Luke Bryan Scores Platinum Album

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Luke Bryan’s latest album Tailgates & Tanlines has received platinum status from the RIAA for shipments totaling one million units. This is Bryan’s third studio album on Capitol Records Nashville and has produced back-to-back platinum singles “Country Girl (Shake It For Me)” and “I Don’t Want This Night To End.” Current single “Drunk On You” is in the Top 10 on MusicRow’s Country Breakout chart. The album debuted at No. 1 last August with sales of 145,000 units.

Last month Bryan’s EP Spring Break 4…Suntan City debuted in the No. 2 spot on the Billboard Country Albums chart with sales near 30,000 units. His coinciding fourth annual spring break shows at Spinnaker’s in Panama City Beach attracted a crowd of 80,000 fans.

In addition to headlining his own dates, Bryan is on the road with Jason Aldean’s My Kinda Party Tour. 

Digital Agency Opens Music Row Regional Office

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Sparkart South VP, Elyse McKenna

Oakland-based web developer and leading digital agency Sparkart has unveiled its new regional office on Nashville’s Music Row, where it will serve upscale businesses, artists, and leisure clientele.

Sparkart CEO Naveen Jain has appointed Elyse McKenna to Vice President of Sparkart South, overseeing customized website designs, campaign development, online maintenance and social media consulting services. The Nashville office is the first step to better serving existing clients including Jason Aldean, Big Machine Label Group, Rascal Flatts and Keith Urban.

McKenna brings booking, marketing, and public relations experience, from her experience at Third Coast Artist Agency, LAB Media, Greg Oliver Agency, and Brite Entertainment. Most recently she founded a branding and artist management company that consulted and managing a variety of clients including Young Buck, Compassion International, and TD1.

“I believe in Sparkart’s business philosophy and have always enjoyed helping artists, brands, and companies compete and grow,” said McKenna. “The company offers solutions that are more important than ever as brands compete to market themselves, their products, and their services.”

The company’s new Nashville offices are located at 1109 16th Ave. S. Reach McKenna at 615-712-9297 or here.

Jain founded Sparkart in 1999 and has worked with clients including Bon Jovi, Evanescence, Janet Jackson, Slipknot, The Killers and UFC. In 2006 Sparkart launched Clique Tools, a direct-to-consumers platform enabling faster web development, easier content management, and e-commerce.

[Updated] New Mechanical Rates For Digital Music

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The RIAA, NMPA and DiMA are filing an industry-wide agreement setting mechanical royalty rates for five new digital music categories.

The 25-page proposed agreement will be submitted to the CRB for formal approval. The agreement covers 2013-2017 and establishes a royalty rate category for these new business models and rolls forward, with limited changes, all existing rates and terms for CDs and downloads.

The settlement provides for the development of new services of digital music and business models offering music to consumers by creating new rates and terms under Section 115 of the Copyright Act for these five categories:

· Mixed service bundles—for example, a locker service, limited interactive service, downloads or ringtones combined with a non-music product such as a mobile phone, consumer electronics device or Internet service; mechanical rate will be 11.35% of revenue or 21% of total content cost, whichever is greater
· Paid locker services—subscription-based locker providing on-demand streaming and downloads; 12% of revenue or 20.65% of total content cost or 17 cents per subscriber, whichever is greater
· Purchased content lockers—a free locker functionally provided to a purchaser of a permanent digital download, ringtone or CD where the music provider and locker have an agreement; 12% of revenue or 22% of the total cost of content, whichever is greater
· Limited offerings—subscription-based service offering limited genres of music or specialized playlists; 10.5% of revenue or 21% of total cost or 18 cents per subscriber, whichever is greater
· Music bundles—bundling music products such as CDs, ringtones and permanent digital downloads; 11.35% of revenue or 21% of total content cost, whichever is greater

Weekly Register: TEA Index Holds Firm

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The 2011 TEA Index was 25% country and 27.7% all-genre.

The TEA Index Tango
A quick glimpse at our monthly index shows that TEA sales are settling in at about one-third of all album sales. Since the MusicRow TEA Index is new, a quick review might be in order. The Index sums physical, digital and TEA (track equivalent albums; 10 tracks=1 album) then calculates the percentage of total album sales that come from TEA. The idea is to measure the TEA effect against total album sales. (Our numbers are gathered by industry sources from Nielsen SoundScan.)

The 2011 TEA benchmarks were about 5% lower than they are for 2012 YTD. The gradual drifting downward from the beginning of the year is likely due to the use of post-holiday gift cards to purchase tracks which spiked the January results. March numbers were also rebalanced downward by 99¢ digital album offerings on front line product from Amazon and Google. (Boosting digital album sales tends to lower the TEA index.)

As shown on the grid below, track sales are up for country (23%) and all genre (8%) but so are digital albums (country 39.6%; all genre 17.3%).

The ACM Award Show
Albums
Labels look forward to receiving healthy sales bumps generated by network TV Award shows like the CMAs, Grammy’s and last week’s Academy of Country Music Awards. Unfortunately, marketers may have to retool their expectations. Let’s examine the post ACM numbers.

