Recent Posts in industry

June 27, 2008

Ticketmaster wins ruling against scalper software maker

In a victory for IAC/InterActiveCorp's Ticketmaster, a federal court ordered a maker of software used by ticket brokers to pay more than $18 million to the world's dominant ticket seller.

Last year, Ticketmaster sued Pittsburgh-based RMG Technologies Inc. for creating software that allowed its users to gain access to tickets via the Internet much more quickly than average customers of Ticketmaster.com.

Ticketmaster said the RMG software violated its terms of service and other rights by automatically circumventing controls designed to verify that a given user was a real person. That allowed brokers to inundate Ticketmaster's system with thousands of requests for seats when popular events went on sale, "in effect allowing them to cut in line," according to Ticketmaster. [Wall Street Journal]

Posted by brooklynvegan at 4:12 PM | Comments (22)

June 23, 2008

"High fuel prices put brakes on indie band tours"

"On the grass-roots level, cost has always been a concern for touring bands. But the nearly $2,500 in gas Garcia and his two bandmates would have had to pay just to make it to Vancouver, Canada, and back was too much to overcome." [an Associated Press article]

Strangely the article doesn't even touch on sustainable touring and whether that might cut down costs while being friendly to the environment at the same time.

In the above picture, Les Savy Fav's Tim Harrington (having just stepped off Citysol's solar-powered stage) is sitting on top of These are Powers' vegetable oil-powered van.

Posted by brooklynvegan at 12:05 PM | Comments (12)

June 20, 2008

'The Orchard Wins Bid to Acquire TVT Records'

Crunk hits and all the rest are going to The Orchard....

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Posted by brooklynvegan at 1:45 PM | Comments (9)

June 12, 2008

'Live Nation's Leaders Battle' & Philly gets TLA back

A fierce battle has broken out among top executives at Live Nation Inc. over the concert-promotion company's ambitious strategy to reshape the struggling music industry by making wide-ranging but expensive deals with artists such as Madonna and Jay-Z.

The battle is over the limits of that strategy, in which Live Nation has pledged hundreds of millions of dollars to a handful of performers in return for exclusive rights to release their recordings, promote their concert tours and sell T-shirts and other merchandise bearing their images.

Having laid out so much cash -- an estimated $120 million for Madonna and $150 million for Jay-Z alone -- Live Nation Chief Executive Michael Rapino has sought to slow the pace of deal making so he can ascertain that deals already struck are working before entering new ones. But the company's chairman, concert promoter Michael Cohl, wants to quickly strike deals with as many as 15 more artists. [Wall Street Journal] (thx adam)

In related news, last year's renaming of Philly's TLA to The Fillmore has been reversed. Maybe Irving Plaza will get its name back too.

Posted by brooklynvegan at 10:20 AM | Comments (9)

June 6, 2008

Van Halen Reunion Tour Grosses $93 Million

Van Halen @ MSG, NYC - May 23, 2008 (JLBNYC)

It was a tumultuous ride that few expected would last, but the Van Halen sorta-reunion tour came to a close June 2nd in Grand Rapids, Michigan. In the end, the tour grossed $93 million and played to nearly a million fans over the course of 74 shows. In retrospect, it wasn't the ego or antics of David Lee Roth but Eddie Van Halen's pre-jaunt rehab stay and March health issues that nearly submarined the tour. The shows marked the first time that Roth fronted the band in 23 years (though without bass player Michael Anthony, the original lineup remains estranged since 1985), and VH's handlers say it was the most successful tour of the long-running group's career. [Rolling Stone]

Posted by brooklynvegan at 12:49 PM | Comments (2)

May 23, 2008

#1 band in America, DCFC played Kimmel (video)

DCFC @ Coachella 2008 (more by Ruan Muir)

Death Cab for Cutie were the live wires on this week's album chart, debuting on top with 144,000 units sold for their seventh full-length album, Narrow Stairs. That's a broad step up from the 90,000 that their last album, Plans, opened with in 2005. In retrospect, releasing an eight-and-a-half-minute single ('I Will Possess Your Heart') doesn't seem like such a disastrous move after all, does it? [EW Hollywood Insider]

Last night's Kimmel performance below...

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Posted by brooklynvegan at 12:59 PM | Comments (36)

Barsuk band RA RA RIOT @ 70 Greene St, NYC - pics

photos by Kyle Dean Reinford

It was a free show last night....

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Posted by brooklynvegan at 10:12 AM | Comments (9)

May 21, 2008

Death By Audio Records launches

DOWNLOAD: Coin Under Tongue- "Coin Under Tongue" (MP3)
DOWNLOAD: Coin Under Tongue - "Roll Child" (MP3)
DOWNLOAD: Sisters - "Accolades" (MP3)
DOWNLOAD: Sisters - "Street Cars" (MP3)

"Death by Audio is a collective of friends centered around the guitar pedal factory/independent rock venue by the same name in Brooklyn, NY. With so much music surrounding this DIY network, the founders of the Death By Audio camp have decided to take it a step further and create their own imprint.

There are two bands currently in the DBA stable: Coin Under Tongue & Sisters."

In related news, A Place To Bury Strangers are busy playing shows....

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Posted by brooklynvegan at 1:24 AM | Comments (12)

May 5, 2008

Delta Spirit sign to Rounder Records -- 2008 Tour Dates

California's Delta Spirit (not to be confused with the Duke Spirit) will be releasing their debut album Ode to Sunshine in "late summer/early fall of 2008" on Rounder Records (home of Robert Plant, Raffi and Ween).

But first: a tour that includes a show at Union Hall and one at Mercury Lounge too. All dates below....

Continue reading "Delta Spirit sign to Rounder Records -- 2008 Tour Dates"

Posted by brooklynvegan at 3:51 PM | Comments (8)

May 1, 2008

Black Kids signed to Columbia Records, continue touring

Black Kids @ Coachella 2008 (by Lucy Hamblin for SPIN)

Black Kids' debut album, Partie Traumatic, will be released on Tuesday July 22, 2008 on Columbia Records. Tour Dates below....

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Posted by brooklynvegan at 11:12 AM | Comments (35)