Search Results for: decade

Brandon Flowers is having trouble explaining himself. Maybe it’s because nothing about him adds up: a couture-wearing synth-pop fanatic who wants to be Bruce Springsteen; a devout Mormon who sings in a decadent Las Vegas rock band. Maybe it’s because when Flowers talks, he tends to get in trouble – like when he bragged that Sam’s Town, the previous album from his band, the Killers, was “one of the best albums in the last 20 years” before anyone heard it. Or maybe it’s because, as the Killers prepare to release their third album, Day & Age, he’s still not sure… Read more »

Photo: Getty Paul McCartney has revealed more about the Beatles’ lost song “Carnival of Light,” a 14-minute track the band recorded in 1967 but never released. While McCartney wants people to hear the track, which he has described as a “happening,” he recommends fans keep their expectations in check. “People are thinking there’s another ‘Strawberry Fields’ somewhere [and] you know, this is more plinky-plonky,” McCartney told the Times U.K.. “I mean, I like it, but it’s not to everyone’s taste.” The song was apparently not for George Harrison’s taste either, since the guitarist blocked “Carnival” from appearing on the Fab… Read more »

The industry gets upset when anyone calls this a “tax” so I’ll use the “voluntary license” term, even though tax is much more accurate. A true voluntary license wouldn’t require everyone having a certain provider to opt-in, but that’s exactly what this plan would require. In fact, as the slides indicate, eventually it would basically require all ISPs to “opt-in” forcing all of their members to “opt-in.” Suddenly, everyone has to pay. That’s not a voluntary license. It’s a tax. However, even if we step back and pretend it’s really a voluntary license, and even if we grant the premise… Read more »

This year’s transformation of the annual Grammy Awards nominations announcement into a full-blown prime-time TV special could help provide a badly needed boost in sales at a difficult time for the music industry. But the December 3 “Grammy Nominations Concert Live!” telecast on CBS fell short of being a ratings winner. The one-hour show finished fourth in its 9 p.m. time slot, averaging 7 million viewers, behind NBC’s “Life” with 8.1 million, Fox’s “Secret Millionaire” with 8.1 million and ABC’s “Private Practice” with 7.8 million, according to Nielsen Media Research The audience for the nominations special was also less than… Read more »

MTV marks the 10th anniversary of its AIDS awareness campaign this year with an hour-long documentary by U.S. singer and Destiny’s Child founding member Kelly Rowland. The music channel launched “MTV Staying Alive ” in 1998, and has produced films, competitions and celebrity tie-ins to educate young people about the risks of HIV and AIDS and encourage them to talk about it. The latest initiative is a video diary featuring Rowland, who along with Beyonce Knowles helped launch the successful girl band Destiny’s Child in 1990. The group split in 2005. In “The Diary of Kelly Rowland,” the 27-year-old travels… Read more »

Since MP3s first became popular a decade ago, music industry executives have obsessed over this question: when would digital music revenue finally surpass compact disc sales? For Atlantic Records, the label that in years past has delivered artists like Ray Charles, John Coltrane and Led Zeppelin, that time, apparently, is now. Atlantic, a unit of Warner Music Group, says it has reached a milestone that no other major record label has hit: more than half of its music sales in the United States are now from digital products, like downloads on iTunes and ring tones for cellphones. “We’re like a… Read more »

Britney Spears' new single "Womanizer" made a record-breaking leap to top spot on Billboard's Hot 100 singles chart on Wednesday, underscoring her musical comeback after making headlines with her personal woes. Billboard said the song, the first from a new Spears album due for release in December, jumped from No.96 to No.1 in the past week and returned Spears to the top of the list for the first time since her 1999 debut single "Baby One More Time." "Womanizer" is also No. 1 on iTunes charts in Canada, France, Spain and Sweden, Spears' record company Jive said. Billboard said the… Read more »

Rolling Stone magazine is shrinking with the times. After more than four decades of standing out with a larger format than other magazines, it will step back and look like everyone else starting with the Oct. 30 issue, due out this week. The adoption of a standard format could boost single-copy sales and reduce production costs for advertising inserts such as scent strips and tear-out postcards. The magazine says any cost savings, though, will be offset by the inclusion of more pages and the shift to thicker, glossier paper. Like other devoted readers, Eddie Ward, 35, said he will miss… Read more »

Paul McCartney is returning to his Fireman alias after a decade away from the musical collaboration with producer Youth. McCartney will release “Electric Arguments” by the Fireman on November 17 via MPL, an imprint of his London-based publishing company. The 13-track album will be manufactured and distributed by U.K. indie One Little Indian worldwide except in the U.S., where ATO will issue it. The third set from the Fireman, “Electric Arguments” is the first to feature vocals and is described as “entirely different” from the dance and electronic music of previous releases. McCartney and Martin “Youth” Glover, a former member… Read more »