Innholdsfortegnelse for July 20, 2013 i Billboard Magazine

Was Jay-Z able to rewrite the rules? ¶The 43-year-old rapper instantly wholesaled 1 million copies at $5 a pop of new album Magna Carta Holy Grail to Samsung, which gave away the music within a branded mobile app. It landed Jay-Z his 12th platinum award from the RIAA, which indeed created “new rules” to allow for this. In exchange, the consumer electronics giant had the privilege of associating with a global music icon. ¶ The partnership commanded almost unprecedented media attention, but days after the app’s June 24 release, reports about users being turned off by its requests for personal information stirred a privacy debate, followed by some download snafus on the day the free album was available. Yet, the deal serves as an intriguing blueprint for such partnerships in…

SPANISH RADIO TOPS IN L.A. Regional Mexican KLAX (97.9 La Raza) Los Angeles surged to No. 1 in the market during morning drive time in June, the first time a Spanish-language station has occupied the top spot. KLAX, owned by Spanish Broadcasting System, had a 5.2 share, beating out KFI-AM by 0.1, followed by KROQ and KIIS. The station’s morning show, “El Vacilon del Mandril” (El Mandril’s Party), is hosted by Ricardo “El Mandril” Sanchez, a former janitor known for his raucous program full of parodies, jokes and numerous guests. MICROSOFT TO ENTERTAIN Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer announced an ambitious plan to refocus the company around “deep entertainment experiences” in a widely distributed memo headlined “One Microsoft.” The company will reduce its number of divisions in an effort to create…

Four years after his death, the King of Pop continues to generate money from live shows. The latest production, “Michael Jackson ONE ,” kicked off June 29 in Las Vegas before an audience that included Spike Lee, Justin Bieber, Neil Patrick Harris and members of Jackson’s family. It’s too early to say whether “Michael Jackson ONE” can top the box-office performance of “Michael Jackson: The Immortal World Tour,” the traveling arena show from Cirque du Soleil that has generated an estimated $277.2 million from close to 2.6 million tickets sold since its premiere on Oct. 2, 2011, according to Billboard Boxscore. As of mid-June, “Immortal” ranked as the 11th-highest-grossing concert tour since Boxscore began collecting data in the early 1990s. It surpassed the Rolling Stones’ 1997 Bridges to Babylon tour,…

WHAT: Shazam has entered a strategic partnership with, and received an investment from, Mexican telecommunications company America Movil. Part of a conglomerate of companies owned by Mexican billionaire Carlos Slim Helu, America Movil has put $40 million into the London-based company. Shazam is an audiorecognition service that uses a mobile phone’s built-in microphone to identify music and other types of audio. It launched in 2002 as a paid service for phones that returned a song title in a text message. Now Shazam is a free service (a paid version is still available) that’s a popular tool for identifying songs and accessing second-screen content on TV advertisements and programs. WHY: Shazam executive chairman Andrew Fisher says that money wasn’t the main motivation behind the deal. “The reality is we have a…

With the separation of Downtown Records from Downtown Publishing earlier this year, the label has built out its synchronization team, hiring Jennifer Pearce, Celeigh Chapman and Tarik Bradford to lead its synch efforts. Pearce, who previously was with Warner Bros. Records, will oversee commercial licensing, working with agencies, brands and other sponsors. Chapman, formerly with Columbia, will lead film, TV and videogame placements, while Bradford, also formerly with Warners, will focus on movie trailer synchs. “We worked collaboratively with publishing but when we bought back the record label we had to restructure to ensure the labels continue to get synch opportunities,” Downtown Records co-owner Josh Deutsch says. “We have always reached a wide audience through games, movies and TV, so we built a new synch staff to have a fresh…

For a while there a decade ago, in the wake of the “Latin explosion” that spawned Ricky Martin, Shakira and Marc Anthony, it seemed like Latin alternative was the next trend in U.S. Latin music. A plethora of bands—Café Tacvba, Molotov, Maná—were not only media darlings but also top-selling acts, and every major Latin label had a healthy alternative department. Then the thirst for Latin alternative declined, spurred by dwindling sales, lack of radio support and a scarcity of new, noteworthy acts. It didn’t help that U.S. Spanish-language mass media was simply not receptive. While many labels kept Latin alternative acts on their rosters, increasingly fewer got signed. Now, with the growing awareness of a younger, more bilingual U.S. population and with revenue streams coming from sources other than record…

