Sales/Marketing Archives - Page 32 of 175

Weekly Register: Chris Stapleton, Cam Take Charge of the Chart

December 21, 2015/by Craig_Shelburne

Chris Stapleton’s Traveller makes another trip to No. 1 on the country albums chart with 54K units sold. That puts his year-to-date sales at 568K.

Just behind is Cam’s debut album, Untamed. The “Burning House” singer enters the country album chart with 37K.

Rounding out the Top 5 country albums are Carrie Underwood’s Storyteller (29K), Luke Bryan’s Kill the Lights (25K) and Sam Hunt’s Montevallo (22K).

New albums on the chart are Jon Langston’s self-titled EP (No. 25), The Voice contestant Emily Ann Roberts’ The Complete Season 9 Collection (No. 55), and the cast of Nashville’s compilation, Nashville: On the Record Vol. 3 (No. 58).

On the country digital tracks chart, Roberts’ rendition of “Burning House” enters at No. 1 with 83K. In addition, she appears at No. 4 (45K) with “Islands in the Stream” (performed with Blake Shelton) and No. 10 (18.5K) with “Blue Christmas,” along with six other spots in the Top 75.

Other top country digital tracks include Thomas Rhett’s “Die a Happy Man” (No. 2, 57.5K), Cam’s “Burning House” (No. 3, 46.5K) and Cole Swindell’s new “You Should Be Here” (No. 5, 45K). Hunt’s “Break Up in a Small Town” officially surpasses the 800,000 mark, landing at No. 6 with 35.5K units.

Meanwhile, “Die a Happy Man” makes another appearance (No. 7, 28K), this time sung by Barrett Baber, also a contestant on The Voice. Baber and Roberts were both on Shelton’s team, but ultimately the crown went to Jordan Smith. His rendition of “Mary Did You Know?” is atop the overall digital singles chart with 161K.

The real champion, though, continues to be Adele. She’s still No. 1 on the overall chart with 25. This week, she moves 825K units (790K album only) and surpasses the 6 million mark.

Industry Ink: CAA, TuneCore, ASCAP, SOLID

December 16, 2015/by Jessica Nicholson

CAA Promotes Six

Creative Artists Agency (CAA) promoted six trainees to agent or executive.

In Nashville, Justin Cahill has been promoted to the role of Agent in CAA’s Music Department.

The company’s Los Angeles office has five promotions. Joe Della Rosa and Luke Rodgers have been upped to Agent roles in CAA’s Film Finance and Sales department. Meanwhile, Monique Francis and Amanda Jimenez have been promoted to Executive in CAA Marketing, and Ryan Vogt has been promoted to Agent in CAA’s Licensing department.

TuneCore Names VP, Marketing

Andreea Gleeson

Digital music distribution and publishing administration provider TuneCore announced Andreea Gleeson as Vice President, Marketing.

Gleeson joins TuneCore from Lord & Taylor where she led the omni-marketing strategy for the department store chain. In her tenor at Lord & Taylor and its sister store Hudson’s Bay Company, Gleeson held multiple leadership roles in the e-commerce team where she drove the digital strategy and grew the Lord & Taylor and Hudson’s Bay sites from the ground up, surpassing the volumes for the flagship stores for both chains.

In her new role, Gleeson will be assuming the leadership of TuneCore’s global multi-channel marketing initiatives focused on growth and retention of the company’s artist customer base. Further, Gleeson will oversee all areas of marketing including branding, creative, paid media, content, social and analytics, ensuring all marketing campaigns are consumer focused and drive toward a larger 360-degree marketing plan.

ASCAP Songwriters Bring Hits to NYC

ASCAP songwriters took to NYC last week, when Chris DeStefano, Matt Jenkins, and three-time ASCAP Country Music Songwriter of the Year Ashley Gorley performed during the CMA Songwriter Series at Joe’s Pub with fellow writer Leslie Satcher.

Pictured (L-R): ASCAP's Mike Sistad, Chris DeStefano, Matt Jenkins, Leslie Satcher and Ashley Gorley.

Pictured (L-R): ASCAP executive Mike Sistad with Chris DeStefano, Matt Jenkins, Leslie Satcher and Ashley Gorley.

