Upward mobility online

Don’t fit Warner Music Group chairman Lyor Cohen for a Donald Trump toupee just yet. But his company is about to launch a reality program search for a new executive.

“The Biz” will cover a four-month process from the submission of audition tapes through selection of finalists and a series of tasks leading to the hiring of one winner who will be given a key position in WMG. Rather than a weekly television series, the program will unfold as an ongoing Internet feature on America Online.

Why someone would want that job given the shaky state of the music business (and the tentative results of Warner’s own recent initial public stock offering) might be questioned, but the show’s producers expect the romance of that world to attract thousands of submissions when the venture starts in early June.

“If you win, you get a chance to make things happen and work with real heavy hitters in the music industry,” says Daniel Laikind, president of production and development for Stick Figure Productions, which previously was behind such reality shows as cable outlet HBO’s “Family Bonds,” about a family involved with bounty hunting and bail bonds, and UPN-TV’s “Amish in the City,” which followed sheltered Amish youth thrust into life in Hollywood.

Laikind says the venture will involve Warner executives, celebrity judges and audience participation in the process of weeding out the candidates, and, with the logistics of the Internet, it will allow viewers to go more deeply into the experience than has been standard for such televised shows as Trump’s “The Apprentice.”

“There are a lot of challenges,” he says. “We have to tell the story in three- to five-minute segments. But since we’re not bound by the limitations of one-hour programming every week, we can create a whole universe. There will be segments about the contestants and their lives, more chance to see the inner working of an industry that everyone I know is fascinated with -- more behind-the-scenes.”

Initial submissions will start in the first week of June through a website, www.getintothebiz.com. Potential entrants will be asked to fill out an application and send or upload a video audition. The venture grew out of discussions between Cohen, who had been kicking around an idea for a reality show, and Kevin Conroy, executive vice president and chief operating officer of AOL Media Networks. For Conroy, it seemed a perfect step in the evolution of AOL’s music programming, especially as the service makes its transition from being accessible for subscribers only to having high-profile features available for all Internet users.

“We’ve had a lot of success over the last several years building original music-oriented programming, including AOL Sessions and AOL Live, and we were looking for what we thought to be the next generation of interactive original programming,” says Conroy. “Lyor and I have known each other for many years, and this was an idea he had been working on, and we saw this as a great opportunity to build on the partnership AOL and Warner have enjoyed.”

Some details, such as whether there will be a dramatic “boardroom”-style finale a la “The Apprentice,” are being determined. Cohen and other representatives of WMG said they could not comment because of the Securities and Exchange Commission-enforced “quiet period” surrounding WMG’s IPO. But the producers promise that the prize will be a legitimate position with real power.

“We’re looking for people who can do the job,” Laikind says. “The prize is real. The stakes are real.”

*

Coachella: Ready for its close-up?

There is so much great music at the Coachella Valley Music Festival each year, from such established headliners as Beck and Coldplay to rookie buzz bands including Arcade Fire, that even event founder and producer Paul Tollett misses a lot.

So putting together a movie showcasing some of the essential performances of the five Coachella editions has helped him catch up.

“There were six performances in the film that I didn’t see, and they were great,” said Tollett, head of the Goldenvoice concert promotions firm, after seeing a rough cut of the film. “I was at the show, promoted the show and didn’t know how great these sets were.”

It’s that sense of discovery that motivated Tollett to commission a film about the festival in the first place. From the start of Coachella in 1999, he had first-time director Drew Thomas filming performances and other scenes on the festival grounds.

“I didn’t have a specific plan, but we’re formulating it now,” he says. “It’s looking like we’ll have something that we can put in a few theaters that spans the first five years of Coachella.”

The tough part is selecting the 30 or so acts that will make the final cut from the roughly 500 that have played Coachella. Tollett would not name ones expected to be in the film, since there are still some business arrangements to be made and there may be some flux, but he says it will be a representative mix of the biggest names and worthy lesser-knowns.

The goal, he says, is to capture the event the way that such classic music festival films as “Monterey Pop” and “Woodstock” did in the ‘60s -- as well as one of his favorites, the more obscure “Urgh! A Music War,” which showcased some of the top punk and new wave acts of the early ‘80s.

Tentative plans are to screen the film in theaters before the end of the year. Tollett isn’t sure whether there will be a home DVD release at some point as well. Mostly, he’s looking at the value the project might have further into the future.

“Looking back, I wish Lollapalooza had been filmed,” he says. “At the time I didn’t care, but now I wish I could go back and watch it. This film is definitely not the whole story of this era, but it’s a piece.”

*

Small faces

* Just a few months after her first solo album was released, Gwen Stefani is already planning a second, perhaps for release before the end of this year. The set will likely be a combination of leftovers from “Love. Angel. Music. Baby.” and new tracks to be recorded with producer Pharrell Williams....

* Emma Roberts, star of Nickelodeon’s tweener-targeted “Unfabulous” (and the niece of actress Julia Roberts), has signed a recording contract with Columbia Records. First will be an album of songs featured in the show, most of them written by veteran singer-songwriter Jill Sobule....

* With the Foo Fighters’ two-CD “In Your Honor” due June 14, drummer Taylor Hawkins has signed a solo deal with Thrive Records. An album by Taylor Hawkins & the Coattail Riders (which also features Jane’s Addiction bassist Chris Chaney) is due in January.