2012 Benefit Awareness

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Revealed: ACM My Cause

January has been announced as “Poverty in America Awareness Month” for the ACM Lifting Lives “My Cause” web-feature. The program, which offers increased awareness and financial bolstering, endorses  Billy’s Place, a charity affiliated with Craig Morgan. Donations will accepted through the link on their promotional the video below.

Over the past two years, ACM Lifting Lives has bolstered support by donating more than $44,000 to artists’ favorite charities.

Click on the video to watch Craig introduce his cause.

Youtube video

••••

I’ll Fly Away 2012 Fundraisers

The recently formed I’ll Fly Away Foundation is planning two fundraisers for 2012.  March 24, in Neosho, MO featuring The Chuck Wagon Gang and October 13, in Rogers, AK featuring the Oak Ridge Boys, Daily & Vincent and The Blackwood Brothers Quartet.

The I’ll Fly Away Foundation is dedicated to educating upcoming generations about the musical heritage and traditions that shaped American music by granting scholarships and music education programs.

The Chairman of the I’ll Fly Away Foundation is Betsy Brumley, granddaughter of songwriter to “I’ll Fly Away,” Albert E. Brumley.

••••

Gilda’s Club Training for The Country Music 1/2 Marathon

For the seventh year, Nashville’s Gilda’s Club will offer a 15-week training program for the Country Music 1/2 Marathon led by certified trainers from Vanderbilt’s Dayani Center. The program is geared to all fitness levels to prepare participants to run or walk in support of those affected by cancer.

The 2012 season kicks-off on Saturday (Jan. 14) at Gilda’s Club with a health fair featuring a Q&A session with the trainers about nutrition and appropriate apparel and provide mini-clinics on stretching and injury prevention.

The training program includes weekly Saturday morning group walk/runs led by fitness specialists, guest membership to Vanderbilt Dayani Center, personalized training plans for all levels, and access to Firstgiving™ – an online fund raising tool with personalized web pages.

To join The Gang, all participants are asked to raise a minimum of $750 by race day – with all monies going directly to support all the the free emotional and social cancer-related services provided at Gilda’s Club Nashville.

Weekly Chart Report (1/06/12)

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Cimsound Records Recording Artist Ricky Fugitt recently stopped by KVWF/100.5 the Wolf in Wichita to promote his upcoming shows and debut new single "One More Day"(L-R): Cimsound’s Jeff Parker, Fugitt, KVWF MD/Mornings Colby Ericson

SPIN ZONE
That seemed like a quick holiday break, right? Regardless, it’s out with the old and in with the new on the first CountryBreakout Chart of 2012.

Spins for new singles like Blake Shelton’s “Drink On It” (debuting at No. 33), Lady Antebellum’s “Dancin’ Away With My Heart” (No. 22), and Miranda Lambert’s “Over You” (No. 32) are way up—over 600 spins gained versus the previous chart for all three, in fact. Equally impressive are Taylor Swift’s “Ours” (No. 14), Eli Young Band’s “Even If It Breaks Your Heart” (debuting at No. 44), Keith Urban’s “You Gonna Fly” (No. 7), and Tim McGraw’s “Better Than I Used To Be” (No. 28) which all experienced spin increases of 400 or more.

So it’s an explosive chart situation this week, save for the top two positions. Luke Bryan’s “I Don’t Want This Night To End” closed out 2011 in the No. 1 spot, and opens 2012 on top. Just over 100 spins behind in dogged pursuit is The Band Perry’s “All Your Life,” now at 21 weeks young but still showing plenty of health after a 99 spin gain. Dierks Bentley’s “Home” is still moving at No. 3, followed by Martina McBride’s “I’m Gonna Love You Through It” at No. 4 and Kenny Chesney’s “Reality” at No. 5.

In addition to the Shelton and EYB debuts, there are a plethora of new songs appearing this week. Kellie Pickler’s “100 Proof” makes a fine showing at No. 56, and so do Josh Turner’s “Time Is Love” at No. 64 and Josh Thompson’s “Comin’ Around” at No. 69.

