all about Madonna

It’s official – the stage is going up in Tel Aviv. Facebook

Available for pre-order at Amazon Italy, Amazon UK (Import), Amazon Germany (Import) and Amazon.com (Import)
Release date: May 22 (Italy) / 29 (US, UK, Germany Import)

Madonna has sold 653,000 tickets to the 43 North American dates on her upcoming concert tour, an executive with concert promoter Live Nation Entertainment Inc. said, putting it on track to be one of the top-grossing outings on record.

About 30,000 tickets remain available for the tour’s 36 U.S. shows, Live Nation head of global touring Arthur Fogel said, adding most of those are either single tickets or seats that are set aside for disabled concertgoers.

“We are inches from sellout everywhere,” Mr. Fogel said in a telephone interview Thursday. Tickets for U.S. dates went on sale in mid-February and range in price from around $45 to more than $350. Some premium-priced ticket packages run $600 per person.

The North American leg of the tour is slated to begin Aug. 28 at Philadelphia’s Wells Fargo Center arena and end Nov. 20 with two dates at Miami’s American Airlines Arena. Other stops include Yankee Stadium, Staples Center in Los Angeles and Air Canada Centre in Toronto.

Mr. Fogel said that around 30% of ticket buyers had signed up for a free copy of the singer’s most recent album, “MDNA”—an offer that was available only to customers in the U.S. He said that acceptance rate was on the high end for such offers.

Of the tickets sold in North America, Mr. Fogel said, 500,000 were in the U.S. Those free-album offers fueled a healthy first week for “MDNA,” according to Nielsen SoundScan, which reported 359,000 copies sold in the U.S. In subsequent weeks, the album’s sales have slowed considerably, and it has now sold a total 456,000 copies in six weeks.

Mr. Fogel said that between 200,000 and 250,000 of those sales represented albums given away with concert tickets.

“MDNA” has not generated a significant hit on pop radio and was No. 65 on the album-sales chart released Wednesday by SoundScan. It has fared better on Billboard’s dance and electronic music char, where it was No. 2 last week. Two songs from the album, “Gang Bang” and “Girl Gone Wild,” have charted on the magazine’s electronic-music chart.

Madonna and Live Nation have an unusual 10-year contract that they struck in 2007, under which the promoter guaranteed the pop star $120 million in exchange for rights to a wide range of her business, including promoting her concert tours and releasing her albums. The company contracted out the distribution and promotion of “MDNA” to Universal Music Group’s Interscope records.

The world tour is to kick off May 31 in Tel Aviv, followed by stops in Abu Dhabi, Istanbul and various European cities. It is scheduled to wrap up with a handful of dates in Latin America late November and December.

WSJ

Directed by: Madonna
Starring: Abbie Cornish, Andrea Riseborough, James D’Arcy
Available on DVD, Blu-ray and EST: June 4th, 2012

DVD & Blu-ray Extras:
The Making of “W.E”
UK Premiere Red Carpet featurette
Interview with Andrea Riseborough and James D’Arcy
Image gallery
Trailer and TV spots

Tech Specs:

DVD: Cert: 15 / Feature Running Time: 119 min approx / Region 2 / Feature Aspect Ratio: 2.40:1 / Colour PAL / Audio: 5.1 Dolby Digital & Stereo 2.0 / English language / Cat No: OPTD2318 / RRP: £17.99

BLU-RAY: Cert: 15 / Feature Running Time: 119 min approx / Region B / Feature Aspect Ratio: 2.40:1 / Colour PAL / Audio: 5.1 DTS HD Master & Stereo 2.0 LPCM / English language / Cat No: OPTBD2318 / RRP: £22.99

Pre-Order at Amazon UK: DVD or Blu-Ray

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The 15th Anniversary Edition Blu-ray will present the film in its 2.39:1 original aspect ratio alongside the following bonus supplements:
The Making Of Evita featurette
Teaser trailer
“You Must Love Me” music video by Madonna
Release date: June 19th
Pre-order at Amazon

