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LONDON (Billboard) - In 1989, the British music industry gambled on a tactic to rev up its annual BPI Awards ceremony. With a new, snappier name -- the BRIT Awards -- the country's version of the Grammys was televised live for the first time.   But what rolled out that fateful night became the stuff of legend, with co-hosts Fleetwood Mac drummer Mick Fleetwood and glamour model-turned-pop signer Samantha Fox stranded haplessly at the podium as the show turned into "car crash" TV, replete with te

On Feb. 1, hundreds of Los Angeles-area public school students will watch as eight-time GRAMMY® winner Natalie Cole and breakout singer-songwriter Josh Kelley become the final two signatures on the Hilton Harmony Piano.   The six-foot grand piano boasts more than 110 celebrity autographs, each one representing a $1,000 donation from Hilton to the music education programs of the GRAMMY Foundation®. The year-long tour earned more than $100,000 for the Foundation, touching the lives of hundreds of

EMI merged its Capitol and Virgin Records divisions overnight. The new company is called The Capitol Music Group.   Virgin Records CEO Jason Flom as been announced as the head of the new company. Andrew Slater, President and CEO of Capitol Records has been removed from the company. Flom joined the company in November 2005. He will report directly to Eric Nicoli, CEO of EMI Group.   Although Capitol Records has a market share near double that of Virgin, Nicoli said in a statement "Jason Flom quic

JUST JACK   After his overlooked 2003 debut album The Outer Marker sunk into obscurity thanks to his record label going bust, Just Jack (real name Jack Allsopp) is back for another crack at success. This time he's got the helping hands of a major label deal, shared management with his new-found friend Elton John, and a flawless-sounding album in the shape of Overtones, out at the end of January.   THE FRAY   Denver four-piece The Fray have stolen that British band trick of sticking a 'The' in f

AS doomed prophecies go, the most famous slogan of the punk era, “No future”, is a classic. Triumphantly snarled by Johnny Rotten at the end of God Save the Queen, the Sex Pistols’ rowdy trashing of the silver jubilee in 1977, it encapsulated the attitude of a band that imploded when Rotten walked out six months after the record was released.   But it is impossible to square, 30 years later, with the enduring reverence inspired by punk rock. As far as music writers are concerned, punk was, maybe

While the term is shorthand for UK Pop music, the style Britpop connotes a specific style music prominent in the 1990s, when England’s biggest musical export was a loose affiliation of bands playing within the genre.   Combining the pop hooks of British Invasion era bands like The Beatles, the anthemic drama of 1970s Glam Rock acts like David Bowie, and the grittier aesthetics of Punk and New Wave guitar groups such as The Jam, the typical Britpop band, employed both catchy radio-friendly melodi

At the MIDEM global music conference, Ericsson and The Orchard announced a global agreement to distribute full track downloads and master tones from The Orchard’s independent labels across Ericsson’s global network. The agreement covers all major territories outside the U.S.   Stockholm, Sweden, January 22, 2007 — The Orchard is the world’s leading digital distributor and marketer of independent music, with a catalogue of more than one million tracks representing 73 countries, thousands of label

It seems that the Brit Awards have come full circle. From their rather middle-of-the-road beginnings in the 1980s, through the chaos and alternative leanings of the Nineties, back to a relatively safe position in the new Millennium.   In 2007 the nominees are pretty much what you'd expect - a roll-call of the best-selling artists in each category. I'm not saying Snow Patrol don't deserve their three nominations in Best Band, Best Album and Best Single (for Chasing Cars, in case you're wondering)

Poor old Ricky Gervais. The twinkly eyed star of The Office and Extras has been complaining that reports of how much his snazzy new house in upmarket Hampstead, north London, cost have been wide of the mark: some newspapers put the price as low as a paltry £2m pounds. Onstage during his new sell-out tour recently, Gervais said: “It was £3.5m — how am I going to sell it now?”   Fair point, so in the interests of accuracy, I can confirm that Gervais’s new pad cost him and his other half, Jane Fall

2007 seems to be a promising year for fans of the increasingly popular indie rock and college radio music scenes. A warning to music fans: Be prepared to buy (or if you must, burn) a significant amount of albums if this year’s offerings are as strong as last year’s, a highly likely scenario.   Last year featured noteworthy albums by a plethora of talented artists, many of whom released breakout debuts or important follow-up albums, while longtime rock staples offered albums that featured innovat

Babyshambles sign 'long term' record deal   Babyshambles have signed a "long term" album deal with Parlophone. Pete Doherty's band signed after putting out the 'Blinding EP' on the label's imprint Regal last December.   Welcoming the deal, the band's management issued a statement declaring: "Both management and the band are thrilled to have signed this deal and look forward to a long, fruitful, and creative relationship with Parlophone."   It has not yet been revealed how many albums the deal i

This week, the album “Rhythms del mundo,” which mixes the music of Buena Vista Social Club with rock and pop artists like Coldplay, U2, Sting, Dido, Marron 5, Arctic Monkeys and Franz Ferdinand, to name a few, reached the top sales spot after a month and a half in the Top 5.   This album, which features the music of Buena Vista Social Club wiht that of the best modern rock and pop artists like Coldplay, U2, Sting, Dido, Maroon 5, Arctic Monkeys and Franz Ferdinand was released in 57 countries an

