Kings of A&R

The Future of Hip Hip: A recent column ‘The Shrinking Market Is Changing the Face of Hip-Hop‘ that appeared in The New York Times discusses the future of Hip Hop.

“Because hip-hop is so intensely self-aware, and self-reflexive, it came to be known as big-money music, a genre obsessed with its own success. Newcomers arrived with big singles and bigger hopes, only to fall off the charts after selling a few hundred thousand copies, if that.

The 1990’s brought a series of breakout stars including Dr. Dre, Snoop Dogg, Tupac Shakur, the Notorious B.I.G but rappers today seem like underground figures, for the first time in nearly two decades. For instance the genres biggest star 50 Cent recent album “Curtis” (Shady/Aftermath/Interscope), has only sold 1.2 million copies while his 2005 album, “The Massacre,” sold more than five million. If we are now entering an age of diminished commercial expectations, that will inevitably change how hip-hop sounds too.”

EMI Culture Changes: A person close to Terra Firma said it had made three significant culture changes at EMI. EMI is now demanding that employees submit business plans and secure senior executives’ approval before signing new artists, asking for detailed marketing plans before any promotional activity and changing bonus plans to encourage executives to focus on EMI artists’ global potential rather than local markets alone. Also, Terra Firma has instructed executives to shift their focus from television advertising to promotions that emphasise digital music. (EMI Faces Tigher Budgets)

Why Did Radiohead Really Leave EMI? Radiohead left label EMI because they refused to agree to a deal worth 10 Million dollars. According to The Times, Radiohead was offered £3m to resign with the label which they found unacceptable. A spokesperson for the label said “Radiohead were demanding an extraordinary amount of money and we did not believe that our other artists should have to subsidise their gains.”

Music sales during the Christmas shopping season were down an astounding 21% from last year.

From the week of Thanksgiving up through the day before Christmas Eve, 83.9 million albums were sold, a decrease of 21.38 million from 2006’s 105.28 million.

Still, plenty of people love celebrating Christmas and Josh Groban was immune from the slump. Groban’s “Noel” has crossed 3.5 million in sales to become the top-selling disc of the year and claimed its fifth straight week at No. 1. (Variety)

Warner Ends Struggle and Partners With Amazon: Warner Music who held out on selling music online without copy protection, caved in and began selling music on Amazon in the MP3 format without the digital rights management. (Wired)

2007 was a troubling year for the US concert industry. According to Pollstar The top 20 tours generated $996 million, down 15.6 percent from the year before. The previous low was $951.1 million in 2004.

The concert industry is beginning to feel the shockwaves of the record industry. Its hard to sell tickets with the lack of NEW acts. How many times can promoters re-package high priced reunion tours with the same ol’ bands that haven’t delivered new music in years? It may work for today, but it won’t work for tomorrow.

Even high-priced reunion tours by the Police, Van Halen and Genesis didn’t fill seats. Consumers eventually want something new and exciting. These are the future problems what will plaque the music biz and the concert business. Its back to ground zero which is a good thing.

Apple Trades for $200: The Apple stores continue to be jammed pack while the shares of Apple hit the $200 mark for the first time on Wednesday. Apple released new lines of iPods that can play videos and the iPod Touch which has the touch screen like the iPhone. The iPod along with Guitar Hero was the top seller during the Christmas season. The iPod occupied 5 of the top 10 spots on Amazons best selling electronic list.

Times are changing and the chairs are rotating. Jay-Z said Monday that he will leave his post as president of Universal Music Group’s Def Jam Records label after his contract expires this year.

The rapper, who was named Def Jam president three years ago, said in a statement that it is “time for me to take on new challenges.

He will continue to release his own music through his record label, Roc-A-Fella/Def Jam after his contract expires Dec. 31.

Jay Z took over Def Jam in December 2004 in an incentive deal that was reportedly valued at up to $10 million. (AP)

Apple to launch iPod with automatic volume control: Critics of the iPods have claimed the device can cause serious hearing loss. Apple is developing an automatic volume control and the next iPods and iPhones will most likely calculate how long a person has been listening and at what volume, before gradually reducing the sound level.

