Featured Archives - Page 2055 of 2965

Artist Snapshots (2/21/13)

February 21, 2013/by Jessica Nicholson

While gearing up to join Jason Aldean’s 2013 Night Train tour, RCA Nashville artist Jake Owen celebrated a Gold certification in the U.S. for his single “The One That Got Away.” Label executives and management surprised Jake with a plaque to commemorate the occasion in the midst of his tour rehearsal on Feb. 19 at Nashville’s Soundcheck.

“If the excitement wasn’t already building just preparing to hit the road with friend (and headliner) Jason Aldean, it sure is now! I can’t thank Country radio and the fans enough for supporting my music. My band and I have been in rehearsals day in and day out getting our new show ready and I can’t wait to share it,” shares Jake.

Pictured (L-R): Sony Music Nashville’s Director, Digital Sales Alaina Vehec and VP, Sales Caryl Healey, Jake Owen, Sony Music Nashville Chairman and CEO Gary Overton, Manager Brandon Gill and Booking Agent Michael Betterton

• • •

Brantley Gilbert recently performed for an enthusiastic packed house in Morgantown, W. Va., as part of a string of sold-out concerts in Kansas City, Mo.; Lincoln, Neb.; Mankato, Minn.; Corbin, Ky.; Morgantown, W. Va.; Augusta, Ga. and Chattanooga, Tenn. Gilbert and special guest Kip Moore will bring Gilbert’s Hell On Wheels tour to full houses in Tulsa, Okla. (Feb. 22) and Thackerville, Okla. (Feb. 23).

Brantley Gilbert performs to a sold-out crowd in Morgantown, W. Va. Photo: Justin Nolan Key

• • •

The Academy of Country Music welcomed Eli Young Band to its Los Angeles office recently. The band performed their hit single, “Even If It Breaks Your Heart,” which is nominated for both Song of the Year and Single Record of the Year at the upcoming Academy of Country Music Awards.

Eli Young Band performs for the Academy of Country Music.

• • •

Craig Campbell performed to a sold-out house in Raleigh, N.C.’s City Limits Saloon on Saturday.

Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum Promotes Henton

February 21, 2013/by Jessica Nicholson

The Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum has promoted Tourism Sales Manager Brad Henton to Senior Museum Sales Manager, effective immediately. Henton joined the staff in July 2004 in the events department and transitioned into tourism sales in December 2007.
Henton will report to Director of Museum Sales and Guest Relations Suzanne Tolbert. In his new role, he will continue to develop and grow the corporate meetings and convention markets and manage the department’s museum sales coordinator staff.

Henton earned a Bachelor of Business Administration degree from the University of North Alabama. He is a native of Hendersonville, Tenn.

MusicRowPics: Samantha Landrum

February 20, 2013/by Caitlin Rantala

Reviver Music’s Samantha Landrum visited MusicRow headquarters earlier this month (Feb. 4). Landrum hails from Laurel, Miss., sharing the same home turf as MusicRow’s owner/publisher Sherod Robertson.
Her single “Hometown,” which she played, will premiere on CMT and was also added to Sirius’ Highway Find. She also shared a couple of her favorites songs “One Stone at a Time” and “Just Another Day.”
For more information visit samanthalandrum.com.
[slide]

