NEW YORK, 9:00 AM, SUN NOV 23 | 0 POSTS IN THE LAST 24 HOURS | tips@idolator.com | SUBMIT A TIP | RSS

Posts Tagged “doug morris”

fireside chats

The Music World As Seen By Doug Morris

There's nothing like a glowing profile in Billboard to make a guy look good, and the mag's "exclusive" interview with Universal Music Group Chairman/CEO Doug Morris is no exception. His office is presented in "modest statements" (if you consider a drawing by Bono "modest"), and he's too focused and centered to give himself any credit for his accomplishments. Still, despite the series of totally softball questions, Morris dropped a few gems. Or doozies. More »

11:45 AM on Fri Oct 10 2008
By Dan Gibson
364 views, 1 comment

congratulations?

Doug Morris Prepares To Get Stepped On By Hollywood Tourists

Being immortalized on the Hollywood Walk of Fame has to be one of the strangest honors in the entertainment industry. A shadowy committee meets once a year to select honorees, who apparently have to promise that they'll show up to the ceremony with something to promote and cough up $25,000 for the "privilege." In other words, It's like a Grammy, but they give out fewer of them. However, this year, the committee clearly got it right, as Universal Music Group head honcho Doug Morris will be recieving a star, joining a roster of luminaries that includes Paula Abdul, Judge Judy, and Stepin Fetchit. Congrats, Dougie! More »

10:30 AM on Fri Jun 20 2008
By Dan Gibson
179 views, 4 comments

Latest by cosmiclove: Rock on, Doug. You kick ass on the regular even though your business model is the Shmoo. more »

Universal Music Group's Head Shmoo Gets Drawn And Quartered

2 comments

faulty analogies

Doug Morris To Music Consumers: Please Don't Cover Me In Onions And Eat Me

The new issue of Wired has a pretty illuminating profile of Universal Music Group head honcho Doug Morris, who comes off as a man kicking against the digital era—and the fact that its more diffuse structure results in him having a diminished place in the music industry—and trying to grasp at straws to retain some sort of control. (Witness his latest idea for a music-biz savior, the bundled-into-the-Internet-bill subscription program Total Music; not only will it require DRM because of its all-you-can-eat nature, Morris' endless standoff with Apple head honcho Steve Jobs will likely result in said DRM not being compatible with the iPod. But apparently that's OK, because Morris is more about "protecting the music" than "actually having customers buy the music.") We've talked about Morris' whiny nature before, but Seth Mnookin somehow got him to get even more sad-sack. More »

1:55 PM on Tue Nov 27 2007
By mjohnston
1,077 views, 10 comments

Latest by Mike Barthel: They decided that an album someone spent two years working on isn't worth $10, but it is worth $18? That seems like a fairly small margin. more »

extending the drm brand

Will Universal Manage To Make A Music Player More Useless Than The Zune?

When a company's earnings fall 25% in the first half of the year, sometimes executives start to panic and develop bad ideas that will never ever ever work. Today's example is Doug Morris and the Total Music Service, an alternative to the Apple music empire and Morris' mortal enemy, Steve Jobs. Something good about Total Music: purchase a player, and theoretically, the music would be included, with the Universal, Sony/BMG and Warner catalogs at your fingertips. The bad news: you might not be able to play anything else. More »

5:00 PM on Mon Oct 15 2007
By dangibs
640 views, 9 comments

Latest by remarkie: "Hardware makers," "cell companies"--wrong answer. If they want to have any chance of success with a fee-based "subscription" model, they would hook up with the cable companies and the telecos who *already* bill us each month for our broadband service. more »

apple

Music-Industry Honcho Wants To Make More Bread

It's been a few weeks since we heard from Doug "The Thug" Morris, the Universal Music Group CEO responsible for cracking down on MySpace, YouTube and Zune (and who's indirectly responsible for the Bloodhound Gang being foisted upon the general public). Now he's setting his sights on Apple, whose licensing deal with Universal is up for renewal in May; the speculation is that Morris will want a percentage of iPod sales, a scenario that could send the music industry into full-fledged state of higgedly-piggeldy. An AP story paints Morris as a regular Joe, one who wants to make sure his industry isn't run into the ground by piracy: More »

10:29 AM on Tue Jan 16 2007
By Brian Raftery
176 views, 2 comments

Latest by Jupiter8: It's this kind of forward thinking that's helped to make the music industry what it is today... more »

doug morris

Universal Chairman Throws Himself A Pity Party

Universal Music CEO Doug Morris has garnered considerable attention for his fire-breathing dislike of technology, as well as his company's copyright-infringement lawsuit against MySpace. But what's this? Just in time for the holidays, he wants the world to know that he's sensitive: More »

9:23 AM on Thu Nov 30 2006
By mjohnston
521 views, 2 comments

youtube

Someone At Warner Brothers Finally Googles The Words "You" and "Tube"

Aw, snap! In a move that could lead to a showdown between the remaining major labels—all, like, two of them—Warner Brothers is expected to announce a major licensing deal with YouTube today. Not only will YouTube be putting up thousands of the label's videos, but according to Techcrunch, users will also be able to use the label's music to create their own clips. It's a promising start, though it's unclear whether Warners will charge for the posting privilege (it's also a good bet that Warners will have veto power over some of the clips, so don't start filming that naughty version of "You Can Call Me Al" just yet). More »

9:25 AM on Mon Sep 18 2006
By Brian Raftery
101 views, 4 comments

Latest by Mokie: Actually, knowing WBR, someone probably Googled "Tube, You" which, luckily, leads them to the YouTube site anyway. I guess putting that space/comma in really made a difference. more »

doug morris

Check Out That Gangsta Lean

You'll have to go here for a bigger picture (lousy copyright laws!), but this jolly-lookin' fellow is Universal Music Group CEO Doug Morris, the guy who blames YouTube and MySpace fans for the industry's woes, rather than a decade's worth of payola scandals and lousy signings. Note the casual stance, the Brooks Brothers double-breasted nattiness, and, oh yeah, the rows upon rows of gold records. All he needs to completely become a walking label-honcho stereotype are a ponytail and a third wife.

3:01 PM on Fri Sep 15 2006
By Brian Raftery
157 views, 3 comments

Latest by Mudbutter: He's also the Prez of the Rock and Roll HOF. Which is a good thing: If anyone can find a way to make Fred Dursts' herpes sores look realistic on his bronze bust, it's Doug Morris. more »

doug morris

Fuddy-Duddy Record-Label Mogul Hates You

Sometimes, we allow ourselves the teensiest little flutter of sympathy for the few remaining modern-day major-label execs. After all, recent times have been hard on them. They've been besieged by pirates, hijacked by overpriced stars, and abandoned by music fans, who long ago wised up to their price-gouging, consumer-abusing ways. So we looked upon these sad, Levitra-popping old men with the sort of sympathy you'd reserve for the Rock Star: Supernova runner-up. More »

7:23 PM on Thu Sep 14 2006
By Brian Raftery
188 views, 13 comments