Kings of A&R

Sony BMG Music and MySpace have partnered: MySpace’s 70 million users will have access to music videos, audio material and other content, from SONY BMG’s artists. The deal calls for MySpace and SONY BMG to share in sponsorship and advertising revenues. Under the terms of the deal, SONY BMG will license music videos, select audio material, and other content from its extensive artist roster and will make the content available on its artists’ MySpace profile pages.

KOAR’s Filter: Who wants to weed through 100,000 new record releases and 200 million videos on Youtube? You don’t, but we will. With that said, Check out the new wave act Aerodrone who hails from Cali. They will embark on a MTVU Rock tour beginning October 24th. Listen to ‘Hold Me Like a Microphone’ and ‘Sceneboy’.

Spice Girls embrace internet only: Their new Greatest Hits album won’t be sold in traditional retail outlets. Instead, the record will only be available at Victoria’s Secrets stores and at online retailers including iTunes. Regardless, we will pass..

Joss Stone has already had 4 managers: In this article, ex managers explain why Stone is struggling to find the same level of success abroad as she enjoys in Britain. We hear she is hard to work with and refuses advice. KOAR says, “The wise will seek council”.

Universal Music Group to compete with iTunes: The world’s most powerful music executive aims to join forces with other record companies to launch an industry-owned subscription service. Universal CEO Doug Morris is in talks with Sony BMG Music and Warner Music Group as potential partners. Together the three would control about 75% of the music sold in the U.S. The goal is to get hardware makers or cell carriers to absorb the cost of a roughly $5-per-month subscription fee so consumers get a device with all-you-can-eat music that’s free. Music companies would collect the subscription fee, while hardware makers theoretically would move many more players. (Business Week)

‘She’s All Yours’: Warner Music passed along a report from a Bank of America subsidiary explaining why the material girl is no longer worth a nine-digit payday. The big risk it to overpay for an artist that does not seem to be generating the revenue to support the contract being discussed. Madonna will turn 60 years old in the last year of the proposed deal, it is “fantastic” for her but does not “make economic sense” for WMG. Lastly, her loss will not meaningfully impact Warner’s near-term sales. (Variety)

Platinum selling nineties band Sponge has signed with Icon Entertainment.

Los Angeles based indie act The Sound Of Animals Fighting signed to Epitaph

KOAR is really digging the Milwaukee 4 piece alt rock band Northern Room. We fell for the band after listening to ‘We’re On Fire’ and ‘Last Embrace’. The song ‘Last Embrace’ came about after the lead singer Andrew Jonathan lost a family member to suicide. In fact, a video company was so inspired by the song and its meaning that they decided to shoot a video for the track. Northern Room will be performing at the BMI/CMJ Show at Arlenes Grocery on Wednesday October 17th (9:45). For more information contact
Dan Friedman.

Many fans feels they purchased a glorified demo…

The Radiohead offering of letting fans decide the price of their new record began with excitment, respect, and admiration. Fans are now angry over the low quality of the downloads and the band’s manager’s statement that the you-choose-the-price downloads were just a promotional tool for the release of the physical CD.

Radiohead’s previous albums were already available as MP3s encoded at 320 kilobits per second — the highest-possible compression rate in the format, but it was announced that the new record RAINBOWS would be available at 160 kbps (poor quality) — after the majority of their fans had already paid for the download. To be fair, the band did give the fans the power of choosing how much they wanted to pay to download the album.

Most promo MP3s come at a higher bit rate,” wrote the author of U.K. blog Kids Pushing Kids. “Worst pound and pence I’ve ever spent.”

I have lost a bit of respect for Radiohead for this. I would never make people pay for 160. They may as well just stream stuff off MySpace” responded one commenter.

No one seemed to understand why Radiohead decided to release Rainbows at 160 kpbs, though guitarist Jonny Greenwood told Rolling Stone, “We talked about it and we just wanted to make it a bit better than iTunes, which it is, so that’s kind of good enough, really.

Statements from band’s management that seem to indicate that the downloadable album was just promotional tool for physical CD also resulted in disgrunted fans.

Is Radiohead fighting for the fans and the music? or is this a kanye west marketing plan in disguise. Maybe everyone is just nitpicking…

The end of Radiohead’s run of number one albums: Radiohead is not a chart-registered retailer so they will not be eligible for inclusion in the chart. This has sent shivers through the industry, with some hailing it as a breakthrough for the digital age and others predicting the end of the world as we know it.