Madonna is facing legal action from an Australian artist who alleges the packaging for her debut perfume ripped off his trademarked logo.
Madonna launched Truth or Dare in New York last month, but RJ Williams is upset that the “M” symbol on her scent bottle and cardboard sleeve resembles his own artwork.
Williams claims he trademarked the logo, which he is said to have used on clothing for eight years, in 2011, and he is taking legal action over what he alleges is a breach of copyright.
He tells Australia’s The Sunday Telegraph, “Friends from all over the world have been calling me upon seeing the Truth or Dare by Madonna campaign to express their disgust and support.
“It’s about my integrity as an artist. I do not think it should be able to be used by a giant cosmetics company.”
Williams claims he has sent a legal letter to Madonna’s agent, Guy Oseary, requesting the star immediately stop infringing his copyright. He has also asked to be provided with all profits made so far and enter into a license with him for future use of the symbol.

MSN

Madonna says Adam Yauch, the Beastie Boys rapper who died Friday, was one of a kind and that the group was important to her musical history.
The singer says the seminal hip-hop group was “integral to the musical revolution that was happening at the time.”
Yauch’s representatives confirmed that the rapper, also known as MCA, died Friday morning in New York after a nearly three-year battle with cancer.
NewsDay

The highly anticipated opening of Madonna’s MDNA Tour is now planned for Thursday, May 31st at Ramat Gan Stadium in Tel Aviv, two days later than previously scheduled due to production delays. The change in the opening date was announced today by promoters Live Nation and Shuki Weiss. All tickets dated May 29th will be honored at the rescheduled May 31st event.

The Material Girl has already announced 76 concert dates in arenas, stadiums and special outdoor sites throughout Europe and North America with confirmed sales of over 1.4 million tickets to date. The MDNA tour which has already sold out in Berlin (2 shows sold out), Amsterdam, Barcelona, and Istanbul (45,000 tickets sold) as well as Philadelphia, Boston, Montreal, Quebec City (70,000 tickets), New York’s Yankee Stadium (73,000 tickets over 2 shows), Washington DC and the Staples Center in LA has recently announced additional concert dates in Mexico and South America which will be followed by a visit to Australia where Madonna has not performed in 20 years.

Along with state of the art technical components including the largest video screens ever created, Madonna, her band and her dancers are expected to reach above and beyond her Super Bowl performance where she performed to an audience of over 112 million people around the world, the highest number of viewers in Super Bowl history.

Madonna’s latest studio recording “MDNA” debuted on iTunes at the #1 spot in over 40 countries. Her newest single “Girl Gone Wild” is #1 on Billboard’s Dance Club Songs Chart – her 42nd time in the top slot. She remains the artist with the most #1 songs in the chart’s 35-year history. MDNA has received glowing reviews including USA Today which commented, “Madonna’s MDNA is rocking and revelatory… her most personal effort to date.

“The woman is pop’s most durable alpha female, coolly courting fascination and controversy on her own terms.” Added The Sun in the UK, “The album should be the spine of an incredible live show – just what her army of followers will want to hear.”

The MDNA Tour is produced by Live Nation Global Touring and presented locally in association with Shuki Weiss.

Madonna.com

On April 24th 1982, Madonna’s first Single “Everybody” was released in the US!

Make sure to watch MTV’s ‘America’s Best Dance Crew’ show tomorrow, April 25, at 10/9c for a special Madonna episode!

For more info about the show, please visit MTV’s website.

Madonna.com

An ‘absolutely stunning’ photograph of Madonna posing naked on a bed while smoking a cigarette has emerged for sale.
The black and white shot, taken in 1990, shows the singer reclining on a bed with her breasts exposed and just a white sheet covering her bottom half.
Madonna, who has bleached blonde hair and dark eye make-up in the picture, is seen holding a cigarette to her pouting lips, adopting a sexy, sultry pose.
This photograph, taken by Steven Meisel, is signed and annotated ‘ed no.1′ and is expected to fetch over £5,000.
As she is now: Madonna, now 53, still looks as toned as ever
It measures 21.5 inches by 19 inches and was bought by the vendor from a New York gallery.
The photograph, which was taken by the same photographer who did the work for Madonna’s 1992 book Sex, is to be sold by Bonhams in New York on May 8.
Judith Eurich from the sale room said: ‘This is an absolutely stunning image and it is just a beautiful tone of grey. It is not just black and white it is grey and silvery.
‘Madonna was posing for a number of photographers at the time this was taken in the 1990s when she was in her early 30s.
‘She was going through a phase of having bleach blonde hair and heavy dark eye make-up that gave her a dramatic look – and of course she has a gorgeous body.
‘She is a very healthy person and I’d imagine the cigarette is just a prop to make her look sexy and sultry.
‘There are Madonna superfans and devotees across the world who would love to own it.’

