Search Results for: the early november

Blink-182’s Tom DeLonge already wears many hats: singer/guitarist, clothing-line impresario, political activist. Now he’s adding another cap to his spiky dome: music video director. DeLonge took time off from stumping for Democratic presidential candidate John Kerry. On their Web site, TBS wrote that “We spent a very hectic 48 hours flying from Dallas to L.A. back to Nashville to shoot our next video with our good friend Thomas DeLonge. He had a great visual concept and was a very enthusiastic, focused and attentive first-time director. “There is a lot of colorful live performance footage as well,” the statement continued. “The… Read more »

Rock band U2 has cut a deal with Apple Computer to sell custom iPods promoting the band’s forthcoming album. Sources close to the group say the U2 edition of the popular digital music player will come preloaded with the band’s new album, How To Dismantle An Atomic Bomb, along with portions of the Irish supergroup’s 25-year catalogue. The iPods will be black and will be made available the same week as the band’s 11th studio album, which is slated to be released in the U.S. by Universal Music Group’s Interscope Records on November 23. The deal is expected to be… Read more »

The success of the Black Eyed Peas flies in the face of the conventional wisdom that the music business sacrifices long-term artist development in favor of quick hits and short-term corporate profits. Signed to Interscope Records more than six years ago by chairman Jimmy Iovine, the progressive hip-hop group’s first two albums, “Behind the Front” in 1998 and “Bridging the Gap” in 2000 earned rave reviews but failed to go gold (shipments of 500,000 copies). The first album peaked at No. 139 on the Billboard 200 with sales of 197,000 units, according Nielsen SoundScan, while the sophomore set stalled at… Read more »

It’s been nearly eight years since Tupac Shakur passed away but, remarkably, that hasn’t stopped “new” albums from emerging in the years since. This November, another new, posthumous Tupac album is scheduled for release – and this one will once again pair the legendary MC with another. Spokespeople for both Interscope Records and Tupac’s mother, Afeni Shakur, confirmed that the new, as-yet-untitled Tupac album will feature a new batch of the rapper’s previously unreleased verses put to beats by some of today’s big hip-hop producers – and that one of the beat-makers already signed up is none other than Eminem.… Read more »

Industrial vets’ “Houses” targets White House So claims Al Jourgensen, frontman for the legendary industrial-metal band Ministry. And he’s not lying. The group’s new record, Houses of the Molé (released today), is a nine-track assault on everything George W. Bush, from the straight-talking, thrashy opening track “No W” all the way through the brooding, artsy finale “Worm.” Even the album title is a slap at the Oval Office. “We like tipping our hits to classic rock, so why not [Led Zeppelin’s] Houses of the Holy?” says Jourgensen, laughing. “Besides, I live in Texas, and molé is a way of life… Read more »

A Delaware Chancery Court judge has ruled that Los Angeles should be the venue for the hearing of the bitter legal clash between Warner Music Group (WMG) and top Warner act Madonna’s Maverick Records. WMG filed its preemptive action against Maverick in Delaware on March 24, seeking a declaratory judgment. Maverick filed its own suit the following day in California Superior Court in L.A., claiming that WMG had breached its 12-year-old joint-venture pact with the label, which is gearing up for the May 18 release of Alanis Morissette’s new album. The suits are believed to be tied to ongoing disputes… Read more »

Beyoncé Knowles, multiplatinum sweetheart of the music award show circuit this year, was exhausted. She’d just appeared on the Vibe Awards and breathlessly arrived across town just in time to change clothes and take bows at the VH1 Awards. “Too many,” she said as she leaned against a wall backstage. Bad planning by VH1 and Vibe? Not really, there were four award shows that week including the American Music Awards and they were bound to butt heads somewhere. With television networks relentlessly reaching for younger viewers, an unprecedented 26 music award shows are now on cable and network TV. “There’s… Read more »

Even when adopting the most drastic measures, record labels seem helpless to prevent albums from surfacing online before their release dates. So now one label is taking the “if you can’t beat ’em, join ’em” approach. Four months before the debut album by New York trio the Secret Machines hits stores, Reprise Records, a Warner Bros. subsidiary, is making it available for sale online. In a campaign tied to Reprise’s online marketing campaign, the label is trying to make sure fans have a legal way of acquiring new music they hear about on the Internet. “[When] there’s no legal alternative,… Read more »

Sony Corp.’s earnings plunged 26 percent for the latest quarter as expenses for job cuts and other restructuring costs and lower profits from its electronics, moviemaking and video games business offset profit improvement in its music business. But the Japanese electronics and entertainment giant said Wednesday its sales rose for the October-December quarter and it boosted its profit forecast for the year due to a gain on a currency investment. Sony said it earned 92.6 billion yen ($875 million) in the October-December period, down from 125 billion yen a year earlier. Sales inched up 0.7 percent to 2.32 trillion yen… Read more »

Britney Spears’ two-day-old marriage to a childhood friend was dissolved Monday shortly after the pop superstar filed for an annulment, claiming she didn’t fully understand what she was doing when she got hitched on the spur of the moment. Clark County Family Court Judge Lisa M. Brown signed the order at 12:24 p.m., said Las Vegas attorney David Chesnoff, who was cleaning up after a weekend frolic between Spears and Jason Allen Alexander. “There is no marriage now,” Chesnoff told The Associated Press. “Jason agreed to this completely. They’ve made a wise decision. I know they care about each other.… Read more »