Phyllis Stark Returns With Weekly Column

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phyllis1

Phyllis Stark

Longtime Billboard radio editor and Nashville bureau chief Phyllis Stark is set to return to the publication with a weekly radio column titled The Stark Report. Stark previously worked with Billboard for 17 years.

Most recently, she served as Executive Editor, Country Music for Radio-info.com and authored the twice-weekly Stark Country newsletter since joining the company in 2009.

The Billboard column will debut Aug. 1 in the Mid-week Billboard Country Update. Stark is also the Nashville correspondent/country music blogger for MSN. She can be reached at [email protected].

Canadian Country Music Awards Nominees Announced

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gord bamford

Gord Bamford


The Canadian Country Music Association® announced the full list of nominees for the 2013 Canadian Country Music Association Awards. Leading the pack with seven nominations is celebrated Canadian artist Gord Bamford. Bamford is nominated for CCMA Fans’ Choice, Album of the Year (presented by Walmart), CMT Video of the Year, Single of the Year, Songwriter of the Year, Record Producer(s) of the Year, and Male Artist of the Year.
Following closely behind, Dean Brody has earned five CCMA Award nominations this year. Like Bamford, Brody will compete for top honors within the CCMA Fans’ Choice, Single of the Year, Songwriter of the Year (two nominations), and Male Artist of the Year categories.
The Band Perry has also been confirmed to perform during the event, which will be held in Edmonton on Sept. 8.
FANS’ CHOICE AWARD
Gord Bamford
Dean Brody
George Canyon
Terri Clark
Johnny Reid
SINGLE OF THE YEAR
“It’s Friday” — Dean Brody feat. Great Big Sea
“Jumped Right In” – Dallas Smith
“Leaning On A Lonesome Song” — Gord Bamford
“Main Street, 1979” – Deric Ruttan
“Show Some Respect” – Bobby Wills
ALBUM OF THE YEAR
Classics II – George Canyon
Is It Friday Yet? – Gord Bamford
Jumped Right In – Dallas Smith
Roll – Emerson Drive
Small Town Pistols – Small Town Pistols
SONGWRITER(S) OF THE YEAR
“Baby I Know It” (written by Caeland Garner/Johnny Reid; performed by Johnny Reid feat. Carolyn Dawn Johnson)
“Bob Marley” (written by Dean Brody; performed by Dean Brody)
“Cool” (written by Jason Blaine/Deric Ruttan; performed by Jason Blaine)
“It’s Friday” (written by Dean Brody; performed by Dean Brody feat. Great Big Sea)
“Leaning On A Lonesome Song” (written by Gord Bamford/Buddy Owens/Ray Stephenson; performed by Gord Bamford)
The Band Perry will perform at the CCMA on Sept. 8.

The Band Perry will perform at the CCMAs on Sept. 8.


CMT VIDEO OF THE YEAR
A Little More Work – Kira Isabella
Hope & Gasoline – Beverley Mahood
I’m Movin’ On – Terri Clark feat. Dean Brody
Leaning On A Lonesome Song – Gord Bamford
Maybe You Remember Me Now – Hey Romeo
FEMALE ARTIST OF THE YEAR
Terri Clark
Jaida Dreyer
Kira Isabella
Carolyn Dawn Johnson
Michelle Wright
MALE ARTIST OF THE YEAR
Gord Bamford
Dean Brody
Chad Brownlee
Dallas Smith
Bobby Wills
GROUP OR DUO OF THE YEAR
Emerson Drive
Hey Romeo
High Valley
Small Town Pistols
The Stellas
ROOTS ARTIST OR GROUP OF THE YEAR
Clayton Bellamy
Shane Chisholm
The Heartbroken
Corb Lund
Lindi Ortega
RISING STAR
Autumn Hill
Tim Hicks
MacKenzie Porter
Tebey
Bobby Wills
INTERACTIVE ARTIST OF THE YEAR
Terri Clark
Leah Daniels
High Valley
Codie Prevost
Tenille
*The winners of both Top Selling Album of the Year and Top Selling Canadian Album of the Year are determined by sales.

Dale Morris' WeBlast Records Partners with Mike Kraski's Tenacity Records

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Pictured (L-R): Dale Morris/Morris Management, Jason Mitchell and Mike Kraski/Tenacity Records. Back row (l-r) are: Dan Mitchell/Producer/WeBlast Records, Tim McFadden/Tenacity Records and Bradley Drake/WeBlast Records.

