
Taylor Swift and Miley Cyrus during the 2008 American Music Awards in November. Kevin Mazur/WireImage.com
Taylor Swift and Miley Cyrus ranked among Forbes’ new list of the top 12 highest-earning celebrities under 30. The powerful group, with an average age of 23, collectively pulled in $410 million between June 1, 2008 and June 1, 2009.
Cyrus, 16, banked $25 million to tie for No. 7 along with the Jonas Brothers, actor Daniel Radcliffe and model Gisele Bündchen. The magazine says that her bottom line was boosted by 4 million in album sales, $86 million in gross ticket sales, and her popular Disney Channel series/film Hannah Montana. She also lent her likeness to schoolgirl friendly products like backpacks and lunchboxes.
Swift, 19, came in 12th on the list with earnings of $18 million. As the top-selling U.S. artist of 2008, she sold over 4 million units, and banked through touring, and endorsements. The Internet savvy Swift also scored with a significant number of digital downloads, becoming the first country artist to sell 2 million downloads with three different songs.
Beyoncé Knowles, 27, was the highest paid on the list, raking in about $87 million, nearly double the $45 million earned by No. 2, Formula 1 racer Kimi Raikkonen. Knowles, a global brand, released a double album, starred in two films, endorsed numerous products like American Express and L’Oreal, and has her own clothing brand.
Rounding out the Top 5 are No. 3: NBA superstar LeBron James, 24, with $40 million; No. 4: Britney Spears, 27, $35 million; and No. 5: tennis great Roger Federer, 27, $33 million.
Halfway To Hazard
/by ProgrammerPlaylist“I Know Where Heaven Is”
Stylesonic/Picnic Hill/Bigger Picture
In fact, the words “Halfway to Hazard” were the first ever penned by the duo. The phrase not only inspired their name, but also serves as a symbol of the musical journey their lives have taken; the journey from tiny rural towns hidden in the mountains to huge arenas filled with thousands of screaming fans. “That’s what I love about music, it bridges the gaps between people in so many ways and can even make distances seem closer,” says Warrix.
Halfway to Hazard released its self-titled debut album, produced by Tim McGraw and Byron Gallimore, in 2007 on Mercury Records. They joined McGraw and Faith Hill’s Soul II Soul Tour as the opening act the same year, which was the year’s highest grossing tour.
2008 was also a success for H2H as they again opened for their self-proclaimed biggest “fan” Tim McGraw along with Jason Aldean. Other highlights of 2008 included: a nomination in the Academy of Country Music’s coveted Best Duo of the Year category, several NFL national anthem pre-game appearances, and the singing the national anthem at Rupp Arena for their beloved UK Wildcats.
The first Annual Halfway to Hazard Charity Trail Ride and Concert in Sept. 2008 was another high point for H2H, allowing them to give back to the region that means so much to them. The event raised over $100,000 for the Buckhorn Children’s Center and Family Services and helped secure the East KY Leadership award for the pair. The duo are gearing up for this year’s event in late summer.
http://www.halfwaytohazard.com/
http://www.myspace.com/halfwaytohazard
http://twitter.com/HalfwayToHazard
The Farm Aid Concert Location Mystery
/by MichelleConcert hint #1: Your state feeling left out? This year’s concert will be in a city & state where Farm Aid has never been held! via @FarmAid
Concert hint #2: This year’s concert will be in a state that is in the top 12 for number of farms! (via @FarmAid)
Willie is joined by Neil Young, John Mellencamp and Dave Matthews on the Farm Aidboard. Each year, artists come together to perform and help raise money and awareness for America’s family farms. Farm Aid has raised $33 million for farmers since its inception in 1985.
Click here to follow Farm Aid on Twitter.
Artists On TV
/by bossrossThe 80th Major League baseball game will be held at St. Louis’ Busch Stadium on Tues. July 14. Sara Evans has been invited to perform “God Bless America” during the 7th inning stretch of this year’s diamond shaped contest. Evans plans to make the event a family outing. “I’m a huge baseball fan, as are all of our children,” Sara says. “This will definitely be one of the highlights of our 2009!” The game will be televised by FOX Sports, including Evan’s performance and the tossing of the first pitch which will be handled by President Barack Obama.
Sarah Darling
Kenny Chesney has agreed to join Good Morning America’s Diane Sawyer, Robin Roberts and Chris Cuomo in New york City’s Central Park on Aug. 14. Logistics for the visit was more complicated than usual because Chesney will also be headed toward his fifth sellout appearance at New England Patriot’s Gillette Stadium in Foxboro, Mass. Chesney’s Sun City Carnival is slated to play 12 stadiums this summer plus many arenas and amphitheaters. “Out Last Night” just ended a two-week run at No. 1.
