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What do “Pretty Woman” Julia Roberts and “The Material Girl” Madonna have in common besides wealth, fame and beauty? They are the two lone superstars to grace this year’s Hollywood Reporter list of the 50 most influential women in show business, a ranking started 10 years ago to shine the spotlight on the women doing great work behind the scenes. Roberts and Madonna, who ranked No. 3 and 42 respectively on the list, however, were just too powerful to ignore, said officials at the Hollywood Reporter. “We try to make room for the women who have superseded the celebrity aspect… Read more »

Webnoize, a Cambridge, Mass.-based media and entertainment research firm that rose to prominence as a sage of the booming Net economy, has fallen victim to that industry’s bust. The firm announced on its Web site Monday that it plans to cease temporarily its regular online publication of news and research reports. Webnoize also said it will begin an immediate restructuring of its business, in the hope of opening its doors again as early as the first quarter of next year. Sources familiar with the company said the eight-year-old firm employed about 25 people at its peak but that the number… Read more »

Two court decisions considered victories for the film and music industries could deny U.S. citizens the same free speech rights in cyberspace that they have in the real world, according to copyright experts and civil rights activists. A federal appeals court in New York last week ruled that the controversial 1998 Digital Millennium Copyright Act – which bars creating or distributing technology that can be used to circumvent copyright protections – does not infringe on First Amendment free speech protections of the U.S. Constitution. The court barred Eric Corley, publisher of hacker Web site 2600 magazine, from posting or linking… Read more »

He was called the “Quiet Beatle,” but “Frustrated Beatle” may have been a better tag for George Harrison, who found himself overshadowed in the Fab Four by two of the most important songwriters in history. Still, the guitarist managed to create a memorable body of work with the Beatles, and he notably turned his bandmates onto Eastern mysticism. Harrison, who died in Los Angeles Thursday after a long battle with cancer, wrote and sang such Beatles nuggets as “Something,” “While My Guitar Gently Weeps,” “Here Comes The Sun” and “Taxman.” After the Beatles broke up, he embarked on a patchy… Read more »

The music industry finally received the holiday gift it had been hoping for this week, as the album charts got a formidable one-two punch from alt-rock superstars Creed and the perennially popular “Now That’s What I Call Music” compilation series. “Weathered” (Wind-Up), Creed’s follow-up to the platinum blockbuster “Human Clay,” sold nearly 900,000 copies its first time out, according to SoundScan data for the week ended Nov. 27. Those numbers made “Weathered” the biggest bow since ‘N Sync’s “Celebrity” shifted 1.9 million out of the gate last summer. Nipping at Creed’s heels was the eighth installment of the “Now” series… Read more »

Rock ‘n’ roll will never die. Unless it is being made by classic rockers like Rolling Stone frontman Mick Jagger and former Beatle Paul McCartney, whose new albums are barely registering a pulse at cash registers in the United States. The very youth culture that propelled these music legends to stardom back in the 1960s is now discarding them in favor of a new generation of fresh-faced youngsters, such as perky teen queen Britney Spears and spiritual rockers Creed. According to sales data issued on Wednesday, Jagger’s new album “Goddess in the Doorway” (Virgin) debuted at No. 39 on the… Read more »

Kid Rock’s Cocky captures the Number Seven spot on the Billboard 200 album chart with sales of 222,875 copies in its first week. However, the Kid was no match for fellow rockers Creed, whose Weathered topped the chart with sales of more than 880,000. LAUNCH asked Rock if he was concerned about strong out-of-the-box sales of Cocky. “No. I sold 5,000 records-on a record that sold 10 million-the first week the last time, and I’m prepared to go out and work it again: go through the same chains, the same…get the wheel turning once again,” he said. “I would have… Read more »

For certain punks, there was no Bad Religion from 1996 through 2001. During that dark period, co-songwriter Brett Gurewitz split the seminal act he co-created with his pals in high school. He was disenchanted with the band’s major-label deal (at Atlantic), overwhelmed by the sudden hugeness of Epitaph – the label he founded to release Bad Religion records and eventually home to Rancid and the Offspring – and increasingly strung out on smack. The band would release two albums in his absence, both guided solely by the vision of Gurewitz’s estranged collaborator, Greg Graffin. Both records – 1996’s Gray Race… Read more »

In the downtime between their recently wrapped Pledge of Allegiance tour with Slipknot and a series of December radio festivals, System of a Down frontman Serj Tankian has recorded a full-length collaboration with noted Armenian multi-instrumentalist Arto Tuncboyaciyan. The tentatively titled “Serart” is slated for release next year on Tankian’s own Serjical Strike Records. Fans who dug Tuncboyaciyan’s curious noisemaking on System’s newly platinum Toxicity will surely enjoy “Serart,” a collection Tankian says is a marked departure from that band’s prog-metal barrage. “It’s really crazy world, jazz and experimental,” he says. “With some rock and hip-hop, beats, dance beats, electronic… Read more »

Alanis Morissette is set to lens a new video for “Hands Clean,” the first single from the upcoming album Under Rug Swept, in Los Angeles this weekend. She’s asking her fans for help. She’s searching for 15 people between the ages of 18 and 25 to play big and small roles in the clip. The director for the clip was not known at press time. Fans must be in Los Angeles for the shoot. Those interested are encouraged to send a photo with all the necessary info: name, address, and phone number. Submissions are taken over the Internet-fans can send… Read more »