http://www.musicians.com/blog/ en 2013-05-17T05:41:26-05:00 hourly 6 2013-05-17T05:41:26-05:00 http://www.musicians.com/blog/2013-bbma-nominations 2013-05-17T05:41:26-05:00 en Editor News With Tracy Morgan of 30 Rock fame as host, the 2013 Billboard Music Awards, set to take place on May 19 at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas, will feature a host of collaborative acts as part of the entertainment lineup. A special surprise guest will join Christina Aguilera and Pitbull to perform Feel This Moment; Pitbull and Jennifer Lopez will join forces on Live It Up; Justin Bieber and Will.I.Am will collaborate on The Power; Ne-Yo, David Guetta and Akon will perform Play Hard; and Lil Wayne and Nicki Minaj will team up on High School. http://www.musicians.com/blog/join-omas-24-hour-party 2013-05-03T05:37:35-05:00 en Editor Features With the O Music Awards set to take place on June 19, 2013, music lovers can look forward to a 24-hour party with the entertainment lineup featuring more than 50 bands, including a host of today's hottest artists and stars of the future. In 2012 MTV’s O Music Awards (OMA) and The Flaming Lips set a Guinness World Record for the most live performances in 24 hours with a road trip that included Memphis, Clarksdale, Oxford, Jackson, Hattiesburg, Biloxi, Baton Rouge, and New Orleans. This year the festivities include a drum-a-thon, kicked off by Ahmir "Questlove" Thompson of Roots, and a competition to "Make a Band Famous". http://www.musicians.com/blog/support-record-store-day-2013 2013-04-19T04:23:28-05:00 en Editor Features Celebrated on the third Saturday of April each year, Record Store Day will take place on 20 April 2013, with thousands of independent record stores participating worldwide, bringing together artists and fans in a series of entertaining events. This annual event offers the opportunity for artists to meet and greet fans and fans to mingle with some of their favorite artists. The occasion is marked by the release of special limited edition vinyl and CD albums, as well as a variety of unique promotional items as mementos of Record Store Day 2013, with some venues featuring special appearances and performances. http://www.musicians.com/blog/coachella-and-stagecoach-music-festivals 2013-04-05T04:28:16-05:00 en Editor Features Music festival fans are no doubt delighted by the news that Indio's city council has approved the proposal by Goldenvoice to continue staging the popular Coachella and Stagecoach annual music festivals in the city of Indio, California, through to 2030. Moreover, it has been agreed that Goldenvoice can stage an additional two concerts per year, bringing the total number of concerts to five – three in the spring and two in the fall. This latest development puts to rest the controversy caused by a proposed tax on concert-goers which had organizers scouting for a new venue, and while some citizens of Indio would prefer not to have the concerts in their neighborhoods, the economic benefit of hosting the increasingly popular events appears to have outweighed any concerns raised. http://www.musicians.com/blog/musical-training-increases-cognitive-abilities 2013-03-19T07:16:09-05:00 en Editor Features When two scientists at the University of Auckland carried out research on whether musicians use the same brain areas to process both music and language, they discovered some interesting information about how background music affects cognition in musicians versus non-musicians. Lucy Patston and Lynette Tippett tested two groups of 36 adults - the one group consisting of musicians with at least ten years of musical training, including having performed in university or at a national level, with the second group consisting of non-musicians. The results revealed that musical training may physically change the actual neural organization of various cognitive activities. http://www.musicians.com/blog/ecma-celebrates-25-years-of-music-excellence 2013-03-08T02:23:15-06:00 en Editor Features The East Coast Music Awards is celebrating its 25th anniversary this week with a star-studded five-day event in Halifax, Nova Scotia, honoring the outstanding musicians who have made, and continue to make, Atlantic Canada's music scene world-class. The East Coast Music Awards started in 1989 as the Maritime Music Awards with five categories – Female Artist of the Year, Male Artist of the Year, Video of the Year, Song of the Year, and Album of the Year. Today, the ECMA honors achievers in 25 music categories, as well as a number of awards for the music industry. http://www.musicians.com/blog/ascap-founders-award-for-steven-tyler-joe-perry 2013-02-22T02:44:25-06:00 en Editor News A glowing commendation accompanied the announcement by ASCAP that Aerosmith's Steven Tyler and Joe Perry will receive the 36th ASCAP Founders Award at the 2013 ASCAP Pop Music Awards on April 17 in Los Angeles. Referring to the two musicians as part of one of the nation's greatest and most iconic rock bands, ASCAP noted that their music had defined a generation, while continuing to inspire songwriters today. The statement by ASCAP chairman Paul Williams went on to state that the two are "true musical pioneers whose contributions to American songwriting are immeasurable." http://www.musicians.com/blog/highest-paid-musicians-for-2012-named-by-forbes 2013-02-08T01:03:51-06:00 en Editor News Dr Dre took the #1 spot on the Forbes list of 25 Highest-Paid Musicians for the 12 month period from May 2011 to May 2012, with pretax earnings of $110 million, primarily from income from his very successful "Beats" headphone line. So even though his album Detox remains in the pipeline, he continues to rake in the cash from previous albums, along with concerts and his work as a producer. http://www.musicians.com/blog/prince-to-receive-billboard-icon-award 2013-01-25T01:50:18-06:00 en Editor News It was recently announced that Prince is to be honored with an Icon Award at the 2013 Billboard Music Awards to be held at the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas on 19 May. The somewhat controversial star will be the third recipient of the Icon Award, with the inaugural award going to Neil Diamond in 2011 and last year's award going to Stevie Wonder. Fans will be delighted to hear that Prince is planning a televised performance on the show, to be produced by acclaimed television and music event producer Don Mischer. http://www.musicians.com/blog/brit-award-2013-nominees-announced 2013-01-11T04:01:04-06:00 en Editor News With the inaugural event taking place in 1977, the BRIT Awards became an annual event from 1982 onward and has grown into one of the top music award ceremonies worldwide. The 2013 BRIT Awards (British Record Industry Trust) will take place in February and the nominees were recently announced, creating a pre-award buzz among fans and artists alike. Rolling Stones fans were no doubt delighted that the group, who were nominated in the very first event in 1977, have been nominated for an award in the British Live Act category, up against Coldplay Mumford & sons, Muse and Vaccines. Clearly, the long-time rockers still have superstar-status.