I still miss left eye alot and I can’t believe she’s dead and I was waiting until her solo album to come out it’s just so sad she died at the age of 30 in a car accident from head trama and I was about to break down .
and I got love for chilli and t-boz to for being strong and just being tlc now and forever and not ever replacing left eye no matter what they went through together and I under stand and respect them for that because I would do the same thing because it’s right so peace & and love to left eye and family 2005.

Yeah! Very cool stuff on that blog!!

Check the Gemini mix!! unbelievable….

eXeem Lite is an adware free version of eXeem. The current eXeem contains Cydoor, which is rated as adware. You can find out more below. –UPDATED–

:Link:

Ok, so we loved the rare brasilian vinyl posted on Sabadabada. Make sure that you check out the album covers.

Sabadabada shares a phenomenal collection of rare brazilian vinyl posted as MP3s. We are warning you the selection is top notch, containing tunes from Eumir Deodato, Orlann Divo, Brasilia Modern Six, Bossa 4 and more. I can imagine these won’t be up for long so check ‘em out.

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We saw this synth at NAMM at the Big City booth after they turned the lights out, I just had to snap a photo. It reminded me of something out of WarGames.

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This is quite the hardware home, because the neKo 64 is basically a computer built into a musical instrument, and almost anything VST you run on a Windows computer can run on the neKo’s computer.

The computer is based on an AMD Opteron 64-bit processor, and accesses up to 8GB of RAM to allow loading huge numbers of samples and RAM-hungry programs. It not only hosts VST plug-ins, but is equipped with PCI slots that can accept up to full size cards, including those from Creamware and Digidesign. It also has an included Ethernet port for direct Internet access, making it easier to download upgrades, sounds, and applications. Bundled software includes GigaStudio 32, SonicSynth with Sample Tank LE, Traktion, Orion Pro, Karsyn, and over 40 VST and VSTi plug-ins.

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With names like the “Agonizer” and “Butt Probe” these things sounded like torture devices. That’s pretty much what they do to the sound. Very nice tools indeed.

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Stevie brought an instant crowd to this booth, it wasn’t quite loud enough, but that didn’t matter it was Stevie Wonder.

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Joergen, the head engineer at Radikal Technologies gave a mind numbing demo of the Spectralis synth.

“The Spectralis is the first groove-oriented Instrument, which combines the LIVE usability of the latest digital technology with the best elements of proven analog technology. We also have thrown in some other cool features which give the synthesizer much more flexibility than anything seen before. While traditional Sequencers are limited to playing back rhythm patterns and tone sequences, the step Sequencer of the SPECTRALIS makes possible highly complex sound creations which opens up completely new worlds of sound when used in connection with the programmable FIXED FILTER BANK. In addition to its outstanding analog sound possibilities the SPECTRALIS also provides DSP based sound creation, which takes care of all the ancillary needs for drumsounds and polyphonic voices. This sound creation is 48 voice and offers killer drum sounds, creamy pads and a lot of other goodies.”

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Wow, a real Mellotron! I sat and talked to this guy from Sweden, who is the only person in the world to manufacture these babies. The classic sound is unmistakable.

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Just got back from NAMM 2005, man have we got some hot gear to share. Red-hot gear porn pictures coming soon. Stay tuned to emusiq.com.

This article from the SF Bay Guardian is very compelling. To summarize:

“1. The Supreme Court rules on P2P For better or worse, the biggest legal fight over file sharing will be finished by next Christmas. The Supreme Court is scheduled to decide whether makers of P2P software – and by extension other technology makers – are responsible for the sins of their customers. When its opinion comes down next fall, it will tell us what Napster’s demise never did: whether or not it’s legal to make and distribute file-sharing software. This won’t stop the record labels from continuing to sue anything with a heartbeat and a DSL line, but that news will look silly next to the fact that …

2. File sharing continues to soar The Recording Industry Association of America has sued more than 7,000 alleged file sharers since 2003, but P2P traffic has actually increased. By some counts, 60 million Americans have tried file sharing. New P2P programs are released faster than J.Lo can get engaged. There’s no reason to think these trends won’t continue or increase. The year 2005 will be the “best year ever” for P2P, and the medium’s continued popularity means …

3. Artists look for plan B When it becomes clear that the RIAA’s slash-and-burn campaign hasn’t stopped file sharing, musicians will start to wonder if there’s a better way to move forward. Would it be possible to create a system in which P2P joins CD sales, concert revenues, and radio licenses as another way to pay the bills? The answer is yes, and the technology is finally available to make it happen. The trick is to make it feel free to the public while collecting money for creators. “

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MP3 manufacturer Reigncom, recently described as an “outstanding firm” by Microsoft CEO Bill Gates, is making waves by using an adult film star in advertising for its new products.

