• The New York Post's Brian Garrity reported today that Amazon.com's digital music store will launch in mid-September. " The service is expected to carry somewhere around 1 million tracks at launch, featuring music from Universal Music Group, EMI and a large number of independent labels. But it will be missing music from two notable sources, Sony BMG and Warner Music Group. ... Unlike Apple, which charges 99 cents for songs with DRM and $1.29 for unprotected tracks, Amazon is expected to have at least two prices for individual songs: 99 cents for new and popular MP3s, and 89 cents for music from emerging artists and back catalog tracks. Albums are expected to cost between $7.99 and $9.99." (New York Post)

• Bertelsmann AG has agreed to pay $130 million to publishers who are part of the lawsuit against the original Napster. (Billboard.biz)

• Country group Diamond Rio has signed with Warner Music Group's Word Records and will release a Christmas album on October 9. (Music Row)

• SpiralFrog, still chugging along to an eventual U.S. launch, inked a deal with Universal Music Canada and Universal Music Publishing. (Press release)

• The Australia Recording Industry Association is pushing for Australian ISPs to cut the service of repeat copyright infringers. (Ars Technica)

• Portland's Musicfest NW has added national acts (Cat Power, Clipse, Grizzly Bear), will be broadcast by KEXP, and will have one of the first showings of the Kurt Cobain biopic "About a Son." The festival runs September 9-12 and wristbands cost $40. (Oregon Live)

• September will be a big month for new albums: Kenny Chesney, Kanye West, 50 Cent, James Blunt, KT Tunstall, Babyface, Barry Manilow (more cover songs), Rascal Flatts, Foo Fighters, Melissa Etheridge, Iron & Wine and Steve Earle. (Variety)

• Darren Dean, an executive at record label Ruff Ryders, has been indicted on drug and weapons charges. (Newsday)

Posted by Glenn at 12:28 PM | Link
|A&R||Online Stores/Services|

• National retailer Borders Group reported a 10.4% increase in sales for Q2 2007. With the help of the latest Harry Potter book, U.S. comp store sales were up 4.6%. Music sales "continued to decline," though no hard number was given in the release. I listened to the conference call, and unless I zoned out at some point, music sales were not mentioned. (Earnings release)

• Music and video distributor Handleman reported a loss of $17.7 million for the quarter ended July 28, 2007. Revenues were up 14% even though last year's loss was only $5.9 million. The company's music category revenues decreased by $13.8 million versus last year. (Press release)

• Sony has another rootkit problem, this time from a USB drive that contained software that installs a hidden directory. (The Register)

• Jupiter's Mark Mulligan on Nokia's new mobile music store, Ova: "So was it worth the wait? Well the devices were, the latter two Xpress Music devices in particular from a music perspective. The three way sync is also a nice, innovative alternative to dual delivery. But beyond that, the music service is a disappointment. The music subscription service is a PC only streaming service that does not support portable downloads and as such is a generation behind current offerings. And it begs the question, why is a mobile handset manufacturer launching a music subscription service which does not support portable downloads or mobile streaming? Similarly the download service is essentially a ‘me too’ offering, based around 99 cents, windows DRM wrapped single track downloads." (Mark Mulligan's blog)

• Ween has signed to Rounder Records.

• Curb Records has signed 16-year-old Ashley Gearing, who is in studio with producer Bryon Gallimore. (Country Standard Time)

Posted by Glenn at 11:33 AM | Link
|A&R||Brick-And-Mortor Retail||Mobile Music|

• Album sales were down 2% last week and were 13% lower than the same week last year. For the year, album sales are down 14% (a number that is improving as the months pass). Digital track sales were up 1% last week and were 39% higher than the same week last year. For the year, digital track sales are up 48%.

• Terra Firma gained approval from 91.5% of EMI's shareholders and finally has control of the music group. (The Guardian)

• Virgin Entertainment Group North America posted a 15% comparable store increase last quarter. That's what shutting down underperforming stores will do for you. CEO Simon Wright says the chain's new-ish loyalty program has 150,000 members. The only thing I have to add about Virgin is that the Union Square store was practically a morgue when I walked in on an early Saturday afternoon a few weeks ago. (Billboard.biz)

• Douglas Wolk has an article on the inevitable Internet leak and how labels approach them. Its facts are almost correct, but I've heard from one label that Wolk got some of the details wrong. Doesn't change the main thrust of the article, though. I have a completely unproven theory that a leak does less damage the farther it is from the album's release date. When awareness of the leak comes near the album's release date, I think there is a convergence of awareness (album promotion plus leak hype) that is more detrimental to album sales. (Spin, via Idolator)

• PureTracks is the first Canadian retailer to offer EMI downloads in unprotected MP3 format. Even though the tracks will cost CDN $1.29, the press release does not indicate if the downloads have a higher sound quality than the standard DRM'd, WMA downloads. I really think it would be a mistake to raise the price and not raise the bit rate in tandem. (Press release)

• Epic signed Alkaline Trio. As Kings of A&R points out, major labels are attracted to bands that have done the dirty work and built up a following (not a make believe Internet following, mind you, but a real following based on years of touring and recording). There's less risk, less tour support and a better payoff at the end of the day. (Press release, via Kings of A&R)

• Good news for the concert business: The Eagles are planning to tour extensively in 2008. (Hollywood Reporter)

• Lots of articles have been written about iTunes reaching three billion downloads. All of them missed a few key points. First, iTunes is not just an American store. It has stores in many countries, and they all contributed to the sales of three billion. Sales have picked up as more iTunes store have launched. Second, it doesn't matter what profit Apple makes from iTunes (yes, there is a profit in there). The iPod would not be as successful without the iTunes store. They're a package deal. If you're going to look at profits of one, include the profit of the other.

• I'll be back in Nashville in two weeks and will have to check out the city's traffic lights that play country music. (The Tennessean)

Posted by Glenn at 12:23 PM | Link
|A&R||Brick-And-Mortor Retail||EMI||iTunes|

• Mobile carrier Amp'd, which counts MTV and Universal Music Group as its investors, has shut down its service and owes over $100 million to creditors. The company had filed for bankruptcy last month. (Variety)

• Sanctuary has sold its 49% share in the Rough Trade label to the Beggars Group for £800,000 (US $1,651,507). (The Guardian)

• XM and Sirius promised that in the event the two satellite companies merge, the companies will offer a variety of subscription packages. The lowest-priced package would get 50 channels and cost $6.99 a month. Said an analyst, "If the Department of Justice approves the merger, it will be difficult for the FCC to say no." (Reuters)

• Dallas-based hip hop label Clout Records has inked a distribution deal with EMI. Cloud will release Lil Prince's Young and the Wreckless on September 25. (Hip Hop Elements)

• Kansas City-based rock band Vedera has signed with Epic Records. (MySpace, via Kings of A&R)

• Oklahoma state representative Randy McDaniel has proposed a study to find out what incentives Nashville and other cities offer musicians. McDaniel sits on a committee that deals with Oklahoma's tourism, arts and culture. (The Journal Record)

• Ted Cohen, a former EMI exec and now part of TAG Strategic consulting, is on the board of advisers at Txttunes. The company just announced the launch of its text-based distribution and social networking service. Fans can use their cell phones to purchase and download MP3s. Artists can use Txttunes to send text messages to fans. (Press release)

• A profile of Ventura, CA-based Salzer's, where vinyl sales are up 20% this year. (Ventura County Star)

• AllHipHop.com got a makeover and has some new features. The site has partnered with Amazon.com to create an e-store that uses Amazon.com's technology and content. AllHipHop is working with iTunes on a Black Music Month promotion. The site will give away 250,000 promotional codes that can be redeemed for a free mix tape at iTunes. (Press release)

Posted by Glenn at 8:03 AM | Link
|A&R||Brick-And-Mortor Retail||Mobile Music||Sirius||XM|

• Album sales were flat last week and were down 11% year-over-year. For the year, album sales are down 16%. Digital track sales dropped 2% last week and were 38% higher year-over-year. For the year, sales of digital tracks are up 50%.

• It's a momentous event of sorts, I suppose: The first artist signed to Justin Timberlake's Tennman Records is YouTube star Esmee Denters. Now comes the hard part: Getting people to pay for it. (Billboard.com)

• Microsoft's new Ignition marketing program is a good use of the company's division. The program's first band, Warp Records' Maximo Park, will get pushed across the Zune Marketplace, the Xbox Live marketplace and the MSN.com portal -- that's 30 million regular users. (Reuters)

• A music analyst for Gracenote has started a website called Music Appraisals that, yes, appraises music and music memorabilia. (East Bay Express)

• Mexican indie label Noiselab and music download site Beon.com have created an MP3 store. Look for the "Beon MP3" tab on the right side of the middle section of the home page. (Billboard.biz)

Posted by Glenn at 7:31 AM | Link
|A&R||Marketing||Online Stores/Services|

Warner Music Group's Lyor Cohen, who came up the ranks as a hip hop artist manager and then exec at Def Jam, has a piece in Forbes (registration required) in which he assesses the state of the industry's artist discovery networks. The established network, he wrote, is "at risk of collapsing under its own weight." He calls for the industry to reinvent the discovery process and take advantage of the smaller networks that already exist around the country. Online and wireless is changing how labels find and promote artists, and he claims "Warner is ready."

The last part of the article is Cohen's attempt to de-hype Web 2.0's importance to the A&R world.

"And yet, the Web is also a limitation. No matter what people say about the power of sites like MySpace and YouTube, you can't absorb the essence of an artist until you see him or her perform live. And you can't determine if their following is genuine unless you experience it firsthand. In the 1980s an interactive video channel called The Box emerged as a possible platform for hip-hop. The labels and artists' managers soon discovered they could "jack" The Box--hype results by having a group of people phoning in to order the video plays. Today we're seeing similar distortions on some social networking sites. That's another reason that live performances tell you something. Live doesn't lie.

