Kings of A&R

New Platforms: Variety posted an article that discusses different platforms that are now used by artists to help expose music. For instance, American Idol contestant Eliott Yamin sold 92,000 CD’s in one week, but instead of being signed to a major label, he used a hybrid marketing company called Rocket Science that offers the full functions of a record label.

“There is no one single way of doing business these days,” Talking Heads frontman David Byrne recently wrote in Wired. “That variety is good for artists; and good for audiences, too, who will have more, and more interesting, music to listen to.”

Does Blog Hype Sell Records? Yes! According to two researches at NYU. The amount of online “chatter” about an upcoming album release directly correlates to higher physical album sales. The number of Myspace friends a particular band has also correlates to better album sales.The Winners: A complete list of the Grammy Award Winners can be found here.

Calling All Fans: If there is one thing Jack Johnson has, it’s an incredible ‘loyal’ fan base. According to Hits, his new Brushfire/Universal Republic will sell 350-375k first-week.

Clive Davis Still Searching for Hitz: In the current issue of Rolling Stone, Rich Cohen profiles music executive Clive Davis, the last record man. After 30 years, Clive is still looking for the next hit asking himself “can the record cross-over?”. KOAR is looking for Hits as well, email tips@kingsofar.com and tell us what track we need to listen to on you’re myspace. Click here to check out some of the artists Clive has guided over the years.

Measuring Success: The New York Post points out the fact that Soulja Boy is nominated for a Grammy while only selling 746,000 copies of his disc, which is typically low. Even though CD sales were low other vehicles that point to the song (Crank That) success is 40 million streams on YouTube and 2 million ring tones sold. Steve Berman, President of sales and distribution for Interscope, Geffen and A&M Records says “We measure success much differently than we did in the past. You can’t compare things to 3- or 4-years ago,” he said, later adding “Album sales are [now] just a piece of the puzzle.”

Signings: NYC alternative act The Urgency just signed with Mercury/Island Def Jam and was posted in KOARs New Music and Recommended Listening column 2 weeks ago. Supposably it was an old school bidding war between a couple of majors that took place within the last two weeks. Another band mentioned in the same post is now getting cornered by major music labels and has garnered 100k plays a day on their myspace this past weekend.

Most Added: Alternative rock act 10 Years new single Beautiful that evolves around the death of celebrityism was this weeks active rock most added and second most added behind Panic At the Disco on alternative radio. This band may shakeup the dreadful rock playlist…you think?