YouTube Music Nashville To Offer Workshops

/by

youtube music nashvilleYouTube Music Nashville will host a series of workshops, speakers and performances over the next year to educate members of the music industry about its services.
The events will focus on educating creators, building an audience and music publishing. Among the topics of discussion will be how YouTube integrates with other Google properties including Google Play and G+.
This is the latest move by YouTube to help video content creators. The company also recently introduced Realtime Reports to its analytics dashboard, providing hour-by-hour and minute-by-minute information including view counts, minutes watched, levels of engagements (likes, dislikes, comments, etc.) and demographic views.
YouTube and SiriusXM also partnered for “YouTube 15,” which includes airplay on the satcaster as well as a series of original videos, in-studio performances and interviews.
The workshops will kick off with an invitation-only event later this month.

Brad Paisley, Boot Barn Launch Clothing Collection

/by

paisley 1

Brad Paisley in attire from the Moonshine Spirit by Brad Paisley collection. Photo: Jeff Lipsky


A line of Brad Paisley-inspired clothing merchandise will be soon be available to fans. Boot Barn has partnered with Paisley to develop an exclusive line of boots, hats, T-shirts, jewelry, belts and woven shirts. The line, titled Moonshine Spirit by Brad Paisley, is aimed at males ages 18-40, and prices range from $20 for baseball caps to $299 for a leather jacket.
The collection will debut during the grand opening of Nashville, Tenn.’s, Boot Barn store on Oct. 24, 2014. The collection will be available online and in all Boot Barn stores Dec. 1.
“We specifically chose Brad Paisley to create this line, because his values align beautifully with those of our customers and employees,” said Jim Conroy, Boot Barn’s chief executive officer. “He is authentic, and that’s the essence of every Boot Barn customer.”

Weekly Register: Aldean Notches One of Year's Biggest Debuts

/by

aldean111Jason Aldean’s Old Boots, New Dirt thundered onto the charts today (Oct.15) with sales of 278K, the second most sales in one week for a Country album this year. The Broken Bow Records artist debuts at the top of Nielsen SoundScan’s overall top 200 album chart, country album chart, and independent album chart.
Aldean’s total surpasses other top debuts of 2014, including Brantley Gilbert’s Just As I Am, which sold 211K units during its debut week in May. Aldean lands behind Eric Church’s The Outsiders, which sold 288K upon release in February.
The year’s highest debut on the overall chart, was Coldplay’s Ghost Stories which sold 383K in May.
Aldean’s previous album, 2012′s Night Train, sold 409K units in its first week.
YTD Country album sales are down -16.7 percent, but with numerous high profile releases coming before year’s end, there is a chance for retail redemption. The hotly anticipated album from Florida Georgia Line hit shelves yesterday, and will be followed by Little Big Town next week, with many more due before the end of 2014 (full list here).
On this week’s tracks chart, the top debut is FGL’s “Sippin’ On Fire,” selling 79K and landing at No. 1 Country. Rounding out the top 5 are Carrie Underwood’s “Something in the Water” 53K, FGL’s “Dirt” 45K/1 million RTD, Blake Shelton’s “Neon Light” 35K, and Sam Hunt’s “Leave The Night On” 30K.
WeeklyReg101514

Weekly Register: Blake Shelton, Lady A Debut On Top

/by

Bringing-Back-The-SunshineIt’s debut week for Blake Shelton and Lady Antebellum, who zoomed into the No. 1 and 2 slots on the overall albums chart, respectively.
Shelton sold 101K, fueled in part by hit lead single “Neon Light,” and the season premiere of The Voice. He chose the title Bringing Back the Sunshine because he says, “Country is sunshine to me…I’m bringing back some country music.” Among the album’s guests are Ashley Monroe (“Lonely Tonight”) and Rae Lynn (“Buzzin'”), a former The Voice contestant.
Lady A’s 747 landed with sales of 74K. The hit “Bartender” was a strong sales lead-in, and the group’s promotional rounds included performances on TODAY and Jimmy Fallon, a Yahoo! live stream, and the 7FOR7 project where they gave seven surprises to seven fans in seven days. New single “Freestyle” is out now.
LadyA_747_PhotoOnly_HIres_WEB1Rounding out the top 5 Country albums are current releases by Kenny Chesney (39K), George Strait (14K) and Tim McGraw (13K).
This week’s other Country debuts include Marty Stuart and his Fabulous Superlatives, Alabama & Friends at The Ryman, Lady Antebellum (4-CD Wal-Mart pre pack), Moonshine Bandits, Ricky Skaggs, Chase Bryant (EP), and Jeff Bridges. These all sold 2K or less.
Jason Aldean’s new album was released yesterday, so we will have those sales numbers next week.
Tracking Tracks
Carrie Underwood’s new single “Something in the Water” sold 125K, swimming in at No. 1 Country. Jason Aldean and Florida Georgia Line share the rest of the Top carrie underwood something in the water5. Aldean’s “Just Gettin’ Started” debuted at No. 2 with 86K, and “Burnin’ It Down” sold 71K, topping the 1 million mark. The latest from FGL, “Bumpin’ The Night,” sold 71K, and “Dirt” rounded out the Top 5 with 49K and nearing 1 million.
Meanwhile, Megan Trainor is still bumpin’ on the overall tracks chart, selling 202K downloads this week of “All About That Bass,” for a RTD total of 2.7 million.
WeeklyReg100814

