Music’s New Gatekeeper

“From their Silicon Valley cubicles, Apple staffers have become music’s unlikely power brokers. Our reporters on the horse-trading that can turn unknowns into stars.”

“Josh Deutsch, chief executive of Downtown Records, went so far as to bring urban artist Kevin Michael to Cupertino to perform for iTunes staffers. Apparently impressed, iTunes executives committed to releasing an Apple-only collection of tracks next month, in advance of Mr. Michael’s debut album.”

Great article on iTunes and how it “really works, plus the Kevin Michael PR machine is not stopping as he got yet again another mention. Look for the iTunes EP to drop in the next month followed his debut in mid-summer. Summer 07 will be the summer you find out who Kevin Michael is!

Read the full article in The Wall Street Journal here.