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U2 Rocks Sold Out Crowds on 360º Tour!

Live365 — Thu, 02 Jun 2011 18:17:07 +0000

A massive stage makes U2’s 360º tour more intimate for fans. The stage fills a typical football stadium end zone and provides a 360 close up view thanks to a massive retractable screen.

The construction is 75 yards across from leg to leg. 52 yards from back to front. 54 yards tall with a mirror ball on top.

And in U2 style, there are 360º walk around pedways for the band to get up close and personal with fans.

This picture does not show the screen, which is circular and comes down within the center of the structure. The screen can expand to just a few feet above where the band stands. The screen features up close live video of U2 most of the evening.

When U2 band members are not shown on the screen, video and lighting features are speckled throughout the show. As for the concert, U2 rocked in fine form playing most of their top hits, as well more recent music from their newer recordings.

As always, there was a message behind the concert. This time around, Bono spoke passionately about the ONE campaign. ONE is a grassroots campaign of more than 2 million people committed to the fight against extreme poverty and preventable diseases.

Tying into the event was a U2 education regarding Aung San Suu Kyi, a Burmese opposition politician and a former General Secretary of the National League for Democracy. She had been detained under house arrest for 15 of the 21 years until her release in November 2010.

With 3000 people still imprisoned or restricted of freedoms in Burma for speaking and living out their personal beliefs, Bono called for each ONE to raise their voice against wrongful oppression.

Fans were not disappointed with a 2 and 1/2 hour concert of solid music, lights, video…. and of course, a ‘feel good’ that each person can make a difference in the world.

Listen to your favorite online radio stations at Live 365. See Live 365’s full genre listing by clicking here and get more out of your online radio experience. Find radio stations that play U2 with these added features as a VIP member.

The Story Behind the Viral YouTube Video by Rebecca Black – ‘Friday’!

Live365 — Wed, 23 Mar 2011 06:38:13 +0000

If you’ve been on YouTube lately, you may have seen the latest viral music video that is racking up millions of views.

Rebecca Black’s new song and video called “Friday” was posted on February 10th and immediately started getting hits by the thousands into the millions – but is it for the right reasons?

The song is catchy yes, but with lyrics that liken that of singing the words off the side of a cereal box, this viral video may have more to do with the “campy” and “cheese” factor than it does with the dawn of a budding career in music.

YouTube history may be in the making. Never before have I seen a video with so many views, but with so many ‘dislikes’.

I have to admit. It’s a bit memorizing. The worse the lyrics get, the more you have to listen. You can’t help thinking… “Is this for Real?”

Immediately, bloggers and vloggers where dropping lines like “Is Rebecca Black the next Justin Bieber?” Let’s get a hold of ourselves people.

So who is Rebecca Black? Well, she’s just a regular 13 year old who went to a studio called Ark Music Factory (seriously, they named their company a music ‘Factory’) and paid them a boat load of cash to get a song written and a video produced. She is one of many teens under the Art Music Factory umbrella of budding new artists

Most of these kids are teenage girls… ok, all are girls the last time I checked except for an older looking male who I think appeared in the Rebecca Black FRIDAY video. All have songs… all have videos to my knowledge… and some are getting decent numbers on YouTube, although nothing even close to the “Friday” video.

So what does this mean for music? Hopefully not much. While sites like YouTube are great for people to explore their abilities and talents, I can’t see Rebecca Black being played on mainstream radio.

It’s one thing to watch a video for a laugh once or twice, but I would think that with 80 percent of the people who rate videos clicking this one as a “dislike”, there would be a public outcry if we had to listen to Rebecca Black on our favorite radio stations.

That said, she may end up selling a few million Cd’s or downloads to fans her own age. Hey, it’s a free country so all the power to her.

Speaking of YouTube Videos – there is another video that is also going viral. Its a parody of Rebecca Black’s ‘Friday’ and this one I recommend you watch. Click Here to See the Rebecca Black “Friday” PARODY!

If you’ve got better things to do with your time, then I suggest you head on over to LIVE 365 and search for the favorite music you DO love! See the list of Live 365 music genres, or use our Live Radio Search Tool.

“The Suburbs” by Arcade Fire! 2011 Grammy ‘Album of the Year’!

Live365 — Sun, 20 Feb 2011 23:10:03 +0000

There were a couple of big shockers at the 2011 Grammys. One was that of relative unknown ‘Esperanza Spalding’ winning Best New Artist against ‘Justin Bieber’ and ‘Mumford and Sons’ just to name two.

The second big shocker was Arcade Fire winning ‘Album of the year’ for their latest release ‘The Suburbs’. Up against big names like Lady Antebellum, Lady Gaga, Katy Perry and the emotional charged release by Eminem, even Arcade Fire themselves did not expect to win.

