Sony Music Nashville Names New VP Sales

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Caryl Healey has been named Vice President, Sales, at Sony Music Nashville, it was announced by Sony Music Nashville Chairman/CEO Gary Overton and Sony Music Entertainment Executive VP Sales & Distribution Darren Stupak.

Healey will be based in Nashville, and responsible for overseeing all aspects of sales for the Sony Music Nashville labels and working closely with Overton. She will report directly to Stupak as a member of the SME sales management team.

She will lead Sony Music Nashville’s efforts in sales, catalog exploitation, and non-traditional/new business initiatives, as well as manage relationships with retail.

“Caryl has been a vital part of the Nashville sales team for a dozen years, and her experience and relationships throughout the industry, together with her insight, leadership, and front-to-back knowledge of our artists and music make her the perfect choice for her new role,” said Overton.

“We couldn’t be happier to be promoting Caryl to lead our Nashville sales efforts,” added Stupak. “She is a talented executive who has long been an integral part of our success on Music Row. Her rich understanding of the marketplace and our organization will allow us to continue to deliver the best possible performance from our retail partnerships for our Nashville labels.”

Most recently Assoc. Director of Sales for Sony Music Nashville, Healey joined the Sales department in 1999. Prior to that, she worked with PolyGram Distribution and Island Records.

Highest Paid Country Stars

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*Urban wasn't ranked in 2011, and Sugarland wasn't ranked in 2010.

 

Forbes’ latest list of “Country Music’s Highest Paid Stars” was released this week, covering gross income earned between May 2010 to May 2011. Major revenue streams for most of the acts on the list includes sponsorships/endorsement deals, touring, publishing income and album sales.

For comparison, MusicRow looked back to the 2010 rankings. Most of the same stars are on both lists, though the graph above shows fluctuations in gross earnings. Ranking for the first time in 2011 is Sugarland.

Forbes reports, “We talked to agents, managers, publishers, lawyers and others in the know to come up with our estimates, which are gross earnings. We do not deduct for taxes or things like agent and manager fees.” See full story here.

2011 Highest Earners
1. Toby Keith $50 million
2. Taylor Swift $45 million
3. Brad Paisley $40 million
4. Tim McGraw $35 million
5. Rascal Flatts $34 million
6. Kenny Chesney $30 million
7. George Strait $24 million
8. Alan Jackson $22 million
9. Carrie Underwood $20 million
10. Sugarland $18 million

2010 Highest Earners
1. Kenny Chesney $50 million
2. Toby Keith $48 million
3. Taylor Swift $45 million
3. Rascal Flatts $45 million
5. Tim McGraw $30 million
6. Keith Urban $28 million
7. George Strait $25 million
8. Brad Paisley $22 million
9. Alan Jackson $15 million
10. Carrie Underwood $13 million

Country Singing A Pretty Sales Tune

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Lady Antebellum performed at Irving Plaza in New York City on Tuesday night as part of their "Own The Night: Unplugged" concert series which also featured plays in Chicago and Los Angeles. (L-R) Charles Kelly, Capitol Nashville Chief Mike Dungan, Hillary Scott and Dave Haywood

 

Lady Antebellum comes roaring out of the physical and digital bins this week to dominate the Nielsen SoundScan sales sphere. The trio’s newest, Own The Night, racked up over 347,000 units (25% digital) giving it the No. 1 position on both the country albums and Top 200 albums charts. The new collection’s performance weighs in a bit light compared with its previous 1/26/10 outing which scanned 481k units, however, at that time the group was enjoying a “perfect storm” single—”Need You Now”—which was exploding across multiple formats on the radio dial. Regardless, with a tour primed to start Nov. 11, and the 4th quarter selling season in front of us, look to see this Capitol Nashville release grow legs and walk out of the stores…

Next as we travel down the dirt road of country sales, we must applaud Big Machine’s “butt kicking” job in taking Brantley Gilbert Halfway To Heaven and reaping almost 51k in the process. Gilbert, who co-wrote Aldean’s “Dirt Road Anthem,” sold 32.5% of his album in digital format. Other new offerings included Kristin Chenoweth at No. 14 with sales of 9k and Reckless Kelly at No.20 with 6k (51% digital) units.

Topping the county digital tracks pile this week was Blake Shelton who reportedly has just renewed his agreement with Warner Music Nashville. Shelton’s “God Gave Me You” was the most downloaded country track with fans clicking almost 55k copies onto their hard drives and MP3 players. The Band Perry’s “If I Die Young” refuses to die, holding down the No. 2 spot with over 53k downloads. Lady Antebellum’s “Just A Kiss” is No. 3 with about 44k clicks. For those who would like to be able to easily integrate their iTunes music with the Android world check out www.doubletwist.com. It’s free and easy.

