Tom Zutaut (pictured left), the A&R guy who signed Guns N Roses to Geffen Records in the mid 80’s, was booted out of the “Chinese Democracy” listening party, held at the Roxy Theater in West Hollywood, California last Tuesday (November 18). Tom Zutaut said this:

“I believe that love and hate are a complicated thing but ultimately the same thing. I love Axl and think ‘Chinese Democracy’ is a genius body of music. “It is sad and disappointing to me that those around Axl would lie to him to fuel his hatred towards me with imaginary events used to drive a wedge between us. I love him deeply, will always love him and wish only the greatest success to one of the world’s last true creative musical sparks with a god-given voice.

I am proud of my contributions to his career and am always there for him should he one day become enlightened to the truth of what surrounds him. It is also sad that he doesn’t mention the hard work I put in on my short involvement with ‘Chinese Democracy’with even a ‘Thank You’ considering lesser players are credited or thanked in the liner notes — even those who ridiculed him, belittled and made fun of him behind his back while I defended his genius ’til those around him poisoned him against me with distortions and lies. “I wear his hatred as a badge of honor as it would be far worse for him not to care at all.”

Signings: Tori Amos has teamed up with Universal Republic Records. Her upcoming Universal Republic debut is currently scheduled for a late spring/early summer 2009.

A slew of Executives at Terra Firma involved in the structuring of EMI Music have left the company. To find out who is exiting read here.

The Opening: Guns N’ Roses’ ‘Chinese Democracy‘ debuted at No. 3 with 261,000 copies – not bad for a Best Buy exclusive and without press set-up.

Amazon Launches MP3 Store in the UK with the most recent albums from Kings Of Leon, Coldplay and Girls Aloud being sold for £3. This is another blow to Apple.

New Report: Digital music sales now account for 18 percent of the U.S. music market and will grow to 41 percent in five years according to Forrester Research. The report also said that 55 percent of U.S. online consumers will pay to download digital music in 2013.

Recommended Show: Buffalo rock act Settings will be performing at the Key Club in Hollywood, California tonight. Listen to the songs Walk Away and Creatures.

Black Friday: Music Sales were down from 10 to 30% and big name albums released for Black Friday didn’t perform up to expectations according to merchants. Kanye West’s ‘808s & Heartbreak’ will sell in the 425k range down from the previously projected range of 800k. Guns N’ Roses’ “Chinese Democracy” is expected to sell at 250,000-260,000, not the predicted 300,000-784,000 units. Sales at Music specialty store Newbury Comics was down 21% and label executives said hit-album sales were off significantly at big box retailers like Wal-Mart and Barnes & Noble.

Axl is Missing? Speaking of Chinese Democracy a source said that the album would have had a better chance of going #1 if Axl had been prepared to show his face. Chinese Democracy climb to number two on U.K. Albums chart, beaten by The Killers’ “Day & Age” which landed at #1 on the chart. The source said that the disappointing result happened because the band missed out the album’s promotion project. “People have been trying to contact him for two months and he’s been completely AWOL. You would have thought after spending 15 years on an album you might do a few weeks promotion,” the source explained.

Signings: Phoenix based pop/rock band The Summer Set have signed a co-publishing deal with Razor & Tie.

Can Radio Save Itself? Not to long ago, Radio ruled the world, but now is facing competition from iPods, the internet, and satellite radio. Advertisers are now spreading the dollars, and although radio is still a popular medium for advertising, many companies have pulled back due to current economic conditions. Even though the audience for broadcast radio is actually growing, stations cannot seem to increase their revenue says the New York Times. Some say there are signs of hope. To illustrate: “radio now reaches more than 235 million listeners in a week, versus 232 million last year, according to a study by Arbitron. But those people are listening to the radio less: fewer than 19 hours a week, versus about 20.4 in 2005.” Also, Radio executives are hoping that HD Radio will catch on with consumers.

Radio Is Headed For Worst Year Since 1954: The latest data shows that radio is heading for its worst year financially since 1954. In 2008 radio revenue has fell 7%. Boyle notes that “October was the 18th consecutive negative year-over-year revenue month and 2008 is the eighth straight struggling year.

From One Pimp To Another: Ashlee Dupree, the former escort who brought down NY Governor Eliot Spitzer has inked a deal with Violator Management who is headed by Chris Lighty. Violator past clients included rappers like 50 Cent, Busta Rhymes and Mobb Deep.

Most Popular Sellers @ 5.00 Bucks: Amazon is preparing for the online Christmas shopping blitz and is selling the most popular albums for 5.00 each. Some artists include Coldplay ‘Viva La Vida’, Death Cab For Cutie ‘Narrow Stairs’, and Metallica’s ‘Death Magnetic’. The entire list is here.

It looks like 300,000 fans will purchase Guns N Roses ‘Chinese Democracy’ in the first week. The former Skid Row singer Sebastion Bach who sang backup on Sorry recently chimed in on Chinese Democracy..

“As soon as I dropped the needle on ‘Chinese Democracy’, I was captivated by the sound of this record, & the thought, talent, & care put into this piece of Art, from all involved. The power, clarity, separation, & production of this music is nothing short of incredible. As loud as I want, I can still hear the vocals, guitars & everything else perfectly clear, with the bass rumbling my guts (& below) just like it should. When Axl rips into the line “even with an iron fist” in the first song, the blood in my veins starts to boil & the intensity does not let up until the end of Side Four.”

Did you listen to Chinese Democracy yet? It’s not a victim of the loudness war folks.