Red Light Management’s Bryan Frasher hosted The Digital Frontier: The New Live Experience during the 2021 International Entertainment Buyers Association (IEBA) three-day conference at Nashville’s Omni Hotel yesterday (Oct. 4).
Among the panelists present were Mary Kay Huse (Mandolin), Leigh Andrzejewski (UTA), Victoria Mason (Warner Music Nashville), and Matt Smolin (Hang). Together, the five discussed the importance, impact, and evolution of livestreaming as it pertains to the music industry.
Of the topics that were covered, some of the highlights include maximizing viewers and engagement, user experience necessities, monetization, and the future of livestreaming in terms of an artist’s career.
Maximizing Engagement:
Andrzejewski noted that one of the best ways she’s found to increase engagement with her artist’s livestreams is to incorporate a virtual meet-and-greet feature. “We started to notice that all of the shows that had a meet-and-greet component would sell out. Instead of doing the meet-and-greet component after the show or on the same day as the show, we would do it multiple days before the show. That way people take the screenshots with the artists and post it on social media so that it starts getting virality prior to the show even happening. It’s free marketing for the artist on all social media platforms,” she explains.
Smolin added: “In general, for a free event you want it to be going out to as many platforms as possible, whether that’s a YouTube simulcast, Twitch, and whatever else… [Which platform does best with engagement] depends on the audience and how many subscribers they have, but I don’t see a world where you wouldn’t just want to push it to all of them because that’s more views.”
“Quality over quantity,” Huse summed. “We can get hundreds of thousands of views and impressions, but when you get down to it you need views and how long they’re staying on the platform… Our average watch time is 58 minutes, so we’re really focused on our quality as well as the quantity.”
“Find a hook. Find what makes it unique and special and market that aspect of it,” said Mason. “[You need to get] buy-in from the artist themselves. We can dump as much money as we want from a label perspective, but at the end of the day, an artist coming on to their social platforms and talking about why they’re jazzed about that stream is what really matters and that’s what moves the needle.”
User Experience Must-Haves:
“Music is such a specific industry, so when vetting and talking to [livestreaming] platforms, it’s crucial that some of the people who work on the platform’s team come from the music industry,” commented Andrzejewski. “[Also,] customer service is so key… With technology, we think it’s so simple, but it’s not simple when it’s a new product or when you’re in a pandemic and nobody’s done this before. Mandolin has a great customer service team that’s there around the clock for when any show happens so that the artist’s team doesn’t have to do it.”
Mason offered: “The platform’s who have come to the forefront have that level of customer service and do understand that it’s no longer this mad-dash to fill some void in the market. Instead, it’s become this holistic piece of the puzzle, piece of the artist development story, and this amazingly valuable tool that we can have in our arsenal to include in our marketing plan. It’s not a replacement or something that’s filling the gap in the artist development story. The user experience and making sure the fans are happy is so important to that.”
Monetization:
“What we found during the pandemic is that a lot of these venues aren’t hardwired to support livestreams. When an artist wants to bring a livestream on the road and add a virtual balcony to it, the venue then has to put buying or renting the cameras on the artist themselves.” Andrzejewski continued, “There’s a really easy fix for this venue-wise. You can either get OPS and run the cameras yourself or get a couple GoPros that you can move around the venue that take no lift or extra staff to do. Then you can hardwire your venue to support a livestreaming platform.
“That way your biggest sell as a venue is the production that’s in-house. Once you own that hardwire equipment, you can start wrapping in livestreaming into any show that comes to your venue,” she added. “Also, if you own the licensing for the content, you can start creating a video-on-demand database that can act like a vault for people to pay a subscription or a one-off ticket to re-watch the show.”
“A ticket range for livestreams can be anywhere from $5-$25, but when you add a meet-and-greet it’s a much wider range. We’ve seen someone sell out $300-$450 meet-and-greets in a matter of minutes, and we’ve also seen someone else not be able to sell $25 meet-and-greets,” Smolin offered. “Only about 10% of your fanbase is gonna buy a ticket, but there’s that 1% that loves your artist more than everybody else and is willing to pay a lot more to get that extra access. The meet-and-greet product is able to give them that.”
