Newsgab

Well, first of all it was Take That (minus Robbie), now Irish band Boyzone have reformed and will be going on a reunion tour.

The band broke up in 1999 after Ronan Keating left to pursue a solo career. Industry insiders describe getting all five members signed again as a “massive coup”.

Keating was the only member of the band to have success as a solo artist. He was apparently reluctant to leave his successful solo career but has bowed to pressure from the fans and agreed to give the band another try.

Keating along with other band members Stephen Gately, Mikey Graham, Keith Duffy and Shane Lynch will be playing their greatest hits on the tour. Depending on how successful the tour is the band may release an album of ne

Popularity: 4% [?]

George Michael has been found for the second time this year in a comatose state behind the wheel of a car. As a small amount of the drug cannabis was found on the seat next to him it is presumed that the incident is linked to drug abuse.

Motorists called police at around 3:20 am (0220 GMT) on Sunday to report an obstruction at Cricklewood Lane with Hendon Way, both busy London junctions.

The 43-year-old star was first taken to hospital by the ambulance services and later transferred to police custody in West London where he was charged under his real name Georgios Kyriakos Panayiotou.

He is being charged with the possession of cannabis and being in an unfit state to drive. He was released on bail.

The Norwegians over the years have had many firsts, not least of which it has been the only country to score nil points in a Eurovision Song Contest.

Norwegian television is now going to show the world’s first televised gig from a gas platform. I have not actually checked my facts here, but is possibly the first performance from a gas rig.

Katie Melua, 22, currently the UK’s biggest-selling female artist, and her band plan to perform on Statoil Troll oil rig, more than 100m below the surface of the North Sea.

Melua has had to undergo extensive medical tests ahead of a concert which will be performed in front of an adjudicator for the Guinness Book of Records. They hope to chart through the water into the record book!
World Record for the world’s deepest underwater gig.

Popularity: 2% [?]

Having sworn only last year that his pop days were over, Michael has started a 47-gig tour called “25 Live”, to celebrate a quarter of a century in the music business.

“Well it just goes to show, doesn’t it? Never say never,” the 43-year-old singer wrote in the tour programme.

“I truly believed that tonight would never happen, that I would never sing these songs to you again. But then I’m a fool.”

As the lights dimmed on a bare set on Saturday evening, the strains of “Waiting” echoed through the packed San Jordi hall, Michael coyly crooning: “You once said there’s a way back for every man … Is it too late to try again? Here I am!”

Once Michael hit the stage it became apparent why he had had
85 million record sales, a Grammy and seven British number one albums to his name.

EMusic is the world’s biggest on line retailer of independent music have now opened a store in Europe which intends to sell unrestricted downloads.

In the US EMusic is second only to Apple’s iTunes Music Store, in Europe they will sell tracks from 8,500 independent labels. These downloads will work on all digital music systems, including Apple’s iPod.

Users will be able to choose between three subscription levels, offering 40, 65 or 90 downloads each month. If the users spend the time to navigate and download their maximum offered downloads, the cost of each track will be less than 79 pence. This compares very favourably with Apple’s iTunes service as their price is 79p each.

Unlike other subscription-based download sites, such as Napster, tracks downloaded from eMusic will not be deleted if a customer cancels their subscription.

One of the selling points of the 3G mobile phones was supposed to be their ability to download music.

Entertainment Media Research, in association with Olswang, the law firm, has surveyed 3000 consumers’ regarding their interest in the facility.

The survey found that 11 per cent of consumers were paying for music downloads on their mobile.

This news puts a dampener on the industries ability to grow, as nearly 25% expressed an interest when a small survey was conducted a year ago.

Only 4% stated that they were likely to start downloading in the near future, but 44% were unlikely to do so.

From this the study concluded that the industry had attracted a small number of new converts, but it was unlikely to convert a second wave of enthusiasts. Part of the reason for this conclusion was that 36% of the people surveyed expressed a preference to use their PC.

SanDisk Corp will launch a $100 MP3 music player onto the market in October with has a capacity of 2 gigabytes, sufficient to hold and play about 1,000 songs.

SanDisk, will retail for $99.99 in the United States and about 79 euros ($101) in Europe.

The new Sansa will be compatible with Microsoft’s Windows PlayForSure, meaning it will be able to download music from online subscription companies including RealNetworks Inc.’s Rhapsody, Napster and Yahoo! Music.

There is a slot to accomodate another memory card, which means that it can play more tunes. There will also be a 1-gigabyte version, which will sell for a recommended $79.99.Both models will e able to display pictures.

SanDisk is the world’s leading maker of flash memory data storage cards, which are used in digital cameras and mobile phones as well as MP3 players.

Popularity: 1% [?]

New Zealand music fans will miss out on a free download service announced yesterday, which will change the face of the music industry.

Universal Music, the world’s largest record company, yesterday shook up the industry by announcing it would make its song catalogue available as free internet downloads.

The music will be available from Spiralfrog.com in the US and Canada from December, and become available in Europe in early 2007.

It will be one of the first sites to offer free music legally, allowing fans to download songs by some of the record company’s list of artists, including U2, Gwen Stefani and The Roots.

Revenue will come from advertisements featured on the website, although questions remain over how the featured artists will be paid.

However, Universal Music New Zealand managing director Adam Holt said there were no plans to launch the service.

“Due to the unfounded and ugly rumors that have appeared in the papers over the last few days, I felt they shouldn’t pass without comment,” he wrote in a posting that appeared on his official Web site

“Patti and I have been together for 18 years, the best 18 years of my life.We have built a beautiful family we love and want to protect and our commitment to one another remains as strong as the day we were married,” he wrote.

Springsteen’s statement came after a gossip item, published last Thursday in the New York Post, which said the star was born to run from Patti.

The Post reported that the musician, had been spending time with a September 11 widow he met while helping organize a benefit concert for families of World Trade Center victims.

The Stones current tour has been dogged by all sorts of health problems. Not surprisingly it is a fair time since Mick Jagger said
“Who wants to be a fifty year old rock star”,
or was it
“who wants to be a sixty year old rock star”
I have to confess it was so long ago I can’t remember.

At one time Keith Richards lit up the stage with his performance, now it is just a cigarette, and the funny thing is that these days it probably does not contain anything more innoccuos than tobacco.

However he will not be fined for his performance, as the stage at Hampden Park, where the band performed Friday night on their “A Bigger Bang” tour, is exempt from a new law that bans smoking in enclosed public places, the Glasgow City Council said Monday.