As much as technology transforms the world, as powerful as all these peer-to-peer or social networks are becoming, the most important network is still composed of real, live people dealing with one another face-to-face. Showing up in person still matters. It's true in friendship. It's true in business. It's true in music. When certain people walk into a room, molecules change, energy shifts--and things start to happen."

Posted by Glenn at 2:14 PM | Link
|A&R|

• New Island Urban president Jermaine Dupri has signed Jagged Edge to his So So Def imprint. Island Urban itself signed California rapper Hot Dolla. (Billboard.biz)

• Sirius and XM executives were questioned by a Senate anti-trust panel yesterday. Questions about market competitiveness rest on whether or not satellite radio faces competition from local terrestrial radio stations, or if its a market unto itself. While no single terrestrial radio station is in direct competition with XM or Sirius, I think consumers view satellite and terrestrial as substitutes -- and anti-trust regulators should take the viewpoint of consumers when assessing the merger's impact. (Forbes.com)

• A court rules that TVT Records must pay Slip-N-Slide $9.1 million for blocking the release of an early Pitbull release. (Vibe.com)

• Borders may sublease four Chicago-area stores as part of a cost savings strategy. The company, which has an earnings announcement tomorrow, has issued a profit warning due in part to sales declines in the music category. (Chicago Tribune)

• Career announcements are a dime a dozen, but this one stands out for an obvious reason: Koch Records has named Scott Givens as its new VP of metal. That's gonna be one sweet business card. (Billboard.biz)

• Albums on flash drives may (or may not) shake up the pop charts. HMV stocked 7,000 flash drives for the new Fratellis album. Hey, if it works, the industry has a new format to milk for a few years, and they'd probably be more than happy to sell protected files in a physical format for a change. (BBC News, via The Velvet Rope)

• Oddity: At one point yesterday, Amy Winehouse's Back To Black was both the #1 and #10 album at iTunes. (iTunes carries both the explicit and clean versions, and both are currently priced at $7.99.) Another SXSW buzz band, The Fratellis, was also in the Top 10.

Posted by Glenn at 11:34 AM | Link
|A&R||Brick-And-Mortor Retail||Sirius||XM|

• Entertainment One Income Fund sold its investments -- which include Koch Entertainment Distribution -- to Marwyn Investment Management for approximately US $161 million. (Video Business)

• More Koch: The company announced the formation of Koch Records Jazz/Adult Division. Chuck Mitchell, former head of Verve Records, will head the new operation. (Jazz News)

• Warner Music Group announced a partnership with Norway-based mobile operator Telenor that originally covers nine of Telenor's mobile operators. (Press release)

• Nic Feldes has a good recap of EMI's current situation. (The Independent)

• Read the text of Edgar Bronfman's keynote at the 3GSM Conference in Barcelona. Here's a sample of the frank commentary: "Actually, it’s amazing that we’ve generated as much revenue as we have through mobile music, given how cumbersome the consumer experience can be." (Download PDF)

• Actor Heath Ledger has partnered with musician Ben Harper to start the new Masses Music Co record label. First singing: Australian Grace Woodruffe. (StarPulse)

Posted by Glenn at 7:10 AM | Link
|A&R||EMI||Indies||Mobile Music||Warner Music Group|

• MySpace is testing an Audio Magic content filter to block unauthorized videos. (Question: What about homemade videos with copyrighted music playing in the background? Looks like they'll skate through.) Universal Music Group, NBC/Universal and Fox are taking part in the test. (InformationWeek)

• A Goldman Sachs analyst believes XM and Sirius should work together to lower marketing and promotion costs, but not worry about merging for another three to four years. In that time, possible synergies would be able to be realized and regulatory uncertainties may have passed. (Forbes.com)

• The White Stripes are reportedly going to sign with Warner Bros Records. (Billboard.biz)

• Warner Music Group is going full steam ahead with its corporate social responsibility agenda. By the end of March of 2007, all standard CD and DVD products in the U.S. wil use "ecologically-enhanced paper packaging." The company's Grammy party was carbon neutral. A distribution deal with Righteous Babe would fit the strategy, but I won't hold my breath. (Press release)

• Singshot.com, an online kaoroke site that is run by a former Rhapsody exec and has licensed over 3,000 songs, was purchased by Electronic Arts. (Forbes.com)

• Michael Robertson, founder of MP3.com and MP3Tunes, issued his own open letter that challenged Steve Jobs to sell music in open formats, open up the iPod to other software and make an iTunes for Linux. (MichaelRobertson.com, via Wired's Listening Post blog)

Posted by Glenn at 9:34 AM | Link
|A&R||MySpace||Satellite Radio||Sirius||Warner Music Group||XM|

Before the merger with Capitol Records, Virgin Records inked Australia-by-way-of-L.A. band Sick Puppies (pictured). The band recently caught the attention of Oprah Winfrey through its connection to the "Free Hugs" campaign (watch video at YouTube). This article at The Sun says the band has been added to K-Rock and has "signed with one of the biggest book agencies in the world."

Theory 8 Records' Forget Cassettes has signed a European deal with One Little Indian and Tangled Up Records. The two labels will re-release the band's album Salt, originally released by Theory 8, on March 5, 2007.

Ben Mills, a contestant on the British music talent show "The X Factor," has signed a five-album deal with Sony BMG. Mills' debut album is due out in March.

Posted by Glenn at 9:33 AM | Link
|A&R|

Rounder Records has signed Dean & Britta (a.k.a Dean Wareham and Britta Phillips from the band Luna). The duo's record will be out February 27.

Nashville rock band Bang Bang Bang (pictured) have signed to Warner Bros Records. The four-piece plans to spend the first three months in the studio in Los Angeles. An EP will arrive soon (available digitally, at shows and at indie record stores) and the band self-released an album in 2005 (which Kings of Leon fans should check out).

More Nashville (lots of info on the Nashville scene in this article at The Tennessean): artsy indie rock band De Novo Dahl signed with Roadrunner Records and plans to release an album in the spring.

Animal Collective has signed with Domino Recording Co. The indie rock band was formerly with Fat Cat Records.

Warner Chappel has signed Warner Bros Nashville band The Lucky Bucks, according to MusicRow.com. The Nashville-based three-piece will release its debut album later this year.

Billboard has an article on Shanachie Entertainment's foray into country music. The New Jersey-based label has signed David Ball, Daryle Singletary and Confederate Railroad.

Posted by Glenn at 10:33 AM | Link
|A&R|

• Capitol Records Nashville is releasing to all digital music stores the complete career catalog of late country star Chris Ledoux. The catalog spans thee decades and 37 years. Digital ringtones for some songs are also available. (Read article at MusicRow.com)

• Detroit rapper Trick Trick says he will sign with G-Unit Records in early 2007 and have an album out as early as July. Trick Trick was formerly with Universal Motown. (Read article at SOHH)

• Insound.com now sells digital downloads. Only complete albums are sold, priced at $8.99 or $9.99. Files are 192kbs MP3. A quick glance at the indie rock offerings revealed a catalog that is also available, for the most part, at eMusic. (Via Digital Audio Insider)

• Dennis Romero, aka, Danceblogga, has an article on dance-oriented digital download store Beatport. It sells unrestricted, CD-quality .wav files for prices between $1.99 and $2.49 per track. (Read article at LA City Beat)

• Wired reviews applications that organize MP3 tags. (Read article at Wired)

Posted by Glenn at 1:52 PM | Link
|A&R||Digital Distribution||EMI||eMusic|

• Drop me a line if you will be today's FCC public hearing on media ownership in Nashville. (PDF of agenda here)

• EMI Music signed a pan-European deal with Yahoo! Music that will allow consumers to stream EMI videos at the portal. (Read article at Billboard.biz)

• An anachronism to many, vinyl singles are at a ten-year high in England. (Read Billboard article)

• Atlantic Records co-founder Ahmet Ertegun is "reportedly very close to death in a New York hospital" and his doctors say it will be a "miracle" if he recovers. (Read article at Hurriyet.com, via The Velvet Rope)

• Melinda Newman asks, Are music sales lower because there are no women in charge of mainstream label A&R departments? Probably not. Sales were great just a few years ago under the same conditions. The mix of genres heard on radio and seen in stores, though, could possibly be different. (Read article at Los Angeles Times)

• As Tower Records goes out of business in the United States, its international franchises are doing well, and because they are independent of the U.S. home office will continue to operate. Even after Tower is gone, though, they are required to pay a percentage of sales. Whoever owns the Tower trademark will be the recipient of franchise royalties. (Read article at Sacramento Bee)

• An interview with Steve Grady, President and COO of RoyaltyShare, a company that manages royalties for online music sales. RoyalShare has deals with Epitaph, Razor & Tie, Koch and Sanctuary. (Read article at socialTech.com)

Posted by Glenn at 10:38 AM | Link
|A&R||Tower||Warner Music Group|

Sanctuary Records imprint Sequel signed Idlewild, The Cooper Temple Clause and former Cranberries singer Delores O'Riordan.

New York rapper Mims (pictured) has signed with Capitol Records. His album, Music Is My Savior, is scheduled for early 2007.

Producer Jonathan "J.R." Rotem inked a deal with Epic Records for an imprint called Beluga Heights. The label's first signing was Miami rapper Sean Kingston, who is in the studio with Rotem working on his debut.

South African rock band The Parlotones signed a worldwide deal with Universal Music.

