.
Day In Rock 11/03: RIAA Boycott- Rocky Horror Goes Punk- Evanescence Guitarist Quits- Avenged Majorfold- Digital Future- Ratting On Jake E. Lee- Sorum Defends Weiland- RIAA Gestapo?- Double Gabriel- Def Queen- Rock TV This Week- Earle Vs. O'Reilly- Comes With..
by Keavin Wiggins
.
The Day in Rock Monday- antiMUSIC.com's look at Top Rock News Stories From the past Weekend

Click Here To Bookmark our new address DayInRock.com

RIAA Boycott
 Musicdish reports: In response to the second round of lawsuits begun by the major labels and the RIAA, a coalition of over 177 websites is calling for a weeklong boycott of major label music. The Stop RIAA Lawsuits Coalition (www.stopRIAAlawsuits.com) is urging music fans to avoid buying major label CDs, and to support independent label music. 

"The vast majority of those being sued are working families with children," said coalition member Holmes Wilson, whose site downhillbattle.org started a defense fund for those who were sued, "Regular people can't afford a legal defense against these companies. When you buy a major label CD, your money is going to fund lawsuits against families with children." 

"The major labels' reaction to file sharing has been to launch a fierce legal attack against some of their most loyal customers," says Peter Allen, owner of guitartabs.com, "We intend to show them that this is not an acceptable reaction, and as consumers, we will not tolerate this sort of treatment." 

"These suits have nothing to do with protecting musicians," said Jacob Berendes, a musician and independent label owner whose label, Fujichia Records has joined the coalition, "The major labels treat musicians terribly: you spend $16 on a CD and the band gets only 80 cents, if they're lucky." 

The site stopRIAAlawsuits.com will feature information about the lawsuits, a list of coalition members, places to buy used CDs online, and, most importantly, resources for finding the best independent music. "Independent labels give their musicians a much bigger cut of CD sales," said Andrew Ross, who's band's site joined the coalition, "and they're not hiring expensive lawyers to bully families with reckless and unwarranted lawsuits." 
.-- Click Here for the Full Story

We are so poor, we don't even have a language! Just a stupid accent!

Rocky Horror Goes Punk
RIFTrock reports: The Rocky Horror Punk Rock Show is set to hit stores on December 2nd. It will include covers of classic songs from the 70's musical The Rocky Horror Picture Show. The Ataris, Me First and the Gimme Gimmes, One Man Army, Tsunami Bomb, Swingin Utters, and The Alkaline Trio are just some of the bands that will appear on the album...Click Here for the Full Story

Evanescence Guitarist Quits
Blabbermouth reports: EVANESCENCE's Ben Moody has walked out in the middle of the band's European tour. The guitarist and co-songwriter, who formed the band as a teenager with singer Amy Lee, flew home without speaking to his bandmates during a day off on their German trek. They were then left to play the rest of their European dates, including the U.K., without him. As yet, it's impossible to say he has left for good but an angry, emotional Amy told the magazine: "You don't do that to your band. You wouldn't do that to your friends or your family. You don't do that to anyone."

Apparently it's not the first time he's walked out. The band have had to cancel a tour in the past and Amy told the crowd at a recent gig at Manchester Apollo. "Ben flew home, but we didn't want to let it cancel the tour again."-Click Here for the Full Story

I'd like to quit thinking of the present, like right now, as some minor, insignificant preamble to somethin' else.

Avenged Majorfold
siN's metal news reports: In what appears to be an interesting year for label movements AVENGED SEVENFOLD have signed to Warner Brothers. Heres the statement from the band:

