The Daily Swarm

Silicon Alley Insider: Perez Hilton + WMG: Not So Nutty:

It’s easy enough to beat up the labels for the real bone-headed mistakes they make. But this deal doesn’t seem like one of them.

Vulture: Actually, Perez Hilton Having a Record Label Is Not Quite the Stupidest Idea We’ve Ever Heard:

We’re sure something will eventually make us regret saying it, but this could actually be a smart move for Warner (at least smarter than all the other ones they’ve made in the past six years or so); Perez does have close to 3 million monthly readers — way more than Pitchfork or any music magazine — and his blog did probably have more to do with the American success of Amy Winehouse and Lily Allen than Universal or Capitol Records would like to admit.

NYT:

Mario Lavandeira, known to millions of fans as the gossip blogger Perez Hilton, has a habit of humiliating celebrities he dislikes by doodling explicit images across their photos on his Web site. But he has also long used perezhilton.com to rave about his favorite new music. And now the results of his effusive postings — “you will be foaming at the mouth!” — have attracted the notice of a major record label.

Mr. Lavandeira has been negotiating a deal that would provide him with his own imprint at Warner Brothers Records, a division of the music giant Warner Music Group, he said. This was confirmed by several other people associated with the talks who spoke on condition of anonymity because no deal has been made. The talks are preliminary, and an agreement is not certain, but Mr. Lavandeira could receive $100,000 a year as an advance against 50 percent of any profits generated by artists he discovers and releases through Warner Brothers, these people said.