Baldrica Adds Duties To VP Post

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Sony Music Nashville Vice President, Marketing Tom Baldrica will take on oversight of the label group’s Creative Services department alongside his current responsibilities spearheading Media and Artist Development.

A 16-year label veteran, Baldrica first arrived at BNA in 1993 as Southeast regional. Working his way through the ranks, he was named to then-new role of Vice President, Marketing in September 2006, handling all of the label group’s imprints including Arista Nashville, BNA Records, Columbia Nashville, and RCA Nashville.

When announcing Baldrica’s new duties Exec. VP Butch Waugh remarked, “Tom has been working closely with our Creative department over the past year to ensure a consistent image and marketing message. Tom’s keen eye coupled with his knowledge of the marketplace makes this a natural move to place our artists in their best position to enjoy success.”

January 09 Sales Story

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Almost escaping notice, January 2009 has trailed off into obscurity, but the short story regarding country sales continues to be, “more of the same.” Top 75 Current Country sales fell short of the 300k mark again this week reaching about 295,000 units. Year-to-date country sales are now down 20.5%. One bright spot is country digital album sales which are up 36.1%, but not enough to make up for the lost revenue from physical sales. Pat Green launched a new CD this week which scanned 18,195 units, enough to take the No. 2 spot behind Taylor Swift’s 55,102 units. Green also kicked off his headline Jaegermeister Country tour in Atlanta last week, which will visit 25 major markets in the next three months.

It may be too early to express certainty, but it appears that country digital album downloads are increasing as a percentage of total country album sales. Last year country digital albums averaged about 7.4% of total country album sales, for ’09 the number has jumped to 12.7%.

On the pop side, Bruce Springsteen leveraged his Super Bowl performance to debut at No. 1 with 223,741 scans, edging Swift out of the top spot which she owned for eight consecutive weeks. Overall album sales are down 12% YTD.

On the horizon we have debuts coming this week from Dierks Bentley and Aaron Tippin.

ACM Adds More Fan-Voted Awards

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The ACM’s three newcomer awards—Top New Female Vocalist, Top New Male Vocalist and Top New Vocal Duo or Group—will be opened up to fan voting for the first time this year. Exclusively at GACTV.com, voting for the categories will run Fri., Feb. 13 through Thurs., March 5. After those winners are announced on March 9, they will move on to compete in the new Awards category, Top New Artist. Fan voting for that category will then run March 16-April 5, with the winner being announced live during the 44th Annual Academy of Country Music Awards on April 5.

Through a new partnership with the ACM, GAC will air several television specials surrounding the fan-voted awards, including a show featuring nominees and a special on the winner. The first GAC program featuring the nine nominees premieres Feb. 20 and will be hosted by reigning Top New Male Vocalist Jack Ingram. On March 19, GAC will debut a show hosted by Sara Evans, wherein the winner in each category will perform and receive the awards for Top New Female Vocalist, Top New Male Vocalist, and Top New Vocal Duo or Group.

As previously reported, most nominees for the Academy of Country Music Awards will be announced Wed., Feb. 11 in Nashville.

Grammys Add Country Performers, Online Coverage

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Multiple nominees Sugarland have been added to the performance schedule for this Sunday’s (2/8) 51st Annual Grammy Awards. Taylor Swift and Miley Cyrus have also joined the line-up for a special performance together. At the Awards airing live from the LA Staples Center, Sugarland is up for Best Country Performance By A Duo Or Group With Vocals (“Stay”) and Best Country Collaboration With Vocals (“Life In A Northern Town” with Jake Owen and Little Big Town). Previously announced performers include Robert Plant & Alison Krauss, Kenny Chesney, Carrie Underwood, Kid Rock, Paul McCartney, Justin Timberlake, U2, and Jay-Z.

As in years past, the Awards will be broadcast on television and radio, airing in HD on CBS from 7–10:30 PM/CT and Westwood One, respectively. For 2009, the Recording Academy has broadened online coverage to include social networking sites such as Twitter (“theGRAMMYs”), Facebook (“The Recording Academy”), YouTube (“51stGRAMMYs”) and Last.fm (“the51stgrammys”), in addition to coverage on Grammy.com and CBS.com.

The Pre-Telecast Ceremony, where a majority of Grammy categories are awarded, will also be available online at www.grammy.com on the afternoon of the show. Taking place from 1–3:45 PM/PT at the Los Angeles Convention Center, the non-televised event has grown into its own celebrated affair with guest presenters and live performances.

Other Nashville artists heading to Los Angeles for performances surrounding the Grammys include Tim McGraw, Faith Hill, and Brenda Lee. McGraw and Hill will sing at the Feb. 6 tribute to 2009 MusiCares® Person of the Year Neil Diamond. The event celebrating his artistic achievements and philanthropic work, will also feature Kid Rock and Raul Malo. Lee will receive The Recording Academy’s Lifetime Achievement Award on Sat., Feb. 7 at the Los Angeles Wilshire Ebell Theater. Also being honored are Gene Autry, The Blind Boys of Alabama, The Four Tops, Hank Jones, Dean Martin, and Tom Paxton.

