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27.11.10 Music Week 3

y-tipped guitar bands

PR boss to keep ties with Hall Or Nothing despite new XIX role

Hall has a bit of everything as she reunites with Fuller signal a bun fight’

won enthusiastic support from Radio 1’s Zane Lowe and Fearne Cotton as well as XFM and NME and is set for release on December 13. Their as-yet-unnamed debut album is scheduled to be in shops next May.

Galpern says Mona decided to sign to the publisher due to the quality of the team there. “Everyone really liked Guy [Moot, EMI Publishing UK and European A&R president] and Felix. They are a good team there and from the beginning we felt supported and comfortable with the setup.”

He adds that Mona’s music “lends itself naturally” to syncs as the band’s “big, epic songs” will work well across the board. “We will also be working closely with EMI to ensure we are careful with what the band are placed in.

“We want to make sure that there is the right f it between the band’s music and the brand,” he continues.

Howard adds, “They are a brilliant band with brilliant songs and heaps of talent and there wasn’t really much of a choice but to sign them. I really am looking forward to what the future has in store for them.”

Brother’s debut single Darling Buds Of May will be released on February 28 and they will be touring the UK and Ireland to promote the release. charlotte@musicweek.com

People By Paul Williams

SEASONED MUSIC PUBLICIST TERRI HALL (right) is reuniting with her former boss Simon Fuller by joining his XIX Management company.

She begins there on December 1 as head of its UK music management operation, with specific responsibility for managing acts including Will Young, Cathy Dennis, Lisa Marie Presley and Emma Bunton.

However, despite the new job, Hall says she will retain strong links with her PR company Hall Or Nothing, which is located right by XIX’s offices in Ransomes Dock, Battersea, and whose roster includes Manic Street Preachers, Muse and Liam Gallagher’s band Beady Eye.

Hall, who started her music industry career in the mid-Eighties working for Fuller at Chrysalis before joining him at XIX predecessor 19, says, “It was inevitable that one day Simon and I would reunite, but my big thing is Hall Or Nothing, which is close to my heart and is also 25 next year, so it was making sure I could still oversee that.”

Hall Or Nothing’s move to Ransomes Dock two years ago, placing it right near Fuller’s company, has allowed her to do her new job at XIX while still running the PR company, which will remain under her ownership.

“I will still own the company and will still be involved in the strategy but day to day it will be run by [general manager] Gillian Porter, who has been here longer than me,” she says.

Hall recalls that when she left Fuller in June 1990 he said to her, “I know you’ll come back one day,” only for her to reply, “No, I won’t.”

But the pair have remained close friends over the following two decades.

Fuller, who launched XIX after leaving 19, which he sold to CKX in 2005, says, “I’m thrilled to welcome Terri back after all these years. She’s a very special person and I have great respect for her. She’s built up a formidable reputation in running her own business and has worked with some of the biggest bands in the world, though she’s always done much more than publicise her clients’ interests. Music will be a key driver for our business in the UK and Terri’s integrity and loyalty are important to me as I start to build my new company.”

After 18 years of doing PR, Hall was drawn to the new role by the challenge of getting involved in other aspects of artists’ careers. Had she not decided to move to XIX, though, she surmises Hall Or Nothing might have ended up expanding into artist management itself, a move that has already happened at fellow PR company MBC. “I think it may have happened,” she says. “With certain artists you do form relationships where you talk about things other than their press.”

Besides embracing a change of role from publicist to artist manager, Hall at XIX will also be taking on very different acts musically than she has been used to at her own business. While Hall Or Nothing has been built on working with bands like Oasis, XIX’s roster is more pop-oriented, although the PR company did go against form when it agreed to handle publicity for Fuller’s act Emma Bunton.

“Some might think it is a bizarre combination, but I think it’s a brilliant clash because the two worlds collide and I’m hoping to mix it up there,” says Hall who has set herself the task of bringing in an act with a music background not normally associated with XIX. paul@musicweek.com drix documentary Le Rev gets motor running on new label

The release follows the success of the “fan pack” edition of Slash’s eponymous debut album earlier this year, which came with a bespoke 132-page issue of Classic Rock. It sold nearly 30,000 copies at £14.99 through 3,800 retailers.

