Jenny Lewis among new SAM clients

Catching up on recent news from the artist management sector, the roster at John Silva’s shop, Silva Artist Management, which includes a slew of top-tier acts like Foo Fighters, Beck, Beastie Boys and more, has been growing recently with notable additions including Norah Jones and Jenny Lewis – both who come to SAM after leaving their longtime managers.  Jones is featured on songs on the upcoming Ryan Adams release Ashes & Fire and is finishing up a new album from her side project Little Willies, while Lewis is preparing for a string of sold out shows for her October I Heart Cali tour. Silva is rumored to have picked up M. Ward as a client as well, with some making note of the independent label artist additions to the mostly major label acts on SAM’s line-up. The indie balladeer is also one-half of the She & Him duo who is managed by Zeitgeist… Speaking of Zeitgeist, the management boutique is now handling duties for Surfer Blood… Meanwhile, Red Light Management’s Jason Colton continues to be early and in the running for the potential who’s-next of indie groups, including a new buzz-act coming out of the Pacific Northwest. More on that later… And proving the full-service label/management model isn’t just for the majors, last month the formation of Fort William was announced, a new management firm launched by the co-founders of label trio of Secretly Canadian, Jagjaguwar and Dead Oceans along with former Zeitgeist manager Ami Spishok. While separate in name, presumably the resources and staffing on the label side is a significant boon for artists under the management roster as well. While not entirely a new phenomenon, observers share that more indie labels are preparing to follow a similar path, as part of an overall paradigm shift, along with the fact that many already are doing work beyond merely the scope of a record label… Elsewhere, Spoon-muse Ron Laffitte is now at Front Line Management, Myles Lewis joins 19 Entertainment from his recent A&R post at Epic Records and Ben Weber has left Flatiron Management.

Google Music unveiled today?

Following the announcement last Friday morning that Len Blavatnik’s Access Industries was the winning bidder in the Warner Music Group auction, late rumors bubbled that rival bidder the Gores brothers were considering an after-the-buzzer increased offer. While it would be possible, though it could create a hefty fine if the Blavatnik deal was broken, most have written it off as billionaire posturing, and expect the deal to finalize as announced.  Other fallout from the Access deal seems to include the possiblity of legal action from shareholders, concerned that their best interests were not represented in the accepted bid, with Dallas-based Kendall Law Group leading the charge… Meanwhile, Google is reportedly set to reveal their long-awaited music service today at its I/O presentation in San Francisco, in a ‘beta’ version, which has the company moving ahead without licensing deals in place with the four majors. Very similar to Amazon, Google Music for now will act as a basic ‘locker’ service, allowing users to upload music to a central server (cloud), and then stream music from Android devices. The main difference from Amazon is that Google doesn’t sell music, and most don’t expect any partnership with an outside digital music service to be part of the announcement. And while just as with Amazon, Google is expected to continue its negotiations with the labels in order to release a more robust service in the future, most are already crowning Apple as the winner in the so-called ‘cloud wars’ even though the company has yet to release any specific details. Apple, who is rumored to have already completed at least one licensing deal with the four major music companies, will surely complete deals with all four before stepping out, and the technology for the service is also said to be in place. Will June see an iCloud announcement?… Elsewhere, CKX, parent company of American Idol producer 19 Entertainment, has been sold to private equity firm Apollo Global Management. CKX also has interests in Elvis Presley’s Graceland and the image and name of Muhammad Ali. The deal is said to be valued at around $509 million… And composer Hans Zimmer has signed with William Morris Endeavor. The move is part of a string of defections from the Gorfaine-Schwartz Agency (GSA) that has also included David Newman and David Holmes. Amos Newman, formerly of GSA, is said to have been behind the moves after being recently brought into WME to start up a new division focused on moving touring clients into film, TV and videogames, as well as expanding the business of composers beyond traditional platforms.

[UPDATE: TechCrunch has a preview of the new Google Music Beta, which was unveiled this morning as expected.]

Hulu launching in UK with new 19 Entertainment series

Continuing with their recent string of announcements, MySpace Music revealed a new deal with digital-media distro service TuneCore to allow independent (unsigned) artists to have their music included in the MySpace Music on-demand streaming service for a flat fee (Epicenter)… EMI is taking legal action against video site Vimeo, claiming that while the site may feature original video content created by users, many songs under their control are used in such videos throughout the site without a license (ars)… Can a scientific formula detect radio payola? A researcher at University at Buffalo says yes (Science Daily)… More from the Terra Firma-EMI saga, as it appears that Citigroup made a bid for the music company just prior to the investment firm’s recent legal action against the bank (FW)… And Hulu prepares to cross the Atlantic.  The popular online TV and movie streaming site prepares to launch in the UK early next year, but with just one show, a new 19 Entertainment reality series, If I Can Dream (MediaMemo)…