Tagged: industrynews

Justin Bieber's giant win at the Billboard Music Awards marked a bittersweet moment for the pop star. Recognized at age 19 with the Milestone Award (after also taking top male artist and top social artist), the singer took the stage - and the opportunity - to make a statement . Said an emotional Bieber: "I'm 19 years old. I think I'm doing a pretty good job. And basically, from my heart, I just really want to say it should really be about the music. This is not a gimmick. I'm an artist [...]

In 2004, 13-year-old Joanna Levesque became the youngest solo artist ever to have a number one single on the Billboard charts. Levesque, who recorded as JoJo, had been building to that moment since she was just a little girl, giving electrifying performances on shows like Kids Say the Darndest Things with Bill Cosby at the age of 6. When Levesque was 12, she signed a seven-album deal with Blackground Records, and later her debut album JoJo was certified platinum. Her 2006 follow-up, The High Road, pleased critics and included at least one bona fide hit, the breakup ballad “Too Little [...]

Fox broke its silence on the worrisome performance of former reality titan American Idol and reports that the network is planning to reboot the entire show — including dumping its judges panel. Longtime Idol judge Randy Jackson quit last week after hearing the news, which still leaves Mariah Carey, Keith Urban and Nicki Minaj up for possible elimination. Speaking on a conference call with reporters before the network’s upfront presentation in New York City on Monday, Fox entertainment chairman Kevin Reilly blamed the show’s ratings decline on the age of the show and some creative changes that were made [...]

The Recording Industry Association of America is expanding its gold and platinum certification program to include song streams on the Internet. The first round of 56 combined digital single awards counting both downloads and streams go to artists like Eminem, Adele, Justin Bieber and Carly Rae Jepsen. The RIAA is the latest to recognize the popularity of streaming music over the Internet. Billboard also recently changed its chart system to include streams. The gold and platinum certifications will be based on data from on-demand streaming services like Spotify and Rhapsody and video streaming services like YouTube [...]

"American Idol" is going nuclear for Season 13. None of the four judges on the singing competition will be asked to return next season, an individual with knowledge of Fox's plans told The Wrap. Longtime producer Nigel Lythgoe is expected to get the boot. And despite reports to the contrary, Fox isn't even considering bringing former judge Jennifer Lopez back as a lifesaver for next season. Like we said : nuclear. "All four are gone," the insider told TheWrap. "They feel they've lost their core audience and they want it back." [...]

After a successful stint in rehab, Green Day frontman Billie Joe Armstrong has triumphantly returned to the stage in March and reconnecting with fans on the road without incident – until now. Taking to his Instagram account , Armstrong posted a picture of K-pop star Psy, and what he had to say about the “Gangnam Style” hit-maker was far from congratulatory. “This dude is the herpes of music,” Armstong wrote. “Once you think it’s gone, it comes back.” The Green Day singer also added a series of hashtags: #herpes, #flarup and #pleasegoaway. Posted on Tuesday (May 7), by the following day the missive has generated more than [...]

One of Justin Bieber's hit songs is the target of a $10 million copyright infringement lawsuit that also accuses Bieber's mentor, R&B singer Usher, of funneling the song to the teen pop star. R&B singer Devin Copeland, known professionally as De Rico, and songwriter Mareio Overton filed a lawsuit last week in U.S. District Court in Virginia alleging that they came up with the song "Somebody to Love." Bieber, who is managed by one of Usher's business ventures, released "Somebody to Love" in 2010 with Usher also singing on the recording. The song peaked at No. 15 on [...]

It's a diplomatic failure at the highest level: Bill Clinton couldn't get Led Zeppelin to reunite. The CBS "60 Minutes Overtime" webcast reported Monday that the former president was enlisted to ask the British rock gods to get back together last year for the Superstorm Sandy benefit concert in New York City. He asked, they said no. David Saltzman of the Robin Hood Foundation says he and film executive Harvey Weinstein flew to Washington to ask Clinton to make the plea. Led Zeppelin's surviving members Robert Plant, John Paul Jones and Jimmy Page were [...]

Justin Bieber reportedly caused a ruckus at Istanbul’s Sabiha Gökçen Airport when he and his entourage blew through passport control without presenting their travel documents. Team Bieber – around a dozen strong – went straight for the cars idling outside Wednesday night, with airport officials in hot pursuit, according to the Dogan News Agency. Eventually, airport security reportedly agreed to do the security check curbside and allowed the pop star to go on his way. Fanatical Bieber fans – known as ‘Beliebers’ – were waiting for the pint-sized singer as he stepped off his [...]

Kings favorite The Neighbourhood who we posted before they struck a deal with Columbia Records recently performed at Coachella. Their single " Sweater Weather " is quickly climbing the rock charts. In a recent MTV interview, Rutherford said this: "When I was a kid, I had goals: a record deal with a big old record company, playing Coachella and these cool shows; I want to push it far," he said. "I truly believe that we've written some strong songs, and they're not the best songs we're ever going to write, but they're [...]