Pictured, Front row (L-R): Dale Morris, Morris Management; Jason Mitchell; Mike Kraski, Tenacity Records. Back row (L-R): Dan Mitchell, WeBlast Records; Tim McFadden, Tenacity Records;  Bradley Drake, WeBlast Records.


Dale Morris‘ WeBlast Records and Mike Kraski‘s Tenacity Records have developed a partnership. The first artist in this joint venture is Jason Mitchell, whose debut single “Stomp,” is available for airplay immediately.
“I’m looking forward to joining Mike in bringing Jason to country radio and our fans,” Morris said. “We’ve been working with Jason for a few years and we feel like it’s his time. We’re happy to be partnering with such a great team!” Industry veteran Morris has boosted the careers of artists including Kenny Chesney, Alabama, Gretchen Wilson, Big & Rich, Jake Owen and others.
“To get the opportunity to work with Dale is a dream come true,” Kraski added. “The only thing that makes this more exciting is to be working an artist the caliber of Jason Mitchell. The song is a smash and Jason is an elite talent.” Kraski spent 28 years with Sony Music, rising to Executive VP and General Manager. He later started Equity Music Group. Tenacity Management and Tenacity Records have been in business since 2008.

Court Yard Hounds Release 'Amelita'

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amelitaCourt Yard Hounds, made up of sisters Emily Robison and Martie Maguire, released the follow-up to their self-titled debut yesterday (July 16) via Columbia Records. For Amelita they teamed up with producer Jim Scott and guitarist Martin Strayer. The project’s 11 songs include the breezy title track, along with lead single, “Sunshine,” co-written by Jonathan Brooke, Strayer and Alex Dezen.
“I think we’ve approached it differently because we felt like okay, we are a band,” says Maguire. “We aren’t just two ex-Dixie Chicks anymore, we’re a band and we like our sound and we’re going to continue to do this and hopefully get better at it, and share something new this time around.”
The duo’s name was inspired by the novel within Game of Thrones creator David Benioff’s novel City of Theives.
Amelita Track Listing
Sunshine
Amelita
The World Smiles
Aimless Upward
A Guy Like You
Rock All Night
Phoebe
Divided
Gets You Down
Watch Your Step
The Road You Take
The project is available on iTunes. For more information, visit courtyardhounds.com

Universal To Open Crowd-Funded Project To Reprint Vinyl Albums

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uvinyl logoUniversal Music’s London-based Uvinyl is gearing up to launch “The Vinyl Project,” a crowd-funded re-pressing resource for rare and deleted records. The Uvinyl website allows the public to choose the re-pressing of selected LPs. In a hybrid of pre-ordering and Kickstarter, users must buy a copy of the LP if the proposal for reprinting is approved.
An initial list of albums for The Vinyl Project is yet to be announced and there is no official launch date for the project.

Industry Ink (7-17-13)

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Songwriter-artist Ryan Griffin recently stopped by the ASCAP Nashville office to join the PRO as a writer member. Griffin is managed by Clint Higham and Will Hitchcock of Higham Management and is published by Dan Hodges Music, LLC. For more information, visit ryangriffin.com.

Pictured (L-R): ASCAP's Ryan Beuschel, Ryan Griffin, and Dan Hodges Music LLC's Dan Hodges and Nickie Lancaster.

Pictured (L-R): ASCAP’s Ryan Beuschel, Ryan Griffin, and Dan Hodges Music LLC’s Dan Hodges and Nickie Lancaster.

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Taylor Made


MusicRow Magazine Independent Artist of the Year Taylor Made has signed on with Tenacity Records, enlisting the label for radio promotions services. This first-time collaboration between Little General Records, Taylor Made’s home label, and Tenacity is one that has both parties excited.
“We are proud to be associated with Music Row’s new artist of the year and look forward to contributing to their future successes,” said Mike Kraski, president of Tenacity Records. The trio’s previously released singles include “Good Love,” “Things You Don’t Grow Out Of” and “That’s What Life Is” – all released under the Little General label name.

