Search Results for: the early november

Kicking off its national advertising campaign, XM Satellite Radio will debut its 60-second spot today on more than 19,000 screens in 3,000 theaters across the country, constituting the bulk of movie screens in the nation. XM’s national ad campaign, dubbed “Radio to the Power of X,” is a multimedia effort anchored by a television campaign developed by TBWA/Chiat/Day, and features artists such as BB King, David Bowie, and Snoop Dogg. The ad campaign effort will also include radio, magazines, newspapers, direct mail, outdoor, and online, and is intended to generate momentum for XM’s commercial service launch slated for Sept. 12.… Read more »

Time was, pop stars who hit it big would ride out the success of an album and then lie low for awhile, presumably restoring their creative energies and also whetting the public’s appetite for the next record. Not any more. Today’s acts – wary of fickle fans and short attention spans – are pumping out albums in quick succession so as not to lose the spotlight to someone else. “Unfortunately right now, you have to just hit while you’re hot,” said teen pop starlet Jessica Simpson, who released her self-titled second album in June, a year and a half after… Read more »

Brian McKnight has been tapped to join the Sears, Roebuck and Co. family for a nationwide tour that coincides with the release of McKnight’s latest Motown project, “superhero,” streeting Aug. 28. The “Sears Presents An Evening With Brian McKnight” tour kicks off in Cleveland on Sept. 19, with stops in 38 cities, wrapping up in Hawaii in December. Together with his audience in an intimate setting, McKnight will perform songs from “superhero” in addition to some of his classics such as “Crazy Love,” “Anytime” and “Back At One.” “Sears is giving me an opportunity to get close to my fans… Read more »

For the first time in almost four years, one of Australia’s most successful rock bands, INXS, is playing a few shows in North America. But the crowd at their recent Los Angeles stop consisted of about 70 Rhino Records employees and a few reporters, just two of the band’s six members were on stage, and the bespectacled singer looked nothing like Michael Hutchence, the group’s charismatic vocalist. Hutchence committed suicide in November 1997, and his bandmates are having a hard time deciding whether to carry on. In the meantime, they have released a two-CD anthology, “Shine Like It Does,” via… Read more »

Southern California punk stalwarts Bad Religion were forced to cancel their European tour due to drummer Bobby Schayer’s shoulder injury. Moreover, the damaged rotator cuff will take him out of the band’s lineup permanently. The injury prohibits Schayer from lifting his arm above his shoulder, effectively ending his drumming career, according to the band’s publicist. Suicidal Tendencies drummer Brooks Wackerman is slated to replace the fallen percussionist. Schayer’s injury has “left us stunned and greatly saddened,” the bandmembers posted on their official Web site (www.badreligion.com). “His doctor tells us that he has lost a very significant amount of motion in… Read more »

Being a member of TLC means walking a fine line between love and… dislike. The trio’s bickering has been well-documented – enough so that many believed their most recent album, 1999’s Fan Mail, would be their last. The word that Chilli and Left Eye were working on solo albums, while T-Boz was raising a family with her hoo-bangin’ husband Mack 10, all but sealed the threesome’s demise for many. As Chilli tells it, though, while it may be hard for the crazy, sexy and cool trio to live with each other sometimes, it’s even tougher for them to live apart.… Read more »

Dido had already delivered a solid hit album with her solo debut, No Angel. The ethereal collection of songs quietly chugged toward platinum status (“Here With Me” becoming the theme to the TV show “Roswell” helped) more than a year after its June 1999 release. The album finally cracked the Billboard 200 at #144 on May 21, 2000. Meanwhile, the one-time singer for trip-hop group Faithless toured as an opening act for the Barenaked Ladies and Sting, among others. Then Eminem stepped in. The X-rated rapper sampled Dido’s “Thank You” as the hook for “Stan” on his May 2000 Marshall… Read more »

A group of researchers who foiled four different copyright protection technologies in a contest launched last year by the music industry is now being asked by the record companies to suppress its findings, one of the researchers said Tuesday. The research group – composed of students and professors from Princeton and Rice Universities and an employee of Xerox Palo Alto Research Center – had initially planned to present its findings Thursday at a Pittsburgh conference on information security but was then threatened with legal action by the forum, the Secure Digital Music Initiative (SDMI), a forum representing music and technology… Read more »

Most major rock bands are good for one or two live albums during their careers. As of this week, Pearl Jam have 73 live albums to their credit. The Seattle rockers, now in their 11th year together, took the unprecedented step of releasing a budget-priced “official bootleg” CD from almost every show on their 2000 tour in order to combat pirates and to give fans a good deal. The roll-out occurred in three stages, ending Tuesday with the retail release of 24 CDs from the second half of the U.S. tour. Already in stores were 25 CDs from Europe and… Read more »

The Boys’ previously announced summer tour, which begins June 8 in their hometown of Orlando, Florida, has just added venues to its itinerary. The trek is in support of the group’s latest album, the multiplatinum Black & Blue, which has sold nearly 5 million copies since its release in November, according to SoundScan. Reggae-pop star Shaggy, with the momentum of his fifth album, Hotshot, at his back, and 19-year-old singer/pianist Krystal, whose Me and My Piano is scheduled for a summer release on the Boys’ own as-yet-untitled label, will open all the dates of the tour. Over the weekend, the… Read more »