Kings of A&R

According the NY Post, Terra Firma CEO Guy Hands is telling prospective partners that they can nearly quadruple their money in the struggling major label and cash out within five years.

Terra Firma plans to improve its EMI investment by cutting costs…

The cost cutting includes reducing A&R and marketing costs by 58 million by using social networks and user generated web sites like Myspace to discover and promote talent, cut $31 million in sales and distribution, and improve the recorded music businesses’ cash flow by driving over $700 million in from
online and mobile music. Terra Firma also has $100 million set aside for purchases of small indie labels. (NY Post)

360 Deals: Major music companies are offering the highly debated 360 deals to new artists. Artists will share touring and merchandising profits in return for more career support from the label. Check out the New York Times article ‘The New Deal: Band as Brand’. Jeff Leeds discusses the success of Paramore.

The Saga continues between Prince and his Fans: Last week Prince and his lawyers sent out legal letters to ‘Prince’ fan sites asking them for compensation for using photos without permission. Now the pop diva has posted a funk jam in retaliation to his fans that set up ‘Prince Fans United‘. Prince proclaims in his jingle ‘ “I don’t care what people may say, I ain’t gonna let it ruin my day.” American Idol judge Simon Cowell called Prince selfish and disrespectful. I couldn’t agree more, also, the dude seems bored.

We don’t particularly care, but you can view the original choreography for Britney Spears’ performance of Gimme More” that has founds its place on the blogosphere.

New Music: You can stream a new track from indie rock band Hello Vegas. Also listen to the track ‘My Tongue is Tied‘.

The new Duran Duran album ‘Red Carpet Massacre’ can now be streamed. Duran Duran frontman Simon Le Bon wanted a hit record and top 40 radio play. ‘We wanted to get played on U.S. Top 40 radio, and it seemed that the most direct route was to exercise our funk muscle. So we said, “Right, let’s get Timbaland.” What passionless statement. My goodness! Many artists today have no shame. Duran Duran should have took a vacation on a remote island and wrote a real record because the new stuff isn’t nearly as good as Rio and save a Prayer. The hardwork and effort was all done in vain!

Signings: Republic Universal rock artist Fair to Midland have signed a co-publishing agreement with Warner Chappell Music. Sounds Under Radio who appeared on Spiderman 3 sountrack signed to Epic Records.

Google in Talks with Simon Fuller: More people are watching TV on-line since new technology is allowing users to download video footage. PCs will eventually merge with TV sets, and the biggest companies, including Microsoft, Apple and Google will enter the market. Google is already talking to Simon Fuller the creator of Pop Idol and American Idol about a joint venture that could change the way TV is watched over the internet. (Guardian)

Myspace has been inflicted with the biggest and most damaging virus to date. This new viral scam targets the younger users, and promises victims a free $500 Macy’s gift card. The headlines include “Hey dude, check it out! You ain’t gunna believe this!” or “i’m just hittin you up, as a friend, to fill you in on this exclusive deal to get a FREE $500 Macy’s Gift Card, yes, FREE!

The viral scam, which targets the site’s younger users, promises victims a free $500 Macy’s gift card. The spam scam steals the user MySpace identity and friends e-mails and posts comments on their profiles.

“It is an epidemic on MySpace,” PC Magazine Executive Editor Jeremy Kaplan . “It is a big problem particularly because of the pervasiveness of MySpace. Kaplan says he doesn’t think MySpace has done much to help solve the problem.

Alicia Keys’ Myspace page was recently hacked. Check out this video that shows how these viral spams incorporate malicious codes.

The Bottom Line: More and more artists are frustrated over Myspace and its ability to perform simple tasks. Updating the touring schedule, writing blogs, and communicating with fans can be a headache. Attacks on Myspace are rising as well as programs invented by thieves that allows users to steal songs on the Myspace music player. The techs at Myspace will be busy for a long time…

Both Jimmy Eat World’s and Motion City Soundtracks scheduled TV appearences have been canceled due to the Writers Guild of America strike.

Avenged Sevenfold’s new self titled disc debuted at number four on the Billboard Top 200 selling 93K records. This is Huge. The First single “Almost Easy” is in the Top 10 at Active Rock and Top 20 at Alternative.

Seattle grunge act Candlebox signed deal with the label Silent Majority Group that is distributed by Warner and Making April negotiated a deal with Republic/Universal.

Tool’s frontman Maynard Keenan’s Puscifer project sold 27,000 copies its first week. Target banned the album because of the controversial artwork.
Maynard also provides us with an entertaining rant on a myspace blog…

1 on the Billboard INDIE chart.
25 on the Billboard top 200

No Major label budget.
No Major label $300,000 Bus bench/poster/billboard marketing campaign.
No overpriced full page ad in every silly magazine ever printed
No Promotions Dept Payola hand jobs.
No shove it down your throat anything.

just 100% street level, viral, word of mouth support.

