1.
Single (music)
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In music, a single or record single is a type of release, typically a song recording of fewer tracks than an LP record, an album or an EP record. This can be released for sale to the public in a variety of different formats, in most cases, a single is a song that is released separately from an album, although it usually also appears on an album. Typically, these are the songs from albums that are released separately for promotional uses such as digital download or commercial radio airplay and are expected to be the most popular, in other cases a recording released as a single may not appear on an album. As digital downloading and audio streaming have become prevalent, it is often possible for every track on an album to also be available separately. Nevertheless, the concept of a single for an album has been retained as an identification of a heavily promoted or more popular song within an album collection. Despite being referred to as a single, singles can include up to as many as three tracks on them. The biggest digital music distributor, iTunes, accepts as many as three tracks less than ten minutes each as a single, as well as popular music player Spotify also following in this trend. Any more than three tracks on a release or longer than thirty minutes in total running time is either an Extended Play or if over six tracks long. The basic specifications of the single were made in the late 19th century. Gramophone discs were manufactured with a range of speeds and in several sizes. By about 1910, however, the 10-inch,78 rpm shellac disc had become the most commonly used format, the inherent technical limitations of the gramophone disc defined the standard format for commercial recordings in the early 20th century.26 rpm. With these factors applied to the 10-inch format, songwriters and performers increasingly tailored their output to fit the new medium, the breakthrough came with Bob Dylans Like a Rolling Stone. Singles have been issued in various formats, including 7-inch, 10-inch, other, less common, formats include singles on digital compact cassette, DVD, and LD, as well as many non-standard sizes of vinyl disc. Some artist release singles on records, a more common in musical subcultures. The most common form of the single is the 45 or 7-inch. The names are derived from its speed,45 rpm. The 7-inch 45 rpm record was released 31 March 1949 by RCA Victor as a smaller, more durable, the first 45 rpm records were monaural, with recordings on both sides of the disc. As stereo recordings became popular in the 1960s, almost all 45 rpm records were produced in stereo by the early 1970s
2.
Modern Talking
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Modern Talking was a German duo consisting of Thomas Anders and Dieter Bohlen. They have been referred to as Germanys most successful pop duo, some of their most popular and widely known singles are Youre My Heart, Youre My Soul, You Can Win If You Want, Cheri, Cheri Lady, Brother Louie, Atlantis Is Calling and Geronimos Cadillac. Modern Talking worked together from 1983 to 1987, when the split up. In 1997, they reunited and made a comeback, recording and releasing music from 1998 to 2003. The duo released singles which entered the top ten in Germany. Some of those singles were Youre My Heart, Youre My Soul 98, You Are Not Alone, the track was then followed by another number-one hit, You Can Win If You Want, which was released in the middle of 1985 from the debut album The 1st Album. The album was certified platinum in Germany for selling over 500,000 units, the single, being the only track released from their second album Lets Talk About Love, managed to push the album to a platinum status in Germany for sales of over 500,000. The success continued with two number one singles such as Brother Louie and Atlantis Is Calling both from the third album Ready for Romance. The duo also charted high with their sixth single Geronimos Cadillac from the fourth album In the Middle of Nowhere and Jet Airliner from their fifth album Romantic Warriors. During this era, Modern Talking were successful in Europe, Asia, South America, Middle East, particularly in Iran, in the United Kingdom, they entered the top five only once, with the song Brother Louie. They were almost unknown in North America, never appearing on the US charts and they released two albums each year between 1985 and 1987, while also promoting their singles on television all over Europe, eventually selling sixty-five million records within three years. Anders recorded five albums in English, Different, Whispers, Down on Sunset, When Will I See You Again and Souled. He was more successful in foreign countries than his own country, despite all the quarrels and disagreements that Bohlen and Anders experienced between themselves in the past, they began keeping in touch again after Anders moved back to Koblenz, Germany in 1994. In the beginning of 1998, the duo reunited and had their first performance together in March on the German TV show Wetten and they released a re-packaged version of their 1984 single Youre My Heart, Youre My Soul 98, which features Eric Singleton on the rap vocals. The duo won the award for Best Selling German Band at the World Music Awards that year, the follow-up album Alone also went straight to number one in Germany and was very successful elsewhere, the album managed to sell over one million units in Europe alone. Bohlen and Anders followed the 1980s Modern Talking pattern as they chose to release two singles from album, as in the past. A series of singles and four albums followed such as Year of the Dragon, America, Victory. The second break-up seemed to have been triggered mainly from the portrayal of Anders by Bohlen written in his autobiographical book published on 4 October 2003
3.