Frozen Playlists: KBCN, KBCR, KFTX, KKAJ, KREK, KSED, KTWI, KVVP, KYKX, WAXX, WCMS, WKBQ, WYVY

• • • • •

Joining the CountryBreakout reporting panel for new reports this week are WXXK in Lebanon, New Hampshire, under the programming guidance of Justin Tyler. Reach him here. Also coming aboard is our first ever Internet radio outlet Renegade Radio Nashville, with the steady hand of Captain Jack (formerly of WKMK/Monmouth) steering the ship.

”Car radios, table top stereos, and much more will give Internet radio an edge in the market, and aside from that, Renegade Radio Nashville pledges to be a true outlet for up and coming Country artists,” says the Captain. Reach him here.

Departing the panel after its recent flip to classic country is Clear Channel’s KTWI/Omaha, as well as Harrison, Ark. station KBCN which flipped to ESPN sports talk at year’s end.

Upcoming Singles
January 9
Canaan Smith/We Got Us/Mercury
Blake Shelton/Drink On It/Warner Bros./WMN
Josh Turner/Time Is Love/MCA
Miranda Lambert/Over You/RCA
Kaleb McIntire/Redneck In All Of Us/Rockin’ Country Doc
Candy Coburn/Don’t Walk Away/Loma Jean

January 17
Ronnie Dunn/Let The Cowboy Rock/Arista
Bryan Cole/Love Doesn’t Live Here/Perfect Vision
Clay Walker/Like We Never Said Goodbye/Curb
Jana Kramer/Why Ya Wanna/Elektra/W.A.R.
Rascal Flatts/Banjo/Big Machine
Dustin Lynch/Cowboys and Angels/Broken Bow
Kelly Parkes/Don’t Make Me/Edge

• • • • •

New On The Chart—Debuting This Week
Artist/song/label — chart pos.
Blake Shelton/Drink On It/Warner Bros./WMN — 33
Eli Young Band/Even If It Breaks Your Heart/Republic Nashville — 44
Kellie Pickler/100 Proof/19/BNA — 56
Josh Turner/Time Is Love/MCA — 64
Josh Thompson/Comin’ Around/RCA — 69
The Farm/Home Sweet Home/All In/Elektra/New Revolution — 71
Sawyer Brown/Travelin’ Band — 73
Jackie Arredondo/Rockin’ the Trailer/Gold Voice — 74
Jesse Keith Whitley/Saving Amy/Octabrook — 75
Tim Culpepper/Ghost/HonkyTone Records — 76
Craig Campbell/When I Get It/Bigger Picture — 77
Stealing Angels/Little Blue Sky/Skyville — 79
Guy Penrod/More Power To You/Servant Records — 80

Greatest Spin Increase
Artist/song/label — spin+
Blake Shelton/Drink On It/Warner Bros./WMN — 723
Lady Antebellum/Dancin’ Away With My Heart/Capitol — 655
Miranda Lambert/Over You/RCA — 645
Taylor Swift/Ours/Big Machine — 493
Eli Young Band/Even If It Breaks Your Heart/Republic Nashville — 457

Most Added
Artist/song/label — New Adds
Blake Shelton/Drink On It/Warner Bros./WMN — 51
Miranda Lambert/Over You/RCA — 44
Eli Young Band/Even If It Breaks Your Heart/Republic Nashville — 41
Lady Antebellum/Dancin’ Away With My Heart/Capitol — 32
Ronnie Dunn/Let The Cowboy Rock/Arista — 25
Kellie Pickler/100 Proof/19/BNA — 24
Josh Turner/Time Is Love/MCA — 23
Tim McGraw/Better Than I Used To Be/Curb — 21
Brantley Gilbert/You Don’t Know Her Like I Do/Valory — 19
Taylor Swift/Ours/Big Machine — 10

