Innholdsfortegnelse for November 10, 2012 i Billboard Magazine

www.billboard.biz >>>BROKEN BOW, RED FORM RED BOW Broken Bow Records— home to Jason Aldean and Thompson Square —and RED Distribution launch new label Red Bow. The new imprint’s first signings are award winner Joe Nichols and 17-year-old singer Rachel Farley, who recently opened Aldean’s recent My Kinda Party tour. The new label will be based on Nashville’s Music Row and BBR Music Group will “take the lead in all creative and promotional endeavors,” according to a release announcing the label. BBR Music Group and RED (a division of Sony) first joined forces in May 2002 when RED became the country indie’s official distributor. >>>UMG, FBT SETTLES SUIT Universal Music Group and FBT Productions informed a California federal court on Oct. 29 that a resolution had been reached in a landmark…

The music industry found itself relatively unscathed by the devastation left in the wake of Hurricane Sandy partly thanks to modern technology and partly due to the resilience of an industry that has learned to adapt quickly in tough times. While most offices in New York were closed on Monday and Tuesday due to a lack of transportation, and many music companies in downtown New York were still closed as Billboard went to press, nearly every company is reporting business as usual as most employees are working remotely from home. Meanwhile, industry relief efforts are just beginning with reports that NBC will broadcast a concert featuring Bruce Springsteen, Jon Bon Jovi and Billy Idol while iTunes is accepting donations for Hurricane Sandy relief. Among the companies with off ices still…

At the Billboard Latin Music Conference last April, it was impossible to miss the huge bus parked outside of Miami’s Marriott Marquis emblazoned with the word “Spanglish” and a photograph of Maffio. At the time, no one knew what it all meant, especially since Maffio wasn’t wellknown. A week later, though, it al l became clear: “Spanglish” referred to new indie music company Span-Glish Global, and Maffio was a producer and the label’s flagship act. “I like to make statements,” SpanGlish founder/owner Rico Cabrera says. “I feel statements say everything. We’re in the music business. They need to notice you, and the artists.” A year-and-a-half after launching SpanGlish, Cabrera is finally getting noticed in other ways. Maffio hit No. 1 on Billboard’s Tropical Airplay chart in September with “No Te…

Music marketer Darren Craig’s eureka moment came a year ago as he searched for a song on YouTube. The top hit wasn’t the official music video. Instead, it was an amateur clip that scrolled lyrics as the song played. There was no video to speak of—just a still photo of the artist. “It was terrible, and it still had 6 million views,” says Craig, who couldn’t recall the name of the song but was struck by an idea for how to grow his Los Angeles company, the Uprising Creative. “I thought, ‘What a miss for the artist.’ There were 6 million people typing this song in and not seeing an official video. That’s like releasing an album without an album cover.” It’s not just marketers like Craig who see an…

A lot can happen in the span of three years. Just ask Alicia Keys. Since the 2009 release of her last album, The Element of Freedom, the singer/songwriter/musician/producer/actress has penciled in a few more hyphens next to her name. In addition to becoming a wife and mother, Keys began co-managing her career, produced her first Broadway play, directed her first short film, executive-produced a made-for-TV movie as well as an upcoming theatrical film, designed her own Reebok shoe line and recently launched an animated storytelling app for children. And in the middle of this whirlwind of activity, she found time to write and record a fifth studio album, the aptly titled Girl on Fire. “These last three years have been the most in every way,” Keys says during a promotional…

1 “I’m a mother. I’m a businesswoman. I have a zillion and one things going on in my head, on my plate, creatively. I put my son to bed, then I go right into my backyard, which is my studio house. It’s a lot. I really, truly don’t have time for the static noise. It’s just not real.” 2 “I’m a message girl at the end of the day. Songs like ‘Beautiful,’ songs like ‘Fighter’—they’re very introverted and can be very vulnerable but empowering. I was tired of singing about f luff and candy and ‘Genie in a Bottle.’” 3 Her Nov. 13 album, Lotus, is a summing up sparked in part by her time on “The Voice.” It’s about “embracing the woman that I’ve grown to be and embracing…

Seventeen active film and TV composers shared stories on multiple panels ranging from the collision of electronics and orchestral music to balancing careers in film and the pop world. Dedication and making the most of opportunities were common themes, regardless of the methodology, style or working relationships with directors and producers. Technology has reached a point where making music for film can be a much quicker process and small budgets can yield impressive results. “You have to be able to do whatever it takes,” said Tyler Bates, a veteran of rock bands, indie films and studio movies. “You shouldn’t be worried about making money right away.” In different panels, Devotchka’s Nick Urata and EMD artist Junkie XL both addressed the pros and cons of taking skills from one field and…

