In Case You Missed It: Reading Recap
Apple Sets Sights on Amazon Daily Deal Promotion
Unlike the recent hoopla over Abbey Road, no public outcry surrounding EMI’s recent sale of Olympic Sound Studios, birthplace of classic recordings from The Rolling Stones, Led Zeppelin, The Beatles, The Who and Queen… Apple is starting to flex its iTunes market share muscle with labels over their use of Amazon’s Daily Deal promotion that features deeply discounted albums for new artist releases… Music start ups MOG and Spotify to go toe-to-toe at SXSW, MOG to announce new mobile app… Time Magazine profiled soon to be Universal Music Group head Lucian Grainge…And Peter Gabriel’s The Filter has announced a new deal with video site Dailymotion…
02.19.10In Case You Missed It: Reading Recap
London's Abbey Road Studios up on the block
More EMI headlines this week, as it was reported that company is trying to sell the legendary Abbey Road studios in London. An anonymous source told the AP that the search for a buyer has actually been going on for several months. After the news broke, stories appeared naming The National Trust and Andrew Lloyd Webber as both interested in buying… A face-off in the cloud may be brewing between Apple and Google, with reports that the latter is in talks with cloud media start-up Catch Media. Initial chatter of a possible showdown began at the end of last year with Apple’s high profile purchase of music service Lala… Ad-supported music service Guvera has announced their U.S. launch will be on March 30th. The Australian-based company also announced new licensing deals with BMI, SESAC, Harry Fox Agency and INgrooves, those following previous deals with Universal Music Group, EMI and IODA. Advertising in Guvera is less intrusive than similar services says LA Times writer Jon Healey, who recently took the new service for a test-drive…
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In Case You Missed It: Reading Recap
Changes Happening at Universal Music Group
More news out of MySpace this week with the departure of CEO Owen Van Natta after less than one year in the position; situation at the social networking company being described by some as a “hot mess”… Vivendi announced on Wednesday that Lucian Grainge would in fact become the next CEO of Universal Music Group in 2011. It took no time for the Brit to make comments to the New York Times and Wall Street Journal regarding the future of CD’s and his favor for anti-piracy laws. Naturally this caused a torrent of commentary, though nothing of a ‘07 Doug Morris Wired Magazine proportion… Veoh has announced it will be shutting down as a result of a “financially draining and distracting” legal bout with UMG, even though the video site was victorious in the precedent setting case; a closer look finds other possible factors involved with its bankruptcy… Elsewhere, Warner Music Group CEO Edgar Bronfman Jr made comments that rekindled talk of the company’s interest in EMI… Google is receiving a lot of flak for shutting down a handful of music blogs over DMCA complaints, though some are raising questions about where the blame should be put… And Universal Music Publishing CEO David Renzer explains why he thinks 2010 might be the most challenging time yet for publishers.
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It’s Been Said…
DIY Currency: Solid Gold
SXSW is 6 weeks away and if you’re starting your ‘must-see’ list, be sure to add Minneapolis’ Solid Gold. The indie-electro trio has been building one of the more impressive DIY stories of late. They’ve sold close to 10,000 albums, received press nods in Billboard, NME, Pitchfork and Filter among others and their new video is premiering on MTV2 and mtvU this month. We hear labels are circling in on this one with some offers already in. The band has two upcoming hometown shows if you want to beat the SXSW rush.