On Deck—Soon To Be Charting
Artist/song/label — spins
Uncle Kracker/My Hometown/Top Dog/Atlantic — 137
Coy Taylor/Fall For You — 135
Mark Cooke/Any Way The Wind Blows/CVR — 133
Steve Holy/Until The Rain Stops/Curb — 128
JB & the Moonshine Band/Love Don’t Let You Decide/Average Joe’s — 125

Before the holiday break, Gloriana played the Dallas Bull in Tampa. The group’s current single “(Kissed You) Good Night” just hit No. 48 on MusicRow’s CountryBreakout Chart. (L-R): Tom Gossin, Jenny Dean of WFUS/Tampa, Rachel Reinert, Ryan Nelson of WFUS/Tampa, Mike Gossin

Real-Life Struggles Yield Songwriting Success For Phillip Coleman

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Phillip Coleman co-wrote Ronnie Dunn's "Cost of Livin'" and Miranda Lambert's "All Kinds of Kinds."

For the past eight years songwriter Phillip Coleman has been a real-life example of his best known song, “Cost of Livin.’” The lyrics describe a desperate man filling out a job application, and his determination to provide for his family. Ronnie Dunn’s recognizable voice, plaintive take, and sparse production brought the story to life. With financial hardship affecting many Americans, it’s a timely topic that touched country listeners.

Like most songwriters, Coleman’s path to the radio charts has been long and winding. His youth was spent on a farm in Rives, Tenn. Road trips to Nashville’s Bluebird Cafe inspired him to take up the craft at age 26. In the early ‘90s he moved to Music City, where his sister happened to be neighbors with tunesmith Don Henry. “I didn’t know any better, so I knocked on his door and said ‘I wanna be a songwriter,’” chuckles Coleman. “He was extremely nice. He invited me to the Bluebird that night where he was playing with Gary Burr, Matraca Berg, and Beth Nielsen Chapman. It was unbelievable, and I knew I wanted to do that. Eventually, when he called me to co-write, I knew I’d arrived.”

Coleman went on to moderate success, securing cuts by Kenny Chesney and Linda Davis, and the Jo Dee Messina hit “Downtime.” But when his eight-year publishing deal with Carnival Music ended, Coleman was hard-up. Today’s positive mindset helps him look back and admit, “I wasn’t pleasant to be around.”

“Even my wife [songwriter Catt Gravitt] saw it in my eyes,” he recalls. “We were dating at the time, and she said, ‘you need to go do something else, you’re bitter and jaded and mad.’”

He took her advice, mostly out of necessity. “I went to fill out an application at FedEx, and that’s what inspired the song. My whole point was that there’s nowhere on that piece of paper to write down your real story—that you’ll work nights and holidays, that you’re about to lose your house, that your family’s struggling.”

The shipping giant hired Coleman for a second shift gig driving a forklift. “It kept the lights on and food in the fridge,” he says. Starting a lawn care outfit helped him supplement his income, plus offered a pleasant reminder of the farm back home. Songwriting shifted to the back-burner.

A year passed and it was February 2006 before Coleman sat down to write a song called “The Application,” with a chorus that affirmed, “You don’t know that…by looking at the application.”

“When I wrote that song I knew it was special, so I wanted to hang on to the publishing,” he recalls. “Alex Torrez pitched it to Ronnie back when Brooks & Dunn were together. Ronnie liked everything except the title and the hook, and I was nervous as can be when I went to his house so we could rewrite that part.” They changed the chorus to “the cost of livin’s high and going up,” and gave the song a new title, “Cost of Livin.’” Programmers were enthusiastic when Dunn debuted it on his radio tour, and the single came out in June 2011.

Reflecting on the years of holds, waiting, and wondering if it would ever be released, Coleman sighs, “This song has put me through it.” He even had to sell the guitar it was written on.

Now he’s in a much better place. “I’m about to get my first royalty check, and get the breathing room I haven’t had in a long time.”

