‘Pickler & Ben’ Debuts To Solid Ratings

Kellie Pickler and Ben Aaron. Photo: George Burns Jr.

New lifestyle and entertainment daytime television show Pickler & Ben, which features hosts Kellie Pickler and Ben Aaron, launched with solid ratings yesterday (Sept. 18). The show provided a 42 percent ratings increase compared to the time slot’s former show, earning the No. 1 rating in the Nashville market and a higher rating than the second and third ranked stations in the time slot, combined. Preliminary ratings show Pickler & Ben had a 6.8 household rating, with Live with Kelly and Ryan bringing in a 3.6 rating and The Today Show showing a 2.8 rating.

Pickler & Ben airs in 38 local television markets across the country and nationally on CMT. The show features Kellie and Ben hosting segments with top celebrities, tastemakers and experts on everything from entertaining and home design to cooking, DIY and more. The show is recorded in front of a live audience on a modern farmhouse-style set in Nashville.

Pickler & Ben is produced by Faith Hill, Happy Street Entertainment co-founder Lisa Erspamer, and Sandbox Entertainment president/CEO Jason Owen, in partnership with the E.W. Scripps Company. Joe Terry directs Pickler & Ben. Disney/ABC Home Entertainment and Television Distribution is distributing the show in national syndication.

 

 

Seventh Annual Touring Career Workshop Set For Oct. 25

The Touring Career Workshop will host its seventh annual event Oct. 25 at Soundcheck Annex in Nashville. Created by Chris Lisle and Erik Parker, TCW gives roadies a place to learn, grow and network.

Registration is open now for this year’s event, which will feature industry heavyweights Mark Steinwachs (Bandit Lites), Todd Ortmeier (Florida Georgia Line), Erik Leighty (Miranda Lambert), Mark Oglesby (One Republic), Zito (One Republic and many others. Areas of expertise covered will include getting a gig, touring and retirement planning, balancing life on and off the road, and a very special panel by some of the industry’s most successful production managers.

“We did a good bit of outreach to those in our industry in regards to what they wanted to learn about this year,” says Chris Lisle.  “Using that input, we put together an event that will present a variety of relevant, useful topics.”

Doors will open at 5 p.m. and the event will run from 6-9 p.m. There will be a networking event immediately following the sessions until 11 p.m.

iPhone Users Can Now Take Advantage Of Waze, Spotify Integration

Waze has announced that iOS device users can now use both Spotify and Waze without the need to switch between apps. The integrated experience was previously an Android-only feature, but will be rolling out over the next few weeks for iOS users.

The new update not only allows users to have their Waze alerts and music (or podcasts) stream together, but allows users to control song selection, view recently played content, switch between apps with one tap, and to access tailored Spotify recommendations.

As a safety precaution, browsing via Spotify will be blocked while a user is driving, though a passenger can access browsing.

 

 

Jillian Jacqueline, Jonathan Singleton, The Sisterhood To Play ASCAP Pilgrimage Festival Stage

Pictured (L-R): The Frist’s Angie Weeks, Nikki Lane, ASCAP’s Beth Brinker, Devon Gilfillian, and The Frist’s Crystal Churchwell. Photo: Lo Hanson

ASCAP has partnered for the second year in a row with the Pilgrimage Music & Cultural Festival to present the official ASCAP Shady Grove Stage at the festival on Sept. 23-24.

The ASCAP Shady Grove Stage will feature performances by Aaron Lee Tasjan, Angaleena Presley, Charley CrockettDevon Gilfillian, Ivory Layne, Jillian Jacqueline, Jonathan Singleton, Rosi Golan, The Bros. Landreth, The Sisterhood and the “Play Pilgrimage” contest winner, Cody Huggins.

A complete schedule of ASCAP Shady Grove Stage set times can be found  here.

Paul McGuire Joins ole’s YouTube Multi-Channel Network To Produce, Host Content

Robert Ott, Paul McGuire

Former CMT host Paul McGuire has joined ole as a producer of premium content and a show host for ole’s YouTube Multi-Channel Network (MCN), which will focus on live music content and interviews across genres.

An award-winning broadcaster, McGuire has hosted and produced shows for YTV, CTV, CMT, Global Television Network, The Food Network, The History Channel and others while interviewing top actors, politicians, scientists, rock stars, athletes and business leaders. In 2016, Paul was presented with the Country Music Association’s International Broadcaster of The Year Award.

“ole is very pleased to welcome Paul McGuire as we take our MCN to the next level,” said ole CEO & Chairman Robert Ott. “Paul’s 24-year history as a broadcaster and content producer is going to be invaluable.  We look forward to bringing our audience some very unique and exclusive content.”

