Country Crossing’s Ronnie Gilley Indicted

Country Crossing owner Ronnie Gilley is among a group of 11 individuals being indicted today as part of a federal investigation into political corruption in the state of Alabama. The indictment alleges that Gilley, along with casino and racetrack owner Milton McGregor, hired lobbyists to bribe state legislators into supporting proposed pro-gambling legislation. Four state senators—Larry Means, James Preuitt, Quinton Ross and Harri Anne Smith—are charged with agreeing to accept or demanding the bribes. One of Gilley’s employees and an employee of the state legislature are also being indicted.

Country Crossing has been beset with turmoil since its opening, as Alabama Governor Bob Riley is a staunch opponent of electronic bingo. Under threat of a federal raid, the facility has been closed since January 2010. A message on the Country Crossing website says “Because of recent threats from the Governor’s task force, Country Crossing has closed its doors to protect its employees and patrons. We are working diligently to solve the issue once and for all and will release more information as we move forward.” The Country Crossing complex is a part of Ronnie Gilley Entertainment, which includes Country Crossing Records and BamaJam Records and also produces the annual Verizon Wireless BamaJam Music and Arts Festival.

Capitol Nashville Promotes Amanda Heinrichs

Capitol Records Nashville has promoted Amanda Heinrichs to Marketing Manager. In her newly elevated role, she will be responsible for marketing research and analysis, budgets, coordinating album marketing plans, creating presentations for sponsorship opportunities, event logistics and coordination, advertising buys and managing marketing interns. She will report directly to Sr. VP, Marketing Cindy Mabe.

“I am so proud and excited to be able to promote Amanda to the position of Manager,” said Mabe. “She has shown what a great team player and contributor she can be to our marketing team, our artists and Capitol Records with her outstanding attention to detail and her unstoppable ‘get it done’ attitude. Amanda is truly an asset to our team.”

The Belmont graduate joined Capitol Records Nashville in 2007 as Marketing Coordinator. Her experience also includes time as an administration assistant at Cal IV Entertainment. Heinrichs enjoys working with Big Brothers Big Sisters. She also coaches youth hockey and plays on ASCAP’s Hit Men Ice Hockey Team.

Trailer Choir Visits 5th Grade; Miranda Lambert Visits “Today”

Trailer Choir closed out celebrity week on CMT’s Are You Smarter Than A 5th Grader on Sept 25. Hosted by Jeff Foxworthy, the show pits celebrities against a group of fifth graders, quizzing them on such topics as geography and social studies. Trailer Choir played for St Jude Children’s Hospital, an organization the group has supported for several years.

(L-R) Trailer Choir's Big Vinny, Crystal and Butter with host Foxworthy.

(L-R) Today co-host Meredith Vieira and Miranda Lambert.

Columbia Nashville’s Miranda Lambert appeared on the NBC Today show last week for a visit that included a performance of “Only Prettier,” the latest single from her ACM Album of the Year winner, Revolution. Later that night she kicked off her fall run, CMT on Tour: Miranda Lambert Revolution, in New York.

Grascals And Rounder Part Ways


Two-time IBMA Entertainers of the Year The Grascals have parted ways with Rounder Records, the label that has been instrumental in the group’s success since 2004.

The parting is amicable, according to The Grascals’ manager, Kirt Webster. “It was simply time for a change, and both parties realized that. We have nothing but respect for the label and the work they’ve done for us,” he adds.

“We appreciate them believing in us from the get-go,” says Grascals’ mandolin maestro, Danny Roberts. “They’ve meant so much to us and they supported us completely.” Visit www.grascals.com for more info.

Publishing News: Hunt Departs AWMG; Artist Co-Writers

Ann Wilson Music Group Creative Director Margie Hunt has departed her position with the company after 15 months. Hunt previously spent 30 years with Sony Music, where she had instrumental roles in A&R, Marketing, Product Management, Film/TV, and in the production of compilations, re-packages and box sets. She can be reached at mhuntmusicservices@comcast.net or at 615-351-1156.

•  •  •  •  •

Songwriters Ken Johnson and Andi Zack recently spent some time at the Brown Owl Studio recording songs they wrote with Columbia Nashville’s Josh Thompson and Reprise/WMN’s Frankie Ballard.

(L-R): Ballard, Johnson, Zack, Thompson

Promo Vet Debbie Gibson Palmer Passes

MusicRow extends its condolences to family and friends of veteran record promoter Debbie Gibson Palmer, who passed away in Los Angeles Friday, October 1. She was 58 years old. She is survived by her daughter Gaylene Aparicio, also in the record promotion business, and granddaughter Cassidy Aparicio.

A native of Nashville, Gibson-Palmer’s maiden name was Demonbreun and she was descended from the founders of Nashville. She was preceded in death by her husband of 23 years, Ed Palmer, in December 2009.

