Country Music Association Joins Industry Partners At Music Biz

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Pictured (L-R): Margaret Hart, YouTube Manager of Artist & Label Relations; Brittany Schaffer, Spotify Head of Artist & Label Services; Beville Dunkerley, Pandora Nashville Director of Artist Marketing & Industry Relations; Karen Stump, CMA Senior Director of Market Research; Emily Cohen, Amazon Music Country Music Curator; Annie Ortmeier, Universal Music Group Nashville VP of Marketing – Digital Accounts. Photo: Caitlin Harris/CMA

The Country Music Association engaged with industry partners at panels and presentations during this year’s Music Biz conference, held this week in Nashville.

On Tuesday (May 15), CMA presented “The Country Consumer: The Next Phase of Streaming Growth,” an in-depth look at how the industry continues to grow country streaming consumption not only here in the U.S. but around the globe. The panel, introduced by Karen Stump, CMA Senior Director of Market Research, and moderated by Annie Ortmeier, Universal Music Group Nashville VP of Marketing – Digital Accounts, reached full capacity and featured speakers Emily Cohen, Amazon Music Country Music Curator, Beville Dunkerley, Pandora Nashville Director of Artist Marketing & Industry Relations, Margaret Hart, YouTube Manager of Artist & Label Relations, and Brittany Schaffer, Spotify Head of Artist & Label Services.

Sarah Trahern, CMA Chief Executive Officer, welcomes attendees at the CMA-sponsored Awards Breakfast & Presentations during the Music Biz 2018 conference Wednesday (May 16) in Nashville. Photo: Hunter Berry/CMA

DISClaimer: Americana Music Highlights Blue-Eyed Soul

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With its 2018 award-nominations announcement, Americana music is in the news this week.

This roundup of the genre’s current offerings includes such stalwarts as Buffy Sainte-Marie and Riders in the Sky as well as hot newer acts such as Parker Millsap and Old Crow Medicine Show.

Both of today’s award winners are appearing in DisClaimer for the first time. Both of them display outstanding blue-eyed soul. Nathaniel Ratliff & The Night Sweats win the Disc of the Day. While Andrew Duhon is our DisCovery Award winner.

DON GALLARDO/Something I Gotta Learn
Writers: Gaallardo/Carey Ott; Producer: Don Gallardo; Publishers: Second Floor Storey/Long Story Short, SESAC/ASCAP; Rock Ridge (track)
– This punchy country-rocker kicks off this Nashville troubadour’s Still Here CD. He has a plain, rumpled-shirt singing voice and a wily way with words. Recorded in East Nashville, the collection features an esteemed cast of sidemen.

OLD CROW MEDICINE SHOW/Whirlwind
Writers: Ketch Secor; Producer: Dave Cobb; Publishers: Blood Donor/Do Write, BMI; Columbia
– This wildly entertaining Grand Ole Opry string band jumps from lively, old-timey hoedowns to country-rocking toe tappers on its new Volunteer collection. This rolling, easy-going tune is a lilting, highly commercial romance ditty. I remain an immense fan.

LLOYD GREEN & JAY DEE MANESS/You Ain’t Goin’ Nowhere
Writer: Bob Dylan; Producer: John Macy; Publishers: none listed; Coastal Blend
-Green and Maness have re-imagined The Byrds’ epochal Sweetheart of the Rodeo LP as an instrumental, steel-guitar outing. This signature Dylan tune occurs twice on the CD, once as a jaunty album-opening instrumental and once as an album-closing vocal performance (the only one on the album). This whole project makes sense, you see, because these two steel men appeared on the original 1968 album.

MARK OTIS SELBY/There’s Your Trouble
Writers: Mark Selby/Tia Sillers; Producers: Brent Maher, Mark Selby, Charles Yingling; Publishers: none listed; Naked Sessions
– Nashville singer-songwriter Mark Selby passed away last year. His song demos form the basis of a new album titled Naked Sessions. Frequent collaborator Kenny Wayne Shepherd appears (on the intense, highly recommended “Rise Up’). But as Selby demonstrated so often during his too-brief life, he has solo charisma to spare. This song of his turned out to be the breakthrough hit for the Dixie Chicks. His own version is punctuated with harmonica as well as his able guitar work. The album serves as the first of what is planned to be a series of similar, stripped-down troubadour collections. Heartily endorsed.