Sqad Up and their label Money Yung'n Records have a deal with Def Jam to release a CD/DVD combo titled We Here Now, due in Spring of 2007.

Posted by Glenn at 4:47 PM | Link
|A&R|

• Soundscan unveils its mastertone sales data this week. Edna Gunderson has an article on a global market that is projected by one firm to gross $6.8 billion by 2010; U.S. sales are projected to be over $600 million in 2006. How are sales right now? Recently, an average of 4.6 million ringtones have been sold per week at an average cost of $2.40. (Read article at USA Today)

• Columbia Records has named Michael Caplan as its new Senior VP of A&R. Previously he held the same title for the Sony Music Label Group. (Read article at Hits)

• Here comes the video revenue streams (one day): Warner Music International has launched a new video content division called Warner Music Entertainment (Read article at Variety)

• House of Blues is considering building a 7,000-seat music venue at the Great America theme park in Santa Clara, CA. The site is adjacent to the site the San Francisco 49ers are considering for a new stadium. (Read article at Inside Bay Area)

• Not that it matters much to Americans, but Charlotte Church has parted ways with Sony BMG to concentrate on her TV talk show. Check out her theme song and her infamous cover of "Beat It" with an incapacitated Amy Winehouse. (Read article at Metro)

• A report of healthy HD radio sales. (Read article at Radio Ink)

Posted by Glenn at 7:58 AM | Link
|A&R||Live Music||Radio||Ringtones||Sony BMG||Warner Music Group|

Rapper Raekwon has signed with Dr Dre's Aftermath Records. Dre will produce the majority of the tracks on Only Built 4 Cuban Linx, Part 2, due out this summer.

Stolen Transmission has signed PlayRadioPlay. The band is comprised of 17-year-old Daniel Hunter, obviously a fan of The Postal Service. The band's website has a music page with 15 MP3s, if you want 'em.

Righteous Babe Records signed Vermont singer-songwriter Anais Mitchell (pictured). The Brightness will be released on February 13, 2007.

Bad Boy Entertainment is going to jointly release and market Elephant Man's next record, due out in early 2007. The controversial dancehall star will be the opening act on Diddy's Press Play world tour that starts in February 2007.

I'm From Barcelona, a 29-member, super-cheery twee pop band from Sweden, has signed with Mute North America. Their album, Let Me Introduce My Friends, was already released by EMI Sweden and is scheduled for a North American release on March 20, 2007.

The hip hop/rock hybrid is, surprisingly, still viable. Detroit's Critical Bill has signed with signed with Strange Music, a subsidiary of Universal Music. Their album Downtown The World is due in January 2007.

The Twenty Twos announced their break up last week (read about their horrible Sony Music experience at this MySpace entry). If frontwoman Jenny Christmas starts a new band, A&R weasels may want to take a look.

Posted by Glenn at 1:40 PM | Link
|A&R|

• SoundExchange, the performance rights organizaion that collects digital royalties, released the results of a study it funded that was done by Dr. Yoram Wind, a marketing professor at the Wharton School of Business. Its finding: "Music is key to survival of satellite radio." In terms of dollars and cents, the study found subscribers would be willing to pay only $6.15 per month for a satellite service without music, as opposed to the current $12.99 per month. The study's point is clear by the end of the press release. SoundExchange wants at least ten percent of satellite radio revenues. CRB, XM and Sirius, it says, have proposed a rate of less than one percent of their total revenues for the next six years. (Read press release)

• Bids for Clear Channel Communications are reportedly due in the coming days. The country's largest radio company is considering plans to be taken off the market and has hired Goldman Sachs to help look at its options. (Read Reuters article)

• An article on All Angels, the "world's first female classical supergroup." Universal signed the group -- made up of four teenage girls -- to a £1 million, five-album deal. Their debut album comes out next week in the UK. (Read article at The Scotsman)

• Warner Bros. Nashville will sign the winner of "Nashville Star 5." The lastest season of the country "American Idol" starts January 11th. (Read article at Reality TV Magazine)

• Hypebot interviews a Tarek Al-Hamdouni of J Records to find out about the label's online marketing efforts. Read parts one and two.

• RIP Gerald Levert. (Read AP article)

Posted by Glenn at 5:11 PM | Link
|A&R||SoundExchange||Universal Music Group||Warner Music Group|

• Kohlberg Kravis Roberts, with financing from JP Morgan and Citigroup, offered $50.8 billion for Vivendi, parent company of Universal Music Group. It didn't amount to anything, though, reportedly because of tax issues. A deal with the buy-out company would have annulled the tax benefits granted by the French government. (Read article at Financial Times)

• Vivendi is seeking permissiion from the European Union to purchase BMG Music Publishing. A combination of BMG and Vivendi's Universal Music Publishing would have a market share of 22%, larger than current #1 EMI. (Read article at Reuters)

• Tower Records is trying to unload founder Russ Solomon's contract, which pays him $400,000 per year. (Read article at the Sacramento Bee)

• XL Recordings has created a new imprint, Abeano Music. The new London-based label is already working with three bands: To My Boy, I Was A Cub Scout and Blood Red Shoes. (Read article at Billboard.biz)

• Iron Maiden manager has left Sanctuary and has taken Iron Maiden with him. (Read article at Dot Music)

• No big loss: Microsoft will stop selling downloads at its MSN Music Store. Millions ask, "Microsoft has a download store?" Microsoft's Zune Marketplace arrives November 14th, the same day MSN drops its downloads. (Read post at ZDNet)

• Billboard's article on Goldfrapp's "long string of licensing coups" reads more like a label press release. The British duo's music has been licensed by Verizon, Diet Coke, "The OC" and "Grey's Anatomy." The latest deal puts Goldfrapp's music in Target's holiday campaign. Licensing does drive album sales, but the sales of Goldfrapp's latest album, Supernatural (Mute Records), shows a different story. Since its March 2007 release, the album has sold 62,000 units. Slightly more than the group's previos two, yes, but nothing that shows licensing is responsible for a big uptick in album sales. (It could be the result of the upstream to EMM from Caroline.) However, there has been noticeable increases in downloads of the songs "Ooh La La" and "Strict Macine." (Read article at Reuters)

Posted by Glenn at 10:30 AM | Link
|A&R||Indies||Licensing||Publishing||Universal Music Group|

• Rob Thomas is starting a record label called R Tel Records. I saw this article and then located Rob's mention of the label in an August 31st post at the Atlantic Records message board. Wrote Rob: "one of the first artists is HODGES who some of you saw open for me in portland. it's something that we are keeping under wraps until we're done recording, but i thought you would want to know." Hodges is Hodges Taylor, a Los Angeles-based singer. He is recording his debut album, My Side of the Story, with producer Aaron Kamin.

• Great use of YouTube #1,476: Working the kinks out on new material. Brett Anderson (former singer for Suede/London Suede) posted on YouTube his new song "Scorpio Rising." It's just Brett, a mic, a guitar and a messy desk in the background. Says the text at the clip: "The first in a series of solo performances by Brett. Material will range from brand new songs to very old songs. The season kicks off with an exclusive world premiere of 'Scorpio Rising', a song from the new album ,'Brett Anderson', released in early 2007." (Via Chromewaves)

• Billboard professional rates are currently $99 for 26 weekly issues. It's not a bad deal, really -- if you can expense it.

Posted by Glenn at 7:30 PM | Link
|A&R||YouTube|

• EMI Music Publishing has been acquiring positions in Broadway musicals. Chairman Martin Bandier explained that investing in the musicals -- and thus getting a share of all revenues -- is better than being limited to a licensing fee. There's more risk, too. (Read article at New York Post)

• Sales of 7" singles are exptected to top 1.5 million in the UK this year. That's up from 178,000 in 2001. Why the increase? "CDs and downloads are great for mainstream sales, but vinyl still represents the very essence of music," said a spokesman for HMV. "It has a mystique all of its own and is part of the mythology of rock 'n' roll." (Read article at The Mirror)

• Need to brush up on Brightcove, the online video company that just signed a deal with Warner Music Group? Here's an article. Forrester Research analyst Josh Bernoff said the company's plans "knocked my socks off." (Read article at USA Today)

• Pop-laden emo band Sherwood says it will sign with MySpace Records. (Read post at Punknews.org)

• R.E.M. and Van Halen will be on the next ballot for the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. (Read article at Cleveland Plain Dealer)

Posted by Glenn at 7:04 AM | Link
|A&R||EMI||Warner Music Group|

• The Eagles follow in Garth Brooks' footsteps by creating a "long-term strategic marketing agreement" with Wal-Mart. The Eagles' stated reason for being attracted to Wal-Mart is the company's position on sustainable business practices. While Wal-Mart is indeed getting serious about its responsibility to stakeholders, I'm sure The Eagles were attracted to the control and expected revenue from the deal. (Read press release)

• Australia's music download tally is predicted by one research company to double next year. Analyst Marc Ganz of Ibis World sees the CD now going past the maturity stage and into the life-cycle's decline phase. I don't agree with one thing he said, though. Ganz thinks the lower price of digital music will drive down CD prices. All I've seen from labels -- other than Universal Music Group -- is extra content and stable prices, not less content and lower prices. Next year, EMI will add content to every CD. Do you think it's going to drop prices? I don't. Not in the next year or two. (Read article at ABC.net)

• Orange Country emo-ish band Midnight Hour has signed with Interscope Records. (Read post at Punknews.org)

• Not a surprise, but it's nice to have it in writing: JupiterResearch predicts the iPod's market share is safe from Microsoft's Zune for 12 to 18 months. (Read article at Digital Trends)

Posted by Glenn at 11:06 AM | Link
|A&R||Research||Wal Mart||Zune|

• "The CD is dead," said EMI chairmand and CEO Alain Levy to an audience at the London Business School. What he meant is the plain CD is no longer viable. "By the beginning of next year, none of our content will come without any additional material." Here's a good question: What makes CDs more attractive, a lower price or more content? Hard to say, honestly. If EMI is going to jazz up CD content, it's going to need more than a few videos and a screensaver. (Read article at Marketwatch)

• Just when Andy Slater's A&R efforts come into doubt, Capitol Records goes and signs Roxette for the U.S. Kings of A&R posted this, then I found an article with more details. A new album will be released on December 26th....gift certificate season.

