Friday, December 12, 2008

A&R COMINGS AND GOINGS... Sadly, this is less about comings and more about goings. Several A&R staffers were let go this week as part of a major restructuring at Epic Records US -- Andy Gershon, Jeff Wooding, along with young guns Daniel Werner and Seth Cassel have exited... Keith Naftaly is also rumored to be leaving before year's end. At MySpace Records, A&R exec Jon Pikus has exited... Rumorers are rumoring that there will be a shakeup in the Atlantic Records A&R department soon as well, as new A&R chief Pete Ganbarg could soon trim the fat from a rather large A&R team. Also, what's up at Downtown? On a happier note, Brad Aarons just joined Warner Chappell as VP A&R.

(*More news - Jeff Aldrich has been let go from Warner Bros. Rumor has it he'll head to NY to take a position with Jive. Are there more layoffs ahead at WB? We hear there will be more before the end of the year*)

Saturday, December 6, 2008

CHLOE LEIGHTON (unsigned) -- 22 year-old singer/songwriter/pianist Chloe Leighton has become the #1 Unsigned Jazz Artist on MySpace. Originally from Sydney, Australia, Chloe has spent time living in Paris and now calls Los Angeles her home. It's still very early days for Ms. Leighton, but she's got a number of really well-put-together songs ...Norah Jones-meets-Sara Bareilles. Standout tracks featured on her MySpace page include "Chocolate Cake" and "If You Only Knew".

Chloe will spend the rest of the year updating her MySpace page, getting new photos done, and will continue to write and record. She's got a publishing deal with HoriPro, but she's available for worldwide signing and licensing.