IVANA: welcome back as my column co-conspirator. ted is fine, and all, but he doesn't have much of a sense of humor
LENNY: which one is ted?
IVANA: the one who actually calls radio
LENNY: ah, someone should. does radio call him back?
IVANA: i prefer to just leave messages. it's so gratifying.
LENNY: so, did i mention that i saw duffy in nyc?
IVANA: you saw a concert besides james taylor? shocking!
LENNY: i know, i love duffy, she is my new fave
IVANA: she's very good. i also like adele. steve blatter first told me about her
LENNY: yes, adele's "chasing pavements" sounds like a major smash
IVANA: speaking of smashes, klaiman and dennis have yet another on their hands with flobots' "handlebars," which is the biggest callout song ever at ktcl
LENNY: i know, that could be a major breakthrough, it is calling out and selling... and it is quite an interesting band and song. universal republic's hot streak continues
IVANA: no shit
LENNY: NICE LANGUAGE!!!!!
IVANA: myspace records is doing quite swimmingly with the new pennywise. "the western world" has been #1 at kroq for the past month and it's the band's highest charting song to date. and 500,000 signed up for the free cd download that's available today
LENNY: i find that quite amazing. there's a new world out there
IVANA: it's a tough one for a lot of people to navigate.
LENNY: yep, and i'm also closely following two great new bands, mgmt and vampire weekend, i think they are both big winners
IVANA: it's interesting--this year's sxsw was the convention's most-attended, and the topic of conversation on most people's minds was how the business is fucked, yet you wouldn't know it by the level of activity. the aforementioned mgmt and vampire weekend were both quite popular at sxsw. everybody wanted to see them!
LENNY: that's great, people clearly still like music and the evolution of how that music is gonna flow thru the system is still in its embryonic stages (big words by me, eh?)
IVANA: i think most artists have accepted that selling cds is not how they will make money to support themselves--it's all about tickets and t-shirts, which is why some labels are imposing these 360 deals
IVANA: indie labels do a different split with their bands, so their artists can make money through cd sales, but they also don't have the overheads that the majors do
LENNY: and it's about expanding their audience, communicating with their audience, serving their audience... it's just not exactly clear how that will all go down
LENNY: yikes, i just realized something potentially fatal for our column
IVANA: what?
LENNY: we are near the conclusion and have yet to mention bill carroll
IVANA: the virgin team is now assisting the astralwerks team on the new kooks record, which is absolutely doing great
LENNY: as is saving abel, off to a great start
IVANA: huge at active, crossing to pomo
LENNY: ok good, now bill is a hero again and we can close this week's edition with impunity. sheesh, that was close
IVANA: i didn't mention one of the highlights of sxsw, which was seeing spoon play in front of 30,000!
LENNY: whoa, that is huuuuuuuuuuuge
IVANA: "don't you evah" is turning into a big callout song for a number of stations
LENNY: i love that song, then again all their songs are good
IVANA: and they're your favorite utensil. also, morrissey's new single is getting phones where it's played, and, in a perfect world, would be a massive hit.
IVANA: and radio is beginning to discover l.a.'s biggest buzz band, airborne toxic event, which sounds like a more commercial arcade fire to me
LENNY: airborne toxic good, arcade fire always good.... say goodnight, gracie
IVANA: goodnight, gracie