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
08.18.09TEDx Music, EMI’s Future & Wolfmother Pub Derby Update
Authentik Artists' Meeting of Important People
This past Sunday, August 16th, an invite-only TEDx event took place in Los Angeles on the topic of the Music Business. The TEDx is an off-shoot community program from the influential TED (Technology, Entertainment, Design) Conference (http://www.ted.com), which is held annually in Long Beach, CA. For those not familiar with the nonprofit group, TED was started in 1984 and is devoted to “Ideas Worth Spreading.” It’s an invitation-only event where the world’s leading thinkers and doers gather to find inspiration. Veteran entertainment/technology attorney Ken Hertz hosted this past Sunday’s TEDx function at his residence. Insiders who attended shared with us that the gathering was set in an informal setting, and hosted a select group of high-level music and technology executives, thus connecting the world’s old and new media players. The event also included performances by up-and-coming artists. Not surprisingly, the discussions focused mainly on the current changes that are transforming the music business, particularly with regard to the digital future. There’s no doubt that some high-level networking and deal-making was happening on the sidelines. However, one invited guest commented on the lack of entrepreneurs invited. The majority of the attendees were corporate executives…
A fitting inclusion for today’s post (if in name only) is Authentik Artists act Meeting of Important People. The indie-pop trio from Pittsburgh with a sound akin to The Shins, Modest Mouse and The Beach Boys, dropped their new self-titled LP last week. The album quickly reached #15 on the iTunes singer-songwriter charts; check out “Brittaney Lane Don’t Care”. www.myspace.com/meetingofimportantpeople
While industry spectators have been gossiping and keeping a watchful eye on the Terra Firma-owned EMI Music Group for some time now, there’s been some chatter of late about the group having quiet discussions with suitors about selling its profitable publishing division. In addition, with the label division pulling-back on a couple recent artist deals, can we expect Terra Firma to reveal their playing cards soon? Meanwhile, the Wall Street Journal’s August 15th article about EMI Music’s struggle to avoid defaulting on its loan from creditor Citigroup touches on the many highly publicized changes EMI has experienced following its acquisition by Terra Firma in 2007, but the timing and tone of the piece is curious. With what said, is the WSJ article a teaser of something more drastic to come? Stay tuned…
The latest on the Wolfmother pub derby is that two companies are pulling away from the pack. The action is ramping up and it looks like Sony/ATV and Universal Music Publishing have narrowed the field by submitting offers well over the 7-figure mark. UMP, who already controls the band’s publishing for Japan, New Zealand and Australia, are said to be making a worldwide play for the Aussie rockers. For their previous Interscope release, the band had an administrative deal with Cherry Lane Music for their worldwide publishing outside of the aforementioned territories that UMP has a stake in. If you understand what’s going on here, please explain it to us. Meanwhile, the Sony/ATV crew has been making an aggressive and impressive play for their pursuit of the band. This one is getting nutty. We’ll keep you posted…
07.24.09Wolfmother to Unveil Cosmic Egg @ Laserium
Wolfmother Returns with New Album Cosmic Egg
We hope you sent in your RSVP for the Wolfmother Cosmic Egg listening event happening on Monday, July 27th at the Laserium CyberTheater in Hollywood. Due to an extreme response for the opportunity to hear the Brisbane rockers new album while tripping the light fantastic, the list has been closed early. Cosmic Egg, the highly anticipated follow-up to the band’s 2005 S/T release, was produced and mixed by Alan Moulder, engineered by Joe Barresi and will see a worldwide release via Interscope on October 13th. A&R hitter and headphone connoisseur Jeff Sosnow tells us “it’ll be worth the wait” – as if we ever doubted… Wolfmother will be playing KROQ’s Epicenter concert event in Pomona on August 22nd and hitting the road for a headlining tour this fall.
06.15.09Anti-Flag Returns with The People Or The Gun
Anti-Flag Returns with New Album
After a foray with mixed results into the major label world with two releases on RCA Records in ‘06 and ‘08, punk rock stalwart Anti-Flag returns to the indie arena with their new album, The People or The Gun, which came out last week on SideOneDummy Records. The seventh full-length release continues an aesthetic and approach from the Pittsburgh band that has garnered them a loyal global fanbase. With an expected strong first week and a headlining spot on this years Warped Tour there are no signs of slowing down.
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