Swift Leads Country Money Makers

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Taylor Swift netted more money than any other country entertainer last year, according to Billboard’s Money Makers 2011 issue (Feb. 19). The recently released list is based on net earnings derived from U.S. touring, music sales, and music and video streams.
21-year-old Swift saw her bank account swell by about $20.7 million, and ranked No. 6 on the all-genre tally. Her income came from 4.4 million in album sales, which translated to about $7.4 million in mechanical royalties for the star, not including publishing. Her tour grossed over $30 million, netting Swift around $10 million.
CMA reigning Entertainer of the Year Brad Paisley netted almost $14 million, sliding into No. 12 on the list. According to Billboard Boxscore, his H20 Tour was the top-grossing country run, with receipts nearing $38 million. He also pocketed a cool million from music sales.
With about $13.5 million each, Carrie Underwood and Tim McGraw came in 13th and 14th on the list, respectively.
Rounding out the country names on the tally are Rascal Flatts (No. 16, $11.9); Toby Keith (No. 21, $9.8); Lady Antebellum (No. 24, $9.1); Brooks & Dunn ($8.6); George Strait (No. 31, $7.3); Reba (No. 32, $7.1); and Sugarland (No. $4.4).
Lady Gaga was the year’s biggest money maker, pocketing about $30.5 million. More from Billboard.

Radio Host Danny Winchell Passes

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WAMB radio show host Danny Winchell has died at age 84. He was also a pop singer, magazine publisher, record producer and music promoter.
Winchell died on February 16 in Nashville. His weekly program, “The Danny Winchell Show,” aired on Fridays at 2:05 p.m. on WAMB, at 1200 on the AM radio dial. He sometimes sang on it with his pop trio Moonlight & Memories, which included vocalists Carole Shaw and Lisa Webb.
He was a New York native who began his show-business career in the early 1950s. In 1952, he scored a pop hit singing the standard “Carolina in the Morning” on MGM Records. Other pop singles included “Two Who Love as One” (1951), “There Goes My Heart” (1952), “Joshua” (1953), “Por Favor” (1956), “Dungaree Doll” (1956), “Don’t Say You’re Sorry” (1959) and “We’re Gonna Have a Rockin’ Party” (1959).
He also took credit for co-producing “Blue Moon” by The Marcels, a No. 1 hit in 1961.
In later years, he wrote the syndicated column “The Winch Line” and published the entertainment periodicals Panorama and In & Around.
Danny Winchell is survived by Judy, his wife of 56 years, daughter Jerri Findley, son Kenny and brother Sam. Memorials may be made to the Community Foundation/ Danny Winchell Music to help fund musical education for disadvantaged youth. Funeral arrangements are being handled by Eastland Funeral Home. According to http://dannywinchell.com, a celebration of Winchell’s life will be held in Nashville next month.

Industry Voices Criticizing iTunes; Google Applies Pressure

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A few years ago iTunes looked like the music industry’s knight in shining armor. Unfortunately, today with the added inventory of apps, books, movies, TV shows and more, plus some new rules, stakeholders are beginning to feel the relationship is getting strained. Apple’s latest skirmish is with book and magazine publishers. They are unhappy with the Cupertino giant’s new plans to take a 30% cut of all digital publications sold on its iPad and iPhone devices. Porter Bibb, a consultant at Mediatech Capital Partners and the first publisher of Rolling Stone magazine told the LA Times, “You’ve seen what Apple did to the music industry —they decimated it. Apple owns the music industry now, and publishers are loath to have that happen to them.”
Adding to the rukus is Apple’s plan [press release here] to withold highly valued personal subscriber information from the publishers unless the buyer specifically opts to share the data. Apple also demands that all apps allow for in-app purchasing. On the plus side publishers can now sell subscriptions by the week, month, year or other period of time instead of hoping readers will buy each one separately. “We believe that this innovative subscription service will provide publishers with a brand new opportunity to expand digital access to their content onto the iPad, iPod touch and iPhone, delighting both new and existing subscribers,” Apple CEO Steve Jobs said in a statement.
If the art of negotiation is finding and applying leverage, then the weight of Apple’s 15 million iPads in the marketplace and over 160 million users with credit cards on file surely sits heavily of the back of the book industry.
Google has entered the discussion by offering a new payment system for digital content, charging publishers a more modest 10% fee and offering to share the consumer data with publishers. Tension has been building between Apple and Google for a considerable period now. They compete with mobile operating systems—Apple’s IOS and Google’s Android plus Google is rumored to be opening a music store soon.
Blogger Chris Holmes suggests the music industry fight back against Apple with what he calls the Privateer System which gives bloggers, pirates and fans an opportunity to “make money while spreading music. Bloggers that host an up-and-coming act would host their music and take a percentage of the sales. Fans too.”
Rhapsody CEO John Erwin called the idea of having to pay a 30% “Apple tax” on music subscriptions, “economically untenable.” Rdio CEO Drew Larner also voiced strong concern, “That fee is certainly untenable for us. It creates a situation where it’s not financially possible for us to be in the environment, that’s a loss for consumers and I don’t think that’s a good thing.”
But what about consumers? Ultimately, Apple has to be careful not to upset the value proposition that drives them to purchase its hardware. For example, if Pandora apps are no longer available for the iPad or Rdio or Kindle books how will consumers react? And book publishers also have to carefully consider if they want to ignore the power of the Apple technology train and its dedicated cadre of consumers.

