Search Results for: Record Store Day

With ice on both ears, Justin Timberlake set out to prove that on his own he can accomplish the mission that was set for ‘NSYNC – to generate a little respect for pop. On Wednesday, the crowd at the sold-out America West Arena turned the venue into a balls-out dance club for the opening night of Timberlake and Christina Aguilera’s Justified and Stripped Tour. The fans, most of whom were women in their late teens and early 20s, screamed at Justin and Christina’s every move and word. Aguilera’s set began with images of her on a video screen showing her… Read more »

Just a month after opening its doors, the Apple iTunes store is looking to expand. With content already available from all five major labels, the online music service is reaching out to independent labels in hopes of offering the broadest, deepest catalog of downloadable music. Apple has invited hundreds of indie label representatives to a private presentation on Thursday at the computer giant’s Cupertino, California, campus to discuss hopping onboard and adding their content to the more than 200,000 songs already available through the service. “The plan was to go out of the gate with the five major labels, but… Read more »

“American Idol” winner Ruben Studdard has signed to Clive Davis’ J Records, and runner-up Clay Aiken will join the first “Idol” winner, Kelly Clarkson, on RCA Records, which Davis also oversees. The RCA Music Group, which includes J Records and RCA Records, has exclusive rights to sign the stars from the “Idol” franchise. The label’s close ties with the show stem from its parent company BMG’s long-standing relationship with “Idol” creator Simon Fuller. Additionally, Fremantle Media, the TV production arm of BMG parent Bertelsmann AG, partnered with Fuller’s 19 Entertainment Group to create the show. Davis, who founded J Records… Read more »

In a pop-punk field increasingly populated with interchangeable sound-alike bands, Good Charlotte has made a bid to break away from the pack with its second CD, “The Young & the Hopeless.” Lead singer Joel Madden, who along with twin brother Benj writes the group’s songs, credits Eric Valentine, the producer of “The Young & the Hopeless,” with helping to expand the group’s musical horizons. “He challenged me to write different songs than just a bunch of songs that were kind of the same thing,” Joel Madden said. “He was like, ‘Why don’t you try writing some songs that you wouldn’t… Read more »

Score one for the grotesque over the gangsta. “The Golden Age of Grotesque,” the newest album by Goth rocker Marilyn Manson, topped the album sales charts in the past week, selling about 118,000 copies in the week ended May 18, industry tracker Nielsen SoundScan said on Wednesday. Gangsta rap artist 50 Cent was No. 2 with his major label debut, “Get Rich or Die Tryin’,” which sold 107,000 copies, taking its cumulative sales to 4.7 million. The newest release by Manson, the self-proclaimed “Antichrist Superstar,” features songs with headbanging riffs including “Use Your Fist and Not Your Mouth.” Opening at… Read more »

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 »

With anticipation building to a feverish pitch in advance of the imminent release of the eagerly awaited Led Zeppelin live recordings, Atlantic Records has announced that “LED ZEPPELIN DVD,” a 2-DVD set, will be shipping quadruple-platinum in the U.S. alone, and “HOW THE WEST WAS WON,” a 3-CD set, will ship platinum. “The enormous pre-release response from retailers and fans alike to the announcement of these Zeppelin releases dramatically demonstrates the enduring power, timeless influence, and undiminished popularity of this truly phenomenal band,” said Atlantic Group Co-Chairman/CEO Val Azzoli. “To have been associated with Zeppelin for their entire career has… Read more »

The only person who gets to poke fun at Eminem is…himself? That’s the word from Weird Al Yankovic who, despite gaining permission from the rap superstar to parody his hit “Lose Yourself” in a tune called “Couch Potato,” couldn’t convince his Em-inence to let Yankovic do the same in a music video. One would think the hip-hopster would stand up and oblige a comedian who’s made a career out of satirizing the likes of Michael Jackson (“Eat It,” “I’m Fat,”), Madonna (“Like a Surgeon”), Nirvana (“Smells Like Nirvana”) and Coolio (“Amish Paradise”), but the answer was an unequivocal no. While… Read more »

Mullets, Chevelles, BMX bikes, muscle cars, cheesy mustaches. The science of guitar solos by White Lion and Extreme’s Nuno Bettencourt. These are ’80s things bands like Blink-182 like to poke fun at. Damone’s Dave Pino, however, isn’t laughing with them. “That whole mullet thing, American Hi-Fi and Sum 41 can goof on that stuff – the Camaro-driving guy with the mustache. It’s funny and I get it, but it’s offensive to us,” said Pino, the musical mastermind behind Waltham, Massachusetts, rockers Damone. “In this town, we’re stuck in some ’80s suburb,” Pino explained of the working- class Boston ‘burb of… Read more »

Nearly two years after it sued Napster into submission, the recording industry has discovered it’s not enough to try to beat Internet music purveyors whose digital distribution techniques allow copyright violations. It also has to join them. To discourage piracy, the multibillion-dollar industry has in recent months moved beyond lawsuits against file-swapping services. It has employed hacker tactics to flood such sites with bogus files and even taken to suing students who created mini-Napsters on college networks. At the same time, however, the music labels have finally embraced the very online distribution model many had long resisted, one that analysts… Read more »