New Day Christian Distributors and Word Entertainment have expanded their distribution relationship. Effective Jan. 2, 2017, all titles from Word Entertainment will be exclusively distributed in the physical format to christian retail by New Day.

The agreement encompasses Word Entertainment’s record and film partners and all artists on the Word and Curb Christian rosters, including: Meredith Andrews, Chris August, Francesca Battistelli, Big Daddy Weave, Blanca, Castro, Everfound, Family Force 5, for KING & COUNTRY, Natalie Grant, Group 1 Crew, Mallary Hope, Love & The Outcome, Dara Maclean, Steven Malcolm, OBB, Plumb, Sarah Reeves, Selah, Sidewalk Prophets, Todd Smith, Stars Go Dim, VERIDIA, We Are Messengers and Zealand Worship.

“The first major label relationship we established after starting New Day in 1981, was with Word Records,” shared Dottie Leonard Miller, President & CEO of New Day. “Serving christian retail is our entire focus at New Day. To be able to exclusively represent Word Entertainment and Curb Records to christian retail, along with products from their distributed labels and film partners, is a career highlight. We are humbled by Mike Curb’s and Rod Riley’s trust in New Day.”

According to Nielsen Music’s SoundScan, combined Christian music market share YTD for New Day/Word exceeds 16 percent.

Rod Riley, President & CEO, Word Entertainment, adds, “I have been a big fan of Dottie, Ed, and the New Day team for many years now, and it is an honor to bring our companies together as we effectively move forward into the future of the music industry. As we sharpen our focus on content creation while continuing to be committed to Christian Retail, this new relationship will strengthen how we are able to serve our artists and our catalog of 65 years.”

Last night’s  (Nov. 2) CMA Awards wins translated into iTunes sales boosts for several artists at press time.

Little Big Town celebrated their new single, “Better Man” landing at No. 1 on the iTunes Top Songs chart, post-CMA performance. They celebrated during the after party with the song’s writer, Taylor Swift.

Also landing in the Top 10 on the iTunes Top Songs chart are tracks from fellow CMA performers including Keith Urban‘s “Blue Ain’t Your Color,” Tim McGraw‘s “Humble and Kind,” Maren Morris‘ “My Church,” Kenny Chesney‘s “Setting The World On Fire,” and Miranda Lambert‘s “Vice.”

Chesney’s Cosmic Hallelujah album topped the iTunes overall albums chart, after he was honored with the Pinnacle Award (presented by Peyton Manning) during the CMA Awards.

Best New Artist winner Morris’ Hero project and Urban’s Ripcord landed in the top 3 albums chart.

Female Vocalist of the Year winner Carrie Underwood‘s Storyteller, Eric Church‘s Album of the Year winner, Mr. Misunderstood, and Male Vocalist of the Year and Video of the Year winner Chris Stapleton‘s Traveller all sit in the top 10.

Other albums getting a boost in the Top 20 included Beyonce‘s Lemonade, following her collaboration with the Dixie Chicks. Also included are Musical Event of the Year winner Dierks Bentley‘s Black, Best New Artist nominee Cole Swindell‘s You Should Be Here, and performers Florida Georgia Line with Dig Your Roots.

Total sales numbers will reflected in MusicRow‘s Weekly Register on Nov. 7.

BOBBY KARL WORKS THE ROOM

Chapter 543

There are Christmas albums, and then there are Christmas albums.

It turns out that making one has been a lifelong ambition of emerging country star Chris Young.

“I love Christmas; I love Christmas music; I love Christmas so much that it’s the only time I won’t tour,” he said on Tuesday evening (Oct. 11) at the Avenue venue downtown.

“I know this is only a ‘hang’ but it is not an exaggeration when I say that I’ve always wanted to make a Christmas album. This whole album – top to bottom – really has my heart in it.

“It wasn’t Christmas in our house, until I played the Honky Tonk Christmas album by Alan Jackson.” That album included Alan singing Keith Whitley’s “There’s a New Kid in Town.” So Chris was beyond thrilled to sing the song with Alan on his own It Must Be Christmas collection.

“Brad Paisley: I texted him, and he was the first person to respond to me,” said Chris proudly. They collaborate on the record’s “The First Noel.”

“It’s so cool that we got Boyz II Men on this record.” They are featured on Chris’s performance of “Silent Night.”

Chris Young co-wrote both “Under the Weather” and “It Must Be Christmas” for the album.

The star and I chatted about our favorite holiday albums and agreed that among our essentials were ones by The Beach Boys, Bing Crosby and Phil Spector. Chris covers the last-named’s “Christmas (Baby Please Come Home)” on his collection.

As those tunes and the rest of the CD played over the sound system as the fabulons mingled. The crowd included Bob Doerschuk, Bob Paxman, Hunter Kelly, Ken Robold, Rick Murray, Cindy Watts (who has been covering Chris since she began her reporter career in his hometown paper in Murfreesboro), Ron Huntsman, Bill Catino, Lauren Tingle, Tom Luteran, Sarah Trahern, Steve Buchanan, Shanna Strassberg (with her visiting mom from Oregon), Sherod Robertson, Charlie Cook, John Marks, Gayle Thompson of The Boot, Paul Barnabee, Becky Harris and Beville Dunkerley.

They/we snacked on spiced meatballs, chicken biscuits, ham biscuits, BBQ pork biscuits, Christmas cookies and sweets. It’s a wonder we don’t all weigh 300 pounds from going to these things.

“Merry Christmas everybody, and welcome,” said Randy Goodman greeting the party people. He urged everybody to vote for Chris and Cassadee Pope in the CMA Awards balloting for their stupendous entry in the Musical Event category. I already did.

“If you haven’t had a chance to listen to it, it’s an amazing album,” Randy added about Chris’s holiday disc. “This is one of the most exciting projects I’ve gotten to work on over the past 15 months.” He added humorously that his only “work” on the record was to ask Chris to make it. Before the request was even out of the mouth of manager Larry Fitzgerald, Chris blurted, “I’m IN!”

“I could talk for another two hours about this record,” said Chris Young. “I hope you enjoy listening to it half as much as we enjoyed making it.”

The Music Business Association (Music Biz) has elected two new representatives to fill vacancies on its Board of Directors and promoted an existing member to the Executive Committee.

Elizabeth Moody, Vice President, Global Content Licensing at Pandora, and Rob Harvey, Head of Label Relations, North America at Spotify, will join the Board. Existing Board member Matt Signore, President, WEA, will join the Executive Committee as Treasurer, replacing John Trickett, who passed away in August.

“Elizabeth and Rob are two great music biz minds who have achieved massive success in many different corners of the industry, while Matt has been a key asset to the Music Biz Board since joining in October 2013,” said James Donio, President of Music Biz. “We are thrilled to have all of them on our Board of Directors and look forward to working together to continue moving the entire music industry forward.”

Signore joined WEA in 2005 as CFO, and now serves as President. On Jan. 1, 2017, he will become the COO of Warner Music Nashville.

Moody is Pandora’s first Music Biz representative and has more than 15 years of experience as a digital media executive.

Harvey has spent nearly two decades in the music business, and promoted over 50 No. 1 records. Prior to his current post at Spotify, Harvey held posts at Republic Records and Island Records.

See a list of all Music Biz Board members.