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EMI’s glittering roster of recording artists, from Mariah Carey to the Rolling Stones, failed to save the music giant from a dismal year, but investors are pinning hopes on new recruit Alain Levy to bring sparkle back to the balance sheet. In an industry facing its worst ever year, EMI is reeling from two failed mergers and a lack of big hits. Jaded investors are eager to hear Levy’s plans as the new head of recorded music when the group reports an expected sharp fall in first half profits Monday. EMI warned in September that full-year profits would slide 20… Read more »

The back-to-back debut of new video game consoles from Microsoft and Nintendo is expected to fuel strong sales of home entertainment goods as jittery Americans opt to spend more time at home after the Sept. 11 attacks on New York and Washington, analysts said. They said the launch of Microsoft Corp’s Xbox on Thursday and that of Nintendo Co. Ltd’s GameCube – three days later – could even help lift third and fourth-quarter profits for some of the nation’s top consumer electronics stores. The big boost, the analysts said, will also come on a jump in customer traffic to stores… Read more »

“I never want to say we’re done completely, but we may be,” says Pink Floyd guitarist David Gilmour. “With the length of time since we’ve done something together, it just doesn’t feel like something I’ve missed very much. I don’t want to be touring anymore. I’m fifty-five; it’s a young man’s game.” Gilmour’s revelation comes with the release of Echoes: The Best of Pink Floyd, a lavish and thoughtfully assembled double-CD retrospective tracing the band’s thirty-six-year career – from its apprenticeship in the mid-Sixties London club scene and its psychedelic explorations to its reincarnation as the high priests of Seventies… Read more »

Top showbiz execs pledged Sunday to step up their contribution to the war effort after a meeting with White House senior advisor Karl Rove. Details of Hollywood’s multifront initiative will be forged over the next few weeks, but industry moguls made clear their desire to pitch in. The campaign will include helping the Bush Administration spread its message regarding the war on terrorism both at home and abroad, support for U.S. troops and buttressing resolve among the American public. “All of us in the industry have an incredible urge to do something,” said Paramount Pictures chief Sherry Lansing. One concrete… Read more »

Fleetwood Mac, the Anglo-American pop group that shrugged off bitter internal rivalries to emerge as one of music’s great survival stories, is back in the studio recording its first album since a successful 1997 reunion. The band hopes to tour late next summer “with any luck,” co-founder Mick Fleetwood told Reuters, alluding to its wildly unpredictable 34-year progression from British blues combo to California rock institution. But it would not be a Fleetwood Mac project without some drama. In this case, singer/keyboardist Christine McVie, one of three key songwriters, has retired from rock ‘n’ roll. Tired of the travel, she… Read more »

Online music firm FullAudio Corp. said on Monday it clinched a licensing deal with Universal Music Group and a distribution pact with top radio broadcaster Clear Channel Communications Inc. as dealmaking picked up in the Web music sector. The agreements came as federal regulators scrutinized several ventures involving big music companies. FullAudio’s deal with Vivendi Universal’s Universal Music, the world’s largest record company, comes a week after AOL Time Warner Inc.’s Warner Music signed a pact with Echo Networks in its first outside licensing deal with a subscription provider. The two-year deal with Universal covers several hundred titles, including music… Read more »

Fleetwood Mac, the Anglo-American pop group that shrugged off bitter internal rivalries to emerge as one of music’s great survival stories, is back in the studio recording its first album since a successful 1997 reunion. The band hopes to tour late next summer “with any luck,” co-founder Mick Fleetwood told Reuters, alluding to its wildly unpredictable 34-year progression from British blues combo to California rock institution. But it would not be a Fleetwood Mac project without some drama. In this case, singer/keyboardist Christine McVie, one of three key songwriters, has retired from rock ‘n’ roll. Tired of the travel, she… Read more »

Irish boy-band Westlife on Sunday scored their ninth UK number one hit with “Queen of my Heart,” the chart’s compiler said. The quintet’s rousing ballad ended hip-hopper Afroman’s three-week stay at the top with his homage to cannabis, “Because I Got High,” according to figures released by The Official UK Charts Company. All but one of Westlife’s ten singles have reached number one since their first release, “Sweat It Again” in April 1999. “We are grateful to all our fans for their continued support,” the band said in a statement on their website. “Queen of My Heart” is described by… Read more »

Guns N’ Roses have again canceled their tour of Europe, but unlike other artists rethinking their overseas trips, Axl Rose doesn’t seem to be afraid of traveling – he’s afraid of not being able to work on the band’s never-ending new album. Earlier this year GN’R canceled a 14-city European jaunt scheduled for June, citing an unspecified stomach ailment suffered by guitarist Buckethead, and then rebooked the dates for December. But on Thursday (November 8), the band’s European agent issued a statement in which GN’R manager Doug Goldstein appears to take personal blame for the tour’s demise. “Following the euphoria… Read more »

Madonna may be the bitchiest and bossiest woman in pop music or the most beloved. She may be an emotionally insecure manipulator – who (shock! horror!) uses men and throws them away. Or she may be just an old-fashioned girl looking for the traditional twosome: love and marriage. But one thing she doesn’t do is kiss and tell – that’s left for the biographer. Two unauthorized biographies published this month both tout supposed fresh new insights into the life and love life of the pop and cultural phenomenon who has reinvented herself with almost every one of her 14 hit… Read more »