Industry News
DIGITAL & MOBILE
Jason Crabb Jason Crabb Tops 2012 Dove Awards Nominees
February 22, 2012 – Record Labels | Christian/Gospel | Digital & Mobile | Retail | Country
Southern gospel singer Jason Crabb leads the 43rd annual Gospel Music Association Dove Awards, set for April 19 at Atlanta's Fox Theater, with eight nominations, including nods in the artist, male vocalist, country recorded song and Southern gospel album of the year categories. » Full Story
Beatles Beatles Songs Released As Ringtones on iTunes
February 22, 2012 – Digital & Mobile | Retail | Branding
iTunes today announced that the 27 no. 1 singles on the Beatles' compilation album 1 would be available as 30 second ringtones through the iTunes Store. » Full Story
A2IM A2IM To Produce First Ever Independent Music Awards
February 22, 2012 – Touring | Record Labels | Publishing | Indies | Digital & Mobile | Branding
The A2IM Libera Awards, or "Libbies," are the first awards to be for independents as voted by independents, and will cap off the organization's Indie Week 2012 June 21 with honors such as the Indie Light Bulb and Road Warrior of the Year. » Full Story
Party of Me Katy Perry.png Katy Perry's 'Part of Me' Debuts Atop Action-Packed Hot 100
February 22, 2012 – Record Labels | TV & Film | Digital & Mobile | Retail | Rock & Pop | R&B/Hip-Hop
Katy Perry's 'Part of Me' debuts atop Hot 100 while Adele, Whitney Houston, Nicki Minaj and Chris Brown add to an action-packed top 10. » Full Story
TuneCore TuneCore Offers Royalty Collection Service in Canada
February 22, 2012 – Publishing | Global | Legal & Management | Digital & Mobile | Retail
Online distribution service TuneCore is offering Canadian songwriters and music publishers an administrative service to collect any unpaid royalties from online sales and streaming, yet publishers like Peermusic are skeptical. » Full Story
Whitney Houston Has No. 2 Album, Grammys Push Big Gains On Billboard 200
February 22, 2012 – Radio | Record Labels | Digital & Mobile | Retail | Rock & Pop | Chart Alert | R&B/Hip-Hop
Whitney Houston's "Whitney: The Greatest Hits," climbs from No. 6 to No. 2 on the Billboard 200 in the first full week after the singer's death on Feb. 11. The album sold 175,000 for a 174% gain. » Full Story
EU Suspends ACTA Copyright Treaty Ratification
February 22, 2012 – Record Labels | Publishing | Global | Legal & Management | Digital & Mobile
The European Commission, facing steep opposition, is suspending efforts to ratify an international anti-counterfeiting agreement and instead referring it to Europe's highest court to see whether it violates EU rights. » Full Story
Apple iPads Apple Defends Use of iPad Trademark in China During Heated Court Battle
February 22, 2012 – Global | Legal & Management | Digital & Mobile
Apple defended its right to use the iPad trademark in China in a heated court hearing Wednesday that pitted the electronics giant against a struggling company that denies it sold the mainland China rights to the tablet's name. » Full Story
Megaupload Founder Kim Dotcom Released on Bail
February 22, 2012 – Record Labels | Publishing | Global | Legal & Management | Digital & Mobile
The founder of the file-sharing website Megaupload was released on bail Wednesday after a New Zealand judge decided Kim Dotcom lacked means to flee because his funds had been seized. » Full Story
Entertainment, Other Stocks End Flat After Dow Exceeds Milestone
February 22, 2012 – Record Labels | Publishing | Digital & Mobile | Branding
U.S. stocks, including shares of entertainment conglomerates, finished Tuesday's trading day flattish after initial gains pushed the Dow Jones Industrial Average index above 13,000 for the first time since May 2008. » Full Story
Adele's '21' Hits 21st Week at No. 1; Sells 730,000 Post-Grammys
February 21, 2012 – Record Labels | Global | Digital & Mobile | Retail | Rock & Pop
Adele's "21" album hits a number of major milestones this week on the Billboard 200 chart, as it basks in the glow of the British diva's multiple Grammy Award wins on Feb. 12. The album sold 730,000 copies in the U.S. last week (ending Feb. 19) according to Nielsen SoundScan -- up a whopping 207%. It spends a 21st week at No. 1 on the Billboard 200 chart. » Full Story
Pirate Bay Business Matters: Pirate Bay Could Get Blocked in U.K., Grooveshark May Be Out in Denmark
February 21, 2012 – Record Labels | Global | Legal & Management | TV & Film | Digital & Mobile | Retail
The Pirate Bay could be forced out of the U.K. after a court ruling Monday declared that the site was going "beyond merely enabling or assisting" in sharing copyrighted content. Germany has also kicked Skyload.net out of the country, while Denmark may be doing the same to Grooveshark. Elsewhere, Shazam keeps expanding its user base, while ThingLink launches on Facebook. » Full Story
