Word: cd
(lookup in dictionary)
(lookup stats)
Dates: all
Sort By: most recent first
(reverse)
...would not be the first time. In 1991 Virgin signed her to a $40 million contract--which was then unprecedentedly large--and that pact led the way for big-money deals by Prince, the Rolling Stones and others. This wasn't totally ego driven: the development of the CD has led to a decade of steady growth in the recording industry, which has seen its sales increase from $4 billion a year to $12 billion a year since...
...track record. In 1992 RCA signed the bearded one-note rockers ZZ Top to a $35 million deal--and the band hasn't had a million-selling record since. Janet Jackson's brother Michael has a $60 million megadeal with Sony that looks too princely in retrospect. His latest CD, HIStory, has sold 6 million copies so far, in contrast to 17 million copies worldwide for his previous CD, Dangerous--a considerable letdown after a $30 million ad campaign that was almost as sweeping and fearsome as Germany's taking of the Rhineland...
...Material Girl her very own record label. Madonna's last few records have sold only about 3 million copies apiece, substandard for her, but the deal's overall returns look better because her private label has fared well (its latest success: imported Canadian diva Alanis Morissette, whose Grammy-nominated CD Jagged Little Pill has hit No. 1). The Rolling Stones' two albums since their 1992 $35 million contract with Virgin have had mild sales, but the fact they brought with them a chunk of their lucrative back catalog has made the deal more palatable...
...troubling early sign for Virgin is that Jackson's current CD, the greatest-hits collection Design of a Decade 1986/1996, has performed only modestly, selling 2 million copies in three months. Says Krasnow: "If I were to pay an artist $80 million, I would want to know that I was going to sell at least 40 million units over five albums." But the only thing worse than signing superstars to deals that are too rich is not signing them at all. No record-company suit wants to be known as the guy who lost Janet Jackson. Plus big names lure...
...their rationales have expired. The giveaway was originally conceived by the Reagan Administration as a way to bolster American firms in a race with Japan to develop a new technology called High-Definition Television. Then hdtv was eclipsed by so-called digital television, which promises extra-sharp pictures and CD-quality sound. The Japanese are barely in the digital race, but the fcc decided to ladle out the frequencies anyway...