Digital Release Today From The Dirt Drifters

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Warner Bros. Records is releasing the debut album from The Dirt Drifters today (7/19). This Is My Blood is available at all digital retailers and features current single “Always A Reason,” as well as debut single, “Something Better.”
The Dirt Drifters members wrote or co-wrote 10 of the project’s 11 tracks, and played on every song of the Justin Niebank-produced album. They also tapped legend Willie Nelson for guest vocals on “I’ll Shut Up Now.”
Comprised of lead singer/guitarist Matt Fleener, vocalist/guitarist Ryan Fleener, vocalist/guitarist Jeff Middleton, bassist Jeremy Little and drummer Nick Diamond, the band will be hitting the road this summer, visiting radio and playing shows.
Track Listing for This Is My Blood:
1. Something Better
2. Always A Reason
3. There She Goes
4. It Takes A Man
5. Hurt Somebody
6. Married Men And Motel Rooms
7. I’ll Shut Up Now (ft. Willie Nelson)
8. Name On My Shirt
9. Sun Goes Down
10. Just Got Tonight
11. This Is My Blood

Industry, Artists Fight Secondary Ticket Market

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Music industry powerhouses are teaming to bring fair ticketing practices to fans. The Fans First Coalition, announced today (7/19), is backed by some of the biggest artists, companies and organizations in the music business.
Among the 35-plus acts supporting the organization are The Dixie Chicks, Maroon 5, R.E.M., Jason Mraz, Jennifer Hudson, and Journey.
Also on board are Ticketmaster, Live Nation, The Recoding Academy, Red Light Management, and Front Line Management, as well as numerous venues, and professional sports teams.
Fans First says it seeks to protect fans from fraudulent business practices when they purchase tickets for concert, sporting events and shows. More at www.standwithfans.org.

Hirings At Quarterback, Gary Musick Productions

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Valerie Summers


Gary Musick Productions announces the addition of Valerie Summers as Vice President of Sales and Customer Relations. Summers, who was previously an agent at William Morris Endeavor Entertainment, brings with her 20 years of music industry experience. Valerie and her husband, Kip Summers, are co-owners of Arrington Vineyards where her husband is also the winemaker.
Gary Musick Productions is a creative event and live entertainment production company, based in Nashville since 1980. The company produces more than 200 corporate and association events each year. It also creates and manages stage shows for some of the world’s leading cruise lines.
She can be contacted at valerie@garymusick.com or (615) 324-5549.
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Kelly Symone


Kelly Symone has joined Quarterback Records as West Coast/Southwest Promotion Director. She has spent more than three years with KNTY/Sacramento, most recently as MD. Her previous stops include KNCI, KREL and WDAF.
“We’re glad to round out our regional staff with Kelly,” says VP of Promotion Tony Benken. “Her energy and passion will complement the rest of the team.”
Symone will remain based in Sacramento. She can be reached at (916) 868-3331 or kellysymone@quarterbackrecords.com.

Worley's River Run Still Growing in 10th Year

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(L-R): Wynn Varble, Darryl Worley, Jim “Moose” Brown and Steve Leslie performing at the recent Darryl Worley and Friends Songwriters in the Round show in Jackson, Tenn. Along with another event in Memphis, they raised more than $70,000 to benefit the Darryl Worley Foundation.


Darryl Worley has recruited Montgomery Gentry and classic rock band Kansas for his Tennessee River Run, set for Sept. 15-17 in Savannah, Tenn. The 10th anniversary event includes a rock concert in downtown Savannah with headliners Kansas and Mike Slaughter, golf tournament, bass tournament, motorcycle ride, boat poker run, crafts fair, 5k, and country concert at Pickwick Landing State Park with Montgomery Gentry and Worley.
Proceeds from this and other events fund the Darryl Worley Foundation, which serves area charities such as St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital, and the Darryl Worley Cancer Treatment Center.
Leading up to The Tennessee River Run is the Battle of the Bands and several writers-in-the-round events, most scheduled for Bumpus Harley-Davidson dealerships throughout the southeast. The Battle of the Bands Preliminary Competition kicks-off July 21 in Jackson, Tenn., with other preliminary rounds in Memphis on Aug. 4; Florence, Ala. on Aug. 18; and the finals Aug. 27 at Bumpus Harley-Davidson of Jackson. The winner will receive studio time and be the opening act at the 2011 Tennessee River Run country concert.
On July 27, Worley will join hit songwriters Bernie Nelson, Jim “Moose” Brown and Lee Roy Parnell for a show at the Murfreesboro Harley Davidson store.
Details on all these events at www.tnriverrun.org.

