Google Making Music?

google_logoOutlets including TechCrunch are reporting that Google has a music service in the works. Possibly called Google Audio, the company has been securing licensing from major labels. No details on whether it will offer streaming, downloads, or both. Wired.com says the site, which includes a video component, could launch next week in the U.S. The brains at Google have also been hard at work building the back-end for the new major label music video site Vevo.

Rally For Rocketown With Gill, McBride, More

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Vince Gill

Vince Gill and Martina McBride will perform Tuesday (10/20) at the Rally For Rocketown. The fundraiser for the teen music venue/skate park will be hosted by its founder, Christian artist Michael W. Smith. Super Bowl-winning coach and best-selling author Tony Dungy will be the keynote speaker during the 11:30 AM luncheon at Lipscomb Univerity’s Allen Arena. Special guest appearances include Titans’ Coach Jeff Fisher.

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Tickets are available only at the arena box office starting at $50. For more details, click here.

CMA Songwriters Series In Nashville

Randy-Houser

Randy Houser

The CMA Songwriters Series, which usually shares the Nashville songwriting tradition with other cities, is set to play the home turf on Nov. 10, the night before the CMA Awards. Universal Records South artist Randy Houser will be the featured artist/songwriter when the 9:30 PM show takes place at Limelight. Hit tunesmiths Brett James, Rivers Rutherford and Victoria Shaw will join Houser in performing and also sharing the stories behind the hits.

The series, which has played to sell-out shows in New York City for the past five years and recently held performances in Los Angeles and Chicago, is known for its intimate setting and allowing fans to hear songs by the people who wrote them.

Tickets for the Nov. 10 CMA Songwriters Series, $10, are on sale at www.limelightnashville.com or by calling (615) 780-3098.

The CMA Awards are set for Nov. 11 at the Sommet Center.

Ashley Gorley, Alan Jackson Big Winners At ASCAP Awards

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Ashley Gorley, credit Tucker Photography

More than 1500 songwriters, industry VIPs and big name artists such as Kenny Chesney and Martina McBride gathered last night (10/19) at the ASCAP Country Awards to celebrate its most performed songs of the year.

Ashley Gorley was named Songwriter of the Year for his hits “Start A Band,” and “You’re Gonna Miss This.” The latter of which was also named ASCAP Country Song of the Year, an award going to publishers Songs of Combustion Music and Bug Music/Windswept.

The Songwriter/Artist of the Year honors went to Alan Jackson who had major hits with the self-penned “Good Time” and “Country Boy.” Gibson presented Jackson and Gorley limited edition Les Paul guitars as part of the ceremony.

EMI Music, was named Publisher of the Year, thanks to its share in the Jackson hits, as well as other smashes including “All Summer Long,” “I’m Still a Guy,” “Country Man,” “Relentless,” “I Still Miss You” and “Start a Band.”

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Alan Jackson

Sharing hosting duties on the Ryman stage were ASCAP Sr. VP Connie Bradley and ASCAP president and chairman of the board Paul Williams, who opened the show with a medley of his songs “We’ve Only Just Begun,” “Rainy Days and Mondays,” and “Just An Old Fashioned Love Song.” Artist David Nail offered the lead-in prior to the awards presentation.

The writers behind ASCAP’s five most played songs of the year performed their hits including “Good Time” by Alan Jackson; “You’re Gonna Miss This” (Trace Adkins) performed by Ashley Gorley; “Waitin’ on a Woman” (Brad Paisley) performed by Don Sampson; “Don’t Think I Don’t Think About It” (Darius Rucker) performed by Clay Mills; and “Roll With Me” (Montgomery Gentry) performed by Tommy Karlas.

A highlight was revered songwriter JD Souther receiving the prestigious Golden Note Award. Known for numerous Eagles classics, and many others, Souther was saluted by Lee Ann Womack performing his song “Faithless Love,” Rodney Crowell singing “New Kid in Town,” and Love and Theft’s take on “You’re Only Lonely.” Longtime friend Jackson Browne offered a moving speech about Souther before the honoree gave his own interpretation of the Eagles’ “Best of My Love.”

Artists in attendance included Dierks Bentley, Trace Adkins, Keith Anderson, Darryl Worley, Jason Michael Carroll, Eric Church, Bucky Covington, Heidi Newfield, Jimmy Webb, Chuck Wicks, Danny Gokey and Billy Currington.

McBride presented Gerry House and the House Foundation (Richard Falklen, Al Voecks, Mike Bohan, Duncan Stewart) the ASCAP Partners in Music Award for their contributions toward the promotion and support of songwriters, musicians and artists.

