A&R Briefs…
Ohio's Downplay sign to Epic Records
For Those About to Rock: Ohio active rock act Downplay recently signed to Epic Records under the watch of head of A&R Mike Flynn. The band was also picked up by Bill McGathy for management. Epic scout and party promoter Jake Livingston described the typical signing process earlier this year to Ohio’s The Post, “The way to get on our radar is to get big in your region, like southern Ohio, and then the attorney signs you, and then the attorney gets you a manager, and then the music gets to us and then we fly out to see them.” Easy enough, right?… Elsewhere L.A. locals Eastern Conference Champions appear to be signing to Roadrunner Records. The band, a staple of the L.A. indie rock scene, was previously signed to Jordan Schur’s SureTone label. The group also recently landed a highly-soughtafter inclusion on the Twilight Saga: Eclipse soundtrack with their song “A Million Miles an Hour.” A definite coup for the band’s longtime publisher Chrysalis Music…
Frequent Flyers: Looks like a A&R folks are going bush to catch New Zealand’s The Naked and Famous. Industry whale riders are making the long flight down under in droves to meet the band, whose single “Young Blood” recently debuted on the New Zealand chart at number one. They’re also among the nominees for the Silver Scroll, NZ’s premier songwriting award… Others are booking southbound travel to see Florida act Fit For Rivals. The band has been turning heads on Warped Tour dates throughout the south and industry ears with a new set of recordings. They play a homecoming show in Jacksonville on August 14th.
Free Agents: The “yet-to-be-named independent label” that Weezer recently tipped they’d be signing to for their next release, after leaving longtime label home Universal, has a name and it’s Epitaph Records. The band’s new forthcoming album is set to be released in September.
07.30.10Place Your Bets: The Shuffling Artist Deck at Majors and Indies
Weezer Going To An Indie For Next Release?
Who’s signing where, and what does it mean? Indie acts going to majors, major label artists aligning with indies, and both systems vying to nab the same unsigned bands… Looking back at recent months there is a veritable mixed bag. There are artists with a history of at least a few successful indie releases under their belts, like Band of Horses and Iron & Wine, who have recently made the jump to major labels, Columbia and Warner Bros. respectively, while other acts like Spoon and Arcade Fire seem to continually be content on indies… Elsewhere new act Surfer Blood appears to have already made the move to a major; just 6-months following the Kanine Records release of the band’s debut album, the group had racked up enough sales and touring numbers to garner serious interest from multiple labels… This while unsigned acts with no real sales or tour history like GroupLove and DOM, are currently being courted by both major labels and indies, seemingly so as to not miss out on what could be… What about the reverse trend? Not counting heritage acts, or the exhaustingly-debated pay-what-you-want path taken by Radiohead and NIN among others, one could point to recent examples in Interpol and Wilco as once major label artists now leaving for an indie (their own new label in the case of Wilco). But will there be more to come (or go, as it is)? Word on the street is that longtime Universal artist, Weezer, who released all seven of their previous studio albums on DGC and Geffen, are making a move to a big indie label for their next album. Hmmm… And finally where do the two now meet? A new project to watch unfold will be The Secret Sisters, who recently finished recording their debut with producers Dave Cobb and T-Bone Burnett. A large buzz is building with the news that the first single from the duo will be released via the Jack White helmed Third Man Records, with the full-length already slated to come out on Universal Republic this fall… Stay Tuned.
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