Luke Bryan, Universal Music Nashville Toast Double Platinum Certification

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Pictured (L-R): Luke Bryan and Universal Music Nashville's Mike Dungan. Photo: Alan Poizner

Pictured (L-R): Luke Bryan and Universal Music Nashville’s Chairman and CEO Mike Dungan. Photo: Alan Poizner


Luke Bryan and Universal Music Nashville hosted a private party in Nashville yesterday (July 10) to toast Music City for its continued support of Bryan, and to celebrate the double platinum-selling status of his tailgates & tanlines album. Bryan also received a plaque from Universal Music Nashville’s Mike Dungan to commemorate over 4 million records sold.
“These are amazing days!” Bryan said as he greeted the crowd. “You guys are such a blessing to me. To have music in your hearts and then go take that music and turn singers into stars.”
Pictured (L-R): Kerri Edwards, Red Light Management; Jeff Stevens, Producer; Luke Bryan and UMG Nashville Chairman & CEO, Mike Dungan.

Pictured (L-R): Kerri Edwards, Red Light Management; Jeff Stevens, Producer; Luke Bryan and UMG Nashville Chairman & CEO, Mike Dungan.

Kacey Musgraves Joins Oreo Cookies 'Wonderfilled' Campaign

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Kacey Musgraves

Kacey Musgraves


Kacey Musgraves recently partnered with OREO cookies for their ‘Wonderfilled’ campaign, where she sang vocals on their newest spot, entitled “Daydream.” The advertisement launched on television on Monday, July 8.
The Texas native puts her own spin on “Daydream” (lyrics and melody by The Martin Agency’s David Muhlenfeld). Wonder if I gave an Oreo/To this cute guy that I used to know, she sings in the wistful clip. Would he have dumped his girlfriend/Typed that email and hit send/Would it not have ended like it did?/Would we now have kids?
Watch the spot below:
http://youtu.be/LeBvy4VFStQ

Chesney Teams with Daniel Meng for Online Training System My FitU

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myfitu logoTrainer Daniel Meng counts Kenny Chesney, Rascal Flatts’ Jay DeMarcus, Jake Owen and ESPN College Gameday’s Kirk Herbstreit among his clients. Now, Meng and Chesney have teamed up for My FitU, an online training system that adapts the technology Meng created for his clients when they are on tour. My FitU serves as a personal trainer, healthy eating mentor and weight loss coach by putting specific exercises and diet plans in one place.
“I’ve been training with Daniel for almost a dozen years,” Chesney says. “He changed the way I approached training, diet and getting in shape. He overhauled my every day diet, pushed me past where I thought my limits were and gave me a mental edge when it comes to working out. I wish everyone could have Daniel by their sides to create a healthy plan based on their specific challenges and goals like I do… My FitU does that.”

Daniel Meng (right) coaches Kenny Chesney through a workout.

Daniel Meng (right) coaches Kenny Chesney through a workout.


Meng creates a custom plan based on each person’s individual needs, challenges and goals. After filling out a comprehensive profile about schedules, goals and challenges, My FitU delivers a custom fitness program organized into a weekly calendar, which charts and changes with each member’s progress. Beyond monitoring and updating the clients’ progress, Meng works to increase motivation, as each achieves new levels of each aspect of his program. The program includes exercise videos, recipes, shopping lists, safety videos, educational materials and an iPhone app.
For more information, visit myfitu.com.
 

