tagged w/ Music Industry
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WeROCK City has informed BLABBERMOUTH.NET that drummer Munetaka Higuchi of veteran Japanese metallers LOUDNESS passed away today (Sunday, November 30) around 10:00 a.m. (Japan Standard Time) at a hospital in Osaka, Japan. He was 49 years old.
Higuchi was diagnosed with liver cancer (Hepatocellular Carcinoma) in April 2008. He had reportedly undergone two rounds of chemotherapy treatment and an operation to remove part of his liver.
In an October 18, 2008 statement released via the band's official web site, Munetaka wrote about his condition (translated from Japanese), "It has been half a year since I was diagnosed with liver cancer. I am really sorry that the fans are worried. The cancer has become worse despite the fact that I have been taking care of my health, and I will need more time for my treatment. [Even after undergoing the] big operation to remove half of my liver, I still need more treatment. There are various risks and dangers involved with my condition, but I'll do my best to keep my spirits up and maintain my physical strength to fight this illness. I know it is still the middle of my treatment, but I just wanted inform you about my progress since the operation. Thank you very much for all the support."
LOUDNESS utilized a session drummer — Kozo Suganuma, a member of one of the most popular fusion bands in Japan, FRAGILE, and a former member of DED CHAPLIN (featuring LOUDNESS singer Minoru Niihara) — for its "special guest" appearance at MÖTLEY CRÜE's October 26, 2008 concert at Saitama Super Arena.
LOUDNESS recently released a four-disc DVD set entitled "The Legend Of Loudness - Live Complete Best" in Japan through Tokuma Communications. It features footage spanning the band's entire career — from the early 1980s through 2008 — including the periods when it was fronted by Michael Vescera (YNGWIE MALMSTEEN, OBSESSION) and Masaki Yamada (EZO).WeROCK City has informed BLABBERMOUTH.NET that drummer Munetaka Higuchi of veteran... more
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Slash has revealed that a lot of the vocalists on his solo album are returning favors for Slash performing on their albums in the past. However, in a recent interview with rockerazzi.com, Slash's wife Perla Hudson, mentioned both Ozzy Osbourne and Fergie will lend their vocal talents. "It's going to be Slash and friends, with everyone from Ozzy (Osbourne) to Fergie," she said.Slash has revealed that a lot of the vocalists on his solo album are returning favors... more
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After the train-wreck that was Dr Pepper's "Free Dr Pepper for Everyone in America" campaign, Guns N' Roses are seeking an apology and they're threatening to take legal action if they don't get one.
Alan S. Gutman, Axl Rose's attorney, sent a letter to Dr Pepper CEO Larry Young to complain after the company's website crashed and left many fans unable to claim their free coupons. Gutman writes, "What happened on November 23 was a complete fiasco. In what could only be characterized as reckless indifference or complete stupidity, Dr Pepper was completely unprepared for the traffic to its site. Most visitors were greeted with error messages. Some people who got through to Dr Pepper's servers were told to call a toll free number, few of whom got through. Many walked away angry as Dr Pepper ... soured the momentous music event that was 'Chinese Democracy's' release."
"Our clients are outrated at your treatment of their fans and the American public in general. After it became clear that Chinese Democracy would be released in 2008, Dr. Pepper executive Tony Jacobs proudly proclaimed that Dr. Pepper would make good on its promise to give a free soda to everyone in America. It turned out that Dr. Pepper did not define ‘everyone in America’ the same way as ‘everyone in America’ defined ‘everyone in America.’" He later adds, "Had you wished to engage in a commercial tie-in with our clients, you should have negotiated a legitimate arrangement instead of hijacking their rights without payment. Rest assured, this misappropriation will not be free."
The band is requesting an extension of the free drink offer for fans who missed out as well as full-page ads to be put in major newspapers all across the country apologizing for how the giveaway was handled.
A Dr Pepper spokesperson replied with, "For us, this was a fun giveaway that has always been about the fans, and we’ve taken great steps to fulfill it." In the company's defense, they did extend the giveaway an extra day for all those who missed out when the site crashed.After the train-wreck that was Dr Pepper's "Free Dr Pepper for Everyone in... more
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Greg Kot of ChicagoTribune.com reports: "After retiring the SMASHING PUMPKINS eight years ago, Billy Corgan brought the brand — if not the original lineup — back to his hometown Tuesday [November 18] for the first of four concerts.
