Johnny Cash Radio Special Available Via Airplay Direct

Many friends and admirers of Johnny Cash, old and new, pay tribute to the Man in Black in “Johnny Cash The Greatest: Number Ones,” a one-hour radio special available for download via Airplay Direct.

Participating artists include Willie Nelson, Kris Kristofferson, Sheryl Crow, Shelby Lynne, Rhett Miller, Brandi Carlisle, Amy Lee, Lucinda Williams, Shooter Jennings, and Sam Beam.

“Johnny Cash is a legend and we are very excited to have this wonderful radio special on AirPlay Direct, that celebrates his music and life.” said Robert Weingartz, Chairman & CEO of AirPlay Direct.

Americana Music Festival & Conference to Feature Key Industry Leaders

Bonnie Raitt

The 13th annual Americana Music Festival & Conference is fast approaching for Nashville’s Downtown Sheraton hotel.

Set for Sept. 12-15, the conference hosts panels from industry leaders and musicians including the legendary Booker T. Jones as well as special keynote interview (9/12), hosted by NPR’s Ann Powers, with previously announced Bonnie Raitt. Later that evening Raitt, Jones and Richard Thompson will be presented with Lifetime Achievement Awards at the 11th Annual Americana Honors and Awards at the Ryman Auditorium.

Other conference participants include industry leaders Ian Rogers from Topspin, who will lead a business keynote, and Bob Santelli of The GRAMMY Museum, who will lead 100 Years of Woody, a panel discussing the impact of Woody Guthrie. Jessie Scott of Music Fog will moderate Robert Ellis, Charlie Faye, John Fullbright, Lera Lynn and Paul Thorn in a performance panel. In partnership with the conference, Parnassus Books will host Music in Books featuring Sylvie Simmons on Leonard Cohen; David Menconi on Ryan Adams; and Kinky Friedman on himself.

Additional speakers include Steve Savoca (Spotify), Jim Mahoney (A2IM), attorney Rosemary CarrollSandra Aistars (Copyright Alliance), and Sean Coakley (Songlines).

Registrants receive entrance to all sanctioned daytime conference music, panels and parties, plus priority access to all evening showcase performances and one ticket to the Honors & Awards. Early Bird Registration is available until August 1, here.

Underwood Plans Video Release, “Today Show” Performance

The exclusive world premiere of Carrie Underwood’s latest video, “Blown Away,” will take place during a 24-hour window Monday, July 30, on E! News at 7 and 11:30 p.m. ET/PT and on the homepage of E! Online.

The “Blown Away” video was directed by Randee St. Nicholas and produced by Brandon Bonfiglo for Randee St. Nicholas Photography. “Blown Away” is the title track of Carrie Underwood’s fourth album and her current single. The song was written by Josh Kear and Chris Tompkins who also co-penned her smash hit, “Before He Cheats.” To view a trailer for the video, visit http://smarturl.it/blownawaytrailer.

On Saturday (7/28), Underwood will attend a private premiere of the “Blown Away” video with country radio station KJ97 and over 200 of its listeners in San Antonio, Texas. Out of hundreds of participating stations, KAJA-FM won an Arista Nashville-sponsored contest to host this special event by receiving the most listener votes.

Underwood will also perform on the Today Show Summer Concert Series in Rockefeller Plaza on August 15 as part of the morning show’s full week of outdoor concerts following the 2012 Summer Olympics.

Soon after her appearance on the Today Show, Underwood will prepare to resume her headlining Blown Away Tour across North America. The tour, which started in June with shows in the UK and across Australia, will launch in North America on September 14 in Manchester, New Hampshire, and continue through December.

Patsy Cline Exhibit To Open At Hall of Fame

The Country Music Hall of Fame® and Museum will open Patsy Cline: Crazy for Loving You on Fri., Aug. 24 for a 10-month run in the museum’s East Gallery. The exhibition will offer career-spanning audio and video which allows Cline to largely tell her story in her own words. The centerpiece will be a powerful film created by museum staff that includes performance footage, audio clips and new interviews with Country Music Hall of Fame members Harold Bradley, Brenda Lee, Willie Nelson and the Jordanaires’ Ray Walker, each of whom knew and worked with Cline. The audio clips, isolated without instrumentation, are from Owen Bradley’s original three-track recordings of some of Cline’s greatest performances including “Crazy” and “Sweet Dreams.”

