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International Spotlight BENELUX For the Benelux record industry, 1990 was a year of unprecedented prosperity. Sales in Belgium, whose industry also supplies the 377,100 people and 20 record retailers of [...]

BRUSSELS--The Belgian record industry has planned a huge promotion campaign aimed at encouraging consumers to come back to record stores. The campaign, Muziektiendaagse/Les 10 Jours de la Musique (Ten Days [...]

BRUSSELS-Virgin Records and French-based retailer Fnac are considering future cooperation after the success of a cross-border campaign to highlight the label's European priority acts. The campaign, Euro Fnac Music, ran [...]

CONCERT PROMOTER SFX has acquired Belgian promoters On the Rox and Sound & Vision for an undisclosed sum from their founder, Herman Schueremans. Earlier this year the U.S. firm acquired [...]

WITH 1.7 MILLION ALBUMS sold in the U.S., the. Lords of Acid have returned to their home base of Belgium just in time for the European release of Farstucker (Antler-Subway/EMI). [...]

VMM-Owned Music Channel Targets Flanders Viewers BRUSSELS--Belgian broadcaster VMM, the owner of cable TV channels VTM and Kanaal 2, plus radio networks Top Radio and Radio Mango, has launched a [...]

ONE OF THE MOST REMARKABLE Belgian chart successes of the year so far is the Adrivalan Orchestra's 50 Top Classics (Reli/Mouse Music). After five weeks at No. 1 on the [...]

Belgian Concert Promoter Now In U.S. S Hands ANTWERP, Belgium--The latest move in the ongoing European expansion of Clear Channel Communications-owned SFX has seen the U.S. concert giant acquire Belgian [...]

Labels Welcome Launch Of Extrazone Chain BRUSSELS--Some 40 years after it launched here, rackjobber/wholesaler Sonica is making its mark at retail with the introduction of Extrazone, a 40-store chain offering [...]

FLEMISH SINGER HELMUT LOTTI visited the European Parliament Jan. 9 in Brussels to demand extra support for the European directive on authors' rights, which the Parliament has to decide on [...]

MECHELEN, BELGIUM--Twenty years after his death in a car crash, leading Belgian and Dutch artists are paying tribute to Louis Neefs, the late, middle-of-the-road Flemish chansonnier who is now hailed [...]

AS A CHILD SINGER, Silvy Melody hit the Belgian charts in 1990 with Flemish versions of 'Ben' and 'Le Telephone Pleure N De Telefoon Huilt Mee,' the latter resulting in [...]

WITH FOLK MUSIC currently booming in Belgium, Urban Trad has managed to combine the finest in local traditional music with modern dance rhythms. Yves Barbieux, a talented young composer from [...]

IFPI Belgium Targets Home-Copied CDs BRUSSELS--The biggest-ever media campaign undertaken by the Belgian music industry has been launched in an attempt to make young consumers aware of the fact that [...]

ONE OF UNIVERSAL MUSIC'S top priorities in Belgium is the launch of an alternative pop! rock set from four-piece AngeliCo. Already dubbed the Flemish Garbage, the group is heating up [...]

FOR THE LAST SIX YEARS, Rwanda-born singer Jean Bosco Safari has been devoting his career to Hope, a charity project devoted to the benefit of M[acute{e}]decins Sans Fronti[grave{e}]res (Doctors Without [...]

LEADING BELGIAN DANCE INDEPENDENT Antler/Subway has moved its operations into the Brussels headquarters of EMI Music Belgium, which acquired a majority share in the label in 1995. The Aarschot-based indie, [...]

BELGIUM-BASED PAN-EUROPEAN INDIE label/distributor Play It Again Sam (PIAS), part of the edel group, has acquired 51% of Ghent, Belgium-based dance label R&S Records, whose roster includes Derrick May, Aphex [...]

BELGIUM is the latest European market to suffer adversely from the impact of home-CD burning, according to the local affiliate of the International Federation of the Phonographic Industry (IFPI). The [...]

FIFTEEN of the biggest acts on the Belgian music scene have contributed to 'Glittering 2000,' an extraordinary compilation album of new versions of '70s glam rock hits on the Play [...]

ONE OF BELGIUM'S most remarkable recording acts in recent years has been the a cappella sextet Voice Male. The group's debut album, 'That's Life' (Epic/Sony), sold more than 15,000 units [...]

FLEMISH GIRL TRIO K3 (Kristel, Kathleen, and Karen) has broken a 34-year-old record in Belgium by holding the No. 1 position on the official Flemish Ultratop chart for 29 consecutive [...]

