Robert “Hoss” Burns
Former WSIX Nashville radio disc jockey Robert “Hoss” Burns has died at age 56.
According to his former colleague and longtime friend Devon O’Day, Burns was found dead in his Old Hickory apartment last Thursday. He passed away on Dec. 16. The radio personality, singer and songwriter had been recovering from heart surgery.
During his years at WSIX, Burns was twice nominated as the CMA’s medium-market broadcast personality of the year. He was also the host of the nationally-syndicated weekly radio series Country Hitmakers, as well as of a number of national radio specials.
Robert Charles Burns was born in Sisbee, Texas, and raised in Port Arthur. He began his radio career at age 16 as an early-morning DJ broadcasting before school. He attended the University of Texas in Austin for two years, studying voice, saxophone, piano, music theory and composition.
Heading back to East Texas, he went on the air at KLVI-AM and KYKR-FM in Beaumont. He also launched his career as a voice-over artist, working for all three television stations in the market. He was billed as Chuck Burns during his Texas career.
Burns was hired by WSIX-FM in 1986. It was at this time that he adopted the pseudonym Hoss Burns. He remained with WSIX for nine years.
He made history as the first country music personality to publicly disclose his HIV-positive status. He did so in the context of a 12-hour broadcasting marathon that became a fundraiser for St. Jude. During the broadcast, more than 100 artists pledged their support for him, including Garth Brooks, Billy Ray Cyrus, Reba McEntire and a tearful Lorrie Morgan.
Following his retirement from broadcasting in 1995, Burns continued to work as a voice-over artist. In addition, he worked as an AIDS activist. “I’m not dying with AIDS, I’m living with it,” he said to journalist Phyllis Stark.
He was also a singer and a songwriter who was published by Sony-Tree. His songs have been recorded by Alan Jackson, Kenny Chesney, Eddy Arnold, Doug Stone, Dionne Warwick and two dozen other artists. Among his best-known songs is the Christmas favorite “Just Put a Ribbon in Your Hair.”
He was behind the charity recording “Let’s Open Up Our Hearts.” This led to him being honored by then-President George Bush for donating $150,000 to the Cities In Schools program in Washington, D.C. In addition, Burns raised funds for Special Olympics, Dreammakers, Nashville CARES and many other causes.
Hoss Burns is survived by his father Robert Lee and by five siblings. Arrangements are being handled by Phillips-Robinson Funeral Home. The private memorial will be for the family. A public celebration of life is to be announced.
Lorrie Morgan Preps First Solo Project in Five Years
/by Jessica NicholsonIn 2016, Lorrie Morgan will release her first solo album in five years. Letting Go…Slow will release Feb. 12, 2016 on Shanachie Entertainment. The project follows 2013’s Dos Divas, a collaboration project with Pam Tillis.
Letting Go… Slow, was produced by Richard Landis, and features 12 tracks, a mix of originals and covers, including a rendition of Larry Gatlin and The Gatlin Brothers’ “I’ve Done Enough Dying Today,” and a cover of Bob Dylan’s classic, “Lay Lady Lay.”
Track Listing for Letting Go…Slow:
Jeff Foxworthy Joins Nashville’s Wild West Comedy Festival
/by Craig_ShelburneJeff Foxworthy, Trevor Noah and Joe Rogan will take part in the Wild West Comedy Festival, scheduled for May 16-22 in Nashville. The largest-selling comedy recording artist in history, Foxworthy will perform at the Ryman Auditorium on May 21 at 6 p.m. It’s the first time he’s headlined the historic venue.
The host of Comedy Central’s The Daily Show, Noah will perform at the Ryman on the same date at 8:30 p.m. In addition, Rogan will headline the Ryman on May 20 at 7:30 p.m. Other comedians confirmed for the festival, appearing in a variety of venues, are The Fighter & The Kid, Jay & Silent Bob, Russell Peters, Maria Bamford and Michael Carbonaro.
Tickets are on sale starting Wednesday (Dec. 23) at 10 a.m. More comedians will be announced in the coming months.
Weekly Register: Chris Stapleton, Cam Take Charge of the Chart
/by Craig_ShelburneChris Stapleton’s Traveller makes another trip to No. 1 on the country albums chart with 54K units sold. That puts his year-to-date sales at 568K.
Just behind is Cam’s debut album, Untamed. The “Burning House” singer enters the country album chart with 37K.
Rounding out the Top 5 country albums are Carrie Underwood’s Storyteller (29K), Luke Bryan’s Kill the Lights (25K) and Sam Hunt’s Montevallo (22K).
