Innholdsfortegnelse for May 18, 2013 i Billboard Magazine

RIAA GETS STREAMING The RIAA has started to incorporate on-demand streams in its gold and platinum awards. For more than a year, the organization measured how many streams should be equivalent to a single sale, eventually settling on 100. Eleven new songs, including 30 Seconds to Mars’ “This Is War,”anna kendrick’ “Cups” and Lana Del Rey’s “Video Games,” earned awards due to streams that pushed them past the marks for gold (500,000), platinum (1 million) and multiplatinum (2 million). EAGLES FLY FROM RDIO Rdio gained one of music’s most valuable catalogs, only to lose it hours later. Seesaw negotiations with the Eagles’ management were apparently responsible for the classic rock band’s sudden appearance in and then disappearance from the streaming service’s library. The Eagles had been a streaming service holdout,…

Essence Festival. Now facing a strong contender, the 19th annual fest begins less than a week later (July 4-7) at New Orleans’ Superdome with presenting sponsor Coca-Cola. Also serving up a mix of music, lifestyle seminars and guest speakers, Essence shares BET headliners Beyoncé and New Edition on a bill that includes Maxwell, Jill Scott and Charlie Wilson. R&B/hip-hop. Mainstream TV appearances are frequently out of reach for most R&B/hip-hop acts, especially up-and-comers like PJ Morton and Mateo. And they have fewer mainstream touring opportunities in comparison to pop, country and rock artists. This new platform offers valuable exposure. Los Angeles. The city could use a boost to the local economy. Bringing more visitors to town means— ideally—more dollars spent at hotels, restaurants and other venues and tourist attractions. A…

FTR In the April 13 issue, the Road Work column misstated the name of Keith Urban’s booking agent. Creative Artists Agency is handling the country star’s current tour. In the May 11 issue, a story about Billboard’s Latin Music Conference misspelled the names of SBS’ Andrew Polsky, Marca Miami’s Stacy Pagan and MasterCard’s Geraldine Cooper. Veteran music publisher Lionel Conway and Epitaph Records owner Brett Gurewitz have launched a new publishing company, Mothership Music, that will bring together the latter’s Fig Music and the former’s administered Jalma Music. Conway made his bones in publishing by launching and running Island Music, and along the way also headed up PolyGram Music and Maverick Music. More recently, he oversaw the U.S. operation of Stage Three, which BMG Rights Management purchased in 2010. Conway…

Gunning For Better Family Tree Entertainment CEO Michael “Blue” Williams is tired of hip-hop getting a bad rap in the media. That was a driving factor in why he founded Guns 4 Greatness, a gun buyback program that aims to reduce firearm-related violence in New York and beyond. “I felt like hip-hop was always getting the short end of the stick when it comes to the news cycle,” says Williams, who manages Cee Lo Green and Big Boi. “The good things that we do in the hip-hop community don’t ever get the attention.” In March, Williams took his first step toward changing that stigma by teaming with the New York City Police Department to hold the first Guns 4 Greatness buyback in Brooklyn. Those who anonymously turned in a firearm…

Fashion renegade Madonna and fellow sartorial daredevils Miley Cyrus and Jennifer Lopez struck a pose at the Metropolitan Museum of Art’s Met Ball gala, premiering the “PUNK: Chaos to Couture” exhibit. Punk originators Vivienne Westwood, Marky Ramone and Deborah Harry all represented. 1 Giving props to her punk heroes Patti Smith and Sid Vicious on the red carpet, Madonna vamps it up in studs, safety pins and torn fishnets at the Costume Institute gala at the Metropolitan Museum of Art for the exhibit “PUNK: Chaos to Couture” on May 6 in New York. 2Miley Cyrus stuns in a Marc Jacobs fishnet frock, while her Sid Vicious spikes make noise at the Met gala. 3 Country gal Taylor Swift splits the difference between princess and punk on the red carpet, taking…

LOOKING BACK ON THE PAST YEAR, WHAT WAS THE HIGHLIGHT FOR YOU? Taylor Swift: For me, the highlight of this year was that fans went out and bought more than a million copies of Red in its first week of release. That was such an unbelievable feeling, knowing that many people wanted to hear about the last two years of my life. When I put out an album, it’s like me releasing my version of events, the way I felt at my highest and lowest points. Sharing that with the world is a vulnerable position to put yourself in, and having it be so celebrated by my fans was almost an indescribable feeling of joy and relief and “Oh, good, they understand me.” Florida Georgia Line’s Tyler Hubbard: Winning our…