Upon entering the exhibit gallery, visitors will be able to read Patsy’s biography via text-panel reproductions of the bio Cline herself crafted in 1962. Among the dozens of artifacts are hand-written letters, daughter Julie’s baby book, Patsy’s jewelry box and costume jewelry, her red cowgirl-style skirt and blouse with longhorn-steer and wagon-wheel motifs, and her stage and evening wear including gold lamé pants, matching ankle boots and fur stole.

The exhibit will be accompanied by the release of a beautiful 80-page companion book, titled Patsy Cline: Crazy for Loving You. Published by the museum’s Country Music Foundation Press, the volume will include a foreword by artist Rosanne Cash and an essay by noted Cline authority Paul Kingsbury. 

“Though she recorded for only eight years and made her last record nearly 50 years ago, her body of work—those classic torch songs and ballads of heartache—have continued to resonate with music fans of all genres,” says Museum Director Kyle Young. “While she considered herself a country singer, she was equally adept at pop stylings, and was a key influence in bringing the two genres closer stylistically in the 1960s. Her prodigious vocal stylings and unique delivery have influenced scores of artists including Loretta Lynn, Linda Ronstadt and Reba McEntire.

Cline recorded classic songs “Crazy,” “She’s Got You,” “I Fall to Pieces,” “Sweet Dreams (of You)” and many more before her untimely death in a plane crash on March 5, 1963. Cline’s achievements were formally acknowledged with her 1973 induction into the Country Music Hall of Fame.

The opening weekend of the exhibit will include an Aug. 25 panel discussion featuring Cline’s husband Charlie Dick, and daughter Julie Fudge, Country Music Hall of Fame member Harold Bradley, and singers George Hamilton IV and Jan Howard. There will be an Aug. 25 concert featuring Bradley, singer-songwriter Jessi AlexanderAlways…Patsy Cline star and singer Mandy Barnett, duo Striking Matches and singer Emily West. 

Details at countrymusichalloffame.org.

IBMA Nominations Coming In August

Nominees for the 23rd annual International Bluegrass Music Awards will be announced at a press conference Wednesday, August 15, 5 pm at the Loveless Barn. Sonya Isaacs and Bradley Walker will host the event, which will also reveal inductees into the International Bluegrass Music Hall of Fame and Distinguished Award recipients.

That evening’s Music City Roots show at Loveless Barn will take place at 7 pm and feature Doyle Lawson & Quicksilver, Junior Sisk & Ramblers Choice, Lonesome River Band, and The Isaacs. The press conference will also be streamed at musiccityroots.com and on SiriusXM’s Bluegrass Junction.

The annual IBMA Awards, which will be hosted by Del McCoury and Laurie Lewis, is slated for September 27 at the Ryman Auditorium.

For more information, including tickets to the awards, visit www.ibma.org.

UMG Submits Divestment Package to European Commission

Universal Music Group has submitted its divestment package to the European Commission, the latest step in the corporation’s proposed $1.9 billion purchase of EMI’s recorded music division.

“We believe the package fully addresses the Commission’s concerns and follows our constructive discussions with regulators, independent labels and competitors,” said the company in a statement.

The Commission will test out the package with the company’s competitors to see if it satisfies their concerns. The Commission will have until the September 27 deadline to make a ruling.

Complete details on what is included in the package have not been released. Late yesterday, reports surfaced that UMG was considering selling off EMI’s Parlophone imprint, home of Coldplay, Radiohead, Blur, and The Beatles. BMG Rights Management is rumored to be in talks to purchase Parlophone, though UMG would likely hang on to The Beatles’ catalog. Previously, UMG had been considering the sale of smaller imprints such as Virgin, Chrysalis, and Mute.

The Federal Trade Commission is currently investigating the proposed deal in the United States.

Weekly Register: The TEA Wave

Isn’t it fun to watch the “human wave” seemingly glide around the perimeter of a stadium as excited fans toss their arms up creating an energy that moves across the crowd with such ease and grace?

That movement could be a way to visualize the active switch taking place to digital music, especially among country consumers. YTD digital country album sales are up 40.7% and digital country tracks are ahead almost 13%. These two numbers are high enough, but when you factor in country’s almost 30% TEA Index (track equivalent albums; 10 tracks=1 album) it shows the balance between albums and track sales is also being boosted substantially by digital track sales.