New albums on the chart are Jon Langston’s self-titled EP (No. 25), The Voice contestant Emily Ann Roberts’ The Complete Season 9 Collection (No. 55), and the cast of Nashville’s compilation, Nashville: On the Record Vol. 3 (No. 58).
On the country digital tracks chart, Roberts’ rendition of “Burning House” enters at No. 1 with 83K. In addition, she appears at No. 4 (45K) with “Islands in the Stream” (performed with Blake Shelton) and No. 10 (18.5K) with “Blue Christmas,” along with six other spots in the Top 75.
Other top country digital tracks include Thomas Rhett’s “Die a Happy Man” (No. 2, 57.5K), Cam’s “Burning House” (No. 3, 46.5K) and Cole Swindell’s new “You Should Be Here” (No. 5, 45K). Hunt’s “Break Up in a Small Town” officially surpasses the 800,000 mark, landing at No. 6 with 35.5K units.
Meanwhile, “Die a Happy Man” makes another appearance (No. 7, 28K), this time sung by Barrett Baber, also a contestant on The Voice. Baber and Roberts were both on Shelton’s team, but ultimately the crown went to Jordan Smith. His rendition of “Mary Did You Know?” is atop the overall digital singles chart with 161K.
The real champion, though, continues to be Adele. She’s still No. 1 on the overall chart with 25. This week, she moves 825K units (790K album only) and surpasses the 6 million mark.
‘Billboard,’ Dick Clark Productions Sold
/by Eric T. ParkerLeadership at all the entities will remain the same, however the properties will be divvied into four companies: THR and Billboard will be housed in an entity called The Hollywood Reporter-Billboard Media Group; Adweek, Mediabistro and the Clio Awards will be together; while Dick Clark will operate independently, as will A24 [a film distribution company].
“My goal is to invest and build something even more special than what we have now,” sais Boehly in an announcement by Billboard on Friday (Dec. 18). “These are tremendous brands with huge growth potential, especially as they expand into video.”
In the process, New York-based Boehly will no longer serve as an executive of Guggenheim Partners, where he has been for five years. He will however remain a major shareholder and a member of the firm’s executive committee, as outlined in the statement. He also retains his minority stake in House of Cards producer Media Rights Capital and is a co-owner of film distribution company A24 (Room, Ex Machina).
In late 2009, Guggenheim Partners purchased of a grouping of eight brands, including Billboard and THR, from The Nielsen Company in late 2009 for an estimated $75 million.
Pandora, SAG-AFTRA, SoundExchange React To New Webcaster Rates
/by Jessica NicholsonPandora: “This is a balanced rate that we can work with and grow from. The new rate structure will enable continued investment by Pandora to drive forward a thriving and vibrant future for music,” said Brian McAndrews, chief executive officer of Pandora. Working collaboratively with partners across the music industry is a top priority as we connect listeners with music they love, and artists with their audience. This decision provides much-needed certainty for both Pandora and the music industry. We are moving full-steam ahead with our ambitious plan to continue to build the world’s most powerful music discovery platform.”
SAG-AFTRA: SAG-AFTRA is disappointed with Wednesday’s ruling by the Copyright Royalty Board on webcasting rates. At this critical juncture, when the impact of changing technology is being acutely felt by artists, this is an unfortunate step backwards that cheats creators.Recording artists deserve to be equitably compensated, and the CRB has provided a huge discount to webcasters at artists’ expense — driving down the value of music by 30 percent. Many broadcasters’ businesses are built on the use of music and they already pay nothing for it on terrestrial radio. Now they are getting a steep discount for their webcasting operations as well. The result is that artists’ income will flatline for the next five years while broadcasters profit at their expense. This ruling is a missed opportunity and falls far short of the hopes and expectations of SAG-AFTRA and its members. The union will continue to advocate for just compensation for artists.
SoundExchange: SoundExchange presented a strong case on the fair market rate for music played by webcasters utilizing the statutory license. Our rate proposal used data from dozens of marketplace deals and was based on what willing buyers and sellers would agree to. Music has tremendous value and is the core foundation of the webcasting industry. It’s only fair that artists and record labels receive a market price when their music is used. We believe the rates set by the CRB do not reflect a market price for music and will erode the value of music in our economy. We will review the decision closely and consider all of our options. Additionally it is deeply disappointing to see that broadcasters are being given another unfair advantage. In their terrestrial business they do not pay a dime for the recordings they use and now this $17B industry will receive an additional huge subsidy on the music they use in webcasting. As music advocates, SoundExchange represents the entire recorded music industry and we remain united on the principle that recording artists and rights owners deserve a fair market rate when their music is used. SoundExchange appreciates the efforts of the CRB judges and staff throughout this process.
