After diva extravaganzas — Madonna and Beyoncé, the pop-soul superstar Bruno Mars brought a decidedly more organic musical vibe to the Super Bowl XLVIII Halftime Show.
The baby-faced 28-year-old’s performance, watched by millions, should be termed as ‘concert of the year’. The Super Bowl XVIII halftime show featuring Bruno Mars was quite a doubt-raiser from the start.
Back in September, when NFL announced that the singer-songwriter Bruno would provide the tunes during the intermission of Super Bowl XLVIII, the news was met with utter disbelief. And there was much relief among fans, when it was announced that Red Hot Chili Peppers will be performing along Bruno, who was born two years after RHCP came into existence.
Now that the big game is over, it would not be wrong to say that it was really Bruno, who technically won the 2014 Super Bowl. The relatively young artist, without much fame or recognition, had the Super Bowl viewers, who have seen bigger stars such as Paul McCartney, the Rolling Stones, Prince, Tom Petty, Bruce Springsteen and the Who, tapping to his tunes. CONTINUE READING
He helped discover and cultivate the megastar for almost seven years. Then Gaga dumped him. Here’s the untold story of how he rolled with it.
From behind, Troy Carter looks like a middle schooler. He has the wispy frame of a pretzel stick, wrapped in skinny jeans that bottom out at black Yves Saint Laurent high-tops. It is late November, exactly two weeks after he was fired by Lady Gaga, but by appearances he and his calendar show no signs of vulnerability.
He is a man without breaks: He spent the morning fueled on the fumes of a banana, meeting with execs at his new soda company and then with tech founders he’s investing with; after that it was off to a lunch meeting with CAA, and now he’s at the Capitol Records tower in Hollywood. It’s the schedule of anyone of his caliber, though it’s also–and he won’t admit this–the habit of a recently dumped man who’s probably afraid to have time alone with himself. Read more…
From Businessweek
In the late 1990s, as the Backstreet Boys climbed to the top of the charts with hits such as I Want It That Way, they gained attention for more than just their music: The singers sued a former manager who they say cheated them out of millions of dollars. When it came time to release their most recent album, the band sought greater control and a bigger cut of the profits. For their eighth studio release, In a World Like This, the Backstreet Boys—now middle-aged men—abandoned the classic record company contract, turning to what the industry calls a label services company, which works almost like a consultant. Under these deals, bands call the shots on marketing and distribution, and they can receive more than triple the typical artist’s share of earnings. “With this type of situation, you’re responsible for getting the right staff and people behind it,” says Peter Katsis, the Backstreet Boys’ manager. “It falls on the artists.” CONTINUE READING
According to the Official Charts Company’s year-end sales data, published today by British recorded music trade body The BPI, 2013 was the year of the Million Sellers! Four singles released during the last twelve months have crossed over this landmark sales threshold, creating the biggest annual haul of million-selling singles since 1998.
Robin Thicke’s Blurred Lines FT TI and Pharrell Williams was the biggest selling single of 2013, clocking up sales of more than 1.47 million copies since it debuted at Number 1 on the Official Singles Chart back in June. It spent five non-consecutive weeks at the top spot, and is also the longest running Number 1 of 2013.
Daft Punk’s Get Lucky, which became the first single released in 2013 to reach a million sales and the French dance duo’s first ever UK chart topper, is at Number 2 in the year-end Top 40. Get Lucky, which also features Pharrell Williamsalongside legendary Chic guitarist Nile Rodgers, reached one million sales on its 69th day of release in the UK. It ends the year with a sales tally of more then 1.3 million copies. CONTINUE READING
From Steve Stoute:
Last week, two of the biggest names in music shocked their fans with bold moves through digital media: Long-time digital music holdouts Led Zeppelin announced that they would finally release their catalogue to the masses via Spotify, while Beyoncé, without warning, unleashed her 14-song, 17-video self-titled album on iTunes. One of these events represents the future of music as a business, while the other retreads an already-broken model.
The Spotify/Led Zeppelin deal, unfortunately, represents the latter. Spotify, like Pandora, is still attempting to substantiate a business model that gives music away for free to a vast majority of its listeners. While each service has some small percentage of paid subscribers, their entire business model has so far relied on advertisers to underwrite a majority of their costs. Telling every Spotify user in the world that they will now be able to access the entire catalogue of one of the most popular music acts in history for free is only reinforcing this discredited model; once you train consumers that your product is free, it is very hard, if not impossible, to convert them to a paid model. CONTINUE READING
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