Weekly Register: Growth Needs New Releases

February 20, 2013/by bossross

This week’s sales were buoyed by the Grammy Awards and Valentines Day. But after inspecting the weekly register receipts you realize how hard it is to sustain growth without new mainstream releases, and new mainstream country releases have been in short supply YTD.
Tim McGraw’s week two of his newest disc was helped by the Grammy Awards and therefore only dropped 56 percent, less than the 62 percent or so that might normally be expected. Taylor’s Red benefited with a 106 percent jump which moved it to No. 1 with almost 72k units. But even with the holiday and the Awards (which featured lots of country talents), the Top Country Current chart failed to pass the 500k total mark. However, it did edge up from last week’s 394k to 457k this week.
The Weekly Grid tells the sad tale in brief fashion. Country albums are down almost 5 percent and all genre album sales are off YTD 6.2 percent. Just like the cold winter weather we have been suffering, it will likely be late March before the charts begin to thaw in a big way.
In the meantime, YTD country downloads (+7.1 percent) continue to be a bright spot. Buying a single song often happens quickly, on impulse, which may explain why tracks this week were even with last week. A large share of the Grammy purchases happened during and immediately after last week’s Sunday evening show and therefore showed up on last week’s numbers which did spike 18 percent. So staying even W/W (in this case) is actually quite good.
If you haven’t already noticed, Hunter Hayes is becoming the new artist to watch. His song “Wanted” moved to the top of the Digital Genre Country tracks list with over 84k downloads and a jump of 31 percent. Labelmate Blake Shelton was close behind the young prodigy with 74k.
Filling out the Top 10 country tracks were:
Carrie Underwood/Two Black Cadillacs/60k (2.64 million)
The Band Perry/Better Dig Two/57k (1 million)
Carrie Underwood/Blown Away/55k (1.9 million)
Tim McGraw/One Of Those Nights/52k
Lady Antebellum/Downtown/47k
FGL/Cruise/44k (2x platinum)
Gary Allan/Every Storm/42k
Taylor Swift/We Are Never Ever Getting Back Together/3.38 million
Next week (Feb. 26), albums will hit the stores from newcomer Jaida Dreyer, The Mavericks and Curb’s Plumb.
Stay tuned…

CMA's Keep The Music Playing Donates $1.2 Million

February 20, 2013/by Sarah Skates

The CMA Foundation donated $1.2 million to benefit music education programs for Nashville’s public schools last night at the Schermerhorn Symphony Center. (l-r) CMA Board President, Ed Hardy; CMA Board Chairman, Troy Tomlinson; CMA Chief Executive Officer, Steve Moore; Director of Metropolitan Nashville Public Schools, Dr. Jesse Register; Scotty McCreery; Nashville Mayor Karl Dean; Chevrolet National Promotions Manager, Michael Weidman; Chair of The CMA Foundation Board of Directors, Kitty Moon Emery; and Nashville Public Education Foundation Board Chair, Michael Carter, Sr. Photo credit: Donn Jones/CMA

The CMA Foundation donated $1.2 million to benefit music education programs in Nashville’s public schools. Pictured (L-R): CMA Board President, Ed Hardy; CMA Board Chairman, Troy Tomlinson; CMA Chief Executive Officer, Steve Moore; Director of Metropolitan Nashville Public Schools, Dr. Jesse Register; Scotty McCreery; Nashville Mayor Karl Dean; Chevrolet National Promotions Manager, Michael Weidman; Chair of The CMA Foundation Board of Directors, Kitty Moon Emery; and Nashville Public Education Foundation Board Chair, Michael Carter, Sr. Photo credit: Donn Jones/CMA

The CMA Foundation donated $1.2 million to benefit music education programs through the Keep the Music Playing campaign last night (Feb. 20) at the Schermerhorn Symphony Center. The money raised from the 2012 CMA Music Festival will benefit Nashville’s 81,000 public school students.
The announcement raises CMA’s Keep the Music Playing support of music education in Metro Schools to more than $6.5 million. This money has been used to build music labs and purchase instruments and supplies for all 144 Metro Nashville Public Schools through a partnership with the Nashville Public Education Foundation.
“Providing instruments for every Metro school is a tremendous accomplishment,” said Steve Moore, CMA Chief Executive Officer. “When we started this program in 2006, instruments in Metro band programs were more than 30 years old – if they were lucky enough to have them at all. Seeing what this program has accomplished on behalf of our artists is extremely gratifying. Keep the Music Playing is making a difference by helping to make quality music education a reality for our children.”
In 2006, the Keep the Music Playing program was established to give back to the community on behalf of the hundreds of Country artists who perform and make appearances at CMA Music Festival each year for free.
The announcement of the 2012 CMA Music Festival donation was made at a reception prior to the Fourth Annual CMA Keep the Music Playing All Stars Concert at the Schermerhorn Symphony Center. The All Stars Concert honors the best elementary, middle, and high school performance groups selected from Metro Schools. CMA Award nominee Scotty McCreery hosted the concert.
During the program, Michael Weidman, Chevrolet National Promotions Manager, presented a new Chevrolet Traverse, which will be used to pick up and deliver instruments for the Keep the Music Playing-funded instrument repair facility for Metro Schools; which means repaired instruments will get back into the hands of students faster.
With this announcement, the total figure for the Keep the Music Playing program is $7.6 million. This figure includes a $1 million endowment gift for the Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum’s “Words & Music” program, support of the 2012 W.O. Smith summer camp program, and a recent instrument donation to P.S. 103 in the Bronx, NY.
The 2013 CMA Music Festival will be held Thursday through Sunday, June 6-9.

