Radio, Rights Orgs Temporarily Agree On 7%

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accounting1The music publishing industry has been anxiously watching licensing negotiations between BMI, ASCAP and radio/TV interests. Rate contracts are in the process of being renewed and concerns on the music side of the table revolve around potential rate reductions due to falling radio/TV ad revenues.

Today it has been announced that the Radio Music License Committee (RMLC) and the performing rights organizations have agreed to an interim 7% rate reduction for both ASCAP and BMI. Radio broadcasters will begin paying the lower rate Jan. 1, 2010. A court will determine the actual rate, and when determined, it will be retroactive to 1/1/10.

RMLC Chairman Ed Christian was quoted saying he’s disappointed the process has stalled, but looks forward to realizing “significant reductions” in licensing fees. Analysts suggest that obtaining a settlement in this issue may take many months, but also point that the 7% drop shows that the rights organizations are aware that radio revenues have been sharply dropping.

Piracy Report: 2009s Most Downloaded Films

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Star Trek was downloaded on BitTorrent almost 11 million times during 2009.

Star Trek was downloaded on BitTorrent almost 11 million times during 2009.

The music industry is not alone when it comes to fighting the revenue-shrinking effects of piracy. Web analysts www.torrentfreak.com, a site dedicated to creating unique information pertaining to filesharing, has released its list of the Top 10 most pirated movies of 2009.

The site notes that although Internet piracy from the silver screen increased during 2009, the movie industry enjoyed an excess of $10 billion in U.S. and Canadian ticket sales, a new record.

Topping the list with almost 11 million BitTorrent downloads was Star Trek followed by Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen with 10.6 million downloads.

Interestingly, the number of downloads and a film’s worldwide gross revenue do not necessarily correlate. For example, Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince was the No. 7 most downloaded film (7.93 million) but was the highest grossing movie earning over $929 million.

The complete list of most downloaded movies on BitTorrent can be found www.torrentfreak.com

Charlie Daniels Touts GEICO

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Click the image to view the GEICO commercial.

Click the image to view the GEICO commercial.

Charlie Daniels will be featured in a GEICO Commercial as part of GEICO’s new ad campaign, called “Rhetorical Questions.” The campaign asks rhetorical questions regarding the well-known tagline, “15 minutes could save you 15% or more on car insurance.”

Each spot begins with an investigative reporter-type host, played by Mike McGlone (from The Brothers McMullen) asking the question: “Could switching to GEICO really save you 15% or more on car insurance?” Answers on the four various ads include “Is Ed ‘Too Tall’ Jones too tall?” “Does Charlie Daniels play a mean fiddle?” “Does Elmer Fudd have trouble with the letter R?” or “Did The Waltons take way too long to say goodnight?”

Click here to watch the commercial.

T.J. Martell Updates 2010 Board

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TJMartell

T.J. Martell Southern Region has announced its new 2010 officers and board members.

The new officers include Derek Crownover, Partner of Crownover Tisinger PC as President; Tom Annastas, VP of Licensing for BMI as Vice President; Karen Clark, Senior VP and Financial Advisor at Pinnacle Financial Partners as Treasurer; Rick Murray, President and CEO of Greylock Entertainment as Secretary and Dave Berryman, President of Gibson Guitar as Executive Committee Member at Large.

New T.J. Martell Foundation – Southern Region board members  include Marcie Allen, President of MAC Presents; Pat Embry, Editorial Director of Magellan Press; John Esposito, President of Warner Music Nashville; Dennis Lord, Executive VP of SESAC; Carrie Simons, President of Triple 7 Public Relations; Mike Smardak, President and CEO of Outback Concerts and Joel Katz, Chair, Global Media and Entertainment Practice of Greenberg Traurig.

The T.J. Martell Foundation is a national non-profit organization that supports innovative research for leukemia, cancer and AIDS. Locally, the Foundation supports cancer research at the Frances Williams Preston Laboratories at the Vanderbilt-Ingram Cancer Center.