Ingham says the success of the Slash special opened up interesting conversations with the biggest names in rock music and the company recently announced that it is to release Motörhead’s new album The Wörld Is Yours as a fan pack with Classic Rock on December 14.

The £14.99 package will include the album on CD, a 132page Classic Rock magazine dedicated to the band and exclusive Motörhead merchandise, including a pin badge and poster. The publisher is understood to have one more album exclusive up its sleeve for early 2011.

ADVERTISING AGENCY Rainey Kelly Campbell Roalfe Y&R is joining the music industry after launching a record label to break new acts.

Two Black Cats will tap into the agency’s in-house team of music PRs, radio pluggers and promoters in its bid to push signings into the limelight. It will be managed by RKCR/Y&R head of music and radio Dan Neale.

The first band to benefit from the move is the Los Angeles-based Le Rev, whose track Lucky You recently appeared on an ad for hair styling brand GHD. Two Black Cats – named after the former Black Cat cigarettes building in north London which houses the advertising group – will release the track as a digital single on December 6. Neale says the label is aiming to release an EP by the group next year and is gearing itself up to act as a vehicle for artists looking for a quick career boost.

“We are not interested in working with someone for 10 or 15 years,” says Neale. “We want to be able to give bands a leg up the industry ladder and in that respect we have based ourselves on Fierce Panda. All the agreements are reciprocal and it is all about gaining exposure for acts, through sync or something else and opening doors for acts.”

As well as discovering new talent from sync pitches, Neale says the label will use the agency as an extended A&R base to find up-andcoming bands.

He notes, “There are enough people at the agency who are connected to the music industry and with their ear to the ground they will be able to spot an opportunity if it arises. However, they have to be the right fit for the label.”

And although artists signed to the label will profit from exposure in syncs, Neale stresses Two Black Cats bands will only be pitched where they are the right fit.

“There has to be a balance; we can’t and won’t be just pitching music on Two Black Cats to all and sundry,” he explains, adding the label will initially concentrate on digital releases, with a view to putting out physical releases later next year.

Although other advertising agencies have set up record labels in the past, Neale claims they were mostly promotional opportunities and the companies were not in it for the long haul.

“We want to get a reputation for being the label who signed and launched the first single or EP for successful acts and to do this we have to absolutely believe in the music to invest in it,” he says.

Le Rev are published by Kobalt; the company’s SVP of sync and digital media Michelle Stoddart pitched for the deal.

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PUBLISHING UNIVERSAL BACK ON TOP EMI toppled from Q3 summit as Universal blows the race for top publisher of 2010 wide open

FEATURES TRANSFORMING CHRYSALIS Publishing top dog Jeremy Lascelles in profile

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Industry given a boost as Polydor release records highest first-week album sales this century

Take That make abundant Progress

Releases By Ben Cardew

TAKE THAT’S PROGRESS has racked up the highest first-week sale this century, giving the flagging albums market a big shot in the arm.

The album, Take That’s first with Robbie Williams for 15 years, sold XX,XXX copies last week, taking it past Coldplay’s X&Y, which sold 465,000 in its debut week in 2005 and Take That’s own The Circus, which sold 432,000 first week in 2008.

The result boosted the overall market notably: sales last week were up XX% on the previous week at XX%, their highest level for 36 weeks.

Universal Music UK chairman and CEO David

Joseph says the result is positive for the whole m u s i c b u s i n e s s , coming in d i f f i c u l t economic times. “You just have to look at the size of the achievement, given the retail landscape,” he says. “I couldn’t be happier for them. They have taken a big leap creatively on this record, which is where the whole idea of reuniting [with Robbie Williams] came from. It is one of those fantastic stories – they have made their best record and they are proud of it.”

While few people would have bet against the success of an album that completes the original line-up of Take That – who have enjoyed massive chart and live success since reuniting in 2006 – Joseph explains the album has performed better than he hoped, passing its initial UK shipment of 900,000 in the first day of release.

