TuneCore and Amazon Team For DIY Artists
On June 1, TuneCore will launch a new relationship with Amazon.com. Added to its current offering of international digital distribution via Amazon MP3, TuneCore has announced a new service that provides on-demand global physical distribution via CreateSpace; expanded marketing exclusive to TuneCore Artists; and a TuneCore-branded section of Amazon.com. With no upfront manufacturing costs, TuneCore artists can set their own sale price and distribute their physical CDs worldwide on Amazon.com. Their CDs will be manufactured on demand by CreateSpace, part of the Amazon group of companies. When a release is ordered at Amazon.com, CreateSpace manufactures the CD complete with a CD booklet, tray card and jewel box on demand. Each title is shipped and fulfilled just like any other Amazon.com order and is eligible for expedited shipping options.
Coinciding with the launch of these new features is the TuneCore Art Tool 2.0, enabling artists on the fly to rapidly and easily create customized full-album artwork from within their TuneCore account for free. For more information, click here.
650 WSM AM will celebrate Memorial Day by airing a This Is My America Special celebrating the writers and performers from This Is My America, including Billy Dean, Jenny Gill, J Fred Knobloch and Sarah Majors. An epic concept album, This Is My America is a three-disc set of original material that captures the spirit of America and chronologically recounts its history over 64 tracks. The album will be aired throughout the three-day weekend (May 23-25). Full interviews with Gill and Majors can be heard Thursday at 9:00 AM and with Knobloch on Friday at 9:00 AM. 58 of America’s finest singers and songwriters (Dolly Parton, Charley Pride, Billy Dean, Kathy Mattea, Mark O’Connor, Beth Nielsen Chapman, the Nashville Symphony and the Fisk Jubilee Singers, among others) contribute to this one-of-a-kind release. You can find more information 
Trace Adkins will join co-hosts Gary Sinise and Joe Mantegna and an all-star line-up of dignitaries, actors and musical artists for the National Memorial Day Concert, honoring the service and sacrifice of America’s men and women in uniform, their families at home and all those who have given their lives for our country. The top-rated show will be broadcast live from the West Lawn of the U.S. Capitol on PBS Sunday, May 24 from 7:00 to 8:30 PM/CT. Additional guests include Colin L. Powell USA (Ret.); actress Katie Holmes; Emmy Award-winning actor Laurence Fishburne; double Academy Award-winning actress Dianne Wiest; recording artist/actress Katharine McPhee; Broadway stars Brian Stokes Mitchell and Colm Wilkinson; opera star Denyce Graves; classical music’s Lang Lang and violinist Robert McDuffie with the National Symphony Orchestra under the direction of maestro Erich Kunzel.
Nashville- and Atlanta-based artist development company 1720 Entertainment, whose roster of clients includes country artists Jamie O’Neal, Rissi Palmer and Stevie Walker, is pleased to announce that it has signed an agreement in principle to acquire an equity stake in New York-based entertainment and media branding company Rock PR Media. 1720 will acquire equity in Rock in exchange for cash, and the transaction is expected to close by June 30, 2009. Rock uses its events and media properties to drive brand equity through advertisers and sponsors. The company boasts one of the largest media platforms in the U.S., along with event properties that span the worlds of film, fashion and music. Rock’s event properties include: Rock Fashion Week, held semi-annually in Miami Beach, Los Angeles and New York City; Haven Lounge at the Oscars; and Premiere Lounge, produced around the United States in conjunction with Premiere magazine and Hachette Filipacchi Media. Rock is the only branded entertainment and media company in the United States that owns its events and media properties. Following the transaction, Rock will act as 1720’s marketing, branded entertainment and media division, using its advertisers and media properties to promote and market 1720’s artists and TV/film properties.
With over 2.5 million votes cast to determine the final nominees for the 2009 CMT Music Awards, country duo Sugarland holds the lead with five final nominations. Brad Paisley and Taylor Swift are next in line with four nominations each. Newcomers Lady Antebellum score their first nominations with three, along with Rascal Flatts. The announcements were made today by Kellie Pickler and CMT’s Lance Smith during the 2009 CMT Music Awards Nominee Special.
