Innholdsfortegnelse for Feb-08-14 i Billboard Magazine

TEENS STILL ON FACEBOOK After a worrying set of data that seemed to show teenagers spending less time on Facebook versus other new social networks, Facebook’s fourth-quarter numbers beat expectations and put investors’ minds at rest. Driven in leaps and bounds by its transformation into more of a mobile platform, which now accounts for more than half of its advertising dollars, Facebook’s revenue jumped 63%, while profits rose eightfold. TOP SPIN TOPSPIN CUTS STAFF Direct-to-fan marketing company Topspin Media laid off 14 employees, or nearly half its staff, in a strategic shift to refocus on becoming a pure technology platform. Topspin’s change in direction came late last year, when it launched ArtistLink, a self-serve platform that allows artists to promote merchandise and concert tickets, a feature used by streaming service…

The first time I ever got involved in anything that could be called controversial was when my class in the f fth or sixth grade took a trip to hear a Pete Seeger concert. I was going to school in Brooklyn, and the class went to the venue in a little school bus, and outside the concert, the John Birch Society was picketing. They had all these pamphlets and they were yelling, “Pete is a Commie,” and calling him all kinds of names. I walked up to one of the John Birch Society members and asked, “Is this really true?” He said, “Oh, yes,” and I said, “Give me those pamphlets. I’m going to help you out.” They gave me and my classmates all of the pamphlets and we just…

What drove the second-highest ratings in more than two decades? A minute-by-minute analysis of data from Nielsen, Twitter, Spotify and Tivo shows what the audience responded to TIVO’S TOP MOMENTS Three of the top five most-rewatched came in the first hour 1 9:19 p.m. Pink performs in acrobatic fashion (she’s even dressed like an Olympic gymnast) while singing “Try.” 2 8:44 p.m. Chicago is joined by Robin Thicke to perform a medley of the band’s top hits. 3 8:33 p.m. Katy Perry performs an eerie version of “Dark Horse” with Juicy J. 4 10:25 p.m. Daft Punk, Pharrell and Nile Rogers perform “Get Lucky” with Stevie Wonder. 5 8:16 p.m. Lorde sings her Grammy-winning song “Royals.” MOST TIVO’D ADS 1 9:54 p.m. Pepsi’s pre-Super Bowl Halftime Show spot 2 9:39…

Performance rights organizations. SESAC, the Harry Fox Agency and MRI could benefit if the large publishers withdraw from BMI. They will need someone to handle administration to process reporting information and payments from digital services and public venues like concert halls. Labels. Those affiliated with publishers, like Lucian Grainge’ Universal Music Group, need to be wary. If their publishing arm pushes for a higher rate and can take an extra dollar out of Pandora’s pocket, the service may look for a way to cut down on that label’s plays. ASCAP. The ASCAP-Pandora rate court trial began this week. The publishers will be looking to have the judge OK whatever deals they cut with Tim Westergren’s Pandora in hopes of achieving a similar rate.…

Downtown Music Publishing has signed a worldwide publishing administration agreement with Notable Music, which was founded by legendary composer Cy Coleman and controls the rights to such songs as “The Best Is Yet to Come,” “Witchcraft,” “Big Spender,” “Never Can Say Goodbye” and “Sunny.” Notable’s roster of songwriters and artists includes diverse names like Rosanne Cash, Sam Phillips, Chico Mann, Jenny O. and Tift Merritt. “When he wasn’t busy contributing to the Great American Songbook or scoring many iconic, award-winning Broadway musicals, Songwriters Hall of Fame member Cy Coleman built one of the finest song collections of his time,” Downtown president Justin Kalifowitz says. “We couldn’t be more delighted to represent this historic catalog and partner with [Notable Music GM Damon Booth] in growing the Notable business for years to…