"For part of the two-and-a-half-hour show, he kept up his end of the deal with original PUMPKINS drummer Jimmy Chamberlin at his back and an assortment of replacement PUMPKINS and backing musicians — a nine-piece band in all — playing with a road-tested roar that was spirited, lacerating, goofy and indulgent, sometimes all at once.
"And then it all ended in deflating weirdness, with Corgan ranting on the microphone while the crowd filtered out wondering what happened. After a rousing first half, the momentum ebbed and flowed, and then finally nose-dived.
"'Why are you upset with us?' Corgan said. 'It's 'cause we don't do what you want us to do. … We don't know what the [expletive] you want from us.'"
Read the entire review at ChicagoTribune.com.
Fan-filmed video footage of Corgan's onstage rant from November 18, 2008 can be viewed below (courtesy of "carapatricia").
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FgcieNseX8YGreg Kot of ChicagoTribune.com reports: "After retiring the SMASHING PUMPKINS... more
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Coldplay have hinted they may not continue to make music for much longer, as Chris Martin says bands shouldn't overstay their welcome.
The frontman was heard saying, "I'm 31 now and I don't think that bands should keep going past 33."
But that doesn't mean Coldplay will be hanging up their guitars anytime soon - they still plan to do as much as possible until then.
"I don't believe in time off," adds Martin. "We've still got most of our hair, we can still fit into our musical trousers and we've got to make the most of that."Coldplay have hinted they may not continue to make music for much longer, as Chris... more
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The judge responsible for shutting down the original version of peer-to-peer service Napster proposed an interesting plan this week to reform copyright by establishing public and private organizations that will be in charge of licensing and enforcing the law in this digital age.
Heres Judge Patel’s recommendations:
1) The new body needs to be a mix of public and private entities with all parties represented. It cannot be a purely governmental body because that is not likely to instill confidence in the public.
2) All copyrighted music would be part of this system and subject to a compulsory license, with possible opt-out provisions for certain rights holders.
3) Congress should abolish all current compulsory licenses and adopt a blanket licensing system. (Such a system may have allowed Napster to continue operating, assuming it could afford to pay labels under the compulsory licensing scheme.)
4) The body would administer all royalty payments and would replace all current systems for doing so.
5) An independent arm would arbitrate royalty disputes using music databases that allow arbitration to be done with speed and precision lacking in the current system.
6) Manufacturers and developers would need approval from this body before introducing an application or device capable of recording, distributing or copying music to consumers. The body would include technology experts to aid in making those decisions quickly - Patel described this as "sort of like the FDA, but much faster."
Judge Miriam Hall Patel was the judge who presided over the famous A&M Records, Inc. v. Napster, Inc. case which effectively shut down Napster until it was repurchased and turned into a pay-service.The judge responsible for shutting down the original version of peer-to-peer service... more
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EXCLUSIVE never before seen BEHIND THE SCENES footage of Usher's One Night Stand LADIES ONLY Tour Photo Shoot on location in PARIS!!
Go to www.usheronenightstand.com, enter the Usher QUIZ for a chance to WIN 2 FREE TICKETS to the concert in your city and grab mp3s from his latest album "Here I Stand"!EXCLUSIVE never before seen BEHIND THE SCENES footage of Usher's One Night Stand... more
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Kevin Cogill will ples guilty on a federal count of copyright infringement as part of a plea deal.
Kevin was arrested for leaking Axle's (or if you want to call them Guns N' Roses) "Chinese Democracy" August 27.Originally facing a maximum of five years in prisons, Cogill’s charged were reduced late last month from felony to misdemeanor and he’s now looking at a maximum of just a year.
Also, remember to get your free Dr.Pepper on Nov. 23 when "Chinese Democracy" comes out by going to drpepper.comKevin Cogill will ples guilty on a federal count of copyright infringement as part of... more
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In a conference call at 10 a.m. ET on October 29, the Beatles' Apple Corps. Ltd., MTV Games, and Harmonix announced a new videogame using the Fab Four's catalog. And little else.
The game, which will have music supervision by Giles Martin, son of longtime Beatles producer Sir George Martin and co-producer of the Beatles' Love project with his dad, is slated for the 2009 holidays. It will not be a Rock Band game, however; it will be a wholly new, stand-alone title. Details will unfold in the coming months.
As of 10:15 a.m., an iTunes rep officially declined comment as to whether this finally opens the gates for the Beatles' catalog to be offered on iTunes.
