Music Industry News

Correspondence: Frishberg on Dearie and Evans

Source: Rifftides by Doug Ramsey
February 12, 2009

Dave Frishberg writes with important information on a matter raised in the previous entry.I'm reading the Rifftides discussion about Blossom Dearie and Bill Evans, and who influenced who. I'd like to add my comment: During the late sixties I played a couple weeks solo opposite the Bill Evans Trio at the Village Gate on Bleecker St, and had some conversations with Bill. I asked him how he came upon his piled-fourths voicing of chords, and his immediate answer was ...

Continue Reading

Ticketmaster Live Nation Merger Done, Government Scrutiny to Follow

Source: HypeBot
February 11, 2009

IT'S OFFICIAL! Here's the press release.

Both stocks suffer losses as Wall Street gives thumbs down to deal.

(UPDATED) The merger of Ticketmaster and Live Nation is a done deal and will be announced today. It be an all stock merger with the two companies combining as relative equals and cost savings of $40 million plus annually. In what is almost certain to become a clash of the titans, Ticketmaster's Barry Diller and Irving Azoff, as well as, Live Nation's ...

Continue Reading

Ticketmaster and Live Nation Merge

Source: JamBase
February 11, 2009

LIVE NATION AND TICKETMASTER ENTERTAINMENT TO COMBINE IN MERGER

Live Nation and Ticketmaster Entertainment ("Ticketmaster") today announced that they have entered into a definitive merger agreement to create the world's premier live entertainment company. The combined entity, which will be called Live Nation Entertainment, joins Live Nation's concert promotions expertise with Ticketmaster's ticketing solutions and artist relationships to improve the live entertainment experience and drive major innovations in ticketing technology, marketing and service. Live Nation Entertainment will have the tools ...

Continue Reading

Stefon Harris Signs Exclusive Recording Agreement with Concord Jazz

Source: All About Jazz
February 11, 2009

Concord Jazz is proud to announce that vibraphonist-composer, Stefon Harris, has signed an exclusive recording contract with the label. The GRAMMY nominated musician has been hailed as one of the most important young artists in jazz (Los Angeles Times), and is widely recognized by both peers and critics alike for his innovative compositions, blazing new paths on the vibraphone and marimba. Harris Concord debut is scheduled to be released in late 2009. Harris passion, talent and energetic stage presence have ...

Continue Reading

Troubling Coverups

Source: Rifftides by Doug Ramsey
February 9, 2009

In the act of playing music, it is impossible to separate the process from the product. Or, it was. In an important piece of journalism, Eric Felten turns a floodlight on the technological airbrushing of live performances in an effort to insure perfection. Felten's Wall Street Journal essay emphasizes that two recent massive public events in the United States masked actual performance. One was the Super Bowl, with Jennifer Hudson singing “The Star Spangled Banner." The other was President Obama's ...

Continue Reading

Sat Eye Candy: Beatles Arrive

Source: JamBase
February 8, 2009

THE DAY AMERICA GOT ITS FIRST LOOK AT THE LADS

On this day in 1964, The Beatles arrived at JFK Airport to begin their first U.S. tour. Mythic creatures after their meteoric U.K. ascension, the already “Fab Four" stepped off the plane to an estimated crowd of 3,000 - with weird Phil Spector, who'd booked himself onto their flight right behind them. While there's been an over-deification of The Beatles' music in the years since, there's no denying that certain ...

Continue Reading

At 70 Legendary Jazz Label Asks Now What?

Source: Michael Ricci
February 7, 2009

At a recent 70th-anniversary reception for Blue Note Records at Dizzys Club Coca-Cola, the alto saxophonist Lou Donaldson played his trademark hit, “Alligator Boogaloo," from 1967.

Norah Jones, who made her multiplatinum debut in 2002, mingled at the bar. And presiding over the evening was Bruce Lundvall, who has run the label for the last 25 years.

Mr. Donaldson, Ms. Jones and Mr. Lundvall represent points along a continuum in the history of the most storied label in jazz. Founded ...

Continue Reading

Producers Track Record as a Label Executive is Raising Questions

Source: Michael Ricci
February 7, 2009

Less than two years after Sony Music Entertainment made a daring move by hiring the legendary music producer Rick Rubin to run its Columbia Records label, the company is learning a lesson from baseball: sometimes the best players dont make the best managers.

Sony hired Mr. Rubin a founder of Def Jam Records who has produced hits for Run-DMC, the Beastie Boys, the Red Hot Chili Peppers and Johnny Cash hoping the appointment would lead to a new business model ...

Continue Reading