Music Philanthropist Warren Hellman Passes

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Warren Hellman, musician and founder of the popular Hardly Strictly Bluegrass Festival died Sun., Dec. 18 in San Francisco. He was 77 and had been battling leukemia.

Hellman built a very successful career in finance during his time with Lehman Brothers in New York, and eventually continued his career in his hometown San Francisco. The billionaire’s community endeavors included starting the city’s free bluegrass festival. Last year it attracted more than 750,000 people over three days, and showcased such a diverse lineup as Steve Earle, Elvis Costello, John Mellencamp, Robert Plant and Emmylou Harris.

Hellman also enjoyed performing with his band The Wronglers. The San Francisco Chronicle expects thousands of mourners to turn out for today’s (12/21) memorial service. In lieu of flowers, the Hellman family requests that donations be made to the San Francisco Free Clinic, The Bay Citizen or the San Francisco School Alliance.

Radio Notes (12/21/2011)

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Dusty Edwards (L) with Eric Lee Beddingfield

MusicRow sends its wishes for a speedy recovery to Dusty Edwards, MD for KREK/Bristow, Oklahoma. He’s currently undergoing testing at St. Francis Hospital in Tulsa following a fall. Reach out to him here.

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Judi Diamond

Hubbard Broadcasting’s WIL/St. Louis has announced the addition of Judi Diamond to the station’s award-winning “Cornbread Morning Show,” as Morning Show Assistant and Studio Producer. Diamond has served as a weekend on-air personality with WIL for four years, as well as doing freelance voice and on-camera commercial work on the side. She is also co-founder and co-host of the web-based LipsticknLaundry.com.

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(L-R): KNTY PD Tosh Jackson and Bill Gentry.

Tenacity recording artist Bill Gentry was recently a part of KNTY/Sacramento’s Christmas Cruise. Gentry is currently out visiting radio to promote “This Letter,” the first single from his 2012 CD Baptized In Temptation.

Galante Adds Sales Perspective To 2011 Performance

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Joe Galante

Industry veteran Joe Galante checked in with some astute comments on this morning’s sales article which attributed lagging 2011 country album sales to a weak release schedule. That analysis rings true, but Galante had additional perspective regarding the state of Nashville music sales.

“I read in MusicRow’s year end issue a list that showed only 7 or 8 album titles sold more than 100,000 debut week units this year,” says Galante. “That’s a big issue. We used to be able to count on ten of our acts doing 300-400k the first week or at least a quarter million. Now aside from Taylor and Lady A, we’re not getting those strong debuts. That means that next year, even with a strong release schedule, we aren’t going to be getting the 2 million plus yearly unit totals per artist we had in the past. So it’s a steady decline.”

Galante also does not believe that track sales and therefore TEA (Track Equivalent Albums) numbers will be able to make up for the changes in album sales. “Even with TEAs added in on a relative basis,” he says, “it will be interesting to see how next year compares against this year. We’ll see tracks go up, but physical sales will shrink. My guess is that even with strong releases lining up for next year we still will have a down year.”

According to Galante, there is another issue which does not show itself using SoundScan numbers—profitability. “There’s no way to really show the effect of $5 Wal-Mart catalog titles. It adds units, but each one is dramatically down in terms of margin and revenue. I wish we could show that portion of the equation, because it also makes a difference. We’re showing this year being down say 2 million units, when the reality is it’s down 7, 8 or more in terms of revenue…”

Industry Ink

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A caricature of Sarah Darling was added to the wall at The Palm recently. Photo: Alan Mayor

• The Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum’s educational programs are now available to schools across the U.S. via distance learning interactive video technology. The museum hosted its first distance learning program on Oct. 12, offering its Is It a Fiddle or a Violin? program to students in Lake Arthur, La., and Camden, NY. Also, country singer Christy “Cee Cee” McDonald participated in a webcast for 7th & 8th graders in Readfield, Me. The video communication equipment was provided by Cisco TelePresence. Ali Tonn serves as the museum’s director of education and public programming. Teachers wishing to participate can click here.

• Billboard is partnering with marketing agency ‘stache media to debut a country music mini-magazine. The fan publication includes a 20-track CD and will be available exclusively at Target Dec. 27 for $4.99. Two different covers feature Zac Brown Band and Jason Aldean.

The Academy of Country Music hosted a stage at the Wrangler National Finals Rodeo in Las Vegas earlier this month. Pictured (L-R): MaryAnne Beaman, Las Vegas Events; artist JT Hodges; and ACM’s Michelle Goble. Photo: Getty Images/ACM

• Immerse, the Gospel Music Association’s Music Training Experience, will hold its fourth annual session July 23-25 at Rocketown in Nashville. Those who register before Dec. 31, 2011 will be allowed to vote in the 43rd Annual GMA Dove Awards. The $199 early-bird rate lasts until March 31, 2012. Earlier this year, Jackie Patillo took over as Executive Director of the GMA.