Along with a little money headed his way, Coleman proudly notes what else is going right, “I’ve got a new attitude—being married has changed me a lot. I’ve got more patience, got back in church, and I’m more focused. I’m a blip on the radar again. It’s funny how when you walk away from something things start happening for you.”

After penning “All Kinds of Kinds” with Don Henry thirteen years ago, it finally made its way to Miranda Lambert’s acclaimed Four The Record. When her producer, and Carnival Music boss Frank Liddell, passed the song on to the feisty singer they both knew it was a perfect fit. It’s an added bonus that Coleman’s peers think so highly of the track. He sums, “When somebody who you consider a good songwriter wishes they wrote the song you wrote, that’s a great feeling.”

Charlie Cook On Air: Resolutions

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Let’s see, which New Year’s resolution should I break first? I made three: Lose weight, work an extra hour every day, and quit swearing so much. Well, I’ll be damned if I didn’t leave work early Wednesday to go to the all you can eat buffet.

Seriously, we all put unrealistic expectations on ourselves and each other only to disappoint every one. Radio and records rewards hard work. There are abundant examples of people in the business that work a little harder than the average bear and their efforts have paid off.

Mike McVay is the hardest working human I know. It has been both a burden and a pleasure to work for and with him for all these years. I know how hard he works and I see how it has paid off for him. He is at the top of his game today.

Scott Borchetta has benefited from his hard work in Nashville. We look at Scott today and say, wow how fortunate he is to have Taylor in his camp. Don’t forget the chances he took early on with his label or how hard he worked at MCA in the old days.

Mike Dungan is one of the smartest executives in Nashville but, along with playing hard, works very hard. Mike saw around the next turn and put together the label of the year. Yeah Lady Antebellum is his lead-off batter but his lineup is deep and Mike is the architect of that team.

Bob Pittman has decided to spend his efforts in support of the merits of radio in the traditional format. That is going to take a lot of work on his part. We who work in radio are fortunate to have Bob as our spokesman because he is tireless and brilliant.

Artists like Jason, Brad, the Flatts, Kenny and Miranda are continuously on the road. New acts like The Band Perry, Chris Young and Thompson Square get up every day knowing that it is worth the hard work to make a name for themselves so they can soon be in the first group of artists.

I enjoy working hard. I appreciate that I work for a great company and would not want it any other way. Wait, let me check my Mega Millions ticket from last night…

Okay, as I was saying, I love working with others dedicated to the radio business and as we kick off 2012 I tell those people, it is going to be tough this year. If you still have a job, you are working harder than you have in the past years. Most likely you have picked up an extra duty or two to replace the co-worker who moved on.

I was talking to a friend of mine the other day who has been out of work for about 6 months and he said that the only thing he has from 2011 is a used calendar. That is glass half empty. I told him that the number one New Year’s resolution each year is SPEND MORE TIME WITH THE FAMILY. There you go.

Hey, he is ahead of the game. A recent study found that only 12% of those making New Year’s resolutions actually kept them.

According to Wikipedia, a study in 2007 by Richard Wisemen from the University of Bristol showed that 78% of those who set New Year resolutions fail, and those who succeed have 5 traits in common. Men achieved their goal 22% more often when they engaged in goal setting, (a system where small measurable goals are being set; such as, a pound a week, instead of saying “lose weight”), while women succeeded 10% more when they made their goals public and got support from their friends.

As we all (pick one) — 1. Rush into 2. Ease into 3. Are pushed into — 2012 remember to keep your wits about you. If you’re in the record business there is not going to be a huge increase in the number of CDs sold this year. The model is still broken but GREAT music does reach the consumer and every year a Brantley Gilbert or a JaneDear Girls come along that lifts our hopes.

I believe that the glass is half full. Now, it is teetering right on the edge of the desk, but it is half full.

I do want to mention too that I saw three GREAT shows since we last chatted. Lady Antebellum played the Coliseum in Morgantown and were fabulous.

Jim Brickman played his Christmas show at the Clay Center in Charleston, WV. An A+ evening.