Fleetwood Mac have released their first collection of new music in a decade. As promised, the legendary band tabled a full album in favor of an EP, titled "Extended Play" and available exclusively on iTunes. The foursome - Lindsey Buckingham, Stevie Nicks, Mick Fleetwood and John McVie - announced the release on the band's website on Tuesday. The record kicks off with the bouncy "Sad Angel," in which Buckingham and Nicks harmonize over looping guitar and Mick Fleetwood's driving beat. "Hello, hello sad angel, have you come to fight the war?" they ask. [...]

Swedish police said on Thursday they found drugs on teen idol Justin Bieber's tour bus in Stockholm, but had no suspects and were unlikely to pursue the case further. A police officer on crowd duty smelled marijuana on an empty tour bus outside the hotel where Bieber was staying just before his concert in the capital on Wednesday night, police spokesman Kjell Lindgren said. Police searched the empty bus after it had taken 10 to 15 individuals to the concert venue. "The police went onto the bus and searched it and found a small amount of narcotics," Lindgren [...]

The EP is becoming popular again. For instance, Luke Bryan released an EP last month which debuted at No. 1 on the Billboard albums chart. "Invented around 1950, the EP was long considered the misfit format of the recording industry: Shorter than an album and longer than a single, EPs generally run about 30 minutes and top out at a half-dozen songs. They've proven especially easy to digest as digital downloads or streams, because they can give listeners a hearty sample of an unfamiliar act without asking them to commit to a full-length (and full-price) album. As a [...]

Justin Bieber has caused outrage after leaving a 'tasteless' comment in the guestbook at the Anne Frank House in Amsterdam. Bieber who is currently on tour in Europe - visited the famous home where Jewish wartime diarist Frank and her family hid from Nazi persecution for two years during the Holocaust. After spending an hour touring the home on Saturday, which opened as a museum in 1960, Bieber wrote a message in the guestbook, which read: 'Truly inspiring to be able to come here.  'Anne was a great girl. Hopefully she would have been a belieber.' [...]

Twitter is expected to launch a music service today that suggests artists and songs based on the accounts users follow. Twitter Music will suggest artists and songs to users based on “personalized signals” from a Twitter account. Users will be able to listen to music clips from inside the app, using third-party services like iTunes and SoundCloud. The new application will also include video capabilities through Vevo, a music video service owned by Universal Music and Sony.

Adele's talent has made her lots of money. In fact, she is the richest young British musician. Her fortune continues to grow surpassing boy band One Direction. Adele who is only 25 is estimated to be worth more than £30m. The list of the UK's richest young musicians is dominated by women including, Leona Lewis, Katie Melua, Jessie J, Lily Allen and Charlotte Church. One Direction's £25m net worth puts them £1m ahead of the combined fortune of JLS, another product of Simon Cowell's ITV talent show and chart juggernaut, The X Factor.

Next week Justin Timberlake, Al Green, Queen Latifah, and many others will perform at the White House in a "Memphis Soul" concert, the White House announced today. "As part of their 'In Performance at the White House' series, the President and First Lady will invite music legends and contemporary major artists to the White House for a celebration of Memphis Soul music. The program will include performances by Alabama Shakes, William Bell, Steve Cropper, Al Green, Ben Harper, Queen Latifah, Cyndi Lauper, Joshua Ledet, Sam Moore, Charlie Musselwhite, Mavis Staples and Justin Timberlake, with Booker T. Jones as [...]

Veteran music manager Peter Mensch who has handled the career for Madonna, Metallica and Def Leppard says the writing's on the wall for Justin Bieber.  He also blamed incompetent management. "He said: 'His manager Scooter Braun is scared s***less. 'I don’t know what Bieber’s problem is. His career is over in three years anyway,' He also told the Sun he does have one trick up his sleeve that he thinks would help the troubled teen. He said: 'I’d take Bieber to the woodshed and spank him.' "It has been a difficult year already [...]

Phil Ramone, a record producer and engineer who worked with some of the biggest music stars of the last 50 years, including Ray Charles, Frank Sinatra, Paul Simon, Billy Joel and Barbra Streisand, died on Saturday in Manhattan.  In his 2007 memoir, “Making Records: The Scenes Behind the Music,” written with Charles L. Granata, Mr. Ramone defined the role of record producer as roughly equivalent to that of a film director, creating and managing an environment in which to coax the best work out of his performers. Read more

Nearly two years after launching in the U.S. primarily via word-of-mouth, Spotify will air its first in a series of U.S. TV ad commercials on NBC’s “The Voice” Monday night as part of a larger branding campaign valued at over $10 million in media spend. The campaign, titled “For Music,” will feature digital and social media ads, with additional TV spots to air on NBC’s “Late Night With Jimmy Fallon” as well as Viacom’s MTV, MTV2, VH1 and other networks in the coming weeks. A trio of spots released online Monday afternoon, created by ad agency Droga5, take [...]