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While Ali G was insulting German celebrities in a naff bit of hosting in the country’s financial capital, many people were wondering why MTV had selected the less than musical city on the Main for this year’s event. Was it for the internet address, MTV.de, which was held by a local transit company until MTV announced that it had decided to come to Frankfurt? More probable is that the music television pioneer was trying to boost its visibility in Europe’s largest media market, a place where the locals are, in US parlance, kicking its ass. Viva Media, which is listed… Read more »

A group of recording stars led by Don Henley on Tuesday said they recently filed a brief in a San Francisco federal court that may give song-swap service Napster a shot in the arm in its ongoing copyright infringement battle with the recording industry. The artists contended in their brief filed on Nov. 7 that the big recording labels may not indefinitely own some of the sound recording copyrights they are suing over in the landmark suit against Napster, said Jay Rosenthal, a lawyer for the Recording Artists Coalition (RAC). The record giants in October requested summary judgement on the… Read more »

And the beat goes on in the online music sector as Listen.com Wednesday become the third Web upstart in about a week to sign a key licensing deal by reaching a pact with music publishers for songs on the Rhapsody music subscription service it plans to launch on Dec. 3. Under the deal, Listen will pay the National Music Publishers’ Association (NMPA)’s Harry Fox Agency licensing arm a $500,000 advance for use of its clients’ music over two years until rates are determined. Harry Fox is an agent for more than 27,000 publishers who represent more than 160,000 songwriters. Once… Read more »

Online music firm FullAudio Corp. said on Monday it clinched a licensing deal with Universal Music Group and a distribution pact with top radio broadcaster Clear Channel Communications Inc. as dealmaking picked up in the Web music sector. The agreements came as federal regulators scrutinized several ventures involving big music companies. FullAudio’s deal with Vivendi Universal’s Universal Music, the world’s largest record company, comes a week after AOL Time Warner Inc.’s Warner Music signed a pact with Echo Networks in its first outside licensing deal with a subscription provider. The two-year deal with Universal covers several hundred titles, including music… Read more »

At a news conference today in Chicago, XM President and CEO Hugh Panero today announced that XM Satellite Radio has expanded its launch of the first U.S. digital satellite radio service nationwide, bringing 100 channels of music, news, sports and entertainment across the entire continental United States. XM is marking the final phase of its national launch, across the entire Northern U.S., with a “Power of X” listen-and-ride tour – rolling city-by-city events beginning today in Chicago and scheduled over the next 25 days in 25 major cities including Boston, Philadelphia, Detroit, San Francisco and Washington DC, and culminating with… Read more »

Radio One, Inc. today announced it is bringing Urban programming, much of it formerly unavailable in thousands of U.S. cities, to every corner of the contiguous 48 states, with the national launch of XM Satellite Radio. Radio One, as a third party XM Radio partner, is providing five channels of programming targeted at the African-American and Urban listener. These formats include African- American Talk, Gospel, Urban Mixes, Hip-Hop and Mainstream Urban. In many places of the country, especially outside of large metropolitan areas, African-American targeted programming is limited or non-existent. Radio One is committed to providing a totally unique radio… Read more »

Fred Durst was the undisputed star of Thursday’s MTV Europe Music Awards ceremony, accepting three awards and performing with Led Zeppelin guitarist Jimmy Page. Limp Bizkit won Best Group, Best Rock Act and the Web Award, besting nominee leaders Gorillaz, who won only two of the six awards they were up for – Best Dance Act and Best Song for “Clint Eastwood.” Durst, Page and Puddle of Mudd’s Wes Scantlin played the Zeppelin song “Thank You,” nearly stealing the show from such fellow performers as Mary J. Blige and Jay-Z, who performed “Girls, Girls, Girls” with 300 German women joining… Read more »

Sirius Satellite Radio, the satellite radio broadcaster, will hold its previously announced conference call on Wednesday, November 14, 2001, at 10:30 a.m. (EST), to update investors on the company’s commercial launch plans. Hosting the call will be John J. Scelfo, Senior Vice President and Chief Financial Officer, and Patrick L. Donnelly, Senior Vice President and General Counsel. The conference call will be webcast live at http://www.siriusradio.com/conference.htm.

Comic performer Wayne Brady will host the DIY awards show “My VH1 Music Awards ’01,” which will be televised live Dec. 2 on VH1. VH1 instituted the annual interactive kudocast last year. It allows viewers to suggest categories, pick finalists and vote for winners up to the last minute. Mick Jagger, Creed, Sting, Nelly Furtado, Lenny Kravitz, Destiny’s Child and No Doubt are among the acts scheduled to perform at the Shrine Auditorium event. Brady stars in his own skit-and-improv series, “The Wayne Brady Show,” on ABC and also is a cast member on ABC’s “Whose Line Is It Anyway?”

Global music channel MTV will hope to bring a little international glamour to Frankfurt Thursday when Germany’s buttoned-down financial center hosts its European awards show. Although Frankfurt is better known for staid bankers than flashy rockstars, MTV expects to draw up to a billion viewers worldwide for the 2001 European Music Awards with a line-up including performances by Kylie Minogue, R.E.M. and Depeche Mode. Presenters will include local German favourites such as tennis star Boris Becker and supermodel Heidi Klum, as well as American actor Ben Stiller and Spanish director Pedro Almodovar. The show will be hosted this year by… Read more »