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…
11.18.09Endless Summer…
The Drums have labels & pubco's marching to their beat
Monday night at Spaceland was like a good ole’ label brew-ha of days past, with A&R posses from around the league filling the room to catch The Drums (those keeping score may remember a couple of the members from former incarnation Elkland, who was signed to Columbia). Those marching to the Brooklyn-via-Florida band’s jangly surf-pop beat included barneys from all major music groups, with a particularly large showing from the bunny… Pubco’s are in the chase as well with Warner/Chappell making a strong play, but word is Sony/ATV may drop-in on the deal at any moment. Just remember, leashes are for pansies…
Elsewhere, some insiders are wondering what the future holds for Shangri-La Music, as the boutique label has been quietly handing back masters to some of its artists. Word on the street is that it will come down to founder Steve Bing’s decision whether or not to continue funding the music component of his larger Shangri-La business group. Recent coups for the label include the release of the highly anticipated Monsters of Folk debut album and a building story for new UK artist Band of Skulls. Stay tuned…
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Misty Mountain Hop
Lindsey Ray @ Hotel Cafe Tonight
With names perfect for the makings of a Zeppelin song, a new group of bands come off the heels of CMJ causing a bustle of label action. Leading the pack are Seattle’s Lonely Forest and Brooklyn’s Freelance Whales who both have majors and big indies prime to make a move… More pubco’s join the hunt for Texas’ Scorpion Child, whose brand of blues-riffed rock ala the aforementioned ZOSO gods has had labels taking aim as well. And a name you won’t forget and will be hearing a lot more of soon is Portland’s Baby Monster. The electronic-edged duo received recent nods in NME and just released their new single “Ultra Violence and Beethoven” on London’s rapidly rising 50 Bones label (Little Boots, We Have Band, Rogues)… Finally, tonight in L.A. catch Lindsey Ray, who you’ll recognize as the voice behind “Brand New Day,” the Tim Myers-penned tune used in the recent massive Target campaign. Lindsey performs tonight at the Hotel Café at 9:00PM.
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Take Notice: Oh Darling
Oh Darling: New Album + Show Tomorrow Night @ Swinghouse
Nice Nice may be the title of Oh Darling’s previous full-length release, but it certainly must also be how the L.A. indie-pop quartet is feeling lately. With music recently featured on CW’s One Tree Hill, USA’s Royal Pains and a national Macy’s radio campaign, the band heads into the release of their new album with a lot of steam. Produced by Gregg Williams (Blitzen Trapper, Dandy Warhols) the self-titled release comes out next week (11/17) via their label Creative Works/Oh Darling Music. With all that it’s a wonder they still have time to maintain their vintage wardrobe and provide world records-esque useless trivia to fans.
Oh Darling will play a private show at Swinghouse in Hollywood tomorrow night (11/11) from 7:30-9:00PM. Expect to jockey for position at the complimentary wine bar with more than a few of your closest label friends and assorted industry denizens (fyi, we’ll be in back packin’ a box of Franzia).
Send requests for list to: Julie@blackunicornmusic.com
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Take Notice: Nations Afire + Tuesday Tidbits
Nation Afire @ Viper Room tomorrow night (10/28)
Nations Afire is a new band comprised of former members of Rise Against, Ignite and Death By Stereo. Forming in early in 2009, the band recorded their debut EP The Uprising in a mere two-weeks and then hightailed it to Europe, touring with bands such as NOFX and The Get Up Kids. They’ve been featured in Alternative Press as their Unsigned Band of the Month, and we hear one label has already put paper on the table while others are scrambling. Nations Afire hit the stage at midnight tomorrow night (10/28) at the Viper Room. For more info and list requests, hit up jimmulhearn@freezemanagement.com
http://www.myspace.com/nationsafire
In other updates and tidbits… San Diego’s Allstar have signed to Hollywood Records, indie-wunderkind Avi Buffalo lands at Sub Pop Records and Lucas Keller joins management powerhouse The Collective. Keller’s roster includes TV/TV who recently signed to Q-Prime-backed Mom & Pop Records.
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Musical Chairs
Columbia Wins
As reports come in, well-respected A&R veteran Ashley Newton will be staying in the Sony Music family, transitioning from RCA to Columbia Records. We were alluding to Newton in our Aug. 20th post: “Which Head of A&R is making a jump to another label? Is the move to replace a soon-to-be exiting creative head? Inquiring minds want to know…” As Sony Music ruler Rob Stringer and Columbia Records head Steve Barnett were orchestrating Newton’s transition, Warner Bros. Records was indeed courting Newton in the last minute and insiders share that the bunny was offering a 7-figure annual salary to the seasoned exec. With a new A&R player in the Columbia fold, how does this affect Rick Rubin’s role at the company? Meanwhile, what’s going on at the Amanda Ghost-helmed Epic Records?…
In The Mix: Steve Moir, Freelance Whales, Pete Giberga and Kevin Day…
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Q&A Leftovers: A User’s Guide to the Bidding Derby
RM 64 on deadline...
