Let’s see, which New Year’s resolution should I break first? I made three: Lose weight, work an extra hour every day, and quit swearing so much. Well, I’ll be damned if I didn’t leave work early Wednesday to go to the all you can eat buffet.
Seriously, we all put unrealistic expectations on ourselves and each other only to disappoint every one. Radio and records rewards hard work. There are abundant examples of people in the business that work a little harder than the average bear and their efforts have paid off.
Mike McVay is the hardest working human I know. It has been both a burden and a pleasure to work for and with him for all these years. I know how hard he works and I see how it has paid off for him. He is at the top of his game today.
Scott Borchetta has benefited from his hard work in Nashville. We look at Scott today and say, wow how fortunate he is to have Taylor in his camp. Don’t forget the chances he took early on with his label or how hard he worked at MCA in the old days.
Mike Dungan is one of the smartest executives in Nashville but, along with playing hard, works very hard. Mike saw around the next turn and put together the label of the year. Yeah Lady Antebellum is his lead-off batter but his lineup is deep and Mike is the architect of that team.
Bob Pittman has decided to spend his efforts in support of the merits of radio in the traditional format. That is going to take a lot of work on his part. We who work in radio are fortunate to have Bob as our spokesman because he is tireless and brilliant.
Artists like Jason, Brad, the Flatts, Kenny and Miranda are continuously on the road. New acts like The Band Perry, Chris Young and Thompson Square get up every day knowing that it is worth the hard work to make a name for themselves so they can soon be in the first group of artists.
I enjoy working hard. I appreciate that I work for a great company and would not want it any other way. Wait, let me check my Mega Millions ticket from last night…
Okay, as I was saying, I love working with others dedicated to the radio business and as we kick off 2012 I tell those people, it is going to be tough this year. If you still have a job, you are working harder than you have in the past years. Most likely you have picked up an extra duty or two to replace the co-worker who moved on.
I was talking to a friend of mine the other day who has been out of work for about 6 months and he said that the only thing he has from 2011 is a used calendar. That is glass half empty. I told him that the number one New Year’s resolution each year is SPEND MORE TIME WITH THE FAMILY. There you go.
Hey, he is ahead of the game. A recent study found that only 12% of those making New Year’s resolutions actually kept them.
According to Wikipedia, a study in 2007 by Richard Wisemen from the University of Bristol showed that 78% of those who set New Year resolutions fail, and those who succeed have 5 traits in common. Men achieved their goal 22% more often when they engaged in goal setting, (a system where small measurable goals are being set; such as, a pound a week, instead of saying “lose weight”), while women succeeded 10% more when they made their goals public and got support from their friends.
As we all (pick one) — 1. Rush into 2. Ease into 3. Are pushed into — 2012 remember to keep your wits about you. If you’re in the record business there is not going to be a huge increase in the number of CDs sold this year. The model is still broken but GREAT music does reach the consumer and every year a Brantley Gilbert or a JaneDear Girls come along that lifts our hopes.
I believe that the glass is half full. Now, it is teetering right on the edge of the desk, but it is half full.
I do want to mention too that I saw three GREAT shows since we last chatted. Lady Antebellum played the Coliseum in Morgantown and were fabulous.
Jim Brickman played his Christmas show at the Clay Center in Charleston, WV. An A+ evening.
And I saw Bill Anderson play the Wheeling Jamboree in December. Bill has been doing this a long time and his showmanship and professionalism were apparent. I don’t remember enjoying an evening more.
Happy New Year.
Charlie Cook On Air: Resolutions
/by contributorSeriously, we all put unrealistic expectations on ourselves and each other only to disappoint every one. Radio and records rewards hard work. There are abundant examples of people in the business that work a little harder than the average bear and their efforts have paid off.
Mike McVay is the hardest working human I know. It has been both a burden and a pleasure to work for and with him for all these years. I know how hard he works and I see how it has paid off for him. He is at the top of his game today.
Scott Borchetta has benefited from his hard work in Nashville. We look at Scott today and say, wow how fortunate he is to have Taylor in his camp. Don’t forget the chances he took early on with his label or how hard he worked at MCA in the old days.
Mike Dungan is one of the smartest executives in Nashville but, along with playing hard, works very hard. Mike saw around the next turn and put together the label of the year. Yeah Lady Antebellum is his lead-off batter but his lineup is deep and Mike is the architect of that team.
Bob Pittman has decided to spend his efforts in support of the merits of radio in the traditional format. That is going to take a lot of work on his part. We who work in radio are fortunate to have Bob as our spokesman because he is tireless and brilliant.
