Blog Temporarily On Hold; New Website On The Way!

Blog Temporarily On Hold; New Website On The Way! Please stay tuned and thank you for your patience. You can still connect and chat with me via Twitter at @leejarvis. Lee.

You Got Me Sheenin'

Yes, this was entirely necessary.

Phillipe Floppe - You Got Me Sheenin'


Lee Jarvis.

Jagoff Video Interview

Chicago musicians JaGoFF are a funky bunch. Their music is George Clinton meets Deadmou5, often with a message akin to lyrical wordsmiths such as Public Enemy. They helped spur mass resistance to the Chicago Promoters' Ordinance, took part in the Warp tour, and are in the process of giving their latest album away. To find out what makes these guys tick, and to see what advice we could gain from their experiences, we sat down with them at the end of last year for a video interview. Enjoy...



JaGoFF links:
http://twitter.com/JaGoFFmusic
http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=609361935
http://www.myspace.com/jagoff
http://www.youtube.com/user/JaGoFFmusic
http://soundcloud.com/jagoff
http://www.cdbaby.com/cd/jagoff


This was also only my second foray into video production and editing – feel free to comment or share any tips and advice!

by Lee Jarvis.


(Previously posted at US Music Jobs' blog.)

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Ones to Watch 2011

2010 was a great year for British music, and in fact, rounded out an interesting musical decade for this wee island, as highlighted in a recent Spotify playlist on Music Jobs. Moving forward, there are many exciting names that are buzzworthy and talented, and I thought I'd stick my neck out and share a few that are going to be taking big leaps forward in 2011.


James Blake
jamesblakemusic.com/
If you buy one album this year, make it this young (22!) Londoner's self-titled debut LP. James Blake, an 11-track album featuring the single Limit to Your Love, is released in the UK on 7th February, and I dare say that I expect it to fly out the stores as well as pick up some credible awards over the next 12 months.




Jai Paul
myspace.com/jaipaulmusic
Apparently taking time out to record an album after XL singed him up off the back of BTUSU, Jai Paul is making waves with his own futuristic sounds mixed with sultry soulful vocals. And that just about all we know about this new kid on the block! Stay tuned.

Warner Music turns to Goldman Sachs for options

Major record label Warner Music has today turned to investment bank Goldman Sachs to look at its future strategy options, including a possible buyout of rival EMI, and possible sale of its esteemed publishing arm (Warner/Chappell) to Kohlberg Kravis Roberts.

Warner/Chappell is reported be worth around £1.25bn, the sale of which could provide finance for the EMI takeover. KKR, who, along with Bertelsmann already own half of another major music publisher, BMG, has shown interested in Warner for some time, and had been discussing a joint bid for EMI, when the talks turned to a complete buyout of Warner instead.

The New York Times shares that CEO Edgar Bronfman Jr. sent a letter last week to shareholders saying that their "proven ability to outperform the rest of the industry” will see them through the challenges ahead. Mr Bronfman speaks the truth, with Warner's revenue declining much less than the rest of the majors. According to the International Federation of the Phonographic Industry, total sales of music declined nearly 23 percent over the last five years, whereas Warner's revenue declined around 9 percent, due to improved profit margins through cost-cutting. Warner reported a $145m net loss last year, compared to the $1.51bn net debt reported by EMI.

Private investors, led by Mr Bronfman, bought Warner Music from Time Warner in March of 2004 for $2.6 billion in cash. The company went public in 2005, trading at around $14 per share. Today they stand at a little over $4 a share, although little of the shares were released into public hands, so the investors have already profited well through dividends

KKR buying Warner as well as EMI would no doubt mean huge savings by combining and streamlining the companies' recorded music divisions, but any bid would face tough regulatory challenges to combining EMI Music Publishing with Warner-Chappell, two of the largest music publishing houses around.

The fact that Warner is looking to either take on another huge music industry empire, or sell itself, is pretty much a 'double down or get out'. Their investors are obviously looking to either go big, pick up EMI, and stick it out in the music biz... or cash in and go home.

Just one thing here....

One of the reasons that the major labels got into trouble in the first place is because they involved people who cared about money more than the creation, exploration, discovery, shared enjoyment and art of music. And now, Warner's solution (after boycotting Youtube and video games) is to involve Goldman? When loyalty is devoted to the bottom line, horrible things can happen to the arts.


Lee Jarvis.


(Previously posted at UK Music Jobs' blog.)


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Appleblim Video Interview

UK artist Laurie 'Appleblim' Osborne peddles his blend of dub-house-trip-hop-wobble-electronica-nu-step amongst some of the biggest names in the electronic music scene, both at home and abroad.

I recently sat down with with Laurie to talk about his story of breaking into the music industry scene, his early networking with FWD>>, clubbing in London, starting a record label, his thoughts on physical and digital music products and more. Check out the video interview below...



This was also my first foray into video production and editing - feel free to comment or share any tips and advice!


Lee Jarvis.


(Previously posted at UK Music Jobs' blog.)

If you enjoyed this post, you may like to subscribe to my RSS Feed, subscribe for Email Updates, or follow my Twitter Feed.