BRAZIL-BASED PRODUCER SUBA died Nov. 2 in Sao Paulo, Brazil, from a heart attack suffered after he inhaled smoke from a fire at his studio. Suba, who was born in […]

ORPHAN, THE FIRST-EVER Belgian band to play at the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences theater in Los Angeles, has completed a second album, due later this fall in […]

BRUSSELS--As of Friday (15), all Belgian enterprises making use of recorded music will have to pay neighboring-rights royalties to artists and labels. Belgium updated its copyright law--dating back to 1886--in […]

One of Belgium's premier export dance acts is Praga Khan, originally a duo formed in the early '90s by record-company owner and artist Maurice Engelen and top dance producer Olivier […]

Absynthe Minded's single 'Envoi' is spearheading Universal Music's attempts to break the Belgian quintet overseas. The English-language track is from the band's self-titled fourth album, released domestically in August 2009 [...]

After a four-week run atop Billboard's European Hot 100 singles chart, Belgian dance artist/ producer Stromae is looking to conquer the United Kingdom with 'Alors on Danse' (Mosaert/ Universal). Island [...]

This year will see another chapter written in the already impressive stow of Belgian act Vaya Con Dios and its singer/ songwriter Dani Klein. The act's first album in five [...]

Veteran U.S. R&B act the Pointer Sisters have been enjoying unexpected chart action in Belgium. The Pointers teamed with Ariola/Sony BMG Flemish pop vocalist Natalia to remake Eurythmics' 1985 hit [...]

ANTWERP, Belgium -- The new year started with a bang for the independent sector in the Benelux countries (Belgium, the Netherlands and Luxembourg). A newly expanded, Brussels-based indie distributor, Bang [...]

LEUVEN, Belgium -- Local artists may feel like raising a glass to celebrate the debut of a new label in Belgium later this month. After six years of involvement with […]

GHENT, Belgium -- With wins for original soundtrack of the year and the Internet-voted public choice award, Howard Shore's score for 'The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the [...]

BRUSSELS--In the absence of an official Belgian musical ambassador, Helmut Lotti would make a fine stand-in. Already a sensation at home and in the neighboring Netherlands, the Flemish singer is […]

LA HULPE, Belgium - Heard the one about the Smurfs? They've sold 8 million albums in three years. 'The Smurfs are not a joke,' says Helmut Fest, president of EMI […]

LONDON - The death of Diana, Princess of Wales has cast a somber shadow over the music business in the days following the fatal car accident in Paris in the […]

BRUSSELS - The March 12 opening of FNAC's Fifth Belgian store - its second in Antwerp - is sparking a new round of expansion for the chain here. The new […]

BRUSSELS - The record industry is losing a significant European retail outlet with the decision by Dutch electronics firm Philips to shutter its Superclub record and video chain. The chain, […]

BRUSSELS - BMG Ariola here is following the lead of Warner Music and EMI Music by establishing a pan-Benelux operation. BMG Benelux will be headed by managing director Dorus Sturm, […]

LONDON - The first high-profile test of the practical effects of Europe's new trans-shipment phenomenon is now taking place. Under the European Union's newly established open borders, retailers in any […]

Facility Can Link 3 Control, Live Rooms MOL, Belgium - Having invested $13 million in construction and equipment, Galaxy Studios has expanded into what it claims is the continent's most [...]

BRUSSELS--In order to cover the different areas of the music industry more thoroughly and to boost the company's efforts in both local and international product, PolyGram Belgium has decided to […]

BRUSSELS -- Following the success of similar operations in France and Germany, Sony Music Belgium has announced the Dec. 1 launch of its own Dance Pool division here. Gino Moerman, […]

BRUSSELS--Belgian kid-characters Samson & Gert have just finished their sixth week atop the national IFPI charts, proving that the kids market is alive and kicking if the concept is right. […]

BRUSSELS--BMG Ariola Belgium has signed a worldwide deal with Bonzai Records, an Antwerp-based dance independent. BMG Ariola Belgium has been distributing dance material for more than two years as part […]

BRUSSELS--Belgian record producers are to get neighboring rights for the first time under the new copyright law approved by the country's parliament after nine years of debate. The House of […]

HASSELT, Belgium--The opening of its second Record Breakers store, Dec. 4 in Hasselt, marks another step forward in a new development begun this year by HVH Megastores, the 10-store music […]

BRUSSELS--Belgian record companies are preparing to follow their European counterparts with the full-scale launch of the 2-track CD single in September and October. Until two years ago, Belgium was one […]

BRUSSELS--Rumors that video chain Super Club is to axe its core video rental business have been denied by the company's managing director and European executive VP Peter Fitters. The news […]

MUNICH--A major pan-European music marketing campaign, including sponsorship of concerts by Prince, Bon Jovi, the Scorpions, Salt-N-Pepa, and Bobby Brown, has been launched here by Coca-Cola, which estimates it will […]