Kings of A&R

Reaching into their back catalog, new Universal signees Anberlin have re-recorded and will be releasing “The Feel Good Drag” as the first single from their major label debut, due out September 30. The track originally appeared on their 2005 album “Never Take Friendship Personal” (which has sold 150k albums to date). This decision is one that has been questioned by some fans who wonder why the band couldn’t just record a new song that is just as good, or better than this older track. We’ve seen this plan of action work most successfully with the Plain White T’s release of “Hey There Delilah”. Stephen Christian (Anberlin’s frontman) claims the band chose to re-record the song because they didn’t feel it received enough attention on their 2005 album. The question is, is this a good marketing decision? Does it merely come down to the strength of the song, or should questions of the label not having faith in a new song as a lead single be raised? Will it spark more interest in their older albums than the new one? Will Anberlin be the next Mae and see little success on a major?

Personally, I stand by the band and label’s decision to re-release this song as the first single because, in my opinion, it is the best song they’ve ever made and deserves a shot at mainstream radio. “The Feel Good Drag” impacts alternative radio on 8/19. Check out the clip here.

One-Hit Wonders: Maybe the aforementioned Plain White T’s should continue to reach back and grab some older tracks, because it does not sound like the new single will touch the success of ‘Delilah’, listen to “Natural Disaster” on their Myspace.

Young Buzz: With an appearance on TRL this past week, and the release of his new Yippee EP, the young Joplin, MO one-man-band Nevershoutnever! Is getting a lot of attention, and surely a good deal of friend requests. Makes me think of a younger version of Bryce Avery of the Rocket Summer.

Virginia emo pop/rock band My Favorite Highway should not remain unsigned for much longer after the release of the very strong “How To Call a Bluff”. This release puts recent major label releases from Forever The Sickest Kids, Metro Station & Cobra Starship to shame (which wasn’t too tough in the first place). Good songwriting, and plenty of radio ready tracks.

Tracks worth checking out:

People in Planes – “Mayday (M’aidez)”

The Morning Of – “Reverie” (here’s one the kids will love)

Innerpartysystem – “Don’t Stop” (There’s no excuse for this to not be a hit at alternative radio)

Shawn Fisher – Listen to original songs @ www.myspace.com/shawnfisher and watch an great cover of Augustana’s “Sweet and Low” here.

Soundcheck is written by Dallas who currently attends San Francisco State University and works on the Live 105 (KITS) Action Team.

Live Nation To Rely On Major Music Labels? Live Nation is considering relying on record labels to promote their newly signed artists after paying mega-millions to Madonna, Jay-Z, Shakira and Nickelback. According to the New York Post, ‘Warner Music Group could end up handling the marketing, promotion and distribution of albums by the very acts that defected from it to join Live Nation: Nickelback and Madonna.’ Industry music veterans including Bob Ezrin, Bob Cahill and Bill Hein who were hired by Live Nation to work with the newly signed acts were all recently fired.

Bleeding To Death: Read the article published in Bloomberg titled ‘Guy Hands May Get No Satisfaction as Web Pirates Let EMI Bleed‘. The challenge is to overhaul the unit responsible for finding and hiring new talent and releasing their albums, because too many EMI artists never earn back their advances, says Guy Hands.

New Music: Briana Taylor recently landed on the Billboard Heatseekers chart. She appeared on the Real World and released her self-titled EP on Chamberlain Records. Check out the track Summertime and Tragic.

Sales: Kid Rock sold 92,000 copies this week of ‘Rock n Roll Jesus’ thanks to his megahit ‘All Summer Long’. This is the story of the year.

Although The Dark Knight movie is set to break records, no one seems to care about the soundtrack. The soundtrack sold 20k copies this week with a tally of 45k.

Clear Channel Unveils Radio Network: Clear Channel will launch 900 online radio stations. The network will have the widest marketing reach in online radio which reaches an audience of 4.7 million.

Recommended Listening: Dear Child by Anthony Green. The record titled ‘Avalon’ will be released August 5th via Photo Finish Records.

New Music: Wherever I Stand by Taproot. This four-piece alternative metal group released 3 records via Atlantic Records. The new record titled ‘Our Long Road Home’ which was produced by Tim Patalan will be released independently through their management firm Velvet Hammer Music in a partnership with Sony -owned RED Distribution.

Best Buy to open in-store music centers: Best Buy will begin to sell musical instruments hoping to offset the lackluster sales of CDs and DVDs. Each site will use about 2,500 square feet of retail space and include roughly 1,000 different products with well-known brand names such as Fender, Gibson, Drum Workshop and Roland.

Warped Review: Check out the review of Vans Warped Tour published by The New York Times

The days are limited for the megastars/heritage acts including Springsteen, the Rolling Stones, The Eagles, Rod Stewart, Billy Joel, and Jimmy Buffett.  Gary Bongiovanni, editor of Pollstar says “Year in and year out, those acts are good for 18,000 seats, but that part of the business is going to come to an end.”

