Music Xray's Blog - 2015 March

Sony/ATV Appoints Rick Krim to Run West Coast A&R

Posted by Mike McCready | March 3rd, 2015 | No responses

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Sony/ATV Music Publishing has tapped entertainment industry veteran Rick Krim to lead the company’s A&R operations in Los Angeles. Krim’s official title is co-president, U.S., and he’ll work alongside NYC-based Danny Strick on all A&R activities. Both will report directly to chairman and CEO Martin Bandier.

“Rick is a true music industry professional with deep relationships with the best artists, talent managers and industry executives,” said Bandier, who made the announcement. “He truly knows songwriters and will be a great asset to an already strong team.

Given his time at MTV and VH1, he will also bring to us a number of additional skills to complement his immense A&R capabilities.”

Krim arrives at Sony/ATV following a year-long stint at Republic Records, where he was executive vice president of artist development. Before that he spent much of the past 30-plus years working in television, dating back to 1982 as a business manager at MTV, where he eventually rose to vp of talent and artist relations. In the 1990s he made a career switch to EMI Music Publishing, led by Bandier at the time, spending six years overseeing the promotion and marketing department. He returned to TV land in 2001 when he was named evp of talent and music programming at MTV parent Viacom.

“I cannot wait to get started in this role as I am not only returning to music publishing, but will be reunited with Marty Bandier who I learned so much from during my time at EMI,” said Krim. “It is so exciting and such an honor after all these years to get a chance to work with him again, especially at a company as dynamic as Sony/ATV that is blessed with so many great songwriters and artists. I am also looking forward to working with Danny and the rest of the Sony/ATV team.”

UN Report Recommends Youth Turn Down the Music

Posted by Mike McCready | March 2nd, 2015 | No responses

billboard.com –

The World Health Organization says millions of young people around the world are at risk of hearing loss from loud music.

The UN agency said Friday that a review of data from middle- and high-income countries shows almost half of all 12 to 35-year-olds listen to unsafe levels of music on their personal audio devices or cellphones.

And about 40 percent of teens and young adults are exposed to damaging levels of sound at nightclubs, bars and sporting events.

WHO says volumes above 85 decibels for eight hours or 100 decibels for 15 minutes are unsafe.

The Geneva-based agency recommends that young people take listening breaks, use apps to limit the volume on their smartphone and consider using personal audio players for no more than one hour a day.

Protected: Music Xray Private Intro

Posted by Mike McCready | March 2nd, 2015 | No responses

Carly Rae Jepsen’s ‘I Really Like You’ Single Is Really (Really) Fun: Listen

Posted by Mike McCready | March 2nd, 2015 | 2 Responses

billboard.com –

Has Carly Rae Jepsen stumbled into another “Call Me Maybe”? The Canadian pop singer, now two-and-a-half years removed from the unlikely Hot 100 run of that smash hit, has returned with a hook that’s just as instantly appealing — and replaces the “Hey, I just met you/And this is crazy” with a really, really long list of “really’s” (67 of them, to be specific).

“I Really Like You,” the first single from her next album, was released to digital retailers at midnight ET on Sunday night (Mar. 1) and returns listeners to the sugar high of Jepsen’s 2012 album, Kiss.

Working with producer/co-writer Peter Svensson, Jepsen creates a breathless 80’s banger that comes back to “Call Me Maybe’s” fixation on ultra-crisp percussion and blurted-out flirtation. The chorus doesn’t possess a melodic hook as arresting as the syncopated strings on “Call Me Maybe,” but Jepsen fills the gap by bellowing the words every high schooler screws up the courage to whisper at some point in their lives: “I really really really really really really like you.” It’s darn near impossible to follow up a summer-defining hit like “Call Me Maybe,” but with the giddy “I Really Like You,” Jepsen has put in her bid to rule the spring of 2015.

Scooter Braun discussed the potential of “I Really Like You” during a recent chat with Billboard: “I told her that she couldn’t come out with anything unless it was on the level of ‘Call Me Maybe.’ And, now we have a new one that is on that level.” And in a new press release, Jepsen said of the new single, “Lyrically, it’s about that time in a relationship when it’s too soon to say ‘I love you,’ but you’re well past, ‘I like you’ and you’re at the ‘I really, really like you’ stage.” Jepsen is, of course, correct: the “I really, really like you” stage is one to be cherished.

The “I Really Like You” music video was filmed last month in New York City with Justin Bieber and Tom Hanks, and a premiere date will be announced “soon,” according to a press release. In the meantime, Jepsen will perform “I Really Like You” on Good Morning America on Monday (Mar. 2) and on Jimmy Kimmel Live! on Mar. 5.

The follow-up to Kiss, which included “Call Me Maybe” and the Top 10 Owl City collaboration “Good Time,” is due out this summer. Jepsen has worked with Jack Antonoff, Tegan and Sara, Ariel Rechtshaid, Max Martin and many others on the forthcoming LP.

What do you think of Carly Rae Jepsen’s “I Really Like You”? Let us know in the comments section below.

billboard.com –