Search Results for: no cure

The stage where John Lennon met Paul McCartney all those years ago is up for sale, and Beatles fans wanting a slice of the world’s most famous pop group can also buy the Bechstein Grand Piano used on The White Album and to record “Hey Jude.” The church hall stage where pop history was made is expected to fetch up to $72,000 at a London auction on Nov. 27, auctioneers Fleetwood Owen said in a statement Thursday. Lennon was playing with his group the Quarrymen at St. Peter’s Church Hall in Woolton, in northern England, on July 6, 1957, when… Read more »

Throughout their two-decade career, the Cure have always made music for lonely hearts, so it’s only fitting that frontman Robert Smith be alone for once. Smith hopes to begin recording his first solo album in January or February, once he’s through promoting the Cure’s Greatest Hits, which includes two new songs and acoustic renditions of fan favorites. The pale-faced misanthrope said he started fostering ideas for the LP after finishing the Cure’s last studio album, 2000’s Bloodflowers, and it’s been an on-and-off endeavor ever since. “I was just at the point of coordinating it all earlier this year when the… Read more »

BMG Entertainment’s Buddha Records and digital rights management (DRM) specialist Digital World Services announced today the launch of a secure digital downloads offering as part of the label’s Black Anthology Web site (www.blackanthology.com). Starting today, music fans can download free DRM protected songs from Harry Belafonte’s The Long Road To Freedom: An Anthology of Black Music, a collection of recordings that portrays the music of Black Americans from their earliest arrival in the “New World” through spirituals, blues, and folk music up to the 20th century. The tracks are offered free of charge and are protected by Digital World Services’… Read more »

Song-swap service Napster on Friday said it has received another cash infusion from German media giant Bertelsmann AG, which sources familiar with the situation put at about $26 million. “Bertelsmann did commit to a fixed amount of further funding, a portion of which was tied to our recent licensing deal,” a Napster spokeswoman said on Friday, declining to provide specifics. Earlier this week, Bertelsmann said it will use Napster’s new secure song-swap technology for its BeMusic operations as part of a licensing agreement between the two companies. Sources said part of the latest funding was payment for Bertelsmann’s licensing of… Read more »

Bertelsmann AG media group said on Tuesday it will use the new secure technology of Napster song-swap firm for its BeMusic operations as part of a licensing agreement between the two companies. BeMusic is part of the German-based Bertelsmann eCommerce Group and its holdings consist of Web-retailer CDNOW, record club business BMG Direct, and myplay Inc, a digital music locker company. The technology licensing deal culminates a long-running alliance between Napster and Bertelsmann, which broke ranks with other major music companies last year by entering into a strategic alliance with the song-swap service. Napster, which had allowed free swapping between… Read more »

No Doubt began as a good-time ska-party band, full of California sunshine. But in the last few years, that’s been obscured by smog: bruised egos within the band, gloomy lyrics and weak record sales for last year’s Return of Saturn. The bad times are all gone on their upcoming album, Rock Steady, reports singer Gwen Stefani. “We’re not taking ourselves so seriously,” she says. “It’s like, get over it. We’re a fucking band and we’re really lucky to be doing what we do.” Rock Steady, out December 18th, is a sweet pop confection, made with arrays of keyboards, a dance-floor… Read more »

Music publishers and recording companies are expected early this week to announce a deal for licensing of music online, removing a hurdle that threatened to thwart industry plans to launch Web services, sources close to the talks said on Sunday. Under the deal, which is expected to be announced as early as Tuesday, the major labels would pay music publishers, who own the copyrights to underlying compositions, a $1 million advance to cover the use of their music over the next two years, said a source familiar with the matter. The publishers’ effort has been led by the National Music… Read more »

MusicNet announced today the launch of its technology platform, which is being delivered to distribution partners, AOL and RealNetworks, for incorporation into their systems for future consumer offerings. MusicNet is providing the entire technology platform and music content from label partners BMG, EMI, Warner Music Group and Zomba to its distribution partners. MusicNet’s technology platform, developed over the past year by the MusicNet team with support from RealNetworks, will offer both streaming and downloading of content and includes secure, end-to-end digital rights management functionality enabled by RealSystem Media Commerce Suite. The infrastructure also includes proprietary security features, peer-to-peer file sharing,… Read more »

French-American media giant Vivendi Universal confirmed on Tuesday its profit and sales targets for this year and said it was well positioned for additional growth despite the uncertain economic environment. The company issued its bullish outlook as it reported that net profit dwindled to a meager 22 million euros ($20.3 million), weighed down by goodwill from its Seagram merger, provisions and losses at companies in which it holds stakes. The company’s outlook compared favorably with those of its top competitors, several of which have issued profit warnings in recent days. Media firms, particularly those exposed to the tumbling advertising market,… Read more »

RealNetworks ®, Inc. and a host of industry leaders today announced the eXtensible Media Commerce Language (XMCL) initiative, an open XML-based language designed to establish industry-wide standards for Internet media commerce. By standardizing the language for business rules, XMCL will enable content to be played in a way that is independent of codecs, digital rights management systems, and e-commerce systems. XMCL will greatly simplify deployment and accelerate the market for digital media commerce over the Internet. RealNetworks intends to submit the XMCL proposal to the appropriate standards organization, and will work with other industry leaders to ensure the initiative evolves… Read more »