Industry Ink (2/17/12)

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DigSin, music executive Jay Frank’s new singles-only record label, will celebrate its official launch next Thursday, Feb. 23. All four of DigSin’s current artists (Bronze Radio Return, Connie Lim, Jenn Bostic, and NNXT) will showcase for free at the Rutledge. Doors will open at 6 pm, and those interested in attending can RSVP here.

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Warner/Chappell has announced two key appointments its A&R and Synchronization teams. In the Los Angeles office, Charlie Amter has been named Manager, Dance/International Pop A&R, and in the New York office Frank DiMinno has been named Director, Strategic Marketing, Synchronization.

In his new role, Amter will develop new and established talent across the electronic and international pop genres, reporting to SVP, Head of A&R Greg Sowders. DiMinno will be driving special initiatives to deliver new uses for Warner/Chappell writers’ music, and will report to SVP, Head of Synchronization, Ron Broitman.

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Grammy-award winning country group The Mavericks have signed with Creative Artists Agency for booking representation. The band comprised of Raul Malo, Robert Reynolds, and Paul Deakin have reunited after an eight-year hiatus and are currently working on a reunion album. They will be performing together for the first time since 2003 at the Stagecoach Festival (Indio, CA) April 27-29, followed by a tour of North America and Europe this summer.

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Makin’ Music has entered into a long-term, worldwide administration deal with publishing company Hori-Pro. Makin’s catalog contains works such as the Ronnie Milsap hit “There’s No Getting Over Me,” Barbara Mandrell’s No. 1s “The Angel In Your Arms This Morning” and “Til You’re Gone,” and many more.

Photos: Artists and Good Deeds

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Dierks Bentley teamed up with The Ellen DeGeneres Show on Feb. 15 to surprise a military family with $50,000 to help with their financial struggles. Sgt. Chad Sparks was actively serving when he lost a finger on duty and was forced to return home to care for his injury. He and his wife have been trying to make ends meet by selling their furniture, appliances and other personal items on Craigslist to help support their one-year-old daughter as Sgt. Sparks faces redeployment to Afghanistan. To watch Bentley surprise the the Sparks Family, click here.

Dierks Bentley presents a check to the Sparks Family.

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Darius Photo: Travis Dew

Darius Rucker recently performed a benefit concert for the Medical University of South Carolina’s Children’s Hospital. The “Darius Rucker Big Band Show,” held Feb. 13 to a sold-out North Charleston Performing Arts Center, featured Rucker singing 90 minutes of classic Frank Sinatra tunes with an orchestra led by Peter Graves. In total, the event raised $260,000 for MUSC Children’s Hospital. Rucker is currently writing material for his third country album slated for release later this year. In the meantime, fans can see him on Lady Antebellum’s Own The Night Tour.

 

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Former American Idol finalist Bucky Covington has joined forces with charitable organization Help The Good Guys, which works to raise awareness and funds for the more than 130,000 fire fighters and law enforcement officers who experience a financial crisis from work-related injuries each year. In addition to raising awareness, Bucky recently donated his talents to fundraising events in Birmingham, AL and Detroit, MI to support injured heroes in their local community. On April 21, Bucky will host a motorcycle ride and concert in Chattanooga, TN to benefit the city’s injured fire fighters and police officers.

Bucky Covington presenting a check to fire fighters.

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Craig Campbell (L) and friend in Bobber tank.

Bigger Picture artist Craig Campbell teamed with Shirts For a Cure by using his merchandise sales to support and raise awareness for breast cancer research. Campbell donated thousands of dollars to Shirts For a Cure raised by selling the “Bobber Tanks” on tour last summer to go along with his second single “Fish.” With the pink bobbers’ choice placement along the chest, and the tag-line “Save the Bobbers,” the shirts were quite a hit.

 

 

CountryBreakout No. 1 Song

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His previous years have been pretty amazing, to be sure, but Dierks Bentley looks primed for an outstanding 2012. It’s only mid-February now. His critically-acclaimed sixth album Home dropped Feb. 7 and subsequently hit No. 1 in Country sales for the week. He also showed up as a presenter on the Grammys and then performed on the Ellen DeGeneres Show just a few days ago.

The title track from Home is at least part of the puzzle, its message of reconciliation and hope reverberating with country audiences and beyond. Probably not a huge surprise, but it’s now the CountryBreakout Chart’s No. 1 song for a second straight week. As a testament to its reach, early in the song’s life Bentley got the chance to perform it at the White House for President and Mrs. Obama during a PBS special.

Bentley is currently off exploring the cold North of Canada on his “Country & Cold Cans” tour, and he’s scheduled to head the land down under in March for a series of dates. “Country & Cold Cans” returns for a string of U.S. dates in April. Info here.

