Innholdsfortegnelse for June 1, 2013 i Billboard Magazine

TWITTER TWO-STEP Twitter introduced two-step login authentication after several months of major names and institutions getting hacked and their accounts used to spread false information. Just in the music business alone, Britney Spears, Lil Wayne and Miley Cyrus were among those who have been victims of such hacks. The two-step process will ask for additional information like a verified phone number and confirmed email address. Twitter now has some 300 million active users every month and recently launched Twitter #music. EMarketer estimates it will generate nearly $1 billion in revenue by 2014. NOT SO TERRIBLE Brooklynbased indie Terrible Records has a powerful new partner in XL Recordings, the U.K. label behind Adele, Vampire Weekend and M.I.A. XL will manufacture, distribute, market and promote select future Terrible releases, beginning with the…

.biz Universal Music Australia has launched a label services division. The new operation, Caroline Label Services, is based in Melbourne under its GM Tim Janes and label manager George Dalziel, both former executives at Shock. Caroline/Spunk national publicist Gabrielle Ryan is based in Sydney. The abundance of digital music options frequently results in the same question: Why do people still listen to radio? A new report by Clear Channel’s iHeartRadio Insights reveals what listeners get out of broadcast radio and Internet radio services. The national survey took place from September 2012 to March 2013 and included focus groups in three cities, other qualitative measures and an online survey of more than 1,000 people between the ages of 13 and 54. Radio, particularly AM/FM radio, is frequently perceived to be on…

.biz Pandora’s gains in its most recent fiscal quarter were helped by an increase in subscribers that stemmed from the listening caps the company placed on mobile listening in March. The company added more than 700,000 new subscribers to its Pandora One ad-free service in the quarter, a 114% increase year over year. While Oklahoma’s ties to the music industry—particularly the country music industry—are deep, the immediate impact of its recent tornado disaster on the business is minimal. Shows down the line could be affected as the market regains its footing, but the resilient nature of Oklahomans—as has been the case in New Jersey, New York, the Gulf Coast and elsewhere—bodes well for not only a full recovery but perhaps even an entertainment mini-boom. As is always the case, the…

What did you wake up thinking about this morning? The first thing I thought about was, “How can I become a better leader in order to lead this organization forward?” And that’s the first thing I think about every day. The goal today is how we could be better in making our department stronger along with stand-alone individuals. How do you think your organization is perceived? People want to conveniently look at us as an urban music marketing company. And some of the iconic work that we’ve done—with State Farm, Anheuser-Busch—you can’t avoid the fact that these things are not urban and not driven by music. There’s this weird thing about people where they can’t know you offer more than one thing. The brain has a hard time processing that…

Former EMI chairman/CEO Eric Nicoli and three partners from the entertainment, finance and brand worlds have unveiled a new entertainment finance, production and distribution venture. Wentworth Media & Arts, based in London and backed by British private equity sources, including high-net-worth individuals, wants to become “a major new player in the world of independent film,” but also play in other parts of the media and entertainment sector. Its founders said in a statement that the company is looking to “produce, develop, exploit and fund various products and productions across the whole of the media and entertainment space, including film, television, social media, computer games, CGI animation, theater, live entertainment, education and publishing, as well as associated and emerging technologies.” It will look to strike distribution deals for all territories and…

People are attracted to hits. It’s doubtful anyone reading this isn’t working under that assumption and attempting to better understand how to increase any project’s popularity. TV, more than any other medium, magnifies the difference between the hit and the flop. “American Idol,” based on the raw statistics that determine its appeal, is a solid contender, yet in no way did it ever look like a hit during the five months of its 12th season. The fourth edition of “The Voice” appears to have saved a network, reinvented Monday programming and, come fall, should be a major force in the music industry. “The Voice” has momentum that “Idol” doesn’t possess, despite the latter continuing to have more total viewers than “The Voice” per episode. (“The X Factor” isn’t even part…

