News Articles
This is http://www.oocities.org/TimesSquare/Stadium/8343/newsarticles.html...welcome, this is for current news articles I couldn't fit in the news! :)
UPDATED: Sept. 18, 1999
go to http://www.rollingstone.com and find more stories!
COURTESY OF ROLLINGSTONE.COM !
'N Sync Are Talkin' Jive
RCA boy band 'N Sync may bolt for Jive
Time to round up the lawyers.
Word that disgruntled pop
millionaires 'N Sync are
threatening to bolt their U.S. home
at RCA Records for Jive Records
has created quite a dust-up. Not
only would the dramatic move
deprive RCA of a sure-fire
multi-platinum 'N Sync release that
had been scheduled for the crucial
holiday buying season this year,
but it would also be an embarrassment of pop riches
for Jive, whose roster already includes blockbuster
acts the Backstreet Boys and Britney Spears.
Combined, 'N Sync, BSB and Spears virtually
created the current teen sensation that's been
dominating the charts for the last eighteen months.
(How big are the Big Three? Add them up and
they've sold 27 million albums in America in just two
years, according to SoundScan.)
The deal though, is not done, and RCA's parent,
BMG, intends to fight. "'N Sync is a BMG act and
we will protect and enforce our rights vigorously,"
says a company spokesperson. (Jive's rep could not
be reached for comment.)
The deal could get particularly sticky since BMG
owns twenty percent of Jive's parent, Zomba Music.
BMG also distributes Jive releases.
But how could members of `N Snyc, even if they
were grumbling about not seeing enough earnings
from their mega sales, simply decide to up and
leave their label? Record company contracts are
notoriously complex, but `N Sync's deal is even
more complicated than most. When the group first
debuted, there was little appetite for teen pop at
home so they originally signed to Transcontinental
through BMG in Germany. When the group
exploded overseas and wanted to put out records in
America, `N Sync signed a licensing deal with RCA,
which meant RCA marketed, promoted and profited
from the band in the States. The question teams of
lawyers will now have to wrangle over is whether or
not 'N Sync has released enough records to fulfill
the terms of their RCA licensing agreement. If they
have, Jive may soon have pop's Murderer's Row. If
not, RCA could get another crack with 'N Sync,
although the label will almost certainly have to
sweeten its original deal.
ERIC BOEHLERT
(September 15, 1999)
Backstreet Boys Won't Take Their Fans to the Cleaners
The Backstreet Boys try to save their ans a buck or two on ticket fees
Which artists fight for consumer
rights? Most fans answering that
question would probably point to
Pearl Jam, who battled
Ticketmaster over the firm's high
service fees, or maybe the Dave
Matthews Band, who routinely
keep their ticket prices low. But
the Backstreet Boys, those pinup
stars of teen worship?
It's true. For the group's already sold-out fall tour,
the Backstreet Boys worked behind the scenes to
eliminate the additional costs, such as parking and
facility fees, that often accompany concert tickets
these days.
"We wanted to eliminate hidden fees," says Jeff
Kwatinetz, who co-manages the Backstreet Boys.
"When we say we want a $38.50 ticket, we mean
it." He's referring to the fact that along with
Ticketmaster service fees (which artists have no
control over, including the Backstreet Boys), fans
often get hit with additional add-ons, tacked on by
venues and promoters, that quickly add up.
"We're definitely saving our fans money," says
Kwatinetz. The company he co-founded, the Firm,
also oversees the Family Values Tour, and a Firm
employee confirms that tickets for this fall's Family
Values Tour, featuring Limp Bizkit, will also come
without hidden fees.
Facility fees are exactly that, a fee fans pay directly
to facility, as a sort of user tax. They first surfaced
years ago under the name "restoration fee" (usually
just $1 per ticket back then), and were charged
most often by old, downtown theaters in an effort to
raise money for refurbishing purposes. Soon, newer
buildings began to tack them on their ticket prices
as well. Sometimes the fees cover the cost of
on-site parking, sometimes they do not.
