Search Results for: sting

The secret’s out: MySpace Music Secret Shows are a hit. Social networking pioneer MySpace has created its most successful music program with the intimate Secret Shows series, whose 150th installment will feature Gnarls Barkley on June 8 at Irving Plaza in New York. MySpace Music launched the Secret Shows franchise in January 2006 and has since hosted such acts as Rilo Kiley, Moby, Maroon 5, the Killers, the Yeah Yeah Yeahs, Tenacious D, Lily Allen, Ice Cube, James Blunt and Neil Diamond in cities around the world. The concept is the brainchild of MySpace Music editor Isac Walter, who wanted… Read more »

Hail to the Thief suddenly has all kinds of new meaning. Radiohead has a burgeoning beef with Prince over the Purple One’s refusal to allow fan video recordings of his cover of the alt-rockers’ seminal 1992 hit, “Creep,” to be shown on YouTube. Radiohead’s frontman Thom Yorke tells the Associated Press that he has no problems with Prince’s label, NPG Records, taking down clips of the artist performing his own tunes because of copyright concerns. But when it comes to Prince’s version of “Creep,” Yorke says he and his mates are ticked not only because they didn’t get to see… Read more »

Napster Inc. on Tuesday opened what they claim is the world’s biggest MP3 download store with more than 6 million songs in a direct challenge to Apple Inc’s iTunes store. The new Web-based music store will have digital songs from all major music labels as well as thousands of independent labels. The MP3-format songs will be compatible with the vast majority of digital media devices and mobile phones including Apple’s popular iPod as well as its iPhone. Before now Napster has focused on selling all-you-can-eat monthly streaming music subscription packages but has struggled to win over the majority of fans… Read more »

Newly-released figures from the Official UK Charts Company – the group which tracks UK chart positions – reveal that digital album sales climbed by 69.3 per cent in comparison with the first quarter of 2007. That’s encouraging because it means digital music buyers are beginning to see album purchases as viable using services such as iTunes. The industry has often voiced concern that iTunes does not stimulate enough album sales, but this seems set to change. The company also confirmed that sales of digital single tracks climbed 42.3 per cent, year-on-year. These figures are all the more interesting because 2007… Read more »

The term “singer-songwriter” makes Gavin DeGraw cringe. “It makes you feel like a weakling the way all the singer songwriters are marketed, you know what I mean? … It’s not masculine enough for me. I don’t feel like I fall into that category in a lot of ways,” he said about his “typecasted genre.” Maybe it’s because he was seen as the sensitive songwriter dude that the gregarious 31-year-old is anxious to break out of that mold. DeGraw – who sings, writes his own songs and plays multiple instruments – debuted his skills as a pop artist on his 2003… Read more »

AFTER SPENDING two years on the road promoting their debut album, 2005’s “A Fever You Can’t Sweat Out,” the members of Panic at the Disco focused on two new efforts. The first was recording a new disc. The second? “We’ve been playing a lot of hacky sack and getting really good at it,” bassist Jon Walker said with a laugh. “We’ve been bringing it back. It’s the best exercise you can ever get – and it’s fun.” Which just goes to show that even though the group, once known as Panic! at the Disco, has dropped its exclamation point, it… Read more »

Universal Motown Records’ artist, Forever The Sickest Kids, announced new US tour dates today. Co-headlining with Metro Station, the band will cross from New York to their home state of Texas. The debut album from Forever The Sickest Kids, entitled Underdog Alma Mater, will be released on April 29th.   The six man band has been touring the U.S. successfully and building a fanbase from the grass roots up. The hard work has paid off with a major label release next month and coveted spots on the current Alternative Press Tour, the Warped Tour as well as the co-headlining tour… Read more »

A stark truth facing any aspiring digital music service these days is that working with record labels is going to carry a hefty price. The last 18 months have seen the major music labels accept new technological and business models — such as dropping digital rights management and allowing ad-supported free music — that have given rise to a new generation of digital music services. But the flip side of this willingness to experiment is a demand for higher upfront advances for licensing music and in some cases a substantial equity stake in the company. Ad-supported download service SpiralFrog, for… Read more »

It’s been more than 20 years since Rick Astley’s “Never Gonna Give You Up” topped the Billboard Hot 100, but it is once again infiltrating the public consciousness thanks to the phenomenon known as “RickRolling.” Around March 2007, bloggers and online social networkers started casually linking to the song’s nostalgically ’80s music video via YouTube. RickRolling was a psych-out for readers who would click on tantalizing hyperlinks, only to fall prey to a young Astley’s blonde bouffant and idiosyncratic dance moves. RickRolling has since taken on a life of its own, with YouTube users creating their own lip-synced routines and… Read more »