Americans Are Radio “Button Pushers”
The average American user of AM/FM radio switches the station 22 times during a commute, while those using other platforms switch an average of 9.3 times per commute, according to Edison Research’s national survey titled “Hacking The Commuter Code.”
The survey included 1,117 adults ages 18+ who are employed full-time or part-time, and who commute 20 minutes or more daily and listen to any type of radio, including terrestrial radio, Streaming Internet Radio, CDs, digital audio files/MP3s, satellite radio, etc.
The study also found that 21 percent of users are categorized as “The Restless,” or those who switch stations constantly. Some 52 percent (“The Seekers”) switch stations occasionally during a commute, while 27 percent (“The Keepers”) mostly stick to one station.
Voting Schedule Released For IBMA
The International Bluegrass Music Association (IBMA) Awards has released the voting schedule for the upcoming IBMA Awards show, which will be held Sept. 29 in Raleigh, N.C. To be eligible for voting on Ballot 1, IBMA membership must be confirmed or renewed by April 11 at 10 a.m.
2016 Ballot Schedule
Ballot 1: Apr. 15-Apri 30. Professional members establish a pool of candidates that will shape the remaining two ballots. Any entry that meets the awards criteria and receives a minimum of 10 unique write-ins for a given category will qualify as a candidate and be listed on ballot 2.
Ballot 2: June 15-June 30. Sets forth a list of candidates from which you will select the five final nominees. The top 5 vote recipients in each category become the final nominees that will appear on the third ballot.
Ballot 3: Aug, 1-Aug, 15. Includes five nominees for each category from which you will choose a single winner.
Music Row History Panel Set For Belmont University
Belmont University and the Metro Historical Commission will host a panel titled “A History of Music Row” on Mon., April 18 at 5:30 p.m. in the Johnson Building at Belmont. Panelists for the event will be Bobby Braddock, author of A Life on Music Row and a member of the Country Music Hall of Fame; Michael Kosser, author of How Nashville Became Music City U.S.A. and Brenda Colladay, former curator at the Grand Ole Opry and Ryman. Emcee for the event will be Don Cusic, Curb Professor of Music Industry History at Belmont and a member of the Metro Historical Commission.
The event is free and open to the public and will be held in the large theater on the first floor of the Johnson Building, located at 1909 15th Ave. S. Parking is available in the Johnson parking garage.
Grammy Foundation Grant Given To MTSU’s Center for Popular Music For Bluegrass Music Archival
MTSU’s Center for Popular Music has been named as the recipient for another national grant from the Grammy Foundation, to digitize an extensive live bluegrass audio collection from music supporter Marvin Hedrick. Hedrick died in 1973. His sons Gary and David donated 167 open-reel tapes as well as other sound recordings and photographs to the Center last year for preservation and archiving.
The $19,537 grant will allow the center to “catalog, preserve, digitize and disseminate the tapes and their contents via a dedicated website and the center’s documentary label, Spring Fed Records,” foundation officials said. “The Marvin Hedrick Audio Collection is one of the most historically and culturally significant collections of live bluegrass recordings in existence.”
The Center for Popular Music received a similar Grammy Foundation grant in 2013 to organize and archive 3,850 cassette and open-reel tapes of music, oral histories and field recordings of Dr. Charles Wolfe, an MTSU English professor who captured musical and interview audio from hundreds of country, blues and bluegrass music practitioners over four decades.
Keith Urban’s ‘Ripcord’ Features Carrie Underwood, Pitbull
/by Jessica NicholsonKeith Urban collaborates with both rapper Pitbull and country star Carrie Underwood on his upcoming May 6 release, Ripcord.
“Sun Don’t Let Me Down,” co-produced by Nile Rodgers, busbee and Urban, “was basically finished,” said Urban. “But there was this musical breakdown about half-way into the song that we were going to leave, and then I heard this Pitbull song. I’ve always loved his vocal style and swagger, and in that moment I could hear his voice in the breakdown of the song. So I called Nile (Rodgers) and asked him if he could send the song to Pitbull. Thankfully he felt it, spat out a verse, and it was the most incredible feeling hearing him on the track for the first time. It suited the spirit of the song.”
Underwood contributed her vocals to another busbee/Urban collaboration, “The Fighter.”
