USA Today:

In the 52 weeks ending Jan. 2, album sales fell 13% to 326.2 million units, and digital track sales managed only a 1% gain, to 1.17 billion. That hefty consumption of downloads helped offset overall music losses, which fell only 2.4%. 

Piracy, vanishing record shops and decreasing shelf space in big-box stores continue to depress album sales, and the digital boom has been flattening. Only 13 albums sold more than 1 million copies in 2010, down from 22 in 2009. 

Labels remain optimistic about digital’s future. More than one-fourth of albums sold last year were downloads. 

What boomed in 2010? Vinyl. The throwback format grew 13%, with The Beatles‘ Abbey Road leading the charge. Consumers bought more vinyl albums in 2010 than any other year in SoundScan history. Fans bought 71% of vinyl albums in independent record stores.

Read the full article here, and then combine that news with this news: (more…)

[Ed. Note: Ticket information and Larry O'Connor's interview with Robert Davi can be found below the fold.]

As a veteran of the film industry for more than 30 years, Robert Davi has become one of the most iconic and instantly recognizable faces and voices of American cinema.  So if you haven’t heard him sing, you’ll probably be as surprised as I was to find that Mr. Davi is not quite so gravelly when he picks up a tune.  In fact, he’s an effortless crooner, classically trained and ready for the stage.

In 2010, he performed three sold-out concerts in New York, solo performances wherein he covered the works of Frank Sinatra.  Sinatra, and the works of the early 20th Century known as the “Great American Songbook,” are more than just a passing interest to Davi.  He feels that these are an essential piece of American history and culture that deserve a closer look in order to understand who we are.

Hearing a few snippets of his upcoming album of Sinatra covers, I truly marveled at the rich quality he was able to belt out of  these songs, exuding classy charm, freewheeling fun, and timeless romance.  But you don’t have to take my word for it.  Ervin Drake, one of the only surviving contributors to the Great American Songbook (among his other accomplishments, he wrote the Sinatra hit “It Was a Very Good Year”), attended Davi’s opening night in New York.  Aside from seeing the show again on closing night, Drake’s compliments included this personal message to Davi:

Robert Davi would make a worthy successor to the incomparable Frank Sinatra, whether in the fields of Stage, Screen or Television. And having been chosen years ago by the Master himself, to act in a film side by side with him, this is not a vain pronouncement.

Continuing his pursuits, Davi is wrapping up work on his album with famed producer Phil Ramone, who has worked with Sinatra himself, and on January 15th, Davi is performing a concert with expanded orchestral arrangements entitled “Davi Sings Sinatra: A Tribute to Frank Sinatra, the Great American Songbook, and America,” at the Thousand Oaks Performing Arts Center in Los Angeles.

(more…)

One of the core beliefs this nation was founded on, was equality under the law.  The laws that apply to ordinary citizens, also apply to the ruling class; because if the laws are too strict for them, then perhaps they’re too strict for us. That’s why we get really upset when we learn of a politician caught speeding, or cheating on his taxes. Because if the people who write the laws are finding it difficult to cough up the cash, or keep their foot off the accelerator, perhaps taxes are too high, and the speed limit is too low.

For many, The Global Warming debate has been a similar exercise in hypocrisy. Al Gore has been a big violator. The man who wants to limit our ability to fly coach, needs a private plane when he travels to Hollywood to pick up a trophy he didn’t even win (and a masseuse he couldn’t seduce).

I recently pointed out a similar flaw in the character of Sheryl Crow. While she went around preaching the merits of CFL light bulbs, she prefers the warm glow of incandescents and halogens in her own home. I thought perhaps that Sheryl had grown up a little; the same way a college vegan gets out into the real world, admits that she’s been sneaking meat when nobody was looking, and switches to a less fastidious diet. (more…)

Michael Jackson was the epitome of a human Rorschach test. To his fans, he was a Messiah of entertainment, seemingly able to transcend the mere mortal abilities of nearly anyone in the history of show business. To his detractors, he was an eccentric who was also repeatedly accused of molesting children. To yet others, he was both. 

When he died of an apparent drug overdose just shy of his 50th birthday on June 25, while rehearsing for an intense 50-show engagement in London, it seemed that this conundrum would never be solved and that his life and legacy would be forever shadowed. Then word emerged that concert promoter AEG had decided to sell extensive footage it shot of the show’s rehearsals and put it up for bidding war, which Sony Pictures won for $60 million. Debate raged throughout Hollywood and the business world about whether this was an appropriate outcome, or if it reeked of exploitation.  (more…)