1 The queen: “Electric lady”Janelle Moná looked regal during her Essence Festival set at the Mercedes-Benz Superdome on July 7. 2 Essence’s Cori Murray hosted the Essence Day Party on July 6 at the W Hotel, where Wale performed after networking with Egami Consulting Group COO Michael C. Warner and KWL Enterprises’Kevin Liles. “I’ve been coming for 15 years now,” Liles said of the Essence Festival, “and so much business gets done there.” From left: Warner, Wale, Murray and Liles. 3 Essence’s Emil Wilbekin (left) with LL Cool J at the Essence Festival on July 5, before LL’s headlining set. “It’s all fly, it’s all classy,” LL assured the crowd while dancing with female fans onstage. 4 It’s all love: Essence Communications president Michelle Ebanks toasted with Estelle and Brandy…

Heartthrob, Tegan & Sara’s seventh studio album, arrived in January, but the folk-rock duo has been promoting its most accessible album to date since last August, with a winter North American headlining tour followed by international dates. “We’re just out here like road dogs,” says Sara Quin, who, along with twin sister Tegan, just began another stateside run on July 6, this time supporting fun., along with a slot at Lollapalooza on Aug. 4. It’s nothing new for the pair: The Quins have been touring since releasing their debut album in 1999. Here are the travel must-haves Sara has picked up along the way. MY TRAVEL PLAYLIST The only time I listen to music on the road is when I’m falling asleep and don’t want to listen to something like…

When Imagine Dragons frontman Dan Reynolds got the invite to write with producer Alex Da Kid, it didn’t occur to him to say no. Alexander Grant—aka Alex Da Kid, the 29-year-old producer and founder of KIDina-KORNER—is best-known for his work with such artists as Dr. Dre and Eminem, and Reynolds has always been a fan of hip-hop. “I was familiar with his production skills,” Reynolds says. “I definitely thought, ‘Well, this is a strange marriage. But what is it going to hurt if I go and write with him? Maybe I’ll just learn from a great producer and walk away with that.’” The writing sessions were originally intended to cook up songs for other artists. “I was working with U2 at the time,” says Alex Da Kid, who heard one…

1. DIGITAL ALBUM SALES GROWTH WILL BE ALMOST ZERO While a case can be made that track sales will grow thanks to iTunes Radio, some wonder if that vehicle will also drive album sales. As it is, the second quarter of 2013 marked the slowest growth that digital album sales have experienced since the format was first counted in 2003. And while some might argue that the larger the base, the smaller the percentage gain, that doesn’t appear to be the case in this instance, which saw digital album sales growth fall from a 10.4% pace in the first quarter to a 1.9% increase in the second quarter. Up until now, industry executives have been saying that streaming hasn’t cannibalized download sales, but all of a sudden, everyone is taking…

“I know that I’ll be in front of people with this album,” Pusha T says. “As long as I’m in front of people, I’m extremely happy.” The road to solo success has been more than a decade in the making, but the rapper has his eyes set on the prize with his forthcoming debut, My Name Is My Name, due in August on Def Jam Records. Born Terrence Thornton, Pusha and brother Malice broke out as the Clipse in the early 2000s with rugged tales of Virginia cocaine rap over irresistible beats by the Neptunes. The duo’s 2002 debut, Lord Willin’, reached No. 1 on Billboard’s Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums chart and has sold more than 971,000 copies, according to Nielsen SoundScan. Subsequent releases like Hell Hath No Fury (2006) and…

CONTROLLER Despite the throwback altrock jangle of Controller’s self-titled debut EP, the New York-based band wasn’t started in one of the members’ suburban garages in 1994. It’s the 2-year-old after-work project of four 30-something modern Mad Men: longtime friends working within New York’s fast-paced media industry. “A big part of where the band legitimately came from is four guys spending so much time packaging and developing other brands,” says bassist Josh Shabtai, a creative director at leading agency JWT. “Sixteen hours a day doing that for others— how do you apply the same creativity and rigor to yourselves?” Controller only has a handful of local gigs (at spots like Webster Hall and Mercury Lounge) and three songs to its name, recorded at Brooklyn’s Bunker Studios by Black Keys engineer John…

