The not so brief history of the Paramount Sessions
3.27.11 by Q3
The punchline for people who do not want to read this whole thing
Adam and Monte own the publishing rights to the songs they co-wrote during the Citizen Vein era. Hi-Fi Recordings appears to own the recording session tapes from the Citizen Vein Paramount sessions which they purchased from Wilshire Records. These recordings were on the “One with the Show” unauthorized album tracklist in June 2009 and in Fall 2010 on the tracklist for the announced but unreleased unauthorized album, “Take Two”.
The cast
Adam Lambert: rising international pop star, singer-songwriter extraordinaire.
Monte Pittman: lead guitarist for Madonna, Prong, and Adam Lambert.
Wilshire Records and Welsford Music: independent record companies owned and operated by Malcolm Welsford, a New Zealand record producer who relocated to Los Angeles.
welsfordmusic.com/site/?page_id=246Malcolm Welsford: worked with Adam for 3 years; produced the songs on Take One the unauthorized album released by Rufftown Records. Welsford also produced several un-released tracks which Adam Lambert penned with Guitarist Monte Pittman.
M22 Publishing: a publishing (song/music) administration company operated by Malcolm Welsford.
Hi-Fi Records: An independent record label. The Wiki description, “Hi Fi Recordings is a record label based in New York which first gained attention in June 2009 when it announced that it would release Adam Lambert's debut album, to be called On with the Show.[1] Hi Fi had previously released American Idol finalist Melinda Doolittle's debut CD, Coming Back to You, as well as Todd Rundgren's Arena. The label also has veteran acts such as Dionne Warwick, Smash Mouth, and Donny & Marie Osmond signed.”
John Hecker: Chairman of Hi-Fi Records. Hecker is also listed as the chairman/CEO of the Music Publishing Company of America.
John Titta: President and COO or Hi-Fi Records
The key events
2005: Adam is hired by Malcolm Welford as a session musician to record vocals for some demo songs.
December 15, 2005: Adam and Monte meet at the Zodiac Show; Monte accompanies Adam’s performance of “A Change is Gonna Come”.
2006 Citizen Vein formed: Monte had been looking for a frontman for his band and had heard about Adam. After they met at the Zodiac Club, Adam and Monte joined to form the alt/rock band The Citizen Vein. The band consisted of singer/songwriter Adam Lambert, Composer/Guitarist Monte Pittman (Madonna, Prong), bass player Tommy Victor, and drummer Steve Sidelnyk .
Monte explains how the band was formed “This Was The Citizen Vein”
2006: Citizen Vein began working with Producer Malcolm Welsford and A&R Worldwide, recording a series of songs. They worked with Malcolm for almost 3 years.
May (? date unknown) 2009: Malcolm Welsford sells his unreleased Adam Lambert recordings to Hi-Fi Records. Details of the deal were never disclosed.
Wednesday June 24, 2009: Hi Fi Recordings rep told Usmagazine.com "The songs were recorded in a professional recording studio with top notch musicians and producers since the music was always meant to be released. Of the 11 songs that will appear on the album, On With the Show, Adam co-wrote eight with Monte Pittman (Madonna’s guitar player). As co-writer and performer, Adam will receive significant royalties just as any superstar artist would.”
Hi Fi: "As a co-writer and performer, Adam will receive significant royalties, just as any superstar artist would," the statement read in part. "He has the chance, finally, to make a fortune for his work — definitely more with this album than through a major-label deal."
Adam Lambert swears his involvement with On With the Show, the album of songs he recorded before he rose to "American Idol" fame, was strictly limited to being "hired as a studio singer to lend my vocals to tracks written by someone else." New documents may prove that claim to be wrong.
Thursday June 25, 2009: TMZ releases a Memo dated Tuesday June 23, 2009 listing “On With The Show” Album tracks.