"The reason we chose Warner Brothers over the other labels we were talking to was an easy one. They were the most passionate about our music, have been coming to shows for along time supporting us, have some of the greatest and most talented people we have met in the music business working there and they never once talked to us about changing our songs. Every band we talked to this summer on Warner Brothers including Rancid, Glassjaw, The Used, and Less Than Jake have had nothing but amazing things to say about this label and their work ethic. Another huge reason we chose them is the fact that they wanted to sign us months before "Waking the Fallen" was even released. They didn't wait to see if the album did well or what people thought about it. They heard it and basically said they wanted us to be a part of the Warner Brothers team. They truly love our music and most importantly get us as a band and where we are trying to go. Needless to say we are very excited and cannot wait to get started with Warner Brothers and we hope you guys are too. We know most of you will understand this decision and some of you will be pissed. Our true fans don't give a f*** what label we are on they just want good music and we will do that to the best of our ability." - Click Here for the Full Story 

The band just release a new CD "Waking The Fallen" through Hopeless Records. antiMUSIC's Hobo gave it an impressive 4 ½ stars! Read his review here 

Digital Future
Billboard reports: Digital tracks are outselling physical singles by a growing margin, a sign that consumers increasingly are embracing the brave new world of Internet downloading. 

Digital download sales outpaced physical singles 857,000 to 170,000, according to Nielsen SoundScan figures for the week ending Oct. 26. That's slightly more than a 5-to-1 ratio. 

Sean Ryan, VP of music services at RealNetworks, says that the rise of digital track sales carries a "symbolic significance," illustrating the music industry's shift to online delivery options. 

He also says it indicates a real opportunity for the music business: "Selling individual songs as an offline strategy wasn't working all that well, but online it can be a huge hit." 

Nielsen SoundScan data indicates that the trend has been evident since mid-August. 

In fact, from the last week of June -- when Nielsen SoundScan began tracking digital downloads -- through the current week, digital tracks have outsold physical singles 7.7 million units to 4 million. 

(The former figure could have been higher, but the digital track figures do not include the first two weeks of sales from iTunes for Mac. Apple reported sales of 1.5 million tracks in its first two weeks on the Mac platform.) -Click Here for the Full Story

Hummm,  $0.99 instantly or $3.99 and I gotta drive to the store and buy it�  you decide? 

Ratting On Jake E. Lee 
Bravewords reports: The original voice of the multi-platinum band RATT, Stephen Pearcy, recently contacted BW&BK with an update into all his current projects.

The albums: "I just re-recorded thirteen RATT and four MICKEY RATT tracks for a Cleopatra release. The songs sound amazing. Some we've drop in key which makes them even more �sickening'. They've unleashed Jake E Lee (ex-OZZY OSBOURNE / BADLANDS) and George Lynch (ex-DOKKEN / LYNCH MOB) on them! I hope Jake and George get a go at �Round & Round'."

The CD includes �Back For More', �You Think You're Tough', �Wanted Man', �Lack Of Communication', �Round & Round', �Lay It Down', �You're In Love', �Dance', �Body Talk', �Way Cool Jr.', �Loving You Is A Dirty Job'. As for Mickey Ratt there's �Ratt Madness', �Dr.Rock', �Top Secret' and �Driving On E'.
. Click Here for the Full Story 

Also look for new versions of "Bark at the Moon" and "The Ultimate Sin" to be released with Jake's guitar parts removed� 

Sorum Defends Weiland
Blabbermouth reports: VELVET REVOLVER drummer Matt Sorum (ex-GUNS N' ROSES) says that the band are fully behind their lead singer, Scott Weiland (STONE TEMPLE PILOTS) [who was arrested last week and charged with a DUI following an early morning accident in LA] Sorum says Weiland's latest incident may be a result of personal and business pressures. "All this stuff, when this big machine cranks up, it's just too overwhelming for him. And being newly clean and everything, you know, he hasn't been handling it very well. It's a lot of pressure, and he just, you know, hasn't been handling it. So it's probably a good thing he's gonna go away, but when he comes out, he'll be feeling good, and we're gonna get back at it, and I know that's what he wants the most.". .- Click Here for the Full Story

Officer: Were your drinking and driving? 
Suspect: I was drinkin, but I wouldn't call it driving! 

