NY Times Profiles John Rich

jrTuesday’s New York Times (3/31), includes a feature on Warner Bros. artist John Rich. In an article titled “Protest From the Right Side of Country,” Times writer Jon Caramanica interviews the singer about his latest single, “Shuttin’ Detroit Down,” describing the song as “shockingly topical” and indicative of Rich’s “acumen in gauging and channeling the mood of the country, aggressively striking a note of conservative populism rarely seen in any genre of pop since country music’s response to Sept. 11.” “It’s a particularly good time to be a conservative agitator,” Caramanica wrote, “and Mr. Rich is seizing the moment.” You can read the entire article here.

Hall of Fame Spotlights Kitty Wells

kitty-wells-logo-horizontalThe Country Music Hall of Fame® and Museum will present a panel discussion featuring country music’s first female superstar, Hall of Fame member Kitty Wells. The program, scheduled for Saturday, April 25 at 1:30 PM, is titled Finding Her Voice: Kitty Wells and Her Country Sisters. Taking part in the panel will be singer/songwriters Carlene Carter, Karen Staley and Chely Wright, along with moderators Mary Bufwack and Robert K. Oermann, authors of Finding Her Voice:  Women in Country Music, 1800-2000. The program will be illustrated with photos and audio selections from the Museum’s Frist Library and Archive. When the program concludes, Bufwack and Oermann will sign copies of their book in the Museum Store. Finding Her Voice is being presented in conjunction with the Museum’s exhibition Kitty Wells:  Queen of Country Music, Presented by Great American Country Television Network, which runs through June 14.

ACM Names Video and Vocal Event Winners

81043f86-3048-8909-cce4c7b001ed8f4c_200With the awards show still a few days away, RCA’s Brad Paisley is already a double-ACM Award winner—Video of the Year and Vocal Event of the Year.

His “Waitin’ On A Woman” clip, which co-starred TV icon Andy Griffith, is the 2009 winner of Video of the Year, and “Start A Band,” his guitar-slinging duet with Capitol’s Keith Urban takes home the ACM Award for Vocal Event of the Year. The ACM Awards will be broadcast live from MGM Grand in Las Vegas this Sunday (4/5) at 8:00 PM/CT on CBS.

Ringbacks Up, Downloads Down Among Consumers

npdTwo research studies released today (3/31), reveal some interesting trends in how consumers are interacting with music. A study conducted by Port Washington, New York-based market researchers the NPD Group finds that U.S. teens are listening to more music in more formats, but buying and sharing significantly less music. According to NPD, teens acquired 19 percent less music in 2008 than in 2007. CD purchasing fell 26 percent among teens, while paid digital downloads fell 13 percent. 32 percent of teens expressed discontent with the music that was available, while 24 percent of teens cited cutbacks in entertainment spending as another reason for the downturn in downloads. The number of tracks downloaded from peer-to-peer networks fell six percent, while the number of teens “borrowing” music, either to rip to a computer or burn to a CD, fell by 28 percent. NPD’s surveys also noted big jumps in teens’ usage of online listening sources and satellite radio in 2008.

“With popular music sites like Pandora, imeem, and MySpaceMusic complementing offerings by terrestrial and satellite radio, more teens may be feeling less compelled to buy music or share it with others,” said Russ Crupnick, Entertainment Industry Analyst NPD. “These declines could be happening due to a lack of excitement among teens about the music available, but it could also reflect a larger shift in the ways teens interact with music.”

bmiBut hold the phone. According to annual mobile music projections for the coming year from BMI, teens and other consumers do like to interact with music through ringback tones. BMI is predicting that ringback tones (those customized songs you hear when you call your mobile subscriber friend) will surpass $235 million in U.S. retail sales during 2009. That’s a 15 percent increase over BMI’s 2008 estimate and a 68 percent increase over 2007. BMI estimates that more than 10 million U.S. subscribers are signed up for ringback-tone services with their wireless carriers. Ringback tones are sold by all major carriers, with the vast majority of tones selling at $1.99. The fee allows the subscriber to use the tone for anywhere from 90 days to 12 months.

“We predict that ringback tones will hit a new high in 2009,” said Richard Conlon, Vice President, New Media & Strategic Development for BMI. “Mobile phones are a multi-format device and have become a distribution outlet for entertainment content for the consumer. It is a music use area that we see a continuing growth rate for.”