The Cloud Is Running Out of Room: Here's How It Affects Spotify, Pandora and Others
February 21, 2012 – Radio | Record Labels | Digital & Mobile | Retail
The digital world is moving toward the cloud, but music and movies won't be following any time soon. The world is running out of wireless bandwith, and in order to survive, streaming services like Spotify and Pandora will need to rely on offline playback. » Full Story
Kobalt Music Group Snags Pete Dodge As General Manager/VP, Artist & Label Services
February 21, 2012 – Record Labels | Publishing | Global | Digital & Mobile | Retail | Executive Turntable
Kobalt Music Group continues moving forward with their planned restructuring and expansion, as today Founder/CEO Willard Ahdritz announced that Pete Dodge would become its new General Manager/Vice President of Artist and Label Services. » Full Story
Adele's '21' Bump Getting Bigger: Now Aiming for 650-680,000 Sales Week
February 17, 2012 – Record Labels | Digital & Mobile | Retail | Rock & Pop
The Grammy champ's album will notch its best sales week yet. Presently, Adele's "21" is now projected to sell somewhere in the range of 650,000 to 680,000 by week's end on Sunday, Feb. 19, according to industry sources. That's up from the half-million-plus forecast that Billboard reported on Thursday morning (Feb. 16). » Full Story
Thrillcall logo Business Matters: Thrillcall's New iPhone App Has Your Live Music Daily Deals
February 17, 2012 – Touring | Record Labels | Legal & Management | Digital & Mobile | Retail
Live music event aggregator Thrillcall launched an iPhone app this week that focuses on exclusive tickets and packages. The app may give music fans daily deals, but Thrillcall is no Groupon. Also, there was a bit of a dustup this week after ReDigi accused Capitol Records of forcing Rdio to disable the 30-second streams and album art the subscription service was providing to ReDigi. And music industry trade groups RIAA and IFPI are considering bringing a lawsuit against Google for its role in digital piracy. » Full Story
Whitney Houston Funeral Service Live Streamed Here Sat. 2/18 at 12:00 p.m. ET (Watch)
February 17, 2012 – Record Labels | Legal & Management | Digital & Mobile | Rock & Pop | R&B/Hip-Hop
Whitney Houston's loved ones will gather tomorrow (Feb. 18) for a private funeral service at Newark, N.J.'s New Hope Baptist Church. But fans worldwide will be able to mourn and remember the life and legacy of the superstar via an online video broadcast of the memorial, which Billboard.biz will carry live right here. Expected guests include Aretha Franklin, Clive Davis, Dionne Warwick, Stevie Wonder, Alicia Keys, Kevin Kostner and Houston's ex-husband Bobby Brown.   » Full Story
Katy Perry 3.jpg Download Derby: Katy Perry Leads Pack of Digital Debuts
February 17, 2012 – Record Labels | Digital & Mobile | Retail | Chart Alert
Next week's Billboard Digital Songs and Hot 100 charts will be brimming with massive debuts, surging sales and some intriguing newcomers, with Katy Perry, Adele, Whitney Houston and Nicki Minaj all poised to have big weeks. » Full Story
Lady Gaga-Affiliated Backplane Raises $4.5 Million in Series A Funding
February 17, 2012 – Record Labels | Digital & Mobile | Branding | Rock & Pop
Backplane, the social media startup based on common interests has raised $4.5 million in fresh funding from prominent Silicon Valley investors, according to reports. The first project out of the gate will be Lady Gaga’s Backplane-powered LittleMonsters.com. Gaga's manager Troy Carter, a Backplane's co-founder,  will be a judge at Backplane's SXSW  “hackathon” along with Scooter Braun (Justin Bieber's manager) and Roc Nation president Jay Brown. » Full Story
Dave Grohl Clarifies Grammy Speech: 'I Love ALL Kinds of Music'
February 17, 2012 – TV & Film | Digital & Mobile | Rock & Pop | Dance
Dave Grohl managed to ruffle a lot of feathers - though not everyone's - with his acceptance speech for the Foo Fighters' Best Rock Performance Grammy for "Walk," and today he released a letter clarifying his Grammy speech. » Full Story
Recording Academy Chief Marketing Officer Evan Greene Talks Grammy Social Strategy
February 17, 2012 – TV & Film | Digital & Mobile | Branding
Heading the Recording Academy's social media push during the Grammys was Chief Marketing Officer Evan Greene, who spoke to Billboard about the pros and cons of a tape-delayed west coast broadcast, their social media goals, and what they've learned from past broadcasts. » Full Story
Will Grammy Ratings Spike Make 2013 Ad Rates Soar?