SOLID Names Board Members for 2016

Nashville-based music industry organization, Society of Leaders in Development (SOLID), recently appointed its 2016 Executive Board of Directors and inducted 82 new members.

Board Members include:
President Basak Kizilisik (Morris Higham Management)
Vice President Eric Wright (Music Data Analytics)
Secretary Rachel Cunningham (The Collective)
Treasurer John Huelsman (Big Enterprises)
Social Chair Johnny Cloherty (WME | IMG)
Social Co-chair Kelsey McMahan (Modern Management)
Communications Chair Jason G Zinser (So Good Entertainment)
Communications Co-chair Matt Pramstaller (Naxos of America)
Education Chair Juliana Lee (Notes for Notes)
Education Co-chair Lucia Kaminsky (Warner Music Nashville)
University Outreach Chair Tim Gray (Grayscale Entertainment)
Community Outreach Chair Courtney Kruckeberg (Clearbox Rights)
Community Outreach Co-Chair Ben Boyd (Music Services)
University Outreach Co-Chair Lisa Nolan (For the Record Entertainment)
Yard Sale Chair Kari Barnhart (Fifth Third Bank)
Yard Sale Co-Chair Carli McLaughlin (Rebel Engine Entertainment)
Alumni Chair Emma Tur (Warner Music Nashville + Word Entertainment)

Pictured (L-R): Treasurer, John Huelsman, President, Basak Kizilisik, Vice President, Eric Wright, Secretary, Rachel Cunningham

Pictured (L-R): John Huelsman, Treasurer; Basak Kizilisik, President; Eric Wright, Vice President; Rachel Cunningham, Secretary.

Weekly Register: Adele, Chris Stapleton Reign In Albums Rankings

December 14, 2015/by Jessica Nicholson

Adele continues her albums chart reign, with 25 selling 728K units in its third week of release to mark over 5 million units moved in total. The British singer-songwriter’s concert special is set to air on NBC today (Dec. 14) in tandem with an announcement of her North American tour dates for 2016, including two shows in October at Nashville’s Bridgestone Arena.

Meanwhile, Coldplay‘s A Head Full of Dreams debuted at No. 2 on the overall albums rankings, with 210K sold.

Chris Stapleton‘s Traveller travels back up the country albums chart to the No. 1 slot again (No. 9 overall). Sales for Traveller have now jumped the 500K mark (44K this week). Following Stapleton is Carrie Underwood‘s Storyteller at No. 2 (23K), Luke Bryan‘s Kill The Lights at No. 3 (19K), Eric Church‘s Mr. Misunderstood at No. 4 (16K), and Blake Shelton‘s Reloaded hits collection at No. 5 (15K).

Overall album sales have dropped 5 percent TYD, while overall digital album sales have dropped 1.6 percent. Country album sales are down 3.7 percent from last year, though country digital sales are up four percent YTD.

Top country debuts this week include Jessie James Decker‘s This Christmas at No. 16, and Music of Nashville Season 4 at No. 17. “Burning House” singer-songwriter Cam‘s debut album for Arista Nashville/RCA will make its debut on the chart next week.

Jordan Smith. Photo: Tyler Golden/NBC.

On the overall tracks rankings, The Voice‘s Jordan Smith debuts at No. 1; Smith’s cover of Queen’s “Somebody To Love” has sold 164K. Adele’s “Hello” is at No. 2 with 158K sold (3 million RTD).

Thomas Rhett

On the country tracks rankings, Thomas Rhett‘s “Die A Happy Man” is No. 1, with 48K sold. The Voice‘s Emily Ann Roberts‘ version of Dolly Parton’s “9-5” debuts at No. 2 with 35K units sold. Sam Hunt‘s “Break Up In A Small Town” is at No. 3 with 29K, while two more debuts from The Voice contestants enter the Top 5, with Zach Seabaugh‘s rendition of “The Climb” at No. 4 (27K), and Barrett Baber‘s “Ghost” at No. 5 (24K).

Overall digital track sales are down 12 percent, while country digital tracks sales are down 16.1 percent YTD.

Information provided by Neilsen Soundscan

Taylor Swift To Release 1989 Tour Film Exclusively with Apple Music

December 14, 2015/by Eric T. Parker

Taylor Swift has partnered with Apple Music for the exclusive release of The 1989 World Tour LIVE film on Sunday, Dec. 20.

