Kings of A&R

MTV shows the worst side of what America has to offer…

Britney Spears will open this Sunday’s MTV Video Music Awards in Vegas with a performance of “Gimme More,” her first off her new upcoming record. Will New Kids on the Block or Debbie Gibson make their debut in 2008? This just proves KOARs point that creativity is as dry as DEATH VALLEY.

Also, MTV will give Tila Tequila her own show where she gets to date guys and girls. Critics of the show perceive this as shameful and abnormal…

After receiving emails and calls from thousands of angry customers Apple’s Steve Jobs apologized and offered $100 credits to customers who shelled out $599 for the most advanced model of the iPhone.
iPhone sales have been sluggish sending Apple’s shares down a total of more than 6 percent over the past two days, a drop that has wiped out about $8 billion in shareholder wealth.

Check out the new Coheed and Cambria single The Running Free. We love the intro. Coheed has always been the cream of the crop of the alternative scene by captivating their audience through their live show and creating dynamic songs that are worth more than one listen…

Walt Disney protects family image by pressuring promoter Live Nation into canceling Machine Head’s performance tomorrow night at the House of Blues venue in Anaheim (on their Disneyland property) — Citing violent imagery, undesirable fans and inflammatory lyrics as the reason.

Copeland and Columbia Records have parted ways…

Silicon Valley’s annual coming-out season for tech start-ups is about to turn into a stampede.

The race to find the Valley’s hottest new idea has become a new trend among investors. This new race was triggered by the high prices paid for recent internet start-ups such as YouTube — as well as the increasing fierce competition among newcomers to get noticed.

The large number of companies formed around hot trends such as web search, social networking and online video has added spice to the importance of the autumn events, according to entrepreneurs and venture capitalists.

“At this stage of the frothiness, it’s extremely difficult to get attention,” says Munjal Shah, founder of Like.com, an image search engine.

“The capital cost of starting a business today is very low,” says Chris Shipley, producer of Demo, one of the first tech events. “We’re seeing a lot of ideas make it from the spare bedroom to a showcase or the marketplace very quickly.”

Other events that hope to unveil hot companies and products in the coming weeks include the Web 2.0 conference.

The scramble for attention is another symptom of Silicon Valley’s latest start-up boom. The amount of venture capital being invested in the US is at its highest level since 2001 and it has led to a rash of “me-too” companies.

The flood of copycat companies is a sign of the over-heated phase of the investment cycle, according to observers.

Bottom Line: Music labels need to create this positive vibe. They need to have this mentality even though the NEXT BIG THING may not exist yet. Music labels need to arm themselves with a team of hungry warriors searching for those artists’ who are a cut above the rest. Hire producers and songwriters to develop the artist. Work with artists who want to be guided and yearn for success.  Music labels cannot abandon their CORE and act like a silicone valley start-up — it will fail miserably. Hire a strong department that focuses on technology and new business opportunities and a music department specializing in building great content.  This department would replace the traditional kiddie ‘pretend to know music’ A&R department and would consist of a real think tank including up and coming producers, songwriters, and real music critics with a developed ear with a keen sense of marketing — This would increase the batting average.  A music label cannot just sit and wait for an artist to break themselves  — you will wait yourself out of business….

Apple and Starbucks have formed an exclusive partnership that lets customers wirelessly browse, search for, preview, buy and download music from the iTunes Wi-Fi Music Store at Starbucks onto their iPod.

When a customer enters Starbucks, their device will automatically recognize the iTunes Wi-Fi Music Store using a high-speed Wi-Fi wireless network with no connection fee or hotspot login.

Customers will be able to browse, search and freely preview millions of songs, including a new “Now Playing” service which displays the name of the song playing in the Starbucks store at that moment, then easily buy and download songs or albums directly to their device.

Starbucks customers are going to get online and download songs while drinking coffee? Novelty…

CEO of Apple Steve Jobs unveiled new iPod models on Wednesday including an iPod nano, which stores songs and photos on flash memory chips instead of a hard drive, that now will play video and games.

The company, which faces renewed attacks from rivals, will refresh or replace the entire iPod music player product line, Jobs said at a product announcement event.

Nickelback who has been on the charts for 100 weeks continues to shock the skeptics by selling 39k a week with a tally of 5,857,555.  Nickelback and management has the last laugh.

Carrie Underwood’s new single, ‘So Small’, debuted on the Soundscan singles chart in the U.S. this week coming in at #6.

Pink’s Who Knew climbed six spots from 25 to #19 this week.

Disney’s High School Musical 2 has already hit platinum status.

Fergie’s ‘Dutchess’ sold 50k this week. Her single ‘Big Girls Don’t Cry’ is #2 on the top 40 charts.

Universal Music Group has decided to close Sanctuary’s UK recorded music division.