“To test markets, we took the ‘early-bird’ festival ticket pricing and started at a capped low ticket price. Once that sold out, you bump it up 10% and keep doing that until you start to see where the flatline for demand is. Then you start to understand that your ticket price should be between two points,” Andrzejewski explained. “It also drives demand. People see that there’s only 300 tickets at this price, so they need to buy right then.”
The Future Of Livestreaming:
Frasher said: “Nothing will take the place of the live experience… I feel like [livestreaming] will be an accessory to live events. It’ll be a piece of the revenue streams that an artist can try to tap into. It’s shown to be a viable business in addition to everything else, not in the place of.”
“Bands that have been livestreaming for years have used that as viable, consistent revenue. If you miss the live show, they put it behind a paywall and use that as archived content. That’s what UTA is now stepping into. We’re taking this extra content and putting it behind a Patreon or other paywall,” Andrzejewski shared. “[Livestream ticket buyers] are a different audience, but right now you aren’t servicing half of your audience. For someone who’s an avid concert-goer, they don’t want to miss a show. If they can pay for the video-on-demand, even if it’s days later, they’ll still watch it.
“I don’t think it’s going to go away. In fact, I think we’re going to start seeing more venues get hardwired, more live shows that have a virtual and live component, and more offering polling or features where if enough people virtually press a certain button it triggers an actual, in-venue reaction,” she added. “We’re going to start to see technology being developed that starts to service both crowds. The biggest leap that I’m most excited about is when the in-person and virtual audiences can start communicating with one another.”
“One of the number one values of livestreaming to me is the data collection,” Huse offered. “We have had managers come to us when thinking about a tour that are thinking about cities differently now that they see the data of where their livestream views are coming from. They have found markets that they didn’t know existed because of the data we’ve gotten from the livestreams.”
Mason added: “[Where a livestream fits into an album cycle] depends on the artist, but that is something we’ve started to talk about on the front end of setting up our marketing plans.” She continued, “One thought is making it connect to the final stop on a tour… The thought is can we have this tour-end extravaganza where we can hit every market that wasn’t touched by the tour?”
CMHOF To Create Online Version Of Night Train To Nashville Exhibit
/by Lorie HollabaughThe Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum recently received a grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities to create an online version of its award-winning 2004-2005 exhibition, Night Train to Nashville: Music City Rhythm & Blues 1945-1970.
The online exhibit will revive, update and preserve the story of Nashville’s pioneering R&B scene and its role in building the city into a world-renowned music center. The exhibit is slated to be completed in November 2022 and will be free to access on the museum’s website.
The Night Train to Nashville exhibit took over the museum’s second-floor gallery from March 2004-December 2005, exploring Nashville’s R&B activity in the decades following World War II. As Nashville’s country industry was getting started, the city was a hotbed for R&B in the late 1940s,’50s and ’60s, with celebrated performers like Ray Charles, Little Richard, Arthur Alexander, Etta James, Ruth Brown and Jimi Hendrix contributing to the city’s musical heritage. The original exhibit also highlighted the roles of other often unheralded contributors, including musicians, songwriters, radio personalities, label execs, TV producers, and nightclub owners.
The online exhibit will be organized into distinct themed chapters, including the roots of Nashville R&B; the city’s live music scene; the influential radio and recording industries; R&B on television; and R&B songwriters’ and performers’ strong ties to Nashville’s country community.
The grant is part of NEH’s Sustaining the Humanities through the American Rescue Plan, which aims to support the critical role the humanities play and assist cultural institutions affected by the coronavirus pandemic. The Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum is one of eight cultural and educational institutions in Tennessee to receive funding. Approximately 115 museums, historic sites and historical societies nationally were awarded these such grants.
Industry Ink: Rosanne Cash, Music Health Alliance, Bradley Family
/by Lydia FarthingRosanne Cash To Become The First Americana Artist-In-Residence At NYU Steinhardt
Rosanne Cash
Rosanne Cash will become the first Americana Artist-in-Residence at NYU Steinhardt. This partnership is designed to enhance the understanding and appreciation for the origins, history, and cultural impact of Americana music.
