WMG Releases Fiscal Year-End Report

/by

Warner Music Group Corp. today (Dec. 11) announced its full-year financial results for the period ended Sept. 30, 2014.
Total revenue increased 5.2 percent to $3.02 billion. Total digital revenue grew 10.9 percent to $1.2 billion and represented 39.5 percent of total revenue.
Net loss was $303 million.
Recorded music revenue grew 5.6 percent to $2.5 billion, due to income from Parlophone Label Group, which WMG purchased last year. Digital revenue from recorded music grew 10.4 percent to $1.1 billion.
Music publishing revenue rose 3 percent to $517 million.
wmg 2014 balance sheet

Weekly Register: 'The Voice' Boosts Track Sales

/by

Pictured (clockwise): Adam Levine, Blake Shelton, Gwen Stefani, Pharrell and RaeLynn

RaeLynn on “The Voice.” Pictured (clockwise): Adam Levine, Blake Shelton, Gwen Stefani, Pharrell and RaeLynn


RaeLynn returned to her career launch pad The Voice on Dec. 2, where her performance helped boost debut single “God Made Girls” to No. 1 on the top country tracks list. The song moved 34K TW for a RTD total of 250K. Meanwhile current The Voice contestant Craig Wayne Boyd scored the best-selling country track debut, with his version of “Take it Easy” selling 20K. Last week his rendition of “I Walk The Line” sold 46K to land at No. 1.
Top 5 Country Tracks TW (Three of the top 5 are BMLG artists.)
RaeLynn, “God Made Girls,” 34K
Tim McGraw, “Shotgun Rider,” 30K
Carrie Underwood, “Something in the Water,” 29K
Florida Georgia Line, “Sun Daze,” 22K
Craig Wayne Boyd, “Take It Easy,” 20K
Garth Brooks stays at No. 1 on the country album chart in his fourth week of release, selling 57K this week and 311K RTD. Taylor Swift hangs at No. 1 on the Top 200 again this week with 274K.
Many albums are purchased during Thanksgiving week, so it is expected that week-over-week album sales would slip following turkey day. Overall albums experienced a 5 percent drop while country slumped 7 percent.
Top 5 Country Albums TW
Garth Brooks,  57K
Jason Aldean, 29K
Darius Rucker,  28K
Florida Georgia Line, 20K
George Strait, 17K
As 2014 winds down, here’s a recap of Year-To-Date stats:
YTD Album Sales (including digital)
Overall -12.1%
Country -10.9%
Overall digital -9.6%
Country digital -3.9%
YTD Track Sales
Overall -12.5%
Country -17.1%
The best selling album YTD (including TEA) is the Frozen soundtrack with 4.156 million in sales.
YTD Country album marketshare is steady at 12.9%, compared to 12.7% in the same week last year.

Top Albums and Songs Revealed at iTunes

/by

iTunes-Best-Of-2014iTunes has revealed its Best Of 2014 list of both top selling songs and albums, in addition to editorial picks.
The top selling country albums included Eric Church at No. 9 (The Outsiders), Luke Bryan at No. 12 (Crash My Party), and Jason Aldean at No. 14 (Old Boots, New Dirt). Interestingly, Soundscan credits Bryan with moving the most units of the three superstars; Church and Aldean respectively follow. Topping out the all-genre album list was the soundtrack to Disney’s Frozen, followed by Taylor Swift (1989), and Coldplay (Ghost Stories).
Top selling songs included Nashville’s Meghan Trainor at No. 7 (“All About That Bass”) and Swift at No. 12 (“Shake It Off”). The top three tracks include Pharrell Williams (“Happy”), John Legend (“All of Me”), and Katy Perry (“Dark Horse [feat. Juicy J]”).
The editorial pick for country album went to Little Big Town’s Pain Killer. Swift’s 1989 received selective nods for Best Album in addition to Pop Album.