PARKER MILLSAP/Other Arrangements
Writer: Millsap; Producers: Shani Gandhi, Parker Millsap & Gary Paczosa; Publishers: Northwentz/Wixen, BMI; Okra Homa/Thirty Tigers
– The title tune of Millsap’s newest album is a choppy, guitar-embellished thumper featuring his always-gripping, soulful, strangulated, searing vocals. I love the way he vaults from gritty low notes to falsetto exclamations. If this man isn’t already on your musical radar, put him there now.

RIDERS IN THE SKY/Old New Mexico
Writers: Doug Green/Hoot Hester; Producer: Joey Miskulin; Publishers: Songs of the Sage/Buck Run, BMI; Riders Radio
– We think of these Opry favorites as cowboy-music revivalists. Their anniversary album, 40 Years the Cowboy Way, certainly bears this out with its reworkings of “Cimarron,” “Big Iron,” “Mule Train,” “Mollie Darling,” “The Blue Juniata,” “Press Along to the Big Corral” and the like. But this lovely ballad shows that the group is equally capable of crafting new songs in the classic manner. Also don’t miss Too Slim’s merry parody “I’ve Cooked Everything.”

NATHANIEL RATELIFF & THE NIGHT SWEATS/You Worry Me
Writer: Nathaniel Rateliff; Producer: Richard Swift; Publisher: Born in the Flood, ASCAP; Stax
– This band is my latest passion. Their recipe includes a dash of Van Morrison stirred with flavors of The Band and Muscle Shoals and more than a pinch of cayenne pepper. This moody, relentlessly soulful track builds in intensity and drive as it plays. As far as I’m concerned, it could have kept on doing that forever. It comes from the group’s second Stax album, Tearing at the Seams. Stop what you’re doing right now and buy both it and the act’s eponymously titled Stax debut. You can thank me later. There’s a reason why Nathaniel Rateliff & The Night Sweats are nominated as Americana Music’s Group of the Year.

ANDREW DUHON/Comin’ Around
Writer: Andrew Duhon; Producer: Eric Masse; Publisher: none listed; AD (track)
– This New Orleans based artist traveled to Music City to craft his new False River collection. It kicks off with this rippling, swirling, rhythm-soaked fever dream. This is sound to get lost in, effortlessly soulful and jazzy in a breezy kinda way. The record officially drops a week from Friday. Get it.

BUFFY SAINTE-MARIE/The War Racket
Writer: Buffy Sainte-Marie; Producers: Chris Birkett/Buffy Sainte-Marie; Publishers: Caleb/Kobalt, ASCAP; True North (track)
– The album that contains this, Medicine Songs, won a Juno Award in Canada in March. The collection includes old favorites such as “Little Wheel Spin and Spin,” “Universal Soldier” and “My Country ‘Tis of Thy People You’re Dying” (but not her most famous songs “Until It’s Time For You to Go” or “Up Where We Belong”). Its new songs reveal that she is as committed to social justice and political commentary as ever. This stinging rebuke of capitalist violence finds her in a husky-voiced, accusative, quasi-spoken mode. We need more principled artists like her.

RECKLESS JOHNNY WALES/Pipe Dream
Writers: Bob Saporiti/David Ross; Producers: Bob Saporiti, Brett R. Stewart and Chris Tench; Publishers: Songhenge/Songs of BossRoss, SESAC/BMI; Amerikandy (track)
– MusicRow Magazine founder David Ross came to town as a songwriter. Now, 40 years later, he has his first cut. It’s a collaboration with the iconoclastic rocker Reckless Johnny Wales. The track features a stirring, dark rhythm track and bright bursts of electric guitar beneath a compelling, passionate lead vocal. The new album is called Runaway Train of Thoughts. Saporiti used to be a WB exec, but he has successfully reinvented himself as an admirable, mighty entertaining roots rocker.

