces emerged onto the digital music scene this year, buoyed in part by record companies’ newfound willingness to experiment with different business models, but also by the departure of several high-profile competitors. By far the most visible service to throw in the towel this year was MTV’s Urge; now, a new entity called Rhapsody America joins Rhapsody’s technology with MTV’s editorial and music curation staff. Sony began the… Read more »