Sara Evans Partners With Leese-Fitch Wines

/by

Sara_Evans_Cropped

Sara Evans


California’s award-winning wine Leese-Fitch has partnered with Sara Evans to provide one wine-loving country music fan with the opportunity to win tickets and meet Sara Evans at California’s country music festival, Stagecoach.
“Leese-Fitch wines are elegant, approachable and modern wines, crafted with respect to the historic California winemaking tradition,” said August Sebastiani, President of The Other Guys. “Country music has established its own tradition as well, with California’s annual Stagecoach Festival. We are thrilled that country music star Sara Evans has partnered with Leese-Fitch to create the ultimate ‘bucket list’ experience for a winning fan to meet and see Sara perform live at Stagecoach 2015!”
“A few years ago, I discovered the Leese-Fitch Cabernet Sauvignon and immediately adored the ZORK closure since it doesn’t require a corkscrew. From the first taste, I fell in love and it has become my favorite ‘go to’ red wine,” said Sara Evans. “I always keep it stocked on my tour bus, as well as at home to enjoy when I relax on the back porch with my husband.”

Music Biz 2015 Solicits Program Ideas

/by

music biz 2015The annual Music Biz convention will be held in Nashville for the first time. Music Biz 2015, previously known as NARM, will take place at the Sheraton Nashville Downtown Hotel from May 12-14, 2015.
On the schedule are sessions about metadata, entertainment and technology law, songwriters and publishers, managers, town hall meetings and showcases.
Music Biz invites all music industry professionals to submit program ideas for Music Biz 2015. The call for presentations closes Friday, Jan. 9, 2015 at 8 p.m. PST.
 

SoundExchange's Most Streamed Artists and Songs

/by

SoundExchange has revealed the most streamed artists and top tracks played between September 1, 2013 and August 31, 2014. These charts are based on data reported to SoundExchange from digital radio services including satellite radio, Internet radio, and cable radio. Luke Bryan, Jason Aldean and Tim McGraw are the only country artists on the lists.
soundexchange top artists
 
soundexchange top 20 tracks

Project Music Seeks Start-Ups; Teams With Google

/by

project music logo 2014Project Music, a music and technology business accelerator program, operating in partnership with the Nashville Entrepreneur Center (EC) and the Country Music Association (CMA), has received increased funding and extended the application deadline to Monday, Dec. 8. The 14-week program begins January 18, 2015. Each startup accepted into Project Music will receive $30,000 in seed capital in exchange for a small equity stake. Details at www.ec.co/projectmusic.
Latest sponsor Google brings technical, industry and investment expertise to the program, as well as opportunities to reach an even greater audience. Also new to the program is Digital Entertainment Ventures of NYC, which joins current partners Decosimo/Vaden, Avenue Bank, Flo {thinkery} and Anderson Benson Insurance.
Previously announced seed investment group founders for the accelerator are: Creative Artists Agency, Vector Management, Ryman Hospitality Properties, Universal Music Group, Spalding Entertainment, DevDigital, Red Light Management and Galante Entertainment.
Heather McBee has also joined the Project Music team. Her 20 years of experience includes time as VP of Digital and Marketing at Sony Music Nashville, and Operations Director at Cumulus Media’s America’s Morning Show. Program mentors include McBee, Joe Galante, Michael Burcham, Mark Montgomery, Ed Hardy, Matt Urmy, Damon Whiteside, Jeremy Holley and Sarah Trahern.
Google’s support comes on the heels of the recent commitment by its YouTube subsidiary to a year-long series of workshops in Nashville geared toward the music industry.
The EC is a non-profit which connects entrepreneurs with investors, mentors and resources. It is funded through sponsorships, partnerships, donations and grants.