After Myspace Records’ Jason Reynolds stopped by the RM 64 offices for our interview with him, we uncovered an interesting tidbit left on tape during the post-interview banter. The off-the-record discussions and gossip from our interview sessions have been quite eye-opening. It makes for good industry fodder to post when our editorial staff is feeling lazy or in this case, are nursing a hangover. So we hope you enjoy a little inside story concerning the signing of a certain Australian rock act that went on to sell millions of records. We start with Mr. Reynolds and RM 64 poser-journalist Rodel Delfin reminiscing about their shenanigans and what started out as a bet.
RM64: Jason, a friend asked me the other day about Jet signing to Elektra Records several years ago. He had heard that you and I were somewhat involved with stirring that up. It was definitely a fierce bidding derby. I recall the band was starting to garner a lot of industry attention in Australia, where the band is from. I was the A&R Editor at Hits Magazine at the time, and you and I would talk about new music and bands coming across your scene. And I remember you handing me the Jet demo. How did you come across them and what was happening at the time?
JR: My friend David Vodicka, who was running Rubber Records, also ran a company called Media Arts Lawyers in Melbourne, Australia. Basically, he had found Jet and told me that I need to know about this band. It was one of those things, when I was listening to the demo –like ‘oh holy shit.’
RM64: It’s funny because I pulled the demo from my old archives, and it had “Are You Going to Be My Girl?” and “Cold Hard Bitch” along with four other tracks.
JR: Yeah, it was basically half of the album and actually all of the songs that ended up being singles. It was definitely one of those no-brainer situations.
RM64: So you had it. What was happening in Australia at the time?
JR: All of the majors in Australia had heard about it and approached it. And I know through a couple of those labels it had filtered out a little bit overseas. Then David had contacted me to talk to people over here. He and I had that kind of relationship where I would help him connect the dots with A&R people in the states. And that was it. Then you became my conduit because most of the A&R people weren’t taking my calls.
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Champagne Superhova: Q&A with BigChampagne’s Eric Garland
In our most enlightening Q&A to date, BigChampagne CEO Eric Garland shares his insight on the issues facing the music and technology business in the last 10 years. It’s a must read for industry insiders in the online and offline world. He recently stopped by RM 64 headquarters to sit down with office janitors Berko Pearce and Scott Sheldon where they also discussed the finer points of Joe Fleischer’s hair.
RM64: Can you give us a little background on yourself and how you got involved in the music & technology business?
EG: I’m a kid from Texas, most of the family is still there and I’m the one that got out. I take great pleasure in turning SXSW into like a three-week boondoggle and visit every distant relative and hang out on the lake. I played in bands unsuccessfully, knocked around Texas, then did the whole fraternity/sorority circuit for a while when I got out of school. I went to work as a management consultant and got the bug, being entrepreneurial, that is to say basically having a paycheck but not having a boss. So when I got really restless at that, I realized there was no less legitimate place to go, you’re already a consultant, so you can only go to unemployment. So I decided to start a company, what would become BigChampagne really. It was sort of set off like everything was in music and technology at that time, with the explosion and popularity of Napster. Napster happened and we thought there has to be an opportunity here for artists.
BC's Eric Garland, nice white teeth
RM64: Did you use Napster?
EG: Um, I had an occupational interest in Napster (smiles).
RM64: Strike that from the record.
EG: No, no, no, that’s actually a good story, the one part of my personal story that’s worth telling. I was helping out artist friends who had been helpful to me when I was trying to be an artist. One of my friends at that time, a great artist named Glen Phillips who had been the front man for Toad the Wet Sprocket, was starting his second career as an independent artist. I was sort of quasi-managing Glen, helping him a lot and I launched his first website. He wanted to do the whole e-commerce thing and sell his first solo record on his website, this is late ‘90s or early 2000’s. We were sitting around in the bar at Largo long after closing one night after he had done a little solo set, and he said, ‘What do you make of Napster?’ I said, ‘Just between you and me, I think it’s really cool. Does that offend you?’ And he said, ‘No! And that’s my problem.’ Everybody was so upset about Napster. Lars is going on about it, and Hillary Rosen is banging the drum and everybody’s threatening lawsuit. And he said, ‘As a guy who used to be in a band that people really loved, and as a guy who’s trying to draw some attention to what he’s doing now, I just wish I could let those people know that I’ve got a record and that I’m coming to town, or that I have a T-shirt that comes in lady’s sizes.’ You know, and his take was just so different. He was like, ‘I just think for most artists the first reaction should be that this is a community and it should be a tool set for me, and how do I exploit it to my advantage?’ And I was like, ‘that’s kinda cool.’
