The number 1 album this week is “Blue Slide Park” by Mac Miller, real name Malcolm McCormick.

Miller records for Rostrum Records, an indie label from Pittsburgh owned by a guy named Benjy Grinburg. It’s the same label that launched Wiz Khalifa on Atlantic Records. For the Mac Miller album, which is hip hop with melodies, Rostrum is distributed through Universal Music Group.

It does seem like Mac Miller’s success comes from hard work and social networking on Facebook, where he has more than a million friends. He also has million Twitter followers. All that translated into about 149,000 CD sales

Dr. Luke, the producer and writer behind the mega hits from Britney Spears, Kesha, Taio Cruz and Katy Perry has signed an exclusive 5 year deal with Sony.

Sony’s CEO Doug Morris says this about Luke:

“He’s the best guy at the moment, as far as a writer and a producer. He and Jimmy (Iovine) are very different, but it’s the same kind of level of intellect and talent.”

Since Luke signed a deal with Sony, this means he can no longer work with Katy Perry who is signed to Capitol Records. He produced and co-wrote nearly all of Perry’s hits, including ‘Hot N Cold,’ ‘I Kissed a Girl,’ ‘California Gurls,’ ‘Teenage Dream,’ ‘E.T.’ and ‘Last Friday Night.’

The Guardian published an article “When bands fall off cliffs”, discussing artists like Kaiser Chiefs and Duffy selling millions of their debut album and flopping on the second release.

Imagine selling millions of records and being loved by the press, the record label and fans..then being abandoned. Read the article here.

New York City’s CMJ begins today. The full schedule can be viewed here.

YouTube is preparing to set up a Merch Store that will allow artists to sell tickets, music, and t-shirts.

With 800 million people per month coming to YouTube, you have a pretty big stage to share your music, and now we’re adding features to also make YouTube your box office, merchandise table and music store,” YouTube announced.

“Fans will be able to buy artists’ merchandise, digital downloads, concert tickets and even unique experiences like meetups,” it added.