Reigncom late last year introduced its portable multimedia player (PMP) onto the U.S. market, hiring U.S. porn starlet Jenna Jameson to appear in advertisements.

Industry sources say it was a pragmatic move. “One cannot ignore people using the PMP to watch adult material,” said one. “I think they were targeting these customers when we hired a porn actress.”

“Males are the primary target for most digital equipment,” said another. “We tried to find an entertainer easily recognized by men, and we selected Jenna Jameson. There was nothing else behind the decision.” Company officials said.

As seen in this photo released in New York by Hasbro, Inc., Friday, Jan. 14, 2005, Hasbro, Inc.’s Playskool division is launching a new Mr. Potato Head figure, Darth Tater. Available at stores nationwide in February, kids will be able to have all kinds of mix ‘n match,Mr. Potato Head fun with this wacky spud dressed as the infamous Star Wars saga villain, Darth Vader. (AP Photo/ Hasbro, Inc., HO)

Back again is Yamaha Electronics Corporation’s revolutionary new home theater component, the Yamaha Digital Sound Projector. The YSP-1 is a one-of-a-kind single source multi-channel surround sound speaker system that features an array of 42 drivers driven by digital amplifiers with “steering logic” to deliver high-quality surround-sound, ideal for flat panel plasma displays in home theater installations. The demo we heard at Yamaha’s booth was most impressive, portraying an immersive and convincing surround sound field, very good frequency extension and dynamic range. This system will get reviewed by Audioholics later this year as we’re curious to see how well it emulates 5.1 in a typical home theater environment.

Somewhat ahead of its time, the YSP-1 applies sophisticated digital sound projector technology to control the orientation of the sound from its speakers by focusing it into directional “beams.” The stylish slim, wall-mountable unit uses a 40-driver, dual subwoofer system to achieve a high-quality five-channel surround sound performance for movies, music, digital audio, satellite TV, cable TV or other multi-channel sources. The YSP-1 is designed for a variety of room configurations; sound can be directed and reflected off the walls, which provides the listener true surround sound. For optimal performance the Digital Sound Projector should be positioned in the front of the room in the center or in the corners. A variety of customization modes ensure that the surround sound is optimized for all types of conditions.

Yamaha employs Digital Sound Projector Technology to provide “holographic surround sound” from a single flat panel, which forms a multi-channel sound beam to achieved precise control of the delay characteristics of multiple speakers. The YSP-1 projects flat wave fronts of sound and appears to listeners to be located at different points on the panel or via reflections off walls at different points in the room.

An elegant design makes the Yamaha Digital Sound Projector an ideal match for flat panel displays. Naturally, as a single unit, additional speakers and wiring are not necessary. As a result, the YSP-1 is an excellent solution for enthusiasts that opt to build a home theater system around a large flat-screen TV and desire a neat, uncluttered, unobtrusive system to match the interior of a room. The YSP-1 will appeal to a variety of users including first-time home theater system buyers.

Other features include Dolby Digital, DTS and Dolby Pro Logic II compatibility, On-Screen Display, Night Listening Mode, and three memory locations for storing particular settings. The YSP-1 easily connects to existing set ups via two optical inputs, one coaxial digital input, and two analog inputs. There is a even a subwoofer output. In addition, a RS-232C interface is provided for customization and a preset remote control is included that can also control TVs and DVD players.

The YSP-1 is priced at $1499.95 and will be available in March 2005.

