Big Machine Label Group has added two members to its Sales, Marketing & Interactive (SMI) team – Director of Interactive Michael Sloane and Marketing Coordinator Braden Carney.
Sloane, an entertainment technology veteran, will facilitate the overall media strategy for BMLG’s web, mobile and ecommerce platforms. He will guide implementation and measurement of digital campaigns. Carney will also serve as support for the SMI team, splitting his duties between the department’s marketing efforts and assisting in the management and growth of digital properties.
Sloane comes from BubbleUp Interactive where he was Director of Sales and Marketing, managing the Nashville office. He has also worked at 13 Management, helping manage and develop digital initiatives for taylorswift.com. In addition, Sloane was founding partner at digital agency Strategic Blend and had stints as a Senior Client Manager at Ultrastar Entertainment and Echo Music. He will continue his adjunct duties teaching Branding and Digital Strategy at Belmont University, where he received an MBA in 2005.

Carney is a recent Communications graduate of University of Dayton. In 2011 and 2012, he held summer internships with various BMLG departments including promotions, publicity and marketing.
Sloane can be reached at (615) 324-7922 or via michael.sloane@bmlg.net. Carney can be reached at (615) 324-4527 or via braden.carney@bmlg.net.

In anticipation of Chris Stapleton’s debut Mercury Nashville album, produced by Tony Brown, Luke Wooten and Stapleton, MusicRow was treated to an acoustic performance of songs from the project on June 11, including the first single, “What Are You Listening To.”
Stapleton also performed “The Right Ones,” a cut he prefaced by noting that hit songs are usually either written about newborn babies or record executives. Additionally, he performed a heartfelt bluesy ballad titled “Sometimes I Cry,” and a rendition of his first No. 1 as a songwriter, “Why Don’t We Just Dance,” a Josh Turner cut.
Over time, a handful of truly gifted artists have played a part in defining Country music’s sense of self. Such can be said about the music Chris Stapleton has been producing for the past decade. He has spent time playing in the rock and roll band The Jompson Brothers and as has been the lead singer of the Grammy-nominated bluegrass group The Steeldrivers, which piqued the attention of Adele, who recorded the band’s “If It Hadn’t Been For Love.”
Additional songwriting credits include four No. 1 Country songs alongside roughly 170 album cuts from artists such as Tim McGraw, Brad Paisley and Alan Jackson. Stapleton’s chart-topping hits include songs recorded by George Strait (“Love’s Gonna Make It Alright”), Kenny Chesney (“Never Wanted Nothing More”), Darius Rucker (“Come Back Song”) and Josh Turner (“Your Man”). With these credentials, Stapleton not only contributes to Music City’s magnetic energy, but continues to establish himself as part of the integral structure providing its soundness.
Stapleton recently made his solo debut during Nashville’s CMA Music Festival, including an invitation-only industry gathering at the GreenRoom PR’s swanky new office in the Cannery complex. Over this past weekend, he played Bonnaroo music and arts festival in Manchester, Tenn., as one of a select number of musicians to play both Tennessee festivals. He has also just been invited to join Miranda Lambert and Dierks Bentley during the fall leg of the Locked and Reloaded Tour, starting Oct. 10 in Lincoln, Neb.
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