EMI Guy Hands selecting his dream team: According to Hits the team would consist of People magazine Publisher Paul Caine, Clear Channel Communications New York SVP Programming Tom Poleman and pop producer/songwriter Billy Mann. Other sources claim People magazine publisher Paul Caine turned down Guy Hands’ offer. Musical chairs on the Titanic? I can already hear the song Amazing Grace…

Madonna Strikes 120 Million Deal: Madonna will sever her ties to Warner Bros. and sign a landmark 120 million dollar 10-year deal with Live Nation concer promoter. In return, Live Nation would be granted the rights to three studio albums as well as the right to promote concert tours, sell merchandise and license Madonna’s name.

Radiohead have drawn a mixed reaction from fans, the music industry and fellow musicians with the ‘Pay What You Want’ experiment.

About a third of fans decided to pay absolutely nothing, according to The Times daily.

“We’re prepared to take a risk and we might come out looking very foolish. But we believe if your music is great, then people will pay for it,” Bryce Edge, one of the band’s managers.

Another boss, Chris Hufford, added: “There are actually people who are going on websites and saying, ‘I don’t actually like Radiohead, but I’m going to give them some money because I think it’s a brilliant idea’.”

Singer-songwriter James Blunt chimed in and warned that the Radiohead approach could be dangerous for artists. “I don’t think they should devalue it,” he told The Times. “I’ve got to pay a band and a producer and a mixer. I don’t know how I’d necessarily pay them if I sold my albums for 1p.”

Alex Turner, the singer with Arctic Monkeys, said the experiment was “very interesting” but reserved judgment.

NIN frontman Trent Reznor is a free agent: “I have been under recording contracts for 18 years and have watched the business radically mutate from one thing to something inherently very different and it gives me great pleasure to be able to finally have a direct relationship with the audience as I see fit and appropriate.”

Reznor says his record label hates him because he called them greedy assholes. He encouraged his fans in this video to steal the music until the label can get it through there heads that they are ripping people off.

Radiohead refuses to reveal album sales: Radiohead will not reveal how many orders for their new album, ‘In Rainbows,’ have been placed, it’s been reported. The band have also refused to announce how much fans have been paying for the eagerly anticipated album – which was available to download from 10am this morning (October 10th)

Yahoo Music Chief Rails Against Content Protection: According to Digital Music News, Yahoo Music is being placed under a microscope by higher-ups, and portions of the site could be eliminated. In the end you get what you pay for,” Rogers expressed during an executive presentation last week at Digital Music Forum in Los Angeles. “I won’t spend another dime paying engineers to build false control, making listening to music harder for music lovers. I will put all of my energy into making it easier and making the experience better.”

Placing Bands with Brands: Sony BMG artists will be used in an online advertising campaign for Honda’s 2008 Civic including Avril Lavigne, Christina Aguilera, Dido, Alicia Keys. There is no such thing as selling out anymore, the concept doesn’t exist.

This Week Sales: Bruce Springsteen ‘Magic’ sold 335k. Rascal Flatts (167,900), 50 Cent (50k), Foo Fighters (54k), Dashboard Confessional (47k), James Blunt (29k), Nickelback (34k) with over 6 million record sold, Maroon 5 (20k), Daughtry (20k), KT Tunstall (15k), Feist (19k), Emery (11k), Motion City Soundtrack (6k).

KOARs breeding ground and buzz artists: Shannon Nicole and Making April are making headway in the industry. Saving Abel just signed to Capitol Records. Even though everybody else fell asleep, KOAR is wide wake. We want to hear new music now - Email tips@kingsofar.com

Both Jamiroquai and Oasis are not contracted to record labels and are rumoured to be considering following Radiohead by offering music for free, according to industry sources.

Google say that searches for Radiohead have increased tenfold this week as fans log on to the band’s site, with the majority – according to the band’s spokesman – spurning the opportunity to download the album for as little as 45 pence and instead signing up for the £40 box set, which includes vinyl records, CD and artwork.

The Charlatans are also offering fans their next album completely for free if they visit the site of radio station XFM.

The performers that give away their music for free are expected to make their money from sales of concert tickets and merchandise.

The Bottom Line: KOAR was expecting this to happen. Older acts trying to capitalize off this press. Do you really think Oasis is going to WOW the press like Radiohead? Oasis is an older act that primarily generates revenue through touring not record sales. Also, the only decent Oasis records were ‘Definitely Maybe and (What’s the Story) Morning Glory?. I have a good feeling that Oasis knew that they will never deliver another sucker punch record like they did in 1995, therefore deem it as a “worthless” promotional piece. See you on the road Noel!