SOUND ’ VISION PHIL GALLO @PHILGALLO58 The impact of the audience and its effect on performers was a recurring theme in music-related films at this year’s Sundance Film Festival in Park City, Utah. Artists rarely speak directly about that interaction or its infuence, making the position of a film on the Electric Daisy Carnival—“the crowd is a headliner,” Insomniac Events founder Pasquale Rotella told me—appear unique. That’s only half true. “Under the Electric Sky” directors Dan Cutforth and Jane Lipsitz documented the three-day 2013 EDC in Las Vegas by emphasizing the experiences of audience members, filming concert-goers from the start of their EDC treks from hundreds and thousands of miles from the venue. The journey and the community of like-minded EDM fans, the film tells us, are equal to the…

“It’s too slow,” Billy Joel says to drummer Chuck Burgi. He and his band are onstage in an empty Madison Square Garden, sound-checking “Baby Grand,” a bluesy, boozy gem from 1987’s The Bridge. “Pick it up a bit.” Wearing a stocking cap and wool coat, Joel is dressed appropriately for both the frigid New York temperature outside and the air inside the arena, where temporary fooring covers hockey ice for the NHL’s Rangers, one of the other franchises that calls the Garden home. Joel wants to pick up the tempo of “Baby Grand,” and you could say the same for what he’s done with his career as he marks his 50th anniversary as a professional entertainer. After a light schedule for some three years, demand for Joel’s touring has never…

North America’s live music fans have followed their European brethren in embracing the festival experience, with more festivals launched stateside in the past 10 years than in the previous 30. But several festivals—including Kanrocksas in Kansas City, Mo.; HullabaLOU in Louisville, Ky.; and Langerado in Miami—were forced to pull the plug in recent years due to weak ticket sales, while others faced financial difficulties and even established events struggle to stay fresh and maintain their identities as the market matures. The live business is inherently risky, and festivals, with their high talent and production costs and exposure to the elements, are the most risky endeavor of all, and conventional wisdom says it can take three years for a sizable festival to ever turn a profit. Even if they are sold…

Romeo Santos has sold out four shows at New York’s Madison Square Garden in a single month. His 2012 solo debut, Formula Vol. 1, was the top-selling Latin album of the year, according to Nielsen SoundScan, producing five No. 1s on Billboard’s Latin Airplay chart and tying a record set by Enrique Iglesias. He’s had seven No. 1s on Latin Airplay, including the recent “Propuesta Indecente” (Indecent Proposal), which topped the chart last October. Nonetheless, outside of the Latin music world, he’s mostly unknown. “I still feel like I’m the underdog,” Santos says weeks before sophomore album Formula Vol. 2 arrives Feb. 25 on Sony Music Latin. “You have Latin artists that have done crossovers—Shakira, Enrique Iglesias, Ricky Martin—but I’ve never been interested in that. You have to sit [people]…

Just a few years ago, Alynda Lee Segarra, the engaging frontwoman for New Orleans folk outfit Hurray for the Rif Raf, was hitching freight trains, playing washboard in a French Quarter street band, scrounging for food and sleeping in abandoned houses. Now she’s gearing up to release her band’s first album on a major indie, Small Town Heroes, due Feb. 11 in the United States on ATO Records. (PIAS Recordings will release the album internationally on April 1.) “I think about my past and then I think, ‘Wow, I’m sitting here drinking a soy cappuccino and having an interview,’” she says at New York’s City Bakery the day before Hurray for the Rif Raf plays to a packed house at the Highline Ballroom. “That’s pretty cool.” Born and raised in…

Eric Paslay Eric Paslay LABEL: EMI Nashville PRODUCERS: Marshall Altman, Daniel Hill, Billy Lynn RELEASE DATE: Feb. 4 Given his hit-making track record writing for Jake Owen, Eli Young Band, Love and Theft, Lady Antebellum and more, it’s no surprise that every song on Eric Paslay’s debut sounds like a potential single. The songwriting shines, but it’s backed up by Paslay’s prime-time vocals. A couple of tracks are familiar: Paslay’s spirited take on Lady A’s “Friday Night” works as well for one singer as it does for three, and his rendition of “Less Than Whole,” which he co-wrote with (and for) Big Kenny Alphin, is just as moving as the original. “Never Really Wanted” and the grooving “Song About a Girl” show that Paslay is comfortable in more contemporary settings,…

