Search Results for: madonna

The trophy is a silly Moonman. Treasured memories include girl-on-girl kisses, a flying Fartman and the bobbling of a pasty-covered breast. Where other shows confer honors and respect, this one relishes gaffes, guffaws and giggles. Forget “The envelope, please.” It’s time to push the envelope. MTV’s Video Music Awards is among the most irreverent of awards shows. Which may be precisely why it matters. “It’s pop music; how seriously can you take it?” said MTV news correspondent Kurt Loder. “It’s not Martin Heidegger or something. There’s a lot of empty pomp associated with other shows, like the Oscars and even… Read more »

When it comes to concert tours, the good times are not rolling this summer. Major acts like Britney Spears, Marc Anthony and Christina Aguilera, as well as large-scale festivals like Lollapalooza, all pulled the plug on their tours before they even started. In some cases personal problems, like Spears’ knee injury, were to blame. Anthony said he called off his tour to focus on production of his next album. Industry insiders, however, point to a much bigger issue: falling ticket sales. “People aren’t buying tickets,” said Gary Bongiovanni, editor in chief of Pollstar, the concert industry trade magazine. “For whatever… Read more »

With the music industry looking to cut costs amid lower profit margins, record companies see fewer incentives to investing in artist-run label projects. Twelve years ago, Madonna decided to apply the business instincts that made her a superstar toward finding and developing new acts for her own music label. Maverick Records flourished early on. It generated hits by the likes of Alanis Morissette and Prodigy, validating the decision by Warner Music to form a partnership with its biggest star. But Maverick’s good fortunes started to turn during the industrywide sales slump that began in 2000. The label-parent relationship soured, landing… Read more »

A month after promoters declared the concert industry healthier than ever, big summer tours such as Ozzfest, Fleetwood Mac, the Dead and Lollapalooza have run into a concrete wall of slow sales. “Ticket sales are mixed, and in some cases they appear to be substantially off from the past,” says Alex Hodges, executive vice president of House of Blues Concerts, one of the three major U.S. promotion companies. The summer’s success stories so far are big-buzz superstar events such as Prince and Madonna, plus low-cost packages including the long-running Warped Tour, Alanis Morissette/Barenaked Ladies and No Doubt/Blink-182. Also, the three-day… Read more »

Universal Music maintained its status as the world’s market leader in 2003, but a combined Sony/BMG would have challenged its dominance. The International Federation of the Phonographic Industry (IFPI), a music industry trade group, released market share figures that show BMG and Sony had an aggregate share of 25.1% in 2003. Universal posted a 23.5% share, down from 25.4% in 2002. The Sony-BMG merger plan cleared a major hurdle June 17 when European competition commissioner Mario Monti gave his approval of the deal. BMG was among the companies posting a share gain in 2003, increasing to 11.9% from 9.6% in… Read more »

Marilyn Manson has a wedding and a greatest-hits album on his plate, but his next project may be a lawsuit. The rocker and his bandmate Madonna Wayne Gacy have filed a suit against former bandmember Scott Putesky (a.k.a. Daisy Berkowitz) and Empire Musicwerks Records to stop the continued distribution of an early Manson album, according to Richard Wolfe, lawyer for Empire Musicwerks. The album was released on April 20. Manson and Gacy (a.k.a. Brian Warner and Stephen Bier, respectively) filed suit in the United States District Court for the Eastern District of California, Western Division, on April 28. The action… Read more »

A Delaware Chancery Court judge has ruled that Los Angeles should be the venue for the hearing of the bitter legal clash between Warner Music Group (WMG) and top Warner act Madonna’s Maverick Records. WMG filed its preemptive action against Maverick in Delaware on March 24, seeking a declaratory judgment. Maverick filed its own suit the following day in California Superior Court in L.A., claiming that WMG had breached its 12-year-old joint-venture pact with the label, which is gearing up for the May 18 release of Alanis Morissette’s new album. The suits are believed to be tied to ongoing disputes… Read more »

Maverick Records, home to bands such as Tantric, Story Of The Year, Dakona and many others, has lost $66 million since 1999, according to recently unsealed court documents filed by its adversary and partner, Warner Music Group. Last month, Maverick sued Warner Music for $200 million, claiming breach of contract and fraud. The Warner documents were part of a pre-emptive claim filed in a Delaware court asking a judge to find that the company had fulfilled its commitment to Maverick. The documents claim that in order for Maverick to get out of its joint venture with Warner Music, which is… 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 »

People sometimes say Britney is the new Madonna, but then who’s going to be the new Britney? Ms. Spears had a hand in deciding that for herself recently, when she helped cast “Brave New Girl,” an ABC Family film adapted from the book she wrote with her mom. The story, adapted from Lynne and Britney Spears’ book “A Mother’s Gift,” is based on the singer’s life but is fictionalized a bit so that it becomes more about the relationship between the mother and daughter than the rise of Spears’ star. In the film, the Britney character, named Holly, wants to… Read more »