Search Results for: soft play

Radio is awesome, isn’t it? It’s free, it’s on whenever you want it, and you can choose from among eight or 10 stations. About the only people who could possibly complain about it, in fact, are people who have to listen to it. They’ll tell you that the music you hear on the radio is mostly the same cloying pop junk, played over and over. That 20 minutes of every hour is ads, played over and over. And that as you drive, the signal comes and goes with the territory. Two years ago, two companies – XM and Sirius –… Read more »

Norway’s most famous computer whiz got an early Christmas present on Monday. An appeals court in Oslo upheld Jon Lech Johansen’s earlier acquittal on all counts of alleged copyright violations. ‘DVD-Jon’ Lech Johansen is older and even wiser now than he was when he helped create a decrypting program that he’s defended ever since. A verdict in the case, which has caught international attention, wasn’t expected until early January. But the appeals court (Borgarting lagmannsrett)apparently didn’t see any need to wait with its decision. A panel of judges Monday cast aside the appeal that prosecutors had filed to a lower… Read more »

Apple Computer Inc. said on Monday that consumers had bought and downloaded more than 25 million songs from the iconic computer maker’s iTunes online music store. Apple, based in Cupertino, California, also said that more than $1 million worth of iTunes online gift certificates – sold in denominations of $20 to $200 – and allowances have been bought since those features were added in October. “The fact that we’ve done over $1 million in allowances and gift certificates shows a lot of interest on both Mac and Windows,” said Chris Bell, director of iTunes product marketing, in a telephone interview.… Read more »

Online music piracy isn’t likely to vanish soon, but the rise of paid online services and the growing popularity of portable digital music players portends greater demand for digital music next year and better fortunes for the embattled recording industry, music executives said Monday. Taking a mostly positive outlook on an industry racked by a three-year slide in CD sales, executives for recording companies and Internet music retailers told hundreds at the Music 2.0 conference in Universal City that online music sales should take off in 2004. “What we see is an explosion of interest in this space. It’s a… Read more »

KOCH Entertainment is pleased to announce several new media deals: iTunes, Liquid.com, Audio Lunchbox, Emusic, Music Match, BuyMusic.com and MusicNow (formerly FullAudio). iTunes has launched the new KOCH Entertainment deal with 2Pac’s Nu-Mixx klazzics. Apple’s revolutionary, second generation iTunes Music Store now offers Windows users the same online music store that Mac users love – with the same music catalog, the same personal use rights and the same 99 cents- per-song pricing. An astounding 14 million songs have been purchased and downloaded since the original iTunes Music Store launch in April, solidifying iTunes position as the number one download music… Read more »

A track from Marilyn Manson’s recent Nothing/Interscope album, “The Golden Age of Grotesque,” will be featured on the new “Spawn Armageddon” videogame, Billboard has learned exclusively. “Use Your Fist, Not Your Mouth” will be included in the game, which arrives in stores Nov. 26. “If any artist epitomizes my antihero Spawn, it’s Marilyn Manson,” says Todd McFarlane, creator of the noir comic character and head of McFarlane Enterprises. Manson previously contributed “Long Hard Road out of Hell” with the Sneaker Pimps to the 1997 “Spawn: The Movie” soundtrack. Software company Namco Hometek is using one minute of the song in… Read more »

Sony Music, home to such artists as Beyonce Knowles and Bruce Springsteen, on Monday said it plans to introduce new CD technology in Germany that prevents users from copying songs to file-sharing sites, but allows them to make copies for their personal use. The record industry blames its recent sales slump on file-sharing services like KaZaa, which it says are havens for piracy. Last year, major labels issued “copy-protected” CDs that prevent them from being played on computers. The copy-protected discs faced a backlash from customers and music fans, and several lawsuits emerged from some customers that complained these CDs… Read more »

Napster announced that the highly-anticipated Napster 2.0 music service went live to music fans across America today. The most well-known music brand in the world, Napster 2.0 offers consumers downloads for just 99 cents a song or $9.95 per album, CD burning, transfer to portable devices, decades of Billboard charts, shared playlists within the Napster community, exclusive and original content, interactive radio, music videos, and access to the world’s largest music store with more than half-a-million tracks and growing. “We have created the most exciting and comprehensive music experience in the world,” said Chris Gorog, Chairman and CEO of Roxio,… Read more »

Even though the RIAA continues to go after Internet file-sharers, millions of music fans keep downloading songs. Naturally, this hurts album sales, which were down around 12 percent for the first half of 2003. To try to convince people to actually buy albums again, record companies have offered value-added packaging such as the ever-popular bonus DVD, which typically contains backstage footage, exclusive interviews, videos and maybe a live recording or two. But adding a DVD can be costly. Labels typically pay between one and two dollars per extra disc, which means as much as an additional $2 million for an… Read more »

Regardless of their breakthrough success two years ago, Nickelback erred on the side of caution when they were preparing the first tour in support of their new album, The Long Road. Small Texas towns like Grand Prairie and Shiner were selected as the tour’s first testing grounds, and cool, fall evenings at medium-sized halls like Houston’s Verizon Wireless Theater (2,800 capacity) were chosen over summertime assaults at massive amphitheaters and arenas. But somewhere between planning the tour itinerary and building a show that incorporated singles such as “How You Remind Me,” “Too Bad” and their latest hit, “Someday,” someone in… Read more »