Graph Search will appear as a bigger search bar at the top of each page. Users can create custom views of the results by changing the titles.
Facebook announced a new search tool yesterday (Jan. 16) called Graph Search. Built for use within the extremely popular social site, Graph Search is designed to keep users on Facebook, instead of going to other sites to seek information.
According to Facebook, “With Graph Search you combine phrases (for example: “my friends in New York who like Jay-Z”) to get that set of people, places, photos or other content that’s been shared on Facebook. It makes finding new things much easier, but [for privacy reasons] you can only see what you could already view elsewhere on Facebook.”
At present, Graph Search will mine users’ pictures, likes and check-ins, but not status updates. The first version of Graph Search focuses on four main areas — people, photos, places, and interests. Open Graph actions (for example, song listens) are not yet available, but could be in coming months.
Examples of searches include: “people from my hometown who like hiking,” “friends of friends who have been to Yosemite National Park,” “software engineers who live in San Francisco and like skiing,” “photos of my friends before 1999,” “cities visited by my family,” “Indian restaurants liked by my friends from India,” “tourist attractions in Italy visited by my friends,” “movies liked by people who like movies I like,” “languages my friends speak,” “strategy games played by friends of my friends,” and “books read by CEOs.”
According to the New York Times, “The search tool is plainly designed with an eye toward profits. If done right, said Brian Blau, an analyst with Gartner, it could offer marketers a more precise signal of a Web user’s interests. ‘It’s going to lend itself to advertising or other revenue-generating products that better matches what people are looking for,’ he said. ‘Advertisers are going to be able to better target what you’re interested in. It’s a much more meaningful search than keyword search.'”
Graph Search beta is open and only available in English. Click here for more details or to join the waitlist.
In more FB news, the company is testing a pay-to-message service for ordinary people to be able to message celebrities, CEOs, etc. More here.
Sony/ATV Negotiates Higher Royalty Rate From Pandora
/by Sarah SkatesIt has been widely reported that as of 2013, Sony/ATV is no longer using ASCAP and BMI to collect digital performance royalties. This change allows the publishing giant to negotiate rates directly with Pandora and similar services.
Payments to songwriters and publishers for online performances have been a hot topic in recent months. In November 2012, NSAI Executive Director Bart Herbison and songwriter/NSAI President Lee Miller explained the situation to MusicRow. Giving a specific example of the low payments received by songwriters, Miller explained that five hit songs collectively received 33 million spins on internet radio during the third quarter of 2012, and the songwriters were collectively paid $500 in royalties.
Herbison said, “[Songwriters and publishers] get paid from a share of the ad revenue that is on the free part of Pandora [and there aren’t many ads].”
According to Pandora’s 2012 annual report, it paid 49.7% of its revenue in royalties to SoundExchange, which pays labels and artists, and 4.1% of its revenue in royalties to the US PROs, which in turn pay songwriters and publishers.
Bentley Gives Sneak Peek of Arena Tour
/by Sarah SkatesA major highlight of the arena run will be Bentley’s use of video and lighting effects for the first time. Yesterday, his brief set included “Tip It On Back,” during which the room swam with icy blue lights sure to be impactful in a large space. Bentley said he and his team strove to keep the “raw” feel of his show while mixing in video. “If this was the last tour we were ever going to do, what would we do?” Bentley and company mused while coming up with ideas. One result was a giant new stage he enthusiastically called a “jungle gym for adults.”
Band members huddled close together to perform “Up On The Ridge,” creating a sense of intimacy among the musicians that will translate to the arena audience. On the video screen behind them, a campfire danced under a full moon. Bentley also added personal elements to the videos, with one montage including a photograph of his father.
“’Home’ is one of my favorite songs to sing onstage every night,” he continued. “This song has so many different meanings for me.” He also referenced members of the military and their families in conjunction with the song that will vie for a Grammy at the Feb. 10 awards.
The father of two misses his family when he’s away from home, but said the sacrifice pushes him, his band and crew to make every show completely worthwhile.
After a hectic 2012 on the road, which included legs in the U.S., Canada and Australia—and notching the one millionth mile on his faithful tour bus “Goldie”—Bentley admitted he is looking forward to the consistency of an arena outing.