There has been talk of an all-Beatles videogame for months, but where it would land - MTV Games' Rock Band franchise or Activision's Guitar Hero - remained a mystery. Whether it will also include the band members' likenesses is still unclear, although the game will feature different eras of the band's career visually, starting with the black-and-white feel of the early '60s and moving into the mod Rubber Soul years, Yellow Submarine, and their final hippie phase. (No word yet on whether the game will introduce new instruments, but here's hoping for a plastic sitar.)
For Harmonix, the company that develops Rock Band, the Beatles game will be the big priority for 2009. In June, Harmonix CEO Alex Rigopulos put the Beatles at the top of his artist wish list, along with Led Zeppelin, AC/DC, Pink Floyd, and the Rolling Stones. "titanic bands of that era that have a special place in people's hearts," he told EW. (Rock Band has since secured exclusive rights to AC/DC's music.) MTV president Van Toffler, when asked about the probability of an all-Beatles game, joked, "I heard they're pretty popular. That would be big, right?" But around the same time, Guitar Hero cofounder Kai Huang was still holding out hope. "The Beatles are very unique: They’re a band and an industry who have always been very guarded about their music and careful about who they choose as partners," he said in August. "We’ve been waiting, as everybody else in the world has been waiting, to get their music."
In a conference call at 10 a.m. ET on October 29, the Beatles' Apple Corps. Ltd.,... more
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Mick Jones (The Clash) and Tony James (Generation X) are ready to embrace whats to come in technology.Mick Jones (The Clash) and Tony James (Generation X) are ready to embrace whats to... more
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Artists and labels could soon be using iPhone apps for a variety of distribution and promotional purposes, the Wired reports. Song previews, images, news, videos and other content can be distributed for free to fans, and podcasts and tracks can be downloaded directly via the iTunes store. Some artists even offer annual "band subscriptions" enabling the fans to receive the latest material from their favourite act in near real time.
Pink, Snow Patrol, Fall Out Boy and Nine Inch Nails are among the first acts to embrace the platform with customized apps.
Can iPhone apps be the new MySpace page?
Artists and labels could soon be using iPhone apps for a variety of distribution and... more
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27 year-old Kevin Cogill, the man accused of leaking several tracks off of Guns N’ Roses’ upcoming album "Chinese Democracy" onto the internet, pled not guilty in a Los Angeles Federal Court on Monday, October 20.
Cogill was arrested this summer after being accused of violating federal copyright laws by leaking nine tracks off of "Chinese Democracy" onto his blog. Cogill has since admitted to uploading the songs to his website, however the band has stated that they are more interested in finding "the original source [of the leak]."
If convicted, Cogill faces up to five years in federal prison. The date of his trial has yet to be set.
"Chinese Democracy" releases on November 23.
27 year-old Kevin Cogill, the man accused of leaking several tracks off of Guns... more
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The release of Guns N’ Roses' "Chinese Democracy" is becoming more and more real with each passing day. The album, which has been over a decade in the making, is set to be released on November 25 and will be sold exclusively through Best Buy in the United States.
With the release just over a month away, Best Buy has set up a currently inactive preorder page for the CD which features the album's final track listing.
Along with the track listing, the page also features a small image of the album art which, when blown up here, appears to be of a bike with a large basket attached to it.
Chinese Democracy Track Listing:
01. "Chinese Democracy"
02. "Scraped"
03. "Shackler's Revenge"
04. "Street Of Dreams"
05. "If The World"
06. "Better"
07. "This I Love"
08. "There Was A Time"
09. "Riad N' The Bedovins"
10. "Sorry"
11. "I.R.S."
12. "Catcher"
13. "Madagascar"
14. "Prostitute"
"Chinese Democracy" will be Guns N’ Roses' first album of original material since 1991's simultaneous release of "Use Your Illusion I" and "II".
The release of Guns N’ Roses' "Chinese Democracy" is becoming... more
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As if your television set doesn't get enough of the video game Rock Band, now comes Rock Band The TV Show. EW.com reported that Rock Band 2 The Stars, a spoof of VH1's celebreality competition, airs on the network's VH1 Classic channel and online beginning October 15.
Professional rock stars Alice Cooper and Sebastian Bach will play hosts to 12 wannabe rockers who live in a loft together and vie to out-skill each other in challenges designed to showcase Rock Band 2's new features. Rumors of a potential Rock Band show surfaced in early September when a casting call appeared on the game's website seeking "hardcore fans of the video game Rock Band to form the Ultimate Rock Band." Specifically, it called for players to "be a master of at least one instrument, and preferably excel at all of them." The show will air as six mini-episodes.
