Search Results for: against the current

As Epic Records commitment to artist development continued to flourish in 2001, Epic will bring an entirely new group of exciting artists to the stage in 2002. The Epic team will work as one cohesive unit towards our common goal: helping our artists rise to the top of the marketplace. EPIC RECORDS 2001 RECAP Flickerstick – Winners of the breakthrough VH1 series Bands on the Run released their major label debut Welcoming Home The Astronauts. The album was re-mixed by Tom Lord Alge (Weezer, Blink-182, Marilyn Manson) and includes two new songs, “Execution By X-mas Lights” and “Smile.” Flickerstick will… Read more »

Though the annual South by Southwest Music Conference is known as a place for up-and-coming bands to get noticed, there’ll be several artists at next year’s 16th annual festival who already have hits under their belts. Hanson, who were discovered at 1994’s SXSW and played at last year’s fest as well, will return again to the music industry schmooze extravaganza in Austin, Texas. They’ll join such other airwave veterans as Marcy Playground (“Sex and Candy”), Girls Against Boys (“Kill the Sexplayer”) and Jesus Jones (“Right Here, Right Now”). Of course, the underground is still represented in full-force, as the lineup… Read more »

Dick Clark says Michael Jackson would be on the American Music Awards, but Michael Greene won’t let him. The TV personality/producer filed a $10 million lawsuit on Wednesday (December 19) against Greene, president and CEO of the Recording Academy, claiming that Greene’s Grammy booking policy prevents top artists from appearing on Clark’s American Music Awards. Clark’s suit, filed in Los Angeles Superior Court, alleges that Greene’s policy of refusing to book artists who perform at the AMAs – which will take place seven weeks prior to the Grammy Awards – caused a breach of contract by forcing Jackson to back… Read more »

Sam Phillips demurs when it’s suggested that rock ‘n’ roll was invented at his Sun Records label during the 1950s. But he does acknowledge there was a whole lotta shakin’ going on in Memphis thanks to the music he created there with the likes of Elvis Presley, Johnny Cash, Jerry Lee Lewis, Carl Perkins, Roy Orbison and others. “I do know this – it changed the world and it opened up a lot of doors,” Phillips said in a recent interview. “I’m happy we were able to contribute, at least in my opinion, to what music has done and is… Read more »

America Online, the Internet service of AOL Time Warner Inc., said on Tuesday it introduced a test version of the long-promised MusicNet music subscription service and expects a full launch of the service next month. The service, which was established by three of the world’s largest record labels – AOL Time Warner’s Warner Music Group, Bertelsmann AG’s BMG Entertainment, and EMI Group Plc, – along with Internet media delivery service RealNetworks Inc., was also launched last week on RealNetworks through its RealOne service. Similar to RealNetworks’ offering, subscribers to America Online, the world’s largest Internet service provider, will be able… Read more »

United States District Judge A. Howard Matz issued a preliminary injunction against American Online, Inc. finding that PlayMedia Systems’ had established the probable validity of allegations that its AMP(R) MP3 playback technology was used in the AOL 6.0 Media Player without permission. At issue is whether AOL violates the terms of a 1999 licensing agreement. PlayMedia, a firm that designs and develops digital content distribution and management software, markets a popular MP3 audio decoding engine known as AMP. PlayMedia originally licensed AMP to Nullsoft in 1999 for use in conjunction with Nullsoft’s Winamp product. AOL subsequently bought Nullsoft and used… Read more »

Some musicians will sing almost anywhere to get a new record contract. Rock ‘n’ roll bad girl Courtney Love performed for the president of a major record label in a backstage bathroom Saturday night after her Hollywood Bowl concert was cut short by time constraints, her publicist said on Monday. The unusual V.I.P. restroom gig was hastily arranged to give the unnamed label executive a chance to hear Love and her new band play a couple of songs they never got to perform for the audience, spokesman Tas Steiner said. Love, 37, who was opening for rock band Jane’s Addiction,… Read more »

In a move seen as almost inevitable by many in the music business, Nancy Berry has resigned as vice chairman of Virgin Records Group. The move comes just days after her estranged husband Ken Berry was replaced at the helm of Virgin parent EMI Recorded Music by ex-Polygram chief Alain Levy. Nancy Berry’s departure marks Levy’s first visible action to reshape EMI’s embattled U.S. label divisions, which have given up substantial market share over the past few years; EMI is currently in last place among the big five record congloms. Nancy Berry, who has been with Virgin’s U.S. operations for… Read more »

A California state senator plans to draft a bill that would free recording artists from restrictive, multi-year contracts, a system stars have attacked as unfairly stacked in favor of the major music labels. Under current California law, record companies are granted a special exemption that allows them to sue musicians and singers for albums not produced over the course of seven-year contracts. Stars including Don Henley, Courtney Love and the Dixie Chicks testified in the state Senate last month that the special status granted to the record labels in California in 1987 was unfair and should be repealed. State Sen.… Read more »

Look out, music pirates: The recording industry wants the right to hack into your computer and delete your stolen MP3s. It’s no joke. Lobbyists for the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) tried to glue this hacking-authorization amendment onto a mammoth anti-terrorism bill that Congress approved last week. An RIAA-drafted amendment would immunize all copyright holders – including the movie and e-book industry – for any data losses caused by their hacking efforts or other computer intrusions “that are reasonably intended to impede or prevent” electronic piracy.         In an interview Friday, RIAA lobbyist Mitch Glazier said… Read more »