Search Results for: between you & me

Panic! at the Disco guitarist-lyricist Ryan Ross is tired of computer-tuned vocals and software-tweaked drums. “People have taken technology so far, to the point where music is almost sterile these days,” he says from the studio in Las Vegas’ Palms Hotel, taking a break from recording sessions for the band’s second album. “With all those old rock & roll records, you can really feel there’s a character to them, because it was played by real people. I feel like a lot of that’s missing now.” It’s a common argument these days, but Ross is an odd person to be making… Read more »

According to a report in the venerable entertainment industry trade rag Variety, Zucker, president and CEO of NBC Universal, asked Apple for a cut of iPod revenue as part of the failed negotiations between the two companies over a contract extension for the right to sell NBC’s shows on iTunes. (Thanks, Valleywag.) If that’s true, wow. A source familiar with NBC Universal’s negotiations confirmed that the company asked for a slice of iPod revenue but only after Apple refused to budge on variable pricing. “Apple sold millions of dollars worth of hardware off the back of our content and made… Read more »

Relationships in the entertainment world can be famously fraught. And few are more so these days than the one between Steve Jobs and Universal Music chief Doug Morris. You may recall that Morris recently refused to re-up a multi-year contract to put his company’s music on Apple’s iTunes Music Store. That’s because Jobs wouldn’t ease his stringent terms, which limit how record companies can market their music. Now, Morris is going on the offensive. The world’s most powerful music executive aims to join forces with other record companies to launch an industry-owned subscription service. BusinessWeek has learned that Morris has… Read more »

I thought about being nicer in the title of the article, but it is simply the truth. MTV tried to re-invent the awards show this year and managed to make it worse. The VMAs were moved to Las Vegas this year to try to add some new flavor to the beleaguered show. The idea was to have bands hosting parties in different rooms at the Palms. The show would cut between the main stage where presentations were made and the party rooms. Fall Out Boy, Kanye West, Foofighters and others performed from the parties. That was the best part of… Read more »

Usher’s latest confession: the wedding’s off. While word leaked earlier this week that the Grammy winner and his longtime girlfriend–and soon baby mama–Tameka Foster were due to tie the knot in a Hamptons ceremony Saturday, on the morning of the big day, Usher’s publicist confirmed that wedding bells would not be ringing. “It was announced today that the wedding ceremony for Usher Raymond, IV and Tameka Foster was canceled,” publicist Patti Webster told the Associated Press. “No additional information will be given regarding the circumstances of the cancellation, but we hope the privacy of this matter will be respected.” The… Read more »

Pete Wentz was treated to dinner a few months ago by Lyor Cohen, the renowned rap promoter and U.S. music chief of Warner Music Group. Wentz, 28, is the eyelinered heartthrob and bassist of punk band Fall Out Boy; but this dinner was in celebration of the hit single just released by another band, Panic! At the Disco, which records on Wentz’s own label, Decaydance. “He asked me, ‘What do you want out of life, Pete?’” Wentz says. His answer was flip: business cards. The next day he received a stack of cards listing his name and a new title:… Read more »

The untimely death in 1996 of 33-year-old pop/jazz singer Eva Cassidy struck a deep chord with Chuck Brown. Washington, D.C.’s godfather of go-go had teamed with Cassidy on the 1995 release “The Other Side.” “After we lost her, I didn’t want to do anymore studio work,” Brown said. But cajoling from songwriter/producer Chucky Thompson and business manager Tom Goldfogle changed Brown’s tune. “We’re About the Business” (due April 24 from Raw Venture) is the musician’s first set of primarily original material since Cassidy’s death. That’s not all. Rapper Eve samples his No. 31 1974 R&B hit “Blow Your Whistle” on… Read more »

Late in the afternoon of Jan. 16, a SWAT team from the Fulton County Sheriff’s Office, backed up by officers from the Clayton County Sheriff’s Office and the local police department, along with a few drug-sniffing dogs, burst into a unmarked recording studio on a short, quiet street in an industrial neighborhood near the Georgia Dome in Atlanta. The officers entered with their guns drawn; the local police chief said later that they were “prepared for the worst.” They had come to serve a warrant for the arrest of the studio’s owners on the grounds that they had violated the… Read more »

The Recording Industry Association of America hasn’t been making too many friends these days. I guess I should say that the organization does have many friends inside the music industry, because that’s who makes up the the RIAA. I’m not here to argue whether it’s right or wrong to download free music where it’s available, or whether it’s OK to listen to your friend’s “Beach Boys Greatest Hits Album.” I’m just here to point out what the RIAA wants you to believe about the cost of music and CDs. If you visit the Key Stats/Facts page on the RIAA website,… Read more »