And I saw Bill Anderson play the Wheeling Jamboree in December. Bill has been doing this a long time and his showmanship and professionalism were apparent. I don’t remember enjoying an evening more.

Happy New Year.

Artist Updates (1/05/12)

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Hazel Smith with Jamey Johnson and Jessi Colter

On Saturday, January 7, Jessi Colter and Jamey Johnson will appear on CMT’s Southern Fried Flicks with Hazel Smith to discuss the upcoming release of The Music Inside: A Collaboration Dedicated to Waylon Jennings, Volume II. As usual, the chat will accompany a home-cooked meal and a movie showing, which will be the original 1984 Footloose.

The second installment of the Waylon tribute, a project overseen by Jennings’ widow Colter, will be released by Average Joe’s Entertainment and according to Waylon’s website, is available January 24. Featured performers include Dierks Bentley (“Lonesome, Onry, and Mean”), Montgomery Gentry (“Good Old Boys”), Jewel (“Dreaming My Dreams With You”) and more. The first volume of the series was released early in 2011 via the Big Machine Label Group, and a third volume is also in the works.

• • • • •

Brice and fiancee Reeveley

Lee Brice welcomed 2012 by proposing to his longtime girlfriend Sara Reeveley, the mother of the couple’s three year old son Takoda. The couple was on vacation in Key West when Brice popped the question. A date has not yet been set. “I finally get to marry that beautiful girl I met on Myrtle Beach years ago,” said Brice. “I can’t wait to get Sara and Takoda to Nashville so we can all be together.” Brice’s current single “A Woman Like You” is at No. 23 on MusicRow’s CountryBreakout Chart, and he was also a co-writer on the recent Eli Young Band hit “Crazy Girl.”

• • • • •

The video for Lauren Alaina’s new single “Georgia Peaches, will premiere exclusively on CMT Friday, January 6 at 8 AM/ET. To accompany the video, CMT is debuting at 15-minute special CMT Premieres: Lauren Alaina – Georgia Peaches with behind-the-scenes footage, interviews and more. The clip was directed by David McClister and filmed at Nashville’s Sylvan Park Melrose Restaurant. “Making the ‘Georgia Peaches’ video was a blast. I got to have some of my closest friends in the video. We were laughing and having a good time throughout the night. I love that I was able to have them there,” said Alaina.

• • • • •

Singer/songwriter Deborah Allen will give a lucky fan the chance to attend Elvis Week 2012 (scheduled for Aug. 10-18 in Memphis) with the launch of her Amazing Graceland Contest. The contest opens on Elvis’ birthday, January 8, and closes April 7. One winner and guest will receive round trip airfare to Memphis, hotel accommodations for three nights, admission to select Elvis Week events (Aug 15-17 only), an autographed copy of Allen’s album Hear Me Now, and a special meet and greet with Allen. The Memphis native wrote her song “Amazing Graceland” after visiting Elvis’ home, and it appears on Hear Me Now. More info here.

Underwood Donates To Hometown Schools

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Carrie Underwood made wishes come true this holiday season for the schools in her hometown of Checotah, Oklahoma with donations amounting to $350,000 through her Checotah Animal, Town, and School (C.A.T.S.) Foundation. Each of the four schools – Marshall Elementary, Checotah Intermediate School, Checotah Middle School, and Checotah High School – learned that they would receive the necessary funds from C.A.T.S. to use on new computer labs for each school, playground equipment, physical fitness equipment, as well as new band uniforms, furniture, storage, instruments for their music programs and more.

“Late last year each of the schools created a list of their needs and I am so thrilled that the C.A.T.S. Foundation was able to fund it all,” said Underwood. “It gives me great joy knowing we are helping my hometown schools to offer an even better education to the students. They deserve it.”

“We are so proud of Carrie and her accomplishments and we appreciate everything she has done for our students. Every student in our school will benefit from the C.A.T.S. Foundation’s generous donation,” shared Toni Brown, Assistant Superintendent of Checotah Public Schools.