Pomplamoose made more money in less than an hour online than it usually does in a typical month selling band merchandise. All the members had to do was flip on the webcam on a computer in their Sonoma, Calif., home recording studio and start playing a few songs. Using the StageIt live streaming platform, the two-member indie rock band grossed $3,267 from selling tickets to the May 21 online event. “After we did the show, we both said, ‘Holy cow!’ It was amazing,” says Jack Conte, who performed with bandmate Nataly Dawn. Conte and Dawn agreed to open the books to Billboard for the event. Here’s how the numbers broke down. Gross: $3,267 Ticket price: $5 Gross, ticket sales: $1,727.20 (53% of total) Gross, online tip jar: $1,539.80 (47%) Net…

The panels and presentat ions planned for the ninth annual Billboard Touring Conference in New York (Nov. 7-8) will cover disparate angles of the live entertainment industry. But the objective is simple: inform, entertain and ultimately provide insight from the industry’s most successful and innovative players that will sell more tickets and help build careers. That objective begins with defining who the touring audience is and how to best reach it. The conference’s opening panel, “Trad, Social, Apps, Mobile: Marketing Solutions That Work,” approaches the fan awareness issue from all sides. The live entertainment business has a marketing toolbox that’s regularly expanding. That not only creates efficiencies but also leads to tricky decision-making and a potentially cluttered marketplace. Throw in sponsorships, label efforts, varied databases, the Web, concert apps, traditional…

At this year’s Billboard Touring Conference & Awards, all three finalists for the Breakthrough Award stepped up as North American major-market arena headliners for the first time in their careers in 2012. Lady Antebellum, Miranda Lambert and the Black Keys will compete for the honor, which will be presented at the evening finale of the event taking place Nov. 7-8 in New York. The Breakthrough Award goes to the topgrossing act that cracks Billboard Boxscore’s top tour recap for the first time in its career based on ticket sales reported to Boxscore from Oct. 1, 2011, through Sept. 30, 2012. Previous winners include Jason Aldean, Lady Gaga, Il Divo, Miley Cyrus and Justin Timberlake. LADY ANTEBELLUM In just four years, Lady Antebellum has shifted from playing side stages at local…

A year ago, Ricardo Arjona was on the verge of change. After nearly two decades signed to major labels—first Sony, then Warner—the Guatemalan singer/songwriter decided to go completely independent—recording, marketing, promoting and releasing his then-new album under his own label, Metamorfosis. It was a big move for a big artist whose name means big business: Since 1993, Arjona has charted 33 titles on Billboard’s Hot Latin Songs tally, including 17 top 10s and five No. 1s. He’s placed 16 releases on Top Latin Albums, including 10 top 10s and four No. 1s. Perhaps more importantly, at a time when touring had become a primary revenue source, Arjona was a warhorse who played more than 80 shows in 2009. Of those, his 37 North American dates grossed more than $15 million,…

“I pride myself on being the type of artist who can work half in the R&B world and half in the pop world.” That was one of Ne-Yo’s first messages to industry colleagues who attended his intimate showcase at New York’s Joe’s Pub on Oct. 23, a message that also doubles as a mission statement for his fifth studio album, R.E.D. (Nov. 6, Universal Motown). An almost even split of his trademark R&B- and dancef loor-focused EDM pop (with a bit of Tim McGraw-assisted country soul thrown in), R.E.D. (short for “Realizing Every Dream”) is a full-throttle return to form after 2010’s experimental concept album Libra Scale sold a disappointing 345,000 copies, according to Nielsen SoundScan, following three albums that all went platinum. Single “Beautiful Monster” was also a letdown,…

In 2002, Atlanta native Cody Chesnutt sang, “Man, something is killin’ me . . . My breakdown is on the way.” But he didn’t break down— he broke through. The Roots remade his barebones track “The Seed,” renamed “The Seed 2.0,” and Chesnutt’s bedroomrecorded, 36-track album The Headphone Masterpiece (Ready Set Go) made ripples in soul and indierock circles. Then he walked away, and stayed gone, for a decade. So it’s no surprise that on sophomore effort Landing On a Hundred, which Chesnutt self-released Oct. 30, he sounds older and wiser. He sounds better, too. Fame may have beckoned in 2002, but Chesnutt had other priorities: a son in 2003, and a daughter six years later. “I’d never had kids before, and they demand a lot of attention and patience…

