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Signs of success are everywhere for up-and-coming pop-punkers New Found Glory – from the single “Hit or Miss” gaining radio spins and the increasing number of concertgoers who sing along to it, to the growing size of the venues where the group perform and the increasingly comfortable mode of transportation that takes them there. One clue, however, is reserved for only the worthiest targets of admiration. “We had our first crier at a Sam Goody in-store,” guitarist Chad Gilbert admitted. Apparently some young lady was so taken with being in the presence of Gilbert, singer Jordan Pundik, guitarist Steve Klein,… Read more »

Rebel without a mandate? Listen.com fails to run its Napster strategy past either its major label investors or Napster Listen.com, a music directory service partly funded by major record labels, is shedding a little of its squeaky-clean image with a new song-search service that plugs directly into Napster’s software. The new service replicates all the music search and recommendation functions of Listen.com’s Web site but lives on an individual’s PC desktop. The company has added a function that triggers the Napster application, booting up the file-swapping service to help find music reviewed or recommended by Listen.com. The company did not… Read more »

The New York City Police Department has a message for the city’s hip-hop community: we’re watching you. Based on what it claims is a “culture of violence” in the hip-hop world, the police’s gang intelligence unit has begun watching nightclubs frequented by celebrity musicians. Police are also compiling a dossier on rappers and others in the music industry with criminal histories. “It would be ignorant for us to ignore the fact that there have been violent incidents where the only common denominator is the music industry,” police spokesperson Sgt. Brian Burke said Friday (April 20). “In an effort to ensure… Read more »

The music industry has blamed free online music and the US economic slowdown for a fall in sales. In the US, the world’s largest market, singles and cassette sales fell by 38% and 46%, which the record companies blamed on free download services applied by Napstar, MP3.com and other online music services. We also saw the first evidence of the impact of free online music, as well as damage done by unauthorised CD-R copying in some major markets. IFPI report Sales in the global market, worth $36.9bn ( £25.8bn) last year with 3.5bn recordings sold, fell by 1.2% when compared… Read more »

Long-quiet pop superstar Michael Jackson will return to the spotlight in September with a massive concert tribute to his own career that will include a reunion with the Jackson 5 and collaborations with ‘NSYNC, Britney Spears and Whitney Houston. The September 7 event at New York’s Madison Square Garden will reunite Jackson and his brothers for the first time since the ’80s, with the Jacksons teaming with ‘NSYNC on at least one song, according to Jackson’s publicists. Jackson will duet with both Spears and Houston, as well as debut a new single from his upcoming album during the show, billed… Read more »

Pop icon’s Drowned World Tour, kicking off June 5, is her first outing in eight years. Madonna announced on Monday (April 16) the 18 dates of an international outing that will launch June 5 in Cologne, Germany, and end September 9 in Los Angeles. Dubbed the Drowned World Tour, the trek will be the most extravagant stage spectacle of the singer’s illustrious career, according to Madonna’s spokesperson. Madonna will be promoting last year’s neo-cowgirl endeavor Music, which includes the title track and the current single, “What It Feels Like for a Girl” , though organizers promise plenty of past hits,… Read more »

Joey Ramone, lead singer of legendary punk band the Ramones, passed away at 2:40 p.m. Sunday at the age of 49. The towering front man, born Jeffrey Hyman, did not respond to treatment for lymphatic cancer, a disease that attacks the body’s ability to fight infection. Along with his cohorts Johnny, Tommy and Dee Dee – all of whom adopted Ramone as a surname – Joey was credited with helping found the modern punk movement. In mixing the griminess of the New York streets with a love of bubblegum pop, ’60s girl groups and the Stooges, the Ramones inspired everyone… Read more »

Rapper Sean Combs was arrested Saturday and charged with driving with a suspended license after police pulled him over while he was riding a scooter along Ocean Drive, a South Beach strip. Police pulled Combs over about 6 p.m. for making an illegal lane change, said Miami Beach Police Sgt. Peter Bitume. A driver’s license check showed Combs’ license was suspended, so he was arrested and released 20 minutes later after he signed a promise to appear in court, Bitume said. The charge is a misdemeanor punishable by a fine of up to $500 and possibly jail time, Bitume said.… Read more »

One day Australia’s hottest new rock exports are opening for heavy metal heroes AC/DC, the next day they are sharing the bill with race horses. Bands that want to make it big sometimes have to swallow their pride. During the 1960s, rock acts appearing on Ed Sullivan’s prestigious TV variety show were squeezed in between chimpanzees and circus clowns. In 2001, Australian punk-rock trio the Living End recently played for several thousand fans at a Los Angeles racetrack. But their afternoon set was punctuated by a 10-minute break so the horses would not panic as they galloped past the makeshift… Read more »

Cable TV’s music channel VH1 Tuesday unveiled a service to sell CDs on the Internet weeks before they hit retail shelves, becoming the latest in a string of announcements to spotlight rapid changes in music. Former Fleetwood Mac singer Stevie Nicks will kick off the service, dubbed “VH1 Hear Music First, on April 16 when she will make her new CD “Trouble in Shangri-La” available to fans at VH1.com before it lands in record stores on May 1. The service allows computer users to surf their way to www.VH1.com, where they can buy a CD for about the same price… Read more »