Throughout the 2021-22 academic year, Cash will be working with NYU students through a series of lectures, workshops and classroom visits. Her tenure will include a three-day Lyric Workshop for the school’s songwriting students; a lecture entitled “Matriarchs: Sara and Maybelle Carter and Sister Rosetta Tharpe” where Cash and author Peter Guralnick will discuss the lives, times, and music of three legendary women who exerted a profound influence on popular music and its culture; and “Americana Today: Songs in the Round” where Cash will host a live concert that explores the heart and borders of Americana music, featuring Catherine Russell, Josh Ritter, and an NYU Steinhardt student.
Last spring, The Americana Music Association launched a special edition of Words & Music at NYU, which featured guests Lori McKenna and Jonathan Taplin. The AMA is also working with NYU Steinhardt to develop an Americana scholarship program and curricula that encompass the breadth and depth of Americana music.
Music Health Alliance Adds Two As Managers Of Advocacy & Insurance
After years of working in radio, including KZLA/KLAC-Los Angeles, Roberts began her career in record promotion in 1993 at MCA/Nashville and was awarded the Radio & Records Country Regional Promotion Executive of the Year for four consecutive years. She served on the Board of Directors of the Country Radio Broadcasters from 2002-2014.
“This is an amazing opportunity on so many levels. It reunites me with both Shelia and Tatum from our MCA days. I feel like my career has come full circle and I know we will accomplish great things together,” says Roberts.
Rhoades’ non-profit experience includes an internship at The Carter Center in Atlanta, which has achieved significant change in democracy, human rights, preventing disease, and improving mental health care. She worked for the Mental Health Program and wrote research reports on behavioral health and substance abuse policies for all 50 states and the District of Columbia to be utilized in the selection of the 2021-2022 Rosalynn Carter Fellowships for Mental Health Journalism.
“I’m so excited to have the opportunity to work at Music Health Alliance and combine my passion for healthcare advocacy with my music business knowledge,” shares Rhoades.
Roberts and Rhoades can be reached at denise@musichealthalliance.com and sophia@musichealthalliance.com, respectively.
Bradley Studio Receives Metro Historical Marker Distinction
Pictured (L-R): Tom Wood and Jessica Reeves from the Metro Historical Commission; Hunter Moore (who researched the award), Menie Bell, Don Cusic and Lynn Maddox from the Metro Historical Commission; Metro Councilman Tom Cash; and Clay Bradley, grandson of Owen Bradley.
A Metro Historical plaque was dedicated at the site of Owen and Harold Bradley’s second studio in Hillsboro Village.
The two brothers, who were influential to the Nashville music business, operated the one-story studio from 1953 to 1955. Among the artists who recorded there are Kitty Wells, Bill Monroe and the Stanley Brothers, and Pat Boone. The studio was demolished in 2014.
Pandora’s Next Big Sound Service To Shut Down Nov. 1
/by Lydia FarthingPandora’s music analytics service Next Big Sound will be shutting down on Nov. 1, 2021. The service will be transitioning over to Pandora’s Artist Marketing Platform (AMP).
Next Big Sound was acquired by Pandora in 2015, but has been tracking music data across hundreds of thousands of artists and billions of streams for 12 years.
“This is just the final step of a multi-year transition, and our team is excited to focus on improving and expanding the awesome marketing tools and data-driven insights available in Pandora’s Artist Marketing Platform,” the Next Big Sound team shared in a blog post. “Pandora’s AMP tools have been the primary focus of our development and growth for two years already, and we’re really excited about the opportunities we can create for artists and creators across the industry on the AMP platform.”
Next Big Sound’s Pandora Charts will be getting a facelift and will have some tweaks fixed, among them Pandora’s Top Thumb Hundred will join the Top Spins and Trendsetters charts as regular emails and Pandora Playlists. The company will also continue to contribute Pandora streaming data to its partners at Billboard, MRC Data, ChartMetric, and more.