February 17, 2012 – TV & Film | Digital & Mobile | Retail | Branding
Due in part to the sudden death of Whitney Houston, the Grammy Awards got its biggest audience in almost 3 decades. With ad rates for the Grammys at an all-time high of $800,000 this year, what does that mean for the 2013 awards? » Full Story
Domino Catalog, Including Arctic Monkeys and Animal Collective, Back On eMusic
February 17, 2012 – Record Labels | Indies | Digital & Mobile | Retail
Domino Records, after departing along with Merge and Beggars Group in 2010, has signed back on to have their catalog sold and streamed on web retailer eMusic. » Full Story
Apple's New Mountain Lion OS for Mac to Have iPhone Features
February 17, 2012 – Record Labels | Digital & Mobile | Branding
Mountain Lion, the name for Apple's next generation operating system for Mac, will make their computers more like the mobile devices which now make up the bulk of Apple's sales. » Full Story
Enrique Iglesias.jpg Enrique Iglesias Returns to Zynga's CityVille
February 17, 2012 – Digital & Mobile | Branding | Rock & Pop | Latin
For the first time ever, social gaming giant Zynga has brought back an entertainer, singer Enrique Iglesias, for a second integration into one of its games. » Full Story
Twitter & American Express.png Twitter Unveils Self-Service Advertising System
February 17, 2012 – Record Labels | Digital & Mobile | Branding
Buying ads on Twitter is about to get easier for small businesses as the online messaging service adds a key piece to its moneymaking model. Twitter is unveiling a long-awaited automated system that will enable advertisers to manage their marketing campaigns and budgets without having to deal with sales representatives. » Full Story
'Spin' to Roll Out Larger Format Magazine, Drop Frequency to Six Times a Year
February 17, 2012 – Record Labels | Publishing | Digital & Mobile | Branding
Following a sharp decline in ad pages, music magazine Spin will now only publish six times a year, but increase its paper size and focus each issue on a single theme. » Full Story
Chart Moves: Madonna's Super Bowl Wrap-Up, 'Twilight's' 204% Increase, Calvin Harris' New Single Debuts
February 16, 2012 – Record Labels | TV & Film | Digital & Mobile | Retail | Rock & Pop
It wasn't exactly a quiet week on the Billboard 200 this week as Adele rocked the top of the tally, spending a 20th week at No. 1 with "21." And a busy week on the Billboard Hot 100 included Kelly Clarkson leading for a second week with "Stronger (What Doesn't Kill You). Click through for more of this week's chart highlights. » Full Story
Business Matters: A Venture Capitalist's Approach to Fighting Piracy
February 16, 2012 – Record Labels | Indies | Digital & Mobile | Retail
Fred Wilson's blog is such an important gathering spot that the startup Engagio was birthed out of a conversion in the comments section between Wilson and entrepreneur William Mougayar. So when he offers an alternative to two failed pieces of anti-piracy legislation -- SOPA and PIPA -- it’s worth taking a look. Also, the digital album to get the biggest Grammy bump was the Civil Wars’ “Barton Hallow,” which jumped 320%, according to Nielsen Soundscan. And after more than 16 years at Universal, senior VP Kim Garner has decided to leave the company. » Full Story
Adele's '21' Set for 21st Week at No. 1 With Sales of Half-Million or More
February 16, 2012 – Radio | Record Labels | TV & Film | Digital & Mobile | Retail | Rock & Pop
Adele's "21" album is going to celebrate its first year on the Billboard 200 chart in grand style. Fresh off her six Grammy Award wins on Sunday (Feb. 12) night, "21" is on course to sell between 500,000 to 600,000 copies by week's end. » Full Story
Rihanna, Chris Brown Reunite On 'Birthday Cake' Remix (Report)
February 16, 2012 – Record Labels | Digital & Mobile | Retail
Chris Brown reportedly sings on the "Birthday Cake" remix and will appear in the music video out next week. » Full Story
National Public Radio NPR Music Launches New iPad App, Exclusive Concert By The Shins
