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2003 Edition of the Recording Industry Sourcebook is Now Released and available from Music Books Plus!


 

Michael Schenker's famous Gibson Flying V guitars are now available exclusively from Andy Brauer!


ANDY BRAUER
GUITAR RENTALS

 

 

 

 

 

 



 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Billboard charts

Top 100 Positions /Issue Date: Feb 15, 2003



February 2003 -- Expresso Love!
Receive a 15% discount from JASMINE'S GARDEN
Unique Floral Designs
Offer valid for orders delivered between February 17-28, 2003 in Los Angeles
Call 1-800-953-1288 or visit:
www.JasminesGarden.net


 
Studio Spotlight

Cups 'N Strings open in Santa Monica!

New Cups 'N Strings Studios from Industry Leader Bruce Maddocks offers Surround Mixing, Mastering, Post-Production and Digital Transmission


Take an Express Tour of with Bruce and find out who has been recording and hear the latest here...


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Producer Profile

Mark Linett , mixer/engineer/producer
Dave Alvin, The Blasters, Brian Wilson

Surf's up with Linett who most recently worked on Dave Alvin's "Public Domain" which won a Grammy in 2001. Also Mark completed two live albums for Dave in 2002 "Out in California" and its compnaion "Outtakes in Ca" both of which he engineered and co-prouced.

Mark co-produced and engineered the live Blasters reunion CD "Troule Bound. He is working on the Beach Boys' albums Pet Sounds and Surf's Up, mixing them to 5.1 surround at 96 kHz sampling for DVD-Audio on Capitol (scheduled for release in early 2003).

Linett's Your Place or Mine offers quality and cost-effective live recording options for both new and established artists...
read more...

 

 


Mark uses Apogee's Native Tools

 

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Talkback


Smooth Sardina!

Contemporary Jazz artist Marc Antoine and in-demand mixer/producer Rafa Sardina seen in the studio with the brilliant, innovative percussionist Luis Conte listening to new tracks for Marc's Fall 2003 release on RendezVous Records.

Antoine sums up his philosophy about the way he makes music very simply: "If I'm walking in New York, and I hear a salsa band in a club nearby, I get in that mood and immediately start thinking of writing a tune in that style."

His well-traveled life has certainly provided its share of inspiration. Antoine blends his classical training with a multi-cultural urban groove. After studying at the Edouard Paiteron College in Paris and the International School of Classical Guitar, he played with a typically varied cast of artists: pop stars like Sting, Basia and Selena, rappers like Guru's Jazzmatazz project and Queen Latifah, plus acid jazz hipsters the Solsonics and DJ Greyboy.

 

 

Private Sessions with Masson

Masson who recently mixed Marilyn Manson DVD “Death Parade”(EagleVision)- 5.1 mix is in production with The Cribb.

The Cribb's project is also the focus of a forthcoming VH1 documentary about how private residences can be turned into recording environments, dramatically broadening the range of recording spaces that musicians, producers, and engineers can access, and thereby opening up new creative vistas. Producer/mixer/engineer Rogers Masson agrees; consistent and accurate monitoring is more important than ever. "This is a temporary recording space, so we could have put in any monitors we wanted," he notes. "We chose the Blue Sky monitors because we know that the accuracy level is high. They'll act as the control reference of the recording space. Based on my experience with Blue Sky in the past, I know I couldn't have made a better choice," Masson concludes.




 



Antoine with Conte & Sardina at LAFX

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 


The Cribb


 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 



75th Annual Academy Awards nominationation were announced this week. The Oscars will be presented on March 23, 2003 at the Kodak Theatre in Hollywood.


'Chicago's' Renee Zellweger and Queen Latifah.