Thank you, Thank you, Thank you.

Problematic: James Blunt‘s first album ‘Back to Bedlam’ sold 2.6 million in the US and was certificated 2x platinum. His first single ‘Beautiful’ was a Valentines Day hit that brought him to national spotlight. Blunt kept Atlantic Records alive as ‘Back to Bedlam’ was selling 55k a week. Blunt was so convincing that he even held hands with supermodels. A hit can turn anybody into a instance rock star. I believe Blunt’s album ‘Back to Bedlam’ is a great record all they way through. It’s rich in songwriting, emotion, and story telling. His live show is excellent along with his commanding stage presence.

I noticed his new album ‘All The Lost Souls’ fell off the top 50 album charts in 7 weeks. ‘All The Lost Souls’ does not have the spark or intensity of ‘Back To Bedlam’, but I would have thought he would have attracted a broader fan base other than top 40 flavor of the month music buyers. I cannot figure out what happened, although it seemed many people were unaware that he even had a new album out.

The Scottish singer and songwriter KT Tunstall is another artist that came off the heels of a platinum record and may be facing doomsday. Tunstall had her break with a performance on Later with Jools Holland of her song “Black Horse and the Cherry Tree”. She even picked up three BRIT Awards and a Grammy nomination. Her new record ‘Drastic Fantastic’ stalled at 125k and is sitting on #120 on the album charts.

The Road to Success: The Eagles new album ‘Long Road Out of Eden’ sold 707k in the Wal-Mart chains. These are old school numbers. In fact, people are finding the new “exclusive” album at small mom-and-pop record stores and big chains like Virgin Megastore with price tags ranging from $18.99 to $24.99. Everybody wants a piece of the Eagles.

Red Bull Takes on The Music Biz: Red Bull is now pushing a serious music initiative, according to Digital Music News. A stand-alone recording label with 360-degree concept that integrates Red Bull branding seems a possibility.

The new Radiohead album due December 31 on CD: They also released a statement that described the ComScore data as “wholly inaccurate” information which “in no way reflect definitive market intelligence or, indeed, the true success of the project.” Whatever….

Want Youtube to stop ripping you off? Fill out these forms. 

The Eagles’ new album, “Long Road Out of Eden,” takes the No. 1 spot on The Billboard 200 after Billboard revised a significant chart policy today.

Billboard will now allow exclusive album titles that are only available through one retailer to appear on The Billboard 200 and other charts, effective with this week’s charts.

According to Wal-Mart, The Eagles ‘The Long Road Out of Eden’ sold 707,253. These sales represented the highest first week sales of any music product in the past two years at Wal-Mart. This sold twice as much as Britney’s Blackout. Britney Spears’ new album, “Blackout,” which would have been No. 1 had the Eagles’ data not been reported, will open at No. 2 with first-week sales of only 290,000 copies. Based on projections, the Blackout album was expected to sell 350,000.

Britney’s Blackout: “Blackout,” will finish at No. 1 this week, according the chartmakers. “Blackout” sold between 325,000 and 350,000 copies and remains the No. 1 downloaded album on iTunes and the fifth bestselling CD on Amazon.com.

What is interesting today is that the charts are less relevant. The Eagles‘ latest double CD album, ‘Long Road Out Of Eden‘, will sell more than twice as much as Britney’s Blackout. The Eagles album is only available at Wal-Mart retailers and is expected to sell 700k+. The Eagles new record is not elgible for the Billboard Album chart because its being carried by a single retailer.

Prince attacks fansites: Prince and his lawyers are sending out legal letters to ‘Prince’ fan sites asking them for compensation. Is this the new artist business model? Giving away music for free in a weekly newspaper and generate revenue from fansites?

The letter reads…

Prince’s representatives have requested that the fansites provide them with “substantive details of the means by which you [the fansites] propose to compensate our clients [Paisley Park Enterprises, NPG Records and Anschutz Entertainment Group (AEG)] for damages…” (Read more here)

American Idol will undergo some changes in its 7th season: This season will feature fewer celebrity mentors and the contestants will be now allowed to show off their instrumental talent.  (More here…)

Check out Feist flawlessly perform “1234″ on SNL.

Most Radiohead fans are choosing to download the newest album without paying for it, according to researcher ComScore Inc.

Fewer than four out of 10 fans worldwide who downloaded ‘In Rainbows’ between Oct. 10 and Oct. 29 purchased it, paying $6 on average, ComScore said today in a statement.

In the U.S., 40 percent of Radiohead fans who downloaded ‘In Rainbows’ paid an average $8.05. Outside the US, 36 percent paid for the digital recording at an average price of $4.64. (Bloomberg)

The Bottom Line: Most fans paid $0 for the Radiohead album.