Jacob Ganz

The storied label's recorded music and publishing arms will be divided and sold, trimming the number of major record labels to just three: Sony, Universal and Warner.

On 11/11/11 — and in honor of the Nigel Tufnel, the Spinal Tap guitarist whose amps went up to 11 — we've taken thousands of your nominations and compiled a list of songs that sound best turned up loud.

The rapper, famous for making light of being overweight, died in Los Angeles on Tuesday.

The Nova Scotian stalwarts attribute their longevity to a tight code of democracy and avoiding the spotlight.

In rock and roll terms, the Portland-based band is a veteran act. When they started playing together 17 years ago, they had no idea the gig would last. Now, Sam Coomes and Janet Weiss have put out their eighth album, called American Gong.

In 1989, two members of the rock band Superchunk launched a tiny record label. Twenty years later, amid the struggles of the music industry at large, Merge has become one of the most respected and successful companies in the business.

Forty-five years after the debut of Terry Riley's IN C, the composer and his son, guitarist Gyan Riley, talk about performing the minimalist classic together.

Radiohead shook up the music industry last week, when it announced that its new album would not be released as a CD, or as a download through iTunes. Instead, it is offering In Rainbows through its own Web site for whatever price each customer decides to pay — even nothing.

In Rainbows, Radiohead's first album since 2005, will appear online Oct. 10, with a specially-boxed CD/LP set to follow in December. The band is working without a label and the album will debut on the Radiohead Web site.

In the last six months, singer-songwriter Ryan Adams hasn't released a new record. This may not seem remarkable, but last year Adams put out three CDs in the space of seven months. He has recently been in New York, preparing his next album.