XM Satellite Close To 10 Million Subscribers: XM Satellite Radio says it ended the second quarter with 9.7 million subscribers, up 17 percent from a year ago.

Do We Need Another indie Band?: Read the article that discusses the current state of the indie world.

“These days the term ‘indie’ is little more than a generic sonic description for any band that plays guitars and probably wears skinny ties, skinny jeans, and skinny cardigans”

“John Niven was an indie fan in the 1980s, an A&R man in the Britpopping 1990s, and is now the author of Kill Your Friends, a sadistic satire of the record industry of which he was once an enthusiastic member. “I was in Gap a few weeks ago and there was some sort of generic indie music playing,” he says. “I was with a friend who’s a promoter and a bit younger than me. After about three or four tracks I asked him: ‘Whose LP is this?’ And he said, ‘No, it’s a compilation.’ Every track sounded identical. The guitars, the production; all these bands sound like they’re made in the same studio with the same producer. It’s such a ball-less, soulless, generic whitewashed indie sound. You could probably take a member from each band and throw them together in a new group and no one would be able to tell the difference. They’re completely interchangeable. Scouting for Girls are like the sound of Satan’s scrotum emptying. They’re abysmal.”

Have you listened to the music that is being spun in Starbucks? This is what Jon Niven is talking about.

Making Noise On YouTube: Boyce Avenue is pop rock band based out a Florida that built up their following by covering songs by Coldplay and Rihanna and posting clips on Youtube. Boyce Avenue has seven of the top 25 songs on the TuneCore song chart. In fact, the band covered the Jordan Sparks track Tattoo which landed on Sparks myspace page after she found the song on Youtube. Listen to the track Not Enough.

Kid Rock Will Take Record Sales Over iTunes: Kid Rock responds to the lefsetz emailer with this statement…

“Why sell a million downloads (at a dickweed penny rate) that u say equals a 100,000 records when I’m selling well over a hundrend thousand records every 2 weeks? And I’m helping my heros sell records too???? Sounds like I’m winning, if this were the olympics I would definatley be receiving the gold medal, but that’s a lot like itunes, a lot of glory, no money!!!!

i only wanna sell my album. i made a great album. itunes said “no”, i dont like being told “no”. thier just as guilty. ps, i have a ton of apple stock, pretty ironic eh? lol

The Guardian has a piece today discussing EMI’s strategy to gain future revenue and stay afloat. Nick Gatfield, who was responsible for discovering Amy Winehouse, is heading up EMI’s labels in the UK and the US. EMI has a new approach to consumer research.

“We have been relatively unsophisticated in understanding the consumer. Our direct relationship with the consumer has been very poor,” Gatfield says. “We have had a good relationship with the gate keepers, the radio stations and media companies. But increasingly, our mission is about understanding music consumers and not the tastes of Radio 1.”

EMI believes understanding consumer behavior will result in signing artists that people will pay for and delivering music in the proper formats. Of course this sounds more scientific and seems more suitable for a pharm company than a music company.

UK Chief executive of Universal David Joseph says, “We think that if you get the right artists, consumers like being told what to buy, as opposed to trying to find out what they want,” he says. Research can only take you so far. “If they say they like Abba, are you going to get on a plane to Sweden?”

“Amy Winehouse and Take That are successful recording artists, we don’t sit around talking about their brand values,” says Joseph. “If you sign quality, the commerce will follow.”

I think we are suffering from an epidemic of over-thinking, especially when it comes to signing artists. You either like it or you don’t. I’m not suggesting you lose your mind, but the minute you start analyzing market conditions, playlists, and consumer behavior – you will bet yourself right out of the game. Plus, most consumers don’t even know what they like. Go ahead and ask a consumer today what type of music they listen to and the response will be ‘EVERYTHING’. How do you quantify ‘EVERYTHING’? You can’t. Therefore, signing artists should be based on great songs, stage presence, and activity.