Television Roundup: Chesney Doc, Judds Series

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Chesney Football Documentary Airing Sunday • The Judds Docu-Series To Premiere On OWN
Many football luminaries turned out for the orange carpet premiere of the ESPN film The Color Orange: The Condredge Holloway Story in Knoxville last night (2/17). Kenny Chesney served as Executive Producer and narrates the film, which documents the life and career of University of Tennessee quarterback Condredge Holloway, the Southeastern Conference’s first African American starting quarterback. Created as part of ESPN’s “Year of the Quarterback” initiative, the film will debut everywhere Sunday, February 20 at 7 pm CT on ESPN.
In attendance for the event were University of Tennessee head coaches past and present Bill Battle, Phil Fulmer and Derek Dooley; ESPN College Game Day announcer and former Ohio State quarterback Kirk Herbstreit; Super Bowl-winning Indianapolis Colts and former UT quarterback Peyton Manning; Monday Night Football commentator and Coach of the Super Bowl-winning Tampa Bay Buccaneers Jon Gruden and many more.
“We have a lot of my heroes, that played with Condredge, a lot of my friends that came from all across the country, different parts of the world to be here tonight because they love football, and they love Condredge,” Chesney said to the audience during his introduction of the film.

(L-R); Jason Witten, former UT player and current Dallas Cowboys tight end; Bailey Malchijah, Soul Shine Films; ESPN College Game Day announcer and former Ohio State quarterback Kirk Herbstreit; Shaun Silva, of Tacklebox Productions and director of The Color Orange; UT Head Coach Derek Dooley; Monday Night Football commentator and Coach of the Super Bowl-winning Tampa Bay Buccaneers Jon Gruden; Condredge Holloway; ESPN/ABC commentator Brad Nessler; Kenny Chesney; ESPN Executive Producer John Dahl; Super Bowl-winning Indianapolis Colts and former UT quarterback Peyton Manning; former Penn State quarterback and ESPN/ABC announcer Todd Blackledge; former UT and National Championship Coach Phil Fulmer; Chesney Tour Manager David Farmer, former UT wide receiver great Larry Seivers and former UT Head Coach Bill Battle.


•  •  •  •  •
Naomi and Wynonna Judd will star in their very own real life series on the Oprah Winfrey Network starting in April. The six-episode series titled The Judds will follow mother and daughter as they hit the road for their first concert tour in a decade. Cameras will follow the duo onstage and off, offering a rare glimpse into the private struggles and triumphs of one of country music’s most celebrated pairings. The first episode airs April 10, 8 pm CT on OWN.
Viewers will be immersed in the world of the The Judds, from traveling city to city for concert performances to returning home to their farm in Tennessee to emotional closed doors sessions with their life coach. The Judds is produced for OWN by Gay Rosenthal Productions, Inc. The executive producers are Gay Rosenthal, Bruce Toms, Kerry Hansen, Naomi Judd and Wynonna Judd.