February 16, 2012 – Radio | Digital & Mobile
The free app, available today, will include live performances, original reporting and commentary, streams of popular shows, and an exclusive in-app concert on March 7 from The Shins. » Full Story
Whitney Houston's Funeral: Aretha Franklin, Stevie Wonder to Perform; Clive Davis to Speak
February 16, 2012 – Record Labels | Legal & Management | Digital & Mobile | Rock & Pop | R&B/Hip-Hop
Aretha Franklin and Stevie Wonder will perform at Whitney Houston's funeral, while record label executive and the singer's mentor Clive Davis will speak, a rep has confirmed. » Full Story
Roger Daltrey Cancels Australian Tour, Sherbert's Clive Shakespeare Dies
February 16, 2012 – Touring | Record Labels | Global | Legal & Management | Digital & Mobile | Retail | Rock & Pop
Roger Daltrey's Australian tour has been cancelled due to "unforeseen scheduling conflicts," the Aussie government has reportedly held secret meetings to discuss piracy, and more from the Australian music biz. » Full Story
U.K. Music Market Slips 3.4% Despite 25% Growth In Digital, Says BPI
February 16, 2012 – Record Labels | Global | Digital & Mobile | Retail
Digital sales and subscription services both experienced a significant growth in the U.K. in 2011, despite the overall market slipping 3.4%. BPI Chief Executive Geoff Taylor called the trend "highly encouraging for the long-term prospects of the industry." » Full Story
U.K.'s SOCA Shuts Down RnBXclusive Music Blog, Threatens Users With 10 Years Jail
February 16, 2012 – Record Labels | Global | Legal & Management | Digital & Mobile | R&B/Hip-Hop
A popular British music blog containing links to unlicensed music files has been shut down by the U.K. police agency SOCA (Serious Organised Crime Agency) and  te users of the urban music site threatened with up to ten years imprisonment and an unlimited fine. » Full Story
Whitney Houston's Funeral To Be Live Streamed
February 16, 2012 – Record Labels | Legal & Management | Digital & Mobile | Rock & Pop | R&B/Hip-Hop
They won't be there in person, but singer Whitney Houston's millions of fans worldwide will be able to share in her homecoming service Saturday as they watch her private funeral on the Internet. » Full Story
Apple iPads Chinese Authorities Seizing iPads
February 16, 2012 – Global | Legal & Management | Digital & Mobile | Branding
Authorities have seized iPads from retailers in more Chinese cities in an escalating dispute between Apple Inc. and a struggling local company over the trademark for the popular tablet computer, news reports said Thursday. » Full Story
FCC Plans To Nix National Wireless Network
February 16, 2012 – Record Labels | Legal & Management | Digital & Mobile
Federal officials plan to kill a proposal by LightSquared to build a new national high-speed wireless network that was seen as a way to accommodate growing consumer demand for movies, music and games on mobile device. The FCC concluded the network in some cases would jam personal-navigation and other GPS devices. » Full Story
Inside Whitney Houston's Last Recording Session, Days Before Her Death
February 15, 2012 – Record Labels | Digital & Mobile | Retail | Rock & Pop | R&B/Hip-Hop
Producer Harvey Mason Jr. says that the superstar singer was "upbeat" and "excited" about her future when they last worked together on February 7.  » Full Story
Whitney Houston Returns to Hot 100's Top 10
February 15, 2012 – Record Labels | Digital & Mobile | Retail | Rock & Pop | R&B/Hip-Hop
Kelly Clarkson remains atop the tally, while fun.'s Super Bowl sales spike continues. » Full Story
madonna super bowl Madonna Scores Record-Extending 38th Hot 100 Top 10
February 15, 2012 – Record Labels | Digital & Mobile | Retail | Rock & Pop
On this week's Billboard Hot 100 songs chart, her latest single, "Give Me All Your Luvin'," bounds 13-10 in its second chart week. The first single from Madonna's 12th studio album, "MDNA," becomes her 38th Hot 100 top 10, pushing her further ahead of runners-up the Beatles (34). » Full Story
Business Matters: Are Advances Hurting Digital Music?