Downtown Music Publishing, Pandora Announce Licensing Agreement
/by Troy_Stephenson“This agreement with Pandora is a milestone in our on-going mission to deliver equitable, accurate and timely payments for our songwriters,” said Downtown founder and CEO, Justin Kalifowitz. “It also serves as a reminder that songwriter royalties are best negotiated in a free market. We’re looking forward to working more closely with Pandora in optimizing this agreement and know that, in the words of Cy Coleman, the best is yet to come!”
“I am excited for our partnership with Downtown Music Publishing,” said Brian McAndrews, chief executive officer at Pandora. “Pandora is committed to bringing long-term growth to the music business, and working with the talented and diverse songwriters on Downtown Music Publishing’s roster will contribute to that.”
While specific terms of the multi-year agreement are confidential, the companies worked together to build an innovative approach to publisher economics. The deal allows Downtown Music Publishing to obtain its goal of delivering improved performance royalties for its songwriters while Pandora will benefit from greater rate certainty and the ability to add new flexibility to the company’s product offering over time. The public performance royalties Pandora also pays to rights holders of master recordings are not affected by this agreement.
LifeNotes: Radio Personality Robert “Hoss” Burns Passes
/by Robert K OermannRobert “Hoss” Burns
Former WSIX Nashville radio disc jockey Robert “Hoss” Burns has died at age 56.
According to his former colleague and longtime friend Devon O’Day, Burns was found dead in his Old Hickory apartment last Thursday. He passed away on Dec. 16. The radio personality, singer and songwriter had been recovering from heart surgery.
During his years at WSIX, Burns was twice nominated as the CMA’s medium-market broadcast personality of the year. He was also the host of the nationally-syndicated weekly radio series Country Hitmakers, as well as of a number of national radio specials.
Robert Charles Burns was born in Sisbee, Texas, and raised in Port Arthur. He began his radio career at age 16 as an early-morning DJ broadcasting before school. He attended the University of Texas in Austin for two years, studying voice, saxophone, piano, music theory and composition.
Heading back to East Texas, he went on the air at KLVI-AM and KYKR-FM in Beaumont. He also launched his career as a voice-over artist, working for all three television stations in the market. He was billed as Chuck Burns during his Texas career.
Burns was hired by WSIX-FM in 1986. It was at this time that he adopted the pseudonym Hoss Burns. He remained with WSIX for nine years.
He made history as the first country music personality to publicly disclose his HIV-positive status. He did so in the context of a 12-hour broadcasting marathon that became a fundraiser for St. Jude. During the broadcast, more than 100 artists pledged their support for him, including Garth Brooks, Billy Ray Cyrus, Reba McEntire and a tearful Lorrie Morgan.
Following his retirement from broadcasting in 1995, Burns continued to work as a voice-over artist. In addition, he worked as an AIDS activist. “I’m not dying with AIDS, I’m living with it,” he said to journalist Phyllis Stark.
He was also a singer and a songwriter who was published by Sony-Tree. His songs have been recorded by Alan Jackson, Kenny Chesney, Eddy Arnold, Doug Stone, Dionne Warwick and two dozen other artists. Among his best-known songs is the Christmas favorite “Just Put a Ribbon in Your Hair.”
He was behind the charity recording “Let’s Open Up Our Hearts.” This led to him being honored by then-President George Bush for donating $150,000 to the Cities In Schools program in Washington, D.C. In addition, Burns raised funds for Special Olympics, Dreammakers, Nashville CARES and many other causes.
Hoss Burns is survived by his father Robert Lee and by five siblings. Arrangements are being handled by Phillips-Robinson Funeral Home. The private memorial will be for the family. A public celebration of life is to be announced.
Industry Ink: ASCAP, Borman Entertainment, ONErpm
/by Craig_ShelburneASCAP Is Making a List … of New Holiday Favorites
Christmas tunes recorded by Kelly Clarkson, Kenny Chesney, Darius Rucker and Meghan Trainor are included on a new holiday-themed list from ASCAP. Narrowing down selections from songs that were first released in 2013 and 2014, the 10 most-performed, original ASCAP holiday selections across terrestrial and satellite radio are listed below:
“Song Title” – Recording Artist (ASCAP Songwriters)
Borman Entertainment Hires Lucia Kaminsky as Director of Digital
Lucia Kaminsky
Lucia Kaminsky has joined Borman Entertainment as Director of Digital. She will report to Cameo Carlson.
Kamisnky began her career in music as a music writer at age 15. After receiving her B.A. in Music Industry, she worked as a live production coordinator for Walt Disney Entertainment in São Paulo, Brazil, and tour manager/production for the Memphis in May International Festival.
