A Change In Direction: Are the Timbaland produced dance records coming to an end? The recent beat induced Duran Duran record quickly dissipated and the new Ashlee Simpson record, ‘Bittersweet World‘, will quickly fall off the charts and disappear into oblivion. Simpson’s first album, Autobiography, debuted at number one in the U.S. with first week sales numbering around 398,000 copies and was certified triple platinum. So why did she trade in pop rock for club beats? I certainly don’t know..

Oh No, Not Again!: Universal Music Canada has joined the search for Canada’s version of Miley Cyrus. “The Canadian label will offer a record contract to the winner of “The Instant Star,” a summer reality talent show from YTV, Canada’s kids cable channel, and producer Tricon Films & Television, that will bow July 18″. “The homegrown series will see young Canadians age 15 and younger compete for singing stardom. CTV’s rival summer “Canadian Idol” series has a cutoff age of 16″.

Pay Attention Please: It’s harder to keep one’s attention because we are living in a globalized world with to many options and an influx of information.
TV viewership continues to slide and some wacky neuroscientist’s even claim that modern technology including video games is changing the way our brain works. Todays artists need to arm themselves with information and need to understand that mediocrity will no longer hold any value. The one good thing of having to many options is that mediocrity will fall between cracks forcing greatness to prevail. How does an album once again become more important than a video game? It has to be great.

New Music: Canadian rock band, Social Code, who is signed to Universal/Canada will be performing a show at the Mercury Lounge (NYC) on May 20th. The band signed with SL Feldman Booking and just finished tours with Hedley and Sum 41, will be the main support to Theory of a Dead Man in June. The band are free agents in the US. Listen to the track
Everyday Late November and The Shortest Line. For more information email here.

Combining Music and Art: The Wall Street Journal wrote a piece about a Minneapolis band called Cloud Cult. They combine music With live paintings onstage. Instead of profiting from t-shirts, the band sells
paintings and other eccentric souvenirs. One painting sold $1,000 — about as much as the group typically gets paid to perform. The band also spent $15,000 to have its CD pressed and packaged, which is more than double of the typical rate because Cloud Cult insists on using non-toxic inks and recycled packaging instead of standard plastic jewel cases. This band seems like a dream for an indie fans — only if they could sell comic books too…