YouTube Music Streaming Service Coming May 22

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On May 22, YouTube will introduce YouTube Music, a new streaming service made for music, including official songs, albums, playlists and artist radio, plus YouTube’s catalog of remixes, live performances, covers and videos.

YouTube Music includes a revamped mobile app and new desktop player designed for music. YouTube Music’s personalized home screen adapts to provide recommendations based on people’s listening history, where they are and what they’re doing.

The new ad-supported version of YouTube Music is free, while YouTube Music Premium, a paid membership offering background listening, downloads and an ad-free experience, is $9.99/month. Google Play Music subscribers get a YouTube Music Premium membership as part of their subscription each month, but will also still be able to access all of their purchased music, uploads and playlists in Google Play Music as normal.

YouTube has plans to launch YouTube Premium, the new name for their YouTube Red subscription service, which includes ad-free, background and offline across all of YouTube, as well as access to all YouTube Originals. YouTube Premium will continue to provide an ad-free experience, background play, and downloads across the millions of videos on YouTube. But because it includes the new YouTube Music service, the price will be $11.99 for all new members. Current YouTube Red (soon to be YouTube Premium) members can still enjoy the current price.

On May 22, the You:Tube Music experience will launch not only in the U.S., but in Australia, New Zealand, Mexico and South Korea, with plans to launch later in Austria, Canada, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Ireland, Italy, Norway, Russia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, and the United Kingdom.

 

ole Announces Sale of CEO Stake, Robert Ott to Continue as CEO

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ole has announced its CEO and founder, Robert Ott, has sold his stake in the company to founding equity partner Ontario Teachers’ Pension Plan (Ontario Teachers’). Ott, a veteran of the music industry who founded ole in 2004, will continue to lead ole under a new term as CEO.

“This transaction underscores Ontario Teachers’ commitment to ole and concludes the process that ole ran last year to optimize its capital structure,” Ott said. “I am very pleased to continue to work with Ontario Teachers’ and to lead ole into a new era from the foundation of the great success story we’ve built together over these many years. ole is well-capitalized and is extremely well-positioned to lead and benefit from the disruption and globalization that our Industry is experiencing.”

The company currently operates out of eight offices in the U.S., UK and Canada, and is home to artists like Rush and Timbaland.

Ott added, “I am very excited about the new initiatives that we are working on and with this renewed commitment from Ontario Teachers’ and I look forward to an unprecedented era of growth.”

Ontario Teachers’ Senior Managing Director Ziad Hindo, Capital Markets, commented, “We look forward to the opportunity to further support the continued growth of an iconic, Canadian-based company with a proven track record like ole.”

ole has also been experiencing its most successful creative period with eight No. 1 songs on the US Country charts and top charting singles in the Pop and Urban space with artists such as Justin Timberlake and Sam Smith. The company is in diversified but complementary businesses in music publishing, recorded music labels, production music, a YouTube MCN and global rights management.

Music Biz 2018: Branding, A Case Study: Durango and Tyler Farr

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The Music Biz 2018 conference delved into artist and brand management during a panel discussion on Wednesday (May 16), as industry execs examined the newly-minted partnership between Durango boots and Tyler Farr. Paul Jankowski of New Heartland Group moderated the panel of VP & GM for Durango, Mike Fuller, and John Zarling, the EVP, Marketing & New Business at Sony Music Nashville.

Developing the Partnership

“For [Durango], Tyler just fits the brand’s persona so well. He lives the lifestyle, he hunts, he is a western-influenced guy and he relates really well with our customer base. We had an opportunity to elevate both brands,” Fuller said.

Zarling echoed, “When you have an artist and a brand that so naturally tie together where it is already a part of [Farr’s] everyday life, it is a really easy discussion to say ‘Do you want to be involved in a deeper way?’. I think the music part took it to another level.”

