Kings of A&R Top 8 Emerging Artists

1) Maggie Chapman – Graffiti
2) Beth Spangler – Like A Bird
3) Radio Days – I’ve Got My Ways On Saturdays
4) Karra – Wild Love
5) Mike Deleasa – To Damn Beautiful
6) Tommy Burr – Lights Out
7) Brittany Ray – Love Is Worth It
8) Kris Orlowski – Believer

Maggie Chapman is a must listen. Check out the track Graffiti which comes off her debut EP which was produced by Luke Laird (Kacey Musgraves). Beth Spangler captured the eyes and ears of songwriters and producers after building a name for herself through a vocal competition. She peaked at #12 on MTV’s popular artist. Radio Days is a electro-indie-pop rock band from Holland and created a buzz after Coldplay mentioned the band on their website. Emerging Electronic/Pop artist, KARRA, has entered the scene with a captivating track called “Wild Love”, with its unforgettable melodies and its unique tribal-esq sound, it serves as a perfect breakout single for the artist. Singer-songwriter Mike Deleasa has toured with the Jonas Brothers in South America, performing Chicago’s House of Blues and NYC’s Irving plaza as direct support for Olly Murs. Tommy Burr who gained traction from our last post will soon release a new EP which features the new single Lights Out. Brittany Ray, a 18 year old country/pop singer-songwriter from Iowa is making noise with her the track Love Is Worth It which features Richie McDonald from Lonestar. Lastly, Kris Orlowski, having just performed at Sundance Film Festival, and is set to perform SXSW just released his new single Believer.

Even record labels are going to the cloud.

Warner Music Group is teaming with music discovery app Shazam to create a new “big data” record label. The aim of the new Shazam label is to discover and sign new acts that can then be supported by Warner.

“We have forged a potent proposition: the first crowd-sourced, big data record label,” said Warner Music Group chief operating officer Rob Wiesenthal in a statement. “While data and crowd sourced analyses will never be a substitute for the expertise and instincts of our (artist & repertoire) professionals, we do believe the information we obtain for this new label will provide very useful signals that will bolster our ability to find the stars of tomorrow.” CONTINUE READING

From Camille Paglia/ The Sunday Times

Lady Gaga never saw it coming. After a relentless, mammoth, publicity extravaganza for her new album, ArtPop, she was upstaged by a comet seeming to swoop in out of nowhere — the release of Eminem’s The Marshall Mathers LP 2. Eminem’s sales boomed big, while Gaga’s embarrassingly fizzled, leading to quick deep discounts to keep ArtPop on the charts.

Eminem, now 41, did few interviews and personal appearances for this formidable double album. As with Adele sweeping the Grammys two years ago, his instant commercial triumph demonstrates the readiness of a discerning world public to respond to power and passion of voice rather than to manipulative gimmicks or exhibitionistic stunts. CONTINUE READING

From The New York Times

The Universal Music Group, the giant record company that sells almost 40 percent of the world’s music, is about to get a little bigger through a deal with the independent label behind Mumford & Sons.

Glassnote, founded by Daniel Glass in 2007, has struck a global distribution agreement with Universal for its music, starting March 1. The deal is a blow to Sony Music Entertainment, which had handled Glassnote through its Red distribution unit. CONTINUE READING

From NPR:

Last year, American Idol winner Phillip Phillips released the song “Gone, Gone, Gone” from his debut album The World from the Side of the Moon. The song went to #1 on the Adult Alternative and Adult Contemporary charts and peaked at #24 on Billboard‘s pop song chart, the Hot 100. For Gregg Wattenberg, one of three credited co-writers of “Gone, Gone, Gone,” the song’s chart performance was of particular interest because it translated indirectly into cash.

“U.S.-only hit songs — when I say ‘hit’ I mean like top five, not like No. 20 — can generate anywhere from one to two million dollars in ASCAP monies,” Wattenberg says. CONTINUE READING