“I’m a fan of all music. I study Stevie Wonder, Elton John, Queen.” —Rico Love 1 SESAC execs pose with winner Rico Love (center) at the 17th annual SESAC Pop Awards at the New York Public Library on May 13. From left: SESAC’s Linda Lorence Critelli, Pat Collins, Peniece Le Gall and Trevor Gale. 2 Karen O of the Yeah Yeah Yeahs played ringleader at the kickoffof the Googa Mooga festival in Brooklyn on May 17. 3 Industry members united at the annual Nashville Chapter Grammy Block Party, held May 14 in Nashville. From left: Singer/songwriter Will Hoge, the Recording Academy’s Susan Stewart, MCA artist Kip Moore, Nashville Chapter member Suzanne Alexander and Red Light’s Shawn McSpadden. 4 First Artist Management’s Robert Messinger, composer Peter Golub, BMI’s Doreen Ringer-Ross and…

“At the end of the day it has to be about the songs.” Work flow, more than any piece of gear, is how Howard Benson believes his 9-month-old studio operation in Woodland Hills, Calif., distinguishes itself. Based on methods developed at the Bay 7 studio in North Hollywood, Benson has created an efficient system with his main engineer Mike Plotnikoff, assistant engineer Hatch Inagaki and Pro Tools editor Paul DeCarli that emphasizes speed and professionalism while leaving the door open for bands to experiment. “The starting point is the people,” says Benson, currently working on projects with Rascal Flatts, Scott Stapp and Halestorm. “That’s why I knew this would work. We are a guitar-oriented thing here, but things are happening in parallel. As soon as one song is tracked, we’ll…

What’s a GIF good for? The Internet’s favorite moving image format is inescapable on blogs and, increasingly, news sites, illustrating “Mad Men” recaps and livening up listicles. For this year’s Billboard Music Awards, however, Billboard brought the GIF to a new frontier—live TV. With Tumblr and social agency Digital Media Management as partners, Billboard tapped noted GIF artists Mr. GIF and Deckhouse Digital to capture the night’s ephemeral highlights in real time, the results of which were then broadcast moments later during commercial breaks. “The idea had tremendous momentum from the very beginning,” Billboard head of social Katie Morse says. “We wanted to bring the social conversation to life and we’re proud to be the first show to include GIFs created in real time into a broadcast.” The GIFs were…

SOURCES: Social media data courtesy of Attensity Media. TV ratings compiled and supplied by Nielsen. The Billboard Music Awards sparked the most online conversation of any BBMA show yet, with more than 1 million unique conversations about the show occurring May 19 (up 17%) and more than 464,073 conversations occurring during the broadcast, a 26% increase over the previous year. The Billboard Music Awards included live GIFs on-air, a first for the broadcast and ABC. The 40 GIFs produced during the red carpet and broadcast received 98,606 reblogs and “hearts” from Tumblr users during the same time frame. Selena Gomez on the red carpet was the most reblogged GIF, outpacing that of Miguel’s missed stage jump (and Billboard interview backstage with affected fan Khyati) by 256%. INFOGRAPHICS BY DAVID FOSTER…

Forty-three years after leaving Memphis for Los Angeles, Booker T. Jones has been reunited with the label whose sound he helped define, Stax Records. He left at a time of turmoil and change in ownership at Stax in 1970, but he rejoins, coincidentally, during an ownership change at parent Concord Music Group, but during a much smoother transition. “I’m so comfortable with what’s going on now—it’s a return home,” Jones says of his signing with the label. “It has worked well for me going from that company to this company. If it hadn’t fallen apart in the ’70s, Stax would have had to make all of those changes for R&B to survive through disco and hip-hop. Somehow, the universe has made it possible for me and Stax Records to be…

It doesn’t take long for Billy Currington to confess to his prospective romantic partner that she is “lookin’ so fine” on “Hey Girl,” so lines like “So hot, gotta give it a shot” and “I got a shotgun seat for you” aren’t at all without fair warning. The country star’s latest single, offhis forthcoming fifth studio album, serves as one smooth pickup line—which, lack of lyrical substance aside, tends to work in Currington’s favor. The Georgia native oozes charisma, and combined with Huff’s pinpoint production, driving steel guitar and a rousing hook, it’s enough to likely land Currington what he’s really after: a crossover smash. The song’s strong chart performance thus far is almost as inevitable as Currington bewitching his lady by the end of this track. It’s almost summer,…

