Jeff McClusky & Associates

Fleet Foxes Drummer Leaves the Band

Fleet Foxes drummer and vocal harmonist J. Tillman has announced his decision to leave the band in a Tumblr post yesterday. In related news, members Christian Wargo and Casey Wescott have started their own side project, Poor Moon. Their debut album is set for release on March 27. Read the full article from Billboard here:

Fleet Foxes Drummer Leaves Band, Spin-Off Signs to Sub Pop | Billboard.com

Government Shuts Down Megaupload.com

Federal offices shut down file-sharing site Megaupload.com. According to federal prosecutors, The charges come from an indictment stating that the site has caused for more than $500 million in lost revenue from pirated movies and music. Gizmodo has the full article:

Feds Kill Megaupload (Updated)

Blues Singer Etta James Passes Away

Blues and soul legend Etta James passed away at the age of 73 after a battle with leukemia. Starting off her career singing gospel in churches at age 5, James signed with Arco in 1960 releasing iconic songs including “At Last,” “Trust in Me,” and “All I Could Do Was Cry.” Check out CNN for the story:

Singing legend Etta James dies at 73 - CNN.com

Does radio airplay increase iTunes sales or do iTunes sales increases radio airplay? An intriguing question that is tackled in this article titled “Radio Compared To YouTube and MySpace”. Check out the full story here!

“Now let’s take a look at something which does not lie: Sales numbers. Today we’ll use Itunes numbers, because every artist reading this can get their material onto Itunes (whereas, not every artist can get a CD onto retail shelves nationally). Itunes is also pertinent because commercial AM/FM radio listeners can “purchase by pushbutton” when they are listening, whether the radio is at home, in their car, on thier nano, or on their cells (and this is why Apple decided to partner with radio). The following summary of numbers is tabulated from the Itunes Top 100 of 6/12/11, and the Top Listens chart of 6/10/11. The complete tabulation is shown further below:

15,800,000: The average number of weekly commercial radio listens that each (and every) song in the Itunes Top 100 got in one week.

21,880,000: The average number of weekly commercial radio listens that each song in the Itunes Top 100 got in one week, when that artist had 2 or more songs in the Itunes Top 100.

51,300,000: The average number of weekly commercial radio listens that each song in the Itunes Top 100 got in one week, when that artist had 3 or more songs in the Itunes Top 100.

71,922,000: The number of weekly commercial radio listens that the #1 song in the Itunes Top 100 got in one week.

100 percent: The number of songs in the Itunes Top 100 where the artist received major commercial radio airplay in major U.S. markets for this or other songs of theirs.

0 percent: The number of songs in the Itunes Top 100 where the artist NEVER received major commercial radio airplay in major U.S. markets for this or other songs of theirs.

Now, Itunes has about 10 million songs available for purchase (at least this is the average number that I came up with after searching the web.) And probably 99.9% of these songs are NOT from major labels. This would mean that 9,990,000 of the Itunes songs come from indies like you. And every artist reading this would agree that the best music comes from indies, right?

So how can it be that the Itunes Top 100 songs (which are only .00001 of all the Itunes songs) are ALL pushed heavily on commercial radio? 100 percent of them. Especially when everyone knows that major labels only put out “crap”. How could all these commercial radio listeners make the mistake of buying only major-label (bad) music on Itunes, when the overwhelming vast vast vast majority of the Itunes songs are good quality indies?

And how can it be, that of the 9,990,000 high-quality indie songs that are not promoted on commercial radio, not ONE of them made the Itunes Top 100? Kinda strange, don’t you think? Looks to me like the one single common thread linking all the high sales together is commercial radio airplay.

I’m sure the following is already being thought by many of you: “Don’t you know that radio just plays what already got big on Youtube/MySpace? So of course the radio “listens” are going to match up to high Itunes sales, because the songs got viral first, started selling on Itunes, and then radio started playing them”. This is great, except for one small detail: The radio starts BEFORE the YouTube/MySpace starts. Every time. All you have to do is follow the radio add dates, the radio spin increase dates, and the YouTube/MySpace view count dates. You ARE doing this, aren’t you?. But this is information for another article. In the mean time, you can look at the www.TopListens.com chart for real current numbers.