What started as a nearly nine-minute album cut has become one of the biggest singles in the Christian format. Hillsong United’s “Oceans (Where Feet May Fail)” is logging its ninth week atop Billboard’s Christian Songs chart. Last week, it became the 11-year-old tally’s first chart-topper to break into the Billboard Hot 100, where it rises 99-98 this week. It has sold 367,000 downloads overall, according to Nielsen SoundScan. “What people relate to is that it’s a very honest song,” says Hillsong United leader/principal songwriter Joel Houston, who co-wrote “Oceans” with Matt Crocker and Salomon Lighthelm. “It’s a song about trust and taking a step into the unknown,” featuring Taya Smith on lead vocals. Hillsong United is a worship band with a rotating membership that developed out of a youth group…

OVER THE COUNTER KEITH CAULFIELD The soundtrack to Disney’s “Frozen” returns to No. 1 on the Billboard 200, selling 93,000 copies in the week ending Jan. 26, according to Nielsen SoundScan. That’s up 7% compared with its sales in the previous week (87,000). This is the album’s third nonconsecutive week at No. 1. A week ago, it was No. 2. Last week’s chart-topper, Bruce Springsteen’High Hopes, falls to No. 8 in its second week, selling 26,000 (down 74%). “Frozen” is the first soundtrack to spend at least three weeks at No. 1 since 2007, when the TV soundtrack to “High School Musical 2” ruled for four frames. The last film soundtrack to spend three or more weeks at the top was Bad Boys II, which reigned for four weeks in…

For a fleeting moment on Wednesday, Jan. 29, 7 p.m. ET seemed like an opportune time for Justin Bieber to premiere his latest music video, “Confident,” on Vevo. After being arrested Jan. 23 in Miami Beach on suspicion of driving under the influence, he spent Grammy weekend in Panama Beach, Fla., riding out the media firestorm that awaited him back in Miami as well as Los Angeles. ¶ But just an hour after the six-minute “Confident” clip went live, Bieber had turned himself in to Toronto police in connection with an alleged assault of a limousine driver that occurred early in the morning on Dec. 30, 2013. Throngs of fans and photographers awaited Bieber’s exit outside a Toronto police station, just as 100,000-plus Americans had signed a petition demanding Bieber…

Pete Seeger touched lives by singing for unions, children and presidents, performing at mining camps, folk festivals and New York’s Carnegie Hall. He turned a Bible verse into a hit record; traveled with Woody Guthrie and Lead Belly and championed Bob Dylan; adapted a gospel song to sing for union workers and wound up creating an anthem for the civil rights movement in “We Shall Overcome.” Later in life he made the cleanup of New York’s Hudson River a reality, toured with Arlo Guthrie and witnessed artists like Bruce Springsteen and Ani DiFranco employ his work and ethos. For a while in the 1940s and ’50s, Seeger, the son of a musicologist and a concert violinist, was a commercial force. He started recording in 1940 with the Almanac Singers, performing…

What did you wake up thinking about this morning? The topof-mind question today is whether we should be raising more money to invest in our growth. Bessemer, Shasta, Granite and Floodgate have invested $25 million in Smule. Our apps, like I Am T-Pain and Glee Karaoke, let anyone create music and share with their network. We had another record year of sales, and our business actually generated cash in December. So, in theory, we don’t need more capital, which ironically suggests it’s the perfect time to raise more. We should invest more in our platform. Our users are uploading over 500 gigabytes a day of songs they’re singing or playing to our network. We should also invest more in Asia, specifically Japan, Korea and China. We need to build a…

