Search Results for: Rise Records

Since MP3s first became popular a decade ago, music industry executives have obsessed over this question: when would digital music revenue finally surpass compact disc sales? For Atlantic Records, the label that in years past has delivered artists like Ray Charles, John Coltrane and Led Zeppelin, that time, apparently, is now. Atlantic, a unit of Warner Music Group, says it has reached a milestone that no other major record label has hit: more than half of its music sales in the United States are now from digital products, like downloads on iTunes and ring tones for cellphones. “We’re like a… Read more »

Between them, sisters Jessica and Ashlee Simpson have had one high-profile divorce, an embarrassing lip-synch scandal, plastic surgeries both obvious and subtle, blame for a Dallas Cowboys loss, and an impresario father looming over it all. Each shot to prominence – and up the pop charts – by taking the primrose path of MTV reality shows. Each has had shining success at selling records, followed by abject failure. And that’s just a sampling. If you’re a celeb-watcher (or football bettor), it’s juicy stuff. If you’re a Simpson sister, it’s beginning to look like a critical mass of negativity. Of late,… Read more »

Santa Monica, Ca – Takeover Records has announced the addition of Near Miss and Inspection 12 to their label roster. Jacksonville artists Inspection 12 have been making great music since 1994. Their first large scale record, “In Recovery,” was released by Honest Don’s Barely Legal Recordings in May of 2001. Inspection 12’s influences range from punk to country, hard rock to classical. The band displays an incredible sense of maturity, which further validates that they’re far too talented to allow themselves to be pigeonholed. Near Miss, based out of Austin, TX, was started by Max Béchard and Jeremy Hernandez, two… Read more »

Dublin’s docklands redevelopers, who angered U2 by tearing down the group’s hallowed old studios, are giving Bono and his colleagues a high-rise penthouse replacement, the two sides announced Tuesday. “The new Dublin is something I’m really excited about,” Bono told a press conference alongside leaders of the Dublin Docklands Development Authority. Earlier this year the state-backed developers successfully fought U2 in court for the right to tear down a building at Hanover Quay where the band had recorded most of its records since the early 1980s. The building became a place of pilgrimage for U2 devotees, some of whom spray-painted… Read more »

From their earliest days in the ’80s, when radio refused to play them and they had to rely mainly on word of mouth to sell records, Metallica have always been keenly attentive to their fans. That may explain why – while the band routinely turns down press interview requests – it continues to pop online for Web chats at the Metallica Club Web site. Wednesday, following their first concert performance as a band since frontman James Hetfield exited rehab, Hetfield, drummer Lars Ulrich and guitarist Kirk Hammett logged on unannounced and fielded questions from about 20 club members for nearly… Read more »

A good 18 years have passed since Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band recorded their last studio record, Born in the U.S.A. Now, following a hugely successful 2000 concert reunion, the group is about to release a new studio disc called The Rising. In their attempt to bridge all those fallow years with a single release they also appear to be going for a contemporary sound, hiring producer Brendan O’Brien, who is best known for working with groups like Korn, Limp Bizkit, Pearl Jam and Rage Against the Machine. The Rising comes out July 30 and features 14 new… Read more »

Venerable singer/songwriter and former Replacements frontman Paul Westerberg has signed a new exclusive recording agreement with Vagrant Records, it was announced today by Vagrant President Rich Egan. “Stereo/Mono,” the first solo album from Westerberg in three years, is due for release April 23. “Words can’t describe the feeling of speaking to Paul Westerberg, much less having the honor of releasing his records,” said Egan. “I consider him to be among the three greatest American songwriters of the rock era (along with Bob Dylan and Brian Wilson). This new album, ‘Stereo/Mono,’ is a work that defies description in its depth and… Read more »

Album sales for R&B singer Aaliyah rose 41 percent last week, reflecting a surge of interest in the 22-year-old performer following her death in a plane crash this past weekend, statistics showed Wednesday. Music retail tracking firm SoundScan’s album charts for the week ended Aug. 26 showed sales of her latest album, “Aaliyah,” had grown to 62,000 copies, up from 44,000 units the week earlier. Total sales of “Aaliyah” since its July 10 release reached 509,000 copies as of Aug. 26, putting the disc at No. 19 on the latest Billboard Top 200 chart of pop albums. Blackground, Aaliyah’s record… Read more »

“You Rock My World,” the first single from Michael Jackson’s new album, Invincible, was unexpectedly released to radio outlets on Friday (August 24). As late as Thursday afternoon, Jackson’s label, Epic Records, said that it had not lined up a radio add date for the single. The Rodney Jerkins-produced track was prematurely leaked to radio last week, as two New York radio stations, WJTM-FM and WKTU-FM, began spinning it last Friday (see “Michael Jackson Rocks Fans’ Worlds (A Little Early)”). The stations, both of which employed longtime Jackson friend Frankie Blue as music director, played “You Rock My World” every… Read more »