.biz Two-and-a half years have passed since Daniel Miller and his Mute brand split from EMI and returned to the independent community. Now, the British exec is confident his Mute group of companies is positioned for growth, and he’s named two senior executives to his team to ensure that happens. Shirin Foroutan joins as global managing director of the Mute group, while Dick O’Dell comes onboard as head of artist management. Before Avril Lavigne performed her new single, “Here’s to Never Growing Up,” on NBC’s “Today” on May 17, the pop singer/songwriter smiled and waved to a special fan in the audience: Antonio “L.A.” Reid, chairman/CEO of her new label, Epic Records. Although Reid doesn’t drop by every Epic artist’s TV performance, he made a special point of being there…

6 MONTHS AGO MCA Nashville released Love Is Everything’ first single, “Give It All We Got Tonight,” on Oct. 29. The song quickly began its chart climb, rising this week from No. 10 to No. 7 on Billboard’s Hot Country Songs chart. Though the singer announced his impending retirement from the road after a 2013-14 run, he made it clear he intends to continue his recording career. The label also promoted the release “utilizing the viral spread of the media, artist social networks and entertainment/music online outlets in addition to the activity happening at country radio to outwardly push our message to the consumers,” Universal senior VP of marketing Cindy Mabe says. 1 MONTH AGO With leg one of the Cowboy Rides Away tour a resounding success (each 2013 date…

LEGEND Bullets indicate titles with greatest weekly gains. Album Charts ● Recording Industry Assn. of America (RIAA) certification for physical shipments & digital downloads of 500,000 albums (Gold). ▴ RIAA certification for physical shipments & digital downloads of 1 million units (Platinum). Numeral noted with Platinum symbol indicates album’s multiplatinum level. ◆ RIAA certification for physical shipments & digital downloads of 10 million units (Diamond). Numeral noted with Diamond symbol indicates album’s multiplatinum level. ○ Latin albums certification for physical shipments & digital downloads of 50,000 units (Oro). ● Latin albums certification for physical shipments & digital downloads of 100,000 units (Platino). Numeral noted with Platinum symbol indicates album’s multi-platinum level. Digital Songs Charts ● RIAA certification for 500,000 paid downloads (Gold). ▴ RIAA certification for 1 million paid downloads…

This week, Daft Punk is poised to hit No. 1 on the Billboard 200 with Random Access Memories, becoming the latest poster child for a digital marketing tactic once thought of as risky but is now starting to crop up with the regularity of a techno beat—making entire albums available for free streaming for a limited time prior to release. ¶ When the electro duo made its album available to stream on iTunes a week prior to its release on May 21, the act joined a parade of 35 other artists who have taken advantage of Apple’s promotional program since it began in August 2011 with the Red Hot Chili Peppers’I’m With You. Daft Punk’s set is expected to sell 300,000 copies, the second-largest debut this year following Justin Timberlake’s…

Anglo-Scandinavian management/publishing company Lateral MGMT is coming to the United States. The firm, which operates out of London and Stockholm and manages hit U.K. artists Paloma Faith and Taio Cruz, has revealed to Billboard that it will open a new office in Los Angeles by September. The independent, self-financed Lateral formed following the 2008 merger of Murlyn Management, part of Stockholm-based Murlyn Music Group and co-founded by Christian Wåhlberg, with London management company J-DID, headed by Jamie Binns. The business was integrated as Lateral MGMT in 2010, with the pair as managing partners alongside Jan Carl Adelswård. Lateral has helped Faith and Cruz, signed to RCA/Sony and Universal Island, respectively, to platinum-selling U.K. success, and will launch former Swedish House Mafia collaborator John Martin as a solo act on Universal,…