MANAGEMENT C3 Presents, the producer of Lollapalooza and the Austin City Limits Music Festival, appoints Matt Shay president of its management division. Shay comes to C3 Management from Zeitgeist Artist Management, where he spent three years managing MS MR and the Head and the Heart, among others. He also signed a number of developing bands, including Say Anything, Cory Chisel and the Wandering Sons. Additionally, Brian Beck joins C3 Management from Zeitgeist and brings his management, radio and label background. Shay will continue to co- manage MS MR with Louise Latimer and co-manage the Head and the Heart with Jordan Kurland. Last December, former Atom Factory executive VP/GM Anthony Aymen Saleh joined C3 Management as executive VP. LABELS Eleven Seven Music Group in New York names Rose Slanic GM for…

Serve Your Community Despite talk of doom and gloom for the music business, the case for optimism—and the prospects for massive growth in the overall music ecosystem—is strong. Fairly straightforward “traditional” business models (primarily retail) have been disrupted, but a new, multipronged “community”-based model—with myriad new revenue streams fuelled by social media and technology—is poised to significantly increase the overall pie. This is the opportunity I see as an early-stage investor in digital media startups, particularly those that fuel deep engagement, connection and community. Universal broadband and the near-ubiquity of smartphones give musicians—for the first time—the potential opportunity to reach virtually anyone, anytime and anywhere, and build communities of likeminded passionate fans around them. This unprecedented reach fuels deeper ongoing engagement and new ways to monetize those connected fans every…

What does it take to get Pharrell Williams, in all his Lanvin glory, to sit on the foor? “Power. And you have it, Clive,” the rapper/singer/producer said. Clive Davis, 81, replied, “On a good day”—this particular Saturday being one of them. A three-decadelong tradition, the pre-Grammy gala, presented by the Recording Academy and hosted by Sony Music chief creative officer Davis, has become music’s second-biggest night, only behind the Grammy Awards themselves (held the following day, on Jan. 26). This party is a staple,” T.I. offered. “I believe it’s just as important and just as highbrow as the ceremony.” That’s thanks to an all-star lineup of performers assembled by the evening’s host. In addition, the event honors a music industry veteran every year, bestowing 2014’s Salute to Industry Icons honor…

At the Jan. 27 kick of of Billy Joel’s franchise run at Madison Square Garden, the concert’s most powerful moment begins with a familiar run up and down the keys, as Joel and saxophonist Mark Rivera deliver “New York State of Mind” to some of the evening’s most ecstatic roars. Written and recorded for Joel’s 1976 album Turnstiles, the song was never released as a single, but it’s long been an anthem for New Yorkers, and one that—as Joel explains here—has changed as New York has endured tragedy. —RW I got the idea for the song on a Greyhound bus. I was moving from Los Angeles back to New York. My ex, “Ex 1,” had rented a house up in Highland Falls, and I was so happy to be coming…

ARCADE FIRE Gross in 2010–11: $8.6 million from 23 shows Rank on year–end Billboard Boxscore chart: N/A 2014 North American arena dates: 32 North American agent: David Viecelli, Billions Corp. Arcade Fire caused a stir last November after it asked fans to wear “formal attire or costumes” to its upcoming North American arena tour. “I had people calling me, saying, ‘So are they going to turn people away?’ No, for chrissakes,’” recalls Billions Corp. president David Viecelli, Arcade Fire’s longtime booking agent. “They just have a lot of creative ideas about the kind of environment they want to create.” Since breaking out in 2004, Arcade Fire has primarily opted for playing intimate clubs and theaters. But now, after scoring its second No. 1 album with 2013’s Reflektor, the indie rock…

David Nail’s first two top 10s on Billboard’s Hot Country Songs chart, “Red Light” (No. 7 in 2009) and “Let It Rain” (No. 1, 2011), were tortured breakup songs that required more than 40 weeks to reach their commercial peaks. “My wife would tell you that moody is probably my No. 1, most consistent quality,” he says, only half-jokingly. The singles’ follow-ups never made it past No. 20. So when Universal Music Group Nashville chairman/CEO Mike Dungan settled into his role in early 2013, his message to Nail was simple: “I told him, ‘You’re awesome, but you can’t make a career out of these 50-week No. 1s. You’ve got to give me a little more tempo. You’ve got to come to the marketplace a little friendlier.’” That’s exactly what Nail…