Community Benefits

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>>Charlie Daniels, Wynonna, Montgomery Gentry and The Grascals are set to perform for Operation Yellow Ribbon at Lipscomb University March 29, 2011. Accoring to David K. Hughes, Lipscomb University Assistant Dean of Students and Director of the Yellow Ribbon Program, the daylong symposium aims to “provide an informative day for those who work with veterans at universities across the country to help equip them with knowledge and expertise to make their campuses more accessible and friendly for veterans.” Lipscomb’s Yellow Ribbon Program offers eligible Post 9/11 GI Bill veterans and their family members an undergraduate degree tuition-free or a graduate degree tuition-free or at a greatly reduced tuition rate. For more information or to register visit yellowribbon.lipscomb.edu or call 615.966.5176.

Charlie Daniels (l) and Wynonna (r)


>>Employees with the Tennessee State Treasury Department donated money for Jimmy Wayne’s project Meet Me Halfway, inspired by Wayne’s 1700 mile walk from Nashville to Phoenix in 2010. Wayne was on hand at the State Capitol yesterday (2/17) to accept the donation. Wayne began Project Meet Me Halfway in 2010 to raise awareness of the problems faced by children in the foster care system, particularly those who age out at 18 and without any support system, often find themselves homeless.

Pictured (l-r): Tennessee Governor Bill Haslam, Wayne and Tennessee Treasurer David H. Lillard, Jr.


Todd Cerney


>>On Monday, February 28, Restless Heart, Steve Holy, Ty Herndon, Bo Bice and Jeff Bates will come together to headline a night of music honoring songwriter Todd Cerney, recently diagnosed with Stage IV melanoma. Cerney is a Grammy-nominated songwriter best known for his hits “I’ll Still Be Loving You” by Restless Heart, “Good Morning Beautiful” by Steve Holy, and “No Mercy” by Ty Herndon. The event will kick off with a series of songwriter rounds featuring Rivers Rutherford, Fred Knobloch, Rich Fagan, Pete Huttlinger, Lisa Carver, Wood Newton, Trevor Finlay, Doug Gill, Lynn Langham and Jim Parker, followed by performances from Buzz Cason and Mac Gayden (“Everlasting Love”), Casey Kelly and Leslie Ellis, Bill Lloyd, and Thom Shepherd & the Nashville Hit Songwriters Band. Special guest Peter Noone of Herman’s Hermits will join Restless Heart onstage to sing his 1967 classic, “A Kind of a Hush.” Also reuniting especially for this fundraiser will be  The Piggys, a Nashville rock band that hasn’t played live together in more than 25 years. The Todd Cerney Benefit Concert will be held Monday, February 28 at the Red Rooster Bar & Music Hall located at 1530 Demonbreun Street. Doors open at 6 pm, and music starts at 6:30 pm.  Admission is $15 at the door, and all proceeds from the event will go toward the mounting medical bills for Cerney’s illness. Donations may be made at any time to the Friends of Todd Cerney account through Regions Bank in Nashville. Donations by check may also be made through Nashville Songwriters Association.
>>Nashville singer/songwriter Jason James suffered a near total loss of the residence he was renting recently when a two-alarm fire devastated the Green Hills home. James and the other residents got out safely with no injuries. James is a songwriter for Pacific International Music. Gift cards for personal effects, household items and clothing are needed and preferred. To make a contribution or donation, contact James’ manager Becky Lynn Street at [email protected] or 615.499.3561. For more details click here.

Friday Cluster: Artists and Benefits

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>>Ronnie Dunn was in Dallas this week, where he previewed music from his upcoming debut solo album, which includes first single, “Bleed Red.”

Pictured (l-r): KSCS PD Dave Kelly and MD Chris Huff; Arista Nashville’s Lesly Tyson; KSSN PD Chad Heritage; Bob Kingsley’s wife Nan; Dunn; Citadel Media’s Kris Wilson; KPLX PD Mark Phillips; Citadel Media’s Carl Anderson; Bob Kingsley; and Arista Nashville’s Diane Monk.


