Is Lil' Wayne the record industry's last hope? After 2005's 50 Cent album release, The Massacre, you would've been hard pressed to find a record exec who would've predicted another album to move more than a million units in its first week. After all, since 50 Cent's record three years ago, even grandmothers got broadband Internet in their homes and figured out how to use iTunes; things were supposed to get worse for the industry. And, while anyone from Sony to Bad Boy will tell you they have, Lil' Wayne's Tha Carter III, shipping just over 1 million copies in the first week since its June 10 debut, represents an anomaly.
So how come it was Lil' Wayne, and not even the likes of world superstar and egomaniac Kanye West, who accomplished the impossible? CONTINUED »
Led Zeppelin's song "Stairway to Heaven" has, through record sales and royalties, earned an estimated $572 million. If you believe this math.
Depending on how you look at things, Amy Winehouse was either "loaded" by the $2 million cheque she received from Russian billionaire Roman Abramovich, to perform at the art gallery opening of 25-year-old girlfriend Dasha Zhukova, or she was "loaded" on drugs as she arrived in Moscow completely inebriated, so much so that organizers began scrambling to find another singer before deciding it was too late. Finally, Winehouse finally sipped enough Coca-Cola to lumber to the stage, though it was there she threw her lighter into the crowd and used non-verbal communication to share that she wasn't wearing underwear.
And while it would be perfectly reasonable for Abramovich to be bitter over Winehouse's antics after ponying up so much cash, the reason one hires a celebrity act to perform at an event is to generate press. And Ms. Winehouse certainly earned her fee in that regard.
To be fair, at least she wasn't scheduled to go on at 2:45 a.m., then kept everyone waiting until 4:25 a.m. before taking the stage like some self-entitled acts.
Unlike, say, Nine Inch Nails, which has embraced every facet of the Internet and exploited it to great reviews and returns, the band Metallica carries a reputation for hating the web. Not only did they single-handedly ruin Napster by suing it into obliteration (slight exaggeration?), but they have refused to put their music on iTunes, effectively ignoring an entire youth fan base that more than happily downloads their tracks on BitTorrent.
Now, with a new album out, it's only appropriate that Metallica find a new reason to hate all those 1s and 0s floating around. CONTINUED »
Times Square's Virgin Records store will close, and the Union Square location isn't far behind. [Fox]
There have been those rumors about Michael Jackson taking up residency in Las Vegas, clearing tens of millions of dollars with a high-profile show a la Cher or Prince. But whether the gossip was simply made up or based in truth, the murmurs of a deal would always fizzle, owing in part to Jackson's inability to be a reliable performer, thus shortchanging any possibility his act could be insured.
And now, Britney Spears. She's been seen, very publicly, dining with George Maloof, the billionaire owner of, among other things, the Palms Resort & Casino in Las Vegas. All of which is helping fuel rumors that she is in talks for a Vegas house show, with sums of $10 million being floated around. [SBS]
Maloof, meanwhile, is also behind the insidious production of E!'s Living Lohan, a project that is less about celebrating a manager mama and her celebrity offspring than it is about promoting his corporate interests while ruining a Long Island family. His exploitation of Ms. Spears, then, shouldn't be anything less.
[Photo: WENN]
Someone at Def Jam finally figured out (or knew all along and were just trying to get the maximum amount of publicity first) that naming an album Nigger is pretty much setting yourself up for poor sales and major issues with retailers. So after all the hype, Nas’ newest album, which hits stores July 1st, will simply be called Nas. Nas said that he considers the album untitled.
Because what America needs right now is lower fuel prices, universal health care, and another music reality show, Billboard magazine is hoping to solve at least one of our nation's problems. The Nielsen Business Media trade is launching Billboard Next, reports The Hollywood Reporter, also, conveniently a Nielsen Business Media title. [THR] The show will have hopefuls upload their acts to the Next website, and whoever collects the most votes will get to appear on proper television. "Details of the prize are being kept under wraps," reads the report, which basically translates as, "Don't hope for anything more than a sidebar blurb in Billboard at some point in the future."
