EMI Music’s Virgin Records is pleased to announce that it has signed a new worldwide deal with Los Angeles rock band 30 Seconds to Mars.

Watch Video – Thirty Seconds to Mars deliver an alternative look into their environmentally- themed video for “A Beautiful Lie”:

30 Seconds to Mars, fronted by vocalist, guitarist, and songwriter Jared Leto, is currently in the studio in Los Angeles recording their third album with acclaimed producer Flood, known for his work with U2, Nine Inch Nails, Depeche Mode, and Smashing Pumpkins.

Due this fall, the as-yet-untitled album is the follow-up to 2005’s platinum-selling ‘A Beautiful Life’, which sold more than three million albums and singles worldwide and spawned two Top 10 Modern Rock singles, “From Yesterday” and “The Kill.” The latter set a radio record for the longest-running hit in the history of Modern Rock radio play when it remained on the national airplay chart for more than 50 weeks following its No. 3 peak in 2006. “From Yesterday” was the band’s first No. 1 at the format. Its epic video was the first American music video ever shot in the People’s Republic of China.

30 Seconds to Mars’ new album is a collection of the thoughts and ideas that the band (which also includes drummer Shannon Leto and guitarist Tomo Mili?evi?) have experienced after spending several years on the road. The songs reflect a willingness to take chances and create a pivotal, game-changing album. As Flood recently told Billboard.com: “These guys wanted to move into a different place and that’s always a big challenge. They had established themselves very firmly in one arena when Jared first talked to me. It was about trying to make a ‘classic album,’ and that’s by pushing themselves and me to a place that you may not have expected to go, so it requires truth, honesty, and a lot of hard work. Those sorts of things I find very rewarding.”

“It’s great to finally move forward and focus on what’s most important to us all- the music,” says Jared Leto. “We are excited about starting over with the many talented people at Virgin/EMI, and to sharing our new music with the fans in the very near future. We will never forget the unrelenting support from all our friends, family, and fans around the world.”

“We are thrilled to have set aside our differences and signed a new agreement with 30 Seconds to Mars,” says Nick Gatfield, EMI Music’s President of A&R Labels – North America & the UK. “Our relationship has been extremely rewarding and successful, and we’re eager to move forward and put our global team to work on the brilliant new album they are recording with Flood.”

“I am excited to be a part of 30 Seconds to Mars’ next chapter,” says Rob Stevenson, President of Virgin A&R Labels. “Not only are they one of the most important bands in rock music today, but I admire their commitment to the online world. It has made them digital pioneers in terms of reaching fans where they live and breathe music.”

Formed by Jared and Shannon Leto in 1998, 30 Seconds to Mars have won numerous awards and accolades, including an MTV Video Music Award, three MTV EMA, an MTV Latin and Asia Award, a Fuse Award, and three Kerrang! awards. They have nearly 500 live performances under their belts since the release of ‘A Beautiful Life’, which has earned them a growing, loyal, global fan base. The band is also known as one of the world’s most progressive online. Their fans – dubbed The Echelon – participate in both band and charity-driven activities.

Thirty Seconds to Mars now boast more than 28 million plays on MySpace, more than one million fans on iLike/Facebook and have received more than 100 million views on YouTube.

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30 Seconds to Mars Official Website
Myspace

Photo Session, 1965, © Apple Corps Ltd, 2009

Apple Corps Ltd. and EMI Music are delighted to announce the release of the original Beatles catalogue, which has been digitally re-mastered for the first time, for worldwide CD release on Wednesday, September 9, 2009 (9-9-09), the same date as the release of the widely anticipated The Beatles: Rock Band video game.

Sgt Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band, © Apple Corps Ltd, 2009

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Each of the CDs is packaged with replicated original UK album art, including expanded booklets containing original and newly written liner notes and rare photos. For a limited period, each CD will also be embedded with a brief documentary film about the album. On the same date, two new Beatles boxed CD collections will also be released.

Photo Session, 1962, © Apple Corps Ltd, 2009

The albums have been re-mastered by a dedicated team of engineers at EMI’s Abbey Road Studios in London over a four year period utilising state of the art recording technology alongside vintage studio equipment, carefully maintaining the authenticity and integrity of the original analogue recordings. The result of this painstaking process is the highest fidelity the catalogue has seen since its original release.