“I couldn’t be more excited about joining the team at ole,” said McGuire. “A homegrown success story like no other, this a group of people who excel at turning obstacles into opportunities, challenges into breakthroughs and hard work into concrete results. With their limitless enthusiasm and love for music, I can’t wait to see what we can do together. Their toy box is HUGE – Let’s play!”

In one of his first productions for the company, McGuire will report from the ole-sponsored red carpet at the 2017 Canadian Songwriters Hall of Fame induction ceremony on Sept. 23 in Toronto with content set to air on ole’s MCN the following day. Subsequently, McGuire will produce original content spotlighting ole talent and acts, including “John Cody: Hard Won,” a tribute to the ole label group artist. McGuire will also host “Paul McGuire’s Country Countdown,” a weekly country music countdown show.

John Fogerty Inks New Deal For Solo Project, Album Reissues

John Fogerty has signed an exclusive recordings deal to release his new solo album and to reissue his solo catalog via BMG. The co-founder of Creedence Clearwater Revival is currently in the studio working on material for the new full-length project, which is due out next year.

BMG will kick off Fogerty’s catalog reissue campaign beginning with the 20th anniversary release of the Grammy Award-winning album Blue Moon Swamp on CD, 180g black vinyl, limited-edition 180g blue vinyl, and digital platforms on Nov. 17. Originally released May 20, 1997, Blue Moon Swamp won Best Rock Album at the 40th Grammy Awards in 1998, with the song ‘Blueboy’ receiving a Grammy nomination for Best Male Rock Vocal Performance that same year. Blue Moon Swamp received gold certification by the RIAA, and the 20th anniversary release of the project features a new album cover showcasing the famed concert backdrop from the album’s original supporting tour.

“We couldn’t be more proud to sign a cultural and musical icon like John Fogerty, and become part of his legacy as he continues to create extraordinary and timeless music,” said John Loeffler, the A&R executive overseeing the deal at BMG. 

Additional reissues from Fogerty’s solo career include the chart-topping, multi-platinum, Gammy-nominated Centerfield, the gold-certified and Grammy-nominated albums Eye of the Zombie and Premonition, Déjà vu (All Over Again), and a new Best of collection featuring highlights and favorites curated from his extensive solo catalog. Release dates will be announced at a later date.

Andrew Kintz—A Money Man Made For Music

First Tennessee’s Andrew Kintz

One year ago First Tennessee launched a music business banking group, under the direction of former SunTrust banker Andrew Kintz. Starting from scratch has been an enjoyable challenge for Kintz and his team. He recently spoke to MusicRow about building a clientele, Nashville’s collaborative environment and why the music business is still a growth industry.

What was the bank’s mission in building this practice?

The music industry is a growth industry, not only locally, but across the country. Part of the bank’s overall corporate strategy is to look at more national businesses, and also specialty businesses, where there is growth. So, about the same time, they also started a new sponsor-backed healthcare group and had a team very similar to mine join the firm to work with those kinds of companies.

I think it is also because Tennessee is a place of music. Think about bluegrass in East Tennessee, country and Christian here in Middle Tennessee, and blues and rock ‘n’ roll in West Tennessee. Of all the banks headquartered in this state, we have the largest market share of the overall state, so the executives were thinking, “Wait a second. We’re not deep in the music industry?”

Was it appealing for you that First Tennessee didn’t already have an established music division?

I was kind of a free agent last summer, so I started talking to banks, business management firms, and publishers, just trying to figure out my next ten years.

What I wanted at that time was to build something completely from scratch, because I don’t have the risk appetite to be a real entrepreneur. I wanted there to be a blank page. I wanted to have zero clients. I wanted there to be no credit policy internally.

First Tennessee didn’t have a music division, but they wanted to make a large investment, so we entered the industry. Day one, all we had was expenses and no revenue. And to say, “Okay, let’s take on that challenge. And let’s build the team, and let’s find our own space.” It’s been wonderful. It’s been really hard and really fun.

What are you building today that’s different from your previous banking experiences?

When you’re starting with zero clients, you have to think about the business in a really strategic way. And you have the time and space to think.

Each one of the music banks, who are all my friends, and people I care about and respect, all kind of have a niche. So it’s figuring out, “What’s our identity? Who do we want to serve? Where is our place in the industry?”

Companies make up about 75 percent of our business and individuals about 25 percent. I think that business mix is going to remain. Most of our current business is commercial-forward, meaning “company first, individual to follow after that.” For companies in the music industry we loan money or do treasury management. Our approach has been to become the company’s bank. And then the second step has been doing something for the owner, or doing something for one of the big writers of that publishing firm that became our client.

Andrew Kintz celebrates at ASCAP party to honor Keith Urban’s No. 1, “Blue Ain’t Your Color,” written by Clint Lagerberg, Hillary Lindsey and Steven Lee Olsen, on Friday, March 3, 2017 at Nashville’s Basement East.

