Lady Antebellum Gets Gold For The Holidays

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Lady Antebellum‘s recently released holiday album, On This Winter’s Night, has earned gold certification by the RIAA, for over 500,000 units shipped. The disc was released in October.

While it marks the first full-length holiday album for the trio, it is the latest in a long line of album successes. Lady Antebellum’s self-titled debut has achieved 2x platinum status in the US, their second offering Need You Now reached 3x platinum status in the US and their most recent non-holiday offering, Own The Night, went platinum.

In 2010, the trio released the six-song holiday EP A Merry Little Christmas.

MusicRow No. 1 Song

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Zac Brown Band on set of "Goodbye In Her Eyes." Photo: Jolie Loren

Zac Brown Band’s “Goodbye In Her Eyes,” the second single from its October 2012 Uncaged release, takes this week’s No. 1 slot for our MusicRow chart.

Written by Zac Brown, Wyatt Durrette, John Hopkins, and Sonia Lee the Southern Ground/Atlantic single comes complete with musical styling that have given the band its signature, including a quick guitar strum, falsetto lacing and harmonious hooks.

Nothing seems to slow these guys down at radio, especially now with their own newly established Southern Ground promotion house on Music Row to work their own music. We’ll likely be seeing more and more success from these Georgia boys.

Watch the circus-themed music video below.

World Music Award Nominees Announced

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Taylor Swift

Jason Aldean, Carrie Underwood, Taylor Swift, Miranda Lambert, Keith Urban, Tim McGraw and Blake Shelton are among the country artists nominated at the World Music Awards, which will take place on Thursday (Dec. 20) at Marlins Park Stadium in Miami, Fla. and will be broadcast to over 160 countries.

Nominees are selected by the International Federation of the Phonographic Industry (IFPI), to recognize the top-selling artists in the world.

Select nominees in different categories are listed below. For a full list of nominees click here.

World’s Best Song
Carrie Underwood “Blown Away”
Justin Bieber “Boyfriend”
Jason Aldean “Take A Little Ride”
Kelly Clarkson “Stronger”
Taylor Swift “We Are Never Ever Getting Back Together”
Adele “Rumour Has It”

World’s Best Album
Carrie Underwood Blown Away
Lady Antebellum On This Winter’s Night
Jason Aldean Night Train
Taylor Swift Red
Christina Aguilera Lotus
Alicia Keys  Girl On Fire
Adele 21

World’s Best Video
Carly Rae Jepsen “Call Me Maybe”
Carrie Underwood “Good Girl”
Jason Aldean “Take A Little Ride”
Taylor Swift “We Are Never Ever Getting Back Together”
Beyonce “Run The World (Girls)”

World’s Best Group
Kings of Leon
Lady Antebellum
Zac Brown Band
U2
Mumford & Sons
Maroon 5
No Doubt
Coldplay

World’s Best Female Artist
Carrie Underwood
Beyonce
Adele
Britney Spears
Kelly Clarkson
Katy Perry
Lady Gaga
Taylor Swift

World’s Best Male Artist
Blake Shelton
Jason Aldean
Kid Rock
Keith Urban
Ne-Yo
Phillip Phillips

World’s Best Live Act
Brad Paisley
Jason Aldean
Aerosmith
Bruce Springsteen
Jimmy Buffett
Kenny Chesney
Lady Antebellum
Miranda Lambert
Taylor Swift
Tim McGraw
Van Halen
Usher

World’s Best Entertainer of the Year
Carrie Underwood
Jason Aldean
Keith Urban
Kelly Clarkson
Taylor Swift
Selena Gomez
Justin Bieber
Rhihanna
Carly Rae Jepsen
Beyonce
Adele

 

Industry Ink (12/14/2012)

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GMC TV, Light Records and Roland Corporation will participate in the American Heart Association/American Stroke Association’s 4th annual Most Powerful Voices gospel competition. The online gospel singing competition is open to independent artists, groups and choirs who sing gospel, holy hip hop, praise and worship music. Participants, who must be 18 years or older, may sign up at power.watchgmctv.com and upload a video or MP3 file by Jan. 31, 2013.