ZOMG! Madonna's Sticky & Sweet tickets for Madison Square Garden go on sale today. Quick, click the link before they're sold out! Err, too late. [TheGarden]
It was a big week for Mariah Carey — she lost her single status and her No. 1 spot on the Billboard 200. In her defense, there was really no competing with Madonna’s Hard Candy.
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"Work on a possible James Bond film theme has been abandoned because singer Amy Winehouse is not ready to make music, producer Mark Ronson has said.
"The Brit award winner told Sky News that 'unless by some miracle of science it gets recorded and someone sings a vocal,' the song would not materialise." [BBC]
How ever could she not be ready to make music? Ronson's citing creative differences and Amy not yet finished recording her own music. We're citing this: CONTINUED »
At last night's Madonna promo show at the Roseland Ballroom, the gays were out in full force. Bravo chief Andy Cohen, Logo chief Dave Mace, and a packed room of Chelsea boys and LES hipster homos watched the Material Girl run through a few new tracks from Hard Candy as well as "old school" numbers like "Music." Justin Timberlake joined her on stage for "Four Minutes"; apparently Timbaland and Pharrell were too busy to show up for their numbers. But for the millions of fans who were waiting on MSN.com for the live web cast of the show, there was only disappointment: When the countdown clock hit zero, a "video unavailable" message stood in place of Madonna's five-inch-heel boots. Harsh.
If the mess known as Britney Spears can put together an actually-quite-decent pop album, why not Lindsay Lohan? The twosome, and their handlers, are both working hard at rebuilding their images, so it's time to bring the First Aid kit to their careers.
And Lindsay is: She's recording her third studio album at Universal and, since Timbaland, Pharrell, and Snoop Dogg are required collaborators this decade, they'll be helping her along. Sister Ali, meanwhile, is also in the studio.
For once, the most scandalous thing Lindsay will be reading about herself will be the C- album review in the pages of Entertainment Weekly.
With BitTorrent leaks threatening to ruin the debut of Hard Candy from Kabbalah documentarian Madonna on Tuesday, she's releasing the album early on MySpace. Beginning today, fans can stream all 12 tracks of the release. Naturally, the publicity push comes with a formal announcement, with the most hideous description of Madonna's sound ever. CONTINUED »
How's this for lame interview opportunities?
Fuse TV, the music channel that is neither MTV nor Much, is making available host "Steven," WHO HAS LISTENED TO THE NEW MADONNA ALBUM AND CAN TELL YOU WHAT TO EXPECT!
This would almost be a worthwhile opportunity, if only the chunk of America who has any interest in Hard Candy hadn't already previewed Madonna's new album online or downloaded it illegally off BitTorrent. But thanks for the opportunity for hearsay. CONTINUED »
See this horror to the right? That's a girl dancing at last week's so-called Silent Rave in Union Square.
You're probably thinking, "What in the world is a silent rave?" We wondered the same thing, so we dispatched brave intern Anastasia to find some answers. She didn't exactly find anything concrete, but her experience makes us worry for future generations.
And ourselves…
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Spin magazine, which, honestly, we didn't know was still publishing, is the only major music magazine to see its ad page count grow in Q1. Everybody else is down year-over-year: Rolling Stone (27%), Blender (9%), and Vibe (19%). But even as these print rags see their ad budgets dwindle as media buyers move spends online, they remain overly confident in their own product. Says Blender publisher Ben Madden: "[Readers] need a credible guide. Nothing online can be that guide." Pitchfork, NME, and Stereogum would beg to differ, but then again, they have sustainable business models.
The hip-hop scene’s about to be rocked!
Well, that’s if you believe Terrence Dean’s book publicist. The former MTV executive will soon release Hiding In Hip-Hop, which will allegedly expose the genre’s biggest homos. From the release:
Editorial Director