• The Billy Block Show and his Locals Only show are moving from WKDF to WSIX/97.9 beginning Jan. 1, 2012, reports Radio-Info.com. It will air Sunday nights from 5-7 p.m. Sarah Darling and Trailer Choir’s Big Vinny and Butter are on the line-up for New Years Day.

• American Voices, in partnership with the U.S. Department of State’s Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs, is accepting applications for the American Music Abroad 2012-2013 touring season. All genres are invited to apply for this international exchange program. Application deadline is Jan. 16, 2012 at 5pm PST. Details at www.americanvoices.org/ama.

Recording Academy Announces Special Merit Honorees

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As the industry prepares for the 54th Annual Grammy Awards, The Recording Academy has announced the recipients of its Special Merit Awards for Lifetime Achievement, Trustees Awards, and Technical Grammys. The honors will be presented at a special invitation-only event during Grammy week on Saturday, Feb. 11, 2012. The 54th Annual Grammy Awards will  be broadcast live on CBS Sunday, Feb. 12 at 8 PM/ET.

Receiving Lifetime Achievement Awards will be The Allman Brothers Band, Glen Campbell, Antonio Carlos Jobim, George Jones, the Memphis Horns, Diana Ross, and the Gil-Scott Heron. Trustees Award recipients include Dave Bartholomew, Steve Jobs, and Rudy Van Gelder. Earning Technical Grammy honors are Celemony and Roger Nichols.

“This year’s honorees offer a variety of brilliance, contributions and lasting impressions on our culture,” said Recording Academy President/CEO Neil Portnow. “It is an honor to recognize such a diverse group of individuals whose talents and achievements have had an indelible impact on our industry.”

Vevo Explores Expansion At Two-Year Mark

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Vevo powers numerous artist Facebook pages including Carrie Underwood and Lady Gaga.

Music video site Vevo is marking its second anniversary this month. The site owned by UMG, Sony, and Abu Dhabi Media, now has 57M unique viewers in the U.S., doubling since the company launched in December 2009.

According to the New York Times, Vevo is exploring opportunities in television, and could become its own channel offering videos and other pop culture content.

Since launch, Vevo’s video streams are up 400% to 827 million per month in the U.S. There have been over 13M mobile downloads of the Vevo mobile app worldwide.

Weak Release Schedule Blamed For Lagging Sales

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The 2011 albums race is almost over, with scarcely two weeks remaining to be tallied. Are we going to fall behind last year? “Most assuredly.” The question is simply, “By how much?”

A quick glance at the above chart shows the format currently down 1.9% with total YTD country album sales of 39.811 million. That leaves us two weeks to add the 3.91 million needed to equal last year. However, this week country albums sold a tepid 1.605 million compared to the same week last year that scanned 1.966 million (down about 18.4%). In 2010 the last two weeks sold 2.319 million and 820k respectively. If we simply add those two weeks (3.139 million) and then reduce it by 18.4% our rough guess would be to add another 2.56 million to the year’s tally. Doing the math shows 2011 country album sales off about 3% or about 1.5 million units.

Why couldn’t we surpass last year? “Weak release schedule.”

This week’s details show Lady Antebellum in the No. 1 position on the country album chart shifting over 81k units to push their RTD sales (release-to-date) over the blessed one million, Platinum mark. Congrats to the feisty trio and Mr. Haywood who we hear is planning nuptials (with Warner Music VP Marketing/Brand Management Kelli Cashiola) which would place wedding bands on each member’s hands.

Scotty McCreery follows in the No. 2 spot with over 66k units placing him only a few more weeks away from earning Platinum status. Who would have thought, when he first appeared on the Idol stage as a Josh Turner carbon copy that fans would embrace him so strongly. But the youngster has truly stepped up and seems to be comfortably wearing his newfound fame.

The other eight artists in the Top 10 inlcude Jason (No. 3), Taylor (No. 4 & 6), Luke (No. 7), The Band Perry (No. 8), Miranda Lambert (No. 9) and ZBB (No. 10).

Toby Keith fills the missing No. 5 spot on the Top 10 country album list driven by his plastic fantastic “Red Solo Cup,” which was the top-selling digital country track again this week (over 86k downloads). The “Cup” has now passed the 500k sales mark and is surely headed to Platinum… (Hey, is that Bob Saporiti as Santa in the song’s holiday video version?)