The collection comprises all 12 Beatles albums in stereo, with track listings and artwork as originally released in the UK, and ‘Magical Mystery Tour,’ which became part of The Beatles’ core catalogue when the CDs were first released in 1987. In addition, the collections ‘Past Masters Vol. I and II’ are now combined as one title, for a total of 14 titles over 16 discs. This will mark the first time that the first four Beatles albums will be available in stereo in their entirety on compact disc. These 14 albums, along with a DVD collection of the documentaries, will also be available for purchase together in a stereo boxed set.

Within each CD’s new packaging, booklets include detailed historical notes along with informative recording notes. With the exception of the ‘Past Masters’ set, newly produced mini-documentaries on the making of each album, directed by Bob Smeaton, are included as QuickTime files on each album. The documentaries contain archival footage, rare photographs and never-before-heard studio chat from The Beatles, offering a unique and very personal insight into the studio atmosphere.

A second boxed set has been created with the collector in mind. ‘The Beatles in Mono’ gathers together, in one place, all of the Beatles recordings that were mixed for a mono release. It will contain 10 of the albums with their original mono mixes, plus two further discs of mono masters (covering similar ground to the stereo tracks on ‘Past Masters’). As an added bonus, the mono “Help!” and “Rubber Soul” discs also include the original 1965 stereo mixes, which have not been previously released on CD. These albums will be packaged in mini-vinyl CD replicas of the original sleeves with all original inserts and label designs retained.

For the latest news and information, go to:

The Beatles Official Website

Additional information:

The Stereo Albums (available individually and collected in a stereo boxed set)
The stereo albums have been remastered by Guy Massey, Steve Rooke, Sam Okell with Paul Hicks and Sean Magee
All CD packages contain original vinyl artwork and liner notes
Extensive archival photos
Additional historical notes by Kevin Howlett and Mike Heatley
Additional recording notes by Allan Rouse and Kevin Howlett
* = CD includes QuickTime mini-doc about the album
Please Please Me* (CD debut in stereo)
With The Beatles* (CD debut in stereo)
A Hard Day’s Night* (CD debut in stereo)
Beatles For Sale* (CD debut in stereo)
Help!*
Rubber Soul*
Revolver*
Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band* (also includes 1987 notes, updated, and new intro by Paul McCartney)
Magical Mystery Tour*
The Beatles*
Yellow Submarine* (also includes original US liner notes)
Abbey Road*
Let It Be*
Past Masters (contains new liner notes written by Kevin Howlett)

‘The Beatles in Mono’ (boxed set only)
The mono albums have been remastered by Paul Hicks, Sean Magee with Guy Massey and Steve Rooke
Presented together in box with an essay written by Kevin Howlett
+ = mono mix CD debut
Please Please Me
With The Beatles
A Hard Day’s Night
Beatles For Sale
Help! (CD also includes original 1965 stereo mix)+
Rubber Soul (CD also include original 1965 stereo mix)+
Revolver+
Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band+
Magical Mystery Tour+
The Beatles+
Mono Masters

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The Beatles on amazon.com

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Re-mastering the Beatles catalogue

The re-mastering process commenced with an extensive period conducting tests before finally copying the analogue master tapes into the digital medium. When this was completed, the transfer was achieved using a Pro Tools workstation operating at 24 bit 192 kHz resolution via a Prism A-D converter. Transferring was a lengthy procedure done a track at a time. Although EMI tape does not suffer the oxide loss associated with some later analogue tapes, there was nevertheless a slight build up of dust, which was removed from the tape machine heads between each title.

From the onset, considerable thought was given to what audio restorative processes were going to be allowed. It was agreed that electrical clicks, microphone vocal pops, excessive sibilance and bad edits should be improved where possible, so long as it didn’t impact on the original integrity of the songs.

In addition, de-noising technology, which is often associated with re-mastering, was to be used, but subtly and sparingly. Eventually, less than five of the 525 minutes of Beatles music was subjected to this process. Finally, as is common with today’s music, overall limiting – to increase the volume level of the CD – has been used, but on the stereo versions only. However, it was unanimously agreed that because of the importance of The Beatles’ music, limiting would be used moderately, so as to retain the original dynamics of the recordings.

When all of the albums had been transferred, each song was then listened to several times to locate any of the agreed imperfections. These were then addressed by Guy Massey, working with Audio Restoration engineer Simon Gibson.

Mastering could now take place, once the earliest vinyl pressings, along with the existing CDs, were loaded into Pro Tools, thus allowing comparisons to be made with the original master tapes during the equalization process. When an album had been completed, it was auditioned the next day in studio three – a room familiar to the engineers, as all of the recent Beatles mixing projects had taken place in there – and any further alteration of EQ could be addressed back in the mastering room. Following the initial satisfaction of Guy and Steve, Allan Rouse and Mike Heatley then checked each new re-master in yet another location and offered any further suggestions. This continued until all 13 albums were completed to the team’s satisfaction.