In addition, this past October, Underwood’s C.A.T.S. Foundation partnered with national non-profit organization KaBOOM!, and with the help of over 200 local volunteers built a playground in one day at Marshall Elementary School designed by the school’s students.

Rising Stars Set For “Music In The City” at Tin Roof

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Eric Paslay is among the performers at Music In The City.

The Tin Roof will be rockin’ on Tues., Jan. 31 with performances by Eric Paslay, Josh Hoge, Dustin Lynch, Coldwater Jane, and The Cordovas (Jaron Lowenstein, Joe Firstman, Jon Loyd, Toby Weaver, Jonathan Gray).

Nashville Lifestyles’ Music in the City event kicks off at 5:30 pm with a portion of the proceeds to benefit Keep Music in Music City.

Tickets are $20 in advance, $25 at the door. Each ticket includes two complimentary cocktails. Details here.

Sales Trilogy Part Two: Catalog Is Cool, Again

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Sales Trilogy: Part One showcased the final week of 2011 and some of the basic indicators for country music’s sales performance. (Read it HERE.) Sales Trilogy: Part Two will put the year’s achievements in perspective across genres, by artist, by sales format and by market share.

Regular readers know that the source of this year-end data, is Nielsen SoundScan. Special thanks to Scoop Marketing’s Anna Loynes who is instrumental in compiling and distributing the coveted information.

For those living in a units-based world, it was a good year. Total album sales rose 1.3% to 326.2 million units and if we include TEA (track equivalent albums) in that tally the increase was a healthy 3.2%.

Genres posting the highest gains by percentage were Jazz (+26%; 11.07 million), New Age (+16.2%; 1.93 million), Electronic (+15%; 10.05 million) and Classical (+6.8%; 9.57 million). Coincidence or not, these high-growth genres all qualify for “Long Tail” niche status. Are we seeing a shift in buying habits or is this a reflection of increased availability of catalog due to digital formats? Either way it is something for marketers of these diverse genres to watch.

Formats suffering the slings and arrows of negative growth were Soundtracks (-19.4%; 13.23 million), Latin (-4.3%; 11.81 million), R&B (-4.2%; 55.44 million), Christian/Gospel (-2%; 23.73 million) and Country (-1.8%; 42.92 million).

As expected, Digital track sales (+8.5%) and Digital Album Sales (+19.5%) continued to erode physical format dominance. Digital albums as a percent of Total album sales are now 31.2% compared with 26.4% for 2010. (country digital albums as a percentage of total country album sales are 19%.) This means that over 68% of album sales are still in physical format.

Some “Did you know?” party chatter—In 2010 and 2011 there were 13 albums that sold one million or more units and 35 albums made it into the 500k-999k category both years.

Catalog was an important element in carving out the positive 2011 sales landscape. Looking at overall album sales, deep catalog jumped 12.5%, regular catalog increased 8.9% while current sales fell -4.2%. That trend was most pronounced in the digital arena. Deep digital catalog skyrocketed 23.1%, with overall catalog rising 19.8%.

Market Share
The album market share discussion is colored this year by the knowledge that UMG (29.85%) and EMI (9.62%) are planning to integrate in the coming year. This would give the new combined entity almost 40% of the total sales pie leaving Sony Music (29.29%) and Warner Music Group (19.13%) as distant challengers.

Billboard Top Ten Artist Airplay Based Upon Nielsen BDS (2011 calendar year)

Artist Stats
And now to the artist discussion. Whatever question is asked, guess Adele and her album 21, and odds are almost 100% you will be correct. Adele sold 6.744 million units and in the process earned the No. 1 position for Top Selling Album and Artist. Her track “Rolling In The Deep” was top Selling Digital Track (5.813 million). Nashville, unfortunately was mostly MIA with regard to the various top ten sales lists. However, on the Top Selling Album List Jason Aldean was No. 5 (1.576 million) and Lady Antebellum placed No. 10 (1.2 million). In the Top Artist sweeps Lady A, Jason and Taylor Swift placed in positions 6, 8 and 9 respectively. (see above chart)

 Factoids
>>For the second straight year, Lady Antebellum finishes the year as the biggest selling group of 2011 with more than 2.1 million album sales.

