Blog: Kings of A&R

Fox’s American Idol returned Wednesday night to its lowest-rated and least-watched regular-season premiere telecast ever (the first season aired during the summer and generally isn’t counted). Idol delivered 17.9 million viewers and a 6.0 adults 18-49 demo rating. That’s down 19 percent from last year’s opener, which was the previous lowest-ever record-holder. The numbers also mean last night’s Idol premiere will not be the most-watched entertainment show this week — Tuesday’s NCIS had 22.9 million viewers. This is the first time another series was seen by more viewers than Idol during its regular season premiere week. [...]

Buzz Track: Complete Me New comer Kylie Odetta , a 15-year-old singer-songwriter-actress has burst onto the scene with an infectious sound that pays homage to her Greenville, South Carolina roots. Her video for the track “Bad Addiction,” has already garnered over a million views on YouTube. Her latest EP was produced by Matt LaPlant who has worked with Jennifer Lopez and Justin Beiber. She has opened for Colbie Caillat, Gavin DeGraw, and Kellie Pickler to name a few. Contact: info@kylieodetta.com

Taylor Swift burst on the scene as a 15 year old singing country songs. Fast forward a couple of years, she finds herself singing contemporary pop that are sandwiched between Nicki Minaj and Ke$ha. Although her latest album landed on top of the charts, some critics and fans questioned her authenticity as an artist. Now, Taylor Swift's serial celebrity dating is turning off some fans. She was the butt of a joke at Sunday’s Golden Globes when Tina Fey teased that the recently single star stay away from Michael J. Fox’s young son because she "needed [...]

Going to rock concerts has always meant dealing with a bunch of unruly people, many of them very drunk – but it seems like lately things have been worse than ever. Attention spans are at an all-time low, and the ubiquity of smartphones has resulted in a huge percentage of the audience at any given show barely paying attention to the action onstage. Here are the 10 most annoying behaviors at rock concerts. 1. Taking pictures the entire freaking show. I get it. You want to show all your friends on Facebook [...]

Buzz Track: Ever After After being signed by Clive Davis to J Records and receiving a Grammy nomination for her debut album "East Side Story" in 2008, Emily King parted ways with her record label and has continued to work independently. Her follow-up EP "Seven" was recorded in her home receiving high praise from peers like Alicia Keys, Ne-Yo, and Maroon 5. A gentle mix of soul, folk, and rock influences, King’s music emotes the kind of straight to the point storytelling that’s reminiscent of singer/songwriters of the 1970’s. Emily will [...]

Buzz Track: Steady Now News Update: Indie rock band Westland just released their new EP which was recorded with producers such as Shep Goodman and Aaron Accetta (He Is We, Bayside, Four Year Strong). A mainstay of the music scene, the band has released a full length album as well as two EP’s. Selling over 30,000 copies of their debut album “Don’t Take It Personal”, as well as performing on Warped Tour 2011 and 2012, new songs such as Steady Now could take the band to [...]

• fivealivemgmt - Steady Now

It doesn't matter if you sold 10 or 100 million records, well that's how the execs looked at Britney Spears. The suits had high hopes the pop queen would boost ratings for the struggling singing competition. After a season with lackluster results Britney was fired. "Britney Spears is out of "The X Factor" after a season in which the pop star failed to deliver a ratings boost for the singing contest, a person familiar with the show's plans said Thursday. Creator Simon Cowell and fellow producers are discussing replacements for Spears and another panelist, record producer [...]

The feud between new judges Mariah Carey and Nicki Minaj: real or fake? That was the question lobbed at the American Idol panel at TCA this morning in the wake of reports of cat-fighting between new judges Carey and Minaj, which one critic charged “feels like it’s fake.” Naturally, that sentiment was vehemently denied by both the producers and the judges. "Whatever feuds there have been — and this isn’t just between Nicki and Mariah but Keith (Urban) and Randy (Jackson) as well — are genuine,” executive producer Nigel Lythgoe said. “Whenever you’re in this sort of passionate situation, these [...]

Buzz Track: Love is King The Funnel Heads were birthed in a small garage in the cozy beach town of Dana Point CA.  Fueled by their love and respect for all music, they began crafting their own original sound derived from the crashing surf and laid back vibe of their surroundings. Meshing a large variety of genres their music embraces all that is California - rock, surf, reggae, Punk, funk, all with a hint of hip hop just begins to break down the music they create. Lewis Richards and Ronnie [...]