Jankowski added, “When we are approached by brands to find artists, there are several criteria we look at. Number one is ‘What is their social influence, and how do we leverage their influence?’ Key take away two: for both parties in this deal, it brought them into non-traditional space. Durango to music and Tyler to 150 boot/western stores. Number three is measurability and that is through sales.”

Creating Content

Farr recently released an exclusive five-song EP presented by Durango. It features three of Farr’s previous No. 1 hits and two new tracks. The CD is a free gift with purchase(GWP) both online and in-store through May 31.

“From a label side anytime we look at partnerships,” Zarling commented, “we certainly want music, if not front and center to the marketing campaign. This [CD] serves as a great bridge between projects for Tyler where the two tracks that had not been released will be on his upcoming full length [album]. For us, it was a great way to seed interests into the next record. You have to be living under a rock to realize that the opportunity for exposing [CDs] is going away. When we have a partner like Durango that can get us into non-traditional places across their network, it’s appealing. Especially in country, we do still have a fanbase that is buying physical.”

Structure of the Deal

Going further than the CD, Fuller goes into detail about their role in the partnership. “We have a landing page devoted to Tyler Farr,” says Fuller. “We created a back-end merchandising store for Tyler called, Tyler’s Picks. What is key about that is a revenue-based share for Tyler on what he sells through the website. We are utilizing his Facebook page and cross-marketing that with ours. This whole thing creates an emotional connection with our consumers and that is the goal.”

 

Round Hill Music, Moraine Music Group Sign SHEL

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Pictured (L-R): Dianna Maher, President, Moraine Music Group; Sarah Holbrook, Hannah
Holbrook, Eva Holbrook, Liza Holbrook; Mark Brown, Senior Vice President, General
Manager, Round Hill Music Nashville; Amanda Hruska, Senior Director,
Administration, Round Hill Music Nashville

Round Hill Music has signed SHEL to a joint venture with Moraine Music Group.

The indie/folk band from Fort Collins, Colorado, includes four sisters – Sarah, Hannah, Eva, and Liza Holbrook, whose names form the acronym SHEL.

“I fell in love with them the first time I heard them,” said Round Hill Music Nashville SVP/GM Mark Brown. “I think they are so incredibly talented. I am very excited to be in business with SHEL.”

SHEL are also Music Ambassadors at this year’s Nashville Film Festival, which included an opening night performance at 3rd & Lindsley.

“SHEL and everyone at Moraine are excited to be partnering with the team at Round Hill Music,” said Moraine Music Group President Dianna Maher. “It’s great to be involved with such a forward thinking group of music lovers!”

ACM Industry And Studio Recording Award Nominees Announced

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The Academy of Country Music has revealed the Industry Award and Studio Recording Award nominees for the 53rd Academy Of Country Music Awards. The Industry Award, Studio Recording Award and the previously announced Special Award winners will be honored during the 12th Annual ACM Honors, an evening dedicated to recognizing the special honorees and off-camera category winners from the 53rd ACM Awards.

ACM Honors will take place on Wednesday, Aug. 22, 2018 at the Ryman Auditorium in Nashville. The event is open to the public, and ticket on-sale information is forthcoming. The Academy of Country Music Industry Awards are voted on by all professional members of the Academy. The Studio Recording Awards are voted on by professional members of the Academy classified in the artist-entertainer/musician-bandleader-instrumentalist categories and the producer-engineer-studio manager sub-category.

For ticket information, visit ACMcountry.com to sign up for the ACM A-List, the Academy’s fan newsletter. Recipients will be given a pre-sale code for ACM Honors tickets this summer in advance of the general public on-sale date.

