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On-again, off-again pop power couple Jessica Simpson and 98 Degrees’ Nick Lachey are not only back together… they’re engaged. Though they had a very public breakup last April, the twosome are “very happy” now that they plan to tie the knot, according to a spokesperson for Simpson’s record label. The couple, who had been dating since Simpson opened for 98 Degrees’ tour in the summer of 1999, were similar to pop’s other reigning couple, Britney Spears and Justin Timberlake – in both cases, the female half made public proclamations that she would remain a virgin until she was married. Simpson… Read more »

Viacom yesterday reported results for the full year and fourth quarter ended December 31, 2001. For 2001, Viacom reported a 16 percent increase in revenues to $23.22 billion, but also reported a net loss of $224 million, or a loss of $.13 per share, for the year ended December 31, 2001, including a net loss of $43 million, or a loss of $.02 per share, for the fourth quarter. Viacom recorded full year 2001 pro forma revenues of $23.20 billion and pro forma EBITDA of $5.07 billion, compared with pro forma revenues of $23.09 billion and pro forma EBITDA of… Read more »

Microsoft Corp. today announced that Linkin Park is slated to be the first music promotional partner for the popular Microsoft(R) Xbox(TM) video game system. Kicking off the partnership with the band’s first Projekt: Revolution tour, the two entities aim to expand their rapidly growing fan bases in a promotional campaign designed to reach each other’s core audiences nationwide. “We’re huge fans of Xbox,” said Linkin Park guitarist Brad Delson. “We’ve been playing it since before it came out, and we’re excited about the opportunity to include Xbox in the first Projekt: Revolution tour.” The partnership follows the launch of Linkin… Read more »

Chris Blackwell knew he wanted to be a part of the documentary 1 Giant Leap as soon as musicians Jamie Catto (Faithless) and Duncan Bridgeman played him the rough demos of songs they’d written for the program. The same man whose gut feeling led him to sign Bob Marley and U2 to his Island Records imprint heard what the two musicians had to offer and gave them the green light. “I loved the music of it,” says Blackwell of the documentary due out in March. “I loved the way the music was put together. I loved the different influences of… Read more »

Beck, Deftones and Offspring singer Dexter Holland joined Recording Artists Coalition founders Don Henley and Sheryl Crow at California’s State Capitol on Wednesday to support new legislation that could change the relationship between recording artists and their labels. Rage Against the Machine’s Tom Morello, Matchbox Twenty’s Paul Doucette, Stevie Nicks, John Fogerty, Carole King, Ray Parker Jr. and Jonatha Brooke also appeared in Sacramento, California, calling on legislators to support Democratic Sen. Kevin Murray’s Senate Bill 1246, legislation that would allow artists to function more like free agents, according to a spokesperson for the Recording Artists Coalition. Murray’s bill aims… Read more »

Pressplay, a Web music service owned by Sony Corp. and Vivendi Universal Thursday said it hopes to make its online service available to Apple Computer Inc.’s Macintosh computers sometime this year. “We are hoping that sometime this year that Pressplay will be available (on Macs), although we can’t guarantee,” said Andy Schuon, chief executive officer of Pressplay, during a conference call hosted by research firm Jupiter Media Metrix. Heads of other subscription services such as Pressplay’s big label-backed rival MusicNet and independently owned FullAudio and Listen.com also joined the call. The commercial services are launching in hopes of tapping the… Read more »

Satellite radio broadcaster Sirius Satellite Radio said Monday it had begun offering its 60 commercial-free music channels on its Web site ahead of the launch of its subscription radio satellite service next month. New York-based Sirius also announced more details of its launch plan, with eight cities to be gradually added throughout the spring to the original four ahead of a nationwide launch sometime in July or August. Sirius will launch in Phoenix, Ariz.; Denver; Houston and Jackson, Mississippi, Feb. 14, followed by Albuquerque, N.M.; Tulsa, Okla.; Little Rock, Ark., and Dallas in early April, and then Indianapolis; Nashville, Tenn.;… Read more »

Sirius Satellite Radio, the satellite radio broadcaster, today unveiled its redesigned web site, offering live streaming of its 60 commercial-free music channels. Created to serve as an interactive complement to Sirius’ broadcast programming, www.siriusradio.com also features “customer command,” which allows consumers to subscribe and manage their Sirius accounts online and interact with customer service representatives 24 hours a day, seven days a week, via live chat and e-mail. To listen to Sirius music on the site, visitors must first sign-up to become “Sirius Insiders.” In addition to listening to live streaming audio, Sirius Insiders can go “backstage” on their favorite… 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 »

Pressplay (www.pressplay.com), the online music service launched Dec. 19, is an order of magnitude better than rival MusicNet (www.musicnet.com), which launched Dec. 4. The gap is so great that I don’t think MusicNet deserves to sign up a single additional subscriber without first undertaking a major overhaul to match pressplay. Not that pressplay is perfect; the major record labels are still struggling to figure out how to sell their music online without opening the door to further piracy. But pressplay succeeds at delivering all three components of the online music experience: “streaming,” where you listen to songs without putting them… Read more »