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The leading trade associations for the music and technology industries, which have been at loggerheads over consumers downloading songs on the Internet, have negotiated a compromise they contend will protect copyrights on movies and music without new government involvement. Lobbyists for some of the nation’s largest technology companies will argue under the new agreement against efforts in Congress to amend U.S. laws to broaden the rights of consumers, such as explicitly permitting viewers to make backup copies of DVDs for personal use or copy songs onto handheld listening devices. “How companies satisfy consumer expectations is a business decision that should… Read more »

Blamed by shareholders for AOL Time Warner’s sharp fall in fortunes, Steve Case said he will step down as chairman of the conglomerate he helped create – a marriage of old and new media first hailed as revolutionary but now struggling for a future. Case’s departure means the company’s leadership will be without any of the key architects of the blockbuster merger of America Online and Time Warner in 2001. The company said Sunday he would step down in May. In a brief statement, Case said he had concluded AOL Time Warner was better off without him as chairman. “Some… Read more »

Sixty years after his birth, one of the most important artists ever to emerge from Seattle is – at least officially – almost invisible here. There’s no Jimi Hendrix Boulevard, no Hendrix Arena, no Hendrix Elementary School. The only thing the city has done to recognize the man many consider the world’s greatest guitar player is to give him a rock – in the African Savanna exhibit at the Woodland Park Zoo. Biographer Charles Cross of Seattle, who has spent years researching Hendrix for an upcoming book, called the oversight “almost criminal.” “The Seattle city government has never given any… Read more »

Eddie Vedder has found plenty of material in mortality over the years. His band, Pearl Jam, was born of a heroin overdose more than a decade ago. Rival songwriter Kurt Cobain of Nirvana committed suicide while at the height of popularity. Two of Pearl Jam’s biggest hits, “Jeremy” and “Last Kiss,” deal with teen death. Now comes renewal, an appropriate topic as the lead singer and his bandmates re-emerge from their most proximate shock: the deaths of nine fans trampled during the 2000 Roskilde festival in Denmark. “Riot Act,” released Nov. 12, is Pearl Jam’s first studio album since the… 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 »

The Eminem show was everywhere this week as two albums by the rapper commanded top spots on the U.S. sales charts ahead of the Friday opening of his highly anticipated debut movie. The newly released soundtrack to his film “8 Mile” – which features music by Eminem as well as other rappers such as Jay-Z, Nas and D-12 – debuted at No. 1 on the charts, selling an estimated 702,000 units in the week ended Nov. 3, according to music tracker Nielsen SoundScan. The album features three new solo songs by Eminem, who has the starring role in the movie… Read more »

Five men arrested on suspicion of plotting to kidnap singer Victoria Beckham were charged Monday with theft and conspiring to rob Sotheby’s auction house, police said. Scotland Yard said inquiries were continuing into the alleged plan to kidnap Victoria Beckham, the Spice Girl wife of England soccer captain David Beckham, for a reported 5 million pound (US$7.75 million) ransom. Nine people were arrested after a Sunday newspaper said undercover reporters had discovered the kidnap plot. Kosovo-born Azem Krifsha, 30; London-born Joseph Rivas, 24; and Rusu Sorin, 31 and originally from Romania, were charged with theft and handling of a jeweled… Read more »

In a fight to win back fans from the “gray zone” of online song-swapping services, the music industry is borrowing a trick from its nemeses: free music downloads. For one week beginning Thursday, music fans in Europe will be able to download, stream or burn onto their hard drives a selection of tracks from 6,000 artists including ColdPlay, Dido and Elvis Presley. It is part of a marketing ploy called “Digital Download Day” devised by British firm OD2, a technology company specializing in digital music distribution and co-founded by recording artist Peter Gabriel. Backed by record labels and music retailers,… Read more »

Singer Brian Littrell’s wife, actress Leighanne Wallace, has the couple’s baby on board. “We’re expecting a baby boy at the end of this year and we’re very excited,” the twosome said. The news comes almost exactly two years after Littrell, 27, and Wallace, 33, wed. (They celebrated their second anniversary on September 2.) “The only thing we have to deal with now is our puppies being jealous,” the couple added. “We’d like to thank the fans for all of their support and love.” Pending puppy problems notwithstanding, Littrell will become the first Backstreeter with his very own brood. His bandmate… Read more »

Digital-music subscription service Pressplay will offer subscribers access to exclusive new online tracks to stream or download from forthcoming albums well in advance of their release on CD, the company said Wednesday. The first material for the program, which will offer songs from both established and developing artists, will come from upcoming work by Bon Jovi, LL Cool J, Nine Days and Natalie Cole. Once the albums are out, users will also be able to transfer the selected tracks to a portable device and burn them onto a recordable CD. Separately, Pressplay is set to announce Thursday that its service… Read more »