At 66 and with countless honors, Elton John voices a fairly simple desire on the first single from The Diving Board, his first solo album in seven years. Of course, it’s actually lyricist Bernie Taupin observing that “We all dream of leaving but wind up in the end/Spending all our time trying to get back home again.” But, per usual, John’s understated vocal makes it sound like his most heartfelt wish. The song offers a different kind of musical “home” for John—a stark arrangement focused entirely on his voice and piano, with only a subtle, hollow drum giving the chorus a bit of muscular lift. It’s a quiet and decidedly adult reflection, with satisfaction and the wisdom of experience, to seek solace that can only come from one’s own roots.…

One of the more rousing audience receptions at the recent BET Awards—even before she sang one note— was given to Tamela Mann. Not exactly a household name, the gospel singer/songwriter nevertheless brought folks to their feet with a stirring rendition of her No. 1 single, “Take Me to the King.” Her performance also stirred up something else—a 56% sales spike for her fourth album, Best Days. The 2012 set jumps 111-66 on the Billboard 200. And it once again crowns the Gospel Albums chart, marking its 20th week in that position. This week’s sales of 6,000 units bring total sales of Best Days to 278,000, according to Nielsen SoundScan. Meanwhile, “Take Me to the King,” which debuted at No. 20 last June on Gospel Songs, has since claimed 25 weeks…

6 MONTHS AGO To gear up single “I’d Rather Have Love,” manager Kedar Massenburg brought Joe’s new sound to key programmers, including WBLS New York OM Skip Dillard, who solidified the new material’s potential. The record first shipped in February to programmers and adult R&B panels, gaining positive feedback for radio play. “Having RED Distribution as our partner and having a team there in-house was key,” Massenburg says. Earning slots on Singersroom.com and Target’s “You Heard It Here First,” Joe upped his social presence—including attention from Hype Williams, who filmed the music video, which debuted in early April. 1 MONTH AGO Getting iTunes placements, as well as organizing packages for every major outlet to make the LP stand out, proved paramount. “We gave Target two exclusive tracks, Best Buy one…

American Music As the country had a (Yankee Doodle) dandy time celebrating independence over the July 4 holiday weekend, consumers made holiday-appropriate songs their soundtrack. Lee Greenwood’s “God Bless the U.S.A.” is the top-selling such title (23,000, up 532%) for the Nielsen SoundScan tracking week ending on July 7, followed by Neil Diamond’s new “Freedom Song (They’ll Never Take Us Down)” (22,000 in its first week) and Miley Cyrus’ “Party in the U.S.A.” (18,000, up 72%). Next up: Katy Perry’s “Firework” (14,000, up 59%); Toby Keith’s “Courtesy of the Red, White and Blue (The Angry American)” (12,000, up 208%); and Bruce Springsteen’s “Born in the U.S.A.” (12,000, up 358%). THE BIG NUMBER Since Nielsen SoundScan began powering the Billboard 200 in May 1991, only 13 rap albums have ascended to…

Producer/songwriter Salaam Remi has established his own label imprint group, Louder Than Life, with Sony Music, Billboard has learned exclusively. It’s the latest move by a high-profile producer/songwriter to help drive major-label A&R strategy. In addition to releasing projects under the Louder Than Life banner, Remi will issue projects through two subimprints: RemiFa Music and Flying Buddha Records. “[Sony chairman/CEO] Doug Morris has given me a great opportunity to incubate and market artists,” Remi says of Louder Than Life. Remi, whose extensive list of credits includes Amy Winehouse, Usher, Alicia Keys and Miguel, describes Louder Than Life as an artist development-focused imprint targeting youth and urban culture through multiple genres ranging from pop, hip-hop and R&B to jazz, blues and reggae. The Grammy Award-nominated producer is among a growing group…

As the music industry continues to debate where to place its bets with social media, the safe assumption has always been that the bigger you are, the better, so those discussions have focused on Twitter, Facebook and YouTube. But new data from Musicmetric shows that consumer use of BitTorrent, often correctly cited as a tool of piracy, and Last.fm, last fashionable 10 years ago, have nearly twice the correlation with song sales as the big names of social media. In other words, activity on BitTorrent and Last.fm has twice the relation to music sales as activity on Twitter, YouTube and Facebook, which aggregate some 2 billion users among them every month, according to comScore. Spotify, which has faced plenty of criticism from some quarters for the supposedly small size of…

