CMJ » Kate Shapiro

Music News, May 3, 2012

Kate Shapiro — Thu, 03 May 2012 20:20:40 +0000

Even though the music industry is hemorrhaging money on the daily, salaries for music execs are on the rise. Live Nation chairman Irving Azoff makes $34.6 million a year. That’s 50 times more than Pandora CEO Joe Kennedy.

Speaking of Live Nation, the live event company has launched a Facebook concert calendar app listing events from 75 different ticket websites–and it’s awesome.

Spotify introduced its iPad app on Wednesday. New features include a “now playing” full-screen HD viewing option.

R&B singer D’Angelo will perform at the 2012 Essence Music Festival in New Orleans in July. This will be his first Stateside performance in over a decade.

Amanda Palmer of the Dresden Dolls has raised nearly $460,000 on fundraising site Kickstarter to record and distribute her newest album and art book. If you pledge $1 or more you get a digital download of the album. The fundraiser will go on through May.

CMJ is giving away tickets to Zola Jesus at the Guggenheim. The show is on Thursday, May 10. The deadline to enter is May 8 at 10 a.m.

Did you know that the music industry in India is completely different from the music industry in the USA? There’s no streaming, people call a phone number to listen to the radio, and ringtones eclipse all other forms of music purchases combined.

CMJ is also giving away tickets to the Hangout Music Festival in Gulf Shores, AL, May 18-20. Break out your Birkenstocks and get ready to hang out because the festival features Jack White, Wilco, Skrillex, Dave Matthews Band and many more.

Industry Wrap is a weekly CMJ column covering industry-related music news. Send tips to Kate Shapiro at kshapiro@cmj.com.

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Music News, April 21, 2012

Kate Shapiro — Sat, 21 Apr 2012 14:00:18 +0000

U.S. Internet ad revenue hit a record $31 billion in 2011, up 22 percent from 2010. Who says we’re in a recession?

Facebook launched a new “listen” button that allows users to listen to music on all artist pages. The new app is powered by Spotify.

Speaking of Spotify, the music-streaming service just announced a global deal with Coca-Cola. Most likely they’re planning world domination.

The European Union approved Sony’s acquisition of part of EMI. EMI manages the rights to Amy Winehouse and owns the publishing rights to Ozzy Osbourne among others.

Industry Wrap is a weekly CMJ column covering industry-related music news. Send tips to Kate Shapiro at kshapiro [AT] cmj [DOT] com.

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Music News, April 13, 2012

Kate Shapiro — Fri, 13 Apr 2012 21:37:24 +0000

While MDNA got good reviews, Madonna’s newest album still managed to post the largest sales drop in history. Though the record debuted at No. 1 last week, it fell to No. 8 on the Billboard 200 and had an 86.7 percent sales decrease.

Now that Madonna’s album has tanked, Adele’s 21 is back on top of the charts for the 24th nonconsecutive week.

Spotify once again proves it’s better than iTunes by launching a free embedding software that can easily be incorporated into any website.

London record store Rough Trade is coming to Brooklyn later this year.

Sony Corp. announced plans to cut 10,000 jobs, accounting for six percent of the company’s global workforce.

Axl Rose was more of a douche than usual (which is pretty douchey) when he wrote a letter to the Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame to have his name withdrawn as a member of Guns N’ Roses to avoid “awkward situations” with ex-bandmates.

Megaupload hired a really good lawyer, Andrew Schapiro, to represent the former file-hosting service that was raided by the government in January. Now the government is filing an injunction against Schapiro’s firm representing Megaupload citing “conflicts of interest involving Google, YouTube, Disney, Fox and other movie, TV show and software companies.”

Speaking of the U.S. government, the Department Of Justice is suing Apple for conspiring with five other publishers “to raise the prices of e-books by as much as $5, in an effort to prevent Amazon, which prices many of its e-books at 10 bucks, from locking in what publishers believe is an artificially low price.”

Industry Wrap is a weekly CMJ column covering industry-related music news. Send tips to Kate Shapiro at kshapiro [AT] cmj [DOT] com.

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Music News, March 29, 2012

Kate Shapiro — Thu, 29 Mar 2012 18:15:58 +0000

Feminist writer Naomi Wolf thinks Katy Perry’s new military-themed music video is “a total piece of propaganda for the Marines…I really want to find out if she was paid by them for making it…It is truly shameful.” Is Katy Perry really that diabolical?