She was with the Memphis Chapter of The Recording Academy for six years. As the Senior Project Coordinator, she focused on event production, membership outreach, and digital content production for the Grammy sites.
For the past two years, she has been managing strategic partnerships at Warner Music Nashville.
ONErpm Surpasses 1 Billion Monthly Views on YouTube
Digital music distributor ONErpm surpassed 1 billion monthly views on YouTube, with over 31 million subscribers. The move cements the company as one of the world’s fastest-growing multi-channel networks. In the past year, ONErpm doubled the number of channels in the network and experienced a five-fold increase in subscribers, while monthly video views jumped over 160 percent.
ONErpm’s success on YouTube is a result of improved marketing tactics and channel optimization, combined with cross-promoting similar channels within the network to find audiences with common interests. With offices in the U.S. (including Nashville), Mexico, Brazil, Colombia, and Argentina, creators are constantly being introduced to new territories, with the support of localized marketing.
CEO Emmanuel Zunz adds, “Channels in our network don’t operate in a vacuum. We employ the combined promotional force of our creators to make sure each channel is exposed to new audiences, locally and internationally.”
Artist Updates: Chris Stapleton, Miranda Lambert, Eric Paslay, Brantley Gilbert
/by Craig_ShelburneChris Stapleton: Television Traveller
Chris Stapleton Performs on ABC’s Good Morning America.
Chris Stapleton performed “Sometimes I Cry” on Thursday night (Dec. 17) on NBC’s The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon, as well as “More of You” earlier this week on ABC’s Good Morning America. Stapleton sold out three concerts at Nashville’s Ryman Auditorium scheduled for Feb. 18, 19 and 20. His solo debut album, Traveller, received a Grammy nomination in the Album of the Year category.
Eric Paslay Picked By ESPN/ABC
Eric Paslay’s current single, “High Class,” will be featured throughout the ESPN/ABC college football postseason. The song can be heard during bumps, montages and promos of ESPN networks’ college football bowl game coverage through the end of 2015, including the inaugural Air Force Reserve Celebration Bowl that begins bowl season on Saturday (Dec. 19) on ABC. Paslay’s sophomore album is due in 2016.
Brantley Gilbert Will Resume European Tour
Brantley Gilbert will return to Europe for dates on his Blackout Tour next year. His first show will be May 5 in Glasgow, Scotland, at Oran Mor. In England, he will perform May 6 at Manchester’s Academy Two, May 7 at Birmingham’s 02 Institute 2, and May 8 at London’s Shepherd’s Bush Empire. Gilbert launched the European tour in November, but postponed a number of shows following terrorist attacks in Paris.
Miranda Lambert Accepts 2015 Harmony Award
Miranda Lambert. Photo: Nashville Symphony
The Nashville Symphony has presented Miranda Lambert with the 2015 Harmony Award, which recognizes an individual who exemplifies the harmonious spirit of Nashville’s musical community.
Lambert performed “The House That Built Me,” “Over You” and “Desperation” during the 31st Annual Symphony Ball, held earlier this month. The event is a premier winter social event and one of the Nashville Symphony’s annual fundraisers.
“It is a tremendous honor to receive the Nashville Symphony’s 2015 Harmony Award and join such an impressive list of previous winners, all of whom have made incredible contributions to this wonderful city,” she said.
“I’m thrilled to be part of an event that helps the Symphony’s work in the community, which is shaping a bright future for all of Nashville, and I can’t wait to perform alongside the orchestra this evening,” she continued. “A big thank-you to this year’s Symphony Ball co-chairs and to the entire Nashville Symphony for this recognition!”
Huskins-Harris Business Management Relocates To ‘The Row’
/by Jessica Nicholson(L-R): Jesse Clingan, Client Manager; Becky Harris, Principal; Jill Curry, Client Manager; Amy Handegard, Client Manager; Donna Huskins, Principal; Dorothy Leonhardt, Client Manager; Jen Sackett.
Business management company Huskins-Harris Management has relocated to Nashville’s Music Row area, with a new address at 33 Music Square West, Ste. 102-B.
The business, operated by Becky Harris and CPA/business partner Donna A. Huskins, was previously located at 142 Rosa Parks Blvd in Nashville.
Harris began the firm eight years ago. The company handles business management and accounting for clients including Chris Young, Jerrod Niemann, Frankie Ballard, CeCe Winans, Trick Pony, Drew Baldridge, and Kane Brown, among others.
(L-R): Trick Pony’s Heidi Newfield; Jill Curry, Client Manager; Dorothy Leonhardt, Client Manager/Jr. Partner; Becky Harris, Principal; Amy Handegard, Client Manager.