Lyric Street Shutters Carolwood Imprint

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Carolwood1

[Press Release] Lyric Street/Carolwood Records President Randy Goodman announced today (11/3) the restructuring of that Group’s imprints, which functionally will mean the shuttering of the year-old Carolwood Records while strengthening the Lyric Street promotion staff as both John Ettinger and Chris Palmer, Carolwood Sr. Directors, will move to Lyric Street Records, augmenting that already seasoned team.

In this transition, John Ettinger has been tapped to lead the newly restructured Lyric Street Records Regional Staff as Sr. National Director, which includes long-time veterans Renee Leymon, Chris Palmer, Neda Tobin, Theresa Ford, Michelle Tyrrell, and Kris Lamb. Ettinger will report to Kevin Herring, VP of Promotion for Lyric Street Records. Carolwood Promotion Coordinator, Katie McCartney, will segue to Sales/Marketing while current Lyric Street Promotion Coordinator, Jackie Schwarz, will continue in that role for the newly structured Lyric Street regional staff.

Dale Turner, VP of Promotional Marketing, will continue in his current role, also reporting to Herring, and supported by Coordinator Landon Morgan.

Carolwood staffers, Dave Collins, Trudie Daniell, and Stephanie Keshe, will immediately leave the imprint and can be reached at the contact information below.

Current charted Carolwood artists Love and Theft, and Trent Tomlinson, will be folded into the Lyric Street stable and thus worked by the newly reorganized team but will continue to carry the Carolwood label for their current product.

Goodman concluded, “I am very optimistic that this newly organized, aggregated Team will bring new focus and energy to our entire staff and roster and thus have great expectations that they will be the catalyst for resetting us towards better serving our Artists and Radio partners while achieving our cost goals.”

The newly consolidated Lyric Street roster includes multi-platinum superstar group Rascal Flatts; Platinum selling sisters SHeDAISY; American Idol alum Bucky Covington; new group break-thru Love and Theft, Trent Tomlinson, Sarah Buxton and new and developing artists, Ruby Summer, Tyler Dickerson, Kevin Fowler and The Parks.

Contact information for former Carolwood staffers:
Dave Collins: (480) 223-8337
Trudie Daniell: (770) 843-2858
Stephanie Keshe: (615) 418-3519

Strait, Reba Set For Big Arena Tour

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George Strait

George Strait

George Strait’s 2010 arena tour will feature fellow superstar Reba McEntire. The outing will kick off Jan. 22 in Baltimore, MD, and has concerts scheduled through April 10 in Des Moines, IA. Dates include nearby stops in Memphis, Knoxville, and Atlanta but not Nashville.

Strait recently released Twang, which debuted at No. 1 on the Billboard 200 and the Top Country Albums Chart and McEntire has recently released Keep On Loving You, her first solo studio album to debut at No. 1 on the Billboard Top 200 Albums Chart.

scaled_e1257218243The genre leaders have enormous career achievements, including McEntire’s sales of over 55 million albums worldwide, and 33 No. 1 singles. Strait boasts 57 No. 1 singles, and sales of over 67 million worldwide.

When they performed together at the Dallas Cowboy’s Stadium inaugural event in June, the show sold out in less than an hour.

Lofton Creek Debuts New Acts

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borchetta

(L-R): Lofton Creek GM Mark Maynard, Adam Fisher, and Pres. Mike Borchetta

Mike Borchetta and the team at Lofton Creek Records have two new artists on the rise. The label recently signed Adam Fisher and his first single, “Cotton Town,” is impacting radio via CDX, Vol. 486. Fisher, a North Carolina native, is busy visiting radio stations. He recently signed with Pam Lewis’s publicity firm PLA Media.

gwenLofton Creek is also working new singer-songwriter Gwen Sebastian’s debut song “Hard Rain.” Written by Jason Jones and Brett Jones, the single received MusicRow’s DisCovery Award from Robert K. Oermann. Sebastian is planning to release her debut album for Lofton Creek Records in 2010.

Royalty Debate: Lock Labels And Broadcasters In A Room

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CommunityRadioCartoonThe growing royalty spat between radio broadcasters and record labels continues to deepen as labels demand a performance rights royalty for themselves and artists, while radio asserts it simply is not affordable. As industry observers know, currently songwriters and publishers are the only stakeholders to get paid a performance fee by U.S. terrestrial radio.

According to arstechnica.com the latest salvo aimed at solving the dispute has come from Congress who has pushed the two parties into a “Capitol Hill conference room” where they have been instructed to hash out a solution in two weeks that will then be voted upon.

Until now, terrestrial radio has been exempted from a performance in sound copyright thanks to a long standing clause in the copyright rules. Satellite radio and webcasters, however, are mandated to pay royalties to labels and artists as are radio stations throughout most of the rest of the world.

gramophoneThe House Judiciary Committee and Senate Judiciary Committee have already approved a Performance Rights Act, which still has to be voted on in each chamber. The upcoming talks would be lead by members from the two committees who have invited representatives from the National Association of Broadcasters and the musicFIRST coalition made up of SoundExchange, RIAA and A2IM. “With your good faith participation, we are confident that an acceptable and mutually beneficial resolution to this longstanding disagreement can be found,” reads the letter aimed at bringing the sides together and sent from the leaders of both Congressional committees. The talks are scheduled to begin on Nov. 17 and reach a compromise by Dec. 1. A final solution, however, is not a foregone conclusion since the radio industry claims it has the support 252 House members and 27 Senate members who support the Local Radio Freedom Act and oppose the Performance Rights Act.

