Search Results for: no cure

Sire Records, the label that introduced the world to Madonna, Talking Heads and the Ramones, is being resurrected and will officially rejoin the Warner Bros. Records family of labels. Label founder Seymour Stein’s first signing under the new deal is the Von Bondies. Also on the Sire roster are Morcheeba, Guster, the Distillers, Hot Hot Heat, Less Than Jake and the Hives (through a joint venture with Burning Heart/Epitaph). When Roger Ames was named chairman and CEO of Warner Music Group in 1999, Ames’ London Records was merged with Sire Records to create London-Sire. That label closed its doors in… Read more »

In a pairing that would alter the architecture of the music business, Apple Computer Inc. is in talks with Vivendi Universal to buy Universal Music Group, the world’s largest record company, for as much as $6 billion, sources said. Such a seemingly unlikely combination would instantly make technology guru Steve Jobs, Apple’s co-founder and chief executive, the most powerful player in the record industry. Universal, which reaps about $6 billion in sales annually from artists such as 50 Cent, Shania Twain, U2 and Luciano Pavarotti, would be controlled by a maverick who revolutionized the computer market and coined the mantra… Read more »

Ted Perry, whose Hyperion Records label explored a wide range of classical music, has died at age 71. Perry died Sunday in a London hospital of lung cancer, said Mike Spring of Hyperion. Perry, who had worked with several record companies in Britain and Australia, founded Hyperion in 1981 and drove a cab to keep the struggling operation going. While driving, he heard a broadcast performance of the songs of Hildegard von Bingen, the 12th-century German abbess, and contacted the artists. The resulting 1981 recording, “A Feather on the Breath of God,” was a success and put the company on… Read more »

Hilary Rosen, who led the music industry’s fight against online piracy, turning an obscure trade group into a major player in the debate over copyright protection, said Wednesday she will quit as chief executive of the Recording Industry Association of America. Rosen, who will resign by year-end after 17 years with the RIAA, led the group recently in victorious copyright infringement battles against Napster and Aimster and this week’s judgment against Verizon Communications to stem piracy on the Internet. But despite the wins on the legal front, the music industry finds itself entrenched in one of its most tumultuous periods,… Read more »

After scoring a hit in 2000 with their first single, “Flavor of the Weak,” American Hi-Fi were showered with praise and press. The experience of playing stadiums and landing mainstream radio play influenced frontman Stacy Jones to write the title track of the band’s new album, The Art of Losing. “We started out playing these sh-ty little clubs all over the country, and it was f-ing great,” explained Jones. “Then when ‘Flavor of the Weak’ started getting played, we found ourselves on these bills where we were playing between Dream and the ‘Moulin Rouge’ chicks. I just remember looking at… Read more »

The Recording Industry Association of America may not want people to share digital files, but the organization certainly seems to be in favor of open access to its website. On Monday, the RIAA site was hacked for the sixth time in six months. This time, the defacement resulted in bogus press releases on the front door, touting the joys of cheese and interspecies romantic relationships. The RIAA’s role as the music industry’s voice against digital piracy makes it an obvious target for those who are angered by what they see as the organization’s overly vehement crusade for copyright owners’ rights.… Read more »

Kelly Osbourne stoked hostilities between the Osbourne family and former Smashing Pumpkins frontman Billy Corgan at the New York City area radio show, Claus Fest, in Uniondale, New York on Thursday night (December 12). Corgan and Sharon Osbourne had a tiff several years ago, after she quit as the Pumpkins manager. The feud came alive again at the Almost Acoustic Christmas in Los Angeles on December 7. At that show, Kelly’s boyfriend, Bert McCracken of the Used, allegedly tried to trip Corgan, who performed with his new band Zwan. Corgan allegedly struck back by kicking McCracken in the stomach, according… Read more »

Jimmy Eat World guitarist Tom Linton says headlining a show in his hometown was a dream come true. “I saw my first concert here – it was The Cure,” Linton said an hour before playing at the Mesa Amphitheatre recently in this Phoenix suburb. “I went out there today and I lay out there on the grass and just looked at the stage. I can’t describe this feeling. It’s craziness.” Before the band took the stage, the largely teenage crowd chanted, “Jimmy, Jimmy.” They sang along once the band started playing. Jimmy Eat World’s self-titled album went platinum in September… Read more »

Papa Roach will infest the U.S. in January on their third headlining tour in almost as many years. Jerry Horton, Dave Buckner, Tobin Esperance and Jacoby Shaddix will set out on a three-month tour, on January 13 in Vancouver, British Columbia, a DreamWorks spokesperson said. Only the first leg of the tour has been confirmed, though the band is expected to then travel up the East Coast, into Canada, and then across the Northern U.S. before wrapping up in Sacramento in mid-April. Swedish rockers Blindside will open, and a third slot may be filled by regional acts. Papa Roach’s last… Read more »

Universal Music Group, the world’s largest music company, on Wednesday announced it would make more than 43,000 song tracks available for download at retail outlets and music Web sites, opening a new front in the marketing of digital music. The initiative is aimed at attracting fans who may want to buy songs or albums on a one-off basis online rather than through monthly Internet subscriptions, the alternative the major labels have offered to peer-to-peer song swapping services. Universal Music, a unit of Vivendi Universal, said the downloads will be burnable to CD and transferable to secure portable devices. The digital… Read more »