Madonna’s new album, MDNA, comes out next week. It’s supposedly a hark back to her house music days and is predicted to debut at No. 1 on Billboard.

That song “We Are Young” by Fun. is still the No. 1 track in the U.S.. See? Indie bands can be money-makers too!

While Pandora’s listener hours have doubled in the last year, the site is still profitless, its stocks are plummeting, and the U.K. still won’t let them in.

The Morning Benders changed its name to POP ETC because in Europe the word “bender” is a derogatory term for a homosexual male. Whoops!

The Mid-Atlantic College Radio Conference (Macrock) will kick off on April 6 in Harrisonburg, VA. The full lineup includes Valkyrie, Elephant Child, Ostrich, White Laces and more.

Google is really pushing its new “Play” feature. Google Play is basically just a rebranded Android market bundled with its cloud service. You can also buy books, movies and music on it, like a Google Amazon. Let’s hope it doesn’t go the way of the Plus.

Here is the full text of Bruce Springsteen’s great keynote speech at SXSW. And for the visually inclined, here’s the video.

Vevo chief Rio Caraeff said the war on Internet piracy is like the war on drugs: Both are unwinnable wars. After making that sweeping statement he said, “But that’s not necessarily the opinion of the industry, but I think the solution is to provide access to entertainment to as many people as possible, through a variety of different models—including the free models.”

Odd Future’s Loiter Squad debuted on Adult Swim on Sunday. It was “an awkward comedy puree of Jackass jackassery, Trigger Happy TV trolling and Portlandia character-driven parody sketches.”

Industry Wrap is a weekly CMJ column covering industry-related music news. Send tips to Kate Shapiro at kshapiro [AT] cmj [DOT] com.

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Music News, March 23, 2012

Kate Shapiro — Fri, 23 Mar 2012 22:00:45 +0000

Lionel Richie sold 20,000 albums in one hour on the Home Shopping Network. Usually when artists host events on HSN, they sell around 10,000 units. Unless you’re Susan Boyle, in which case you sell 80,000 units of “I Dreamed A Dream.”

Last week was SXSW (aka “Hipster Spring Break”) in Austin, TX. Attendance this year was over 25,000. That’s a 227 percent increase from 2009. Organizers say the addition of the Interactive section of the festival helped to generate more interest in the massive music festival. Biggest takeaway from SXSW Interactive: Learn to code. Must we do everything?

Here is the full lineup as well as the schedule and ticket info for NYC’s third annual Unsound Fest.

A reporter asked Bono some very tough questions about tax evasion and hypocrisy. It was going to be a hard-hitting interview until the reporter found out it was a Bono impersonator.

On March 30, Facebook artist pages will transition into timeline. The beta results of this have sparked mass confusion. Nobody knows where to find music, watch videos and look at pictures in the new timeline format. Join the club.

Turntable.fm signed licensing deals with all four major labels making it completely legitimate. Unfortunately, Turntable.fm has never gotten higher monthly traffic than the month of its launch. Guess the initial buzz didn’t hold up.

Actor Jake Gyllenhaal stars in the music video “Time To Dance” by French electro-pop band Shoes. He kills a lot of people in it. It’ll make your lunch break more entertaining.

Colleen Fitzpatrick, whom you might know as Vitamin C (that insanely popular “Graduation” song in the ’90s) was named the VP Of Music at Nickelodeon. Hopefully her first act as VP will be to ban Miranda Cosgrove from ever singing again.

Terrence Malick is reportedly doing a movie involving Rooney Mara and Neon Indian‘s Alan Palomo. In celebration, here is a list of five hypothetical chillwave Terrence Malick films.

Odd Future’s concert Wednesday night at the House Of Blues in Boston was shut down by the police. Rumor has it that the show was stopped because a crew member was arrested outside of the venue. Another rumor suggests Jasper Dolphin was “restrained by security after attempting to leap from the venue’s balcony.” Oof.

Industry Wrap is a weekly CMJ column covering industry-related music news. Send tips to Kate Shapiro at kshapiro [AT] cmj [DOT] com.

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Music News, March 9, 2012

Kate Shapiro — Fri, 09 Mar 2012 22:38:55 +0000

Two Michael Jackson fans, James Marks and Jamie McCormick, are accused of stealing unreleased music off of the late star’s personal computers.