Ray was the galvanizer,” says Jeffrey Jampol, manager of the Doors since 2003 and a producer of the 2010 Grammy Award-winning documentary on the band, “The Doors: When You’re Strange.” “Jim Morrison had the vision and Ray pushed it. He wouldn’t let adversity stop them. Without Ray, the Doors would not be possible.” Ray Manzarek, whose artistic life beyond the Doors included punk rock, Beat poetry, filmmaking and the blues, died May 20 at a medical clinic in Rosenheim, Germany, after battling bile duct cancer. He was 74. Morrison’s aura always loomed larger but it was Manzarek, co-founder of the Doors in 1965, who provided the spectrum of color and emotion as their music worked both sides of the radio frequencies: They landed eight songs on the Billboard Hot 100…

Kobalt’s Royalty Play With Prince WHAT: Prince, the master of DIY on a grand scale, will begin issuing both his own music and records from new artists (picked by Prince himself ) through Kobalt Label Services, a unit of Kobalt Music Group. Details of the deal are still vague, and Kobalt hadn’t responded to inquires at press time. But based on the announcement and earlier comments from Kobalt Music Group president Richard Sanders, Kobalt will fund the marketing and distribution of the releases coming from the Prince camp in exchange for a revenuesharing formula during the life of each record, expected to be three years. If Kobalt funds it like a 360 deal, which with superstar artists are typically constructed as a revenue share, it would allow Kobalt to subtract…

Like many famous musicians before him, Linkin Park vocalist Chester Bennington has battled drug and alcohol abuse. In early rehab stints, he struggled with discussing his problems, but later found comfort in surrounding himself with peers who understood the challenges of celebrity life. “It was hard for me to open up and relate to people because no one understood what my problem was. People’s perception of my life would be like, ‘All your dreams came true, so what’s your problem?’” Bennington recalls. “When I started going to meetings with other people in the music business and entertainment industry, we shared stories about money, touring or being on a movie set—everybody was on the same page.” Now sober, married and the father of six children, Bennington aids others who struggle with…

.biz Live Nation Entertainment is stepping up its activities in Asia through a joint venture with Lushington Entertainments. The new Live Nation Lushington will promote concerts in Hong Kong and Singapore, two of the most established touring markets in the region outside of Japan. Lushington managing director Michael Roche becomes head of the new venture, whose first event will be Linkin Park’s Hong Kong concert on Aug. 15. It may seem counterintuitive in the age of big-box retailers and even bigger banks to talk about the end of big business. But the reality is that many of its traditional advantages are fast eroding thanks to digital technology. We’re living in an age of “radical connectivity” that dramatically empowers individuals and small groups, directly at the expense of larger entities. If…

BROWSE With moguls and rockers all seeking a sunny escape from Gotham, the music scene on the eastern tip of Long Island has taken on a life of its own. East Hampton and Southampton are still where you’ll find the velvet ropes, but once-sleepy Montauk, described by nightlife impresario Nur Khan as “more artist friendly” than other East End towns, has become the draw for more culturally inclined types. One such local resident, Rufus Wainwright, was married on the shore offOld Montauk Highway last year and has played Gurney’s Inn’s outdoor beach concert series in past years. Local roots-rock sensation Nancy Atlas confirms, “Montauk has been on fire the last few years, with tons of live music.” Of course, there are also the big-ticket benefit bashes. Cyndi Lauper headlines the…

Taylor Swift and her team clearly know the importance of televised awards shows. She opened this year’s Grammys in February with “We Are Never Ever Getting Back Together,” sang “Highway Don’t Care” with Tim McGraw at the Academy of Country Music Awards (ACMs) in April and delivered the TV debut of “22” on the Billboard Music Awards on May 19. She then proceeded to dominate the competition, winning eight BBMA honors. While data backs up the positive impact that award show performances have on music sales (and the BBMAs produced big sales bumps; see story, page 25), TV networks are rekindling their romance with music-oriented award shows. The BBMAs had a viewing audience of 9.5 million, according to Nielsen, a 28% spike over 2012’s audience of 7.4 million viewers. In…

