Buzz Track: Cannibal

Fight The Machine just released their debut EP titled ‘The Assayer’ which they self released on iTunes, Amazon, and Spotify. The EP was produced by Gus Cryns (Escape The Fate, Foxy Shazam, Hedley, Panic! At The Disco) and the video for Cannibal received 20,000 views in the first week. The band will perform at the Viper Room in West Hollywood w/ The Dreaming on May 4th.

Contact: wearefightthemachine@gmail.com

Adele is set to sell another 155k CD’s this week and has no signs of slowing down. Adele recently told a magazine that she never thought her latest CD would have such an impact.

“I was saying, “I don’t think this record is going to do anything. I can’t feel the buzz in America,”‘ she said.

Rob Stringer, CEO of Columbia Records was quite surprised as well.

‘When everybody heard the record, they knew it was special,’ he told the magazine. ‘But not one person could honestly tell you they thought it would sell this many.’

It’s hard to predict the sales of artists today with the changing variables and moving parts.

Buzz Track: Pretty Pretty

Check out the track Pretty Pretty by Lauran Irion which was produced by Matthew Hagar (Duran Duran, Mandy Moore). Lauren is the star of ABC’s show GCB with Kristen Chenoweth, Annie Potts and Leslie Bibb as well as the recurring guest star on Disney’s “I’m In The Band” and ABC Family’s “Melissa And Joey”. She has opened for Lifehouse as well as Ryan Star and a new EP will be released in May.

Contact: Matthew@76steps.com

Update/News: Erin Martin is currently battling it out on NBC’s The Voice. The performance can be seen here.

Buzz Track: Come Together

Erin Martin, a Kings favorite falls between Amy Winehouse and Nelly Furtado. Martin has performed at Chicago’s Summerfest and Lollapalooza, opened for De La Soul and “American Idol” finalist Amanda Overymeyer, and was featured on the Roy Davis Jr. track “I Have a Vision,” which reached No. 3 on the UK dance charts.

Contact: roger@kmamanagement.com

Lionel Richie, sold 200,000 copies of his “Tuskegee” album, his best debut in 20 years. Madonna‘s “MDNA” album is expected be the number 1 album in the country this week – the final numbers will come in later today. Unlike Lionel Richie, Madonna will bundle album with ticket sales to lock down the number 1 spot.

It turns out that a hefty number of “MDNA” albums weren’t sold the usual way. Madonna’s label, Interscope, and Live Nation, which owns Ticketmaster, bundled the album with her ticket sales. For every ticket sold online to Madonna’s upcoming shows, purchasers automatically receive a copy of “MDNA.” They get a link to a free purchase on ITunes, or they can send in their mailing address for a physical CD. It doesn’t matter if the concert ticket is $52 or $350. It’s a smart marketing move for Interscope. It unnaturally inflates sales, and uses “MDNA” for what albums have become–souvenirs, or loss leaders. (Forbes)

Is it fair to artists on the chart who didn’t “bundle”?

Last year, retailers and others objected when amazon.com did a 99 cent promotion with Lady Gaga for her “Born this Way” album. But Interscope (again Interscope) sold their bulk of CDs in first two weeks. The amazon promotion inflated Gaga’s sales by 440,000 copies to 1.1 million. And then sales tapered off. The Richie album, by the way, is “hot.” So the real test will be whether “MDNA” has legs beyond the promotion.