“he Bridge,” a 13-episode series that premiered July 10 on FX, introduced a new song from Ryan Bingham, his first music for film or TV since winning the Academy Award, Golden Globe and Grammy for his work on 2010’s “Crazy Heart” movie. Thirty seconds of Bingham’s “Until I’m One With You” is the show’s theme song, a rare moment in TV in which an outside singer/songwriter has been brought in to provide a new song with lyrics. So accustomed are networks and production companies to getting publishing rights that it took a fair amount of negotiation just to get the deal finalized. “It reached a point in January where we almost walked away,” says Warner/Chappell senior VP of film/TV music creative Wendy Christiansen, who repped Bingham. “It’s not like the…

Labels and publishers. Easy discovery tools lead to reduced friction in purchasing and more revenue. A stronger Shazam in Latin America means more downloads in large markets that are relatively new to iTunes, like Brazil, 2012’s 12th-largest digital music market, and Mexico, the 16th-largest one. Competition. Although Google recently launched its own app and eMusic has offered one for years, audio identification is currently a two-horse race between Shazam and SoundHound. Carlos Slim Helu’ America Movil partnership should increase distance between Shazam and its competitors. TV and advertising. Shazam has expanded into TV and advertising in North America and TV in Western Europe. TV programmers and advertisers in Latin America could benefit from partnering with Shazam to give viewers second-screen content. SHAZAM BY THE NUMBERS $32M 2011 funding led by…

Timed around the annual United Nations General Assembly meeting in New York, the Global Citizen Festival will return for a second year to continue efforts of building a movement to end extreme poverty by 2030. The festival will be held Sept. 28 in Central Park and will feature headliners Stevie Wonder, Kings of Leon, Alicia Keys and John Mayer. Similar to last year, 54,000 people who participate in social action will be entered into a lottery to win free tickets and about 6,000 VIP tickets will be sold through Ticketmaster, with net proceeds going to charity. “We want to encourage people who got involved last year to continue to take their involvement to a whole new level,” says Hugh Evans, CEO of Global Poverty Project, the nonprofit that organizes and…

Billboard Boxscore’s record grosses are destined to be broken, primarily because ticket prices go up. The exception may be U2’ 360° mark of a $736 million gross and 7.2 million in attendance, as no one had previously figured out how to make stadium capacities that large, and no one except the Rolling Stones has shown they could fill those capacities around the world if given the opportunity. But the record Boxscore for a single engagement has been a tough nut to crack, though many have come close. The Boxscore for the 2013 Coachella Valley Music & Arts Festival at the Empire Polo Grounds in Indio, Calif., was a staggering $67,208,033. Attendance was estimated at 180,000, an aggregate number that takes into account daily attendance, resulting in, essentially, six sold-out days.…

“Kendrick Lamar is continuing the legacy of Compton. Believe me.” —Dr. Dre 1 Rolling deep: Producer Noah “40” Shebib, producer Mike WiLL Made-It, Kendrick Lamar, Jermaine Dupri, Usher, Sean “Diddy” Combs and 2 Chainz (from left) at ASCAP’s 26th annual Rhythm & Soul Music Awards on June 27 at the Beverly Hilton Hotel in Los Angeles. Shebib, Lamar, Usher and 2 Chainz all received top awards. 2 Sony/ATV’s Walter Jones, Jody Gerson and Sam Taylor celebrate their publisher of the year win with ASCAP CEO John LoFrumento (from left) at the Rhythm & Soul Music Awards. 3 Passing the torch: Dr. Dre (right) presented protégéKendrick Lamar with ASCAP’s Vanguard Award. 4 Bright lights, big city: A crowd estimated at half a million turned out for the third annual Philly 4th…

