Search Results for: The Aces

London – The new Strategy Analytics Wireless Internet Applications report, “Mobile Music on Demand Goes Centre Stage at Vodafone 3G-But Service Concept Questionable,” recognizes that mobile operators will struggle to generate volume sales of music through their new Music on Demand (MMoD) services, and alternative strategies are needed for success. Strategy Analytics predicts that these services will be generating $2 billion per year, compared with $57 billion for SMS, by 2009. Over the past six months, mobile network operators, including Vodafone, Orange and O2, have set up digital music retail stores, which allow their customers to download full music tracks… Read more »

SANTA MARIA, Calif. – Prosecutors in Michael Jackson’s child molestation case are pushing to introduce evidence of alleged wrongdoing in the past during pre-trial hearings scheduled to begin Monday. Jackson, 46, is charged with molesting a boy, conspiracy and administering an intoxicating agent, alcohol, to his alleged victim. He faces trial on Jan. 31. The Santa Barbara district attorney’s office is asking the judge to allow evidence that Jackson has committed other sex crimes over the years that went uncharged, such as a 1993 molestation case that was settled out of court. Prosecutors said in their filing that the evidence… Read more »

Merchants are describing this year’s holiday-season sales as a roller-coaster ride. That could hardly be said about the full-year sales experience. At least a roller coaster offers the contrast of intermittent highs and lows. Album sales started with one long rise toward a hopeful tally for the first eight months of 2004, followed by a steep decline that stole back most of the year’s advances in just a few weeks, as if a thrill ride had been designed by a party pooper who did not fully grasp the concept. But maybe a better analogy – as Ludacris replaces Jay-Z and… Read more »

Innovative and influential post-hardcore outfit Snapcase have announced that, after more than 10 years of pushing the hardcore envelope, they’ve decided to call it quits. Band guitarist Frank Vicario has come out with this statement as to why the band are throwing in the towel after so many years: “It’s no mystery that the popularity of the band has been waning over the past few years and it’s tough to keep flogging a dead horse when our hearts are in other places,” Vicario stated. “Many people had already pigeonholed what they perceived our sound to be and were reluctant to… Read more »

Record labels are embracing new technologies in search of music’s next big thing Joe Berman looks for new bands. Typically, that means hanging out in dive bars, enduring hours of unlistenable music by groups whose rock-and-roll dreams far exceed their talent, praying for the occasional act that shows promise. About 16 months ago, however, the Los Angeles-based talent-finder sat at home scouting the globe for groups. He typed “New Zealand indie rock bands” into his computer search engine and found Steriogram, five lads from the town of Whangarei in New Zealand. They had a song and a video posted on… Read more »

Opening band The Disasters are aptly named. There’s just something so incredibly insincere about their music that angered me as much as it bored me. They’re a train wreck. I mean, you’ve got one of the grandfathers of hardcore – NEW YORK Hard core at that – crooning away like he’s part of the SoCal pop-punk elite? It’s all wrong. Now, I’m all for helping out the underdog, but on this night in particular, The Disasters seemed like nothing more than a few bandits hoping to cash in on something they know nothing about. Derivative songs were half-heartedly hammered out… Read more »

Having his solo debut tank might have been the best thing for Butch Walker’s career. Not too many people bought 2002’s Left of Self-Centered – the album sold barely 20,000 copies, according to SoundScan – but many of those who did adored the smart riff-rock from the guy who used to front the late-’90s power trio Marvelous 3. Not only did Walker sing and play all the instruments except drums, he also produced, mixed and engineered the LP. Such versatile qualities appealed to a lot of people, not least of whom was Avril Lavigne. “Obviously, it was a very unpopular… Read more »

SANTA MONICA, Calif. – Rolling Stone magazine’s four-star review of Nirvana’s recently released “With the Lights Out” (Geffen/UMe) box set concludes with, “if you think you want it, you do.” It turns out that America DOES want it, and in record numbers. The three-CD/one-DVD rarities compilation MORE THAN DOUBLED the previous record for box sets sold in a week during the soundscan era with 105,760 (the previous mark was held by Bruce Springsteen’s “Tracks” with 46,516). The sales mark also places the album at #19 on Billboard’s album chart, and will be followed by immediate Platinum certification by the RIAA… Read more »

Linkin Park love to mix things up. Their two albums, Hybrid Theory and Meteora, consistently and seamlessly blend different styles of music together, melding rap and rock with just enough electronic flourish to keep the ears burning and turning that blend into a digestible, accessible pop formula for millions of hungry fans to eat up. In the last three years the band have sold several million albums worldwide, sold out arenas around the globe, toured with Metallica and progressed further than all their long-since-disappeared rap-rock contemporaries. They are (as our May 2003 issue featuring ’em on them cover declares) the… Read more »

New York – The drummer of indie punk band Fugazi has created a new DVD series that spotlights live performances from notable rock acts in a given city, all recorded in a single day. The catch: the bands play one song each in an empty house that faces imminent destruction. In the initial installment of “Burn To Shine,” taped Jan. 14 in Washington, D.C., the house was burned to the ground at the end of the day as a training exercise by the Montgomery Fire Dept. “In D.C., bands always break up and disappear before their time, but the artists… Read more »