Available exclusively to Apple Music members around the world, the Jonas Akerlund-directed video was filmed in front of 76,000 fans at the ANZ Stadium in Sydney, Australia on November 28, 2015. Never-before-seen backstage footage from rehearsals, in addition to surprise guests that appeared throughout the entire tour was shot by videographers Ivan Clow and Jordan Lynn.

Musical guests featured in The 1989 World Tour LIVE included: Alanis Morissette, Alison Krauss, Beck, St. Vincent, Ellie Goulding, Fetty Wap, Fifth Harmony, Idina Menzel, John Legend, Justin Timberlake, Leona Lewis, Lisa Kudrow, Lorde, Mary J. Blige, Mick Jagger, Miranda Lambert, Natalie Maines, Nelly, HAIM, Nick Jonas, Ricky Martin, Selena Gomez, Steven Tyler, The Weeknd, Walk the Moon, and Wiz Khalifa.

The 1989 World Tour Live also includes special guest appearances including: Andreja Pejic, Behati Prinsloo, Candice Swanepoel, Cara Delevingne, Chris Rock, Ciara, Dwayne Wade, Ellen Degeneres, Gigi Hadid, Hailee Steinfeld, Heidi Klum, Joan Baez, Julia Roberts, Karlie Kloss, Kendall Jenner, Kobe Bryant, Lena Dunham, Lily Aldridge, Lily Donaldson, Mariska Hargitay, Martha Hunt, Matt LeBlanc, Russell Wilson, Abigail Anderson, Jamie King, Sean O’Pry, Serena Williams, and the U.S. Women’s Soccer Team.

Swift will join Zane Lowe on Beats 1 Radio at 11 p.m. CT today (Dec. 14) to talk more about the project.

The 2014 Big Machine Records album 1989 has sold over 9 million copies worldwide.

Industry Ink: Starstruck, Dot Records, Grayscale Marketing

December 9, 2015/by Jessica Nicholson

Penny E. Chubb

Starstruck Entertainment’s Director of Finance Announces Retirement

Penny E. Chubb, Director of Finance at Starstruck Entertainment, will retire from the Nashville-based music entertainment company.

Penny will end her nearly 22-year employment on Dec. 17 to spend more time on her boat!

“I am so thankful to have worked in such an incredible environment for more than 20 years,” shared Penny. “Now it’s time to drift off into the sunset, literally.”

Dot Records Adds Director of Southeast Promotion

AJ Calvin

Dot Records has added AJ Calvin as Director of Southeast Promotion, effective immediately. With a background in rock promotion, Calvin will foray into the country genre working with a decorated roster including Maddie & Tae, Steven Tyler, Drake White, Ashley Campbell and Tucker Beathard.

“Getting the chance to work for the world’s largest independent music label BMLG and its imprint Dot is not only exciting, it’s an incredible honor,” Calvin shares. “Between Scott Borchetta, Chris Stacey and Kris Lamb, they have a group of leaders I am absolutely proud to work for. The Country world awaits and after years in the rock game, I am enlivened by the challenge.”

Calvin can be reached at [email protected] or at 615-846-7749.

Grayscale Entertainment Marketing Launches in Nashville

Full-service lifestyle marketing agency Grayscale Entertainment Marketing, led by Tim Gray, has launched in Nashville’s Germantown area. The company currently manages social media for artists including Matt Stillwell, Jared Weeks, and Adairs Run’s single featuring Chris Daughtry. They also work with 13 of Sixthman’s music festivals, as well as other projects.

GSM offers a variety of services for brands, events, and bands including partnerships in the form of endorsements, product placement, touring and event sponsorships as well as affordable social media management solutions for smaller to mid-level artists. Under the digital and experiential marketing umbrella, GSM will also offer content creation, web design, music licensing, event and audience activation, custom analytics and retargeting, email and promotional ad based marketing.

Grayscale Entertainment Marketing can be reached at 615-678-5720, or at www.grayscaleentertainment.marketing

Weekly Register: Ace Vocalists Carrie Underwood, Adele, Barrett Baber Top Charts

December 7, 2015/by Jessica Nicholson

Carrie Underwood tops the country albums rankings this week, with her project Storyteller in the No. 1 slot (and No. 14 overall) with 35K sold, thanks to a heavy week of promotional appearances and digital sales. Underwood’s Storyteller experienced a 51 percent gain this week, including a 243 percent gain in digital album sales.

