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50 Cent’s triumphant smile is for real. This year, he arrived from nowhere to score the No. 1 album in the country for seven weeks in a row, 4 million albums sold to date and the financial backing of Eminem, the biggest pop-culture icon of the last 10 years. That said, the star sold his fans more than two quarters short when he walked off the stage at the House of Blues Saturday night after an 11-song, 25-minute set. Fans booed and he didn’t return. Cher and Mariah Carey have been getting away with that kind of diva temperament for… Read more »

Linkin Park’s latest release has made a meteoric rise to the top of the album chart, debuting at the No. 1 spot. “Meteora” sold more than 810,000 copies during its first week in stores, according to industry figures released Wednesday. The rap-rock band’s first album, “Hybrid Theory,” was the top seller of 2001 with 4.8 million copies sold. Debuting in second place was the new Celine Dion album, “One Heart,” which sold nearly 432,000 copies in its first week. And the No. 3 album also was a new release, “Now That’s What I Call Music! 12,” which sold about 256,000… Read more »

As MP3 files purportedly featuring tracks from Radiohead’s upcoming album “Hail to the Thief” continue to circulate online, guitarist Jonny Greenwood took to the band’s official Web site (http://www.radiohead.com) on Wednesday to decry the files as “a stolen copy of early, unmixed edits and roughs.” When the cuts from “Hail to the Thief,” due June 10 from Capitol, leaked last weekend, Greenwood seemed bemused by the situation. “We’re not angry really,” he said at the time. “Shame it’s not a package with the artwork and all, but there you go.” But he now says it has become apparent that these… Read more »

The Beastie Boys will perform April 25 at Las Vegas’ House of Blues, in a show that will serve both as a tribute to slain Run-D.M.C. DJ Jam Master Jay and a warm-up for the veteran rap trio’s headlining slot the next night at the Coachella Valley Music & Arts Festival in Indio, Calif. Longtime Beasties associate DJ Hurricane will also be on the bill for the all-ages Vegas show, tickets for which are now on sale for $75 and $150. Further details regarding the benefit were unavailable at deadline. It is not known if surviving Run-D.M.C. members Joseph “Reverend… Read more »

The rock band Great White plans to perform together for the first time since the band’s Feb. 20 concert in Rhode Island resulted in a nightclub fire that killed 99 people. Survivors of the group say they will perform one song at West Hollywood’s Key Club on April 29 to raise money for a memorial fund in honor of their late guitarist, Ty Longley, the group’s manager, Paul Woolnough, said Friday. The charity concert will benefit the late guitarist’s pregnant girlfriend, victim relief funds and students seeking art scholarships. Great White has no other plans to perform again, Woolnough added,… Read more »

Nearly 7,000 music industry representatives and more than 1,000 bands are descending on Austin this week for the 17th annual South by Southwest Music Conference and Festival. Even for a place that calls itself the “Live Music Capitol of the World,” the planes, buses and vans arriving full of shaggy-haired men and tattooed women carrying guitars and drums adds a new dimension to the city. The musicians and industry representatives have come for four days of industry panels, discussions and trade shows. To balance out the shop talk, the festival features four intense nights of live music with 1,000 acts… Read more »

Clad in skimpy tank tops, teenage pop stars Lena and Yulia giggle and clasp hands on a Russian television talk show as their hit music video is played for a studio audience. The camera pans over the audience, lingering on a Russian Orthodox priest who grimaces and crosses himself when the video shows the girls kissing. The pop duo Tatu – Russian slang for “This girl (loves) that girl” – has long been causing a sensation at home. But now that the teenagers are also climbing charts around the world, their scanty schoolgirl uniforms, flirtations with lesbianism and in-your-face sexuality… Read more »

The British Broadcasting Corp. on Friday said shots of George Michael’s backing musicians wearing anti-war T-shirts will likely be cut from a television show. Michael performed a cover of Don McLean’s anti-war song “The Grave” on BBC’s music show “Top of the Pops” on Thursday. His cellists wore T-shirts with the logo “No war, Blair out” – referring to Prime Minister Tony Blair. A BBC official said shots of the cellists’ T-shirts violate the broadcaster’s policy of impartiality and suggested they would probably be edited out of the show when it is aired Friday. “We have to conform to BBC… Read more »

It’s another record for The Boss. Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band have added two more dates at Giants Stadium after tickets for the original seven shows in July sold out Saturday. That marked the first time in Ticketmaster history that a performer sold tickets for seven stadium dates in a single day. The nine-show run at a single stadium is a first for any performer worldwide. Tickets for the new shows, Aug. 28 and 30, go on sale at 9 a.m. EST Saturday through Ticketmaster. Giants Stadium holds about 60,000. Springsteen, who won three Grammys this month for… Read more »

A Dutch Internet company on Thursday said it had developed software that could be used to compensate musicians whose songs are swapped online, a move it said could cut out the embattled music industry. PGR BV, a privately held company has its own new file-sharing service known as The Honest Thief and is helping companies start up services like the popular Kazaa and Morpheus services in the Netherlands, which has emerged as something of a haven for such operations. “We are the first, but certainly not the last, to eliminate the record companies from the equation,” said Pieter Plass, founder… Read more »