Unreleased Marie demos surface at Dutch record fair
Written by Lars-Erik_Olson on November 17, 2002 to Releases.
UTRECH - 
Eight unreleased demos by Marie Fredriksson, recorded in English and therefore presumably intended as possible Roxette songs, have appeared on a bootleg CD being sold by a Swedish trader at the Mega Record and CD Fair taking place this weekend in the Netherlands.
The bootleg, called “Marie Fredriksson: Duets, Demos and Odd Live Tracks,” contains 17 songs. Nine of the tracks are from various live performances, but what really has drawn attention are the eight previously unreleased demos that appear on the CD.
As we go to press with this article, The Daily Roxette has been unable to determine with certainty how it is that these demo tracks were obtained. However, one can clearly see that most were recorded by Marie before the release of “Have A Nice Day” (1999) and her solo compilation, “Äntligen” (2000), since demos for “Beautiful Things” and “Waiting For The Rain” are featured in the CD, as well as “Always The Last To Know,” later released as “Det Som Var Nu,” a duet with Patrik Isaksson.
“I don’t think they were stolen, I definitely think they were given to him,” says Cathy Carlier who occasionally does freelance graphic design and also heads the Roxette fan club in Belgium. It was she who designed the front and back covers at the request of an acquaintance named “Jan” in Sweden.
New power pop songs finished
Written by roxeteer on November 16, 2002 to Releases.
HELSINKI - As we reported in October, Roxette is releasing a power pop hits compilation as a follow-up to their “Ballad Hits” album. In an interview with the Finnish tabloid newspaper Ilta-Sanomat, Per says that the release is planned for March of next year. He also says that Marie joined him in the studio a couple of weeks ago [also previously reported]. They spent three hours together and finished the recordings of the two new songs which will be released on the pop hits album.
“The album is now ready for release,” Per told the newspaper.
“Ballad Hits” copy protection fails to fulfill its mission
Written by roxeteer on November 8, 2002 to Releases.
Even before “The Ballad Hits” compilation’s official release date, there were early reports that the album’s controversial copy protection was a failure. While it’s true that you can’t play it with normal Windows CD player software, you can definitely make high quality MP3s from the songs on the album.
On a PC, all you need is a copy of EasyCD Creator, a software program that is distributed with many CD burners. On a Mac it’s even easier: you can use iTunes which comes bundled with the operating system to either play the CD or encode MP3 files from it.
The record label isn’t completely surprised. “We are aware the copy protection is still not 100 percent developed,” said Li Eriksson of EMI Capitol Records to The Daily Roxette. “We are also aware of other problems… for example some car stereos can’t play it, et cetera. However we are in constant contact with the developers of the copy protection system and there will be a new version available at the beginning of next year.”
New Media Manager Anders Livag of EMI Capitol told TDR that “Cactus 200”, which was used on “Ballad Hits”, has been a success, even though the technology is only six months old. “Out of 200,000 units we’ve only got 50 complaints so far, mainly about car stereos.”
“Cactus 300 will be finished next year and we have high hopes for that. The new version will hopefully include DRM, Digital Rights Management, which means that you can make one digital copy for yourself,” Livag says. “Cactus 300 will be incorporated to Roxette’s “Pop Hits” compilation, and it should be a lot better than 200, both problem wise and protecting wise.”
EMI Capitol first wanted to use Sony’s copy protection scheme, but they were reluctant to license it and the record company chose Cactus Data Shield by Midbar Tech instead. Midbar Tech was recently aquired by Macrovision, a company which developed the industry standard protecting system to retail VHS cassettes and DVDs.
TDR has also received reports that some high-end CD players have been unable to play the record without audio errors.
Thomas Evensson and Lars-Erik Olson contributed to this article.
Bonus ballads to be on EP in Canada
Written by roxtexanet on November 1, 2002 to Releases.
TORONTO - The initial pressings of the Canadian version of “The Ballad Hits” will feature the bonus four-song EP along with the standard 15-track CD, just as in Sweden. The album will be released on November 12th, one week later than in the rest of the world, and not on the 26th, as previously reported.
Bonus tracks on same CD in Japan
Written by roxeteer on October 31, 2002 to Releases.
“The Ballad Hits” album’s Japanese version will be similar to the German one: it will have 15 tracks and 2 bonus tracks on one CD. Just like in Germany, the bonus tracks will be “The Weight Of The World” and “It Hurts”.
