Journey’s power ballad “Don’t Stop Believin” has become the biggest-selling digital catalog track ever. It is the first catalog song to sell over
2 million downloads, achieving double-platinum status according to SoundScan.

The track resonated with the people when it was first released in 1981 on the Journey album titled ‘Escape’ which peaked at #8 on Billboard’s Mainstream Rock chart and at #9 on the Pop Singles chart.

The massive power ballad still resonates 30 years later. Everytime the track is featured on a television series or a movie it sees a massive sales spike. To illustrate, ‘Don’t Stop Believin’ was featured in the movie Monster, starring Charlize Theron and it immediately soared onto iTunes’ Top 10 Most Downloaded Singles” list in 2005. The track also appeared on Fox’s “Family Guy” and MTV’s “Laguna Beach.”

In 2007, ‘Don’t Stop Believin’ saw a resurgence in popularity when it was featured on the final set-piece of “The Sopranos.” In fact, download sales of the song sky rocketed a 482% during a 3 day period.

Of course, Steve Perry has one of the most unique and recognizable voices in rock and as Guitar Player Magazine says, “It’s hard to think of any guitarist in the history of mainstream rock who plays more singable solos than Neal Schon.

The current success of ‘Don’t Stop Believin’ proves that GREATNESS is still recognizable and acknowledged in today’s culture.  The big question is will today’s music ever transcend culture and time like the music of the past? For the moment, it doesn’t seem to give much promise.

KOAR favorite Streetside Symphony who hails from Memphis just shot a video for their killer track Sundowner. Sounds like Counting Crows but with a darker vibe. Check out the video here.

Next Shows:

Nov 26    New Daisy Theatre – Memphis, Tennessee
Dec 5     The HiTone – Memphis, Tennessee

GNR Leaker Will Spend A Year In Prison: Kevin Cogill confessed to uploading nine songs that came off Guns N’ Roses Chinese Democracy to his site. “Cogill became the first Californian charged under a 3-year-old federal antipiracy law that makes it a felony to distribute unreleased copyright works online.” Cogill will spend a year in prison.

The Timeless Power Ballad: Journey’s classic power ballad “Don’t Stop Believin’ has become the first catalog track in history to garner online digital sales of more than 2 million units, according to SoundScan. Are their new songs written today that can transcend culture and time?

Circuit City has officially filed for bankruptcy protection on Monday. Will  Circuit City will go out of business altogether? If so, this will be another blow for CD sales.

New Music: These Green Eyes are set to release their sophomore album, Relapse To Recovery, on March 24, 2009 on Blackledge Music (with distribution by Atlantic/ADA).

The End of The Firm: Jeff Kwatinetz resigned from The Firm the management/production company he founded in 1997. Kwatinetz will split off and form his own entertainment company. Michael Papale also left the Firm after 10 Years. He will start a new management consultant agency.

American Radio is a band that should, well, be on American Radio. On the heels of a signing like Adelitas Way, and with One Less Reason beginning to make noise with their new EP, and after the success of power ballad superstars Daughtry and Hinder, it would make sense for this Bay Area band to garner some attention. Check out the radio friendly tracks, “Just Can’t Do This” and “Broken” as well as the upbeat, “Don’t Want To Lose”. Expect to hear more from this band in 2009.

Emo pioneers Far have reformed and jumped onto the, “let’s a cover a sexy, R&B hit” bandwagon with their cover of Ginuwine’s hit, “Pony”. With Framing Hanley’s, polarizing rendition of “Lollipop” already making waves at radio, do we really have room for another hip-hop cover?

#1 Update: Christian singer/songwriter Brandon Heath has just spent his 10th week on top of the Christian pop chart with his single, “Give Me Your Eyes” . I think it’s about time to take this one to the mainstream.

Not revolutionary, but solid enough to make waves, Canada’s Age of Daze is busy rising up the Canadian rock chart with their second single, “Overrated”.

Quick Picks:

The Midway State – “Never Again” – catchy, strong chorus, catch them on tour with Thriving Ivory in November.

Nathan Anderson – “All My Life” & “Room For Me” – An excellent voice and good melodies should make for some strong buzz in the coming months.

Girls Like Cigarettes – “Combustible You”

Benton Paul – “Where Are You”

Dallas Osborn currently attends San Francisco State University and works on the Live 105 (KITS) Action Team.

Sources told Kings of A&R several weeks ago that an act known as
Hyper Crush were buzzing among industry execs in the west coast. Those sources attended a Hyper Crush performance and thought it was a cruel joke, in fact, one source said, “This was the most horrible act I ever saw, I cannot believe I was sent here.” Regardless, we at KOAR forgot about this story until we woke up today and read in the Los Angeles Times that the hip hop/elecronic act Hyper Crush inked a deal with Motown/Universal.

What caught the attention of the act was their myspace according to the Times. Hyper Crush has two tracks at nearly a million ‘plays’ and just over 71,000 ‘friends.’ You can decide for yourself if Hyper Crush will be the breakthrough act of the decade, regardless, is the record business still using myspace friends and the number of plays as a sole indicator to sign artists? If the music business approaches 2009 as the same as 2008, serious trouble will linger around the corner.