Pandora’s Programming Notification Emails will be transitioning over to AMP with Next Big Sound. However, the company’s social data will not come with them.
“We’ve decided to focus our team’s efforts on giving artists valuable, actionable insights to help them grow and monetize their fan bases on Pandora,” the team explained. “This means that it’s also time to say goodbye to the Pandora Predictions chart. Our Next Big Sound Predictions were always intended to be a look across streaming and social media to identify artists on the rise, so with these social data sources going away we’re going to retire the Predictions chart as well.”
There are many alternatives available for social media tracking that provide more context across more sources, such as Chartmetric.com and others.
“We’re really excited to move forward with a more focused, consistent experience for all of our users,” the team adds. “Thanks for joining us for more than a decade of watching the music industry evolve and grow. We’ll see you over in AMP!”
ASM Global, Nashville Superspeedway Partner To Bring Concerts & More To Venue
/by Steven BoeroASM Global is partnering with the Nashville Superspeedway to bring new content to Middle Tennessee and the surrounding region. Through this agreement, Nashville Superspeedway will be the first auto-racing venue in ASM’s global network.
“As the world’s leading provider of live-event experiences, ASM Global is uniquely positioned to provide world-class entertainment opportunities for music and sports fans in Middle Tennessee and throughout the region,” says Chuck Steedman, ASM Global Executive Vice President for Strategy and Development. “We are tremendously excited to work with Erik Moses and the team at the Nashville Superspeedway and to have the Superspeedway as our first auto-racing venue. The team is very active in the desire to bring a multitude of events to the Superspeedway.”
ASM will use its experience in creating and delivering major live sports and music experiences, including concerts, festivals, and drive-thru and walk-thru exhibits, in the Lebanon, Tennessee, speedway complex. Nashville Superspeedway currently hosts events in NASCAR’s top three series: the NASCAR Cup Series, NASCAR Xfinity Series and the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series. The non-exclusive agreement began Sept. 28, 2021.
“We are thrilled to partner with a global industry leader like ASM Global to continue the work we began a year ago to reopen, revitalize and reposition the Nashville Superspeedway as a beloved racetrack on the NASCAR circuit and a leading venue in Middle Tennessee for a diverse assortment of live events,” says Moses, President, Nashville Superspeedway. “The enthusiastic response to our first NASCAR tripleheader race weekend, including the sold-out inaugural Ally 400 NASCAR Cup Series race on Father’s Day 2021, and the support we’ve seen for the other events hosted here in the last year has strengthened our confidence in our ability to curate, attract and host top-quality sports and entertainment events at the Nashville Superspeedway. We look forward to working with ASM Global to bring exciting entertainment to the residents, visitors and guests of Middle Tennessee.”
[Updated] 2021 CMA Awards To Return To Bridgestone Arena
/by LB Cantrell[Updated on Nov. 2, 2021: Ticketed audience members at the CMA Awards will now have the choice to either show proof of full COVID-19 vaccination OR show a negative COVID-19 PCR or antigen test administered within 72 hours prior to the event (i) by a healthcare professional, or (ii) with a sample collected at home that is sent to a medical laboratory for processing with a link to the results that guests can print from a medical/lab based platform.]
The Country Music Association has announced that The 55th Annual CMA Awards will return to Bridgestone Arena in Nashville on Wednesday, Nov. 10.
Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, last year’s CMA Awards were held at Nashville’s Music City Center with only nominees and essential personnel in attendance. This year the CMA will have a limited number of tickets available for purchase and audience members will be required to be fully vaccinated against COVID-19 and wear appropriate face coverings.
“We are so excited to return to Bridgestone Arena for this year’s CMA Awards ceremony,” says CMA Chief Executive Officer, Sarah Trahern. “We have a truly fantastic show in the works that we will share more about in the coming weeks. As we plan our return, it goes without saying that the health and safety of our guests and crew is our top priority. Due to TV production protocols and venue and local rules, we will require all ticketed audience members to show proof of full COVID-19 vaccination and wear masks unless actively eating or drinking. Both the house and backstage will comply with all applicable local health and safety regulations, as well as requirements from the television unions. We look forward to bringing our fans a night to remember!”