“I am deeply saddened by the passing of Debbie Gibson-Palmer,” says promoter Jerry Duncan. “She was an outstanding promoter, business associate and friend. Since our days together at Nationwide Sound Distributors, where we promoted the first Alabama records, Debbie, and the rest of the Gibson family have been like family to me. She will be missed by all of us in the music business. My deepest sympathy goes out to her daughter Gaylene and granddaughter Cassidy.”

A memorial service is being planned for December in Nashville, to be followed by burial in Woodlawn Cemetery.

In lieu of flowers, the family asks that contributions to help with medical and other expenses be sent to:

Gaylene Aparicio (music4gaylene@aol.com)
5349 Newcastle Ave., #55
Encino, CA 91316

Bug Acquires Saban

Bug Music CEO John Rudolph announces that the large independent publisher has acquired the worldwide rights to Saban Music Group’s extensive music publishing catalog. Saban’s extensive catalog includes material from leading children’s franchises such as the Mighty Morphin Power Rangers™, Digimon™, The Addams Family™ Reunion, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: The Next Generation, Princess Sissi and Walter Melon properties, and encompasses a slate of theme songs, cues and scores from more than 90 television series, 3,700 television episodes and 100 made-for-television films and specials.

Following Saban Capital Group, Inc.’s (SMG’s parent company) recent acquisition of the Mighty Morphin Power Rangers™ property, Bug Music sees significant growth opportunities in the newly acquired catalog.

“Bug is focused on opportunities that provide growth for the company, as well as best practices for our film and TV clients across the world,” said Rudolph, Bug Music CEO. “This deal falls in line with our goals and will benefit our clients in real returns. The excellent work of the Saban team in managing the catalog and completing the deal has made the transition seamless.”

Bug represents significant songwriters of today (Kara Dioguardi, Kings of Leon, Bruno Mars, Three Six Mafia, Gordie Sampson, Lucas Secon, Ryan Adams, Wilco, Grizzly Bear, Pete Townshend, Paul Westerberg among others), the past (Johnny Cash, Willie Dixon, Muddy Waters, Woody Guthrie, Townes Van Zandt and Stevie Ray Vaughan) and classics such as “What a Wonderful World,” “Fever” and “Happy Together.” The company maintains eight offices in the US and Europe.

Bug’s Nashville office is headed by Sr. VP Roger Murrah and VP John Allen.

Pay On The Way In: A Digital Manifesto For Troubled Times

During the last 12 years of the digital revolution, the music industry has mostly mimicked an ostrich. Record labels have tried to pretend that the digital realm is nothing more than a virtual Wal-Mart superstore. And how’s that been working? Not too well according to the International Federation of the Phonographic Industry (IFPI) which estimates that 19 out of 20 downloads worldwide are unpaid. Ouch! Experts have pronounced the album format to be in serious jeopardy. Single song download growth has flattened. Publishing revenue, especially mechanicals, has shrunk. Companies are reacting by cutting costs and headcount. Are we ready to try something new?

If so, the solution may be asking consumers to pay on the way into the digital store, not on the way out. Unlike a brick and mortar Wal-Mart, experience has proven it is impossible to lockup online merchandise at night. Sound like a good plan? It is, but to get it done the industry will have to band together. Here’s some of the basic steps…

To enter the “store” everyone will pay a mandatory copyright access fee to their Internet Service Provider (ISP), the company that connects them online. The ISP is the logical toll booth for this fee (someday it might also compensate film and book rights holders). ISPs will be glad to collect these fees since they will receive a small percentage to compensate them for time and trouble. In return, consumers get an all-you-can-eat musical buffet. Enjoying the online music will feel like free, but it is not, because everyone paid on the way into the store. And with a compulsory license, piracy disappears, because you can’t steal what you have already paid for.

Publishers, artists, labels and other copyright stakeholders will have to sit around a table to decide upon an agreeable percentage split of this newly formed digital access royalty pool. Yes, that will be a bloodbath, but in the end everyone wins with huge added revenues.

For those of you that want to delve deeper, read on.

THE PLANOperating Manual
1. All Internet traffic must pass through an ISP (Internet
Service Provider; i.e. Comcast, Verizon, AOL) creating
a natural toll booth or royalty collection point to gather
copyright payments.
2. Under the plan Internet subscribers are required to
pay a monthly “copyright fee” collected by the ISP,
perhaps $6.50/mo. or $78 per year. It would appear
as a line item on the bill. In return users enjoy an
“all-you-can-eat” compulsory license for DRM-free
digital downloads and streaming music.
3. There are approximately 150 million U.S. Internet
subscribers, whose fee payments would create an
annual copyright fund of $11.7 billion. (For perspective,
the entire annual U.S. music industry is less than a
$10 billion industry, retail.) Result—the mandatory
Internet royalty could double industry revenues in its
first year. [Not a bad beginning!]
4. Web sites would be allowed to offer music under the
compulsory license, since the use of that music would
already be paid by Internet users. Music sites would
be required to pay a minimal percentage of gross
revenue to the copyright fund.
5. Blank recordable media would also be subject to a
minimal copyright fee that would contribute to the
copyright fund.

