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Music Industry

It’s official: this week’s Billboard album sales chart has Kanye West’s “Graduation” in first place, selling a stunning 957,000 copies in its debut week and in the process scoring the 15th highest weekly sales total since 1991 and the biggest debut of the year. As we all know, 50 Cent had threatened to retire if […]

Tags: 50 cent, kanye west, radiohead, spiralfrog

As rumored for some time, the surviving members of Led Zeppelin will re-form for a one-off performance in London on November 26th as part of a tribute to late Atlantic Records co-founder Ahmet Ertegun. Band members Robert Plant, Jimmy Page, and John Paul Jones will join with drummer Jason Bonham (son of the band’s original […]

Tags: 50 cent, esg, kaiser chiefs, kanye west, led zeppelin, the go team, white stripes

The founder of New York’s legendary CBGB club, Hilly Kristal, died Tuesday at 75 from complications related to lung cancer. Meanwhile, the club–which was forced to close in 2006 when its rent was raised dramatically–still remains vacant one year later.
M.I.A., Band of Horses, and the Meat Puppets are among the names added to the lineup […]

Tags: cbgb, cmj music marathon, david bowie, grateful dead, mia, new pornographers, rilo kiley, sirius, talib kweli

Morrissey has once again rejected overtures to re-form The Smiths (or at least reunite with Johnny Marr) and go on tour. This time, he turned down an offer of $75 million. Everyone has a price, don’t they?
If rapper 50 Cent loses his September album sales battle with Kanye West, at least he has a new […]

Tags: 50 cent, morrissey, the smiths, yourcodenameis:milo

Libertines/Babyshambles frontman Pete Doherty was arrested in England early Monday morning for suspected possession of drugs. Because this would not be his first offense, Doherty potentially faces a prison sentence if convicted.
Multiple sources are reporting that Madonna is in talks with Live Nation (best known for managing concert venues) for a new big-money record deal. […]

Tags: babyshambles, dr dre, joy division, kurt cobain, madonna, morrissey, piebald

It’s truly a shame that all this talk about the Van Halen reunion tour is diverting attention away from the real reunion story of the summer: The Osmonds.
Sixteen solo albums by John Lennon–as well as exclusive video content–has been made available on iTunes for the first time. The iTunes Music Store is expected to add […]

Tags: beatles, itunes, john lennon, okkervil river, ugk, van halen

Universal Music Group announced Thursday that it would experiment over the next six months with selling digital music with no copy protection. Although the DRM-free downloads will be available through a number of online retailers, Apple’s iTunes Music Store will not be one of them.
Speaking of Apple, iPod owners will be able to play a […]

Tags: 50 cent, amy winehouse, apple, dfa, ipod, itunes, kanye west

Multiple sources reported on a new computer virus making the rounds: W32.Deletemusic, which, as its name implies, deletes all MP3 files from infected computers. Those of you who store your music on round plastic discs or larger vinyl platters will not be affected.
Sorry, music fans who already own all of Joy Division’s albums: you’ll have […]

Tags: amy winehouse, common, joy division, madonna

Marilyn Manson is being sued by former bandmate Madonna Wayne Gacy (known to his parents as Stephen Bier) for failing to share profits in accordance with a 1993 agreement. Gacy believes that Manson was hiding much of the band’s profits from his fellow musicians, and using the money to acquire such items as a skeleton […]

Tags: amy winehouse, brian wilson, danger mouse, jay-z, john cale, lee hazlewood, marilyn manson, paul mccartney, robbie williams, rolling stones, shortwave set, van halen

Rihanna’s streak of 10 consecutive weeks atop the UK singles charts came to an end when her “Umbrella” fell to number three, with Timbaland (”The Way I Are”) taking over the top spot.
UK survey group Entertainment Media Research has conducted its fourth annual opinion poll about music downloading, and 43% of respondents (a four-year high) […]

Tags: deerhunter, file-sharing, new order, rihanna, sigur ros, timbaland