The Roxie moxie worked its magic as "Chicago" -- the musical tale of murderess Roxie Hart -- mowed down 13 Oscar nominations, including best pic. Miramax scored big in Tuesday's announcement of noms from the Academy of Motion Picture Arts & Sciences, as the distrib's best-pic contender "Gangs of New York" was runner-up with 10 noms

MUSIC (SONG)
CHICAGO -- "I Move On"
Music by John Kander; Lyric by Fred Ebb
8 MILE -- "Lose Yourself"
Music by Eminem, Jeff Bass and Luis Resto; Lyric by Eminem
FRIDA -- "Burn It Blue"
Music by Elliot Goldenthal; Lyric by Julie Taymor
GANGS OF NEW YORK -- "The Hands That Built America"
Music and Lyric by Bono, The Edge, Adam Clayton and Larry Mullen
THE WILD THORNBERRYS MOVIE -- "Father and Daughter"
Music and Lyric by Paul Simon

MUSIC (SCORE)
CATCH ME IF YOU CAN -- John Williams
FAR FROM HEAVEN -- Elmer Bernstein
FRIDA --Elliot Goldenthal
THE HOURS -- Philip Glass
ROAD TO PERDITION -- Thomas Newman

For details go to: Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences


Madonna's new video targets W. Bush
'American Life' will be released next month

According to the Drudge Report, Madonna is making the subject of her 'American Life' video anti-War and anti-Bush.

Filming for the video was shot last week in Los Angeles but director Jonas Akerlund. He also made the videos for Madonna's 'Ray of Light' and 'Music'.

Madonna will be seen in commando gear throwing grenades to the beat of the music. Drudge reports we will see limbless men and women, bloodied babies and Iraqi children in the clip.

Previously George Michael chose an anti-war theme in his video for 'Shoot The Dog' but it backfired against him. In Michael's video, he portrayed the British Prime Minister Tony Blair as nothing more than a loyal little puppy to George Dubya. Madonna however isn't using any humour in her message.


Lollapalooza fest revived for Summer 2003


Line up to feature Incubus, Audioslave, Queens of the Stone Age, Jurassic 5 and Jane's Addiction. The event, initially spearheaded by Jane's frontman Perry Farrell, has been off the road since 1997, when Tool, Korn, Snoop Dogg, Tricky, and Orbital were all part of the package.

Neither a full itinerary nor second-stage acts have yet been unveiled, but 28 North American cities have been nailed down: Atlanta; Boston; Chicago; Cincinnati; Cleveland; Columbus, Ohio; Dallas; Denver; Detroit; Hartford, Conn.; Holmdel, N.J.; Houston; Indianapolis; Kansas City, Mo.; Los Angeles; Miami; Milwaukee; New York; Pittsburgh; Philadelphia; Phoenix; Raleigh; St. Louis; San Diego; San Francisco; Toronto; Virginia Beach, Va.; and Washington, D.C

The tour served as the model for a host of successful festival tours, including Ozzfest, Lilith Fair, the Vans Warped Tour, and Moby's Area festival. There will be heavy competition this summer with events like the Summer Sanitarium Tour featuring Metallica, Limp Bizkit and Linkin Park, Vans Warped Tour and Ozzfest.

Farrell added that beyond music, Lollapalooza would be focusing on social issues such as alternative uses of fuel and the Axis of Justice project, which Audioslave guitarist Tom Morello founded with System Of A Down (Global Action) vocalist Serj Tankian. "You select the artists who are conscious and then they add to the party," Farrell said.

Demand a Responsible Energy Plan!
Join Perry and dozens of other artists from Mike Diamond and Moby to Alanis and James Taylor in stopping a reckless energy plan which includes drilling in our last wild places from passing the Senate. Take action now by sending your Senator a free fax here

Dr. Dre and Eminem's 50 Cent cd

Interscope will released the highly anticipated 50 Cent album ahead of schedule from Feb 11th to Feb. 6th due to illegal downloading already underway. The Shady/Aftermath/Interscope release is expected to be one of the bigger albums of the year with the help of Eminem and Dr. Dre. Upon release, online services like Pressplay and Liquid Audio will offer single song downloads from this album for only $.99 cents each. 50 Cent is already burning up the charts with his single "Get Rich" which is #1 on Billboard's Hot Rap Tracks chart. 50 Cent is also set to team up with deceased rapper Tupac Shakur on a new track being engineered by a New York DJ Whoo Kid with previously unreleased Shakur vocals.