Weekly Register: SoundScan Discounts Jay Z Promotion; 'The Voice' Reigns

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Screen shot 2013-06-26 at 1.15.48 PMBillboard Editor Bill Werde took an easily defendable position this past week regarding a daring marketing promotion that involved artist Jay Z, and Samsung. The concept involved the artist’s new album Magna Carta Holy Grail, set for release the week of July 8, 2013. Essentially, Samsung customers would download a free artist-branded app and after engaging with some content, receive the new album at no cost. Samsung agreed to pay the artist $5 for each of the million albums it plans to give away. So in effect, the artist nets $5 million and immediately “sells” one million units.
But questions quickly arose over whether this promotion would/should count for SoundScan chart totals. “Our role as the chart of record is to set the rules, and hopefully even raise the level of play,” said Werde. “It is in this spirit that I say it wasn’t as simple as you might think to turn down Jay-Z when he requested that we count the million albums that Samsung ‘bought’ as part of a much larger brand partnership, to give away to Samsung customers.”
weeklygrid6-23-13The main sticking point according to Werde was that fans weren’t actually buying anything. For example, if the album were sale priced at $3.49 (minimum new release pricing threshold) or higher, then it would definitely count. But Werde notes, “In the context of the promotion, nothing is actually for sale.”
SoundScan has always been based purely on sales, but in today’s changing environment, new paid subscription services are also creating revenue streams that in some ways resemble retail sales. Will they someday find their way onto the sales charts? “Just because the Billboard 200 has been based purely on sales of an album for the entirety of the life of the chart doesn’t mean it must always remain so,” Werde says wisely, promising to consult with industry leaders over these questions. “Rest assured,” he concludes. “Billboard will find the right balance.”
And now let’s count the Weekly Register...
hunterAlbum Shopping
Hunter Hayes fans received a special treat this week in the form of a special Encore (edition) of his first album with added material. The new Encore set includes 12 tracks from Hayes’ original self-titled release plus additional music and video material. On Amazon (June 26), Encore was priced at $11.88 CD or $12.49 MP3 album. iTunes had Encore for download at $14.99. Fans applauded the release by boosting it to the No. 1 position on the Current Country Top 75 with sales of almost 40k units. Feeling the Hayes heat, Florida Georgia Line stepped back to No. 2 this week, adding about 33k units to the duo’s impressive RTD total of 760k.
Danielle Bradbery debuted a Complete Season 4 Collection of songs she performed on The Voice. It landed at No. 6 with sales of almost 18k (100 percent digital). I have been writing about this talented 16-year-old quite a bit lately, and admittedly I am quite a fan, but her recent victory on the singing show, plus weekly single sales have been nothing short of amazing. The Swon Brothers, also Voice alums, debut with a similar season collection at No. 18 with over 6k units (100 percent digital).
And finally, LoCash Cowboys enter our list with a self-titled collection that debuts at No. 25 with almost 4.5k units.
A quick look at our weekly grids shows country’s lead fading like a pair of old denims as it frays from up 2 percent to up .9 percent. This still compares nicely against the industry overall which is down 5.3 percent. One reason for country’s slide is last year’s Kenny Chesney debut which arrived at this time (Welcome To The Fishbowl) and shifted a whopping 193k.
weeklygrid6-16-13Tracking The Hits
The Digital Genre Tracks chart this week also pays solid tribute to The Voice [again]. Ms. Bradbery debuts at No. 5 with “Born To Fly” (68k units) and gets to No. 10 (50k) with “Maybe It Was Memphis” now in its 7th week on the chart. The Swon Brothers grab No. 7 with “Danny’s Song” (63k) and No. 12 with “I Can’t Tell You Why” (44k). In all the duo has four tracks that charted in the Top 100 and Bradbery owns nine positions. These are incredible stats for such new acts.
Hunter Hayes supports his new album release with the No. 3 track (110k) this week, “I Want Crazy,” and six additional tracks. Remaining at No. 1 are Florida Georgia Line, adding a stellar 244k new downloads to an RTD now over 4.5 million. Also notable is Blake in the No. 2 spot with “Boys Round Here,” selling almost 115k downloads.
Comparing this week to last week, country track sales rose 6 percent, giving the country genre a 13.5 percent market share of overall all-genre track sales YTD.
Next week is the end of the second quarter, stay tuned…

Samsung Users Get Jay-Z Album First, But 'Billboard' Won't Count Sales

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jay-z-magna-carta-holy-grailJay-Z’s much-hyped deal with Samsung won’t boost his album sales tally. The rapper/music mogul sold one million copies of his upcoming album Magna Carta Holy Grail to promotional partner Samsung for $5 each. In turn, the electronics company is giving away those copies to customers for free, prior to the official release date. But those units will not be counted on the Billboard 200 album chart.
Billboard editorial director Bill Werde wrote a letter outlining the publication’s album chart policy, and explaining why Jay’s sales won’t be included. In order for an album sale to count, a consumer must purchase the album for at least $3.49.
In order to retrieve the album, Samsung Galaxy phone users can download a free app starting today (June 24), and the album will be made available to them on July 4—72 hours earlier than the general public.
Werde’s letter noted that first-week sales of the album are expected to fall in line with Jay-Z’s previous debuts of 400,000 to 450,000 units. The editor also shared plans to examine Billboard’s album chart policies in the coming weeks.

Industry Ink (6-21-13)

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Greg Bates was invited to become an honorary “Friends and Family” member of the Country Music Hall of Fame® and Museum.