Below is the complete Itunes Top 100 of 6/12/11, cross referenced with the Top Listens chart of 6/10/11. It’s not exactly 100 , because some of the listings are duplicates of song and album:

Itunes Sales Position, ARTIST, Song, Weekly Listens

1: ADELE, Rolling In The Deep: 71,922,000
2: PITBULL, Give Me Everything: 50,112,000 (has other songs at 46 and 72)
3: LMFAO, Party Rock Anthem: 23,223,000
4: LADY GAGA, The Edge Of Glory: 28,734,000
5: KATY PERRY, Last Friday Night: 6,987,000
6: JASON ALDEAN, Dirt Road Anthem: 12,078,000
7: LIL WAYNE, How To Love: 7,833,000
8: BRUNO MARS, Lazy Song: 49,479,000
9: JENNIFER LOPEZ, On The Floor: 35,478,000
11: HOT CHELLE RAE, Tonight Tonight: 15,441,000
12: JASON DERULO, Don’t Wanna Go Home: 20,964,000
13: COLDPLAY, Every Teardrop Is A Waterfall: 3,759,000
14: SELENA GOMEZ, Who Says: 13,341,000 (has another song at 90)
15: ONEREPUBLIC, Good Life: 22,650,000
16: BLACK EYED PEAS, Just Can’t Get Enough: 52,506,000 (has other songs at 82 and 97)
17: BLAKE SHELTON, Honey Bee: 16,755,000
18: KATY PERRY, E.T.: 63,726,000
19: LUKE BRYAN, Country Girl Shake It For Me: 10,545,000
20: LADY ANTEBELLUM, Just A Kiss: 11,139,000 (has another song at 99)
22: BRAD PAISLEY, Remind Me: 4,314,000
23: ZAC BROWN BAND, Knee Deep: 10,812,000 (has another song at 77)
24: KE$HA, Blow: 19,467,000
25: JESSIE J, Price Tag: 17,100,000
26: BRITNEY SPEARS, Till The World Ends: 40,329,000
27: KELLY ROWLAND, Motivation: 25,494,000
29: THE BAND PERRY, If I Die Young: 6,405,000
31: T-PAIN, Best Love Song: 5,871,000
32: TAYLOR SWIFT, Mean: 15,759,000
33: MARTIN SOLVEIG & DRAGONETTE, Hello: 11,409,000
34: JEREMIH, Down On Me: 21,639,000
35: LADY GAGA, Born This Way: 9,480,000 (has another song at 75)
36: JAKE OWEN, Barefoot Blue Jean Night: 7,575,000
37: ENRIQUE IGLESIAS, Dirty Dancer: 11,877,000
38: RIHANNA, S&M: 23,139,000
39: NEW BOYZ, Back Seat: 15,837,000
40: RIHANNA, California King Bed: 6,846,000
41: KATY PERRY, Firework: 5,412,000
43: THE BAND PERRY, You Lie: 15,138,000
44: RASCAL FLATTS, I Won’t Let Go: 8,739,000
45: BEYONCE, Run The World: 3,465,000
47: CHRIS YOUNG, Tomorrow: 13,983,000
48: KENNY CHESNEY, You And Tequila: 7,668,000
49: ERIC CHURCH, Homeboy: 8,142,000
51: FOSTER THE PEOPLE, Pumped Up Kicks: 5,670,000
52: ELI YOUNG BAND, Crazy Girl: 5,019,000
54: SCOTTY MCCREERY, I Love You This Big: 2,760,000
55: JASON ALDEAN, Don’t You Wanna Stay: 5,895,000 (has another song at 79)
56: CHRIS BROWN, She Ain’t You: 23,826,000
57: PINK, F**kin’ Perfect: 16,170,000
58: CHRISTINA PERRI, Jar Of Hearts: 1,662,000
59: MIGUEL, Sure Thing: 22,506,000
61: CEE LO GREEN, F**k You: 10,503,000
63: BRUNO MARS, Grenade: 6,537,000
64: BRAD PAISLEY, Old Alabama: 14,451,000
65: TAYLOR SWIFT, The Story Of Us: 10,557,000
66: MUMFORD & SONS, The Cave: 4,599,000
67: BEYONCE, Best Thing I Never Had: 1,632,000
68: JUSTIN MOORE, If Heaven Wasn’t So Far Away: 13,974,000
69: KEITH URBAN, Without You: 16,248,000
70: LUPE FIASCO, The Show Goes On: 36,621,000
74: BRUNO MARS, Just The Way You Are: 5,850,000
76: NICOLE SCHERZINGER, Right There: 5,130,000
78: RODNEY ATKINS, Take A Back Road: 4,533,000
80: DIERKS BENTLEY, Am I The Only One: 10,620,000
83: SEETHER, Country Song: 10,659,000
86: ONEREPUBLIC, Secrets: 3,225,000
87: LUPE FIASCO, Out Of My Head: 8,329,000
92: MAROON 5, Never Gonna Leave This Bed: 16,470,000
98: AWOLNATION, Sail: 3,309,000
100: ANDY GRAMMER, Keep Your Head Up: 9,066,000

