Perez Hilton, everyone's favorite gossip monger with an outdated MS Paint program, may just be the next big music mogul.
The blogger, whose real name is Mario Lavandeira, is in preliminary talks with Warner Bros. Records to form his own imprint, according to The New York Times. Hilton could receive $100,000 a year, an advance on any profits generated by artists he discovers and releases through Warners.
Hilton caught the eye of major labels with his Listen to This column, which hypes his favorite artists, both mainstream and under the radar. With a readership approaching 3 million a month, Hilton's picks, which have included Wired faves Swedish electro-pop artist Robyn and French DJ-duo Justice, have the potential to effortlessly reach an audience most music marketers can only dream about.
Inward groans and eye-rolls aside, Hilton having his own imprint isn't as absurdly ridiculous as it sounds. The corporate nod could inject a much-needed dose of legitimacy into the blogosphere, and acknowledges what most of us already know: The bloggings of online tastemakers can go a long way toward making or breaking an upcoming band. (Just look at Vampire Weekend.)
Of course, if the Warner deal goes through, how many more grains of salt can one actually read PerezHilton.com with? That is, can we trust him to be objective and a (relatively) reliable tastemaker if he's getting kickbacks based on who he raves about on his blog? Hilton seems to think so.
"I’m upfront with them," he told the Times. "They can’t tell me what to do. If I hate one of their artists, chances are I won’t mention them."
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