“You have to hear your song the rest of your life, so you might as well put the extra time in to make it perfect.” Mike Dean speaks in a low, gravelly register with short, direct sentences, like cargo pushed out of a pickup truck. It’s not a voice for cutting through in a crowd—but the Texas-born producer/engineer/multiinstrumentalist makes his presence felt nonetheless. Over eight albums and 10 years, he’s become Kanye West’s closest collaborator, evolving from mixing tracks for the then-ascendant rapper’s early mixtapes to co-producing each of the 10 songs on his most recent Billboard 200 chart-topper, Yeezus. Dean’s keyboard and guitar work is all over the album as well. “I’m the one producer that sticks with Kanye through a whole project, usually,” Dean says from his sparsely…

If you’re looking for relief in the sweltering summer months, then maybe the midyear Nielsen SoundScan numbers will offer some. But for most, the cooling trend they show will provoke concern, not comfort. Digital track sales are not just declining this year—the slowdown is accelerating. And digital albums—long a welcome area of growth—appear to have lost considerable momentum. In first-quarter 2013, track sales declined a modest 1.3%, dropping from 361.3 million to 356.5 million. But in the second quarter, the decline more than doubled to 3.3%, tumbling by 11 million, from 336.7 million in secondquarter 2012 to 325.7 million. For the year to date as of June 30, digital track sales have declined 2.3% to 682.2 million units from the 698 million tracks scanned in the first half of 2012,…

Inside the Del Records offices in a Los Angeles suburb, two dozen staffers zigzag between rooms. It’s nearly time for a live streaming broadcast with some of the label’s biggest acts, including babyfaced Gerardo Ortiz, the clean-cut Regulo Caro and Nena Guzman, whose pink lipstick shines from across the room. Around the corner in the boss’ office is the label’s newest star—a lanky, brown-eyed 17-year-old high school junior named Luis Coronel. The lights are extra bright, the makeup has been applied, and about 100 people, including fans and members of the press, are roaming the hallways. Outside, men in suits watch all the activity while security monitors record every inch within Del Records. There’s anxious anticipation as the streaming broadcast counts down to start time. In a two-hour window, online…

After almost a full year of touring behind its third fulllength album, 2010’s Everything in Between, California experimental post-punk duo No Age was beaten, battered and on the verge of burning out. During the three years since they last recorded new music, members Dean Spunt and Randy Randall didn’t lose their creative itch, but they found themselves questioning everything else about art and their relationship with the world as musicians. Spunt fixated on issues almost outlandish in their simplicity, like “What is a song?” and “Why make an album?” “We were interested in the idea of an object that would be made by hand by two artists but end up in a global distribution system where it goes to Best Buy and Amazon.”—DEAN SPUNT, NO AGE “I started to think…

As a young child growing up in the historic English city of Chichester, Tom Odell can vividly remember the disappointment that he felt upon receiving his grandmother’s gift of swimming lessons, as opposed to the piano tuition his elder sister had gotten. “I had already started playing the piano, so I was like, ‘Why are you offering them to her?’” recalls the singer/songwriter, now 22. “So I asked my sister to swap. I made the right choice. I don’t think I’ve got the build to be a swimmer,” he adds with a smile. Validation that he had made the right decision arrived June 30 when Odell’s debut album, Long Way Down (Columbia/In the Name Of), debuted at No. 1 in the United Kingdom. (It also reached the top 10 in…

Smartphone users in Japan have ignited a now- global market for “stickers”—small, cartoonish images shareable through texts and social networks. Asian tech company Line has made more than $17 million with stickers in first-quarter 2013, according to reports. Facebook and Path have recently added the feature. And Snoop Lion’s free sticker app Snoopify, which launched in May, rakes in $30,000 per week, according to the Wall Street Journal. Sticker hubs like Snoop Lion’s Snoopify, and Major Lazer’s similar Lazergram app, could be disregarded as juvenile, but they’re also a lot of fun, and with photos becoming a premium form of online communication, artists can’t afford to not commodify their imagery. Developed by Bay Area app-maker 99centbrains in partnership with the Cashmere Agency and Upper Playground, the free Snoopify app pairs…

With her self-titled fifth studio album set to debut next week, the R&B songstress is enjoying impressive gains on both of her singles. On Billboard’s Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs chart, “Body Party” reaches a new peak (No. 7) while follow-up “I’m Out,” featuring Nicki Minaj, starts at No. 16, her highest debut yet. 53% 33K “Body Party” posts its biggest digital sales week yet with 33,000 downloads, according to Nielsen SoundScan. The song’s previous best was 29,000 (May 11). On R&B/Hip-Hop Digital Songs, the Mike WiLL Made It-produced cut catapults 23-8 to mark Ciara’s first top 10 hit on the list. 24% 116K Online buzz for Ciara’s new album, fueled by the debut of the Vevo video for “I’m Out” (June 30), spurred the addition of 116,000 new fans to her…

