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Paris – Note to readers: Vivendi Universal provided preliminary, unaudited revenue information on a French GAAP basis for the third quarter and the first nine months of 2004 to ‘Balo’ a French official bulletin for publication in accordance with French regulatory requirements. On a comparable basis(1, the revenues for the third quarter 2004 were up 6%, and 7% at constant currency. On a comparable basis(1, the revenues for the first nine months of 2004 were up 5%, and 7% at constant currency. Vivendi Universal’s consolidated revenues for the third quarter of 2004 amounted to EUR 4,703 million. On a comparable… Read more »

Los Angeles – Last week, the two highest debuts on Hot 100 Singles Sales were by Bright Eyes, the musical invention of 24-year-old Nebraskan Conor Oberst. This week, those two singles, “Lua” and “Take It Easy (Love Nothing),” move 18-1 and 7-2, respectively, to take over the top two spots on the survey. It is the first time in seven years that one artist owns the top two positions on this list. In August 1997, Puff Daddy was No. 1 with Faith Evans on “I’ll Be Missing You” and was featured with Mase at No. 2 on the Notorious B.I.G.’s… Read more »

Milwaukee – Guitar legend Les Paul can use only his left thumb and pinkie to perform at his weekly nightclub gigs in New York. The 89-year-old takes no medication for his painful arthritis and permanent injuries from a car accident 56 years ago, because it exacerbates his ulcers. But twice every Monday night, the renowned musician also known for his innovations on the solid-body electric guitar and multitrack recording gets on stage with his trio at the Iridium Jazz Club. “It’s quite a challenge but I enjoy it,” the Waukesha, Wis., native said in a recent phone interview from his… Read more »

IRVINE, Calif. – Earvin “Magic” Johnson will appear at Warehouse Shoe Sale on November 9th, 2004 at 4300 Crenshaw Blvd from 5:00pm to 7:00pm to promote his new collection of footwear and basketballs, Magic32. The first 500 customers to purchase a Magic32 product on November 9th at the Crenshaw location will receive a priority wristband and will be guaranteed a spot in line for a free autograph. There is a limit of two autographs per person. Get there early to get your spot in line. Go to magic32usa.com for more details. Magic publicly announced his new company, Magic32, on Jimmy… Read more »

London – American rap star Eminem scored his fifth British number one single on Sunday as his “Just Lose It” shot to the top of the charts in its first week on release, the Official UK Charts Company said. The track is taken from Eminem’s fourth album “Encore,” due for release next week, and is one of seven new entries in this week’s British top ten. American girl supergroup Destiny’s Child entered at number two with “Lose My Breath,” with Britney Spears new at third place with “My Prerogative.” Also fresh in was American singer Christina Aguilera at number four… Read more »

Chicago – Musicians in the Chicago Symphony Orchestra approved a three-year labor contract that provides a raise after a year but grants concessions on benefits, officials said. The contract, approved shortly before a performance began Saturday night, freezes the musicians’ base salary at $104,000 for the first year but grants increments every six months thereafter, topping out at $114,400, company and union officials said in a joint statement. The Chicago Federation of Musicians and the symphony association’s board of trustees approved the agreement. The last contract had been scheduled to end Sept. 12 but was extended three times. The symphony… Read more »

San Francisco – America’s students are back to school, but it seems they have yet to learn their lesson about file sharing. Despite the efforts of digital music services, record company litigation, “spoofing” technology and legitimate offerings at various universities, illegal file sharing on peer-to-peer networks has risen since college students returned to their high-speed Internet connections this fall. According to Los Angeles-based P2P market research firm BigChampagne, the back-to-school months coincided with the typical spike of usage on file-swapping networks, with average simultaneous peak users totaling 5.7 million in the United States in October, edging up from 5.4 million… Read more »

New York – Of the multitude of New York-based rock bands to garner recent media attention, surely the most unique musical personality belongs to TV on the Radio, a Brooklyn quintet whose two releases on Touch & Go have fueled major interest. Curiosity peaked after the group – then the barely-out-of-the-loft project of lead singer Tunde Adebimpe and producer/multi-instrumentalist David Sitek – released the five-track EP “Young Liars” in July 2003. The record blindsided the indie rock community with the title track, the haunting dirges “Blind” and “Staring at the Sun” and an a cappella doo-wop cover of the Pixies’… Read more »

London – The decision by a group of European labels to legally challenge the European Commission’s approval of the Sony/BMG merger could raise questions for future deals. Impala, the Brussels-based association of European independent labels, announced Nov. 3 that it would appeal the EC’s decision to authorize Sony BMG’s union before the court of First Instance in Luxembourg. The legal process is expected to last 12-24 months. Legal experts believe that during that period, it will be difficult for the EC to clear any other proposed merger in the music industry without knowing the outcome of the court case. Sources… Read more »

Los Angeles – Will it be a blue Christmas in the music business? The first eight months of 2004 were a romp, when labels and retailers were measuring their progress against the soft numbers from the first two trimesters of 2003. The question looming then was how numbers would hold up when we got to September, which was the point last year when same-week increases bloomed for the first time in almost three years. The answer so far? Not so great. Even with collective sales of this week’s top 10 on the Billboard 200 outweighing that from the comparable week… Read more »