Search Results for: extreme

Radiohead has hit out at the chief of its former label after a news report claimed the rock band rejected a 3 million pound ($5.95 million) advance for its new album and demanded the rights to some of its older albums. According to the report, published last Friday by The Times of London, Radiohead’s demands to EMI Group chairman Guy Hands totaled more than 10 million pounds ($19.8 million). In addition to the advance, the Times said the band also wanted a 3 million pound international marketing budget for the album, “In Rainbows,” while the reversion of the rights to… Read more »

Morrissey has identified his latest quarry. The singer is suing British music magazine NME for defamation, claiming the publication twisted his words in a recent interview to make him appear racist. Morrissey was quoted by the magazine as saying he would no longer live in Britain because an “immigration explosion” was stripping his native land of its identity. “The gates are flooded and anybody can have access to England and join in,” he reportedly said. “Other countries have held on to their basic identity yet it seems to me that England was thrown away.” The singer’s representatives claimed the magazine’s… Read more »

Former Smiths frontman Morrissey is suing music magazine NME for defamation after it printed an article in which he discussed his views on immigration in Britain. The magazine criticized the 48-year-old singer for allegedly saying Britain had lost its identity as a result of higher levels of immigration than other European countries. “We can confirm we have received two writs from Morrissey’s legal representatives pertaining to NME and its editor Conor McNicholas,” a spokesman for NME said on Friday. “NME takes this matter — and the issues it highlights — extremely seriously and we are currently in discussion with our… 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 »

Testimony today in Capitol Records, et al v. Jammie Thomas quickly and inadvertently turned to the topic of fair use when Jennifer Pariser, the head of litigation for Sony BMG, was called to the stand to testify. Pariser said that file-sharing is extremely damaging to the music industry and that record labels are particularly affected. In doing so, she advocated a view of copyright that would turn many honest people into thieves. Pariser noted that music labels make no money on touring, radio, or merchandise, which leaves the company particularly exposed to the negative effects of file-sharing. “It’s my personal… Read more »

Van Halen fans, get ready to “Jump.” The rockers have re-formed with original frontman David Lee Roth and will set out on a national tour beginning in October, according to a report posted Wednesday on Billboard Magazine’s Web site. In its report, the music industry trade publication said Van Halen will play 50 dates in arenas across North America. The report coincides with a news release issued Tuesday by touring company Live Nation and Van Halen saying the band will be making “an announcement of monumental proportions” during a news conference Monday in Los Angeles. Representatives of the band and… Read more »

Virginia Tech University is looking to begin the fall semester on a positive note. The Dave Matthews Band, John Mayer, Nas and country singer Phil Vassar have signed on to headline a free concert for students, faculty and staff at the Blacksburg campus to honor the 32 people killed in April by a student gunman. The memorial concert will take place Sept. 6 at the University’s Lane Stadium. Corporate sponsorships and merchandise will cover the cost of putting on the event; all of the acts have waived their usual fees. “We have a profound respect for the incredible resolve and… 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 »

Recently, Maureen Callahan wrote a piece for the New York Post about Crush Management, the NYC cadre that shepherds the careers of Fall Out Boy, Panic! at the Disco, the Academy Is … , Boys Like Girls and Armor for Sleep (or, as Callahan puts it, “basically any band that a 13-year-old girl with a blog and a Hot Topic habit obsesses over”). Aside from providing readers with some genuinely bananas quotes from songwriter/ rock-and-roll vampire Butch Walker about credibility (especially considering this is on his résumé), the article is excellent primarily because it floats the hypothesis that the artists… Read more »