The host, performers and presenters for show will be revealed in the coming weeks. Winners of The 55th Annual CMA Awards will be determined in a final round of voting by eligible voting CMA members. The third and final ballot is open now for CMA members, with voting for the CMA Awards final ballot closing Wednesday, Oct. 27 (6:00 p.m. CT). See the full list of nominees here.
Tickets for The 55th Annual CMA Awards will go on sale via Ticketmaster to the general public on Monday, Nov. 1 at 10:00 a.m. CT.
The MLC, Save The Music Foundation Present Junior Music Rights Week
/by Lorie HollabaughThe Mechanical Licensing Collective, in collaboration with the Save The Music Foundation, is presenting Junior Music Rights Week from Oct. 11-15. The initiative is aimed at helping young music creators between 13-18 years old and their parents or guardians learn more about the business side of the music industry and the mechanical licensing process.
Developed by Dae Bogan, The MLC’s Head of Third-Party Partnerships, Junior Music Rights Week is designed to address the recent surge of young, aspiring artists taking advantage of economical tools to produce new music on their own and utilizing user generated content platforms to release that music to the world.
“Thousands of songs are being uploaded every month to traditional digital music services and other online platforms created by promising teenage artists, and virtually all of the music these songwriters are releasing has the potential to earn royalties when it becomes available on digital music services,” says Bogan. “As a result, it is important to provide these teen music creators with a basic understanding of music copyright law early in their careers so they are prepared to move forward as knowledgeable and empowered professional music creators in the future.”
The initiative will feature two webinars, hosted by The MLC, and a virtual pop-quiz for participants on the music business and mechanical licensing, as well as the release of a series of FAQs and an animated explainer video about The MLC.
Kicking off with a Music, Rights and Money for Teen Artists webinar on Monday, Oct. 11 at 5 p.m. CT, Bogan will cover the basics of music copyrights, digital music royalties and the use of music for the internet, social media, film and TV and answer questions from participants. Teens in Music Roundtable, will take place on Thursday, Oct. 14 at 5 p.m. CT. Serona Elton, The MLC’s Head of Educational Partnerships and a long-time university professor, will host a live conversation with a handful of up-and-coming teenage music creators, each of whom will talk about their musical journey to-date, share their experiences with creating and releasing new music, discuss some of the challenges young creators face and much more.
“Collaborations such as this play a key role in helping The MLC fulfill its mission. We are thrilled to be working with the Save The Music Foundation to educate and empower a new generation of creators,” adds Kris Ahrend, CEO of The MLC.
“Our teachers have been expressing an interest in learning more about copyright law as more and more students are creating their own songs and music,” comments Chiho Okuizumi Feindler, Chief Program Officer of Save The Music Foundation. “Junior Music Rights Week will offer our students the tools they need to be successful as take their first steps as songwriters and we’d like to thank Dae Bogan and his team at The MLC for creating this great opportunity for our community of students, teachers and beyond.”
SMACK Launches New Influencer Marketing Venture, SMACKTok, Led By Marissa Turk [Exclusive]
/by LB CantrellMarissa Turk. Photo: Ford Fairchild
SMACK has launched a new venture, SMACKTok, an influencer marketing service that connects artists directly with their fans through social media platforms. SMACKTok introduces a new line of business to SMACK, adding to its successful publishing house, SMACKSongs, and management firm, SMACKManagement.
SMACKTok will be managed by Marissa Turk. Turk has been with SMACK for more than five years, primarily on the management side with Walker Hayes and Kylie Morgan. In her new role she will work with labels, artists, and marketing teams to capitalize on the opportunities within social medial, especially with TikTok, and help get music directly into the hands of the consumer.
SMACKTok was born out of Turk’s skill and experience across social media platforms, especially as she began to engage with TikTok. Turk has garnered her own TikTok following through her exploration of the platform, accumulating millions of views, followers, and features on national news channels like CBS. After earning a following, Turk began to create campaigns for artists such as Luke Combs, Maren Morris and Ryan Hurd, Walker Hayes, and Old Dominion, which parlayed into launching SMACKTok.
