Dan + Shay Celebrate No. 1 Single “Tequila”

Pictured (L-R): Jordan Reynolds, Dan + Shay, Nicolle Galyon. Photo: Ed Rode

Dan+Shay‘s two-week No. 1 single “Tequila” is officially the most-streamed country song released in 2018 to date, it was announced Thursday (Aug. 16).

The streaming achievement comes after the duo welcomed industry members to ASCAP’s Nashville office on Tuesday (Aug. 14) to celebrate the song’s success, followed by a massive, 10,000-person strong party in the heart of the Music Row area.

“Tequila” was penned by Dan+Shay’s Dan Smyers, Nicolle Galyon (celebrating her fourth No. 1 single), and Jordan Reynolds (celebrating his very first No. 1 single as a writer).

Among those at the event were BMI’s David Preston, ASCAP’s Beth Brinker, Buckeye26’s Wendell Mobley, Warner/Chappell’s BJ Hill, MusicRow Magazine’s Sherod Robertson, and Warner Music Nashville CEO John Esposito.

Back row: Wes Vause (SVP Publicity, Warner Music Nashville), Shane Tarleton (SVP Creative Services, Warner Music Nashville), Clark Tedesco (Artist Development Manager, Warner Music Nashville), Tim Foisset (VP Streaming, Warner Music Nashville), Tom Martens (National Director Radio & Streaming, Warner Music Nashville), John Esposito (President & CEO, Warner Music Nashville), Kristen Williams (SVP Radio & Streaming, Warner Music Nashville), Tom Starr (Regional Manager Radio & Streaming, Warner Music Nashville), Rohan Kohli (Director A&R, Warner Music Nashville). Front row: Jordan Reynolds, Dan + Shay, Nicolle Galyon. Photo: Ed Rode

Back row: Lisa Ray (Sandbox Entertainment), Jason Owen (Sandbox Entertainment), Beth Brinker (ASCAP), BJ Hill (VP A&R, Warner/Chappell), Wendell Mobley (Publisher), John Esposito (President & CEO, Warner Music Nashville), David Preston (BMI), Mike O’Neill (BMI). Front row: Jordan Reynolds, Dan + Shay, Nicolle Galyon. Photo: Ed Rode

Weekly Chart Report (8/10/18)

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Slacker Radio Launches ‘Woman Crush Everyday’ Country Station

Natalie Stovall. Photo: Rick Diamond Photography

LiveXLive Media’s Slacker, a global digital media company focused on live entertainment, has launched #WCE (“Woman Crush Everyday”) Country, a digital radio station devoted to introducing and elevating female country artists, and Slacker Studio, a mobile app which allows hosts and contributors to remotely add music and commentary to Slacker stations. Both the station and the app were introduced at an Aug. 7 launch party in Nashville, co-hosted by WME and Change the Conversation.

#WCE Country will be hosted and curated by female artists, with additional women in the music industry adding commentary and selecting songs. Cam, whose “Burning House” was the top-selling single by a female country artist in 2015, is the station’s first host.

“We have amazingly talented women making music in Nashville, and they deserve to be heard,” said Jess Wright, Slacker’s Country Format Captain. “In 2017, more than 97% of the artists who appeared on the year-end Country Top 40 were male. This doesn’t reflect the quality of music created by women; it reflects a lack of support from the gatekeepers of country music who believe that women have limited commercial appeal. I’m excited that, through Slacker, we can bring the music of female country artists directly to our audience, curated by the people who are most passionate about it – the women in Nashville’s music industry.”

Emerging artists Natalie Stovall, Post Monroe, and Lauren Duski performed at the Nashville launch event. Held at WME’s Nashville office, attendees included musicians, songwriters’ managers, journalists, and other women involved in Nashville’s music industry, many of whom were given VIP access to the Slacker Studio app to share their perspective and personal stories on #WCE Country.

“I’m thrilled that there’s another platform to support female artists,” said Leslie Fram, the co-founder of Change the Conversation and the senior vice president of strategy at CMT.  “Women have always been the cornerstone of country music, and their voices need to be heard.”

 

Keith Urban, busbee and Carrie Underwood Celebrate No. 1 “The Fighter”

Pictured (L-R): busbee, Carrie Underwood and Keith Urban. Photo: Steve Lowry

“‘The Fighter’ was born out of a real conversation I had with my wife before we got married, trying to reassure her that I was a safe place and that I would take care of her so she could remain vulnerable and didn’t have to become hardened,” confessed Keith Urban at the No. 1 party for one of his 24 No. 1 songs.

“…I’m saying too much, but people say you have to have thick skin…I don’t agree with that,” continued Urban. “I think you should be vulnerable and have your spirit and be real. And maybe if people would stop being so harsh—especially toward ourselves sometimes—we could be just me more of who we already are, which is pure spirit, fragile and real. Real human beings. ‘When they try to get to you, baby I’ll be the fighter’ is what that’s about.”

Urban was joined on stage by co-writer and co-producer busbee, who was celebrating his fifth No. 1 single. Urban’s duet partner and labelmate Carrie Underwood also joined to celebrate the chart-topping song. The three performed “The Fighter” during the party, one year and two weeks after the single reached the top of the charts.

“It’s never too late to celebrate a No. 1 record,” teased host Jody Williams in representing his BMI writers. Pinnacle Bank made a donation on behalf of the writers.

“This is an honest [song] with one person completely showing all their vulnerabilities,” gushed label president Mike Dungan. “…and it’s a tempo. What a wonderful thing!”

