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Music video pioneer MTV says it is just a matter of time before Asian pop idols make their presence felt on an international stage. “I think we are starting to see an awakening of interest in the West about what’s going on in Asia, spiritually, musically, creatively. You have Madonna singing about Asia, Alanis Morissette singing about India,” Frank Brown, president of MTV Networks Asia, told Reuters in a recent interview. For years now, western pop singers such as Michael Jackson, Madonna and Robbie Williams have been idolized by fans across Asia. But that trend may be changing. “The flow… Read more »

Former Savage Garden singer Darren Hayes will release his debut album, Spin, in early spring. The album, which features the single “Insatiable,” is the first solo project to come in the wake of the Australian pop duo’s (Hayes and Daniel Jones) recent split. “It’s a much more sophisticated and lush version of everything I’ve done before,” says Hayes, who cites the electronic flavor of recent Madonna and Bjork albums as inspirations. “It’s a very romantic record, a very sexy record,” he says. “And it’s more personal. This is the music I hear in my head.” Savage Garden producer Walter Afanasieff… Read more »

The members of No Doubt are pleased to announce that fans will have one less week to wait for the arrival of the band’s new Interscope Records album, ROCK STEADY. The collection, which was recorded throughout 2001 with a variety of producers at a number of international locations, is now scheduled to arrive in record stores on December 11, 2001, seven days earlier than first planned. The release date has been pushed up in response to the overwhelming response that’s greeted No Doubt’s new single and video, “Hey Baby,” including an impressive 130 first-week adds on Top-40 stations. The pride… Read more »

The world’s big record labels are finally rolling out online subscription services smack in the middle of the holiday season that caps the music industry’s worst year in at least a decade. In coming weeks, music fans – who have for years been pulling everything from Radiohead to Madonna off the Web for free from services like Napster – will be introduced to a new breed of money-for-music services like PressPlay and MusicNet, which have been developed by the major record companies. Several smaller independent firms like FullAudio and Listen.com will soon be launching subscription services too. Industry officials and… Read more »

Everyone at some point has dreamed of being a rock star. Now even the least musically inclined among us can feel like a real rock star – actually playing the guitar and drum parts of our favorite songs thanks to a one-of-a-kind interactive music experience from MusicPlayground. Available now at www.MusicPlayground.com, MusicPlayground makes use of virtual instruments – plug-and-play USB peripherals – that simulate their real-world counterparts, allowing users to literally take over the guitar, bass or drum parts of their favorite songs. They simply plug in their virtual instruments to the back of their computer and start playing along… Read more »

Britney Spears, Beyoncé Knowles and Pink are among the celebrities whose wearable wares are up for grabs in an online clothing and memorabilia auction benefiting September 11 relief organizations. Outfits worn by those singers – along with others worn by Sheryl Crow, Gloria Estefan, Shania Twain, Faith Hill and the Dixie Chicks – will be on the auction block for two weeks beginning Sunday (November 11) at www.gloryauction.com.   Designer Betsey Johnson donated a velvet coat with faux fur collar and cuffs that Spears wore to a Madonna concert earlier this year, while designer Badgley Mischka donated the crystal-beaded beige… Read more »

Global music channel MTV will hope to bring a little international glamour to Frankfurt Thursday when Germany’s buttoned-down financial center hosts its European awards show. Although Frankfurt is better known for staid bankers than flashy rockstars, MTV expects to draw up to a billion viewers worldwide for the 2001 European Music Awards with a line-up including performances by Kylie Minogue, R.E.M. and Depeche Mode. Presenters will include local German favourites such as tennis star Boris Becker and supermodel Heidi Klum, as well as American actor Ben Stiller and Spanish director Pedro Almodovar. The show will be hosted this year by… Read more »

Warner Music Group, home to such stars as Staind and Madonna, Monday said it licensed its music to Echo Networks, marking the first of several such deals the recording giant expects to reach with Web subscription services beside MusicNet, which it partly owns. “I would expect there will be more deals within the next month or two,” said Paul Vidich, executive vice president for Warner Music Group. “We’re talking to four other companies which want to enter the space of online subscription services, similar to the ones Echo and Musicnet offer,” he said. Privately held Echo plans to offer streams… Read more »

No Doubt songs produced by hip-hop producers Timbaland and the Neptunes, recently pulled from the final sequencing of the group’s upcoming album Rock Steady, might still see release at a later date. No Doubt guitarist Tom Dumont noted that the songs “didn’t fit in,” but tells LAUNCH that it doesn’t mean they’re not quality. “They’re good songs that I’m sure will find the light of day at some point,” he says. “They were just a little more hip-hoppy and didn’t feel right with the rest of the songs we had for the record.” The Timbaland song is called “It’s A… Read more »

Cue ear-splitting shrieks from millions of preteen girls. For Lance Bass, as most adults don’t know, is one-fifth of ‘N Sync, the mega-selling boy-band that has helped keep the music industry afloat in recent years. It’s hard to imagine ‘N Sync winning a Grammy Award for its lightweight pop. So – strange but true – Bass is setting his sights on winning a coveted Academy Award from stuffy Hollywood for his role as a moonlighting movie producer. The 22-year-old Mississippi native set up a movie production company earlier this year, naming it A Happy Place, and is holding meetings like… Read more »