NEW UNIVERSAL WORLDWIDE SIGNING HITS THE RIGHT NOTE
Multi-talented US singer/songwriter Hannah Sidibe is poised to garner strong international success when her debut album is released late this year. The just-turned-18-year-old teen sensation was accidentally discovered by an A&R veteran whilst he was shopping at Whole Foods grocery story in Los Angeles and met her manager through an introduction by a fellow parishioner at her community church on Wilshire Blvd in Los Angeles. Born to parents from opposite parts of the world (her mom is from Louisiana and father from Kenya), the talented Sidibe began singing at the young age of four and hasn’t looked back since.
Sidibe, who is now managed by The Firm (with day-to-day management overseen by John Zagata and Jeff Kwatinetz), was signed a few months ago when her demo landed in front of Universal senior executives Doug Morris and Monte Lipman in New York. They offered her a worldwide deal instantly. In addition, Sidibe’s garnered strong support from Lucian Grainge, Chairman, Universal Music Group International, who is enjoying strong worldwide success for the company on all fronts under his leadership. Sidibe is currently in London and has worked with production gurus Future Shock and singer/songwriter Babyface.
Sidibe is poised to enjoy strong international success and will undoubtedly have as much of a global impact as Amy Winehouse, Duffy and Corinne Bailey Rae--at least from early indications after hearing her new recordings. In addition, Sidibe’s mature, passionate and down-to-earth musical attitude will win her fans instantly, as she has with the entire team at A&R Worldwide.
A WARM WELCOME FOR HANNAH SIDIBE: A&R Worldwide staffers gave a big warm welcome to Hannah Sidibe as she visited the company’s Beverly Hills office recently; (pictured l-r) are A&R Worldwide’s Casey Morse, Joe Arnold, Monte Malone, Sat Bisla, singer Hannah Sidibe, John Zagata (manager), A&R Worldwide’s Sara Kinne, Julia Shaver and Crystal Ortiz (Rebel Synch). Photo Credit: Brandon Fuller
UK TALENT GARNERS STRONG LABEL REACTION IN U.S.
London, England-based singer, songwriter and guitarist Simon Rhys Kaye, aka Sy Kaye, is generating a strong amount of global A&R interest with key decision-makers thanks to his brand new album, which was recorded in London and delivers a mixture of infectious, catchy alt-pop melodies and intelligently crafted lyrics based on his own colorful life experiences. Kaye’s sound could best be described as a modern day Monkees on a soundclash with John Lennon-styled vocals; he cites his influences as David Bowie, Marc Bolan and The Beatles.
The talented singer is no stranger to the UK music scene. In fact, he toured quite extensively with Dido and Orbital in the past and is now embarking on a solo career. Given the early kudos, it’s no surprise that reaction to his music has been immediate and strong, especially from some top US music executives. As the word continues to spread on Kaye, it’s inevitable that multiple parties will want to sign this gifted talent.
Kaye is currently available for signing, licensing, publishing and booking worldwide. He recently secured management with LA-based manager Stephane Bombet. For more information, contact info@anrworldwide.com.
ANDREW PAUL WOODWORTH
Legendary Led Zeppelin bassist John Paul Jones once said of Andrew Paul Woodworth, “He’s the best lyricist I have ever worked with.” Heady praise indeed from a man who spent over a decade teaming with Robert Plant, but Jones backed up his words with action, producing the album of Woodworth’s then-band, Elephant Ride. Alas, the act didn’t catch on and was soon disbanded, with Woodworth going on to form Virgil in 2002. That group was more successful, with its music used by ESPN and the TV shows “Roswell” and “Buffy the Vampire Slayer.”
However, the singer/songwriter still wasn’t completely satisfied, opting to hit the studio in the spring of 2005 to record his first solo effort. The result, the sardonically titled EP I Hate Music, is a bravely eclectic offering featuring lush, poignant poetry to offset its oft-times cynical wit.
Just two short years ago, the Los Angeles resident caught the attention of the discerning ears at Rodeostar Records in Germany and was promptly signed to the label. His first full-length, Eddy Ate Dynamite, was produced by Evan Frankfort (Wallflowers, Jayhawks, Rancid) and features the song that first catapulted Andrew to attention: a slowed-down, acoustic take of the Beastie Boys’“Fight For Your Right to Party”! Other standout tracks such as “Thick Black Mark” and “Everything To Everyone” have tastemaker stations buzzing with support, including KDLD “Indie 103.1” Los Angeles, KNRK Portland, KTCL Denver, WFNX Boston, KPNT St. Louis, MotorFM Germany and more.