New Notes/Documentaries Team

Kevin Howlett (Historical and Recording Notes)
Kevin Howlett’s career as an award-winning radio producer spans three decades. His music programmes for the BBC have included many documentaries about The Beatles, including ‘The Beeb’s Lost Beatles Tapes.’ He received a Grammy nomination for his involvement with The Beatles’ album ‘Live At The BBC’ and, in 2003, produced the ‘Fly On The Wall’ bonus disc for ‘Let It Be… Naked.’

Mike Heatley (Historical Notes)
Mike entered the music business via HMV Record Stores in 1970, transferring to EMI Records’ International Division three years later. He eventually headed up that division in the early Eighties before joining the company’s newly created Strategic Marketing Division in 1984. In 1988, he returned to International, where he undertook a number of catalogue marketing roles until he retired in December 2008.

During his career he worked with many of EMI’s major artists, including Pink Floyd, Queen, Kate Bush and Iron Maiden. However, during the last 30 years he has formed a particularly strong relationship with Apple, and has been closely involved in the origination and promotion of the Beatles catalogue, besides solo releases from John, Paul, George and Ringo.

Bob Smeaton (Director, Mini-Documentaries)
Bob Smeaton was series director and writer on the Grammy award winning ‘Beatles Anthology’ TV series which aired in the UK and the USA in 1995. In 1998 he received his second Grammy for his ‘Jimi Hendrix: Band of Gypsys’ documentary. In 2004 he gained his first feature film credit, as director on the feature documentary ‘Festival Express.’ He subsequently went on to direct documentaries on many of the world’s biggest music acts including The Who, Pink Floyd, The Doors, Elton John, Nirvana and the Spice Girls.

Julian Caiden (Editor, Mini-Documentaries)
Julian has worked with Bob Smeaton on numerous music documentaries including ‘Jimi Hendrix: Band of Gypsys’ and the ‘Classic Albums’ series, featuring The Who, Pink Floyd, The Doors, Elton John and Nirvana among others. He has worked on documentary profiles from Richard Pryor to Dr. John to Sir Ian McKellen, Herbie Hancock and Damien Hirst and on live music shows including the New York Dolls and Club Tropicana.

The Abbey Road Team

Allan Rouse (Project Coordinator)
Allan joined EMI straight from school in 1971 at their Manchester Square head office, working as an assistant engineer in the demo studio. During this time he frequently worked with Norman (Hurricane) Smith, The Beatles’ first recording engineer.

In 1991, he had his first involvement with The Beatles, copy­ing all of their master tapes (mono, stereo, 4-track and 8-track) to digital tape as a safety backup. This was followed by four years working with Sir George Martin as assistant and project coordinator on the TV documentary ‘The Making of Sgt. Pepper’s’ and the CDs ‘Live at the BBC’ and ‘The Anthol­ogy.’

In 1997, MGM/UA were preparing to reissue the film ‘Yellow Submarine’ and, with the permission of Apple, asked that all of The Beatles’ music be mixed for the film in 5.1 surround and stereo. Allan requested the services of Abbey Road’s senior engineer Peter Cobbin and assistant Guy Massey and, along with them, produced the new mixes.

Two years later, he proposed an experimental stereo and surround mix of John Lennon’s song ‘Imagine’ engineered by Peter Cobbin. Following lengthy consultations with Yoko Ono, the album ‘Imagine’ was re-mixed in stereo and the Grammy award-winning film ‘Gimme Some Truth’ in surround and new stereo. This led to a further five of John’s albums being re-mastered with new stereo mixes and the DVD release of ‘Lennon Legend’ being re-mixed in 5.1 surround and new stereo.

Further projects followed, including The Beatles ‘Anthol­ogy’, ‘The First US Visit’ and ‘Help’ DVD and the albums ‘Let It Be…Naked’ and ‘Love’ along with George Harrison’s ‘Concert for Bangladesh’ DVD and album.

For a number of years now, Allan has worked exclusively on Beatles and related projects.