For more information on the T.J. Martell Foundation or to review the full list of Board of Directors, please log onto www.tjmartellfoundation.org.

More Artists Added To Sound And Speed

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sound and speed logoDanny Gokey and Holly Williams are among the latest additions to Sprint Sound & Speed Presented by SunTrust, a fundraiser pairing NASCAR and country music, set for Jan. 8-9 in Nashville. The annual event benefits the Country Music Hall of Fame® and Museum, and Victory Junction, a camp for children with serious illness.

A special edition of the Grand Ole Opry at the Ryman Auditorium will open Sound & Speed on Friday, Jan. 8. American Idol Season 8 finalist Gokey will make his Opry debut, joining other newly added singers Holly Williams and Jason Michael Carroll, along with already announced participants Hank Williams Jr., Chris Young and Kyle Petty and his band. There will also be appearances by NASCAR’s Denny Hamlin, Clint Bowyer, Jamie McMurray and Greg Biffle during the Friday night shows. There will be Opry performances at 7 p.m. and 9:30 p.m., with varying artists schedules.

On Saturday, Jan. 9 the event continues at Nashville’s Municipal Auditorium, where fans of racing and country music will have the opportunity to get up-close and personal with drivers, team owners, and artists for autographs, story-telling, and question-and-answer sessions. The fan event will feature show car and sponsor displays, as well as a charitable auction with memorabilia from the racing and entertainment industries. Gokey, Danielle Peck, Corey Smith, Ashton Shepherd, Brady Seals, Nathan Lee Jackson and duo Kate & Kacey join previously announced participants Jason Michael Carroll, Josh Turner, members of Diamond Rio, and Young.

NASCAR stars Aric Almirola, Justin Allgaier, Kyle Petty, Michael Annett, Carl Edwards, Ricky Stenhouse Jr., Kyle Busch, James Buescher, Brad Kesolowski, Logan Ruffin, Brian Scott and Morgan Shepherd join already announced participants Dale Earnhardt Jr., Tony Stewart, Denny Hamlin, Kasey Kahne, Michael Waltrip, Clint Bowyer, Reed Sorenson, and David Stremme.

More drivers and country music artists will be announced in the coming weeks.

Since its inception five years ago, Sound & Speed has attracted an estimated 40,000 fans and raised more than $800,000 for Victory Junction (a camping experience founded by Kyle and Pattie Petty for children battling illnesses) and the Country Music Hall of Fame® and Museum.

For details and ticketing information visit soundandspeed.org.

Covington To Help Hard Rock Cafe Open New Venue

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buckyLyric Street recording artist Bucky Covington will perform as part of Hard Rock Cafe Nashville’s “Countdown to 2010” music series. The week-long live music event celebrates the venue’s grand re-opening. As part of these festivities, ASCAP is presenting An Evening With Bucky Covington on Tuesday, December 29, 2009 at 7 pm.

Spreading the holiday cheer, Covington and the Hard Rock will donate proceeds from the event to the Arthritis Foundation (Tennessee Chapter). Earlier this year, he was named Celebrity Ambassador for the organization and will continue serving in this role throughout 2010.

Doors for the Hard Rock show open at 7:00pm and the performance begins at 8:00pm. Tickets are $10 in advance or $12 at the door and available for purchase online or at HRC Nashville’s Rock Shop.

Covington will also be appearing at the Hard Rock’s Guitar Smash, the venue’s official grand opening ceremony on December 30, 2009 at 10:30am at the Hard Rock Cafe Nashville. From there, he is off to Winston Salem, NC for a New Year’s Eve concert.

CMT Counts Down Top Videos of ’09 On Host Smith’s Final Show

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Swift's "You Belong With Me" video.

Swift's "You Belong With Me" video.

