RUMOR MILL
One Direction is so big that it is swamping everything in its field—concert tickets, album sales, single sales, merchandising.
Wednesday, June 13, 2012
LENNY BEER ON RECORDS:
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Some Reasons to Be Joyful This Summer
It is amazing that:
1. Dualtone Music act The Lumineers got as high as #4 at iTunes over the weekend, thanks to the ubiquitous Bing TV commercial, multi-format radio and VH1’s You Oughta Know. Call it the perfect storm for the Next Big Thing. If you don’t know about it yet, catch up quick.
2. Great promotion overcame the callout negatives and the early drops, reaffirming Justin Bieber’s solid Top 10 radio hit, “Boyfriend” as his biggest song to date. We have mentioned this before and we will mention it again and again. Nice job by Rick Sackheim and company to turn the momentum around on this track.
3. Top 40 and multi-format crossover success on Gotye has not hurt him at Modern Rock radio, but has actually made the song more valuable for everyone—and made “Somebody That I Used to Know” the leading contender for a Song of the Year Grammy. Kudos to Monte Lipman, Joel Klaiman and the rest of the Universal Republic gang.
4. This year, the Modern Rock format has so far spawned Gotye, Of Monsters and Men, fun., The Lumineers, M83 and Alabama Shakes, causing a crowded field—from only one genre—for the Grammy Best New Artist category. Let the competition begin.
5. One Direction is so big that it is swamping everything in its field—concert tickets, album sales, single sales, merchandising. This one’s going Syco for Simon Cowell, manager Richard Griffiths, Columbia’s Rob Stringer and Steve Barnett. As an ex-label head used to say: Fuhgeddaboudit.
6. Lionel Richie’s Tuskegee continues its charge to 1m albums sold, setting the table for year-end awards lists everywhere. Is it the early favorite for Album of the Year Grammy? Why not? Look out, Ray Charles, Charley Pride and Darius Rucker, you’ve got country company!
7. The Black Keys feel like they are losing some of the momentum they had earlier in the year. And they shouldn’t! “Lonely Boy” still feels like one of the highlights of 2012 and should be crowned among the best at year’s end.
8. Usher can continue to put out great song after great song and great album after great album. We very much look forward to his latest, which hit this week. We’re Looking 4 a chart-topping debut next week.
9. Adele is now on the verge of hitting the 10m albums sold mark in the U.S. alone—along with 7 zillion singles. XL-ent! It seems some records still do sell.
10. Clear Channel's deal with Big Machine could be a model for radio-label relations for years to come. Seems this marriage of convenience is a way to circumvent a government ruling on performance payments and avoid SoundExchange as middle man.
1. Dualtone Music act The Lumineers got as high as #4 at iTunes over the weekend, thanks to the ubiquitous Bing TV commercial, multi-format radio and VH1’s You Oughta Know. Call it the perfect storm for the Next Big Thing. If you don’t know about it yet, catch up quick.
2. Great promotion overcame the callout negatives and the early drops, reaffirming Justin Bieber’s solid Top 10 radio hit, “Boyfriend” as his biggest song to date. We have mentioned this before and we will mention it again and again. Nice job by Rick Sackheim and company to turn the momentum around on this track.
3. Top 40 and multi-format crossover success on Gotye has not hurt him at Modern Rock radio, but has actually made the song more valuable for everyone—and made “Somebody That I Used to Know” the leading contender for a Song of the Year Grammy. Kudos to Monte Lipman, Joel Klaiman and the rest of the Universal Republic gang.
4. This year, the Modern Rock format has so far spawned Gotye, Of Monsters and Men, fun., The Lumineers, M83 and Alabama Shakes, causing a crowded field—from only one genre—for the Grammy Best New Artist category. Let the competition begin.
5. One Direction is so big that it is swamping everything in its field—concert tickets, album sales, single sales, merchandising. This one’s going Syco for Simon Cowell, manager Richard Griffiths, Columbia’s Rob Stringer and Steve Barnett. As an ex-label head used to say: Fuhgeddaboudit.
6. Lionel Richie’s Tuskegee continues its charge to 1m albums sold, setting the table for year-end awards lists everywhere. Is it the early favorite for Album of the Year Grammy? Why not? Look out, Ray Charles, Charley Pride and Darius Rucker, you’ve got country company!
7. The Black Keys feel like they are losing some of the momentum they had earlier in the year. And they shouldn’t! “Lonely Boy” still feels like one of the highlights of 2012 and should be crowned among the best at year’s end.
8. Usher can continue to put out great song after great song and great album after great album. We very much look forward to his latest, which hit this week. We’re Looking 4 a chart-topping debut next week.
9. Adele is now on the verge of hitting the 10m albums sold mark in the U.S. alone—along with 7 zillion singles. XL-ent! It seems some records still do sell.
10. Clear Channel's deal with Big Machine could be a model for radio-label relations for years to come. Seems this marriage of convenience is a way to circumvent a government ruling on performance payments and avoid SoundExchange as middle man.
