Joe Fleischer

Which is a bigger gauge of Lady Gaga’s success, 15-million albums sold or 1-billion YouTube views? That’s the question posed in a piece on Fast Company yesterday, with BigChampagne’s Joe Fleischer commenting, “When you look at Lady Gaga hitting a billion views, I think that’s a very positive wake-up call for the industry–that we need to think about the metrics of success differently,” – BigChampagne’s newly minted Ultimate Chart was recently tapped as this year’s source for American Music Awards nominees. Read the full article HERE…

Bandier Enters the Sony Music Fray (L) Hands Set for Face Off (R)

A story in the New York Post this morning threw Sony/ATV CEO Marty Bandier into the mix of names swirling in the bid for the top spot at Sony Music, indicating his neutral position in the ongoing “civil war” within the company as a plus. Citing unnamed executives, the piece also speculated that current RCA chief Barry Weiss might land at Universal Music Group if he isn’t named as successor to current Sony Music CEO Rolf Schmidt-Holtz - a scenario being floated by more than a few folks in-the-know… Meanwhile the buzz around the courtroom showdown between Terra Firma and Citigroup over EMI continues as the WSJ reports today that talks between the two sides failed this week, though there is still time for a settlement to be reached over the weekend. Informal talks could continue even after the trial’s start on Monday if an 11th-hour pact isn’t reached – Guy Hands is expected to take the stand first… No stranger to firing rumors, gossip that Island Def Jam ruler L.A. Reid is as good as out continued this week. While a move to television in the form of an American Idol or X-Factor judge position was previously floated, insiders share that a quiet departure with a label-imprint in hand seems a more likely scenario… In other updates, Steve Aoki has entered into a world-wide co-publishing deal with Warner/Chappell Music, the A-Team’s own B.A. Baracus (aka Marc Wilson) signed the producer/writer/DJ who has upcoming projects in the works with Rivers Cuomo, Chiddy Bang, Travis Barker, Will.I.Am and Sky Ferreira… The CMJ Music Marathon 2010 kicks off next week in New York City, including a keynote address from Jason Flom – other panelists slated to speak include David Boxenbaum (A&M Octone), John Boyle (Hello Music), Lindsey Cook (RCA), Eric German (MS&K), Jon Pikus (Lava/Kirkwood Ranch) and many others… The label action continues to wind up around Seattle’s The Head and The Heart after whipping A&R folks into a frenzy with their L.A. shows last week. Zeitgeist’s Jordan Kurland has picked up the band for management… IAMMEDIC continues to generate label interest, taking multiple meetings after their EP-release show last week. A collaboration with Far East Movement is set to take place on the heels of their remix of the band’s “Like A G6″ – the top song on BigChampagne’s Ultimate Chart this week… Catch Las Vegas act And She Whispered at the House of Blues Hollywood this Saturday (Oct. 16), as they open for All That Remains on their current North America tour. The band has received airplay on LV’s Extreme Radio and has been drawing big crowds in their hometown… IN THE MIX: Amanda Ghost, Fearless Records, Chappo, OFWGKTA and Box.net

BigChampagne's New Ultimate Chart Tracks Popularity Across Many Platforms

The New Music Seminar (NYC) wrapped up yesterday after featuring a number of speakers and presenters including Tom Silverman (NMS Co-Founder), Eric Garland (BigChampagne), Corrie Christopher (Agent, VP APA), Ariel Hyatt (Ariel Publicity & Cyper PR) and Peter Kafka (All Things Digital) among many others. There was a wide range of topics discussed, all focused on the future of the business, including media, touring and breaking through. BigChampange’s new Ultimate Chart, which measures artist and song popularity using a number of metrics including the three F’s (fan/friends/followers), also created a lot of discussion following its unveiling by Eric Garland during the conference’s State of the Internet Address… Google has hired veteran music attorney Elizabeth Moody, formerly of Davis Shapiro Lewit & Hayes, presumably to help them through the label terrain as they move closer to launching their much-discussed new music service likely to be known as Google Music… July 31st will see a first-of-its-kind star studded event in India for the release of the audio to the new film Endhiran, composed by Oscar winner AR Rahman who became a household name in the West after winning Best Original Score for Slumdog Millionaire. South African label Think Music has acquired the rights to Endhiran’s audio, beating out a number of larger labels who were rumored to be vying for the rights… Elsewhere, Atlantic Records has signed Christina Perri, the overnight sensation who performed her song “Jar of Hearts” on So You Think You Can Dance recently.  Perri is also the younger sister of former Shinedown lead guitarist Nick Perri… Linkin Park has teamed up with MySpace Music, Indaba Music and TopSpin Media for a new online fan collaboration contest… And Forbes discusses music in the cloud with Thumbplay Music chief exec Evan Schwartz…