• There's been talk on The Velvet Rope about layoffs at Sony BMG. Tower's demise means fewer employees on the payroll. Best of luck, Eddie. (Read thread at The Velvet Rope)

• Chalk up another advertising revenue-sharing agreement: Warner Music Group signed a deal with Internet TV provider Brightcove that will provide video content through ad-supported video players. The Brightcove video player requires no download. Fans will be able to put the player on websites and blogs and, I assume, MySpace pages. (Read press release)

• Music blogs are business: Word is out about Stereogum's investment deal with the Pilot Group. Financial terms are not out, but it's said that blog founder Scott Lapatine will retain creative control. Naturally. (Read post at paidContent.org)

• Through September, 2006 touring dollars are up 10.5% over last year. Attendance figures were down 1.2%. (Read article at Billboard.biz)

• For you Long Tail fans: Harvard's Working Knowledge on video sales: "Consumers can find videos online that they can't find anywhere else. And yes, there is a shift in sales to the tail—but there is also an increasing number of titles that do not sell at all." (Read post at Working Knowledge, via Digital Audio Insider)

• An interview with Steve Kaneko, Design Director, Entertainment and Devices Division for Microsoft's Zune. (Read post at Zune Insider)

Posted by Glenn at 8:53 AM | Link
|A&R||EMI||Sony BMG||Touring||Warner Music Group|

V2 has signed Alkaline Trio. The band's most recent albums were released on Vagrant. Good Mourning, released in 2003, has sold 246,000 units. Crimson, released last year, has sold 185,000.

UK's The Klaxons signed to Polydor. Their first single, "Magick," will be released at the end of this month.

Equal Vision signed Arizona's Dear and the Headlights. The group's next album, Heavy Hooves, has been recorded but no release date is set.

Former Blackstreet singer Chauncey Black has signed to Flipmode Squad. Black's solo debut will feature The Game, Young Buck and Rah Diggah, and production from Dr Dre and Teddy Riley.

EMI has signed Australian brother-and-sister duo Angus and Julia Stone. Their debut album was recorded in London and the pair will support Kasey Chambers on tour next month. The songs on the pair's website sound like a mix between Joanna Newsom and Cowboy Junkies. Americans can see them at a New York showcase on October 24th (no venue is given on their MySpace page).

Island Def Jam signed St Louis band Ludo earlier this week.

Kill Rock Stars founder Slim Moon is moving the label to New York and will take an A&R position at Warner Music Group's Nonesuch Records.

Actress Scarlett Johansson will release an album of Tom Waits covers through Rhino Records. The album, which is currently being recorded, will be released next spring.

Posted by Glenn at 11:05 AM | Link
|A&R|

Calling it "the future of our business," Epic Records president Charlie Walk announced the label's profit-sharing agreement with a revitalized Menudo. MTV and producer Ben Silverman will produce a ten-episode reality show centered around the band's development.

Terms of the deal were not given. Billboard.com reported that Epic would share revenue from other revenue streams (such as ringtones, touring and a cartoon series). Partnerships with wireless providers and clothing brands are planned.

Deals like this and EMI's profit-sharing deal with Korn show the future of major labels is in dealmaking as much as it is breaking new artists. Everybody likes an investment without the guesswork. Major labels like to invest in projects that are guaranteed to hit store shelves with high awareness. They really crave projects that build that awareness on somebody else's dollar. Call it the "American Idol" syndrome.

Posted by Glenn at 11:06 AM | Link
|A&R|

From Hits: A press release about Jakob Dylan's involvement with the upcoming television series "Six Degrees" (he wrote the theme song) "noted in passing" the Wallflowers frontman is now signed to Columbia. The "Six Degrees" theme song was produced by Columbia A&R exec Steve Lillywhite.

Siouxsie Sioux has signed to Universal Music imprint W14.

Apple In Stereo have hooked up with Simian Records -- founded by actor Elijah Woods -- and will release New Magnetic Wonder on February 7th. Simian is a joint venture with Yep Roc Records and will be co-released by and distributed via Yep Roc Records, Elephant 6/ and Redeye Distribution. Whew!

Australian Love of Diagrams has signed a worldwide deal with Matador Records. The band's MySpace page is currently streaming three three songs. "Favourite Things" is an outtake from the group's upcoming Bob Weston-produced album. "All Over The World" is an outtake from the Weston sessions.

Geffen signed 18-year-old Drew Alexander (via Kings of A&R). His MySpace page is currently streaming songs produced by Tommy Henrikson.

Posted by Glenn at 12:01 PM | Link
|A&R|

Hits has an article that laid out some A&R reps' complaints about the Internet event known as blog buzz.

"Several label execs shared with us that the blog hype for bands is blurring what’s real and what’s not. It has obviously helped initiate the buzz for acts like Tapes ’N Tapes and the Cold War Kids. And hey, we understand what spreading the buzz is all about—this space has been winding up deals for years. That said, the gripe we’re hearing is that a blog band of the month may end up packing the Mercury Lounge on their third show ever, but a few months later, after all the bloggery has gone away, they can barely fill half the room. In other words, as one senior label rep put it, blog hype for a band tends to create an artificial following."

Can't tell which buzz will last two weeks and which will last two years? You're in the wrong business. The funny -- some might say ironic -- thing about this is that A&R reps have been known to feed off hype from magazines, managers and well-run publicity campaigns. If it's not blog hype then it's some other hype. It's not any less real because it was generated by a blog. Don't gauge popularity on the number of people who have taken a free download. Free means nothing. If a band raised the price to a dime, a lot fewer people would be interested.

Advice for A&R reps, if they're really having a tough time: Have less enthusiasm and more skepticism, and when you go to a show at the Mercury Lounge be sure to check out the crowd. A lot of people go to such shows out of curiosity, not out of love for the band.

Posted by Glenn at 12:31 PM | Link
|A&R|

• The bidding for BMG Music Publishing has narrowed down to 12-15 bidders. Sony Corp is not one of the finalists. EMI, Warner Music Group and Universal Music Group are beilieved to still be in the running. (Billboard.biz)

• The Songwriters Guild of America puts itself on the side of the RIAA in its legal fight with XM Satellite Radio over portable devices that record songs broadcast on XM. (Digital Music News)

• Warner Music Group announced a quarterly cash dividend of $19.3 million, which turns out to be $0.13 per share of common stock. (Press Release)

• Kevin Federline has inked a deal with Sony BMG. His album Playing With Fire will be released on October 31st on his own Federation Records. No, he's not managed by Nettwerk and Terry McBride. (AllHipHop.com)

• WOXY is going off the (Internet) air on September 15th. (WOXY.com)

• Warner Music Group's Kevin Liles on P. Diddy: "Our expectation when we did the deal with Bad Boy was to break one new artist every 18 months and to reintroduce P. Diddy. He's broken three new artists this year so it's over our expectation, but still under what we know he can do." (Reuters)

• Legendary music critic Robert Christgau was among eight Village Voice employees fired yesterday. Gakwer's post has an email from Christgau to friends. (Gawker)

• The Global Media and Entertainment Summit will be held on December 9th and 10th in New York City. (GlobalEntertainmentNetwork.com)

Posted by Glenn at 9:58 AM | Link
|A&R||Firings||Legal||Publishing||Warner Music Group|

• Rapper Fat Joe has signed a deal with Virgin Records, a label that has not had the greatest success with urban music over the years. (Billboard.com)

• Today it was announced that John Breeder, President and Chief Operating Officer of Handleman Company, resigned his position effective immediately. The company line: "It became clear in the past several days that John believed that continuing to meet his obligations as President would conflict with his own personal interests," and the company "reluctantly concluded that an immediate separation was the only prudent course to serve the interests of Handleman's customers, employees and shareholders." (Press Release)

• National Public Radio plans an early 2007 launch of NPR Music Online, a download site that will offer music and video from programming that spans 35 years. (MarketWatch)

• The Country Music Association announced the the newest inductees to the Country Music Hall of Fame: Harold Bradley, Sonny James and George Strait. The formal induction will take place during the November 8th CMA Awards. (Press Release)

• MiG, one of the three finalists on the "Rockstar: INXS" reality series, has signed a deal with Universal Music Classics. His album, due out in January, will be released on Decca and will have at least a few covers ("A Kiss From A Rose," "Life on Mars," "Wrapped Around Your Finger," "Wake Me Up When September Ends"). No joke. (People.com)

Posted by Glenn at 11:14 AM | Link
|A&R||Digital Daily|

More details on Spiral Frog's file restrictions and up-front payments in a transcript of a KCRW broadcast by industry consultant Celia Hirschman. She adds a dose of disgust to the additonal details. (Bold is mine.)

"Have the major labels finally caved to the notion that illegal downloading cannot be stopped? Is this the beginning of the end of the record business as we know it?

Not at all. Rather, this is classic Record Business. Read the fine print of the Spira lFrog deal, and the hairs on the back of your neck will stand up. First of all, when consumers download the track, they'll be subjected to a 90 second audio advertisement embedded at the beginning of each track. That's 90 seconds of advertising for every song downloaded. And the downloads will only be available to the listener for six months, where upon the song will be erased from their libraries like a Mission Impossible espionage tape."