Labels and pubcos are taking notice of Oren Lavie, as the buzz continues to build around the Grammy-nominated singer-songwriter. Lavie, who has now garnered over 10.5 million views of his “Her Morning Elegance” video on YouTube, played a string of recent dates at the Hotel Cafe that brought out majors and indie A&R folks (with no record or pub deal in place, and an a new album’s worth of material, it’s no surprise). Attorney Ben Laski is handling legal duties…
The story keeps building on Matthew Mayfield. His new EP Breathe Out in Black was sitting at #1 on the iTunes singer-songwriter chart this morning, just two days after being independently released. In fact the entire EP was recorded, mixed, mastered and up for sale digitally in the span of a week. Check out www.matthewmayfield.com for more… Keep an eye on L.A. locals The Sequel. The band has been popping up on label radars of late and has more than a few showcases already on the horizon. EMI Music Pub players Dan MacCarroll and Declan Morrell snapped up the band early for publishing. Get on it…
Young gun Ben Adelson settles in at a new A&R gig at Epic Records. Adelson was previously at Universal Republic and brought in Flobots and Owl City. He also co-manages recent Roadrunner signing Young the Giant (formerly The Jakes)… Meanwhile, we hear there is an established big-rock act who is currently a free-agent and is being courted by multiple labels on both coasts. Inquiring minds want to know? Here’s a hint, they didn’t play the Super Bowl Halftime Show…
IN THE MIX: K Sera, Moonlight Bride and Tyrone Wells…
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The Brits Are Taking Over
With today’s announcement from Vivendi on the appointment of Lucian Grainge as Chief Executive Officer of Universal Music Group, expect the rumor mill to pump up the volume on what changes we can expect to happen within the UMG labels in the coming months. But before we delve into conjecture on the UMG side, it’s significant to point out the number of British executives running US major labels. Outside of Warner Music Group, the remaining three major label groups are run by Brits. The UK presence is quite prominent at the Rob Stringer-run Sony Music, particularly with the addition of Amanda Ghost at Epic, the recent addition of Ashley Newton at the Steve Barnett-helmed Columbia Records. And the Terra Firma-owned EMI Music Group maintains its US operations under Nick Gatfield, who served under Grainge during his stint as President of Island Records UK prior to his EMI post. Aside from Ghost, the aforementioned execs have solid working experience in US music companies. Barnett has been in the Sony US system for years, Newton’s previous post at RCA and his tenure co-running Virgin Records US makes him a very well-respected US exec, while Gatfield ran Polydor Records in the states during the ‘90s.
Back to UMG, Grainge will assume his new post on Jan. 1, 2011, succeeding current UMG CEO Doug Morris. Rumors of Grainge assuming Morris’ position have been swirling for months. Grainge is scheduled to relocate to NY in July as part of the transition. Industry insiders share that Universal Republic head Monte Lipman and brother Avery will have an expanded role at the music group, as well as Mercury Records head David Massey. It leaves to question the future roles of Island Def Jam ruler LA Reid and Universal Motown head Sylvia Rhone, who was a longtime Doug Morris protégé. And it’s fair to expect no major changes to happen at Jimmy Iovine’s Interscope label. Stay tuned…
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In Case You Missed It: Reading Recap
Interactive Grammy Show Sees Big Ratings
The 52nd annual Grammy Awards show on Sunday night reached its highest ratings since 2004, surely do in part to the show being more interactive than ever before thanks to staff and attendees use of Twitter, Facebook and other crowdsourcing features setup for fans… Terra Firma is back in the news and reportedly looking for its investors to pump additional millions into troubled EMI… In a recent LA Times Q&A with Tim Leiweke, the AEG chief executive discusses how he sees a place for AEG to compete in the concert business even with the newly approved Ticketmaster – Live Nation merger… And a new Billboard analysis looks at the potential benefits for ISP companies if they were to offer a music service to customers.
