Search Results for: atlantic

The five major record label groups and the three largest music retailers have agreed to pay $143 million in cash and CDs to resolve a long-standing class action price-fixing case. The settlement, announced Monday, brings to a close allegations that the major labels and retailers had violated antitrust laws and illegally inflated the cost of CDs. At issue was a policy called “minimum advertised pricing,” or MAP, under which the major labels would jointly pay for advertising if a retailer agreed to sell CDs above a certain price. This pricing practice began nearly a decade ago as a way for… Read more »

Did you find 1995’s Best of New Order unsatisfying? Did the movie “24 Hour Party People” have you itching for more New Order rarities? Well, if you live in the U.S. consider yourself S.O.L. Though they’re slated for release overseas, neither New Order’s forthcoming box set nor their new greatest hits CD, Here to Stay, are slated to land in U.S. stores, due to the band’s current wrangling with parent label WEA. Last year when New Order released their seventh studio album, Get Ready, it seemed like nobody was all that ready for their return. After an eight-year hiatus, the… Read more »

Bruce Springsteen kept a firm grip on the top spot on the album charts for the second straight week, despite a 55% slide in sales. “Rising” (Columbia), Springsteen’s first disc of new material since 1995, sold just under 239,000 units, according to numbers released Wednesday by Nielsen SoundScan. The Jersey-born rock legend recently launched a U.S. tour to support the release, backed for the first time in a decade by the E Street Band. The Boss was followed in the rankings by a trio of Universal Music Group hip-hop stars. Nelly rebounded one spot to second with “Nellyville” (Universal), selling… Read more »

Back from a lengthy European jaunt, Lenny Kravitz will launch his thirty-three-date summer tour tomorrow night in Virginia Beach, Virginia, in support of his latest album, Lenny. Abandoned Pools will open all dates, with Pink playing the middle slot. Pink’s presence on the list had nothing to do with label politics coercing a veteran artist to take out a youngster. “She called me up and said she wanted to be on the tour,” Kravitz says. “And she sent me a pair of panties with her name and my name in rhinestones. It said, ‘Lenny’ and ‘Pink’ with a lightning bolt.… Read more »

Australian rock trio Silverchair has pushed back the North American release date of its Atlantic Records debut “Diorama” to Aug. 27. The album was originally slated to be released July 9, but singer/guitarist Daniel Johns’ battle with reactive arthritis – which is preventing him from participating in promotional activities – forced the label to make the move. As previously reported, the group has had to cancel a number of shows in its homeland as a result of John’s illness, the primary symptoms of which are chronic swelling of the joints resulting in impaired movement and extreme pain. Johns is currently… Read more »

Warner Music Group’s Atlantic Group division on Thursday said it will expand its Lava Records label, home to such acts like Kid Rock, and increase its staff from about five to 35 people. The Los Angeles Times on Thursday said Warner will pay $50 million to Lava founder Jason Flom for the share of the label it does not already own. A Warner spokeswoman said no terms were available. Warner Music is a unit of AOL Time Warner Inc.. The expansion and investment at Lava comes after Warner Music has let go hundreds of staffers in the past couple of… Read more »

Former Ratt guitarist Robbin Crosby died at his Los Angeles home on Thursday morning following a long battle with AIDS. He was 42. The cause of death has not yet been determined, according to Craig Harvey, operations chief for the Los Angeles coroner’s office. One of the original members of the ’80s metal rockers known for hits such as “Round and Round” and “Lay It Down,” Crosby began speaking out several years ago about his drug use in the band’s heyday and how it led to his contraction of the deadly virus nearly eight years ago. Ratt formed in the… Read more »

British music industry svengali Dave Stewart is launching a new record label to nurture acts left out in the cold by the mass-produced pop phenomenon. Stewart told BBC radio Wednesday that the big five record labels were overlooking significant talent in their bid to mass-produce fashionable hits. “We’re approaching it completely from a different way,” said Stewart, who hopes to shake up the big players with his new label Artists’ Network. Stewart produced the 1980s hit “Sweet Dreams” together with Eurythmics co-star Annie Lennox who performed at the Queen’s Golden Jubilee celebrations Monday. Artists’ Network, will hit the music scene… Read more »

Sean Combs’ album “P. Diddy & Bad Boy Records Present… We Invented the Remix” bows at No. 1 atop the Billboard 200 on 255,550 units sold. The album marks the third No. 1 release during the past two months that has hit stores at a discounted price. Last week, Musiq’s “Juslisen,” which sold with a $2.50 rebate debuted at No. 1 on 260,150 copies scanned. The Def Jam album slips to No. 5 this week on 115,775 units scanned. Ashanti’s self-titled debut, offered with a new-artist discount and $2 rebate, sold more than half a million records during its first… Read more »

Britney Spears’ next single “Boys,” from her latest album Britney, will do double duty as one of the upcoming singles from the soundtrack to Austin Powers in Goldmember. The soundtrack version, however, will be an exclusive remix of the track by the ubiquitous production duo, the Neptunes, who worked on Britney as well. The “Boys” remix is tentatively set as the second single from the soundtrack. Beyonce Knowles’ “Work It Out” is expected to be the first single and will hit radio in early June. Knowles, of course, is Mike Myers’ co-star in the third Austin Powers flick, which hits… Read more »