Florida Georgia Line

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Craig Morgan

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Scotty McCreery‘s recent fundraising concert at the Toyota Oakdale in Wallingford, Conn. raised $60,000 for the 12.14 Foundation. The organization’s long-term goal is to build a special center to house multi-disciplinary educational programs focused on helping children, including a performing arts center, which will be based in Newtown, Conn., but its doors will be open to benefit people nationwide.
The center will honor those lost during the school shooting in Newtown, Conn., on Dec. 14, 2012, while providing a venue that supports many forms of healing.

Pictured (L-R): Jay Winuck, 12.14 Foundation Board Member; Scotty McCreery; and Michael Baroody, MD, 12.14 Foundation Founder.
Photo: Judy McCreery

In November 2014, the Recording Industry Association of America awarded certifications for 10 multi-platinum singles, 17 platinum singles, 18 gold singles, three platinum albums, and seven gold albums.
Among those with Nashville ties are Jason Aldean and Keith Urban, who were both honored with gold albums. Scotty McCreery, Dierks Bentley, Brantley Gilbert, Chase Rice, and Blake Shelton all garnered platinum single certifications.
Taylor Swift‘s Grammy-nominated single “Shake It Off” earned a 4x platinum certification from the RIAA.
Below is a list of Country, Nashville-related pop and CCM honorees:
Gold Albums
Old Boots, New Dirt, Jason Aldean
Fuse, Keith Urban
Multiplatinum Single
“Shake It Off,” Taylor Swift, 4x platinum
Platinum Singles
“I Hold On,” Dierks Bentley
“Kick It In The Sticks,” Brantley Gilbert
“See You Tonight,” Scotty McCreery
“The Trouble With Girls,” Scotty McCreery
“I Love You This Big,” Scotty McCreery
“Ready Set Roll,” Chase Rice
“Mine Would Be You,” Blake Shelton
Gold Singles
“Day Drinking,” Little Big Town
“Girl In A Country Song,” Maddie & Tae
“Overcomer,” Mandisa
“Ready Set Roll,” Chase Rice
“Mine Would Be You,” Blake Shelton
“Blank Space,” Taylor Swift

Billboard  has released its list of the top 50 Women in Music for 2014, of which three executives are stationed in Nashville (profiles below). Many of the other top industry players have ties to Music City. Taylor Swift was named Billboard’s 2014 Woman of the Year, marking her second time to receive a Billboard Woman of the Year honor (she also earned the award in 2011).

“Every facet of the wide world of music is represented in our list of profiles, from television networks to law firms, agencies to labels, streaming strategists and public radio producers,” notes the magazine in its report.

Sandi Spika Borchetta­–Senior VP Creative, Big Machine Label Group–received inclusion for her work with the label group’s artists, including Tim McGraw’s text and drive music video, “Highway Don’t Care,” which won both a CMA (2013) and ACM Award (2014).
Mary Ann McCready–President, Flood, Bumstead, McCready & McCarthy–was noted for her business and financial management firm, which serves artists including Blake Shelton, Miranda Lambert and Keith Urban.
Ali Harnell–Senior VP, AEG Live/The Messina Group–produced more than 150 annual shows heading the concert promotion company’s Southeast territory while also extending internationally to London and Dublin for the Country2Country Music Festival.

Martha Henderson–Executive VP/manager entertainment division, City National Bank–nearly all of the Hollywood Reporter’s 25 most powerful entertainment industry business managers are City National Bank clients. She manages a staff of nearly 200, overseeing $4.5+ billion in loans and $8 billion in deposits for clients including The Spirit Music Group and the Country Music Hall of Fame.
For the complete list, click here.

Author and MusicRow founder David Ross has released a new book, The Digital Solution: A Plan For Collecting and Distributing Streaming Music Royalties, via BossRoss Media.
According to press materials, “The Digital Solution offers a bold plan based upon the realization that music in the digital age has become a public good. The internet cannot be locked up or controlled. Therefore, the best way to insure that creators are fairly compensated is to ask all internet users to pay a small amount, thereby creating a large pool of money from which to fairly compensate those who contribute to the well being of our society and its cultural harmony. Precedents for this idea already exist in the cable TV world where people pay monthly fees for sporting events whether they watch them or not. The Digital Solution explains how these funds could be collected using Internet Service Providers as a toll booth, and distributed according to popularity and usage.”
The Digital Solution: A Plan for Collecting and Distributing Streaming Music Royalties is available now via amazon.com.
Born and raised in Boston, MA., David M. Ross graduated from the University of Pennsylvania Wharton School with a B.S. in Economics and later attended the Berklee College of Music, majoring in arranging. After spending ten years on the road as a professional musician, Ross traveled to Nashville and in April 1981 founded MusicRow magazine which he sold in 2008 after a successful 30-year reign as Publisher/CEO. During his time at MusicRow he pioneered and refined many of the email/social media marketing techniques revealed in his first book, Secrets Of The List. One of country music’s most-read industry analysts, Ross continues to cover the intersection between Nashville’s entertainment business and technology on www.Nekst.biz, a blog about “Music And The Technology It Powers.” Currently Ross serves on the Board of Directors of The Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum and the Country Music Association. He received the CMA President’s Award for Outstanding Service in 1998 and the Canadian Country Music Association’s prestigious Leonard T. Rambeau Award for International Achievement in 2003.