Jamie O’Neal Partners With Cripple Creek

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Nashville based Brand N Music Partnerships has announced that Cripple Creek, a division of Sidran, and country recording artist Jamie O’Neal have entered into a long-term brand partnership and endorsement agreement. This strategic integrated marketing campaign includes product endorsements, retail appearances and digital components.

“Jamie O’Neal does a tremendous job representing the face of country music and women’s outerwear, something that is really important to the Cripple Creek brand,” says Sidran, Inc. President, Roland Mizrahi. “We hope that this is just the beginning of a long and lasting relationship between Jamie O’Neal and Cripple Creek.”

“I am thrilled to announce this new relationship with Cripple Creek” O’Neal says. “Whether it’s a hooded fleece for a fall day at the park or studded leather jacket for backstage, Cripple Creek has something for every occasion.”

Borman Ent. Announces Staff Additions, Promotions

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Los Angeles and Nashville based Borman Entertainment has added Michael Corcoran as an Associate Manager responsible for the day-to-day duties of Alison Krauss, and Doug Aitken as Manager, Tour Marketing. Additionally, after six years with the company, Randy Brown has been promoted to Associate Manager responsible for Universal Music’s Randy Montana.

“We’re delighted to see Randy thrive and thrilled Doug and Michael agreed to join us,” says Gary Borman. “All three are experienced, excellent marketers and very welcome additions to our management team.”

Corcoran comes from the Nashville office of Nettwerk Management, where he worked with artists including Jars of Clay, Landon Pigg and Matt Wertz for the past five years. Corcoran has also done tour management for Guster, Phantom Planet and Ben Kweller.

Aitken is a 20-plus year veteran of the Nashville entertainment industry. Specializing in marketing, his previous positions include Pro Tours, Inc., RPM Management, Outback Concerts and the NHL’s Nashville Predators.

Brown has spent the past six years assisting with Borman clients and supporting the tour marketing efforts for the entire company roster. He previously served as marketing coordinator at Warner Brothers Nashville, working on projects by Faith Hill, Blake Shelton and Big & Rich.

Borman Entertainment’s current roster includes Keith Urban, Lady Antebellum, Alison Krauss, Randy Montana and Michael Franti.

BigChampagne Unveils “Ultimate Chart”

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BigChampagne Media Measurement has announced the release of the Ultimate Chart (www.ultimatechart.com), a ranked list of the week’s most popular artists and songs. Integrating data from categories including Song and Album Sales, Radio Airplay, Online Audio and Video Plays, and Fans/Friends/Followers, the Ultimate Chart is the first and only chart that looks at all of the ways in which music is popular, online and off. The first published Ultimate Chart is the Ultimate 100, available now.

The news was broken yesterday (7/20) at the New Music Seminar, currently underway in New York, during the opening remarks conversation between NMS Founder Tom Silverman and BigChampagne CEO Eric Garland. 

BigChampagne’s partners and sources for the Ultimate Chart include retailers, online and traditional broadcasters (radio and television), major content companies, subscription services, social networks and other venues where fans demonstrate their passion for music: Yahoo!Music, Amazon, iTunes, YouTube, VEVO, MySpace, Facebook, Twitter, MTV, Clear Channel, MediaBase, AOL, Napster, Microsoft Zune, We Are Hunted, LastFM and many more.

“The explosive popularity of music in the digital age has given us access to a quality of information about the connection between artists and fans previously unimagined,” said Garland. “The internet launched a thousand charts. But the marketplace is asking, ultimately, what does it all mean? There has been no satisfying answer, until now. The Ultimate Chart examines music sales and radio airplay and the access to music, and socializing around music, that are growing much faster. We’re rewriting the top of the charts for the new music business and enlisting the help of its chief architects to surface the most popular music that the charts have overlooked.”

“The evolution of the Ultimate Chart will revolutionize the way artists and labels measure the fan/artist relationship,” Silverman said. “This information will eventually allow artist and their representatives to maximize the monetization of that relationship.”