Foster The People’s New ‘Age’ Though operating in the 21st century, Foster the People is in many ways a vintage new wave group—and that’s a compliment. “Coming of Age,” like the group’s 2011 smash “Pumped Up Kicks” and other material from debut album Torches, boasts the same kinetic, big-beat catchiness and efortless melodies as many ’80s MTV hits, with highly produced hooks coming from all directions. The big diference this time is a more prominent guitar, which rifs into the song’s opening and accents each chorus on its way to a bona fde solo break after the first refrain. Frontman Mark Foster sounds casually assured throughout, bolstered by soulful backing vocals and a smooth ebb and fow that keeps the tune surging. “Even when I’m wrong, I tend to think…

After spinning tales of earnest romance on his previous two singles, Jason Derulo ditches the nice-guy act on “Talk Dirty”—and the result is the fourth top 10 single of his career. The boisterous club track, which features a guest verse from 2 Chainz, rises 15-6 on this week’s Billboard Hot 100, and has sold 598,000 downloads to date, according to Nielsen SoundScan. “Talk Dirty” is the third top 40 hit from Derulo’s 2013 EP Tattoos (Warner Bros.), following “The Other Side” (No. 18 peak on the Hot 100) and “Marry Me” (No. 26). The latter two tracks continued the cheerful, dance-pop formula that helped Derulo land huge hits with “In My Head” (No. 5 on the Hot 100), “Ridin’ Solo” (No. 9) and “Whatcha Say,” which spent a week at…

6 MONTHS AGO Ty Dolla $ign began recording his Beach House EP in September. He’d already released two free mixtapes, Beach House (2012) and Beach House 2 (2013), since inking a deal with Atlantic in 2012, but wanted to further introduce himself to listeners. “Not enough people knew about me yet,” he says. “I wanted to get people prepared for the actual full-length.” VP of marketing Brian Dackowski says, “We like to do EPs on the artistdevelopment front to get people accustomed to an artist.” After Beach House 2 single “Paranoid” (featuring Joe Moses) received airplay on KPWR Los Angeles in July, Ty and the label decided to revisit it on the EP, swapping Moses for B.o.B. 1-4 MONTHS AGO Atlantic serviced the revamped single to mixshows beginning in September,…

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 symbol indicates song’s…

The music branch of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences has itself in hot water once again. Just two years after allowing only two pieces into the best original song category due to the academy’s elaborate scoring system, a song from a barely seen film that the music branch deemed eligible has been disqualifed. The academy’s board of governors disqualifed Bruce Broughton and Dennis Spiegel’s “Alone Yet Not Alone” on Jan. 29 after learning that Broughton, a former governor and current music-branch executive committee member, had emailed fellow members about the song during the voting period. But to make matters worse, the academy isn’t replacing the nomination, leaving the category with four contenders instead of five. Label and studio executives are already looking into ways to lobby the…

Bart Herbison is a songwriter’s advocate in a city filled with songwriters. With the Nashville Songwriters Assn. International since 1997, Herbison has helped with national legislation, created group copyright infringement insurance for songwriters and publishers, and oversaw the NSAI’s acquisition of Music City’s famous Bluebird Cafe, a launching pad for numerous singers and songwriters. Such showcases can extend a typical Nashville workday into the late evening. 7.00 AM Spent an hour reading music industry trades and political papers on online apps. I have to find out what’s going on in Congress. 9.00 AM Met with Jennifer Turnbow, senior director of operations at the NSAI, to talk about a new staff hire and Tin Pan South, the NSAI’s annual songwriters festival in Nashville. This year’s festival will have about 400 songwriters…

