Search Results for: Record Store Day

Pressplay (www.pressplay.com), the online music service launched Dec. 19, is an order of magnitude better than rival MusicNet (www.musicnet.com), which launched Dec. 4. The gap is so great that I don’t think MusicNet deserves to sign up a single additional subscriber without first undertaking a major overhaul to match pressplay. Not that pressplay is perfect; the major record labels are still struggling to figure out how to sell their music online without opening the door to further piracy. But pressplay succeeds at delivering all three components of the online music experience: “streaming,” where you listen to songs without putting them… Read more »

The vaults of long-gone-but-not-forgotten hip-hop pioneer Eric “Eazy-E” Wright have been opened, and previously unreleased music from the West Coast rap legend will be released on March 26 to coincide with the seven-year anniversary of his death. An eight-song EP titled Godfather of Gangsta Rap – with music recorded between late 1994 and a little before his death in 1995 – will accompany the DVD “Impact of a Legend” when it hits stores. According to Ruthless Records, the label Eazy founded and which is now run by his widow, Tomica Woods-Wright, the EP features appearances by newcomers Paperboy & Flossmode… Read more »

Sam Goody announced today that Philadelphia’s Y100 “Sonic Sessions” album has outsold national bestsellers including Britney Spears, NOW Vol. 8 and Kid Rock in the Philadelphia-area Sam Goody stores. Since the album’s debut four weeks ago, the album is nearly sold out. When “Sonic Sessions” debuted, it sold more units than any other title in the Philadelphia area with the exception of Creed’s new album, “Weathered.” During the second week of sales, the album landed at fourth place in Philadelphia-area Sam Goody stores. “Y100’s Sonic Sessions series is truly a phenomenon and always is greeted with extraordinary enthusiasm by the… Read more »

Bell Biv DeVoe (a.k.a. BBD), the group responsible for such mega-hits such as “Poison,” “Do Me!” and “BBD (I Thought It Was Me)?” is back and stronger than ever with their brand new Biv 10/Universal Records, self-titled album BBD, which arrives in stores on Tuesday, December 18th. Group members Ricky Bell, Michael Bivins and Ronnie DeVoe have made a CD that they consider to be their strongest. Michael Bivins describes BBD as “vocally on point, musically innovative and lyrically in tune with what’s going on right now.” The group’s lead track is “Da Hot Sh**(Aight)” – produced by Rockwilder (Janet… Read more »

The world’s largest record company will be the first of the major labels to release a copy-protected CD in the United States, signaling a new chapter in the industry’s efforts to stem music piracy. When Universal Music Group on Tuesday releases the soundtrack, “Fast & Furious – More Music,” consumers won’t be able to copy the music onto another CD or use their PCs to “rip” tracks in digital MP3 format. The copy-protection technology will also render the disc unplayable on Macintosh computers, DVD players and game consoles, such as Sony’s PlayStation 2. It might not even play in some… Read more »

Six months after returning to store shelves, Weezer are ready to make their follow-up. The band will soon enter a Hollywood studio to record its fourth album, according to an Interscope Records spokesperson. The LP’s scheduled April 30 release date may seem optimistic, but it’s not like the diligent group is starting from scratch. Just two weeks after the release of Weezer, the band’s second self-titled effort (known as the Green Album), frontman Rivers Cuomo and company hit a Washington, D.C., recording studio to lay down demos for 12 new songs, including the instrumental “Burnt Jamb,” “Keep Fishin’,” “Not in… Read more »

Consumer electronics company SONICblue Inc. on Monday unveiled a high-end home entertainment hub that can store an entire music collection and furthers the company’s thrust into the budding market for digital audio and video entertainment. At about $1,500, SONICblue’s Advanced Digital Audio Center can become the centerpiece of a music enthusiast’s wired home. It features a 40-gigabyte hard drive that can record up to 650 hours of music. Through the system, available only via SONICblue’s Web site, music from a CD can be recorded to its hard drive, played back over receivers within the house, downloaded to an MP3 player,… Read more »

While his new album, Better Days, arrived in stores on Tuesday, Joe has started working on another LP that he promises will come “sooner rather than later.” “I started already,” Joe said of the record late last month. He hopes it will be an album of duets reminiscent of when “Marvin [Gaye] did the Tammi Terrell thing.” Joe named Faith Evans, Mary J. Blige, and Alicia Keys on his list of potential partners in the studio. “I’m going to get everybody,” he said. “Mariah [Carey], the whole nine. I want an album like that. Eve – I’m a have hip-hop… Read more »

Rock legend Neil Young has written and recorded a song about the passengers who fought back against their Sept. 11 hijackers – a song described by one record company executive “as so chilling you feel like you are on that plane.” The song, a salute to heroism called “Let’s Roll,” was shipped to radio stations this week but will not be sold in stores, Young’s recording company Reprise Records said Wednesday. It was inspired by the passengers on United Airlines Flight 93 on Sept. 11 who apparently decided to fight back against their hijackers after hearing by telephone of the… Read more »

Loud Records extends its reach into wireless networks through a groundbreaking new partnership with mobile entertainment portal Zingy (www.zingy.com). Fans of the digitally progressive Wu-Tang Clan and Mobb Deep may now customize their cell phones with free ringtones and logos from their new albums. This marks the first time in the U.S. that music has premiered for mobile phones before an album release. “Technology is advancing so fast in this day and age, there’s no better way to get involved than through the wireless networks. Cell phones are so widely used that ringtones are one of the best ways to… Read more »