“This chart is long overdue and represents for the first time an 
accurate view of where popular music is today,” said Tamara Conniff, Founder/Editor of The Comet and former Billboard Editor-in-Chief and Associate Publisher. “Music is not just about sales, it’s about interaction—listening, watching, playlisting, evangelizing and socializing. The Comet (TheComet.com) will be publishing the Ultimate Chart and using BigChampagne’s data for analysis, prediction, and consumer trends.”

BigChampagne will also develop the Ultimate Chart for independent and DIY artists and has partnered with a who’s-who of top marketing and distribution partners, including Tunecore, CDBaby, Disc Makers, MySpace Music, Reverb Nation, Topspin, Nimbit and many more to ensure eligibility for all artists and to produce unprecedented insight into the independent music world.

“We’re examining the fastest-growing aspect of the music business for which there has not been a standard measure, by the numbers,” Garland said. “Every artist can be counted, and every artist will be counted.”

The Ultimate Chart is one of the new features of BigChampagne’s ground-breaking business intelligence dashboard, BC Dash Ultimate, and will be widely syndicated across BigChampagne’s media and press partners. The Ultimate Chart is a ranked list of the week’s most popular artists and songs.

The New Normal: Recalibrating The Sales Compass

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Bill Kennedy

Country’s half year sales were punctuated by a strong selling sophomore album from Lady Antebellum, but little else emerged to boost industry coffers according to Nielsen SoundScan. One week into the second half of 2010 finds country tallies down 9.5% YTD and drooping like a wilted sunflower. Some optimism is starting to appear however, as the year-end release schedule begins to swell with upcoming superstar entries from artists such as Zac Brown Band, Taylor Swift, Sugarland, Kenny Chesney, Toby Keith and more. The sales story for 2010 is clearly far from over. But with prices dropping and margins shrinking how do we really determine where we are? What about revenue? To help calibrate our compass we contacted Show Dog-Universal veteran and VP Marketing Sales and New Media, Bill Kennedy.

“There are a lot of different revenue sources these days,” says Kennedy. “Physical sales plus the digital album—which in my opinion still has a lot of growth in it for our format. Single downloads may have leveled off in terms of volume, but on the revenue side we have a modestly higher price point that does add up over time. We also have revenue coming in from streaming that we really didn’t have before, and revenue from video downloads which show modest increases. Maybe instead of going for the three run homer you have to play ‘little ball’ and do it a bit differently.”

Kennedy sees single sales at least mitigating some of the losses from album unit sales for some artists. “This revenue model has been changing for the past five years,” Kennedy continues, “so it’s hard to compare just on a per unit CD cost. We have certain tracks and artists in our format that can sell 2 million downloads, and that adds up. It may be invisible revenue to some, but not for the labels, especially when you sell 500k singles or more.”

Kennedy is realistic, but sees some upside on the horizon. “There may actually be a slight increase in overall units sold this year due to all the big titles scheduled to appear, so we’ll see,” he says. “We are operating under a new normal since October 2008 when the market started to implode. It will continue to be a struggle and you will have to grind it out and hope your artist can hit one out of the park and get a career song. Bottom line you have to work a lot smarter and extract the unnecessary costs.”

One reassuring new development is seeing single sales jump ahead of country radio. “With Joe Nichols’ ‘Gimme That Girl’ we had single sales topping 20-25k per week while the single was hovering in the 20s at country radio,” Kennedy recalls. “We are also seeing it with some of the newer acts like Jerrod Neimann and Jaron And The Long Road to Love. Our fans are engaging the viral world where you can spread the word, network and get to the fans directly long before the song happens via radio. You still need country radio in our format to put it over the top, but you have the opportunity to get there a lot quicker than ever before.”

10 Billion Videos Streamed Last Month In U.S.

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The latest data from the Nielsen company shows that in June 2010 more than 10.2 billion videos were streamed in the U.S. This marks a slight 1.3% increase over the number of streams last year and nearly a 4% jump over last month’s figures.

Other results show that the top three sites for video streams in June, ranked by unique viewers, were: YouTube with 101,131,000 visitors; followed by Yahoo! with 26,685,000 visitors; and Facebook with 26,651,000 visitors.