Following the show, guests strolled the red carpet to the AT&T building for the official Post Awards Party. ASCAP at the Ryman was co-produced by Terry Bumgarner and Josh Jackson, with Keith Beck of BSA as associate producer. Additional planning for the evening was provided by ASCAP staffers John Briggs, Marc Driskill, Chad Green, Dan Keen, Suzanne Lee, Anna Maki, Ralph Murphy, Meghan Muse, Pat Rolfe, Mary Self, Earle Simmons, Mike Sistad, Charline Wilhite, Herky Williams, and Jesse Willoughby.

Look for more in depth coverage later in Bobby Karl Works The Room.

Faith Launches Fragrance, Taylor Gets Signature Guitar

fragrance_ad1_lgFaith Hill is launching her first fragrance with a series of short webisodes. Included in the series are conversations with other women, behind- the-scenes videos from her photo shoot, and more. Hill also appears in a new public service announcement encouraging Americans to volunteer their time. The 30-second spot is one of a series of PSAs to be launched this fall on all major broadcast networks – ABC, CBS, FOX and NBC – as part of the Entertainment Industry Foundation’s iParticipate national initiative to promote volunteerism with AARP’s Create the Good.

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mainImageTSwiftTaylor Swift is getting her own signature guitar line in collaboration with Taylor Guitars. The Taylor Swift Baby Taylor guitar (TSBT) is a compact model that features Swift’s design touches. Based on the best-selling Baby Taylor guitar, the TSBT is three-quarters the size of a standard dreadnought, with a slim 1 11/16-inch neck. It is a good size for traveling. The TSBT will be offered at a manufacturer’s suggested retail price of $398.

New CMA Research Will Be A CRS Highlight

crs-41Information from the CMA’s recently completed Prime Prospects Study, focusing on consumer trends related to radio and radio Web sites, will be shared with attendees at the upcoming Country Radio Seminar. The study’s findings will be discussed at the CMA Research Presentation on Thurs., Feb. 25 at 11 AM, during CRS-41. That session will be followed by the CMA Research Workshop panel to help attendees analyze the results.

The CMA’s timely research concludes just months before CRS 41 is held, Feb. 24-26, 2010, making it particularly relevant to the current Country Radio and Music industry. The study also includes results from an upcoming fourth quarter Annual Tracking Study.

Last year’s CMA Research Presentation surveyed more than 7,500 consumers in an effort to define key trending statistics for Country music fans, including listener and viewership habits, revenue drivers (“Core” and “Low-Funding”), economic factors and further profile studies of its “CountryPhiles” and “MusicPhiles.”

A detailed schedule of the CRS 41 agenda and confirmed panelists can be found at the Country Radio Broadcasters, Inc. Web site. The CRS early bird registration rate of $499 ends Friday, Oct. 30, 2009. Registration is currently available at the CRB Web site or by contacting the Country Radio Broadcasters, Inc. offices at 615-327-4487.

Celebrity-Studded Charity Auction Fights Cancer

Ashley Ray with her mother at Race For The Cure. Her mother was diagnosed with three different kinds of breast cancer nearly a year ago.

Ashley Ray with her mother at Race For The Cure. Her mother was diagnosed with three different kinds of breast cancer nearly a year ago.

October is breast cancer awareness month and several country stars are stepping up to fight the disease. Universal Records South artist Ashley Ray led her “A Ray of Hope” team to raise over $5500 at Race For The Cure.

Women Rock For The Cure is hosting an eBay auction with hot ticket items including a Carrie Underwood autographed Daisy Rock Guitar and a one-of-a-kind PRS Guitar autographed by several legends who performed at this year’s Opry Goes Pink concert. The auction also includes guitars autographed by Mindy Smith, Jason Aldean and Montgomery Gentry; a custom Sherwood B dress worn by Veronica Ballestrini during the Third Annual Women For The Cure Benefit Concert; autographed posters and much more. Keep watch on the site as new coveted items – such as signed guitars by Keith Urban and Little Big Town – will be added throughout the month of October. All proceeds from the auction will benefit Women Rock For The Cure and Greater Nashville Susan G. Komen for the Cure.

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Stars’ wives are also doing their part to fight cancer, with a group turning out for the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society’s 10th annual Light the Night Walk on Oct. 1 at LP Field. They are pictured below with GAC host and cancer survivor Nan Kelley. During the event, thousands of participants carried illuminated balloons in memory of lost loved ones and in tribute to survivors. The walk raises funds for research to fight leukemia, lymphoma and myeloma.

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Photo: (L-R) Members of the “Real Wives of Country Music” team: Katherine Church (wife of Eric Church), Caroline Bryan (wife of Luke Bryan), Cassie Kelley (wife of Charles Kelley), GAC host Nan Kelley, Cara Owen, and Rebecca Sweet (wife of Phillip Sweet of Little Big Town).