In addition, Hirschman said the majors each negotiated with Spiral Frog to get a $2 million upfront payment. Previously, News.com reported that Universal's deal "is initially for just one year, though Universal may look to extend it if it proves viable."

(Thanks, Dennis)

Update: Most reports indicate the 90 seconds of advertising for each track must be watched before the track is downloaded. There's no indication the advertisement will be embedded into each file. This Reuters article reports that users "must view a 90-second block of advertising before the download starts." While that's better than enduring 90 seconds of advertising each time the song is played, that's still 15 minutes of advertisements for a ten-song album.

Posted by Glenn at 5:22 PM | Link
|A&R||P2P|

• Given the broader changes in consumption, this isn't a surprise: Almost all the radio formats showing a gain in the spring are adult-oriented. Country is the format share leader by a two-to-one margin. (Radio and Records)

• BusinessWeek.com on the increasingly competitive world of online ticket resellers. (BusinessWeek.com, via Brooklyn Vegan)

• Universal Music Group has licensed its catalog to upstart, ad-supported download site SpiralFrog. According to the company's website, the service will debut this December. (Digital Music News)

• After a successful tenure on the mixtape scene, Brooklyn rapper Papoose finally has a deal. Jive signed him for a reported $1.5 million. (MTV.com)

• Remember, there's no such thing as bad publicity: Warner Music Group was given a Golden Broom Award for being one of the worst places for janitors to work. (Backstage.com)

Posted by Glenn at 8:26 AM | Link
|A&R||Radio||Universal Music Group||Warner Music Group|

Death Cab for Cutie's Chris Walla has signed with Barsuk, the home of Death Cab before the group moved to Atlantic Records for their last album, Plans.

Found at Kings of A&R: Hip Hop Galaxy reports that rapper Lil' Kim is close to a deal with Interscope.

XL's latest signing is Various, a name that is going to encounter problems with databases, Google searches and alphabetized CD bins. The digtal version of The World Is Gone is currently available. The CD will be released on October 24th. It's been called by critics "future folk genius" and "a smoldering avant-pop classic."

Suretone signed Baton Rouge band Merriwether. The band will begin recording in October and will have three songs from the band's previous album, Make Your Move. To hold over fans until then, the band will try to release a DVD before Christmas.

Xavier Rudd, a singer-songwriter from Australia, has signed a deal with Anti- Records. His album Food in the Belly was recorded in May of 2006 and will be released sometime in 2007.

Posted by Glenn at 11:15 AM | Link
|A&R|

Posted by Glenn at 7:35 AM | Link
|A&R|

• Three 6 Mafia and the group's Hypnotize Minds Productions has inked a deal with Warner Bros. Records, which will market and distribute the label's releases. Three 6 Mafia are to produce current Warner Bros artists like Lil' Scrappy and Mike Jones. (Rap News Network)

• EMI Christian Music Group has extended its relationship with Inpop Records. By the end of the year the label will release new albums by newsboys and Jimmy Needham (CMSpin)

• A few months after the NY Times' Sunday Magazine's surprising profile of doom metal band SunnO))), the AP says "metal gets a makeover" and finds -- somewhat belatedly -- that many metal bands are pushing social causes and making intelligent music. (AP)

• eMusic subscriptions in Europe rise as the company launches a European service. "It appears that current customers will get to keep their old subscription rates, though they'll get socked with the Value Added Tax now that eMusic has an official European presence." (Digital Audio Insider)

• Bryan Leach, who was previously the VP of A&R at super indie TVT, was hired as the Senior VP of Urban at the RCA Music Group in a deal that brings his own Polo Grounds Music to the label. (Billboard Radio Monitor)

Posted by Glenn at 8:22 AM | Link
|A&R||EMI||Sony BMG||Warner Music Group||eMusic|

Coolfer got bad info. It's true. A while back I posted that I heard that Interpol had signed with Interscope. (Must have been the allure of the Inter- prefix.) It didn't happen.

Today Hits reported that Interpol signed with Capitol, the home of Coldplay, Chingy, current buzz girl Corrine Bailey Rae and The Decemberists.

No info was given on when the band's third album can be expected.

Posted by Glenn at 11:02 PM | Link
|A&R|

Singer Lloyd, who was previously on Murder, Inc, has signed with Jazze Pha/Atlantic Records. The 20-year-old singer is currently working on an album and the first single, "You," is being worked at radio.

Lily Allen (pictured), the latest hipster object of affection, has signed with Capitol in the U.S. and will release her album Stateside in early 2007. She's signed to EMI/Parlophone in the UK, where her debut, Alright Still, is already available.

The Ponys, who previously released albums on In The Red Records, have signed with Matador Records. Expect a new album in 2007.

The Blackout, a heavy emo band from Wales, has signed to Fierce Panda.

Rounder has signed Bradley Walker. The bluegrass vocalist will release his debut, Highway of Dreams, on September 22nd.

Los Angeles metal band Daughters of Mara has signed with Virgin, Hits reveals. The band's MySpace page has audio streams.

According to Hits Rumor Mill, POD has decided to leave Atlantic Records. "For most of our stay, we were blessed by a staff that was gracious towards their vision, faith, and love of music," the band said in a statement. Now? Too much James Blunt?

Montage Music Group has signed veteran act Little Texas and new artist Minnie Murphy.

Kings of A&R reports some label interest in Chicago-based emo-electro trio Powerspace.

Posted by Glenn at 2:02 PM | Link
|A&R|

Complements of Infofilter, here's a chart that compares P2P action for two bands recently mentioned in Coolfer's A&R Bloggery posts, Shiny Toy Guns (signed to Universal Motown) and Cold War Kids (signed to Downtown). Shiny Toy Guns have far more demand at P2P that do Cold War Kids.

Posted by Glenn at 3:07 PM | Link
|A&R|

According to Hits, buzz band Cold War Kids (pictured) have signed with red hot Downtown, the home of Gnarls Barkley, Art Brut and Eagles of Death Metal. Downtown is affiliated with Atlantic Records and is distributed by Warner-owned ADA.

Also in that Hits article was a mention that Los Angeles' Shiny Toy Guns signed a deal with Universal/Motown.

Nashville singer-songwriter Jeremy Lister has signed to Warner Bros. His MySpace page has four songs available for streaming -- two of them can be downloaded.

Rock band My Luminaries has signed with V2 Records and will release its debut single in January.

Portland, Oregon's Stars of Track and Field have signed with Wind-Up Records. The band's full-length, the follow-up to last year's You Came Here For Sunset Last Year EP, will be titled Centuries Before Love and War and will be released in early 2007. Wind-Up was built on the success of Creed but has taken a different route with indie bands like Stars of Track and Field, The Exit and People In Planes.

Koch Records has expanded its already considerable hip hop presence inked a deal with rapper Xzibit and his own label, Open Bar Entertainment. The first album will be Xzibit's Full Circle, due out September 19th.

Jay Bennet, known to many as the guy from that movie who used to be in Wilco, has signed with Rykodisc. His album The Magnificent Defeat will be out September 26th.

Kings of A&R just posted some news about recent signings: Virgin signed singer-songwriter A Fine Frenzy, Victory signed Florida emo/screamo band A Day To Remember and Tooth & Nail signed Mississippi's Jonezetta.

Kemado Records has signed Portland, Oregon's Danava.They play Kansas City tonight, Denver tomorrow and Salt Lake City on Wednesday. According to a post at the band's MySpace page, expect an album in September.

Posted by Glenn at 1:31 PM | Link
|A&R|

• Rock radio continues its slide, but country gains one: WKOE, a modern rock station in Monmouth-Ocean, New Jersey is switching to WKMK as a country station. (Billboard Radio Monitor)

• Kemado Records' Keith Abrahamsson will launch Anthology Records, a label and online store that will release obscure and experimental albums starting with China Shops, Suicide Commandos, Sciensts and Parson Sound. Abrahamsson has secured digital rights for three years and has recruited TuneCore to distribute to other online stores. (Yahoo! News)

• Razor & Tie named Beka Calloway the new Senior Director, A&R. At least one band, Sam Champion, is no longer with the label. (Hits Rumor Mill) Matt Shay has been named the VP of A&R/Marketing for the RCA Music Group. (Billboard.biz)

• XM has signed a five-year licensing agreement with ASCAP. (RWOnline) Analysts at Morgan Joseph expect XM's earnings per share to drop as revenues increase. (newratings.com)

• iTunes has grabbed an exclusive on the Beach Boys' Pet Sounds - 40th Anniversary collector's edition. It will be available August 28th; the CD will be in stores four weeks later. (Macworld)

• Country music network CMT has launched CMT Loaded, a new website with a free, ad-based model with videos, live performances, interviews, news, movie trailers and more. (Online Media Daily)

Posted by Glenn at 1:10 PM | Link
|A&R||Online Stores/Services||Radio||XM|

ATO Records has signed Athens, GA's The Whigs (pictured). The rock three-piece, which could be a good compliment to another band on the label's roster, My Morning Jacket, will be on tour most of July and August in the South and Midwest. See them in New York tonight at the Mercury Lounge, tomorrow in Hoboken at Maxwell's and Sunday at Club Cafe in Pittsburgh.

Master P has signed an exclusive, three-year deal with First Look Home Entertainment that gives the indie studio the right of first refusal on 24 titles. First Look will release four Master P DVDs in 2006, starting with Repos on August 4th.

Though he didn't win "American Idol," or even medal, Chris Daughty has inked a deal with Clive Davis in conjunction with Simon Fuller's 19 Recordings Unlimited.