Black River recording artist Sarah Darling will be in Chicago (7/10) to sing the National Anthem at the NASCAR Nationwide Series Race at Chicagoland Speedway. The event will be televised on ESPN. Darling will also perform tracks from her new album Every Monday Morning, including her current single “Jack Of Hearts.”
Your Social Network Tells About You
/by bossrossConservative estimates say that about 60% of the U.S. online population uses social networks or about 110 million people. On average users visit social sites about five days a week, four times a day for a total of about one hour each day. The study was completed in June with a sample of 5,000 demographically representative respondents. Ad Age then worked with the Anderson team to create the following mini-profiles. Here’s some of what they uncovered. For more details visit AdAge here.
Users Overall
• 45% link only to family and friends
• Most users not wasting company time. Only 15% said they visit networks at work
• Four categories: business users, fun seekers, social-media mavens (key group) and late followers
Non-Users
• Not tech haters, still spend time surfing web
• Three groups: no time, concerned about security and think it’s stupid
Facebookers
• 77 million users skew a bit older, extremely loyal
Twitterers
• Entrepreneurial, super-user group
• Skew very high interest in news, pop culture, music, movies with buying habits to match
MySpacers
• Young, fun and fleeing
• Overall useage down, but 67 million still having fun
Luminaries Set For Leadership Music Awards
/by Sarah SkatesJim Foglesong, Allen Reynolds and Garth Brooks
Leadership Music will present the organization’s prestigious Dale Franklin Awards to legendary label executive Jim Foglesong, superstar artist Garth Brooks, and Brooks’ longtime producer Allen Reynolds during a gala fundraising dinner on Sunday, August 23 at Nashville’s Renaissance Hotel.
Roy Clark, Cowboy Jack Clement, Crystal Gayle, Bruce Lundvall, Steve Wariner and Trisha Yearwood are Honorary Chairs of the event, which will feature an all-star musical tribute with appearances by Martina McBride, Kathy Mattea and Hal Ketchum, among other performers and speakers. Additional tribute artists will be announced in the coming weeks.
Invitations to the awards dinner were mailed this week to Leadership Music alumni and special guests; reservation deadline is Monday, August 3. Proceeds from the evening benefit Leadership Music, a 501(c)(3) organization.
Twitter Bridges Fan/Artist Connection
/by Sarah SkatesTwitter is becoming an increasingly common way for artists to communicate with fans. Stoney Creek Records’ Megan Mullins has been using it and other popular social networking sites for her “Total Request Video” extravaganza. Keeping within the weekly theme (ex. classic country), fans log onto Mullins’ Facebook, MySpace or Twitter account and request a song. Each week, Mullins will pick a winner and post a video of her playing the tune on her MM-TV YouTube channel.
Due West recently took requests via Twitter during a live radio stop in Spokane, Washington. Tim Gates, Brad Hull and Matt Lopez were Twittering with fans while on the air and trying to decide which song to play. So the band asked fans via Twitter what song they would prefer to hear, and followers quickly responded. Due West’s premiere single, “I Get That All The Time” is steadily growing at country radio (No. 34 on the Country Breakout chart). It will be on their debut album, set to be released later this summer on Bigger Than Me Records.
Nashville Music Awards Noms End 7/15
/by Sarah SkatesSubmissions for nominees are being accepted from the public at www.nashvillemusicawards.com in 19 categories (listed below) until July 15. Final nominees will be chosen by committees of music industry experts and will be announced in August. Popular online voting will determine the winners. For a look at past winners, visit the Web site.
1. Artist of the Year
2. Best New Artist
3. Song of the Year
4. Next Big Nashville Award (for Emerging Independent Artists)
5. Songwriter of the Year
6. Poster / Album Artwork / Packaging of the Year
7. Instrumentalist of the Year
8. Music Video / Film of the Year
9. Made in Music City Award: for a recording made in Nashville by a non-Nashville artist
10. Bluegrass / Old-Time Music Album of the Year
11. Country Album of the Year
12. Folk / Americana Album of the Year
13. Urban Recording of the Year
14. Gospel / Contemporary Christian Album of the Year
15. Jazz / Blues Album of the Year
16. Pop / Rock Album of the Year
The last three categories are not voted on by the public:
17. Heritage Award
18. Brian Williams Ambassador Award (formerly titled the “Bridge Award”)
19. Innovator of the Year: for a Nashville music-related tech innovator
Media Moguls At “Summer Camp”
/by Sarah SkatesAllen & Co., a New York-based investment bank, is hosting its annual conference of the top national entertainment and technology leaders in Sun Valley, Idaho this week. The brainstorming and socializing event, often described as “summer camp” for the media world, is closed to the press though some are attending as guests and others remain camped out at the resort.
Among the more than 250 attendees are IAC’s Barry Diller and wife Diane Von Furstenburg, Berkshire Hathaway Chairman and investment guru Warren Buffett, News Corp Chief Rupert Murdoch, Sirius CEO Mel Karmazin, Sony Chief Executive Howard Stringer, Bill Gates, Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg, and Google’s Larry Page. Basketball superstar LeBron James is even in the mix.
