A study released Thursday showed that 5.5 percent of Americans aged 16 to 40 have not purchased a single music CD or cassette in the past year but have been actively downloading music from the Internet. The survey, conducted by Edison Media Research for the radio and music trade publication Records & Radio, was one of the first attempts to quantify the impact that Internet-based music services such as Napster have had on sales of recorded music and, more generally, to show how the Internet is changing music listening habits. The record industry won a court order forcing Napster to… Read more »
Showtime Event Television (SET) presents a concert extravaganza on pay per view when the nation’s hottest bands take the stage for ‘Stone Temple Pilots and Live at Rolling Rock Town Fair 2.0 with Deftones, Tantric and Oleander.’ The two-hour rock music pay-per-view event of the summer airs Saturday, August 11 at 9 p.m. ET/6 p.m. PT. The suggested retail price is $19.95. The Rolling Rock Town Fair 2.0 concert festival in Latrobe, PA is sold out but music lovers will still have an opportunity to catch their favorite bands on pay per view when top headliner Stone Temple Pilots (STP)… Read more »
Scottish pop group Travis believe they may become as big as U2, the group’s frontman, Fran Healy, told a newspaper interviewer. “Do we think we can be as big as U2? It would be rude not to,” he told The Sun. “It’s about longevity and staying together through the madness. U2 are a great example of a band who’ve gone on for more than 20 years, written good songs and kept their integrity. “They are a great role model. They’re doing well and that’s refreshing because they can still move people and write great songs in an incredibly ageist industry.”… Read more »
The early albums of indie rock legends the Replacements have been remastered and will be re-released by Restless Records on July 24th. However, the new CD pressings of the Minneapolis band’s first four Twin/Tone albums – 1981’s Sorry Ma, Forgot to Take Out the Trash, 1982’s Stink EP, 1983’s Hootenanny, and 1984’s landmark Let It Be – won’t contain any bonus tracks or additional artwork. The albums were remastered by Greg Calbi, who’s done mastering work for R.E.M., Paul McCartney, Sonic Youth and many others, and none of the band’s surviving original members – Paul Westerberg, Tommy Stinson and Chris… Read more »
MCY today announced the signing of legendary rocker Dave Mason to MCY’s subsidiary, Pyramid Music. Pyramid will create a digital production from a June 2001 Dave Mason Band North American tour performance, which will be released on CD and DVD, as well as distributed through television and secure digital distribution channels. MCY CEO Bernhard Fritsch said, “We’re proud to help Dave bring his compelling, timeless rock into the digital era. He revolutionized rock-n-roll with Traffic and has been a powerful influence ever since.” Pyramid President Alan Jacobi concurred, adding, “Dave always pushes the limits to give fans an extraordinary experience.… Read more »
Michael Jackson has released a statement insisting he has no plans to sell the rights to the Beatles’ song catalog. “I want to clarify a silly rumor: the Beatles Catalogue is not for sale; has not been for sale and will never be for sale,” Jackson said in a statement released yesterday (May 9). In recent days, rumors had surfaced that Jackson was putting the catalog up for sale to cover legal bills relating to canceled concert tours, as well as the maintenance of his Neverland ranch in California. Jackson shocked the music world in September 1985 by outbidding Paul… Read more »
Veteran songwriters and singers Randy Newman, Tom Waits and members of the rock band Heart filed a $40 million copyright infringement suit against online music company MP3.com Inc., the artists’ lawyer said on Tuesday. “This is a case of artists banding together to protect their most valuable assets – their songs,” said attorney Bruce Van Dalsem, an attorney for Gradstein, Luskin & Van Dalsem, who is representing the artists in the case. The suit alleges MP3.com illegally copied tens of thousands of the plaintiffs’ songs by digitally converting music on compact discs into MP3 files for its My.MP3 service, which… Read more »
Former Beatle George Harrison has undergone lung cancer surgery in the United States, the singer’s lawyers said. Harrison, 58, had surgery at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minn., to remove a cancerous growth from one of his lungs, according to the lawyers. The lawyers did not say when the surgery occurred. They said the operation went according to plan and that Harrison was relaxing in Tuscany, Italy. “The operation was successful and George has made an excellent recovery. He is in the best of spirits and on top form – the most relaxed and free since the attack on him… Read more »
A black satin conical bra that pop diva Madonna wore for her 1990 Blonde Ambition tour was auctioned off in London Thursday for 14,000 pounds ($20,000). The bra, which was designed by Jean-Paul Gaultier, had been expected to fetch up to 3,000 pounds ($4,000) at the pop-music sale at Christie’s auction house. The vendor had won the item in a radio competition after the tour. It was snapped up by a Chilean fashion museum. Ever-popular Beatles items also fetched high prices. A letter written by John Lennon to an Indian fan while he was studying meditation there fetched 9,400 pounds… Read more »
A publicist who’s lost her shine and a fashion editor whose blood alcohol level is 90 proof, come up with a harebrained scheme to make Kate Moss their client. And then they kill Kate Moss.