It’s not the first time Lambert and Bentley have hit the road together. She was one of his supporting acts on the 2006-2007 Locked and Loaded Tour. In upcoming shows, he said, they will team onstage for “some things fans expect, but will also throw in some things they might not expect.” Overall, he summed, he’s just plain excited.
Bentley has dates scheduled through July.
Americana Music Association Appoints Exec. Committee
/by Jessica NicholsonHolly Lowman, artist manager from Ramseur Records has been named President, independent consultant Brad Paul will remain on the Board as Past-President, producer Mark Moffatt will serve as President-Elect and the Grammy Museum’s Lynne Sheridan will serve as Secretary.
The three At-Large Executive Committee members are Amanda Hale (New West Records), John Ingrassia (Vector Management) and Jessie Scott (Music Fog and Hill Country). Kirt Vitolo will continue in his role as Treasurer and his firm, KV Associates, will act as the association’s accounting firm.
These positions are held for one-year terms.
The Board of Directors includes 21 industry representatives elected by the Americana Music Association membership or appointed by the Board. The 2013 Board brings new directors Shauna De Cartier (Six Shooter Records), Ingrassia, Paradigm’s Johnathan Levine and Sheridan. The incoming directors join Ashley Capps (AC Entertainment), Rodney Crowell, SESAC’s Tim Fink, Mary Gauthier, Hale, Nashville attorney Wayne Halper, Voice of America’s Joan Kornblith, Austin City Limits’ Terry Lickona, Buddy Miller, Moffatt, Al Moss, Paul, Scott, Vitolo and Emilee Warner from Crash Avenue.
Artist News (1/16/13)
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Weekly Register: Post Holiday Slowdown
/by bossrossThe holiday sales bandwagon has subsided as country album sales fell 21% W/W and Top 75 sales barely reached the low water mark of 260k. A quick glance at the Weekly Grid shows the slowdown in graphic terms—YTD country album sales were up 4.8% last week but one week later are mostly flat (+.8%).
If you are looking for something new from Nashville, you can find it on the Digital Genre Country tracks list. Blake Shelton’s “Sure Be Cool If You Did” debuts at No. 1 with almost 98k downloads. Taylor Swift also debuts a new track, “The Moment I Knew” that took the No. 2 position with sales of 79k. Getting No. 3 honorable mention is FGL with “Cruise” adding another 72k units for an RTD of 1.81 million!!!
Consider This
Watch and see if/how Facebook’s newly introduced Graph Search functionality plays out for the music industry. The beta version of the service, introduced 1/15 by FB CEO Mark Zuckerburg will focus on four main areas—people, photos, places and interests. In many ways the new search system reveals the power of the hive, that is makes it easier to discover likes and dislikes of friends and friends of friends. Will this become a new tool for music discovery? Will artists and labels find ways to “game” the system and make new music more likely to appear? Will Facebook offer these promo serivces for a fee?
With one billion active members, 240 billion photos and trillions of connections, Graph Search could have a profound impact.
Tomlin's 'Burning Lights' Is Fourth Christian Project To Debut Atop Billboard 200
/by Jessica NicholsonChris Tomlin
TobyMac‘s Eye On It topped the Billboard 200 album chart upon its release in 2012. Prior to that, the only other Christian projects to debut at the summit were LeAnn Rimes‘ You Light Up My Life–Inspirational Songs and Bob Carlisle‘s Butterfly Kisses (Shades of Grace).
Grammy-winner Tomlin is best known for his numerous worship songs, including “How Great Is Our God,” “Holy Is The Lord” and “Jesus Messiah.” The 12-track project Burning Lights was produced by Jason Ingram, Ed Cash and Dan Muckala and includes Tomlin’s current single “Whom Shall I Fear (God of Angel Armies).”
Tomlin will launch his 34-date Burning Lights tour on Feb. 19 in Charleston, W.V.
All For The Hall To Return To New York City in 2013
/by Jessica NicholsonVince Gill and Emmylou Harris at All For The Hall in 2010. Photo: Alex J. Berliner.
The Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum’s All For The Hall series will return to New York City in 2013. All For The Hall New York will take place on Tuesday, Feb. 26 at Best Buy Theater, and will feature performances by Country Music Hall of Fame members Vince Gill and Emmylou Harris as well as other guest performers. The performance will take place in a “guitar pull” fashion and a cocktail reception and dinner will precede the performance.