Artists like Jason, Brad, the Flatts, Kenny and Miranda are continuously on the road. New acts like The Band Perry, Chris Young and Thompson Square get up every day knowing that it is worth the hard work to make a name for themselves so they can soon be in the first group of artists.
I enjoy working hard. I appreciate that I work for a great company and would not want it any other way. Wait, let me check my Mega Millions ticket from last night…
Okay, as I was saying, I love working with others dedicated to the radio business and as we kick off 2012 I tell those people, it is going to be tough this year. If you still have a job, you are working harder than you have in the past years. Most likely you have picked up an extra duty or two to replace the co-worker who moved on.
I was talking to a friend of mine the other day who has been out of work for about 6 months and he said that the only thing he has from 2011 is a used calendar. That is glass half empty. I told him that the number one New Year’s resolution each year is SPEND MORE TIME WITH THE FAMILY. There you go.
Hey, he is ahead of the game. A recent study found that only 12% of those making New Year’s resolutions actually kept them.
According to Wikipedia, a study in 2007 by Richard Wisemen from the University of Bristol showed that 78% of those who set New Year resolutions fail, and those who succeed have 5 traits in common. Men achieved their goal 22% more often when they engaged in goal setting, (a system where small measurable goals are being set; such as, a pound a week, instead of saying “lose weight”), while women succeeded 10% more when they made their goals public and got support from their friends.
As we all (pick one) — 1. Rush into 2. Ease into 3. Are pushed into — 2012 remember to keep your wits about you. If you’re in the record business there is not going to be a huge increase in the number of CDs sold this year. The model is still broken but GREAT music does reach the consumer and every year a Brantley Gilbert or a JaneDear Girls come along that lifts our hopes.
I believe that the glass is half full. Now, it is teetering right on the edge of the desk, but it is half full.
I do want to mention too that I saw three GREAT shows since we last chatted. Lady Antebellum played the Coliseum in Morgantown and were fabulous.
Jim Brickman played his Christmas show at the Clay Center in Charleston, WV. An A+ evening.
And I saw Bill Anderson play the Wheeling Jamboree in December. Bill has been doing this a long time and his showmanship and professionalism were apparent. I don’t remember enjoying an evening more.
Happy New Year.
Artist Updates (1/05/12)
/by FreemanHazel Smith with Jamey Johnson and Jessi Colter
On Saturday, January 7, Jessi Colter and Jamey Johnson will appear on CMT’s Southern Fried Flicks with Hazel Smith to discuss the upcoming release of The Music Inside: A Collaboration Dedicated to Waylon Jennings, Volume II. As usual, the chat will accompany a home-cooked meal and a movie showing, which will be the original 1984 Footloose.
The second installment of the Waylon tribute, a project overseen by Jennings’ widow Colter, will be released by Average Joe’s Entertainment and according to Waylon’s website, is available January 24. Featured performers include Dierks Bentley (“Lonesome, Onry, and Mean”), Montgomery Gentry (“Good Old Boys”), Jewel (“Dreaming My Dreams With You”) and more. The first volume of the series was released early in 2011 via the Big Machine Label Group, and a third volume is also in the works.
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Brice and fiancee Reeveley
Lee Brice welcomed 2012 by proposing to his longtime girlfriend Sara Reeveley, the mother of the couple’s three year old son Takoda. The couple was on vacation in Key West when Brice popped the question. A date has not yet been set. “I finally get to marry that beautiful girl I met on Myrtle Beach years ago,” said Brice. “I can’t wait to get Sara and Takoda to Nashville so we can all be together.” Brice’s current single “A Woman Like You” is at No. 23 on MusicRow’s CountryBreakout Chart, and he was also a co-writer on the recent Eli Young Band hit “Crazy Girl.”
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Underwood Donates To Hometown Schools
/by Caitlin Rantala“Late last year each of the schools created a list of their needs and I am so thrilled that the C.A.T.S. Foundation was able to fund it all,” said Underwood. “It gives me great joy knowing we are helping my hometown schools to offer an even better education to the students. They deserve it.”
“We are so proud of Carrie and her accomplishments and we appreciate everything she has done for our students. Every student in our school will benefit from the C.A.T.S. Foundation’s generous donation,” shared Toni Brown, Assistant Superintendent of Checotah Public Schools.
In addition, this past October, Underwood’s C.A.T.S. Foundation partnered with national non-profit organization KaBOOM!, and with the help of over 200 local volunteers built a playground in one day at Marshall Elementary School designed by the school’s students.