It’s unusual that EMI Electrola in Germany releases a Roxette album that differs from the European edition, but in Japan it’s not. Toshiba-EMI often adds bonus tracks to the Japanese editions to boost the sales. The Japanese editions can be more expensive than imported ones, because the record company has to print special covers for the localized Japanese editions.
“The Ballad Hits” will be released in Japan on November 7th.
Stefan Schönhacker contributed to this story.
Roxette to re-enter US and UK markets; “ATAY” to be Valentine’s Day single
Written by steven on October 28, 2002 to Releases.
STOCKHOLM - Great news for American and British fans! According to EMI Sweden, there are plans to release Roxette’s “A Thing About You” in both countries simultaneously in February. They intend to release the single on or just before Valentine’s Day, 2003 – and to market the “Hits” albums as well.
The Daily Roxette previously hinted at the possibility that something might happen in the US again, telling our readers recently that there was a proposal under consideration.
That proposal, made to Capitol Records in the US, an affliate of EMI, met with a favorable response. “They’re all for it,” confirms Li Eriksson of EMI/Capitol Sweden.
Americans have not enjoyed a release since the US version of the greatest hits album two years ago on the now-defunct Edel America Records label. In conjuction with the promotion for that, “Wish I Could Fly” was released, but only as a promo single for radio and TV. Meanwhile, Britain last had a record release in September 2001 with “Milk & Toast & Honey.”
EMI promotes new album with raspberry-themed items
Written by roxeteer on October 22, 2002 to Releases.
Often when a new album is released, the record company releases promotional items to advertise and promote the album. Such is the case with Roxette’s forthcoming ballad album. This time, the record company has decided to make the items tie in with the cover pictures of the new releases featuring raspberries in milk. EMI Svenska has sent a list of availble items to the local EMI offices so that they can decide what to order. TDR was told that list included items such as “raspberry-red fleece blanket, raspberry-red fleece scarf, a ski hat and raspberry-flavored bubble bath”.
These items won’t be available for sale, and will mainly be given out in competitions or as premiums to retailers.
German portal posts new songs online
Written by cskendras on October 22, 2002 to Releases.
DARMSTADT - German portal T-Online has posted full versions of The Ballad Hits album bonus tracks on their website. You can listen to “The Weight Of The World”, “It Hurts” and “Every Day” in Windows Media Player format.
In an email received today, T-Online apologized for the delay in making the new songs available on time. Originally they were supposed to be online on October 15th.
At press time, the T-Online website was acting very slowly. Have patience. Also note that clicking “The Weight Of The World” plays the song “Every Day” and vice versa.
“The Ballad Hits” CD to be copy-protected
Written by pietROxette on October 21, 2002 to Releases.
UPDATED - Marie Fredriksson’s voice has been praised for its power and range. But can it crash a computer?
In Sweden, the answer is “kanske.”
In a record-company effort to thwart the increasingly common practice of making duplicates of CDs, EMI/Capitol Records will implement copy-protection technology on Roxette’s forthcoming release, “The Ballad Hits.” This is part of a program wherein all new releases from the label will contain this protection scheme.
But fans may find out that not only is it difficult to make copies or download songs onto the Internet, the discs may not even play in their computers.
In fact, users who disregarded warnings on some of the copy-protected CDs released already – to avoid putting the copy-protected discs in their computers – were faced with costly repairs. Apple has posted a warning on its Web site that some CDs can wreak havoc with its Macs. And some of these new-generation CDs will not play on car systems.
Dutch consumer electronics giant Philips, co-creator of the CD-format, has balked at this concept and a class-action lawsuit was filed in California against the major record companies over these new-generation CDs.
UPDATE: A spokesperson at EMI, commenting on the technology they are going to use, tells TDR that the CD will definitely play on computers, car CD-players, and DVD players. However, you cannot digitally extract data from it. That is, you cannot make copies of the disc or create MP3 files of it. Read more…
Sound clip of “The Weight of the World” appears on EMI site
Written by Jud on October 11, 2002 to Releases.
COLOGNE - EMI Electrola, Roxette’s record label in Germany, has placed a 30-second clip of the unreleased song “The Weight of the World” on their website.
The song is the “b-side” from the “A Thing About You” single and maxi-single, that will be released October 21st according to EMI Sweden’s website (but appears with an October 14th release date on EMI Germany’s site). It will also be featured as a bonus track on Roxette’s upcoming compilation album “The Ballad Hits”.