Grammy Nominees Compilation CD



The Recording Academy has teamed up with Warner Music Group to release the 2003 Grammy Nominees CD, the 9th edition in the best-selling series that honors many of the year's Grammy-nominated artists and songs. This year's compilation, due in stores nationwide on Feb. 11th, includes 19 tracks from nominees. The Recording Academy pairs with a different label each year to release the Grammy CD. Last year's edition with the Universal Music Group sold 370,000 copies in the U.S.

Also check out the Grammy Charity Auction on E-Bay to benefit Musicares.
Guitars signed by many celebs including Steve Vai, India.Arie, Elton John and Elvis!

 

Sennheiser Gets Around

Where do Avril Lavigne, Kylie Minogue, Nora Jones or Beck's Engineers Turn For Live Sound Support During A World Tour? Their laptop computers, of course!

Thanks to the all-new Sennheiser Network, artists and engineers now have instant access to an array of critical product news and technical services
support provided by Sennheiser in countries around the world.

This exclusive Sennheiser web-based network, the brainchild of Rolf Meyer, Sennheiser GmbH president of sales and marketing and Paul Whiting, managing director of Sennheiser UK, affords an unsurpassed new level of Sennheiser
artist-relations support - all in a few clicks of the mouse. The network is managed by worldwide artist relationship manager Paul Hugo.

Here's an example of how the network was successful on the recent Kylie Minogue European tour: Kylie's engineers were already signed up as members of the network in the UK. While making plans to go to the USA, they accessed the Sennheiser Network website and found Paul Hugo's name and contact information to coordinate the Sennheiser wireless frequencies and gear needed when Kylie arrived in the U.S. for performances and television dates. "For decades, Sennheiser has earned accolades for supporting the artists and engineers who faithfully use our equipment, whether they're international superstars or local favorites," Hugo says.

Shania goes wireless!


Sennheiser MD 5005 wireless takes Shania "Up" during the recent American
Music Awards Show. (PHOTO CREDIT: IMAGE DIRECT)

Anybody who watched the 30th Annual American Music Awards on ABC-TV cannot have helped but notice Shania Twain's performance of her latest single, "Up!" which she sang while ascending a makeshift staircase from the floor to the balcony of L.A.'s Shrine Auditorium. The stunt could only be performed with a wireless microphone which, for Twain,
meant a break with tradition.

"She has a negative bias against any wireless microphone because of her previous experience," explains Twain's monitor engineer, Steve McCale, a self-described Œsimple sound guy¹ who started in the business with Clair Bros. in the mid-80s. "Prior to Sennheiser, Shania felt all wireless equipment dropped out." For the AMA show, sound contractor AudioTek (ATK) provided Twain with a Sennheiser MD 5005 capsule on a 5000 wireless
transmitter, making the singer the latest convert to the company's RF solutions in the process.

Sting & No Doubt Rock Super Bowl XXXVII

Gwen Stefani, lead singer of No Doubt and Sting warm up the halftime show at Super Bowl XXXVII. Gwen and Sting were both using Sennheiser SKM 5000 wireless mic systems. Gwen also used Sennheiser 3000 wireless in ear monitors while Sting was on a wedge for monitoring.

Shipley keeps good company - Twain & MT


Mike Shipley Photo by Edward Colver

Top engineer Mike Shipley mixed the newest Shania Twain project "Up!" on a Solid State Logic MT Plus Digital Multi-track console. The project required producer Mutt Lange and Shipley to create three separate styles, Pop, Country and World for each song. Shipley heavily relied on the MT Plus' automation prowess to sort out the complex mixing demands for the Pop and Country versions, both of which were offered in the same CD package.

The entire project, according to Shipley, consumed several years between writing and recording. The mix process alone took over three months of intense work to generate the winning result.