“Carrie and I toured together a few years ago and every night we’d do a song together,” said Urban. “I’ve always loved singing with her. We had written this song, “The Fighter,” that needed a female voice and Carrie’s voice immediately came to mind. I can’t wait for people to hear it – and hope that we get to do it live.”
Ripcord pre-orders are currently available at iTunes and Amazon.
Urban launches his “ripCORD World Tour 2016” with Brett Eldredge and special guest Maren Morris on June 2 in Kansas City and thus far will play more than 50 shows in amphitheaters and arenas through the U.S.
Ripcord Track Listing
1. Gone Tomorrow (Here Today)
2. John Cougar, John Deere, John 3:16
3. Wasted Time
4. Habit Of You
5. Sun Don’t Let Me Down (featuring Pitbull)
6. Getting’ In The Way
7. Blue Ain’t Your Color
8. The Fighter (featuring Carrie Underwood)
9. Break On Me
10. Boy Gets A Truck
11. Your Body
12. That Could Still Be Us
13. Worry ‘Bout Nothin’
Martina McBride, JD Souther Slated For Grammy Salute To Music Legends
/by Jessica NicholsonMartina McBride. Photo: Joseph Llanes
Martina McBride and JD Souther are among the first round of performers announced for the Grammy Salute To Music Legends, slated for Saturday, April 23 at Dolby Theatre in Los Angeles. The awards will honor the The Recording Academy’s Special Merit Awards recipients for 2016.
This year’s Lifetime Achievement Award honorees are Ruth Brown, Celia Cruz, Earth, Wind & Fire, Herbie Hancock, Jefferson Airplane, Linda Ronstadt, and RUN DMC. John Cage, Fred Foster, and Chris Strachwitz are Trustees Award honorees; and EMT and Dr. Harvey Fletcher are Technical Grammy® Award recipients. Also being honored is Phillip Riggs, this year’s recipient of the Music Educator Award.
Other performers include Lila Downs; Earth, Wind & Fire; Andy Garcia and the CineSon All Stars, and Lucrecia.
JD Souther
A salute to 10-time Grammy winner Ronstadt will feature pop, country, and Latin musical offerings from Lila Downs, Martina McBride and JD Souther.
Paying tribute to three-time Grammy winner and four-time Latin Grammy winner Celia Cruz — internationally known as the “Queen Of Salsa” — are Latin GRAMMY nominee Lucrecia and GRAMMY and Latin GRAMMY winner Andy García, who will bring his Cuban musical group, Andy Garcia And The CineSon All Stars, to the stage.
Honorees and six-time GRAMMY winners Earth, Wind & Fire, one of the most important and innovative musical forces influencing music and popular culture across generations, are set to give what will be a roof-raising performance.
The event, featuring rare performances by honorees and never-before-seen renditions by those they’ve inspired, is produced in partnership with THIRTEEN as part of the “Great Performances” series on PBS, set to air later this year.
Weekly Chart Report (4/8/16)
/by Troy_StephensonClick here or above to access MusicRow‘s weekly CountryBreakout Report.
Tin Pan South 2016: Night 2
/by Jessica NicholsonPictured (L-R): Chris Wallin, Amanda Weeks-Geveden of Regions Bank, Don Sampson, Lisa Harless of Regions Bank, and Tony Arata at the Wednesday Bluebird Cafe early show.
The talk at most of the shows around town during Tin Pan South last night (Wednesday, April 6) was the passing of country legend Merle Haggard, and The Listening Room early show opened with Joe Denim, Jack Ingram, Ray Scott and Natalie Stovall singing “Are The Good Times Really Over.” Lee Roy Parnell, a friend of Haggard’s, teared up when he opened his Station Inn round with “That’s The Way Love Goes.” Jim Collins performed a touching tribute, and many of the writers relayed stories about The Hag and his influence on their songwriting.
Kelsea Ballerini, who led a sold-out show at The Listening Room Tuesday night, returned last night to sing with Dave Barnes and crew. The ASCAP early show with JT Harding, Tracy Lawrence, Hunter Phelps and Trent Willmon at The Hard Rock Café was standing room only, as were both Douglas Corner shows.
Pictured (L-R): Robert Filhart, ASCAP; JT Harding; Trent Willmon; Tracy Lawrence; Hunter Phelps; Rick Huckaby; Michael Martin, ASCAP.