Luke Bryan Makes Spring Break Plans

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Luke Bryan will release his fourth Spring Break-themed EP, Spring Break 4…Suntan City, on March 6. This year’s release coincides with two concert dates Bryan has scheduled March 13 and 14 at Spinnaker’s Beach Club in Panama City.

The track listing for Spring Break 4 includes:

“Suntan City” —Bryan, Dallas Davidson, Rhett Atkins and Ben Hayslip
“Spring Breakup” —Bryan, Ashley Gorley
“Little Bit Later On” —Bryan, Ashley Gorley and Luke Laird
“Shake The Sand” —Bryan, Michael Carter and Cole Swindell

Bryan’s previous Spring Break EP releases began in 2009 with Spring Break…with All My Friends, followed in 2010 by Spring Break 2…Hangover Edition and last year’s Spring Break 3…It’s A Shore Thing.

Because Bryan has been able to draw Spring Break crowds in excess of 4,000 in previous years, Panama City Convention & Visitors Bureau has enlisted him as a spokesperson for the city.

Fans can also enter CMT’s Luke Bryan Spring Break Sweepstakes, which sends one grand prize winner to Panama City with accommodations for seven. Entries are accepted until Feb. 23. For more information click here.

Check out a a sneak preview below.

Weekly Chart Report (2/17/12)

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Darren Warren (NuCorp Entertainment) took a trip from his home outside Paducah, KY to Madison, WI’s WJVL to promote his "Cowboy Up and Party Down" single with PD/midday personality Ken Scott (L)

MARK YOUR CALENDARS
Country Radio Seminar 2012 is next week, and MusicRow will present its annual CRS Meet & Greet and CountryBreakout Awards Tuesday, Feb. 21 at Margaritaville. Attendees will be treated to excited performances from Marlee Scott, JT Hodges, and The McClymonts. Email Eric Parker for details on how to attend.

SPIN ZONE
Somebody, quick: I need a word for a place that one lives and stays, if not permanently, at least for a long time. Well whatever you call that, it’s the thing Dierks Bentley’s “Home” has found at the top of the CountryBreakout chart for the second straight week. Both Keith Urban’s “You Gonna Fly” and Martina McBrides “I’m Gonna Love You Through It” maintain their positions, but Montgomery Gentry’s “Where I Come From” and Taylor Swift’s “Ours” are encroaching.

It’s always nice to see some new faces arriving in the Top 20. It’s not Eli Young Band’s first trip, of course, but they’ve followed “Crazy Girl” with an even faster rising single in “Even If It Breaks Your Heart,” now at No. 17. On the other hand, it is the first time inside the Top 20 for MCA’s Kip Moore, whose “Somethin’ ‘Bout A Truck” is currently at No. 20. Just ahead of him at No. 19 is Zac Brown Band with “No Hurry.”

Despite some considerable chart movement, there aren’t a ton of new singles debuting. Luke Bryan is ahead of the pack with “Drunk On You” hitting No. 54. Tracy Lawrence is up next with “Pills” at no. 74, followed by Candy Coburn and “Don’t Walk Away” at No. 78. Filling the last chart slot is newcomer Thomas Rhett, whose “Something To Do With My Hands” has quickly caught programmers ears.

Frozen Playlists: KSED, WKBQ, WKTT, WZMR

Upcoming Singles
February 21
Thomas Rhett/Something To Do With My Hands/Valory
Julie Ingram/Thank God (For Mom & Dad)/LongShot/Nine North/Turnpike
Matt Stillwell/Ignition/Average Joes
Luke Bryan/Drunk On You/Capitol
Eric Church/Springsteen/EMI Nashville

February 27
Adam Gregory/High On You/Calusa Entertainment/GMV
Lisa Matassa/Wouldn’t You Like To Know/It Is What It Is/Nine North
Easton Corbin/Lovin’ You Is Fun/Mercury

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New On The Chart—Debuting This Week
Artist/song/label — chart pos.
Luke Bryan/Drunk On You/Capitol – 54
Tracy Lawrence/Pills/LMG – 74
Candy Coburn/Don’t Walk Away/LomaJean – 78
Thomas Rhett/Something To Do With My Hands/Valory — 80

Greatest Spin Increase
Artist/song/label — spin+
Eric Church/Springsteen/EMI Nashville – 539
Luke Bryan/Drunk On You/Capitol – 420
Miranda Lambert/Over You/RCA – 357
Jason Aldean/Fly Over States/Broken Bow – 333
Zac Brown Band/No Hurry/Southern Ground/Atlantic — 299

Most Added
Artist/song/label — New Adds
Luke Bryan/Drunk On You/Capitol — 37
Eric Church/Springsteen/EMI Nashville — 35
JT Hodges/Goodbyes Made You Mine/Show Dog-Universal — 15
Thomas Rhett/Something To Do With My Hands/Valory — 14
Phil Vassar/Don’t Miss Your Life/Rodeowave — 11
Darryl Worley/You Still Got It/Tenacity — 11
Rachel Holder/In Your Arms/Curb — 9
Thompson Square/Glass/Stoney Creek — 9
Josh Turner/Time Is Love/MCA — 9