"First and foremost, the console sounds great and SSL really bent over backwards to look after our very unique needs. Secondly, the mix process also included recording new parts as we progressed and only the MT Plus can handle this type of bouncing back and forth production mode efficiently. This project would have taken dramatically longer on an analogue board and certainly the creative flow would not have been as good. We're very happy with the MT Plus and the extremely successful results of 'Up!' "



Chuck's Choice - A/V SAN from Studio Network Solutions



Chuck Ainlay, a music industry veteran with over 25 years experience producing and engineering, has come to rely on the Studio Network Solutions' A/V SAN™ for his very demanding recording needs. The A/V SAN™ (Storage Area Network) provides the extraordinary data transfer rates and rock-solid reliability needed for today's 24-bit/96kHz multi-channel digital workstation operations, and is the heir apparent to the aging SCSI systems used by the computer industry for so long. Recently, Ainlay has utilized the drive system on projects for such artists as George Strait, Everclear, Shedaisy and a Mark Knopfler/Emmylou Harris duet.

"I first heard of the A/V SAN™ system through a demonstration here in town," says Ainlay. "I use the Steinberg Nuendo recording system for the PC and I am part of the Producers User Group for that system. Because of the increased demands on my hard drive, I decided to give the A/V SAN™ a try. No matter how good the software system is, the piece of equipment that gets the workout is the hard drive. The hard drive must work flawlessly or you will lose your project. I put the A/V SAN™ system in, ran it through its paces, and it did everything that I could possibly ask of a hard drive system. It works great."

The A/V SAN™ package includes a 1U enclosure, up to 4 Fibre Channel drives, a Studio Network Solutions PCI card, custom SNS Software and optical cables. The A/V SAN PRO™ offers up to 15 drives per 3U enclosure delivering multiple terabytes of storage. More info at Studio Network Solutions

 



Sound On Sound's studio D goes Pro Tools|HD



The debut of Studio D, designed by Larry Swist of Lawrence P. Swist Designs, marks one of the first times a major recording studio has built a room from the ground up dedicated to maximizing the benefits of Pro Tools|HD. “What set’s this room apart from all the other Pro Tools rooms is that it is built with the same standards as our two SSL rooms and the Sony Oxford studio,” commented Sound On Sound President, Dave Amlen. “Clients working in D will also enjoy the same high-end services that we provide to all clients working at Sound On Sound.”

 

More Toys for Ocean Studios' Clients...


Guitarist Theo from the Arista band Gob shows his approval to producer/engineer Mark Trombino
in front of Ocean Studio's large frame 80 series Neve console

Ocean just added 6 more Neve 1081 modules, expanding their large frame vintage 80 series Neve console up to (40) 1081, (6) 1073 and (2) 1084 modules, with a total of 96 inputs in mix mode. Wait there's more...Ridge Farms "Gas Cooker" stereo Tube DIs, a "Beatles/Pink Floyd" Telefunken U73b limiter, and some Telefunken / Seimens V78, Langevin AM-16, Klein & Hummel preamps. Yeah more...pairs of Tannoy SGM-10B with Mastering Lab crossovers and Tannoy SRM-10B speakers. ok, we're almost done...channels of API 550a and 560 EQs - wow!

Who's been there lately: Producer Danny Saber and engineer Dave Jenkins tracking for a new album by the band Prong. The band Indio spent time in January tracking. Bryan Cook was producer and engineer. .

In December 2002, engineer/producer Sean Beavan and Pro-Tools engineer Critter were at Ocean with the group Kill Hanna, tracking their next Atlantic album. Ocean's Dean Nelson & Jason Cupp assisted the sessions.


'Loud, fast and out of control' Tom Waits on the Ramones.
He's among the artists on an tribute album to the seminal punk band.

The new album "We're a Happy Family," joining an all-star team of artists ranging from Metallica to Pete Yorn, Pretenders to Eddie Vedder, KISS to Tom Waits, all wallowing in the primordial mud of the Ramones' music.

