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 THE MUSIC BUSINESS REGISTRY, INC. Dear A&R Registry Reader, Welcome to our second edition of 2008! It’s hard to believe that it’s already March – and just when we were getting used to it being a new year! But, as we’ve been saying for years, ‘The revolution is upon us,’ so time waits for no one, not us, and certainly not the Music Industry! While many of us are glued to each new economic report, each new morsel from Fed Chairman Benanke, and each news article about the value of our homes, the Music Industry has had its own growing – and shrinking – pains. As many of you have already heard by now, TVT Records has declared bankruptcy. Owner Steve Gottlieb has said that TVT Records will continue in some new form so it will be interesting to see what form that takes. New business models have been emerging over the last year. Most of the new start-up companies coming on the scene are focused on a multitude of services such as recording, management, merchandising, and publishing as well as various other aspects of the business since a singular focus seems to be no longer relevant in this brave new world. The key to most of these developing ventures is the increased role played by artist managers. For artist managers today to really be able to launch a career for an act, a manager needs to be acutely aware of the ever-changing landscape. Managers today need to be conscious of the powerful role that online world has taken in regard to press and promotion, constantly evaluating the new emerging festivals springing up every few months, and most importantly, today’s managers need to be completely creative in choosing the tools to build an audience for their artist. It’s more and more apparent that the old tools used to break an artist no longer have the economic impact they once did. Rhianna is a great example that illustrates our point. One of the biggest records of 2007 (3.5 million in single sales) is not even Platinum. Amy Winehouse is even a more dramatic example. Monte Lipman and his team at Republic couldn’t have done a better job at promoting their artist, but even with all of their efforts, the CD is at 1.8 million copies. That raises the question of what the entire campaign cost in an effort to sell those 1.8 million CD’s. The importance of both these examples is that they are textbook examples of a marketplace where everything about the promotion being focused on a single track. Winehouse even won Grammy awards for Song of the Year, Record of the Year and Best New Artist. Of course, it cannot go unsaid that Winehouse may have had a far greater impact in the US if her drug and legal problems had not prevented her from more travel in the US. An example of the other side of this paradigm is Jack Johnson (another artist that’s been launched by Monte Lipman and Republic). Johnson is an artist who has very quietly built a significant and loyal fan base over the last five years. His success, much like that of Dave Matthews and Josh Groban, was never built on huge radio singles, but rather a consistent and ongoing focus on touring. Another example of a new act that’s been building a career through live performance is Shwayze. And, if you need more examples of artists succeeding in this new model, look no further than Arcade Fire, Bright Eyes, Fiest, and Clap Your Hands Say Yeah; all artists that are redefining the definition of success. Bertis Downs (Manager of R.E.M.) noted at MIDEM that managers’ jobs are increasingly involving going to more places to get less money. Working harder for less – the new world order? Time will tell! On the A&R front, it has fortunately been fairly quiet with a few exceptions. Producer Brian Malouf joined Walt Disney as their new VP A&R while Arthur Buenahora has joined Universal South as the new VP A&R. At Def Jam, Jay Brown and Tyran Smith both left the label. Other departures include Atlantic’s Randall Medford, Columbia’s Ampora Sapp and Capitol’s Ken Blaustien. Also, please note that Universal in Nashville (Universal Nashville and Lost Highway) has moved to a new location. We want to welcome our new advertisers to this issue: The Metropolitan Hotel, the industry’s destination for Toronto and Vancouver, Miloco Studios, and MyMusicSite.com. Be sure to mark your calendars for the upcoming MUSEXPO-The United Nations of Music Conferences, April 27-30 in Los Angeles. This is by far the best conference in the business today. We also want to send a big note of congratulations to Artist Manager Jamie Talbot who has joined Sanctuary Management after several years at Immortal. Of special importance for those of you who may have not heard already, the brand-new 10th edition of the Film & Television Music Guide is now available in print as well as online at www.recordXpress.net . You can call our offices at 800-377-7411 (or 818-995-7458 for our international customers) to order or you can order online at www.musicregistry.com . Also, the brand-new updated issue of the Music Publisher Registry is also available in print and online. Until our next issue in May 2008, please know that we always try our best to make sure all of our directory information is correct at the time of printing, but if you ever come across a bad telephone number or email address, just let us know and we’ll make sure to track down the correct information (if we haven’t already!). Until then, we remain Sincerely, Ritch Esra and Stephen Trumbull Publishers  The Music Business Registry, Inc. 7510 Sunset Boulevard, #1041 Los Angeles, CA 90046-3400 USA 818-995-7458 * Fax: 818-995-7459  "Music Industry Today - news about music" http://music.einnews.com/ | ||
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