Kings of A&R

Big news last week in the music industry Chairman Donnie Ienner and President Michele Anthony exiting Sony Music Group. Its also heavily rumored that President Steve Greenberg has exited Columbia Records. Same news all over again, nothing changes with the constant executive shuffle; the old proverb says it best, “What has been will be again, what has been done will be done again; there is nothing new under the sun.” According to sources the fact is “The Sony labels’ acts are not selling records at the moment. “The company is pretty cold, and the BMG side isn’t,”(HR 2/13). Don’t forget to mix some politics into the equation, and with that said…welcome to Disney World ladies!

The market is still talking about XM Satellite and its recent troubles. It appears that Sirius Satellite Radio is making some right decisions as XM is making all the wrong moves. During the month of May, Sirius’ stock price declined only 5 percent to $4.41 while XM’s dropped a more precipitous 21.5 percent to $14.69. Quoting from the NY Post “We think the market has lost faith, and unfortunately, what used to be XM’s premium over Sirius (confidence in its management) has been eroded,” adds Peck. If the divergent path of Sirius stock continues, XM’s share price premium may soon be eroded as well.

Believe it or not, there is a Russian web site that allows visitors download albums for less than $1 US. Supposedly it’s a smash with music buyers — but not with U.S. trade and music industry officials.

Viral video sharing is the new nemesis for the music biz. YouTube, MySpace, Google Video and iFilm have sparked a new revolution. The distribution taking place is happening without the approval of record companies. According to reports the Recording Industry Association of America has been stepping up its efforts to stop sharing of popular videos on such sites, particularly on the rapidly expanding YouTube, which now claims more than 6 million visitors and 40 million streams daily. “The RIAA recently issued cease-and-desist letters to YouTube users sharing videos from the likes of Nelly Furtado, Beyonce and Rihanna.” “The RIAA estimates that sales of music videos topped $3.7 million in three months, after being introduced in October. Meanwhile, the major labels also are sharing in the profits of ad-supported video-on-demand offerings from AOL, Yahoo, Music Choice and others”

Unsigned 80’s influenced Los Angeles based A Kiss Could Be Deadly that consist of 4 bored punk kids recently completed a 5 song EP titled the Point Noise Sessions. Think Berlin meets early No Doubt. This 4 piece is fronted by young new comer Lauren Baird that had only sung karaoke in front of a few people and supposedly completed all of her vocal parts in only a few takes. Recently picked up my All American Rejects Management. For more information email
Ryan Kuper. Check out the tracks Only in Darkness, The Exit, and
And So it Ends.
Show Dates:
June 2nd Huntington Beach, CA - The Marlin
June 9th Riverside, CA - Babylon
June 10th Riverside, CA - Under The Grind
June 14th Long Beach, CA - Que Sera
June 18th Los Angeles, CA - the Knitting Factory