Search Results for: higher power

Microsoft Corp. launched a new online store for music downloads on Wednesday, taking direct aim at Apple Computer Inc.’s popular iTunes music service. MSN Music, which is aimed at luring more users to the world’s largest software maker’s online service, launched in beta, or test mode, offering songs for download at 99 cents each, the same price as Apple’s online store. Users can access MSN Music from a browser as well as a brand new version of the Windows Media Player that also was unveiled. “We believe we’ve built a better service than the Apple service,” Yusuf Mehdi, MSN vice… Read more »

JUST days after the European launch of Apple Computers’ online music store, a chorus of customers are voicing their complaints. The lack of songs from artists on independent record labels – which account for a quarter of the UK market – has left iTunes looking like a poorly-stocked American import store, lacking local talent such as Travis and Franz Ferdinand. “Most Scottish acts are on independent labels,” says Alison Wenham, chairman and chief executive of the Association of Independent Music (AIM), which represents the majority of the UK’s indie labels. “Celtic acts typically start off very strong in their home… Read more »

As Britney Spears begins her European tour Monday in London, the pop singer can count on selling more than $10 million worth of concert souvenirs like baby-doll shirts and posters during the five-week trek. About half of that sum will end up in her pocket, says Dell Furano, CEO of Signatures Network Inc., a merchandising and licensing firm that handles Spears products. In the 25 North American dates of her Onyx Hotel tour, Spears’ merchandise sales averaged $150,000-$170,000 a night, reaching a high of $180,000 during the Los Angeles show March 8, according Furano. Her career merchandise sales passed the… Read more »

Bruce Springsteen was the top concert draw across North America in 2003 as more than 1.6 million fans paid to take in his marathon shows and musings on the struggles of the working man. According to preliminary data published on Tuesday by concert trade publication Pollstar, the 54-year-old New Jersey rocker grossed $115.9 million from 47 shows to lead the annual rankings. His tour ranks as the second-biggest of all time, behind the Rolling Stones’ 1994 outing, which grossed $121.2 million. While Pollstar is still calculating final figures, it expects sales for all acts to rise for the fifth consecutive… Read more »

Radio is awesome, isn’t it? It’s free, it’s on whenever you want it, and you can choose from among eight or 10 stations. About the only people who could possibly complain about it, in fact, are people who have to listen to it. They’ll tell you that the music you hear on the radio is mostly the same cloying pop junk, played over and over. That 20 minutes of every hour is ads, played over and over. And that as you drive, the signal comes and goes with the territory. Two years ago, two companies – XM and Sirius –… Read more »

Who can forget that scene in Fast Times At Ridgemont High where Phoebe Cates takes off her red bikini top to the tune of “Moving In Stereo” by The Cars, delighting pubescent boys all over the world, not to mention Judge Reinhold. It seems that the antics of Jeff Spicoli and co. rubbed off on some that weren’t even born when the movie came out. Take Massachusetts rockers Damone for instance, who have named their band after the concert ticket scalping weasel character in the flick, and take to the stage to the very Cars tune Judge Reinhold waxed the… Read more »

“American Idol” Ruben Studdard is lucky he has a healthy ego. Not only is “Idol” runner-up Clay Aiken beating the champ on the Billboard singles charts, but on the fifth stop of the “Idol” summer tour, the spiky-haired crooner proved that he’s winning the battle for the hearts and minds of “Idol” fans across the country. Even before the nine “Idol” finalists took the stage at U.S. Bank Arena Sunday night to perform a nearly two-and-a-half-hour medley of covers, the mere sight of Clay’s face on the two Jumbotron screens flanking the massive neon ballroom set was enough to elicit… Read more »

An environmental group plans to grow a forest in honor of the late Clash singer-songwriter Joe Strummer’s efforts to counter global warming. Future Forests, a group Strummer helped found in the 1990s, asked fans to donate to help create the living memorial on the Isle of Skye in Scotland. “Joe said, ‘Bands must be contributing to global warming by their buses, equipment trucks and the diesel used to power the stages,’” the spokesman said on condition of anonymity. “‘Can you imagine how much carbon dioxide the pressing and the distribution of a CD creates? What shall we do about it?’”… Read more »

Major record companies, seeking to quash a brewing revolt by pop stars over royalty payments, on Tuesday released a study backing its claim that the embattled industry has negotiated past contracts fairly. The release of the study, commissioned by the Recording Industry Association of America, came as lawyers for musicians told a California state Senate hearing in Sacramento that the record industry has used faulty accounting to cheat them out of royalties. To bolster its claim that the record business is on the up and up, the RIAA released a study by Michigan State University professor Steven Wildman showing that… Read more »

What were you expecting? A wheelchair, some crutches? Just a few months after a car accident involving singer Scott Stapp derailed Creed’s summer tour, the band is back and, seemingly, no worse for the wear. On the fourth date of the resurrected second leg of their Weathered tour, Creed preached to the converted at a nearly sold-out Polaris Amphitheater on a night when all the flames, fireworks and smoke bombs added heat to the already muggy Midwestern night. The nearly two-hour show was a no-frills affair, with Stapp slowly walking the front of the stage as he belted out one… Read more »