>>Garth Brooks continues to be comfortably the best selling artist in the Nielsen SoundScan era with more than 68.5 million album sales; 5 million sales ahead of the Beatles.

>>Katy Perry ends the year as the most played artist over the airways in 2011 with more than 1.4 million spins; edging out Bruno Mars by 17,000 spins.

>>In 2011, 31% of all albums purchased were through a digital service like iTunes, Amazonmp3 or eMusic, an increase of 5 points from 2010.

Paisley Renames Upcoming Tour

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In December, during rehearsals and stage set-up for his upcoming tour, Brad Paisley decided to rename the show. The outing, which starts Jan. 12, is now called the Virtual Reality World Tour 2012.

“When you see plans and sketches on paper it’s one thing but to actually see it in real life is something else, and that’s what happened to me when we were in tour rehearsals. When I saw the visuals and how exciting and sometimes mind-blowing they were I just felt the tour name needed to reflect what the fans were going to see,” says Paisley. “For two hours each night of the tour they can be taken away from reality—literally.”

The run kicks-off next week with special guests CMA New Artist of the Year The Band Perry and 2011 American Idol winner Scotty McCreery. Live Nation is the national tour promoter. For ticket sales and more information visit www.bradpaisley.com and www.livenation.com.

2012 First Quarter Tour Dates:
January 12                   Grand Rapids, MI
January 13                   Milwaukee, WI
January 14                   St. Paul, MN
January 19                   Kansas City, MO
January 20                   Wichita, KS
January 21                   Denver, CO
January 26                   Boise, ID
January 27                   Salt Lake City, UT
January 28                   Las Vegas, NV
February 9                   Spokane, WA
February 10                 Eugene, OR
February 11                 Tacoma, WA
February 16                 Lubbock, TX
February 17                 Las Cruces, NM
February 23                 Madison, WI
February 24                 Moline, IL
February 25                 Springfield, MO
March 1                       Baltimore, MD
March 2                       Knoxville, TN
March 3                       Lexington, KY

Industry Ink (1/5/12)

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PLA Media has announced the addition of Carly Caramanna as PR & Marketing Account Executive. In her new role, Caramanna will be responsible for day-to-day initiatives and aiding with social media strategy.

“Coming from New York City, Carly brings with her a wealth of experience and creative ability,” says PLA Media President/CEO Pam Lewis. “With a great reputation in the industry, we look forward to her becoming a vital part of our team.”

Prior to joining PLA, Caramanna worked independently out of New York City and has been a part of media campaigns for Lynyrd Skynyrd and Carol Channing. A native of New Jersey, Caramanna studied at New York University. Congratulate her at carly.caramanna@plamedia.com.

• • •

Nashville-based Chris Vetrano, former VP Artist Relations & Business Development for Brite Revolution and Brite Magazine, has departed his position with the company to launch CMENT. According to a press release, the new venture will “focus on the development of media and entertainment brands” and offer services in PR, marketing, management and more. Reach him at chris@cment.us.

• • •

Wigby, a new company offering live performance videos via webcast, will celebrate its launch with a Jan. 19 show at The Basement. Local singer-songwriter Korby Lenker started the company with a focus on minimal production and editing. Among the artists who have made Wigby videos are Tim O’Brien, Angel Snow, Courtney Jaye, and Natalie Prass.  

Performing at the launch party will be Prass, Lenker, Alyssa Bonagura, and Wild Cub (members of Keegan DeWitt and Pico vs. Island Trees).

Contact Lenker at korby@korbylenker.com or see more on Facebook.

• • •

A crazed concertgoer at The Ryman stabbed the fan seated next to him in the face last night (1/4) during the Gregg Allman concert, according to The Tennessean. The report says that the two men began arguing after they bumped into each other. The victim was treated at a local hospital for minor injuries.