We have seen new artists like Coldplay, Dave Matthews, and Radiohead develop into arena artists, but we don’t know if they will have same longevity as the classic rockers. Bongiovanni says, “Is John Mayer still going to be selling tickets 30 years from now, like James Taylor is 30 years past his prime? Pick a band. Is Green Day going to be replacing the Who?”

“We’re seeing more artists develop up to arena-level or amphitheater-headlining status for a couple of tours, then fade back down,” Bongiovanni says.

The truth is arena acts will be threatened because todays artists cannot make a genuine connection with the audience.  Also, the audience today has more entertainment options. “The general industry view is there are going to be fewer arena-level tours and more business in the middle of the market, playing venues with anywhere from 4,000 seats to 12,000 seats,” Bongiovanni says.

XM-Siruis, Done Deal: The FCC formally approved the merger of XM-Sirius satellite radio. This means millions subscribers will be able to receive programming from both services.

New Music: The Ropes, a new wave NYC female fronted act just released their album ‘What They Do For Fun’ on iTunes. Listen to ‘What They Do For Fun‘ and ‘I Don’t Like to Get Dirty‘.

Recommended Listening: No Room To Breathe by There For Tomorrow. Our next favorite track is Pages. The new EP will be released August 5th via Hopeless Records. The lead singer Maika looks like Gerard Way from My Chem, but at least they have some good songs.

Signings: Wind-Up has signed the South African rock band Civil Twilight. Their track “Human” appeared on CBS’ Without a Trace and ‘Letters From The Sky’ was featured for the season finale promo of Terminator: The Sara Connor Chronicles on FOX. The band’s debut is expected to be released in late 2008.

Breakout: Miley Cyrus is expected to sell near the 400k range with her new release. Some compare the growth of her franchise to Elvis’s in his heyday.

New Myspace Partner? MySpace is about to launch a new music service and is said to be partnering with Amazon to handle all music ecommerce transactions. Sources also say Apple and Rhapsody are also bidding for the business but a Finale decision hasn’t been made.

Buzzing: Kasper The K an unknown and unsigned Kentucky rapper is buzzing in the hip hop community. The track Whatchagondo which samples Obsession by the 80’s new wave act Animotion is finding its way on several top 40 radio stations. Kasper from the K was also chosen for the soundtrack on the newly released “MX vs. ATV Untamed” for the XBOX360, alongside Nickelback, The Used, and My Chemical Romance. He also has “fan-made” dance videos on YouTube totaling 500,000+ views.

New Music: Copper an unsigned Knoxville band have put up two new tracks on their myspace titled Overrated and Call To Action. Their track Broken Sky can be heard on multiple active rock stations.

Rolling Stones Signs With Universal: Rolling Stones left to EMI to sign a deal with Universal. The band has signed a long term global deal and the new recordings will be released under UMG’s Polydor label. The Rolling Stones were the top-earning music act last year, according to a list compiled by Forbes.com. There is no question that the Rolling Stones are one of the most important bands in music history,” Universal Music Chief Executive Officer Doug Morris said in the statement.

Yahoo! Music Store is Dead: As of September 30th the Yahoo Music Store will be officially closed. Read this about backing up your music files.

Recommended Show: This World Fair at The Viper Room @ 9PM (7/25/08)

The Vinyl Boom: The Oregonian has an article titled ‘Will oil prices sink the vinyl record boom?‘ that discusses the possible price increase of vinyl due to higher petroleum prices.

Sirius and XM: The FCC have reached a tentative deal to approve the merger of Sirius Satellite Radio and XM. The companies are valued at $7.5 billion combined.

Myspace Finding New Ways to Make Money: Myspace will be launching a new music service that allows myspace members to listen to free streaming music as well as purchase song downloads, ringtones, T-shirts and concert tickets.

Warner Stock Media Stock: Warner had the best performing media stock says the NY Post. “As of yesterday’s close, WMG shares are up 34 percent year-to-date while the stock of every other company in its peer group is down.” “The music industry’s bottoming is evidence that media stock valuations can get too low,” said Laura Martin, senior media analyst at Soleil Securities.

War On Piracy: A groundbreaking deal between the music industry and broadband companies that will prevent illegal downloading will be unveiled today according to the Financial Times. The biggest service providers that represent 90% of the broadband industry have signed a memorandum that will commit them to working towards a “significant reduction” in illegal file-sharing. “The service providers will send letters to 1,000 prolific illegal downloaders a week under a three-month trial.” The net neutrality activists must hate this..

New Music: Listen to Tonight and My Heart Your Hands by Dommin. For fans of Type O Negative, Depeche Mode, Danzig, and HIM. The LA four piece just signed to RoadRunner. The band released an LP in 2007 titled ‘Mend Your Misery’ which was produced by Logan Mader, best known as a former member of the heavy metal bands Machine Head and Soulfly. Veteran A&R rep Monte Conner signed the band to the label and was quick to express his excitement, saying, “Dommin comes across as very fresh and unique in today’s landscape. Kristofer Dommin is their secret weapon. His vocals are absolutely compelling, and this is especially evident live where you can feel the power, passion and emotion of every word he sings.”

This band is a KOAR favorite as they have seperated themselves from the mediocrity by creating songs that can bring about memories while challenging new artists to expand their boundaries.