Kool G Rap has signed with Stockton, CA-based label Back Route Records. The rap pioneer is also working with DJ Green Lantern on a mixtape called Sneak Attack, which will feature Back Route artists. (All Hip Hop)

Posted by Glenn at 1:39 PM | Link
|A&R|

After some SOHH reports that rumors surfaced Lil' Flip announced that he has left Sony for Asylum and the Warner Music Group. His manager says he left Sony with the rights to his album I Need Mine. That album was recently leaked to the Internet, and some "believe it is retaliatory move made by Sony." (One thought to came to mind: Sony CEO Sir Howard Stringer's recent comments about how U.S. urban music doesn't travel well to other countries.)

The Kooks (pictured), a UK rock band that promise to be one of the better exports this year, have signed to Astralwerks in the U.S. and will release their Stateside debut in October. The band is quite the big thing in the UK. They were asked to open a Rolling Stones concert and have the egos to make claims of greatness.

The Waiting Hurt, an emo-ish band from Barstow, CA, has signed with Virgin Records. (Via Kings of A&R)

Actor Jamie Kennedy and his Jkss Records signed a deal with Reprise Records to release his album Blowin' Up. The album, due out July 11th, features Bob Saget, E-40, Ice-T and Paul Wall. Seriously.

Singer Ledisi has signed to Verve Records. Her debut is scheduled for release in early 2007.

Elephant Man has a three-album deal with Bad Boy Entertainment. His first album through P. Diddy's label will be out in August and will have such guests as Busta Rhymes, Rihanna and Shaggy.

Twisted Sister has signed on with Razor & Tie for a Christmas album titled A Twisted Chrismas, due out October 17th.

Posted by Glenn at 12:46 PM | Link
|A&R|

• Based on first-day sales, Hits predicts Nelly Furtado's Loose could go upwards of 200,000 in its first week. Underoath (on Tooth & Nail) could break 100,000. Keane may get to 75,000. (Hits)

• TLC member Chili has signed a deal with Konvict Records, the imprint owned by rapper Akon. Her first release is expeted this summer. (SOHH)

• The closely watched interoperability legislation in France is getting watered down. Additional language will allow for a loophole where labels could keep DRM measures if the get permission from artists. This news is being reported as if most artists will opt for DRM -- but will that really happen? Out come the fear-mongers. A consumer group claims artist will lose their deals with Apple if they opt out of the FairPlay protection on iTunes downloads. The Business Software Alliance warns that giving more leverage to record labels will result in the higher prices that some majors want to install on some songs. "It would definitely harm consumers," said its policy director. (AP)

• French music download store Starzik opened for business yesterday, selling DRM-free downloads as the country and continent seriously ponders interoperability issues. Digital distributor The Orchard has signed a deal wtih Starzik to supply more than 400,000 tracks. In all, most of Starzik's more than 600,000 tracks will be available in open format (MP3, Ogg Vorbis, FLAC, AAC, and WMA).

Posted by Glenn at 8:24 AM | Link
|A&R||DRM||Digital Music||Online Stores/Services|

Lesley Roy (pictured) is an Irish teenager who has signed a six-album deal with Jive Records. Roy, 19, is signed to Religion Music, which worked out a licensing deal with Jive. An article at the Times Online tells of how Jive's SVP or A&R, Jeff Fenster, saw Roy showcase in Dublin. "That sealed the deal," he says of the performance. The label has Roy working on songs with members of Evanescence, which points to a style of music unlike most of Jive's roster. She is managed by Kim Kaiman, who has worked with Evanescence, Justin Timberlake and Britney Spears.

Mark Kozelek (Sun Kil Moon/Red House Painters) has signed Corinna Repp to be the first artist on his Caldo Verde imprint.

Shreveport-based rapper Yockie Jo signed a five-album deal with Universal in February. His first single, "Ridin 2 Lanes," was released in April. An album is scheduled for September and will have production by David Banner, Mannie Fresh and E-Hob.

Arts & Crafts will release AWOO, the upcoming album by The Hidden Cameras, in the U.S. on September 19th.

Detroit rapper Tone Tone has signed with Capitol and is working with the label on a mixtape to promote his music.

Favourite Sons have signed with Vice Recordings. The band features former members of Rollerskate Skinny and Aspera. Down Beside Your Beauty is slated for a September 12th street date. Streams and (currently) an MP3 download are available at the band's MySpace page.

Posted by Glenn at 2:46 PM | Link
|A&R|

Suzanne Vega (pictured) has signed with Blue Note Records, according to a post at her website. The singer-songwriter will start recording a new album this fall.

"American Idol" silver medalist Katharine McPhee has signed a deal with RCA Records and 19 Recordings. She'll hit the studio with super-songwriter Diane Warren. The first material out of the gate will be a double-single on June 27th with "Over the Rainbow" and "My Destiny." "Idol" winner Taylor Hicks will release his single two weeks earlier.

Aberdeen City, who most recently toured with Elefant and Sound Team, has been signed by Steve Lilliwhite and will have its Dovecote Records album, The Freezing Atlantic, sold through Sony BMG's Red Ink indie label.

Satellite Party, the new project of Perry Farrell, has signed to Columbia Records. Its self-titled album will be out later this year. Guests on the album will be Chili Peppers Flea and John Frusciante and New Order's Peter Hook.

Sony BMG Nashville's BNA Records has signed singer Terri Clark, who was previously on Mercury Nashville.

Sarah Shannon, formerly of indie rock band Velocity Girl, has inked a deal with Minty Fresh. Her first album for the label will be released this fall.

Posted by Glenn at 11:51 AM | Link
|A&R|

The Black Keys (pictured), the bluesy two-piece that had gone from Alive to Fat Possum, are now with Nonesuch, home of Wilco, Kronos Quarter and Magnetic Fields.

German electronic group Mouse on Mars will release its next album in Ipecac, according to a post at the group's website. The Mouse on Mars MySpace page says the yet-to-be titled album will be this October. Previous Mouse on Mars albums were released on Too Pure, Thrill Jockey and Sonig.

Over at Kings of A&R, there's word that "several majors" are in negotiations with former Wind-Up artist Alter Bridge, the band best known for being made up of Creed members not named Scott Stapp.

Rhymesayers has signed Chicago rapper Psalm One. The Death of Frequent Flyer, out July 18th, has production by Ant, Overflo, Madd Cratesa and Confucious.

Page France has signed with Suicide Squeeze. The Baltimore band will re-release Hello, Dear Wind and then record new material. Listen to the track "Junkyard" (MP3) from the album.

In Vitro signed with anti-iTunes indie Victory Records. The Atlanta-based band plans to have its album out in October or November.

V2 has signed Duke Special (aka Peter Wilson), a Belfast artist who has played gigs with Aqualung and Rufus Wainwright. Go to his website's audio page for clips.

Posted by Glenn at 2:16 PM | Link
|A&R|

Radiohead's Thom Yorke will release a solo album on XL Recordings. The Eraser was produced and arranged by Nigel Godrich and according to an email from Yorke to a fan organization, the songs have "more beats and electronics" than what people are used to from Radiohead.

What About Frank?, a five-piece from Red Bank, New Jersey with a love for Thin Lizzy, has signed with Capitol Records. An EP is set to be released this summer.

Muncie, Indiana's Brazil has signed with Immortal Records, reported Hits' Rumor Mill. The band will enter the studio with indie super producer Dave Fridmann and hopes to have an album out this summer. We've always liked Dave's expansive scope of sound and willingness to experiment," wrote vocalist Jonathan Newby in a MySpace post."We felt like he would understand the perfect treatment for the ideas we have for this new record."

Australian rock group The Living End has signed with Adeline for North American. Adeline is the label founded by Green Day's Billie Joe Armstrong and manager Pat Margnarella. State of Emergency will be released July 11th in the U.S. The band will be on this summer's Warped Tour for the entire month of July.

Posted by Glenn at 3:14 PM | Link
|A&R|

Aaron Neville is the first artist signed to Burgendy Records, the mature-sounding record label for adults that is a new creation of Sony BMG. The format of the album is not a surprise, given the success Sony BMG's J Records has had with repackaging the classics with Barry Manilow and Rod Stewart. Neville's album will have 15 soul classics, two of them being Otis Redding's "Dock Of The Bay" and Sam Cooke's "Bring It On Home To Me."

Universal Republic has signed rapper Blak Jak (pictured). An album will be released later this year. In the meantime the first single, "Ride and Swerve," will get a push at radio.

Vagrant is working hard to diversify its roster. Recently the label signed The Futureheads. Add to that list Lemonheads, who have reformed -- thought frontman Evan Dando is the only original member. Dando is co-producing the album -- no release date set -- with drummer Bill Stevenson.

Jive Records has signed Indianapolis hip hop group Trilogy and will be pushing the single "Grind In Da Game," which samples Ray Charles' "Night Time is the Right Time." You can currently check out the song at Trilogy's MySpace page.

Barsuk will release Jim Noir's Tower of Love, which has been out in the UK since December. The Tripwire calls him "a mix between Brian Wilson, Pepper-era Beatles and, well... some sort of mad musical scientist guy that locks himself away in an old castle and cranks out amazing songs one after the other." Lollapalooza attendees will have a chance to see him this summer.

The SF Bay Guardian profiles rapper J-Stalin, who E-40 calls "the future" and Too $hort refers to as "next." Major labels are showing interest.

Posted by Glenn at 12:06 PM | Link
|A&R|

The Futureheads have signed with Vagrant. The Scottish group's second album, News & Tributes, will be out on June 13th. Summer tour dates are at the band's website.

