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“Backstreet Men” doesn’t really have the same ring, but make no mistake, the Backstreet Boys are coming back more mature on their first album in five years. The group, which hasn’t released a collection of new music since 2000’s Black & Blue, just wrapped sessions for the as-yet-untitled album, which might surprise people expecting the same pop sound of old, according to member Howie Dorough. “We’ve been working on it for more than a year now, but it really started taking shape and changing over the past six months,” Dorough said. “It’s going in a more pop/rock direction, kind of… Read more »

New York, Ny – The 47th Annual GRAMMY Awards nominations were recently announced and hard rock quintet Skillet were among the nominees for Best Rock Gospel Album in conjunction with their best-selling, current album Collide. Upon hearing the news of their nomination, lead singer John Cooper said, “First off we were really surprised since this was our first GRAMMY nomination. I think it is super cool and an honor to be in such great company with the other nominees.” “We are ecstatic about Skillet’s nomination,” remarked Andy Karp, Senior Vice President of Lava Records. “The band’s sound musicianship and broad… Read more »

New York – After taking himself out of the music business “to regenerate, get free of myself and make an album for the right reasons,” Billy Idol has completed his first album featuring new songs in over 10 years, aptly titled DEVIL’S PLAYGROUND. The CD, which may or may not be named after a location deep inside the Idol mind, is scheduled for release on March 22, 2005, and is the English rocker’s first for CSP Records/Sanctuary Records. The first single, “Scream,” is a down and dirty love romp featuring the sinister signature guitar of Steve Stevens and Idol’s rock… Read more »

SANTA MONICA, Calif. – The evolution of digital downloads marks another milestone on November 23, 2004, with the debut of UMe Digital, the world’s first all-digital download label from a major music company. UMe Digital product – individual songs, EPs, and full-length albums – will be distributed exclusively online. With its unparalleled music and video marketing capabilities and the power and scope of UMe to place songs in films and TV shows and commercials, UMe Digital offers unprecedented access and exposure for artists. The releases on UMe Digital will be consistent with UMe’s philosophy of marketing established acts and acts… Read more »

London – EMI Group PLC, one of the world’s ‘big three’ music companies, reported a fall in sales and a net loss for the first half of its fiscal year Friday but said it expected an improvement in the second half when its album release schedule kicks in. EMI, whose artists include Coldplay, Norah Jones, Kylie Minogue and Robbie Williams, said it was confident the global music industry was returning to a growth phase after a sales slump from 2000 to 2003. Chairman Eric Nicoli said the global industry recorded a decline of 1.3 percent for the first half of… Read more »

Las Vegas – On November 6, 2004, YANNI will tape his first TV special in seven years, and his first ever in America, from the Mandalay Bay Resort & Casino in Las Vegas. The TV special will be filmed live from the opening performance of his upcoming YANNI LIVE 2004/5 World Tour. His last three television specials were recorded in spectacular overseas locations at the Acropolis in Greece, the Taj Mahal in India, The Forbidden City in China and at London’s legendary Royal Albert Hall. The show will be a 16-camera production shot on High Definition and will include a… Read more »

Music fans in Britain, France and Germany downloaded more than 800,000 tracks from Apple Computer Inc’s iTunes online music store in its first week of operations in Europe, the company said on Wednesday. The strong start makes the much-heralded download service already a top player in Europe’s brutally competitive music download market. “In the UK alone, iTunes sold more than 450,000 songs in the last week – 16 times as many as OD2, its closest competitor,” Apple CEO Steve Jobs said in a statement issued on Wednesday. Apple launched iTunes in France, Germany and the UK on June 15 to… Read more »

From Jim Croce’s “Time in a Bottle” in the 1970s to Cher’s “If I Could Turn Back Time” in the ’80s, and R. Kelly’s “If I Could Turn Back the Hands of Time” a decade later, songs about stopping time are as numerous as sands in an hourglass. The All-American Rejects extend the time-honored tradition with their third single, “Time Stands Still.” The song, which follows “Swing Swing” and “The Last Song,” is similar to the themes that flow through the Oklahoma band’s self-titled debut album in that they’re all about singer, bassist and lyricist Tyson Ritter’s girl problems. But… Read more »

Disturbed lead singer David Draiman thinks that the music industry should figure out how to distribute music on the Internet, instead of suing people who download songs. Draiman told the San Francisco Chronicle, “This is not rocket science-instead of spending all this money litigating against kids who are the people they’re trying to sell things to in the first place, they have to learn how to effectively use the Internet.” Draiman asserts that the actions taken by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) are protecting corporate profits, not artists: “For the artists, my ass…I didn’t ask them to protect… Read more »

Britney Spears debuted the first full song off her upcoming record Thursday on ABC’s “NFL Kickoff Live,” but despite the primetime unveiling, “Me Against the Music” isn’t necessarily going to be the new disc’s first single. Wearing a cropped referee’s shirt, Spears performed a medley of “… Baby One More Time” and “I’m a Slave 4 U” after finishing the RedZone-produced dance tune, which features a near rap and tribal rhythms. “Dance all night,” she exhorts on the song, demanding that “All the people in the crowd, grab a partner, take it down/ All my people in the crowd, let… Read more »