On Deck—Soon To Be Charting
Artist/song/label — spins
Bobby Dean/White Lightning Pink Champagne/Lamon – 219
John Maison/Fast Enough/Big High Five – 216
Jon Wolfe/I Don’t Dance — 194
Steve Holy/Until The Rain Stops/Curb – 183
Matt Kennon/You Had To Pick On Me/Roaddawg – 176

Birmingham’s WZZK/104.7, home of the syndicated "Rick and Bubba Show" worked with Birmingham Mayor William Bell to find a new home for Joe Don Rooney, whose Picher, Oklahoma hometown was dissolved in April 2009 by a vote. In June 2009 the Federal government issued the citizens checks so they could move from the city permanently. Joe Don Rooney was presented a proclamation making him a ‘Son of the City’ from the Mayor at Rascal Flatts' concert Feb. 10, where they were performing with Sara Evans and Hunter Hayes. The trio's "Banjo" lands at No. 13 on MusicRow's CountryBreakout Chart this week.

Charlie Cook On Air: Brand Loyalty

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We greet every day with the hope that we can build a brand as strong as Apple. This is true if you work at a radio station or a record company. This is the goal if you’re a performer or work with performers. We would all like to be thought of as WABC in its heyday. Wouldn’t you like to create a brand as strong as the old RCA Records or have the staying power of Elvis?

Wouldn’t we all like to be top of mind with the consumer? Wouldn’t we all like to be Apple, Amazon or Facebook? These are three of the top four brands in the English-speaking world today. Every tablet is an iPad. (Unfortunately for this ACER owner, that is not true, btw.) Amazon sells everything that isn’t bolted down and then some things that are. Social Media and Facebook are synonymous.

How do we get to that point?

The obvious answer is to build a great product, market that product and then deliver great customer service. Kind of.

Have you heard of the Brand Keys Customer Loyalty Index? Neither had I. The 2012 Engagement Index has recently been released and I found a couple of surprises on the list.

I was not surprised to learn that the aforementioned three brands topped the list, but was surprised to learn that the top car manufacturer was Hyundai. I have nothing against Hyundai. I think that the Genesis is a beautiful car and I had a Sonata as a rental recently and really liked it.

This index measures the emotional value with the rational value and identifies a bond with the consumer.

The number one credit card: Discover; Cosmetic: Mary Kay; Tequila: Patron; Drug Store: Walgreens; and Cellular service: ATT. Okay, that last one really throws me off considering ATT has become the punch line for cell phone jokes, and they kind of throw out the “best customer service” issue.

I don’t think I would have correctly guessed any of those brands as No. 1.

My point here is that being the best in your brand may not be all it takes to build a bond with your target. The BKCLI also measures the entire category and then finds your place in it.

So if listeners rank radio as an important part of their day, you then you need to find your place in that category. It does no good to be number in a category that is not important. I am going to stretch this a bit by asking how important would it be to be the No. 1 Country Music artist in the Chinese-speaking community in San Francisco?

Building a bond with the consumer will make your message stand out. It will help you build your brand through word of mouth and give you the benefit of the doubt when there is a question of choosing you over a competitor.

I thought of this while watching the Super Bowl. Auto dealers were the biggest category but the top spots were snack food and beer. What were you doing during the Super Bowl? Snack food and beer or thinking about buying a new car?

Doritos has become the go-to snack food and their spots are expected in the Super Bowl. They own that category. Budweiser is the same for beer. While I felt many of their spots were weak this year, the Weego spot was the No. 1-ranked commercial. But when you think of beer during the Super Bowl you think of Bud. Now they need you to think of Bud while you’re at Joe’s Bar.

All of the money spent during the Super Bowl, $3.5 million per spot, and neither of those brands are in the top 20 on the loyalty engagement brand list.

Oh, but there is hope for America. No, not the Clint Eastwood spot. Though that was inspiring (maybe a little political), David Beckham ranked No. 35 and Adrianna Lima ranked No. 36 and the two Go Daddy spots ranked No. 50 and 54—last.

TuneCore To Host Nashville Artist/Writer Copyright Sessions

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Nashville artists and songwriters will gain a chance to hear about TuneCore from its Founder/CEO Jeff Price on February 27 in a free presentation entitled “Every Artist’s Six Legal Copyrights: How They Generate Money, Where Your Money Is and Why You Aren’t Getting It.” There will be Q&A during the discussion and a meet & greet after the event which will take place at the Embassy Suites Commodore Room, located at 1811 Broadway, Nashville from 5:30-9 p.m. To RSVP email: [email protected]

Price will also be interviewed by Belmont University’s Harry Chapman earlier that day at the Massey Performing Arts Center. (A link to information about both Feb. 27 events can be found here.)

