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Sitting in the control room at Los Angeles’ Henson Studios earlier this fall listening to mixes for “This Left Feels Right” – a collection of Bon Jovi hits radically revamped by the band – Jon Bon Jovi admitted, “I don’t know if anyone’s gonna buy this.” The album, which came out Nov. 4, features songs revisited in ways that are startling at first: leadoff single “Wanted Dead or Alive” becomes a Led Zeppelin-like stomp, while “It’s My Life” morphs into a wistful ballad. But the tunes quickly show themselves sturdy enough to withstand the upheaval. “The children started to grow… Read more »

In a move aimed at stemming wide-scale online piracy on college campuses, Penn State University on Thursday reached a deal to offer thousands of students free access to the Napster music service. Penn State President Graham Spanier said the school will offer students access to digital music and limited downloading from Napster’s newly relaunched music service at no cost. Students can also buy permanent downloads that can be burned to CDs or transferred to portable devices for 99 cents each, he said. Napster, the song-swap pioneer that revolutionized online music and turned the music industry upside down, was bought last… Read more »

XM Satellite Radio Holdings Inc. said Thursday its third-quarter loss widened, as cost increases swallowed up a fivefold increase in revenue. After dividends on preferred shares, the Washington-based satellite radio broadcaster reported a loss of $145 million, or $1.12 a share. It lost $114 million, or $1.26 a share, in the same period last year. A Thomson First Call survey of analysts produced a mean estimate of a loss of $1.17 a share for the latest quarter. XM’s revenue rose to $26.9 million from $5.6 million, as the number of subscribers climbed 34 percent during the quarter to 929,648 at… Read more »

Ryan Adams hasn’t arrived for a scheduled afternoon interview, sending instead an apologetic manager with an explanation. “Ryan went out last night with Ron Wood,” the manager said. Oh. Enough said. The bar tab for a summit between two generations of notorious rock ‘n’ roll party animals must have approached the gross national product of some small nations. But all is not as it seems. The next day, Adams insists it was a low-key evening; his Rolling Stones pal wasn’t drinking. Twin cups of Alka Seltzer and black coffee suggest some recovery time for Adams. His music is confounding expectations,… Read more »

When the member of a band leaves the group, it’s almost comparable to a divorce. But what happens when the musician’s replacement is immediate? Would that be comparable to an affair? Well, this would seem to be the case forAlien Ant Farm whose guitarist Terry Corso quit due to “irreconcilable differences.” According to a statement on the band’s website, the band members planned the departure carefully so that no dates on their current U.S. tour with 311 would have to be missed. The band has almost immediately introduced a substitute guitarist, Victor Camacho, who played his first show with the… Read more »

“‘Paul Doesn’t Like Friendster Because It Involves Putting In An Effort’ there, there you go, that’s your headline!” says Paul Hawey, drummer of one of Canada’s most loveable and danceable bands, Hot Hot Heat. Hawey offers me the teaser line to this story because he and his mates, consisting of singer Steve Bays, guitarist Dante DeCaro and bassist Dustin Hawthorne, have been way too busy to concern themselves with that uber-popular online community for friend-making. There is a reason for that, actually there are many reasons keeping the Victoria, B.C. natives occupied and one of them has to do with… Read more »

Digital tracks are outselling physical singles by a growing margin, a sign that consumers increasingly are embracing the brave new world of Internet downloading. Digital download sales outpaced physical singles 857,000 to 170,000, according to Nielsen SoundScan figures for the week ending Oct. 26. That’s slightly more than a 5-to-1 ratio. Sean Ryan, VP of music services at RealNetworks, says that the rise of digital track sales carries a “symbolic significance,” illustrating the music industry’s shift to online delivery options. He also says it indicates a real opportunity for the music business: “Selling individual songs as an offline strategy wasn’t… Read more »

Courtney Love turned herself in to Beverly Hills police on Tuesday afternoon (October 28) to face two felony drug-possession charges. A warrant was issued for Love’s arrest on October 22 after the Los Angeles district attorney’s office received evidence from police that Love was in possession of the prescription painkillers hydrocodone and oxycodone when she was picked up on October 2 following an overdose. “She was never arrested on these charges, but she was found to be in possession at the time,” Los Angeles County District Attorney’s office spokesperson Sandi Gibbons said. The felony charges are separate from Love’s other… Read more »

These days Good Charlotte are on top of the world, but there was a time when Benji Madden felt like taking his own life. “I’ll be the first person to say I have the most amazing life of anyone I’ve ever met, but I did come to certain points of my life where I thought that [suicide] was an option,” Benji admitted recently, sitting next to his brother Joel inside the Sunset Marquis Hotel. His voice trailing off, he quietly acknowledged the role that music played in ultimately steering him away from such a tragic and horrible act. The Madden… Read more »

Despite displaying overwhelming confidence singing on stage, when it comes to putting out new musicSomething Corporate’s Andrew McMahon is a pretty nervous guy. Last week saw the release of his band’s sophomore full-length, North, and the singer/pianist admits that he’s already fretting about how the album will fare with the general public. “I’m scared as shit to release a new record,” he says. “I’m super insecure about the whole thing. I can’t sleep. I haven’t slept in months because I want it to do well. I want it to do better than the last album. It’s my dream that people… Read more »