A Raft Of Opportunities The worldwide music industry has great ambitions to create global registries to help solve the metadata challenge. Is a private database with all the industry’s key data points in one place the holy grail? That’s what the Digital Data Exchange sets out to be Metadata may be the least sexy part of music, but today’s music business cannot reach its potential without it. Good metadata provides transparency. It allows rights holders to be located and paid correctly and promptly. And it drives music discovery and powers new features and services. The global music industry can’t operate optimally without it. The best way to understand metadata is to consider all the data that piggybacks on sound recordings and musical works, the underlying compositions in a sound recording.…

It started with a Facebook post: Two helmets, one gold and one silver, halved and fused down the center, set against plain black. Then came the 15-second ad, aired during the March 2 episode of “Saturday Night Live”; its first appearance online was through an excited fan’s YouTube video of his TV screen. Next were the billboards, first seen around South by Southwest and Ultra Music Festival in March, then across the globe, from the Bowery in New York to Old Street in London. Those who spied them shared them, posting pictures to Twitter and Instagram by the thousands; on Reddit, one fan created a map of billboard sightings. By the time the Coachella festival rolled around in April, speculation was feverish. In one sense, it was crystal clear. That…

Jimmy Gonzalez, Latin pop KMVK Dallas. Frankie J, “No Te Quiero Ver con El.” KMVK began playing this single in January. It rose to the top of our research and our request rankings. Now, with the newly released bachata version, this single will be more East Coast-friendly. J King & Maximan, “La Noche Esta de Fiesta.” This is my pick for the summer. The only problem you will have is deciding which remix to play. There are two equally strong versions: 3BallMTY and Elvis Crespo. Watch this trend of 3Ball-influenced music—it is on the radar and getting stronger every day. Raul y Mexia, “Las Escondidas.” Raul y Mexia, also influenced by the Monterrey [Mexico] sound, have another hit in this genre. This new song has the recipe for success. These…

.biz “Voice” coach and Maroon 5 frontman Adam Levine has inked a one-year first-look development deal at NBC with his longtime manager-turned-producing partner Jordan Feldstein. Together, the pair will create both scripted and alternative programming to serve as series and specials for the network. The 2013 Billboard Latin Music Awards, which aired April 25 on Telemundo, had its share of uptempo reggaetón and dance, regional Mexican music, daring duets and song premieres, most featuring major Latin stars. In the midst of that was Il Volo, a trio of operatic tenors, singing “El Triste,” an homage to Mexican crooner José José accompanied by a full string orchestra. The performance was as surprising as it was successful, delivering some of the highest minute-byminute ratings for the show. It was the latest big…

2 MONTHS AGO After signing to Interscope Records last June and working on her debut during the second half of last year, Sanchez and her label team spent February “in creative mode,” Interscope head of marketing Mike Flaherty says. “We were combing through tracks and singles, and starting to dip our toe in the water a bit with press and activate online to let people know things were coming.” After performing on the American Idols Live! tour last summer, Sanchez performed her first solo concert on Feb. 14 in the Philippines. Sanchez then returned to the “Idol” stage on March 21 to unveil “Tonight,” the album’s lead single, alongside its featured guest, Ne-Yo. 1 MONTH AGO Amiable dance track “Tonight” hit digital retailers the day after the “Idol” performance, but…

LEGEND Bullets indicate titles with greatest weekly gains. Album Charts ● Recording Industry Assn. of America (RIAA) certification for physical shipments & digital downloads of 500,000 albums (Gold). ▴ RIAA certification for physical shipments & digital downloads of 1 million units (Platinum). Numeral noted with Platinum symbol indicates album’s multiplatinum level. ◆ RIAA certification for physical shipments & digital downloads of 10 million units (Diamond). Numeral noted with Diamond symbol indicates album’s multiplatinum level. ◌ Latin albums certification for physical shipments & digital downloads of 50,000 units (Oro). △ Latin albums certification for physical shipments & digital downloads of 100,000 units (Platino). Numeral noted with Platinum symbol indicates album’s multi-platinum level. Digital Songs Charts ● RIAA certification for 500,000 paid downloads (Gold). ▴ RIAA certification for 1 million paid downloads…