Top 75 Current Country sales jumped 22.5% from 473k to 582k an increase of 109k units. However, Rascal Flatts’ debut Changed generated about 130k this week. If we discount the Rascal Flatts debut then sales actually went backwards. To be generous, the show surely boosted the Flatts’ sales, some. Inside the chart there were percentage ups and downs with artists like Miranda (No.8; 19k) getting a 107% boost, The Band Perry (No. 9; 16k) 92% and Taylor Swift (No. 11; 13k) 80%. But those three sales jumps added together total only about 24k units, not much ROI when you consider the logistical costs involved in placing three artists and bands on the show.

While discussing the album chart let’s note that Lionel Richie’s week 2 drop of 104k (52%) was softened by the show’s impact—normal week two falls are around 60%. Other big winners were Luke Bryan (No. 3; 36k +47%) and Lady Antebellum (No. 4; 22k +64%). Average Joes Entertainment debuted a new Lacs disc which climbed to No. 16 with almost 7k in sales.

The Tracks
Did the ACMs translate to love on the other side of the tracks?

I’d say some smooching for sure. Four tracks were downloaded over 90k times. The Top 100 digital country songs increased W/W by 18.8%; and country tracks overall grew by 12%.

Eric Church’s “Springsteen” (performed on the show) took the top spot, jumping 39% to almost 102k downloads. Luke Bryan “Drunk On You” (No. 2; 96k), Kenny Chesney/Tim McGraw “Feel Like A Rock Star” (No. 3; 93k) and Taylor Swift “Eyes Open” (No. 4; 93k) filled out the over 90k country crowd.

(Upcoming albums click here.)

Online Services Company Idea Den Adds Three Staffers

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Dale Manning

Dale Manning, founder and President of digital marketing company Idea Den announced three recent hirings today (4/10). Joining the team are Brian Foyster, Brendan O’Malley and Jon Wright, who will work with clients including Chris Cagle, Craig Campbell, Casting Crowns, Third Day and Alice Cooper. The new staffers will also focus on Idea Den’s marquee product FanTorrent, which is a fan engagement and content management system designed to unify commerce, content, communication and analytics.

Brian Foyster is on board as director of online marketing and publicity. His career path includes marketing, production and promotion roles at Hopeless Records, Epitaph Records, Warner Bros., Sony BMG and Bigger Picture Group.

Brian Foyster

Brendan O’Malley is serving as director of business development and client services. Prior to joining Idea Den, O’Malley was senior project manager for Avon Voices, an online global singing and songwriting competition.

Jon Wright is the project director of online services. Wright’s credentials include an eight-year stint as creative director and managing partner with MusicCityNetworks. Wright joined the Idea Den team in 2011 and has contributed to the company’s expansion and the development of new software.

Manning’s experience includes time at Hewlett-Packard and integrated marketing company powerhouse, CMD Agency. In addition, he has created and sold four technology ventures to progressive brand-building companies. He has received numerous Addy and Rosey awards.

Jon Wright

Brendan O'Malley

Facebook Purchases Instagram

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Facebook announced today it will be acquiring popular mobile photo-sharing app Instagram. The agreement is valued at approximately $1 billion in cash and Facebook shares, and is expected to close later this quarter.

According to a post on Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg’s timeline, the Instagram team will be joining Facebook, but the Instagram brand will continue to be built and grown independently. Zuckerberg also noted that keeping Instagram connected to other networks than Facebook is important, and his company would be “building on Instagram’s strengths and features rather than just trying to integrate everything into Facebook.”

Instagram initially launched for Apple’s App Store in October 2010, and the Android version debuted last week on April 3, 2012.

Bridgestone Arena and Preds Equal Major Economic Impact

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The Nashville Predators and Bridgestone Arena generate an annual economic impact of approximately $410 million on Nashville, according to a report released by the groups in March. Additionally, the hockey team and venue support more than 2,350 jobs annually.

Nearly two-thirds of attendees at all Bridgestone Arena events (65.1 percent) come from outside of Davidson County, including 84.4 percent of concert-goers and 57.6 percent of Predators game attendees. In addition, many attendees come from out of state—39.3% of concert-goers, 10.8 percent of Predators attendees and 17.4 percent of overall attendees.

According to Pollstar rankings, the Bridgestone Arena is sixth in the United States for concert attendance, 20th in the world, and eighth in North America.

In 2010-11, Bridgestone Arena hosted 1.4 million guests, a 30 percent increase over 2009-10. In its history, the venue has hosted more than 18 million guests.

In 2010-11, almost 100 million viewers across America watched events broadcast from Bridgestone Arena, including the CMA Awards, CMA Country Christmas, college basketball, CMT Awards and NHL games.

David Ross Reveals “Secrets of the List” in New Book

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Secrets of the List, the first book from MusicRow founder David M. Ross, was released last week. The longtime techie delved into the world of e-mail and online marketing for the book, which is designed to help others master their customer email lists to grow their businesses and brands. Secrets of the List explains cutting-edge online marketing strategies, and how to profit by harnessing their power. Step by step he shows how companies big and small can communicate directly with customers and market themselves effectively and economically.