Bertelsmann Music Group
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Bertelsmann Music Group was a division of German media company Bertelsmann before its completion of sale of the majority of its assets to Japans Sony Corporation of America on October 1,2008. It was established in 1987 to combine the music activities of Bertelsmann. The joint venture with Sony Music was set up in August 2004 and it reduced the Big Five record companies to the Big Four record companies. At that time, the company had a 21. 5% share in the music market. Sony Music and BMG remained separate in Japan, although BMG Music Japan was wholly owned by Sony BMG. Bertelsmann sold its 50% share of Sony BMG to Sony Corporation of America for a total of $1.5 billion, and it is focused mainly in BMGs European stronghold markets. The basis of the company was formed through BMGs decision to withhold selected European music catalogues from the former Sony BMG joint venture, also kept separate from the acquisition by Sony Corporation of America was Sony BMGs wholly owned and operated BMG Japan. Sony Music Japan remained independent from the Sony BMG joint venture, therefore BMG, during Sony BMGs buyout, BMG Japan was instead picked up by Sony Music Entertainment Japan. It briefly continued to operate as an entity until a reorganization in early 2009 folded the company into Sony Music Japan. Barry Weiss, President and Chief Executive Officer, Zomba Label Group CEO Now part of Sony Music Entertainment after the buyout of Bertelsmann AGs 50% stake in Sony BMG. BMG Music Publishing, which was not part of the Sony BMG merger, was a business of the Bertelsmann Music Group until it was sold to Universal Music Group for €1.63 billion in 2007. Universal then folded the company into Universal Music Publishing Group, the company was headquartered at 245 Fifth Avenue, 8th Floor New York, New York 10016 and had operations in 36 offices in 25 countries. BMG Music publishing controlled over one million copyrights, BMG Music Publishing was the global leader in Classical music and was number one in Contemporary Christian music. Brentwood-Benson Music Publishing is BMG Music Publishings Christian publisher and owns over 60,000 copyrights, BMG Music Publishing and its assets have now been completely absorbed and folded into Universal Music Publishing Group. After Sony bought out Bertelsmanns share in Sony BMG, Bertelsmann was allowed to keep the rights to recordings from the former joint venture. These songs served as the foundation to BMG Rights Management, BMG Rights Management now serves as a division within Bertelsmann and as a replacement to the defunct Bertelsmann Music Group. A settlement in 2002 included the publishers and distributors, Sony Music, Warner Music, Bertelsmann Music Group, EMI Music. In restitution for price fixing they agreed to pay a $67.4 million fine and distribute $75.7 million in CDs to public and non-profit groups and it is estimated customers were overcharged by nearly $500 million and up to $5 per album
4.
Songwriter
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A songwriter is an individual who writes the lyrics, melodies and chord progressions for songs, typically for a popular music genre such as rock or country music. A songwriter can also be called a composer, although the term tends to be used mainly for individuals from the classical music genre. The pressure from the industry to produce popular hits means that songwriting is often an activity for which the tasks are distributed between a number of people. For example, a songwriter who excels at writing lyrics might be paired with a songwriter with a gift for creating original melodies, pop songs may be written by group members from the band or by staff writers – songwriters directly employed by music publishers. Some songwriters serve as their own publishers, while others have outside publishers. The old-style apprenticeship approach to learning how to write songs is being supplemented by university degrees and college diplomas, a knowledge of modern music technology, songwriting elements and business skills are necessary requirements to make a songwriting career in the 2010s. Several music colleges offer songwriting diplomas and degrees with music business modules, the legal power to grant these permissions may be bought, sold or transferred. This is governed by international copyright law, song pitching can be done on a songwriters behalf by their publisher or independently using tip sheets like RowFax, the MusicRow publication and SongQuarters. Skills associated with song-writing include entrepreneurism and creativity, songwriters who sign an exclusive songwriting agreement with a publisher are called staff writers. In the Nashville country music scene, there is a staff writer culture where contracted writers work normal 9-to-5 hours at the publishing office and are paid a regular salary. This salary is in effect the writers draw, an advance on future earnings, the publisher owns the copyright of songs written during the term of the agreement for a designated period, after which the songwriter can reclaim the copyright. In an interview with HitQuarters, songwriter Dave Berg extolled the benefits of the set-up, unlike contracted writers, some staff writers operate as employees for their respective publishers. Under the terms of work for hire agreements, the compositions created are fully owned by the publisher. In Nashville, young writers are often encouraged to avoid these types of contracts. Staff writers are common across the industry, but without the more office-like working arrangements favored in Nashville. All the major publishers employ writers under contract, songwriter Allan Eshuijs described his staff writer contract at Universal Music Publishing as a starter deal. His success under the arrangement eventually allowed him to found his own publishing company, so that he could. keep as much as possible, songwriters are also often skilled musicians. In addition to selling their songs and musical concepts for other artists to sing, songwriters need to create a number of elements for a song
5.