Some may view it as a matter of semantics, but promoters of the Rolling Stones’ 50 & Counting tour insist ticket-price adjustments in Los Angeles and elsewhere reflect “flex pricing” (as opposed to “discounting”) and essentially work as a mechanism that determines true market value while attempting to stymie the secondary market. ¶ John Meglen, co-president of AEG Live subsidiary Concerts West, promoter of the tour, says that reports of deep discounting and sluggish sales aren’t accurate. The tour is on pace to gross close to $100 million from 18 shows, and the bulk of the dates are sold out or close to it. ¶ Still, hopes for an across-the-board sellout of the lower bowl at a top price of $600 didn’t completely pan out, particularly after the tour opener…

.biz Digital music company Slacker says it grew its paying subscriber base by 10%-20% as a result of redesigning its service to attract casual listeners. Slacker’s paid-user base is between 500,000 and 1 million in the United States. Brand sponsorship for festivals, tours and music venues keeps growing in the United States, and is projected to reach $1.28 billion in 2013, according to marketing analytics firm IEG Research. Music continues to capture an increasing share of dollars from marketers postrecession, posting a 5.4% increase from $1.22 billion in 2012 and a 15.5% increase from $1.17 billion in 2009. Part of that increase comes from music’s rising appeal among consumer packaged-goods marketers, with Procter & Gamble’s CoverGirl, Unilever’s Fruttare ice cream bars and Kraft Mondelez’s Oreo all sponsoring major tours and…

Green Day, Dave Grohl and the Rolling Stones are better-known in advertising circles for all the opportunities they’ve said “no” to rather than “yes.” In the last nine months alone, Marcie Allen at MAC Presents has helped broker rare partnerships for all three acts that helped them say “yes,” for Nokia and Citi, respectively. Allen has also used her ties to music to help artists and families affected by Hurricane Sandy, and a short-form documentary about her experience aiding victims in the Rockaways, “Beach 119,” is in the works. She is one of 18 people that the White House recently recognized as a “Champion of Change” for her volunteer efforts, and she’s also being named one of T.J. Martell’s Women of Influence. 5.30 AM Wake up in Nashville after a…

LATIN NOTAS LEEILA COBO SGAE’s New Pitch To Authors Antón Reixa plans to restore faith in one of Spanish-language media’s key cultural organizations Of all the candidates to lead SGAE, Spain’s embattled society of authors and editors, Antón Reixa would appear to be the least likely. An artist and film/theater director, Reixa was best-known as lead singer/songwriter of Os Resentidos, a Galician punk rock band popular in the ’80s and ’90s with an anti-establishment message. If Reixa had bureaucratic or corporate inclinations, they weren’t evident. Yet last year, when longtime SGAE president Teddy Bautista resigned following a very public federal investigation against SGAE for misappropriation of funds, among other accusations, Reixa was elected as his successor. Now, slightly more than a year into his presidency, Reixa is promoting what he…

GETTING THERE Flying to Seattle and driving is probably the easiest way to get there. I have driven from San Francisco twice and it takes forever. —Seth Hubbard, label manager, Polyvinyl Come a day early. You’ll beat the traffic on Silica Road and have plenty of time to track down illegal treats in the camp¬ing section. Then you can wake up at a reasonable hour and still easily catch the opening acts. —David Dickenson, founder, Suicide Squeeze STAY HERE Vantage Riverstone Resort has camping, RV hookups, motel-style rooms and full houses for rent. With a group of people, a house is perfect; you can shower and prepare your own food as needed. —Nate Prudhon, DJ/senior traffic coordinator, KEXP Seattle It’s all about the camping. So much so that it’s been…

“I see treeeees of greeeeen, red roses tooooo . . .” Ten years after leaving “Saturday Night Live,” Tracy Morgan’s eyes still light up when he morphs his voice into a gravelly croon for a pitch-perfect Louis Armstrong impression. He brings “What a Wonderful World” to a quick halt, flashes a warm smile and says with utmost sincerity, “I love to sing that song.” The unhinged energy that has been Morgan’s calling card for nearly two decades—first on “SNL,” then “30 Rock,” and with years of stand-up experience—becomes something else entirely whenever he discusses music: a giddy enthusiasm rooted in deep reverence for classic R&B, hip-hop, jazz and pop music. The host of the 2013 Billboard Music Awards says that Michael Jackson is his favorite artist and can gab without…