Droid To Battle iPhone

droid225It’s called Droid and it’s coming on strong, directly challenging the iPhone. Scheduled to be available on the Verizon network as early as Oct. 30, the new phone, which runs the Android 2.0 operating system is a technology partnership between Motorola, Verizon and Google.

Some of the new handset’s features include a 3.7-inch touch screen, a slide-out QWERTY keyboard, 5-megapixel autofocus camera with flash, Wifi, bluetooth 2.0 and GPS. According to BoyGeniusReport.com this is the best Android phone yet with “an amazing screen.” BGR also states, “It’s the Android device to beat, and easily the most impressive. From what we’ve been told, Google had a direct hand in the Motorola Droid. Something to the point of almost dictating every move Motorola made when designing and making the phone.”

Techcrunch’s Michael Arrington offers this analysis. “Make no mistake, this is Android’s flagship product, and the first phone that will pose a significant threat to Apple’s iPhone.”

The continued rise of smartphones is good news for the entertainment industry, since the new hardware tends to boost consumption of movies, music, TV and web data.

Book Review of “How The Beatles Destroyed Rock ’n’ Roll”

beatles-hi-resHow The Beatles Destroyed Rock ’n’ Roll by Elijah Wald

(Oxford University Press, 2009)

Review by Belmont professor Don Cusic:

This isn’t really a book about the Beatles; rather it is a book that notes the distortion of the history of popular music through the years. Wald, who wrote an excellent book on Robert Johnson, notes that histories of rock ’n’ roll—or the music industry in general—tend to be written by guys who like cutting edge music much more than “popular” music. For example, Paul Whiteman was the most commercially successful early jazz big band leader, but historians ignore him in favor of Louis Armstrong and Duke Ellington (who both admired Whiteman) because 1) Whiteman was white and 2) he was commercially popular.

Once the party line is established, other writers tend to follow it.

This also happened when rock ’n’ roll comes into the picture. People like Bing Crosby, Perry Como and Patti Page (remember “How Much Is That Doggie in the Window?”) are dismissed as “white bread” because they do not suit the writer/critics taste. Pat Boone, who competed head to head with Elvis in the 1950s—and had a whole string of top chart hits from that era—has become a whipping boy for those who disliked his covers of R&B songs and disparage him instead of acknowledging that he, too, was a cultural force in that era.

As for the Beatles, well, those who write about them ignore the fact that “Hello Dolly” by Louis Armstrong pushed them off the top of the singles charts in 1964 and that Frank Sinatra, Dean Martin and Roger Miller (he never mentioned Roger—but I loved him!) had big hits during the British Invasion. After the Beatles and the British, according to Wald, rock music was frozen in time.

Wald laments that “the segregation of American popular music that began with the British Invasion has hurt white music more than it hurt black. Rock and its white relatives stagnated—not in the sense that no good music was made but in that there have been few major advances in the past thirty-plus years. Meanwhile, the black dance music of the 1970s led into hip-hop and rap, which have inspired and transformed popular styles around the world.”

Wald also criticizes rock bands for not being grounded in live performances. He states, “Facing an audience for four or five hours a night, seven nights a week, was tough work, but that was how virtually all my favorite musicians got their education, and its an education that very few artists will ever have again.”

Wald hits home here. Most young musicians today learn a few chords and then go directly to writing songs and recording them. In the past that’s where the big pay-off has been—being a celebrity through airplay and albums—but times are changing and records ain’t what they used to be. Still, as long as being a celebrity has a bigger payoff than being a musician, then who’s to blame the young folks for chasing stardom instead of craft?

Jamie Tate

“One Beer Away From Loving You”

Bodell Records/Edgehill

jtate101909b22-year-old North Carolina native Jamie Tate is releasing her single “One Beer Away From Loving You.” She’s enlisted the help of Edgehill Music to promote and market the single as it hits country programmers’ desktops. It goes for adds Monday, October 26.

A performer since the age of four, Tate has a long history of performance that ranges from southern honky tonks to classical theaters. While in high school, Tate was given the opportunity to perform in the London New Year’s Day Parade as well as the Gala Concert Series celebrating the Queen’s Golden Jubilee in Westminster Central Hall.

“I first sang with my dad onstage at the age of four!” recalls Tate. “I remember him sayin’ right before we went on, ‘Now, try to remember the words,’ or ‘When we get offstage, everyone is going to want to talk to you and take your picture.’ It was at that young age that I began performing. I loved it, I still love it, and I will always love it.”

http://www.jamietatemusic.com/