Search Results for: european

EMI Group, the world’s fifth-biggest music company, and Bertelsmann’s BMG music unit may call off merger talks, reports said on Monday. EMI’s labels represent popular artists such as the Spice Girls,Ý Fat Boy Slim, and Radiohead. BMG’s artists include Whitney Houston, David Bowie, and Christina Aguilera. Both companies continue to talk but are awaiting merger conditions from the European Commission early this week. Those conditions could mean that the combined group may have to sell businesses to get regulator approval. Talks to form the world’s biggest music company have been ongoing for the last six months and have at times… Read more »

Bertelsmann’s plans to merge with EMI appear to have stumbled over regulatory hurdles, putting in jeopardy the two company’s desire to join forces to offer a vast music library to consumers. Negotiations have been going on for more than five months and, according to a report from Reuters, both sides claim they still want the merger to take place. Regulators’ concerns stem from the fact that, should a Bertelsmann-EMI merger occur, the galaxy of the world’s largest music companies would be trimmed from five to only four. Some believe that in order for the two sides to get a deal… Read more »

The dimensions of Moby’s Area: One festival were solved Monday (April 23) when the electro-rocker unveiled lineup additions as well as dates and venues for his musically diverse roadshow. At a New York press conference, Moby heralded the addition of a side stage that will feature artists from the DJ/electronic scene, including Paul Oakenfold, Carl Cox, the Orb and Timo Maas. Also scheduled to play under the air-conditioned tent that will serve as the second stage are Detroit techno pioneers Juan Atkins, Derrick May and Kevin Saunderson. “Without them I wouldn’t be here,” Moby said. The tour will also feature… Read more »

Bertelsmann’s planned merger with British music giant EMI is expected to be scrapped shortly, highly placed sources close to the action reported yesterday. Official word of the nixing of a BMG-EMI joint entity will likely come from the congloms in the next couple of weeks. Surprisingly, the companies dropped plans for a merger before a finalized proposition was even formally presented to the EU regulatory board for approval. In an attempt to make the BMG-EMI deal happen, sources said, Clive Calder and his Zomba/Jive Records were going to play a major role in solving some of the monopolistic concerns raised… Read more »

London’s huge Party In The Park, a free show held in London’s Hyde Park already has an amazing lineup, but today rumors abound that Madonna will play the free show. It seems Madonna’s European tour will find her reasonably close to London at approximately the time of Party in the Park on July 8. In other free-gig-in-London news, REM has been confirmed for the free show at Trafalgar Square celebrating the 7th anniversary of democracy in South Africa. Also playing at that one will be Mel B and The Corrs.

Tupac Shakur’s latest posthumous effort, Until the End of Time, has knocked Shaggy’s Hotshot out of the No. 1 spot on The Billboard 200 on its way to selling just over 425,000 copies in its first week. Until the End of Time, a two-disc set, is the rapper’s best posthumous showing thus far, as 2Pac + Outlawz’s Still I Rise made its way to No. 6 in January of 2000 and Greatest Hits, another two-CD set, hit No. 3 in 1999. Elsewhere in the top 10, Train’s second Columbia Records effort, Drops of Jupiter, landed at an impressive No. 6,… Read more »

Limp Bizkit will resort to self-inflicted torture this summer to write the “heaviest album you’ve ever heard,” frontman Fred Durst says. “We’re gonna go in, no air-conditioning, 130 degree room, just mad as f , and just go there,” he said. “We need to go there. “We have a lot to say now, and we’re really emotional,” he continued. “The success has allowed us to step back and look at the world.” Durst said Limp Bizkit have worked on some new material during sound checks, but they plan to start largely afresh when they return from their European tour in… Read more »

After cutting short a brief North American trek in February, Coldplay have announced plans to return to the States later this spring for a more extensive tour, set to kick off May 24 in Boston. The wistful Brit rock group has tapped Modesto, California’s Grandaddy to serve as the supporting act on the tour, which includes appearances on May 27 and 28 at the HFS Festival in Washington, D.C., and a June 23 KROQ-sponsored show in Los Angeles, according to Coldplay’s label. Coldplay pulled the plug on a New York gig on February 16 – and abandoned shows in Boston… Read more »

The lead vocalist of hard rock band Metallica cannot sing well and may be homophobic, the drummer isn’t very good either, and everyone was mean to the bass player. That’s not the critics talking, but the four members of the San Francisco-based group taking potshots at each other during separate interviews woven together in the upcoming issue of Playboy magazine. The sessions were conducted two months before bass player Jason Newsted announced in January he was quitting the mega-selling group after 14 years, citing “private and personal reasons” and “physical damage” resulting from his playing. Playboy said Newsted’s departure followed… Read more »

Guns N’ Roses will play the UK for the first time since their shows at the Milton Keynes Bowl in 1993. Tickets go on sale Friday (March 2). A source close to the band hinted the show will not be part of an extensive UK tour, although an extra date at the Docklands has not been ruled out. The band’s long-awaited new album, ‘Chinese Democracy’, is expected in June to coincide with the shows. The only original members of the band who remain from its previous incarnation are frontman Axl Rose and Dizzy Reed on keyboards. Guns N’Roses’ Confirmed European… Read more »