The Recording Academy’s campaign to “Give Fans the Credit” seeks to inform music fans of the songwriters, session musicians, producers and engineers who contribute to sound recordings. Now the first volunteer has come forward. On May 7, on-demand subscription service Rhapsody announced that it will be the first streaming service to answer the Recording Academy’s call for more detailed liner notes. Full implementation of the credits will take place in the coming months. Like other services, Rhapsody offers basic information about the songs in its catalog: featured artist, song title and album title. This data is the bare minimum for enjoyment of a digital service. A user can find an artist’s catalog, look up songs by title and know an album’s song titles. In the future, Rhapsody will allow its…

Scottish indie-pop quintet Camera Obscura has amassed a sizable stateside following during the past decade with the release of four albums and extensive touring. So when the opportunity arose to record in the United States for the first time, with fifth album Desire Lines (June 4, 4AD), lead singer Tracy Anne Campbell was hopeful that a little sunshine might provide some respite from the general gloom the band had been used to back home. Unfortunately, the group spent the last months of 2012 with producer Tucker Martine (R.E.M., Spoon) in Portland, Ore., during an exceptionally cloudy period for the coastal city. “It was absolutely shocking—it was as rainy as it is here,” Campbell says, speaking from her apartment in Glasgow. “But it’s important to us to be on edge a…

ARTIST: Dessa ALBUM: Parts of Speech LABEL: Doomtree Records MANAGERS: Doug Lefrak and Shannon Schlappi, Locker Partner PRODUCERS: Dessa, Paper Tiger, Lazerbeak PUBLISHER: self-administered BOOKING AGENT: The Agency Group CHART HISTORY: A Badly Broken Code (2010), No. 48 Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums, 2,000; Castor, the Twin (2011), No. 26 Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums, 3,000 TWITTER: @dessadarling With the soul of a poet and the erudition of a scholar, Minneapolis rapper Dessa is one of the standout voices of that city’s hip-hop collective Doomtree, and she’s poised to break out with her eclectic solo effort, Parts of Speech, due June 25 on Doomtree Records. The multitalented Dessa—she’s an artist-lyricist, singer, songwriter and occasional college lecturer— honed her skills with Doomtree and as a slam poet. She released her solo EP, False Hopes, in…

Kris Kross Following the death of hip-hop duo Kris Kross’ Chris Kelly at age 34 on May 1, the act’s smash single “Jump” is making waves. The song was the Ruffhouse/Columbia act’s first release, and zipped straight to No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100 in 1992. The act followed up with six more hits, and another eight on Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs. 8 “Jump” spent eight weeks lodged at No. 1 on the Hot 100 in 1992, the longest reign for a rap single until 1996, when Bone Thugs-NHarmony’s “Tha Crossroads” matched that run. When “Jump” hit No. 1 in only its fourth week, it was the fastest leap to No. 1 since 1985, when “We Are the World” also sped to the top in four frames. 2,878% 2.3M The…

Frazier Makes In-’Roads’ With spins at 13 of the 129 stations monitored by Nielsen BDS for Billboard’s Country Airplay chart, Morgan Frazier simmers just below the ranking with “Yellow Brick Road,” her debut single for Curb’s Sidewalk imprint. The Breckenridge, Texas, native recently won the prestigious John Lennon Songwriting competition and is now making promotional rounds at country radio. She has tour dates booked through November and is working on her first full-length album. Wild Feathers In Flight After a label switch in 2012, the Wild Feathers are ready to fly, as the rock group’s “The Ceiling” bullets at No. 28 on the Triple A airplay chart. The Nashville-based band will release its self-titled debut album on Warner Bros. on Aug. 6. Formerly signed to Interscope, the quartet, which has…