Looking at country music from across the universe, we see YTD the format’s album sales are up a robust 9.8% while all genre sales have pushed ahead a more modest 3.4%. Look for country’s lead to erode as we move into the all-important fourth quarter since we don’t seem to have enough superstar product to match up against all last year’s offerings. However, we do expect releases from LeAnn Rimes (9/27), Scotty McCreery (10/4), Lauren Alina (10/11), Toby Keith (10/25), Miranda Lambert (11/1) and a Taylor Swift live package (11/21).

Give The Gift of Music Campaign Relaunches

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NARM, the RIAA and CMA have teamed to revitalize the “Give The Gift Of Music” campaign. The effort is timed to coincide with the Nov. 9 CMA Awards, which leads into the upcoming holiday shopping season.

Taylor Swift and Chris Young are among the artists who offered new videos about their most memorable music gifts. The videos launched exclusively in a special “Countdown to CMA” section of the givethegiftofmusic.info website, which also includes previous video contributions from Little Big Town, Rascal Flatts, Martina McBride, Blake Shelton, Kelly Clarkson and Darius Rucker.

The “Give the Gift of Music Campaign” is also holding a contest asking fans to share how a particular 2011 CMA Awards nominee’s music (song, lyrics, performance, etc.) has inspired them. The grand prize winner receives two tickets to attend the CMA Awards and $1,000.

 

Chris Young – Gifting Memory from NARM on Vimeo.

Aldean Goes Double Platinum, Sets Nashville Date

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Only 10 months after release, Jason Aldean’s My Kinda Party has been certified double platinum by the RIAA for shipments of over two million units. The disc is 2011’s best selling country album and has already spawned three consecutive No. 1 hits, each of which has also been certified platinum for digital downloads. Most recent single “Dirt Road Anthem” went on to score double platinum.

Aldean’s team just announced that his My Kinda Party tour will hit Nashville’s Bridgestone Arena on Feb. 24 with opener Luke Bryan. Tickets through ticketmaster.com.

Aldean is up for five awards at the Nov. 9 CMA Awards.

Weblinks: Early Lady A Numbers

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• Soundscan prognosticators say that the new Lady Antebellum album will chart with debut week sales of about 260K-300K units, according to HitsDailyDouble and Billboard. Regardless, Own The Night is expected to enter at No. 1. Soundscan tallies close Sunday (9/18) and numbers will be released Wednesday morning (9/20). This is the follow-up to Need You Now, which debuted in January 2010 with 481k in first-week sales. The same sales-watchers predict Brantley Gilbert’s release will move about 45-50k in its first week.

• The Country Music Hall of Fame® and Museum’s All for the Hall Los Angeles fundraiser was held Tuesday night (9/13) at L.A. LIVE’s Club Nokia. The guitar pull featured performances by Zac Brown, Sheryl Crow, Country Music Hall of Fame member Vince Gill, and Kevin Cronin. See the LA Times coverage.

• Gibson CEO Henry Juszkiewicz will meet with U.S. Justice Department officials next week, reports The Tennessean. The Gibson manufacturing plant and offices were raided on Aug. 24 by federal officials who claim that Gibson violated the Lacey Act, which is designed to protect endangered imported wood.

• Music streaming services are scrambling to keep up with Spotify, which hit the US in July. Mog is now offering a similar free version. More from the New York Times.

Strait To The Top

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George Strait’s Here For A Good Time shot straight to No. 1 on the Country Albums chart, debuting with 91K first-week sales. The King’s 30-plus year career is showing no signs of slowing down, with the album landing at No. 3 overall. It garnered about 18 percent digital album sales. The title track and lead single was written by Strait, his son Bubba Strait and songwriter Dean Dillon. It is at No. 2 on MusicRow’s CountryBreakout chart.

Strait once again co-produced this album with longtime friend and legendary producer Tony Brown at Shrimpboat Sound Studio in Key West, FL. It’s the same studio where Strait recorded his last three award-winning albums.

Meanwhile, Lady Antebellum’s hot new single “Wanted You More” debuted with 74K digital downloads, landing at No. 1 Country. All signs point to strong first-week sales for the band’s third album Own The Night which was released Tuesday (9/13). Lead single “Just A Kiss” is already past the one million downloads mark. Nearing the Platinum point are “Remind Me” from Brad Paisley and Carrie Underwood, and Jake Owen’s “Barefoot Blue Jean Night.”

Strait by the Numbers
69 million—albums sold
2006—year of induction to the Country Music Hall of Fame
89—singles released
89—Top 20 singles
84—Top 10s
57—No. 1 singles
33—Platinum or multi-platinum albums
30—years active
24—No. 1 albums

Kim Buie Joins Thirty Tigers

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Kim Buie and dog Alfred

Longtime music business executive Kim Buie has joined Thirty Tigers, heading up the company’s A&R department and taking on artist management duties. Buie spent the last seven-plus years handling A&R for UMG Nashville’s Lost Highway.

At Thirty Tigers, Buie brings with her management client Jessie Baylin, who is set to release new album Little Spark on Jan. 17, 2012.

“It’s an honor to have Kim joining our team. She’s the perfect fit, bringing both immense business acumen and great creative sensibilities,” says David Macias, President of Thirty Tigers.