Combining game-play with general rock attitude, each week the contestant with the worst overall performance will be eliminated. Once it's down to three players - drums, guitar and bass - those two groups will back Cooper and Bach at a final showdown taped at Los Angeles' famed Viper Room. The winning band will then get to play in between sets at the L.A. stop of the Rock Band Live tour featuring Panic At The Disco, Dashboard Confessional, Plain White T's, and The Cab.
As if your television set doesn't get enough of the video game Rock Band, now... more
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The statistics behind the pay-what-you-like release of Radiohead's 'In Rainbows' album, released on October 10 last year online, have been revealed today (October 15).
According to reports most fans chose to pay nothing to download the album. However, it still generated more money before it was physically released (on December 31) than the total money generated by sales of the band's previous album, 2003's 'Hail To The Thief'.
According to Music Ally, Jane Dyball, head of business affairs at Warner Chappell (the publishing company that oversaw the release of 'In Rainbows'), refused to reveal the average price people were downloading the album for.
However, Dyball, set to speak about the release at the Iceland Airwaves conference later, explained that Warner Chappell and Radiohead's management were monitoring the average price daily, and was prepared to cancel the download facility if the average price became too low.
The download facility was taken down after three months, and the album went to Number One in the UK and USA after being physically released.
Statistics revealed that most fans downloaded the album through file-sharing service BitTorrent, but that this had been anticipated before the release.
The band sold 100,000 copies of the 'In Rainbows' box set, which contained extra songs not available on the standard download or CD release.
Warner Chappell concluded that the new release style was a financial success, but did not reveal whether Radiohead plan to release an album in a similar way in the future.
The statistics behind the pay-what-you-like release of Radiohead's 'In... more
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It's great to see the hybrid release approach analyzed as a great business move, not just some happy-go-lucky hippie internet thing.
And it turns out In Rainbows sold *way* more than Radiohead's previous few albums, including -- get ready -- around 1.75 million normal, boring, physical CDs. While they were giving it away for free on their site. Awesome.
Love this note:
"In fact, if anything, the only trouble with the whole thing was that it was just arguably too successful. The whole 'pay what you like' experiment became the story rather than the music itself. And that's not so Radiohead. The band and Thom Yorke initially found themselves answering questions about why they chose to do what they did rather than being asked about the music itself."
Maybe we can ask Thom Yorke to manage the bailout, too...It's great to see the hybrid release approach analyzed as a great business move,... more
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Bob Lefsetz is the author of "The Lefsetz Letter." Famous for being beholden to no one and speaking the truth, Lefsetz addresses the issues that are at the core of the music business: downloading, copy protection, pricing and the music itself.
His intense brilliance captivates readers from Steven Tyler to Rick Nielsen to Bryan Adams to Quincy Jones to EVERYBODY who’s in the music business.
Never boring, always entertaining, Bob’s insights are fueled by his stint as an entertainment business attorney, majordomo of Sanctuary Music’s American division and consultancies to major labels.
"The Lefsetz Letter" has been publishing for the past 20 years. First as hard copy, most recently as an email newsletter and now, for the first time, in blog form.Bob Lefsetz is the author of "The Lefsetz Letter." Famous for being beholden... more
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Recently, Nat Hays, chairman of Brooklyn's independent +1 Records, wanted to break a record by one of his label's new bands, The Morning Benders. So he went straight to Apple's iTunes Music Store.
That was no surprise. iTunes is the biggest retailer of digital music. But Hays also enlisted a less expected partner: Lime Wire, the music file-sharing service detested by so many of his major label colleagues.
"I consider Lime Wire a really important player in what we are trying to do," said Hays.
The major labels couldn't disagree more. The Recording Industry Association of America, their trade group, blames much of the music industry's declining sales - a 12% drop in 2007 alone - on illegal file-sharing made possible by such technology. The RIAA is doing its best to put Lime Wire, the last surviving big peer-to-peer provider with 70 million monthy users, out of business.
"Lime Wire is number one with a bullet," said Eric Garland, CEO of Big Champagne, a digital entertainment analytics company. "It's the Napster of today."
Recently, Nat Hays, chairman of Brooklyn's independent +1 Records, wanted to... more
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