Search Results for: thursday

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 »

Just a month after opening its doors, the Apple iTunes store is looking to expand. With content already available from all five major labels, the online music service is reaching out to independent labels in hopes of offering the broadest, deepest catalog of downloadable music. Apple has invited hundreds of indie label representatives to a private presentation on Thursday at the computer giant’s Cupertino, California, campus to discuss hopping onboard and adding their content to the more than 200,000 songs already available through the service. “The plan was to go out of the gate with the five major labels, but… Read more »

If you had one shot, one opportunity to own Eminem’s handwritten “Lose Yourself” lyrics, would you capture it or just let it slip? Well, here’s your shot. A framed lithograph of the scribbled lines to the “8 Mile” anthem is being auctioned to raise funds for Los Angeles cancer research and treatment facility City of Hope. The lyrics, which are autographed by Eminem and “Lose Yourself” producers Jeff Bass and Luis Resto, had at press time garnered the Songs of Hope auction’s highest bid, $10,600. Avril Lavigne’s words to “I’m With You,” written on Time Square’s W Hotel stationery, is… Read more »

A guitar owned and played by the late Jimi Hendrix is expected to reach up to $246,000 at auction Thursday. The custom-made, left-handed 1965 Sunburst Fender Stratocaster will be the highlight of a “Rock Legend” sale run by auctioneers Cooper Owen. “Hendrix reaches the highest price, there is no doubt,” a spokesman said. “He is well ahead of everyone else.” Hendrix, whose ground-breaking style continues to influence rock guitarists, pulls in major bids at auction. Sotheby’s sold a Fender Stratocaster guitar played at the 1969 Woodstock Festival for $324,500 over 12 years ago. Its value soared in the following five… Read more »

Metallica might be even more angry now than they were last year when they were recording St. Anger, the band’s most brutal, bludgeoning record in years. As a result of their album being leaked over the Internet, Metallica have decided to unleash their Anger on Thursday instead of the original release date of June 10. The band’s label said the album date was moved because of the “prevalence of sub-standard versions of St. Anger already in circulation.” Various high-profile hip-hop and R&B acts – Eminem, 50 Cent, Nas and Beyoncé Knowles – have pushed the release dates of their records… Read more »

Britney Spears won’t be ripping off her flesh-colored pants ever again. Nor will she don her green bra-and-miniskirt snake-trainer ensemble – and not just because wearing the same outfit in public is a celeb fashion faux pas. No, the singer is selling her clothes to the highest bidder in the name of charity, she announced Thursday (May 22). “They’re kind of iconic or whatever,” Spears said, “but it’s not like I’m going to be wearing them anytime soon. And although I’m kind of sad about some of the pieces going, I know that the money we raise will have a… Read more »

Britney Spears won’t be ripping off her flesh-colored pants ever again. Nor will she don her green bra-and-miniskirt snake-trainer ensemble – and not just because wearing the same outfit in public is a celeb fashion faux pas. No, the singer is selling her clothes to the highest bidder in the name of charity, she announced Thursday (May 22). “They’re kind of iconic or whatever,” Spears said, “but it’s not like I’m going to be wearing them anytime soon. And although I’m kind of sad about some of the pieces going, I know that the money we raise will have a… Read more »

Mariah Carey’s unlikely to give Eminem a charm bracelet, much less extend an olive branch. The pissed-off pop songstress, who’s relaxing in the Caribbean before setting sail on a six-month world tour in support of her new album, Charmbracelet, had some pointed words for the rap superstar after hearing reports that Em threatened to include samples of several rambling voicemail messages she left him in an upcoming tune. “I don’t know what the hell he’s doing,” Carey grouses in the New York Daily News on Thursday. “It’s a little excessive. Doesn’t it seem a little bit girly? Like we’re in… Read more »

They’re the first Russian pop sensation to top music charts worldwide, but Moscow police weren’t having any of it. Authorities barred the Russian pop duo t.A.t.U. Thursday from filming their new video on Red Square. Several hundred fans – many dressed in the skimpy schoolgirl uniforms favored by the duo – turned up to act as extras in what was supposed to be the band’s video for the Eurovision song contest. But instead, Lena Katina and Yulia Volkova, both 18, barely emerged from their trailer. “It looks like Russia does not care for t.A.t.U. representing its country,” said their producer,… Read more »

“There are few directors I trust enough to do a Linkin Park video,” the band’s DJ and resident director, Joseph Hahn, said Thursday. Mark Romanek is one of them. On the heels of Johnny Cash’s “Hurt,” the Red Hot Chili Peppers’ “Can’t Stop” and Audioslave’s “Cochise,” the acclaimed director is handling Linkin Park’s new single, “Faint.” The group shot the clip at the end of April with about 1,000 fans, Hahn said at the Music Video Production Association Awards. Romanek’s treatment, based around the “I won’t be ignored” portion of the song’s chorus, features the band performing and ignoring the… Read more »