Sunday’s (5/16), New York Times ran a feature story on Nashville’s Time Jumpers and the band’s legendary Monday night shows at the Station Inn. Times writer Peter Applebome profiled the stellar players and packed houses that distinguish this weekly musical gathering, referring to the Station Inn as a “low-ceilinged dive” with a “lost-in-time quality.” He went on to describe the sublime sounds of the western-swinging Time Jumpers as “the quintessential Station Inn experience.” That sounds right to us. You can find the full article 
Talent competition the Colgate Country Showdown will be offering education and promotional assistance to new artists and songwriters. The Country Showdown website (www.colgatecountryshowdown.com) will expand to help new artists beyond the Showdown experience. New artists can log on and learn about how to promote themselves, market their music, and make industry contacts. In addition, the site will offer an opportunity for Showdown contestants to build their own page and submit MP3 recordings of their music. County music fans will be able to listen to undiscovered country music which is not available anywhere else. In addition, Colgate is offering a sweepstakes to win an all expense paid trip for four to Nashville to attend the televised National Final hosted by LeAnn Rimes in January, 2010 at the Ryman Auditorium.
Kenny Chesney played a free show last night (5/16) at Pizza Hut Park in Dallas that drew about 25,000 people. The concert came in the wake of a rain-shortened May 2 performance, though Chesney was not contractually obligated to come back and play Dallas. The considerable production tab for the three-hour-plus show was “on Kenny’s dime,” says promoter Louis Messina, president of TMG/AEG Live. “In my whole career no other artist has ever done that,” he told Billboard.biz.
Columbia duo Montgomery Gentry are joining with Cracker Barrel Old Country Store® and the Wounded Warrior Project on the release of For Our Heroes. The 12-song CD features Montgomery Gentry hits like “Something To Be Proud Of,” and “My Town,” and also includes an exclusive new song, “One Of Those Days,” as well as four songs that have received only limited release previously. The CD will be available only at Cracker Barrel starting May 25, and a portion of the proceeds will be donated to the Wounded Warrior Project, whose mission is to honor and empower wounded warriors. As part of this CD release, fans can sign up for the Cracker Barrel sweepstakes to win prizes including a trip for two to see Montgomery Gentry on Kenny Chesney‘s Sun City Carnival Tour in Indianapolis, IN on September 19th. The sweepstakes also features three First Prizes of Copley guitars autographed by Montgomery Gentry. Find out more about the Wounded Warrior Project 
Karaoke-style reality competition The Singing Bee has found a new home on CMT, which plans to relaunch the former NBC series this summer. CMT will premiere the show after its presentation of the annual CMT Awards on June 16, then will pair the one-hour series with its other singing competition show, Can You Duet, starting June 20. The show is being produced by the Gurin Co. and Juma and will be hosted by actress Melissa Peterman, who starred in the hit comedy, Reba.
Arista’s Carrie Underwood made her second trip to Africa earlier this month visiting orphanages and health centers near Luanda, Angola where she participated in the area’s cause to help fight malaria. Her visit was part of American Idol’s “Idol Gives Back” charitable endeavors, and a special video package will air on American Idol Tuesday, May 12 to help show viewers how their donations have helped with various relief programs. While in Angola, Underwood visited an all-girl orphanage in Luanda where the girls performed songs and poetry for her after she delivered bed nets and backpacks with school supplies to the orphanage. 
Underwood also participated in a community bed net giveaway in Ngangula, and wrapped up her 3-day trip by visiting a health center in Luanda where pregnant women received malaria counseling and treatment.
With an opening slot on Taylor Swift’s Fearless 2009 tour winning them legions of new fans, and their debut single, “Wild at Heart,” hitting the Top 20, Gloriana will release a “sneak peek” EP on May 19th in anticipation of the August release of their self-titled, debut album for Emblem Music Group. The EP features several of the songs from the upcoming album that Gloriana has been performing on the road, including “Wild At Heart ,” “The Way It Goes,” “Time To Let Me Go” and “You Said.” In addition, beginning May 29, fans can get rinbacks and ringtones for “Wild At Heart” as well as “The Way It Goes,” “Time To Let Me Go” and “You Said” exclusively at Verizon Wireless. Verizon Wireless will have a 2 week “sneak peek” exclusive.
NBC TV’s Dateline NBC will air Dateline: On Tour With Taylor Swift on Sunday, May 31 at 6 PM/CT. The one-hour special will feature behind-the-scenes access to Swift’s first-ever headlining tour, the Fearless 2009 Tour. Shot on three continents over a period of three months, the hour looks at the creation and launch of the sold-out Fearless tour, including concert and backstage footage from the US, the UK and Australia, interviews with the singer and her band and crew, and exclusive looks at Swift’s tour bus, dressing room, crew meetings, dancer auditions, and concert performances. The show also features video diaries shot by Swift herself. NBC News’ Hoda Kotb also talks with Swift and her mom, Andrea Swift, about life in the spotlight. That same week, Swift will perform live on NBC’s Today Summer Concert Series, taking the stage in Rockefeller Plaza on Friday, May 29. Starting on Monday (5/18), video excerpts from Dateline: On Tour with Taylor Swift will be posted