The iPad (it’s not called the iPad 3 or the iPad HD, just iPad—like Madonna!) was announced on Wednesday. It has a faster processor, better graphics, dictation software and 4G. The new iPad will be available March 16, but you can pre-order it today—if you’ve got $499, $599 or $699 to spare.

In this next chapter of Google’s quest to compete with Amazon, Google has launched Google Play, a marketplace where you can buy Android apps, books, music and movies. It’s basically a rebranding of the Android Market.

Pandora’s shares plunged more than 24 percent this quarter. Analysts say it’s because there’s “no profitability track record and no near-term profitable outlook.” Aka Spotify exists now. Apple stock slipped too.

In weird industry news, EMI has licensed “the world’s first dedicated rollercoaster soundtrack.” The track is for the world’s first “winged rollercoaster” in Thorpe Park in the U.K.

HEALTH is recording the score for the Max Payne 3 video game.

Vevo and MTV have finally reconciled after a year-long feud over the rights of Universal Music Group’s Web videos. You can now see Vevo videos on the MTV website. Facebook also wants to sign a deal with Vevo that would take the music video company off of YouTube and onto Facebook.

Songza has launched an interface called Concierge that chooses music for you based on what you’re doing. Themes include “Working Or Studying (No Lyrics)” or “Taking The Day Off.”

Peter Gabriel has asked Rush Limbaugh to take his music off of Limbaugh’s radio program. Apparently a Peter Gabriel track was playing in the background when Limbaugh made his infamous “slut” remarks of late.

AT&T just released new data limits. Does it affect your mobile usage? Well, do you listen to more than 35 hours of music a month on your walk to work? Then maybe! That’s a lot though. People don’t expect it to be a big deal.

Industry Wrap is a weekly CMJ column covering industry-related music news. Send tips to Kate Shapiro at kshapiro [AT] cmj [DOT] com.

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Music News, March 1, 2012

Kate Shapiro — Thu, 01 Mar 2012 22:38:20 +0000

WZRD photo via Kid Cudi's site

Kid Cudi is rather miffed with Universal for the low sale of his current project WZRD’s new album. Apparently he called UMG a “weak ass label” for treating WZRD as a side project and not the real deal.

Bret McKenzie of Flight Of The Conchords won the Best Original Song Oscar for “Man Or
Muppet” from The Muppets movie.

Ticketmaster debuted its first iPhone app this week, making it much, much easier to drunk-shop for Radiohead tickets.

Davy Jones of Monkees fame died this week in Florida at the age of 66.

You may have to wait until society literally falls apart before a Smiths reunion. Johnny Marr says he will reform the Smiths “if the current U.K. government steps down.”

In Adele Breaks More Records news: 21 is now the longest running No. 1 album since Purple Rain.

Spotify is pissed at artists who “window,” meaning only allow paid subscribers to listen to songs while free users can only hear samples of songs.

Megaupload creater Kim Dotcom is out on bail until his hearing in August. He’s accused of breaking 500 million dollars’ worth of copyright laws. Yikes.

Band pages on Facebook are changing to the Timeline format by the end of March.

Target pulled a greeting card that makes fun of Whitney Houston’s preference for “bad boys.” Awkward.

Music subscription service MOG is for sale.

Industry Wrap is a weekly CMJ column covering industry-related music news. Send tips to Kate Shapiro at kshapiro [AT] cmj [DOT] com.

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Music News, February 23, 2012

Kate Shapiro — Thu, 23 Feb 2012 18:08:53 +0000

After the disaster that was SOPA, the Obama administration has announced a new online privacy plan that will set guidelines for how companies can store and collect personal consumer data. The legislation will place watch dogs on Google and Facebook, and will likely result in an Internet uproar.

CMJ 2012 badges are 55% off through Monday. Get yours today.

“Man In The Mirror” co-writer Siedah Garrett says change is coming to the Best Original Song Academy Award nomination rules following this year’s snub. Garrett’s “Real In Rio” was one of the only two songs nominated this year.

After Adele won six Grammys, 21 saw the greatest sales spike for a female artist since Nielsen started tracking, with her album sales topping 730,000 in one week.

Christopher Reimer, the guitarist of Women, died in his sleep on Tuesday. He was 26, and the cause of death has yet to be determined.

All of Kraftwerk’s eight shows at MoMA in New York City have already sold out. If you were one of the people who tried and failed to get tickets yesterday, this video will probably make you laugh and cry.