The action onstage at the BBMAs was matched by the action backstage, and dedicated fans could watch it all unfold live. Billboard broadcast live streams of preshow arrivals on the Cambio blue carpet and from the backstage area, attracting nearly 100,000 concurrent viewers and more than 325,000 unique page views for the two live-stream pages on Billboard.com. During the backstage broadcast—presented by Samsung Galaxy S4 and anchored by Billboard’s Bill Werde and TV host Michelle Marie—Miley Cyrus broke the news of the June 3 release of new single “#We Can’t Stop” (4), Ariana Grande rapped some Justin Bieber verses and autographed a guitar (3), Billboard‘s Keith Caulfield talked with Madonna about the upcoming DVD of her MDNA tour (1) and Werde chatted up Celine Dion (2). Five cameras positioned throughout…

Less than 400 yards from the warm, buttery sands of Venice Beach and tucked away in a modern upstairs live-work space is Vyclone, a media startup co-founded by musician Joe Sumner, son of Gordon, who’s better-known as Sting. But today, during what is a typical Southern California morning with the sun sparkling through fluffy white clouds, there is no mention of Sting—only unbridled enthusiasm for Los Angeles as the adopted home of Sumner’s fledgling technology company. “People have this notion that Los Angeles is a shallow, vacuous place that just happens to have great weather,” Sumner says. “But if you stop to think, Los Angeles is a huge melting pot of ideas and energy, and it’s responsible for exporting culture on a global scale. A lot about how we think…

“This is not a tribute to my father as much as it is a tribute to Latin music because of my father.” —Natalie Cole Yes—or in this case, sí—Natalie Cole’s first album in Spanish includes a duet with her late father. And like “Unforgettable,” the song that won a Grammy Award in 1992 and foreshadowed today’s holographic performance trend, the black-tie rumba “Acercate Mas” (“Come Closer to Me”) will pluck at heartstrings and transport fans of Nat “King” Cole—in this case to ’50s Havana, where he learned to sound out the lyrics for Cole Español, the first of his three Spanish recordings. Natalie Cole en Español, out June 25 on Verve/Universal, features some of the same numbers covered on those historic albums, and other romantic evergreens familiar to international audiences.…

HBO’s promotion of Steven Soderbergh’s Liberace tale takes the position that the story of the flamboyant pianist/showman is worthwhile due to his role as a precursor to Elvis, Elton, Madonna and Lady Gaga. That may be true, but the depth and compelling elements of “Behind the Candelabra” have little to do with stagecraft or musical ability. Told amid a sea of lavish costumes, furnishings and cars, the story is about control, excess and ego, and a May-December relationship and its wintry aftermath, told with repartee and convincing performances from Michael Douglas as Liberace and Matt Damon as his love interest, Scott Thorson. Soderbergh’s direction ably captures the allure and expanse of Liberace’s lavish home life that eventually imprisons the innocent yet headstrong Thorson. The hush-hush nature of their relationship—a Las…

Season 12 of Fox’s “American Idol” came to a close on May 16, as Candice Glover was crowned the newest winner, beating out runner-up Kree Harrison. Concurrently, Glover becomes the latest “Idol” champion to arrive on the Billboard Hot 100, as her coronation single “I Am Beautiful” debuts at No. 93. 83% Glover sold 48,000 downloads of “I Am Beautiful” in the week ending May 19, according to Nielsen SoundScan. That’s down 83% compared with the first-week start of last year’s coronation song, Phillip Phillips’ “Home” (278,000). Scotty McCreery sold 171,000 copies of his finale song, “I Love You This Big,” in its first week in 2011. 382% As usual, the finale featured an array of guests, including Jessie J, the Band Perry and returning “Idol” contestant Adam Lambert. Jessie…