On a personal note, I had heard their first single from their latest album on the radio before Christmas. The song was “Ready to Start” and I liked what I heard. I asked my kids to buy me the album for Christmas.

Shortly before the 2011 Grammys, when I first learned they were preforming, I thought to myself… “Arcade Fire is going to be performing on the Grammys?” Cool. Of course, I liked the band and liked their album, but having heard them on a modern rock radio station, I did not expect to see them recognized by mainstream media.

It’s all water under the bridge now. Much to Barbra Streisand’s surprise, who stumbled on their album name when she announced them as the 2011 Grammy Winner for ‘Album of the Year’…. “The S-ss-Suburbs“… and also to the surprise of the world – Canadian band Arcade Fire, consisting of both American and Canadian members, are indeed a Grammy winners.

Fans are thrilled. Many others who had never heard of them are dismayed and disappointed. I am indifferent. Yes, ‘The Suburbs’ is a good Album. But is it a Grammy Winner? You be the judge…

Listen to the music of Arcade Fire on Live 365! Click Here then search for Arcade Fire in the top right corner for online radio stations that play their music.

Esperanza Spalding! 2011 Grammy Winner for Best New Artist!

Live365 — Tue, 15 Feb 2011 23:37:16 +0000

Let’s face it. Many people expected Justin Bieber to win the Grammy for ‘Best New Artist’. Even if you are not a fan, no one can deny what he has achieved in terms of worldwide popularity. Bieber Fever is everywhere. But is that a prerequisite for winning a Grammy as Best New Artist? I have never heard his album in it’s entirety and probably never will. Sorry, not my style.

Mumford and Sons have also been tearing up a storm on North American’s radio with their folk rock sounds and I would be lying if I didn’t say my bias was towards them. I love their sound, which is a return to folk rock roots with a Celtic influence. They also performed at the Grammys, which was no big surprise.

Also on the nomination list was Drake, which few expected would win, as well as Florence and the Machine, also a non-favorite just by nature of their alternative sound. The ‘Best New Artist’ Grammy was earlier in the evening before Arcade Fire won the Grammy for ‘Album of the Year’ for ‘The Suburbs’, also an alternative band that was not expected to win. In hind site, perhaps Florence and the Machine had a good shot.

And then you had this other artist nominated… ‘Esperanza Spalding’. A relative unknown. Ok, let’s admit it… totally unknown, perhaps mostly because she is a jazz artist and well out of the mainstream when it comes to the top Grammy categories.

So who is Esperanza Spalding? Here are the facts. She is a an American multi-instrumentalist best known for her work as a jazz bassist. She is also a singer who performs her own music drawn from a wide variety of musical styles and genres. Spalding also a teacher at the Berklee College of Music (the youngest ever at Berklee when she started) and is also responsible for developing several courses at Berklee.

And now she is a Grammy Winner in the category of ‘Best New Artist’, although her latest album ‘Chamber Music Society’ is her third. It is also important to note that Esperanza Spalding is also the first jazz artist to win the ‘Best New Artist’ Grammy award. Preview her latest album below to hear the music of Esperanza Spalding.

Want to hear more Jazz Music? Listen to Live 365 Radio stations devoted to playing jazz artists.

2011 Grammy Winners!

Live365 — Mon, 14 Feb 2011 06:20:45 +0000

The 53rd annual Grammy Awards held on Sunday, February 13, 2011, at the Staples Center in Los Angeles.

Perhaps one of the biggest surprises of the night was Canadian Band ‘Arcade Fire’ who won Album of the Year – beating out Eminem, Lady Antebellum, Lady Gaga, and Katy Perry.

Lady Antebellum did however take home Song of the Year – no surprise there – and also Record of the Year. Another shocker was that of Esperanza Spalding (who? – see video below) beating out Justin Bieber as Best New Artist.

Here are the Grammy Winners in the Top Categories…

2011 Grammy Winners!

Album of the Year

The Suburbs – Arcade Fire

Record of the Year

Need You Now – Lady Antebellum

Best Pop Vocal Album

The Fame Monster – Lady Gaga

Best Rock Album

The Resistance – Muse

Best New Artist

Esperanza Spalding

Best Rap Album

Recovery – Eminem

Best Country Album

Need You Now – Lady Antebellum

Best Contemporary R&B Album

Raymond V Raymond – Usher

Song of the Year

Need You Now – Lady Antebellum

Best Country Song

Need You Now – Lady Antebellum

Best Rock Song

Angry World – Neil Young

Best R&B Song

Shine – John Legend & The Roots

Best Rap Song

Empire State Of Mind – Jay-Z & Alicia Keys

Best Female Pop Vocal Performance

Bad Romance – Lady Gaga

Best Male Pop Vocal Performance

Just the Way You Are – Bruno Mars

Best Pop Performance By a Group or Duo with Vocals

Hey, Soul Sister (Live) – Train

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Money for Nothing and Your Radio Censorship for Free!