Guy Massey (Recording Engineer)
Guy joined Abbey Road in 1994, and five years later assisted on the surround remix for The Beatles film ‘Yellow Submarine.’ This led to The Beatles’ ‘Anthology’ DVD and later, along with Paul Hicks and Allan Rouse, they mixed and produced ‘Let It Be… Naked.’ In 2004 he left the studios to become freelance and has engineered The Divine Comedy: ‘Victory for the Comic Muse,’ Air Traffic: ‘Fractured Life,’ James Dean Bradfield: ‘The Great Western’ and Stephen Fretwell’s ‘Magpie,’ co-producing the last two. Since leaving, Guy is still a vital member of the team, and has been the senior engineer for the re-mastering project and was responsible for surround and new stereo mixes for the DVD release of ‘Help!’

Steve Rooke (Mastering Engineer)
Steve joined Abbey Road in 1983 and is now the studio’s senior mastering engineer. He has been involved on all The Beatles’ projects since 1999. He has also been responsible for mastering releases by John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison and Ringo Starr.

Paul Hicks (Recording Engineer)
Paul started at Abbey Road in 1994, and his first involvement with The Beatles was assisting engineer Geoff Emerick on the Anthology albums. This was followed by ‘Yellow Submarine Songtrack,’ ‘Anthology’ DVD and ‘Let It Be… Naked.’ Like Guy Massey, he has also become a freelance engineer and since leaving the studios he has been responsible for the surround mixing of Paul McCartney’s DVD ‘The McCartney Years’ and The Beatles’ ‘Love.’ Paul has been in charge of the mono re-masters.

Sean Magee (Mastering Engineer)
Sean began working at Abbey Road in 1995 with a diploma in sound engineering. With a wealth of knowledge in analog and digital mastering, he has worked alongside Paul Hicks on the mono re-masters.

Sam Okell (Recording Engineer)
Sam’s first job as a member of the team was in 2006, assisting Paul Hicks on Paul McCartney’s DVD ‘The McCartney Years,’ and during that same year he was responsible for the re-mastering of George Harrison’s ‘Living In The Material World’ CD along with Steve Rooke. This led to him restoring the soundtrack to the Beatles film ‘Help!’ in surround and stereo, in addition to assisting Guy Massey with the song remixes.

Sam has re-mastered ‘With The Beatles’ and ‘Let It Be.’

Simon Gibson (Audio Restoration Engineer)
Simon joined Abbey Road in 1990. He has progressed from mastering mostly classical recordings to include a much wider range of music, including pop and rock, with his specialized role as an audio restoration engineer. Apart from the re-mastering project, his other work includes George Harrison’s ‘Living In The Material World,’ John Lennon’s ‘Lennon Legend,’ The Beatles’ ‘Love’ and the ‘Help!’ DVD soundtrack.

Artist’ Albums, Including Coldplay, Katy Perry, Leona Lewis, Rihanna and Robin Thicke will be Available on High Quality, DRM-Free MP3 slotMusic™ Cards at Best Buy® and Wal-Mart

This is a BIG deal – it’s the first time the major labels and retailers have unanimously embraced a new physical format in over 25 years. These cards play in 70 million phones in the US and a billion devices worldwide. Imagine if there were that many CD players in 1982…

Los Angeles, CA, New York, NY, Milpitas, CA – The world’s four largest music companies and SanDisk Corporation (NASDAQ:SNDK), a leading seller of MP3 players and flash memory cards in the United States, unveiled the full list of artists joining the inaugural slotMusic line-up.

Starting this week, music fans can purchase slotMusic cards—microSD™ cards with pre-loaded, high quality, DRM-free MP3 music—featuring new release albums from favorite artists like Coldplay, Katy Perry, Leona Lewis, Rihanna and Robin Thicke and catalog titles from Elvis, Abba and more.

Within days of shipping, slotMusic cards will arrive on the shelves of Best Buy and Wal-Mart in the United States, with a manufacturer’s suggested retail price of $14.99.

slotMusic makes today’s hottest music available on interoperable microSD cards that let fans instantly plug and play albums into their microSD slot-enabled mobile phones, portable media players, computers, and an increasing number of car stereos.

More than just your typical music albums or single downloads, slotMusic cards boast 1GB1 (gigabyte) of capacity to offer artists a compelling new way to express themselves to their fans. In addition to songs, slotMusic cards may hold liner notes, album art, videos and other creative content that an artist may choose.

Grammy™-winning recording artist Robin Thicke, is utilizing the additional space on his card to add exclusive videos, behind the scenes footage and photos, personally chosen by Thicke to share with his fans.