The Bluebird Café saw two sell-outs with Tony Arata, Larry Cordle, Don Sampson and Chris Wallin at the early show and Mac Davis, Scotty Emerick, Leslie Satcher and Bobby Tomberlin at the BMI late show. The packed out room enjoyed many hits by some of country music’s most prolific writers. BMI writer Even Stevens and ASCAP writer Allen Shamblin were also featured as guest performers, hopping up from the crowd to join the round.
During a shoulder-to-shoulder late show at The Country, a new venue near Centennial Park, the round featured Matraca Berg, Brent Cobb, Andrew Combs and Waylon Payne.
Tin Pan South official airline sponsor Southwest Airlines shocked one patron at The Country’s early show last night when attendee Jennifer Alexander won two roundtrip tickets to the Southwest destination of her choice. In a program dubbed “Surprise and Delight,” the airline is set to bring joy to Tin Pan attendees throughout the week.
Friday Night Note: Sonia Leigh has been to the 3rd & Lindsley early show on Friday (April 8) with Granville Automatic, Travis Meadows and Angaleena Pressley.
Pictured (L-R), Standing: BMI songwriter Scotty Emerick, BMI’s Phil Graham, Jody Williams and Bradley Collins, BMI songwriter Bobby Tomberlin. Seated: BMI songwriters Leslie Satcher and Mac Davis.
Tracy Lawrence performed at The Hard Rock Cafe early show with JT Harding, Hunter Phelps and Trent Willmon Wednesday night.
Michael Ray (center) performed at the Hard Rock Cafe late show Wednesday with Jaron Boyer, Jeffrey East and Michael Tyler.
Pictured (L-R): Jordan Reynolds, Dave Barnes, Jim Collins and Wendell Mobley performed at The Listening Room Cafe late show Wednesday evening.
Artist Updates: Lera Lynn, Tegan Marie, Brandy Clark
/by Jessica NicholsonBMI Celebrates Lera Lynn’s New Album, Resistor
Pictured (L-R): Perry Howard, BMI; Joshua Grange, co-producer; Lera Lynn; Lauren Branson, BMI; Jody Williams, BMI
BMI hosted a party for Nashville singer-songwriter Lera Lynn, who will be self-releasing her new album, Resistor, on April 29. Lynn wrote all 10 songs for the independent project, which was co-produced by Joshua Grange. In 2015, Lynn appeared as a barroom singer in HBO’s True Detective and contributed a handful of songs to the show’s soundtrack.
Tegan Marie, 12, Releasing New Single
Tegan Marie will open a show for Hunter Hayes in May in Orlando, Florida. She was discovered through her cover versions of hit country songs, including Kelsea Ballerini’s “Love Me Like You Mean It.” Ballerini and Tegan Marie later filmed a video of them performing it together. Tegan Marie’s 2015 holiday single, “A Christmas Tree,” was featured on SiriusXM, Radio Disney, Pandora, and more.
Brandy Clark Featured In ACM Sessions
Brandy Clark
The Academy of Country Music and CBS Digital Media currently features Brandy Clark in a new episode of online concert series, ACM Sessions, presented by RAM Trucks. The series has welcomed artists including Old Dominion, Chris Young, Luke Bryan, Brett Eldredge and Justin Moore for on-demand performances and Q&A sessions hosted by ACM’s Lisa Lee. Clark’s ACM Sessions performance is now available on-demand exclusively on CBS.com and CBS Audience Network partner sites.
Clark’s ACM Sessions features “Girl Next Door,” the first single off of her sophomore album, Big Day in a Small Town, due out June 10.
Industry Ink: Edison Research, IBMA, Belmont University, MTSU
/by Jessica NicholsonAmericans Are Radio “Button Pushers”
The survey included 1,117 adults ages 18+ who are employed full-time or part-time, and who commute 20 minutes or more daily and listen to any type of radio, including terrestrial radio, Streaming Internet Radio, CDs, digital audio files/MP3s, satellite radio, etc.
The study also found that 21 percent of users are categorized as “The Restless,” or those who switch stations constantly. Some 52 percent (“The Seekers”) switch stations occasionally during a commute, while 27 percent (“The Keepers”) mostly stick to one station.
Voting Schedule Released For IBMA
2016 Ballot Schedule
Ballot 1: Apr. 15-Apri 30. Professional members establish a pool of candidates that will shape the remaining two ballots. Any entry that meets the awards criteria and receives a minimum of 10 unique write-ins for a given category will qualify as a candidate and be listed on ballot 2.