Swift Preps Corporate Sponsorships Ahead of '1989'

/by

Taylor-Swift-Subway-1989-New-album-pop-release-partnership-subwayTaylor Swift is bulking up corporate sponsorships ahead of the debut of her first pop album, 1989, on Oct. 27.
Subway will team for a #MeetTaylor campaign through October, providing 31 fans (one for each day of the month) the opportunity to see the superstar on her yet-to-be-announced 2015 concert tour. The grand prize includes airfare for two, hotel, transportation, $500, concert tickets and meet-and-greet passes.
Beginning Oct. 1, fans will be eligible with a purchase of a Swift-branded Diet Coke cup, featuring a code for entry on subway.com, or through the subway Freshbuzz app. The world’s largest restaurant chain will promote the campaign through TV, radio, social media and in-store advertising.
Subway’s Chief Marketing Officer, Tony Pace, told Billboard’s Andrew Hampp, Subway will mention 1989 and its release date in marketing materials, but will not sell physical copies of the album at Subway locations.
As announced yesterday (Sept. 25), Swift will return to Diet Coke for its “Get A Taste” campaign. Target will fulfill the previously announced deluxe album. Keds is also expected to continue aligning with the 24-year old celebrity.

RIAA Mid-Year Report Shows Streaming Growth

/by

music industry 2014 revenues mid year

Click to download full report.


The RIAA today (Sept. 25) released its mid-year 2014 shipment and revenue numbers.
For the first half of 2014, overall revenues were down 2.5%, to $2.2 billion at wholesale value on a year-over-year basis. At retail, the decrease in value was 4.9% to $3.2 billion.
Strong growth in revenues from streaming services offset declines in digital downloads. Streaming music services grew 28% in the first half of 2014 to $859 million, versus $673 million for 1H 2013. This category includes revenues from subscription services (such as Rhapsody and paid versions of Spotify, among others), streaming radio service revenues that are distributed by SoundExchange (like Pandora, SiriusXM, and other Internet radio), and other non-subscription on-demand streaming services (such as YouTube, Vevo, and ad-supported Spotify).
These streaming services contributed 27% of total industry revenues in 1H 2014, compared with 20% for 1H 2013.
Paid subscriptions grew to $371 million, up 23% y-o-y on a value basis, but grew at an even more rapid pace of 43% by number of subscriptions. This difference is partially due to an update in RIAA’s retail price markup estimate.
On-demand ad-supported streaming services grew 57% y-o-y to $165 million for the first half of 2014.
The total value of digitally distributed formats was $2.2 billion, virtually flat compared to the 1H of 2013.
Revenues from permanent digital downloads (including albums, single tracks, videos, and kiosk sales) declined 12% to $1.3 billion for the first half of 2014.
Total sales in physical formats were $898 million, down 14% versus 1H 2013.
 

Garth Brooks Confirms Album Release Date

/by

Garth Brooks. Photo: Bev Moser/Moments By Moser.

Garth Brooks. Photo: Bev Moser/Moments By Moser.


Garth Brooks confirmed today (September 19) at a tour press conference in Atlanta, GA that his highly-anticipated new album will be available on November 11. The yet-to-be-titled album will be released on Pearl/RCA Nashville and will feature his current Country radio single, “People Loving People.”
Fans can pre-order the album at garthbrooks.com and ghosttunes.com. In addition to the album, fans can order an additional mega bundle including all eight studio albums digitally updated, the new double live 25th Anniversary Edition featuring 30 songs along with 30 videos, an instant download of “People Loving People” and the bonus track, “Send ‘Em On Down The Road.”
Brooks, who in 2000, was certified by the RIAA as the No. 1-selling solo artist in U. S. history and has sold 134 million albums to date, virtually receiving every music award possible, is currently on his world tour.

Weekly Register: Lee Brice and Dustin Lynch Race To The Top

/by

leebriceidontdanceIt was debut week for Lee Brice’s third studio album and Dustin Lynch’s second project, which landed on the Country album chart at No. 1 and 2, respectively.
The title track “I Don’t Dance” propelled Brice’s Curb outing to sales of 38.5K. Fans were singing “yep yep” along with Broken Bow’s Lynch, who moved 31K of Where It’s At.
Broken Bow’s digital team is making inroads with Country consumers; Lynch’s album sales were 58 percent digital, and labelmate Jason Aldean holds the top 2 spots on the Country tracks chart with “Burnin’ It Down” (78K) and new track “Two Night Town” (53K).
Dustin-LynchAlso debuting on the Country albums chart is Alabama’s Angels Among Us, a Cracker Barrel exclusive with 7.6K, and Brothers Osborne’s debut EP, selling 1.6K. The Bros have swilled 141K downloads of single “Rum.”
To reiterate the slide in album sales, during the same week last year, Keith Urban held the No. 1 position with 98K. This week the No. 1 album sold about 60K fewer units.
Looking at the overall albums chart, Lecrae debuts this week at the top with 88K.
Releasing new albums this week are Tim McGraw and George Strait (live). Later this month brings the latest from Kenny Chesney, Lady Antebellum and Blake Shelton.
Meghan Trainor’s “It’s All About That Bass” booms atop the overall tracks chart, selling 312K and nearing the 2 million mark.
Sales from Nielsen Soundscan.
WeeklyReg091714

