Coheed and Cambria came, sold out the Central Park SummerStage and rocked so hard a man projectile vomited Wednesday. Though fans were nearly melting, their intensity never skipped a beat.
Christopher Hicks has been appointed Executive Vice President, Def Jam Recordings, it was announced today by Antonio “L.A.” Reid, Chairman, Island Def Jam Music Group. In his new position, Mr. Hicks will assume overall responsibility for the acquisition and develop ment of new talent, overseeing producers and guiding the creative vision and brand recognition of the legendary Def Jam label as it celebrates its 25th year anniversary in 2009. Mr. Hicks will report directly to Mr. Reid, and to Steve Bartels, President & COO, Island Def Jam Music Group, on operational matters. Mr. Hicks will be… Read more »
Digital music sales continue fast growth in the U.S., accounting for 18 percent of the music market there this year, and set to climb to 41 percent of total sales across the next five years, Forrester Research reports. The report predicts 55 percent of U.S. online consumers will pay to download music in 2013. Despite this strong growth, labels must get used to a smaller value music market, say the analysts, overall the U.S. music market will shrink from its current level of $10.2 billion to $9.8 billion in the next five years. Forrester also found 64 percent of subscribers… Read more »
Pink scored her first solo No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100 Thursday with “So What,” ending the three-week reign of T.I.’s “Whatever You Like.” The feisty pop singer previously topped the in 2001 through a Grammy-winning remake of Labelle’s “Lady Marmalade” with Christina Aguilera, Mya and Lil’ Kim. “So What” is the first single from Pink’s fifth album, “Funhouse,” which is slated for an October 28 release. T.I. slipped to No. 2, swapping places with Pink, while Rihanna’s “Disturbia” held at No. 3, and M.I.A.’s “Paper Planes” rose one to No. 4. The chart’s top debut was Jay-Z’s all-star… Read more »
Atlantic Records sued two members of the alternative rock band Stone Temple Pilots on Thursday, accusing them of trying to prematurely end their recording contract with the Warner Music Group label. The suit, filed in U.S. District Court in Manhattan, claims lead singer Scott Weiland and drummer Eric Kretz have threatened to stop performing under their contract and have indicated they would like to end the agreement unless Atlantic makes significant changes. The record company said in the suit that while Stone Temple Pilots has already delivered six albums, it wants the group to record a seventh album and deliver… Read more »
Indie rock band Death Cab For Cutie claimed the No. 1 spot on the U.S. pop album charts for the first time in its decade-long career on Wednesday, while a hits package from Frank Sinatra opened at No. 2. “Narrow Stairs,” the band’s second album for Atlantic Records, sold 144,000 copies during the week ended May 18, according to Nielsen Soundscan. Death Cab’s previous album, 2005’s “Plans,” debuted at No. 4 with 90,000 copies and spent 50 weeks on the chart. The Sinatra collection “Nothing But the Best” (Reprise) followed with 99,000. It’s been nearly 15 years since Old Blue… Read more »
For Simple Plan, the multimillion-selling pop-punk band from Montreal, “The End” was also a new beginning. After a year writing material for the follow-up to 2004’s “Still Not Getting Any…,” the band was struggling to find a way forward, drummer Chuck Comeau says. But last spring in Miami — where Simple Plan had gone to test-drive some songs in the studio with producer Danja (Nelly Furtafo, Justin Timberlake) — it became clear the group could forge a bold new sound. “It really clicked for the first time in Miami when we came up with ‘The End,”‘ Comeau says, referring to… Read more »
Hoping to broaden its relevance to the music industry in the face of increasing competition from other social networking sites, MySpace will roll out a suite of services and initiatives as part of what company officials are calling MySpace Music 2.0. But a new policy at Universal Music Group (UMG), the world’s biggest record company, limiting full-song streaming on the site illustrates the challenges ahead. The first hint of MySpace’s music effort is Transmissions: The site features video of participating artists in the MySpace studios, performing select songs and conducting interviews, both of which MySpace has the exclusive rights to… Read more »
MySpace (http://www.myspace.com) today announced the launch of “MySpace Transmissions” (http://www.myspace.com/transmissions), a music program that empowers top recording artists with a new platform to create and distribute exclusive video content available for viral distribution and audio tracks available for purchase in the U.S. MySpace Transmissions underscores the company’s commitment to building unique music programming and business models that benefit labels, bands, and fans.MySpace Transmissions brings the online community behind the scenes and into the recording studio with a top artist to capture a private recording session for the MySpace community and shoot an exclusive video Q&A with the artist. The new… Read more »
Roadrunner Records has named veteran promotion man Mike Easterlin SVP of Promotion as it merges its promotion team with Lava Records under the Roadrunner banner. Easterlin will join the Roadrunner staff in its New York office on January 2. He replaces current SVP of Promotion Dave Loncao, who will leave the label at the end of the year in order to pursue other music industry endeavors and move to Florida with his family. Roadrunner president Jonas Nachsin commented, “This is a natural in so many ways. We have had a long history working with Mike Easterlin at two different companies,… Read more »