The top 10 finalists will be judged by gospel music industry leaders, including singer and songwriter Michelle Williams (formerly of Destiny’s Child), James Robinson (president of A&R at Light Records) and holy hip hop artist Flame.

The grand prize winner will be announced April 30, 2013 and will receive the opportunity to perform in the Central Park Summer Stage Concert in New York City with Light Records artists, $5,000 in musical instruments, $1,500 cash and a digital single on iTunes from Light Records, among other prizes.

Light Records represents Williams, Dorinda Clark Cole, Shirley Caesar and other artists.

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CMT and MTV host Katie Cook will hold her first-ever book signing at The Beveled Edge in Nashville on Sunday (Dec. 16) from 2-4 p.m. CT. Her debut book, Little Big Benny–a three-part series for children ages 9 to 12–explores the world of colorful characters who exist within the imagination of main character, Benny Armstrong, Jr.

Cook says the series was born during long stretches on the road promoting her band’s album, prior to her television career. In Little Big Benny, she has created a character who explores some of life’s greatest mysteries while maintaining the humor essential to entertaining children’s literature.

The Beveled Edge is located at 73 White Bridge Road, Nashville, TN 37205.

 

Artist Updates (12/14/2012)

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Ashley Monroe

The release date of Ashley Monroe‘s debut album was recently rescheduled. Like A Rose will now be released March 5, 2013 on Warner Nashville in both digital and physical copies. The new date is a result of an additional song, co-written by Monroe and Vince Gill, that Monroe added to the album’s track listing.

Monroe is still set to debut two songs from Like A Rose at the Grand Ole Opry with Gill next Saturday, Dec. 22.

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Jake Owen

Jake Owen has been added to the list of country stars set to take the Country Thunder stage in Twin Lakes, Wis., on July 18-21, 2013. Sarah Darling and Dean Alexander also join the line-up, which includes previously-announced performers Keith Urban, Brad Paisley, Dierks Bentley, Little Big Town and more. Owen recently canceled a tour date scheduled for Friday, Dec. 14 in Vero Beach, Fla. due to flu.


Aaron Lewis and Greg Bates will join previously-announced country stars Lady Antebellum, Toby Keith, Eric Church, Brantley Gilbert, Lee Brice, Kip Moore for Country Thunder Arizona, to be held in Florence, Ariz. on April 11-14, 2013.

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Kimberly Schlapman

Little Big Town’s Kimberly Schlapman‘s cooking show, Kimberly’s Simply Southern, has been renewed for a second season on Great American Country. New episodes begin airing in early spring.

 

Nashville Artists and Execs Sign On For Unsigned Only Competition

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Wynonna, Hunter Hayes, Craig Morgan, Dustin Lynch, BMLG’s Allison B. Jones, Sony Music Nashville’s Lisa Ramsey Perkins and Word Label Group’s Josh Bailey are among the artists and executives that have signed on to be judges and mentors for the Unsigned Only Music Competiton. Unsigned Only was created by the same team that organized the International Songwriting Competition (ISC).

Unsigned Only is designed for solo artists, bands, and singers who are not signed to a major label record company or any of its affiliates, subsidiaries, or imprints. The deadline for entry is March 14, 2013.