Following Underwood this week on the country album rankings is Chris Stapleton‘s Traveller (32K), Blake Shelton‘s Re Loaded (30K), Eric Church‘s Mr. Misunderstood (19K), and Sam Hunt‘s Montevallo (18K).

Adele

Adele continues her dominion over the overall albums and tracks charts this week. The singer-songwriter’s album 25 sold 1.162 million this week, bringing her two-week album sales total to more than 4.5 million.

The top overall album debut this week goes to Erykah Badu‘s But You Cain’t Use My Phone, which lands at No. 14 and sold 35K units.

Total album sales dropped 5.1 percent YTD, with 210.873 million sold so far this year, vs. 222.294 million last year. Digital album sales dropped 1.6 percent, with 94.662 million sold YTD, vs. 96.204 million last year.

This week last year, Taylor Swift‘s 1989 sold 339K, topping the overall albums sales rankings, while Garth Brooks’ Man Against Machine topped the country album sales rankings with 63K sold.

Barrett Baber

In the top country tracks this week, The Voice contestants are riding high, taking the No. 1, No. 3, and No. 5 spots. Barrett Baber‘s rendition of Conway Twitty’s “I’d Just Love To Lay You Down” moved 47K this week, enough to rank at No. 1. Emily Ann Robert‘s rendition of the Patsy Cline classic, “She’s Got You,” is at No. 3, with 41K, and Shelby Brown‘s take on Vince Gill’s “Go Rest High On That Mountain” is at No. 5, with 21K. Thomas Rhett‘s “Die A Happy Man” lands at No. 2 with 45K, and Sam Hunt‘s “Break Up In A Small Town is at No. 4, with 27K.

Elsewhere on the tracks rankings, Kane Brown (a former contestant on The X Factor) debuts at No. 8 with “I Love That I Hate You,” which moved 17K.

Adele’s “Hello” tops the overall tracks rankings, selling 233K. In total, the track has moved 2.9 million to date. The top overall track debut goes to another The Voice contestant, with Jordan Smith‘s “Hallelujah” selling 69K and ranking at No. 4 overall.

Overall, track sales are down 11.8 percent YTD, while country track sales are down 16 percent. This time last year, the top-selling track overall was Taylor Swift’s “Blank Space,” which moved 342K. The top-selling country track at that time went to another contestant on The Voice. Craig Wayne Boyd ‘s rendition of “I Walk The Line” moved 46K this time last year.

Info according to Nielsen Soundscan

Marketing Agency FlyteVu Expands Staff

December 1, 2015/by Jessica Nicholson

Pictured (L-R): Ryan Milby, Natalie Logan

FlyteVu, a full-service marketing agency founded in October 2015 by former CAA agent Laura Hutfless and former WMN executive Jeremy Holley, has expanded its staff. Ryan Milby has been hired to oversee Creative, while Natalie Logan has been hired to oversee publicity.

Milby’s experience includes more than a decade of work in interactive art direction and web-based design. He served as Interactive Design Manager at Warner Music Group and has produced digital platforms and creative content for artists including Blake Shelton, Hunter Hayes, Randy Travis, Brett Eldredge, as well as late night host Jimmy Fallon.

Logan was previously an Account Supervisor at Rogers & Cowan in Los Angeles where she planned and executed public relations campaigns in an array of industries. She has worked with clients such as Maserati, The Recording Academy, The Venetian Macao, Mondrian Los Angeles, Warner Bros. Studio Tour Hollywood, Columbia Sportswear, UPTV, and more. Additionally, she has worked on Academy Award campaigns and managed on-site activations at festivals and events including Sundance Film Festival, Zurich Film Festival, and New York Fashion Week.

“We’re excited to have Natalie and Ryan join the FlyteVu family and help further our commitment to help brands navigate the music landscape. Their individual experiences will be a valuable resource as we continue to grow our team,” said Holley.

Weekly Register: Chris Young Debuts at No. 1 on Country Album Chart

November 23, 2015/by Craig_Shelburne

Chris Young has overtaken Chris Stapleton at the top of the country albums chart this week.