Photo (back - from L to R): Marc Dennis (CAA), Jeff Krones (CAA), Nikki Burns (Big Machine Label Group), Martha Earls (Sandbox Entertainment), Rachel Weingartner (Membership Manager, Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum), Pamela Johnson (Vice President of Development, Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum), Jay Orr (Vice President of Museum Programs, Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum) and Greg BatesPhoto Courtesy of the Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum

Pictured (Back Row, L- R): Marc Dennis (CAA), Jeff Krones (CAA), Nikki Burns (Big Machine Label Group), Martha Earls (Sandbox Entertainment), Rachel Weingartner (Membership Manager, Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum), Pamela Johnson (Vice President of Development, Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum), Jay Orr (Vice President of Museum Programs, Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum) and Greg Bates. Photo Courtesy of the Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum

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During the recent CRS Board and Agenda Committee meetings, members got a bit of musical entertainment from Hit Shop artist Weston Burt and Warner Nashville’s Charlie Worsham.

Pictured (L-R): Mike Culotta (CRB/CRS President), Becky Brenner (Albright, O'Malley & Brenner), Weston Burt, Skip Bishop (HitShop Records), Bill Mayne (CRB/CRS Executive Director). Photo Credit: Kristen England

Pictured (L-R): Mike Culotta (CRB/CRS President), Becky Brenner (Albright, O’Malley & Brenner), Weston Burt, Skip Bishop (HitShop Records), Bill Mayne (CRB/CRS Executive Director). Photo Credit: Kristen England.


Pictured (L-R): Bill Mayne (CRS/CRB Executive Director), Charlie Morgan (WLHK), Tim Roberts (WYCD), Shelly Easton (WXTU), Kurt Johnson (Townsquare Media), Charlie Worsham, Chris Stacey (Warner Nashville), John Esposito (Warner Nashville), John Shomby (Max Media of Hampton Roads). Photo Credit: Kristen England

Pictured (L-R): Bill Mayne (CRS/CRB Executive Director), Charlie Morgan (WLHK), Tim Roberts (WYCD), Shelly Easton (WXTU), Kurt Johnson (Townsquare Media), Charlie Worsham, Chris Stacey (Warner Nashville), John Esposito (Warner Nashville), John Shomby (Max Media of Hampton Roads). Photo Credit: Kristen England

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jo_dee_messina_14746

Jo Dee Messina


Jo Dee Messina‘s fans have reached and exceeded her Kickstarter goal, raising $100,000 in 30 days to help fund the recording of Messina’s next album. “The people are the ones that make music possible,” says Messina. “They are the ones that come to the shows, request the songs, and get the records. When I first started the campaign, many folks didn’t get it. The ones that took the time to learn about it got that this project is something we are all doing together. Once again the fans have shown their love and loyalty. I am truly grateful.”

Messina’s Kickstarter campaign officially ends Sunday (June 23) at 9 p.m. ET. According to Kickstarter.com, 831 backers have raised over $111,000, as of this writing.

 

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little river band 2013 photo

Little River Band


Kirt Webster‘s Webster PR has signed Little River Band for publicity representation. Originally formed in Melbourne, Australia in 1975, Little River Band has sold more than 30 million albums worldwide. In 2004, Little River Band was inducted into the Australian Recording Industry (ARIA) Hall of Fame.
Wayne Nelson, lead singer and 30+ year member of the band resides in Nashville.
 

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entertainment evolution logo 2013Job Opening: Entertainment Evolution, an entertainment marketing, management and consultant company, seeks a well-seasoned entertainment dynamo for a non-entry level opening. The ideal candidate will have a firm knowledge of the principals of marketing, day-to-day artist management and publicity. Proficiency in Microsoft Office is required. Compensation is salary, benefits and bonuses based upon experience. For consideration, email cover letter and resume to: [email protected].

Weekly Register: An Unstoppable Freight Train

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voicefinalist

The Voice finalists—Swon Brothers, Danielle Bradbery and Michelle Chamuel.


