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Posts Tagged “universal music group”

shenanigans

SoundScan Holds Itself Back For Axl

Music-biz rag Hits has more on that "controversial SoundScan ruling" that is causing Chinese Democracy's first-week sales to be held until next week's charts, despite its first day of iTunes sales falling under this week's chart's purview: "Soundscan has clarified the In order not to separate out the album’s 'first-week' sales into two separate charts, and under considerable muscle from GNR’s label IGA, SoundScan has agreed to 'hold the digital sales of any album which has a physical counterpart in order to accommodate first-week charting.' ” Just as I expected—including the part about the "considerable muscle" from Axl's label! It's nice to see that some things about the music business haven't changed in the digital era. More »

9:30 AM on Tue Nov 25 2008
By Maura Johnston
382 views, 4 comments

Latest by Chris Molanphy: This is probably lost in the mists of time, but I distinctly remember reading about similar shenanigans in 1987 re: Michael Jackson's Bad. (Stop me if I've told this story before.) Earlier that year, Whitney Houston's second album had debuted at more »

theories

What Really Led To "Chinese Democracy"'s Impending Release?

One of the strangest narratives surrounding Sunday’s release of Chinese Democracy is that the music itself is something of a non-event, thanks to the circulation of live nu-GNR bootlegs and leaks of in-progress tracks. In fact, enough questions have been answered about how Chinese Democracy sounds that a bigger question looms: Why now? Why, out of all the dates on the calendar, would Axl Rose decide that November 2008 felt like a good time to drop an album? More »

11:00 PM on Thu Nov 20 2008
By Maura Johnston
2,999 views, 4 comments

Latest by LiquidHeaven: @Al Shipley: I'm hoping it comes out in 9 months with the deluxe version. more »

the biz

Staff Layoffs, Sale Rumors At imeem

imeem, the social networking music site that last December entered into a lopsided licensing agreement with Universal and earlier this year snagged $15 million from Warner Music Group, today announced that it laying off a full quarter of its staff; Paid Content reports that the company is being said to have hired a firm to put itself on the sales block. Only five months ago, Maura mentioned that imeem was enjoying robust growth, with unique visits up 58%. I wouldn't even like to pretend to know how ugly the math on this must be. [Alley Insider]

4:00 PM on Wed Oct 22 2008
By Michaelangelo Matos
212 views, 1 comment

Latest by loudersoft: Surprised nobody has mentioned that one of imeem's founders went to work for WMG late last year. Possible this has something to do with that magical $15mil? more »

Hey, Look, Someone Got A Job In The Music Business Jason Flom, recently cut loose from his position as head of the Capitol Music Group during Guy Hands' reorganization of EMI, has landed an A & R gig at Universal Music Group. He may even get an imprint of his own, which makes sense, given that fans of rock acts like Flom proteges Kid Rock and Staind seem to be the only ones buying records these days. [Billboard]

5 comments

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
368 views, 1 comment

This freaking week, am I right? Well, here's something to cheer you up before you go home and numb the pain with the diversion of your choice: The CEO of Universal Music Group parent company Vivendi thinks that everything's going to be all right! "I think we are close to the turning point [in the music business]," he told attendees at the Goldman Sachs Communacopia conference, thanks to digital-music sales being on the up-and-up. Of course, he couldn't say if the big explosion in growth would come soon, or next year, or, uh, at any specific point in the foreseeable future, but you have to admit that these days it's nice to hear someone with a little bit of optimism in his tone. Even if the whole concept of just where, exactly, your everyday citizen will obtain enough disposable income in order to help this tide along is still kind of unclear right now! Ah, crap, I ruined it, didn't I. [Billboard]

5 comments

possibly upcoming releases

Dr. Dre's "Detox" To Have Its Day... As Soon As The Dre-Branded Cognac Comes Out

Could a press release from Drinks Americas Holdings, the beverage company that has a joint venture with Universal Music Group to develop beverages of the alcoholic and virgin varieties around the record company's artists, have offered business-page readers an inside line on a possible release date for Dr. Dre's years-in-the-making Detox? A press release issued today by the company claims that not only will Dre's branded cognac and sparkling vodka be released to the marketplace sometime within the next 60 days, said product launches will go hand-in-hand with the release of Detox, courtesy of a "fully integrated marketing program." I guess the plan is to get drunk on the liquor, and then detox with... oh, you know. The relevant chunk of the release is after the jump. More »