Rising Stars Set For “Music In The City” at Tin Roof
/by Sarah SkatesEric Paslay is among the performers at Music In The City.
The Tin Roof will be rockin’ on Tues., Jan. 31 with performances by Eric Paslay, Josh Hoge, Dustin Lynch, Coldwater Jane, and The Cordovas (Jaron Lowenstein, Joe Firstman, Jon Loyd, Toby Weaver, Jonathan Gray).
Nashville Lifestyles’ Music in the City event kicks off at 5:30 pm with a portion of the proceeds to benefit Keep Music in Music City.
Tickets are $20 in advance, $25 at the door. Each ticket includes two complimentary cocktails. Details here.
Sales Trilogy Part Two: Catalog Is Cool, Again
/by bossrossRegular readers know that the source of this year-end data, is Nielsen SoundScan. Special thanks to Scoop Marketing’s Anna Loynes who is instrumental in compiling and distributing the coveted information.
Genres posting the highest gains by percentage were Jazz (+26%; 11.07 million), New Age (+16.2%; 1.93 million), Electronic (+15%; 10.05 million) and Classical (+6.8%; 9.57 million). Coincidence or not, these high-growth genres all qualify for “Long Tail” niche status. Are we seeing a shift in buying habits or is this a reflection of increased availability of catalog due to digital formats? Either way it is something for marketers of these diverse genres to watch.
Formats suffering the slings and arrows of negative growth were Soundtracks (-19.4%; 13.23 million), Latin (-4.3%; 11.81 million), R&B (-4.2%; 55.44 million), Christian/Gospel (-2%; 23.73 million) and Country (-1.8%; 42.92 million).
As expected, Digital track sales (+8.5%) and Digital Album Sales (+19.5%) continued to erode physical format dominance. Digital albums as a percent of Total album sales are now 31.2% compared with 26.4% for 2010. (country digital albums as a percentage of total country album sales are 19%.) This means that over 68% of album sales are still in physical format.
Catalog was an important element in carving out the positive 2011 sales landscape. Looking at overall album sales, deep catalog jumped 12.5%, regular catalog increased 8.9% while current sales fell -4.2%. That trend was most pronounced in the digital arena. Deep digital catalog skyrocketed 23.1%, with overall catalog rising 19.8%.
Market Share
The album market share discussion is colored this year by the knowledge that UMG (29.85%) and EMI (9.62%) are planning to integrate in the coming year. This would give the new combined entity almost 40% of the total sales pie leaving Sony Music (29.29%) and Warner Music Group (19.13%) as distant challengers.
Billboard Top Ten Artist Airplay Based Upon Nielsen BDS (2011 calendar year)
Artist Stats
And now to the artist discussion. Whatever question is asked, guess Adele and her album 21, and odds are almost 100% you will be correct. Adele sold 6.744 million units and in the process earned the No. 1 position for Top Selling Album and Artist. Her track “Rolling In The Deep” was top Selling Digital Track (5.813 million). Nashville, unfortunately was mostly MIA with regard to the various top ten sales lists. However, on the Top Selling Album List Jason Aldean was No. 5 (1.576 million) and Lady Antebellum placed No. 10 (1.2 million). In the Top Artist sweeps Lady A, Jason and Taylor Swift placed in positions 6, 8 and 9 respectively. (see above chart)
Factoids
>>For the second straight year, Lady Antebellum finishes the year as the biggest selling group of 2011 with more than 2.1 million album sales.
>>Garth Brooks continues to be comfortably the best selling artist in the Nielsen SoundScan era with more than 68.5 million album sales; 5 million sales ahead of the Beatles.
>>Katy Perry ends the year as the most played artist over the airways in 2011 with more than 1.4 million spins; edging out Bruno Mars by 17,000 spins.
>>In 2011, 31% of all albums purchased were through a digital service like iTunes, Amazonmp3 or eMusic, an increase of 5 points from 2010.
Paisley Renames Upcoming Tour
/by Caitlin Rantala“When you see plans and sketches on paper it’s one thing but to actually see it in real life is something else, and that’s what happened to me when we were in tour rehearsals. When I saw the visuals and how exciting and sometimes mind-blowing they were I just felt the tour name needed to reflect what the fans were going to see,” says Paisley. “For two hours each night of the tour they can be taken away from reality—literally.”
The run kicks-off next week with special guests CMA New Artist of the Year The Band Perry and 2011 American Idol winner Scotty McCreery. Live Nation is the national tour promoter. For ticket sales and more information visit www.bradpaisley.com and www.livenation.com.