The letter, sent by John Titta and addressed to John Hecker (a Hi-Fi internal memo) indicates that the album was due to be released during the summer 2009. And memo included the tracklist for “On With The Show” which was comprised of old recordings made and written by Adam Lambert and Monte Lee Pittman:
1. Beg For Mercy
Adam Lambert 50%, Monte Lee Pitman 50%
2. Crawl Thru Fire
Adam Lambert 50%, Monte Lee Pitman 50%
3. Want
Micheal Burtscher 100%
4. Kiss and Tell
Adam Lambert 50%, Kiril Dziajkovski 50%
5. Just The Way It Is
Adam Lambert 50%, Monte Lee Pittman 50%
6. Turning On
Adam Lambert 50%, Monte Lee Pittman 50%
7. On With The Show
Michael Burtscher
8. Runaway
Adam Lambert 50%, Monte Lee Pittman 50%
9. 15 Minutes of Fame
Adam Lambert 50% Monte Lee Pittman 50%
10. The Circle
Adam Lambert 50%, Monte Lee Pittman 35%, Tommy Victor 15%
11. mp3 Killed The Record Companies
Adam Lambert 50%, Monte Lee Pittman 50%
Later in the day Adam Lambert released another statement responding to the “leaked” internal Hi Fi Records memo.
"I was shocked to learn that songwriting demos of songs that I co-wrote and recorded over the past few years may be released in an album. Like a rough draft that a writer does before finishing a book, I did not intend my work on these demos to be heard by the public. I was unaware that anyone intended to release these recordings until I heard about it in the press, and I'm very disappointed by this entire situation."
Friday June 26, 2009: Hi Fi Recordings responded to Adam Lambert's statement.
"As we've already outlined, releasing this music was always the plan. That plan was changed by Nineteen Recordings after Adam won America over with his extaordinary talent. It's a shame that his management/record company choose to disavow their clients work and discredit him as a songwriter. ... We apologize for what has become a tiresome tit for tat, particularly on a day that we mourn the loss of a truly original, game-changing entertainer - but unfortunately, each statement released in Adam's name contains a different story."
November 17, 2009: “Take One” an album containing many of Adam’s early demo session recordings was released by Hi-Fi Records on their Rufftown Label. The album did not contain any of the Lambert-Pitman recordings.
August, 2010: “Take Two” listed on many online website for sale with the following info:
Category Rock/Pop Albums, Rock CDs
Label Rufftown
Release Date Nov 30, 2010
Late October 2010: “Take Two” was removed from most online sites or listed as “no longer available”. The main exception is Walmart.com which appeared to have not properly updated this listing on their site.
About Citizen Vein
Genre: Glam Rock / Hard Rock
Members: Adam Lambert, Monte Pittman, Tommy Victor, Steve Sidelnyk
Hometown: LA
The Citizen Vein is a Glam Hard Rock project that is a collaboration between singer Adam Lambert, guitarist Monte Pittman (Madonna/Prong), bassist Tommy Victor (Prong), and drummer Steve Sidelnyk (Madonna/Massive Attack).
The Band members on Twitter:
Adam:
www.twitter.com/adamlambertMonte:
www.twitter.com/MonterrificTommy:
www.twitter.com/prongmusicSteve:
www.twitter.com/stevesidelnykCitizen Vein Video:
www.facebook.com/pages/The-Citizen-Vein/405971368227?sk=app_2392950137Citizen Vein Music: Unofficial MySpace:
www.myspace.com/thecitizenvein/musicThe CV songs
Adam and Monte co-wrote a number of song during the Citizen Vein era. Most of these songs are registered with the American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers (ASCAP) and the list Lambert-Pittman as the writers. A few of examples:
[/b]
ASCAP ACE: 15 MINUTES OF FAME Work ID: 462661996
Writers: LAMBERT ADAM. PITTMAN MONTE LEE
Performers: LAMBERT ADAM
Variations: POP GOES THE CAMERA
Publishers/Administrators: M 22 PUBLISHING, 417 S HILL ST STE 209, LOS ANGELES, CA, 90013 Tel. (310) 623-2313 Email: ADMIN@WELSFORD.NET
Link:
www.ascap.com/ace/search.cfm?requ....s_pp=25&start=1Crawl Thru Fire:
www.ascap.com/ace/search.cfm?requ....s_pp=25&start=1The Circle (AKA Complete):
www.ascap.com/ace/search.cfm?requ....s_pp=25&start=1Rough Trade (AKA Pride):
www.ascap.com/ace/search.cfm?requ....s_pp=25&start=1 