Amphitheaters today are the most common source
of facility fees, as owners try to recoup new
construction costs. Some, including Irvine Meadows
outside Los Angeles, charge $3 per ticket. Others,
such as Riverport Amphitheater in Maryland
Heights, Mo., and Sandstone Amphitheater in
Kansas City, have been known to charge $4 per
ticket facility fees. For a single sold-out concert,
that comes out to a cool $50,000 in facility fees.
Talk about your revenue streams.
Now the trend has moved indoors. Madison Square
Garden, and its smaller Theater at Madison Square
Garden, both charge a $3 facility fee on every
concert ticket sold.
The Backstreet Boys weren't buying it, though, and
they demanded venues not tack on extra surcharges
to the group's ticket prices. "We went building to
building," says Kwatinetz. "It was a lot of hard work.
But we felt it was a battle we could win."
ERIC BOEHLERT
(September 1, 1999)
Christina Aguilera, Puff Daddy Displace
Backstreet Boys, Limp Bizkit
Christina Aguilera's debut debuts at No. 1
Who knew the Mickey Mouse Club
would be a launching pad for
late-Nineties pop sensations? For
the second time this year a former
Mousketeer has hit the No. 1 spot.
The self-titled debut from Christina
Aguilera, following in the footsteps
of Disney alum Britney Spears,
sold 252,000 copies for the week
ending Aug. 29, according to
SoundScan. That's an eye-popping
debut considering Spears sold 120,000 copies her
first week in stores back in January.
Clearly, the sultry singer's radio smash "Genie in a
Bottle" helped fuel her break-out success. That and
the fact the assembly-line teen pop machine shows
no signs of slowing down.
Right behind Aguilera at No. 2 was Puff Daddy's
Forever. But the less said about the rapper's
disappointing commercial performance, probably the
better. Not only did the overexposed mastermind of
Nineties hip-pop fail to beat out Aguilera, a teen
singer nobody had heard of four months ago, but the
rap mogul's new album barely sold 200,000 copies
in its first week. (Industry insiders figured it was a
cinch to make 300,000.) That, despite a non-stop
promotional push and the fact Forever is a follow-up
to Puffy's massively successful, multi-platinum
debut, No Way Out. The problem was the album's
first single, "P.E. 2000," has been AWOL at radio,
and most critics have slammed Forever. (One New
York scribe labeled it an "unconscionably bad
record.")
With a flurry of new superstar fall releases set to hit
stores, it seems unlikely Forever will ever reach No. 1.
Speaking of new releases, looking ahead it will be
interesting to see if Aguilera can hold off country
phenoms the Dixie Chicks and their latest, Fly,
which arrived in stores on Tuesday and makes its
chart debut next week. Coming off their six-times
platinum debut, Wide Open Spaces, the Dixie
Chicks' critically acclaimed Fly has all the markings
of a blockbuster.
Aguilera and Puff Daddy weren't the only ones
hitting the Top 10 in their first week out; Rapper
Noreaga's latest, Melvyn Flynt: Da Hustler, the
follow-up to '98's N.O.R.E., debuted at No. 9.
Other notable sales performances belonged to hard
rockers Sevendust, whose Home came in at No. 19,
while soft rappers LFO's self-titled debut checked in
at No. 21.
From the top, it was Christina Aguilera's Christina
Aguilera, followed by Puff Daddy's Forever(selling
205,000 copies); the Backstreet Boys' Millennium
(200,000); Limp Bizkit's Significant Other (141,000);
Mary J. Blige's Mary (127,000); Britney Spears'
...Baby One More Time (124,000); Santana's
Supernatural (116,000); Kid Rock's Devil Without a
Cause (110,500); Noreaga's Melvyn Flynt: Da
Hustler (110,000); and Ricky Martin's Ricky Martin
(109,000).
ERIC BOEHLERT
(September 1, 1999)
Got it from here
Yahoo! Headlines
Top Stories
Tuesday August 10, 7:13 PM HE DIED ON MY BIRTHDAY!! AHHH!!! *SNIFF!* SO SAD!!!
Spice Girls creator Herbert killed in car crash
LONDON, Aug 10 - Bob Herbert, the creator of British pop supergroup the Spice Girls, has been killed in a car accident, record company RCA said on Tuesday.
