Sales Engine Whirring As Holiday Looms

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Fa-la-la-la-la_____        la–la-la-la.
That familiar melodic snippet nicely sums the panoramic view from your Scribe’s lofty perch, high upon the holiday hilltops watching the SoundScan ticker tape turn. A dozen CDs passed the 20k benchmark on the Top Current Country chart this week, and country’s album sales YTD deficit continued to improve from -6.1% to -5.7%.

There’s been a lot of talk about the balance between digital and physical for country consumers. According to Nielsen SoundScan, 15.74% of 2010 country album sales have been digital. Up about 5% or so from last year, but clearly physical sales continue to own a large share of the sales pie. Loss of shelf space at retail outlets, is certainly an issue to watch going forward.

Tim McGraw’s Number One Hits, caps the hefty onslaught of mainstream country debuts this holiday season. McGraw lands at No. 6 on the Current Country list with sales of over 40k. Ms. Swift tops the chart, by a huge margin shifting over 182,000 units followed in the next two positions by Keith Urban (No. 2; 59k+) and Rascal Flatts (No. 3; 57k+) both enjoying third week sales of their new packages. Jason Aldean’s new project, in its fifth week, is No. 4; moving 47k+ with an RTD (release-to-date) total of 438k. Sugarland’s Incredible Machine now completing its 7th week (No. 5; 47k) has RTD of over 570k.

Also deserving mention is The Band Perry logging in at No. 12 this week and ringing the registers with over 22k album units. TBP is also No. 1 on the country tracks chart. The sibling trio’s “If I Die Young” enjoyed over 47k downloads this week and the song has an impressive RTD total of almost 1.05 million!! Other top track tossers in chart order include Sugarland, Kenny Chesney, Taylor Swift, Tim McGraw, ZBB, Jason Aldean, Blake Shelton and Aldean (again).

Four weeks remain, three of which should post “up” numbers as we approach Dec. 25. Currently (through week ended 12-5-10) country has tallied about 37 million album units leaving about nine million more to go to reach last year’s year-end 46 million total.

Give the gift of music!

Bandbox Preps 2011 Launch

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Nashville company Bandbox hopes to streamline the way fans discover and share music on Facebook. The application would allow Facebook users to share songs from iTunes the same way they share links and photos, then their Friends could listen to and purchase the song without leaving the site.

The company headed by co-founder and CEO Brian Peterson is preparing for a 2011 launch. It recently received a round of seed funding from an investor that allowed it to move out of the Nashville Entrepreneur Center incubator space into its own office. Bandbox has also hired a development team to build and test the product.

Opry Events Manager Exits; Obedia Opens Nash Offices

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Grand Ole Opry Events Manager Sara Winne Foster has exited her post with the company. Foster joined Gaylord Entertainment and the Grand Ole Opry in 2007, where she oversaw all private events at the Opry Entertainment Complex. Prior to the Opry, she worked for The Promotional Edge in Los Angeles, where she managed client events and worked on award shows such as VH1’s Rock Honors, Spike TV’s Video Game Awards, Nickelodeon’s Kid’s Choice Awards, the Daytime Emmys and more. She is currently seeking her next opportunity and can be reached at 615-714-2084 or [email protected].

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Los-Angeles based Obedia, a music tech support and training firm has moved its headquarters to Nashville and set up shop at 2817 West End Ave. although it will maintain an L.A. office.

“The move to Nashville puts us in a better position to work closely with Nashville’s vibrant music community, which has embraced technology in producing music known throughout the world,” said CEO Jayce Murphy in a news release. “I’m looking forward to expanding on our success and to bring service and support into the next generation.”

Obedia provides services ranging form installation of software and hardware, to system optimization and customization, to how-to training. For more info visit www.obedia.com

Country Sales Thunder Toward Holiday Finish

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The graph shows 2010 YTD album sales for all genre (purple) and country (red) compared with the same period in 2009. Country began the year up 18% on 3/14 but quickly started slipping. Note the strong uptick between 9/5 and 11/28 showing country's gaining from -13.2% to -6.1%.

With the warm buzz of family and friends gathered round the holiday table still in our hearts, it gives us added joy to note that country sales also had a robust holiday, resounding in the sweet sound of registers ringing. According to Nielsen SoundScan, country album sales for the period ending 11/28/2010 were up 12% compared with the previous week. The increase also had a nice effect on shrinking the 2010 sales deficit (see graph) which is now -6.1% compared with the same period in 2009. With five weeks remaining, country needs to shift 2.1 million album units each week to equal last year’s total album sales of 46.13 million units. (This week’s album tally was 1.574.) Attaining the 46.13 million unit mark appears a stiff challenge and inside odds-makers are predicting a finish down 5-7%. Country labels would like to be in positive territory, but when compared with all-genre album sales which are down 12.8% we’re ahead of the group. That’s the big picture, now let’s delve into some of the week’s highlights.