3:00 PM on Tue Aug 5 2008
By Maura Johnston
4,436 views, 7 comments

Latest by westartedthis: i can't wait to see Dr. Dre on Emeril Live, oohing and aahing while Emeril uses Dr. Dre brand Cognac to make "kicked up" cherries flambe. then, Dre and Doc Gibbs do a calypso version of "Let Me Ride" more »

at least it wasn't live nation

The Rolling Stones Will Not Play On While EMI Sinks

The Rolling Stones haven't been known for sticking around at one label for long, having jumped around from Atlantic to CBS to Virgin in the past. So the announcement that they've signed a long-term deal with Universal Music Group is no particular surprise. What remains to be seen is how the former home of the Stones, EMI, will cope with the loss of most of the band's catalog, which the band will be taking with them. Losing out on a forthcoming Stones record is unfortunate, but in an era with only a few sure things, watching the Stones' discography slip away might keep Guy Hands from getting a good night's sleep for awhile. Somewhere, Doug Morris is rubbing his hands together and laughing like a Bond villain. [Reuters]

11:45 AM on Fri Jul 25 2008
By Dan Gibson
163 views, 6 comments

Latest by Dan Gibson: @Elijah-M: Apologist. more »

ironies, pt. 2

Weezer Finishes Its Album-Release Push, Tosses The Internet Aside

When Weezer's YouTube-"inspired" video for "Pork & Beans" initially came out, it had one unintentionally hilarious aspect: Its official version wasn't embeddable, a policy that was in keeping with the semi-walled garden YouTube policies of the band's major-label overlords, Universal Music Group, but seemed odd given that the whole point of the video was for it to become a meme and garner lulz from people who still think Tay Zonday is worth a chuckle. Shortly after this bit of cognitive dissonance was pointed out, Universal took the embed blocks off the clip, "Pork & Beans" hit it big on Digg, and all was well—until Weezer's latest self-titled album got a sales beatdown from Disturbed on the album charts. (Aww.) Fast-forward to last night, when the Silicon Alley Insider noted that the clip's no longer embeddable! What gives, man? I thought Weezer was for the geek-children! More »

9:00 AM on Tue Jun 17 2008
By Maura Johnston
436 views, 5 comments

Latest by Maura Johnston: @pantycrickets: If only! more »

Universal is appealing Tuesday's UMG vs. Augusto verdict, as they refuse to believe that the judicial system is going to sit there and let people sell (or — gasp! — throw away) promotional CDs. Some may think their aggression against used CD merchants could further alienate hardcore music fans. But really, has anyone ever received a promotional copy of an album and then decided to buy the real thing so they could appreciate the album artwork without a distracting gold stamp? I can't expect the music industry to approve of what a cheapskate I am (though I also don't expect them to win.) [Digital Music News]

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if at first you don't succeed

QTrax! It's Back! And It's Ready For Action!

After a disastrous launch of a content-free version of its site that left its CEO sputtering and pundits giggling, the ad-supported music service QTrax is ready to try again, with a relaunch set for June 18. QTrax's initial launch was plagued by all of the major labels it trumpeted in its press release holding their content back from the service at the last minute; since then, EMI and Universal Music Group have signed their wares away to the site, although both labels have stipulated that their music has to be distributed through a method that's more traditional (and less BitTorrent-like) than QTrax's licensed peer-to-peer service. (Which should end well.) Anyway, I know it's a long shot, but I wonder if any budding entrepreneurs out there have taken away the lesson that they should focus less on the splashy launch parties and more on developing an actual product with their seed money. It's a hard lesson for dot-coms to learn—even in 2008, inexplicably—but it certainly makes the Google News hits a bit less ulcer-inducing. [Silicon Alley Insider]

9:00 AM on Thu Jun 12 2008
By Maura Johnston
189 views, Comment

Who on earth thought that a show set in the halls of Universal's London office and modeled on the 1987 Michael J. Fox vehicle The Secret Of My Success would be a good idea for dissemination in 2008? I have an answer: Bebo. And I have an addendum that makes said answer cross over from "ludicrous" to "amazing": It's only going to be online. A synopsis: "The series revolves around a junior employee in Universal's facilities department who secretly launches his own start-up label in the post room and is "hungry for success" to make his way up the ladder and take over the job of his boss Greg. ... The producers of the Bebo show, which follows in the footsteps of Kate Modern and Sofia's Diary, will 'draw on real life experiences' and use cameos of real life Universal artists to bring 'additional authenticity' to the storyline." Perhaps this is supposed to be entertaining in a "last days of a crumbling empire" way, although something tells me that they won't be getting to the Very Special Leak-Related Storylines until, say, season five. [Guardian; HT Loudersoft]