Best Buy To Stock Unsigned Bands: Best Buy is teaming up with Regionalcd.net to stock their shelves and online store with regional and local artists. Local artists who are chosen for the program will have their album sold in selected Best Buy locations and BestBuy.com. Artists who are considered for the program must have activity that will be measured by their local performances, Myspace/Facebook pages, and fan base. Of course your local indie record store (if you have any) is probably a better destination for your CD’s .

Study – Radio Wins: Another study conducted by Jupiter Research says “word of mouth and radio are the most common means of music discovery among” music influencers.” According to Jupiter’s data, radio is far and away the most popular method of music discovery for all four of its categories: “music aficionados,” “paying downloaders,” “CD purists” and “overall online users.”

Ageing Rockers Risk Copyright Protection: Artists currently lose the rights to their recordings after 50 years but the EU wants to extend the copyright to last 95 years.

EMI – Office Move: After eliminating thousands of jobs, EMI is looking for smaller office space in NYC for its recorded music division. Also, Sony BMG’s RCA/J Records is moving to 550 Madison Ave.

Striking a Nerve: Rolling Stone mag will publish the best ‘ all time ‘ singers in November. Regardless if they are dead or alive, voters will be asked to select the top 20 singers. The criteria is based on originality, stage presence, influence and, most important, vocal ability. Fox’s Roger Friedman asks, “Why is Justin Timberlake, Aaliyah and Perry Ferrell are on the same ballot as Whitney Houston, Paul Rodgers and James Taylor”? Of course we agree with his commentary that these lists are simply marketing tools designed to infuriate readers and stimulate sales. This celebrity sickened culture sucks….

New Artist Updates: One Less Reason is currently recording an EP with producer Rick Beato.

Lovers and Liars who hail from Nashville are beginning to make inroads in their scene. Creative influences are drawn from musical pioneers such as Nine Inch Nails, Leonard Cohen, and Mike Patton, as well as Blue October and Angie Aparo. The band won “Best Alternative Band” and “Song of the Year” (for Buried Alive) at the Local Buzz Awards. The Buzz (102.9 FM) is Nashville’s largest modern rock station. The band struck deal with Bunim/Murray for placement of L+L music in B/M shows including “The Real World: Hollywood” (MTV) and “Keeping Up With The Kardashians” (E!). The band Will be releasing a dual EP selling it on their own using PayPal.

Bassist Adam Nagel tells KOAR that Lovers and Liars vows to change the landscape of modern rock, it’s already starting to happen on the local scene and they want to take it to the national level. Listen to the track
Nothing Left Here To Burn.

Recommended Show: Negative Space is performing in NYC at Crash Mansion Thursday July 17th. For fans of mainstream rock bands including Breaking Benjamin, Saliva, and Seether. Listen to the track Right Now.

Amazon MP3 Store: Sources claim that Amazon may have 4% to 5% of the U.S. digital music market which would result in 27 million tracks being sold so far this year. Apple would have sold 1 billion tracks in the same period.

Buzzing: Rock band Settings, a KOAR favorite, has posted a video for the track Creatures on their myspace. The band recently appeared on MTV’s TRL, lead singer Donny Evans is a legitimate frontman and the band is moving closer to a breakout song.

Idol News: Daughtry is in the studio writing recording his sophomore album and once again he will be writing with the same songwriters that worked on his debut. He will be working with Dave Basset (Shinedown) and Tommy Heriksen (Revis), Mitch Allan (All These Lives), David Hodges and Ben Moody (What About Now), Brian Howes (What I Want, Over You), Ryan Tedder (One Republic),and Emerson Hart (Tonic).

EMI – Corporate Accounting: An internal e-mail from Guy Hands that was sent to his staff described a rosier path for EMI. “Mr Hands said revenue from the recorded music division rose 61 per cent to £288.1m ($574.8m) in the three months to the end of June.” Basically, firing employees spiked short term revenue, but what about next year?