Honorary British person Gwyneth Paltrow has been added to upcoming Marvel superhero epic Iron Man — joining a cast that includes Robert Downey Jr. and Terrence Howard.   According to the Hollywood Reporter, the Yoko-like actress will play billionaire hero Tony Stark’s (Downey) personal assistant, Virginia “Pepper” Potts. Of course, Stark and Potts will share a secret attraction. “Her representatives let us know that she wanted to do a movie like this,” said Kevin Feige, Marvel's president of pro

NEW YORK/BEIJING (Reuters) - Chinese Internet search service Baidu.com Inc. said on Tuesday it was launching an advertising-supported online music service in mainland China with EMI Music.   The service will provide a stream of free online music, the company said, but would only include Chinese-language music, which people could listen to but not download.   EMI and Baidu would also continue to explore developing an advertising-supported service for downloading music, the companies said. They di

Academy-award winning actress, Gwyneth Paltrow, 34, talks to OK! Magazine about how she put her career on hold temporarily to be a stay-at-home mother to her children with Coldplay's Chris Martin, 29 - Apple, 2 1/2, and Moses, 9 months.   She says, "Right now, I spend all day at home with my children. Sometimes I become Gwyneth Paltrow for a day and put on make-up. What I don't want is to spent two or three months on a shoot far away from home and my children. I'm going to read a few scripts, b

I tivoed the Royal Institution Christmas Lectures that were on TV over the Christmas period and although they didn’t go in to depth about anything in particular they were quite entertaining and interesting. I’ve always had a love of maths so it was nice to see the subject get some TV time. Normally the only mathematical programming on TV is the number round on Countdown.   The 2006 lectures were presented by Marcus du Sautoy who’s as close to being a show biz mathematician as you’re likely to ge

LOS ANGELES (Billboard) - If the organisers of the music industry's biggest awards show have their way, the Grammys will become a brand that represents musical achievement year-round.   In the last three years, the Recording Academy in the United States has revamped its Grammy sponsorship strategy, moving from one-year financial commitments to long-term deals with companies that have music-focused marketing efforts, says Evan Greene, the group's chief marketing officer. This year, for the first

Poor Christmas sales are the least of the problems facing EMI’s Eric Nicoli. The long-term decline of CD sales means the firm needs a basic rethink.   When Chris Martin wrote Fix You for the last Coldplay album, X&Y, he almost certainly was not thinking of Eric Nicoli, the boss of the group’s record company, EMI. However, shareholders in EMI could be forgiven for believing otherwise:   When you try your best but you don’t succeed When you get what you want but not what you need When you f

LONDON (Reuters) - EMI Group ousted its two top music executives and announced plans to cut costs, after poor Christmas sales prompted a profit warning which sent its shares down over 10 percent.   EMI, which had been pinning its hopes on new releases such as the Beatles' "Love" album and "Rudebox" by Robbie Williams, said on Friday that annual revenues at its music business were likely to fall between 6 percent and 10 percent on a constant- currency basis.   Global music sales have been hit in

Alain Levy earned more than £3.5m (€5.3m) in pay and bonuses last year as chairman and chief executive of EMI Music – a job held since October 2001.   The veteran industry figure was brought in to replace EMI’s highest paid executive Ken Berry, who was credited with signing the Spice Girls. The 2001 move came a month after EMI reported sales of recorded music had been weaker than expected and that full-year profits would drop 20%.   Mr Levy said that the company had suffered because of the econo

Pop star Justin Timberlake motivates himself to go onstage and perform in concert by listening to the British band Coldplay, reports ContactMusic.   The My Love singer is getting ready to tour again to promote his latest album and says he has specific pre-show rituals he likes to follow. He explains, "I still get excited to go on stage. I stretch so I don't hurt myself. "I had a rule on my last tour that I couldn't go until I heard the song Clocks by Coldplay.   "You know the house music they pl

Can you really repair the damage caused by flying by paying a few pounds to a carbon offset company? Tony Blair seems to think so - but Dominic Murphy has his doubts   Two years ago, I offset a family holiday to Thailand. At the time it seemed the right thing to do, like paying tax or queueing at the bus stop. Today carbon offsetting is all the rage, as proved by Tony Blair's belated conversion following his refusal to limit his long-haul holiday flights.   The government now offsets all its min

BRUSSELS, Belgium: EU antitrust regulators on Thursday delayed until June 1 a deadline to rule on Universal Music Group's plans to buy BMG Music Publishing for about US$2.09 billion (€1.63 billion).   They did not say why they needed more time to look at the takeover. If approved, the deal would combine the No. 3 and No. 4 music publishing catalogs, giving them a 22 percent market share and scraping ahead of current market leader EMI.   European Union approval is the last hurdle for the deal, wh

LONDON (Reuters) - Organisers said on Thursday that fans wanting to go to this year's Glastonbury Festival would have to register and provide a photo before getting a ticket to stop touts taking advantage of the hugely-popular event.   The pre-sales registration system, which is being introduced for the first time, will mean that every ticket issued will feature a passport-sized photograph of its official bearer.   "It's a much fairer system," said Michael Eavis, who owns the farm in southwest E

Mark Ronson Drafts In Lily Allen and Robbie Williams For Album   Producer extraordinaire Mark Ronson has drafted in the likes of Robbie Williams and Lily Allen to appear on his second album. The aptly titled ‘Versions’ is released on April 16 and features 12 classic songs recreated and remashed by the acclaimed producer.   The album will be preceded by a limited edition, number 10” single on January 29, which sees samples of the late ODB layered over reinterpretations of Britney Spears’ ‘Toxic’