UMPG Inks Pandora Deal WHAT: Universal Music Publishing Group cut a deal with Pandora that allows the service to license and thus play songs affliated with the BMI collection agency. In return, Pandora will keep track of what it plays and provide that information along with royalty payments to UMPG. It hasn’t been disclosed how much Pandora is paying. But it is likely that UMPG will pay a pro rata share of Pandora revenue. That would be somewhere between the 4.3% that Pandora paid out in the year that ended Jan. 31, 2013, the most recent year for which this information is disclosed, and the 10% that iTunes Radio agreed to pay in direct deals it cut with some large publishers. WHY: Pandora had to cut this deal because the…

Paying It Forward Pay tribute to game-changing artists while simultaneously raising funds to educate the next generation of musicians. That’s the premise behind veteran New York concert promoter and City Winery founder Michael Dorf ’s rite of passage every March: a tribute concert at Carnegie Hall. Celebrating its 10th year with a salute to the music of Paul Simon on March 31, the concert/benefit series has raised more than $1 million for music education. Between 10 and 15 acts are invited each year to perform songs from the honored artist’s catalog. Among the first wave of performers announced for this year’s tribute are Bettye LaVette, the Civil Wars’ Joy Williams, Bob Mould, Allen Toussaint, Madeleine Peyroux, Steely Dan’s Jon Herington, Dan Wilson and Ben Sollee. Additions to the lineup will…

The Eagles’ opening of the newly “fabulous” Forum in Inglewood, Calif., in January with six sellouts draws renewed attention to a large venue with a music-based business model, but the concept isn’t new. The amphitheater boom 20 years ago was spurred by promoters who—tired of watching arenas keep lucrative ancillaries from concessions, parking and sponsorships, while the promoters took all the risk—jumped into the real estate game with much-less-expensive amphitheaters. Live Nation is North America’s largest owner/operator of amphitheaters, though shed shows represent only about 800 of the 20,000 shows it presents annually on a global basis. Once thought to be in decline, sheds enjoyed a record year in 2013. Those ancillaries that promoters wanted so badly now drive the revenue train, as the already narrow profit margin for promoters…

THURSDAY, JAN. 23 5:45 p.m. At Billboard’s Power 100 event, Dick Clark Productions CEO Allen Shapiro asks Joe Smith about appearing in the “When We Were Kings” photo spread in the Power 100 issue. “I was cracking a joke,” Smith says. 7:30 p.m. The Power 100 party ends with a performance by the women from the Academy Award nominated “20 Feet From Stardom.” Merry Clayton sings “Gimme Shelter.” Everyone’s hair stands on end. 9:04 p.m. Chaka Khan cruises up to William’s charity ball TRANS4M, where she’s to sing. 9:50 p.m. At “A Song Is Born,” Gavin DeGraw says co-writing is like “sitting in the psychiatrist’s chair . . . When you finish, you think they’re going to ask for your insurance.” 9:56 p.m. At the Epic party, chairman/CEO Antonio “L.A.”…

LABEL: Columbia BUSINESS MANAGER: Todd Kamelhar, Gelfand Rennert & Feldman TOUR MANAGER: Max Loubiere PUBLISHING: Rondor BIG DEALS: Madison Square Garden franchise, Citi sponsorship of Garden franchise, synchs (the Gap, “The Wolf of Wall Street,” “Glee” BOOKING AGENT: Dennis Arfa, Artist Group International TV: “Billy Joel: A Matter of Trust–The Bridge to Russia” (Jan. 31, Showtime) PUBLICITY: Claire Mercuri Public Relations ATTORNEY: Lee Eastman, Eastman & Chapman SITES:BillyJoel.com, BillyJoelMSG.com…

THE BILLBOARD POWER 100 Jan. 23 / Left: Judith Hill, along with the ladies of Oscar-nominated documentary “20 Feet From Stardom,” perform for attendees. Center: Recording Academy president /CEO Neil Portnow kicks of GRAMMY® week and congratulates honorees. Top right: Sony Music Entertainment chief creative officer Clive Davis and Citi senior VP of entertainment marketing Jennifer Breithaupt at an exclusive Q’A for Citi cardmembers the night before the Power 100 event. Bottom right: American Airlines brand ambassadors show attendees the new Airbus A321 Transcontinental aircraft. The Billboard Power 100 event was presented by Citi, Guggenheim Partners, Pepsi and American Airlines. BILLBOARD IN PARK CITY Jan. 16-25 / Top left: Steve Aoki rocks the Park City Live Concert Series, presented by Sonos. Top right: Michelle Marie interviews Lance Bass from the…

