Morning Fix: Clear Channel-MSG’s Hurricane Sandy Benefit; Billboard Touring Awards; Pandora Cuts Into Sales, Downloads: Study
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ROGER WATERS, BRUCE SPRINGSTEEN, NEIL DIAMOND, KENNY CHESNEY, LADY GAGA AMONG 2012 BILLBOARD TOURING AWARDS WINNERS: Roger Waters, Bruce Springsteen, Neil Diamond, Kenny Chesney, Bruce Springsteen and Lady Antebellum were among last night’s big winners at the annual Billboard Touring Awards held at the Roosevelt Hotel in New York City. Other honorees included the Apollo Theater, Michael Jackson’s Immortal tour by Cirque du Soleil, fan-selected Lady Gaga and the Coachella Valley Music & Arts Festival. |
RCA CEO PETER EDGE TALKS KEITH NAFTALY PROMOTION, NEW A&R STRUCTURE, ROSTER: With a little more than a year under his belt as CEO of RCA Music Group, Peter Edge, who headed up the label’s A&R team for 16 years, has handed over those reins to new executive vice president, head of A&R, RCA Records, Keith Naftaly. Edge spoke with Billboard.biz about the company and its new A&R layout and roster – from P!nk and Pitbull to A$ap Rocky and Miguel to Mikky Ekko, – and more. |
PANDORA EATING INTO CD AND DOWNLOADS, SAYS NPD: Radio is as popular as ever, but not all radio is the same. A new report by NPD Group says Pandora is encroaching on the listening habits of its users. The study claims since 2009 the percentage of Pandora users (Pandora claimed to have 59.2 million unique users in September) who also listened to AM/FM radio declined by 10 percent. Listening to digital music files on portable music players dropped 21 points. NPD attributes some of the decline to the fact that 34% of Pandora users now listen to music on the service in their cars. |
SYKES, DOLAN, WEINSTEIN PLANNING 12-12-12 HURRICANE SANDY BENEFIT CONCERT: A benefit concert for victims of Hurricane Sandy is being organized by the three entertainment executives who produced “The Concert for New York City” following the 9/11 terrorist attacks. The concert – called simply “12-12-12” – is being produced by James Dolan, the executive chairman of MSG; John Sykes, the president of Clear Channel; and Harvey Weinstein, Weinstein Co. chairman. The lineup for the concert, to be held at Madison Square Garden on Dec. 12, has yet to be announced. Proceeds will be dispensed to people directly through the Robin Hood Relief Fund. |
PETE TONG, LONGTIME BBC DJ, JOINING CLEAR CHANNEL IHEARTRADIO FOR EDM-FOCUSED STATION: Clear Channel’s internet radio streaming arm, iHeartRadio announced it is bringing long-time BBC radio personality Pete Tong, a dance/electronica DJ and founder of FFRR Records, to the US to host a show called ‘All Gone Pete Tong’ that will launch on the network’s new EDM channel Evolution on Monday. The format is also planning shows by other dance music artists, including Diplo, Wolfgang Gartner and Fatboy Slim. |
ROLLING STONES RONNIE WOOD DEFENDS HIGH TICKET PRICES: Rolling Stone Ronnie Wood said the band does not feel guilty about the high prices charged for their forthcoming London gigs. When the Nov. 25 and 29 concerts for the band’s 50th anniversary were announced, promoters said the face value price of the tickets ranged from ￡95 ( about $150) to ￡375 ( $600). A “VIP hospitality” ticket was priced at ￡950 ( $1,500). Wood said: “We’ve already spent a million on rehearsing in Paris. And the stage is going to be another few million. And the lights…We feel no bad thing about ticket prices. We’ve got to make something.”
Telegraph
GOOGLE TV MUSIC, MOVIES ARRIVING IN EUROPE NEXT WEEK: Google is making Google Play’s music and movies available in Europe next week. From November 13, owners of a Google TV set-top box or enabled television in the U.K., Germany and France will be able to download movies and music from the Google Play store, the company said in a Google+ post. The movies and music won’t, however, be available for download to other Google devices such as Nexus smartphones or tablets, but its availability is unlikely too be far behind.
CNET
N.A.A.C.P. OPPOSES EFFORT TO CHANGE ONLINE ROYALTIES: The Internet Radio Fairness Act, a federal bill supported by Pandora, Clear Channel and others that would change the way online radio royalties are set, has come under new opposition from the N.A.A.C.P., which said in a letter to members of Congress that the bill would “unfairly deprive artists and performers of fair pay for their hard work.” The bill, introduced in September, would direct a panel of federal judges to use the same standard in setting royalty rates for Internet radio that they use for satellite and cable radio services, a change its backers believe would substantially lower their rates.
New York Times
APPLE’S ITUNES OFFERING SONY SONGS IN JAPAN:Sony said Thursday that music by its Japanese artists is now available on Apple’s iTunes store, in an apparent strategy shift aiming to cash in on soaring demand for online music. Sony, which competes with Apple’s iPod and iPhone in the portable music player market, said its copyrighted Japanese-language songs had been made available for sale on iTunes from this week. A Sony spokesman said its Japanese artists’ debut on iTunes was held up by protracted contract negotiations, not a strategy to keep its rival from selling Sony-copyrighted music.
Japan Times
FRANK OCEAN TO SOUNDTRACK MONDAY’S ‘GOSSIP GIRL’: Frank Ocean’s “Super Rich Kids” might be fitting that the song will help soundtrack next week’s episode of “Gossip Girl.” The episode will feature four other cuts from Channel Orange: “Sweet Life”, “Thinkin Bout You”, “Lost”, and “Pyramids”. This marks the first time Ocean’s music has been used in a television program, and the first time one artist has exclusively soundtracked an episode of “Gossip Girl”, which is in its final season.
Pitchfork
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