ALTERNATIVE BAT FOR LASHES The Haunted Man Producers:Natasha Khan, David Kosten, Dan Carey Capitol Records Release Date:Oct. 22 Bat for Lashes’ third album, The Haunted Man, f inds singer Natasha Khan alternately at her most personal and most accessible. Inspired by the period following the success of 2009’s Two Suns, which found the singer largely withdrawn at her home in the English countryside watching old movies, The Haunted Man has achingly intimate moments that showcase her tremulous, octave-jumping voice (most notably during album opener “Lilies,” the title track and lead single “Laura”). But it also picks up on some of the pop flourishes that made previous songs like “Daniel” and “What’s a Girl to Do?” cult favorites. Second single “All Your Gold,” for example, has a sexy, spy guitar-driven rhythm…

It’s a Taylor Swift bonanza on the charts this week, thanks to the enormous debut of her new album Red (see story, page 81). The set, which moved 1.2 million in its debut, also gives Swift her fifth No. 1 on Billboard’s Top Country Albums chart. Among women in the history of the tally, Swift is now tied with LeAnn Rimes for the fourth-most No. 1s. Swift previously crowned the chart with her self-titled 2006 debut (24 weeks at No. 1), the Beautiful Eyes EP (one week at No. 1), second studio set Fearless (35 weeks at No. 1) and her previous studio effort, Speak Now (13 weeks at No. 1). She almost hit the top late last year with the Speak Now: World Tour Live album, which debuted and…

>>>GOTTA HAVE FAITH In the vein of sassy female British pop singer/songwriters like Duffy and the late Amy Winehouse comes Paloma Faith and her breakout American single, “Picking Up the Pieces.” The song reached No. 7 on the Official U.K. Singles chart in June and accompanied her joining “The Voice UK” as a mentor. Also in June, Faith signed to Epic in the United States, with label CEO Antonio “L.A.” Reid praising her as the “epitome of soul.” “Pieces” jumps 41-34 on Dance Club Songs while bubbling under Adult Top 40. >>>CAZZETTE’S SINGLE Swedish EDM production duo Cazzette made its Billboard chart debut last week, stepping onto Dance/Mix Show Airplay at No. 23 with “Beam Me Up (Kill-Mode).” This week, the At Night release rises to No. 21. The pair…

5 After a pair of earlier top five Duets efforts, he claims another with Viva Duets. The all-Latin-star collaborations set enters with 36,000. Last year’s Duets II debuted at No. 1 with 179,000, the then-85-year-old’s first chart-topper. 14 The trio’s bye-fornow second album (before going on a hiatus) starts with 18,000. To compare, it took six months for its first set, Until One, to surpass 18,000 in sales. 40 The album surpasses the halfmillion sales mark as it sells another 10,000 (up 79%), bringing its to-date sum to 509,000. Sale-priced for $5 at Family Christian last week, the set is the act’s fifth (of five) studio sets to sell 500,000. 50 The soundtrack to the upcoming game (due Nov. 6) fires up with nearly 9,000 sold. It’s the best sales…

Hurricane Sandy slammed the Eastern Seaboard of the United States, affecting the entire music industry—just like every other business in the region—as it tore through one of the most important music centers in the world, spreading its tentacles all the way out to other music hot spots in Los Angeles, Nashville, London and beyond. The after-effect of the hurricane has been felt by every part of the music business, like small indie labels, distributors and retailers in the downtown New York area that still didn’t have power four days after the storm hit. But it also extended out to artists and executives from other parts of the country unable to leave or visit New York or New Jersey. For the live sector alone the loss is significant—likely tens of millions…

Taylor Swift is no longer just the queen of country. With the record-smashing performance of her fourth album, Red, she’s also the empress of the entire record industry, becoming the first female artist to achieve a million-unit debut week twice, and doing it with the highest first-week total—1.2 million, according to Nielsen SoundScan—since 2002 when Eminem’s The Eminem Show scanned 1.3 million in its first full week at No. 1 on the Billboard 200. While Big Machine and Universal Music Group executives are flying high on the astounding debut-week sales number, the U.S. music industry is applauding the feat. “It’s great for our business,” says a senior major-label sales executive at a competing company. “It shows that reports of the demise of the music industry is greatly exaggerated.” Similarly, a…