The following songs from that week’s Itunes Top 100 were not on that week’s Top Listens:

10: SHANIA TWAIN, Today Is Your Day
28: JOE JONAS, See No More
30: PARAMORE, Monster
50: VICTORIOUS CAST, Best Friend’s Brother
60: TAIO CRUZ, Dynamite
71: DIA FRAMPTON, Heartless
89: ICARLY, Leave It All
91: JUSTIN BIEBER, Never Say Never
93: VICTORIOUS CAST, Beggin’ On Your Knees
94: GAVIN DEGRAW, Not Over You
95: CODY SIMPSON, All Day
96: JUSTIN BIEBER, Baby

Yet, notice that they all have had major commercial radio play of other songs; it’s just that this particular week, the particular song of interest was already played on radio and has now been dropped. In other words, radio leads the Itunes sales. Again, this is why Apple partnered with radio… to cause more sales to happen.”

Article posted on: http://www.radio-media.com/song-album/articles/airplay68.html

Trial of Conrad Murray, former doctor of Michael Jackson, goes underway today

Opening statements and testimonies from witnesses in the case against Dr. Conrad Murray are set to begin today in Los Angeles. Murray is currently being tried for involuntary manslaughter in the case of Michael Jackson’s death. The highly publicized case has been on going for quite some time. For the full story on the trial of Conrad Murray, check out the full story at All Access.

http://www.allaccess.com/net-news/archive/story/96950/trial-of-michael-jackson-s-doctor-gets-underway-to

Rapper Jay-Z is set to headline 8 shows in celebration of the opening of the Nets Arena in Brooklyn next fall

The Hova himself, superstar Jay-Z, is scheduled to perform eight headlining shows to mark the opening of Nets Arena starting September 28th, 2012. The rapper’s involvement with the basketball team comes as no surprise due to his part ownership in the Nets franchise. For more details on Jay-Z’s christening of the Net’s Arena, check out the full article at Rolling Stone.

http://www.rollingstone.com/music/news/jay-z-plans-concert-series-at-nets-arena-20110926

The Cure announces 3 city min-tour to perform their first 3 albums

A ny Cure fans out there? The band has just recently announced their plans to perform their first 3 released albums in London, New York, and Los Angeles, respectively. The min-tour comes fresh off the heels of The Cure’s Rock and Roll Hall of Fame nomination. The shows will feature a rotating roster of past and present members of the band. For more information, check out the story at Pitchfork.

http://www.pitchfork.com/news/44128-the-cure-to-perform-first-three-albums-in-london-los-angeles-and-new-york/

Twilight fans everywhere rejoice with the release of the first single from the ‘Twilight: Breaking Dawn’ soundtrack, “It Will Rain” by Bruno Mars.

Not only has the Twilight saga created a monstrously successful film franchise, but a highly anticipated soundtrack to each movie as well. The release of ‘Twilight: Breaking Dawn’ is no different. The upcoming soundtrack has released its first single, the Bruno Mars performed “It Will Rain”. Listen to the song in full at Entertainment Weekly!

http://music-mix.ew.com/2011/09/27/twilight-breaking-dawn-pt-1-soundtrack-bruno-mars/

Steven Tyler announces new Aerosmith album to come in March of 2012!

Although Aerosmith has experienced some recent turbulent times due to inter-group conflicts, as well as Steven Tyler’s addition to the judging panel of American Idol, the frontman himself has announced the hopeful release date of their upcoming album. Tyler stated that the album is almost complete and should be release in “March, hopefully”. For more details on the album itself and the future release date, check out the full story at Rolling Stone.

http://www.rollingstone.com/music/news/steven-tyler-new-aerosmith-album-coming-in-march-20110927

Facebook introduces Facebook Music. But what exactly is it?

