Wednesday, December 30, 2009

James Blunt tops UK sales chart for decade

James Blunt's debut album "Back To Bedlam" is the biggest U.K. seller of the decade, according to the Official Charts Company. Dido's debut "No Angel" and Amy Winehouse's Grammy-winning smash "Back to Black" followed. Dido also made No. 7 with "Life For Rent." Leona Lewis' debut "Spirit" came in at No. 4, ahead of David Gray's 1998 release "White Ladder. Rounding out the list were the Beatles' "1" at No. 6, Coldplay's "A Rush Of Blood To The Head" at No. 8, the Scissor Sisters' self-titled debut at No. 9, and Take That's "Beautiful World" at No. 10. Blunt's "Back To Bedlam" did not reach the U.K. albums chart when it was first released in 2004 -- it sold just 482 copies in its first week. It eventually charted thanks to heavy radio rotation for the single "You're Beautiful," and ended up selling more than 3.1 million copies.
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Steeleye Span's Tim Hart dies at age 61

Tim Hart, one of the founder members of British folk-rock group Steeleye Span, has died of lung cancer, the band's record company said on Wednesday. Hart, 61, died on Dec 24 in the home he had made in Spain's Canary Islands after retiring from the music scene in the 1980s, John Dagnell, managing director of independent label Park Records in England told Reuters. "Tim died on Christmas Eve. It is a sad loss. It came as a shock to us as we did not realise his illness was so far advanced," Dagnell said. Hart, who had devoted the latter part of his life to photography, was diagnosed with lung cancer a year ago. Steeleye Span, best known for the hit records "All Around My Hat" and "Gaudete", was formed in 1969 when Hart and singer Maddy Prior teamed up with ex-Fairport Convention bass player Ashley Hutchings
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BitCandy.com

BitCandy.com - Internet radio offering indie, alternative and electronic music
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Monday, December 28, 2009

Muziic Facebook app

Muziic has created a Facebook app
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theRevolution - bringing the artist and the fan closer together

The Mission of theRevolution is "to turn the music business into the musicians business by creating and funding Artist owned companies, and providing them with a variety of new and innovative services to help them build their brand and distribute and market their music and merchandise" (Julian Lennon and James Scott Cook)
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Lucy EP - Julian Lennon/James Scott Cook

Lucy EP - Julian Lennon/James Scott Cook:


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Saturday, December 26, 2009

Vic Chesnutt, RIP

Singer-songwriter Vic Chesnutt has died, according to his record label, Constellation. He was 45 years old. According to a note posted on the label's Web site, the performer died "surrounded by family and friends" in Athens, Georgia on Friday, December 25, at 2:59 p.m
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John Lennon's biopic Nowhere Boy released

"Biopic Nowhere Boy is released on Boxing Day. It is the story of the Beatles star's early life. He was brought up in Liverpool by his formidable aunt Mimi after being given up by his spirited mother, Julia. Artist-turned-director Sam Taylor-Wood admits it is a complex story that needed to be handled with care. "What I did do was write to people that mattered, I felt, and just say I'm making this film if you want input," she said. One person who did get in contact was Lennon's widow Yoko Ono"
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Friday, December 25, 2009

Guitarist for Janis Joplin's Big Brother band dies

James Gurley, the innovative guitarist who helped shape psychedelic rock's multilayered, sometimes thundering sounds as a member of Big Brother and the Holding Company, the band that propelled Janis Joplin to fame, has died of a heart attack. He was 69. Gurley was pronounced dead Sunday at a Palm Springs hospital, two days before his 70th birthday, the band announced on its Web site
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Wednesday, December 23, 2009

Cuca Records leaves a Sauk City legacy

"In rock and roll lore, Sauk City may not carry the same cachet as Liverpool or New York City, but during the '60s and early '70s a small, independent record label earned the village a low-watt prestige for good music that continues to shine 30 years after artists stopped flocking here to cut records. James Kirchstein, the founder of Cuca Records, still remembers the day in 1972 when David Bowie called wanting to book Cuca's studio at 123 Water St."
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Carly Simon rebounds by revisiting old songs on new CD

Carly Simon felt like quitting the music business last year after a once-promising relationship with a record label ended in a messy breakup. But she now feels reinvigorated after her son, Ben Taylor, pushed her to make an indie album, "Never Been Gone," on which she revisits her most famous songs.
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Musicians find own way as labels struggle

"Singer Amy Correia has made two critically acclaimed albums, but for her next record she's changing her tune, reports CBS News Business Correspondent Anthony Mason. "I'm making this hopefully with the help of fans as opposed to a record label," Correia told an audience one night. In the brutal shakeout in the music business, Correia, like so many artists, was dropped by her label. So the 41-year-old singer turned to her most important asset: her fans"
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Tuesday, December 22, 2009

