Director Becky Fluke has joined Taillight, it was announced yesterday, Feb. 6, working under Partner/Executive Producer for Music Videos Chandra Pereira. Both directors talked exclusively with MusicRow about the announcement, and the focus and determination necessary to excel at video production.

Fluke’s independent credits include Pistol Annies’ “Hell on Heels,” The Civil Wars‘ “Barton Hollow” and “Poison & Wine,” Martina McBride‘s Road To Eleven (GAC special), and videos for Josh Kelly, Trent Dabbs, Matthew Perryman Jones, Donnie & Marie, Little Big Town and Ashton Shepherd.

Fluke started her career in high school in Macon, GA with a foothold that set the trajectory for her career—a teacher’s husband provided the opportunity to shoot at concerts for his former bandmate, Kristian Bush.

“I shot photos for Sugarland right before they signed with Universal to go to free concerts in Atlanta,” explained Fluke. “When the band was in the studio with their second record, they asked me to come in and shoot video. I ended up driving down from college in Western Kentucky and documented the whole recording process.”

The opportunity provided Fluke a remarkable break, when in 2006, Universal purchased her footage and brought her in-house to work with the roster for a year and a half. “It was a time when concert footage, EPK’s and webisodes were becoming increasingly important, and [former UMG exec] Jason Owen played a big role in realizing the importance of my position.”

“The position at Universal allowed me to work in different environments and eventually lead to creating my first music videos, including Sugarland’s ‘Life In A Northern Town’ as a sponsorship ‘thank you’ to CMT for the tour.” The video went on to be nominated for a CMT award and the song earned nominations at the Grammys, ACMs, and CMA Awards.

“It has always been more about the opportunity than the money. I take jobs because I am passionate about the music. Most cases I heavily pursued projects simply because I loved the music, I didn’t wait for them to come to me. I want to create work for people and music that I am passionate about. The ultimate goal is not to compare production budgets, but to provoke a feeling—if it moves you, I’ve done my job.”

“That is exactly what I wish all of our industry award shows, music videos, and production work could be based on,” Pereira added. “A music video should do nothing more than evoke an emotion, and if it does that, then it’s done its job. They are the major marketing tool to set, foster or change an artist’s image. Our job is to think smarter to provide the same impact with smaller budgets. This particular market is facing smarter and smaller technology where anyone can get a Canon 5d and say they are a director, but it comes down to trust with an artist, label and management.

“The cream rises to the top. You can’t hire a guy because they say they can do it, it depends on real and experienced players. Becky is the perfect example of where talent, not just luck, can take you. This combined with her drive to chase after projects she believes in, helped me realize the limitless potential she will be capable of with full-blown production support. I look forward to creating amazing work ahead.”

Fluke is starting immediately. Her bio and reel can be seen on the Taillight website here.

A recent report from International Data Corporation (IDC) confirms what most plugged-in observers already suspected—smartphone use is exploding. According to the report, Q4 shipments of the connected gadgets grew 54.7% year-over-year worldwide to 157.8 million units. The figures eclipsed IDC’s forecasted 40% increase. Looking at the growth in smartphone shipments on a full-year basis shows similar increases. In 2011 shipments totaled 491.4 million units a jump of 61.3% over 2010, but slightly behind the jump of 75.7% for 2010 compared with 2009.

“By the end of the quarter, one out of every three mobiles phones shipped worldwide was a smartphone,” said Ramon Llamas, senior research analyst with IDC’s Mobile Phone Technology and Trends team. “The launch of Apple’s iPhone 4S played a key role in smartphone growth to capture pent-up demand, and smartphone launches from other vendors also provided a broad selection to meet varying preferences and budgets.”

“So-called ‘hero’ devices, such as Samsung’s Galaxy Nexus and Apple’s iPhone 4S, garner the bulk of the attention heaped on the device type,” said Kevin Restivo, senior research analyst with IDC’s Worldwide Mobile Phone Tracker program. “But a growing number of sub-$250 device offerings, based on the Android operating system, have allowed Google’s hardware partners to grow smartphone volumes and expand the market concurrently.”

Looking at growth by individual vendors shows Apple leading Samsung in Q4 sales, but Samsung retaining the lead on a full year 2011 basis. In Q4 Nokia market share dropped 30.6% and Research In Motion (RIM) dropped 11%. All others increased.

Allthingsd.com writer Ina Fried notes that the dominance of Apple and Samsung is not just affecting the bottom players in the marketplace. The middle size companies are also getting hurt. “Not so long ago, it appeared that the rising tide would lift all smartphone boats,” says Fried. “HTC, in particular, was doubling sales year over year, and its growth seemed unstoppable. But now it appears that the wave is thrashing as many as it is helping. HTC has hit a wall; and plenty of other Android players, including Sony and Motorola, are struggling to keep pace with the leaders.”