February 15, 2012 – Record Labels | Indies | Digital & Mobile | Retail
Are the advances paid to rights owners by music startups hurting digital music or limiting rights owners’ exposure? One view of advances is the one espoused by Larry Marcus of Walden Venture Capital. Also, Roku users who also subscribe to Rdio now get an improved experience of listening to music through their TV. And could the future of music retail involve community ownership? It’s one interesting option being considered by independent bookstore Kepler’s 2020. » Full Story
Tactics Behind Grammys' Record Social-Media Numbers Revealed at New York Panel
February 15, 2012 – TV & Film | Digital & Mobile
At a panel during New York's Social Media Week, Beverly Jackson, director of marketing and social media for the Recording Academy, discussed the recent record-setting social media campaign undertaken by the Grammys last week. » Full Story
MTV Music Meter Gets Upgrade, Integrates Tour Dates from Songkick
February 15, 2012 – Digital & Mobile
MTV has improved Music Meter, their Echo Nest-powered breaking artist ranking list, for iOS, Android and Web by integrating tour data from Songkick and adding lists for different music categories. » Full Story
Whitney Houston Re-enters Top 10 on Billboard 200, Surges on Digital Songs Chart
February 15, 2012 – Record Labels | Publishing | Global | TV & Film | Digital & Mobile | Retail | Rock & Pop | R&B/Hip-Hop
Following the death of Whitney Houston on Feb. 11, the diva's "Whitney: The Greatest Hits" album re-enters the Billboard 200 chart at No. 6. It sold 64,000 copies in the United States, according to Nielsen SoundScan, in the tracking week that ended on Feb. 12 -- reflecting only one full day of sales after her passing. There were more Houston albums purchased in the last week (101,000 -- up 5,994% from 2,000 the week previous) than had been sold in all of 2011 and 2012 combined until her death (97,000). » Full Story
RIAJ Japan's 2011 Physical Music Sales Drop
February 15, 2012 – Record Labels | Global | Digital & Mobile | Retail | Rock & Pop
Despite hopeful signs for growth in the early part of 2011, the Record Industry Association of Japan  (RIAJ) final 2011 physical music shipment figures showed a continuing, if slowed, decline. International repertoire numbers improved thanks in part to albums by Lady Gaga, Taylor Swift and K-pop acts. » Full Story
Kodak Logo Business Matters: Lessons For Music Biz In Kodak's Chapter 11?
February 14, 2012 – Record Labels | Indies | Digital & Mobile | Retail
Kodak’s financial problems will appear familiar to people in the music business. Music companies are still trying to stabilize after a decade of layoffs, an altered retail landscape and the emergence of new ways of delivering music digitally. Also, a letter from American Association of Independent Music to the Office of the United States Trade Representative shows that piracy matters to small music companies, too. And the Orchard’s Marketplace has added a slew of new services, including Act Local, DIY Music and SoundOut. » Full Story
How Ana Free Became A YouTube Phenom, Topped Charts, Opened For Shakira Without Label or Mgmt
February 14, 2012 – Touring | Record Labels | Legal & Management | Indies | Digital & Mobile | Branding
Ana Free is a YouTube phenomenon. Without label, manager, booking agent or publisher, this young, entrepreneurial, Anglo-Portuguese artist's online videos have led to chart-topping singles, sold out gigs at clubs in the U.K. and opening for Shakira. And, she has a crowd-sourced debut coming out this spring. » Full Story
Spanish Court Dismisses Case Against Major P2P Site
February 14, 2012 – Record Labels | Legal & Management | TV & Film | Digital & Mobile
A Spanish court has dismissed the case against popular peer-to-peer movie download site Cinetube citing legal precedents and concluding that redirecting online traffic is not illegal per se, even if it is to copyrighted content, according to the verdict disclosed yesterday. » Full Story
CBC Music.png Canadian Broadcasting Corp Launches CBC Digital Music Streaming Service
February 14, 2012 – Record Labels | Global | Digital & Mobile | Rock & Pop | R&B/Hip-Hop
CBC Radio draws more than 6.1 million listeners a weekWeeks after the Canadian Broadcast Corporation (CBC) reached the country’s first negotiated collective license deal with Audio-Video Licensing Agency (AVLA), the country’s oldest public broadcasting network officially launched CBC Music, a free digital music streaming service. » Full Story
Sony, Apple U.K. Still Decline Comment on Whitney Houston Price Hike in the Hours After Her Death
February 14, 2012 – Global | Digital & Mobile | Retail | Rock & Pop | R&B/Hip-Hop
