Haley reportedly splits with Interscope

[Miguel]

Billboard (June 2012):

It's no secret that the music industry is in a state of upheaval, and one of the key tenets of this year's New Music Seminar was tracking how exactly the industry has changed in the past ten to twelve years, with panels focusing on the new roles of managers, label owners, booking agents and, yesterday, A&R, taking center stage.

...Downtown Records' Josh Deutsch, who had previously spent a significant amount of time at Atlantic Records with co-panelist Crag Kallman before leaving to go the independent route five years ago, was able to break down much of the difference between indie and major label A&R.

"At a major, there's a lot of downward pressure to deliver, a lot of pollutants, which is why you go for the artist with the lines around the block," he said. "On the indie side, if there isn't a line around the block, we work to make sure there is one."

http://www.billboard.biz/bbbiz/industry/...dPkYtK6.99

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What will the music business look like 10 years from now? This broad question, posed to one of the lead opening panels for New York's 2012 New Music Seminar, served as a segue for Warner Music Group's CEO Lyor Cohen to soapbox on the prevalent disparity in attitudes in the music industry towards artist development and camaraderie.

"For me to predict what it's going to be like in 10 years is silly," said Cohen. "I hate when A&R guys tell me rock is dead. They sound like day traders. I'm focused on being open for innovation and rewarding people for making mistakes. You can't move without making mistakes. Long term artist development is the current commitment trend that will yield for the future. We don't feel desperate."

...In this emerging economy of friends, subscribers and followers, there can often be a lot of misplaced value in the social cache of large fan-bases as being representative of overall artistic talent. Lyor, much to the delight of the audience, recalled a time when he asked MySpace celebrity and then-budding reality TV star Tila Tequila to "sing something" after his A&R guys "practically kicked [his] door down trying to get [him] to sign her because she had so many online fans." Miss Tequila, as it turned out, wasn't able to parlay her enormous follower-base into a successful career as a singer.

However, it still stands that it has become a growing trend in the music industry today for artists to be signed based on their follower base; a clear sign that what they are able to bring to the table in terms of audience speaks a lot about their revenue generating potential. Cohen again took a stand to argue against this point, illustrating the dichotomy between this trend and Warner Music Group's approach to signing artists.

"If somebody has a huge online following it means that my competitors already know about them," he explains. "I want to be there early to develop, and I want to build slowly. We prefer to foster them, water and give them sunshine so that they can grow. Malcolm Gladwell says that you have to put in the hours, and nothing is better for development than rolling up your sleeves and working and gigging to make something great. There's a reason we don't hand doctors a scalpel right out of medical school and say "have at it!"

Lyor's claims that follower-bases don't translate into revenues stands in contrast to what the Internet has been able to produce in recent years. One can't simply ignore the commotion Justin Bieber has stirred, and while spotlight performances by Lana Del Rey and Karmin both received harsh reviews by the press, they are doing well sales-wise. Lana Del Rey's debut Born To Die has sold 254,000 copies since January and Karmin's single "Brokenhearted" currently sits at No. 17 on the Hot 100.

On his preferred approach towards fostering artists, Lyor emphasized why he thinks 360 deals are important. "360 is an unpopular word, but I really believe that it's great for the artist and it's great for us. It's great to have people committed to our roster and committed to a relationship. We aren't flipping through our artists, and in many cases less is more."

Green followed up on Cohen's point about 360 deals: "As an artist, you need to incentivize the marketing company," he said, "and the business engine behind your music because if they aren't, they aren't going to do what it takes to move the boulder up the hill."

http://www.billboard.biz/bbbiz/industry/...QDUySPK.99

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Lyor Cohen resigned from Warner Music at the end of September.

Lyor Cohen, Warner Music Group’s key creative guy, is noodling the idea of setting up his own artists’ management and branding firm, The Post has learned.

...Jay-Z, who worked with Cohen when the executive ran Def Jam, told The Post, “[Lyor] is a safe harbor for all artists. You look at his track record, and he can do anything. He could run a big major or start his own thing.”

A former Cohen crony, Kevin Liles, who has built himself a strong management company, with clients including Trey Songz, Big Sean, D’Angelo, Estelle and Young Jeezy, is said to be considering rejoining his old boss at Cohen’s new venture, which those in the know describe as DIY and a further extension of the 360 concept he started at WMG.

http://www.hitsdailydouble.com/news/news...ws09199m01

Speculation of Lyor Cohen’s next move has resurfaced with the former Warner man still tipped to start a new management firm, now with Kanye West’s name thrown into the fray.

The Hits Daily Double reports that Cohen is close to sealing a deal to manage Kanye, according to insiders. However, rather than oust the rapper's current manager Izvor Zivkovic, The Hits’ sources say Cohen will “likely make Izzy part of a bigger play”.

http://www.musicweek.com/news/read/could...any/052611

He's reportedly dating Tory Burch.

Miguel ‏@HaleyFansDotCom

@toryburch Hello Tory. Could you kindly put a bug in Lyor Cohen's ear about @HaleyReinhart? She's now a free agent. http://soundcloud.com/igamusic/sets/hale...-listen-up