Grand Entrance He has no label, manager or publicist, but singer/songwriter Steve Grand has a viral hit. His selffunded music video for “All-American Boy”—whose gay-themed story is loosely based on the out artist’s life— drew 600,000 YouTube views in its first week (July 2-8). The clip quickly garnered attention from BuzzFeed, the Associated Press and ABC’s “Good Morning America.” Ex Factor After placing third on Fox’s “The X Factor” last year, Fifth Harmony is translating its TV exposure to radio interest, as its kiss-off anthem “Miss Movin’ On” (Syco/Epic) is approaching Mainstream Top 40. The quintet—Ally Brooke, Camila Cabello, Normani Hamilton, Dinah-Jane Hansen and Lauren Jauregui—originally auditioned for the show as soloists before becoming a group under the tutelage of mentor Simon Cowell. Fifth Harmony is touring the United States…

Hot 100 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 (Platinum). Numeral noted with platinum…

Artists. For a while now the industry has seemed to be more about the bean counters than the creators. But with this trend of producer/creative types being ushered into the executive ranks, artists should find kindred spirits who can understand and nurture their creative visions while keeping their eye on the bottom line. Doug Morris. Championing sharp, young talent and giving them the tools to do their job could lead to more hits and a strengthening of the bottom line at Sony Music Entertainment. Salaam Remi is in good company with RCA CEO Peter Edge (a former A&R exec) and Epic chairman/CEO Antonio “L.A.” Reid.…

In 2012, Budweiser took a big chance on its inaugural Made in America festival, a two-day event in Philadelphia that eventually grossed $5 million and attracted nearly 80,000 ticketholders, according to Billboard Boxscore. Now, the beer giant is expanding the same cultural marketing approach behind the program to 85 countries with Made for Music, its first global marketing platform in the concert space. Made for Music is designed to give fans in dozens of international territories “unparalleled access” to unique experiences, says Steve Stoute, founder/CEO of Translation, the ad agency behind the initiative. “As the program develops, we’ll be working with the team to figure out how it takes shape. Music is very elastic, so the program has to be fluid because [consumers have] evolving tastes.” The program will feature…

Los Angeles Philharmonic Assn. COO Gail Samuel, a 20-year veteran of the organization who was promoted to the position last fall, is in the midst of a 90-concert summer season at Los Angeles’ iconic Hollywood Bowl. As COO, Samuel oversees the operations of downtown Los Angeles’ Walt Disney Concert Hall and the 18,000-capacity Bowl, which ranked fifth on Billboard’s list of the top 10 highest- grossing amphitheaters of 2012. “I’ll be at the Bowl probably four to five nights a week for the next 10 weeks,” she says. 8.45 AM I dropped off my two young boys at camp and then headed to my office at the Hollywood Bowl. 9.30 AM Met with the Bowl programming team to discuss the current season’s concerts—what’s worked and hasn’t worked so far. 10.30…

RECORD COMPANIES After spending the past eight years as VP of A&R at Atlantic Records, where he worked with such acts as rapper Lupe Fiasco and supergroup TGT (Tank, Tyrese and Ginuwine), Darrale Jones joins Def Jam Recordings as executive VP of A&R. Based in New York, Jones will work closely with fellow Def Jam A&R executives No I.D. and The-Dream to scout and develop new talent. “I’ve known The-Dream and No I.D. for a while,” Jones says of the hitmaking producers, “so it’s really trying to cultivate a team atmosphere so we all have one common goal, which is to break new artists and maintain the success of the artists who are already there and take them into a higher level.” Jones says he’s currently in the studio with…