2013 judges include: Chrissie Hynde (The Pretenders); Cyndi Lauper; Iggy Pop; Carly Simon; John Oates (Hall & Oates); Eve; 3 Doors Down; Neon Trees; Brandi Carlile; Manchester Orchestra; Black Francis (The Pixies); Ryan Bingham; David Crowder; Morgan; Robert Smith (The Cure); Darryl McDaniels (Run DMC); Of Monsters and Men; Wynonna; Faith Evans; Aaron Shust; Kirko Bangz; Hayes; G. Love; Jason Gray; Lynch; The Mountain Goats; Anthony DeCurtis (Contributing Editor, Rolling Stone); Josh Jackson (Co-Founder and Editor-In-Chief, Paste Magazine); Vanessa Satten (Editor-In-Chief, XXL Magazine); Christopher Weingarten (Senior Editor, Spin); and Chris Richards (Pop Music Critic, The Washington Post)

Mentors include Monte Lipman (President of Universal Republic); Pete Ganbarg (Executive VP/Head of A&R, Atlantic Records); Shawn Holiday (Senior VP of A&R, RCA Records and Sony/ATV Music Publishing); Bailey; Kim Stephens (President, Forward Entertainment and A&R/Capitol Music Group); Jones; Perkins; Dre McKenzie (Head of A&R, G-Unit Records); and more to be announced.

Winners will be announced in 10 categories in July 2013. The categories include:

AA (Adult Album Alternative)
AC (Adult Contemporary)
Christian
Country
Folk/Singer-Songwriter
R&B/Hip-Hop
Rock
Pop/Top 40
Teen (for artists 18 years old and younger)
Vocal Performance

The grand prize winner will receive $10,000, one-on-one mentoring from a team of record label executives and 50 sets of D’Addario strings. The first place winner in each category will receive $1,000 and 50 sets of D’Addario strings.

For more information, visit http://www.unsignedonly.com/

Florida Georgia Line Debut Album Sales

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Florida Georgia Line has earned the highest debut album sales of 2012 for a new country artist with nearly 63,000 copies of Here’s To the Good Times. The duo’s debut project on Republic Nashville entered the sales charts at No. 3 on the Billboard Country Albums chart. Florida Georgia Line’s single “Cruise” also topped the Billboard Country Songs chart.

FGL made their national television performance debut on NBC’s Late Night with Jimmy Fallon on Dec. 12 to perform “Cruise.” On Dec. 13, they performed on FOX & Friends.

After selling out every date on the CMT Tour with headliner Jake Owen over the last few months, FGL will hit the road again in January 2013 with Luke Bryan’s Road Diaries Tour.

For tour dates and more, visit FloridaGeorgiaLine.com.

Photo Copyright: Lloyd Bishop/NBC

Charlie Cook On Air: Clear Channel Cutbacks

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I do not want to come off as someone trying to defend cutting jobs in the broadcast business. I have spent my entire career in radio and have never had a job outside of the business. All of my friends are in the radio/music business.

That said, I cannot fault Clear Channel for making cuts this month. I agree the timing was poor, coming between Thanksgiving and Christmas, but there’s no good time to be let go from your job. What if they had waited until January 3rd after you over spent on Christmas gifts? When you get laid off, fired, cut back, whatever you call it, checking the calendar is not the first thing they do. Beyond the fiscal year being the driver of these firings, I am not even sure the bean counters think about the holidays being around the corner. They never take their faces out of spreadsheets long enough to realize the impact.  The timing is crummy considering the bosses are in the budgeting process in October but credit themselves with holding off on the cuts as long as they can.

All that said, companies are allowed to conduct their businesses as they see fit. Last week I wrote about streaming music and the inability to show a profit for almost anyone in the space. Broadcast companies are not doing a lot better. It might be because of an unrealistic debt burden, albeit one brought on by trying to bite off more than they can chew. It certainly is about the economic problems that America has been mired in for years. No one is willing to stick their neck out and make a financial commitment to advertising because many companies are not sure that they can grow their business in this environment. When automobile advertising went south years ago, the fate of the guys who lost their jobs last week was set.

I know the popular thinking is the guys at the top of the pyramid are raking in millions while the worker bees are stung. I don’t know the hierarchy of Clear Channel; however, I do know a lot of smaller broadcasters where this is not the case. Everyone shares the pain. Perhaps not to the extent of firings every month, but if someone does leave they are not replaced and that impacts those left standing. Agreed, I would rather be one of those guys.

