Do consumers blame artist for overblown hype leaving them hopeless? Check out this column that discusses instant stars like CMJ acts Black Kids, Vampire Weekend aren’t given the chance to evolve into greater bands.

You can now stream Avenged Sevenfold’s new self-titled and self produced album in its entirety. The album will hit streets next Tuesday.

After listening to Coheed’s latest album, ‘No World For Tomorrow,’ we believe this could put them on the map. Coheed has always been slightly left of mainstream but this time they trimmed the fat and delivered well crafted choruses without abandoning the prog rock. The dreadful rock format needs a boost of creativity and Coheed could be part of the solution of getting consumers excited about rock again. Time will tell….

Radiohead is on the verge of signing a deal to release the CD version of the album in the US with ATO Records, which is headed by Coran Capshaw, Dave Matthews Band’s manager. Major labels including Warner Brothers, Columbia and Starbucks were engaged in a bidding war but the band decided to embrace the indie model. (NYT)

This Week Sales….

Springsteen (77k)
Kid Rock (77k)
Jimmy Eat World (62k)
Santana (56k)
Cobie Caillat (50k)
Foo Fighters (29k)
Thrice (27k)
J Lo (18k)
James Blunt (16k)
Paramore (14k)
Atreyu (5k)

Business Week is getting all text book on us with the column “Leaving Record Labels Behind” Musicians are looking for an alternative, Their managers may be the answer…They tell us to keep an eye on the relationship between a band and its management. Business Week cites Madonna and Radiohead as indicators of a possible future trend.

The Bottom Line: Lets stop the madness. Madonna is living in the old system but pretending to live in the new system. She is use to big cash advances and wont have it any other way. If Toys ‘R’ Us would have guaranteed Madonna a 200 million dollar advance we would be reading a press release the next day that may have looked liked this..

Who knows how my albums will be distributed in the future? That’s what’s exciting about this Toys ‘R’ Us deal…everything is possible. Toys ‘R’ Us has offered me a true partnership and after 25 years in the business, I feel that I deserve that.” – Madonna