During the past few years total country album sales have been mostly constant, but the physical slice of that same size pie is definitely contracting. There’s a lot of factors at work contributing to the digital uptick. Physical shelf space has been shrinking, making it more difficult to find catalog and other fan favorites in local music sections which pushes consumers online. At the same time adoption of digital tools including mobile, tablet, laptop and desktop continues to explode. Whereas once upon a time many consumers just didn’t know how to purchase and download an album, the procedure is becoming so “user friendly” that even Mom and Grandma are starting to give it a try.

Nielsen Soundscan numbers are a blessing, but they can sometimes hide the underlying essential metric—profitability. The march to files should lower costs such as shipping, manufacturing, printing and returns. But unfortunately, we are also seeing pricing slide on the digital side. Recently Amazon and Google Play offered complete new albums for $3.99 and sometimes even 99¢. In many of those cases, the store is paying full wholesale price to the label but more recently labels are begining to offer some discounts. Either way the sale prices pose a serious problem to the economic album equation. Consumers will soon expect to purchase new product at these attractive and lower rates which are not sustainable with today’s current royalty rates and other costs.

For example, on July 3, Amazon offered twenty album titles at 99¢ including Katy Perry and the Black Keys. According to Billboard’s Keith Caufield (7/21/12) the entire promotion scanned 454,000 digital albums for the week versus the previous week when the same twenty titles scanned a meager 64k.

I’ve been expecting to see the TEA index rise, but it’s possible that cut-rate album promotions have been artificially propping up the album share. Readers of this column will remember that the TEA index sums physical, digital and TEA (track equivalent albums; 10 tracks=1 album) then calculates the percentage of total album sales that come from TEA. Is it possible that the discount album pricing is responsible for keeping the TEA Index flat? Quite possible. Digital album discounts are the latest in a series of troubling sales revelations. (After all, if 10 tracks are sold for a dollar, that means they are only worth 10¢ each.)

Charting This Week
Topping this week’s country album list is Zac Brown Band whose Uncaged has a strong second week scanning over 78k units (40% digital downloads) and falling about 67% from last week. Old Crow Medicine Show debuts at No. 4 this week with about 17k and Warner’s The Farm is planting a few seeds starting out at No. 35 with over 2.7k. In the wake of Zac’s strong debut last week, country album sales tumbled 29% this week.

ZBB and Kenny Chesney (No. 2; 23k) are the most recent superstar releases. Chesney after five weeks has a RTD total of almost 353k and ZBB which is selling at a slightly faster clip than Kenny has 312k in week two. Also, what about Luke Bryan who continues to show strong sales. Even in week No. 50 his Tailgates & Tanlines perches nicely at No. 3 with RTD of almost 1.3 million units.

Clicking over to the digital country tracks this week’s story is all about Jason. Mr. Aldean comes a’slammin’ out of the box to scan over 189k units of “Take A Little Ride.” According to Aldean’s GreenRoom information station it’s the highest-ever digital track debut from a male country artist.

New faces in the country tracks Top 10 include Hunter Hayes (no. 3; 69k), Love And Theft (No. 7; 41k) and Gloriana (No. 10; 38k). For a list of upcoming new albums click HERE.

This writer will be on assignment studying album sales outside the U.S. for the next few weeks… please welcome MusicRow publisher Sherod Robertson who will be kindly filling in until my return.

Opry Snapshots (7/27/12)

On Wednesday (7/25), Grand Ole Opry member group Rascal Flatts performed for a sold-out crowd at the Opry. The 30-minute set included a collaboration with American Idol alum Lauren Alaina on the group’s hit version of “Life Is A Highway.” The group is scheduled to return to the Opry on Tues., Aug. 21. Also, due to fan response, a second show has been added to the Opry schedule for Sat., Aug. 4. The line-up for that evening includes Carrie Underwood, Jimmy Dickens, and more.

Lauren Alaina and Rascal Flatts at the Opry on 7/25. Photo: Chris Hollo

• • •

Following their performance at the Grand Ole Opry on Wednesday (7/25), Exile spent some time with Bee Gee’s frontman, Barry Gibb. Exile recently released People Get Ready, their first studio album project in 15 years. Visit www.opry.com for updated schedules.