Young’s I’m Comin’ Over enters the chart with 57K albums sold and hits No. 5 on the overall chart with a combined 65K units of sales and streaming.

Stapleton’s Traveller dips to No. 2 on the country album chart, selling 42K. Its current sales are now at 389K. He’s just behind Young on the overall chart at No. 6, with a combined 53K units.

Eric Church’s Mr. Misunderstood album.

Eric Church’s Mr. Misunderstood stands at No. 3 on the country albums chart with 29K albums sold. Carrie Underwood’s Storyteller (16.5K) and Tim McGraw’s Damn Country Music (12.5K) round out the Top 5.

Thomas Rhett

On the country digital singles chart, Thomas Rhett returns to the top with “Die a Happy Man,” selling 56K singles. Stapleton’s right behind him as “Tennessee Whiskey” moves another 45K.

Sam Hunt’s Break Up in a Small Town” (32K), Cam’s “Burning House” (25K) and Young’s “I’m Comin’ Over” (23K) complete the Top 5.

Barrett Baber, a contestant on The Voice, arrives at No. 9 with “Right Here Waiting” (14.5K). Other charting tracks this week from contestants on The Voice include Emily Ann Roberts‘ “Blame It On Your Heart” (No. 22, 8k) and Shelby Brown‘s “In Color” (No. 31, 7K).

Meanwhile, Jamey Johnson‘s original version of “In Color” reappears at No. 46 on the country digital singles chart (5K). Its overall sales figures have now surpassed 1.3 million.

Nashville Entrepreneurs Enter Playlist Promotion Game

November 17, 2015/by Eric T. Parker

Entrepreneur Garrison Snell, with the Nashville-based company Gyrosity Projects, has now created Crosshair to be “the telephone book of Spotify playlists.”

Crosshair offers a DIY approach to searching and directly messaging Spotify playlist owners based on their number of followers, names of playlist owners, or by type of company/organization owns the playlist.

Crosshair has welcomed its first Nashville client and will continue to entertain the interest of four additional parties in the demo trial period. The reason for only five clients on the platform during the trial is to ensure rigorous testing before opening it to the public.

“We want to make sure every consumer experience with our products is of the highest quality, whether that is with our management clients, marketing clients or software products,” says Snell. “The idea for Crosshair came about when thinking about what basic tools could help artists build their businesses. Owning the ability to build relationships with playlisters should be a key part of an artist’s teams overall strategy. One of our primary goals is to create tools that we would want to use for our management clients. Crosshair is the first of many in this space for us.”

Pricing for Crosshair has yet to be determined when it fully rolls out in January. There is a small monthly fee to be involved in the trial period.

Playlist promotion for streaming services recently bubbled to the surface country artist Kane Brown. Brown is managed by Jay Frank, UMG’s Senior Vice President of Global Streaming Marketing. Frank has continued to operate DigMark, a consultancy firm appealing to creators of popular digital playlists. Frank’s company promotes across multiple platforms and has an in-house promotions team.

Crosshair founder Snell can be reached by email at [email protected]. Learn more at gyrosityprojects.co.

Crosshair Screen Shot.

UMG Revenues Show Streaming and Subscriptons Overtaking Sales

November 12, 2015/by Eric T. Parker

Streaming and subscriptions now account for more revenue (51 percent) for Universal Music Group (UMG) than all other digital revenue worldwide.

This shift was reported Tuesday (Nov. 10) in UMG parent company Vivendi‘s third quarter financial reports in analyzing nine-month totals.

“It is still too early to tell whether or not we have reached an inflection point,” said Herve Phillippe, Member of the Management Board, CFO.

Those year-to-date figures show UMG’s recorded music at $2.97 billion, up 1.9 percent at constant perimeter and constant currency, with digital up 5.9 percent. Physical sales have been down 7.9 percent YTD, at $937 million.

Still to come, awards boosts (Eric Church, Chris Stapleton), holiday sales (Taylor Swift, Sam Smith, Maroon 5) and among new releases, that of Justin Bieber.

According to analysis from Music Business Worldwide, UMG’s specific third quarter revenue fell from the previous quarter, perhaps due to the establishment of Apple Music.