Classified Information After notching six hits on the Billboard Canadian Hot 100 since 2009, rapper Classified has his sights set south of the border. The Nova Scotia-based MC signed with Atlantic Records in March and is on the verge of scoring his first Mainstream Top 40 hit with “Inner Ninja,” featuring David Myles (up 24% in plays at the format, according to Nielsen BDS). The cut, which hit No. 5 on the Canadian Hot 100 in March, will be featured on his self-titled Halflife/Atlantic debut album, due later this year. AC Befriends Villains Atlanta pop/rock quintet the Villains claim their first Billboard chart ink, as “(My) Rainy Day Girl” (Toucan Cove) enters Adult Contemporary at No. 27. The song appears on the group’s sophomore album, Velocity, produced by Stan Lynch…

This Week’s Trend Report: Biggest Hot 100 Movers 1 GEORGE STRAIT This week: 43 Last week: 56 Two weeks ago: 59 The country king’s latest single becomes his highestcharting hit on the Billboard Hot 100 since 2008’s “I Saw God Today” reached No. 33. The new song is flirting with No. 1 on the Country Airplay chart (it rises 6-2 this week), while its sales continue to grow (56-36 on Hot Digital Songs with 49,000, up 39%). 2 RICH GANG This week: 83 Last week: 100 Two weeks ago: – The first single from the Young Money Cash Money collective leaps 17 positions on the Hot 100 thanks to increases across all three chart-based metrics. The song’s streams rose 49% to 775,000, downloads hit a new sales high of 23,000,…

.biz The revitalized Caroline distribution and label services operation has signed ATO Records to a U.S. distribution deal. ATO, founded by Dave Matthews and manager Coran Capshaw, has a roster that includes My Morning Jacket, Alabama Shakes, Rodrigo y Gabriela, Drive-By Truckers and Old Crow Medicine Show. Record labels derived more than half of their U.S. revenue from digital accounts for the first time in 2012, according to exclusive retail research by Billboard. That estimate doesn’t include revenue generated from passive streaming services like Pandora and SiriusXM satellite radio. Digital revenue accounted for 54.5% versus 49.4% in 2011, even though the pace of growth for market leader iTunes halved last year. The expansion of digital’s share was a combination of iTunes growth to a 40.7% share (from 38.2% a year…

John Hamlin is used to wrangling on-camera talent. After 20 years as a “60 Minutes” producer working with Mike Wallace and Anderson Cooper, Hamlin now corrals the likes of Jason Aldean and Luke Bryan as executive producer of the CMT Music Awards, which drew 3 million viewers in 2012. This year’s 12th annual event is set to air June 5 (8 p.m. ET/PT on CMT and CMT.com). 7.30 AM YMCA. I only have the attention span to be in the gym for 45 minutes—30 of these minutes are spent reading the New York Times, USA Today and the Tennessean on the elliptical. 9.00 AM Breakfast meeting with Ken Levitan [of Vector Management]. He manages so many artists, we’re always working together on something. 10.00 AM Conversation with CMT president Brian…

.biz U.K.-based music streaming service Rara.com has partnered with BMW to launch a direct-tocar music streaming service in Europe. Exclusive to the new range of BMW’s 5 Series, the in-car Connected Drive Online Entertainment pack, featuring the Rara.com app, launched in the United Kingdom, Germany, France, Italy and the Netherlands. The service will roll out in Spain next year. One Direction’s 2013 North American tour has been sold out for nearly a year, ever since tickets went on sale just months after the British boy band’s American breakthrough in March 2012 when Up All Night debuted at No. 1 on the Billboard 200. But when the group hits the road on June 13, it will have an equally huge brand partner in tow in the form of Mondelez International’s Nabisco,…

PRINCE BY THE NUMBERS 21M Number of albums Prince has sold since 1991, according to Nielsen SoundScan 10.3M Number of song downloads Prince has sold 17.3% Kobalt’s publishing market share in the first quarter DIGITAL SoundCloud will open a New York office in the coming months and has hired former Pandora employee Dan Gerber to help build its presence in the market. Gerber, formerly national director of strategic partnerships at Pandora, will be SoundCloud’s first New York-based hire and will head up brand revenue. With offices in Berlin, London, San Francisco and Sofia, Bulgaria, SoundCloud is aiming for New York because of what the market has to offer: proximity to other startups, better relationships with the media companies based in the city and opportunities in industries like fashion and publishing.…

