Prince's 20Ten Boosts Newspaper Sales & Floods File-Sharing Sites

With the free release of his new album 20Ten, bundled with various newspaper’s in the UK including The Daily Mirror and The Daily Record, Prince single-handedly rose sales to 334,000 from previous Saturday’s numbers of the former and boosted sales for the latter by 45,000… Oh, and the internet? Announced as deceased by the Purple One, setting off a flurry of commentary last week, 20Ten is making its rounds via file-sharing networks just fine… Hard L.A. festival scheduled for this weekend at Los Angeles State Historic Park featuring M.I.A., Die Antwoord, Sleigh Bells and others has been canceled due to security restrictions, though recent reports of very sluggish ticket-sales may be a more likely reason at this late date… Elsewhere, Susan Boyle is launching a talent search of her own… And will Twitter jump-the-shark and start allowing users to directly buy followers?

Hot Dawg of the Week: Blue Hamilton

Warner Chappell Publishing’s A&R up-and-comer Blue Hamilton is feeling anything but blue lately. With a building track record and the ink still wet from his newest signing, we thought it was a good time to catch up with the pubcos’ young earner for a spotlight in the first edition of our new feature Hot Dawg of the Week… Blue’s roster includes singer/songwriter Audra Mae whose cut “Who I Was Born To Be” is the only original song on Susan Boyle’s I Dreamed A Dream, which has sold to date over 7-million units worldwide. He signed the Oklahoma native back in ’06 when she was only a twinkle in SuBo’s eye. Audra Mae’s debut album comes out this spring on SideOneDummy Records… Hamilton also inked famed girl-kisser Katy Perry for publishing back in ’07, prior to her multi-platinum debut album One Of The Boys. She also had cuts on last year’s All I Ever Wanted from Kelly Clarkson as well as the self-titled debut from Jessie James. Perry is currently in the studio working on her follow-up album with collaborators including Tricky, The Dream and Dr. Luke among others… Blue’s newest act is Brooklyn’s Semi Precious Weapons who recently signed to HouseofGaga/Interscope Records. The band is currently in Europe finishing a run supporting Lady GaGa on The Monster Ball tour and their debut album is slated for a spring release.

Stay tuned for our next Hot Dawg of the Week…

MOG launches All Access

This week saw the launch of MOG’s new All Access $5/month music service, see an overview and some initial reactions here… Tunecore announced a new campaign with radio promotion company Unleashed Music to provide a to-be-selected unknown artist with a 6-week commercial radio campaign… The Sunset Strip’s Key Club has closed its doors, but hopes to reopen early in the new year… And SideoneDummy recording artist Audra Mae was featured on MTV.com discussing the song she wrote, “Who I Was Born to Be,” the only original tune on Susan Boyle’s chart-topping album I Dreamed a Dream…