Ben Milton, Christian adult contemporary WGTS Washington, D.C. Michael W. Smith, “You Won’t Let Go.” It’s so great to have a legendary artist continue to stretch and give us a song that sounds familiar but is still current. The industry owes a great deal to Smitty for all he’s given and continues to give. Needtobreathe, “Difference Maker.” Contemporary Christian music’s reigning best live band hasn’t gotten a ton of airplay love over the years. But this song shows that they can write radiofriendly hits and still stay true to their roots. The message of this song hits me at the core the way few songs do. Hillsong Young and Free, “Alive.” This is the future of the praise-and-worship genre. Already moving up at adult top 40 and top 40 stations,…

Typically, the technology for professional-sounding recordings of live performances is only available to acts of the highest tier. However, Lively is a Seattlebased music startup that gives all artists an easy way to capture and distribute audio and video content from their live performances. Fans can then fnd these recordings in the app’s marketplace to download, either for purchase or for free. Available free in the Android, Windows and iOS marketplaces, Lively can capture audio from any live show by connecting with any stereo audio interface, which then uploads that content directly to Lively’s marketplace. The company, founded by Dean Graziano, recently raised an additional $2 million in venture capital funding. Lively aims to bring fans closer to bands in their local areas. By taking advantage of location tracking and…

Grammy Awards Even though the latest sales week ended on Sunday night (Jan. 26), the same night as the Grammy Awards, the Billboard charts are still rocked by music’s biggest night. While a number of albums and songs power up the tallies this week, the show’s full impact will be felt on next week’s charts, once an entire week of postshow sales have been registered. 44% 59K The biggest-selling album of the past week that’s directly linked to the Grammys is the debut of the 2014 Grammy Nominees compilation. It enters at No. 2 on the Billboard 200 with a larger-than-expected 59,000 copies, according to Nielsen SoundScan. Last year’s edition started with 41,000. 91% 10K In total, 13 albums in the top 40 of the Billboard 200 have gains that…

Kongos’ Time Is ‘Now’ Having grown its fan base through constant touring— including a key opening slot for Linkin Park in South Africa in 2012—sibling quintet Kongos makes its Billboard chart debut as the Americana-inflected single “Come With Me Now” (Epic) soars onto Rock Airplay at No. 26 and Alternative at No. 32. The band continues its intense touring pace by opening for Airborne Toxic Event this month and will play the Firefly Music Festival in Dover, Del., in June. New Song And Dance Atlanta teen quintet We Are Toonz heats up mainstream R’B/hip-hop airwaves with “Drop That #NaeNae” (VPP/SkunkFunk), which drew 1.7 million listeners (up 80%) in the Jan. 20-26 tracking week, according to Nielsen BDS. The song’s popularity is partly due to its accompanying dance, the Nae Nae,…

Three-and-a-half decades after it crowned the Billboard Hot 100, Chic’s classic “Le Freak” is back in the spotlight. The pioneering disco group’s Nile Rodgers joined Daft Punk on guitar for the robots’ performance of “Get Lucky” at the Grammy Awards on Jan. 26. The track, which topped the Hot Dance/Electronic Songs chart for 13 weeks last year, won for record of the year, while parent set Random Access Memories claimed album of the year. Daft Punk and Rodgers, along withFeb. 3,1979 Pharrell Williams and 25-time Grammy winner Stevie Wonder, then grooved to a mashup of “Le Freak” and Wonder’s “Another Star.” The Grammy revival of “Le Freak” not only marks the 35th anniversary of the song’s sixth and f nal week atop the Hot 100 (Feb. 3, 1979), but it…