Kings of A&R

 

“MTV, the US cable television music channel owned by Viacom, will launch a digital music download service on Wednesday designed to compete with Apple Computer’s highly popular iTunes service.”

“The service, called ‘Urge’, will use Microsoft’s latest Media Player technology and represents perhaps the most serious challenge to Apple’s dominance of the legal digital music download market to date.”

“While other rival music download services have had limited success, none has had the marketing muscle of MTV behind it or been as tightly integrated with Microsoft’s technology – the latest version of Windows Media Player software will launch along with Urge this week.” Read the full article.

Somewhere between indie and mainstream, between emo and pop/rock, you’ll find My Favorite Highway. Quickly expanding their fanbase through polished and exhilirating performances as well as the spread of their self-released EP ‘The Pre-Release,’ My Favorite Highway are rapidly becoming the unsigned band to watch. With their unique spin, MFH somehow sound like The Rocket Summer, Coheed and Cambria, Saves The Day and a number of others without sounding anything like them. Currently in the process of releasing a full-length album and preparing for a tour this summer. For more information contact legal Daniel R. Friedman at 314.497.1060

Recommended Listening

Murder On The Radio

Expect The Red Hot Chili Peppers’  Stadium Arcadium to top 400K+. Looks like the calculated press and public break up will pay off for Nick Lachey who is expected to reach 160k+. KOAR mentioned artist The Outline has signed to Capitol/Fearless.

Hotspur will be showcasing this Wednesday (May 17) at Kenny’s Castaways in NYC with multiple labels attending, Hollywood, Octone, Warner & Virgin just to name a few.

Fermata will be releasing their new cd ‘Vessel’ this Thursday (May 18) at The Whiskey in LA. Open to industry. Fermata takes the stage at 10pm. For more information, contact Steve Augustyn

 

A propulsive blend of hook-heavy alternative rock combined with solid lyrics and a killer live show have Seattle-based rock band Glimpse catching the attention of many in the industry with their self-released album ‘Sessions From The Garage’, produced by Rick Parashar (Pearl Jam, Nickelback, 3 Doors Down). Songs from the release have been making their way into television and film, being featured on the WB’s “One Tree Hill” and “Cruel Intentions 3.” The first single, ‘Nothin’ spent 3 months in regular rotation on KISW, and has made appearances on stations across the country, facilitating their upcoming US tour this summer. No management attached. For more information, contact legal Kent Marcus of Zumwalt Alman and Hayes at 615.256.7200

Check out the tracks Nothin and Before You

We all know the Myspace can be manipulated, the government calls this “fuzzy math”. MTV’s TRL can be manipulated as well….

Taken from FOX News:

“Nevertheless, the record company persisted. A series of e-mails in June 2005 shows what was happening — a manipulation of MTV’s “Total Request Liveâ€? show that airs every afternoon and can seriously affect a new record’s fortunes.”

UMG, according to Spitzer’s reports, was spending money at radio stations and for “TRL� to “stuff the ballot box� (my words) and turn losers into winners.

The memo series is all about one subject: “We are hiring a request company starting Monday to jack TRL for Lindsay…Guys this is a no win situation how should I respond…there is no airplay we have been pursuing…â€?

Even more troubling, but not surprising, is a group called Dream originally found by Sean “Diddy” Combs. A July 2003 e-mail tells the story:

“Okay, this is not fun for me. I’ve been consumed all day with calls with etc bitching about our radio picture on Dream. Confidentially pop has spent $196,000 and r/c has spent $72,000 … This is embarrassing a total lack of accountability. We have gotten ripped off beyond belief, we better turn this thing around or it’s our a**. That’s almost $300,000 and they are looking for some heads…bad bad bad…If I find out that deals were cut with lack of airplay and overnight spins starting with the nationals, as they say heads are gonna roll, including mine.â€?

“Of course, the record companies are not alone in creating this atmosphere of payola. The radio stations have encouraged and accepted it.”

Seriously, if your going to put that type of money into a song, please..make sure its a “hit”, or somewhat of a “hit”. No excuse for that!

 

Tool - 563,532
Pearl Jam - 279,137
God Smack - 83,-645
Jewel - 81,656
James Blunt - 58,153
Taking Back Sunday - 51,377
Thursday - 45,595
Nickelback - 34,374
Panic! At The Disco - 27,668
Jack Johnson - 15,123
Flyleaf - 12,545
Hinder - 10,352
Arctic Monkeys - 8,234

 

Not Surprisingly, Tool went gold within the first week. Interesting to see where the album lands up being the fact is completely inaccessible for passive music buyers; could alienate some long time fans. Flyleaf (pictured) who has strong video rotation on MTV2 and Fuse has built momentum as it appeals to the christian market and mainstream kids. Hit makers Nickelback continues to take down everything in its path. Over-hyped Arctic Monkeys have proved to be dud thus so far; records sales dropped -19% with total sales of 186,173..we warned you on this!

 

 ”Universal Music Group Recordings Inc., the world’s largest record company, has agreed to pay $12 million to settle a payola case that claimed the company provided vacations, electronics and other bribes to increase radio play for their artists, New York Attorney General Eliot Spitzer said Thursday”

“This is the largest fine so far in the war between Eliot Spitzer and the music industry, surpassing the $10 million that Sony had to pay and the $5 million for Warner Music Group.”