Ballot 2: June 15-June 30. Sets forth a list of candidates from which you will select the five final nominees. The top 5 vote recipients in each category become the final nominees that will appear on the third ballot.
Ballot 3: Aug, 1-Aug, 15. Includes five nominees for each category from which you will choose a single winner.
Music Row History Panel Set For Belmont University
The event is free and open to the public and will be held in the large theater on the first floor of the Johnson Building, located at 1909 15th Ave. S. Parking is available in the Johnson parking garage.
Grammy Foundation Grant Given To MTSU’s Center for Popular Music For Bluegrass Music Archival
The $19,537 grant will allow the center to “catalog, preserve, digitize and disseminate the tapes and their contents via a dedicated website and the center’s documentary label, Spring Fed Records,” foundation officials said. “The Marvin Hedrick Audio Collection is one of the most historically and culturally significant collections of live bluegrass recordings in existence.”
The Center for Popular Music received a similar Grammy Foundation grant in 2013 to organize and archive 3,850 cassette and open-reel tapes of music, oral histories and field recordings of Dr. Charles Wolfe, an MTSU English professor who captured musical and interview audio from hundreds of country, blues and bluegrass music practitioners over four decades.
Kree Harrison Plans Debut Album On Nashville’s Plaid Flag Music
/by Craig_ShelburneKree Harrison
Kree Harrison will release her debut album on Nashville-based Plaid Flag Music in mid-2016. The first single, “This Old Thing,” is now available on iTunes and streaming services.
A 2013 runner-up on American Idol, Harrison is scheduled to appear on the series finale on Thursday night (April 7). She has lived in Nashville since 2002, after her family relocated from Woodville, Texas. As a 10-year-old child, she signed a development deal with Lyric Street Records, but no music was released. She has pursued a music career, particularly as a songwriter, since that time. She has also sung on albums by Kacey Musgraves and Eli Young Band.
Harrison signed publishing and recording contracts with Plaid Flag Music in 2015. In early December, she recorded at Echo Mountain Recording Studio in Asheville, North Carolina. Harrison worked closely with the Plaid Flag team and writer Benjy Davis to complete the project. Davis teamed up with Jordan Lehning to co-produce the album.
“After years of living in Nashville, being inspired, learning, trying to figure out my own journey, I’m proud to say, I know now I’ve made the record when and how I was supposed to. I’m so excited to share it with everyone!” said Harrison.
“Kree is a true talent and has one of the top and most anticipated voices in music today,” said T.J. Johnson, Executive Director of Plaid Flag Music. “We are so proud of this album. It captures her voice as is—honest, raw and audibly stunning.”
Plaid Flag Music, established in February 2014, is a Nashville-based company specializing in writing and publishing with an in-house studio and engineer. Plaid Flag Records was formed in 2015 and signed Harrison as their first talent.
Harrison is booked by Buddy Lee Attractions.
Trevor Donovan Cast As Eddy Arnold In CMT Series
/by Craig_ShelburneTrevor Donovan
Trevor Donovan has been cast as Eddy Arnold in the upcoming CMT series, Million Dollar Quartet (working title). Production began this week in Memphis, and the series is slated to premiere in November. Donovan’s acting credits 90210, Melissa & Joey and Days of Our Lives,
A period drama inspired by the Tony Award-winning musical, Million Dollar Quartet, the eight-episode CMT series is timed to the historic 60th anniversary of the famous recording sessions featuring icons Elvis Presley, Johnny Cash, Jerry Lee Lewis and Carl Perkins. Presley and Arnold shared a manager, Colonel Tom Parker.
Donovan joins a cast including Chad Michael Murray (Sun Records founder Sam Phillips), Billy Gardell (Parker), Drake Milligan (Elvis Presley), Kevin Fonteyne (Johnny Cash), Christian Lees (Jerry Lee Lewis), Jonah Lees (Jimmy Swaggart), Keir O’Donnell (Dewey Phillips), Jennifer Holland (Sam Phillips’ wife Becky) and Margaret Anne Florence (Sam’s assistant Marion Keisker).
