Layoffs Today at Geffen and Interscope Records: Both labels axed 15 staffers today, spanning all departments.

The Days In Vegas End for Celine: Her last show is Saturday and her “A New Day” show will have grossed $400 million in ticket sales over the four-year, eight-month run at Caesars Palace. According to Variety, Celine racked up 717 performances has played to better than 95% capacity throughout the run. Add sponsorships and merchandise sales, and Dion show’s tally hits a half-billion dollars, according to the show’s promoter, AEG. In each of its first two years, “New Day” took in $80.5 million. The point is, when people come to Vegas – they spend money and Celine was the beneficiary.

Is Amy Winehouse A Tabloid Victim Or Carefully-Curated “Trainwreck”? In today’s Salon, Winehouse is accused of blatant fakery by novelist James Hannaham. “She may be a tragic talent,” writes Hannaham, “but she’s also playing the part of the tragic talent.” Hannaham reasons that Amy is attempting to become a legend by not only singing the blues, but living them — and that her entire persona has been self-constructed with “legend” status in mind. I think the story is a bit far fetched. Hannaham wants us to believe in a self fulfilled prophecy. The truth is Winehouse is a drug addict that stumbled across a HIT song and it will probably never happen again. This is a case where lightning won’t strike twice!

The King Of The Album Charts: Chris Daughtry sold 3.2 million copies of his self-titled debut, making it the most popular album of the year followed by Akon, whose “Konvicted” sold 2.7 million; the “Hannah Montana” soundtrack with 2.5 million copies sold; Fergie’s “The Dutchess,” which sold 2.4 million; and 2005’s “American Idol” champ Carrie Underwood, whose “Some Hearts” sold 2.3 million copies.

Former American Idol contestants Carrie Underwood and Daughtry were two of the biggest sellers, but 2008 is looking a bit gloomier for the American Idol Franchise. Music sales from the latest contestants including Blake Lewis and Jordin Sparks are spiraling down. Of course being a crowned a winner doesn’t mean you will selling anything, but it remains to be seen if American Idol can find the talent to keep Americans interested.

Selling 6 Million Records in the 21st Century is rare. The music business is a business of ‘exceptions’ and some artists defied the odds including Nickelback. USA Today pointed out an interesting statistic that only just 15 new albums released since 2000 have sold more than Nickelback.

Nickelback enjoyed 100+ consecutive weeks in the top 30 of Billboard’s album chart and sold over 6 Million Records WITHOUT dominating the sex-celeb driven tabloids, gracing the cover of magazines, and giving away free music. Rather than digging up a phony story and kissing up to wannabe celeb Perez Hilton, Nickelback did it the right way.

So what is the right way?

Chad can write a song and the band has radio appeal. Nickelback can be heard on adult contemporary and rock stations. Five songs from the album have appeared on Nielsen BDS’ multi-format national radio airplay chart, all reaching No. 25 or higher. Also, the band never stopped touring. The band toured in 2005 all they way through 2006 – 2007 rarely taking time off.

Nickelback’s catchy rock n roll songs is the main ingredient for success. They write classic formulated rock songs that don’t stray from the big rock sounds of the 70’s and 80’s – big guitars, gritty vocals, well defined choruses, climatic bridges, and soundtrack lyrics. Of course Chris Daughtry delivered the same rock and got the same results with his mega platinum record.

Nickelback’s success fuels the anger of hungry artists and half assed critics who want to re-define rock n roll to their personal taste. As USA Today depicted,’Nickelback’s traditional path to long-term prosperity contrasts with the way other mega-sellers did it’.

Other artists that will eventually top 6 million include Carrie Underwoods ‘Some Hearts’, Kelly Clarkson’s ‘Breakaway’, and The Dixie Chicks ‘Home’.

Holiday Layoffs at Columbia: A round of layoffs has hit Columbia. Staffers in publicity, promotion and marketing departments were axed just in time for Christmas.

New Signings: The two-time Dancing with the Stars champion Julianne Hough has inked a deal with Universal Music Group’s Mercury Nashville label. Hough and producer David Malloy will be recording her debut album next month in Nashville.

Pop Country Shannon Nicole who KOAR talked about negotiated a deal with Universal Republic.

Iron Maiden signed a 360 Deal with EMI: Iron Maiden has struck a comprehensive deal with EMI, which involves the band’s touring, merchandise and sponsorship. Iron Maiden has upcoming ‘sold out’ stadium dates in Scandinavia, South America and Australia.

LimeWire: More than one-third of all PCs worldwide now have LimeWire installed, according to Digital Music News and media tracking specialist BigChampagne. “LimeWire continues to be the iTunes of P2P by a wide margin … but growth has remained flat over the last several months,” said Richard Menta, research analyst at Digital Music News.

New Music: Check out Lights a girl who dwells in Toronto and makes music in her bedroom. The music is atmospheric and a bit goofy. Thats ok, there is always room to grow but she is off to a good start.

