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One of Australia’s most successful rock exports, the Grammy-winning trio Wolfmother, has been torn apart by “longstanding frictions,” according to a statement published on the group’s Web site on Thursday. Bass/keyboard player Chris Ross and drummer Myles Heskett have resigned, while singer/guitarist Andrew Stockdale plans to find other musicians and begin making a new Wolfmother album. “Please understand that in spite of their best efforts over a long period of time, they just could not find a harmonious way to work together,” the statement said. Wolfmother’s self-titled debut album, released in 2006, sold more than 500,000 copies in the United… Read more »
Hoping to cater to everyone from the garage guitarist to a recording musician, Best Buy Co. Inc. is announcing a massive new initiative that sets aside store space for an array of musical instruments and gear in dozens of sites nationwide. The nation’s largest consumer electronics retailer will announce Tuesday that it plans to open as many as 85 of the music centers inside its stores by the end of the year and could add even more locations in the future, executives told Each site will use about 2,500 square feet of retail space and include roughly 1,000 different products… Read more »
A tentative deal has been reached by a majority of commissioners at the Federal Communications Commission to approve the merger of Sirius Satellite Radio Inc. and XM Satellite Radio Holdings Inc., a FCC source close to the review said Wednesday. Republican commissioner Deborah Taylor Tate is the only FCC member left to vote on the deal and she is expected to do so shortly, two FCC officials close to the negotiations said. She is expected to sign off on the deal in exchange for a consent decree that resolves several enforcement issues involving the satellite radio companies and a combined… Read more »
The Jonas Brothers reportedly bought a house in a Dallas-Fort Worth suburb – and some young neighbors sound thrilled. Tarrant County records obtained by The Dallas Morning News indicate that the three band members granted power of attorney to their mother, Denise Jonas, to buy a $2.8 million, six-bedroom house in Vaquero, a gated community in the suburb of Westlake. The documents were signed June 12. A real estate agent confirmed the house’s sale but said the contract prevented her from commenting further. A publicist for the band, which began a nationwide tour last month, declined to comment. “Yeah, I… Read more »
Kid Rock has been sentenced to a year’s probation and fined $1,000 for his role in a fight at a suburban Atlanta Waffle House last fall. The DeKalb County solicitor’s office said the 37-year-old was also sentenced Monday to six hours of anger management counseling and 80 hours of community service. The entertainer, whose real name is Robert J. Ritchie, pleaded no contest to one count of simple battery. Four counts of battery were dropped. Ritchie’s tour bus stopped at the Waffle House about 5 a.m. on Oct. 21 after a performance in downtown Atlanta. An exchange of words with… Read more »
Britain’s largest pay-TV firm BSkyB is to launch an online subscription music service and has signed the world’s largest music group Universal as its first partner, in a deal that could challenge Apple. The service will offer downloads to keep and unlimited listening through streaming for a single monthly subscription service. The tracks will be in the MP3 format, meaning they can be used on many devices including the iPod and mobile phones. BSkyB will form a new joint venture to launch the service in Britain and Ireland, building on its relationship with millions of customers and Universal’s hundreds of… Read more »
When it was unveiled in June, Apple’s new iPhone didn’t appear to offer anything new for music fans. But thanks to the subsequent launch of the App Store on iTunes, iPhone users can download a host of applications to add new functions to the device. Many of them are music-oriented and all are made specifically for the iPhone. The weekend after the new iPhone’s release, more than 10 million applications were downloaded through the App Store. Some are free, some carry a fee, and most also work on the Wi-Fi-compatible iPod Touch. Here are some of the more notable music… Read more »
