Vevo Explores Expansion At Two-Year Mark

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Vevo powers numerous artist Facebook pages including Carrie Underwood and Lady Gaga.

Music video site Vevo is marking its second anniversary this month. The site owned by UMG, Sony, and Abu Dhabi Media, now has 57M unique viewers in the U.S., doubling since the company launched in December 2009.

According to the New York Times, Vevo is exploring opportunities in television, and could become its own channel offering videos and other pop culture content.

Since launch, Vevo’s video streams are up 400% to 827 million per month in the U.S. There have been over 13M mobile downloads of the Vevo mobile app worldwide.

Weak Release Schedule Blamed For Lagging Sales

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The 2011 albums race is almost over, with scarcely two weeks remaining to be tallied. Are we going to fall behind last year? “Most assuredly.” The question is simply, “By how much?”

A quick glance at the above chart shows the format currently down 1.9% with total YTD country album sales of 39.811 million. That leaves us two weeks to add the 3.91 million needed to equal last year. However, this week country albums sold a tepid 1.605 million compared to the same week last year that scanned 1.966 million (down about 18.4%). In 2010 the last two weeks sold 2.319 million and 820k respectively. If we simply add those two weeks (3.139 million) and then reduce it by 18.4% our rough guess would be to add another 2.56 million to the year’s tally. Doing the math shows 2011 country album sales off about 3% or about 1.5 million units.

Why couldn’t we surpass last year? “Weak release schedule.”

This week’s details show Lady Antebellum in the No. 1 position on the country album chart shifting over 81k units to push their RTD sales (release-to-date) over the blessed one million, Platinum mark. Congrats to the feisty trio and Mr. Haywood who we hear is planning nuptials (with Warner Music VP Marketing/Brand Management Kelli Cashiola) which would place wedding bands on each member’s hands.

Scotty McCreery follows in the No. 2 spot with over 66k units placing him only a few more weeks away from earning Platinum status. Who would have thought, when he first appeared on the Idol stage as a Josh Turner carbon copy that fans would embrace him so strongly. But the youngster has truly stepped up and seems to be comfortably wearing his newfound fame.

The other eight artists in the Top 10 inlcude Jason (No. 3), Taylor (No. 4 & 6), Luke (No. 7), The Band Perry (No. 8), Miranda Lambert (No. 9) and ZBB (No. 10).

Toby Keith fills the missing No. 5 spot on the Top 10 country album list driven by his plastic fantastic “Red Solo Cup,” which was the top-selling digital country track again this week (over 86k downloads). The “Cup” has now passed the 500k sales mark and is surely headed to Platinum… (Hey, is that Bob Saporiti as Santa in the song’s holiday video version?)

Looking at the industry overall, album sales are up 1.3% YTD with Michael Bublé’s Christmas ringing the Yuletide bells—loudly. Bublé fans scooped up another 450k units of the holiday set this past week giving the album an eight week sales total of almost 2 million, a figure it will undoubtedly pass next week.

A big giant HAPPY HOLIDAYS to all our readers and especially those that follow our weekly sales discussions. Thank you for reading, for sending me those occasional snarky emails and for being part of the fun. Hopefully next year we can jump into positive sales territory. And wouldn’t it be nice if Nielsen SoundScan placed a TEA (track equivalent albums) chart under the tree?

Be safe, hug your friends and family and tune in next Wed. for our next installment…

 

Read comments on this article from industry veteran Joe Galante here.

20th Annual Tin Pan South Dates Revealed

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Nashville is a songwriter’s town, and Nashville Songwriters Association International’s annual Tin Pan South Songwriters Festival is one of the art form’s finest celebrations. With over 75 shows in a variety of locations, it truly has something for the song-lover in everyone.

The 20th Annual installation of Tin Pan South, produced by NSAI and presented by Regions Bank, will be held March 27 –  31, 2012 in some of Nashville’s best listening rooms. Featuring numerous songwriting talents from pro hitmakers to new faces, TPS is the world’s largest all-songwriter festival. Performers for the 19th annual gathering earlier in 2011 included Craig Wiseman, Steve Cropper, Rivers Rutherford, and many more.