Weekly Register: Country Album Sales Down -19.5% YTD

/by

WeeklyReg091014With about four months left in 2014, let’s examine the Country sales slide.
The Top 75 Current Country albums sold 177K this week. The week of Sept. 29, 2013, that total was 269K. That’s a loss of 92K albums week over week.
Total sales on the Top 100 Country tracks chart this week amounted to 1.107 million. That’s about on par with the week of Sept. 29, 2013, when it totaled 1.101 million.
Year-to-date overall, all-genre album sales are down -14.7 percent, having sold 162.794 million units in 2014, compared to 190.915 million last year. YTD Country album sales are slumping significantly at -19.5 percent, having moved 20.220 million units this year and 25.130 million at the same point last year.
Overall track sales are suffering at -12.8 percent down (793.8 million TY/ 910.3 million LY). Country tracks are short -18.3 percent (100.6 million TY/ 123.171 million LY)
Marketshare: YTD Country tracks account for 12.7 percent of all tracks sold, down slightly from last year’s 13.5 percent. YTD Country album marketshare is about the same, at 12.4 percent this year, down from 13.2 percent last year.
This Week’s Charts
Meghan Trainor’s “All About That Bass” bumped its way back to No. 1 overall track, selling 312K this week and 1.687 million RTD. The vibrations sent Taylor Swift’s “Shake It Off” to No. 2 with sales of 281K TW and 1.180 million RTD.
On the Country tracks chart, Jason Aldean holds the No. 1 and 2 positions. “Burnin’ It Down” sold 79K TW and 737K RTD, while “Sweet Little Somethin’” sold 58K TW to enter at No. 2 Country and No. 15 overall.
Noteworthy debuts include Maroon 5’s V selling 164K to bow at No. 1 overall. Indie traditionalist Frank Foster garnered the top Country album debut with his digital-only release selling 9.1K.
Top 5 Country Tracks this week
1 Jason Aldean “Burnin It Down” 79K
2 Jason Aldean “Sweet Little Somethin’” 58K
3 FGL “Dirt” 52K
4 Kenny Chesney “American Kids” 47K
5 Sam Hunt “Leave The Night On” 40K
Top 5 Country Albums TW
1 Miranda Lambert Platinum 17K (up 464% digital due to an iTunes sale)
2 Brad Paisley Moonshine In The Trunk 16K
3 Luke Bryan Crash My Party 15K
4 Frank Foster Rhythm and Whiskey 9.1K
5 Chase Rice Ignite The Night 8.8K
New albums this month
Sept. 9 Lee Brice, Dustin Lynch
Sept. 16 Tim McGraw, George Strait
Sept. 23 Kenny Chesney
Sept. 30 Lady Antebellum, Blake Shelton
(According to Nielsen Soundscan)

Nashville Artists Earn RIAA Certifications

/by

A few of the digital singles which earned RIAA sales awards last month.

A few of the digital singles which earned RIAA sales awards last month.


The RIAA presented numerous sales awards to Nashville-related artists last month.
Taylor Swift’s sales tally kept growing, likely spurred by the excitement surrounding the release of her upcoming album, 1989. Earning digital sales awards (mostly Platinum or multi-Platinum) were her older tracks “Love Story,” “We Are Never Ever Getting Back Together,” “Mean,” “Mine,” “Fifteen,” “Back To December,” “Picture To Burn,” “Our Song,” “You Belong with Me,” “Safe & Sound,” “The Story Of Us,” “Crazier,” “Enchanted” and “Everything Has Changed,” featuring Ed Sheeran.
Tim McGraw’s “Highway Don’t Care,” featuring Swift and Keith Urban, scored a 2x Platinum single award.
Earning Platinum honors were Urban’s “We Were Us” featuring Miranda Lambert, The Band Perry’s “Done,” and Meghan Trainor’s “All About That Bass.”
Jason Aldean, who recently received the RIAA award for Top Male Country artist, received a Gold single for “Burnin’ It Down.” Also earning Gold were Kenny Chesney’s “American Kids” and “Everybody Wants To Go To Heaven,” Colt Ford’s “Drivin’ Around Song,” Florida Georgia Line’s “Dirt,” Dustin Lynch’s “Where It’s At,” Justin Moore’s “Lettin’ The Night Roll,” Kacey Musgraves’ “Follow Your Arrow,” Brad Paisley’s “River Bank,” TobyMac’s “Made To Love,” Chris Tomlin’s “Indescribable” and Matthew West’s “The Motions.”