The debate surrounding Internet royalties is heating up again—and taking on a different shape. Last year the Internet Royalty Fairness Act conversation focused on royalties. This year the two sides are painting themselves as the more artist-friendly of the two. Ahead of legislation that could lower the per-stream royalty rate paid by Internet radio, Pandora is emphasizing the service’s considerable promotional value to artists. Although some acts get very little money from streams at Pandora, they benefit from the greater awareness those streams bring. SoundExchange and the Recording Academy counter by saying a lower per-stream royalty would damage a large and growing revenue stream for artists. The debate echoes the ongoing argument about streaming services: Are they just promotional or can they help sustain an artist’s career? At 0.12 cents…

1 Producer JeffBhasker (left) gets in touch with his wild side, posing with Sony/ATV Music Publishing’s Jody Gerson (center) and songwriter Alli Tamposi at Sony/ATV’s afterparty for the BMI Pop Awards, held May 14 at the Chateau Marmont in Hollywood. 2 Celebrating Universal Music Publishing Group’s big win at the BMI Pop Awards are (from left) BMI’s Del Bryant and Phil Graham, UMPG’s Zach Horowitz, BMI’s Barbara Cane and UMPG’s Evan Lamberg at the Beverly Wilshire Four Seasons. 3 Man of the hour: Maroon 5 frontman Adam Levine (left) beams alongside songwriter of the year honoree Ammar Malik following Levine’s acceptance of the BMI President’s Award. 4 T.I. (right) rubs elbows with Sony/ATV Music Publishing’s Danny Strick (left) and Martin Bandier at Sony/ATV’s after-party. 5 Republic Records’Monte Lipman (right) and…

Power publicist Brian Bumbery, founder of Los Angeles-based BB Gun Press and former senior VP of publicity at Warner Bros, tracked more than 100,000 miles last year to assist his ever-growing list of A-list talent, including Green Day, Metallica and Muse. Most recently, Bumbery touched down in Las Vegas for the Billboard Music Awards, joining his clients the Band Perry at the ceremony on May 19. The best part about traveling for Bumbery? The inspiration—and frequent flier miles. “For some people, their best ideas come to them when they’re in the shower or commuting,” he says. “Mine come to me on the airplane.” TRAVEL PLAYLIST Usually I listen to Jean-Philippe Rykiel & Lama Gyurme’s “The Lama’s Chants,” because it gets me out of my head and sometimes puts me straight…

And The Winners Are... Taylor Swift led the pack of top honorees with eight awards TAYLOR SWIFT Top artist Top female artist Top Billboard 200 artist Top digital songs artist Top country artist Top Billboard 200 album (Red) Top country album (Red) Top country song (“We Are Never Ever Getting Back Together” GOTYE Top Hot 100 song (“Somebody That I Used to Know” featuring Kimbra) Top radio song (“Somebody That I Used to Know” Top streaming song (“Somebody That I Used to Know” Top Rock Song (Audio) (“Somebody That I Used to Know” JUSTIN BIEBER Top male artist Top social artist Milestone Award MADONNA Top touring artist Top dance artist Top dance album (MDNA) NICKI MINAJ Top streaming artist Top rap artist Top rap album (Pink Friday: Roman Reloaded) ONE…

The 2013 Billboard Music Awards drive big sales bumps on the charts this week, thanks to galvanizing performances both spectacular (Bruno Mars, Jennifer Lopez) and stripped-down (Ed Sheeran, Kacey Musgraves). In the week ending May 19, the broadcast spurred an overall 15% gain for the 18 previously released songs performed on the broadcast, according to Nielsen Sound-Scan. That increase handily beat the overall song download market’s 1% gain this past week—an impressive feat considering there were only a few hours left in the tracking week before the close of business on Sunday night. Combined, the 18 tunes sold 842,000 downloads—up from 733,000 in the previous week. Those songs include Mars’ “Treasure” (24,000; up 220%), Lopez’s “Live It Up” (65,000; up 53%) and Sheeran’s “Lego House” (56,000; up 134%). “Treasure,” which…