Known as one of the best live performers in Germany, Woodworth is gearing up for a tour there starting August 1st, continuing until the end of October…but those lucky enough to live in the Los Angeles area can check out a performance at The Mint on July 25th, which will be filmed for a live DVD. Woodworth is available for licensing in multiple territories; those wishing to be on the guest list for the show on Friday, July 25th should email joe@anrworldwide.com. For more information, go to www.andrewpaulwoodworth.com.
NEW PARTNERSHIP TO ELEVATE SINGAPORE FESTIVAL
International brand-led event and digital content company All the Worlds, a Universal Music Group joint venture company, has teamed up with Asian concert promoter Midas Promotions to actively grow Singapore’s contemporary music festival Singfest onto a par with some of the biggest contemporary music festivals in the world.
Midas Promotions, founded by Michael Hosking in 1978, is currently one of the leading concert organisers in Asia. Singapore-based Midas manages over 100 shows per year in 30 different countries throughout the region and the Middle East.
Midas CEO Michael Hosking said, “All the Worlds bring into this partnership a wealth of experience in the organisation and promotion of music festivals internationally, and in working with brand partners to create hard-working event and content campaigns. Together we will be able to take Singfest and put it on the world map of music festivals on a par with V Festival or T in the Park in the UK and Coachella and Lollapalooza in the US. This is not just a great opportunity for Midas, but also for Singapore to gain recognition as the first Asian music hub outside of Japan, attracting music lovers from all over Asia.”
Paul Morrison, CEO and Creative Director, All the Worlds, added that Singfest is a natural fit with All the Worlds’ core business of creating and co-investing with consumer brands in the global live music events arena. Heavy endorsement from talent agents in both Los Angeles and the UK for Midas Promotions was an added shot of confidence to their decision, he said.
The new partnership will see Grammy-winning superstar Alicia Keys become the headline artist of the festival. She will bring her complete “As I Am” tour to Singapore. In addition, top names such as Pussycat Dolls, OneRepublic, Panic at the Disco, Travis, Jason Mraz, Simple Plan, Jamie Scott & the Town and Lostprophets will entertain festival goers with full sets over this unique weekend of August 2-3, 2008.
All the Worlds and Midas have formed a joint venture to manage their significant multi-year investment in Singfest. Midas, with over 30 years of experience promoting in Asian markets, will manage the promotion and production of the event. All the Worlds, with the backing of Universal Music Group, will manage all digital and TV content, sponsor relations and marketing. The All the Worlds team cumulatively has over 40 years’ experience in developing live event and media businesses, working with brands, bands, TV production, broadcasting and digital content. Singfest is the company’s first investment in Asia.
Max Hole, President, Asia Pacific Region, Universal Music Group International, said, “All The Worlds’ investment in Singfest represents a fantastic platform to showcase how our portfolio of businesses can partner with local promoters and consumer brands to create content-rich annual events. Festival 2.0 will be increasingly about concert and content, servicing digital platforms and our consumer brand partners. Today, All the Worlds is able to offer brand partners packaged assets for their consumers, creating unique tailored offerings spanning across live events, brand-led campaigns, digital content, artist recordings/catalogue and merchandise.”
This third of our music and global consumer brand columns brings more news stories, examples and opportunities in this space. The pace of new examples has slowed in the last two weeks, but then again we are entering the summer months when a lot of acts are out on the road and brand partnerships that we’ve previously talked about as planned are now actually being activated out in the field (for festivals), the stadium, arena or on the TV screen.
Whilst the number may have slowed the examples are nonetheless breaking new ground; some of the cases highlighted below may well lead the way for others to follow:
Soap manufacturer keeps fresh initiatives coming
Following on from our story in the last column about music getting a seat at advertising’s top table http://adage.com/songsforsoap/post?article_id=128047, leading advertiser P&G announced an innovative new campaign for its leading shampoo brand Pantene, http://adage.com/songsforsoap/post?article_id=128161 which featured original music sourced from a user-generated contest held earlier this year at the MIDEM conference in Cannes.
Not to be outdone in the fresh smelling/deodorant stakes, 50 Cent appears in a TV commercial http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E7ukhaycznE out this week to promote Pure 50 RGX Bodyspray, by Right Guard, which interestingly used to be owned by Gillette but got sold to the Dial Corporation when P&G acquired Gillette in 2006. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Right_Guard
Live Nation slows down the pace of deals...honestly!!