Carrie Underwood To Launch Fitness Lifestyle Apparel Brand

/by

CALIA_IMAGE 1_106_1974_G_Extension_cropped AP1111

Carrie Underwood


Carrie Underwood has partnered with Dick’s Sporting Goods to launch Calia by Carrie Underwood, a fitness lifestyle apparel brand. The line will be sold exclusively at Dick’s Sporting Goods stores nationwide and online, beginning March 5, 2015.
“It has been such a rewarding experience working with DICK’S Sporting Goods on all aspects of the design process for CALIA, from choosing fabrics to making sure the look, feel and fit is right for active women,” said Underwood. “The inspiration for this line came from my desire to have clothes that seamlessly take me from workouts, to errands, to rehearsals and beyond. As someone who is passionate about health and fitness, I’m excited to offer women a wardrobe that will move with them and encourage them to stay the path of leading an active lifestyle.”
“We are proud to be working with Carrie on this exciting new line,” said Lauren Hobart, Senior Vice President & Chief Marketing Officer, DICK’S Sporting Goods. “From the very beginning of our partnership, we aligned with Carrie around a vision to provide fitness apparel and accessories that are as versatile as they are functional. The result is a collection that will truly fit the incredibly busy lives of active women.”
Customers can visit caliastudio.com to sign up for more information on the collection.

Weekly Register: Revamped Chart Debuts

/by

Craig Wayne Boyd. Photo: Trae Patton/NBC

Craig Wayne Boyd. Photo: Trae Patton/NBC


The updated Billboard 200 albums chart debuted this week. The new version takes into account album sales, on-demand streaming and digital track sales. This formula is designed to represent total album activity and more accurately reflect consumption, instead of only including album purchases. Details here.
The formula is:
album sales + TEA (defined as 10 tracks = one album) + streaming activity (defined as total streams divided by 1500) = total activity
Even without the boost from streams of her newest album 1989 (which has been withheld from streaming sites), Taylor Swift landed at No. 1 on the new Top 200, with total activity of 339K.
Black Friday shopping gave a 33 percent increase to all-genre album sales, totaling more than 7 million units. By comparison, the same week last year experienced a 62 percent jump, thanks to then-new releases by One Direction (546K) and Garth Brooks hits (164K).
Country album sales are up 46 percent week-over-week, selling 1 million units TW. Brooks stays put at No. 1 on the Country album chart with 63K, and 255K RTD in its third week. The methodology for the individual genre charts has not changed.
Top 5 Country Albums
Garth Brooks, Man Against Machine, 63K
Jason Aldean, Old Boots, New Dirt, 31K
Darius Rucker, Home For The Holidays, 30K
Sam Hunt, Montevallo, 26K
Miranda Lambert, Platinum, 26K
Tracks: Craig Wayne Boyd, the indie star from The Voice, has the top-selling country track this week, moving 46K of his version of “I Walk The Line.”
As we zoom to the end of 2014, sales stats are down across the board:
Total albums YTD -12.3 percent (222.297 million TY/ 253.563 million LY)
Country albums YTD -11 percent (28.551 million TY/ 32.091 million LY)
Total digital tracks YTD -12.6 percent (1.009 billion TY/ 1.155 billion LY)
Country tracks YTD -17.3 percent (125.7 million TY/ 151.8 million LY)
Info according to Nielsen Soundscan.

Paul Jankowski Authors Book on Brand Building

/by

paul jankowski book 2014New Heartland Group founder and chief brand strategist Paul Jankowski has released new book Speak American Too: Your Guide to Building Powerful Brands in the New Heartland. Jankoski, whose recent work includes the Pizza Hut/Blake Shelton pairing, says the New Heartland consumer segment is comprised of the 60 percent of U.S. consumers living in the Southwest, Midwest, and parts of the Southeast. The new book is a guide to understanding this culture, and a blueprint for brands to use in designing their New Heartland campaigns.
Included is consumer insight research, consumer case studies, and the principal channels through which consumers can be reached and influenced. Nashvillian Jankowski writes about the core values which impact buying behavior, and five key points of access for brands to engage New Heartland consumers: music, food, sports, outdoors and social media. There is a free chapter download here.
Jankowski previous authored the book, How to Speak American: Building Brands in the New Heartland. His career includes time as Chief Marketing Officer for Elvis Presley Enterprises, VP/Media Marketing with SFX Entertainment (Live Nation), and Dir. of Global Entertainment Relations for Gibson Guitar Corp.