I was having dinner with my friend Mark Mazzetti, former A&R at our mutual employer A&M Records, and who is now putting the finishing touches on his new label, R&M Artist Records that will launch shortly. Mark is a very knowledgeable record person, but had some issues he wanted to talk over regarding co-writes for some artists he’s interested in signing. From that conversation, I thought it might be useful for KOAR readers to have some guidelines for co-writes.

Co-writing with your producer, friends, band mates or [other] professional songwriters is a good thing. But remember–you’re creating a piece of property when you write a song (or record a master for that matter, but that’s another subject). This time that property is intellectual property. Like any other form of property, intellectual property has certain rules of the road that can have some twists, turns and dangerous shoals. You wouldn’t build a house with a partner if you didn’t understand at least the basic legal issues of co-owning real estate, and neither should you create a piece of intellectual property with someone without knowing at least a bit about intellectual property law, and particularly the law of copyright. CONTINUE READING

How the modern world has changed for artists. Hackers have hit myspace and say the viruses in circulation can change settings, delete files, secretly track users’ movements online and even damage computers.

Unfortunately, hackers have hidden dangerous software on the site which means that computers can be attacked unaware to users while they are just viewing pages. Clicking on your favorite band may cost your computer.

“There is a very real threat to users of MySpace, and in fact we have already seen several MySpace specific viruses emerge,” Graham Cluley of computer security company Sophos told the Standard Lite newspaper.

Myspace popularity has led to it becoming a target for scams.

“The problem is that people tend to let their guard down because they think the site is safe. But even a picture of a fluffy bunny rabbit on the site can contain a hidden piece of software that could harm your machine,” he said. “We’ve also seen pages that contain code to automatically spread viruses through MySpace’s buddy system, which lets you add friends to your profile.”

(Reuters)

 

We receive new submissions every day here at KOAR, constantly in search of great bands with something to say. After listening to demo after demo after demo, we’re forced to ask the question ‘Are there just no great bands anymore? Or are the great ones not sending out demos?’ Nothing has stood out. Nothing has been great, or even noteworthy. We’re in search of the real deal but are bombarded with regurgitated mediocrity.
 
So what are we looking for then? Basically, we don’t care about style and genre. We don’t care about fads. We don’t care about hype. We simply want great music. We’re looking for originality and a point of view. We aren’t just looking for hit songs we’re looking for hit bands. We’re looking for bands that have something to say, and say it in a way that makes us stop to listen. We don’t help bands just because they exist; we help them because we support what they’re doing and feel this industry would be better if they were a part of it.
 
We listen to every submission we receive, and encourage artists who feel they honestly have what it takes to keep sending them in. However, we will not be arbitrarily supporting artists simply for something to talk about. We’d rather never promote bands than promote unworthy bands. Think you have what it takes to get past our critiques? send your press kits to KOAR or send website/myspace link to Dean@kingsofar.com

 

Sirius shares have sunk from $4.72  to $3.75 on Monday, and XM shares dropped from $34.65 to $11.01 in the same time frame.

Since both shares are dropping the obvious next step is a merger.

“Mel, as CEO of Sirius Satellite Radio, it’s time to make your move on a merger. Right now.”

 

(Reuters)

– Alternative rock band Breaking Benjamin opened up with 124,790k with the #2 spot on Billboard.

-Death metal act Slayer debuted with 62,449k.

– KOAR’s Alumn and Favorite Under the Influence of Giants recently released their debut on Island.

-  Baton Rouge rock band Meriwether signed a deal with Suretone Records/Interscope.

– YouTube said Tuesday that it is talking with record labels to post thousands of music videos online, aiming to move beyond being a site for sharing home videos to being a provider of mainstream entertainment like Yahoo and others.

What we really want to do is in six to 12 months, maybe 18 months, to have every music video ever created up on YouTube,” cofounder Steve Chen told Reuters. “We’re trying to bring in as much of this content as we can onto the site.”

Warner Music and EMI said they are each trying to work out a business model with YouTube