MusicRow Chart Director Troy Stephenson and wife Amy welcomed son Charles Dale Stephenson on Oct. 17, 2014.  He joins big brother Henry to form the “Hank and Chuck Show.”
Stephenson facilitates the MusicRow CountryBreakout chart and Chart Report process each week, assists with advertising, and more.
The Albany, Wis. native received his Degree in Communications, Sales/Marketing from The University of Wisconsin-Platteville in 2003. He spent 10 years in radio promotions with stops in Madison, Wis., Miami, Fla. and Ft. Myers, Fla.

In a blog post yesterday, Pandora co-founder Tim Westergren announced the Artist Marketing Platform (AMP), designed to help artists and managers obtain more value from data provided by the internet radio giant. Pandora plays music from more than 125,000 artists. More than 12,000 of those artists have more than 100,000 Pandora listeners that have given feedback, which is now available to the artists in a visual-friendly format.
The Pandora AMP personal dashboard highlights key metrics for an artist’s tracks, stations and listeners. It breaks down an artist’s Pandora listeners by number of listeners and by demographics. The dashboard also provides information on how many fans have created a Pandora station based around them or a similar artist. It offers a tally of thumbs up or thumbs down an artist or particular song has received from listeners. Perhaps the most important tool available through AMP is the interactive heat map, which allows musicians to see where people are listening to their music on Pandora across the United States.
Performance can be viewed for the past seven, 30, or 90 days.
“With AMP, we hope to make the day in and day out easier for artists by eliminating the guesswork,” Westergren said. “From finding out what songs are performing well to inform singles or set lists, to mapping where an artist’s fan base is to inform tour schedules, our ultimate goal is to help artists across the spectrum build and maintain their careers.”
 
 

Applications are being accepted through Nov. 24 for Project Music, the first-ever, music business accelerator program. Nashville Entrepreneur Center and CMA are behind the program that will develop six to eight startups, with each receiving a $20,000 investment in exchange for equity. The 14-week bootcamp is expected to launch in early 2015.

The seed investment group founders for the accelerator are: Creative Artists Agency, Vector Management, Ryman Hospitality Properties, Universal Music Group, Spalding Entertainment, DevDigital, Red Light Management and Galante Entertainment.

Program mentors include Joe Galante, Michael Burcham, Heather McBee, Mark Montgomery, Ed Hardy, Matt Urmy, Damon Whiteside, Jeremy Holley and Sarah Trahern.
Details and application here.

Jason Aldean will be joined by legendary rocker Bob Seger for a new episode of CMT Crossroads.
Seger, who just released his first studio CD in eight years, Ride Out, notched the classic hits “Against The Wind,“ “Turn The Page,” “Night Moves,” “Hollywood Nights,” “Rock And Roll Never Forgets,” “Mainstreet,” and more.
Two-time ACM “Male Vocalist Of The Year” Aldean recently released his sixth studio album, Old Boots, New Dirt. The album’s lead single, “Burnin’ It Down” earned platinum certification in only nine weeks, making it the fastest selling single of 2014. He is currently headlining his monumental 2014 Burn It Down Tour, which saw him play five stadium dates in addition to sold out shows in the country’s biggest amphitheaters and arenas.
CMT Crossroads: Bob Seger and Jason Aldean will premiere on Friday, November 28 at 10:00 p.m. ET/PT on CMT.