Sony, have a massive interest in keeping the One Direction together. The band’s global success has helped Sony Music UK to pre-tax profits up 128 per cent on last year. Sales of the group’s smash-hit second album are not even included in that. The band which includes Liam Payne, Harry Styles, Zayn Malik, Niall Horan and Louis Tomlinson have reportedly signed a contract that means that if one member leaves the group before the end of their contract the rest of the members will miss out financially. “It’s a really clever contract that the boys have [...]

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Buzz Track: Try Michelle Rene' is a Nashville based singer/songwriter who delivers a blend of rock, country, and folk and become a Kings favorite. Her honest voice and expressive lyrics are reminiscent of some of the pioneers of the folk rock scene married with a fresh contemporary sound. Michelle has played shows across the US and on some of country music’s most famous stages including the Ryman Auditorium in Nashville, TN. Contact: brett@zodlounge.com

Nazir’s song "One Pound Fish" has become a worldwide hit, securing the top position in UK Asian Chart, #5 in UK Dance Chart and #29 in UK singles chart. This song is also available on iTunes. Korean rapper Psy recently posted a record 1 billion YouTube views for his viral music video for “Gangnam Style” earlier this month. Now, a Pakistani fishmonger wants international fame. Muhammad Shahid Nazir video for his song, “ One Pound Fish , ” although the views are probably inflated, he has surpassed 12 [...]

Buzz Track: Yellow Damian is 20 years old and comes from Derry in Northern Ireland. He has been singing and performing for over a decade and won his first music competition when he was six. Damian  auditioned for a role on Glee through myspace. After winning "The Glee Project", Damian landed a guest star role in  "Glee" as a foreign exchange student Rory Flanagan from Ireland who arrives as a sophomore at McKinley High in the third season episode "Pot o' Gold" - first broadcast on November 1, 2011. His guest role was [...]

A record-breaking 55.74 million digital songs were sold last week (ending Dec. 30) - the single-largest week for download song sales ever according to Nielsen SoundScan . It beats the previous record of 47.73 million sold during the week ending Dec. 28, 2008. The huge sales surge last week is owed largely to consumers redeeming music download gift cards received on Christmas Day. A week earlier (ending Dec. 23) there were 25.50 million songs sold.

News Update: Fresh on the scene 16 year old and Kings favorite Eden Jima who spent the last year promoting her 4 song EP just released a new song titled ' Far Away '. Our other favorite is ' Fragile '. She has a knack for creating hit-worthy music that is fun, catchy, emotionally-driven and easy to dance to. Contact: edenjima@yahoo.com

Buzz Track: Secret News Update: Kings favorite singer-songwriter Shannon Labrie  will part of The iTunes Nashville Indie Spotlight that runs December 18th thru the month of January. She will perform at the House of Blues in Los Angeles on January 24th. She has a slew of other days confirmed as well. Contact: brett@zodlounge.com

The world's biggest recording companies have been stripped of two billion YouTube hits after the website cracked down on alleged 'fake viewers'. Universal, home of Rihanna, Nicki Minaj and Justin Bieber, lost a total of one billion views in the video site’s biggest ever crackdown on artificially inflated figures. Sony was second hardest hit, with the label behind such stars as Alicia Keys, Rita Ora and Labrinth losing more than 850million views in a single day. The dramatic cuts came as YouTube [...]

Rapper Drake wants a cut from all the merchandise that bears the logo 'YOLO' even though he didn't coin it. Here is why he thinks he deserves a piece of the pie. This year has been marked by many a viral phenomenon, including the concept of YOLO made famous by the Canadian rapper Drake, who now wants a share from the sales of all the merchandize bearing the catchphrase. The 26-year-old recording artist, who reportedly has a net worth of $25million, posted two images on the photo-sharing website Instagram depicting clothing emblazoned with the acronym YOLO, [...]

Even though South Korean rapper Psy's “Gangnam Style” has become the first video to reach one billion views YouTube, it still couldn't save The 31st annual “Christmas in Washington” concert. The 31st annual “Christmas in Washington” concert shown on the TNT cable network December 21 suffered a dramatic 25% loss in viewers from the previous year, according to Nielsen Media Research. The 2011 cablecast of “Christmas in Washington” drew 1.5 million viewers.  The 2012 showing had only 1.136 million viewers. The concert, traditionally attended by the President and his family, drew international attention over the scheduled [...]