First Led Zeppelin Review: KOAR loves this title for Led Zeppelins first ‘live’ review ‘Most modern number one hits could fit into one of their guitar solos’. Support act Paolo Nutini, 20, told The Sun: “I wasn’t alive the first time around but I’ve seen the footage on DVD.“Now watching them live, I’ve been taught a true musical lesson. Check out the set list here..

Spicy or Mild? Capitol Music partnered with lingerie retailer Victoria’s Secret for the exclusive release of the Spice Girls greatest hits album. According to HITS, ‘Victoria’s Secret ordered 600k CD’s one-way from the Capitol Music Group, meaning no returns’ while the chain refused to offer a count of how many albums they sold. Obviously, it can’t be compelling. Even with prime-time appearances on TV and a music video that doubles as a commercial spot there is still a small demand for the former teen queens. Almost half of the seats in the Mandalay Arena auditorium were empty as the Spice Girls took to the stage for their second show in Las Vegas.

Pete Wentz blogs on the Grammys: Trent ranted about the Grammys – now Fallout Boy’s Pete Wentz gives his take on the grammy’s and it’s slightly less angry.
Wentz writes on his blog:

we wont lie to you, accolades from our peers feel great. however, a fifty year old white man shouldnt decide whether we are relevant or not- and he doesn’t. we wanted to thank you for making us feel relevant- for sitting up all night to get into our shows and for buying our music.

The Future of Geffen Records Is In Question: Sources are speculating about the future of Geffen Records who has housed artists including Guns N’ Roses, Nirvana, Sonic Youth, and Counting Crows. Although layoffs are imminent, one source within the organization pointed to a shutdown. Another source claims the Geffen imprint would continue to be associated with certain artists and releases, but the real action would be happening elsewhere.

New Music: Check out this Toronto based band Crystal Castles that is described by Loud & Quiet as “the most exciting and original band in the world right now”. They will be releasing their first full-length album, on Last Gang Records in February 2008. No doubt this sounds like NOISE, but sometimes NOISE is good. Listen to the track Alice Practice.

All Eyes On imeem: imeem is a social media service where users interact with each other by watching, posting, and sharing content including blogs, photos, audio, and video. Although KOAR can’t verify these figures, according to analysts more than 19 million people now share their music on imeem. According to Business Week the imeem experiment is being closely watched as a potential new ad-supported model. Caldwell notes that music companies have never made money from advertising. Instead music companies make their songs available free on radio stations, MTV, and MySpace as a way to promote vinyl and CD sales. The thought here is that by making music available in compelling new ways, imeem could potentially intrigue members of the Napster generation away from unsanctioned piracy sites. “We think the opportunity for real revenue growth is for ad-supported music,” Caldwell says. “It can be as big as the download business, and Apple doesn’t have a stranglehold.” Imeem has cut licensing deals with three of the four major labels. The labels don’t make their money off the music, but by getting a cut of the advertising that imeem drums up for the site. Imeem CEO Dalton Caldwell says that roughly half of its revenue goes back to the content owners, on a pro rata basis. The more times a label’s songs are played, the more they get paid.

The Trent Rant: Josh Homme gave a piece of his mind last week, now its Nine Inch Nails Trent Reznor who bashes the Grammys.

Trent wrote this on his blog:

While the music industry is doing everything they possibly can to go out of business, can we all make sure to rid ourselves of the Grammys, too? Out of touch old men jacking each other off.
ENOUGH!
Have a nice day

We get it Trent. People back in the day watched the Grammys to get an idea of what other people thought was popular. We hope Trent harnesses his anger and gives us another song like “Head Like A Hole” or “Piggy”.

Pot Dreams: Mr. Hufford said that he and Bryce Edge, Radiohead’s other manager, had come up with the pay-what-you-want plan during a stoned philosophical conversation about the value of music. They had initially proposed releasing only the download and the deluxe box, but the band overruled them, noting that many of its fans are neither downloaders nor elite collectors. Hufford also says regarding the ‘pay what you want plan’, “This was a solution to a series of issues,” Mr. Hufford added. “I doubt it would work the same way ever again.”

Mover Over iTunes: Amazon has long dominated online CD sales and analysts believe that Amazon MP3 is off to a fast start. “I won’t be surprised at all if Amazon has 20% market share (of the download business) by the end of 2008,” says Paul Verna, a music analyst with eMarketer. Some believe the advantages of Amazon including selling popular tracks for 89¢, rather than 99¢ in the basic MP3 format will cut into iTunes market share.

Pete Wentz of Fallout Boy is Seeking Talent: Wentz writes on his blog that he is looking to sign a new band:

hey you… yeah you. i realize that you know about great bands that i have never heard of waaaay before i hear them. we want to sign a new band and we need your help. if you know of someone great post about em (save the posts about oasis and motion city soundtrack- theyre great but already signed. know what i mean?).

Yeah, Pete, we know what you mean. NIN is out of a deal, go call Trent.

Blog Nominations: Nominees have been listed for Hypebot’s First Annual Music Blog Awards. Go support you’re favorite Blog.

Lasly, Fueled By Ramen has signed Los Angeles indie act Phantom Planet. Check out the track California – it has a Counting Crows vibe.