“Leaving Lost Highway was one of the hardest decisions of my career,” explains Buie, “but as our industry changes, it became time for me to be part of that change. Joining Thirty Tigers is enabling me to do what I love—to work closely with the art. It also allows me to work with artists in a different way, by empowering them to build and control the lion share of their business, and that excites me.” Buie notes she has enjoyed working under Luke Lewis at Lost Highway, Jimmy Bowen at MCA and Liberty, and Chris Blackwell at both Island and Palm Pictures.

Over her extensive A&R career, Buie has worked with artists including Lucinda Williams, Ryan Bingham, William Burroughs, Elvis Costello, Willie Nelson, Michael Franti, Etta James, and T Bone Burnette.

Thirty Tigers is a 10-year-old company that provides project management for clients, as well as publicity services, radio promotion, new media marketing services, financial modeling and distribution through their exclusive deal with Sony’s independent distribution and marketing arm, RED. Thirty Tigers clients have included The Avett Brothers, Those Darlins, James McMurtry, Drive-By Truckers, Elizabeth Cook, Beth Nielsen Chapman, Billy Joe Shaver, North Mississippi All Stars, and Kathy Mattea.

Kim Buie can be contacted at 615-664-1167 or kim@thirtytigers.com.

Lady A Prepares High Energy Album Launch

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The countdown for the launch of Lady Antebellum’s new album Own The Night set for Tuesday, Sept. 13, is almost over. And the six time Grammy winners are planning a robust week of events to celebrate their third studio album.

Lady A’s debut week explosion begins today (9/8) in Green Bay, WI with pre-game performance on NFL’s Kickoff 2011 which re-airs Sept. 10 on NBC. The trio’s schedule from there includes TV appearances on GAC’s Backstory: Lady Antebellum (Sept. 11), a special 9/11 performance of the National Anthem on NBC before the Jets and Cowboys open their season at MetLife Stadium (Sept. 11), TODAY (Sept. 13),The Ellen DeGeneres Show (Sept. 16), The Tonight Show with Jay Leno (Sept. 16), CBS Sunday Morning (Sept. 25) and Saturday Night Live (Oct. 1).

“We’ve literally been working towards these next few weeks all year,” says Charles Kelley. “The anticipation of being able to finally share these songs with our fans is killing us. Hopefully, those who have been with Lady A for a long time will see this as the next chapter for us as songwriters and performers; and the people who aren’t as familiar with us will check it out and maybe find something on the album they dig. We’re really just excited to get it out, and then kick off the new tour.”

Another highlight will be three special performances for select lucky fans in Chicago (Sept. 10), New York City (Sept. 13) and Los Angeles (Sept. 15).

The trio’s headline tour is set to roll beginning Nov. 11 in Knoxville, TN and is named after the group’s second single from the new project, “We Owned The Night.” The first single, “Just A Kiss,” has already topped radio charts for multiple weeks.

The group’s current album Need You Now launched the week ended 1/31/2010 and scanned 481,000 debut week units according to Nielsen SoundScan. Now, after 84 weeks, Need you Now has sold 3.65 million units.

 

Live TV Events Are A Hot Commodity

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Country music’s growing popularity isn’t the only thing fueling an all-out bidding war for television broadcast rights to the CMA Awards. Live events, particularly awards shows and sporting events, offer ever-growing importance to networks and advertisers because they attract millions of viewers watching in real time.

In the face of audience fragmentation, expanding entertainment options, and DVR infiltration, the opportunity to reach viewers watching live television is highly sought after. One-third of US households have DVRs, which means that they can fast-forward through commercials during a previously recorded program, much to the dismay of advertisers.

There are several reasons that live events remain attractive. For starters, fans want to know what is going on as it happens, this is crucial in sports, and also applies to devoted music lovers. Secondly, it’s exciting to know that millions of other fans all over the country are watching along too. This shared love among fans ties to another key point, which is the social media conversation going on simultaneously during a live program, creating awareness and driving tune-ins. Online or in person, people want to chat about what they think is exciting, and they can’t participate in the morning-after gossip if they didn’t see the show the night before. What’s the point of watching the season finale of American Idol on DVR? You already know Scotty McCreery won.

The best example of the importance of live viewing is skyrocketing Super Bowl ratings which make for outrageous ad prices. In 2011, the game was the most-watched telecast in U.S. history, attracting 111 million viewers (Nielsen). Getting a 30-second ad in front of that many consumers cost $3 million bucks.

Currently, the NFL is renegotiating the broadcast rights to its games, which averaged about 18 million viewers each last season. According to today’s Los Angeles Times, “The networks combined pay about $3.1 billion a year for the rights to the 16-game season, up 35% from their last deal. Although the NFL’s contracts with CBS, Fox, NBC and ESPN still have two years to run, the league would like to have new deals wrapped up by the end of this season, in February. The three broadcast networks could end up joining ESPN in paying 10-digit dollar figures per season in their next contracts.”