Just when it seemed erosion of music sales during the holiday season couldn’t get worse, December snowstorms compounded the retail industry’s misery. Album sales for 2007 are now down 15.3% for the year, compared with 2006. But for the four weeks beginning with Thanksgiving week and ending December 26, U.S. album sales were down 20% to 84.2 million units from 105.3 million a year ago, according to Nielsen SoundScan. The last week before Christmas didn’t help matters much, with sales totaling 25.6 million vs. 31.3 million units in the same period last year. The season got off on the wrong… Read more »
Linkin Park has proved itself impervious to critics, genres and the rest of the competition on the Modern Rock Tracks chart, as the juggernaut of its “Meteora” album (Warner Bros.) continues its momentum from last year. Four songs from the band’s sophomore album charted on the year-end Modern Rock Tracks recap, with three finishing in the top 10. This earns the act the No. 1 spot on the year-end Hot Modern Rock Artists chart. “Numb” was the year’s second-most-spun song in modern rock, while “Breaking the Habit” and “Lying From You” came in at Nos. 8 and 9, respectively. “Faint”… Read more »
The North American touring business is breathing a sigh of relief as the curtain drops on what many call the industry’s worst year in a decade. The final Billboard Boxscore tally shows the industry finishing with a microscopic increase in gross ticket sales of 0.2% in 2004. But that does not tell the full story of a year in which profitable shows were hard to find and promoters scrambled to fill seats, especially in an oversaturated summer season. As promoters lick their wounds, the big question facing the industry is whether the flat performance of 2004 was a blip on… Read more »
Call it progressive, nu-metal, punk, hard-core but when it comes down to the basics no matter what sub-genres people create it ´s still rock ´n ´ roll. On Friday night, the several thousand fans packing the Patriot Center at George Mason University got to experience rock music in all its many forms. Hailed as the first big rock tour of 2004, the Meteora: World Tour lived up to its billing, presenting a four-hour nonstop barrage of power chords, screaming vocalists and head-nodding beats. Kicking off the evening was up-and-coming act Story of the Year. With its major label debut “Page… Read more »
Although industry-wide album sales were down from the same weeks of last year in the two stanzas prior to Christmas, an extra gift-shopping day during the holiday frame closed 2003 on an up note. With the holiday shifting back a day, from Wednesday in 2002 to Thursday, album sales are up a whopping 20.6% over the same week of the prior year. The final week’s splurge more than compensates for the 5.8% deficit seen the week before the Christmas frame or the 0.5% gap of the year’s 50th week. Further, the 31.3 million album units sold during this Christmas shopping… Read more »
Hot Topic, Inc., a mall-based specialty retailer of music-licensed and music-influenced apparel, accessories and gift items for teens, reported company-record results for both the fourth quarter (13 weeks) and the 2001 fiscal year (52 weeks) ended February 2, 2002. All references to shares and per share amounts reflect a 3-for-2 stock split effected on February 7, 2002. Net income in the fourth quarter (13 weeks) increased 20% to $12,467,000 or $0.38 per diluted share from $10,364,000 or $0.32 per diluted share for the fourth quarter of the last fiscal year (a 14 week quarter). Net sales for the fourth quarter… Read more »
XM Satellite Radio Holdings Inc. reported financial and operating results for the fourth quarter ended December 31, 2001, which marked the rollout of America’s first nationwide digital satellite radio service. In its first eight weeks of nationwide operation, XM signed up more than 30,000 customers, including 27,733 subscribers through December 31, 2001, making it the fastest-selling audio product in 20 years. XM was launched nationwide on November 12, 2001, with a lineup of 100 channels of music, news, sports and entertainment and has drawn acclaim from subscribers, listeners, retailers and the press, including being named “Product of the Year” by… Read more »
Bob Dylan, who gave voice to the youth revolt of the 1960s and revolutionized rock ‘n’ roll in the process, turns 60 on Thursday with many arguing that he was the most influential musician of the second half of the century. With his entry into the world of senior citizens, one thing remains certain: Dylan’s inner core and personality remain as elusive today as nearly 40 years ago when he burst onto the folk music scene in New York City’s Greenwich Village. “What he achieved was a reinvention of popular music – a maturation of postwar popular music,” said David… Read more »
British rocker Phil Collins and his third wife, Swiss-born Orianne, have had their first child, the star’s publicist said on Tuesday. Orianne gave birth to Nicholas Grev Austin on Saturday in Geneva, Switzerland, where the couple now live. “It is difficult to express just how happy Orianne and I are with the arrival of little Nicholas,” the 50-year-old legend said in a statement. He married Orianne, 22 years his junior, in July 1999. Collins has three other children, Simon, Joley and Lily, by his first two marriages. The stocky drummer who became frontman for the hugely successful band Genesis has… Read more »
What better way to kick off a weekend than with new music? Featuring new tracks from Four Year Strong, DE’WAYNE, Rihanna, and more.
