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German media conglomerate Bertelsmann has agreed to acquire Napster in a deal that will keep the controversial file-sharing service alive for the near future. Napster CEO Konrad Hilbers and Shawn Fanning, Napster’s creator, will remain with the company. On Tuesday Hilbers announced his resignation after Napster’s board of directors rejected a deal for the company to be acquired by the German company. Fanning at that time also decided to leave the company, sources said. Under Friday’s deal, Bertelsmann will pay $8 million to Napster’s creditors to acquire the company’s assets. The transaction opens the door for Napster to file for… Read more »

After 10 months of legal wrangling, the Dixie Chicks are expected to sign a new deal soon with Sony Music Entertainment, according to Billboard magazine. Sony has been home for the Texas trio for the past five years, but recent rumors had the Chicks heading to Capitol Records. Last July, the group’s attorneys served Sony with notice that its contract was terminated “by reason of Sony’s material misconduct and material breaches.” The Chicks still owed five albums, so Sony responded with a lawsuit to keep the group from leaving. The cross-complaint called the Dixie Chicks’ charges “trumped up and baseless,”… Read more »

That new album Mariah Carey has been recording on the down low has finally landed a home… on her own label. The Universal Music Group announced Wednesday (May 8) that they have signed the biz’s most highly touted free agent to a new deal that will see one of its branches, the Island/Def Jam Music Group, distribute the music released by Carey’s yet-to-be-named company. “I’m incredibly happy,” Carey said in a statement. “It’s a tremendous and unprecedented opportunity to be working in tandem with [Universal Music Group Chairman/CEO] Doug [Morris], [Island/Def Jam President/CEO] Lyor [Cohen] and [Interscope Geffen A&M Chairman]… Read more »

Thousands of fans and friends gathered at the New Birth Missionary Baptist Church in Lithonia, Georgia, Thursday morning to say good-bye to flamboyant TLC singer/rapper Lisa “Left Eye” Lopes. Close to 10,000 mourners – including Lopes’ former TLC-mates Tionne “T-Boz” Watkins and Rozonda “Chilli” Thomas – made the trip to the Atlanta suburb for Thursday’s (May 2) funeral service for Lopes, who was killed in a car accident in Honduras last week at the age of 30. Usher, Arista Records CEO L.A. Reid, Janet Jackson, Jermaine Dupri, Babyface, Whitney Houston, Bobby Brown, Timbaland, Mack 10, Da Brat, Raphael Saadiq and… Read more »

John Ondrasik and his band Five For Fighting will be touring with the Goo Goo Dolls beginning June 7 in Atlantic City. The Goo Goo Dolls dates come on the heels of Five For Fighting’s headline tour which culminated May 1 with a sold-out show at the House of Blues in Los Angeles. John Ondrasik has been winning kudos from critics for his live performances. Dan Aquilante, writing in the New York Post (March 14, 2002) praised Five For Fighting’s “… low-fi, high-energy show at Irving Plaza… this guy has a songbook full of tunes, many of which are as… Read more »

The body of Lisa “Left Eye” Lopes was shipped by jet Monday (April 29) from Honduras to Atlanta, according to Carlos Bakota, a spokesperson for the U.S. Embassy in Honduras. Lopes’ autopsy was completed over the weekend. “The ambassador [Frank Almaguer] made sure that the officials doing the medical work got it done as quickly as possible,” Bakota said. Bill Diggins, who manages TLC, released a statement Monday saying that there will be a memorial Wednesday in Atlanta for the pop star’s loved ones, and that Left Eye’s funeral will be held on Thursday in the New Birth Missionary Baptist… Read more »

When Dick Clark first pitched “American Bandstand” to ABC as a national series in the 1950s, network executives yawned. “I still have the letter, still have it framed in my office, which in effect said ‘Don’t call us, we’ll call you. Thank you, and it’s nice to see your dance party,’” Clark recalls. When he proposed a 50th anniversary special, Clark found out how little television had changed. Despite the show’s iconic place in pop culture, he had to argue the case of “American Bandstand” all over. An idea that was once ahead of its time was now hopelessly behind… Read more »

Of the many fans and musicians devastated by Layne Staley’s death, his former Alice in Chains bandmate Jerry Cantrell was perhaps most affected upon receiving the news. The pair formed the backbone of the seminal Seattle grunge band in 1987, and it was their dichotomy – the tension of Cantrell’s hardened riffs that plodded along as Staley’s sinister vocals crept behind at a skulking pace – that gave the band its appeal to metalheads and grunge punks alike. Cantrell and Staley remained the group’s creative force until their swan song, 1995’s Alice in Chains. In the wake of Staley’s death,… Read more »

Twelve hours, four stages and more than 40 bands marked the end of the three-day Skate and Surf Festival on Sunday. Held at the Asbury Park Convention Hall, the second installment of the now annual event featured performances from Bouncing Souls, Face to Face and the Descendents, among many others. While the Warped Tour travels from town to town with many of skateboarding and BMX culture’s best-known athletes and favorite artists, the stationary Skate and Surf tends to be more down-home, offering quarter-pipes and rails to anybody bold enough to show up with a bike or a board and a… Read more »

Britney Spears and Justin Timberlake love each other very much and have not broken up. At least that’s still the “official” stance a spokesperson for the couple takes when asked of the status of their relationship. And if you believe that, some might think you were born yesterday. The official media statement is in direct opposition to a month’s worth of unconfirmed reports and anonymous eyewitness accounts that say the king and queen of the teen-pop prom have ended their reign. While public opinion favors the notion that the romance is kaput – gossip columnists citing Britney shakin’ it with… Read more »