Well if this is a case of slowing the deals down, we look forward with interest to when Live Nation decides to speed them up again!!
“Music 2.0 Manager” sets off into the “Wild Unknown”
This was the headline that ran in a recent Advertising Age column http://adage.com/songsforsoap/post?article_id=127837 about Nettwerk CEO Terry McBride’s latest initiative to kick off a year-long project that will generate, from scratch, a mold-breaking 360-degree “brand road map” for an up-and-coming British act. Whilst Terry is not the only “Music 2.0” manager out there that’s breaking new ground, his recent report (produced in conjunction with the UK’s Music Tank) http://www.musictank.co.uk/reports/meet-the-millennials highlights two very important factors that we urge all artists and their management to seriously consider:
Constant experimentation is the key to success, which is a common theme for Terry, who has achieved a high degree of success for his acts by developing "unconventional" but thoughtful marketing approaches.
Creating an artist "branding road map" that develops a true appreciation of the "artist as a brand" and sets out a clear inventory of the artist’s assets--fans, music and non-music content--and all the multiple on- and offline platforms for reaching listeners. Once this is established, the idea is to identify suitable content platforms or "highways," which are then weighted according to their importance.
A hairy moment but a model to follow?
No sooner had Tuna Music been advocating the need for artists’ back catalogs to be marketed in more creative ways http://adage.com/songsforsoap/post?article_id=128015-- via tailored ideas and exploitation strategies, than Primary Wave Music Publishing announced the development of “J-Stache,” a cartoon about John Oates’ mustache. The series has a twofold objective: to help portray Oates in a new modern-day light while reminding people of the great songs from his back catalog. As Oates says in Billboard, “Just as I’m represented as the John Oates of today, the mustache is the John Oates of yesterday! The focus of the music will be on the back catalog, but it’s an open-ended situation.”
This idea is a great example of how to create new intellectual property by taking old intellectual property and applying new thinking to it.
The only question that we have is whether to spell the hairy subject, “Mustache” or “Moustache”…and as readers of A&R Worldwide’s newsletter come from across the globe, we’ll leave the local spelling interpretation up to you.
GLOBAL NEWS UPDATES…
Former household products company Reckitt Benckiser VP Elio Leoni-Scoti has joined EMI as the head of its recorded music division. The Rome native will oversee the day-to-day operations of EMI’s music division whilst Guy Hands, CEO of Terra Firma (the private equity firm that acquired EMI last year), will become non-executive chairman of EMI.
Matt Marshall, VP A&R RCA Records, has parted company with the major. The respected A&R veteran was based out of the Los Angeles office and prior to working at RCA had worked at the West Coast-based offices for Epic Records.
The A&R Registry has announced the publication of its latest directory, which features the most updated changes in regards to moves of executives within the A&R community, including the latest changes at EMI, new contacts at SonyBMG UK and much more. For additional details on how to access the latest A&R changes and acquire the A&R Registry contact Ritch Esra at 818.995.7458, or log on to www.musicregistry.com.
Razor & Tie Entertainment has signed a long-term strategic partnership with Gary Gersh’s The Artist Organization (TAO) through which the companies will sign recording artists. The companies stated they plan to incorporate Gersh’s A&R experience and combine it with Razor & Tie’s full-service marketing staff and infrastructure. The first signing on the TAO imprint will be Athens, GA-based rock outfit Dead Confederate (www.myspace.com/deadconfederate).
UK independent Eye Industries has announced that it has inked a joint venture deal with Darcus Beese, Co-President, Island Records (UK), for its Alan Braxe Feat. Killa Kela& Fallon single, “Nightwatcher.” The band’s single, “What Gods Are These,” has also just been licensed for use in EA Games’ FIFA 2009.
Los Angeles-based attorney Ben Laski has announced the arrival of a new independent music company called SONIC music group, which will have the resources to develop, promote, market and provide tour support for its new roster.
7PM Management’s Seven Webster has signed Eastbourne, England-based band Your Friends Are Architects for worldwide management. The four-piece has been championed by Zoe Ball, Huw Stephens from BBC Radio 1 and Xfm’s John Hillcock and is generating a strong early buzz from additional UK tastemakers and industry tipsters. For more information, check out www.myspace.com/yourfriendsarearchitects.
UK buzz band Kid British recently announced that they had signed a deal with EMI Music Publishing.