GAC, Armiger Partner In Unique Promotion

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Katie Armiger and Great American Country (GAC) are teaming up to fly a contest winner to Nashville for a writing and recording session with the budding artist. “Kapturing A Love Song with Katie Armiger” kicks off today and runs through Friday, Feb. 27 at www.GACTV.com. When complete, the song will be made available on iTunes.

GAC, where Armiger is the February Artist of the Month, says this is one of the most unique sweepstakes it has ever offered. “Katie has a lot of fans at GACTV.com because of her successful Kapturing Katie web series,” adds GAC’s director of music marketing John Alexander.

Sundresses By Swift Shipping Now

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Taylor Swift’s line of sundresses began shipping exclusively to Wal-Mart yesterday (2/1). The dresses are being made through a partnership with clothing manufacturer L.E.I., who also made Swift’s namesake jeans.  All retailing for $14, there will be three sundress styles available at launch and two additional styles are planned for a March 1 delivery.

“It was very important for me to create cute, affordable dresses,” says Swift, who is on the current cover of Teen Vogue. “If I couldn’t see myself wearing them, I wasn’t interested in making them.” She plans to wear the dresses throughout her spring and summer tour.

As previously reported, this will be her first headlining outing, and includes dates in Canada and Australian. She is in such demand Down Under that another show has been added in Melbourne. Chugg Entertainment and Rob Potts Entertainment Edge tacked on a March 9 date specifically for the under 18 set, to precede the next night’s 18-and-up show. Her first Australian Tour also includes sold-out stops in Brisbane and Sydney, and a festival performance in Thredbo, NSW.

Grady Becomes President Borman Nashville

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Borman Entertainment owner/founder Gary Borman has announced that John Grady will join the company as President of its Nashville operations.

Grady, started 32 years ago as a college rep for A&M Records and more recently served as president of DMZ Music, Columbia Nashville, Epic Nashville and Monument Nashville. For the past 2 years, Grady was a partner in Redlight Management. He currently sits on the Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum Board of Directors and was elected President of the Academy of Country Music.

“My career could be described as a series of unique opportunities,” says Grady. “Gary and his staff have built a unique company based on artists, music, creativity, loyalty, intelligence and hard work. I am honored to be called upon to contribute to what they have already built. I am humbled to work with the company’s extraordinary artists and management team. I can hardly wait to go to work.”

Borman Entertainment represents Faith Hill, Keith Urban and Lady Antebellum. According to Borman, who has been in business since 1976, the goal has always been to specialize in building long term careers from the bottom to the top. “Due to our size we have the advantage of focus plus the ability to move quickly and go deep every day for our 3 artists,” says Borman. “We love what we do and who we do it for. Adding John’s experience, skill and passion for music is incredible for us. I look forward to many years working with John and our Nashville team as we meet the challenges and opportunities our business encounters.”

John Grady will be based in the Borman Entertainment Nashville office at 1222 16th Avenue South suite 23. Ph. 615-320-3000
[email protected]

Montgomery To Exit Echo

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It remains unofficial, but Music Row has learned that Echo Music Co-founder/CEO Mark Montgomery will soon exit the company to pursue new opportunities. Montgomery was involved in product development, plus a contributor to strategic direction. When Echo was purchased by Ticketmaster in March 2007, Sean Moriarty, Ticketmaster President/CEO said, “What echo has built is unique. It is the best platform out there by a long shot for allowing rich interactions between fans and their favorite artists, athletes, teams, and more.”

“Our approach has always been to create a bond between the artist and the fan directly with few boundaries in between,” Montgomery told Music Row in an interview reflecting on the Ticketmaster alliance. “We were into this space very early, and persistence has been a key to our survival. We never gave up talking about what we thought was important.”

Read Mark’s blog…

New CMA VP Starting Monday

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Dan Bowen will join the Country Music Association as Vice President of Strategic Marketing and Communications on Mon., Feb. 2, overseeing advertising, promotions, new media, research, and media/PR initiatives and staff. With more than 20 years of broadcast media experience, Bowen most recently spent 11 years with WSTR-FM (Star 94) in Atlanta.

He has served in a variety of leadership roles handling marketing strategies. According to the CMA, Bowen has a proven track record of establishing partnerships that generate ratings and increasing revenues through media and advertising campaigns.

UMG Sales/Marketing To Restructure

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According to a Universal Music Group spokesperson, Executive VP Sales and Marketing Ben Kline is leaving the company, effective immediately, to pursue  a new opportunity. Kline was a fixture at the Nashville label for 11 years and with Universal for a total of 17 years. He was a frequent voice in many Music Row articles dealing with his area of expertise. Kline was in charge of all sales, marketing and new media functions for Mercury, MCA Nashville and Lost Highway.

Kline’s departure is effective immediately. It is expected that as soon as next week UMGN will announce a restructuring plan for its Sales/Marketing department which is not expected to include any new hires.