27 minutes ago

STOCKHOLM (Reuters) - Mobile phone maker Sony Ericsson said it had signed deals with 10 music labels to add content to its PlayNow service, which lets users download music via their mobile phones.

Sony Ericsson, owned by Ericsson and Sony Corp., said the deals added 5 million new tracks to its catalogue.

The venture said in a statement late on Sunday it had signed deals with Sony BMG, Warner Music Group, EMI, The Orchard, IODA, The PocketGroup, Hungama, X5Music, Bonnier Amigo and VidZone.

Sony Ericsson, which made the announcement at a trade show in Cannes, France, said it was negotiating further deals with regional labels.

The company introduced PlayNow in February 2004 as a way to listen to and then purchase ringtones for mobile phones. Since then, it as expanded the service, allowing full music tracks and games to be downloaded and other features. It said PlayNow was available in 32 countries.

By Dan Sloan 59 minutes ago

TOKYO (Reuters) - British rock band Led Zeppelin enjoyed jamming together again last year in a charity concert but won't have another session before September at the earliest, lead guitarist Jimmy Page said in Tokyo on Monday.

A successful reunion show in London in December rekindled hopes of a world tour, but Page said that singer Robert Plant's tour with U.S. country singer Alison Krauss is keeping him busy for now.

"I can assure you the amount of work that we put into the O2 (concert), for ourselves rehearsing and the staging of it, was probably what you put into a world tour," Page said.

But, "Robert Plant also had a parallel project running and he's really busy with that project, certainly until September, so I can't give you any news."

Page, in Tokyo to promote a greatest hits release, painted a happy picture of the reunion.

"It was exhilarating, fantastic, every week was a week to look forward to," he said. "We did the show and it was great."

The band, formed in 1968 by Page, Plant, bass guitarist John Paul Jones and drummer John Bonham, became arguably the world's biggest rock group by the early 1970s.

Their fourth album, released in 1971, included their most famous song, "Stairway to Heaven," while the band has sold an estimated 300 million albums worldwide.

The group decided to break up shortly after Bonham died in September 1980, although Page and Plant collaborated at times over the years.

Plant, Page and Jones performed together in London before about 20,000 fans on December 10, with Bonham's son Jason on the drums.

When the concert was announced, the Internet site selling tickets crashed with applications, while the possibility of a new world tour had fans around the globe excited.

Page said after many years the song indeed remained the same.

"That is what was so thrilling really — to come together after all this time and find that there was so much chemistry and so much electricity involved in these four characters."

By Deborah Evans Price 12 minutes ago

NASHVILLE (Billboard) - After taking a couple of creative detours on his last two albums, Alan Jackson returns to his readily identifiable brand of traditional country with the March 4 release of "Good Time."

"I always come back to what I came to Nashville to do, and that's make traditional-sounding country music. This album bounces back to that," Jackson said of the Arista Nashville release, which follows his platinum-selling gospel collection, "Precious Memories," and the Alison Krauss-produced "Like Red on a Rose."

Jackson knew "Like Red on a Rose" was not what his core fans had grown to expect from him. "When we made it, I said the critics will probably like it, but I don't know if my regular fans will get it," he said of the project, which has sold 775,000 units, according to Nielsen SoundScan. "I think had radio embraced it a little more, the fans would have liked it."

But according to Arista vice president of marketing and artist development Jon Elliot, "Like Red on a Rose" broadened Jackson's base. "Commercially it may not have sold as well as other Alan Jackson albums," he said, "but in terms of the acclaim that it got, it put him in a whole new light with certain noncountry music fans and the industry as a whole."

"Precious Memories," on the other hand, resonated strongly with Jackson's core audience as well as gaining him fans in the Christian market. It was the year's top-selling Christian title in 2006 and has sold 1.6 million copies, according to Nielsen SoundScan. Will he record another Christian album? "Well, I will, but I've got that polka album I want to do first and I've been putting it off," Jackson said with a laugh.

Jackson has always written the bulk of his hits, but "Good Time" marks his first time as sole writer on every track. It's also a reunion with Keith Stegall, who has produced every Jackson album except "Like Red on a Rose."

First single "Small Town Southern Man," No. 11 on Billboard's Hot Country Songs chart, has proved to be a strong introduction to the new album.

"The label felt it was a good song that my die-hard fans could connect with," Jackson said of the single. "When I started writing it, I started pulling things from my memories that fit the song. A lot of it is from my life and my parents' life."

Jackson duets with Martina McBride on the lively "Never Loved Before." When asked why he chose McBride for the song, the self-effacing artist replied in a smooth Georgia drawl, "A lot of people wouldn't want to sing with me, I imagine, but Martina has toured with me. She's one of the best female singers out there. It's a fun song with a light lyric."

On the more somber side is the track "Sissy's Song," which Jackson wrote for a family friend who died in a motorcycle accident.

Reuters/Billboard