“Our industry is seeing the immense impact social media is having on the music community, especially where TikTok is concerned” says Turk. “The goal with SMACKTok is to really harness that impact and provide a personalized promotion service for each artist, that focuses on their fan base and what make them unique. I’m excited to be officially launching, and to continue to partner with artists and their teams to execute these campaigns, and help get their music heard.”
“SMACK has always made an effort to serve our songs and songwriters with any advantage we can provide,” adds SVP of Development at SMACK, Robert Carlton. “SMACKTok is another extension of that which was derived through Marissa’s passion for the endeavor. Supporting her creation of SMACKTok was a no brainer. She’s been an integral part of the team since she stepped foot in the door. This is just a small piece of what she does at SMACK, but the success we’ve already experienced speaks for her talent and work ethic. I’m excited be opening this service to everyone.”
Inquiries about SMACKTok can be directed to info@smacksongs.com or to Turk at marissa@smacksongs.com.
IEBA’s Digital Frontier Panel Discusses The Rise & Longevity Of Livestreaming
/by Lydia FarthingRed Light Management’s Bryan Frasher hosted The Digital Frontier: The New Live Experience during the 2021 International Entertainment Buyers Association (IEBA) three-day conference at Nashville’s Omni Hotel yesterday (Oct. 4).
Among the panelists present were Mary Kay Huse (Mandolin), Leigh Andrzejewski (UTA), Victoria Mason (Warner Music Nashville), and Matt Smolin (Hang). Together, the five discussed the importance, impact, and evolution of livestreaming as it pertains to the music industry.
Of the topics that were covered, some of the highlights include maximizing viewers and engagement, user experience necessities, monetization, and the future of livestreaming in terms of an artist’s career.
Maximizing Engagement:
Andrzejewski noted that one of the best ways she’s found to increase engagement with her artist’s livestreams is to incorporate a virtual meet-and-greet feature. “We started to notice that all of the shows that had a meet-and-greet component would sell out. Instead of doing the meet-and-greet component after the show or on the same day as the show, we would do it multiple days before the show. That way people take the screenshots with the artists and post it on social media so that it starts getting virality prior to the show even happening. It’s free marketing for the artist on all social media platforms,” she explains.
Smolin added: “In general, for a free event you want it to be going out to as many platforms as possible, whether that’s a YouTube simulcast, Twitch, and whatever else… [Which platform does best with engagement] depends on the audience and how many subscribers they have, but I don’t see a world where you wouldn’t just want to push it to all of them because that’s more views.”
“Quality over quantity,” Huse summed. “We can get hundreds of thousands of views and impressions, but when you get down to it you need views and how long they’re staying on the platform… Our average watch time is 58 minutes, so we’re really focused on our quality as well as the quantity.”
“Find a hook. Find what makes it unique and special and market that aspect of it,” said Mason. “[You need to get] buy-in from the artist themselves. We can dump as much money as we want from a label perspective, but at the end of the day, an artist coming on to their social platforms and talking about why they’re jazzed about that stream is what really matters and that’s what moves the needle.”
User Experience Must-Haves:
“Music is such a specific industry, so when vetting and talking to [livestreaming] platforms, it’s crucial that some of the people who work on the platform’s team come from the music industry,” commented Andrzejewski. “[Also,] customer service is so key… With technology, we think it’s so simple, but it’s not simple when it’s a new product or when you’re in a pandemic and nobody’s done this before. Mandolin has a great customer service team that’s there around the clock for when any show happens so that the artist’s team doesn’t have to do it.”
Mason offered: “The platform’s who have come to the forefront have that level of customer service and do understand that it’s no longer this mad-dash to fill some void in the market. Instead, it’s become this holistic piece of the puzzle, piece of the artist development story, and this amazingly valuable tool that we can have in our arsenal to include in our marketing plan. It’s not a replacement or something that’s filling the gap in the artist development story. The user experience and making sure the fans are happy is so important to that.”
