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20-06-08 |
Kiss: fans have killed the
record industry with illegal dowloading
Kiss have declared that the record industry is "dead". According to bassist Gene
Simmonds his band is refusing to record new material until illegal downloading
ceases, calling the act of downloading "uncivilised". Simmons blames the fans as
"they've decided to download and file-share.” Singer Paul Stanley also said that
the band's policy is to only play old hits live. According to Stanley "with any
classic band that hits the road, the last thing you want to hear is their new
songs." |
|
27-05-08 |
New Elvis Presley remix by
DJ Agostino Spankox available online
After being remixed by Junkie XL (“A Little Less Conversation”) and Paul
Oakenfold (“Rubberneckin”), Elvis Presley will now receive a remix makeover by
DJ Agostino Spankox. The new Elvis remix will be “Baby Let's Play House.” The
song will be made available online this week and will only be available on CD at
Graceland or from www.shopelvis.com. |
|
23-05-08 |
Peter Gabriel providing
new online music project
Peter Gabriel is preparing to provide cheap album downloads in a new
subscription service. The music club is set to record exclusive albums live at
Gabriel's Real World Studios in Bath, which will then be available to download
for a month in the MP3 fromat. One album will be offered each month to those who
subscribe to the service, which will provide free studio time to the artists
involved and also return their rights to the music after two months. Artists in
the project include Skip McDonald's Little Axe Collective and singer-songwriter
Gwyneth Herbert.
Michael Jackson and Bob Marley suing The Pirate Bay
Michael Jackson has joined a list of artists suing The Pirate Bay for $100
million in damages they say have been caused by the BitTorrent tracker site's "facilitation
of copyright infringement." According The Pirate Bay, Bob Marley's Estate is
also suing them. Meanwhile, the Sweden-based site celebrates entering the top
100 of the world's most visited websites.
It recently reached spot 97 and its three month average is 97 as well. |
|
15-05-08 |
Metallica open special
Website
While the new Metallica album is nearing its September release date, the band
has launched the Website "Mission: Metallica" to offer fans exclusive content
and teasers of new songs. Fans signing up will be eligible to win backstage
passes to shows this summer. Metallica will be touring this summer in advance of
the as-yet-untitled album. |
|
06-05-08 |
Latest Nine Inch Nails
album available online for free
Nine Inch Nails have made their new album “The Slip” available online for free.
The album is available for download from their website. The set is set for a
conventional CD and vinyl release in July. “The Slip” was produced by Nine Inch
Nails frontman Trent Reznor, Atticus Ross and Alan Moulder. Nine Inch Nails
previously released their album “Ghost I-IV” online in March, with fans choosing
how much to pay to download it.
First new Offspring single available as free download
The Offspring has set a June 17 release date for their new album “Rise And Fall,
Rage And Grace.” The band has made a free download of their first single
“Hammerhead” available online on the band’s official Web site. The new 12-track
effort by The Offspring was originally due in March and was produced by Bob
Rock. Rick Rubin also assisted throughout the recording process. Besides a
conventional CD and digital release, a gatefold vinyl edition of “Rise And Fall,
Rage And Grace” will be available. |
|
30-04-08 |
New Coldplay single
available online
Coldplay will make their new single "Violet Hill" available online as a free
download. The track is the lead single from their upcoming studio album "Viva La
Vida or Death And All His Friends." While "Viva La Vida or Death And All His
Friends" is due on June 17 in the US, the European release date has been moved
up four days to June 12. |
|
16-04-08 |
New Portishead album to be
previewed online
Portishead have revealed more information about their new album “Third.” The
album will be streamed on via website Last.fm from April 21. The songs will be
free to listen to online but people will have to pay to download any of the
tracks. This will mark the first time that Last.fm has made an entire album
available online before its official release date. |
|
10-04-08 |
Apple iTunes becomes
biggest music retailer in the US
A new study has revealed that if 12 song downloads are considered the equal of
one physical CD album, Apple’s iTunes has overtaken previous market-leader
Wal-Mart in terms of music sales. Over 50 million people have downloaded music
from iTunes since its 2001 launch. iTunes' move into the top spot came about
during January and February, when iTunes Christmas gift cards were being cashed
in.
MySpace to offer music download service
MySpace is set to launch a new music download service that will allow users to
download songs, mobile phone ringtones and desktop wallpapers from its website.
The company has not yet confirmed how much music downloads and other services
will cost. Major labels Sony BMG, Universal and Warner Music Group have already
signed up to the new MySpace Music service. |
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26-03-08 |
New Costello album on
vinyl only with digital download code
Elvis Costello's next solo studio album "Momofuku" will be out on April 22.
Initially, the effort will be released on vinyl only, with a digital download
code included in the package. The album is the follow-up to "The Delivery Man"
from 2004. |
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13-03-08 |
New R.E.M. album available
through iLike
R.E.M.'s new album "Accelerate" is about to be made available for the first time
through networking application iLike. The event will allow fans to stream and
share "Accelerate" in its entirety beginning March 24, a week ahead of the
album's April 1 release date. The iLike launch will make the 11-song set freely
available to anyone and will be accompanied by a video of the band talking about
the album.