Ana Victoria, a Latin pop singer and daughter of one of Latin America’s most revered crooners, was surprised when she heard her name called at the recent Latin Grammy Award nominations press conference. The 28-year-old had for years dreamed of making it into the best new artist category, coming out from behind the shadow of her famous parents even if their influence isn’t far behind. “This nomination changes everything,” she says. “It gives you a certain amount of credibility.” Victoria is the daughter of Amanda Miguel and Diego Verdaguer. The Argentine couple has been a staple of the entertainment industry for decades with dozens of albums, signature hits and an international following. But now it’s their offspring, the dark-haired songstress, who’s in the spotlight as she promotes her self-titled project…

This quarter’s sales success of Mumford & Sons can be linked to a growing trend for alternative radio programmers returning to their “alternative” roots, listening to the public and opening their doors to a wider variety of “softer” genres beyond hard guitar rock. In rock in 2012, one can’t beat a banjo, as Mumford & Sons showed when the indie folk-rock quartet stormed the Billboard 200 four weeks ago with Babel, which arrived with 600,000 copies sold, according to Nielsen SoundScan (the highest for a rock release since AC/DC’s Black Ice bowed at No. 1 with 784,000 the week of Nov. 8, 2008). Alternative radio has championed Mumford & Sons, with Babel lead single “I Will Wait” topping the Oct. 20 Nielsen BDS-based Alternative airplay chart. The song’s rule is…

Alicia Keys hit the ground running in 2001, debuting at No. 1 on the Billboard 200 and achieving platinum status with first album Songs in A Minor. Using each of her four studio albums as a signpost (2005’s MTV Unplugged debuted and peaked atop the Billboard 200 and has sold 997,000, according to Nielsen SoundScan), the singer/songwriter/musician reflects on her career evolution: “There wouldn’t be a me now without a me then.”—GM Songs in A Minor RELEASED: 2001 CHART PERFORMANCE: Debuted/peaked at No. 1 on the Billboard 200 SALES: 6.3 million “I was straight off the New York streets, trying to figure out this new world and how do I become a part of it. I just pretended I knew what I was doing. But I had no clue, no…

With 16 panels ranging from “EDM Invades Hollywood” to “Beyond K-Pop: The Global Impact of Music and Visuals,” boiling down the number of topics discussed during the two-day Billboard/Hollywood Reporter Film & TV Music Conference is no easy task, but several themes had recurring roles on different panels: DIVERSIFICATION IS CRUCIAL “For me, it’s a bigger part of a song’s life to get it out there so it has a separate life in TV and commercials,” songwriter Carl Falk said. “It’s a lot more important now than it was just a couple of years ago to have a good synch department and for your publisher to get your songs out there for people to hear it. [One Direction’s] ‘What Makes You Beautiful’ is a good example. We wrote it for…

Silence and characters’ psychological milieus play significant roles in the music of “Breaking Bad,” composer Dave Porter and music supervisor Thomas Golubic told a packed house. Throughout a one-hour conversation involving creator/executive producer Vince Gilligan, Porter and Golubic, they pointed to restraint and the development of music far beyond the usual TV palette as key to the show’s sonic structure. Gilligan said there are few rules on “Breaking Bad,” but one is to not tell the audience what to feel or telegraph action. “I want the score to be a mirroring of the place [lead character Walter White] is emotionally,” Gilligan said of the AMC series, which recently concluded the first half of its fifth and final season. “I don’t want Dave and Thomas to try to milk something that…

Ellie Goulding explored a new marketing frontier on Oct. 8 when she held a digital signing in an online Google Hangout. So how can an artist digitally sign albums on the Web? For those puzzled by the prospect, Polydor Records head of digital marketing Aaron Bogucki walked Billboard through the live event, which drew 40,000 fans on Google+, 31 of whom walked away with a signed album cover. For the Hangout, fans took turns being onscreen with Goulding, directly asking her questions like “How do you know when you’re in love?” After a minute or so of chit-chat, each fan got to choose from several covers for her newest album, Halcyon. Goulding, who was in Manchester, England, held a Wacom tablet that allowed her to sign the album with a…

Neil Diamond will be honored as the latest Legend of Live at the 2012 Billboard Touring Awards, which will be held at the Roosevelt Hotel in New York on Nov. 8. Billboard’s highest accolade in the touring space, the Legend of Live award honors individuals or bands that have made significant and lasting contributions to live music and the touring business. Beyond success at the box office, it also recognizes professionalism and steadfast commitment to the art and craft of live performance and reaching fans through the concert experience. Previous honorees include promoter Michael Cohl, promoter Jack Boyle, Elton John, agent Frank Barsalona, the Allman Brothers Band, Ozzy Osbourne, Rush and Journey. Though he first gained fame as a songwriter, and has sold more than 128 million albums (according to…