ZBB Sets Sail

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The Zac Brown Band is planning their own Sailing Southern Ground Cruise for Labor Day Weekend 2010. About 2,000 fans are expected to board the Carnival Inspiration in Tampa, Fla. and cruise to Grand Cayman Sept. 2-6.

There will be almost round-the-clock music, including the main stage ticketed shows, as well as dozens of general admission shows from artists to be announced soon. Cruisers can also expect plenty of impromptu collaborations, a ZBB twist on cuisine, and plenty of partying.

The pre-sale starts Nov. 9, but fans must sign up by Nov. 4 to be eligible. All cabins left after the pre-sale will be released to the public on Nov. 17

The band even made a video to share all the details.

Foster Headlines Benefit Tonight; Lisa Smoot Update

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A group of top songwriters and musicians are set for tonight’s (11/3) benefit for Sylvan Park Elementary. Radney Foster, Jeff Black, Matthew Ryan and Jonathan Yudkin will play at 3rd & Lindsley starting at 7 PM. Fans can expect a 90 minute set. All proceeds go to improve the school’s auditorium. Tickets are $12 at the door. Visit SPsongwriters.blogspot.com for more info.

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The MusicRow staff sends its best to Lisa Smoot of Jerry Duncan Promotions, who was in an automobile accident earlier this week. She went to the hospital, was treated and released. Smoot is recuperating at home and will be out of the office for a few days. Word is, she’s requesting song adds in lieu of get well cards.

Country Week on Letterman

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carrie-newCarrie Underwood opens Country Week on The Late Show With David Letterman tonight (11/2) at the Ed Sullivan Theatre in New York. She’ll perform a new song from her album Play On, set to be released tomorrow.

This week the Late Show offers a mix of the genre’s biggest stars like Brad Paisley and Keith Urban, as well as a rising alt country rocker and a bluegrass legend.

Paisley visits the show on Tuesday night, followed by Lost Highway’s Ryan Bingham on Wednesday. On Thursday the line-up has Urban, and on Friday it welcomes Ralph Stanley.

Swift’s Record Breaking Chart Run

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taylor_swift_13557Taylor Swift’s self-titled debut album broke the record this week as the longest charting album of the decade on the Billboard Top 200. Released in October 2006, the album is spending its 157th week on the all-genre chart, surpassing the previous record held by Nickelback.

Her more recent quadruple-platinum album Fearless has spent more weeks at No. 1 on the same chart than any other album this decade. Big Machine Records released the Platinum edition of Fearless last week, including a CD and DVD.

Tonight (11/2) Swift appears on NBC’s Late Night with Jimmy Fallon, then on Sat., Nov. 7 she is set to host Saturday Night Live, and serve as the show’s musical guest. Only a small number of artists have pulled double duty on the show, including Justin Timberlake, Sting and Janet Jackson.

She is nominated for four CMA Awards at the show on Nov. 11, and is the youngest artist ever nominated for Entertainer of the Year.

Country Throwdown Tour In The Works

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Montgomery Gentry

Montgomery Gentry

The brains behind the Vans Warped Tour are getting together a Country tour for this summer.

Montgomery Gentry will headline 4 FINI, Inc.’s first Country Throwdown Tour, running May 13 through June 20. Also set for the amphitheater run are Jamey Johnson, Little Big Town, Jack Ingram, Eric Church, the Eli Young Band, Jonathan Singleton & The Grove, Lost Trailers, Ryan Bingham and Emily West.

As producers and creators of the Warped Tour, 4 FINI, Inc. has made it the longest running traveling music and extreme sports festival in the world. Country Throwdown will be set-up much like the Warped Tour, there will be multiple stages, pre-show tailgating parties, and a full concourse of lifestyle attractions and vendors. Kevin Lyman is the tour founder and co-producer.

In addition to the 12 main artists performing on three stages (one main stage and two side stages), the Bluebird Café Tent will feature nine singer-songwriters. Fans will get to see these artists perform in-the-round throughout the day, and during the main stage set changes at night.

To spur ticket sales, organizers are offering the Throwdown Ticket Takeover. Instead of the traditional front-to-back tiered ticketing–where fans who pay more get closer–the special deal will split the seats down the middle. For a limited time during the pre-sale which begins February 2010, anyone who buys early can get the Ticket Takeover priced ticket and be as close as the front row. Regular tiered ticketing will still be available for purchase for half of the amphitheater seating. More artists and a title sponsor will soon be announced.

ACM Taking Noms For Radio Awards

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ACM Logo Gold_blackSubmissions opened today (11/2) for the 45th Annual Academy of Country Music Awards radio categories. The nominations will end at 12 noon PT on Fri., Dec. 11, 2009. The eligibility period runs Jan. 1, 2009 to Dec. 11, 2009.

Nominees for the radio awards listed  below, will be announced in the spring of 2010.
•    On-Air Personality of the Year – National
•    On-Air Personality of the Year – Major (Markets 1-25)
•    On-Air Personality of the Year – Large (Markets 26-50)
•    On-Air Personality of the Year – Medium (Markets 51-100)
•    On-Air Personality of the Year – Small (Markets 101+)
•    Radio Station of the Year – Major (Markets 1-25)
•    Radio Station of the Year – Large (Markets 26-50)
•    Radio Station of the Year – Medium (Markets 51-100)
•    Radio Station of the Year – Small (Markets 101+)

The 45th Annual Academy of Country Music Awards will air live on CBS Television next spring, date to be announced soon.

Only current ACM members may submit for Station or On-Air Personality category consideration. The application deadline for new memberships is Tues., Dec. 1, 2009. For more information on how to become a member, radio professionals may email membership@acmcountry.com.