For more information visit http://www.yamaha.com/home/

Pitch Black is hosted by the two german deejays KENT & ADIM (Detonation) from that stoned little town on the border called Aachen. We bring you the finest selection of Drum&Bass, Jungle and Oldskool music featuring special guests from all over Europe. Check our weekly newsletter, that includes all important info´s about fourthcoming shows. We broadcast LIVE every Sunday between 20:00h - 23:00h (GMT+1) trough the SHOUTcast network. Interact and watch our tracklistings on the Flashchat during live broadcast. All other times you can listen to our archives, that include 2 previously recorded shows.

Streaming: 64kbps mp3 mono at 44.1kHz.
Livestream: http://borderbreaks.org/pitchblack.m3u
Website: http://borderbreaks.org/
Clients: Winamp (Version 2.x or 5.x) for Windows, XMMS for Unix and iTunes for Mac.

The Medusa is a chorus tremolo pedal capable of either chorus, tremolo or both simultaneously.

The Controls:

Velocity - This controls the rate of both Chorus and Tremolo - they are permanently synched to enable the creation of new sounds.
Iridescence - this is a six way rotary switch which enables the user to chose from 6 different chorus .This control lets you chose from the most swampy, blurpy, pitch shiftingest sounds through to crystal clear Andy Summers type tones. When in tremolo mode the control can be set to position anywhere between 1-5 to get a triangle lfo or in position 6 to get a lofi squarewave.
Bathos - This controls the Depth of the chorus - from swampy to shimmery
Blend - this controls the mix of clean signal and chorus signal - so you can dial in just the amount you want.
Magnitude - controls the depth of the tremolo.
Guise - controls the pedals function - chorus, tremolo or chorustrem.

Nifty Stuff:

The second footswitch can be engaged to drop the speed of the tremolo to a rate preset by the user through a small trimpot inside the unit.
The overall output of the pedal can be set below and far above unit gain via a small trimpot inside.
The velocity can be controlled by an external expression controller (available Feb 2005) attached to the exp socket.
GORGON MODE - there is a small switch inside the unit which, when engaged, shifts the LFO into GORGON mode. This creates a much deeper shift in the LFO and opens the possibility of even more extreme chorus sounds.
Superbrite Red LED which pulses in time with the sweep of the tremolo of chorus.
The Chorus uses NOS bucket brigade chips to create its lush sound. The signal path is totally analog.
Stereo Chorus Output.
Power is from either a 9 volt batery housed inside the unit or from the industry standard Boss PSA power supply into the 2.1mm barrel socket (center negative).
Truebypass (buffered in stereo chorus mode)
The diecast aluminium enclosure has an average thickness of 2mm which is roughly twice that of your average hammond box - nice and strong, yes!
The units are powdercoated in artctic white and then have their spangly graphics screenprinted on in blood red.
Medusa uses full size 24mm alpha pots - they last forever.

KVRaudio / Muse Research, will be at the Winter NAMM Show 2005 in Anaheim, California, USA, between January 20th - January 23rd.

If you are visiting the show please drop by our booth (#1101, Hall E) and say hello! We’ll have a couple of Receptors being put through their paces and several special guests will be passing through (schedule to be confirmed).

We will also be featuring various third party plug-in developers who will be demoing their “Receptorized” plug-ins on Receptor. (Schedule to be confirmed).

:Link:

Just reminder that the 2005 NAMM show is coming up. So much music gear so little time!

NAMM Show Hours
Thursday January 20th 10 AM - 6 PM
Friday January 21st 10 AM - 6 PM
Saturday January 22nd 10 AM - 6 PM
Sunday January 23rd10 AM - 5 PM

:Link:

Very nice dub mix by way of breaksblog.biz.

“King Tubby is to this day synonymous with dub. He was a man who had a passion for fiddling with sound equipment, and turned that passion into a new musical genre and a veritable art form. He may have started his career as a repairman, but before he was done, his name was one of the most respected around the world. He worked with virtually every artist in Jamaica, and his name on a remix was like gold, a seal of quality that was never questioned.”

:Link:

You’ve probably heard about cueing up Dark Side of the Moon with Wizard of Oz and somehow they match up. Yeah but who has actually gone through with it and done it? Well take it a step further with Dub Side of the Moon vs Wizard of Oz brought to you with holiday cheer from the Iconscious crew. By way of blentwell.com.

A new open source DVD rip pack available on sourceforge.net. This thing contains about everythingneeded to make a proper DVD rip.

