According the Financial Times, shares in EMI Group jumped 8.3%. You can thank Coldplay for the much needed boost. Coldplay’s X&Y was the biggest selling album online last year.

Wind-Up Records, 20TH Century Fox and Myspace Announce Undiscovered Band Contest for upcoming feature film John Tucker Must Die.

Following last month’s KOAR post about unsigned bands at SXSW that really shouldn’t stay unsgined, Florida’s freak rockers Indorphine have inked a deal with Rock Ridge Music. The band will continue their tour with Dog Fashion Disco and are preparing for a July 11th release of their new album “Glowsticks For Clubbing Baby Seals” on their new label. Check out their song So Many Days.

The other artists from that post are also receiving attention. Ludo is in the process of negotiating a deal, with Furthest From The Star and Hotspur beginning talks with various labels and representation.

“The Infinite Dial: Radio’s Digital Platforms (Arbitron and Edison Media Research), says the monthly audience age 12+ for Internet radio now tops an estimated 52 million, which is up from about 37 million people in 2005. The weekly Internet radio audience also increased by 50 percent over the past year, with 12 percent of the U.S. population age 12+ having listened to Internet radio in the past week.� (FMQB)

Anyone who has surfed MySpace lately can tell you with some level of certainty that nearly everyone on the planet is actively online. Young people especially have embraced technology to the point of dependence. Labels have recognized this activity to a degree and put a little more effort into their new media departments, however what they’re investing is nowhere near what they invest in off-line marketing. Indie labels have taken note of how affordable and effective new media is and have thrown the majority of their money in online marketing and it has proven successful with their ‘hype bands’ being snatched up by majors at a startling pace.

Austin-based emo rock band Furthest From The Star have put a relatable rock face on the sometimes taboo subject of cancer with their self released album This Waking Moment, produced by Dwight A. Baker (Firekills, Retrograde, Honestly) and mixed by Daniel Mendez (Trapt, Dashboard Confessional, Train). Their polished, professional album, great stage show, legitimate story of interest, and a slew of glowing album reviews have FFTS wading through a sea of local and regional offers, with their attention fixated on a larger deal, hoping to get their message out to the masses. No management or legal attached. For more information contact AJ at Altsounds 405.514.6832. Check out the tracks Cry For Help, It Serves You Right, My Last Hope

Here are some interesting facts and figures from digitalnews.com:

“According to the RIAA earlier this month, shipments of physical configurations to US retailers topped 705 million units in 2005, an 8.0 percent drop from the year earlier. And since peak year 2000, overall shipments have dipped a substantial 25.2 percent. Meanwhile, the digital story helped to soften the blow in 2005, contributing $1.074 billion to an overall $12.270 billion purse, creating a dip of just 0.6 percent year-over-year.�

“A total of 11,070 new releases from major labels during 2005, and 49,261 from independents. Of that combined total, just 32 new releases crossed the one million (platinum) mark, averaging 1.79 million units each. Furthermore, an additional 62 titles crossed the 500,000 (gold) mark, often a minimum break-even level for many releases.�

Why did independents release over 38,000 more records than major labels? Perhaps because they are only spending a fraction of the money. For an independently released album to compete on a major level it takes at least a $100k investment by the label. Majors will spend that much on shrimp cocktail at a signing party. Most indies, however, have little interest in competing in the mainstream and invest more along the lines of $50-75k. With an absolute minimum investment from a major label for an album being in the ballpark of $750k (not including salaries), it’s no wonder they are having such a difficult time breaking even. Indies can sell around 30k records and turn a profit, but if majors don’t hit the Gold or Platinum mark, it’s considered a failure due to the financial loss. With a major label staff making in a year roughly what an indie label would spend on putting out records through its entire existence, it really is no surprise that major labels are trimming down while indies are staffing up.