Monetization:
“What we found during the pandemic is that a lot of these venues aren’t hardwired to support livestreams. When an artist wants to bring a livestream on the road and add a virtual balcony to it, the venue then has to put buying or renting the cameras on the artist themselves.” Andrzejewski continued, “There’s a really easy fix for this venue-wise. You can either get OPS and run the cameras yourself or get a couple GoPros that you can move around the venue that take no lift or extra staff to do. Then you can hardwire your venue to support a livestreaming platform.
“That way your biggest sell as a venue is the production that’s in-house. Once you own that hardwire equipment, you can start wrapping in livestreaming into any show that comes to your venue,” she added. “Also, if you own the licensing for the content, you can start creating a video-on-demand database that can act like a vault for people to pay a subscription or a one-off ticket to re-watch the show.”
“A ticket range for livestreams can be anywhere from $5-$25, but when you add a meet-and-greet it’s a much wider range. We’ve seen someone sell out $300-$450 meet-and-greets in a matter of minutes, and we’ve also seen someone else not be able to sell $25 meet-and-greets,” Smolin offered. “Only about 10% of your fanbase is gonna buy a ticket, but there’s that 1% that loves your artist more than everybody else and is willing to pay a lot more to get that extra access. The meet-and-greet product is able to give them that.”
“To test markets, we took the ‘early-bird’ festival ticket pricing and started at a capped low ticket price. Once that sold out, you bump it up 10% and keep doing that until you start to see where the flatline for demand is. Then you start to understand that your ticket price should be between two points,” Andrzejewski explained. “It also drives demand. People see that there’s only 300 tickets at this price, so they need to buy right then.”
The Future Of Livestreaming:
Frasher said: “Nothing will take the place of the live experience… I feel like [livestreaming] will be an accessory to live events. It’ll be a piece of the revenue streams that an artist can try to tap into. It’s shown to be a viable business in addition to everything else, not in the place of.”
“Bands that have been livestreaming for years have used that as viable, consistent revenue. If you miss the live show, they put it behind a paywall and use that as archived content. That’s what UTA is now stepping into. We’re taking this extra content and putting it behind a Patreon or other paywall,” Andrzejewski shared. “[Livestream ticket buyers] are a different audience, but right now you aren’t servicing half of your audience. For someone who’s an avid concert-goer, they don’t want to miss a show. If they can pay for the video-on-demand, even if it’s days later, they’ll still watch it.
“I don’t think it’s going to go away. In fact, I think we’re going to start seeing more venues get hardwired, more live shows that have a virtual and live component, and more offering polling or features where if enough people virtually press a certain button it triggers an actual, in-venue reaction,” she added. “We’re going to start to see technology being developed that starts to service both crowds. The biggest leap that I’m most excited about is when the in-person and virtual audiences can start communicating with one another.”
“One of the number one values of livestreaming to me is the data collection,” Huse offered. “We have had managers come to us when thinking about a tour that are thinking about cities differently now that they see the data of where their livestream views are coming from. They have found markets that they didn’t know existed because of the data we’ve gotten from the livestreams.”
Mason added: “[Where a livestream fits into an album cycle] depends on the artist, but that is something we’ve started to talk about on the front end of setting up our marketing plans.” She continued, “One thought is making it connect to the final stop on a tour… The thought is can we have this tour-end extravaganza where we can hit every market that wasn’t touched by the tour?”
Weekly Register: Billy Strings Takes Top Country Album Debut With ‘Renewal’
/by Lydia FarthingBilly Strings
Bluegrass entertainer Billy Stings earns the top country album debut this week as Renewal receives 10,000 first-week streams. The Rounder Records project came in at No. 9 on the country charts and No. 82 overall, according to Nielsen. Strings recently took home Entertainer and Guitarist of the Year at the 32nd Annual IBMA Bluegrass Music Awards.
The top country streaming album goes again to Morgan Wallen‘s Dangerous: The Double Album, which earned 39,000 streams, contributing to its 48 million RTD. Luke Combs rises to second with What You See Is What You Get and remains in fourth with This One’s For You. Kacey Musgraves‘ Star-Crossed falls to third with 17,000 streams, while Walker Hayes remains in fifth as Country Stuff adds 14,000 streams this week.