Borders, Gannett Latest Victims of Digital Media

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The shuttering of Borders bookstores has been a long time coming, the latest casualty in the switch to digital media. Yesterday (7/18), the nation’s second-largest bookstore chain, which also sold music, announced plans to begin the liquidation process.
The company had been seeking buy-out offers in recent months, but nothing came to fruition. Now it will liquidate its remaining 399 stores. Clearance sales could start as early as Friday (7/22), with the chain expected to be closed by September. Borders’ Nashville location is already closed.
Borders President Mike Edwards said in a statement, “We were all working hard toward a different outcome, but the head winds we have been facing for quite some time, including the rapidly changing book industry, [electronic reader] revolution and turbulent economy, have brought us to where we are now.”
More from the Wall Street Journal.
Borders isn’t the only one suffering as a result of the digital migration. Gannett Co., which owns 82 newspapers including The Tennessean and USA Today, has released a dismal second-quarter earnings report. This follows the recent lay-offs that hit the Nashville newspaper as part of a nationwide loss of 700 jobs.
According to the Q2 report, profits decreased 22%, coming in at $151.5 million, from $195.5 million, a year earlier.
Publishing revenue, including advertising and circulation, declined 4.9% to $977.1 million.
As with music sales, digital revenue was on the rise, up 13%. More from AdAge.
As digital continues to stamp out print, Google revealed record-setting revenues last week. The company’s second-quarter revenue rose 32% year-to-year, coming in at a company record of $9.03 billion.

Spotify Taps HFA

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The Harry Fox Agency, Inc. (HFA) has entered into a publishing licensing, administration and management agreement with Spotify, which is in the middle of its US launch following much success overseas. HFA will clear mechanical publishing rights for Spotify, licensing certain rights in millions of musical works.
Under the agreement, Spotify will utilize HFA’s end-to-end publishing licensing, reporting, and royalty services. HFA’s state-of-the-art technology and comprehensive database make the organization uniquely qualified to provide these services.
Headed by President & CEO Gary Churgin, HFA has more than 46,000 affiliated publishers.

On Location With DJ Miller, Christian Kane

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DJ Miller’s debut video “Between Sundays” premiered on Yallwire.com recently, and became the site’s most successful video launch since opening in 2006. It drew a record number of viewers during the first 24-hours it was online.
“Between Sundays” is the current single from the 21-year-old Indiana native’s debut album, due out this fall. The video was shot in East Nashville by award-winning Broken Poet Productions director Eric Welch. Written by Richard A. Alves, Gary Duffy, John Colgin and Reid Brannon, “Between Sundays” is steadily climbing MusicRow’s CountryBreakout chart. Miller is currently on a national radio promotion tour in support of the single.

(L-R): Director of Photography Rhet Bear, Broken Poet Productions Director Eric Welch, DJ Miller, Production Manager/Coordinator Ben Stansbury. Photo: Christy Watkins


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Christian Kane recently shot the video for his second single “Let Me Go” on location in Los Angeles. Roman White directed the video which is set to premiere later this month.
The track from Kane’s album The House Rules, was produced by Bob Ezrin and Jimmie Lee Sloas. Written by hitmakers Casey Beathard and Tom Shapiro, Kane jokes that he followed Beathard around town begging to record the song.
Bigger Picture Group is working the single at radio. It is the follow-up to Kane’s debut single “The House Rules,” which hit radio in October 2010.
Kane also stars in the hit TNT show Leverage, which just had its fourth season premiere.