The growth and vitality of live music branding and sponsorship partnerships led to the creation of the Concert Marketing & Promotion Award at the Billboard Touring Awards in 2007. The award is given to a sponsorship or promotion that benefited the concert industry at large by stimulating attendance to live events, providing value to fans and promoting the artist and brands involved. The sponsorship or promotion must achieve its marketing goal in a quantifiable way, and pertain to live performances that took place between January and September of this year. The winner is determined by a voting panel of Billboard editors and industry experts, and will be revealed at the Billboard Touring Awards on Nov. 8 in New York. According to Bill Chipps, senior editor at IEG Sponsorship Report, brands…

Ricardo Arjona enters the lobby at the Setai in Miami Beach wearing pink, embroidered drawstring pants, a black T-shirt and a satchel, looking like a cross between a hippie and an intellectual. A tall man with dark, brooding features, he’s in the middle of a rare lull, fresh from vacationing with his collegeaged children —and indeed, today he arrives not with a label entourage but with his son. Here, a conversation with the newly independent Arjona. It’s been a year since you launched your own label. Would you sign with a major again? No, because there’s no sense in doing so. When we spoke a year ago, I was full of drive and surrounded by fear. Today, I still have the desire but I have far less fear, and I…

Red all over: British singer and Elektra artist Ed Sheeran will hit the road next year in support of Taylor Swift on the latter’s anticipated blockbuster North American trek behind new album Red. Dates begin March 13 in Omaha, Neb., and stretch through mid-September with a threenight stand in Nashville (Sept. 19-20). Sheeran co-wrote Red’ “Everything Has Changed” with Swift . . . Father knows best: Indie rock vets the Walkmen will head out in January for a quick, 11-date North American swing. Things kick off Jan. 11 in Philadelphia at Union Transfer, and indie folk act Father John Misty joins Jan. 15 in Montreal for the remaining engagements, which include stops at Denver’s Ogden Theatre (Jan. 21) and the Roseland Theatre in Portland, Ore. (Jan. 26) . . .…

‘‘here’s one choice on election day that we guarantee will satisfy you, and that’s voting for Third Day,” the band’s bassist Tai Anderson says with a laugh. Yes, on the same day as the presidential election (Nov. 6), Third Day’s new Essential Records release, Miracle, arrives. Produced by Brendan O’Brien (the Killers, R.E.M., Bruce Springsteen), Miracle represents a sonic departure for the veteran Christian rockers. “We philosophically wanted it to be a new statement from Third Day; we didn’t want it to sound like a cover of our previous material,” Anderson says. “That’s the biggest critique for an established artist, that they are always in the shadow of their previous success. You struggle so hard to top what you did before.” Anderson, singer Mac Powell, drummer David Carr and guitarist…

LOCAL NATIVES Breakers (4:08) Producers:Local Natives, Aaron Dessner Writers:Local Natives, A. Dessner Publisher:ASCAP Frenchkiss Records/Infectious Music After wowing indie-rock enthusiasts with their stunning 2010 debut—the pristine, harmony-laden Gorilla Manor—Los Angeles’ Local Natives were branded “the West Coast Grizzly Bear.” Based on the stark, brooding dynamics of “Breaker,” the debut single from its upcoming sophomore LP, the quartet has likely earned itself a new nickname: “the West Coast National.” It’s a bit of a cheap comparison, given that the band’s new album was produced by the National’s Aaron Dessner, but Local Natives have clearly taken a few cues from their elder indie brethren. Where Gorilla Manor often simmered contently in elegant textures, “Breakers” snarls with propulsion—there’s a nervous tension beneath the fractured guitar chords, sparkling keys and fidgety high-hats. “Waiting for…

Thanks to the catchy hit single “Cruise,” Florida Georgia Line’s Tyler Hubbard and Brian Kelley have seen their career fasttracked from buzz-worthy indie act to breakout success. At No. 3 on Billboard’s Hot Country Songs chart, “Cruise” keeps motoring toward the summit as the duo gears up for the release of its first full-length disc, Here’s to the Good Times (Republic Nashville/Big Machine), on Dec. 4. “We were selling quite a bit and that really caught everybody’s attention,” Hubbard says. “We sold 100,000 copies [of the single] before we even signed a record deal.” Hubbard hails from Monroe, Ga., and Kelley from Ormond Beach, Fla., (thus the name Florida Georgia Line), and the two met while attending Belmont University in Nashville. They began writing songs in 2009 and credit their…