Hayes also keeps the top spot on the top country streaming songs with “Fancy Like” gaining another 14 million streams, totaling 166 million streams RTD. “If I Didn’t Love You” (Jason Aldean & Carrie Underwood) maintains its place at No. 2, adding 7.4 million streams. “Chasing After You” (Ryan Hurd & Maren Morris) takes keeps the third spot with 7.2 million streams, while “Buy Dirt” (Jordan Davis & Luke Bryan) stays in fourth with 5.8 million streams. “Forever After All” (Combs) seals the top five, earning 5.8 million streams.
MTSU Opens New Recording Studios, Welcomes Grammy-Nominated Grad Back For Sneak Peek
/by LB CantrellTay Keith turns up the volume on one of his produced tracks Wednesday, Sept. 29, on the campus of his alma mater, Middle Tennessee State University, during a special sneak-peek visit to the MTSU Department of Recording Industry’s new studios on campus. Listening behind him are a group of MTSU students and university president Sidney A. McPhee. Photo: Cat Curtis Murphy/MTSU
Middle Tennessee State University has opened a new set of recording studios for its students in the Department of Recording Industry.
The new studios are located nearby to the university’s original free-standing studio, opened a few years after MTSU’s recording industry program awarded its first bachelor’s degree in 1974. The new MTSU studios, Studios D and E, contain nearly 5,000 square feet of customized, expandable, “world-class” space, complete with control rooms, equipment rooms and an open gathering/reception area.
The combination control room and working classroom of the Department of Recording Industry’s new Studio E at Middle Tennessee State University, with the recording studio visible through the window, is a mirror image of the adjoining Studio D in the East Main Building on campus. The department relocated and customized two expandable recording facilities for students in a nearly $2 million studio project, which covers almost 5,000 square feet of recording space, control rooms, equipment rooms and an open gathering/reception area. Photo: J. Intintoli/MTSU
“These are going to be extraordinarily valuable,” department chair John Merchant said of the nearly $2 million facilities. “It’s a massive upgrade from where we were; the previous studios were very modest.”
2018 graduate BryTavious “Tay Keith” Chambers was recently invited back to campus to get a sneak peek of the new facilities. Tay Keith is a Memphis native and an Integrated Studies graduate of MTSU’s University College. The same month that he graduated from MTSU, a track he co-produced, Travis Scott’s “SICKO MODE,” went double Platinum and No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart and he was nominated for two Grammy Awards.
Since then the 25 year-old has seen “Sicko Mode” reach Diamond-sales status; worked with artists including Drake, BlocBoy JB, Wiz Khalifa, Future, Beyonce, DJ Khaled, Miley Cyrus, Gucci Mane, Lil Nas X and Lil Baby; and was included in Billboard’s 50 Greatest Producers of the 21st Century list.
Pictured (L-R): Tyland Jackson; Cambrian Strong; Tay Keith; MTSU President Sidney A. McPhee; Nick Brownlow; College of Media and Entertainment Dean Beverly Keel; and John Merchant, chair of the Department of Recording Industry. Photo: Cat Curtis Murphy/MTSU
Also at the tour of the new facilities was MTSU student and Tay Keith’s stylist, Tyland Jackson; Tay Keith’s manager, former MTSU student and Howard University grad, Cambrian Strong; and MTSU alumnus, Tay Keith’s PR director and executive at their Drumatized record label and production company, Nick Brownlow.
“I love these ceilings. The sound’s going to be tight,” Chambers said after listening to recordings, inspecting equipment and answering a handful of students’ questions in a studio control room, then walking out and gazing up nearly 17 feet in the recording area.
Merchant and the college named both Tay Keith and Brownlow “honorary professors” in the recording industry department during their visit, citing their devotion to completing their own education as well as educating future students with scholarships, internships, classes and other opportunities.
“We’re all graduates of MTSU and appreciate the university supporting us like this,” Tay Keith said. “We’re connecting the dots from MTSU and education to the culture.”