Many people believe the music industry is struggling. But you see the glass as half full. Why is it a growth industry?

There are segments of the industry that are a challenge, but as a whole, we see it as a growth industry. Arguably, this time last year, we were in the very first year in a long time that all three main sections of the music industry were growing: performance royalties, touring, and recorded music. 

The PROs are collecting and distributing more dollars every year.

Live music has crested the $10 billion mark in the United States. Ticket sales continue to be strong, and if you look at the Pollstar numbers that came out June 30, it was an 11 percent growth from the prior year. Sponsorship business is healthy. Advertising is healthy.

And then, finally, recorded music is coming back. Meaning that it went from $15 billion in the year 2000, down to $7 billion in 2015, but in 2016, it was back up to $7.7 billion, because of streaming. So we’ve increased 10 percent in recorded music.

With so many banks vying for entertainment business here in Nashville, what is the environment like?

It’s extremely friendly. It’s unlike banking in general where banks are going head-to-head. I was at Regions Bank recently being hosted by Brad Peterson at a great information session led by John Barker from ClearBox. I use that as an example, because it’s that way with the competitors such as Pinnacle Bank, Regions Bank, SunTrust Bank, City National Bank and Franklin Synergy. And I have worked with most of them, literally, when we were all at the same bank. Over time, those relationships have been strong.

I think that collaboration is unique to Nashville. It’s not like this in the other entertainment hubs in the country. I know my competitors’ strengths, and if there is a product or service that another bank may have that I don’t, I’ll call the other banker about it. I honestly believe that all the banks can win and grow. I bet if you talk to each leader they would honestly say their business is growing.

Now that you’ve got a year behind you, what are some of the things that you learned by starting with a clean slate?

I’ve learned to be very inclusive of my team, which is made up of Bryan Bolton, Mark Ford, and Aaron Hester. It’s important for the four of us to make decisions together. For example, we’ve created this cool, little sub-brand: ‘First Tennessee Bank—Made for Music.’ 

I’ve also learned about the importance of overlap in roles and duties. We are all almost 20-year bankers so we basically wear all hats. I’m doing portfolio manager work, relationship manager work, executive work, and assistant work. And I like it—it’s bootstrapping. It’s a good thing for someone to need to do everything, and not consider themselves in a specific role. And, I want to make that continue even as we grow and as I hire more people over the next six months.

For clients seeking music banking services, what should they look for in a bank?

If they’re meeting with any entertainment bank, I think it’s very important for them to understand the overall corporation’s investment in the business. And thankfully, all of the main banks have shown great commitment to the business. If you’re a significant client, I would want to meet the leader of the music industry group and the leader of the bank itself, to really understand how invested the bank is in the business.

I think another piece of it is understanding the breadth of your bank. In other words, anybody can do a commercial loan to acquire a piece of real estate. But there are other things to try to understand. I would want to have one bank that could essentially serve all my needs. If I was a publisher and was expanding, I would want to understand how they underwrite a catalog purchase. Those parameters can vary widely— amortization, term, rate, pre-payment penalty, the value of the catalog. And I’d ask, at what size loan do they require evaluation? Because there are transaction costs. There would be a lot of questions depending on what segment of the industry I was in.

The hard economics of being a songwriter has created ongoing dialogue in the news. What are your thoughts about how we as an industry address this?

There are a lot of reasons for hope, for professional songwriters, for the PROs who represent them, and for the publishers who sign them. The pie really is getting bigger, but the songwriter piece needs to be getting bigger commensurate with the way the overall industry is growing. There are other things that are kind of replacing that income in the industry and those funds need to be getting to writers.

With the NMPA, AIMP and NSAI and all of these wonderful organizations fighting like crazy for songwriters, I have reason to hope. I think that having two PROs under consent decrees is a really difficult thing for songwriters. But I see hope that those will be changed.

There are less songwriters in this city than there were 20 years ago. And that’s to the detriment of us all. The magic thing for some up-and-coming songwriters is that money is not the end goal. Because this is art.

Andrew Kintz joins ASCAP to celebrate the No. 1 status of Warner Bros. recording artist William Michael Morgan’s debut single, “I Met A Girl” at Nashville bar South on Monday, Jan. 30, 2017.

What advice would you give someone starting out in this business, who wanted to follow a similar career path similar?

I would say to enjoy the people and friendships first. You have to learn about what makes someone tick, what makes their business work, what they’re passionate about. The business and clients will follow. Once you get the music industry bug, you can’t get rid of it. When I moved to Nashville to be in the music industry, I completely fell in love with the people in the industry and not the business of it.

If you’re 22 years old, then go and join all of the different kind of young societies. YEP, or the Hall of Fame’s young society. You will meet all these other people who you’re going to come up in the industry with.