Taylor Swift tops the list when CMT counts down the 20 biggest country music videos of the year in a special year-end episode of CMT Top 20 Countdown on Friday, December 25 at 11:30 a.m., ET/PT. CMT host Lance Smith will count down the best videos of 2009, as well as his favorite moments of the past nine years, on his final episode as host of the series. Smith recently announced that he would be exiting the show at the end of 2009 to pursue a career in acting.

Lance Smith

Lance Smith

Swift’s smash video “You Belong With Me” spent 19 weeks on the countdown this year, and held court at the No. 1 spot for eleven of those weeks in a new Top 20 record.

The Countdown is based on a weekly analysis of CMT.com activity, digital and physical retail sales, radio airplay, other online activity and viewer voting. For the second year in a row, Swift was the most-streamed artist on CMT.com, CMT VOD and CMT Mobile.

CMT’s Top 20 videos of 2009

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Publicists Featured On CMA Industry InSite

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cma-logoUnderstanding the importance of publicity is the focus of the latest installment of CMA Industry InSite, an online educational series, which is now available on CMA’s member Web site, My.CMAworld.com.

The eighth episode, “Publicity – The Portal to the People,” is available now and features interviews with Mary Hilliard Harrington, President, The Greenroom; Dixie Owen, Sr. Director, Media & Public Relations, Capitol Records Nashville; Wes Vause, Vice President Media, Sony Music Nashville; and Jeff Walker, President, AristoMedia/Marco Music Group.

The series is part of CMA’s ongoing strategic mission of being a resource for the Country Music industry. The Association launched the monthly online educational series in May. The series is an exclusive benefit for members of CMA.

Episodes are posted on the third Monday of the month. With each new episode, CMA members are able to submit questions to the panel of experts. Each segment, which is roughly 10 minutes long, is archived for easy access at any time.

Gokey Album Coming In March

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danny gokey19 Recordings/RCA Nashville is planning an early March release of the debut album by Danny Gokey. The American Idol finalist’s first single, “My Best Days Are Ahead of Me,” is at radio now, and the album will be called My Best Days.

The digital single is available this week for the first time, and listeners can stream the track on the recently launched dannygokey.com.

Today’s (12/23) issue of USA Today highlights Gokey and his special online performance of “O Holy Night.” The song is available on the newspaper’s Web site for a limited time.

Over the holidays, Gokey is confirmed to sing the national anthem prior to the 1:00 p.m. ET FOX network broadcast of the Green Bay Packers/Seattle Seahawks game on Sunday, December 27.

Jimmy Wayne To Walk Halfway Across US For Homeless

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jimmy wayneJimmy Wayne is on a crusade for the homeless. The singer plans to walk from Nashville to Phoenix to raise funds and awareness for at-risk individuals, particularly youth and young adults. He will sleep outdoors and in shelters along the way.

His journey—called the “Meet Me Halfway” campaign because he is walking halfway across the country—will start on New Year’s Day at Nashville youth services organization Monroe Harding.

Wayne says his journey is inspired by his teen years, during which he experienced homelessness, and was spurred on the nation’s recent economic downturn which has given rise to the number of people without a safe place to sleep.

“I realize beginning a mission like this in the dead of winter and walking through the middle of the country is going to be difficult, but I hope and pray I am up to the challenge,” Wayne said. “But that’s what the homeless are dealing with each and every winter they go without a home of their own.” Marmot Sportswear is providing Wayne with essential cold weather clothing.

As a teen growing up in North Carolina, Wayne occasionally found himself homeless. He was shuffled between shelters and foster care until an older couple took him in and changed his life at age 16.

Wayne has selected HomeBase Youth Services in Phoenix, where he will end his trip, as the recipient of donations because of the work they do with homeless young adults (age 18–21).

According to Google Maps, walking the more than 1660 miles from Nashville to Phoenix would take at least 22 days.

Read more about “Meet Me Halfway” at www.jimmywayne.com.