GOT THE BLUES Gary Clark Jr. makes a smashing debut at No. 6 on the Billboard 200 and at No. 1 on Blues Albums with his first major-label studio album, Blak & Blu, selling 35,000 copies (according to Nielsen SoundScan). The Warner Bros. set is his second No. 1 on the Blues chart, following his Bright Lights EP. SPOOKY SALES Likely sparked by Halloween, sales of Michael Jackson’s Thriller jumped by 97% last week, moving 28,000 downloads. It was the top-selling Halloweenthemed tune of the week. Bobby “Boris” Pickett’s “Monster Mash” was next, with 22,000. 6 MILLION CALLS Carly Rae Jepsen’s “Call Me Maybe” joins Gotye’s “Somebody That I Used to Know” as the only songs to sell 6 million downloads in a calendar year. The former crosses the mark…

P!nk, who’ll be among the performers at the American Music Awards (Nov. 18), has something else to shout about: worldwide sales of 3 million for her album Greatest Hits . . . So Far!!! Helping her do the shouting are (from left) Sony Music U.S. executive VP of international JOHN FLECKENSTEIN, RCA Records president/COO TOM CORSON and executive VP of promotion JOE RICCITELLI, manager ROGER DAVIES and RCA Records CEO PETER EDGE. PHOTO: ANDREW MARKS 1 ISLAND DEF JAM ARTIST KERLI, co-writer of Demi Lovato’s hit “Skyscraper,” has inked a worldwide co-publishing pact with Warner/Chappell Music. The singer/songwriter (third from right) strikes a pose with (from left) comanager Bruce Roberts; Warner/Chappell president of creative for North America Jon Platt, senior VP of A&R Greg Sowders and chairman/CEO Cameron Strang; and…

I was mesmerized by Sandy. Mesmerized by the thousands of micro-reports on Twitter. Mesmerized by the images in rotation on local news channels and the ever-growing height of swells buffeting nearby coastlines. So when Joe Levy, the magazine’s editor, emailed me early Tuesday morning to ask if I knew how we’d close the book this week, I had to turn the question over a few times in my head. Billboard’s office is at 770 Broadway, actually on Ninth Street. As in, deep in the heart of hundreds of downtown Manhattan blocks that still lack power as we approach our weekly Thursday evening close. No power for our designers’ and editors’ workstations. No power to run our servers with our fonts and templates. No power for, uh, lights. We also had…

This week, Kendrick Lamar’s critically lauded tde/aftermath/interscope debut Good Kid, m.A.A.d city bows at no. 2 on the Billboard 200 with 241,000 sold, according to nielsen soundscan. it’s the biggest opening for an artist’s major-label debut this year, and the largest since nicki minaj’s Pink Friday started with 375,000 on dec. 11, 2010. Lamar’s opening frame is all the more impressive considering that he was able to push such sales despite not having a traditional hit single working at radio. “swimming Pools (drank),” the third song to appear ahead of the album, jumps 55-32 on the Billboard hot 100 and 14-5 on the hot R&B/hip-hop songs chart. Lamar’s impressive sales comes on the heels of a series of big debuts from hip-hop artists with strong internet support and little radio…

SANTAOLALLA LEAVES SURCO FOR SONY MASTERWORKS Gustavo Santaolalla has left his pioneering U.S. Latin alternative label Surco, a Universal imprint, for Sony Masterworks. The label will release a new album by Santaolalla’s Latin Grammy Award-winning electrotango group Bajofondo in March. The two-time Academy Award winner is known to Latin alternative fans for producing influential records by Molotov and Cafe Tacvba, among others, and for Juanes’ debut album, Fijate Bien, all on Surco. Santaolalla says Bajofondo’s third album reflects the evolution of the band, mixing the music of the Rio de la Plata with more diverse rhythms and vocals. The first single will be released in Argentina in December. —Judy Cantor-Navas FERNANDEZ CANCELS SHOWS DUE TO ILLNESS Mexican singer Vicente Fernandez has canceled two November shows in Mexico due to health…