“We are delighted to be returning to New York, and look forward to offering patrons a unique country music experience and an opportunity to engage in the life of our 45-year-old educational organization,” said Museum Director Kyle Young. “This annual event facilitates understanding of the important collection, research and scholarship that are the essence of our great national museum. The contributed income derived from the event allows us to continue our mission of preserving the evolving history and traditions of country music; it helps to fund our dynamic changing exhibit schedule, our school programs, the hundreds of public programs we present each year and more. We are very grateful for our warm welcome in previous years and look forward to seeing old friends and making new ones next month.”
The Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum launched All For The Hall in 2005. All For The Hall was hosted in New York previously in 2007 and in 2008, and in Los Angeles in 2009, 2010 and 2011.
All for the Hall New York is chaired by AEG Live Chairman Tim Leiweke and produced by CAA’s Rod Essig, Vector Management’s Ken Levitan and BMI’s Jody Williams.
To purchase tickets or for more information, patrons may contact Rachel Shapiro at rshapiro@countrymusichalloffame.org or telephone 615-416-2069.
Facebook Unveils Graph Search
/by Sarah SkatesGraph Search will appear as a bigger search bar at the top of each page. Users can create custom views of the results by changing the titles.
Facebook announced a new search tool yesterday (Jan. 16) called Graph Search. Built for use within the extremely popular social site, Graph Search is designed to keep users on Facebook, instead of going to other sites to seek information.
According to Facebook, “With Graph Search you combine phrases (for example: “my friends in New York who like Jay-Z”) to get that set of people, places, photos or other content that’s been shared on Facebook. It makes finding new things much easier, but [for privacy reasons] you can only see what you could already view elsewhere on Facebook.”
At present, Graph Search will mine users’ pictures, likes and check-ins, but not status updates. The first version of Graph Search focuses on four main areas — people, photos, places, and interests. Open Graph actions (for example, song listens) are not yet available, but could be in coming months.
Examples of searches include: “people from my hometown who like hiking,” “friends of friends who have been to Yosemite National Park,” “software engineers who live in San Francisco and like skiing,” “photos of my friends before 1999,” “cities visited by my family,” “Indian restaurants liked by my friends from India,” “tourist attractions in Italy visited by my friends,” “movies liked by people who like movies I like,” “languages my friends speak,” “strategy games played by friends of my friends,” and “books read by CEOs.”
According to the New York Times, “The search tool is plainly designed with an eye toward profits. If done right, said Brian Blau, an analyst with Gartner, it could offer marketers a more precise signal of a Web user’s interests. ‘It’s going to lend itself to advertising or other revenue-generating products that better matches what people are looking for,’ he said. ‘Advertisers are going to be able to better target what you’re interested in. It’s a much more meaningful search than keyword search.'”
Graph Search beta is open and only available in English. Click here for more details or to join the waitlist.
In more FB news, the company is testing a pay-to-message service for ordinary people to be able to message celebrities, CEOs, etc. More here.
Lady Antebellum, Stevie Nicks Team Up for 'Crossroads'
/by Caitlin RantalaCMT Crossroads is produced by Tom Forrest and Kathryn Russ. John Hamlin, Margaret Comeaux and Bill Flanagan serve as executive producers.
Nashville Gets New Full-Service Live Entertainment Company
/by Jessica NicholsonGary Bowman
Event producer Gary Bowman has launched Nashville Live!, a full-service live entertainment company. Bowman will work in conjunction with Jim Brammer and the company will be located at 1821 Air Lane Drive in Nashville.
Bowman has produced nearly 60 concerts and festivals during his 22 years in the industry, in addition to numerous live broadcasts and recordings. In over 40 of those events, Bowman served as the primary producer, managing staff and crew of up to 550 people and accommodating crowds of over 50,000. In 2011, Bowman’s work on the Greenbrier Classic Concert series, a multi-day festival that drew nearly 160,000 attendees and included artists Tim McGraw, Luke Bryan, Miranda Lambert, Keith Urban and The Black Eyed Peas, received the honor of “Best Special Event” from the PGA Tour Tournament Advisory Council.
Contact Nashville Live! at 615-495-9049.