“This is not just about being on Facebook or sending out an occasional Tweet,” explains Ross. “It’s dedicated to helping entrepreneurs take advantage of digital marketing opportunities using email and social media.

 At the same time, you create a consumer army of dedicated brand supporters, invaluable for feedback as your company grows and considers new offerings. Networks like Facebook, Twitter and YouTube have become the online meeting places where friends gather, exchange news and talk about what’s on their minds. Looked at differently, these networks have become the most efficient word of mouth machine in the history of the world.”

David M. Ross

During Ross’s 30-year tenure running MusicRow, he built the company from the ground up and profitably transformed it from a print magazine to a digital medium by pioneering many of the email/social media marketing techniques revealed in Secrets of the List.

He is an award-winning journalist who received the Country Music Association’s President’s Award for Outstanding Service in 1998 and the Canadian Country Music Association’s Leonard T. Rambeau Award for International Achievement in 2003. One of Country music’s most frequently read industry analysts, Ross continues to cover the intersection between Nashville entertainment business and technology, speaking often at seminars, conferences and panels.

Secrets of the List is available on Amazon.

Click here to email David Ross or visit secretsofthelist.com.

HFA Supports Google Play

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The Harry Fox Agency announced it has entered into licensing and administration services agreement with Google to support promotional features for Google Play.

Google Play was introduced in March 2012 as an online store for music, movies, Android apps and games, effectively re-branding  the previous Android Marketplace.

HFA’s brings a pool of more than 46,000 affiliated publishers, flexible technology, and comprehensive rights database to the agreement.

“HFA is pleased to collaborate with Google to help encourage more consumer music purchases through innovative programs,” said Lauren Apolito, Vice President of Strategy & Business Development, HFA. “We strive to support the growing digital eco-system as it evolves to meet consumer content demands with our rights management services so that companies can focus on their music initiatives.”

Weekly Register: Lionel Richie Pushes Stats Positive

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Early ACM: Don’t believe, even for a minute, that award shows are just about giving out awards. They are about getting your artist a performance slot, attracting viewers  and reminding them to go buy music. Last week’s ACM presentation which attracted 12.2 million viewers is an excellent case study.

The smooth production cut presentations to a mere 8 awards spread over three hours and stuffed the remaining time with a grab bag full of music. We’ll have to wait until next week’s SoundScan numbers to gauge the complete results, but a few clues are showing up in this week’s data and it looks promising. Readers of the Weekly Register know that SoundScan’s week closes on Sunday, so the Sunday evening ACM Awards could have little effect on the physical numbers, but digital downloads—albums and tracks—is another story. Country fans are joining the ranks of the “instant gratification” crowd. So let’s see if we can find any clues about how next week’s sales might fare.

Scotty McCreery’s album got a 172% increase this week. However, he also got a 619% digital album increase which accounts for a large share of his increased album sales overall and likely happened Sunday evening. Scotty’s “Water Tower Town” which he previewed on the show didn’t explode, but debuted with almost 15k downloads. Bring beach wear for next week, when we’ll surf the ACM sales wave.

The Weekly Register
Our story today is about finding new markets, fresh sounds and a job well done by Lionel Richie and the Mercury Records crew who also helped push country’s YTD sales up 3.2%. Tuskegee, a collection of duets with high profile country stars flew to the top of the albums chart this week to debut with an impressive 199k units; 33% of which were digital downloads. Richie’s debut week sales were also enough to also reserve the No. 2 spot on the Top 20 all-genre Albums chart, behind Madonna who scanned a robust 359,000 units with 35% of them digital.

Luke Bryan took the No. 2 position on the Country albums list with over 24k units. That white t-shirt, great voice and slick stage moves have propelled his Tailgates & Tanlines effort onto a collision course with a Platinum Award (891k units total). At No. 3, McCreery shifted over 16k units for a total now of over 996k, also nearing the one million mark. Another Top Ten inhabitant is Brantley Gilbert’s Halfway To Heaven album (No. 9; 9k) which has moved over 500k units. The Band Perry appears at No. 10 this week with a little over 8k units, but an impressive total of 1,230,000 units. Additional million-selling artists in the country top ten are Jason Aldean (My Kinda Party 2,480,000) and Lady Antebellum (Own The Night 1,532,000).

Country tracks traveled wide and far this week. Taylor Swift, who often owns this chart clocked in at No. 1 with “Eyes Open” and over 111k downloads. Her “Safe & Sound” landed at No. 3 with over 78k units. Swift also has four additional tracks on the country Top 100. Luke Bryan, Eric Church, Carrie Underwood and Lee Brice also made nice showings with “Drunk On You” (82k), “Springsteen” (73k), “Good Girl” (66k) and “A Woman Like You” (54k) respectively.

Last year at this bend in the road country album sales were down 13% YTD, so as we speed by the first quarter, it feels good to be up over 3%.