Pictured: Chris Kappy, Hailey Whitters, Matt Graham. Photo credit: Kurt Ozan

Hailey Whitters has signed a co-management deal with BRND MGMT’s Matt Graham and Chris Kappy of Make Wake Artists.

“As an admirer of both Matt & Kappy’s approach, I couldn’t have found a more complimentary management partnership to execute my vision and deliver my music to fans,” Whitters says. “I’m thrilled to embark on this next chapter and see the places we’ll go.”

Whitters’ songs have been recorded by Martina McBride (“Low All Afternoon” & “The Real Thing”), Alan Jackson (“The Older I Get”) and Little Big Town (“Happy People”). Beginning this summer, Whitters will open select tour dates for Lori McKenna, Brent Cobb and Maren Morris.

Kappy said, “When I first heard Hailey’s new album, I knew I wanted to be part of the team. The songwriting is second to none, but the delivery and production of the entire work was so well thought out and arranged, that I knew her heart and soul was in this project. When you find that sort of combination, you do everything you can to be a part of it. Matt is a ground up manager, like myself, and when the opportunity presented itself for us to work together on Hailey, I felt we could bring her a team that knows what passionate fans, strategic touring, and great music can do for an artist’s career. Can’t wait to dig into this next adventure with Matt and Hailey.”

Matt says, “Kappy and I plan to continue executing the rollout that Hailey has so brilliantly begun on her own. While we recognize the extreme importance of having a record label partner in country music, we have no intention of slowing her incredible momentum. We want to make sure whoever we choose as a label partner is the perfect fit. In the meantime, we will continue to roll out new music, and are excited to use our relationships and experience to continue to fan the flames of excitement with her fans and wider music industry.”

Kappy worked at Sixthman for 15 years with Artist and Partner relations for their cruise events such as Florida Georgia Line’s “”This is How We Cruise” and Kid Rock’s “Chillin the Most” Cruise, and has been in the business of passionate fan bases for a very long time. After meeting Luke Combs at the 40 Watt in Athens, GA, Kappy packed up his life and relocated to Nashville, TN in 2015 to navigate the managerial waters for Luke’s career. Since then, Luke Combs has released his double platinum-certified debut album This One’s for You in 2017, which has spent a totally of 35 non-consecutive weeks at No.1 on the Billboard Country Albums charts, scored five No. 1 Country radio hits, and is a CMA, CMT, iHeartRadio and ACM Award-winning artist.

Graham got his start with long-time friend Scooter Braun, as SB Projects Senior Manager, before stepping out in 2015 to launch his company, BRND MGMT. BRND has built an impressively diverse roster including country music’s fastest rising stars, Midland. The trio had a huge 2018 with two Grammy nominations, three CMA nominations and won an ACM for New Vocal Group as well as multiple sold-out headline tours. In addition, his roster spans genres including country, dance, alt, pop and hip-hop landing record deals with Big Machine, Atlantic, Republic, Fueled by Ramen and AWAL.

Pictured (L-R): Cris Lacy (EVP A&R, WMN); John Esposito (Chairman & CEO, WMN); Gabby Barrett; Ben Kline (EVP / GM, WMN)

Warner Music Nashville has signed Gabby Barrett. SiriusXM’s The Highway has already tapped the singer/songwriter and American Idol alumna as a “Highway Find” artist, and her first single “I Hope” claimed the No. 1 spot on the station’s Hot 30 Countdown.

The song has 35 million on-demand streams to date. Barrett is currently in the studio with producer Ross Copperman working on her debut release. Barrett will join the Warner Music Nashville/WAR radio team and is represented by Red Light Management and William Morris Endeavor.

MusicRow Magazine is pleased to reveal a new trophy for the expanded 31st Annual MusicRow Awards, presented first at tonight’s (June 26) event at the War Memorial Auditorium. The concrete award was crafted by Santana Matlock at Abstrakt Concrete in Nashville, Tennessee.

Santana Matlock

The concrete trophy will symbolize MusicRow as the cornerstone of the Nashville music industry, and each trophy includes a small sample of soil taken from the grounds of historic Music Row. Matlock is a local artisan who specializes in the custom design and production of concrete countertops, sinks, fire pits, and other products.

Photo: Rachael Fernandez

CMA CEO Sarah Trahern is being honored with the Spirit Of Music Award at the upcoming 44th Annual T.J. Martell Honors Gala in New York on Oct. 15 at Cipriani 42nd Street.

Michael Kushner, EVP Business & Legal Affairs/General Counsel Atlantic Records, and Mike O’Neill, President & CEO of BMI are also being honored at the event, which will include a cocktail reception, silent auction, seated dinner, and special entertainment. Kushner will receive the Lifetime Music Industry Award, while O’Neill will be honored with the T.J. Martell Foundation Legacy Award.

More information on the upcoming event can be found at HonorsGalaNewYork.org.

NPR and Edison Research has released the Smart Audio Report 2019, which reveals how smart speaker user behavior and perceptions are evolving as owners ‘settle in’ with their devices and the market matures out of its introductory phase.

According to the survey, seven in 10 smart speaker owners use their device daily despite common concerns around security and privacy, and those same factors are leading reasons non-owners have not acquired a device.

“We are starting to see more pragmatic usage of these devices,” said Tom Webster, SVP of Edison Research. “The longer people have these devices, the less experimentation they do with them — but the more ingrained into everyday life these devices become.”

Among the over 53 million smart speaker owners 18 and up in the U.S.:

• 69% of smart speaker owners use their device daily, and households with children are even more likely to use them daily
• Smart speaker owners who have owned the device for 2+ years use an average seven (7) skills per week, compared to an average 12 skills per week among those who have owned the device for less than three (3) months
• 66% of those who own a smart speaker with a screen say the screen has made it easier to discover new content, and the same number say having a screen makes the smart speaker “easier to use”

“We continue to see those that have voice assistant devices love them, using them every day to get the news, listen to podcasts, live stream radio stations and more,” said Joel Sucherman, NPR Vice President, New Platform Partnerships. “The latest data suggest we’ve moved into a maturation phase in this space, in which earning and maintaining the trust of potential smart speaker buyers, while also demonstrating new functionality, may be a key to continuing dynamic growth.”

While almost half of smart speaker owners are planning to acquire another device, the report also finds a slowing interest among non-owners in acquiring their first smart speaker. Among people who do not own a smart speaker and are interested in acquiring one, the top two reasons they have not are concern that hackers could use a smart speaker to gain access to their home or personal information, and worry that smart speakers are always listening. 

The Smart Audio Report Spring 2019, part of the industry’s longest-running public research series about smart speaker consumer behavior in the U.S., is available now at npr.org/smartaudio.