Mute Records has signed The Knife, a Swedish electronic group known best these days for its song "Heartbeats," which was covered by fellow Swede Jose Gonzalez. The "Silent Shout" single will be out June 27th, and the album of the same name -- already available as an import -- will be out July 25th. Mute also signed Gonzalez and just re-released his album Veneer.

Rapper Naledge, one half of Kidz in the Hall and called by Baller Status calls "one of the Northeast's hottest prospects," has signed with Rawkus and is working on an album that could be out in August. Just Blaze, Double O (also of KITH) and No I.D. are among the producers he's working with.

Okkervil River, signed to Jagjaguwar in the U.S., have signed to Virgin Records for the UK and Europe (less Italy). The band's Black Sheep Boy saga will be re-released as a double-CD later this month, and a tour will take them across the continent for a month starting April 29th.

B.G. signed a deal with Atlantic Records that will have the major music group distribute the rapper's Chopper City label. Atlantic artist T.I. is producing B.G.'s next album and Atlantic debut.

Warp is moving further beyond its electronic history by signing Grizzley Bear. The Brooklyn band has a spring tour that takes it throughout the east and to Europe

Sony Classics has signed pianist Jonathan Biss to a two-year exclusive contract. The 25-year-old will release his first for EMI in January of 2007.

System of a Down's Serj Tankian has signed the band Fair To Midland to his record label, Serjical Strike. "They are one of the best live unsigned bands I have ever seen," said Tankian.

Posted by Glenn at 12:23 PM | Link
|A&R|

The media went crazy when it found out that RCA had signed singer Sandi Thom after her webcasts were heard by a reported 100,000-plus around the world.

Were we taken for a publicity ride?

A thread at the Velvet Rope and a post at Chartreuse explains that Thom wasn't just discovered and signed after building a webcast fanbase.

Thom signed a publishing deal last year with Windswept/Pacific Music Publishing, who has big name clients such as Beyonce, Pete Townshend, Talib Kweli and Craig David. And those 70,000 webcast listeners Thom was said to reach from her basement? Scrutinization hasn't been kind to Thom. Spikes in traffic have been explained to coincide with press releases and articles about her rags-to-riches story. Thom is said to have the financial backing and has her PR done by Quite Great PR.

Same story, different spin.

Posted by Glenn at 10:30 AM | Link
|A&R||Internet||Music Industry|

Australian singer Che'nelle (pictured) has signed a six-album deal with Virgin in the U.S. She is on tour in her home country opening for Kanye West, with whom she shares management. Her debut is scheduled for a July release. You can hear a new reggaeton-tinged track, "I Fell In Love with the DJ," at her MySpace page (which is listed as a 2006 Virgin Records song).

Hardcore group Hatebreed have signed with Roadrunner Records. The group's previous two releases were on Universal, and singer Jamey Jasta said the band wanted to be on a label that's "more involved in the whole grand scheme of metal and hardcore." Go ahead and get your Nickelback jokes out of your system now.

Rap group Sol.Illaquists of Sound have inked a deal with Epitaph.

RCA signed Scottish singer Sandi Thom -- called the first webcast signing in history after Thom's from-her-bedroom webcasts attracted up to 100,000 listeners around the world.

Jagjaguwar has signed Vancouver's Ladyhawk. The Dugout will be released on June 6th. Here's an MP3 of the the title track.

Minty Fresh has signed French three-piece Prototypes.

Posted by Glenn at 2:30 PM | Link
|A&R|

Coolfer has it on good authority that Interpol has signed with Interscope Records, the home of Yeah Yeah Yeahs, Beck, All-American Rejects and TV on the Radio. OK, indie purists, start the debate. Not much of a debate as Coolfer sees it. Interpol is an established band that needs to move up. Period.

LaToya Luckett of Destiny's Child has lost the last name and now goes by Latoya. Capitol will release her self-titled debut solo album on July 18th. Mike Jones, Paul Wall, Bun B and Slim Thug appeared on the album, and super producer Scott Storch was one of the album's producer.

Sire Records has signed New Jersey's Armor For Sleep. The band was previously signed to Equal Vision.

Warp Records has signed Tyondai Braxton, a member of Battles. "Expect new recorded material later this year," says the label.

Cartel, formerly with the Militia Group, has inked a deal with Epic Records.

Los Angeles-based singer-songwriter Josh Radin has signed a deal with Columbia Records. His album We Were Here should be out in late spring. Radin's music bears a striking resemblence, to say the least, to that of Iron & Wine and Elliot Smith. New Yorkers can see him at Joe's Pub next month.

Earlimart, formerly on Palm Pictures, is looking for a new label and is currently in the studio. The band will put out a 7" on Suicide Squeeze in the early summer. Russell Pollard (Alaska! and the Folk Implosion) is the band's new drummer.

Robin Thicke is working with Pharrel Williams, which he talks about in this great interview at Baller Status. Thicke recently caught American's attention with his appearance on The Tonight Show with Lil' Wayne performing "Shooter."

Posted by Glenn at 8:15 AM | Link
|A&R|

Billboard.com confirms a rumor Coolfer heard a few weeks ago with a report that TV on the Radio has signed with Interscope. The Brooklyn-based band is the winner of the Shortlist Prize for its 2004 Touch & Go album, Desperate Youth, Blood Thirsty Babes. They're the real deal, respected by all and a dynamic live band.

To be honest, visions of an oldies cover album did arise when Coolfer saw the press release about Pearl Jam's record deal with J Records. J's Clive Davis has a penchant getting old men back to the top of the chart. And is there any reason for Pearl Jam to go to J Records other than a desire to become commercially relevant again? Perhaps the band feels its legacy would be best protected if it stayed with powerhouse labels, but you've got to look at Pearl Jam's trend of lower sales and Clive's track record with Carlos Santana, Rod Stewart and Barry Manilow. A band with the fanbase and touring strength of Pearl Jam could easily go DIY, create its own label and do absolutely no harm to its career. But instead of following Prince or String Cheese Incident, Pearl Jam has opted for a Sony BMG label. (That's right, rootkit haters. Get ready to boycott.)

The New York Philharmonic has two new deals. One is with indie New World Records for which the Philharmonic will make two CDs a year of new American music. The other is with Universal Classics. It's a three-year deal that will see one CD a year and four digitally-distributed concerts per year.

Once signed to Interscope in the post-Nirvana frenzy, Helmet has now signed to Warcon Enterprises. The veteran band will release an album (to be co-produced by Wharton Tiers) this summer and has confirmed a headlining slot on this year's Warped Tour.

Nikola Clark, the 2005 Miss Teen Utah International, has reportedly signed a record deal. This article doesn't say which label, but it does mention that she's performed with Aaron Carter, Jessica Simpson, Michael Bolton and Donny Osmond. Yeah, get ready for Nikola.

Klee, a new wave three-piece from Germany, has signed with Chicago indie Minty Fresh.

Posted by Glenn at 8:27 PM | Link
|A&R|

Ted Leo (pictured) continues to move up the indie ladder. The prolific artist has signed with indie rock power Touch & Go. "As sad as I am that circumstances have forced a move from Lookout! Records," he says on the Touch & Go website, "I'm insanely happy and thankful to be able to make that move over to Touch & Go." Ted starts a U.S. tour in early March (at The Hook in Brooklyn) and will hit the South (including three shows in Austin) before returning to NYC's Knitting Factory at the end of March. He'll perform at Coachella on April 30th.

Sparta has signed with Hollywood Records. The band will release its next album this summer and has plans to package it with a short film based on the drummer's life growing up in Beirut, Lebanon.

There's a buzz on Street To Nowhere, the Oakland-based band fronted by singer-songwriter David Smallen. The band has recorded demos with producer Matt Radosevich (Taking Back Sunday, Two Gallants). The MySpace page has four songs that mix adult emo and Beck-ish folk. LA-based A&R folks should check him out at the Knitting Factory on January 27th.

Mary Timony has signed with Kill Rock Stars. She plans to enter the studio this summer and release her next album sometime next year.

Wind-Up has added Omnisoul to its growing roster of non-Creed acts. The Delaware five-piece is more along the lines of Maroon 5, and its music has been heard in the television show "Joan of Arcadia" and on the "Fantastic Four" soundtrack.

The LA Times has more info on rapper Nas' new album deal with Def Jam. His new Def Jam imprint will be called the Jones Experience, and his first two albums of the deal -- on which Sony and Def Jam will act as partners -- each have a budget of $3 million. Here's the breakdown:

"Sony will retain ownership of the masters from Nas' 11-year tenure with Columbia as well as the right to release a greatest hits collection not shared with Def Jam. Under terms of the pact, Nas will deliver two new tracks for a Sony hits package. Sony may also include up to three tracks from the joint albums on a hits compilation."

The New-Times has an article on 16-year-old Alex Frenkel, a singer-songwriter from Danbury, CT, who was found through his MySpace.com page by Hollywood-based A&R Select. "The firm then had Alex sign a contract, which allows it to send his album to record labels in the United States and Europe and to movie companies."

Rwake has singed with Relapse Records, reports Blabbermouth.

Posted by Glenn at 8:40 AM | Link
|A&R|

The releases aren't much to talk about, but the signings and dealings are going strong. Here are a few notes on recent events.

Vermont-based Grace Potter and the Nocturnals was signed to Hollywood Records by Bob Cavallo. The contract reportedly allows the band to form its own imprint, tentatively titled Ragged Company Records.

Punk rock band Against Me! has left indie lable Fat Wreck Chords and signed with Sire Records. A new album is expected to be released this year.

Though the news was posted on his website in May of last year, it's news to Coolfer and so I'll pass it along. Brendan James (pictured), formerly with the Urban Outfitters store at 72nd and Broadway in Manhattan, signed a multi-album deal with Capitol Records. Wrote James at his MySpace page, "Capitol Records was the label I decided on because they truely understand the music and see the direction I want to go in the future. The plan is for my album to be out by either the spring or summer next year."

