Search Results for: paul mccartney

Starbucks and Concord Music Group have formed a new label, Hear Music, which will sign established and emerging artists directly for distribution inside and outside the coffee chain. Under the collaborative venture, Starbucks will take primary responsibility for A&R, while Concord will lead marketing, promotion and distribution of Hear Music artists outside the cafes. Hear Music expects to release its first album by the end of this year. Neither Starbucks nor Concord would confirm a New York Post report that Sir Paul McCartney is close to signing a deal. Since 1999, the Hear Music brand has been used for compilations… Read more »

Phew! CBS got through the halftime show without a “wardrobe malfunction.” The Artist Formerly Known as a Munchkin of Wardrobe Dysfunction began by singing “Let’s Go Crazy,” but he didn’t. Prince, who became a Jehovah’s Witness in the mid-1990s, no longer wears yellow, butt-baring pants as he did at the 1991 MTV Video Music Awards (prompting Howard Stern’s send-up at the ’92 VMAs). The closest thing to a fashion statement Sunday night was an odd kerchief on his head. So the NFL had no repeat of the 2004 Janet Jackson/Justin Timberlake show, which happened the last time CBS broadcast the… Read more »

The original handwritten lyrics to Beatles classic “While My Guitar Gently Weeps” will go on sale in the United States on Monday and are expected to fetch up to 400,000 pounds ($780,000). The manuscript, penned by George Harrison, includes lines not included in the final version of the song, which was first recorded in 1968. The bottom of the page also features the words: “The band leader said he ain’t playin’ no more,” which auctioneer Cooper Auctions said was a reference to the tense atmosphere in the Beatles’ studio at the time. Cooper managing director John Collins said the phrase… Read more »

Classic-rock fan George Petersen doesn’t need another copy of Pink Floyd’s “Dark Side of the Moon” or Cream’s “Disraeli Gears.” He has spent the past four decades buying and re-buying his favorite music in a succession of new formats: vinyl, 8-track, cassette, compact disc, Super Audio CD, DVD-Audio. Enough is enough. The basement is full. “We as consumers have been trained by the music industry to go out and buy a new piece of plastic every few years,” said the 51-year-old Petersen, editorial director of Mix, a San Francisco-based magazine that covers professional sound recording. “Why do we keep buying… Read more »

licia Keys will sing “America the Beautiful” prior to this year’s Super Bowl in Jacksonville, Fla. It will be just the third time the song is sung at the Super Bowl – previously performed only by Vicki Carr and Ray Charles. Accompanying Keys will be 150 students from the Florida School for the Deaf and the Blind, which Charles attended as a youth in 1937. “I’m very excited to be playing at the Super Bowl for the first time especially because I will be singing a song made famous by an artist I admire, miss and respect, Ray Charles, along… Read more »

London – It was No. 1 in 1984, and it’s No. 1 again in 2004. The star-studded re-recording of the hit charity single “Do They Know It’s Christmas?” hit the top of the British music charts Sunday after a strong first week of sales. The single, featuring such artists as Coldplay’s Chris Martin, Paul McCartney, U2’s Bono and Dido, will raise money for victims of violence in Sudan, where fighting has killed thousands of people and created 1.8 million refugees. The United Nations has called the situation there the world’s worst humanitarian crisis. Retailers are selling the song for $7.70,… Read more »

Los Angeles – Nearly 45 years after Stevie Wonder’s live harmonica workout “Fingertips, Pt. 2” topped the charts, the soul visionary’s musical charm still enthralls. From preteen wunderkind to adult visionary, his musical evolution embodies a “What’s next?” curiosity that still burns brightly as fans anticipate his first new Motown album in 10 years, which he hopes will come out in April. “Hopefully, that little boy will always stay in me,” Wonder said in a recent interview with Billboard. “The part of me that’s still eager to discover; who welcomes new, unbroken ground. When that ground is being broken, there’s… Read more »

Do they know it’s Christmas? Maybe, maybe not. The bigger question is: Do we care? Band Aid 20’s new version of “Do They Know It’s Christmas?” is selling at a record pace-in England, anyway. The story, though, is different on this side of the Pond. The updated take on the 1984 Christmas charity smash features some of Britain’s biggest names, including Dido, Chris Martin of Coldplay, Joss Stone, Paul McCartney and, for good measure, one Irish megastar in the form of U2’s Bono. The performers, checking their egos at the door (in theory, anyway), gathered together to help victims in… Read more »

London – The new Band Aid charity single will be sold on Apple’s popular iTunes online music service, with the company subsidizing the retail cost of the track. Apple had initially turned down the idea of charging more than its standard 99-cents-per-song cost for the new version of “Do They Know It’s Christmas?” The single features artists including Coldplay’s Chris Martin, former Beatle Paul McCartney, U2’s Bono, and Dido, and will raise money for victims of the ongoing strife in the Sudan, where fighting has killed thousands of people and created 1.8 million refugees. But the Cupertino, Calif.-based company reversed… Read more »

SANTA MONICA, Calif. – The evolution of digital downloads marks another milestone on November 23, 2004, with the debut of UMe Digital, the world’s first all-digital download label from a major music company. UMe Digital product – individual songs, EPs, and full-length albums – will be distributed exclusively online. With its unparalleled music and video marketing capabilities and the power and scope of UMe to place songs in films and TV shows and commercials, UMe Digital offers unprecedented access and exposure for artists. The releases on UMe Digital will be consistent with UMe’s philosophy of marketing established acts and acts… Read more »