Joe Nichols


>>Joe Nichols is in New York to support the Boot Campaign, an initiative featuring celebrities wearing combat boots to show support for troops and help raise funds for partner charities. Nichols’ media schedule includes these dates: The Country Network’s Nashville Nights on Wednesday, February 16 & 23; online during FoxNews.com Live and ABC.com What’s The Buzz on February 17 Fox News Channel’s America’s Newsroom, Fox Business, and All Night w/ Joey Reynolds on Friday, February 18; syndicated show BETTER on February 24, and featured on Fox affiliates and various SiriusXM channels throughout the week of February 21. Nichols is among the many celebrities, politicians and sports figures that have slipped their feet into a pair of combat boots for the campaign. To see these celebrity photos and more visit www.bootcampaign.com
>>To mark his 25th career anniversary, Randy Travis has begun posting previously unreleased videos, photos, media clips and more from specific time periods during his career on his website. Currently, material from 1986-1990 is available on the site. More years, including 1991-1995, 1996-2000, 2001-2005 and 2006-2010 are also planned to be unlocked in the future. www.RandyTravis.com
>>Five time Grammy Award and Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award winners The Blind Boys of Alabama will release a traditional country-gospel album for the first time in their 70-year career on May 3 on Saguaro Road Records. Artist Jamey Johnson, co-produced the album and performs on it along with Vince Gill, Willie Nelson, Hank Williams Jr., Lee Ann Womack, and The Oak Ridge Boys, backed by an A-list of top Nashville studio musicians. Recorded live in just a few days at Ben Folds’ Javelina Studio, the album includes songs such as Hank Jr.’s energetic re-working of his father’s “I Saw the Light,” and some more recent tunes like Danny Flower’s “I Was a Burden.”
>>Music entertainment television program Honky Tonk TV has teamed with CountryMusicIsLove to host an eBay auction in conjunction with the 2nd Annual CountryMusicIsLove Concert to be held on Tuesday, March 1, 2011 (sponsored in part by HT-TV). Bidders can vie for a personal luncheon at Nashville’s Hard Rock Café with the artist Ty Brown and tickets to the concert. The auction is currently underway on eBay (http://bit.ly/iejh0B) and closes on Wednesday, February 23, 2011 @ 10:50AM CST. The event will help raise funds for City Of Hope, a research center dedicated to finding cures for life-threatening illnesses. The concert will feature performances from Ty Brown, Chris Cavanaugh, Troy Olsen, Brett Eldredge, Thompson Square, Chuck Wicks and Josh Thompson. Tickets are $20 and can be purchased at www.countrymusicislove.com. Brown appeared on season 6 of ABC’s The Bachelorette, when he made it into Ali Fedotowsky’s “Top Five.” For more information visit www.tybrownmusic.com.

Tech Bits n' Bytes

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>>Fast Company, a magazine which describes itself as “the world’s leading progressive business media brand, with a unique editorial focus on innovation in technology, ethonomics (ethical economics), leadership, and design” has announced its 2011 Ranking of the World’s Most Innovative Companies. In the publication’s music category the top three companies were Pandora—for bringing its custom-curated music mix to a new venue…cars; Coca-Cola—for a daring marketing model that redefines the relationship among consumer brands, record companies, and artists; and Big Champagne—for developing a more modern business measurement that factors in social media. Named as the World’s Most Innovative companies overall were Apple, Twitter, Facebook, Nissan (for the first mass-market electric car) and Groupon (for reinvigorating retail and turning down $6 billion.)
>>Topspin orchestrated an about face in its direct-to-fan software platform in the form of a major update set for March 2011 that essentially opens up the previously closed marketing platform to all bands for a cost that starts at $9.99 per month. Also announced was a $5,000 marketing grant open to any artist or band with the best direct-to-fan business plan. Applications will be judged by a panel of music industry professionals including Rick Rubin (co-president of Columbia Records), Marc Geiger (William Morris Endeavor), Richard Jones (manager of the Pixies), Glenn Peoples (Billboard Magazine), Mike King (Berklee Music), Jennie Smythe (Girlilla Marketing), and others. For grant application, please visit www.topspinmedia.com. Entry deadline is March 7, 2011 at 6:00pm PST.
>>Soundexchange, the non-profit performance rights organization that collects statutory royalties from satellite radio, Internet radio, cable TV music channels and other services that stream sound recordings (similar to the way ASCAP, BMI and SESAC do for songwriters and publishers) has announced a new “Label It” camnpaign. Each year, distribution of millions of dollars in royalties get held up due to a lack of data resulting in “artist unknown” or “label unavailable” files. Soundexchange’s plan is to educate artists on how to label their work to facilitate collection of royalties through the addition of metadata to digital files.