When ranked by total video streams, it is YouTube with 5,799,702,000 streams (+9.8 percent month over month); Hulu with 598,812,000 streams (-26.4 MOM); and MSN/WindowsLive/Bing with 190,431,000 streams (+3.6). More here.

From Nielsen

Country Gold And Platinum Certifications

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Josh Turner, Joe Nichols and Blake Shelton have all scored recent Gold single certification.

Joe Nichols (“Gimmie That Girl” Show Dog-Universal), Josh Turner (“Why Don’t We Just Dance” Mercury) and Blake Shelton (“Hillbilly Bone” Reprise) have scored RIAA Gold Digital Singles for selling more than 500,000 downloads of their recent hits.

And many other country stars have also received certifications for older songs and albums. Here’s the latest list:

Double Platinum Single
“Chicken Fried” Zac Brown Band, Atlantic

Platinum Single
“Best Days Of Your Life,” Kellie Pickler, BNA Records
“Then,” Brad Paisley, Arista Nashville

Gold Single
“I’m Alive,” Kenny Chesney with Dave Matthews, BNA Records
“In Color,” Jamey Johnson, Mercury
“Temporary Home” Carrie Underwood, Arista Nashville

Double Platinum Album
Worship Michael W. Smith, Reunion

Gold Album
Lucky Old Sun, Kenny Chesney, BNA Records
Greatest Hits II, Kenny Chesney, BNA Records
American Saturday Night, Brad Paisley, Arista

Clif Doyal Promoted; Martha Moore Signing

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Martha Moore

Updates from indie publicists Martha Moore and Clif Doyal.

Longtime industry publicist, Martha “skates” Moore, President of so much MOORE media, has signed former Gaither singer Guy Penrod. Moore will handle all aspects of public relations efforts for Penrod’s new country disc, Breathe Deep (Servant Records/Gaither Music Group). Penrod is a 14-year veteran of the GRAMMY ® and Dove Award-winning Gaither Vocal Band.

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Clif Doyal

Clif Doyal has been promoted to Strategic Business Development executive for AirPlay Direct, as well as Editor of the Direct Buzz, the company’s digital / interactive publication. Robert Weingartz, CEO of AirPlay Direct, announced the promotion. In the new roles, Doyal will oversee both existing and new business development for the global digital-to-radio delivery platform and manage content for their digital publication. He remains in charge of media relations for the firm. Doyal’s 37 years of experience includes booking, artist management, audio/video production, publicity and marketing.

NPD Finds Interest In Cloud-Based Subscription

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Recently much music industry talk and speculation has been devoted to the concept of digital retail music sales evolving into some type of cloud-based subscription model. Market researchers NPD Group conducted a study of iTunes, iPod, iPhone and iPod Touch users to gauge their interest and reactions to such a plan. The study found that more than a quarter of the respondents expressed “strong interest in a free cloud-based music option to access their own music libraries from multiple devices and platforms and many were willing to pay a subscription fee.”

The study ranked consumer interest in a music service that allowed free streaming of content from the consumer’s own iTunes library, plus a few paid options combining streaming, downloads and more. The research found that 7-8 million U.S. iTunes users would have “strong interest” in one of the paid options and showed a willingness to pay a minimum monthly fee of $10 or more. NPD  estimates there are about 50 million total U.S. iTunes users and that 13-15 million would be interested in free access to their own music libraries.

“After the service’s launch, user numbers could conceivably rise substantially, as they upgrade to newer connected devices and actually experience the benefits of cloud-based music,” said Russ Crupnick, VP/Sr. Entertainment Analyst for The NPD Group. “If the consumers who indicated strong interest in a paid subscription actually adopted one of those services at $10 per month, the market opportunity is close to $1 billion in the first year, which is roughly two-thirds the revenue garnered by the current pay-per-download model.”

Note: The NPD Group’s iTunes Usage Report, is based on an online survey fielded to members of NPD’s online panel in May 2010. The report is based on 3,862 completed surveys from qualified respondents (age 13 and older). Each respondent reported using iTunes at least once in the past three months.

