Apple and music companies fight claim that iTunes pricing hurts British Consumers, while Apple accuses the music companies of preventing
it from operating a pan-European, one-price service. (WSJ)

Myspace has created a new ad-system that will display ads
based on what’s in your profile. MySpace says the new system increased the
chances of a user clicking on a banner ad by 80%.

This Week Sales…..

Kanye West 956k
50 Cent 691k
Kenny Chesney 386k
Fergie 40k
Nickelback 34k

Barry Manilow says he has backed out of his scheduled appearance on the morning talk show – The View, after the show refused to pull Hasselbeck from the interview, Access Hollywood has learned.

He Says on his Web Site…

“I wanted to let you know that I will no longer be on The View tomorrow as scheduled.
I had made a request that I be interviewed by Joy, Barbara or Whoopi,
but not Elisabeth Hasselback . Unfortunately, the show was not willing to
accommodate this simple request so I bowed out. It’s really too bad because
I’ve always been a big supporter of the show, but I cannot compromise my beliefs.
The good news is that I will be on a whole slew of other shows promoting
the new album so I hope you can catch me on those.”

Sources close to “The View” claim Manilow is lying.

CONTINUE READING

KOARs new pick is Shannon Nicole who hails from St Louis, Missouri.
Her music roots stem from the time she spent in Texas which are evident
in her country/southern rock/pop crossover style.
We are finding out that other industry execs are as impressed as we are.
Check out the track Mama Raised You Right. For more info contact
Dan Friedman.

Britney Spears lawyer and manager Jeff Kwatinetz split from the camp.
Who wouldn’t bail from this media circus? We live in a time when media and
people are more interested in personal lives than anything else.
No wonder creativity is suffering, so lame….

Here is a statement from the FIRM:
“We have represented Britney for the past month.
We believe Britney is enormously talented, and has made a terrific record.
But current circumstances have prevented us from properly doing our job.
We wish Britney the best.

It looks like Kanye West’s album Graduation could top 850k and
50 Cent’s Shady/Aftermath/ Interscope album Curtis could end up with 625k.
Country star Kenny Chesneys first week could land 425k.

The free, ad-supported music download site SpiralFrog has launched today.
The songs can’t be played on iPods or burned onto CDs.

The Hint has entered the studio with Zack Odom and
Kenneth Mount (Cartel, Mayday Parade) to record a new six-song EP. (AP)

Los Angeles based pop rock band Billy Boy On Poison have signed to
Kiefer Sutherland and Jude Cole’s record label Ironworks Music.
Legal rep is Ben McLane.

Hinder sound a-like Jet Black Stare who comes from Vancouver, Canada has signed to Island Records.

 

Guy Hands the CEO and founder of Terra Firma, vowed to keep EMI’s recorded music division and to invest in artists big and small to restore the company’s fortunes following its £2.4bn buyout.

Guy Hands said that he was confident of overhauling EMI’s model
to make it less reliable on huge selling artists.
“We’re determined to keep that part of the business and
we’re determined to make it viable,”

He made clear that EMI would have to be restructured
so that it could generate a profit even
when an artist sells “only” 200,000 records.

EMI is expected to create a structure in which lower selling artists
with more niche appeal can still be profitable….

“The independent record labels are a lot livelier,” said Mr Hands.
“The vision of EMI is to be big enough to do everything we can for every artist,
but small enough to care for every artist.”

Peter Chernin, the CEO of News Corp says senior executives  must be willing to undergo a huge cultural shift and not be afraid of failure.

Broadcasters have been wrestling with the challenge of
maintaining revenues and viewers in the face of exploding choice
and fragmenting media options. But, said Mr Chernin, media groups
were well placed to benefit from an unprecedented period of technological change.

Fragmentation was having a positive effect on creativity, he
believed. “The middle is dead, and
that’s the greatest thing that has ever happened.
The bland, safe, central middle is never coming back.”

Mr Chernin echoed Mr Hands by saying companies should
concentrate on big blockbusters at one end of the market
and high quality niche offerings at the other. (TheGuardian)

The Bottom Line: Reality seems to be setting in that Major Music Labels need to restructure their finances so lower selling artists can be profitable.
Lower selling artists would no doubt require job cuts.  Everyone is interested if Hands can turn this plan into a reality. I couldn’t agree more that the MIDDLE is dead. The MTV VMA’s was a perfect example…