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It’s early January, and occasional downpours drench thousands of fans as they file into Nashville’s Municipal Auditorium for Sound & Speed, an annual event featuring country stars and NASCAR drivers. Camo-clad devotees and their children, some dressed in miniature racing suits, line up for an autograph and a picture. The event is the perfect mix for those who consider autographs from Dierks Bentley and Dale Earnhardt Jr to be treasured booty. NASCAR fans and country music fans are eager to rub elbows with drivers and artists alike, something both circuits are eager to take advantage of. The 2009 race season… Read more »
After turning down request from various major TV outlets, Holiday Parade‘s Andy Albert called to chat with The Gunz Show about the band’s encounter with Olympic gold medalist, Michael Phelps, at a certain party in South Carolina, exclusively on idobi Radio. The band is currently in the process of mastering their new album Tickets & Passports, which drops April 7. Be sure to pick it up. For more information about Holiday Parade, visit holidayparaderock.com. You can videos of Holiday Parade and other bands on idobi.com’s multimedia page. You can check out this and other idobi Radio interviews at: idobiradio.com/interviews
Sirius XM Satellite Radio has been working with advisers to prepare for a possible bankruptcy filing in a move that could put pressure on the satellite company EchoStar, which owns a substantial amount of the company’s debt. Sirius has been working with the restructuring expert Joseph A. Bondi of Alvarez & Marsal and the bankruptcy lawyer Mark Thompson of Simpson, Thatcher & Bartlett to help prepare a Chapter 11 filing, people close to the company said. The documents and analysis are close to being completed and a filing could come within days, according to a person familiar with the matter.… Read more »
For anybody wondering why Microsoft and the top record labels continue to promote subscription music services, the answer was revealed Thursday. David Ring, executive vice president of business development for Universal Music Group’s digital arm, said at the EconMusic Conference that the recording industry simply can’t sustain itself with download sales alone. “If what we’re trying to do is one-by-one downloads…that’s not a business that can grow,” Ring told conference attendees during panel discussion he participated in. “It won’t be healthy for the industry.” Prior to Ring’s statement, Chris Stephenson, an executive in Microsoft’s entertainment unit, was ballyhooing the progress… Read more »
Sony posted a whopping 95% decrease in profits last quarter compared to the same quarter last year. Gaming was was the biggest disappointment down 97%, but music did its part to contribute to the downward spiral. Even when factoring out the expensive purchase of BMG’s half of the former Sony BMG, music profits declined 41% driven by a 22% decrease in sales. Sony has avoided the recent wholesale staff cuts made by other labels favoring more targeted layoffs. But as losses mount and the world economy worsens, sources hint that Sony’s layoff scalpel could become a hatchet. Sony Financial… Read more »
Katy Perry is talking about boys again. But this time around, it’s pretty clear she’s not opening up about her split from Gym Class Heroes singer Travis McCoy Perry revealed at a concert in L.A. this weekend that she first started learning about the opposite sex at a roller-skating rink. “I used to never even be able to see a boy,” the Grammy nominee said to a packed house at the Wiltern “I didn’t even know what a boy was. They were so foreign to me. I used to go roller-skating just so I could see the opposite sex.” And… Read more »
It’s been no secret of late that the imminent launch of the uSirius StarPlayr application has been teetering on the edge of an App Store debut. uSirius is the wildly anticipated app created by an ingenious gang of iPhone fanatics to deliver Sirius/XM Satellite Radio directly to iPhone via 3G, Wi-Fi and Edge. I spoke to NiceMac co-founder Todd Bruss, about making his January 31st deadline for submitting uSirius to Apple. Bruss was unable to contain his excitement over the phone when confirming that his epic StarPlayr app is finally in Apple’s hands for review. “We had it ready by… Read more »
