Buzz Track: Come With Me Now

KONGOS is a rock band of four brothers – Johnny, Jesse, Dylan and Danny Kongos. Sons of British singer-songwriter John Kongos, they grew up in London and South Africa, and are now based in Phoenix, AZ.  If you’re a fan of The Killers check out KONGOS. Upcoming shows can be viewed here.  You can check them out at The Living Room in NYC on October 20th.

Contact:  seangoulding@theagencygroup.com

Buzz Track: Mountains

Local songwriter Kris Orlowski & composer Andrew Joslyn, well-known and loved in the Seattle community, have paired up to create a 5-song record “Pieces We Are” with a folk-rock band and 17-piece orchestra. This album includes select tracks with a full choir including: Allen Stone, Daniel Blue (from Motopony), Dan Koch (from Sherwood), Kevin Long, Mychal Cohen & Melodie Knight (from Campfire Ok), Matt & Mike Gervais, Noah Gunderson, and orchestral members of the Seattle Rock Orchestra.

The EP is available October 16th. The band has been getting love. The CD Release show at the Triple Door SOLD OUT and the band quickly added a second show. With early radio rotation at 5 well known college stations, the big news for for the band is that they are getting spins on Seattle’s KEXP.

Contact: ryan.anne.mckenzie@gmail.com

Buzz Track: Crescent Saints

Benji is the frontman for Built To Be Broken and is currently on The Voice. His Bob Dylan cover of “Knockin On Heavens Door” peaked at #5 on the iTunes Rock Chart. Aside from The Voice, his band is doing quite well having met with labels in Nashville. The band consists of all Indians and musically they compare to John Mayer and Coldplay. You can view the video from The Voice here.

Contact: stephanie@stephaniechristie.com

Buzz Track: Mona Lisa

Singer Songwriter Dylan Gardner is making a name for himself. Taking cues from The Black Keys and The Lumineers he has already composed over 100 songs weaving radio ready hooks that contain 60s and 70s elements. His music has Top 40, alternative and AC market appeal, yet big picture Dylan’s broad demographic appeal ranges from kids to grandparents.

Contact: bcmclane@aol.com

Although many artists go to great lengths to stay on the charts, I haven’t seen anything quite like this. Justin Bieber’s fifteen minutes of fame are coming to an end. Below is a piece from Showbiz 411.

“In a move of utter desperation, Bieber’s management– according to several entertainment sites–supposedly created a hoax this week to promote his new video. Bieber tweeted that his computer and camera had been stolen. Next, a lewd, nude picture of purportedly him turned up on TMZ. Then a new official video came out, and it turned out that the picture wasn’t of him, and that the video was the supposed material that had been stolen.

http://www.eonline.com/news/353581/justin-bieber-stolen-laptop-a-hoax-singer-releases-nicki-minaj-music-video-thanks-alleged-thief

The net-net: the song, “Beauty and a Beat,” has not caused much of a stir on iTunes, where downloads put it at around number 50. On YouTube, there have been over 5 million free viewings for the very expensive looking video, but– and this might be important– only 255,000 times have fans “liked” it. And 22,000 haven’t “liked” it.  “Beauty and a Beat,” disposable pop featuring Nicki Minaj (who has to be paid), is clearly a loss leader for the tour.

Bieber’s album, “Believe,” has not been much of a hit. Another single, “As Long as You Love Me,” has been a very modest hit.

And the tour: Bieber has started his tour with Carly Rae Jepsen in Canada, his birthplace. There, the ticket sales look ok. But in the US, it’s a different story. The secondary ticket market is flooded. Hundreds and thousands of tickets are available on Stubhub.com depending on the sizes of the venues. At Madison Square Garden, it’s a buyer’s market, that’s for sure.

And that’s interesting for everyone because a recent report out of Nashville suggest that Bieber’s management is scalping its own seats to make more money.

http://www.newschannel5.com/story/19616981/documents-show-bieber-is-scalping-his-own-tickets

Phil Williams, reporting out of Newschannel 5 in Nashville, uncovered a cache of documents that show how Bieber’s team is allegedly ripping off fans. According to Williams, Bieber’s management hasn’t responded to the accusations. It’s a must-read story, however, and explains why there are so many tickets on Stubhub. Of course, the irony will be that the marked up tickets don’t sell. The Bieber team could go to the cleaners.

Scooter Braun, Bieber’s manager, has been incredibly clever meantime about diversifying. He clearly has “45 rpm” ears. He picked up Carly Rae Jepsen’s single, “Call Me Maybe,” and turned it into the event of the summer. The album isn’t really selling, and she’s likely done. But Braun likely made a tidy sum from the single. By next year at this time he’ll be saying “Call me, maybe” to Jepsen.

Braun also picked up a novelty single from Korea, called “Gangnam Style.” It’s in the top 3 this week. It’s the “Mambo No. 5? of 2012. No Bieber single has ever sold like “Call Me Maybe” or “Gangnam.” By the time Braun is done, he’ll be living in several mansions. The artists will be trivia questions. It’s the long tradition of the music business.

But with the allegations of scalping, the hoax with the nude picture and the stolen computer stuff, Braun–and his partners, which include Usher– have no doubt seen the darkness at the end of the tunnel. If I were Justin Bieber, and I owned that $100,000 silver car he drives around, I’d be selling it and putting the money into treasury notes right now. That is, if he actually owns it. Or anything.”