Roadrunner Records announced God of War EP

Roadrunner Records has announced plans to release an exclusive digital EP soundtrack for the highly anticipated PlayStation®3 (PS3™) exclusive videogame, God of War® III. The EP, titled God of War®: Blood & Metal, will be released in March as a part of the God of War III® Ultimate Edition, and will feature five exclusive unreleased songs from Roadrunner artists, including Killswitch Engage, Dream Theater, Trivium, Opeth and Taking Dawn
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Saturday, December 19, 2009

Thursday, December 17, 2009

40-year-old John Lennon interview published for first time

A 40-year-old 'lost' interview with John Lennon and Yoko Ono has been published for the first time. The interview was conducted by two students from Keele University who had hitchhiked hundreds of miles to see the couple, and carried out at Lennon's home in Weymouth, Surrey on December 2 1968.
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Wednesday, December 16, 2009

Stooges, Genesis, ABBA get Rock Hall Of Fame nods

The Stooges, Genesis, ABBA, the Hollies and Jimmy Cliff will be inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame at the shrine's 25th annual ceremony on March 15 at the Waldorf Astoria hotel in New York City. They'll be joined by David Geffen and a cadre of songwriters -- Barry Mann & Cynthia Weil, Ellie Greenwich & Jeff Barry, Jesse Stone, Mort Shuman and Otis Blackwell -- who will receive the Ahmet Ertegun Award for non-performers. The ceremony will be broadcast live on Fuse TV - Billboard
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Saturday, December 12, 2009

Song Crypt

Song Crypt is an all new way for Musicians to find original music for their band to perform and for songwriters to get their music into the hands of musicians
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Thursday, December 10, 2009

VEVO

"VEVO is the leading innovative online premium music and entertainment service for consumers, advertisers and content owners that blends the very best in musical content with cutting-edge video technology and a thriving user community powered by YouTube. The content is made available on YouTube through a VEVO-branded channel, on VEVO.com, the service's marquee destination site, and through a VEVO-branded embedded player. The service also serves as a syndication platform for additional internet destination sites, expanding the reach of the VEVO brand across the worldwide Web.

VEVO was created in partnership by Universal Music Group (UMG), Sony Music Entertainment (SME) and the Abu Dhabi Media Company. It is operated independently by a dedicated management team with offices in Los Angeles and New York. VEVO features the most extensive catalog of premium music content found anywhere on the web thanks to deals with such leading music companies as Universal Music Group, Sony Music Entertainment, EMI Music, Hollywood Records, Walt Disney Records, CBS Interactive Music Group, Big Machine Records, Concord Music Group, Lyric Street Records, ABKCO, Caroline Distribution, Fontana Distribution, INgrooves, IODA, RED and The Orchard, among many others"
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Music 2.0: Revenue Streams, Consumer Behavior, and Policy Issues

Music 2.0: Revenue Streams, Consumer Behavior, and Policy Issues - EDUCAUSE Live! December 16, 2009
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Tuesday, December 08, 2009

iTunes Rewind 2009

iTunes Rewind 2009 - a look at the top-performing songs, albums, movies, TV shows, apps, audiobooks and podcasts of this year
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Consumer Reports: MP3 Players

Consumer Reports: MP3 Players - Consumer Reports offers expert, independent reviews of MP3 players, including Apple's iPod and flash memory players. Site includes a buying guide for consumers
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Million Dollar Quartet

Million Dollar Quartet - Official site for the Broadway production of Million Dollar Quarter, a new musical inspired by the famed 1956 recording session that brought together four of the most legendary figures in the history of rock 'n' roll -- Johnny Cash, Jerry Lee Lewis, Carl Perkins, and Elvis Presley
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Monday, December 07, 2009

Irish folk pioneer Liam Clancy dies

Irish balladeer Liam Clancy, last of the Clancy Brothers troupe whose feisty, boozy songs of old Ireland struck a sentimental chord worldwide, died Friday in a Cork hospital. He was 74
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Sunday, December 06, 2009

Bob Keane dies

Bob Keane, 87, who founded the West Coast independent record label Del-Fi Records in the 1950s and is best known for discovering and recording Ritchie Valens, died of renal failure Nov. 28 at an assisted living home in Hollywood, Calif. Mr. Keane, a clarinet player who once led his own 18-piece orchestra, briefly headed Keen Records in 1957 and released Sam Cooke's No. 1 hit single "You Send Me" before launching Del-Fi Records.
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Thursday, December 03, 2009

Beyonce and Taylor Swift lead Grammy nominations

Beyonce is leading the field in the nominations for the 52nd Grammy Awards with 10 nominations, followed by country star Taylor Swift, with eight. The pair go up against Black Eyed Peas - who got six nominations - Lady Gaga and Dave Matthews Band for best album. R&B singer Maxwell and rapper Kanye West also earned six nominations each. Britons Depeche Mode got two, while The Tings Tings are up for best new act. This year's song of the year winners Coldplay were given a best video nod -
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