Passes go on sale Wednesday, March 7, at the Tin Pan South website while supplies last. To gain priority access to all shows and hop from venue to venue, the festival offers a Tin Pan South Fast Access Pass. Proceeds from the festival support the Nashville Songwriters Association International.

Daily Flashes From The Past

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MusicRow covers through the years.

For the last two weeks in preparation for the December 2011/January 2012 retrospective print magazine hitting shelves, MusicRow staffers resurrected daily quotes from back issues and posted them on our Twitter and Facebook pages. The excerpts linked to this article to offer a selection of historical highlights. A complete list is below.

Get ready for a flashback from the archives. We can’t wait for you to see what we’ve compiled in the print edition! Be sure to grab you’re own copy today.

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Click to learn more about the cover

Quote from 12/16—MusicRow AUG ’93—”We don’t have a new Billy Ray Cyrus coming on this year. We definitely don’t. If we did, we’d know it.” Bruce Hinton

Quote from 12/15—MusicRow MAR ’94—”We’d love to be able to land a helicopter on the roof [of the Starstruck offices].” Narvel Blackstock

Quote from 12/14—MusicRow JAN ‘03—“Just because you have a computer with ProTools doesn’t mean its going to sound like a record.” Frank Rogers

Quote from 12/13—MusicRow NOV ’09—“Ten years ago, most every artist put outside songs on their records. Now maybe there is one or two slots on an album that aren’t politically taken already. So we are all vying for a smaller share of the pie.” Pat Finch

Quote from 12/12—MusicRow JUL ’98— “..what you do when you lose is the real test of character.” Mike Curb on LeAnn Rimes’ “How Do I Live”

Quote from 12/9—MusicRow AUG ’05—“I don’t want my music to be taken as something you just hum with.” Miranda Lambert

Quote From 12/8—MusicRow AUG ‘97—Technical problems and the lack of a uniform standard plagued the first generation of enhanced CD’s.

Quote from 12/7—MusicRow JUL ’98—From 1994-1997 female country presence on SoundScan increased from 19.6% to 42.7%

Quote from 12/6—MusicRow SEP ’99—Before MP3’s, downloading a 3 minute song with a 56K modem took over 6 hours. MP3’s took just 20mins.

Quote for 12/5—MusicRow FEB ’99: “Pitching your songs by CD lets a publisher know you’re serious about your music and have gone the extra distance to ensure a quality demo.”

TV Editor Terry Climer Passes

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Television/video editor Terry Climer died at home on Sun., Dec. 18. He was 60. A memorial service was held last night (12/20) at Sellars Funeral Home in Lebanon, Tenn.

The Lebanon native began his career at the town’s local radio station WCOR and eventually made his way to the television industry, working in Los Angeles and Nashville. He was nominated for two primetime Emmys.

Climer enjoyed spending time with family and friends, and following the sports teams of his alma mater Western Kentucky University. He was also a dog lover.

In lieu of flowers, the family requests donations be made to the Humane Society of Wilson County or Western Kentucky University.

Arrangements by Sellars Funeral Home, 313 W. Baddour Pkwy, Lebanon TN (615) 444-9393.

Indiana Settles With Stage Collapse Victims

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The victims of the Indiana State Fair tragedy are being compensated. All but one of 65 claimants accepted the state’s settlement offer, according to WTHR in Indianapolis. This includes the estates of seven people who died at the Aug. 13 Sugarland concert when high winds caused the stage to collapse.

The state is paying out $5 million total to the victims, the maximum under Indiana law. The estates of the deceased will receive more than $300,000 each, and the remainder will be divided among the other victims.

Fair officials raised and distributed an additional $800,000 in donations for the victims.

Sugarland returned to Indianapolis Oct. 28 for a free concert at Conseco Fieldhouse to raise money for victims.

Other lawsuits stemming from the tragedy are ongoing.

Snapshots (12/20/11)

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The boys of Montgomery Gentry wrapped up a successful year last Thursday (Dec. 15) with a concert in conjunction with WPOC/Baltimore, MD. The event raised over $13,000 for St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital.

(L-R): Eddie Montgomery, WPOC Program Director Justin Cole and Troy Gentry.