The American Association Of Independent Music (A2IM) has announced the first-ever awards show for independent artists and labels. The A2IM Libera Awards (“Libbies”) will be held at Le Poisson Rouge in New York City on June 21.

We all wish we could have some say in music awards shows. Unfortunately, the Grammy Awards aren’t open to our suggestions. We can, however, vote for the mtvU Woodie Awards for best college radio station. 25 stations remain. Only one will win.

SOPA’s European counterpart ACTA’s ratification was suspended after mass protests across Europe. The anti-counterfeiting agreement is being sent to the high court to see whether it violates EU rights.

Digital jazz radio station Jazz FM apologized after the station accidentally broadcast “several minutes of what appeared to be the soundtrack to a gay porn film.” The snafu of sorts occurred Saturday night, and the station is taking serious means to rectify the situation.

Industry Wrap is a weekly CMJ column covering industry-related music news. Send tips to Kate Shapiro at kshapiro [AT] cmj [DOT] com.

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Music News, February 10, 2012

Kate Shapiro — Fri, 10 Feb 2012 19:03:16 +0000

Converse kicks designed by Gorillaz

Warner Music Group spent less last quarter but still had a flat holiday season.

Andre 3000, James Murphy and Gorillaz are teaming up to record a track for Converse. Converse is also launching some new Gorillaz-inspired Chuck Taylor designs on February 23, the same day the song goes live.

The Oscars are boring. Hold out for the 2012 Woodies on MTV instead, and don’t forget to vote for your favorite college radio station.

Metallica is starting its own music festival. It’s June 23 and 24 in Atlantic City, NJ. The festival will feature the Arctic Monkeys, Titus Andronicus, Fucked Up and Avenged Sevenfold.

Adam Levine started his own record label. It’s called 222, and the first man to sign is Matthew Morrison from Glee. Bring it, Mr. Schuester.

Verizon is launching a video streaming service with Redbox (those DVD vending machines in the grocery store) that will be set in competition with Netflix and Amazon Prime.

Oh hey, the Super Bowl was on Sunday. Here’s the CMJ recap of the halftime show.

Paul McCartney pulled all his solo songs off of Spotify. He will debut new songs from his next album, Kisses On The Bottom, on an iTunes live stream.

The Beach Boys will perform at the Grammys! Unfortunately they’ll be joined by Maroon 5 and Foster The People.

The early music streaming service iLike is officially dead. At its height it had 60 million registered users.

Industry Wrap is a weekly CMJ column covering industry-related music news. Send tips to Kate Shapiro at kshapiro [AT] cmj [DOT] com.

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Music News, February 2, 2012

Kate Shapiro — Thu, 02 Feb 2012 22:14:15 +0000

Who needs a Grammy when you could have a Springsteen bust? - Flickr photo via Kezee

Sony just reported a $2.9 billion loss this year due to the strong yen, flooding in Thailand and the dismal worldwide economy.

Song-tagging app Shazam is offering special content (and gift cards!) to users during the Super Bowl.

Bruce Springsteen will perform on the Grammys.

In what may be possibly the weirdest news of the week, Macy Gray is set to release a cover album of songs by Radiohead, Metallica, My Chemical Romance and many other random bands.

Indie label Frenchkiss announced a partnership with distribution company the Orchard. Frenchkiss is the home of the Hold Steady, the Antlers, Les Savy Fav and more.

Adele has now topped the Billboard 200 for 18 weeks.

Edgar Bronfman Jr. says the looming Universal-EMI merger “would create what I call a super-major that would control not only the future of recorded music but the future of all digital media.” Does anyone want to heed the warning of an insider trader?

Lisa Marie Presley wants to make a movie about Elvis that is actually good. Come on, Lisa, haven’t you seen Bubba Ho-Tep?

Soul Train creator Don Cornelius died at 75 this week.

And now here’s some news about companies that make more money than you do: Vevo, the online music video service, made $150 million in 2011.

Industry Wrap is a weekly CMJ column covering industry-related music news. Send tips to Kate Shapiro at kshapiro [AT] cmj [DOT] com.

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Music News, January 26, 2012

Kate Shapiro — Thu, 26 Jan 2012 18:09:50 +0000

Flickr photo via Chris Drumm

Over the years you may have asked yourself: “Why don’t we have a Simon Cowell DJ competition show?” Well, the powers that be have heard your prayers. Simon Cowell is launching a DJ competition show. You are welcome.