Gordian Knot started out as a simple bitrate calculator for DivX encoding but has evolved to become an integrated package or tool for the entire process of DivX/XviD encoding.

:Link:

Press Relesase: Leading RSS Software Platform Provider NewsGator Supports DivX Connected Certification Program

NewsGator Technologies, the leading RSS software platform provider, today announced support for the upcoming DivX Connected Certification Program from DivXNetworks, Inc. Through the program, users will be able to easily access RSS news and information feeds from the popular NewsGator Online service on their televisions through low-cost, connected consumer electronics (CE) devices such as DVD players and set-top boxes.

NewsGator Technologies has a number of cutting-edge content management/aggregation offerings, including NewsGator’s free online service. NewsGator Online is a state-of-the art web-based aggregator, where users can track all their favorite RSS and news feeds online at no charge. The DivX Connected Program is a comprehensive technology initiative that will bring together online service providers, independent software vendors, integrated circuit (IC) manufacturers and consumer electronics (CE) original equipment manufacturers to create interoperable products and services that enable consumers to easily access digital media from networked devices throughout the home.

“With a dynamic range of RSS feeds that allow consumers to instantly access news and information, the NewsGator service is a perfect fit for the DivX Connected Program,” said Paul Sarena, Product Manager, DivX Connected Program at DivXNetworks. “In the near future, users will be able to easily access all their favorite news and information services, personal media content and a range of premium content not just on the PC but throughout the house. NewsGator is uniquely positioned to play a vital role in that scenario.”

From podcastreviews.net:

The Bitterest Pill
Format: online blog post
Content: Comedy, commentary and music from a stay-at-home dad/shut in
Rating: 4 stars
What I’m going to do: listen often
Typical Length: 20 - 30 minutes

“I recently spoke to Daniel Tierdiman for his latest article on podcasting (Wired News: You, Too, Can Be a Podcaster, if you’re interested). He didn’t use much of what we talked about, probably because the other folks he talked to (Dave Slusher, Doc Searls, Carl Franklin, and Andrew Leyden, to name a few) had much more interesting and insightful things to say.”

LokiTorrent is officially being sued by the MPAA (view) and is asking for donations. Unlike SupNova.org, the site has not folded under legal pressure to cease operation. The site has set a legal find goal of $30,000, however it is possible that may not be enough to cover all of the legal and operating costs.

micro music is site completely dedicated to 8-bit and computer generated music.

“basically “musical research” is the most accurate description of the micromusic.net activities. even though music produced on low_budget equipment and retro computer games sounds was the focus at the beginning of the micromusic project we always had far more in our minds than that. the internet is still in its first years and topics like how to build up ’special_interest_communities’, advanced realtime communication tools and highly optimized interface design were also quite important to us.

the micromusic crew realised a multimedia_website which is unique on the worldwideweb within less than 2 years. the very active and rockin’ micro_community counts almost 3000 people now and the quality of the uploaded lowtech_tunes has reached a level which defines a new standard in the territory of low_tech music and online music communities.”

:Link:

You will now notice on the home page that we have added RSS feeds to all our favorite sites. Happy New Year 2005!

Songwriters and musicians get royalties when their music is played in public, on the radio or in clubs. With the advent of Internet radio and digital cable broadcasts, performers are also entitled to royalties. In the final story in our online music series, NPR’s Neda Ulaby reports on Sound Exchange, a company dedicated to tracking the music and sending royalties to musicians.

:Listen:

Apple Computer is eyeing a technology that could make the iPod more likely to survive a fall.

The company has applied for a patent on technology that would allow a portable media player to detect when it is falling and then stop reading or writing to the hard drive. Such technology would work by detecting the acceleration that accompanies a drop.

“The portable-computing device protects its disk drive by monitoring for such accelerations and operating to avoid usage of the disk drive during periods of acceleration,” Apple said in the patent application, which was published Dec. 16. “Through such protection, the likelihood of damage to the disk drive or loss of data stored on the disk drive is able to be substantially reduced.”

IBM began including a similar feature on its ThinkPad notebook line in October 2003. Apple’s patent application was filed in June 2003, but it wasn’t published until last week.