Jeff Price

According to Price, “In 2009 and 2010, TuneCore Artists and songwriters sold over 400 million units of music generating over $170 million dollars in gross music sales.” TuneCore describes its services saying, “TuneCore goes direct with music services to collect digital public performance royalties for songwriters…which brings the songwriter earnings of up to 25% more with complete transparency and an audit trail. When you use TuneCore for distribution, we can use your distribution information to assure they are paying every penny owed to the songwriter.” TuneCore monitors on the songwriter’s behalf, but does not collect royalties for non-digital public performances which are collected by ASCAP/BMI/SESAC.

(For a complete list of royalties collected by TuneCore click here.)

Price, who has appeared in national press outlets like the New York Times, Wall Street Journal, ABC News and CNN, has been a strong advocate for songwriter rights and claims that the mechanical royalties due from streams, downloads (outside of the US & Mexico) and physical sales are not being collected fully for songwriters. “The digital stores that stream and sell downloads do not have your songwriter information,” Price warns. “Therefore the money goes unclaimed. The TuneCore Songwriter Service registers your information with the stores, song by song, so you get paid. We also license and collect royalties for print, ringtones, synchronization fees (for film and TV licenses) and collect directly from some digital stores for streaming performances.”

New Republic Nashville Signing

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(L-R): Jimmy Harnen (Republic Nashville President), Andrew Kautz (Big Machine Label Group General Manager), Scott Borchetta (Big Machine Label Group President/CEO), Trey Turner (Manager), Carson Chamberlain (Producer), Lee, Doug Nichols (Manager) and Allison Jones (Big Machine Label Group Vice President of A&R)

Nineteen-year-old Jackie Lee is the most recent addition to the artist roster at Republic Nashville that includes Martina McBride, The Band Perry, Eli Young Band and Sunny Sweeney as well as the recently added Greg Bates.

“Jackie has the kind of voice that you hear of once in a lifetime,” said Republic Nashville President Jimmy Harnen. “The first time I heard him in the studio I thought Carson Chamberlain, his producer, had some type of processing on his voice!  It was pitch perfect and bigger than a house!  I can’t wait for the world to hear Jackie Lee.”

At the age of six, Lee began singing with his family band outside of Knoxville in Alcoa, TN and had his first Nashville recording session. He is currently working on his debut album with Chamberlain.

Photos: WMG and BPG Head West For Grammy Week

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At the Warner Music Group post-Grammy Awards bash on Feb. 12, several familiar faces paused for a photo.

(L-R): Reba, John Esposito (Warner Music Nashville’s President & CEO), Blake Shelton, Brandon Blackstock (Starstruck Management Group) and Kelly Clarkson

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Bigger Picture Group and its holding Red Stripe Plane Group celebrated the 2012 Grammy Awards in style, attending the MusiCares Person of the Year Benefit Gala honoring Paul McCartney on Feb. 10 and then hosting its own industry party Feb. 11 at West Hollywood’s SOHO House. BPG artists Craig Campbell and Ryan Kinder performed.

(L-R): Bigger Picture Group’s Chairman/Chief Creative Officer Keith Stegall; Executive VP/General Manager, Bigger Picture Artist Ventures Bob Cahill; President, Bigger Picture Artist Ventures Michael Powers; Bigger Picture Group recording artist Craig Campbell; and President, Songs of Bigger Picture Alan Kates

Nail and Young Go For the Gold

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Following his recent ACM nominations for Male Vocalist and Single of the Year, Chris Young has now earned two RIAA Gold certifications for his chart-topping hits “You” and “Voices”

“You,” which Young co-wrote with Luke Laird, marked his fifth consecutive trip to the top of the chart. “Voices” actually broke a 25-year Billboard record, making only the second time in the modern Billboard chart era that an artist has re-released a song that went to No. 1.

Over the next two weeks, Young has tour stops scheduled in Amherst, MA; Fayetteville, NC; Greensboro, NC; Hershey, PA; Lexington, KY; North Charleston, SC; and Youngstown, OH.

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Similarly, David Nail has earned dual RIAA Gold certifications for his singles “Red Light” and recent No. 1 “Let It Rain” for downloads exceeding 500k.

“It was funny to see ‘Red Light’ starting to pick up downloads again,” comments Nail, “but I think when people heard or bought ‘Let It Rain,’ they went back and found it. It makes me feel good that the songs I’ve recorded have staying power. It’s not just about being a hit, but it’s the moments the songs contain being kind of timeless.”

Nail has dates scheduled this weekend in California and Nevada, but will soon head out for several dates in early March with Gavin DeGraw.