iHeartMedia’s Bobby Bones continues to champion new musical talent, with the announcement of “The Bobby Bones Show Class Of 2019.” This all-female class includes Black River’s Abby Anderson, UMG Nashville’s Caylee Hammack, Big Machine’s Lauren Jenkins, Columbia Nashville’s Tenille Townes, and RCA Nashville’s Rachel Wammack.

“It’s been a long road from playing Buck’s liquor store in my little hometown of Ellaville, GA to hearing Bobby Bones say my name on the radio this morning,” Hammack shared. “Never in my wildest dreams did I expect to be put into a category with these wonderful and talented women. I’m so excited for 2019 and can’t thank Bobby enough for all the support.”

“I’m really freaking grateful to be included in this group of artists. And I think it’s great how many women Bobby is highlighting with his platform this year, because women’s voices and stories and songs need to be heard,” shared Jenkins.

“I can’t explain how excited I am to be a part of this group of artists. They are stellar and unique, and Bobby is just awesome,” said Wammack.

“It is an honor to be a part of Bobby’s Class of 2019,” added Townes. “Having him be such a champion of this music and this path from the beginning means so much!! Also, being alongside such talented friends of mine is incredible! I look forward to cheering everybody on this year!”

“Bobby Bones is a busy man and somehow he makes time for brand new artists like myself,” said Anderson. “I think everyone in country music can agree that Bobby is giving and gracious and I think the most precious gift someone could give is their time. So thank you, THANK YOU Mr. Bobby Bones for giving your time and attention. Thank you for sharing your platform and being a champion.”

Pictured (L-R) Front Row: Jennifer Turnbow (Secretary), Alicia Lanier Jones (President), Kari Barnhart (Vice-President); Back Row: Becky McIntosh, Susan Woelkers, Melinda Brennan, Mallory Mason, Mandy Gallagher, Claire Cook-Taylor; Not Pictured: Catherine Stein Moore (Treasurer) and Greta Day

SOURCE Nashville recently held its first board meeting of 2019 and announced election results for the organization’s 2019 Board of Directors.

This year’s Board Officers are Alicia Lanier Jones (Fourward) serving as President, Kari Barnhart (Regions Bank) serving as Vice President, Catherine Stein Moore (Farris, Self, & Moore, LLC) serving as Treasurer and Jennifer Turnbow (NSAI) serving as Secretary.

Additional Board representatives are 2018 SOURCE Board President, Mandy Gallagher (City National Bank), Claire Cook-Taylor (Average Joes Entertainment), Melinda Drennan (Drennan & Associates PLLC), Camilla Kleindienst (Banner Music), Susan Myers-Woelkers (GW Entertainment), Mallory Mason (Wiles & Taylor), Becky McIntosh (Barfly Publishing), Greta Day (Sussman & Associates).

Kane Brown kicked off his sold-out headlining arena tour Kane Brown: Live Forever Tour Thursday night (Jan. 10) in Duluth, Georgia, with 7,000 fans. The Kane Brown: Live Forever Tour will make its way to arenas across the country with additional opening weekend stops Friday night (Jan. 11) in Pensacola, Florida, and Saturday night (Jan. 12) in Columbus, Georgia featuring openers Granger Smith with RaeLynn.

As part of the tour, Brown has partnered with the Boys & Girls Club to offer an exclusive VIP Q&A experience and meet and greet pairing Brown with members of the Boys & Girls Club in every tour market.

Following the tour’s opening weekend, Brown heads to New York to perform on Good Morning America, GMA Day and The Late Show With Stephen Colbert next week. He is featured on a new Khalid “Saturday Nights (Remix)” out today as well. The track is a remix of Khalid’s song “Saturday Nights” which was featured on his recently released EP Suncity.

(L-R): Members of the Boys & Girls Club with Kane Brown, Martha Earls of EFG Management, and Pete Wison of Good Vibes Management

Larry Miller, founder of music industry consulting and analytics firm Musonomics and NYU professor/director of the music business program at NYU Steinhardt, has released a report on the evolution of record labels in his new report, “Same Heart. New Beat. How Record Labels Amplify Talent in the Modern Music Marketplace.”

Based on almost 50 interviews with top-level executives at both major and independent record labels and commissioned by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA), Miller explores the changes that have taken place in the past decade with record labels in the digital age.

“The digital revolution in music meant that anyone with a creative spark and a computer could make and distribute a song. While terrifically empowering, this led to an avalanche of new music dumped online every week – paradoxically making it harder for musicians to connect with audiences,” said Miller. “As the former head of an indie with major label distribution in the early ’00s, I was curious to examine the current state of play. While there are examples of individual, DIY artist success, the realities of the 24/7 global marketplace demand specialized teams with the ability and resources to react instantly to opportunities wherever and whenever they pop up – and the labels have evolved to meet this need.”

The report examines the “Then” vs “Now” of A&R, Marketing & Promotion, Artist Contracts & Services, Sales & Distribution, and Data. Some of the key findings include:

• Record labels have evolved to become music-based entertainment companies, focused on engaging fans with a continuous stream of social, “snackable” music-based content
• The promotion of a single song now requires the resources that used to be allocated for an entire album
• Data is critical in every aspect of operations – but only provides insight when coupled with the instinct derived from working on a deep roster of artists and genres across territories – to separate data signals from noise and form the right strategy for an individual artist or release
• No longer constrained by limited physical retail shelf space, the opportunity for legacy artists has exploded as labels now maximize catalog in ways that go far beyond the occasional reissue

To download the full report, visit musonomics.org/modernlabelreport.

Kobalt’s recordings company AWAL has engaged in a year-long partnership with Nashville-based, non-country music industry organization The Other Nashville Society (TONS).The partnership will create various events and programs to help Nashville creators connect and advance their careers.

TONS, which launched in 2017, hand-selects its group members, which include numerous influential industry members and creators.

AWAL Lonny Olinick commented, “Nashville is one of the most diverse and vibrant music communities out there and we see this partnership as an opportunity for AWAL to discover, develop, and launch global artists. AWAL and TONS are aligned in our ultimate goal of bringing artists together and helping them grow their careers. We look forward to all that we will accomplish together this year.”

Josh Collum, Co-founder & Partner of TONS added, “This is more than just a sponsorship for us. This is a deep, strategic partnership. We believe in what AWAL is doing, and we feel like our membership and our city needs to get to know them better. We’re already working on some really cool things we can do together, and you’ll see those roll out throughout 2019.”