"Proof"

Adam Wyle is set to release his new album "Proof" in February. Produced by Marvin Etzioni (The Counting Crows, Toad the Wet Sprocket) this album is a collection of songs that were written and recorded in LA over the past couple years. "PROOF" truly examines Adam's talent as a singer, songwriter and performer. Known for his ability to tell a story through melodic hooks and thought provoking lyrics "PROOF" is a collection of songs that does just that. From start to finish Adam captures inspirational moments that others can reflect upon as they pass through life. Adam and his producer Marvin set out to make a timeless record in the vein of those albums and artists that have influenced Wyle's career. An album that make sense from opening track to final note. This will be Adam Wyle's second solo album and accompanying him is a host of all-star musicians that capture the essence of each song. This combination of Adam's singing and song writing combined with un-parallel musicianship will make this album a must have for one's record collection.

Album release party on: Wednesday, February 19th
The Beat Kitchen
2100 W. Belmont Ave. Chicago, IL
Doors Open at 8 PM - $7.00 cover

With special guests: The Underbelly & Marvin Etzioni
Sponsored by Gen Art Chicago

Everybody's ready for the "Next Big Thing"

Vince Gill says it was a daunting task to self-produce. Even though he surrounded himself with great musicians, he missed what Tony Brown added to his records.

"… we both counted on each other when we made records together. And so I kinda had to trust myself a little more than maybe I would have in the past. So we got great musicians and said "here are the tunes, let's all go in there and knock 'em around and see what we can do with them."

The result is Vince's new album and title song "Next Big Thing," that Gill had a hand in writing. "I wrote it with Al Anderson and John Hobbs. We were just kind of poking fun at a little bit of everybody including ourselves and just, you know… it's got a little bit of that wishing things rocked like they used to a little bit, and at the same time it's a take on our pop culture, of how disposable we are with things. Whether it's a Slinky or a Pet Rock or Elvis or whoever, you know. It's just like oh man, this is the coolest thing ever, we got to get one of those, the Next Big Thing."


Legalize it!

The file-swapping networks plaguing movie and music moguls are starting to figure out how to make a legitimate buck.


Travis Kalanick (above) likes to surf. For sport he takes to the water outside his Hermosa Beach, Calif. home. For a living he surfs the Web. His first plunge into this business was with a little company called Scour, which knocked off the famous music knockoff site Napster. Scour became one of the most popular MP3 sites on the Web, helping larcenous teenagers get free copies of copyrighted music by sharing files. Scour made its money on advertising.

No surprise, music publishers sued Scour two years ago, seeking damages for contributing to copyright infringement. Kalanick settled the case by giving the publishers $1 million for their trouble and agreeing to shut down the site. He also sold Scour for $9 million to CenterSpan Communications (nasdaq: CSCC). Kalanick left for Hawaii to surf for a bit.

Now the 26-year-old is back with a new company, in Westwood, Calif.: Red Swoosh, which aims to use the same file-sharing technology legitimately. By adding a layer of copy protection and user authentication to his prior application, Kalanick is making nice with the people he once drove mad. "We want to make customers of every one of the 33 litigants in the Scour suit," he says.

If you can't beat 'em, hire 'em. Finding it next to impossible to shut down all the Napster-like sites that facilitate illegal copying, Hollywood is trying to make honest businessmen of some of the perpetrators by teaming up on digital distribution of content. Microsoft (nasdaq: MSFT - news - people ) has joined forces with Altnet, a mogul-friendly accessory to the notorious Kazaa network. One of Napster's cofounders has launched a movie download service that is in early discussions with MGM (nyse: MGG - news - people ). The once-anarchic creator of Freenet has produced an application to help office workers search one another's hard drives for important memos and documents.

The legal battle over the unauthorized copying continues. The music labels shut down Napster and still blame it for their sales slump. The Motion Picture Association of America is suing Kazaa, MusicCity and Grokster in a federal district court in Los Angeles. Meanwhile, operators of some corporate networks are trying to keep file sharing out of the workplace, lest they become entangled in copyright suits or simply lose bandwidth to MP3 frivolity. Home Depot and IBM, for example, ban the peer-to-peer music-sharing technology that Napster used. Companies that upgrade to Windows XP can deploy a new feature that prohibits employees from installing anything on their desktops that would bypass the server.