Emoers (if that's a word) The Starting Line, reports Kings of A&R, have moved to Virgin from Geffen. From the band's website: "At times it was very frustrating, but they were kind enough to end this relationship peacefully. After a few months of meetings with labels, and unbelievable dinners, we decided to sign with Virgin Records. I cannot express how excited we all are about this…everyone at Virgin that we've met with are fans of TSL and we're even more excited about building this relationship and making the best TSL record possible."

The Spinto Band is said to have signed to a major label in the U.K. and word is the advance is a head-turner.

Word on the street is that Epitaph's From First to Last is getting a lot of interest right now.

Math rock band Don Caballero, reports Pitchfork, is going to put the math into metal label Relapse (home of High on Fire, Mastodon and Nile).

In weasel tracking news, Hits reports that Steve Lunt, formerly with Jive, is now at Atlantic, and Ken Blaustein has joined Jason Flom at Virgin.

Posted by Glenn at 8:52 AM | Link
|A&R|

Bubble grime MC Lady Sovereign has signed with Def Jam. The British MC was eyed by Def Jam CEO Jay-Z for quite a while and speculation was running high that she would sign to his label.

Margot and the Nuclear So and So's (pictured) has signed with Artemis. The band recently toured with Sub Pop's Rogue Wave and is finished a tour in the Northeast. Their MySpace page has three songs available for streaming.

The Drama has signed with Hollywood, reports Hits.

A&R weasels would be wise to check out NYC-based singer-songwriter Kristin Diable. She's managed by George Stein (Jeff Buckley, Lou Reed) and has an album, Shelter, out on Speakeasy Records. Her next show is at the Living Room in NYC, on December 13th.

Hits says The Outline was in New York to meet some labels and get them use to parting with some money. Check out their MySpace page for some songs.

Machinemade God, a five-piece band from Germany, has singed with Metal Blade Records. Their debut, The Infinity Complex, will be released in Europe in February of 2006. Metal Blade is making available a rough version of the song "Bleeding From Within" (download MP3 here).

King Biscuit Time, the project of ex-Beta Band Steve Mason, will release the album The Crunch in February of 2006. The album will come out on Poptones, a label founded by Mason's manager, Alan McGee. He said he hopes to put out the ten-track album in the U.S.through Astralwerks, the label that released in the States the music of his former band.

Some bad news from Kings of A&R: Alien Ant Farm is no longer with Geffen Records, and Edgewater has been dropped from Wind-Up.

Posted by Glenn at 8:13 AM | Link | Comment (1)
|A&R|

All eyes are on The Arctic Monkeys (pictured), a young band signed to Domino Recording Co in the UK that currently sits near the top of the UK singles chart. A short U.S. tour is near, and the two New York shows next week should be chock full of A&R folks and quite a few execs as well (to put faces to the names on the checks they're hoping to write). One of the Mercury Lounge shows was upgraded to the Bowery Ballroom. It's an amazing amount of hype for a band with only one single out in the U.S., and it reminds of the coming out party we saw for another band on Domino, Franz Ferdinand.

Robin Thicke, who moved to Pharrel Williams' Star Track label from Interscope, has finished his first album for the label. BallerStatus.net has details on the transition and the upcoming album, The Evolution of Robin Thicke.

Swedish metal group In Flames has signed a U.S. deal with Ferret Records. Come Clarity will be released on February 7th.

Rapper Canibus will release his new album, Rip the Jacker, by way of a deal between Babygrande Records and Canibus' own Mic Club Music. (BallerStatus.net)

Anglophiles should keep an eye on The Paddingtons, a hot young band signed to Poptones/Mercury in the U.K. The Guardian's three-star review of their album First Comes First remarked of the band's proto-punk sound in this day and age. "There's something Luddite about their attempts to woo the iPod generation with pop's equivalent of ageing Dansettes, but it's hard to resist their verve." Heck, they've been dissed by Oasis' Liam Gallagher. What else does a up-and-coming band need?

Posted by Glenn at 9:20 AM | Link
|A&R|

While Diddy continues to pursue his jack-of-all-trade dreams, Jay-Z is creating an empire at Def Jam. Though first tipped about a month ago, today's newswire was abuzz again with news that Jay-Z signed The Roots, who were previously on Geffen, to the new Def Jam Left label. Last summer Jay-Z explained to Billboard.com that the new label would be "an artist-driven label with very low deals so people are not pressured by first-week SoundScan (sales), so we can build artists."

Geffen isn't done with the band, though. It's going to milk its Roots catalog by releasing Home Grown! Volume 1 & 2: Beginners Guide To Understanding the Roots on November 15th. The Billboard.com article has the full track listing.

As for Diddy, it sounds like he's devoting a lot less time to A&R than is Jay-Z. In an article at BallerStatus.net, Black Rob reveals that Diddy didn't have any time to work on his upcoming album, The Black Rob Report. BlallerStatus.net's Mark Lelinwalla said of the ablum, "Of course it will go under the radar, but if Diddy shifted his attentions momentarily, he could help Rob get fully back and inject some Spanish Harlem NYC flavor back into the game." More idleness: Diddy's Bad Boy Entertainment created Bad Boy Latino to cash in on the Reggaeton craze, but over half a year has passed since the joint venture with Pitbull, a Cuban-American artist signed to TVT, and no signings have yet been made public.

Posted by Glenn at 5:45 PM | Link | Comment (2)
|A&R||Music Industry|

Eduardo Cruz, the younger brother of actress Penepole Cruz, has signed a recording contract with Warner Music.

Be Your Own Pet (pictured), the young (very young) Nashville band attracted a heap of attention last summer -- and a fair amount of shrugs as well. The band has an EP coming out through Rough Trade next month. The CIMS website calls it an "indies-only" release. The band is currently in the studio with producer Steven McDonald (Redd Kross) and engineer Jeremy Ferguson working on a new album that will be released on XL Recordings.

Rising rapper Jean Grae has been a staple in the underground for years, most recently recording for the Babygrande label. Coolfer is told she has signed a deal with a Warner Music Group label.

Jose Gonzelez' Veneer, which finally got a Stateside release via Hidden Agenda/Parasol, is a standout singer-songwriter album in a genre that always has an oversupply of good artists. It was announced last week that Gonzalez has signed with Mute North America. Gonzalez packed NYC's The Living Room last night and had the hushed crowd applauding with vigor after each song. His cover of Massive Attack's "Teardrop" was especially moving.

It was revealed by Pitchfork's Amy Phillips that ex-GBV singer/frontman/beer guzzler Robert Pollard will have a solo album out on Merge on January 24th, 2006. That's a good way to spend some of that Arcade Fire money, right?

The Mercury Lounge is often the place to be in New York. Last week it hosted Aberdeen City, who is said to have some label interest. Also on the bill was Pittsburgh's Shade, a promising indie-sounding band who has a friend/champion/benefactor over at Spin Magazine. A third promising band that deserves some label interest was The Head Set. Judging from the three-song CD that was given out at the show, the local band has tightened their sound and focus since Coolfer last saw them.

Posted by Glenn at 8:09 AM | Link | Comment (4)
|A&R|

Signings signings everywhere and nary a good record in sight. Hot on the heels of CMJ, NEMO, and In The City alike, labels are picking up artists like NYU girls at Bar 13.

Starting with the expected, hotly buzzed about rockers Priestess (pictured) finally announced their inking with Bony label RCA. After a series of off-the-wall showcases in New York and elsewhere, this major label penmanship isn't much of a surprise.

Same can be said for drooled over West Coast act The Gun Shys who inked with Seymour Stein's Sire Records after a hot and heavy battle of the majors.

If you blinked twice you missed the spree of summer signings. V2 picked up Columbia's The Mooney Suzuki and Hollywood Records' Roman Candle. Virgin UK signed dance act Braund Reynolds.

Meanwhile, Hollywood replaced the Romans with Flashlight Brown and Warner Brother Records and American Records (WBR) grabbed Maxeen and Luna Halo respectively.

Artemis let go of its Ryan Adams look-alike Jesse Malin, who has since signed with Billie Joe Armstrong's label, which is either a Warner imprint, or Adeline Records (corroborative evidence is so hard to come by these days).

But don't worry, this flood of signings doesn't leave you without some weasel watching. Whet your whistle on these buzz bands: droolable Silversun Pickups, soon-to-be-showcasing Howling Bells and Touch & Go band du jour Cocorosie.

Posted by at 8:47 AM | Link | Comment (4)
|A&R|

Billboard.com reported the other day on a few freshly inked deals. One was Saint Etienne's deal with Savoy Jazz. After the band has been on Warner Bros, Sub Pop and Mantra, moving to Savoy Jazz strikes me as odd. I don't see any overlap whatsoever with the older jazz fans that buy the typical Savoy Jazz consumer. The domestic release of Saint Etienne's Tales From Turnpike House will have three tracks not on the U.K. release. The other the deal mentioned in the article was between Isobell Campbell (formerly of Belle & Sebastian) and V2.

Kemado Records has signed The Sword (pictured). Oh, man...you need to listen to "Barael's Blade" and "Ebelthron." Wow. Serious metal. Super-stoner-doom-metal.

Hits recently mentioned the upcoming album by Holly Brook on Linkin Park's Machine Shop/Warner Bros label.

Rapper Keith Murray will release his next album (sometime next year) on Koch Records.

Taking Back Sunday is in the studio with producer Eric Valentine recording its debut for Warner Bros.

Posted by Glenn at 9:14 AM | Link | Comment (2)
|A&R||Music Industry|