Live365 — Sun, 16 Jan 2011 03:37:27 +0000

The Canadian Broadcast Standards Council ruled this week that Dire Strait’s song “Money for Nothing” is too offensive because it contains the word “faggot”. A Canadian radio station (details below) defied the censorship ruling and played the song ‘back to back’ for one full hour in protest. The ruling states that Canadian radio stations must air an edited version of the song.

The CBSC is the vehicle for radio listeners to voice their complaints about anything they hear on the airwaves within the country. It’s a known fact to Canadian radio broadcasters that Canadian radio has always been less controversial than what you hear on major market radio stations in the United States.

When US “Shock Jock” Howard Stern first syndicated this morning show in the 1990’s, a radio station in Toronto picked him up. However, they aired an edited version of the program because it was deemed to raunchy for a Canadian Market.

Fast forward to 2011 and things have changed quite a bit, so it seems a little odd that someone would now complain about a song containing the word faggot that’s being playing on radio stations worldwide, including Canada, for 26 years.

A classic rock station in Edmonton, Alberta, K-97 (CIRK), has long been pushing the Canadian envelope in terms of what can and cannot be said on the radio. Their morning show especially is used to complaints filed against them for everything from broadcast content to racy billboard campaigns. So it seems fitting that K-97 defied the ruling and from 8pm to 9 pm local time on Friday January 14th, 2011 they aired the unedited version of Dire Strait’s “Money for Nothing” repeatedly for the full hour.

K-97 MD Todd James made the following statement: “We’re not afraid of repercussions. We have never had a complaint in the 25 years we have played the song”. Todd went on to say “We will play it in its entirety and unedited as we have always done and if someone wants to file a complaint we will take it from there.”

Now here’s my 2 bits…

If you know the intent of the “Money for Nothing” by Dire Straits you will also know that within the context of the story told within the lyrics, the use of the word “faggot” it has nothing to do with the homosexual community whatsoever. The word is not even directed at a gay person. The word is voiced by a character in the song… a grunt worker/delivery guy who has to do physical labor for a living. As he works, he complains… We gotta install microwave ovens Custom kitchen deliveries We gotta move these refrigerators. We gotta move these color TV’s”.

As he works, presumably in a box store of some kind, there is a rock video playing on a wall full of televisions. The worker goes on to complain… “See the little faggot with the earring and the makeup, Yeah buddy that’s his own hair. That little faggot got his own jet airplane. That little faggot he’s a millionaire). Who is the little faggot? Mark Knoppler or any member of Dire Straits? Any rock star that dressed the opposite of a typical blue collar worker?

There is nothing inciting hatred against the gay community in this song. It is a derogatory term blasted away by the worker towards someone on a television screen that clearly has it better than he does. “And he’s up there, what’s that? Hawaiian noises? Bangin’ on the bongos like a chimpanzee That ain’t workin’ that’s the way you do it Get your money for nothin’ get your chicks for free”.

Those who have worked in radio know that the Canadian Broadcast Standards Council has little clout to penalize those who do not adhere to their rulings. They are in fact a non-governmental committee created by the Canadian Association of Broadcasters to administer standards established by its members, including K-97 Classic Rock radio in Edmonton. For those outside of Canada, the CBSC is NOT the CRTC, which is the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commissionaire, the government agency who holds the power to issue and revoke licensing. The CRTC is not part of this debate.

While stations adhere to the Canadian Broadcast Standards Council rulings, it is usually “after the fact”. In the case of K-97 and their racy billboard campaigns during ratings periods, they know going into the campaign that complaints will come. By the time the CBSC orders them to remove the billboards, K-97 happily complies because ratings are over anyway. Case closed. No consequences.

In the case of the song “Money for Nothing”, K-97 has vowed that it will ignore the ruling and continue to play the song unedited. If a complaint comes in from the local market in Edmonton to the Canadian Broadcast Standards Council, the radio station will then need to decide what they will do with a direct complaint against them. As far as I am aware, a failure to comply with the CBSC’s rulings will be a first. I’ll let you know what happens in the future weeks to come.

Listen to your favorite online radio stations atLive 365. See Live 365’s full genre listing here and get more out of your online radio experience with these added features as a VIP member.

Paul McCartney on Saturday Night Live!

Live365 — Sat, 11 Dec 2010 18:28:58 +0000

Paul McCartney performed tonight as musical guest on Saturday Night Live. He appeared in an SNL digital short playing a mini harmonica and did a short bit on Weekend Update with Seth Meyers.