The music industry has faced many well-covered challenges during the two decades where the business has shrunk some 50%, so it’s surprising that many U.S. artists are either unaware or indifferent to a steady stream of revenue from global neighboring rights. In 1961, the Rome Convention established an internationally acknowledged performer’s right to “equitable remuneration,” thus creating a new royalty stream for artists known today as neighboring rights. When a recording is broadcast, played in public or streamed, it generates income, or neighboring rights, for the artist, session musicians and the label. This differs from the song copyright that generates royalties for composers. For example, when the Beatles version of “Yesterday” is played on the radio, John Lennon, Paul McCartney and publisher Sony/ATV receive publishing royalties. However, neighboring rights royalties…

What did you wake up thinking about this morning? The same thing I think about every day: the next big project I’m working on. There’s a fear that some small factor might go wrong—a city might not give you a permit, there could be a hurricane, whatever. At some point a year ahead you’re pitching to artists, pitching to sponsors; it’s a minefield, almost like building a startup. I also think a lot about effecting change with some of our big global events, [like] achieving the big Millennium Development Goals from the United Nations to end poverty. Describe a lesson you learned from failure. Don’t let failure get in the way of making a decision. Lots of people are in fear of doing something different and they become immobilized. Take…

The ins and outs of Perry Farrell’s legendary festival, now a three-day event in Chicago’s Grant Park (Aug. 2-4) GETTING THERE I usually stick to the train for a huge event like this. Cabs are good too, but at certain times there might not be a lot around. —Ardie Farhadieh, marketing and media manager, Billions Corp. Rent a bike. I’ve rented from Bike and Roll [bikeandroll.com/chicago] in the past. —Tom Wironen, artist manager STAYING THERE For convenience to the festival: The Blackstone Hotel [blackstonerenaissance.com] is a block away. For chic yet affordable: Public Hotel [publichotels.com]. —Lisa Hickey, marketing director, C3 Presents GOOD EATS The Bongo Room [thebongoroom.com] has the most amazing variety of pancakes. —Samantha Cox, assistant VP of writer/publisher relations, BMI Just thinking about roasted black bass with dandelion…

DAN REYNOLDS IS KNOCKING BACK SOME POTATO WEDGES “somewhere in Denmark,” enjoying a rare moment of peace amid the frenetic pace as the band he fronts—Imagine Dragons—charges inexorably toward global rock’n’roll superstardom. This is what momentum looks like. Released last September, the band’s debut album, Night Visions, bowed at No. 2 on the Billboard 200, passing the 1 million mark in June. (The album is currently at No. 4 on the chart, and has sold 1.1 million copies so far, according to Nielsen SoundScan.) “Radioactive” is the rock hit of the summer, logging a 19th week at No. 1 on Billboard’s Rock Airplay chart and sitting at No. 4 on the Billboard Hot 100 this week. “Radioactive” has sold 3.8 million downloads, , with the band’s first single, “It’s Time,”…

1. GOOGLE WAS LESS OF A REVENUE STREAM Much has happened with Google in the last year to make the company more valuable to the music industry. Much of the activity has centered on Googleowned YouTube, although Google Play is becoming a more serious competitor in recorded audio. Publishers have been making sure they get paid for views on YouTube. In April, Universal Music Publishing Group (UMPG) signed a licensing deal with YouTube that pays UMPG for performances in 127 countries in Europe, Asia, the Middle East and Africa. UMPG also struck licensing deals with multichannel networks Fullscreen and Maker that pay the publisher for cover songs and soundtracks or samples. Independent songwriters and publishers are getting more tools, too. In June, a service called Audiam launched. It helps indie…

While Del Records may be the regional Mexican indie du jour, the importance of independent labels to regional Mexican music is longstanding. Indies are the foundation of the music, the place where most artists in the genre get scouted, tested and developed before they hit the majors. From Pedro Rivera’s Cintas Acuario—the label that gave light to Jenni and Lupillo Rivera—to powerhouse Disa, which was long owned by the Chavez family before it was bought by Univision (and is now part of Universal Music Latin Entertainment), the particularities of the regional Mexican business make it fertile ground for independent operators that for decades have signed acts to 360 agreements that include recording revenue, touring, management and sponsorships. “Our company is divided in three areas: label, management and video production,” says…