Albums
One could call the country album chart, “Swift’s List.” Riding her T-day, TV special, Taylor’s Speak Now CD jumped up 64%—almost 100k units—to sell over 240k (20k in digital format). Her Fearless disc also got a 72% bump of almost 20k. Alan Jackson’s 34 Number Ones was the only significant debut of the week landing at No. 7 with sales slightly over 32k. (Over on the Top 200 chart, however, Swift’s buddy Kanye West ruled with a strong debut of 496k units.)

Country consumers also stuffed acts like Sugarland (No. 4; +31%; 63k+), both Lady A discs (No. 6; +52%; 50k–No. 19; +260%; 14k+), and Darius Rucker (No. 14; +29%; 21k)  into shopping carts in record numbers. Rascal Flatts (-50%) and Keith Urban (-53%) saw lighter than normal week two declines and landed respectively at No. 2 and 3 on the country album chart.

Digital Tracks
Country track sales dropped 6% this week to about 963k total on the Top 100. This week eleven songs were downloaded over 20k times. The Band Perry narrowly topped Sugarland, both selling slightly more than 58k units to land at No. 1 and 2 respectively. Swift (No. 3, 4) and Jason Aldean (No. 8, 9) claimed two spots each on the Top 11. Others included Zac Brown Band (No. 5), Tim McGraw (No. 6) and Kenny Chesney (No. 7). Blake Shelton (No. 10) and Eric Church (No. 11) closed out the over 20k crowd.

Roxstarz Launches in Nashville; AirPlay Direct Joins Forces With CD Baby

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Roxstarz Launches in Nashville

Matchless Management’s Shawn Pennington and business partner Andrew Fishbone announced the launch of Roxstarz, a private air charter brokerage firm headquartered in Nashville. Roxstarz, which caters to the needs of the music, movie and sports industries, will offer various luxurious yet affordable air charter options to clients. Among the services that Roxstarz will offer is negotiating the lowest rates amongst multiple carriers, handling all of the logistics on behalf of the client.

“A large section of our target client base doesn’t even realize how affordable private air travel can be, and how much the convenience of it can drastically raise their productivity level and quality of life,” says Pennington, a pilot himself. Pennington’s new venture resolves the disconnect between traditional services provided by the travel industry and the often daunting logistical needs of high profile celebrities and industry executives.

Roxstarz’s initial launch will focus on air charter services, and future rollouts will include promotional and sponsorship opportunities in addition to traditional concierge services. “Roxstarz will offer a service that appeals directly to the entertainment business, unmatched by any competitor, with an edge that will push Roxstarz into business spaces never before breached in the travel industry,” Fishbone explains.

AirPlay Direct Joins Forces with CD Baby

Global music delivery service AirPlay Direct has formed a strategic marketing partnership with CD Baby. AirPlay Direct services radio and the entertainment industry with downloadable content from both label and independent artists. This partnership with CD Baby, the world’s largest online distributor of independent music, will benefit clients of each respective company with discounts on services and other cross-marketing opportunities.

“We are very excited about the strategic partnership with CD Baby,” says  Robert Weingartz, CEO and Founder of AirPlay Direct. “AirPlay Direct and CD Baby were both founded on common principals: to assist in the growth and development of the independent music movement. In the ever-changing landscape of today’s music business world, we are pleased to join forces with a company who shares our desire to find solutions that will benefit the rising independent musician.”

“AirPlay Direct is an excellent option for DIY artists who want to have hands-on involvement in the promotion of their music to radio,” states CD Baby President, Brian Felsen. “We’ve heard artists voice their praises after working with AirPlay Direct on their radio campaigns, so we’re excited to offer CD Baby members a 50 percent discount on APD’s services. Plus, we’re always trying to think green around here, and the fact that AirPlay Direct handles music and press kit delivery digitally is good for the environment, simpler for the radio programmers, and cheaper for indie artists.”

Weekend Shopping Up Slightly

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Early reports from consumer marketing research company the NPD Group show that more people made purchases during the recent Thanksgiving holiday weekend than last year.

The number of survey respondents that reported making a purchase, whether in a store or online, is up almost 7 percent over last year. Almost 45 percent told NPD that they did online research before they went shopping. When asked where they did their “homework,” consumers cited TV ads, catalogs and consumer reviews.

Urban Boasts Strong Opening Week

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Keith Urban’s sixth studio album, Get Closer, debuted this week with notable sales of over 165,800 units. He promoted the Capitol Nashville release with a whirlwind run including performances on The Today Show and CBS Early Show, as well as “Get Closer Moments” at NYC and Philadelphia train stations. He capped it all off with his debut on the Oprah show, airing later this month. Click here for Keith’s taped message from the Oprah Winfrey Show.

Next Urban heads to Dallas for his Thanksgiving Day halftime performance at the Dallas Cowboys v New Orleans Saints showdown. It will air live on FOX, and will also serve as the kick-off for the Salvation Army’s Red Kettle Campaign. The NFL Network is taping the experience for its documentary Keith Urban: Halftime in Real Time, slated to air Saturday, November 27 at 9:30PM CST.