There have been numerous recent changes to the newly revamped Facebook site. One of the major changes includes Facebook’s new “Facebook Music”. Unlike programs like Spotify and Rhapsody, Facebook Music is not a service. Instead, subscribers of already existing music programs will be able to access music through Facebook and share what they are listening to with their friends. For more details on the in’s and out’s of Facebook Music, check out the full article at Billboard.

http://www.billboard.biz/bbbiz/industry/digital-and-mobile/facebook-music-what-it-is-what-it-isn-t-1005366862.story

R&B star Usher accused of plagiarism for 2004 hit “Burn”

Over 7 years after the smash single charted in the #1 position of the Hot 100, R&B superstar Usher is being accused of plagiarism for his 2004 release “Burn”. Singer Ernest Lee Straughter filed  the suit with a California federal judge claiming the hit song ripped off of his own “Reasons”, released in 1998. Usher and team have filed a counter suit with the U.S District Court hoping to prove that no act of plagiarism was committed in the writing and recording of “Burn”. For the full story, see the article at Rolling Stone.

http://www.rollingstone.com/music/news/usher-accused-of-plagiarism-20110922

“Late Night with Jimmy Fallon” announces Pink Floyd tribute week

“Late Night with Jimmy Fallon” has announced that next week will be dedicated to honoring one of the great rocks bands of our time, Pink Floyd. The week-long tribute will include various performances of the group’s classic songs by artists such as Pearl Jam, Foo Fighters, The Shins, MGMT, and more. In addition, members of the band, Nick Mason and Roger Waters, will appear as guests on the program. For more information on the Pink Floyd tribute week, check out the full article at Rolling Stone.

http://www.rollingstone.com/music/news/late-night-with-jimmy-fallon-announces-pink-floyd-week-20110923

Spotify uses Facebook exposure to open free streaming to all

For months since its U.S. debut, Spotify has kept its membership exclusive by being invite-only. However, with the heavy media exposure received through the Facebook f8 event, the music program is now using that to its advantage by allowing membership to all who wish to join. For 6 months, all users will be able to freely use the program without any form of payment. However, after the 6 month period, Spotify will enforce listening caps similar to those found on Pandora, allowing users 10 free hours of music a month. For more details on the continually growing U.S launch of Spotify, check out the full article at Media Beat.

http://venturebeat.com/2011/09/23/spotify-facebook-open-service/

Pop Princess Lady Gaga wants to meet with President Obama Over Bullying

Pop superstar Lady Gaga has expressed her desire to meet with President Obama regarding the ever growing outbreak of relentless bullying in schools across the nation. Following the suicide of a 14 year-old New York boy who shared his troubling experiences with bullying related to his sexuality in an online video, Gaga tweeted “I am meeting with our President. I will not stop fighting. This must end.” The singer is no stranger to political activism, having been heavily involved the campaign to repeal “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell”. For the full story, check out Billboard.

http://www.billboard.biz/bbbiz/industry/legal-and-management/lady-gaga-wants-to-meet-with-president-obama-1005367782.story

Yes, it’s true….JMA has been in the Tumblr game for quite some time now. It’s been a great couple of months and the fun has just begun. We’ve got an eventful year coming up filled with exciting opportunities and experiences, and we’re pumped to share it all with you! So plan on receiving more updates on the latest music news, photos of events that we attend, bands that we meet, and a bunch of quirky stuff in between…we’ve got you covered \m/

Maroon 5 & Christina Aguilera hold onto the top spot on the Hot 100 with “Moves Like Jagger”

For an impressive third week at the summit of the Hot 100, Maroon 5’s recent hit “Moves Like Jagger” feat. Christina Aguilera currently holds onto the top spot. Having been briefly knocked down to the number 2 slot by Adele’s “Someone Like You”, the band maintains their reign at the top of the charts. For more info and the full Hot 100 Top 10 for this week, check out the article from Billboard.

http://www.billboard.biz/bbbiz/industry/record-labels/maroon-5-christina-aguilera-atop-hot-100-1005365182.story

Pandora debuts revamped site, complete with (almost) dropped listening caps

Yesterday, Pandora revealed their newly redesigned website to online users. In addition to the updated look, the site also introduced some new features. In the past, once listeners had reached 40 hours a month of use, they would be charged $1 to continue access to the site. Now, instead of a listening cap, the site has enforced an “abuse prevention” limit of 320 hours a month. For more on the recent updates of Pandora, check out the full story at Billboard.

http://www.billboard.biz/bbbiz/industry/digital-and-mobile/pandora-unveils-site-redesign-drops-listening-1005362772.story

Rihanna debuts brand new single “We Found Love”