Trend Report: Second-Week Declines For No. 1-Debuting Albums On The Billboard 200 This Year This week, Michael Bublé’s To Be Loved tallies the second-smallest decline among No. 1 debuts this year. It falls by just 51% in its second week on the Billboard 200. In light of that, we take a look at 2013’s No. 1-debuting albums on the chart and how they performed in their second week, compared with the average percentage drop among all 11 No. 1 bows this year. 1 CHRIS TOMLIN, BURNING LIGHTS DEBUT: 73,000 SECOND WEEK: 16,000 DOWN 77.8% Christian artist Tomlin’s Burning Lights has the year’s secondlargest tumble from a No. 1 debut, with only Justin Bieber’s Believe Acoustic tallying a bigger secondweek slump (79.4%). Much of Tomlin’s first-week sales were bolstered by pre-orders–as…

As BET Networks prepares to announce this year’s slate of BET Awards nominees and special honorees on May 14, the countdown begins for its first BET Experience at L.A. Live. Moving to the Nokia Theatre in downtown Los Angeles after nine years at the nearby Shrine Auditorium, the awards show is expanding into a three-day festival (June 28-30). Featured events run the gamut from A-list music concerts, comedy shows and film screenings to “106 & Park” tapings and a BET Grammy Museum exhibit. Partnering with BET is L.A. Live developer/operator AEG Live. Kicking of the proceedings is the June 28 launch of Beyoncé’s North American tour at the Staples Center. Prior to her performance, comedian Mike Epps will hold court across the street at Club Nokia. Following him at the…

In 2010, it took Atlantic Records Group chairman/CEO Craig Kallman nearly three months to convince Liz Miller, now GM of his revived Big Beat imprint within Atlantic, to join the team. “I said ‘no’ immediately,” says Miller, who was living in Berlin at the time, managing social and digital marketing for techno don Richie Hawtin’s Minus empire. “I thought, ‘Major labels and electronic music don’t mix. I’ll be selling out. I’ll be working for the man.’ Then it occurred to me that it would happen with or without me.” Miller finally signed on in September 2010. A month later, Big Beat released Skrillex’s Scary Monsters and Nice Sprites under a 360 deal. The EP won three Grammy Awards; sold more than 1 million copies of its title track, according to…

Timberlake Is Priceless WHAT: Justin Timberlake and MasterCard inked a two-year partnership that will include concerts, creative collaborations and an expected ad campaign. Much like Beyoncé’s multiple-year global pact with Pepsi, which includes original content as well as a tour and appearances in commercials, the Timberlake partnership is set to reach a collective ad spend that will likely exceed $60 million, based on Billboard estimates from previous MasterCard campaigns. The partnership kicked of May 5 at New York’s Roseland Ballroom with Timberlake performing for nearly two hours to a sold-out crowd of 3,500 card members and invited guests. The exclusive gig inaugurated MasterCard’s Priceless Premieres, which will include events in more than 21 cities across the globe as well as unique content. Timberlake also announced May 6 that MasterCard would…

What did you wake up thinking about? How lucky and happy I am. I make a great living doing what I love to do. I also check my emails and fight the temptation to not go to the gym. I make notes of who I need to call and what music I need to listen to on the ride in with fresh ears. I check sales and radio reports for current singles from my home office before I head into the city. Describe a lesson you learned from a failure. From my indie years, I’ve learned that it’s really not how you start, it’s how you finish. You have to invest in talent, find great partners, not be afraid to go with your gut, be patient but outwork everyone and…

“I came up from the other side of the glass,” says John Shanks, perched in front of the massive Neve mixing board dominating his control room. Today, the stats alone confirm Shanks’ rank at the apex of popular music’s most versatile and successful producer/songwriters. Moving effortlessly from the superstars of rock (Sheryl Crow, Fleetwood Mac, John Mayer, four Bon Jovi albums that include the group’s upcoming effort), pop (Kelly Clarkson, Miley Cyrus, Celine Dion) and country (Keith Urban, Rascal Flatts, Blake Shelton), Shanks has collaborated on 45 No. 1 singles across numerous charts, and contributed to more than 90 albums that reached the Billboard 200’s top spot. The 47-year-old got his start, however, as a sideman: Barely out of his teens, he found himself playing guitar in R&B powerhouse Teena…

