Daniel Powter is back! You’ll remember this Canadian pop/rocker from his 2006 mega-hit “Bad Day,” which spent more than five weeks on top of the airplay and sales charts that year. ”Cupid” is the debut single from his forthcoming CD Turn On The Lights, due this summer.
“Cupid” is Impacting radio now! Early adds include: WWFS New York, KLLC San Francisco, Sirius/XM The Pulse, WMTX Tampa, KALC Denver, KMXB Las Vegas, KWYE Fresno, KCDA Spokane, KCIX Boise, and more!
Check out these other great songs endorsed by Sands Media for Hot AC, AAA, and Pop/CHR now!
Rock Ridge / Aware Music / A2 recording artist Rachel Platten stopped by Click 101.5 Dayton OH to talk to @NickOnClick and perform her catchy, hit single, 1,000 Ships! Enjoy the video and watch her climb the Hot AC & AAA airplay charts. We wish Rachel the best of success!
Gleek alarms across the country went off this morning as Glee star and Mercury Records artist Matthew Morrison premiered his debut single, “Summer Rain” on American Idol host Ryan Seacrest’s nationally syndicated radio show. The official launch for “Summer Rain” at radio is March 14th. Matthew will perform live on The Tonight Show with Jay Leno April 6th and on The Ellen DeGeneres Show April 11th.
“Summer Rain” was co-written by Matthew with Claude Kelly (Bruno Mars, Britney Spears, Christina Aguilera, et al) and the Norwegian duo known as Espionage, who produced the track in New York City. Espionage (Espen Lind and Amund Bjørklund), are respected for their work with Train (this year’s Grammy Award-winning “Soul Sister,” iTunes’ top-selling song of 2010) and many others. “Summer Rain” is the first track from Morrison’s upcoming debut album, set for May 10th release, details to be announced.
Matthew Morrison is best known to millions as the eternally optimistic high school teacher – and de facto glee club director – Will Schuester, on the FOX television network’s runaway hit comedy series “Glee.” The show ranks as the #1 entertainment program on broadcast television among Adults 18-34, Teens and Female Teens. Morrison has been nominated for Tony, Emmy and Golden Globe awards, and shared the 2009 SAG (Screen Actors Guild) Award for Best Performance by an Ensemble in a Television Series – Comedy or Musical, for “Glee.” Morrison is no stranger to musical theatre, vocal performance and dance, which he studied at New York University’s renowned Tisch School of the Arts. His first big Broadway break came as heartthrob Link Larkin in the hit Hairspray. Morrison was later nominated for a Tony Award for his role in The Light in the Piazza. He received a Drama Desk nomination for Outstanding Actor in a Musical for 10 Million Miles. Morrison also starred in the Tony Award-winning revival of South Pacific at New York’s Lincoln Center Theater.
(post sponsored by Island Def Jam Music Group & Mercury Records)
This morning’s post is really more of a “Hey, did you know about this?” post than my opinion; although, it does follow up my recent suggestions on how radio can use crowdsourcing for better content. I’ve just read about three or four relatively new start-ups from the A&R side of the music industry that should be interesting for both artists and radio.
1.) My Major Company is a British venture that provides a destination for bands to generate funding to release their next record, co-owned by their own fans. Originally started in France, the UK version will select 12 musicians in whom fans may invest. The artists selected must raise about 162,000USD to release an album, go on tour, and market their music. The fans in turn own 40% of profits generated by the project. The band gets 20% and the site owners retain the reaining 40%, which they may choose to reinvest in the artist’s next project. My Major Company plans expansion to other countries quickly.
2.) Sign Me To Roadrunner Records is a project of American rock label Roadrunner Records. In this concept, fans rate music submissions alongside label-employed A&R representatives. Fan Users browse unsigned artist submissions and rate them as if they were a “scout” for the label. The more a user participates, the more influence they have over the charts. The artists can earn certain “badges” as their profiles are reviewed and rated more frequently. And, while there is no guarantee, presumably the better submissions have an above average chance of getting a shot with the label. There have already been more than 12,000 artist submissions and more than 40,000 “scouts” have reviewed music on the site.
3.) Spins.fm is a social media request line. Fans visit the site, search participating artists, and can then request the artist on radio station’s in the user’s listening area through Facebook and Twitter. Registration is currently free for artists. At the moment, a majority of the artists are unsigned or on independent lables; however, Jive Records has committed their roster to the project starting with Britney Spears.
Honorable Mention: Better Than The Van is a three-year old project with a newly funded site re-launch. The community allows fans to provide touring musicians a place to crash on the road instead of sleeping in their van or a crowded cheap hotel room. Participate at your own risk And, feel free to add your own jokes here.
I just heard the new Lady Gaga single “Born This Way,” and I’m somewhat embarrassed to admit that I kind of like it. Of course, I think I liked the same songs when I heard Madonna do it twenty-five years ago. Musical styles are definitely cyclical, and there are numerous other comparisons which could be made between Gaga & Madonna. But, I’m not writing tonight as a music critic … I’m writing to point out the way Lady Gaga’s management and Interscope Records have chosen to market the CD’s release – exclusively through Target stores.
Target began offering fans the opportunity to pre-order the CD, Born This Way, exclusively from their website at 8:00am this morning – through midnight February 26. Everyone who buys the CD pre-order from Target online will immediately have access to download the first release, title track “Born This Way.” Troy Carter, her manager, says, “The partnership provides us with an opportunity to really engage the fans early and widen our reach on the album promotion.“ Target’s edition of the CD also includes three additional studio tracks and five remixes. Interscope will make the CD available for wide release to retail on May 23.
We’re seeing Target more aggressively pursue music releases from major artists like Taylor Swift and Pearl Jam as a way to capture more album sales from online competition. Besides, we all know that you can’t go into Target and just buy only one thing … walk in for a CD and walk out $100 lighter. Smart thinking! And, good for the artists who will benefit from millions of dollars in marketing from the big box store.
By the way, radio has quickly embraced the new single, with some stations playing it every hour since 4am this morning. As of 5:00pm ET, more than 250 different Mediabase-monitored stations have played “Born This Way” more than twice.
May 20, 2012
Daniel Powter is back! You’ll remember this Canadian pop/rocker from his 2006 mega-hit “Bad Day,” which spent more than five weeks on top of the airplay and sales charts that year. ”Cupid” is the debut single from his forthcoming CD Turn On The Lights, due this summer.
And, feel free to add your own jokes here.
