TVT’s Credit Crunch: Here is a list of TVT’s unsecured creditors. You will even find Nickelback’s Chad Kroeger in the list.The indie lable filed chapter 11 several months ago.
Coldplay Reaches 2 Million: Coldplay’s new single ‘Violet Hill’ has been downloaded over 2 million times which was made available only 7 days ago. “A spokesman for the band said demand was “staggering,” adding Violet Hill would have outsold the whole of last week’s top 40 singles four times over”. Listen to the track here, it grows on you with each listen. It definitely has a Floyd vibe. Coldplay is the one of the few bands that broke in the last decade that mean anything.
Buzznet Still Buzzing: Buzznet who just grabbed Stereogum and Idolator are now putting their eggs in the basket with AbsolutePunk. Buzznet is a media network that focuses on music discovery and discussion. Universal Music also recently invested into Buzznet.
The Radio Airwaves: Weezer’s track ‘Pork and Beans‘ is #1 on the Alternative Rock Format while Disturbed’s new single ‘Inside The Fire‘ is #1 on the active rock format.
Recommended Listening: Listen to Broken Sky by Copper. The band is consistently building their base and just finished writing some killer new tracks that could potentially take them to the next level. We will post soon…
KOARs favorite My Favorite Highway will be releasing a new record scheduled for a July release date. We have been pimping this band for a while, and if you’re not familiar with the band, check them out and listen to
Murder On The Radio and They Tried To Kill Chivalry. Truly a cut above the rest!
Signings:The four piece pop punk band, The Years Gone By, has signed to Rise Records.
Universal Republic has signed the Nasvilled based singer/songwriter
Erin McCarley. It also appears that Republic also struck a deal with the band
State of Shock. Their track “Money Honey†was a top 10 single at three formats including Rock, CHR and Hot AC, and is #1 on this weeks Sirius Hits #1 Countdown.
A Change in Direction? Bill Gates, the granddaddy of technology says their will be a massive change in internet technology. Lets hope he is right. “The Internet has been operating now for 10 years,” Gates said. “The second 10 years will be very different.”
New Music = Tips@Kingsofar.com
12,000 of the world’s independent record labels have joined together to create a virtual fifth major.
“80 percent of the world’s music releases come not from the majors but from independent labels. Getting access to this music is a hassle for stores like iTunes and webcasters like Last.fm, since it takes an incredible amount of effort to do thousands of different (and small) deals. It’s not a great situation for the indies, either, which individually don’t possess the clout needed to get the best deals.”
A little over a year ago, the indies launched Merlin, a one stop rights clearinghouse for indie artists. More importantly and according to Ars Technica, “Merlin has announced that it is working on deals with several soon-to-be-launched services, including the highly-anticipated music service from MySpace.” Read the rest here..
NIN Releases Another New Album: Trent Reznor has been on a writing binge lately. Trent announced that he released another album titled ‘The Slip‘ and is giving it away for free. ‘We are giving away the new nine inch nails album one hundred percent free, exclusively via nin.com says Trent’. ‘For those of you interested in physical products, fear not. we plan to make a version of this release available on CD and vinyl in july. details coming soon.
Fueled By Success: The New York Times has a piece titled ‘An Alternative Approach To Marketing Rock Bands‘ which discusses the indie label Fueled By Ramen. The people at the label instill a hard work ethic for the bands they sign. ‘When Mr. Janick signs bands, he tells them how hard they will work, not how rich they will become’. Regardless, hard work and blogging until your fingers fall off doesn’t guarantee success. For instance, “The last album from the Academy Is sold half of what its previous release did, and the new album from Cobra Starship, another of the label’s bands, may not sell 100,000”. It’s all about the songs…
Recommended Listening: Save The Day By Mayday
Check Out My Myspace Plays: TuneBoom, the myspace play count inflator which was used by major and indie labels has mysteriously gone OFF LINE after it was talked about in the blogosphere. ‘Bands and labels looking for a way to fake MySpace popularity have plenty of other ways to manipulate the play counts on MySpace Music says WIRED. What do the number of myspace plays mean? Usually nothing. Of course if you have zero myspace plays, it may just appear that you are DEAD.
Todays artists are eager to put their home made demos on myspace believing it’s their window of opportunity. Sometimes it is but most of the time it isn’t. I notice that artists spend more time networking than writing songs. Songs will make you known, not myspace plays. If it wasn’t for the track REHAB you would never see Winehouse snorting crack on TMZ. Send us your Myspace link and let us know what song we should be listening to. We don’t care how many plays you have, but it has to be at least one. Email tips@kingsofar.com
New Music and Recommended Listening:
Listen to Without You by Standary of Living. Currently performing shows in support of their self produced and Independent released EP titled Patience. For fans of Jimmy Eat World and Counting Crows.
Miami rock band, Another Black Day, will release their self-titled debut through Bieler Brothers Records on May 20th. The track Wicked Soul has begun to gain support at rock stations across the country.
Minneapolis pop act Baltimore who consists of polished seasonal players just released a self titled EP. The track Scream Out Loud was featured on the final episode of MTV’s the Gauntlet 3. Listen to the track This Is The End.
State of Shock who hails from Canada was nominated for a 2008 Juno Award for Best New Group. The track “Money Honey” was a top 10 single at three formats including Rock, CHR and Hot AC, and is #1 on this weeks Sirius Hits #1 Countdown.
The track Handlebars by Flobots surprised the music biz for its quick reaction among program directors and listeners alike. We suggest you read the Idolator column that discusses how the track is finding its way
on different radio formats. Watch the video here.