Fresh off the 19th Top 10 hit of her career (“Cheers”), Rihanna wastes no time in releasing the first single from her upcoming November release. “We Found Love”, featuring Swedish DJ/Producer Calvin Harris, is a club/radio-ready dance single, not dissimilar to past releases from the artist. Check out the song and more info at Entertainment Weekly.

http://music-mix.ew.com/2011/09/22/rihanna-debuts-new-single-we-found-love/

Wilco rocks Dave Letterman in support of their upcoming LP

In preparation of the upcoming September 27th release of their new LP The Whole Love, Wilco performed an entire set on “Late Night With David Letterman”. Check out the performance in its entirety on Pitchfork.

http://pitchfork.com/news/44075-watch-wilco-play-a-full-concert-on-the-late-show-with-david-letterman/

R.E.M calls it quits after 3 decades together

After 31 years together, the band members of R.E.M have decided to go their separate ways. As stated in the band’s official statement, “”As lifelong friends and co-conspirators, we have decided to call it a day as a band”. The band’s legacy lives through their 15 previously released albums. For the complete story and full official statement from the band, check out Rolling Stone’s article

http://www.rollingstone.com/music/news/r-e-m-break-up-after-three-decades-20110921

Lady Antebellum score their second consecutive #1 album with “Own The Night”

Country trio, Lady Antebellum, have officially debuted in the top spot on the Billboard 200 with their most recent release of “Own The Night”. Selling 347,000 copies in the first week, the album marks the largest sales week by a band since the 2010 release of Sade’s “Soldier of Love”. For more on the chart success of Lady Antebellum’s “Own The Night”, as well as the complete listing of this week’s Billboard 200 Top 10 albums, check out the article from Billboard.

http://www.billboard.biz/bbbiz/charts-articles/chart-alert/lady-antebellum-lands-second-no-1-album-1005361582.story

Australian Live Music Industry Worth More Than $1.2 Billion

The APRA has announce this Monday that the Australian live music industry is worth a tremendous $1.2 billion. This figure includes the revenue gained from ticket sales as well as food and drink sales. In another staggering figure, an estimated 41.97 million individuals have attended shows within the reporting period, meaning that every citizen of Australia have each attended on average 2 shows a year. For more information on the country’s booming live music industry, check out the article from Billboard.

http://www.billboard.biz/bbbiz/industry/global/australian-live-music-industry-worth-more-1005361492.story

Simon Cowell dishes on the premier season of ‘The X Factor’ USA

After a year hiatus since his departure from “American Idol”, Simon Cowell is returning to television with “The X Factor”. The show is wildly popular in the UK and has produced global superstars such as Leona Lewis. Billboard.biz interviewed the judge asking him what to expect from the upcoming season of the singing competition. For the full interview, check out Billboard’s article here.

http://www.billboard.biz/bbbiz/industry/tv-film/simon-cowell-dishes-on-upcoming-season-of-1005361552.story

Radiohead’s Thom Yorke shares future plans with BBC Radio 1

Radiohead lead singer, Thom Yorke, recently dished to BBC Radio 1 on his musical plans for 2012. To the excitement of Radiohead fans everywhere, he stated that the band will in fact tour next year. In addition, he is very close to completing his album with second band, Atoms For Peace. To read more on the breaking news, as well as hear the interview in its entirety, check out the article at Pitchfork.

http://pitchfork.com/news/44064-thom-yorke-radiohead-tour-next-year-side-band-with-flea-finishing-album/

Staff at Jeff McClusky & Associates is still winding down after the most incredible week at Lollapalooza and the success of the sold out Nelarusky concert all rolled into one.  The staff helped produced and executed the sold out Cold War Kids – Nelarusky Benfit for Special Olympics concert on August 3 to open Lollapalooza week.  The staff also worked at various functions at Lollapalooza and between working and enjoying the bands and aftershows, we had a tired group.  Still much debate in the office on the highlights that included Foo Fighters at Metro, Foster The People at House of Blues, Little Hurricane and the Double Door, Beats Antique on the Playstation Stage and the return of Coldplay.

JMA is now recruiting for the Fall interns and are excited about our next group of 7-10 interns for Music Industry Immersion – Fall 2011!  Apply to Lauren McClusky and/or Chris Wienke for your ticket to the music business.  Watch out this week for Memory Tapes, Katy Perry, Jason Aldean and others.  Yep, artists big and small coming to you great town of Chicago…see you there!