I have a few friends that are now looking for work after last week. I am sad for them. I have been there. You’re first hit with a feeling of, “Could I have done something differently?” This is followed by, “It’s not my fault. They are dumb,” and then, “Am I prepared to uproot my entire life?” Those of us not directly touched by these layoffs have a responsibility to our friends who have been let go. You don’t have to make up the spare room, but be sure you reach out to them and let them know you’re thinking about them and keeping an ear out for something they would be suited for.

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

Weekly Chart Report (12/14/2012)

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SPIN ZONE

Arista Nashville trio The Henningsens (Aaron, Clara, Brian) visited the staff at KDRK “The Mountain” in Spokane, WA recently. Pictured L-R: Aaron, KDRK MD Jamie Patrick, Clara, Brian, KDRK PD Sharon Bonds

Zac Brown Band‘s “Goodbye In Her Eyes” takes the No. 1 spot this week on 2012’s final MusicRow chart of the year. The Southern Ground/Atlantic artist reached the top spot in 13 weeks followed by previous chart-topper, Dierks Bentley‘s “Tip It On Back” at No. 2. Darius Rucker‘s “True Believers” jumps a spot to No. 3 while Kenny Chesney‘s “El Cerrito Place” and Kip Moore‘s “Beer Money” also jump a spot to hold No. 4 and No. 5, respectively. Little Big Town‘s “Tornado” moves up to No. 6 while last week’s No. 1 song, Brad Paisley‘s “Southern Comfort Zone,” sits at No. 7. Gary Allan‘s “Every Storm (Runs Out Of Rain)” adds another 220 spins this week staying at No. 8 while Taylor Swift‘s “Begin Again” sits at No. 9. Rounding out the Top 10 this week is The Band Perry‘s “Better Dig Two” jumping two spots to No. 10 with an additional 242 spins.

Big movers this week feature Lee Brice‘s “I Drive Your Truck” leaping from No. 42 to No. 31 with 441 new spins. Carrie Underwood‘s “Two Black Cadillacs” gained another 352 spins jumping four spots to No. 18 this week and Dustin Lynch‘s “She Cranks My Tractor” at No. 33 gained three spots with 269 additional spins. Rascal Flatts‘ “Changed” hurdled over 17 positions to No. 55 adding 244 spins.

Making debuts this week include The Henningsens‘ “American Beautiful” at No. 75,  Ashley Forrest‘s “Pourin’ Over Me” at No. 76 and Angel Mary & The Tennessee Werewolves‘ “Cowboy” at No. 78. Also entering the chart for the first time this week were Brett Eldredge‘s “Don’t Ya” at No. 79 and Lisa Matassa‘s “Somebody’s Baby” at No. 80.

Frozen Playlists:WEZJ, KBOE, WCMS, KYEZ, WXFL, WXXK

Gloriana, Kip Moore, and Lee Brice recently performed at WIL’s JingleFest. Kip’s “Beer Money” takes our No. 5 spot this week, alongside Gloriana with “Can’t Shake You,” charting No. 26 and Lee’s “I Drive Your Truck” moves to No. 31. Pictured (L-R): Kip Moore, Lee Brice, Danny Montana (WIL), with Rachel, Mike and Tom from Gloriana.