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indie connect logoThe Nashville Music Industry Monthly Luncheon Series will launch Thursday, July 25 at 11:30 a.m. at Belcourt Taps. Founded by Vinny Ribas of Indie Connect, each event will feature structured networking followed by a speaker or panel of speakers addressing topics of interest to the music community. The luncheons will be held the last Thursday of each month.
The cost of these luncheons is $20 through July 21 and $25 after that and at the door. The price includes a buffet luncheon. To register, visit indieconnect.com/events.

iV Launches Strategic Music Licensing Division

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Keller_headshot

Steve Keller


Audio agency iV has launched a strategic music licensing division named Creatively Driven to nurture relationships between brands and artists.
“Working with artists to create branded music assets can be an important part of an audio branding initiative,” says iV CEO/Strategist Steve Keller. “We wanted to create a way to facilitate unique, creative relationships between brands and artists. All of the artists we represent are interested not only in licensing existing material, but in creating original musical content that can be owned by the brand.”
iV Creative Facilitator Wendy Duffy will help coordinate the new division. Duffy’s background includes working with networks, studios and creative directors in several sectors of media. “Nashville is uniquely suited as a hub for this kind of creative collaboration,” says Duffy. “iV works less as a music vendor and more as an audio agency, concerned with the development of congruent, distinct, and recognizable audio identities for our clients.”
iV is an audio agency that specializes in the strategy, creation, evaluation, and management necessary to create successful audio branding initiatives. Since launching the company in 2005, the company’s clients include Vodafone, Opel, Nestea, Trojan, Olay, Burger King, Ritter Sport, Ehrmann, Jacobs, Audi, Union Investment, Commerzbank, Coca-Cola and more.

Weekly Register: Country Sales Slip To Negative Territory

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jay-zJay-Z’s much hyped Magna Carta Holy Grail is this week’s big sales story. The rapper/mogul moved 527k first-week units, landing as the year’s second biggest debut. These sales are in addition to the one million units given away through a marketing partnership with Samsung. Justin Timberlake’s The 20/20 Experience, which opened with 968k, is the year’s leading debut.

Year-to-date Country album sales slipped into negative territory this week. With a lack of new superstar product, the industry is down -1.8 percent compared to the same week last year. Total country album sales are at 20.740 million YTD. Overall album sales are down -6.3 percent with sales of 151.652 million YTD.

It’s doubtful the Nashville slump will turn around until next month when the release schedule picks up with new music from Luke Bryan (Aug. 13). The list continues in September with albums by Keith Urban (Sept. 10), followed a week later by Billy Currington, Chris Young and Justin Moore, all on Sept. 17.

Sheryl Crow’s first country label effort, Feels Like Home, will be released by Warner Bros. Sept. 10. Lead single “Easy” is already a hit, but it remains to be seen if country fans will be receptive of the crossover star when it comes time to open wallets at the register.

Florida Georgia Line hangs at No. 1 on the country albums chart, moving 31k this week, while the duo’s monster hit “Cruise” zooms past the 5 million downloads mark.

Country tracks are up 10 percent YTD with sales of 99 million. Overall tracks are down -2.6 percent.

With temps in the 90s, it’s hard to believe the first round of CMA Awards voting is already open for the November trophy fest. The deadline to submit nomination ballots is Mon., July 22 at 5:00 PM/CT. The second ballot will be emailed to CMA members Tues., Aug. 20.

MusicRowRecess: Music Row Companies Get Flocked!

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Music Row Ladies Golf Tournament is raising money and awareness for charity by adding some colorful flamingos all over Music Row.The tournament, sponsored by ASCAP, City National Bank, Tim McGraw and McGhee Entertainment, benefits United Cerebral Palsy of Middle Tennessee.
Each company that gets “flocked” pays a small fee for “flamingo removal,” and passes the pink lawn ornaments onto another music industry company.
See what companies around the row have been “flocked” so far!

musicrowflocked

MusicRow Magazine


Kobalt Music

Kobalt Music


sea gayle flocked1

Sea Gayle Music Publishing


bmg chrysalis flocked1

BMG Chrysalis


warner brothers flocked1

Warner Music Nashville


black river entertainment flocked1

Black River Entertainment


carnival music flocked1

Carnival Music


bmi flocked1

BMI Nashville office


ascap flocked1

ASCAP Nashville office


SESAC Nashville office

SESAC Nashville office


sony music publishing flocked1

Sony Music Publishing


Sony Music

Sony Music Nashville


Warner/Chappell Nashville

Warner/Chappell Music

Taylor Swift Grabs MTV VMA Nominations

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Taylor Swift

Taylor Swift


Taylor Swift is among the artists up for trophies at the upcoming MTV Video Music Awards, to be held Aug. 25 in Brooklyn, N.Y. Swift’s clip for “I Knew You Were Trouble” garnered the 23-year-old singer nominations in the Video of the Year and the Best Female Video categories. In 2009, Swift won in the Best Female Video category for “You Belong With Me.”
Justin Timberlake, along with Macklemore & Ryan Lewis, tie for most nominations this year with six nods apiece.