One last question. No one has ever accused Andrew Kintz of not having passion. After having a substantial number of years in this industry, how do you keep that passion burning so brightly?

I love listening to new music and hearing about how it was created, so that’s a huge part of it. It’s also the attitude of seeing this all as a gift. I pinch myself because I’m always getting to go hear music, be part of music, have some small part to play in the creation and the performance of music. So, to me, the passion is because there’s always something new.

That’s the secret sauce—stay excited about music.

Weekly Register: Kane Brown, Thomas Rhett Make Top Debuts

Pictured (L-R): Kane Brown, Thomas Rhett

Thomas Rhett‘s latest album Life Changes (The Valory Music Co.) has debuted at the pinnacle of the Top 200, claiming the third-highest chart debut for a country artist this year, and moving 123K, as noted by MusicRow.com earlier. The high-water mark also makes Life Changes this week’s top album on the Nielsen Soundscan country albums rankings.

Broken Bow’s Dustin Lynch landed at No. 2 on the country albums chart with the debut of Current Mood, which moved 36K. UMG Nashville artist Kip Moore‘s Slowheart, landed at No. 3, with 29K. Sony Nashville artist Kane Brown‘s self-titled album is at No. 4 this week, with 14K, followed by fellow Sony artist Luke CombsThis One’s For You at No. 5 with 12K.

Other country debuts this week include Toby Keith‘s Bus Songs, which debuts at No. 6 on the country albums chart with 12K, and The Texas Tenors’ Rise, which debuts at No. 17 country.

On the country digital songs rankings, Kane Brown takes over Sam Hunt’s lead on the chart, with Brown’s “Found You” debuting at No. 1 with 33K. Brown also has the No. 3 spot, with “What Ifs” moving 23K.

Blake Shelton‘s “I’ll Name The Dogs” also debuts this week, at No. 2 with 27K. Sam Hunt‘s “Body Like A Back Road” drops to No. 4 this week, with 19K. Dustin Lynch’s “Small Town Boy” rounds out the Top 5, with 17K.

Information provided courtesy of Nielsen Soundscan.

Jann S. Wenner To Sell Controlling Stake In ‘Rolling Stone’

Rolling Stone founder Jann S. Wenner of Wenner Media is selling the company’s controlling stake in the publication, according to a report from The New York Times. Wenner founded Rolling Stone 50 years ago, in 1967. Last year, BandLab Technologies Ltd., a Singapore-based social music company, purchased a 49 percent stake in the Rolling Stone brand, including the magazine and its digital assets. Now, Wenner Media’s controlling stake is up for sale.

The follows two similar moves from Wenner Media, which sold its two other magazines, US Weekly and Men’s Journal.

Both 71-year-old Jann and his son Gus Wenner, 27, the president and chief operating officer of Wenner Media, say they intend to continue at Rolling Stone, but acknowledged the decision could be up to the new owner.

ACM Hiring: Manager, Internship Opportunities

The Academy of Country Music has several job and internship openings.

The organization seeks a Strategic Partnerships Manager to be responsible for ensuring the contractual sponsorship elements, either sold through dick clark productions and/or 3rd party sales agent(s) and/or in-house ACM/LL strategic partnership staff, have been satisfied and communicated. The Strategic Partnership Manager will work together with ACM staff in the strategy, planning and execution of ACM and LL’s partnership programs, including identifying, cultivating, and developing leads and prospects and working with key staff to negotiate contracts and packages, closing deals, and providing account management. This person will identify and secure revenue generating opportunities with prospects across industries, foster revenue opportunities with existing sponsors, and develop a multi-year strategy and planning goals to increase sponsorship and corporate partnership revenue for ACM and LL. Travel will be required for events and meetings. Position is based in Encino, California. A Bachelor’s degree and 3+ years’ experience in sponsorship and/or partnership department at an entertainment company is required. A cover letter and resume can be sent to info@acmcountry.com.

Additionally, the ACM is looking for interns to work closely with the Academy staff in the following departments: Event Management, Operations, Public Relations & Marketing, Lifting Lives (ACM’s charitable arm), Social Media, Creative and Content Production. Internships will include work as part of the 53rd annual Academy of Country Music Awards and ACM Party For A Cause. Internships are based in Los Angeles and will start in early January running through mid-April 2017, which includes a 10-day stay in Las Vegas with hotel, travel and meals provided. Candidates may receive credit for their participation and a weekly stipend for their internship. Priority is given to sophomores, juniors, and seniors in the following majors: Business, Communications, Entertainment Management, Festival or Event Management, Journalism, Marketing, Multimedia/New Media, Music Management, Non-Profit Management, Public Relations, Social Media, or Video Production. However, all students encouraged to apply. To apply, send a cover letter and resume to internships@acmcountry.com no later than Oct. 27, 2017.