Sold Out: Trent Reznor is brilliant. He quietly released his new instrumental album and The ultra-deluxe edition is already sold out which is priced at $300. Trent has fans and they will buy whatever he releases, even if it’s noise. Gotta love it!

Bertelsmann in talks with at least two parties over Sony BMG stake: Bertelsmann AG’s chief financial officer Thomas Rabe met with at least two private equity companies to discuss the possible sale of its 50 pct stake in Sony BMG. Read the full story in the Financial Times.

Survey – Most British filesharers would stop if warned: Seven out of 10 British file-sharers say they would stop infringing if they received a termination warning from their ISP according to a recent survey. Seventy percent of respondents agreed that if they received a warning from the ISP, they would stop sharing online. 66 percent said they would stop if there was a stronger chance of them being caught.

War on Piracy: Check out this article that involves Baidu and China’s non existent music industry. Baidu search engine is being asked to remove all links to thousands of websites that provide pirated copies of songs that are owned by the major record labels

Pearlman pays the price: Lou Pearlman, the snake-oil salesman who launched the Backstreet Boys and ‘N Sync, has plead guilty and will make restitution to victims swindled out of an estimated $300 million in phony bank and investment schemes. Pearlman should have listened to the old proverb – ‘we reap what we sow’.

Warner signs 7digital MP3 deal in Europe: Warner Music has signed a deal with digital media site 7digital.com to provide its catalogue in the MP3 format, which can be played on nearly all music devices.

Artist Updates: Listen to the track Be Still and Breathe by Tooth and Nail act Ivory Line. It’s #1 on the Christian Rock Radio Chart. Los Angeles KROQ has added Beautiful by 10 Years, it’s big news for a new rock band.

Facebook and iTunes: Facebook launched its new music section for bands and partnered up with iTunes. Tracks can be streamed and Facebook is providing a link to iTunes in order that acts can offer songs for sale to fans visiting their pages.

Signings: Indie act One For The Team who is based in Minnesota signs with Militia Group. The bands first album “Good Boys Don’t Make Noise”, found itself on the CMJ Top 200 charts for 14 weeks.

Another pop act from Minnesota, Sing It Loud has signed to Epitaph. The band entered the studio with producer Josh Cain of Motion City Soundtrack.

Unwritten Law has signed to Suburban Noize Records.

Rolling Stone Changes Editors: Rolling Stone has promoted editors Jason Fine and Eric Bates to the position of Executive Editor. The magazine also hired Jason Gay, formerly of GQ, as the new Deputy Editor of Features and Michael Endelman, formerly of SPIN, as Senior Music Editor.

Keith Richards says NO to modern bands: Keith Richards says that he does not like the kind of music modern bands compose. “I don’t listen to what’s going on. I don’t like CDs, quite honestly. They sound tinny to me,” says Richards. “I’ve not even heard the Arctic Monkeys. I know of them but I don’t know anything they’ve done. I didn’t like Oasis, I didn’t like the Sex Pistols, I don’t like any of those English rock’n’roll bands.

Recommended Listening: Replace Me by Mardelay

New Music: Los Angeles bring us a fresh new artist known as Tamar who delivers well crafted piano driven pop. She draws her influences from Billy Joel, Carole King, and The Beatles. You can’t beat those influences. Listen to the track New Day.

Post grunge band Tantric who grabbed themselves a platinum record in 2001 will release a new record through Silent Majority Group. I’m not sure if there is a place for them in 2008, but the band always had good sense of melody and songwriting. You can stream some new tracks on their myspace.

Kings of A&R: Send us new music please. Provide us your myspace link and a song we should be listening to. If you provide us greatness then we will be friends. Email tips@kingsofar.com

Where is My Money? Major Music Labels negotiated in copyright-infringement settlements with a host of Web sites, but artists and managers have not seen a cent yet. For instance, Napster had to cough up $270 million and YouTube paid a hefty sum, but the money never trickled down to artists. Managers are considering legal options and are talking about filing lawsuits if they don’t get paid soon.”

“They will play hide and seek, but eventually will be forced to pay something,” Azoff said. “The record companies have even tried to credit unrecouped accounts. It’s never easy for an artist to get paid their fair share.”

The Long Tail or the Wrong Tail? Check out Chris Castles blog on Chris Anderson who coined the phrase, “The Long Tail”, and who is currently working on a new book entitled Free, which examines the rise of pricing models which give products and services to customers for free.

NIN Release: Nine Inch Nails presents Ghosts I – IV, a brand new 36 track instrumental collection available online. Almost two hours of new music composed and recorded over an intense ten week period last fall, Ghosts I – IV sprawls Nine Inch Nails across a variety of new terrain. Trent Reznor explains, “I’ve been considering and wanting to make this kind of record for years, but by its very nature it wouldn’t have made sense until this point.