Since the opening economic panel, word is that the conference has a lingering sense of pessimism, which is more pronounced in some executives than others.
Twitter is among the hot topics. The Los Angeles Times reports that while “old-time media moguls think their content is worth something, they’re not so sure about Twitter…Everyone seems to love it, but no one is sure about how to make money off of it.” Twitter co-founder and Chief Executive Evan Williams was in the audience for a panel that reiterated this point, but remained quite.
Murdoch spoke briefly to reporters, saying he wasn’t interested in buying Twitter or the Los Angeles Times, and answered “Hell no,” when asked about putting MySpace on the block.
MJ Memorial, MCN Fan Club Concerts, Much More
/by Sarah SkatesThe recent 2009 MusicCityNetworks (MCN) Fan Club Concert Series had over 2500 attendees and multiple sold-out shows. It was held at Rocketown during CMA Fest with performances by Bucky Covington, Emerson Drive, Montgomery Gentry, Josh Turner, Lady Antebellum, Sara Evans, Tracy Byrd and Tracy Lawrence. Pictured: MCN Fan Club Concert Series sweepstakes winner Kristin Baltadonis and Nicholas Grossman, with Montgomery Gentry
Almost 31 Million viewers tuned into Michael Jackson’s memorial service on Tuesday (7/7). It aired on 19 networks from approximately 1-4 p.m. By comparison, the most recent season finale of American Idol drew just under 29 million pairs of eyes.
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Copyright Office fees for various services concerning the registration of claims are increasing starting Aug. 1. The fee for online registration of a basic claim will remain $35. The registration fee for fill-in Form CO will rise from $45 to $50; however, if a faulty version of Form CO is submitted, making it necessary to process the claim as a paper filing, the fee will increase to $65. The fee for paper filings on Forms PA, SR, TX, VA, SE will rise from $45 to $65. Find a full list of adjusted fees here.
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Weird but true: Buy a specially marked bags of Doritos Late Night chips, log on to http://www.doritoslatenight.com, hold the bag up to your webcam, and watch a virtual 3-D concert by rock band blink-182 and rapper Big Boi. The chip maker calls it “augmented reality technology” because the user can move the bag around to personalize each artist’s performance…. It may or may be related that Kenny Chesney recently filmed a concert in 3-D.
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Hear Chris DuBois talk about “Then,” the song he co-wrote with Ashley Gorley and Brad Paisley, who took it to No. 1. It’s on AOL’s The Boot.
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Teresa and Scott Siman are holding a garage sale to benefit Rüdrani Devi (aka Andi Varagona) on Sat., July 11 from 8 am to Noon at 1229 Nichol Lane 37205. Donations and volunteers are still needed. Please email tbsiman@rpmweb.com to get involved. Devi was forced to close her holistic healing clinic after being shot last year during the Mumbai Terrorist attacks.
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Did you know that you can read sheet music on the Amazon Kindle? FreeHand Systems recently released its Novato Music Press catalog in the format, consisting of over 20,000 classical, traditional and American music titles.
Cyrus, Swift Score Spots on Forbes’ Under 30 List
/by Sarah SkatesTaylor Swift and Miley Cyrus during the 2008 American Music Awards in November. Kevin Mazur/WireImage.com
Taylor Swift and Miley Cyrus ranked among Forbes’ new list of the top 12 highest-earning celebrities under 30. The powerful group, with an average age of 23, collectively pulled in $410 million between June 1, 2008 and June 1, 2009.
Cyrus, 16, banked $25 million to tie for No. 7 along with the Jonas Brothers, actor Daniel Radcliffe and model Gisele Bündchen. The magazine says that her bottom line was boosted by 4 million in album sales, $86 million in gross ticket sales, and her popular Disney Channel series/film Hannah Montana. She also lent her likeness to schoolgirl friendly products like backpacks and lunchboxes.
Swift, 19, came in 12th on the list with earnings of $18 million. As the top-selling U.S. artist of 2008, she sold over 4 million units, and banked through touring, and endorsements. The Internet savvy Swift also scored with a significant number of digital downloads, becoming the first country artist to sell 2 million downloads with three different songs.
Beyoncé Knowles, 27, was the highest paid on the list, raking in about $87 million, nearly double the $45 million earned by No. 2, Formula 1 racer Kimi Raikkonen. Knowles, a global brand, released a double album, starred in two films, endorsed numerous products like American Express and L’Oreal, and has her own clothing brand.
Rounding out the Top 5 are No. 3: NBA superstar LeBron James, 24, with $40 million; No. 4: Britney Spears, 27, $35 million; and No. 5: tennis great Roger Federer, 27, $33 million.