On April 2nd, Roxette’s new album, “Room Service,” will be released in most parts of the world. But for two days now, it’s been possible to download the entire CD from the controversial, legally-embattled Napster file-sharing service.

  This fact has been the subject of discussion in our SmallTalk forum and on the Roxette Mailing List. Today, it hit the pages of the Swedish newspaper Aftonbladet.

  “There’s not much that can be done about it. It was the same for Madonna and U2,” said Roxette’s manager Marie Dimberg to Aftonbladet. “We can hope that the majority of Roxette fans will want the real album with the booklet and packaging” she said.

  “It’s sad that this has happened,” said Li Eriksson of EMI, who, along with Per and Marie, has their attorney attempting to remove the files from Napster. As to how they got there in the first place… well, the list of potential suspects is large. While the Aftonbladet article mentions a possible theft from the factory, Eriksson told TDR that “of course there is a possibility that someone from the media put it there - journalists get listening copies of the album before interviewing Per & Marie. Also, retailers get copies to listen to before hand.”

  Yet to be determined, of course, is how damaging this will be to the overall success of the “Room Service” project. Legal and monetary issues aside, the fear is that it will hurt sales – and therefore chart positions. Other fans cite industry figures that CD sales are up, and feel that that the impact will be negligible.

  So far, there has been no direct comment from Per or Marie, who are in rehearsals for the upcoming showcase concerts.

• Aftonbladet article (In Swedish)

MTV Nordic has started showing Roxette’s new “The Centre Of The Heart” video. As we reported earlier, one of the scenes in the video has been cut away.

  The video features a news ticker recently introduced by MTV Nordic. The ticker is shown during some music videos and it contains a news flash relevant to the artist. During “The Centre Of The Heart” video, MTV tells that a “recent Roxette song” will be featured on a Brazilian soap opera. The most interesting thing here is that MTV has apparently got the news from The Daily Roxette, as they also quote a comment posted by our reader nimbus.

STOCKHOLM - Fame Studios, along with EMI and Roxette Recordings, launched the official “Room Service” site located at www.roxette.se today. The site – as expected – relies heavily on Macromedia’s Flash animation software. Users with less than broadband access to the Internet can expect to be frustrated by long load times. There are even reports from some fans that the site has crashed their computer.

  Fans can download screensavers and desktop wallpaper, watch videos, listen to music, ask Roxette questions and participate in a competition. The prize for the current one is an autographed album and a Roxette “Room Service” bathrobe.

  The graphically intense site was developed by Fame Studios, a company that has Per Gessle as an Associate Partner and Marie Dimberg, Roxette’s manager, on the Board of Directors.

• Roxette’s “Room Service” site (Registration required for most functions)

Per and Marie will be appear as guests on the Swedish TV4 program “Malou möter…” (“Malou meets…”) this Monday evening at 8:30 pm. The host of the show is Malou von Siwers. She interviewed Marie on the show a couple of years ago.

(Lissie contibuted to this article)

TCOTH has climbed to #1 on the official German airplayc harts. Entering at #3, it only took two weeks to top the charts. Just put a German radiostation on and zap - you’ll hear TCOTH.

• Chart Listing

Roxette’s first “concert” in Sweden in five years will be on Sunday, April 1st at Café Opera in Stockholm. It’s a promotional event held in conjunction with the Swedish all-hit radio network “NRJ”.

  Beginning March 24, listeners will have a chance to win a pair of the exclusive tickets.

  Located next to Kungstradsgården and across the river from the Royal Palace, the Café Opera restaurant/nightclub is part of the first-class Operakällaren (The Opera Cellar) restaurant complex. The most recent restoration of the entire Opera House building was completed in 1961, and ever since Stockholmers have considered this to be a “hot” (and expensive) nightspot.

• NRJ Radio Network

As a part of the promo tour, Roxette will be in the Top Radio studios in Vilvoorde, Belgium, this Saturday (March 24th) – the same day as their performance at the Radio Donna birthday party.

  They’ll take part in a half-hour interview that will be broadcast live on TV in Belgium and on the internet via the Top Radio website. The interview is expected to start at 10:30 CET.

  People having questions for Roxette may forward them to [email protected] (also include your name and contact information as some people will get the chance to ask their questions directly to Per and Marie over the phone). It’s not the first time Marie and Per have visited the dance-oriented radio station. Two years ago they also did an interview and a chat session for Top Radio.

Webcam (requires Media Player 6.4 for audio-only and version 7 for both audio and video): http://www.topradio.be/windowsmedia/topavlo.asx

• Top Radio

EMI Austria just recently relaunched their company’s website with many upgraded features. Apparently, there was still some money left over in their Internet budget, as they’ve now created a fresh, Flash-enhanced site, specifically for Roxette! With a “retro” look-and-feel that ties into the album’s design, the site offers an opt-in newsletter (in German) via e-mail, and there will be more about Roxette and “Room Service” soon.

• EMI Austria’s Roxette site (In German)
• EMI Austria (In German)

One of the most popular primetime television soap operas in Brazil, “Um Anjo Caiu do Céu” (“Down to Earth”), will feature the new “Room Service” ballad “Milk and Toast and Honey” on their soundtrack.

  According to EMI Brazil, “Center of the Heart” will not be the lead single (commercial singles are not usually released in Brazil). “Milk and Toast and Honey” will instead be included on the soundtrack of this Globo TV novela about an angel (pictured) that comes to earth to help a father with his problems.

  Soap operas are extremely popular in Brazil and therefore, the fans in Brazil are excited as they think this means a guaranteed “hit” for Roxette in Brazil. “If it’s on the soundtrack, then that means it’s going to be a hit,” said one.

— Kimie Shimabukuro and Eliel Costa, Jr. contributed to this article.

MADRID - Roxette is going to go to Spain for promotion… not once, but twice!

  First, Roxette will be in Barcelona. On March 27th they’ll be appearing in a private showcase performance arranged by EMI. RoxSpain has been given some tickets to distribute to fans. Then, on March 28th, Per and Marie will appear on the TeleCinco program “Cronicas Marcianas.”

  On April 3rd, Roxette will be here to appear on the program “Musica Si.” As the studios are located outside of the Madrid city center, there will be charter buses available to transport fans there. On April 4th, there will be a signing session at Corte Inglés in Pl. Sol at about 7 pm.

  On the 5th, a TV special about Roxette will be recorded and again, fans can be part of the audience and bus transportation is available.

  Further information is available from the RoxSpain website.

• RoxSpain (recently redesigned)