In a world of confusion and distrust, where events challenge beliefs daily and trust in institutions is often trampled by truth, it’s nice to be able to hear someone say the simple phrase, “Yeah, I told you so!”
So consider it said Weekly Register readers, because as predicted in this column and duly noted as early as May 8, Danielle Bradbery has won The Voice TV competition.
Here’s how www.zap2it.com’s Billy Nilles put it, “She was the unstoppable freight train of pluck and talent, wowing the coaches and fans from Day 1—and on June 18, 16-year-old Danielle Bradbery was named, at long last, the winner of Season 4 of The Voice, besting fellow finalists Michelle Chamuel and The Swon Brothers.”
Coach Blake Shelton’s star also continues to rise, in no small measure due to his weekly in-your-living-room-Voice exposure. MTV News asked him about all the country music on the show this year and he replied, “It’s been a perfect storm this year, a great country season.”
weeklygrid6-16-13Unlike most new label signees that arrive full of promise, but lite on tangible goods, Ms. Bradbery enters with a signing dowery that includes over 60k downloads of her performance “Who I Am” this week and a RTD total of weekly tracks that could easily top 500k. She is the latest artist to ink with the Big Machine.
OK, ‘nough said. Not that she needs any advice, but mine would be, “get a damn single out right away and figure out the rest of the plan later.”
And now on to the sales results…
Comparing The Grids
A quick look at the two grid charts tells you most everything you need to know. Country is doing better than the overall industry, but its Y/Y increase is shrinking— from 2.6% ahead last week to only 2% ahead this week. Digital albums are way ahead of last year, but that metric shows the album format split between digital and physical. The first number (2%) is total country album sales Y/Y. Tracks, however, seem to be a ray of sunshine for country fans who have taken a liking to the download derby, finally. All genre tracks are off Y/Y -2.6% compared with country that has surged ahead almost 10%. (Note the increase W/W of almost 4 million country tracks sold.)
weeklygrid6-9-13Albums
This week’s biggest country debut album news is the Now Country 6 compilation which grabbed No. 4 with over 23k units. Completing the Top 5 album list this week is: FGL (No. 1; 33k), Darius Rucker (No. 2; 33k), Blake Shelton (No. 3; 31k) and George Strait (No. 5; 19k).
Tracks
TV power is our theme today and it is reflected nicely on the Digital Genre Country tracks list. Voicers The Swon Brothers have three tracks on the list including a No. 4 (“Danny’s Song”; 73k) and No. 10 (“Turn The Page”; 47k). The aforementioned Ms. Bradbery has five songs on the list including No. 8 (“Who I Am”; 60k) and No. 11 (“Please Remember Me”; 47k). Filling out the Top 10 are: FGL/”Cruise” (No. 1; 205k); Blake Shelton “Boys Round Here” (No. 2; 136k); Darius Rucker “Wagon Wheel” (No. 3; 97k) and Tim McGraw/Taylor Swift “Highway Don’t Care” (No. 5; 66k). Luke Bryan “Crash My Party” (No. 6; 66k), Hayes Hunter “I Want Crazy” (No.7; 61k) and Randy Houser “Runnin’ Outta Moonlight” (No.9; 52k) finish the Top 10.
One More Thought
Country music is having an incredible year across all kinds of mainstream media and yet this week’s Current Country 75 shifted only a disappointing 386k units total, up less than 20k from the previous week.
Clearly album sales are not effectively monetizing country’s surge in popularity. Tracks are a good business for a handful with enormous success, but all genre tracks have reached maturity which means country will soon follow.
If the bloom is off album and track sales that leaves streaming. Shouldn’t we pay more attention to this emerging business model and new ways to  structure its revenue streams?
Tune in next week….

Concrete/TEC Direct Media Launches "BuyNow"

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tecdirect111Concrete/TEC Direct Media, a media planning and buying agency for music and entertainment marketing, has partnered with TriVu Media, a provider of broadcast-style advertising data for online video, to create a new service called “BuyNOW” to connect online video advertising with entertainment sales.
The solution leverages TEC Direct’s M3D® media buying platform with TriVu Media’s ability to search the Web for targeted video advertising inventory. The approach matches video advertising opportunities for auction/sale on various exchanges and demand-side platforms, with highly detailed information about the actual video.
“BuyNOW” identifies the right content most likely to generate the intended outcome, like a sale on a partner web site (Amazon or iTunes), a studio-owned web store or artist site.
Working with the Concrete/TEC Direct media team, entertainment marketers can implement their own buy-side strategies by aligning with content most likely to drive purchases. Areas of specialization include: Adult Contemporary, Hard and Modern Rock, Pop, Country and Urban music as well as theatrical and Blu-ray disc releases.
“Buy-like-TV is the oft-stated digital marketing goal of many entertainment marketers,” said Charles Fetterly, President of TEC Direct Media. “Much like cable TV revolutionized music marketing in a previous generation, online video is doing the same today. The segment-exclusive partnership with TriVu Media creates a scalable and predictable marketing platform nobody else can match.”
“Concrete/TEC-Direct is constantly vetting out different online platforms and presenting our clients only those we feel meet entertainment industry requirements,” said Concrete Marketing CEO Bob Chiappardi. “We’ve successfully tested “BuyNOW” and we believe it’s head and shoulders above other platforms. Best of all it comes with a cost of entry that is affordable to all our clients.”
For more information, visit tec-direct.com.
 