Live Nation U.K. Music managing director Stuart Galbraith has been dismissed from the live music powerhouse due to “breach of contract.”

BMI posts record-setting royalty distributions and revenues. The rise in revenues is attributed to the company’s music catalog, successful licensing of music across a diverse range of media, and revenue growth in foreign markets

Almost 100% of music downloaded from the Net is stolen, according to the IFPI.

One may ask Why? How?

Because China’s most popular search engines Baidu.com and Yahoo China help users find and download songs quickly and illegally.

These search engines provide “deep search” services that allow listeners to download free MP3s from the databases of other sites without ever having to go to those sites themselves.

Artists will never make a dime in China because the culture does not respect intellectual property.

Google China can’t even compete against the search engine Baidu — which has an edge thanks to its free music downloads.

Young and hungry kids who love music can’t even successfully launch local startups trying to build a business around selling music because of piracy.

The IFPI has filed about 300 lawsuits in Chinese courts and has won 90% of them. The IFPI estimates it spends some $13,000 per case — yet the damages awarded average just $130 per suit. Suing isn’t really worth it.

On August 13th, the US asked the World Trade Organization asking it to take action against China’s alleged piracy of music, movies, and software. (Business Week)

Big September releases include 50 Cent, Kanye West, Rascal Flatts and Kenny Chesney….

September 11th -  50 Cent (”Curtis”) and Kanye West (”Graduation”), last discs saw debut sales weeks of 1.1 million and 860,000..

Country singer Kenny Chesney’s “Just Who I Am: Poets & Pirates”. Chesney’s last album, 2005’s “The Road and the Radio,” sold 469,000 in its opening week.

Country music has grown in the last 18 months, while rap music  is stifled with controversy and weakening sales which makes some music execs worried.

Other artists that will have September releases include KT Tunstall’s “Drastic Fantastic” and James Blunt’s “All the Lost Souls”.

Also Rascal Flatts, whose “Me and My Gang” had the mighty sales of 2006 — 722,000 — will have a new release on the 25th with “Still Feels Good” which could top 1 million in first-week sales.

Lastly we have the Foo Fighters‘ “Echoes Silence Patience & Grace,” Melissa Etheridge’s “The Awakening” . The industry is hoping to better the September sales tally of the last two years, approximately 39 million.

(Variety)

One of the biggest challenges of the Columbia job is to find unsigned artists and help chart their course. Here is the snapshot of the New York Times Interview with Producer and Co-Head of Columbia Records Rick Rubin.

Music executives are obssessed with selling music rather than making music…

“The music business, as a whole, has lost its faith in content,” says David Geffen. “Only 10 years ago, companies wanted to make records, presumably good records, and see if they sold. But panic has set in, and now it’s no longer about making music, it’s all about how to sell music

Signing artists for the wrong reasons…

“The most important thing we have to do now is get the art right says Rubin. So many of the decisions at these companies have not been about the music. They sign artists for the wrong reasons — because they think somebody else wants them or if they need to have a record out by a certain date.

If the artist is great — anything is possible…

So, what’s important now is to find music that’s timeless. I still believe that if an artist gains the belief of the listener, then anything is possible.”

Some say the future of the industry is a subscription based model..

“You would subscribe to music,” Rubin explained. “You’d pay, say, $19.95 a month, and the music will come anywhere you’d like. The service can have demos, bootlegs, concerts, whatever context the artist wants to put out. And once that model is put into place, the industry will grow 10 times the size it is now.”

The opponents of the subscription model feel that making all music by all artists available for one flat fee will end up diminishing the overall revenue stream. “There would have to be a new economic plan,” Geffen explained. “And it would have to be equitable, depending on the popularity of the artists.”

Steve Barnett is nervous about the subscription model. “Smart people have told me if the subscription model is not done correctly,” he said, “it will be the final nail in our coffin. I’ve heard both sides of the argument, and I’m not convinced it’s the solution to our problems. Rick wants to be a hero immediately. In his mind, you flick a switch and it’s done. It doesn’t work like that.”

At the end of the day, its all about the music…

Rubin paused. “That’s the magic of the business,” he said. “It’s all doom and gloom, but then you go to a Gossip show or hear Neil in the studio and you remember that too many people make and love music for it to ever die. It will never be over.

The Bottom Line: We couldn’t agree more with some of the observations. Music labels are not concentrating on making great music — instead they have focused on “How can we sell the music”. KOAR has always said you cannot peddle crap. Of course a plethora of great artists are not waiting to be discovered either — todays music label needs a staff of producers and collaborators’ to work with the unsigned talent hoping to create new stars.
The subscription model can be dangerous if its not well thought out. It doesn’t make sense that a well written HIT song on iTunes is priced equally as a track performed by an unknown artist that does not attract interest.

The iTunes egalitarian pricing system scorns achievement and is guilty of pandering to the cult of mediocrity.