Artist showcases for music supervisors are a common enough occurrence in Los Angeles. Usually the acts come from the ranks of singer/songwriters, armed with new music to pitch that will probably need a gentle nudge to get into public view. Almost always, the showcase is for music that has been released. Considering those conditions, it makes the story of Lindi Ortega that much more compelling. Ortega, now an indie artist recording for her management company’s label, was once part of the Cherrytree roster that went through Interscope. When that label found success with Lady Gaga, it didn’t matter how well-received Ortega’s alt-country work on The Drifter EP had been. They wanted to concentrate on dance and pop acts and handed her back her finished album. “The idea was to shop…

A varied approach was taken at this year’s Billboard/Hollywood Reporter Film & TV Music Conference, with sessions devoted to documentaries, K-pop and the current state of music supervision, among many others, at the W Hotel in Hollywood, Calif. The conference covered the multitude of areas where music intersects with various forms of media, and Q&As with prominent composers (Gustavo Santaolalla, Danny Elfman), recording artists (Christina Aguilera, Demi Lovato), a major-label executive (Epic Records chairman/CEO Antonio “L.A.” Reid) and major filmmakers (Judd Apatow, David Chase) were staged to full houses between Oct. 23 and 25. Chase spoke about incorporating the music of the Beatles and the Rolling Stones in his film “Not Fade Away,” which was screened Oct. 23 at Paramount Studios; Reid and Lovato ref lected on the importance for…

The work of music supervisor Liza Richardson can be heard in TV series “Parenthood,” “Hawaii Five-O” and “Touch” as well as films “Hotel Transylvania” and “The Kids Are All Right.” After speaking at the Billboard/Hollywood Reporter Film & TV Music Conference about logistics and opportunities, Richardson answered a few questions about the business. “Parenthood” has emerged as a show with an extraordinary number of music cues. What makes that one different from your other projects? “Parenthood” has an amazing budget and that’s one of the driving factors. “Parenthood” has well over $100,000 per episode [for music]. I have shows that have $30,000, $60,000, $80,000—the budget, for me, always informs the process. I take the budget and see what the filmmakers or show runners want to do, and it usually takes…

Jack Conte and Nataly Dawn, the singer/songwr iter duo of Pomplamoose, know all too well how hard it is to get people to part with 99 cents for a new song these days, much less $10 for an album that the two had spent countless hours laboring over. So it came as a shock when they found out how much money they’d just grossed from a 30-minute webcast they did in May: $3,267. It was more than the band generates in merchandise sales in an average month. The live event—attended by 450 fans and broadcast from the comforts of a recording studio in the group’s Sonoma County, Calif., home—was produced by StageIt, a Los Angeles startup backed by Sean Parker, Jimmy Buffett and other investors. StageIt, along with Google Hangouts,…

The down year for the live industry in 2010 is looking more like a blip on the radar and less like the new normal, as evidenced by the lineup of finalists for the 2012 Billboard Touring Awards. The list of top performers for the year is made up of a healthy mix of genres, touring strategies and positions on the career arc, and show big successes on a global level. The awards are primarily based on actual numbers reported to Billboard Boxscore, reflecting real business being done, as opposed to any sort of voting procedure. The exceptions would be such honors as Legend of Live (Neil Diamond), the Concert Marketing & Promotion Award (see story, page 54 ), the Humanitarian Award (the Apollo Theater), the Road Warrior Award presented by…

Where would today’s top touring acts be without venues to perform in? In addition to honoring the year’s most successful concert performers, the Billboard Touring Conference & Awards, taking place Nov. 7-8 in New York, also recognize the world’s highest-grossing facilities for the 2012 touring season. Here’s a look at the venue finalists, based on Billboard Boxscore results from Oct. 1, 2011, through Sept. 30, 2012. TOP ARENA With their choice of nearly 170 events during the past 12 months, guests at London’s O2 Arena “have enjoyed the world’s biggest music artists, top-billing sporting events and entertainment that ranges from comedy to family shows,” O2 GM Rebecca Kane says. She isn’t kidding. In addition to concerts by Rihanna (10 shows), comedian Peter Kay (15) and Jay-Z/Kanye West (five), the facility—which…

The Apollo Theater will be the first venue to receive the Humanitarian Award at the Billboard Touring Conference in New York on Nov. 8. The iconic theater will be recognized for not only what it means to Harlem and New York but also the positive role it has played in community outreach and nurturing talent that affects all music and culture. This award recognizes the philanthropic efforts of a music industry entity, and the Apollo’s not-for-profit organization, Apollo Theater Foundation, will be acknowledged for honoring the inf luence and advancing the contributions of African-American artists while recognizing emerging voices across cultures and artistic media. Previous Humanitarian Award honorees include manager Coran Capshaw; Jack Johnson; Warped founder Kevin Lyman; Jon Bon Jovi; Bob Ezrin and U2’s the Edge for Music Rising;…

