TackleBox Adds Directors

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Nashville-based TackleBox Films has added directors to its roster who can offer specialized services for custom media content. These new additions include veteran director/producer Sherman Halsey, animation team BIRDmachineBIRD, Anna Mastro, Britt Delara, web content experts The Edde Brothers, and live concert director Jay Cooper.

“Growing our roster of directors expands TackleBox’s ability to produce a multitude of projects,” explains TackleBox President Shaun Silva. “We’ve constructed a team of directors who offer a specific craft and are focused within a certain field of media that specifically suites our clients needs.”

Halsey brings a wealth of industry and artist relations to the company, and his portfolio includes his extensive 18 years of work with Tim McGraw including videos for “Southern Voice” and “Live Like You Were Dying.” The son of manager and concert promoter, Jim Halsey, Sherman learned the music business ropes at an early age and eventually rose through the ranks to a leadership role at The Jim Halsey Company, including managing a young Dwight Yoakam and directing his video for “Honky Tonk Man.”

Comprised of Traci Goudie and Patrick Hubik, animation team BIRDmachineBIRD have experience across a multitude of media from film, video, photography and graphic design. Recent work includes Flogging Molly’s “Don’t Shut ‘Em Down.”

Los Angeles-based Anna Mastro has worked with Nicole Scherzinger, the Pussycat Dolls, Leona Lewis, Train, and more. She recently released a short film musical called Bench Seat. Britt Delara, based in Toronto, is a newcomer whose work includes TNile’s “Reverie” and Sound and Fury’s “Teenage Rampage.” The Edde Brothers are a new media/web content team who will develop web series, documentary/tv specials, concert shoots, EPKs and more. Recent projects include the GAC special Introducing: Hunter Hayes. Sought-after live concert director Jay Cooper has worked with talents such as LMFAO, Kenny Chesney, Ozzy Osbourne, Eric Clapton and more.

Country Stars Make Latest “Forbes” List

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Taylor Swift and Carrie Underwood on the red carpet at the BMI Country Awards this fall.

Taylor Swift and Carrie Underwood represent Nashville on Forbes’ new list of Top-Earning Women in Music.

Swift came in second place on the all-genre list with an estimated $45 million in earnings between May 2010 and May 2011. Lady Gaga scored the top spot with $90 million. Underwood raked in $20 million, securing the No. 7 spot. Pop starlet Katy Perry rounded out the top three with $44 million.

Contributing to the totals are album sales, touring, publishing royalties, endorsement deals and more.

Forbes methodology: Pretax income earned from May 2010 to May 2011, before subtracting agent and manager fees. Compiled with the help of data from Pollstar, RIAA, interviews with lawyers, managers, concert promoters, agents and, in some cases, the musicians themselves.

Lost Highway Projects Top Year-End Americana Chart

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Hayes Carll (R) performs with Buddy Miller (L) at the 2011 Americana Awards and Honors show.

The Americana Music Association has released its Top 100 Albums of the Year, based on albums reported to the Americana Airplay Chart between Nov. 16, 2010 and Nov. 14, 2011.

UMG’s Lost Highway lands the top two spots on the list with Hayes Carll’s KMAG YOYO hitting No. 1, and Lucinda Williams’ Blessed at No. 2. Rounder also picked up two of the Top 10, thanks to Alison Krauss & Union Station’s Paper Airplane and Gregg Allman’s Low Country Blues, as did New West Records albums I’ll Never Get Out Of This World Alive by Steve Earle and Dirty Jeans and Mudslide Hymns by John Hiatt. The Top 10 are listed below, and the full list can be seen at americanamusic.org by clicking on the Top 100 albums link.

Top 10:

1. Hayes Carll, KMAG YOYO / Lost Highway
2. Lucinda Williams, Blessed / Lost Highway
3. Steve Earle, I’ll Never Get Out of This World Alive / New West
4. Alison Krauss & Union Station, Paper Airplane / Rounder
5. Emmylou Harris, Hard Bargain / Nonesuch
6. Gregg Allman, Low Country Blues / Rounder
7. Jason Isbell and The 400 Unit, Here We Rest / Lightning Rod
8. John Hiatt, Dirty Jeans and Mudslide Hymns / New West
9. Decemberists, The King Is Dead / Capitol
10. Band of Heathens, Top Hat Crown & The Clapmaster’s Son / BOH Records

LMG Design Studio Launches in Nashville

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(L-R) Ken Gay, Matthew Wiltshire (Mayor's Office), Les Goldberg, Michael Burcham (Entrepreneur Center), Jake Jorgovan (Rabbithole Creative), and Danny Nozell (CTK Management)

LMG Design Studio officially launched last week (Dec. 7) in Nashville with a ribbon cutting ceremony and open house.