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Those were the days. I still have mint copies of the Star Wars disco record, we also can’t ever forget Chewbacca’s passion for layin’ down the law on the mic. Wookie-style.

“…Cleaning out my garage, I found an old 45 RPM record from 1977: The Rebel Force Band, performing “Chewie the Rookie Wookie” (sort of Motown) and “May the Force Be With You” (imagine a lounge singer doing a version of “Sunrise, Sunset” - that’s what it sounds like).”

:Link:

The Dawn and Drew Show is quickly becoming one of the most listened to podcasts on the ‘net. Having recently reached the 50th show, looks like there will be plenty more to come.

Yeah, the Awesome Cool Dudes or ACD:

“Neon women’s jumpsuits, handcrafted basketball uniforms, perms, fake tans, we’re down for whatev’s when it comes to playing live. As far as recording goes we record ourselve and take our tracks into a real studio and fuck it up a little bit.”

:Link:

“We’ve obtained copies of the MPAA lawsuit letters being circulated to Bit Torrent websites and their hosts - in this case to Torrent website “Demonoid” (Pages: 1,2,3,4,5,6,7). In it, lawyers warn the host they’ve sued the operators of a Torrent site on their network, but currently don’t know their identities. The letter to the website owner claims they face “severe sanctions” should they delete any pirated material or usable evidence in the case against them. As noted by users below, the IP address for the website cited by the letter (66.250.450.10) doesn’t/can’t exist, a mistake repeated throughout the letters.”

Source: DslReports.

iPodder is a media aggregator which automatically downloads podcasts to your computer or portable device based on a RSS feed, leaving you ‘one-click-away’ from the latest media feeds. The whole process is done on its own, so you don’t have to select files, search for them or click links to download the media. All you do is specify some feeds and wait to get yourself the podcasts. All you have to do is decide what you are going to listen to.

:Link:

From Podcasting Avenue:
The possibilities of integrating the podcasting concept with a Global Positioning System are very interesting, both for the user and the commercial services industry. As soon as you near a certain location, the GPS triggers the download. It could be traffic information, information about the area, cities, neighborhoods or even buildings and people. Beyond that, it could trigger commercial messages (all subscription based of course) from specific vendors, events or services in the area. Traveling through a country and getting location based highlights from your favorite travel guide with special events info (pulled from another channel) on top sounds very good to me. The production costs shouldn’t be a problem, so many services could start with a very small subscription base. To be continued!

:Link:

Michael Butler releases American Heartbreak -The Greatest Xmas Song. An RIAA-free song for download on his site.

The MPAA was sucessful in shutting down one of the largest BitTorrent tracking sites on the net. They won’t be coming back on line either. That’s definitely going to leave a mark.

Related Links:
BitTorrent Measurements Analysis

A Canadian judge on Thursday set aside copyright rules that had imposed regulatory fees of as much as $25 on the purchase of iPods and other MP3 players in that country.

The country’s copyright regulators traditionally have imposed a small surcharge on media such as cassette tapes and blank CDs, using the revenues to pay musicians and record labels whose works are being copied at home by consumers. Late last year, the Copyright Board applied this to MP3 players, which they said consumers also used for “private copying” of music.

A coalition of retailers and electronics manufacturers sued, saying the ruling was unfair. In a decision released Thursday, federal Judge Marc Noel ruled that the MP3 player fees did not seem to be supported by the letter of the law, and set them aside.

“It is for Parliament to decide whether digital audio devices such as MP3 players are to be” included, he wrote.

The decision marks a victory for retailers, manufacturers and sticker-shocked consumers in the country, even if its effect might be temporary. However, it did uphold the foundation of the country’s private copying rights, which courts have used as grounds to say consumer file-swapping is legal.

That series of decisions has put the country’s legal system at odds with much of the rest of the world, which is cracking down on operators and users of peer to-peer networks with criminal and civil penalties. Record labels have appealed the file-swapping decision.

The MP3 player ruling will likely mean a quick drop in prices for iPods and other devices in Canada. The board’s decision last year imposed a $25 fee on players with more than 10GB of memory, $15 for players above 1GB, and $2 for smaller players.

The shoppers’ reprieve may not last forever, however. The judge made it clear that he was sympathetic to the Copyright Board’s attempt to impose the fees on MP3 players. Devices such as iPods are in fact used to copy large amounts of music and could potentially do more damage to copyright holders’ interests than ordinary blank CDs or cassettes, he said.

