Hotels are now sticking their nose in the music business. You heard it right. In fact, the experiment is already on its way with the first artist signing. The Marriott owned W Hotel Records signed R&B singer-songwriter Amber Mark. The first release by Mark is a Kings Go Forth’s “High On Your Love”. The Hotel chain noted it will sign 4 artists in the coming year. Unlike Starbucks which launched a now defunct record label in 2007, the Marriott backed music label will provide the artist with recording space, video shoot locations, distribution, streaming services and even vinyl production. How will W Records attract artists? They’ll get exposure to the million members of Marriott’s global rewards programs says the Hotel Chain. We’ll follow the new signings and keep an eye on the impact.

Madonna: The Rolling Stone Interview
“Feeling regret is really destructive. I’ve learned a lot from my marriage – mostly about myself.”

Here we learned everything about Madonna in the 1989 interview with Rolling Stone Magazine. We learned about her marriage, regrets, sleeping habits and run-ins with the police. It was transparent, at least we believe it was honest. It was a good read though, especially for fans of Madonna. Moreover, the biggest female celebrity in the world had a chance to show her human side talking about insecurities and fears.

Today, artists control the narrative. In many cases, the biggest artists won’t even engage in tell-all interviews. Taylor Swift won’t. Drake dropped out from giving any substantial interviews. Here is the difference. In 1989, celebrity journalism made a significant impact in the lives of artists. Consequently, social media replaced it. Artists are in 100% control of the narrative. Instead of talking with their audience in an interview setting, they “talk-at” their audience by means of scheduled social media posts. Which means? The death of celebrity press. CONTINUE READING

In 2013, we talked about pop artist Bryce Vine who released an EP and performed shows with Karmin. He went on to perform a iHeartRadio live showcase with Z100 and appeared on Late Night With Seth Meyers. Of course this all happened because of his hit song Drew Barrymore which clocked over 80 million streams. At the end of the day, you never can predict a hit. Vine reveals that he never imagined the massive success, “No. I just never wrote songs expecting that. … No, you just try to write good songs and then hope people hear it and then when something explodes, it’s like then you play catch-up.”

Consequently, hits can take minutes to write or months. In Vine’s case, the song was written over many months. Honing on his musical schools, Vine attended Berklee College Of Music which led to a Glee Audition. Sending in an audition tape via Myspace, he made it to the top 12 before being eliminated. After the Glee spectacle is when he released an EP (which we featured), but circumstances changed a bit. “I went through heartbreak and cynicism and stress trying to be like a broke musician in LA like everyone else,” he says. “I hated telling people that I was an artist when I had nothing to show for it. It felt dumb to say, ‘Oh yeah, I’m an artist and I make music, and we should collab.’ I just kept working towards it but it was hard…when you get cynical it’s hard to get out of that.”

Indeed, a hit song can change everything. Zero to hero in a day. With that, he has a new album coming out on Sire Records and will embark on an October tour with MAX.

It’s hard to imagine that Centricity, a small Christian music label based in Nashville has the next Adele, but they do. Her name is Lauren Daigle, and she is hugely popular in the christian circle but virtually unknown in the mainstream.

The Lafayette, Louisiana native, is like an old school vintage painting. Inspired by powerhouses like Celine Dion, Whitney Houston, and Amy Winehouse, the 25 year old admits her love for jazz. Daigle notes, “In South Louisiana, every single thing we do is jazz or zydeco. We grew up going to Randol’s and dancing every Sunday night, going to Frenchman Street in New Orleans, but it really started to come out when I realized I didn’t have it anymore. When I moved to Nashville, it was kind of a devastating blow. I was thinking, “Okay, this is Music City, this is gonna change my life,” and I got up there and the first thing I did was asked all the music people I was surrounded by, “Ok, where’s the jazz?!” They were like, “what are you thinking…” That was when it hit me, like, I just left the greatest place in the world for jazz. I think because of that longing, it grew so much more. So for Christmas, we put out a jazz Christmas record. It definitely has a New Orleans kind of sound.” CONTINUE READING

The powers that be are accessing this years MTV Video Music Awards after hitting another ratings low. Only 5 million viewers decided to tune in. To save face, the network is painting an upswing in social media activity. Still, the show didn’t move sales and streaming numbers for the artists, and that’s what labels and managers hope for. Money is spent and a return is expected. Plus, putting on the show is a hefty cost. One could very well assume that this could be the last MTV awards show. The fat lady may have sung. If MTV thought they had impact on popular culture, the confidence is gone. It’s a new era.

“Because in this bottom-up world, where cultural authority shatters into a million channels of exposure, the hits are harder to foresee—and authority is harder to protect.” – Derek Thompson

If anything, the MTV network looks cursed. Madonna was hired to pay tribute to Aretha Franklin and received the biggest backlash of her career. Post Malone left in a plane that blew two tires and had to make emergency landing, while twitter followers were hoping for his death. In fact, some of the biggest pop stars skipped the ceremony. The Washington Post said Camila Cabello, who was the surprise winner of both Artist of the Year and Video of the Year, was MTV’s way of sending a message to celebrities who don’t show up that they would be ‘punished’ for not showing up at the awards and ‘rewarded’ for attending.

It’s back to the boardroom.