Digital reissue of Kelly Rowland’s Ms. Kelly album
Kelly Rowland will release a digital-only album on March 25. The
7-song set "Ms. Kelly: Diva Deluxe" includes five new tracks plus remixes of the
songs "Come Back" and "Like This" featuring Eve. The original versions of those
remixes appeared on Rowland's original version of "Ms. Kelly." Rowland's current
single "Work" was issued as an EP of dance mixes in the US and a second remix EP
for new single "Daylight," featuring Travis McCoy of Gym Class Heroes, was
released in the US recently. |
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04-03-08 |
New Nine Inch Nails album
available online
Nine Inch Nails is using the Internet to distribute its new instrumental album "Ghosts
I-IV." "Ghosts" will also be released physical on April 8. Fans can receive the
first nine songs from the 36-track project for free, or the entire album can be
bought digitally for $5. The effort is likely to spawn additional volumes.
According to band member Reznor, they worked with Alan Moulder, Atticus Ross,
Alessandro Cortini, Adrian Belew and Brian Viglione. There are several other
ordering options available for "Ghosts I-IV." |
|
07-02-08 |
Yahoo replaces own online
music subscription service with Rhapsody
Yahoo is quitting on its online subscription music service and replacing it with
Rhapsody America. Yahoo will exclusively promote Rhapsody on its site and
integrate the service into Yahoo Music. Yahoo is one of the most popular music
sites on the Internet claiming 23 million visitors to its music section, but
only a small percentage signed on for Yahoo Music Unlimited. The company also
announced that it has acquired FoxyTunes, a toolbar plug-in that lets users
control desktop and Web music players and find lyrics, videos and other music
information. Rhapsody is jointly owned by MTV and RealNetworks. |
|
25-01-08 |
Pirate Bay charged with
breaking copyright law
Sweden is planning to charge the Pirate Bay, one of the world's most popular Web
sites, with being accessories in breaking copyright law. Pirate Bay helps Web
surfers share copyrighted music and film files, which is illegal in many
countries, including Sweden. No copyright material is stored on Pirate Bay's
servers and no swapping of files actually takes place there. Rather, Pirate Bay
locates file sharers on the Internet and acts as a directory of so-called
torrent files. BitTorrent is a protocol that enables big file transfers. The
torrent files, downloadable from Pirate Bay, contain the information needed to
download film or music files from others. The Pirate Bay claim they cannot be
held responsible for material that is being spread and that there is no legal
ground for the charges. |
|
25-01-08 |
Orange to launch online
music service in France
The French Orange group have unveiled an interactive customizable online radio
station, called Musiline. The advertising-driven service offers secure access to
streamed tracks, allowing users to create their own personalised programs based
on favored musical genres, favorite titles or artists. Users can also download
music for €0.99 ($1.45) per track at the www.orange.fr web site. The new service
is operated in exclusive partnership with French music service company Yacast,
which developed the technology. |
|
16-01-08 |
Sony BMG makes music
available as MP3 through Amazon
Sony BMG Music Entertainment will make its music content available as MP3
through Amazon. and will allow its music to be sold via the unprotected format
on the digital download store. Recently Sony BMG's also announced that it will
sell album-specific digital download gift cards that will be redeemed in the MP3
format. |
|
09-01-08 |
Sony BMG into MP3 with
digital album cards
Sony BMG will roll out its Platinum MusicPass series of digital album cards
starting January 15 at various retail outlets. It will be the company's first
commercial journey into the world of MP3 in the US, as until recently Sony BMG
favored selling files with digital rights management capabilities only. The
digital album gift cards, will be available for $12.99, and are artist-specific.
Digital album cards feature album artwork and will include bonus material. The
card works with a scratch-off that will reveal a PIN number that can be redeemed
for a download at MusicPass.com. Titles include the Backstreet Boys' "Unbreakable";
Bruce Springsteen's "Magic"; Celine Dion's "Taking Chances"; John Mayer's "Continuum"
and various compilations.
Flo Rida breaks single-week record digital sales
figures
Flo Rida's US single number one "Low" has sold 470,000 digital copies which is a
single-week record that previously was held by Fergie's "Fergalicious" at
294,000 copies.
Digital sales are still on the rise and reached an all-time high last week, as
five songs posted triple-digit percentage increases on the Hot Digital Songs
chart.
Napster to offer unprotected MP3s
Napsterhas announced that it will begin selling music downloads as unprotected
MP3 files in the spring. The file format change will apply only to single tracks
and album purchases. Tracks of the company's music subscription service will
continue to have copyright restrictions. |
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05-01-08 |
Lil Wayne releases EP as
download only
With his next album, "Tha Carter III," pushed back to February, rapper Lil Wayne
put out a five-song digital EP on Christmas day, titled "The Leak." The tracks
are available as digital downloads from Amazon.com, iTunes and Rhapsody only.
Several weeks ago, Lil Wayne pushed back "Tha Carter III" back from December
2007 to February 2008 due to leaks of several album tracks.
Panic! At The Disco makes new track available online
In anticipation of the new Panic! At The Disco that is set for a March release
date, the band has posted a rough demo of a new song, presumably from the
forthcoming album, titled "We're So Starving". The band also announced that they
will be wrapping up work at their home studio soon. After that, the band will
move to London to record strings and horns for the new album at the legendary
Abbey Road Studios where the album will also be mixed. Panic! At The Disco
recently shot a video in Los Angeles for the album's first single "Nine In The
Afternoon." |
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