30 Seconds Sued For 30 Million: 30 Seconds To Mars and front man Jared Leno is being sued by Virgin Records for violating their recording contract. According to the contract, the band owes Virgin Records 3 records. The band’s last album, “A Beautiful Lie,” was released in 2005. However, the band split from the label and Virgin Records insist that they have rights to claim a financial loss.

Platinum Artists Becoming Extinct: According to Music Week platinum artists and beyond has fallen to its lowest level this decade, with just two artists making the grade so far this year. Duffy and Adele are the only UK artists with debut albums released this year that have to date shifted 300,000 units or more. There were nine platinum-selling debut artists in 2006.

More Questions: Sirius-XM merger’s approval opens up a new set of questions, read here.

Shrinking Salaries: Music exec’s salaries are shrinking says the New York Post. “Multiple sources said that labels have cut back on long-term contracts with guaranteed money. New deals tend to be more performance-driven and are often limited to 2-to-3 years in length.” Another source claims that music companies money troubles are preventing them from competing aggressively for top talent.

14 Years In The Making: Guns N’ Roses track titled ‘14 Years‘ that comes off ‘Use Your Illusion’ may have just been a prophetic song because the long awaited Chinese Democracy has been 14 years in the making. Apparently, the negotiations are under way for “Chinese Democracy” to come out as an exclusive at either Wal-Mart or Best Buy.

Katy Perry On Trial: If you don’t like ‘I Kissed A Girl‘ then you’re not alone. Perry’s parents are embarrassed  by the song. The daughter of evangelical Christian preachers is deemed “shameful and disgraceful” with the lyrics of the song that promotes “sin”. Speaking to DailyMail.co.uk, Perry’s mom, Mary Hudson said, “I hate the song. It clearly promotes homosexuality and its message is shameful and disgusting.” She added that this is no longer a secret, saying, “Katy knows how I feel. We are a very outspoken family and she knows how disappointed her father and I are.

Colour Academy former The Skyline Drive will release a new EP produced by Billy Hume (Rehab) that will be independently released August 26th. The band tells KOAR that they are influenced by epic sounding bands like Jimmy Eat World and Coldplay. The band will perform a CD release show (August 26th) in their hometown of Alabama with an expected attendance of 1,500.  Our favorite tracks are Out Of The Sky and Save Me.

Game Wars Between Warner & Activision: The chief executive Activision, the company behind the Guitar Hero video game criticized Warner Music after the label said higher royalties should be paid for use of its songs. He said that Warner Music had failed to acknowledge the benefits to music sales from Guitar Hero. Mr Kotick told the Financial Times that Edgar Bronfman, Warner Music’s chief executive, had made “one-sided comments” that were not “respectful of how much we’ve done to bring new audiences into the market”.

“Warner Chief Mr Bronfman said last week that the amount being paid to the music industry from music-based games was “far too small”.

Signings: Rock act Age of Daze has signed with Universal Canada after their track Afflicted lit up the Canadian charts and climbed to # 1 on Sirius Octane for over 8 weeks.  Universal will  release the album ‘Hollywood Ending’ on August 19th. Check out Age of Daze in our April Buzzing Column.

New Music: Violence To Vegas hails from Tulsa, Oklahoma. Although the band didn’t manage to break any new ground which rock desperately needs, they still smuggled in some hooks that could excite some listeners. First single “In The Eyes” is currently #86 on the Mediabase Active Rock Chart. The band obtained distribution in Japan with Triple Vision and have shared the stage with 30 seconds to Mars, Shinedown, and Dragonforce.

Kings of A&R: We want to hear new exciting music. KOAR believes that music has hit its all time low. No one is to blame but the creators/artists.  The definition of create is ‘To Put Into Existence’.  The fact that mediocrity best defines today’s music should fuel the creators in changing the musical landscape.  How did we come from a musical euphoria to a passionless pit.  The answer cannot be found in new technology, it can be found in ourselves.  Technology has no feelings, its only a product of what we put into it. Send new music to tips@kingsofar.com along with your myspace.

Jonas Brothers To Set Sales Records: The Jonas Brothers were dropped from Columbia Records because they didn’t see the INDICATORS to make a second record. I suppose Columbia’s jaw is dropping to the floor because the Jonas Brothers new record ‘A Little Bit Longer‘ is expected to sell 725,000 via Hollywood Records. Miley sold 370,000 copies of her album ‘Breakout’. Columbia should have hung in a little longer as the Jonas Brothers earned $12 million in 2007.

CMJ Line Up: The first list of artists confirmed for the NYC’s CMJ has been announced. Booked to perform are: 3OH!3, A Place To Bury Strangers, AIDS Wolf, An Albatross, Ane Brun, Anna Ternheim, Annuals, Beach House, Broken Social Scene, Cool Kids, Crystal Castles – see the list here.

Warner Music Dips After Sales By Record Exec: Shares in Warner Music Group Corp. slid 9.3% Wednesday after a filing showed top music executive Lyor Cohen sold 800,000 shares. According to Forbes, “Senior management continues to carry on as if the music industry was in its heyday,” Greenfield wrote. “This simply cannot help morale at WMG.”

Music Mags Going Through Rough Times: Music mags had a rocky first half of 2008, with only Metal Hammer showing significant gains. Kerrang!, NME, and Q all saw a decline in readership. “Metal Hammer ended the half year up 6.0% with 48,540 readers, although this was still down 1.2% on the year. Kerrang! posted a 21.6% drop in readership for the half year to 60,290, and NME was down 12.1% for the half year and 17.4% for the year at 56,284 readers” according to Music Week.

Today’s indie bands can do a better job than NyQuil putting listeners to sleep. Of course there are exceptions like the Cincinnati band SeaBird. If you asked them what their hopes are, Seabird would say, “To be approachable, and to write songs that people can rely on.” Bottom line, they want to connect with their audience. Plus, the band gives you more than one song which seems to be an impossible feat in this celebrity obsessed culture. The band just released their full-length ‘Til We See The Shore’ via Credential/EMI. Listen to the tracks Rescue, Stronger, and Let Me Go On.

Next Shows:

Aug 15   Purple Door Festival           Lewisberry, Pennsylvania
Aug 17   Illinois State Fair                Springfield, Illinois
Aug 19   Maumee Indoor Theater     Toledo, Ohio