Clear Channel is adding a lot of college radio stations to iHeart Radio. So even if you can’t listen on-air, you can support your college radio stations on the go.

Iggy Pop is the 2012 ambassador of Record Store Day. Record Store Day is an international holiday “honoring independent music shops and the vinyl-heads that support them with special releases and in-store performances.”
Etta James passed away last week of lukemia at the age of 73. Her funeral will be Saturday. Rev. Al Sharpton will eulogize.
There are only two Oscar nominees for Best Original Song this year: “Real In Rio” by Sergio Mendes and “Man Or Muppet” by Bret McKenzie. This surprised many since there were 39 songs entries from the likes of the National, Zooey Deschanel and others.
File-sharing site Megaupload was shut down by the FBI last week, and the Anonymous hacking collective fired back by crashing the sites of Universal, EMI, the MPAA and even the FBI.
Indie music publisher Spirit Music just bought the Who catalog from Pete Townshend. Need some cash, Pete?
While digital music revenues increased 8 percent in 2011, the music industry’s overall market value still fell from $16.7 billion to $16.2 billion.
Henley Business School in the U.K. has launched the first ever MBA program geared toward the music industry.
Busta Rhymes hates Spotify and says the music streaming service is detrimental to artists, but he’s got a soft spot for Megaupload.
Congress put SOPA and PIPA on hold last week, but this isn’t the end of politicians meddling in our Internet privacy.

Industry Wrap is a weekly CMJ column covering industry-related music news. Send tips to Kate Shapiro at kshapiro [AT] cmj [DOT] com.

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Music News, December 2, 2011

Kate Shapiro — Fri, 02 Dec 2011 17:58:15 +0000

Photo by Thuany Gabriela

DIY music blog Altered Zones is disbanding. For years, the blog has hosted great events, highlighted experimental music and promoted independent acts across the country. Editors Ric Leichtung and Emilie Friedlander will now act as contributors to Pitchfork and plan to launch a new project in 2012. RIP Altered Zones.

In other RIP news, Wednesday was Napster’s last day of existence. I’m surprised to learn it still existed in the first place. RIP Godfather Of Illegal Downloading.

The Grammy nominations were announced Wednesday night. For the most part, Beyonce got snubbed, Bruno Mars cleaned up, and Bon Iver was nominated for Best New Artist. Someone tell the Grammys it’s not 2008 anymore. Some of the nominees, though, were of the CMJ persuasion. Congrats!

In news that will excite your mom, Bruce Springsteen will be the keynote speaker at the 2012 SXSW.

Lily Allen had a baby daughter over the weekend.

According to the Apple rumor mill, the iTunes Music Store is launching in all of Latin America next week.

Spotify announced it is “coming to as many platforms as it possibly can.” Maybe to compete with the third-party Spotify apps that are everywhere.

Tim McGraw won a lawsuit against his label, Curb. Apparently, McGraw breached his contract by having an album ready “too soon.”

Exec Thomas Hesse is leaving Sony to head up corporate development at German media company Bertelsmann.

Elvis Presley’s so-called “real daughter” is suing the late rockstar’s estate for $130 million in “damages for defamation and infliction of emotional distress.” This should be good.

Elvis Costello encouraged fans not to buy his outrageously ($225) priced box set. He claimed the price “appears to be either a misprint or a satire.”

Michael Jackson’s doctor was sentenced to four years in state prison. He’ll probably only serve half that sentence due to overcrowding.

Industry Wrap is a weekly CMJ column covering industry-related music news. Send tips to Kate Shapiro at kshapiro [AT] cmj [DOT] com.

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Music News, November 18, 2011

Kate Shapiro — Fri, 18 Nov 2011 18:57:21 +0000

Photo by bixentro

The Internet wants you to know Congress might pass a law to censor the Internet. The act in question is called SOPA (the Stop Internet Piracy Act) and is an attempt to protect entertainment copyrights. However, some websites are worried the law would step on freedom of speech. Tumblr is spearheading a campaign to stop the legislation in its tracks.

Amy Winehouse apparently had an album’s worth of material ready to be released—and it will be! December 6 is the release date for a compilation of unreleased material recorded throughout the late songstress’ career. The album will be called Lioness: Hidden Treasures.

After a lot of news to the contrary, Criminal Records (the long-standing Atlanta record store) will not shut down. The Atlanta music community rallied to keep the store open. Hooray!