Success Is In The Cards For Taylor Swift

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Big Machine’s Taylor Swift is everywhere these days, and now, through the latest selections written and inspired by Swift for American Greetings Corporation, fans have been finding her in the greeting cards aisle as well. American Greetings’ latest selection of whimsical cards features 14 all new designs and classic summer imagery enhanced by Swift’s real-life sentiments.

The images maintain the “traditional with a twist” look that fans love, and numbered butterfly icons help card enthusiasts collect all of the latest greetings. To date, there are 43 Taylor Swift greeting cards.

“We had so much fun with the summer collection,” says Maureen Meidenbauer, Taylor Swift brand manager at American Greetings. “All of the sparkle mixed with classic summer photography instantly put us in a good mood as we were working on the cards, and we knew that was a really good sign. It is also great for us to see Taylor get excited about the products, and see that there are cards she loves and wishes she could already send out. We know there are others out there who can relate to the feelings in all of these cards, and we can’t wait for them to get a chance to share it!”

As an artist and musician, Taylor Swift has been able to transcend generations. During a recent ticket giveaway for her sold-out Fearless 2010 tour, American Greetings witnessed fans of all ages vying for a chance to see the singer live. Consumers have been writing on American Greetings’ Facebook wall, sharing how they’re purchasing, sending and collecting the cards.

Currently, the latest Taylor Swift greeting card collection can be found at select American Greetings’ retail partners throughout the United States, Canada, Mexico, the United Kingdom and online at americangreetings.com. By fall 2010 products will be sold in the Australia, New Zealand, and US military bases worldwide.

Can Country’s 2nd Six Months Rescue Sales Slide?

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As the second quarter and first half year of 2010 ends, country’s sales total of 18.71 million albums is not overly impressive. Optimists can take solace however, in the knowledge that it is the second half and more precisely the fourth quarter where the year’s totals get etched into the history books. That year-end attack on consumer pocketbooks is precipitated by the holiday gift giving season, which traditionally adds great upward momentum to album sales charts and therefore is the period which also attracts many superstar—high volume—releases.

Year-to-date, that is sales from Jan.—June 2010—Lady Antebellum’s sophomore Need You Now has burned up the charts, leading country’s YTD sales and scanning 2.36 million units according to Nielsen SoundScan. Filling out the Top five highest YTD selling country albums with six month sales numbers are Zac Brown Band (616k), Taylor Swift (587k), Carrie Underwood (451k) and Miranda Lambert (352k). Lady A was the only 2010 debut on the list. But as discussed above, there is a growing list of new releases either officially announced or expected. Trace Adkins (8/17), Jamey Johnson (9/14), Kenny Chesney (9/28) and Sugarland (10/19) are among some of those announced. But insiders are also expecting to see product from artists such as Zac Brown Band, Jason Aldean and Taylor Swift.

Digitally Speaking
Digital sales have accounted YTD for 15.3% of total country album sales. At this time last year, that percentage was 11.4%. All genre consumers purchased about 27% of albums in the digital format, showing that country buyers are still behind the digital curve, but the format’s digital growth shows country catching up. One can assume that purchasing albums in digital format is a trend that will continue growing across the board as shelf space at brick and mortar stores continues to shrink.

Country finally got its own Top 100 digital tracks chart this year, a list of each week’s Top selling downloaded tracks. Some quick math shows this chart scanning about one million tracks per week or perhaps adding an annual “ten-tracks-per-album” equivalent of roughly 7-10 million additional albums to country coffers. While track sales are not sufficient to offset the drop in album sales, they can be a nice bonus for the lucky artists at the top of the chart. For example, this week Carrie Underwood’s “Undo It” sold 48k units and Jaron and the Long Road To Love’s “Pray For You” saw almost 48k transactions. Labels receive about 70¢ from each sale which then gets divided up with publisher, writer, artist and producer royalties, plus other expenses such as overhead.

With the year end still a tumultuous six months away, it would be dangerous to make many predictions. However, if all the above new releases materialize, and perhaps even a few more appear, it’s possible that country could sell the additional 28-30 million albums necessary to end 2010 flat. But even if unit sales do match last year, it seems highly likely that revenue will not. Regardless, after three consecutive down years, this writer’s guess is that most Nashville album marketers would call flat the new up and consider 2010 a success.