LGM, with AV lighting and support offices already in Orlando, Tampa, Las Vegas and Dallas, created the Design Studio to showcase the latest LED products, digital lighting, projection and special effects technology.

Ken Gay designed the space to provide a hands-on environment for clients to brainstorm and discuss creative ideas with the latest live entertainment technology.

“We hope the Design Studio concept will act as a new model for future growth,” states CEO Les Goldberg. “The nature of technology today requires live visualization – you need to ‘see it to believe it.’”

LGM has provided AV support to some of the world’s largest convention meetings, nationally televised events, Fortune 500 company business presentations and world tours with AV equipment since 1984.

The Design Studio is located in the Bailey’s Building at 408 Broadway, 4th Floor, Nashville, TN 37203.

Keek Provides a New Social Platform

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Social media users can now add Keek, a micro video platform, to their arsenal. Keek is a new social network where users share 36 second max video logs via webcam or mobile apps, in essence Twitter’s video counterpart. By definition, Keek means a quick look, glance or peep.

Keek’s global audience is using the Canada-based social platform to microvlog life experiences and integrate the videos on Facebook, Twitter and Tumblr channels.

According to a recent Pew Research study, video sharing is on the rise and is happening across generations, with usage ranging from 92 percent of Millenials (or Generation Y), 80 percent of Generation X and 54 percent of Boomers.

The Canadian football League, Pro Skater Shane O’Neill,  The Toronto Raptors and teen country artist Payton Rae have been using Keek to establish themselves on the platform.

Rae is a young artist produced by Nashville songwriter Brian White, sent her first “keek” (seen below) on Dec. 1 with a positive response from fans, many of whom signed up themselves. Rae’s five-song debut project, Dare To Live, charted Top Five on iTunes in Canada, the UK, Ireland, Australia and Belgium.

Keek is working on new features, apps and enhanced sharing capabilities. Updates can be received @keek Twitter.


New to keek 😉

Nov 30, 2011 | Source: Keek.com

Holiday Season Benefits

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As part of Macy’s “Believe” campaign, Wynonna Judd will perform holiday songs for the Make-A-Wish kids and their families at the Belle Meade Plantation on Dec. 21. During Macy’s Santa Claus visit to Nashville, he will attend the private event at Belle Meade Plantation, and then return to Macy’s Green Hills to meet with the community from 6-8 p.m. Visit www.macys.com/believe for more information.

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Army veteran Craig Morgan will headline the 15th Jack Daniel’s USO Toast to the Troops stuffing party today (Dec. 16) at Naval Station Norfolk in Virginia. More than 150 military spouses, sailors and USO volunteers will join forces to assemble thousands of Operation USO Care Packages. Since 2005, the Jack Daniel Distillery has been collecting personal messages of support in the form of “toasts” to include in USO care packages, and has hosted 14 other “stuffing parties,” headlined by Morgan, at military installations across the country. More than 150,000 care packages have been sent to our troops through the Toast to the Troops program. For more information visit www.uso.org.

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Nashville based Legacy Learning Systems donated several of their award-winning music educational courses to the Nashville Rescue Mission’s new music rooms at both the men’s and women’s facilities on December 6. The music rooms were furnished by donations from EMI Christian Music Group, Gibson Guitar, Guitar Center and Legacy Learning Systems. Approximately 500 men had the opportunity to listen to recording artist Matthew West who joined the group for the presentation. For more information visit www.nashvillerescuemission.org and www.learnandmaster.com.

Pictured: Steve Krenz of Legacy Learning Systems (left) , EMI President Bill Hearn (second to left) and Matthew West (second from right). Joining them in the photo were members of the Nashville Rescue Mission team. Photo: Legacy Learning Systems

 

• • •

Force MP Entertainment’s Steve Richard has joined Second Harvest’s Feeding Hope Challenge and is helping them raise 9 million meals. Visit www.steverichardmusic.com to donate to his Virtual Food Drive. For every dollar donated Second Harvest can purchase 4 meals.

• • • •

Gabe Dixon

Singer/songwriter Gabe Dixon will spend his holidays at home in Nashville as WRLT Lightning 100’s first-ever Artist in Residence. Dixon and Music City’s independent radio station, Lightning 100, has been working side-by-side to support food, clothing, and toy donation programs for Second Harvest Food Bank and Toys for Tots throughout the month of December. The Nashville-based artist has committed to a number of public appearances and live performances. Individuals who bring canned food items, toy and clothing donations to these events will have a chance to meet and/or see Dixon perform. As a bonus, they’ll also receive an exclusive, 4-track CD from Dixon that was recorded during his last WRLT live performance broadcast from 3rd and Lindsley. The CD includes tracks from his most recent, critically-acclaimed album, One Spark. More info here.