Upcoming Singles
December 17
Rascal Flatts/Changed/Big Machine
LeAnn Rimes/Borrowed/Curb
The Henningsens/American Beautiful/Arista
Austin Webb/It’s All Good/Streamsound

January 17
Easton Corbin/All Over The Road/Mercury

Holiday Singles
Tim McGraw/Mary And Joseph/Big Machine Records
Lorrie Morgan/Wrapped Up In Love/Octabrook Records
Craig Morrison/Santa Claus Boogie/Lucky 53s-GMV Nashville
Clinton Gregory/Peace On Earth Again/Melody Roundup Records
Kyle Park/Winter Wonderland
Phil Vassar/Merry Christmas Darling/Rodeowave Entertainment
Tanya Tucker/Merry Christmas Wherever You Are
Brinn Black/Breath of Heaven/Spin Doctors

New On The Chart—Debuting This Week
Artist/song/label — chart pos.
The Henningsens/American Beautiful/Arista – 75
Ashley Forrest/Pourin’ Over Me/Truro-GMV – 76
Angel Mary & The Tennessee Werewolves/Cowboy/Verado – 78
Brett Eldredge/Don’t Ya/Atlantic/WMN – 79
Lisa Matassa/Somebody’s Baby/It Is What It Is-9North – 80

Most Added
Artist/song/label — New Adds
Lee Brice/I Drive Your Truck/Curb – 27
Rascal Flatts/Changed/Big Machine – 18
Kix Brooks/Moonshine Road/Arista Nashville – 17
Taylor Made/That’s What Life Is/LG Records – 13
The Henningsens/American Beautiful/Arista – 11
Dustin Lynch/She Cranks My Tractor/Broken Bow Records – 11
Love and Theft/Running Out Of Air/RCA Nashville – 8
Josh Pruno/23rd Psalm/Lawrence Music Group – 8
Kelly Clarkson w/ Vince Gill/Don’t Rush/19 Recordings-RCA Nashville – 8

Greatest Spin Increase
Artist/song/label — spin+
Lee Brice/I Drive Your Truck/Curb – 441
Carrie Underwood/Two Black Cadillacs/19-Arista Nashville – 352
Dustin Lynch/She Cranks My Tractor/Broken Bow Records – 269
Rascal Flatts/Changed/Big Machine – 244
Jason Aldean/The Only Way I Know/Broken Bow – 243

On Deck—Soon To Be Charting
Artist/song/label — spins
Brinn Black/That Should Have Been Us/SMG – 154
Josh Pruno/23rd Psalm/Lawrence Music Group – 146
Summer Schappell/It Ought To Be a Sin/615 Records – 140
The Farm/Be Grateful/Warner Nashville – 137
Aaron Watson/Lips – 136

Momentum Label Group’s Rachele Lynae recently made stop in Atlanta to visit with folks at Cumulus Radio. Pictured (L-R): Greg Frey, Mike McVay, Rachele, John Kilgo, Bob Raleigh, and Momentum’s Tim Burruss and Jimmy Murphy

Charlie Worsham made a stop to KMPS during a west coast radio tour. Pictured (L-R): Chris Palmer (W.A.R.), Charlie Worsham, Ed Hill and Raffaella Braun (W.A.R.)

Arbitron Appoints New CEO

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Sean R. Creamer

The Board of Directors of Arbitron Inc. announced today (12/13) plans to appoint Sean R. Creamer President and Chief Executive Officer effective January 1, 2013. Creamer will succeed William T. Kerr who has announced his intention to retire as President and Chief Executive Officer. Kerr will continue to serve on the Arbitron Board of Directors.

“The Board of Directors and I are very pleased to welcome Sean as President and CEO of Arbitron,” said Philip Guarascio, Chairman of Arbitron’s Board of Directors. “Sean is a seasoned media and marketing executive with years of leadership experience at Arbitron. We would like to thank Bill Kerr on behalf of everyone at Arbitron for his many contributions to the company as President and CEO.”

Creamer has been Arbitron’s Executive VP Chief Operating Officer since August 2011, where he was responsible for Arbitron’s core business (ratings, qualitative and software) and for executing the company’s global strategies. Creamer joined Arbitron in 2005 as Executive VP, Finance and Planning. That same year, he was named Chief Financial Officer at Arbitron.

Prior to joining Arbitron, Creamer was Senior VP and Chief Financial Officer of Laureate Education, Inc.