Dozens of popular artists from EMI Music, SONY BMG, Universal Music Group, and Warner Music Group are making their debut on slotMusic cards in time for the holidays, including:

* ABBA
* Chris Brown
* Coldplay
* Connie Talbot
* Daughtry
* Don’t Quit Fitness Bundle
* Elvis Presley
* Five Finger Death Punch
* Jimi Hendrix
* Jimmy Buffet
* Katy Perry
* Keane
* Kelly Clarkson
* Kiss
* Leona Lewis
* Lynyrd Skynyrd
* Metro Station
* MIA
* Nelly
* New Kids On the Block
* Ne-Yo
* Nickelback
* Pussycat Dolls
* Rihanna
* Rise Against
* Robin Thicke
* Saving Abel
* Shwayze
* Solange
* Sugarland
* Tim McGraw
* Toby Keith
* Usher
* Weezer
* Young Jeezy

Consumers can expect additional releases from other artists before the end of 2008. slotMusic has an unparalleled, pre-existing installed base at launch: hundreds of millions of multimedia-phones.

slotMusic cards are packaged with a tiny USB adapter (a $9.99 value) ensuring seamless interoperability with all computers – Windows, Linux and Mac—and enabling music fans to move their music to any music management software program or MP3 music device. The MP3-based music tracks will be played back at up to 320 kilobits per second (kbps), offering a high quality audio experience.

slotMusic cards are expected to be available in Europe in 2009.

SanDisk Corporation (NASDAQ: SNDK), inventor of the ubiquitous microSD format, is leading the technology development behind slotMusic.

About EMI Music

EMI Music is the recorded music division of EMI Group Limited, one of the world’s leading music companies. EMI Music represents artists spanning all musical tastes and genres. Its record labels include Angel, Astralwerks, Blue Note, Capitol, Capitol Nashville, EMI Classics, EMI CMG, EMI Records, EMI Televisa Music, Manhattan, Mute, Parlophone and Virgin.

About SanDisk

SanDisk Corporation, the inventor and world’s largest supplier of flash storage cards, is a global leader in flash memory – from research, manufacturing and product design to consumer branding and retail distribution. SanDisk’s product portfolio includes flash memory cards for mobile phones, digital cameras and camcorders; digital audio/video players; USB flash drives for consumers and the enterprise; embedded memory for mobile devices; and solid state drives for computers. SanDisk (www.sandisk.com/corporate) is a Silicon Valley-based S&P 500 company, with more than half its sales outside the United States.

About SONY BMG MUSIC ENTERTAINMENT

SONY BMG MUSIC ENTERTAINMENT is a global recorded music company with a roster of current artists that includes a broad array of both local artists and international superstars, as well as a vast catalog that comprises some of the most important recordings in history. Sony BMG Music Entertainment is a wholly owned subsidiary of Sony Corporation of America.

About Universal Music Group

Universal Music Group is the world’s leading music company with wholly owned record operations or licensees in 77 countries. Its businesses also include Universal Music Publishing Group, the industry’s leading global music publishing operation. Universal Music Group’s record labels include Decca, Deutsche Grammophon, Disa, Emarcy, Fonovisa, Interscope Geffen A&M Records, Island Def Jam Music Group, Lost Highway Records, Machete Music, MCA Nashville, Mercury Nashville, Mercury Records, Philips, Polydor Records, Universal Motown Republic Group, Universal Music Latino, Universal Records South, and Verve Music Group as well as a multitude of record labels owned or distributed by its record company subsidiaries around the world. The Universal Music Group owns the most extensive catalog of music in the industry, which includes the last 100 years of the world’s most popular artists and their recordings. UMG’s catalog is marketed through two distinct divisions, Universal Music Enterprises (in the U.S.) and Universal Strategic Marketing (outside the U.S.). Universal Music Group also includes eLabs, its new media and technologies division; Bravado, its merchandising company; Twenty-First Artists, its full service management division; and Helter Skelter, its live music agency. Universal Music Group is a unit of Vivendi, a global media and communications company.

About Warner Music Group

Warner Music Group became the only stand-alone music company to be publicly traded in the United States in May 2005. With its broad roster of new stars and legendary artists, Warner Music Group is home to a collection of the best-known record labels in the music industry including Asylum, Atlantic, Bad Boy, Cordless, East West, Elektra, Lava, Nonesuch, Reprise, Rhino, Roadrunner, Rykodisc, Sire, Warner Bros. and Word. Warner Music International, a leading company in national and international repertoire, operates through numerous international affiliates and licensees in more than 50 countries. Warner Music Group also includes Warner/Chappell Music, one of the world’s leading music publishers.

For more information regarding slotMusic, please visit:

slotMusic Official Website