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In Case You Missed It: Reading Recap – Extended Remix Edition
Linkin Park charity releases digital compilation to benefit Haiti
A lot to stay on top of over this short week, so enjoy this special extended edition of our weekly recap…
More chatter about a possible new iTunes streaming service from Apple continued, fueled by Michael Robertson’s prediction that the service will come in the form of a version update allowing users to access their iTunes media library from anywhere via the proverbial “cloud”… The lineup for Coachella 2010 was announced, and headliners include Jay-Z, Muse, Gorillaz and Thom Yorke… Ad-supported download service Free All Music announced a deal with EMI, who joins Universal Music as the first major music companies to strike agreements with the start-up… Elsewhere, Sony and Warner Music appear to be engaged in an eMusic pricing battle… YouTube launched a new music discovery and playlist experiment… Comcast appears to be taking steps toward an a la carte music streaming service for internet and cable customers… Other ISP news includes a report that Virgin Media’s long delayed “unlimited” subscription service might be called MusicFish, it might not be unlimited and could be arriving this summer… It looks like Live Nation is putting its venues on the block in an effort to ease regulatory concerns over the Ticketmaster merger… And Prince revealed a new song “Purple and Gold” that he penned for his beloved Vikings - sorry Purple One, we’ll be rooting for the Saints…
** If you haven’t yet, make sure to visit www.musicforrelief.org, where Linkin Park took the “pay what you want” model to their charity’s digital album that benefits the crisis in Haiti. The band quickly assembled a compilation of unreleased songs from Peter Gabriel, Alanis Morissette, All-American Rejects and many others. The effort saw a quick and impressive collaboration of artists, labels and publishers who all granted full gratis rights for the compilation, and over a holiday weekend no less.
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Promiscuous Drunks, Friendly Calls and Humbug Resolutions… Happy New Year!
Chiddy Bangin on BBC Radio 1
It was one-year ago today that we published our ‘welcome back & happy new year‘ piece for 2009, so a post-holiday roundup and a look at the early action in 2010 on this date only seems fitting.
Taking up the digital marketing reins at Hollywood Records is J Scavo, who exits his GM position at MySpace Records where he was integral in promotions like Toyota Rock the Space and Wendy’s Fresh Faces, as well as the signing of artists such as Christina Milian and Meiko among others… It appears things are heating up stateside for Philly’s Chiddy Bang with the Crush-managed artist being signed by EMI in the UK and their track “The Opposite of Adults” getting spun regularly on Radio 1. Another early contender for one of the new year’s first bidding-derby acts is TMills, as we hear major-label heads are lining up to showcase the tattooed auto-crooner… Distorted electro-duo Sleigh Bells appear to be closing a deal with indie shop Mom & Pop, while Austin’s Ume is being courted by multiple big-indies on opposite coasts. Stay tuned…
In other updates, the next New Music Seminar will take place in Los Angeles on February 2nd, and will feature Spotify founder Daniel Ek as keynote speaker and numerous panelists including Ian Rogers, Alex Patsavas, Jason Bentley and Kevin Lyman to name a few… And in case you missed this holiday reading, checkout And Party Every Day: The Inside Story of Casablanca Records, the new inside account of the influential and infamous record label was penned by label co-founder Larry Harris.
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In Case You Missed It: Reading Recap
Twitter Announces Deals with Google & Microsoft
Three Letter Circus > It was reported on Sunday that Citigroup was “lining up” buyers (including WMG) for EMI in an attempt to pressure owner Terra Firma into selling the music company (Guardian)… However the next day a statement to the contrary was released by the bank claiming that they were not seeking buyers, implying they couldn’t do so being a debt holder not an equity owner (Reuters)…
Tweet Deal > Twitter’s seeming indifference to being labeled “profitable” ends with the micro-blogging service’s announcement of two content-search deals with Google and Microsoft (specifically Bing). The deals, worth a combined $25 million, will allow tweets to appear in both service’s search engine results (BW)…
It’s All Good > UK regulators approved the proposed merger of Ticketmaster and Live Nation, an about-face for the Competition Commission who previously expressed serious concerns over the deal (NYTimes)…
Freedom of Choice > Hulu makes further inroads in the music video arena by adding content from Warner Music Group, who is also the only major music group yet to make a deal with the label-backed video service Vevo. A similar arrangement between Hulu and EMI was announced last month (MediaMemo)…
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In Case You Missed It: Reading Recap
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)…
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