Music company Vivendi’s profits exceeded expectations this quarter. Not every music business is going downhill.

Google Music launched this week to mediocre reviews but with lots of freebies for users.

Streaming music provider Radical.FM has announced a new round of financing. Streaming music providers are the new black.

EMI was finally sold after a long bidding war. The British label sold for $4.1 billion to Universal and Sony. Universal will get EMI’s recording division and Sony the publishing section.

The SnowGlobe Music Festival announced its full lineup this week. The festival is in Lake Tahoe on New Year’s Eve and features Pretty Lights and Childish Gambino, so expect exclusively snowboarding bros and hippies.

Here is how Turntable.FM plans to stay in business. (Hint: Working with record labels.)

According to a recent study, radio reaches the U.S. Hispanic population more than anybody else. It’s nice to hear that people still listen to the radio.

Industry Wrap is a weekly CMJ column covering industry-related music news. Send tips to Kate Shapiro at kshapiro@cmj.com.

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Music News, November 11, 2011

Kate Shapiro — Fri, 11 Nov 2011 19:00:36 +0000

Photo by Ninian Reid

Michael Jackson’s doctor, Conrad Murray, was found guilty of involuntary manslaughter, and he’s now on suicide watch.

The EMI sale could happen any day now, especially after Universal’s recent bid.

Facebook music users have listened to 1.5 billion songs in six weeks, and everybody really likes the interface. Another day, another Zuckerberg success.

Adele, John Mayer and Keith Urban are all canceling appearances to undergo throat surgery. Some believe it’s because singers are being overworked.

Madonna’s new song leaked, and she’s “very upset” right now, claiming her “true fans wouldn’t do this.” Who besides her “true fans” would actually leak a Madonna song is yet to be determined.

Odd Future’s Left Brain, aka Vyron Turner, hit a photographer at the Voodoo Festival New Orleans, and everybody is pissed off.

Wal-Mart is starting Black Friday two hours early at 10 p.m. on Thanksgiving day this year. Expect shoppers to still be buying CDs, as the music industry still relies on physical album sales for income.

The Intercollegiate Broadcasting System has announced a media conference at CUNY starting November 19.

Google+ has rolled out new pages for music acts.

Gap’s holiday campaign will be “indie” orientated and has a lot of unsigned bands featured in commercials.

The producers of hip-hop doc Style Wars launched a Kickstarter campaign whose proceeds would fund the release of the film’s outtakes.

TuneCore launched a new service this week to help change the way songwriters receive royalties.

Digital music sales are looking great this year.

Industry Wrap is a weekly CMJ column covering industry-related music news. Send tips
to Kate Shapiro at kshapiro@cmj.com.

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Music News, November 4, 2011

Kate Shapiro — Fri, 04 Nov 2011 15:00:03 +0000

Rihanna, photo by Sam Collart

In a further effort to restructure the company, Clear Channel has hired a brand new brand management team.

EMI has partnered with US tech company, the Echo Nest, to release music content to app developers. Expect to see a lot of new Gorillaz themed iPad apps.

In other EMI news, Access Industries, once a frontrunner in the auction, has dropped out of the EMI bidding war.

The Alliance Of Canadian Cinema, Television and Radio Artists (ACTRA) has allied with the American Federation Of Musicians-Canadian Federation Of Musicians (AFM-CFM) to create one monster alliance.

In the greatest (and weirdest) news of the week: Kid Cudi released a horror short this week directed by Shia Labeouf.

Both Rihanna and Adele are canceling many of their winter shows. Rihanna for exhaustion (probably due to excessive partying), and Adele to get throat surgery.

Brooklyn DIY venue, Bruar Falls, closed its doors this week. RIP Bruar Falls.

The FBI has deemed “Juggalos” (fans of the Insane Clown Posse) a credible gang threat. The report describes them as a “loosely-organized hybrid gang.”

The United States version of The X Factor has been picked up for a second season.

Breakout NYC-based band the Kin (who performed at CMJ Music Marathon this past month) has signed to Interscope. Congratulations!

Sir Michael Rocks of the Cool Kids signed a solo deal with Jet Life. Don’t worry though; the Cool Kids isn’t breaking up.

Public Enemy member Chuck D is suing Universal Music Group for $100 million over digital royalties.

Industry Wrap is a weekly CMJ column covering industry-related music news. Send tips to Kate Shapiro at kshapiro@cmj.com.

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