Q: Why would anyone launch a cutting-edge startup in Los Angeles? A: Why wouldn’t you? FULLSCREEN Where: Culver City, Calif. Who: George Strompolos, CEO What: Fullscreen is a multichannel YouTube network that reaches more than 100 million subscribers online. In addition to general entertainers, Fullscreen represents more than 700 burgeoning musicians who have generated 8 billion views in aggregate. The company has deals with Warner/ Chappell and Universal Music Publishing Group to share revenue for cover songs on its network. Why L.A.: Strompolos, who rose through the ranks at Google as co-creator of YouTube’s Partner Program in Silicon Valley, started Fullscreen in Los Angeles in order to be closer to the growing community of YouTube stars in Southern California. “The Bay Area is software-driven. L.A. is content-driven. There’s a good…

“Synchs can stimulate the fan base and potentially turn people on to the band’s music in places where they would never otherwise hear it.” —DAN GILL, VAGRANT RECORDS “It’s good to be back,” Zach Rogue says of Nightingale Floors (June 4, Vagrant), Rogue Wave’s fifth album, and its first for Vagrant after releasing two albums apiece for Sub Pop and Brushfire during the last decade. The 10-song set is a return to the jangly, emotional indie-pop that helped the band develop a sizable following on releases like 2005’s Descended Like Vultures and 2007’s Asleep at Heaven’s Gate before making an abrupt left turn into electro-pop for 2010’s Permalight. The latter’s more synthesized sound was partially an effort by the band to create an uplifting mood in the wake of the…

Queens of the Stone Age’s sixth studio release,... Like Clockwork, has the sound of an album that’s been worked on and over—but not necessarily to bad effect. With arguably the most potent lineup of the band’s 17-year history and a slew of special guests (Dave Grohl, Elton John, Trent Reznor), Josh Homme and company have crafted what amounts to a disjointed collection of songs. But many are awfully good, whether it’s the doomy blues of “Keep Your Eyes Peeled,” the sinewy grooves of “I Sat by the Ocean” or the noisy explosion of “Kalopsia.” A mournful tone of lament fuels the 10-track set, particularly on starker moments within “The Vampyre of Time and Memory” and the swelling title track, on which Homme declares, “It’s all downhill from here.” But given…

From the mound to the mic, former baseball player Mike Stud, born Michael Seander, is on the charts with his new album, Relief. The digital-only release debuted last week at No. 15 on Billboard’s Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums chart and No. 109 on the Billboard 200. “I knew it was going to do well, but it went higher than I thought,” Stud says. This week the set moves to No. 8 on Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums and No. 55 on the Billboard 200, with 8,000 copies sold, according to Nielsen SoundScan. While playing baseball in his native Rhode Island, Stud earned an athletic scholarship to pitch for Duke University, but injury and subsequent Tommy John surgery sidelined his aspirations. It was during his recuperation that the rapper/singer tinkered with Apple’s Garage-Band software…

THE GREAT GATSBY ALBUM SALES THIS WEEK 95,000 30% INDIE-STORE SALES OF MODERN VAMPIRES... 12,000 9.3% OF FIRST WEEK ALTERNATIVE ALBUM SALES YEAR TO DATE 20.7 MILLION 5.5% Vampire Weekend notches its second No. 1 on the Billboard 200 as Modern Vampires of the City debuts atop the list. The set sold 134,000 copies in its first week, according to Nielsen SoundScan, which is a record-high sales week for the act. The group’s last album, Contra, previously held the act’s one-week sales record when it started at No. 1 in January 2010 with 124,000. Modern Vampires of the City is the 19th independently distributed album to reach No. 1 since the Billboard 200 began incorporating SoundScan sales data in 1991. The set was released on XL Recordings with physical distribution…