Search Results for: no cure

Napster will launch a test version of its new copyright-compliant online music service Thursday, months after legal action brought by the recording industry forced a shutdown of the wildly popular file-sharing network. The test or “beta” version, which lacks content from the major music labels, will not be open to the public. Instead, it will be offered to 20,000 people randomly selected from a group of more than 2 million users who e-mailed Napster showing interest in participating in the beta test. More than 100,000 files will be available on Napster for the beta trial. All are currently licensed to… Read more »

Veteran rockers U2 grabbed a leading eight Grammys nominations Friday, including record, album and song of the year. But the day’s biggest surprise was neosoul newcomer India.Arie, who nabbed seven nominations. Her debut “Acoustic Soul” was nominated for album of the year, while her breakout song “Video” received bids for record and song of the year. She was also nominated for best new artist. “I don’t know what to do,” said India.Arie, who help announce the nominations. “My spirit is flying and I want to jump and shout.” The numerous nominations were surprising because India.Arie’s disc was only a moderate… Read more »

Bono, lead singer of the Irish rock band U2, has been named “European of the Year” for his campaign for debt relief in developing nations, in a poll conducted by the weekly European Voice. Danish film director Lars von Trier was named “Visionary of the Year.” Ten winners were selected by European Voice readers from a list of 50 nominees compiled by journalists and opinion leaders from across the 15 European Union nations. The announcement was made earlier this month. Each winner received $4,458 to donate to a charity of his or her choice. Bono, 41, said his prize would… Read more »

British rock band the Cure mounted a farewell tour last year to promote what it billed as its last album, and had such a blast playing for more than half a million people in North America and Europe that it now hopes to return to the road in 2002. Retirement at age 42 just never suited the Cure’s leader, singer/guitarist Robert Smith, whose gloomy songs about death and despair have transfixed fans since the Cure released its first single in 1978. “The swan song was actually me… saying the group’s going to end,” Smith told Reuters in a recent interview.… Read more »

Approximately two-and-a-half decades after beginning his career, Cure mastermind Robert Smith is working on his first solo album, a collection of collaborations with several of his friends. Smith actually began working on the concept during the making of the last Cure album, last year’s Bloodflowers, but has had to put the project aside three times due to various concerns surrounding his group as well as the availability of others. He said, “The basic songs have been recorded and I’m intending to collaborate with on each one with a different artist. That’s why I have to have, like, a clear run… Read more »

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 »