Sony Music and Apple U.K. have declined to comment on the temporary 60% price increase of Whitney Houston's "Ultimate Collection" in the hours after the singer's death. The price was lowered to its previous level after several hours. » Full Story
Google Motorola.png Google Wins U.S., EU Approval For $12.5 Billion Motorola Bid
February 14, 2012 – Record Labels | Global | Digital & Mobile | Branding
Google's $12.5 billion bid to buy cellphone maker Motorola Mobility has won approvals from U.S. and European antitrust regulators, moving Google a major step closer to completing the biggest deal in its 13-year history.  If the deal is completed, Google stands to control Motorola's 17,000 patents which could greatly enhance its ability to compete with Apple, Microsoft and others tech companies. » Full Story
Licensing Talk With TuneCore, BMI, SoundExchange Gets Fiery at SF MusicTech
February 14, 2012 – Record Labels | Publishing | Legal & Management | Digital & Mobile | Retail
A heated debate on licensing and payments overshadowed the SF MusicTech summit, with execs from TuneCore, Music Reports, SoundExchange and BMI arguing over the future of payments for rightsholders. » Full Story
60,000 Germans Protest ACTA Anti-Piracy Legislation
February 14, 2012 – Record Labels | Publishing | Global | Legal & Management | Digital & Mobile
An estimated 60,000 people demonstrated over the weekend in more than 50 German cities against the international anti-piracy treaty ACTA. In Berlin alone there were over 10,000 protestors and 6,000 in Munich.  » Full Story
Warner Music's Digital Distribution Going to Sony DADC: Sources
February 13, 2012 – Record Labels | Digital & Mobile | Retail
The Warner Music Group’s digital delivery of music to digital service providers will now be handled by Sony DADC, sources tell Billboard.biz. The move had been misinterpreted by some to mean that WMG would sign a distribution deal with a different major. » Full Story
Myspace Business Matters: MySpace Adds 1 Million Users, Now at 25 Million
February 13, 2012 – Record Labels | TV & Film | Digital & Mobile
MySpace has picked up over a million new registered users since it debuted a new music player December 19, and is reaping the benefits of venturing into both Internet radio and Facebook integration. Elsewhere, Mobile Backstage aims to blow up to 1 million users by the end of 2012, and a hack by the Echo Nest tries to predict the Grammys better than Billboard - with interesting results. » Full Story
youtube logo Sleigh Bells Leads Bowery Presents' New YouTube Play at SF MusicTech
February 13, 2012 – Touring | Indies | Digital & Mobile
The Bowery Presents' Jason Ross talked up the launch of The Bowery's new, self-titled YouTube channel today during early remarks at the SF MusicTech Summit - a day-long seasonal conference in San Francisco uniting the music and technology industries for deal-making, and discussion. » Full Story
Grammys Spawn Record Levels of 'Social TV' Activity, Led By Adele, Chris Brown, Jennifer Hudson
February 13, 2012 – Record Labels | TV & Film | Digital & Mobile | Branding | Rock & Pop | R&B/Hip-Hop
Not only did people tune into Sunday night Grammys telecast, they created a record number of social media comments about the event. Last night's show saw social media peaks during Adele, Chris Brown and Jennifer Hudson's tribute to Whitney Houston as "social TV" grew tremendously over the last year. » Full Story
Photos: ?uestlove and DJ Cassidy Spin For Skylar Grey, Lonely Island @ Vevo Post-Grammy Party
February 13, 2012 – Backbeat | Record Labels | Digital & Mobile | Branding
Vevo hosted a post-Grammy party in L.A. Sunday night featuring guest DJs ?uestlove and DJ Cassidy spinning for stars such as Skylar Grey, Jorma Taccone and Akiva Schaffer from The Lonely Island, and Vevo General Manager Fred Santarpia. » Full Story
Billboard.biz Grammy Reader's Poll Results: You Guys Are Good!
February 13, 2012 – Record Labels | TV & Film | Digital & Mobile
Our readers went three for four in the major categories, correctly calling Adele's sweep -- but there was on category where you were waaaay off ..... » Full Story
ana Del Rey Born To Die.png Lana Del Rey Tops UK Chart, Has Biggest Selling U.K. Album of 2012
February 13, 2012 – Radio | Record Labels | Digital & Mobile | Retail | Rock & Pop | R&B/Hip-Hop
As Lana Del Rey’s “Born To Die” (Polydor/Universal) started a second week atop the U.K. album chart yesterday, Belgian Australian Gotye climbed 3-1 on the singles survey with “Somebody That I Used To Know” (Universal Island), featuring Kimbra. Del Rey's debut is now the U.K.'s biggest selling album of 2012 ahead of Adele's "21" » Full Story
Roots Grammy Jam Session Report: No-Shows Scuttled 'On the Fly' Whitney Houston Tribute, ?uestlove Says
February 12, 2012 – Touring | Backbeat | Record Labels | Digital & Mobile