(L-R): J.P. Pennington, Les Taylor; Marlon Hargis, Barry Gibb, Sonny Lemaire and Steve Goetzman

 

 

Weekly Chart Report (7/27/12)

Syndicated personality Moby in the Morning hosted The Roys, who are promoting a forthcoming CD, New Day Dawning, due out August 28. The brother/sister duo performed the new single “Still Standing.” Pictured (L-R): Lee Roy, Moby and Elaine Roy

SPIN ZONE
Is July really almost over? Man, when did that happen? Even though the days of summer are numbered, there’s no shortage of big summer singles on the CountryBreakout Chart. Keith Urban’s “For You” is out ahead of the bunch, moving up to the No. 1 position after 16 weeks on the chart. Little Big Town’s “Pontoon” is sailing with strong winds, as it gains 300 spins to move up to No. 3. RCA Nashville’s Love and Theft is also looking at the top of the chart with “Angel Eyes,” which lands at No. 5.

Jason Aldean recently released “Take A Little Ride,” the first single from his upcoming album, and it’s cruising in the express lane. After only two weeks on the chart, “…Ride” is sitting at No. 32, following an impressive gain of 708 spins. Eric Church’s “Creepin’” is pretty much jumpin’, as it gains 316 spins to move to No. 34. Close behind is Kip Moore, whose “Beer Money” is steadily climbing at No. 42.

Toby Keith leads the list of new chart debuts, with “I Like Girls That Drink Beer” hitting No. 59 in its first week of reporting. Luke Bryan’s “Kiss Tomorrow Goodbye” manages a similar feat, locking down the No. 67 position in its first week. Also debuting are Parmalee’s “Musta Had a Good Time” at No. 79 and Kelly Parkes’ “All Cried Out” at No. 80.

Frozen Playlists: KITX, KXKZ, KYTN, KZTL, WDXX, WEZJ, WKKW, WKTT

Upcoming Singles
July 30
Jason Cassidy/Ride of Your Life/A-Blake
Jordan Anderson/Key to My Heart/Go Time
Joey+Rory/When I’m Gone/Sugar Hill
Randy Rogers Band/One More Sad Song/MCA
Brantley Gilbert/Kick It In The Sticks/Valory
Jason Aldean/Take A Little Ride/Broken Bow
D. Vincent Williams/Down By The River/BPG

August 6
Lucas Hoge/Do What Makes You Feel Good/Animal House
Florida Georgia Line/Cruise/Republic Nashville
Chelsea Bain/What If I/Rock Ridge-InstiGator
Her & Kings County/Family Tree/Elektra Nashville-WMN
Heidi Newfield/Why’d You Have To Be So Good/Sidewalk
Rich O’Toole/Red Wine On Your Lipstick

• • • • •

New On The Chart—Debuting This Week
Artist/song/label — chart pos.
Toby Keith/I Like Girls That Drink Beer/Show Dog-Universal – 60
Luke Bryan/Kiss Tomorrow Goodbye/Capitol – 67
Parmalee/Musta Had A Good Time/Stoney Creek – 79
Kelly Parkes/All Cried Out – 80

Greatest Spin Increase
Artist/song/label — spin+
Jason Aldean/Take A Little Ride/Broken Bow – 708
Toby Keith/I Like Girls That Drink Beer/Show Dog-Universal – 395
Luke Bryan/Kiss Tomorrow Goodbye/Capitol – 322
Eric Church/Creepin’/EMI Nashville – 316
Little Big Town/Pontoon/Capitol – 300

Most Added
Artist/song/label — New Adds
Jason Aldean/Take A Little Ride/Broken Bow – 37
Toby Keith/I Like Girls That Drink Beer/Show Dog – Universal – 32
Luke Bryan/Kiss Tomorrow Goodbye/Capitol – 26
Eric Church/Creepin’/EMI Nashville – 17
Kip Moore/Beer Money/MCA – 9
Sara Evans/Anywhere/RCA Nashville – 9

On Deck—Soon To Be Charting
Artist/song/label — spins
Kelleigh Bannen/Sorry On The Rocks/EMI Nashville – 183
Brantley Gilbert/Kick It In The Sticks/Big Machine-Valory – 179
Stephanie Grace/Hey There – 179
Dave Russell/Where The Money Goes/Cupit – 169
Waylon Jennings/Goin’ Down Rockin’/Saguaro Road – 149

Lonestar visited on the bus after performing at Tiki Waterfront, West Palm Beach with WIRK. Pictured (L-R): Lonestar's Michael Britt, Richie McDonald, Sammy Cruise (WIRK MD), John O'Connell (WIRK PD), Lonestar's Keech Rainwater and Dean Sams and Triple Crown Promotions Doc Gonzales (front)

99.5 The Wolf and Duke’s Bar & Grill brought Dustin Lynch to Dallas for a “low-dough” show benefiting the Doernbecher Children’s Hospital on Tuesday, July 24. L-R: Savannah Jones, Mike Moore, Dustin Lynch, Layna Bunt