Weekly Register: Tickets n' Touring Bar Goes Up; Rimes and Pope Debut

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leannTouring has always been an active part of the country album sales formula as well as a hefty revenue stream in its own right. So it should be no surprise to see the competition to attract live audiences (and the ticket profits they yield) ratcheting up. Artists have an array of social media tools and media channels such as reality TV shows like The Voice, American Idol, Dancing With The Stars and Celebrity Apprentice to help put butts in seats. But like every other part of the entertainment biz, the pressure to “deliver the goods” is also rising.
CMA Music Festival 2013 presented a revealing window through which to view and grade onstage wow! as country’s major acts graced the LP Field Stage in short 30-minute time slots. Being chosen to perform in that venue is a testimonial in itself, and as expected, all of the acts presented well. But some came ready to show they intend to dominate—while others seemed to feel that pretty darn good was good enough.
This writer did not see every act over the four days, so please don’t consider the following examples to be a comprehensive list. Two acts that turned the stage into a high energy audio-visual battleground were Florida Georgia Line and The Band Perry, both on the same label.
weeklygrid6-9-13Kimberly Perry exploded onto the stage jumping up and down making calculated sharp turns and spins almost reminiscent of Beyonce in scale and scope. Oh yeah, and let’s not forget that she can sing, sing sing. The crowd responded like a stick of dynamite with a lit fuse jumping to its feet all at once. Florida Georgia Line was different, but similar, if you will. They have a different vibe, but from the second they appeared the energy level was on high alert. (Isn’t it great to see how a few platinum plaques can up an act’s swagger?) Also deserving mention was Keith Urban who substitutes intergalactic guitar licks for choreography to achieve the same out-of-your-seats effect.
weeklygrid6-2-13When the touring smoke clears at the end of the summer, the acts that did their homework should own the pole positions for next year while the others may find themselves riding out in smaller buses.
And now to this week’s results…
Weekly Register
LeAnn Rimes was this week’s sole Top 10 country debut coming in with Spitfire at No. 9 and almost 11k units (54% digital). Last week’s CMT Awards didn’t seem to pump Country album sales much. Overall they climbed 1% W/W while the Current Country tally was slightly down. The fast facts are contained on the grids which show country’s Y/Y lead edging down while all genre sales also lag.
Blake Shelton enjoys a second consecutive week at No. 1 with over 36k units on his Gold-headed-for-Platinum Based On A True Story. Darius Rucker spins his “Wagon Wheel” single which keeps his album True Believers No. 2 again although sales fell about 18% w/w to 33k. The next three titles are Florida Georgia Line (No. 3; 28k), George Strait (No. 4; 21k) and Lady Antebellum (No. 5; 20k).
At the end of Q2 we’ll study the TEA effect more closely, but through this week, Taylor Swift’s Red leads the country pack in YTD Albums w/TEA showing over 1 million combined units. Blake Shelton’s True Story (almost 900k) and FGL’s Good Times (almost 800k) follow.

Pope12

Cassadee Pope


Keeping Track
This week’s track listings reinforce the industry adage, “don’t diss TV cred.” Echoing the wisdom of that advice is The Voice’s Cassadee Pope with her new single “Wasting All These Tears.” Pope impressed the trade press with her recent meet/greet/perform visits. During last year’s show she sold enough tracks to make most any new artist green with envy and this week she storms onto the chart at No. 2 with a robust 125k units. But for now, nothing can touch FGL who remain in No. 1 with 225k units. The duo’s track “Cruise” has now passed an RTD of over 4 million.
This year’s new The Voice star-in-the-making, Danielle Bradbery, continues her reign of chart terror with the Sara Evans hit “A Little Bit Stronger” which debuts at No. 13 with almost 36k units. Not Bradbery’s best showing, but clear evidence she has developed a solid fan base.
Stay tuned…

Artist Signings: Julie Roberts, Ashton Shepherd

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julie roberts111Julie Roberts has signed with Sun Records, the famous Memphis-based label that is known for the music of Elvis Presley, Johnny Cash, Jerry Lee Lewis and others. The label, which has been involved in music licensing for the past four decades, will release Roberts’ album Good Wine and Bad Decisions on Oct. 29. The release will be distributed by Red River/Sony RED. Roberts was formerly signed with Mercury Records, where she released two albums, Julie Roberts (2004) and Men & Mascara (2006).

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ashtonAshton Shepherd has signed with public relations and marketing firm PLA Media. Shepherd, formerly with MCA Nashville, released her debut album Sounds So Good in 2008, which produced the songs “Takin’ Off This Pain” and “Sounds So Good.” In 2011, she released her second album, Where Country Grows, which featured “Look It Up.” Shepherd is expected to release a new independent project in July 2013.