Songs performed by Paul were Jet, Band on the Run, and A Day in a Life with a segue into Give Peace a Chance… the latter as a tribute to John Lennon on the anniversary of his death this past week. He closed the show with Get Back as the credits rolled.

Paul McCartney was in New York all week and appeared on Late Night with Jimmy Fallon where they sang “Scrambled Eggs” together, which is the original “Yesterday”.

The story behind “Scrambled Eggs” to the tune of “Yesterday” is as follows. In 1964, Paul woke up one morning with the tune in his head. He quickly jumped out of bed and rushed to the piano to solidify the song so he would not forget it.

All he had was the tune which is now the famous song “Yesterday”, but no lyrics. So he called it Scrambled Eggs instead. In the weeks that followed, Paul continued to sing the song to others, including the Beatles with the question “have you heard tune this before?” He didn’t believe that he just dreamed this wonderful song and thought it must be a song recorded by someone else, only trapped away in his subconscious.

The rest is history as Yesterday has become the most recorded song of all time with over 3000 versions performed by various artists, including instrumental covers.

Paul has always been a big fan of New York, the city, not the song necessarily. On September 11th, 2001 (911) when the world towers were brought down, Paul was on the tarmac at JFK Airport sitting on a plane waiting to take off. He witnessed the fall of the towers from his plane on the ground.

This was Paul McCartney’s inspiration for the song “Freedom”, which he wrote the next day while in New York. He later organized and performed at a benefit concert in New York to raise funds for victims of 911.

Paul McCartney appears twice on the top 10 list of artists with the most hits of all time on radio in the US. First as a Beatle and secondly as Paul McCartney and Wings.

Listen to the music of Paul McCartney on Live 365! Click Here then search for Paul McCartney in the top right corner for online radio stations that play his music.

Garth Brooks on Larry King Live Talks about Retirement, Vegas and iTunes!

Live365 — Sat, 11 Dec 2010 06:13:38 +0000

Garth Brooks sat down with Larry King Live tonight and talked about this new show in Vegas. It’s just him and a guitar at the Wynn Casino.

He also talked about why he does not allow his music on iTunes and this should clear up any confusion about the issue.

It was a timely conversation with the recent announcement that the Beatles are now available on iTunes, but as mentioned in our earlier post about artists holding out on iTunes, Garth Brooks is one of the biggest names on that list.

The reason however, may surprise you. It has little to do with the idea of offering music via digital download, as opposed to traditional CD sales.

While Garth Brooks admitted on Larry King Live that up until the point he retired everything that he had ever recorded was in analog format, his refusal to offer his music on iTunes has nothing to do with the digital media. Garth admitted that now after many years in retirement, recording digitally is pretty much the only option these days. It is the standard and he can accept that.

Garth’s refusal to allow his music on iTunes for download is about the fact that iTunes is selling of singles (single songs). On Larry King Live he spoke candidly that he only wants his music to be sold in album format.

Radio has always been the media that musicians promote their music with “singles”, but fans then go out and buy the entire album. It is then that the entire albums is heard as it was mean to be heard. A compilation of songs in a moment of time. That is the way Garth Brooks wants people to experience this music.

iTunes will not allow an artist to sell their music without the option for users to buy and download individual sings. That is where talks break down.

In regards to his Vegas show, Garth told Larry King that he feels very naked on stage. But it is a very raw, honest and pure performance.

He will often fly in to Vegas from home or one of his kids soccer games and walk right on stage with whatever he is wearing that day. No glitz, not glamor, just Garth.

Listen to Garth Brooks on Live 365…. featuring radio stations that play a wide variety of musical genres. Click Here then search for “Garth Brooks” in top right corner search box to reveal stations that play his music.

Athena 365! Online Radio for Women!

Live365 — Thu, 09 Dec 2010 08:50:04 +0000

Live 365 launches Athena 365! Live Online Radio Stations for Women!

What is Athena 365?

It’s the Internet Radio Network dedicated to bringing quality programming to women online.

Just like Live 365 provides many niche genres of music to listen to, Athena 365 will showcase hundred’s of free radio stations.

From your favorite musical artists to family-oriented talk programming, Athena has something for every woman.

Athena is built on the Live 365 online radio delivery platform. Becoming a VIP Member of Athena also gets you access to all internet radio station on Live 365!

Enjoy Athena with over 7000 online radio stations on the Live 365 Radio Network. No matter what kind of mood you are in, there’s an Athena online radio station to fit it with specialized program geared just for women.

Click Here to Learn More about Athena!

2011 Grammy Nominations Revealed on CBS!

Live365 — Thu, 02 Dec 2010 18:21:41 +0000

It was a big night last evening at the Nokia Theatre in Los Angeles. The 2011 Grammy nominees were announced live on CBS with the Grammy Nominations concert.

Here are how things turned out in the various categories:

2011 Grammy Nominees!