INDUSTRY AWARD NOMINEES:
NIGHTCLUB OF THE YEAR
Cotton Eyed ­Joe ­– Knoxville, TN
Dusty Armadillo – Rootstown, OH
Keg’s Canalside Events Center – Jordan, NY
Moonshine Flats – San Diego, CA
Stoney’s Rockin’ Country – Las Vegas, NV

CASINO OF THE YEAR – SMALL CAPACITY
Harrah’s Cherokee Casino Resort Event Center ­– Cherokee, NC
Hard Rock Hotel & Casino – Tulsa, OK
The Show At Agua Caliente Casino – Rancho Mirage, CA
Soaring Eagle Casino & Resort – Mount Pleasant, MI
The Venetian Resort Hotel Casino – Las Vegas, NV

CASINO OF THE YEAR – MEDIUM CAPACITY
Casino Rama Entertainment Centre – Rama, ON
Choctaw Casino Resort (Grand Theater) – Durant, OK
MGM Grand Garden Arena – Las Vegas, NV
Mohegan Sun Arena – Uncasville, CT
WinStar Global Events Center – Thackerville, OK

VENUE OF THE YEAR – SMALL CAPACITY
Aura – Portland, ME
The Georgia Theater – Athens, GA
Iron City – Birmingham, AL
Penn’s Peak – Jim Thorpe, PA
Starland Ballroom – Sayreville, NJ

VENUE OF THE YEAR – MEDIUM CAPACITY
The Bank Of New Hampshire Pavilion – Gilford, NH
Denny Sanford Premier Center – Sioux Falls, SD
The Greek Theater – Los Angeles, CA
The Wharf Amphitheater – Orange Beach, AL
Whitewater On The Horseshoe – New Braunfels, TX

VENUE OF THE YEAR – LARGE CAPACITY
BOK Center – Tulsa, OK
The Budweiser Stage – Toronto, ON
The Forum – Inglewood, CA
Hollywood Casino Amphitheater – Tinley Park, IL
Shoreline Amphitheater – Mountain View, CA

FESTIVAL OF THE YEAR
Country Concert – Ft, Loramie, OH
Country Thunder – Florence, AZ
Faster Horses – Brooklyn, MI
WE Fest – Detroit Lakes, MN
Windy City Smoke Out – Chicago, IL

DON ROMEO TALENT BUYER OF THE YEAR
Billy Brill – Billy Alan Productions
Amy Bryan – REACH, LLC
Nina Rojas – Neste Marketing Events
R. J. Romeo – Romeo Entertainment Group
Billy Truitt – Peppermill Casino

PROMOTER OF THE YEAR
Allen Anders – AEG Live
Ben Farrell – Lon Varnell Enterprises
Charlie Goldstone – Frank Productions
Ali Harnell – AEG Presents
Brian O’Connell – Live Nation

STUDIO RECORDING AWARD NOMINEES:
BASS PLAYER OF THE YEAR
Brian Allen
Joeie Canady
JT Cure
Tully Kennedy
Jimmie Lee Sloas

DRUMMER OF THE YEAR
Chad Cromwell
Fred Eltringham
Derek Mixon
Aaron Sterling
Jerry Roe
Lonnie Wilson

GUITAR PLAYER OF THE YEAR
Dave Cobb
Rob McNelley
Adam Shoenfeld
Ilya Toshinskiy
Derek Wells

PIANO/KEYBOARDS PLAYER OF THE YEAR
Jim ‘Moose’ Brown
Charlie Judge
Gordon Mote
Matt Rollings
Michael Rojas

SPECIALTY INSTRUMENT(S) PLAYER OF THE YEAR
Carl Miner
Danny Rader
Mickey Raphael
Bryan Sutton
Derek Wells

STEEL GUITAR PLAYER OF THE YEAR
Paul Franklin
Mike Johnson
Russ Pahl
Justin Schipper
Robbie Turner

AUDIO ENGINEER OF THE YEAR
Adam Ayan
Tony Castle
Peter Coleman
Jim Cooley
Justin Niebank
Vance Powell

PRODUCER OF THE YEAR
busbee
Buddy Cannon
Dave Cobb
Dann Huff
Michael Knox

‘Woman Walk The Line’ Earns Belmont Book Award

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Woman Walk The Line: How The Women of Country Music Changed Our Lives, edited by Holly Gleason, has won this year’s Belmont Book Award. The honor will be presented to Gleason on June 1 during the International Country Music Conference held annually at Belmont University, the conference is the foremost academic gathering devoted to country, roots and bluegrass music in the nation.