DISTRIBUTING THE CASH
1. Under the plan there is only one digital royalty. The
distinction between performance and/or mechanical
royalties becomes irrelevant in the digital domain.
2. Files will be monitored, surveyed and eventually tagged
with IDs to accurately account for usage, not unlike
the way ASCAP, BMI and SESAC currently determine
payments.
3. Labels, artists, publishers and songwriters will have
to decide, with the help of a mediator, how they will
divide the fund.

THE VISION
1. A compulsory license brings labels and consumers
together to share and introduce new music.
Cumbersome online licensing and clearance
roadblocks are eliminated.
2. Piracy disappears since all Internet users have already
paid—on the way into the store. That is important
considering that estimates of illegal to paid downloads
are currently running about 20 to 1! It also respects
the nature of the Internet, which was designed to
distribute information.
3. Technology to enhance the discovery, appreciation and
sharing of new music is embraced and legal under the
new system. Consumers are encouraged to enjoy music
when they want it and how they want it.
4. Intellectual property owners are fully compensated
for all copyright uses, from the mandatory Internet
royalty fund collected from each user by the ISP.

TROUBLESHOOTING
1. How to get this plan adopted—It will likely need
legislative help to be implemented and consensus
from all copyright stakeholders.
2. What about movies, books and other intellectual
property? Yes, these copyrights will also be ultimately
paid from the fund.
3. Will the fund always be the same price? Probably not.
An increase would make sense as movies and books
are added.
4. I don’t download music why should I pay? Because it
is for the greater good and the benefit of creators
which are a necessary part of our society.
5. What about a bandwidth meter? It’s possible that some
kind of metering approach would more equitably
equate consumer use and cost in the same way that
utilities like water and electricity measure and bill
according to use.

IEBA Hall of Fame Inducts Inaugural Class

L-R: Kenny Chesney, Dale Morris, Clint Higham. Photo: Kevin Kennedy

The International Entertainment Buyers Association inducted the inaugural class of the IEBA Hall of Fame last night (10/3) at Nashville’s downtown Hilton. Among the new inductees are Ron Baird, Dick Clark, Charlie Daniels, Barbara Hubbard, George Moffett, Dale Morris, Joan Saltel, Erv Woolsey and the Grand Ole Opry. Country stars Lee Ann Womack, Martina McBride and Kenny Chesney made surprise appearances to celebrate some of those who have bolstered their successful careers.

Womack inducted longtime manager Erv Woolsey, McBride inducted Ron Baird, formerly of Creative Artists Agency, and Chesney inducted his manager, Dale Morris. Acclaimed trumpeter, Joey Pero, opened the ceremony in front of 500 attendees with a jazz performance. The ceremony was part of IEBA’s 40th anniversary convention, running through tomorrow night (10/5) in Nashville.

L-R: Erv Woolsey, George Moffett, Dale Morris, Bob Romeo. Photo: Kevin Kennedy

Posthumous inductees include Henry Ade, Sonny Anderson, Dick Blake, Paul Buck, Johnny Cash, Danny Davis, Billy Deaton, Dave Douds, Danny Fleenor, John Hitt, Myles Johnson, Bette Kaye, Shorty Lavender, Buddy Lee, Hubert Long, Jack McFadden, Bob Neal, Florine Oler, Wesley Oler, Harry “Hap” Peebles, Don Romeo, Sonny Simmons, E.O. Stacy, Lon Varnell, and Lawrence Welk.

L-R: Pete Fisher (Grand Ole Opry), Barry Jeffrey (WME and IEBA Chairman of the Board) Photo: Kevin Kennedy

The day ended with late night music from Paradigm Agency at The Stage on Broadway, hosted by Storme Warren, with performances from Roger Creager, Greg Hanna, Walker Hayes, Jars of Clay, Jaron & The Long Road To Love, Brantley Gilbert, Bucky Covington and WAR. Playing into the early morning were SHIROCK, Logan Mize and Stealing Angels. Details on the convention at ieba.org.

Urban And Friends Tomorrow Night

Tickets are still available for Keith Urban’s We’re All For The Hall concert tomorrow night (10/5) at Nashville’s Bridgestone Arena.

The superstar line-up of guests includes Vince Gill, Dolly Parton, John Mayer, Alan Jackson, Martina McBride, Miranda Lambert, Alison Krauss, Billy Currington and Charley Pride.

This is the second annual benefit for the Country Music Hall of Fame® and Museum. Last year’s We’re All for the Hall concert was the most successful fundraiser in the Museum’s history, netting nearly $500,000.

Tickets (starting at $25) and exclusive VIP packages are on sale at ticketmaster.com, all Ticketmaster locations and the Bridgestone Arena Box Office.  Tickets may also be charged by phone at (800) 745-3000. VIP package details here.