Since 1994, Ricardo Arjona has placed 16 titles on Billboard’s Top Lat in Albums char t . Among them are four No. 1s, including his current set, Independiente. Here’s a look at five landmark titles by the artist. Historias (1994): Arjona’s breakout album, his second for Sony, includes some seminal hits that he still performs and which def ined both his sound and songwriting. Historias contains memorable tracks like “Señora de las Cuatro Decadas” (Lady of the Four Decades), a song about a young man in love with a woman over 40, and “Historia de Taxi” (Taxi Story), about a cab driver during an off night that turns weird. “Taxi” would later be adapted into a duet with Marc Anthony for Arjona’s album Quien Dijo Ayer. Santo Pecado (2002): This…

Crystal Cast les’ third album, (III), was recorded using a methodology that might seem unusual for an act often linked to EDM. The Toronto duo, producer Ethan Kath and vocalist Alice Glass, decamped to Warsaw, where they laid down tracks in one take using a ’50s tape machine. “We had an idea that we would communicate with no one,” Kath says of the computer-free process. “We would be completely isolated. We moved to Warsaw because we didn’t speak the language. We didn’t know anyone.” But the process was as much about genuine imperfection as it was about seclusion. “The first take captures the rawest expression of an emotion,” Kath notes. “Nothing is corrected; notes are wrong. If these notes were corrected, how would the song be different? I didn’t want…

Billy Ray Cyrus’ life has been a rollercoaster ride, and he’s still enjoying it. Cyrus catapulted from humble Kentucky beginnings to stardom with his 1992 debut, Some Gave All, which was certified nine-times platinum, fueled by the hit single “Achy Breaky Heart.” It’s been two decades since that auspicious beginning, and Cyrus is busier than ever. He teamed with music/TV producer Brandon Friesen to launch Blue Cadillac Music, the Los Angeles-based label that issued his latest album, Change My Mind. He’s working on his autobiography, “Hillbilly Heart,” due next April, and making his Broadway debut in “Chicago” on Nov. 5. 1 What made you decide to start your own label? Waylon Jennings told me years ago, “The way to do it these days is start your own label.” And I…

In May, Phillip Phillips was crowned the 11th winner of “American Idol,” and his coronation single “Home” soared into the upper reaches of the Billboard Hot 100 in June. The folky rock track, penned by Drew Pearson and Greg Holden, bowed at No. 10 with 278,000 digital tracks sold, according to Nielsen SoundScan, good for the secondbest digital sales week of any “Idol” contestant (only Kelly Clarkson’s 2009 release, “My Life Would Suck Without You,” posted a bigger frame) and the best sales week for any “Idol” coronation song since 2003, when SoundScan started tracking digital single sales. In August, “Home” returned to the top 10, bolstered by expansive use in NBC’s coverage of the summer Olympics, becoming only the sixth song in chart history to crack the top 10…

Skylar Grey’s long-gestating debut album, Don’t Look Down, received a sharp spike in interest on Oct. 31, when it was announced that Eminem would be executive-producing the full-length as well as guesting on its first official single. Don’t Look Down will be released in the spring through KIDinaKORNER/Interscope, while “C’mon Let Me Ride,” produced by longtime Grey collaborator Alex Da Kid, will be unveiled Dec. 11. Grey had previously worked with Eminem on songs like his Billboard Hot 100 chart-topper “Love the Way You Lie,” which she co-wrote, and Dr. Dre’s “I Need a Doctor,” which features Eminem rapping and Grey on the hook. Grey says she impressed the rapper when she initially played him her solo material, and that he became more involved with the project as recording continued.…

As predicted, Taylor Swif t ’Red comes charging in at No. 1 on the Billboard 200, selling a whopping 1.2 million copies last week in the United States, according to Nielsen Sound-Scan. That’s more than any album has sold in a single week since 2002, when Eminem’The Eminem Show sold 1.3 million in its first full week at No. 1 on the Billboard 200. Red is only the 18th album to sell 1 million units in a single week since Sound-Scan started tracking sales in 1991. Its start ranks as the eighth- biggest sales week in that span of time. The Sound-Scan-era record week is held by ’N Sync’No Strings Attached, which debuted at No. 1 with 2.4 million in 2000. Swift’s sizzling start is also the second-largest sales frame…