Herbert, 57, who picked the five young English women after they answered his ad in Stage magazine, was killed instantly on Monday when his car crashed in heavy rain, RCA said.
The Spice Girls were "shocked and saddened" by the news of his death, a spokeswoman for the group said.
Herbert was most recently the manager of British pop band Five.
Simon Fuller, who took over from Herbert and was widely credited with taking the group from obscurity to superstardom, was sacked as their manager in November 1997.
Category : Top Stories
I got this one thanks to mah sis, go to Yahoo.co.uk, type in '5ive' and this news article comes up
Yahoo! Headlines ~ Entertainment
Wednesday August 11, 5:25 PM
Spice Girl Founder Dead
Both the Spice Girls and 5ive were in mourning last night as the man that put both groups on the road to stardom died in a road accident. Bob Herbert died
after he lost control of his sports car. Ex Spice Girl Geri Halliwell said ''without that little ad. he placed in the stage magazine I wouldnt be where I am today''. 5ive are in Argentina and are said to be cutting short their tour after hearing the tragic news.
Got this one from rollingstone.com!
August 14th, 1999
Backstreet Boys Back on Top
The Backstreet Boys dethrone Limp Bizkit once
again for week's top album spot
Back and forth they go. Like two
heavyweight champs, the
Backstreet Boys and Limp Bizkit
continue to battle for the top spot
on the nation's album chart. Over
the last two months, the groups
have seesawed back and forth
between No. 1 and No. 2. This
week, it's the Backstreet Boys
who recapture No. 1. The group's
Millennium sold 233,000 copies for
the week ending Aug. 8, according to SoundScan.
Limp Bizkit's Significant Other came up just 13,000
copies short. Over those past seven weeks, BSB
have been No. 1 three times, Limp Bizkit four.
The week's big debut belongs to MC Memphis
Bleek. A follower of fellow New York rapper Jay-Z,
Bleek's Coming of Age came in at No. 7. After
debuting big last week, the Eighties-friendly
soundtrack to Runaway Bride (Eric Clapton, U2,
Billy Joel, Hall & Oates) jumped into the top ten, all
the way up to No. 4.
Making room for the new top ten entries were the
Red Hot Chili Peppers' Californication, which
dropped one spot to No. 11, while Hot Boys' Guerilla
Warfare fell from No. 5 to No. 12. Santana, whose
self-titled debut album was released thirty years
ago, continues to score well with their latest,
Supernatural. Eight weeks after its release, the
album, featuring the rock radio hit "Smooth" with
Rob Thomas of Matchbox 20, climbed to No. 18.
Notable debuts for the week include Forget About It,
by bluegrass/pop singer Alison Krauss (No. 60), the
Kiss-inspired soundtrack to Detroit Rock City (No.
68), and Master P rapper Lil Italy's On Top of Da
World (No. 99).
From the top, it was Millennium, followed by
Significant Other (selling 220,000 copies); Ricky
Martin's Ricky Martin (144,000); the soundtrack to
Runaway Bride (139000); Britney Spears' ...Baby
One More Time (138,000); Now That's What I Call
Music, Vol. 2 (130,000); Kid Rock's Devil Without a
Cause (110,000); Smash Mouth's Astro Lounge
(103,000); and Destiny's Child's Writing's on the
Wall (100,000).
ERIC BOEHLERT
(August 11, 1999)
from the official *N Sync site
The soundtrack album will not only feature this fantastic
duet, but also new music from a mix of major urban and
Latin music.
Please click here or on the album cover to
sample"Music of My Heart."
OK, now here's the NSIDE scoop on the
movie. The movie, "Music of the Heart"
stars two time Academy Award winner
Meryl Streep, Academy Award nominee Angela Bassett,
& Grammy Award Winner, Gloria Estefan in her motion
picture debut. The movie is directed by Wes Craven
(Scream) & the Miramax film opens in over 1,000 theaters
on October 15, WOW! Is that gonna be awesome or what?
Congrats to NSYNC for being on the soundtrack. Don't
miss the 8/12 performance, it's gonna be great.
E-mail me
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