A list of the first 200+ artists who are confirmed for SXSW 2010 showcases was released yesterday, representing only a small fraction of the total number of artists who will play next year’s festival. Scanning through, the mix is varied and as expected shows a strong international presence.  Any early contenders for possible buzz band status on the list?  Our clairvoyant tells us to keep an eye on chi-town’s I Fight Dragons, L.A.’s Warpaint and Auckland’s Kingston. 
Checkout the full list HERE.

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

Picture Me Broken

If you want the rainbow, you’ve got to put up with a little rain – D. Parton

Amen Dolly. As we keep those words in mind on this wet day in LA, we congratulate Nashville player Steve Markland on his new gig as Vice President of A&R for Warner/Chappell Music Nashville. Markland was previously a senior creative executive at Windswept Publishing. He was responsible for discovering and cultivating emerging songwriters. His roster of songwriters have won numerous BMI, ASCAP and NSAI awards. Whoa… Back at W/C headquarters on the left coast, the pubco’s resident A&R preppy Marc Wilson has signed producer/writer Ian Kirkpatrick to a worldwide co-pub deal. Kirkpatrick has worked with Plain White T’s, Neon Trees and Call the Cops, among others… Finally, we hear major labels and major-indies will be in attendance to checkout Picture Me Broken at their Swinghouse showcase this Thursday (10/15). MTV recently awarded the group a VMA for Best Breakout Bay Area Band this year. And did we mention that the band’s lead singer happens to be the daughter of Gregg Allman? Great pedigree! For showcase info, e-mail: pmb@justgreatmanagement.com

Santa Barbara will never be the same...

As we’re recovering from VMS, it seems like the fall is now the new season for must-attend music conferences, CMJ will be in full effect at the end of October and this week, New Noise Santa Barbara will take place October 8-10, 2009. The three-day event is a music and digital media conference that will showcase emerging and established acts, as well as host educational panels. The diverse speaker line-up will feature influential media players such as Pandora founder Tim Westergren to Hopeless Records’ Louis Posen, while the artist line-up includes Michael Franti & Spearhead, Edward Sharpe, Rob Roy and Avi Buffalo, to name a few. Sounds like a great time in beautiful Santa Barbara…

For more info, log on to: www.NewNoiseSB.com

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…

Rock the Space Winners, Call the Cops

Long Beach-based Call The Cops have emerged as the grand-prize winners of the MySpace and Toyota-sponsored Rock the Space contest.  As part of the prize, the  winning act gets a recording contract with MySpace Records and the band’s single “Room 410” will be featured and made available for download on the MySpace Music homepage. Meanwhile, CTC band members are asking…where’s our Prius?

L.A. local natives, the Local Natives have signed with Korda Marshall’s relaunched Infectious Records after much speculation as to when and where the SXSW ’09 buzz-band would land.  We previously reported the band’s signing with Universal Music Publishing back in July. The band is the 1,025,561st featured RM 64 act to get signed! Haha…

Both major labels and indies appear to be sniffing around Nashville act The Rust. They are currently on tour with Secondhand Serenade and getting some hometown radio love for their song “Missing You.”  The band performs tonight (Wed, Sept. 23) at Gramercy Theatre in NYC and on Oct. 15th at The Roxy in L.A.

One Day Away...

VMS starts tomorrow! Below are the set times for the artists who will be performing at the Beauty Bar. We’ve handpicked the best emerging acts in Las Vegas for the Wednesday line-up, and the Thursday night acts have been selected by A&R Knights.  If you’re attending we look forward to hanging and drinking with you. Comp drinks are provided for badge holders at both the Beauty Bar and Griffin each night, courtesy of event sponsors ASCAP, SESAC and BMI… Viva Lost Wages!

WEDNESDAY, SEPT 23, 2009

8:45pm – 9:15pm – Air Raid Anthem
9:30pm – 10:00pm – Love It Or Leave It
10:15pm – 10:45pm - One Pin Short
10:00pm – 11:00pm – The Study Band ** Smash Magazine presents @ The Griffin
11:00pm – 11:30pm - Imagine Dragons

THURSDAY, SEPT 24, 2009

9:00pm – 9:30pm – Saint Motel
9:45pm – 10:15pm – Links
10:30pm – 11:30pm – Cursive

Well, Frank. We’ll soon walk the walk and talk the talk as we’re less than 2 weeks away from the Vegas Music Summit. The event happens Sept 23-24, 2009 and will feature 2 nights of showcases and 1 day of panels. RM 64 is offering complimentary industry badges and the daytime panels are FREE and open to the public. Did we mention…FREE!!! Our host hotel, the El Cortez has informed us that the VMS reserved rooms are sold out! But there are still some rooms available at the Fremont Hotel and the Golden Nugget. VMS sponsors include: SESAC, Miller Lite, BMI, Smash Magazine, A&R Knights, Hell Ya! and ASCAP. For more info, log on to: www.VegasMusicSummit.com. In the meantime, here’s a brief list of confirmed speakers:

Sara Berkowitz / Viper Room (Hollywood)
Joe Fleischer / BigChampagne
Jeff Sosnow / Interscope Records
Matt Messer / EMI Music Publishing
Jennifer Knoepfle / Sony-ATV Music
Mark Weinberg / Producer (O.A.R, Matt Nathanson)
Josh Feingold / SESAC
Tom DeSavia / Notable Music
Eric German / Mitchell, Silbbererg & Knupp
Jason Reynolds / Myspace Records
Josh Briggs / ASCAP
Jennie Smythe / Girlilla Marketing
Adrian Amadeo / Geffen Records
Eddie Meehan / GroundCtrl
Jon Nelson / Band Bitch

baby, we'll be up five-hundy by midnight!

The RM 64 crew is closing out the summer of ‘09 by heading to that magical place in the desert where dreams, marriages and a month’s salary could all be lost or won in a matter of minutes. The Vegas Music Summit will take place on Sept 23 – 24, 2009. The mini-confab will host 2 nights of showcases at the Beauty Bar and 1 day of panels at the El Cortez Hotel & Casino in beautiful Downtown Las Vegas. Showcasing acts are currently on the A&R tip sheet and have been handpicked by LA talent/event promoters A&R Knights, Hell Ya! and RM 64. We’ll be hosting cocktail mixers in between sets at our lounge in The Griffin two doors down from the Beauty Bar. Event sponsors include Miller Lite, SESAC, ASCAP, Smash Magazine and BMI. Daytime panels and industry badges are FREEEEE!!! (“You’re killing me Larry!”) Panels will feature Major and Indie label A&R execs, Producers, Managers, Attorneys and Music Publishers. So come on down, cause just like the boys in the Hangover, you too could party ’till the early morn and wake up to find a tiger sleeping in your hotel bathroom. Stay tuned to this space for showcase and panel updates. For more info and to be on our comp industry badge list, email us at info@RM64.com

Burn Down The Mission @ Fontana's Sat. Night

Expect to see a lot of familiar industry faces tomorrow night (6/27) at Fontana’s for Burn Down The Mission. Though not far out of the gate, the band’s fresh batch of songs are creating a buzz already.

Checkout “Run” and see why… http://www.myspace.com/burndownthemission

BDTM goes on at 8:00PM