NSFW picture here

DailyMail

8 Track EP is now available for download at the iTunes store

Tracklisting:
1 Madonna vs. Avicii – Girl Gone Wild (Avicii’s Umf Mix)
2 Girl Gone Wild (Dave Audé Remix)
3 Girl Gone Wild (Justin Cognito Remix)
4 Girl Gone Wild (Kim Fai Remix)
5 Girl Gone Wild (Lucky Date Remix)
6 Girl Gone Wild (Offer Nissim Remix)
7 Girl Gone Wild (Dada Life Remix)
8 Girl Gone Wild (Rebirth Remix)

Ongoing chatter that the Madonna tour, and by extension her multi-rights deal with Live Nation, are underperforming is “baseless,” according to sales figures provided by tour producer Arthur Fogel, chairman of Live Nation Global Touring.

The precipitous drop of MDNA in its second week, while certainly not something an artist would want (though the nature of the beast when pricing strategies are geared toward impressive first-week sales), actually has little to do with the performance of Live Nation’s 10-year, $120 million multi-rights deal with Madonna. The days of tours supporting records are long gone; for some time now, touring drives record sales, not the reverse, and the Madonna touring business is more than solid.

As for the multi-rights deal, while MDNA is the first album under the 360, the upcoming trek is not the first tour. That would be “Sticky and Sweet” of 2008-2009, which grossed $408 million, according to Billboard Boxscore, the third-highest gross all-time and the highest ever notched by a solo artist. Merchandising is also a component of this tour and in Madonna’s case is a significant revenue producer. Finally, given that the entire 360 deal is, at its core, performance-based and assuredly tour-driven in its concept, Madonna is delivering.

According to Fogel — the guy who would know — these are the facts: 76 Madonna shows at arenas and stadiums are on sale in North America and Europe combined. More than 1.4 million tickets have been sold, banking about $214 million for an average in the $2.7 million per show in a mix of stadiums and arenas. And the tour doesn’t even begin until May 29 in Tel Aviv, first hitting America in Philadelphia Aug. 28.

Fogel’s not sure what to make of the detractors. “This tour is completely on track to end up in the top 10 tours of all time, especially considering we haven’t put South America or Australia on sale,” he tells Billboard.biz. “To say this tour is not performing is so off base I don’t even know what to say. When this tour is said and done, combined with ‘Sticky and Sweet,’ you’re talking $750 million in gross ticket sales. That sounds pretty impressive to me.”

If tickets are still available for certain shows, that by no means spells disaster. “One of the things some people don’t get is, I don’t necessarily want to be sold out at this point; I keep trying to find tickets to sell,” says Fogel. “Every day our people are trying to fine-tune the site lines and production kills. That’s my job. It’s great when you can say ‘sold out,’ but right now I want to keep finding tickets to sell. That’s the game.”

European dates, which are mostly in stadiums, have come under particular scrutiny. Fogel says the $214 million gross banked so far is spread “pretty evenly” between North America and Europe, and there are 43 shows on sale in North America versus 33 in Europe. “You can do the math,” Fogel says, reeling off sales figures. “46,000 in Istanbul, 44,000 in Milan, 39,000 in Florence. We sold out two arenas in Barcelona, two in Berlin, two in Amsterdam, we sold 42,000 in Edinburgh, 40,000 in Helsinki, 51,000 in Paris. If that’s trouble, give me more.”

Fogel concedes Europe didn’t blow up the way North America did, but cites buying patterns for stadium general admission tickets in Europe, and the huge promotional boost of the Super Bowl performance in America as key factors in that disparity.

“She’s at the top of her game and she ain’t goin’ away,” he concludes.

Billboard