Search Results for: SIA

Good Charlotte, Kelly Clarkson, Hoobastank and Simple Plan will lend their support to the ever-growing tsunami-relief effort by performing live at the MTV Asia Aid benefit event in Thailand. Alicia Keys will also be featured the event, which is set to take place on February 3 at the IMPACT Arena in Thailand’s capital of Bangkok and benefits UNICEF and other Thailand- and India-based organizations. Jennifer Lopez will contribute a prerecorded performance to the show, while Sting, Nelly, 50 Cent, Ricky Martin, Green Day, Moby and Ronan Keating will submit specially taped messages of support that will air during the broadcast.… Read more »

New York – As rap stars go, Jin has the typical look down cold: Hoodie, baggy sweats, chunky diamond stud earring, a Chinese character tattooed on his neck and a large blingy necklace. Not everything’s typical, though. “Yeah, I’m Chinese. And what?” he asks with mock exasperation. At just 22, the Miami-bred, New York-based rapper is something of a pioneer – the first Asian-American hip-hop artist to get a major solo record deal. At the same time, he worries that it’s his race, not his rhymes, generating all the attention. “Being Asian helps me so much,” he says. “It definitely… Read more »

Hewlett-Packard on Friday unveiled its much-anticipated HP-branded iPod, a deal that instantly gives the company a popular product and greatly extends the retail reach of its partner, Apple Computer. Currently, Cupertino’s Apple has a healthy lead over its competition with its iPod digital music players and its iTunes Music Store. But competition is heating up. Other companies including Creative, Samsung and Sony have their own lineups of portable music players. Microsoft is expected to jump into the fray next week with its own online music service and an updated version of the Windows Media Player software. As for Friday’s unveiling… Read more »

Computer audio equipment maker Creative Technology Ltd and online music service Soundbuzz.Com launched an alliance on Tuesday aimed at capturing Asia’s infant fee-based online music market. The two companies are setting up online music stores in Singapore, Hong Kong and India – regions where knock-off CDs burned by sophisticated piracy syndicates or downloaded off the Internet for free are hammering sales of recorded music. Soundbuzz.Com and Creative launched the first of their online stores in Singapore on Tuesday, offering 250,000 songs at $1.16 each in a format designed for quick downloading into Creative’s digital music players. “We’ve all been through… Read more »

On Tuesday a federal court judge granted Eminem an injunction against The Source,blocking the hip-hop publication from releasing a CD containing a controversial freestyle by the rapper. Last month the magazine’s owners, Ray “Benzino” Scott and David Mays, held a press conference to expose the old recording in which a young Marshall Mathers talks disparagingly about black women. The Source’s owners said a CD of the freestyle would be included in their February issue, due on newsstands January 13. Eminem admitted to making the song in anger and issued an apology. In a statement released two weeks ago, he said,… Read more »

Limp Bizkit has canceled the Southeast Asian leg of their world tour, citing terrorism fears in the region, local media reported Wednesday. “The band wishes to extend their deepest apologies to their fans in Southeast Asia and promise to return once security for their fans can be assured,” concert promoter Michael Hosking told the Straits Times newspaper. The newspaper said the American rap-rock band cited U.S. State Department warnings of “increased security risks” for the no-show. Hosking told the newspaper that appearances in the Indonesian resort island of Bali, Thailand and the Philippines have also been scrapped. Western governments have… Read more »

Linkin Park’s planned concert in the Malaysian capital of Kuala Lumpur is being protested by an Islamist opposition group. The group called Parti Islam se-Malaysia says the band’s presence could contribute to moral decay within the youth of the country. They have urged the government to overturn its previous decision to let the band play. Linkin Park is scheduled to perform at the city’s 50,000-seat Merdeka Stadium on October 15. The band must adhere to a strict code of “performance ethics” that includes the following restrictions: “Male artists must cover their bodies from the chest to knee level…the artist must… Read more »

American rap-rock band Linkin Park has received the government’s permission to perform next month in Malaysia – but it won’t be allowed to scream, jump around or wear shorts onstage. The Ministry of Culture and Arts said Wednesday it has approved plans for the band to hold a concert on Oct. 15 at a 50,000-seat stadium in this conservative, predominantly Muslim Southeast Asian country. “The government believes the performance will provide an alternative type of entertainment in Malaysia,” the ministry said, while warning that the rock stars must abide by a strict code of “artist performance ethics.” “Male artists must… Read more »

Russia is fast rising to the top of world music piracy charts with a counterfeit boom that could hit foreign investment and damage Moscow’s efforts to join the World Trade Organization, a leading watchdog said on Thursday. The issue of intellectual property rights, an increasingly important component of U.S. trade policy, is a major obstacle to WTO accession for both Russia and neighboring Ukraine, where bootleg computer programs, music CDs and movie DVDs are rife. In Russia alone the local pirated music market grew to $311 million last year, well above a legal music market of $257 million. “Russia is… Read more »

Canadian female pop-rocker Avril Lavigne will perform at the second annual MTV Asia Awards, scheduled to be held next year at Singapore Indoor Stadium on January 24. The 17-year-old Lavigne has been nominated in two award categories, favorite female artist and favorite breakthrough artist, bolstered by her debut album Let Go. The album’s first hit, “Complicated,” has been inescapable on the airwaves this year, and Let Go has sold more than seven million albums worldwide since its release this spring. Other artists scheduled to perform at the ceremony are Missy Elliott and the Backstreet Boys’ Nick Carter. The awards program… Read more »