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The first ladies pitch group gathered at Black River Music Group for a pitching session on December 14. The young professional song pluggers had a chance to bring songs to the label’s Doug Johnson and artist Sarah Darling.

(L-R) Back: Janine Appelton, Kimberly June, Cynthia Anderson, Meghan Galbraith, Casey Le’Vasseur, Emily Schiraldi, Carrie Gallo, Missy Wilson; Front: Celia Froehlig, Brooke Arrington, Penny Lou Everhard, Lisa Johnson, Laura Wright, Natalie Harker, Sarah Darling, Doug Johnson

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Chris Cagle recently released the video for his current single “Got My Country On,” which was directed by Marcel. The clip explores both the “rocker” and “rancher” aspects of Cagle’s personality, and was filmed both at the Cagle ranch in Marietta, OK as well as Billy Bob’s Forth Worth.

Chris Cagle (R) performs at Billy Bob's Fort Worth for the "Got My Country On" video.

RIAA Issues Country Certifications

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Released Sept. 13, Lady A's latest album has been certified Platinum.

The RIAA recently issued certifications for Lady Antebellum, Eric Church, Brad Paisley/Carrie Underwood, and Taylor Swift.

Lady A’s Capitol Nashville album Own the Night was certified Platinum for shipments of one million units.

Labelmate Church secured Gold certification for his album Chief.

On the digital singles front, the Paisley/Underwood duet “Remind Me” earned Platinum sales, and Swift’s “Jump Then Fall” was certified Gold.

Sony Adds Assoc. Dir., Artist Development/Marketing

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Sony Music Nashville VP Artist Development/Marketing & Web Initiatives Heather McBee announced that Rachel Fontenot has joined Sony Music Nashville as Associate Director, Artist Development/Marketing. She’s already working in her new role, where she reports to McBee.

“Rachel brings a great deal of artist development experience and knowledge about the artists she’s now working,” says McBee. “We are very excited she’s a part of the team and have immediately felt her contribution to our company’s artist marketing activities.”

In this role, Fontenot will provide support in the development and execution of strategic and tactical marketing campaigns for her assigned artists in collaboration with promotion, media, creative, and sales departments. She will also facilitate international marketing efforts for the entire Sony Music Nashville roster.

A native of New Orleans, LA, Fontenot graduated with a Music Business degree from Middle Tennessee State University, where she minored in Marketing and Mass Communications. Congratulate her here.

Digitally Thinking: Albums Sales, Ringtones and stretchy silicon

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>>> Sometimes a great tech idea is so easy to understand that everyone wants to join the party. TouchFire, a stretchy silicon keyboard that sits atop the iPad’s horizontal on-screen keyboard is such a concept. Seattle-based software designer Steve Isaac put the idea on Kickstarter and raised over $200k, more than 20 times what he had hoped. The first run of the product will go to Kickstarter backers. “It sure makes us feel very good about the potential for this project and the demand for this project,” Isaac told AP.

>>> Digital Music News writes that reports of the death of ringtones have been greatly exaggerated. In fact the online industry news outlet quotes Gartner Research who says that ringtone revenues are still four times larger than the combined revenues from all the subscription services such as Spotify, Rhapsody, Rdio, MOG and all others. The worldwide online music revenue numbers play out with subscription services getting 8.4% of the pie; download services earning 57.3% and ringtones grabbing 34.3%. Total worldwide online music revenue for 2011 equals about $6.34 billion.

>>The Nielsen SoundScan music sales reports come out on Wed. mornings and measure the week which ends the previous Sunday. If you are simply unable to wait, you can click over to HitsDailyDouble.com and view its Album Sales Chart which is usually ‘final’ early Tuesday. Although the numbers may not be precisely the same as SS, they are usually close. With that in mind, it appears that tomorrow’s SS report will show the largest single week country album sales of the year. According to HDD, Lady A’s Own The Night is the highest selling country album with over 80k units. Scotty McCreery follows with about 67,000 units. Jason Aldean‘s My Kinda Party and Taylor Swift’s World Tour Live offering are in the next two positions with around 48,000 each. Stay tuned… we’ll have a complete report tomorrow, including how close we are to reaching last year’s sales totals.