Rascal Flatts Debut At No. 1

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Rascal Flatts continued its run as the best selling country group of the decade when its first album for Big Machine Records, Nothing Like This, debuted at No. 1 today (11/24) with nearly 165,000 units sold. The project has moved nearly 280,000 digital tracks to date. Nothing Like This entered at No. 6 on the all-genre Top 200 chart.

The lead single from the Dann Huff produced project, “Why Wait,” is at No. 2 on MusicRow’s Country Breakout chart, having already peaked at No. 1.

The band launched the album with numerous television, radio and online appearances including The Late Show With David Letterman, Ellen DeGeneres Show, Today Show, Sean Hannity Show, Late Night with Jimmy Fallon, GAC’s Backstory and CMT’s Invitation Only.

Complete track listing

1. Why Wait   (Tom Shapiro, Neil Thrasher, Jimmy Yeary)
2. Easy   (Katrina Elam, Mike Mobley)******Duet with Natasha Bedingfield
3. Sunday Afternoon   (Joe Don Rooney, busbee)
4. Play   (Bonnie Baker, Katrina Elam, Hunter Hayes)
5. Nothing Like This   (Michael Dulaney, Tom Shapiro, Neil Thrasher)
6. All Night To Get There   (Jay DeMarcus, Paul Jenkins, Jason Sellers)
7. Red Camaro   (Joe Collins, Chris Tompkins)
8. They Try   (Neil Thrasher, Tom Shapiro, Jimmy Yeary)
9. Summer Young   (Gary LeVox, Wendell Mobley, Neil Thrasher)
10. Tonight Tonight   (Gary LeVox, Chris Lindsey, Aimee Mayo, Ryan Tedder)
11. I Won’t Let Go   (Steve Robson, Jason Sellers)

Amazon Launches MP3 Gifting

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Before now, giving the gift of digital music would have meant fighting crowds at Best Buy and Target for iTunes gift cards. But with the arrival of Amazon’s MP3 Gifting service, it can be done without ever leaving home.

Launched shortly after the company’s new Kindle Book Gifting service, Amazon’s MP3 gifting allows consumers to buy albums or individual tracks, personalize the purchase with a custom message, and enter the gift recipient’s email address. Recipients will be alerted with an email message letting them know they have a gift waiting. There’s no risk either–if the recipient doesn’t want the chosen album, it can be exchanged for store credit. The service works with all Amazon MP3 downloads.

Swift, Aldean And Sugarland Sell the Sound Of Nashville

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[Please sing using melody from “Sound Of Music”]
Album sales are alive
With the Sound of Nashville,
With Swift and Aldean,
Numbers one and two,

The register rings,
With the sound of Nashville
Sugarland, Paisley,
Kings Of Leon, too….

Yes, as we prepare to enjoy tonight’s CMA Awards (11/10) one can’t help but notice that Nashville’s Taylor Swift, Jason Aldean and Sugarland occupy the first three position on the Top 200 sales chart. Kings of Leon are at No. 6 and Brad Paisley’s Hits Alive debut (No. 9) also holds down a Top 10 position giving Nashville 50% of the Top 200 Top 10!!!!

In debut news this week, Jason Aldean turns in a stellar performance shifting almost 193,000 units, including an unusually high 24% of those as digital downloads. Aldean’s last outing did around 110k first week units, so sales of My Kinda Party are showing a strong forward move becoming the biggest first week country male vocalist debut in over three years. “I can’t say enough about my fans and this incredible ride we are all taking together,” said Aldean. “Don’t count out the kids who live out in the sticks, drive pickup trucks, wear John Deere hats and like their country music on the rockin’ side. It’s been a killer week, and now I’m focused on performing on the CMAs with Kelly Clarkson. It’ll be like nothing I’ve ever done on TV before.”

Brad Paisley’s Hits package debuts at No. 4 on the Current Country chart with almost 31k units, (16% digital). Greatest hits still appeal to consumers who are not downloading. But since downloaders can chose any of the songs at their discretion without having to get the entire bundle, they are less likely to be attracted. However, savvy marketers are enticing fans to own the package with the inclusion of value added content not available in other places.

Ms. Swift’s Speak Now took an expected 69% fall this week moving almost 320k units. Her Holiday Collection placed No. 1 on the album catalog chart scanning about 20k units, up 40% from last week. Sugarland’s Incredible Machine dropped 32% to 60k units with a three-week total of 351k.

For the week ended 11/7/2010 country album sales are off 8.5% YTD compared with the same period last year. All genre album sales for the same metric are off 13.5%. To catch up with last year, country sales will need to average 1.84 million units per week for the remaining 8 sales weeks of 2010. Realistically it appears highly unlikely that country will break even or go ahead of its last year numbers. Insider estimates now range from a drop of 5-8%, but of course it’s not over till the last register rings…

Next week Reba and Blake launch their newest; on 11/16 we get new music from Rascal Flatts and Keith Urban; 11/23 and 11/30 signals Greatest Hits paks from Alan Jackson and Tim McGraw respectively. Stay tuned…