Ticketmaster President Sean Moriarty Resigns

ticketmaster21With Ticketmaster Entertainment and Live Nation recently announcing plans to merge, Ticketmaster has announced that President/CEO Sean Moriarty has resigned, effective March 24. Moriarty has also resigned from the company’s board of directors. His role at the company has been uncertain since last November when Ticketmaster acquired a controlling interest in Irving Azoff’s Front Line Management. Azoff now serves as CEO of both Ticketmaster and Front Line. During Moriarty’s reign, Ticketmaster expanded the scope of its operations through acquisitions of companies including TicketsNow and Emma Entertainment and strategic investments in businesses such as iLike and Echo Music. Moriarty was part of the original Citysearch technology team and served as Director of Internet Systems for Citysearch, Ticketmaster’s predecessor. In 2005, he became Ticketmaster’s President and COO, rising to Chief Executive Officer in 2007. “I’ll always be grateful for my time spent at Ticketmaster with its truly outstanding people and I wish the company every success in the future,” Moriarty said.

Corlew Music Group Staffs Up

Corlew Music Group has announced the signing of songwriter Jaron Boyer and the addition of veteran songplugger Penny Dionne to the CMG staff. A native of Ardmore, Oklahoma, Boyer moved to Nashville in 2003 and has been honing his songwriting skills ever since. Dionne is the owner of publishing company Little Vixen Music and serves as Vice-President of the Nashville-based Women’s Music Business Association. She also recently co-authored Songplugger: The Cuts and the Bruises. Initially established in 1999, Corlew Music Group currently exists as a joint venture with Windswept/Bug Music.

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(l-r) John Allen (Bug Music), Penny Dionne (Corlew Music Group), David Corlew, Jaron Boyer (Corlew Music Group), Roger Murrah (Bug Music) and Sara Johnson (Bug Music).

Music City Comes Together For Nashville4Africa

nashville4africaBig & Rich’s Big Kenny Alphin and Nashville singer/songwriter Damien Horne will host the inaugural Nashville4Africa benefit concert with the African Children’s Choir at Nashville’s Schermerhorn Symphony Center on April 22. The event will also include performances by Faith Hill, Dierks Bentley, Martina McBride, Brad Arnold (3 Doors Down), Ashley Cleveland, The SteelDrivers, Michael Rhodes and special guests to be announced.

The Nashville4Africa concert will raise money for charitable causes in Africa, specifically in Uganda and Sudan. Through the Love Everybody Fund of The Community Foundation of Middle Tennessee, a charitable organization benefiting from this event, Alphin will continue his humanitarian missions in Sudan, which have helped start a medical clinic, build a school for girls, and will soon transport much-needed medical and educational supplies to Sudanese villages. A portion of the event’s proceeds will also help build a new school in Uganda for the African Children’s Choir, which cares for and fosters thousands of underprivileged children throughout Africa. For more information, or to make a donation to these organizations, visit www.nashville4africa.com.

“The Price Is Right” Salutes ACMs

price-is-rightCBS’s The Price Is Right and show host Drew Carey will celebrate the 44th Annual Academy of Country Music Awards with a special country-themed edition of the venerable daytime game show this Friday (4/3) at 10 AM/CT. The episode will feature appearances by ACM host Reba McEntire, ACM Top Female Vocalist nominee Heidi Newfield and guitarist Larry Mitchell. Each of the artists will present a prize in a “unique fashion,” and the product showcases will be country-themed.

Doc Walker Nabs Album Of The Year Juno

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At ceremonies held on Saturday (3/28), in Vancouver, British Columbia, Open Road artist Doc Walker walked away with the 2009 Juno Award for Country Recording of the Year for their album, Beautiful Life. Doc Walker (Chris Thorsteinson, Dave Wasyliw and Murray Pulver) have four previous Juno nominations and the band also took home six 2008 Canadian Country Music Association (CCMA) Awards including Album of the Year and Fans Choice Award. Doc Walker’s Juno Award is one of many recent success stories for Open Road Recordings and label head Ron Kitchener. Label mate and fellow Juno nominee Tara Oram recently won a 2009 East Coast Music Award for Country Recording of the Year for her album, Chasing The Sun. In addition, Open Road currently holds six of the top-10 selling albums on the Canadian Country Chart, with Open Road artist Johnny Reid holding the No. 1, No. 3 and No. 5 positions. Reid’s latest effort, Dance With Me, is No. 1 country and No. 3 Top 200, and was certified Gold 48 hours after its release. Open Road Recordings also represents Big Machine and Valory Records in Canada.

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Country Recording of the Year winner Doc Walker (left to right, Murray Pulvar, Chris Thorsteinson and Dave Wasyliw) is shown backstage at the 2009 Juno Awards. Photograph: Ric Ernst

Jeffrey Steele Takes Manhattan

jeffrey-steeleNashville hit writer Jeffrey Steele performed at Joe’s Pub in New York City last Wednesday (3/25), and the New York Times was there. Times writer Jon Caramanica turned in a rave review of Steele’s hit-filled performance, praising the singer/songwriter’s storytelling skills and citing his “detail-rich and emotionally specific lyrics” and “brute skill rescuing even unappealing subject matter.” You can read the entire article here.