“However, as desirable as bringing such devices within the ambit of the (fees) might seem, the authority still has to be found in the” law, he said.

A new kind of copy-protected music CD will likely hit U.S. shelves early next year, as record label Sony BMG Music Entertainment experiments with a technology created by British developer First 4 Internet.

Several major music labels have already used a version of the British company’s technology on prerelease compact discs distributed for review and other early-listening purposes, including on recent albums from Eminem and U2.

The releases for the retail market, expected early in 2005, will mark the first time the Sony music label issues copy-protected CDs in the U.S. market, although the company’s other divisions have done so in other regions. BMG, Sony’s new corporate sibling, has been more aggressive, with a handful of protected CDs released last year.

Meanwhile, Apple Computer quietly updated its iPod software so that songs purchased from RealNetworks’ online music store will no longer play on some of the Mac maker’s popular MP3 players.

For the last four months, RealNetworks has marketed its music store as the only Apple rival compatible with the iPod, following the company’s discovery of a way to let its customers play their downloaded tunes on Apple’s digital music player. Apple criticized RealNetworks’ workaround, dubbed Harmony, as the “tactics…of a hacker,” and warned in July that RealNetworks-purchased songs would likely “cease to work with current and future iPods.”

Apple’s iPod may be getting a hard-drive boost soon. Toshiba, whose tiny hard drives power Apple’s music players, announced that it has produced an 80GB model. The company said it will begin mass production in mid-2005 of new 1.8-inch drives, with capacities of 40GB and 80GB.

Apple did not immediately announce plans to incorporate the drives in future products, but new iPod configurations have closely tracked Toshiba hard-drive developments. Toshiba announced plans for a 60GB hard drive in June, followed a few months later by Apple’s unveiling of a 60GB color-screen iPod.

Magnatune has teamed up with WebJay, a podcasting site to provide content.

Two Australian indie legends come to Ozmusicweed Australian Music site this week in the form of David Virgin from Sekret Sekret, and Dan Rumour from the Cruel Sea who have teamed up together for an album of new songs, which they are releasing in Weedshare format. These elder statesmen of the Australian underground music scene have been making music together since 1979 in various different bands, starting with seminal industrial noise band SPK. Read more and ownload tracks from their new album “Virgin & Rumour". Weedfiles from the Virgin & Rumour album can be downloaded from http://www.ozmusicweed.com

Virgin & Rumour are one of the increasing amount of artist’s releasing their music in the new Weedshare format.

Weedshare (as in the music “spreads like a weed”) is a relatively new digital music distribution model that pays people to share your music. Weedfiles are basically windows media files (so most people already have the software needed to play them) with a very clever form of digital rights management built in. You can download and listen to a Weedfile 3 times free before you have to pay for it, then if you buy it, the artist/label always get’s 50%, the last 3 people to pass the song around get 35% (split 20%,10%, 5% in order of who purchased song first) and SML, the Weed parent company get 15% for administering the system. So once you pay for a Weedfile, and pass it around to your friends, you get 20% of the sale price every time one of them pays for the song. It’s a natural thing to want to share music you like with people you like. Weedshare works on the principle that it’s better to reward people for doing the right thing, rather than punishing them for doing the wrong thing.

StreamCast Networks, Inc., will take its case to the Supreme Court in an effort to protect the ability of innovators to create.

“If history is any prediction of the future then the outcome of this case should already be destined for victory. In the past whenever technological innovation has been challenged technology has won,” Michael Weiss, CEO of StreamCast Networks, developers of the popular Morpheus peer-to-peer search application, stated. “The issues of this case will finally be put to rest once and for all and the plaintiffs will have run out of court venues to pursue. In the meantime, it’s business as usual for us as we will continue to proudly market our product and continue to aggressively push the elastic envelope on peer-to-peer technological innovation.”

P2P technology, as developed by StreamCast and other legitimate companies, supports people-to-people communications. It is quickly becoming the front door to a massive global digital public library accessible by all citizens and development efforts at StreamCast to progress the growth of this technology will continue.

