Blog: Kings of A&R

Buzz Track: Moth to a Flame Antonia Vai has become a Kings favorite. This Swedish singer-songwriter manages to capture a haunting vibe without sacrificing melody. She is working on her debut album and typically performs in Stockholm. Her self produced songs are quickly becoming an underground internet sensation while landing an article in Nöjesguiden, the biggest Swedish entertainment guide, where she was listed as the "Next Up And Coming". Contact: Antonia.morvai@hotmail.com

Buzz Track: City Boy UK artist Katy Tiz is generating a buzz. She will travel to Los Angeles for writing sessions in February while meeting record execs. For fans of Katy Perry and Lily Allen. Check out the song City Boy. Contact: Roger.ivm@gmail.com

Buzz Track: All That You Are Rock act Life Down Here who are fresh on the scene will release a full length which was produced by Jay Baumgardner (Bush, Evanscence). They will perform at The Roxy on February 18th. Check out the video for the track All That You Ar e. Contact: eshkurkin@gmail.com

Columbia Records strikes a deal with Walk Off The Earth, the band known for covering Gotye's smash hit Somebody That I Use To Know which garnered over 50 million YouTube views.

Buzz Track: Love Sick Singer-songwriter Lexie Hofer has become a Kings favorite after listening to her newly recorded album. Originally from Kansas, she relocated to Los Angeles and recorded her debut album in Nashville following in the footsteps of Taylor Swift. Our other favorite tracks include Hostage and Butterflies . Contact: hoferlaw@sbcglobal.net

Buzz Track: On My Own You may want to give Movers & Shakers a try if your a fan of Bruce Springsteen and The Gaslight Anthem. They self produced the full length National Harvester which was released in November and have a string of upcoming east coast show dates. They have shared the stage with The Gaslight Anthem, Lucero, and Those Darlings. Contact: marcvaloismusic@gmail.com

Update: Shannon is performing at the BMI Showcase on Feb 7th and artist of the week on WRLT (AAA Station Nashville). Buzz Track: Headlines Shannon Labrie, a singer-songwriter who typically performs in Nashville, Atlanta, and Memphis just released her debut EP, having songs featured on One Tree Hill. For fans of Sheryl Crow, Colbie Caillat, Adele, etc. Contact: brett@zodlounge.com

Buzz Track: Grip Your Seat This pop rock act Darry Miller & The Veil will self release a full length in the spring. The band recorded the album in Nashville with Darry teamed up with Dustin Burnett (Newsboys, Augustana, Kingsfoil, Find Vienna) and you can listen to the first single Grip Your Seat. For fans of Gavin DeGraw, etc. Contact: darry_miller@yahoo.com

Buzz Track: Fire Kings favorite Jesse Thomas who we featured last year will release her first full length "War Dancer" which comes out February 14th. Her last single "You I Want" was the Starbucks pick of the week in February 2011 with 2.1 million free download cards in all U.S. and Canadian locations and the new single "Fire" will be the iTunes download of the week on February 14th. Thomas has shared the stage with John Mayer and Lights. Contact: jessethomasmusic@gmail.com, mgmt@iamjessethomas.com

Buzz Track: Runaround Kings favorite G-Eazy is performing at Irving Plaza with ASAP Rocky on February 1st. G-Eazy's Runaround video has received close to 500,000 views on YouTube. Contact: danielrfriedman@aol.com

Buzz Track: Runaround Kings favorite G-Eazy is performing at Irving Plaza with ASAP Rocky on February 1st. G-Eazy's Runaround video has received close to 500,000 views on YouTube. Contact: danielrfriedman@aol.com

Buzz Track: Tonight In The Battle The track Tonight In The Bottle was written by Shannan Blystone and remixed by Justin Davey and Vinay of Kane Beatz (Superbass/ Nicki Minaj). The Cataracs also produced a song that could land up on the upcoming Dev album. Contact: shannanblystone@gmail.com

The Top 8 Emerging Artists Daniel Rinaldi - One on One The Feud - Searching The Heaven Switch - Stolen Car SIIINES - Oh Yeah! Fiction In Motion - Today Tiffany Kuenzi - Tonight Monks of Mellonwah - Neurogenesis Eden Jima - [...]

Buzz Track: Today Pop rock band Fiction In Motion from Canada has been gaining momentum as well as gaining the attention of SOCAN award winning producer Brian Howes (Hinder, Boys Like Girls, Simple Plan, Hedley) who produced the track Today. Performing over 200 shows the band sold over 1000 units in only 6 months, along with features in commercials for Musique Plus and VrakTv. Contact: mic.croteau@hotmail.com

Buzz Track: Balance Kings favorite Find Vienna just released a new EP titled 'In Flight", working with producers Nick Didia, Dustin Burnett, and Brian Malouf. The band draws its influence from U2 and Jeff Buckley and will plan to hit the road. Contact: findvienna@gmail.com

It was a big week on the internet. Popular sites including Google spent the entire day protesting SOPA (Stop Online Piracy Act) which is a bill that would expand the ability of U.S. law enforcement to protect copyrights. For the last several years the music industry suffered knockout blows from online piracy and critics have accused music executives from ripping off artists and consumers. Dot-comers accused them of greed and short-sightedness, seen as the fat cats making obscene profits on the back of musicians' creativity. At the end of the day, web gurus such as Kim [...]

The US government shut down one of the world's largest filesharing website Megaupload that received 50 million daily visitors, accounting 4% of total internet traffic. According to prosecutors, Megaupload illegally cheated copyright holders out of $500m in revenue as part of a criminal enterprise spanning five years.

Buzz Man: Miracle Jet Son of a Bad Man is a Southern/Pop band based out of Jacksonville, FL. Their dedicated fan-base raised over 4 thousand dollars via Kickstarter so that they could record a full-length album. With a release date of January 28th, 2012, "Here's to the Falling In..." captures the band's energetic live sound better than any previous attempt. Lead singer/songwriter Shawn Fisher currently is a writer with EMI Music Publishing's NYC Office and was named one of BMI's "Top Ten Songwriters to Watch in 2009." Contact: [...]

Buzz Track: Tonight Singer-songwriter Tiffany Kuenzi who hails from Oregon just finished an EP which was recorded with Nashville's premier songwriters and producers. Her first self released single Tonight is receiving spins on Oregon's country stations including KWJJ and KUPL. Tiffany Kuenzi is an artist to keep on the lookout for. For fans of Carrie Underwood, Taylor Swift, etc. Contact: tiffany@tiffanykuenzi.com

Kings favorite singer-songwriter Tim Halperin will open for LeAnn Rimes with the Fort Worth Symphony on January 28th in Fort Worth Texas. Music labels will be in attendance. Buzz Track: The Last Song If you haven't heard of singer-songwriter Tim Halperin, he has the #1 album on the iTunes singer-songwriter charts. Halperin also landed in the top 24 in last years American Idol and has shared the stage with Hot Chelle Ray, Cody Simpson, etc. The track The Last Song is a Kings favorite and it reminds us of [...]