But file sharing is a powerful technology, and its legitimate uses cannot be denied. The beauty of it is that it doesn't require a central server. Users who want a file search among other "peers," scanning all the computers on a network and then swapping bits. The bottleneck at the file server is bypassed.

Red Swoosh has signed up such clients as Cable & Wireless and IGN Entertainment (nasdaq: IGNX - news - people ) to download songs, videos and games. As with Kazaa, the Swoosh networks' content comes from disparate PCs near the user that have already installed Swoosh. Data is assembled for download on the fly. But unlike Kazaa, which involves the drudgery of searching through massive file databases and smears your desktop with annoying pop-up ads, Swoosh allows its 1.4 million users to click on a download easily. Its digital-rights-management feature blocks unauthorized users from downloading, encrypts the file while in transit and makes it difficult to burn additional copies.

IGN, a gaming fan site, would have to pay a traditional content distribution network about 60 cents to get a 200-megabyte file sent out to a purchaser. Kalanick charges a fixed fee of a few pennies per active user per month, regardless of how much users download. IGN has used Swoosh to promote game hits such as Grand Theft Auto: Vice City. Kalanick says Swoosh grossed $250,000 in the last three months of 2002 and is on track to do $2.5 million this year.

Last October, in its ongoing effort to insinuate itself into Hollywood, Microsoft paid $18,000 to promote Lions Gate Films' coming-of-age movie Rules of Attraction, using the Altnet peer-to-peer service. Altnet happens to be bundled with Kazaa. For a fee, its search technology will push legitimate music files and videogames to the top of Kazaa search queries. Hundreds of games are downloaded on Altnet daily, for $10 to $25. Music files cost users between a dime and a dollar; a 30-day movie license runs up to $4.

Even Napster cofounder John Fanning is making a comeback. Fanning, uncle of Shawn Fanning, is chief technology officer and founder of NetMovies, a movie subscription service. The Hull, Mass. company, similar to studio-backed Movielink, is testing its publishing system, which, for $5 a month, will allow viewers to download old classics and purchase new releases, like Bruce Willis' Hart's War. Blockbuster (nyse: BBI - news - people ) is an investor (Aliya Sternstein, Forbes 02.17.03)

Echo On Downloads

The music industry has identified another means by which it can fend off free digital downloads, and this time six major record retailers are leading the charge.

Best Buy (nyse: BBY - news - people ), Tower Records, Virgin Entertainment, Wherehouse Music, Hastings Entertainment (nasdaq: HAST - news - people ) and Trans World Entertainment (nasdaq: TWMC - news - people ) have teamed up in a joint venture called Echo that will sell downloadable music tracks, both online and in stores.

The effort faces considerable challenges but, though it is only just getting started, it looks to be the most promising pay-to-play business on the horizon thus far. There will be critical differences between the download service Echo plans and those currently being offered--without much success--by the record labels.

The primary problem with both MusicNet--owned by AOL Time Warner (nyse: AOL - news - people ), Bertelsmann and EMI Group (nyse: EMI - news - people )--and Pressplay--owned by Sony's (nyse: SNE - news - people ) Sony Music Group and Universal Music, a unit of Vivendi Universal (nyse: V - news - people )--is that they are subscription services. On those Web sites, a consumer pays a monthly fee for access to a certain number of downloads. But people don't like being forced to buy a certain number of tracks per month, says Forrester Research analyst Josh Bernoff. Echo will sell individual tracks.

Perhaps Echo's biggest advantage will be its ability to cross-promote downloads to consumers in retailers' stores. "I might buy a Sheryl Crow album and then get two or three more downloadable bonus tracks for free," says Yankee Group analyst Michael Goodman. He expects to see prepaid cards issued in stores so that teens who don't have credit cards can make purchases online. Echo will further differentiate itself from the free services, as well as the labels' online efforts, by offering plenty of sneak peeks and bonus tracks that can't be found elsewhere. "Retailers are looking at models that will supplement sales, not undercut them," he says.

