Search Results for: indie

Los Angeles – Recording industry executive Andy Gershon sees opportunity in the online file-sharing networks that most of his rivals decry as havens for music pirates. As president of V2 Records, home to such established acts as The White Stripes and Moby, Gershon mines such Internet distribution channels for new fans and revenues. “The cat is so far out of the bag and so far gone that it’s pointless to keep fighting it,” Gershon said. “I might as well make as many people fans of our music, whether they illegally download it or not.” A number of mostly independent recording… Read more »

Los Angeles – Snocap, the latest venture of Shawn Fanning, the creator of the original renegade Napster service, on Thursday said it reached deals with various independent labels to facilitate the distribution of their music on peer-to-peer services. Earlier this month, Snocap, a copyright management and filtering system, reached a deal with Sony BMG Music, which was its second major music label deal following a deal in December with Vivendi Universal’s Universal Music. Labels involved in the latest deals are Absolutely Kosher Records, Artemis Records/Sheridan Square Entertainment, Gammon Records, Streetbeat Records/Pandisc/Kriztal Entertainment, Nacional Records, Nettwerk Records, OM Records/Deep Concentration, Reality… Read more »

Los Angeles – Before they made the jump to Atlantic Records in 2004, the members of Death Cab for Cutie thought long and hard about leaving Seattle’s Barsuk Records. But after six years of deliberation, and the ultimate satisfaction the band took in its decision, manager Jordan Kurland grants that there has been a twinge of remorse. “I’d be lying if I didn’t admit that after I saw Bright Eyes debut in the top 10, I didn’t think, ‘Ah, we should have done that…’ But we’re having a great time.” Indeed, the band Bright Eyes bolted to No. 10 on… Read more »

The hit series The O.C. is becoming known as a hotbed for indie music promotion. Appearances on the show by bands such as The Killers and Modest Mouse have led to increased sales in a genre the industry has pretty much left for dead. Now the show’s expert soundtrackers have put together a new installment of their successful compilation series. This new CD will be the fourth from the show – the previous three all came out last year. The O.C.: Mix 4 is set to come out on April 5. The new comp’s biggest score may be “Scarecrow” by… Read more »

Los Angeles – Los Angeles-based Collectors’ Choice Music is carving a very successful niche with the rerelease of some old albums that probably aren’t in your record collection. Among 24 titles pouring forth this month from CCM – which issues its sets through its mail-order operation before taking them to stores – are the late producer Terry Melcher’s 1974 solo album, singer-songwriter Jamie Brockett’s 1969 cult favorite “Remember the Wind and the Rain,” four collections by ’70s L.A. pop tunesmith Andrew Gold, Sonny Bono’s 1967 solo record “Inner Views” and three entries by the ’80s cowpunk act Rank & File.… Read more »

Los Angeles – Lil Jon & the East Side Boyz continued their reign on the year-end Top Independent Albums chart for the second year in a row. The self-proclaimed “Kings of Crunk” finish the year with two of the top five titles on the indie chart. After breaking through in 2003, the Atlanta-bred party-rap trio of Lil Jon, Big Sam and Lil Bo remained steady sellers throughout 2004. The act’s BME/TVT release “Kings of Crunk” has spent more than 100 weeks on the Top Independent Albums chart, and has now led the chart two years running. To date, the album… Read more »

London – When the curtain went up on MTV’s Europe Awards in Rome on Thursday, only one of the performers was signed to an independent record label. And at European pop music’s annual showcase event where fans vote for their favorites either online or by mobile phone, not only were the majority of acts from the United States, but all major prizes went to Americans. The independent record industry says the business has been taken over by four mega-companies that are helping to entrench American cultural “hegemony” across the music world. “The record business is stacked in favor of the… Read more »

Songs from Europe’s independent record labels will be available on Apple’s iTunes download service after a deal resolved a dispute between the sides. Songs by artists like The White Stripes and Franz Ferdinand – who are signed to indie labels – were not available at iTunes’ European launch in June. The labels complained they were being dictated unreasonable terms by Apple. But the Association of Indie Music (Aim) has secured terms it says are “on a par with those agreed by the majors”. Aim chairman Alison Wenham said: “The industry’s future is wedded to the success of iTunes and similar… Read more »

Independent record labels are on the verge of striking an agreement with Apple Computer that will allow its iTunes music service to sell tracks by artists such as the White Stripes and Basement Jaxx across Europe. A pact could be announced as early as today, sources close to the talks have told The Times, ending a feud that has kept independent labels off iTunes since its launch in the UK, France and Germany last month. The new deal is expected to ease the concerns of independent record labels that they would be locked into long-term contracts at fixed prices. The… Read more »

When Britney Spears fell down during a video shoot for “Outrageous” earlier this month, the impact was immediate. Her fall has set off a chain of events that’s resulted in the cancellation of her summer tour – something insiders are estimating will cost her as much as $1 million a week in lost revenue from ticket and merchandise sales. But what of the fall itself? Still pictures from paparazzi showed a play-by-play of the incident but failed to capture the essence of the moment – the onset of injury, the expression on the singer’s face, her puzzled dancers’ reactions as… Read more »