Artist Updates (2-20-13)

February 20, 2013/by Jessica Nicholson

Ashley Monroe will perform the title track, “Like A Rose,” from her forthcoming March 5 Warner Bros. Records release on NBC’s The Tonight Show with Jay Leno on March 11.

• • •

Gretchen Wilson, LeAnn Rimes, The Time Jumpers featuring Vince Gill and Flynnville Train are slated to perform at the 25th Annual Country Night in Gstaad, Switzerland on Sept. 20-21, 2013.

Marcel Bach, promoter for the event, says, “We always look to top the previous year but this is a special anniversary. I could not be happier with the lineup.”

• • •

Justin Moore and Greg Bates are gearing up for performances surrounding the Daytona 500 on Feb. 24. Moore will perform a concert to honor heroes during and launch Crown Royal’s search for the individual who will receive naming rights to the 2013 Brickyard 400. Each year the whiskey brand names the July race after a hero through its “Your Hero’s Name Here” program. Moore will kick off the entry period, submit the first official nominations and perform a few of his hits on race day beginning at 10 a.m.
Bates will perform on the Coca-Cola stage beginning at 11:30 a.m.

• • •

Duo Thompson Square is encouraging fans to sponsor a child through ChildFund International. Between now and March 23, any fan who sponsors a child through ChildFund’s website can then receive two free passes to meet the couple backstage at a concert.
To participate, fans should visit the ChildFund website, choose a child and complete the sponsorship. They should then save and forward the confirmation to ChildFund@thompsonsquare.com with the subject line “concert date, concert city, your name, your phone number.”
Fans will then receive a confirmation and instructions on how to obtain their meet-n-greet passes prior to the show. Sponsorship confirmation must be received seven days before the concert date and fans must already have tickets to the show.
The pair promote ChildFund’s child development work through ChildFund’s LIVE! artist program.

Dixie Owen Launches All The Buzz

February 20, 2013/by Sarah Skates

Dixie Owen

Longtime publicist Dixie Owen today (Feb. 20) announced the launch of All The Buzz, LLC, (ATB) a Nashville-based agency specializing in public/media relations and event management. ATB will offer services including media marketing, branding, events and strategic planning, with a focus on establishing a solid foundation that builds careers.
Owner/President Owen has more than 15 years of experience with media campaigns on the local and national level. She most recently served as Senior Director of Artist & Media Relations at Universal Music Group Nashville. She spent eight years at Capitol Records Nashville, and three years as senior publicist at CMT: Country Music Television. She also spent four years at the Country Music Association and began her career at Network Ink Public Relations.

All The Buzz is currently working with dramatic web series Legacy, as well as rising singer/songwriter Brian Davis, who is on tour with Brantley Gilbert. More client announcements are expected soon.
Owen can be reached at www.AllTheBuzzLLC.com, (615) 440-6171, dixie@allthebuzzllc.com or on Twitter at @DixieAllTheBuzz.

Industry Ink (2-20-13)

February 20, 2013/by Jessica Nicholson

Billy Dean has signed with Flying Island Entertainment for radio promotion representation for his current single, “I Can’t Leave A Good Thing.” The single releases March 12. Dean’s latest project, A Man of Good Fortune, came out in September 2012.
“I am so honored that my team is working the radio promotion on Billy’s new project,” notes Flying Island President Shelia Shipley Biddy. “I have long admired Billy’s music and the impact it has had on country music.”