Dieter Bohlen
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Dieter Günther Bohlen is a German songwriter, singer, musician, producer, entertainer, and TV personality. Bohlen is best known for being part of popular pop-duo Modern Talking during 1983–1987, Bohlen took his Abitur in Oldenburg. His father was a supplier to the construction business, in 1973, Dieter Bohlen was member of the band Monza. In 1981 he was member of trio Sunday, and they had a hit Hale Hey Louise, from 1983 to 1987 and from 1998 to 2003, Bohlen was one half of the pop duo Modern Talking as producer, songwriter and composer. From 1985 to 1988, he produced and wrote songs for the disco singer C. C, in 1988, Dieter Bohlen signed 15-year-old singer Anna Garcia whose stage name was Sheree. In 1988 she recorded a song Ronnie – Talk To Russia, as Sheree, written by German songwriter and former member of Modern Talking, Dieter Bohlen. After Modern Talkings first split in 1987, Bohlen formed Blue System, for most projects Bohlen had session singers for the background vocals to produce a high-pitched chorus. He frequently worked in the studio with the producer Luis Rodríguez, rivalen Der Rennbahn is a soundtrack written by Bohlen. It was one of the albums in 1989 in Germany. Bohlen produced the German boygroup Touché which was founded by one of the five members. In 1986, Bohlen wrote and produced Chris Normans Midnight Lady for an episode of the German crime show Tatort and this song became a major hit in central Europe. In the 1990s, Bohlen became producer for Bonnie Tyler under Hansa Records and they released three albums, Bitterblue, Angel Heart and Silhouette in Red. Tyler had great success with her single Bitterblue, which was written and he has been a judge on all the seasons of the talent show Deutschland sucht den Superstar and has worked with acts discovered in the show, yielding several major hits. He is criticized for controversial and insulting comments, Bohlen has also released five books. Two of these are autobiographical and describe his career, romantic involvements, the first book was an unprecedented success in Germany. Both books were released as audio books. In 2006, Bohlen released an album called Dieter, Der Film that was a soundtrack to the movie of the same name, in 2011, he founded the clothing label Needs Clothing along with Felix Werner. He has also been a judge the talent show Das Supertalent and he is the only judge to have been in every season of the show
6.
Record producer
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A record producer or music producer oversees and manages the sound recording and production of a band or performers music, which may range from recording one song to recording a lengthy concept album. A producer has many roles during the recording process, the roles of a producer vary. The producer may perform these roles himself, or help select the engineer, the producer may also pay session musicians and engineers and ensure that the entire project is completed within the record companies budget. A record producer or music producer has a broad role in overseeing and managing the recording. Producers also often take on an entrepreneurial role, with responsibility for the budget, schedules, contracts. In the 2010s, the industry has two kinds of producers with different roles, executive producer and music producer. Executive producers oversee project finances while music producers oversee the process of recording songs or albums. In most cases the producer is also a competent arranger, composer. The producer will also liaise with the engineer who concentrates on the technical aspects of recording. Noted producer Phil Ek described his role as the person who creatively guides or directs the process of making a record, indeed, in Bollywood music, the designation actually is music director. The music producers job is to create, shape, and mold a piece of music, at the beginning of record industry, producer role was technically limited to record, in one shot, artists performing live. The role of producers changed progressively over the 1950s and 1960s due to technological developments, the development of multitrack recording caused a major change in the recording process. Before multitracking, all the elements of a song had to be performed simultaneously, all of these singers and musicians had to be assembled in a large studio and the performance had to be recorded. As well, for a song that used 20 instruments, it was no longer necessary to get all the players in the studio at the same time. Examples include the rock sound effects of the 1960s, e. g. playing back the sound of recorded instruments backwards or clanging the tape to produce unique sound effects. These new instruments were electric or electronic, and thus they used instrument amplifiers, new technologies like multitracking changed the goal of recording, A producer could blend together multiple takes and edit together different sections to create the desired sound. For example, in jazz fusion Bandleader-composer Miles Davis album Bitches Brew, producers like Phil Spector and George Martin were soon creating recordings that were, in practical terms, almost impossible to realise in live performance. Producers became creative figures in the studio, other examples of such engineers includes Joe Meek, Teo Macero, Brian Wilson, and Biddu
7.
Brother Louie (Modern Talking song)
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Brother Louie is Modern Talkings first single from their third album, Ready for Romance. It was their fourth single to top the German Singles Chart, after Youre My Heart, Youre My Soul, You Can Win If You Want. Brother Louie was released on 27 January 1986 and it peaked at No.1 on March 3,1986 in Germany, the single spent four weeks at the top and total of 17 weeks in the German single chart. In the UK, it peaked at No.4 in the charts, Brother Louie was also certified silver in France for selling over 250,000 units. In 1998, not long after the reunion, a re-worked version of the single was released entitled Brother Louie 98. The single, released in a new sleeve was also successful, Brother Louie 98 is the re-packaged version of the original 1986 version of Brother Louie. The single, as the first single Youre My Heart, Youre My Soul 98 off Back For Good features Eric Singleton, Brother Louie 98 was released in Germany and in other European territories on July 20,1998. While, the single entered the top-20 in Germany and Austria, it managed to enter the top-10 in Sweden, in France, Brother Louie 98 reached a gold status for selling over 250,000 units. This version was released for the UK market only and contains remixes that were not included on Brother Louie 98, the song has been sampled in Alisha Chinais Zooby Zooby, Francesco Napolis Balla. WestBams Disco Deutschland, Pate Ja Rykäs Takas Pelikentil and in Discofreakz Brother Louie, the music video of Brother Louie contains footage from 1984 movie Once Upon a Time in America, interspersed with the band members playing on a stage surrounded by dancing fans. 86 version chart positions 98 version chart positions Lyrics of this song at MetroLyrics Brother Louie at Discogs
