Search Results for: sting

Tech’s big guns are wading into the online music business – and now the big question is whether Microsoft will squash its rivals like a bug, as it has so many others. Industry watchers say this time Bill Gates has his hands full. Microsoft, Amazon.com and Yahoo! are three of the players, along with AOL Time Warner and Viacom’s MTV, according to a story in The Los Angeles Times. While Gates considers a digital music launch, his company will now likely have to face off with the almighty music industry, which he needs to win over if he’s going to… Read more »

The National Academy of Recording Arts & Sciences has made changes in voting categories for next year’s 46th annual Grammy Awards, including the establishment of a best rap song Grammy. The best rap song award-the sixth in the rap field, which was established in 1988-mirrors the long-running awards for country and R&B songs. “The rap arena continues to be strong and growing,” NARAS president Neil Portnow says. “There are more releases, more artists, more airplay and sales, and more importantly, there’s more creativity in that area.” In addition, awards in the world music field have been doubled: Trophies will now… Read more »

Russia is fast rising to the top of world music piracy charts with a counterfeit boom that could hit foreign investment and damage Moscow’s efforts to join the World Trade Organization, a leading watchdog said on Thursday. The issue of intellectual property rights, an increasingly important component of U.S. trade policy, is a major obstacle to WTO accession for both Russia and neighboring Ukraine, where bootleg computer programs, music CDs and movie DVDs are rife. In Russia alone the local pirated music market grew to $311 million last year, well above a legal music market of $257 million. “Russia is… Read more »

Everclear singer Art Alexakis is ready to see an end to the phenomenon of moshing and crowd-surfing. Alexakis says it always seems that it’s guys kicking girls in the head. “It’s just like, just watch the show,” Alexakis told AP Radio. He says he’s “a little reminiscent for the summer of ’94 just like anyone else” but he’s sick of people getting hurt. The singer says although people still mosh at their shows, they tend to jump more than mosh. Fans close to the front might get an extra treat. Alexakis says they’ve been pulling someone out of the audience… Read more »

EMI, the music group that includes Capitol Records, has sued Bertelsmann AG, saying the German giant’s support of the music-swapping service Napster led to the infringement of EMI’s copyrights. The suit is similar to one brought last month by the Universal Music Group. It claims Bertelsmann’s 2000 investment in Napster kept the service alive for another year, during which people illegally swapped and downloaded countless copies of songs by EMI artists. “By investing both millions of dollars and management resources in Napster – which was an illegal enterprise built on the unlawful distribution of copyrighted works – Bertelsmann enabled and… Read more »

After suing Internet file-sharing service Napster and contending with the marketing nightmares of digital downloading, Metallica are making peace with the enemy – sort of. The band has partnered with Seattle DSL Online provider Speakeasy and developed www.metallicavault.com, a Web site that will contain hours of downloadable live recordings, demos and B-sides for free. Here’s the catch: Fans have to purchase the band’s new album, St. Anger, to get a code that allows them access to the site. That should mean increased sales figures for the band, but consumers who buy the disc will get a lot of bang, chug… Read more »

The recording industry is suing the company behind the Morpheus music file-sharing service, alleging it illegally copied thousands of copyright songs as part of a venture to broadcast music over the Internet. The record companies filed their complaint against Bellevue, Wash.-based StreamCast Networks Inc. in federal court in Nashville, Tenn. The industry seeks $150,000 in damages for every copyright work illegally copied in addition to punitive damages. The move comes less than two months after a federal judge in Los Angeles presiding over a separate lawsuit ruled StreamCast and Grokster Inc., another file-sharing service, were not liable for the sharing… Read more »

Officials in Suffolk County, New York, have denied a mass gathering permit for the June 7-8 Field Day Music Festival, but the Beastie Boys, Beck, Radiohead, N.E.R.D. and more than a dozen other acts are hoping last-minute negotiations can save the concert. On Tuesday (May 27), health officials nixed the permit after Riverhead Police Chief David Hegermiller announced that his department wouldn’t be able to safely patrol the concert, which is expected to draw 50,000 people to Suffolk County’s Calverton Enterprise Park. On Friday, county officials determined they couldn’t authorize additional police for the show because such an act would… Read more »

The competition for online music customers is heating up. RealNetworks launched RealOne Rhapsody on Friday and simultaneously dropped the price of burning from 99 cents to 79 cents per track. Subscribers to the existing RealOne SuperPass entertainment service already have been receiving Rhapsody’s Internet radio product. These 900,000 customers will gradually be migrated over to the complete replacement service, which includes the customizable professionally programmed and custom radio stations along with on-demand streaming, extensive music information and editorial comment, features and recommendations. Real Networks vp marketing Dan Sheeran said new customers will see only RealOne Rhapsody to minimize confusion. RealOne… Read more »

Paul McCartney’s dream to perform in Red Square came true Saturday with the former Beatle capping off a sold-out concert with a rousing rendition of “Back in the U.S.S.R.” It was a dream come true for fans, too, who turned out nearly 20,000 strong for the concert near Lenin’s mausoleum and Stalin’s grave. “I’ve waited my whole life for this,” said Vladimir Snopov, 52, of Samara, about 550 miles south of Moscow, who remembered when the only place to hear McCartney sing was on banned and often-fuzzy broadcasts over Voice of America and the British Broadcasting Corporation. Back in the… Read more »