The high-energy jam session featured surprise guest performers like India Arie, Trombone Shorty, Childish Gambino, Warren Haynes and Shaggy, but more planned tributes to Whitney Houston didn't pan out. » Full Story
Whitney Houston Whitney Houston Dead at 48
February 11, 2012 – Touring | Record Labels | Global | TV & Film | Digital & Mobile | Retail | Branding | Rock & Pop | R&B/Hip-Hop
Whitney Houston, who reigned as pop music's queen until her majestic voice and regal image were ravaged by drug use, erratic behavior and a tumultuous marriage to singer Bobby Brown, has died. She was 48. Publicist Kristen Foster said Saturday that the singer had died, but the cause and the location of her death were unknown. » Full Story
Spotify, Shazam, Turntable.fm Are Hot Topics at Grammy Social Media Summit
February 11, 2012 – Legal & Management | Digital & Mobile
The Grammys drew top-drawer names from the digital music world for this year's edition of their Social Media Rock Star Summit series, with Shazam CEO Andrew Fisher, Turntable.fm Chairman Seth Goldstein, GetGlue CEO Alex Iskold, and Spotify's artist-in-residence D.A. Wallach of pop duo Chester French on the panel, which was moderated by Ian Rogers, CEO of Topspin Media. » Full Story
Van Halen Album Cover.png Van Halen, the Fray, Dierks Bentley & Paul McCartney: Heading for Top 10
February 10, 2012 – Record Labels | Digital & Mobile | Retail | Rock & Pop
Van Halen could notch its first No. 1 album since 1996 with its new "A Different Kind of Truth," however, Adele's "21" may put up a fight and stick around for a 20th week atop the tally. Industry sources say that both albums could sell around 200,000 copies by week's end on Sunday, Feb. 12 -- the same night as the 54th Grammy Awards. » Full Story
Daniel Ek Talks Spotify's Growth at Entertainment Law Luncheon; John Branca Shares Priceless Michael Jackson Story
February 10, 2012 – Backbeat | Legal & Management | Digital & Mobile
At the Grammy Foundation's 14th annual Entertainment Law Initiative Luncheon and Scholarship Presentation, Spotify head Daniel Ek explained his company’s history and anticipation about its growth. and veteran attorney John Branca recalled humorous situations involving his clients Michael Jackson and the Beach Boys. » Full Story
Madonna & Nicki Minaj Bowl Over Billboard's Social 50 Chart
February 10, 2012 – Digital & Mobile | Rock & Pop | R&B/Hip-Hop
Madonna's flurry of media activity last week sparks her re-entry at No. 8 on Billboard's Social 50 chart, her highest rank ever on the year-old tally. Her video for "Give Me All Your Luvin'" premiered Feb. 3 on YouTube, while she performed at the Super Bowl halftime show on Feb. 5. For the tracking week, she earned a 479% increase in YouTube fans and a 685% leap in YouTube views. » Full Story
Vevo Logo New Without Curser Business Matters: Vevo Opens Up on Super Bowl Piracy Blunder, RIAA Chief Slams Google
February 10, 2012 – Record Labels | Legal & Management | Digital & Mobile | Retail | Executive Turntable
Vevo, the music video operation jointly owned by Universal and Sony, got itself caught in the middle of the broiling Internet copyright debate between illicit streaming web sites and the copyright holders represented by its parent organizations by illegally streaming the Super Bowl at a corporate party, and are now facing the backlash. Elsewhere, Slacker grabs a high-level exec, and the RIAA Chief slams Wikipedia and Google. » Full Story
Photos: Beach Boys' Grammy Reunion Rehearsal With Maroon 5, Foster the People
February 10, 2012 – Touring | Digital & Mobile | Rock & Pop
The Beach Boys, Maroon 5 and Foster the People rehearsed Thursday their three-song performance for Sunday's Grammy ceremony, which generated a few observations from our reporter. » Full Story
Ley Sinde.png Sinde Law Piracy Battle Headed to Spanish Supreme Court, With Global Implications
February 10, 2012 – Record Labels | Legal & Management | Digital & Mobile | Retail
The Spanish Supreme Court this week agreed to test how much oversight power a government should have over the Internet when it targets illegal downloading of copyrighted content, kicking off a battle between rightsholders and those opposed to government oversight that may get bitter before it gets better. » Full Story
Google Seeking Digital Play for the Living Room, Closing to Motorolla Acquisition: Report
February 10, 2012 – Legal & Management | Digital & Mobile | Retail | Branding
Google is looking to expand further into the living room with a wireless home entertainment system that would rival Apple's AirPlay, and is also close to receiving approval over the acquisition of Motorola. » Full Story
Grammys Book Big Brands, Bigger Ad Rates As 30-Second Spots Command $800,000 Apiece