“We are confident that after the issues are fully briefed and argued, and the many amicus briefs supporting affirmation of the 9th Circuit Ruling in favor of Morpheus are considered, the Supreme Court will reaffirm the principles it laid out in the Sony-Betamax decision - principle that have clearly guided the technology sector for the last 20 years,” stated Matthew A. Neco, StreamCast General Counsel. “This is not just a case about peer-to-peer file searching and sharing. It’s a case about technology and innovation, and how principles of copyright are meant to benefit society in general and not merely big Hollywood. We don’t think the Court should rewind and erase all the good that has developed.”

LOS ANGELES - Restructuring helped recording company Warner Music Group narrow its net losses by 43 percent over a 10-month period, the company reported Monday.

The privately held, New York-based firm, home to artists like Madonna and Kid Rock, reported a $136 million net loss for the 10-month period ending Sept. 30, compared to a $239 million net loss during the same period last year.

Including a benefit from changes in currency exchange rates, total recorded music and publishing revenue was $2.54 billion during the period, up 2 percent over the $2.48 billion for the same period last year.

Without the benefit, total revenue was down 3 percent compared to the previous period, the company said.

WMG Chairman and CEO Edgar Bronfman Jr. said the company’s restructuring plan was ahead of schedule.

“Now that the lion’s share of the restructuring has been completed, we can turn our entire focus to building and developing the company’s roster of recording artists and songwriters,” Bronfman said in a statement.

The financial report covered a 10-month period because WMG has changed the end of its fiscal year from Nov. 30 to Sept. 30. The reporting includes the period from Nov. 29, 2003, to Feb. 29, 2004, when the company was still part of Time Warner Inc.

Factoring in the exchange rates, WMG’s recorded music unit generated $2.06 billion in revenue worldwide in the most recent period, up 1 percent over the same time last year. Excluding the benefit would mean an estimated 4 percent decline in global recorded music revenue, the company said.

Among the company’s recent top releases were albums by Josh Groban, Green Day and Jet. The previous year, its releases included albums by Madonna, Metallica and Linkin Park.

WMG’s music publishing business saw revenue of $505 million during the period, up 8 percent over the previous year.

Excluding the impact of the exchange rates, the company’s worldwide publishing revenue rose 1 percent, with the bulk of the gains in the United States, the company said.

WMG reported financial results earlier this year after it was acquired from Time Warner Inc. for $2.6 billion by an investor group including Bronfman, Thomas H. Lee Partners, Bain Capital and Providence Equity Partners. The deal closed March 1.

The company forecast the restructuring would generate at least $250 million of recurring annualized savings by the end of 2005. As of Sept. 30, the changes have resulted in an estimated $240 million in annualized cost savings, the company said.

In a conference call with Wall Street analysts, Bronfman said he expects the company will double its sales next year from digital distribution channels such as online download sites and mobile music retailers.

“The trends are encouraging, and in 2005 we expect (digital sales) to represent 4 percent of overall sales, up from 2 percent this year,” Bronfman said.

He was also optimistic that the music industry’s sales slide in recent years has finally abated.

“We hope we’ve seen the bottom,” he said. “There is a more positive picture than the industry has lived the past three or four years.”

The parents of a 13-year-old girl are suing US supermarket giant Wal-Mart over a CD by rock group Evanescence that contains swear words.

The lawsuit, filed in Washington County, alleges Wal-Mart deceived customers by not putting warning labels on the cover.

Trevin Skeens alleges Wal-Mart knew of the offending word because it had censored it on its music sales website.

Wal-Mart said it was investigating the claims but had no plans to pull the CD.

Wal-Mart has a policy of not stocking CDs which carry parental advisory labels.

Mr Skeens said he bought the Anywhere But Home CD for his daughter and was shocked to hear the swearing when it was played in their car.

Damages claim

“I don’t want any other families to get this, expecting it to be clean. It needs to be removed from the shelves to prevent other children from hearing it,” said Mr Skeens of Brownsville.

The lawsuit seeks to force Wal-Mart to censor the music or remove it from its stores in Maryland.

It also seeks damages of up to $74,500 (£38,660) for every customer who bought the CD at Maryland Wal-Marts, and also naming record label Wind-Up Records and distributor BMG Entertainment in the legal action.