Trent Interview: Once Again, Wired Magazine interviews Trent Reznor and the discussion centers around the state of the music biz. Uh! Our new years wish is more music less bull.

Signings: Pop Rock band After Eight who hails from Oklahoma has signed to Tooth and Nail Records. The will be recording their debut album with producer Aaron Sprinkle (Anberlin, The Almost, Kutless) in Seattle.

Anti-Piracy: The RIAA is launching a “holiday anti-piracy campaign” that “offers shoppers innovative gift ideas and tips or avoiding pirate product.” The campaign is set to focus on 15 cities with “exceptionally high piracy rates”. This anti campaign video is floating around the net and may be used by the RIAA to educate and warn consumers.

KOAR would like wish our readers a Merry Christmas and a Happy Hanukkah!
Peace Be With You….

Virgin Megastore: The Virgin Megastore’s space in Manhattan’s Union Square is being offered by a real estate broker for 2009 availability. As of now its unclear if the company plans to move its downtown location to another space, or if it will shutter the store altogether. Oh no!, not another one.

Fearless Records have signed indie pop band The Morning Light.

Soundscan - week ending 12/16

Josh Groban 669,161k
Alicia Keys 292,273k
Eagles 241, 104k
Taylor Swift 139k
Daughtry 59k
Nickelback 53k
One Republic 37k
Foo Fighters 30k
Finger Eleven 20k
Seether 19k
Flyleaf 12k

Signings: The saxophonist Kenny G has signed with Starbucks and Concord Records, which will release his “Rhythm and Romance” on Feb. 5. Also, Roadrunner Records has signed rock act Steadlur, they actually pulled off the cover ‘Cry Little Sister’ that comes off the Lost Boys Sountrack. Nice job!

Check out the article ‘If The Old Music Business Is Dead, What’s Next?’ that weighs in on what the next few years may hold including 360 deals, concert-promotions, iTunes-only one-off singles, artist subscriptions, etc.

Live Nation enters the ticketing business: Live Nation will launch a worldwide ticketing business beginning Jan. 1, 2009. Live Nation notes that the new ticketing platform will allow it to control customer data to create “enhanced ticket-based concert products,” and capitalize on expanded distribution channels and sponsorship opportunities.

The Eagles in Demand: We hear from from insiders that Virgin Megastore is purchasing The Eagles ‘Long Road Out Of Eden’ from Walmart and placing them in their key flagship stores. Does this mean the double album is being soundscanned twice? probably, but not enough to significantly spike sales.

In the age of MP3s, sound quality is worse than ever: The new issue of Rolling Stone Mag has an article “The Death of High Fidelity’ that discusses recording technology and how it has changed the way albums are produced, mixed and mastered -almost always for the worse. Rock producer David Bendeth says record labels ask the mastering engineers who work on his CDs to crank up the sound levels so high that even the soft parts sound loud. “They make it loud to get [listeners’] attention,” Bendeth says. Bendeth believes that relying too much on this effect can obscure sonic detail, rob music of its emotional power and leave listeners with what engineers call ear fatigue.

New Music: Check out the Canadian rock alternative act Die Mannequin. Musically it sounds like Joan Jett in her hey day and the band has Sum 41 dates lined up. Check out the track Do It Or Die.

Ged Doherty CEO of SonyBMG in the UK has issued a new corporate marketing strategy. He said said the company “has made it obligatory for all senior staff at both Columbia Records and RCA Records to start blogging actively”. According to the Register CEO Ged has made it clear that staff are expected to blog and participate in the community. He sees it as part of people’s jobs.”

SonyBMG A&R staff will actively take part in two new communities, Columbia Demos and RCA Demos.

Why Blog? How did they come to this conclusion?

Because consultants trumpeted it as a way of cutting out the PR and media and presenting a more “authentic” voice of the corporation. Oh, I have seen this before. Basically an ‘outside’ consultant company who is paid by SonyBMG thought of this bright idea probably because they ran out of ideas. What about the people who can’t blog? I would personally encourage the entire staff including the janitor to be watchful for up and coming talent which is key for the growth of a major music company.