News Corp and NBC are joining together to challenge YouTube and plan to launch the largest Internet video distribution network ever assembled with the most sought-after content from television and film. The site will debut this summer with thousands of hours of full-length programming, movies and clips. The new company will be located in New York and Los Angeles.

“This is a game changer for Internet video,” said Peter Chernin, President and Chief Operating Officer of News Corporation. “We’ll have access to just about the entire U.S. Internet audience at launch. And for the first time, consumers will get what they want — professionally produced video delivered on the sites where they live.

This seems to be a lot of HYPE. How are they going to detract people from going to YouTube? YouTube has an enormous following in part due to its strength in user-generated, user-submitted content. News Corp. has also sued to force YouTube to take down clips of some of its shows.

More lawsuits coming your way…….

Music Publishers have Filed a Federal Lawsuit against XM Satellite Radio and alleges that XM engages in massive copyright infringement through its illegal subscription digital music download service known as XM + MP3.”

Kill The Alarm will be performing at the Knitting Factory (NYC) TONIGHT. Reps from labels are expected to attend. For more information email management.

US sales of physical CD’s plummeted 20% in the first three months of the year as downloading of songs continued to knock the underpinnings from record studio revenues.

89 million CD’s were sold from the start of the year through March 18 as compared with 112 million CD’s sold during the same period in 2006, according to Nielsen SoundScan.

Sales of individual songs in digital format on the Internet rose from 242 million tracks during those months last year to 288 million this year, according to SoundScan.

Consumers are sending a message to artists that “while you may have put a lot of thought into the sequence of the album, I only like these three songs,” said digital music industry analyst Michael McGuire of Gartner Research.

“It comes back to consumers being in complete control of their media experience, and that is not going backwards,” Gartner told AFP while discussing the drop in album sales and the rise in single-song track purchases.

“This is a tough business being a record label because they have to find new sources of revenue.”

Album sales continue to decline and singles continue to rise. This is a product issue. Artist’s need to make sure they are offering a complete product with more than one single. I still can’t comprehend why major and indie labels allow product to hit the shelves with one single. KOAR will say this again and again…consumers will not purchase music until there is something worth to buy. Nickelback ain’t complaining with 5 million sales, Kelly Clarkson ain’t complaining, Carrie Underwood isn’t moaning, and Daughtry isn’t crying. You can’t contribute ALL this success to American Idol since the TV show has peddled plenty of STIFFs.

HIT Songs that are carried by HIT artists’ will sell records. This is a fact. Now stop hiring bloggers and new media monkeys to peddle more crap and spend some time finding artists that can write hits.

MTV’s “Total Request Live” is no longer totally live. It’s another sign of how both the audience and cultural juice have faded for “TRL,” once the most influential program on television for music superstars from the Backstreet Boys to Beyonce. Two weeks ago, MTV began taping “Total Request Live” two days a week in an effort to save money. After live shows air Monday and Wednesday afternoons, shows are then taped for the following day.

At its peak in 1999, “TRL” had 757,000 viewers a day, with 346,000 of them aged 12 to 17, according to Nielsen Media Research. So far this year, the show — now seen at 3:30 p.m. ET — averages 351,000 viewers a day, Nielsen said. The 12-to-17-year-old audience is only 113,000, half what it was only two years ago.

New Found Glory have split with their label Geffen Records.

Fiction Plane, the British alternative-rock band featuring Sting’s son Joe Sumner, has signed with hard rock indy label Bieler Bros Records. They will be releasing their new album, “The Left Side Of The Brain” on May 22, 2007. They are also tapped as the direct opening on The Police world tour.

One Less Reason is almost cracking the TOP 50 Album Chart in Jackson, MS.

 Tila Tequila who is best known for her appearances in Stuff, Maxim, and as a host of the FUSE TV show Pants-Off Dance-Off has failed to move digital sales. She also was the most popular person on Myspace with close to 2 million friends. So why are her virtual friends leaving this singing sensation behind? Possibly because the song “I Love U” aint a HIT and her virtual friends would rather see her in leather lingerie rather than holding a mic getting jiggy with it. This isn’t brain surgery, and coming out to the PUBLIC with a G- string riding up your ass won’t strike a 40 million dollar deal with Vegas. If you really want to convince yourself that it is a business model problem rather than an artistic issue then read a further breakdown of the sales here.

The Used is streaming new music here. I don’t mind the band, but this won’t take them to the next level.

You may want to pick up the UK’s Kaiser Chiefs new record Yours Truly, Angry Mob which was released on Feb. 27th. The first single Ruby is a great track. Actually, just download the single from I Tunes, after streaming the whole record it was kind of ehh.

Warner Music Group stock continues to plummet ………..

And…….

Southern California based rock pop band Ozma have signed with About A Girl Records (distributed by Sony) to release their next record in North America. Legal is Ben Mclane and management is Gary Spivak.

KOAR will be posting a bunch of “NEW” artists soon.

Lastly…..

Senate Chief is skeptical of Sirius deal….The proposed merger between Sirius and XM may be great for ‘shareholders’ but the fabulous monopoly could be a bad deal for the consumers.

Alternative rock act Rides Again who hails from Canada just signed a publishing deal with Last Gang Publishing and are currently in the studio with producer Gavin Brown (Three Days Grace) .

YouTube to Sponsor Video Awards Show
Lonelygirl15, OK Go and other YouTube sensations will get an opportunity to walk down a virtual red carpet. YouTube has announced its Video Awards Show which will recognize the best-user created videos of 2006. The awards will be handed out in seven categories: most creative, most inspirational, best series, best comedy, musician of the year, best commentary and “most adorable video ever.”

Check out the LA Times for a good recap of SXSW 2007. YOU couldn’t turn your head during last week’s South by Southwest Music Conference without seeing the logo of some company trying to cash in on the event’s hip cachet……..

Lastly…..Who is Bigger than Bruce Springsteen? Simon Cowell is…..

American Idol personality Simon Cowell says he is bigger than Bruce Springsteen. “I sell more records than Bruce Springsteen, sure,” Cowell says of the 57-year-old rocker, who signed a contract that was reported to be in the neighborhood of $100 million. I mean, in the last five years, I’ve probably sold over 100 million records. If (Springsteen) got one hundred (million dollars), I should have got five hundred (million dollars),” he says. “Every single `Idol’ winner is now signed through Sony BMG,” says Cowell. “And this applies to … all the countries … we sell `Idol’ to, which is over 30 countries.”