Grooveshark Faces Legal Action

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Online listening service Grooveshark could find itself without safe harbor, thanks to pending legal action. According to the Los Angeles Times, both Warner Music Group and Sony Music Entertainment have now joined Universal Music Group in a lawsuit claiming that Grooveshark is violating the Digital Millenium Copyright Act by allowing users to illegally upload and listen to unlicensed songs.

Universal originally took aim at Grooveshark last month, alleging that the company — owned by Escape Media Group of Gainesville, FL — has permitted widespread copyright infringement that was sanctioned by company executives. Sony and Warner added their lawsuit yesterday (Dec. 15).

Grooveshark asserts that it is protected under DMCA because the law allows “safe harbor” for companies to provide online storage or sharing, as long as the infringing material is removed upon request. Since its launch, it has accumulated over 30 million users to pay $5/month to listen to millions of tracks from all the major labels and beyond.

The lawsuit also accuses Grooveshark’s senior executives of personally uploading illegal sound recordings to the website in order to make sure it is always stocked with the most popular songs. A series of emails quoted in the court documents indicate that Grooveshark employees were fully aware of the violation and continued regardless. Back in September, Digital Music News reported on a tense exchange between King Crimson’s Robert Fripp and Grooveshark about the band’s repeated attempts to have their material removed, only to have it return to the site in a matter of days.

Grooveshark does currently have a license through EMI and numerous indies, though with EMI’s recent sale the future of that arrangement is uncertain.

CountryBreakout No. 1 Song

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Here’s the thing about time: it’s only moving one direction. So no matter what Doc Brown and Marty McFly would have you believe, there is no backtracking. No undoing what’s been done, and no re-living life’s wonderful and perfect moments. Is it any wonder we hold on with everything we’ve got?

Luke Bryan can relate. Much like his Capitol labelmates Lady Antebellum and their recent carpe-ing diem hit “We Owned The Night”, Bryan’s “I Don’t Want This Night To End” is about one of those perfect nights: fighting daylight with an exciting companion by burning some gas and blaring the radio. Appropriately, the single becomes the CountryBreakout Chart’s No. 1 song in the final chart of 2011, as we prepare to bid the year goodbye and start a new chapter.

Understandably, Bryan might want to hang on to 2011 a little longer. In addition to “I Don’t Want This Night To End,” his single “Country Girl (Shake It For Me)” became a huge radio hit and clarion call for inebriated peoples to follow its titular instructions. Additionally, his Tailgates & Tanlines Tour with Lee Brice, Josh Thompson, and Matt Mason was one of CMT On Tour’s most successful outings to date. Bryan also served as a special CMA Awards red carpet correspondent for The Ellen DeGeneres Show. Starting in 2012, he’ll join up with Jason Aldean on the young superstar’s massive My Kinda Party Tour.

See, Luke? Even though one good night might be ending, another could very well be on the way. Happy New Year!

Weekly Chart Report (12/16/11)

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Anna Sophia Benken

LIFENOTE
Congratulations to Quarterback Records VP Promotion Tony Benken and Morris Management’s Tiffany Swinea Benken on the birth of daughter Anna Sophia Benken. She was born on Dec. 15 at 6:32 PM and joins big sister Ava in the growing Benken clan.

SPIN ZONE
Kudos to Luke Bryan, Capitol Records, and their promotion teams on scoring a No. 1 single with “I Don’t Want This Night to End” in the final CountryBreakout Chart of 2011. Capitol also earns a humongous debut with Lady Antebellum’s “Dancin’ Away With My Heart,” which vaults onto the chart at No. 36.

Quarterback Records recording artist Sherry Lynn recently stopped by WDNB/ Thunder 102 in Liberty, NY to visit PD Paul Ciliberto and drop off a load of toys for the station's Toys for Tots toy drive. Sherry Lynn has released "The Breakin Up Song" and is on a radio tour in the northeast to promote it.

Kudos also to our high-charting indies: Eric Lee Beddingfield‘s “Great Depression” at No. 19, DJ Miller’s “Between Sundays” at No. 25, Darren Warren’s “Cowboy Up And Party Down” at No. 26, and Badhorse’s “It’s All Good” at No. 28. Moving quickly toward the top of the chart are Taylor Swift’s “Ours” at No. 23 and Tim McGraw’s “Better Than I Used To Be” at No. 35.

That’ll do it for us this year. Stay tuned for all kinds of exciting CountryBreakout action in 2012. Have a wonderful holiday and a happy new year!