UMG Strikes European Deal For Jonas Brothers: Universal Music Group has licensed the Jonas Brothers’ album from Hollywood Records for distribution in Europe. UMG also has distribution rights for “Jonas Brothers” in Canada and Latin America. EMI Music, missed the chance to extend on its current international distribution deal for the album. “Someone within the old (EMI) management chose not to pick up the option,” says an EMI source. “I don’t know why they wouldn’t.”

Wal-Mart stirs CD pricing pot with multi-tiered plan: Wal-Mart, the largest retailer of music has proposed a five-tiered pricing scheme that would allow the discounter to sell albums at even lower prices and require the labels to bear more of the costs according to Reuters.

Wal-Mart Proposed Pricing Structure….

top 15 to 20 hottest titles – $10.00
top catalog – $9.00
midline catalog – $7.00
budget product – $5.00

Apple and Artist news: Paramore will be featured on the new ipod touch commercial.

The Buzz: The track Thick Wit It by hip hop artist Hakeem Tha Dream is being spun on St. Louis urban radio stations WHHL and KATZ. The track garnered a total of 95 spins between both stations last week. It’s popping on the radar among some major music labels with A&R research departments. For more information email here.

Artist Updates: Camera Can’t Lie have just completed 4 brand new tracks with producer Jordan Schmidt whose recent credits include working with All Time Low, Cute Is What We Aim For, and Panic At The Disco. The tracks will be posted on KOAR shortly.

Recommended Listening: Check out San Diego alternative act
My American Heart. The band released a full length disc titled ‘Hiding Inside the Horrible Weather’ in 2007 through indie label Warcon Records. They have a slew of tour dates and will be on the road through May. Check out the track The Shake and Tired and Uninspired.

Down but not out: Bankrupt label TVT strikes a deal with Qtrax. Apparently they worked the deal a number of years ago, expecting Qtrax to be a real digital competitor by now. Alas, they are not, however the label plans to remain “active and competitive.” (Wired)

Facts and Figures: More studies about what the hell happened in ’07: According to NPD Group, the amount of music consumers acquired last year increased by 6%, but actually paying for it decreased by 10%. Also, 48 % of U.S. teens did not purchase a single CD in 2007, compared to 38 percent in 2006. Legal music makes up 10% of acquired content.

Save the Music: Sacrificing the arts for higher test scores makes its way to even the most prestigious universities. Columbia students feel as though they are missing out on the full college experience as underground music is completely ignored.

Silver Lining?: The abundance of new options has made music on the internet chaotic. According to Point Topic, it’s a temporary problem, as larger companies will eventually consume smaller rivals. (digital music news)

Politics: Are there limitations to ISP ‘network management‘? Should there be? Comcast answers some questions about their ‘don’t call it censorship’ censorship program to deter p2p users. (ipdemocracy.com)

Departed: Less than two weeks before being inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, Dave Clark Five frontman Mike Smith died in London Thursday of pneumonia.
Former M.I.A. singer, Mike Conley, was found murdered in a Chicago hotel last night. (thedailyswarm)

The Collapse of Music Journalism: Rapper Nas was shocked when Maxim gave his new album, “N – – – – r,” a 21/2-star review – because it isn’t even finished yet. “I’m finishing the album now, and it will be out April 22,” Nas told Page Six.

Study Sees Digital Music Shakeout: “There are too many online and mobile shops around,” says Point Topic analyst Oliver Johnson. Many music players will collapse and others will be bought out.

American Idol Has Dibs on Beatles Songs: Sony/ATV Music Publishing that controls the Beatles’ mega hits has given Idol the go-ahead to lets its contestants sing and torture “Yesterday”, “Let It Be” among others. “It’s something we’ve waited for for seven seasons now,” Idol executive producer Nigel Lythgoe told Seacrest. “Sony has agreed to release the Lennon and McCartney songbook to us.”

Music 1.0 Is Dead: Five hundred top members of the music business gathered today in New York to hear that “music 1.0 is dead.” Ted Cohen, a former EMI exec who used the phrase, opened the Digital Music Forum East by pleading with the industry to be wildly creative with new business models but not to “be desperate” during this transitional period. Check out the full article here.

Face The Music: Facebook has launched its music section today.Â

China Has No Music Industry: The Music Copyright Society of China and China’s largest digital music distributor, R2G, have filed suit against Baidu.com in Beijing. The Chinese music industry has seen its hellish days – no respect for artists, no respect for copyrights; all in the name of FREEDOM.

Guys Hands Feels The Strain of EMI Takeover: Guy Hands first 100 days at the group has not gone to plan according to the Telegraph. “What we are doing is taking the power away from the A&R guys and putting it with the suits – the guys who have to work out how to sell music. Trying to persuade 260 people to give up their power has been hard.”

“We had labels at EMI that were spending five times as much on marketing as their gross revenues. We told them you could stick a £50 note on the cover of a CD and have the same effect, and we also wouldn’t have to pay them. Those sorts of comments don’t go down too well.”

Recommended Listening:

Baby You by Made In Hollywood