So I went and found this computer scientist buddy of mine and said, ‘what do you know about Napster? Tell me everything about Napster?’ Just by total chance he had met a group of other developers who had been working in this area of peer-mediated computing. He said, ‘Well, there are a lot of things we could do…’ And I said, ‘I’ve got this artist friend who really wants to find his fans on Napster and let them know what he’s doing now.’ He said, ‘let me think about that.’ Twenty-four hours later he tells me ‘I think I have something for you. I’ll have a prototype tonight at 7.’ Sure enough he showed me this amazing thing that he had very quickly thrown together. It was essentially a search engine that was collecting information about what people were searching for on Napster, what people were downloading and which artists people were adding to a playlist. Then we could segment that for purposes of marketing. So we did this little pilot with Glen Phillips where we approached Toad the Wet Sprocket fans and said, ‘hey, it’s Glen from Toad. I have a new record out and I’m giving away some mp3s, I have a tour calendar, and here it is.’ The conversion rate was unreal, it was getting like 20-25 percent conversions, we sold thousands of his independently released CDs off of glenphillips.com, a website that I was maintaining at that point out of my apartment in Fairfax. We just thought, ‘this is it. This is the future of the music industry.’ Little did we know that 10 years later that would almost be true. We were very eager and excited about what that first 6 months would hold, which was mostly pain and suffering.
RM64: So how did BigChampagne come into being?
EG: We did a few more of these experiments with artists after Glen Phillips. There was this sort of word of mouth thing in the artist community. Along the lines of, ‘these guys are doing this crazy stuff with Napster and online marketing.’ Then we started doing a lot of them. We worked with a whole bunch of L.A. bands, Bay Area bands and we got some press for that, and it was like, ‘hey these independent artists have a different attitude about Napster and they’re working with this technology start up.’ At that point there was still no name for it, you know, it wasn’t BigChampagne. It was just some guys.
Then I got a call from Jim Guerinot. And Jim said, ‘we get it, we think Napster is amazing.’ The Offspring wanted to put out their new record on Napster. That did not end up happening for reasons that had nothing to do with Guerinot or The Offspring, which I’m sure you know. But it started a really good conversation, and we did do some stuff to market and promote not just The Offspring, but a bunch of different bands of Jim’s. And through Jim we met the lawyer, of course. They always march the lawyer in, and that was Ken Hertz. He was effectively my co-founder, in that he was the one that looked at this little experiment of ours and said, ‘let’s turn this into a business, let’s build this. This could really be the path for the music industry with respect to Napster. This could be a better approach.’ And so it is, in a roundabout way, Kenny’s fault that I met Joe Fleischer.
RM64: Now at the time did you know of their (Ken & Joe) work with mp3.com?
EG: I was doing real-time research. I was Googling furiously. I guess this is before Google, so I was Yahooing to try to find out what I had fallen into. And yes, I was aware that they had worked together with varying degrees of success in the past.
RM64: Was this right after mp3.com?
EG: It was, it was virtually the same time. It’s when all these companies were falling through the door, were pouring into L.A., mostly from Northern California. And I will say this, completely unabashedly but also un-cynically, it could have gone so badly for us. This is the thing I think back on more often than anything else, you had a couple of smart geeks that had an idea and a little bit of technology. We basically showed up in Hollywood and said, ‘does anybody want to buy a watch?’
In hindsight, we could not have done better. We sort of fell into this little Largo community, where people loved music, were passionate about art and were all friends and invested in one another. That was great and really lucky. Then we caught the attention of slightly more powerful people in the business. During that time we sat down with everybody. And they were dazzled and wowed by the possibilities. It was cool to be knowledgeable and valuable to these people who were legendary. Who were we? We were somebody who knew something about Napster and that was a real currency, the elevator definitely got off on the top floor.
Kings of Pop: BC's Joe Fleischer (left) & Eric Garland (right)
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UPDATE: the Killers Legal Settlement, Press Release Issued
In response to our report yesterday on the settled legal dispute between the Killers and their former manager Braden Merrick, the following press release was issued by Merrick’s attorney Howard E. King, of King, Holmes, Paterno & Berliner.
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PRESS RELEASE
October 2, 2009
THE KILLERS AND FORMER MANAGER SETTLE ALL DISPUTES
Las Vegas, Nevada
Former manager Braden Merrick and the rock band The Killers have dismissed their breach of contract and other pending claims upon reaching a confidential settlement of all disputes with each other.
A spokesperson for The Killers stated: “The Killers are pleased that the matter has been resolved and thank Braden Merrick for his contributions.”
Braden Merrick expressed his best wishes for the band’s continuing success. Merrick is currently a partner at a new label venture called Bright Antenna and quietly developing new talent to be revealed in 2010 under his artist management company From The Future.
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Bands, booze, industry schmoozing and other things that happened that stays in Vegas…
VMS 2010 will feature Pedro the singing monkey...
The Vegas Music Summit 2009 is in the books. We’d like to thank all the industry folks who attended and all the artists who performed. It was a fun and wild ride in Downtown LV. Big thanks to event sponsors: Miller Lite, Smash Magazine, ASCAP, BMI, SESAC and our host hotel the El Cortez Casino and Cabana Suites. The conference’s formula of mixing headlining acts with local Las Vegas talent and a select group of artists from out of town allowed for LV music fans to see new talent and for artists with no LV following playing to a packed house of music fans. For those who didn’t attend, here’s a list of the selected acts on the bill: Imagine Dragons, One Pin Short, Links, Saint Motel, Love It or Leave It, the Study Band, Air Raid Anthem and Cursive. We hear some of the acts above have already been getting calls from industry folks as well as invites to play SXSW. Meanwhile, planning for VMS 2010 is in the works for September next year. Hope to see you again in Sin City next year…
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