Weekly Chart Report (2/18/11)

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SPIN ZONE

Capitol Records Nashville’s Walker Hayes isn’t kidding when he says he’s ready for winter to end. The “Why Wait For Summer” singer was in Birmingham, AL last week to perform at WDXB’s annual St. Jude event when he and WDXB morning show co-host Dollar Bill got down and ‘snowy’ together.


You knew this was coming, right? Following a huge night at the Grammys, Lady Antebellum’s anthemic “Hello World” ascends to No. 1 on the CountryBreakout Chart and holds off Taylor Swift’s “Back To December” by a mere 32 spins. Brad Paisley’s “This Is Country Music” is close at No. 3, and Jason Aldean’s “Don’t You Wanna Stay” leaps over Billy Currington’s “Let Me Down Easy” to stick at No. 4.
Sunny Sweeney’s “From A Table Away” has taken the Jamey Johnson/Lee Brice route to heavy rotation, clocking 33 weeks of chart visibility before reaching No. 8. Other recent songs to last longer than 30 weeks include the JaneDear girls’ “Wildflower,” which stayed 33 weeks and reached No. 23. Joe Nichol’s “The Shape I’m In” hit No. 10 after 30 weeks, and Eric Church’s “Smoke A Little Smoke” lasted 31. Back in 2009, Love and Theft’s “Runaway” bested them all with a 35 week run to get to No. 2.
Several older titles have fallen subject to our 20/20 rule this week, and that means a bounty of new debuts. Highest of them all is Kenny Chesney’s “Live A Little,” which hit No. 45 nearly a full month ahead of its March 14 add date. Then there’s Toby Keith’s “Somewhere Else,” which landed at No. 53 following a gain of 431 spins. And Justin Moore’s “If Heaven Wasn’t So Far Away” has clearly caught some programmer ears as it debuts at No. 57.
Frozen Playlists: KYEZ, WBYZ, WTCM





Upcoming Singles
February 22
Aaron Lewis/Country Boy/Stroudavarious
Justin Moore/If Heaven Wasn’t So Far Away/Valory
Sarah Darling/Something To Do With Your Hands/Black River
Charley Pride/Except For You/Music City Records
Walker Hayes/Why Wait For Summer/Capitol
Tim McGraw and Gwyneth Paltrow/Me and Tennessee/Curb
Royal Wade Kimes/I’m An Ole Song/Wonderment
February 28
Jessica Ridley/Flaming Red/EMG/Universal/Nine North
Frankie Ballard/A Buncha Girls/Warner Bros./WMN
Chris Young/Tomorrow/RCA
Jason Thomas/I’m Your Radio/MD Records
Eric Church/Homeboy/EMI Nashville
New On The Chart—Debuting This Week
Artist/song/label — chart pos.
Kenny Chesney/Live A Little/BNA — 45
Toby Keith/Somewhere Else/Show Dog-Universal — 53
Justin Moore/If Heaven Wasn’t So Far Away/Valory — 57
Chris Young/Tomorrow/RCA — 70
Gretchen Wilson/I’d Love To Be Your Last/Redneck Records/CO5 — 76
Badhorse/My Little Man/Global Maximus — 77
Eric Church/Homeboy/EMI Nashville — 79
Mark Wills/Looking For America/Mitzi Matlock Music — 80
Greatest Spin Increase
Artist/song/label — spin+
Kenny Chesney/Live A Little/BNA — 576
Ronnie Dunn/Bleed Red/Arista — 506
Keith Urban/Without You/Capitol — 473
Toby Keith/Somewhere Else/Show Dog — Universal — 431
The Band Perry/You Lie/Republic Nashville — 321
On Deck—Soon To Be Charting
Artist/song/label — spins
Kate Russell/Damned If I Do/Urunga/Spinville Records — 216
Bucky Covington/Hometown — 215
Curtis & Luckey/Eye Candy/KMG Music Group — 204
Tim McGraw & Gwyneth Paltrow/Me And Tennessee/Curb — 202
David Nail/Let It Rain/MCA — 201
Most Added
Artist/song/label — New Adds
Toby Keith/Somewhere Else/Show Dog-Universal — 32
Justin Moore/If Heaven Wasn’t So Far Away/Valory — 25
Badhorse/My Little Man/Global Maximus — 23
Keith Urban/Without You/Capitol — 23
Eric Church/Homeboy/EMI Nashville — 21
Walker Hayes/Why Wait For Summer/Capitol — 16
Tim McGraw & Gwyneth Paltrow/Me And Tennessee/Curb — 12
Chris Young/Tomorrow/RCA — 11