RIAA Gestapo?
MusicDish reports: A new press release from the Big Five record labels' RIAA boasts of training and using US federal, state and local police officers as music industry cops. The New York Police Department seized 125,000 counterfeit CD-Rs in the first six months of 2003 as, "a direct result of the RIAA's successful [police] training efforts," says the RIAA in a statement. It also emphasizes its atacks on flea markets saying, "The RIAA recently filed a copyright infringement lawsuit against the owners of a Columbus, NJ flea market who flagrantly and repeatedly ignored numerous demands to curtail the sale of pirated CDs and cassettes." The Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) and its clones around the world are owned and funded by the music industry. The RIAA says approximately 2.5 million "counterfeit or pirate CD-Rs, unauthorized recordings burned from a burner," were seized in the first six months of 2003, up 18.1% from almost 2.1 million seizures at mid-year 2002. "As CD burners become more available, the prevalence of illegal product in the marketplace increases as well," says RIAA president Cary Sherman. "We've dedicated additional resources to the problem and the results speak for themselves. Those who choose to engage in this criminal activity should be aware that federal, state and local governments are also stepping up their enforcement efforts."  .Click Here for the Full Story 

I'm just trying to be honest about being a misanthrope.

Double Gabriel
Billboard reports: Peter Gabriel concedes that meeting deadlines isn't his strong suit, but he stuck to the rigorous production schedule of "Growing Up -- Live," his first project with Warner Music Vision. 

The veteran rock vocalist/label executive credits London-based WMV president worldwide Ray Still for the turnaround. "He told us we'd only get a check for the production costs if we met the delivery date," Gabriel says. 

As a result, the "Growing Up -- Live" DVD is set to be released by WMV simultaneously with Gabriel's two-CD compilation, "Hit," on his own Realworld imprint through EMI. 

The pair will be released internationally Monday (Nov. 3). In North America, Universal Music and Geffen will release the DVD and CD Tuesday (Nov. 4). 
.-Click Here for the Full Story 

Def Queen
Blabbermouth reports: DEF LEPPARD were joined by QUEEN's Brian May for a "rocking" version of the QUEEN classic "Tie Your Mother Down" during the finale of the band's performance at the London Apollo Hammersmith on Friday (October 31). Click Here for the Full Story

George Washington was in a cult, and the cult was into aliens man! I mean, did you ever look at a dollar bill man There some spooky stuff going on a dollar bill man, and it's green too! 

Rock TV This Week
RockDirt.com reports: Rock acts on television this week include the Strokes, who perform on Late Night with Conan O'Brien on Tuesday; Matchbox Twenty, who perform on the Tonight Show with Jay Leno on Tuesday; P.O.D., who perform on the Tonight Show on Wednesday and Jimmy Kimmel Live on Friday; Sum 41, who perform on the Late Show with David Letterman on Thursday; the Ataris, who perform on the Late Late Show with Craig Kilborn on Thursday; Tenacious D, who perform on Jimmy Kimmel Live on Thursday. Click Here for the Full Story

Earle Vs. O'Reilly
Rolling Stone reports: Never one to back away from political debate, singer-songwriter Steve Earle will face off with Bill O'Reilly on the conservative commentator's The O'Reilly Factor on November 3rd. 

The left-leaning Earle was approached by the show a year ago with the release of Jerusalem, the most politically-motivated album of his career. But promotion for the record didn't allow him to make an appearance. Weeks before Earle sets out with Billy Bragg and Tom Morello on the Tell Us the Truth Tour, he got another invitation and accepted. Click Here for the Full Story

Maybe Steve will tell us the truth during the show about how much the bands are making on this anti-corporate tour? 

Comes With..
Fan submitted- COMES WITH THE FALL bandmembers William DuVall (vocals/guitar) & Adam Stanger (bass) currently supporting Jerry Cantrell (Alice In Chains) as part of his live band and Bevan Davies sitting in on the drums for Glenn Danzig's next album/tour ARE ALSO in the process of creating their 4th CD in 4 years, with an expected early 2004 release announces that their critically acclaimed 'live underground 2002' DVD continues to be a solid seller more info/listen to their music can be found at http://www.comeswiththefall.com/
 

Read Day In Rock Reports From Other Days

.

 


advertisement