He puts this down to the excitement generated by the band’s reunion with Williams coupled with s t r o n g reviews for the record. “The key thing was when we were hearing the demos, it gave us an incredible sense of confidence,” he says. “We are delighted with the initial sales, but we are as delighted with the way it has been received.”

Polydor senior marketing manager of special projects Emma Powell explains that the label actually tried to get away from the reunion angle, further into the campaign. “After the initial announcement in July the campaign became less about the reunion, but more about the music and messaging what a strong album Progress is, as well as building a striking visual campaign,” she says.

Joseph now hints of other big exciting things for the band next year. “We are already starting to think what the next creative step could be like,” he says. “There is something we might have planned with the band and Robbie Williams for the record.”

Progress’s m a s s i v e s a l e s arrive at an i n t r i guing time for the market as a whole. While year-to-date album sales have held up pretty well – at least in comparison with the US – down just XXX at XX,Xxx,xxx, the previous week saw album sales down 20.23% year-on-year, a worrying result in the fourth quarter.

It is little surprise retailers laid out the red carpet for the new offering from the five-piece. Amazon.co.uk – which saw Progress surpass Susan Boyle’s debut album as its biggest pre-order album following the band’s appearance on The X Factor last Sunday – sold the CD for £7.99 and the MP3 at £3.99. This was one factor in Progress’s strong digital sales: its XXXXX digital sales was a record for a first week, taking it past the 49,156 that Kings Of Leon’s Come Around Sundown sold.

HMV, meanwhile, opened all of its 275 UK and Ireland stores an hour early, as well as giving the release considerable b a c k i n g .

“We’re really pleased with the sales around this album and with our own campaign to promote it,” says HMV head of music and impulse Melanie Armstrong. “The plan was to tap into the inevitable surge in demand following the band’s TV appearances.”

Joseph explains that The Flood, which entered the singles charts a week ago at two, will lead promotion for the album into Christmas, with a new single in early 2011. After concentrated efforts in the UK, the band are now setting their sights further afield, with international promotion starting this week.

As for the UK, Play.com category manager for music Ben Bewick says Progress is “the one big banker for us this Christmas”. “Day one for us was huge,” he adds. “It was our biggest album of the year. I am sure it will be Christmas number one. I can’t see anything else taking its place.” ben@musicweek.com

Chart surge for Beatles tracks as the Fab Four make their iTunes debut

XXXXX BEATLES SONGS have entered the OCC Top 75 this week, after the band’s catalogue although EMI Group CEO Roger Faxon says a decision on this has yet to be made.

copies digitally by the end of play on Saturday to chart at Y. It was followed by X,Y and Z.

1962–66 and 1967–70, as well as Sergeant Pepper. On the OCC chart, Xxxxxxxx was the best performer,

their music possible,” he says.

“I’d be very clear in saying that the standards that were set to allow

NEWS BRONFMAN JR FAILS TO QUELL EMI TALK 5 Warner CEO fuels merger talk

MEDIA NEWS DAPPY XMAS: N-DUBZ AND TOTP LEAD FESTIVE TV 6 BBC and Channel 4 unveil Christmas music TV schedules

LIVE NEWS OPERATION PODIUM MAKES TOUTS BREAKTHROUGH 8 Three arrested and websites shut down in campaign

PUBLISHING NEWS UNIVERSAL REGAINS ITS SUPREMACY 10 Quarter-three publishing analysis

DIGITAL NEWS EVEN MORE BEATLES FOR SALE 12 More digital Beatles to follow the Fab Four’s unveiling on iTunes

UNEARTHED WOLF GANG

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Lions In Cages marks Atlantic debut

FEATURES IMPALA TAKES ITS NEXT LEAP

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The indies’ champion has plans to further break the music mould TRANSFORMING CHRYSALIS 17 MW talks to Chrysalis CEO Jeremy Lascelles REACH FOR THE PRIZE 23 Cashing in on unsigned acts THE BIG TICKET 25 Industry fastens seatbelts for 2011 COPYING PAYS 31 Shaking up private copy levies WILL THE STREAM DRY? 32 Is time up for streaming services?