AIMP Nashville Awards Announce Nominees, Acoustic Performers
/by Jessica NicholsonIn keeping with the inclusive theme of the show, the evening’s performers will sing an acoustic version of a nominated song that is not their own. Kelsea Ballerini will perform Dierks Bentley’s “Say You Do,” Brandy Clark will sing Sam Hunt’s “Take Your Time,” Tyler Farr will offer a rendition of Randy Houser’s “We Went,” Maren Morris and Brothers Osborne will perform Chris Stapleton’s “Fire Away,” Old Dominion will give their take on Keith Urban’s “John Cougar, John Deere, John 3:16,” and Sam Hunt will perform Little Big Town’s “Girl Crush.”
The event is co-chaired by SMACKSong’s Michael McAnally Baum and Wrensong’s Ree Guyer Buchanan.
“We imagined a unique show for this very special event,” says McAnally Baum. “The artists all have strong connections to the independent music community and they all jumped at the idea of celebrating this incredible group of songs and our organization.”
Also to be presented is the Spotify ‘Country Top Spot’ award for the most-streamed country song.
Nominees For the AIMP Nashville Awards:
AIMP SONG OF THE YEAR
“Fire Away” written by Danny Green and Chris Stapleton
“Girl Crush” written by Hillary Lindsey, Lori McKenna and Liz Rose
“John Cougar, John Deere, John 3:16” written by Ross Copperman, Shane McAnally and Josh Osborne
“Say You Do” written by Shane McAnally, Matthew Ramsey and Trevor Rosen
“Take Your Time” written by Sam Hunt, Shane McAnally and Josh Osborne
“We Went” written by John King, Matt Rogers and Justin Wilson
AIMP INDEPENDENT PUBLISHER OF THE YEAR
Big Deal Music
Big Loud Shirt
Black River Publishing
Combustion Music
Creative Nation
SMACKSongs
AIMP INDEPENDENT SONGWRITER OF THE YEAR
Ashley Gorley
Hillary Lindsey
Josh Osborne
Luke Laird
Shane McAnally
Zach Crowell
AIMP ARTIST-WRITER OF THE YEAR
Brandy Clark
Kacey Musgraves
Kelsea Ballerini
Old Dominion
Sam Hunt
Tyler Farr
AIMP RISING INDEPENDENT SONGWRITER OF THE YEAR
Brad Tursi
Brothers Osborne
Kelsea Ballerini
Maren Morris
Matt Rogers
Tommy Cecil
AIMP SONG CHAMPION OF THE YEAR
Ben Strain
Chris DuBois
Courtney Crist
Jody Williams
Robin Palmer
Whitney Daane
Project Music Accelerator Hosts Open House, Teams With CMA And Music Biz
/by Jessica NicholsonThis year’s Project Music Accelerator participants received early feedback from Nashville’s entrepreneur and investor community at Wednesday night’s (April 6) Investor Open House at the Nashville Entrepreneur Center. The open house is part of a 16-week accelerator program that takes entrepreneurs through immersive curriculum and fine-tuning their model and message.
“These are the innovators empowering the next wave in the music industry,” said Bill Brennan, a Nashville-based entrepreneur, investor and mentor who attended the event. “It’s exciting to be a part of it!”
The official Accelerator’s Startup Showcase will take place on Mon., May 16, at 4 p.m. at the CMA Theater in the Country Music Hall of Fame. It will be held in cooperation with the Music Business Association’s upcoming Music Biz Convention, held May 16-18 at the Renaissance Nashville Hotel. The Country Music Association (CMA) is this year’s title sponsor.
“CMA is delighted to once again be a part of the Project Music Showcase and to support these entrepreneurs that will present exciting new ideas to bring innovation to our music industry,” said Damon Whiteside, CMA Sr. VP of Marketing and Strategic Partnerships.
“We’re thrilled to be working with the CMA and the EC to give this year’s Project Music participants a chance to show off their products in front of some of the industry’s biggest influencers at Music Biz 2016,” said Robby Towns, Director of Digital Strategy & Community at Music Biz. “Innovative tech is the key to a prosperous future for music, and Project Music does fantastic work cultivating forward-thinking tech startups in Nashville. We’re so excited to cap off our Music Startup Academy with the Project Music finale.”
The showcase will be the closing session of the convention’s Music Startup Academy, which will teach attendees about topics including labels, publishing, business development, and content acquisition as well as provide venture capitalist, PR, and branding advice.
For information and to request an invitation to the May 16 Nashville Startup Showcase, please visit projectmusic.co/invest. These events are invitation-only.
Project Music is the Nashville Entrepreneur Center’s leading action to support innovation within the music industry by bringing music, tech and business leaders together to nurture startups companies.