(L-R): Music video director Roman White, actress Sophia Pernas and Christian Kane

Spins.FM Enables Radio Requests

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Country music research, unlike data from some other musical formats continues to return a gaping disconnect between social networking, radio and sales success. Why? Because country format research overwhelmingly shows radio as the dominant exposure medium for engaging and interacting with fans. In fact, conventional wisdom in this musical arena firmly names radio as essential for success. But what about an artist with strong social networking numbers? How can they leverage that digital strength to help them on the airwaves?
Spins.FM has launched a listener request tool that bridges social media and FM radio. The company explains, “The listener request line has always been the primary channel for radio stations to connect with fans. Our social radio request app gives it an update, enabling Twitter and Facebook conversations to take to the airwaves.”
The new software, launched last month, allows artists and radio stations to place the app on their Facebook pages. With a click, followers, friends and likes can send a fast message to their local stations to request  favorite songs.

“Our Social Radio Request App enables radio station program directors and DJs to improve their presence on social media while tracking what their audiences want with more precision than ever,” said Spins.FM founder David Baker.

Examples of artists who are already using the app include Britney Spears, Chris Brown and Cody Simpson.
 

ACM News: LeAnn Rimes, Hunter Hayes

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LeAnn Rimes and American Idol runner-up Crystal Bowersox are set for a concert to benefit ACM Lifting Lives. Joe’s Bar in Chicago, winner of the ACM Nightclub of the Year Award, will host the Aug. 15 event and underwrite costs so that every ticket purchase will go directly to the work of the philanthropy. ACM Lifting Lives works to improve lives through the power of music.
Tickets are available through Ticketweb. General admission tickets are $25 which includes light appetizers and open bar, while VIP tickets may be purchased for $95 and includes premiere viewing area for the concert and a VIP reception to meet and greet each artist.
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In more ACM news, Atlantic Records’ newcomer Hunter Hayes stopped by the organization’s Los Angeles offices last week to perform current single, “Storm Warning,” and sign up for professional membership.

(L-R): Back row: Peter Strickland, Warner Music Nashville Sr. VP Brand Management and Sales; manager Betsy McHugh, Martingale Entertainment. Front row: Hunter Hayes and Michelle Goble, ACM Senior Vice President, Membership & Events. Photo: Michel Bourquard

Margaret Durante To Guest Blog For Ladies’ Home Journal

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It’s not often a music artist unveils a writing style that rivals the professional pen pushers? So get ready to be surprised by Ladies’ home Journal’s latest blogger discovery, 23-year old Margaret Durante and her Nashville Diaries. The rising artist has been asked to do a series of essays as she “experiences the highs and lows that come with living far away from home while getting a music career off the ground.”

“I’m just your average 23-year-old daughter/sister/granddaughter/niece/best friend who also happens to be chasing down my dream of living in Music City and making a name for myself in the crazy music industry,” writes Durante. “I currently have a single on the radio called “Maybe Tonight” and I’m finishing my first album after living here for four years. [Recent events] got me thinking about who I turn to in times when I need some extra support and I definitely look to my family—especially my two sisters and my mother, back home in the Washington D.C. area. Growing up in a family of women meant that a) my dad was and is a very lucky man, and b) I was able to (and still do) take full advantage of “the sisterhood.” And, no, I’m not talking about the Rebecca Wells novel, but more about the unconditional support system me, my mom and my sisters have developed. Luckily, my parents and sisters supported my choice to leave Clemson University in my sophomore year to pursue my music career after I had a promising meeting with former Sony Music executive Tommy Mottola. Sure, I’d done my homework, made some connections and built some relationships down in Nashville, so I felt as if I was making a sound decision, but I was still scared. Having my family’s approval meant so much to me….”

Durante’s “Maybe Tonight” video recently spent two weeks in the No. 1 position on GAC’s Top 20 Country Countdown.