Frozen Playlists: KBCN, KFTX, KREK, KTWI, KYEZ, WKTT

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Holiday Airplay
Toby Keith & Sammy Hagar/Santa’s Going South/SDU
Tim McGraw/Christmas All Over The World/Red Light
Big & Rich/Blue Christmas/WMN
Joe Nicols/Old Toy Trains/Show Dog-Universal
Uncle Kracker/My Hometown (Christmas Version)/Atlantic/BPG
Joey + Rory/Remember Me/Let It Snow/Vanguard/Sugar Hill
Lisa Matassa/The Chrismas Song/It Is What It Is Records/Nine North
Craig Campbell/I’ll Be Home For Christmas
Andy Gibson/The Christmas Song/R&J Records
Rachel Holder/Christmas Eve/Curb
Lucy Angel/Mr. Santa/GForce
Little Big Town/Have Yourself A Merry Little Christmas/Capitol
Jessica Ridley feat. Chris Cline/The Spirit Of Christmas/Nine North/Turnpike
Jesse & Noah/I Want Texas For Christmas

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New On The Chart—Debuting This Week
Artist/song/label — chart pos.
Lady Antebellum/Dancin’ Away With My Heart/Capitol — 36
Oak Ridge Boys/What’cha Gonna Do/Cracker Barrel — 70
Tyler Farr/Hot Mess/BNA — 73
Ronnie Dunn/Let The Cowboy Rock/Arista — 74
Shawna Russell/Waitin’ On Sunrise/Way Out West Records — 75
Miranda Lambert/Over You/RCA — 76

Greatest Spin Increase
Artist/song/label — spin+
Lady Antebellum/Dancin’ Away With My Heart/Capitol — 655
Taylor Swift/Ours/Big Machine — 422
Tim McGraw/Better Than I Used To Be/Curb — 318
Brantley Gilbert/You Don’t Know Her Like I Do/Valory — 283
George Strait/Love’s Gonna Make It Alright/MCA — 240

Most Added
Artist/song/label — New Adds
Lady Antebellum/Dancin’ Away With My Heart/Capitol — 44
Brantley Gilbert/You Don’t Know Her Like I Do/Valory — 21
Ronnie Dunn/Let The Cowboy Rock/Arista — 20
Miranda Lambert/Over You/RCA 20
Tim McGraw/Better Than I Used To Be/Curb — 18
Taylor Swift/Ours/Big Machine — 17
Blake Shelton/Drink On It/WMN/Warner Bros. — 11
Tyler Farr/Hot Mess/BNA — 11

On Deck—Soon To Be Charting
Artist/song/label — spins
Rachel Holder/Christmas Eve/Curb — 199
The Farm/Home Sweet Home/All In/Elektra/New Revolution — 191
Sawyer Brown/Travelin’ Band — 186
Jesse Keith Whitley/Saving Amy/Octabrook Music — 180
Jackie Arredondo/Rockin’ the Trailer/Gold Voice — 176

Big Ride Entertainment's Marlee Scott recently visited the staff of WJVC 96.1/Long Island, N.Y. to promote her new single “Trainwreck.” Marlee just wrapped shooting a video with director Roman White for the song earlier this month. Her Christmas single, “Someday At Christmas” is at radio now. (L-R) Phathead (WJVC PD/MD), Marlee, Glenn Noblit (InstiGator Entertainment)

Shockey and LeHew ‘Fly High’ With New Book

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The Factory at Franklin host a presentation of Flying High, a new book co-written by best-selling author and songwriter, Stowe D. Shockey, and motivational speaker/entrepreneur Calvin LeHew.

The special event will take place Sunday, Dec. 18 at 230 Franklin Road, Franklin, TN 7065 from 2-4 PM It will feature a discussion, a musical performance from Stowe, and a complete viewing of the book’s inspirational 40 minute companion film. The event is free and open to the public.

Five time Grammy Award winner Naomi Judd, who wrote a foreword for the book, said, “If you are struggling with adversity of any kind, whether sickness, financial or just trying to figure out your purpose in this world, there’s something precious in this story for you. It’s a powerful dose of inspiration that will encourage you along your own journey.”

Motivational Speaker and Grammy-nominated singer/songwriter Karen Taylor-Good praised the book as well, saying, “What a great book! I’ve known these spiritual principles for years, but actually seeing them put to the test through Stowe’s incredible journey, and Calvin’s amazing life, I am moved, inspired and recharged.”

“If you are ready to fly high in health, happiness, wealth and a deep joy of living, then this book is for you,” chimed in Mark Victor Hansen, the best-selling author behind the Chicken Soup for the Soul books.