Looking at the industry overall, album sales are up 1.3% YTD with Michael Bublé’s Christmas ringing the Yuletide bells—loudly. Bublé fans scooped up another 450k units of the holiday set this past week giving the album an eight week sales total of almost 2 million, a figure it will undoubtedly pass next week.

A big giant HAPPY HOLIDAYS to all our readers and especially those that follow our weekly sales discussions. Thank you for reading, for sending me those occasional snarky emails and for being part of the fun. Hopefully next year we can jump into positive sales territory. And wouldn’t it be nice if Nielsen SoundScan placed a TEA (track equivalent albums) chart under the tree?

Be safe, hug your friends and family and tune in next Wed. for our next installment…

 

Read comments on this article from industry veteran Joe Galante here.

20th Annual Tin Pan South Dates Revealed

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Nashville is a songwriter’s town, and Nashville Songwriters Association International’s annual Tin Pan South Songwriters Festival is one of the art form’s finest celebrations. With over 75 shows in a variety of locations, it truly has something for the song-lover in everyone.

The 20th Annual installation of Tin Pan South, produced by NSAI and presented by Regions Bank, will be held March 27 –  31, 2012 in some of Nashville’s best listening rooms. Featuring numerous songwriting talents from pro hitmakers to new faces, TPS is the world’s largest all-songwriter festival. Performers for the 19th annual gathering earlier in 2011 included Craig Wiseman, Steve Cropper, Rivers Rutherford, and many more.

Passes go on sale Wednesday, March 7, at the Tin Pan South website while supplies last. To gain priority access to all shows and hop from venue to venue, the festival offers a Tin Pan South Fast Access Pass. Proceeds from the festival support the Nashville Songwriters Association International.

Daily Flashes From The Past

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MusicRow covers through the years.

For the last two weeks in preparation for the December 2011/January 2012 retrospective print magazine hitting shelves, MusicRow staffers resurrected daily quotes from back issues and posted them on our Twitter and Facebook pages. The excerpts linked to this article to offer a selection of historical highlights. A complete list is below.

Get ready for a flashback from the archives. We can’t wait for you to see what we’ve compiled in the print edition! Be sure to grab you’re own copy today.

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Click to learn more about the cover

Quote from 12/16—MusicRow AUG ’93—”We don’t have a new Billy Ray Cyrus coming on this year. We definitely don’t. If we did, we’d know it.” Bruce Hinton

Quote from 12/15—MusicRow MAR ’94—”We’d love to be able to land a helicopter on the roof [of the Starstruck offices].” Narvel Blackstock

Quote from 12/14—MusicRow JAN ‘03—“Just because you have a computer with ProTools doesn’t mean its going to sound like a record.” Frank Rogers

Quote from 12/13—MusicRow NOV ’09—“Ten years ago, most every artist put outside songs on their records. Now maybe there is one or two slots on an album that aren’t politically taken already. So we are all vying for a smaller share of the pie.” Pat Finch

Quote from 12/12—MusicRow JUL ’98— “..what you do when you lose is the real test of character.” Mike Curb on LeAnn Rimes’ “How Do I Live”

Quote from 12/9—MusicRow AUG ’05—“I don’t want my music to be taken as something you just hum with.” Miranda Lambert

Quote From 12/8—MusicRow AUG ‘97—Technical problems and the lack of a uniform standard plagued the first generation of enhanced CD’s.

Quote from 12/7—MusicRow JUL ’98—From 1994-1997 female country presence on SoundScan increased from 19.6% to 42.7%

Quote from 12/6—MusicRow SEP ’99—Before MP3’s, downloading a 3 minute song with a 56K modem took over 6 hours. MP3’s took just 20mins.

Quote for 12/5—MusicRow FEB ’99: “Pitching your songs by CD lets a publisher know you’re serious about your music and have gone the extra distance to ensure a quality demo.”

TV Editor Terry Climer Passes

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Television/video editor Terry Climer died at home on Sun., Dec. 18. He was 60. A memorial service was held last night (12/20) at Sellars Funeral Home in Lebanon, Tenn.

The Lebanon native began his career at the town’s local radio station WCOR and eventually made his way to the television industry, working in Los Angeles and Nashville. He was nominated for two primetime Emmys.

Climer enjoyed spending time with family and friends, and following the sports teams of his alma mater Western Kentucky University. He was also a dog lover.

In lieu of flowers, the family requests donations be made to the Humane Society of Wilson County or Western Kentucky University.

Arrangements by Sellars Funeral Home, 313 W. Baddour Pkwy, Lebanon TN (615) 444-9393.