2012 First Quarter Tour Dates:
January 12 Grand Rapids, MI
January 13 Milwaukee, WI
January 14 St. Paul, MN
January 19 Kansas City, MO
January 20 Wichita, KS
January 21 Denver, CO
January 26 Boise, ID
January 27 Salt Lake City, UT
January 28 Las Vegas, NV
February 9 Spokane, WA
February 10 Eugene, OR
February 11 Tacoma, WA
February 16 Lubbock, TX
February 17 Las Cruces, NM
February 23 Madison, WI
February 24 Moline, IL
February 25 Springfield, MO
March 1 Baltimore, MD
March 2 Knoxville, TN
March 3 Lexington, KY
Industry Ink (1/5/12)
/by Freeman“Coming from New York City, Carly brings with her a wealth of experience and creative ability,” says PLA Media President/CEO Pam Lewis. “With a great reputation in the industry, we look forward to her becoming a vital part of our team.”
Prior to joining PLA, Caramanna worked independently out of New York City and has been a part of media campaigns for Lynyrd Skynyrd and Carol Channing. A native of New Jersey, Caramanna studied at New York University. Congratulate her at carly.caramanna@plamedia.com.
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Performing at the launch party will be Prass, Lenker, Alyssa Bonagura, and Wild Cub (members of Keegan DeWitt and Pico vs. Island Trees).
Contact Lenker at korby@korbylenker.com or see more on Facebook.
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A crazed concertgoer at The Ryman stabbed the fan seated next to him in the face last night (1/4) during the Gregg Allman concert, according to The Tennessean. The report says that the two men began arguing after they bumped into each other. The victim was treated at a local hospital for minor injuries.
SiriusXM Adds 1.7M Subscribers in 2011
/by Sherod RobertsonSirius XM Radio (NASDAQ: SIRI) announced yesterday it ended the year with nearly 21.9 million subscribers, reporting approximately 540,000 net new subscribers in the fourth quarter and approximately 1,700,000 for the full year 2011.
SiriusXM broadcasts more than 135 satellite radio channels of commercial-free music, and premier sports, news, talk, entertainment, traffic, weather, and data services to its subscribers.
Sara Evans Releases Third Novel
/by Caitlin RantalaA starred Booklist review on the novel’s cover tells readers, “Hang on for an emotional ride, as a woman who married into a Southern soap opera learns to forgive and trust again.”
Love Lifted Me chronicles a trying time in Jade Benson’s life, in which she and her husband, Max, gain custody of his son. As the three face the challenge of becoming a family, a stranger reveals a secret that threatens their newly formed unit.
“All my songs tell a story. But this one is special. My first book series is about looking backward while moving forward. It’s about chasing dreams, endless country roads, and tender faith,” explains Evans.
Love Lifted Me is available now at Amazon.
Davidson, EMI Renew Publishing Deal
/by Sarah SkatesDavidson’s recent hits include songs recorded by Lady Antebellum (“We Owned The Night”), Luke Bryan (“I Don’t Want This Night To End,” “Country Girl Shake It For Me”), Blake Shelton (“It’s All About Tonight”) and Montgomery/Gentry (“Where I Come From”). He was crowned this year’s BMI Songwriter of the Year and was awarded BMI’s Song Of The Year for “All Over Me” (Josh Turner).
EMI Music Publishing Nashville Executive Vice President Ben Vaughn said, “Dallas is a talented, driven, world class songwriter who writes songs that sell records and radio plays. Our entire EMI team could not be prouder to have partnered with him during his rise to the top of the charts many, many times. He cares deeply about his friends, his music, and he’s a great guy to go hang out with at The Cracker Barrel.”
“Today is a big day for me,” added Davidson. “I’m very excited to be moving forward with the EMI team. Ben Vaughn is the reason that I came here four short years ago and he has done everything he said he would. I believe in loyalty and friendships in this business and with EMI I have both. On the business side of things I see EMI, Ben Vaughn, and Big Jon Platt as the best of the best. Together we are extremely productive. Why in the hell would I wanna be anywhere else?”
Since his breakout 2006 hit “Honky Tonk Badonadonk” (Trace Adkins), Davidson has racked up 16 top 20 singles, including 12 No. 1s, a few of which include “Start a Band” (Brad Paisley & Keith Urban), “That’s How Country Boys Roll” (Billy Currington), “Rain Is A Good Thing” (Luke Bryan), “Gimmie That Girl” (Joe Nichols), “If Heaven Wasn’t So Far Away” (Justin Moore) and “Just A Kiss” (Lady Antebellum).