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ON A RAIN-SOAKED MARCH AFTERNOON, RAP ARTIST Jay-Z and his partner. Damon Dash are taking care of business. They cruise down the slick Manhattan streets--Jay-Z in his sleek. black Mercedes [...]

Brooklyn--borough of Kings, ground zero for hipsters. It's always been a place that nourished artists, but lately it seems to have gone into overdrive. Two of Brooklyn's flagship acts--dance-punk anthemists [...]

When rap was the newest thing happening, only an indie could possibly keep up. Cutting edge, niche marketing and immediate street response were among the catchphrases used to explain why […]

When Interscope launched in 1990, it wasn't supposed to work. The umpteenth new label in a sea of startups cashing in on the arrival of the CD, 'We were the [...]

It was four years ago that Jerry Park, president of contemporary Christian powerhouse Benson Music, came to the conclusion that his label should be in the gospel marketplace. 'As a […]

Byline: Bret Begun You can't run a record label without being a bit of a rock star yourself, and Rich Egan is playing the part. It's 11 a.m. and Egan, [...]

PRAGUE -- Universal Music Czech Republic has launched a new dance compilations label for the domestic market. Universal will hold a 60% stake in Popron Traxx, with managing director Peter [...]

Regardless of Napster's future, its practice of making popular music freely available is being embraced by a music company, automaker and youth-oriented researcher in mobile marketing tours launching this month. [...]

Perhaps more than any other record company in recent memory, Arista Records can justifiably claim to have been home to many of the world's most successful divas. The term itself [...]

POG DOES WAL-MART CONCERT: Point Of Grace has become the first Christian act tapped by Wal-Mart for a special live concert. Following on the heels of similar events featuring Garth […]

Don't tell Metal Blade president/CEO Brian Slagel that heavy music is dead. 'It strikes me that the scene is so similar now to the way it was in '84 and […]

Label Aims To Return Top Hits To Vinyl WASHINGTON, D.C.--As the leader in the uphill battle to keep the 7-inch vinyl configuration afloat, Collectables Records and its sister operation, Gotham […]

There's plenty of nostalgia to be had on the concert circuit this summer. The Eagles, Iggy Pop and the Stooges, Smashing Pumpkins, the Who and Oz's the Saints have all [...]

LOS ANGELES - As R&B artists embark on their annual summer tours (Billboard, May 24), black promoters are wondering whether they will receive their fair share of dates - especially […]

NEW YORK - Leading dance music indie Strictly Rhythm Records is broadening its musical focus with the formation of Grand Slam, an imprint designed to develop acts for the pop [...]

Long Island Legend Grows With In-Store Metal Shows VALLEY STREAM, N.Y. - Although Long Island, N.Y., is one of the top markets in the country, Slipped Disc is one of […]

MELBOURNE, Australia - sony Music Entertainment Australia is going underground. The company has set up the Tri-Star label in Melbourne as home to beth left-of-center alternative releases and non-English-language music […]

NASHVILLE--With the number of new artists on the rise and playlists as tight as they've ever been, it's tough for a new band to get played on country radio. But […]

Barney is in for an image modification. The Lyons Group is simultaneously launching the purple dinosaur's music career while working behind the scenes to upgrade the merchandising of his videos [...]

NEW YORK--MiniDisc is making a move into mastering houses across the country as part of a pilot program initiated by Sony, creator of the format, to support the production of […]

NEW YORK--As Sheffield Lab celebrates its 25th anniversary, president Oscar Ciornei is initiating a plan to increase the label's mainstream presence while still emphasizing its audiophile sound. To that end, […]

NASHVILLE--Although Liberty Records sells only a minuscule percentage of its country music outside the U.S., the label hopes to expand that share significantly within the next three years. And it […]

LOS ANGELES - Executives at the major labels, faced with a somewhat overcrowded marketplace of new acts vying with established artists and a plethora of new labels, are exercising some […]

EMI Labels Establish Independent Rap Dept. NEW YORK--EMI Records Group North America has established what appears to be the first major-label rap department independent of its R&B music department. The […]

Rap Labels Going For A Musical Mix NEW YORK - Looking to establish themselves as broad-based recording companies with long-term viability, several rap labels have branched out into other genres. [...]

Measuring The Many Cutting Edges In R&B Music LOS ANGELES--An analysis of the current state of R&B music begs the question: Which artists are blazing new trails, setting the pace, [...]

The music market is stagnating. The majority of the albums in the top 10 fail to break the 100,000 sales mark during any given week. But while the major record [...]

NEW YORK--In an attempt to offset the precipitous decline in U.S. singles sales this year, music chains attending the National Assn. of Recording Merchandisers' (NARM) recent convention lobbied labels to […]

Phyllis Stark, managing editor of Country Airplay Monitor. NASHVILLE--When debut singles fail, as they often do, a label's normal procedure is usually to either ship another single to radio immediately […]

WASHINGTON, D.C.--Music-oriented videos generally get the cold shoulder at retail, but you wouldn't know it from the activities of Putumayo World Records. The New York-based label is plunging headfirst into […]

NASHVILLE-After an acclaimed first album that spawned an evocative cover of Tom T. Hall's 'That's How I Got To Memphis,' Columbia will release Deryl Dodd's self-titled sophomore set Nov. 24. […]

CAPITOL MATTERS: Pat Quigley, president/CEO of Capitol Nashville, tells Nashville Scene that he has been in talks with producer/artist Don Was about an A&R job for Was at the label. […]

BERLIN - BMG is consolidating its Berlin-based labels into a new business unit, BMG Berlin Musik GmbH, to be run by Andre Sellenheit, currently managing director of Hansa Musik Produktion, […]

NEW YORK - Virgin Records is strengthening its commitment to the dance music market with the formation of Virgin Underground, an imprint geared toward developing new club-rooted talent. Virgin Underground […]

At the risk of sounding like Andy Rooney, have you ever wondered why the radio and record industries have such a dysfunctional relationship? For two multibillion-dollar entertainment industries that depend […]

Independent labels are increasingly finding a niche in the country-music mix, especially as the business attracts new audiences. In the wake of such an indie success as Alison Krauss' platinum-plus […]

Monks, tenors and Beethoven are dominating classical record sales, but label heads are looking ahead to the next thing. To keep those bottom lines even, classical is moving evermore toward […]

TORONTO - Taking into account the fact that there are an estimated 500,000 Canadians of at least partial Chinese extraction, and that Hong Kong is now one of the largest […]

WEA MUSIC in Germany is reactivating its alternative rock label Koenigs haus, which will operate out of Berlin, rather than its old home, Hamburg. Heading up Koenigshaus will be Fritz […]

NASHVILLE--More than 20 country acts will sing under the Crown Royal whiskey banner this year in a corporately sponsored series that runs from Sept. 9 through Dec. 11. The company, […]

Grass-Roots Buzz Leads To Label Ties TORONTO--While a large population, a multitude of media outlets, and regional differences might make it difficult for an American indie act to make a […]

Independent record companies have always banked on intuitive skills and sheer sweat to make and break their artists. Labels like Next Plateau, Priority, Tommy Boy, Profile, Violator, Rap-A-Lot, 4th & […]

Ballroom Dance Floor Catches On With Co-Promos CHICAGO--The latest effort in cultivating a swiftly growing country audience here is 'Boppin' at the Brook,' a biweekly country dance event held at […]

Smallness Allows Greater Focus, Speed NEW LABELS HAVE SEVERAL ADVANTAGES It is not difficult to understand the motivation for starting a new record label. The prices paid recently for the [...]