“UMG has illegally provided radio stations with financial benefits to obtain airplay and boost the chart position of its songs,” Spitzer said in papers filed in state Supreme Court along with the settlement. “UMG has obtained airplay for its songs through such deceptive and illegal practices as bribing radio station employees, on occasion, to play UMG songs, providing a stream of financial benefits to radio stations, to assist with stations’ overhead costs or to provide promotional support, on condition that UMG records receive airplay,” Spitzer stated. UMG was also accused of “engaging in fraudulent call- in campaigns to increase airplay.”

“Consumers have a right not to be misled about the way in which the music they hear on the radio is selected,” Spitzer said. “Pay-for-play makes a mockery of claims that only the ‘best’ or ‘most popular’ music is broadcast.” 

 

 Read the full article here.

 

“My teef are mind blowin givin everybody chillz
Call me George Foreman cuz I’m sellin everybody grillz?”

Rags to riches, that’s the American Dream. Pulling yourself out of the gutter by your bootstraps and getting a feature on Cribs where you can show everyone your solid gold, diamond encrusted toilet is what everyone seems to strive for. Now, I am the last person that would ever ‘knock someone’s hustle’, but the emergence of whoring out to the highest bidder in rap music has reached offensive levels. Many hoped that ‘Pimp rap’ and ‘Bling rap’ would have fizzled out a while ago, but it seems to be stronger today than ever. The industry has capitalized on ignorance and the ‘artists’ don’t seem to mind. I guess if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it, but personally, I am tired of being sold things in the form of rap videos. There you’ll find more product placement than the Super Bowl, and promotion of a lifestyle that is inadvertently setting African Americans back about 50 years. The phrase ‘Pimpin Ain’t Easy’ would be more appropriate coming from the industry executives pulling the strings than these unfortunate low level cogs in the machine. Rappers have mistaken money for power and respect, and as a result are simply rich. Perhaps this is what they wanted. Perhaps they had no designs on writing music with a genuine impact or message. Perhaps getting rich was the one and only goal, and being a faceless marketing tool is fine by them.

Like with any trend in music, there are multiple sides to this coin. There are, of course, the rappers with genuine talent who have made a career out of being an artist and then parlayed that success into other profitable ventures ranging from fashion, to cars, to even airplanes and wine. There are also rappers whose sole interest is in the art of making music, who use their success to pull up other artists they feel need a break and then act as a producer. Then there are the ‘Pimp Rappers’ and ‘Studio Gangstas’ who are all about promoting a lifestyle full of drugs, violence, objectifying women, and being taken advantage of by a predominately white industry. While they may feel empowered as they roll their Caddy into the bizank, they’d be well served to take a look at who is cutting the check. Like Ho’s to a Pimp, these guys are only getting a small fraction of what their whoring is bringing in. While I am sure no one involved in this Capitalistic dreamland would complain, who is going to take responsibility for the shitty music?

Unsigned Florida rapper, Swordz, chimed in on the subject, describing this current arrangement as ‘sick,’ and then explains “You can’t be mad at executives for doing their job. Artists need to be responsible for their own fate. There are business artists and artists, you need both kinds to keep things going, although it does make it harder for real artists trying to come up. It’s up to the artists to keep their ART their ART. Rappers need to bring substance to the table and not just fake imagery, but at the end of the day, you can’t knock anyone for trying to better their situation.��? As an unsigned artist making waves in his own region, independently selling over 5500 copies of his WRNR mixtape, Swordz faces an uphill battle in an attempt to compete with integrity in an industry where a low quality of music with a gigantic budget is the norm. “I believe in my talent’s ability to keep me relevant. I plan on being here for a while and proving that talent will prevail.��?

While I agree that in the end, the artists willing to sell out in this manner are responsible for their own actions, the high price placed on becoming a puppet is undoubtedly appealing. What labels are offering is essentially the answer to all of your problems. Very little effort invested for an astronomical profit. Unfortunately, this clamoring for cash has negatively impacted the quality of music in this genre. Urban Music Specialist for Mediaguide, Michael DiBella describes the negative effect, “I’m not a fan of the mainstream; the gross commercialization, using hip-hop to sell Big Macs and whatever else. I’ll say as someone who’s been listening to hip-hop religiously since the 6th grade, the rush is harder to find. Only at select live shows do I get the feeling back. You do have to consider, as I do, that hip-hop is the voice of the disenfranchised. At least it was at first. Now, it’s a nouveau riche thing and record labels capitalize on that.��?

Mainstream hip hop artists are selling themselves short. This belief that the only way to the top is to whore your art to anyone with a checkbook is turning a genre once filled with political outrage and stark social commentary into simple mindless raps about shoes and bling. That’s not to say the true art no longer exists, it’s simply being drowned out by 3 and a half minute long cell phone commercials. Nearly every mainstream genre has gone through a phase of musical inadequacy paired with debauchery and an excessive lifestyle, however it seems to have a stronghold on hip hop mainstream with no end in sight. Similar to what grunge did to glam metal, its going to take a unified movement of musical ingenuity combined with a clear message to overthrow the reigning hedonistic empire.

AJ, KOAR