The labels' online efforts have been dogged by regulatory scrutiny. Goodman says Echo won't face that kind of examination from the Federal Trade Commission, which watches carefully for industry collusion. "A third party will have much more flexibility with its business model," he says.

The gaping hole in Echo's strategy is that it has yet to cut any deals with the record labels that control the content it plans to sell. It will take another six months, but they'll eventually climb aboard, if only out of desperation.

All things being equal, the labels would certainly prefer to control digital distribution via Pressplay and MusicNet--but all things are not even close to being equal. Those services are foundering and CD sales are plummeting, down 9% in 2002.

"The retailers are the labels' best customers," says Goodman. "The labels need [retail] distribution--this is where their revenues come from."

Bernoff cautions that while working with Echo would be in the labels' best interests, "giving a consortium of retailers power over both physical and digital distribution will definitely give them pause." He adds, "The more flexible labels, like EMI, will sign on, but there won't be a flood. It will take time to negotiate the terms."

Another wrench in the works hinges upon the Jan. 24 news that Andersen Merchandisers, which is Wal-Mart Stores' (nyse: WMT - news - people ) music distributor, will purchase the download technology of Liquid Audio, which also holds licenses to sell 350,000 songs. Although it has no deal in place, Andersen plans to sell downloads through the Web sites of its retailers, including Wal-Mart, which happens to be the country's biggest music retailer.



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Ken Allardyce - Sarm West, UK
Chris Fogel - Fig, Glendale, CA
Greg Ladanyi - Tidal Wave Sound, Studio City, CA
Joseph Magee - O'Henry Studios, Burbank, CA
Michael C Ross - Royaltone Studios, North Hollywood, CA
Tolbert & Sutton - Studio Atlantis, Hollywood, CA
Rafa Sardina - Abbey Road, UK

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Head of MCA Quits As Sales Drop

The president of Vivendi Universal's MCA Records has resigned, becoming the latest casualty of the slumping music industry.
Jay Boberg, 44, told MCA employees that he was stepping down from the post he has held since 1995. He said in a memo to label executives that he leaves a roster of acts that is "an artistic and musical gold mine."

Boberg joined artist manager Miles Copeland in 1979 to found pioneering I.R.S. Records, which was later sold to EMI for an estimated $20 million.
He was tapped to head MCA's publishing arm in 1994 and was promoted to president a year later. MCA was struggling, but Boberg revived the label by bringing aboard such acts as Sublime, Blink 182 and New Radicals.
Last year, however, MCA missed its financial projections as the music industry suffered from lagging sales. Operating profit for Vivendi's music unit dropped 51 percent to $172 million for the nine months ended Sept. 30.
Jimmy Iovine, who runs the Interscope Geffen A&M division, will oversee the direction of MCA. But Universal Music Group chairman Doug Morris denied speculation that MCA would be absorbed by the larger division (AP, LA 2/03)


 


Our sympathy and regards go to Troy Germano and all the staff & family at the Hit Facory for their loss of Eddie Germano, founder on February 6th, 2003.

After a long illness, The Hit Factory owner Ed Germano passed away at age 61. A producer and entrepreneur, Germano was a major figure in the recording industry and will be sorely missed. Germano purchased The Hit Factory in 1975 from founder, and producer/composer Jerry Ragavoy and built the facility and name into one of the largest and most prestigious recording studios in the world. In January 1999, The Hit Factory acquired Criteria Studios in Miami, and renovated the complex before opening it in the spring of 2001, bringing as high a level of professionalism and style achieved with the NYC facility to Miami.

In lieu of flowers, donations can be made to the American Diabetes Association; P.O. Box 2680; North Canton, OH 44720.

We salute seven brilliant stars (Astronauts on board Columbia lost on 2/1) who dedicated their lives for improving human life on earth.

until next month...Peace & love.

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