MCA’s Josh Turner gathers with the WUSN crew prior to his Live Country performance at Joe’s Bar in Chicago last night (7/25). Pictured (L-R): WUSN PD Jeff Kapugi, his wife Laurie, Turner, MCA’s Donna Jo Passuntino, and WUSN’s Marci Braun and Liz Geerling

Republic Nashville’s Florida Georgia Line visited KTTS in Springfield, MO on Friday (7/20) promoting “Cruise,” its debut single that has sold 130,000 copies. Pictured (L-R): FGL’s Brian Kelley, KTTS PD Mark Grantin, KTTS Morning Host Bobby Baldwin and FGL’s Tyler Hubbard

Charlie Cook On Air: Why I Love Radio

I think that everyone who knows me or reads this space each week knows that I am an unapologetic broadcast radio fan and participant.

“Radio has been berry berry good to me.”

I half-jokingly say that I like radio as a career, because we don’t pick up heavy stuff and we don’t sweat. That certainly is one reason.

I was talking to a friend the other day about the challenges that radio gets from the online services like Pandora and Spotify. His comment that if radio were introduced today it would heralded as a revolutionary tool for marketers and advertisers.

Imagine being able to send the same message/song to thousands of people at the same time for very little expense? Imagine being able to be part of a community hearing that message or song for free.

But the real beauty of radio for me and other radio pros is not necessarily the business of the business.

I have said before that all of my friends, with the exception of my Wednesday night poker group, are in radio. There is camaraderie in the radio business that has to be unequaled in other fields.

Even if all of your friends are in radio, and in some cases records, we have relatives who are in other businesses so we know that they don’t build this kind of bond if they are building automobiles or delivering overnight mail instead of newscasts.

This is exactly point made by Senior Vice President of Programming for Clear Channel Media and Entertainment Clay Hunnicutt on why he loves his job:

“The working relationships and friendships that I have experienced with some of the most talented and creative minds I could have ever imagined. From Sammy George when I started at WUSY, to Mike O’Malley & Marc Chase, Scott Borchetta and Mike Dungan, and so many others. I don’t think I could have experienced that selling insurance and building houses. Those are honorable professions, but the combination of art and commerce coming together at the same moment is exhilarating.”

Last week radio stepped up and performed at its best when the shooting occurred in Denver.  Many people in the business say that being able to serve the community is one of pleasures of working in the industry. When a tragedy hits your city, be it the shooting at the movie theater or the derecho that came through the Midwest and eastern parts of the country last month, there is a coming together that is matched only by the first responders charged with keeping us safe.

In Raleigh, WRAL is always in the top 3 ratings wise. A huge reason for this is Bill and Lynda on the morning and Barry Fox programming a great radio stations but Bill and Lynda are so good because they live the lifestyle and giving back is important to all of them.

“I love radio for the fact that we are able to positively impact thousands of lives daily,” says Barry. In fact it is that attitude that permeates the entire station and makes it an important part of the community.

I don’t use the term community lightly. I have been involved with radio for many, many years and most of it has been country radio. I can tell you that there is a marked difference with the country audience. I think that this has to do with the combination of the listener caring about their city and town and the artists.

Providing the information about the artists is a very important part of the experience because we have the ability to learn about who the listener cares about.

I am a big fan of Melody Lee at WTVY in Dothan. Mel is one half of the morning show and is also the sales manager at the station so she is talking to listeners on the air and interacting with customers/listeners every day out on market.

She told me, “I love radio because I get to interact with listeners each and every morning. Newspaper reporters don’t get that immediate feedback. Television anchors don’t get it. I get to communicate each and every morning with the community. Instantly. They tell me what’s going on in our community, what
matters to them, what angers them, etc. Speaking to them every morning makes me more passionate about where I live and the causes I support.”

As a woman who gets up at 4 am every day she is also realistic. “I love radio because no one can tell when I’m having a bad hair day,” she adds.

I am not taking shots at Pandora or Spotify here. In fact, Spotify CEO Ken Parks spoke to us at the CMA board meeting just Wednesday and he seems like a great guy who believes strongly in his service but what they all lack is the human element that all of us in radio have enjoyed.

Whether it be with other disc jockeys, sales people or listeners, I have received more than I could ever give back. And that is one reason I love radio.

(The views expressed in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect those of MusicRow.)