While Underwood’s vocals were recorded in Pennsylvania, the song was written at Kensaltown Studios in London after busbee flew to write with Urban during a break.

“Keith worked out in the morning and ran to the studio,” recalled busbee. “As soon as he could get it out of his mouth we were singing this to each other. It was one of those magical days. [Songwriting] is an otherly thing. I believe in God…we walk in to a room and pull something out of the sky.”

Underwood testified to the songwriting process, saying, “The demo was busbee doing all the girl stuff. Thank you for that little gift. I saved it…that’s gonna come back to haunt you at some point.”

“This is a spins party, so it’s about our radio promotion team,” continued Dungan. “Nobody beats the Capitol team: Bobby Young, Mara Sidweber, Brent Jones, Annie Sandor, Ashley Laws, Megan Youngblood, and Katelyn Lester.” Nearly everyone who took the stage recognized the same promo department, including Urban, who named everyone without notes.

UMG’s Radio Promotion team celebrates with Universal Chairman and CEO Mike Dungan, Carrie Underwood, Keith Urban and busbee. Photo: Steve Lowry [CLICK TO ENLARGE]

Credit also went to UMG staffers Taylor Freeman, Amy Jackson, Lori Christian, Royce Risser, Cindy Mabe, Brian Wright, Stephanie Wright, Donna Hughes, Brent Jones, Chris Schuler and David Friedman. Additional credit went to Borman Entertainment’s Gary Borman, Elisabeth Ashley and DJ Kisshauer; and CAA’s Darin Murphy. A special thanks went out to Serban Ghenea for mixing the record in addition to Underwood’s management at The HQ, Ann Edelblute. “We shot two videos,” recalled Urban in thanking Underwood and Edelblute. “It’s never happened in my whole life that we had to shoot a second video, and both of you showed up…and multiple performances. Thank you.”

Williams congratulated busbee’s publishers on the song, Ben Vaughn and BJ Hill from Warner/Chappell. Publishers who lauded the creatives from the stage included Daniel Lee from BMG and Ron Stuve from Universal Music Publishing Group. Brandi Simms from the CMA was also on hand to deliver No. 1 medallions.

Pictured (L-R): busbee, BMI’s Jody Williams, Carrie Underwood and Keith Urban. Photo: Steve Lowry

Weekly Chart Report (8/3/18)

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Jake Owen Earns Seventh No. 1 Single

Jake Owen’s hit single “I Was Jack (You Were Diane)” holds the No. 1 spot this week on Billboard and Country Aircheck/Mediabase country airplay charts. It went No. 1 on the MusicRow CountryBreakout Chart back in May. The song is the fastest-rising single of Owen’s career, and his seventh No. 1 hit. It is his first single release for Big Loud Records and currently has over 25 million streams.

The nostalgic No. 1 hit, which received John Mellencamp’s personal stamp of approval, comes at a time when Owen is reflecting on the journey from his first album release date to today. In his recent Instagram post, Jake said, “…I had no idea what was in store for me, but I was excited to just hop on this train of ‘life’ and see where it led me. Of course, I had dreams, goals, aspirations, but a man can only do so much on his own. I’ve been fortunate enough to work with some unbelievably talented people that worked tirelessly to help mold and guide my career…on this beautiful Sunday morning, I have the #1 song on country radio. It’s my 7th. Lucky number 7. Thank you @johnmellencamp for trusting us and allowing us to pay our respects to you and everything you’ve done to pave the way for so many of us in the music industry. I feel like I’m just getting started…”

Clay Hunnicutt, President of Big Loud Records, says, “This is a special week for the entire Jake Owen team and especially us at Big Loud. Everyone has poured their heart and soul into the making of ‘I Was Jack (You Were Diane),’ getting it played and streamed everywhere. We’re all true Jake Owen fans and this is the first step to making him a superstar in our format. Thanks to everyone who helped and believed. It’s only the beginning. Now, it’s time for us all to go down to the honky-tonk and celebrate!”

Owen continues his headlining Life’s Whatcha Make It Tour 2018 through September.

Weekly Chart Report (7/27/18)

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Weekly Chart Report (7/20/18)

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Edison Research: 18 Percent Of Americans Own A Smart Speaker

According to a new study from Edison Research and NPR, 18 percent of Americans, or around 43 million people over the age of 18, now own a smart speaker.

The age group with the largest percentage of ownership includes people 45-54, which make up 24 percent of smart speaker ownership. People ages 55+ made up 22 percent of users, followed by ages 35-44 (21 percent), ages 25-34 (18 percent) and ages 18-24 (15 percent).

Women made up 54 percent of overall smart speaker owners in the study, with men at 46 percent.

First adopters have been defined as those who have owned a smart speaker for a year or more. Early mainstream users have been defined as those who have owned a smart speaker for less than a year. 74 percent of users fell into the early mainstream category, while 26 percent of users were defined as first adopters.

Of early mainstream users, 89 percent reported that they have used their smart speaker to play music in the past week; 90 percent of first adopters reported the same. 47 percent of early mainstream users have used a smart speaker to listen to AM/FM radio in the past week, as had 41 percent of first adopters.

When divided by day part, the study found that overall, users were most likely to listen to AM/FM radio on a smart speaker between the hours of 9 a.m. and 5 p.m. Listening to AM/FM radio via a smart speaker ranked as the second-highest indexed activity for that day part.

Meanwhile, 45 percent of early mainstream users report that time spent listening to AM/FM radio via a smart speaker has replaced time they spent with traditional AM/FM radio; 40 percent of first adopters reported the same.

Weekly Chart Report (7/13/18)

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