The Cranberries lead guitarist and co-songwriter Noel Hogan and UK singer/songwriter Richard Walters have teamed to form the band Arkitekt. Hogan, who has recently started to venture into a new direction by experimenting with eclectic sounds, voices and beats, teamed up with Oxford-based singer Walters and they recorded a number of tracks which received such strong feedback that they decided to formally create a new band. Bernard Butler (ex Suede/McAlmont & Butler and now producer of Duffy) has mixed several tracks for Arkitekt, which is currently available for worldwide signing, licensing and publishing. For more details contact info@anworldwide.com.
A well-known Hamburg, Germany-based law firm and the Bavarian-based music marketing company Brainstorm have announced the launch of a new venture between the two respected companies. The partnership will grant artists who are eligible for PRS income in Germany the ability to access those monies more efficiently in respect to Germany, as PRS income cannot be collected via another country. Both companies will work with artists on a commission basis for revenue that’s owed, which is collected in Germany. For more information, contact Mannix Strauchner at mannix@brainstorm.de.
Highly talented US-based artist Beau Black has recorded his debut album, which is garnering strong initial interest from tastemakers Stateside. The gifted singer/songwriter has had his song, “The Way I Rock,” on the USA Network show Burn Notice. Black is currently available for signing and licensing. For more information contact Scott Francis at scottevanfrancis@mac.com.
New York-based industry veteran Ken Krongard announced that he has partnered up with EMI Music Publishing in New York. Krongard and EMI Music Publishing will be developing, managing and/or publishing artists and writers unearthed by Krongard, the first of whom is 21-year-old artist Joe Brooks (www.myspace.com/joebrooksmusic).
GPS has announced the addition of producer/mixer Ariel Rechtshaid to its roster. Rechtshaid’s production and engineering credits include Say Anything, Taking Back Sunday, We Are Scientists as well as his band Foreign Born. Currently, he’s producing and engineering new Domino signing Cass McCombs.
IN THE SPOTLIGHT: Colin Barlow, Ted Cohen, Daniel Lieberberg, Michael Chugg, Jason Flom, Lucian Grainge, Kim Buie, The Filthy Souls, Michael Steele, Jeff Haddad, David Glick and Patrick Strauch.
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Multi-talented US singer/songwriter Hannah Sidibe is poised to garner strong international success when her debut album is released late this year. The just-turned-18-year-old teen sensation was accidentally discovered by an A&R veteran whilst he was shopping at Whole Foods grocery story in Los Angeles and met her manager through an introduction by a fellow parishioner at her community church on Wilshire Blvd in Los Angeles. Born to parents from opposite parts of the world (her mom is from Louisiana and father from Kenya), the talented Sidibe began singing at the young age of four and hasn’t looked back since.
London, England-based singer, songwriter and guitarist Simon Rhys Kaye, aka Sy Kaye, is generating a strong amount of global A&R interest with key decision-makers thanks to his brand new album, which was recorded in London and delivers a mixture of infectious, catchy alt-pop melodies and intelligently crafted lyrics based on his own colorful life experiences. Kaye’s sound could best be described as a modern day Monkees on a soundclash with John Lennon-styled vocals; he cites his influences as David Bowie, Marc Bolan and The Beatles.
Legendary Led Zeppelin bassist John Paul Jones once said of Andrew Paul Woodworth, “He’s the best lyricist I have ever worked with.” Heady praise indeed from a man who spent over a decade teaming with Robert Plant, but Jones backed up his words with action, producing the album of Woodworth’s then-band, Elephant Ride. Alas, the act didn’t catch on and was soon disbanded, with Woodworth going on to form Virgil in 2002. That group was more successful, with its music used by ESPN and the TV shows “Roswell” and “Buffy the Vampire Slayer.” 
International brand-led event and digital content company All the Worlds, a Universal Music Group joint venture company, has teamed up with Asian concert promoter Midas Promotions to actively grow Singapore’s contemporary music festival Singfest onto a par with some of the biggest contemporary music festivals in the world.
This third of our music and global consumer brand columns brings more news stories, examples and opportunities in this space. The pace of new examples has slowed in the last two weeks, but then again we are entering the summer months when a lot of acts are out on the road and brand partnerships that we’ve previously talked about as planned are now actually being activated out in the field (for festivals), the stadium, arena or on the TV screen.
This was the headline that ran in a recent Advertising Age column 
GLOBAL NEWS UPDATES…
IN THE SPOTLIGHT: Colin Barlow, Ted Cohen, Daniel Lieberberg, Michael Chugg, Jason Flom, Lucian Grainge, Kim Buie, The Filthy Souls, Michael Steele, Jeff Haddad, David Glick and Patrick Strauch.