• • •

ClearBox Rights has introduced a weekly blog on current music copyright and publishing-related issues. Recent topics for the blog have included “The Standard Mechanical License Ceiling Is No Longer 9.1 Cents,” “Is Copyright Registration Necessary?,” “How Long Does a Copyright Last?” and “Simple Complexity–Music Licensing In The Digital Age.”
To view the blog, visit www.clearboxrights.com and click the “W” in the top right corner of the page.

• • •

Brandyn Steen has launched new publishing company Out-Write Music Publishing, LLC.

The company will represent the catalog of former Major Bob staff writer and Carolina Rain frontman Rhean Boyer, as well as singer-songwriter Cole Taylor.
Rod Parkin has joined the Out-Write Publishing team as a songplugger and assistant in songwriter development.
The company will host a launch party at Tin Roof Nashville on March 7, beginning at 7 p.m.

• • •

Some of Nashville’s music industry were included in Nashville Lifestyles‘ annual list highlighting the city’s most eligible singles.
Atlantic recording artist Brett Eldredge, CAA agent Laura Huftless, Dashboard Media President Natalie Kilgore, CMT’s Jennifer Danielson and Clear Channel Communications’ Cathy Sewell were among those selected for the list.
Additionally, all were honored last night (Feb. 19) during the annual “Single In The City” celebration held at Nashville’s Sambuca Restaurant. For more information, visit NashvilleLifestyles.com.

Bigger Picture Group Promotes Two

February 20, 2013/by Jessica Nicholson

Liz Cost

Bigger Picture Group has promoted Liz Cost to Director of Marketing and Jody Mazer to Director of Project Management. Both were previously product managers.
“Liz and Jody are hard workers, strategic thinkers and key members of the Bigger Picture Group team,” said Executive Vice President/GM Bob Cahill. “We are excited to recognize their past accomplishments as we all work together towards creating additional success and opportunities for Bigger Picture Group and our artists.”

Jody Mazer

Cost joined Bigger Picture Group in June 2010, and has served as Product Manager for artist Craig Campbell since 2011. The Syracuse, N.Y.-native graduated from Hobart & William Smith Colleges in 2007 before becoming an Assistant Producer for television/radio commercial production at Arnold Worldwide Advertising in Boston. In 2009, she moved to Nashville and became both a Production Coordinator for audio branding services at iV Group as well as a Backstage Coordinator at the Ryman Auditorium before joining Bigger Picture Group the following year.

Mazer joined Bigger Picture Group in November 2010, and has served as Product Manager for artists Chris Cagle and Chris Janson. Prior to that, the New Jersey-native served as Executive Assistant at Entertainment Services from 2004-2010. There she worked with a diverse roster of artists, including country music acts Jessica Andrews and Marcel as well as rock/metal performers Breaking Benjamin, Lamb of God, and New Found Glory. Mazer also served as Assistant Tour Manager and Production Manager for rock legend Pat Benatar during Summer 2008 and Summer/Fall of 2010.

MusicRowRecess: Aldean's '1994' Brings Out Stars' Old Photos

February 20, 2013/by Jessica Nicholson

Jason Aldean just announced that his next single will be “1994,” a tribute to the days when Joe Diffie ruled the charts.
To commemorate the song, Aldean took to Twitter to share a photo of what he looked like in 1994 and the idea caught fire. Other country artists, including Tim McGraw, Keith Urban, Hillary Scott, Kristen Kelly and Dierks Bentley, took to Twitter to share their photos from 1994.
Jason Aldean (@Jason_Aldean)

Tim McGraw (@TheTimMcGraw)

Keith Urban (@KeithUrban) “I was rockin the oversize thrift store jacket in #1994!–KU”

Kristen Kelly (@kristenkelly)

Dierks Bentley (@DierksBentley) “bedroom posters pics…embarrassing! ill dig around for the ones of spiked hair and parachute pants,” he said via Twitter.

Lady Antebellum’s Hillary Scott (@hillaryscottLA)