4 comments

Earlier reports on Universal Music Group masters from labels like Decca being destroyed by the fire on the Universal Studios lot are, happily, false. A UMG spokesperson told Billboard: "We had no loss, thankfully. ... We moved most of what was formerly stored there earlier this year to our other facilities. Of the small amount that was still there and awaiting to be moved, it had already been digitized so the music will still be around for many years." [Billboard]

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Kanye West, Method Man, Redman, Common, Universal Music Group, Island Def Jam, and Interscope Geffen A & M were all hit with a copyright-infringement suit by the daughter of musician Joe Farrell, thanks to their sampling his 1974 song "Upon This Rock" without Farrell's estate's OK. [Reuters]

1 comment

Alient Ant Farm will get its own version of the budget compilation 20th Century Masters: The Millennium Collection in May, which is rather odd. In case you've forgotten, the smooth criminals' major-label debut, ANThology, came out in early 2001, which would seem to exclude them from 20th century mastery. So is Universal too cheap to create a new logo? Is the band engaging in irony? Did no one notice/care? This may be more absurd than when Creedence Clearwater Revisited put out one of these. [AbsolutePunk]

7 comments

web 2.no

Major Labels Launch Yet Another Anti-YouTube Offensive

The music-video site PluggedIn launched today with about 10,000 videos from Universal Music Group, Sony BMG, and EMI. Branded with the tagline "Filter the noise. Hear the music," PluggedIn is being seen by the major labels as an opportunity to once again dictate how their content should be experienced and used by the masses, bringing things back to the way they were before those pesky indie labels and YouTube remixers ruined their expense accounts and fat-cat lifestyles. Its picture quality is really quite nice, but it doesn't allow embedding of its videos, and as mentioned, it only has about 10,000 clips in its label-generated database right now—although it's licensed the All Music Guide's content in an effort to make its content well look a lot deeper than it actually is. And not only that, it kicks those pesky people who have opinions about music that may be different than yours—and the ability to spell—to the curb, too! More »

12:30 PM on Wed Apr 16 2008
By Maura Johnston
444 views, 9 comments

Latest by seth_shellhouse: hey Maura, Seth here. thanks for giving us a shot! more »

crime?

Music Writers Will All Be Criminals If Universal Music Group Has Its Way

I love the way Universal Music Group is stubbornly trying to hold on to the revenue stream of "lawsuits against anyone who dare cross us." It's so cute, isn't it? Well, those of you out there who have ever been the unwilling recipient of one of UMG's shittier promo CDs may not think it's so cute once you realize that the record company is now trying to go after anyone who's not only sold one of said promos, but tried to be at least a little bit more ethical about flipping stuff they got for free by throwing the unwanted discs in the trash. Those CDs are property of Universal Music Group forever, dammit! And you can bet they'll come around in 50 years to make sure that you still have that copy of Dreaming Out Loud that has "must be surrendered upon demand" stamped on its front, and if a thorough search of your place doesn't turn up that CD, you will be in so much trouble. More »

1:00 PM on Wed Apr 9 2008
By Maura Johnston
1,888 views, 14 comments

Latest by MrStarhead: You can tell how an album's doing by where the promo copies are being sold at Amoeba in LA; if it's been out less than a year and you can pick up a stack of 15 in the clearance bin, more »

push th' little daisies

Universal Music Group And Wal-Mart Present World With Another Reason To Bury Its CDs

"The insert in more than 20 Universal Music Group (UMG) titles available now at Wal-Mart as a part of Wal-Mart's "Earth Month" promotion is so earth-friendly that, when properly planted, the special seed paper will actually bloom into wildflowers. From the uniquely organic insert to environmentally sustainable packaging for new albums from Sheryl Crow, Mariah Carey, Janet Jackson, Counting Crows, and the effort is further proof that green is growing fast in the music industry." More than 20 titles? That makes it sound like Wal-Mart is expanding its music section! Full list of albums that can double as mood-brighteners after the jump, and no, Ween's Pure Guava isn't one of them. More »

1:15 PM on Mon Mar 31 2008
By Maura Johnston
456 views, 13 comments

Latest by owenmeany: Most of those acts are already six feet under more »