February 10, 2012 – TV & Film | Digital & Mobile | Branding
Pepsi, GM, Ford and Hyundai place big ads at Grammys, while Paul McCartney makes a rare appearance in an ad for Harman Kardon's JBL speakers. » Full Story
Noelle Bell Joins X5 Music Group
February 10, 2012 – Record Labels | Digital & Mobile | Retail | Executive Turntable
The digital music innovators have hired Bell, formerly at Sony Commercial Music Group, to help augment their expanding U.S. operations. » Full Story
Chart Moves: Madonna's Sales Surge; Michael Jackson's 'Glee'-ful Impact, fun.'s 'We Are Young' Climbs
February 10, 2012 – Radio | Record Labels | TV & Film | Digital & Mobile | Retail | Rock & Pop | Country | R&B/Hip-Hop
This week on the charts beyond Adele and Kelly Clarkson's pole positions, Madonna gets a Super Bowl bump, Michael Jackson and 2CELLOS get "Glee" bumps and .fun gets a boost thanks to Chevrolet's Sonic Super Bowl ad. » Full Story
Apple iPads Apple to Unveil New iPad in March (Report)
February 10, 2012 – Record Labels | Digital & Mobile | Branding
A news report says Apple plans to unveil a new iPad early next month. » Full Story
Business Matters: Embracing the Chaos Earns TuneCore $10,000 from iTunes Match
February 9, 2012 – Record Labels | Legal & Management | Digital & Mobile | Branding | Dance
How Apple iTunes Match has earned TuneCore $10K through a technique called "embracing the chaos. Also, Tiesto: DJ/App; and the endless bandwidth consumed bickering over piracy damage amounts, » Full Story
Warner Music Group Spent Less, Revenue Remained Flat in Holiday Quarter
February 9, 2012 – Record Labels | Publishing | Digital & Mobile | Retail
Key releases by Michael Buble, Nickelback and the Black Keys helped Warner post flat earnings in the fourth quarter of 2011 and first of the company’s fiscal year. In other words, Warner spent less to generate the same revenue. » Full Story
Paul McCartney.jpg Paul McCartney To Debut New Songs On iTunes Streaming
February 9, 2012 – Record Labels | Global | Legal & Management | Digital & Mobile | Branding | Rock & Pop
Paul McCartney will debut the songs from his new album "Kisses on the Bottom" in a free live streaming performance on iTunes this morning. The news comes just as McCartney has pulled his catalog from subscription services. » Full Story
Business Matters: TastemakerX Raises $1.8 Million to Deliver New Social Music App
February 8, 2012 – Global | Legal & Management | Digital & Mobile | Retail
TastemakerX is a new music discovery app that allows users to develop an influence score, building a follower base based on music tastes, social graphs and finding the right bands at the right times; CEO Marc Ruxin called it "fantasy sports for music lovers." Elsewhere, CDs remain a valuable commodity, while consumer confidence rose but still lags far behind. » Full Story
TV On The Radio, Battles, Gotye Featured @ 2012 SXSW Film
February 8, 2012 – TV & Film | Digital & Mobile
The short films and Midnighters sections of SXSW Film were announced today, with short films on TV on the Radio and a Chopin piano competition will screen, as will music videos from Battles, OK Go, Cults and Gotye. » Full Story
Paul McCartney Paul McCartney Titles Pulled from Subscription Services
February 8, 2012 – Record Labels | Publishing | Legal & Management | Digital & Mobile | Retail | Rock & Pop
The Concord Music Group/Hear Music catalog of Paul McCartney was ordered removed from subscription services, affecting some of his recent solo albums, as well as a slew of older releases by McCartney and Wings that were reissued in 2010. » Full Story
iLike, Early Digital Music Trailblazer, Officially Dead
February 8, 2012 – Touring | Legal & Management | Digital & Mobile
iLike, an online service for sharing and discovering music that was one of digital music’s most exciting startups, is officially dead. Visits to the iLike.com URL are being redirected to a MySpace page with a notice about iLike’s demise. » Full Story
AT&T-Samsung Sign Sponsorship Deal With Rag & Bone, Band of Horses To Play Launch
February 8, 2012 – Digital & Mobile | Branding | Rock & Pop
AT&T and Samsung Telecommunications America (Samsung Mobile) has inked a sponsorship pact with hot fashion brand rag & bone for the U.S. launch of Samsung’s new device, the Samsung Galaxy Note. Band Of Horses will perform the launch party on Feb. 14 in New York during fashion week. » Full Story
Super Bowl XLVI Super Bowl Seen Online Via Live Stream By 2.1 Million
February 8, 2012 – Touring | Digital & Mobile | Branding
The first ever live stream of the Super Bowl drew 2.1 million unique viewers, which according to NBC made it the most-watched single-game sports event online. » Full Story
 
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