It’s the end of the new year and we are gearing up to introduce the Kings community to brand new artists. Here it is again, the top 8 emerging artist we posted a couple of weeks ago.

The Top 8 Emerging Artists

Addison Scott – I Want You Bad
The Vantage – On My Way
Strangeheart – How To Feel Right
Like Swimming – Go Buffalo
Kaylee Rutland – Into The Circle
Tommy Burr – Get Out
The Cold & Lovely – Red Eye
Cape Lion – Jennie

Nashville based singer/songwriter/producer Eric Arjes and former lead singer of Atlantic band Camera Can’t Lie, recently signed an exclusive publishing agreement with Universal Music in Nashville. More info on Eric’s creative projects at www.ericarjes.com.
Contact: Ben McLane

Buzz Track: The Optimist

Philadelphia’s electro-pop duo, City Rain is creating a buzz. The band’s first single, “The Optimist,” had its video premiere on Magnetic Magazine. The follow up single, “Join The Human Race” recently premiered its video on Artist Direct. Both singles are a part of the band’s forthcoming, full length LP entitled, Songs for a High School Dance, due out in 2014. The band has shared the stage with Capital Cities, Brick & Mortar, Lumineers, among others.
Contact: Isaac@WeAreMonsterEnt.com

Incura who we posted a while back has signed a European deal with Inside Out Music (Century Media), although the band is still available for a US label.  The band is unique combining technical prog-rock with classic rock arrangements mixed with the operatic drama inspired by Andrew Lloyd Webber. Check out their videos for Get The Gun and Who You Are.
Contact: Rob.Lanni@coalitionent.com

From Steve Stoute:

Last week, two of the biggest names in music shocked their fans with bold moves through digital media: Long-time digital music holdouts Led Zeppelin announced that they would finally release their catalogue to the masses via Spotify, while Beyoncé, without warning, unleashed her 14-song, 17-video self-titled album on iTunes. One of these events represents the future of music as a business, while the other retreads an already-broken model.

The Spotify/Led Zeppelin deal, unfortunately, represents the latter. Spotify, like Pandora, is still attempting to substantiate a business model that gives music away for free to a vast majority of its listeners. While each service has some small percentage of paid subscribers, their entire business model has so far relied on advertisers to underwrite a majority of their costs. Telling every Spotify user in the world that they will now be able to access the entire catalogue of one of the most popular music acts in history for free is only reinforcing this discredited model; once you train consumers that your product is free, it is very hard, if not impossible, to convert them to a paid model. CONTINUE READING