Raymond Hernandez, WMGE Miami. Carlos Vives, “Bailar Contigo.” Talk about a major comeback. Carlos tweaked his sound to be up to today’s standards and has also helped put the pop/tropical sound back on the map for all Spanish-language formats. Yandel, “Hable de Ti.” It’s the familiar sound, the familiar voice and the music blend that targets his fans with exact precision. As a duo or in solo form, Yandel continues to represent his genre as one of the top five most recognized voices and rhythms there has ever been in the Latin urban world. Marc Anthony, “Vivir Mi Vida.” In a time when salsa had lost its way, looking for a sort of rebranding—much like merengue went from mambo to merengue urbano—Marc maintained what he has always been and bam,…

FOXYGEN Los Angeles-based rock duo Foxygen (Jonathan Rado and Sam France) will set out on a North American swing this summer supporting their critically praised sophomore LP, We Are the 21st Century Ambassadors of Peace & Magic (Jagjaguwar). Helping the act with its jaunt? High Road Touring agent Zachary Cepin, who believed the album would be a gamechanger. “I already had the record for quite some time,” he says, “and I knew it was fucking incredible.” ROUTING: Following the release of the record and a tour supporting Unknown Mortal Orchestra, Cepin focused on landing the duo a brief headlining run in the Northeast. For the summer swing, festivals were his main target, including the Pitchfork Music Festival (July 21, Chicago) and FYF (Aug. 25, Los Angeles). “We purposely didn’t go…

With lines like “We’re all Jesus in disguise when we’re high on love,” it’s safe to say frontman Alex Ebert, better-known as Edward Sharpe, and his crew haven’t lost all of their hippie-leaning charm on the collective’s third outing. But Edward Sharpe & the Magnetic Zeros are nothing if not champions of free love and the carefree sounds of the ’60s and ’70s. Only this time the sizable group is embracing the bygone era with an extra dose of grit and soul. Goofy sound effects aside, the funky bassline anchoring “Let’s Get High” is as catchy as it gets for these psych-folk rockers. And “In the Lion,” while occupying its own strange jungle- inspired space, nonetheless feels like a fully formed production. But “Better Days” best showcases the group’s newfound…

Australian psych-rock band Tame Impala has cracked rock radio with the bluesy, fuzzy rocker “Elephant.” Though it was conceived long before the sessions for the group’s October 2012 sophomore album, Lonerism (Modular), the one-time sound-check staple made it onto the band’s Billboard 200 breakthrough, which debuted at No. 34 and has sold 119,000 copies, according to Nielsen SoundScan. “Elephant” now rises 20-18 on Alternative and 32-29 on Rock Airplay and is up 18% in plays, according to Nielsen BDS. An early trendsetter was alternative WWCD Columbus, Ohio, which first played “Elephant” on Oct. 11, three months after it was serviced to college and noncommercial radio. (The station has now played it more than 500 times.) Distributor INgrooves Fontana enlisted radio consultant Karen Glauber, who has overseen the indie success of…

While J. Cole’Born Sinner was initially blocked from No. 1 on the Billboard 200, he celebrates his second No. 1 album this week. In its third week on the chart, Born Sinner rises 2-1 with 58,000 sold (down 32%, according to Nielsen SoundScan). The set spent its first two weeks at No. 2—first stuck behind an also-debuting Yeezus from Kanye West, and then lodged behind Wale’The Gifted a week ago. To date, Born Sinner has sold 439,000 copies, surpassing the cumulative sum of its original competition, Yeezus (431,000). The latter holds at No. 3 this week with 39,000 (down 40%). Wale’s album falls a rung to No. 2 with 50,000 (down 68%). Albums rarely climb to No. 1, as opposed to debuting in that slot. Since the chart started using…

Trend Report: Genre Comparison Of The Top-Selling Midyear Digital Songs 2009 A Only one Latin title graces any tally of the 25 bestselling midyear songs of the past five years: Pitbull’s crossover bilingual smash “I Know You Want Me (Calle Ocho).” The now-superstar has since followed the tune with a number of pop and dance cuts, and three of them are included in the top 25 midyear report. In 2013, his dance song “Feel This Moment” (featuring Christina Aguilera) was the No. 17 midyear cut (1.8 million sold). 2010 B So far in 2013, the highest-ranked dance song is “Scream & Shout” by Will.i.am and Britney Spears, which is this year’s overall No. 11 best seller. It’s the lowest-ranked dance song at the midyear point since 2010, when Lady Gaga’s…