“I was startled and thrilled for all of the writers and the artists they celebrated,” Gleason said of the news. “I know how academically accomplished those judges are, and it speaks volumes about the work each of these women did. How music impacts a life, changes a person or even empowers an individual is something we don’t pay enough attention to. At a time when #MeToo and TimesUp matters, this book – and the response to it — is proof that positive women do listen to women’s art, and find within that art a sense of strength, comfort, inspiration and validation. What’s amazing is how many men did, too.”

Gleason will be part of a panel in late July in Cleveland as part of the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame’s Author Series, and will also appear on an as yet determined panel at the Country Music Hall of Fame this summer. She has also appeared at the Southern Festival of Books, the Miami Book Fair, and a South by Southwest panel.

Black River Entertainment Names Derek Anderson As Director, Revenue & Streaming

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Black River Entertainment has named Derek Anderson as the Director of Revenue and Streaming. In this newly created position, Anderson will oversee all aspects of sales, streaming and new media for Black River Entertainment.

“I’m incredibly excited to be working with the exceptional team at Black River and this growing roster,” says Anderson. “Having followed their meteoric rise from afar and having most recently serviced as liaison to the label at The Orchard, I’m very much looking forward to building on a great foundation and continuing to grow personally and collectively with the BRE team.”

Black River Entertainment EVP Rick Froio adds, “We are thrilled to welcome Derek to our Black River family. His knowledge of the digital/streaming space will prove to be a valuable asset for our company and artists.”

Originally from Weston, Connecticut, Anderson spent seven years in New York and made the move to Nashville in January of this year. Prior to joining the team at Black River, Anderson was a part of the Label Management team at RED Distribution, Kobalt Music’s AWAL platform, and most recently at The Orchard’s Nashville office. A graduate of Boston’s Berklee College of Music Anderson majored in Music Business/Management and studied drum set proficiency.

Anderson can be reached at derek.anderson@blackriverent.com and at 615-780-3070.

iHeartMedia Launches Digital Attribution Program For Broadcast Radio

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iHeartMedia has launched iHeartMedia Analytics, a fully-digital attribution service for broadcast radio.

By leveraging the data from iHeartRadio’s digital ecosystem, iHeartMedia will enable broadcast radio to measure and show results in the same way as digital media, giving advertisers easy access to state-of-the-art campaign performance insights.

These new capabilities will allow advertisers to track audience reach, branding metrics and even sales outcomes for iHeartMedia radio ad campaigns in real-time by using data science to fuse information about its digital audience, with broadcast ad logs, on-air programming and commercial content. Advertisers will also have the ability to measure a radio campaign’s impact on a brand’s website visitation, social media engagement, physical foot traffic and more.

“We continue to see advertisers spend money on less effective mediums simply because they provide a perceived level of measurability and accountability,” said Brian Kaminsky, President of Revenue Operations and Insights for iHeartMedia. “Now marketers will be able to capitalize on the unmatched scale and reach of iHeartMedia’s more than 270 million monthly broadcast listeners, and receive the same kind of innovative real-time measurements, insights and custom reporting they are accustomed to getting from digital media, quantifying the full power of radio — in addition they can get attribution information that is missing from most of the digital marketplace.”

iHeartMedia Analytics is part of the company’s ongoing focus to assist brands and marketers in targeting consumers across it’s quarter of a billion monthly broadcast listeners. iHeartMedia Analytics is the latest addition to the company’s marketing optimization tools including SoundPoint (programmatic real-time radio ad buying platform) and the recently introduced SmartAudio, which enables advertisers to do impression-based audience planning and dynamic radio ad creative that utilizes real-time triggers such as weather, pollen counts, sports scores, mortgage rates and more to deploy different campaign messages based on what is happening in a specific market at a specific moment. SmartAudio has allowed brands to use broadcast radio ads to dynamically serve the most relevant message in each market, at each moment, just as they do with digital campaigns to ensure increased relevance and impact.