Gearing up for his sold-out show at City Limits Saloon in Raleigh, NC, Show Dog-Universal’s Randy Houser gladly opened his bus to WQDR for some pre-show camaraderie. (L-R): WQDR's Marty Young, Houser, Billy's wife Amanda, and WQDR MD Billy Dukes.


The Dirt Drifters started their Southwest radio run with a stop at KAJA in San Antonio. (L-R): Ryan Fleener, Jeremy Little, Matt Fleener, KAJA PD Travis Moon, Nick Diamond, and Jeff Middleton.


Davis Music Group/Nine North artist Jacob Lyda brought his new single “I'm Doing Alright” to KMLE Phoenix during his recent SW tour. (L-R): Davis Music Group's Gator Michaels, KMLE's Andrew Bland, Lyda, KMLE's Jeff Garrison and Nine North's Dave Collins.

CMA Songwriter Series Invades LA; Music Festival Unveils Photo Contest

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The CMA Songwriters Series returned to Los Angeles on Feb. 15 with a stellar performance at Club Nokia. Backstage before their performance were (L-R): singer/songwriter/producer Victoria Shaw; songwriter/host Bob DiPiero; 2010 CMA New Artist of the Year nominee Chris Young; two-time CMA Award winner Gretchen Wilson; and singer/songwriter Brett James.


The Music Festival turns 40 this year and to help celebrate, the CMA is sponsoring a photo contest. Six of the submitted photos will be used as the artwork on the official event tickets. Past festival attendees can submit photographs online creating what will become an ongoing photo archive that documents the event’s history.
The contest will begin Feb. 17 and run through Mar. 7. Prizes will be awarded to submitting fans, including commemorative, framed 40th anniversary CMA Music Festival plaques with a ticket containing their photograph displayed for the top three photos; merchandise prize packs; and more. The Grand Prize winner will also receive two Gold Circle four-day tickets to the 2012 CMA Music Festival.
CMA Music Festival, which started as Fan Fair® in 1972 at Nashville’s Municipal Auditorium; moved to the Tennessee State Fairgrounds in 1982; moved to its current home, Downtown Nashville, in 2001; and changed its name to CMA Music Festival in 2004, the same year it was first filmed for a network television special. In addition to artist performances and artist/fan meetings, CMA is hopeful that photos will be submitted that capture images of fans interacting with each other; recent events like the parade and celebrity sporting events; former events such as the Chuck Wagon Gang serving meals at the Fairgrounds or the “CMA Celebrity Close Up” sessions at the Ryman Auditorium; or the unexpected.
For full contest rules and to submit photos, fans can visit CMAfest.com beginning Thursday, Feb. 17. CMA Music Festival 2011 will take place in Downtown Nashville, Thursday-Sunday, June 9-12.

Tennessee's Incentives For Filmmakers Can't Compete

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Tennessee is missing out on a boost to the economy by not doing more to attract filmmakers. The Nashville Scene’s latest cover story looks at why films don’t come to the Volunteer state, including a lot of missed opportunities for Tennessee stories to be filmed on local soil. Among the toughest blows was when Memphis native Craig Brewer (Hustle & Flow, Black Snake Moan) moved his latest production, a remake of Footloose, to Georgia.
When the state loses a project, it also loses out on a significant amount of economic impact. Films like Country Strong, which was shot in the mid-state, create jobs on-set and off-set in the surrounding communities, such as at restaurants and hotels.
The article also looks at how hard it is for full-time crew employees to live in the state and find work, including those who have been lured away. Luckily, a new bill is working to create more incentives for movies to be made here. Read more.