Even among rappers, French Montana’s love of money runs deep. Here’s a short list of things that come before his bank balance: his family (both parents, now separated, and two younger brothers) and his friend the rapper Max B, who was incarcerated in 2009 for conspiracy to commit murder. But spend any amount of time with the 28-year-old Moroccan-born, Bronx-raised MC, whose debut album, Excuse My French, is due May 21 on Bad Boy/Universal, and conversation quickly veers to a different subject. He talks about his cash with a relish that would make Goldman Sachs CEO Lloyd Blankfein blush. “In school, my favorite subject was math,” Montana offers on a tour bus in Texas, fresh from a headlining spot at Fader Fort during South by Southwest. “That’s where I learned…

THE STANDARDS DDEX: The Digital Data Exchange, formed in 2006, is a standard for messaging in the digital supply chain. Originally focused on music, the standards could be applied to other areas as well. Its charter members include the three major music groups, Kobalt, the Orchard, various collection societies, Apple, Google, Omnifone and SonyDADC. ISNI: International Standard Name Identifier is a standard that identifies individuals and organizations involved in creating, producing, managing and distributing digital content. Entities that can be assigned an ISNI include human beings (living or deceased), legal entities like academic institutions and publishers, and fictional characters. The initial database will include only personal names. An ISNI can help with searching for an artist or company just as an International Standard Book Number helps searches for books. ISRC:…

It’s T-minus two weeks until British rock quartet the Boxer Rebellion releases its fourth album, Promises— due May 14 on the band’s own Absentee Recordings— and frontman Nathan Nicholson sounds a bit stressed. “You don’t start a band to be in a business,” he says, sitting in manager Sumit Bothra’s London office and pondering the phone calls to make, emails to write and tweets to tweet. “It makes me wonder about bands 20 years ago: What would they do with their time? Would they just sit around, write music and watch TV?” Still, even if running a business wasn’t the Boxer Rebellion’s initial goal, its members have become quite adept at it. With a history of lucrative synchs, steady touring and impressive digital sales, the band has built a strong…

Sara Bareilles “Brave” (3:39) PRODUCER: Mark Endert WRITERS: Sara Bareilles, Jack Antonoff PUBLISHERS: various Epic POP While mainstream artists like Ke$ha and P!nk have recruited fun. frontman Nate Ruess to lend some whimsical songwriting to their pop projects, Sara Bareilles has opted to bring in his bandmate, guitarist Jack Antonoff, to co-write her latest declaration of independence. Despite naming her breakout album Little Voice, Bareilles has always been an extroverted vocalist on adult contemporary radio, unafraid of aiming high during crescendos or shouting a line like “I want to see you be brave!” as if the Rapture was afoot. The production on her latest single, however, is noticeably fuller, with heavy beats overpowering the piano flourishes that are typically front and center. As the lead single to her upcoming full-length…

“Memories Back Then,” the new single from T.I.’s label/crew Hustle Gang, is actually helping the act look forward. The introspective track— which features T.I., Grand Hustle/Atlantic signee B.o.B, Grand Hustle singer Kris Stephen and a guest verse from Kendrick Lamar—dips 30-36 on Billboard’s Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs chart and 88-98 on the Billboard Hot 100 after its debut week, but T.I. sees its self-generated momentum as a calling card now that he’s back on the open market. “Memories” is the first single from Hustle Gang’s G.D.O.D. mixtape, released for free online on May 7. But that hasn’t stopped the song from netting stronger-than-expected sales: According to Nielsen SoundScan, it’s sold 48,000 units since its April 22 release through Hustle Gang Music, a new iteration of T.I.’s Grand Hustle imprint, which is…

Country king Kenny Chesney grabs his seventh No. 1 album on the Billboard 200 as Life on a Rock debuts atop the list. The set sold 153,000 copies in its first week, according to Nielsen SoundScan. Among country acts with the most No. 1s on the Billboard 200, Chesney remains second only to Garth Brooks. The latter notched eight leaders between 1991 and 2001. (Chesney already held the runner-up distinction with six No. 1s.) Since 2004, all 10 of Chesney’s regular full-length albums have debuted in the top four of the Billboard 200. His latest follows 2012’s Welcome to the Fishbowl, which debuted and peaked at No. 2 with a 193,000 start. The new album’s debut week is his smallest sales bow for a studio set since 1999’s Everywhere We…