The Rack-N-Roll team on the 10th hole at the 2009 Audio Masters Golf Tournament, serving margaritas and an audio blast from the 80s. Pictured (L-R): Tom Burns, Ashley Dennis, Ian Wolczyk, Rob Dennis and Holly Keim
The Rack-N-Roll Audio crew has been busy this summer. They have been on the road recording live performances ranging from arena shows like 3 Doors Down tourmates Theory of a Deadman to artists at Bonnaroo. Rentals have been hopping as well, with recent projects including Creed, Bob Rock/American Bang, and Matt Serletic/Gloriana. Rack-N-Roll’s studio, The Spank Factory, has recently hosted clients such as Mindy Smith, The Dirt Drifters and Mark McKinney who is signed to Rack’s label, Super Loud Music. McKinney, currently on his fifth consecutive Top 10 in Texas, will release his sophomore album, Middle America, in August.
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Joe Moscheo is retiring from MCS America on June 30 to pursue other interests/projects, and opportunities. In an email to MusicRow and others, he says, “I thank all of you for your loyalty to me over the years, and for your support, and to MCS for giving me this opportunity for the past 7 and 1/2 years. It has been a pleasure to serve you and to work with you.”
Janice Bane will continue to serve as General Manager of MCS, and she can be reached at (615) 250-4600 or janice.bane@mcsamerica.net.
Moscheo can be contacted at jomoskayo@comcast.net, (615) 513-2353 and www.joemoscheo.net
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In a recent interview with London’s Financial Times, Warner Music Group head Edgar Bronfman Jr. discusses his relocation from New York to London, and the ongoing possibility of a merger with EMI. Bronfman explains that the move is more about his family than his job, saying that he will split time between the two cities, and the presence in England should help his oversight of international business.
He also discusses the $1.1 bn in new bonds Warner received in May to repay bank debt coming due in 2011. The bond issue reignited speculation about a possible merger with EMI. When asked about that, Bronfman told the FT: “We’d like to achieve a happy medium where the bond market doesn’t feel we’re going to go crazy with acquisitions, which we certainly won’t, but the company has the flexibility to do acquisitions which are attractive for both equity and debt holders.”
Among other topics: Bronfman and his private equity backers have changed Warner’s business model fundamentally, but will continue refining it. On the digital front, he says WMG’s Atlantic label is the first in the US to generate more than half its revenues from online and mobile sources. Bronfman also points out that Warner is “more selective” about digital partners following its early willingness to work with numerous new companies which lead to many writedowns. He says WMG’s reduced A&R budget has led to “gained market share because we focused the A&R budget on the artists we believed in.” The music company’s 21% US market share last year was its highest in a decade.
Country Boosts Morale With Spirit of America
/by Sarah Skates(L-R): Major General Gregg Martin, Rosenthal, Daniels and Command Sgt. Major Corbly.
On June 14, Charlie Daniels helped the U.S. Army celebrate its 231st birthday at Fort Leonard Wood, Mo., with a performance courtesy of the Spirit of America Tour. A standing-room-only crowd of 3,000 soldiers enjoyed a 90-minute set from the entertainer. Founder of the Spirit of America Tour, Robert Rosenthal, was honored during the concert for bringing more than 110 shows to military bases in the United States since Sept. 11, 2001. Thousands of military personnel and their families have been treated to private, full production shows at no cost to them through Rosenthal’s organization.
Spirit of America also recently took Neal McCoy to the Great Lakes Naval Station in Chicago to entertain 3,000 recruits. The servicemen and women sang along with his hits such as “Wink” and “The Shake.”
Aldean Mines Gold
/by bossrossThe first single from the new song collection, “She’s Country” was certified Gold and became a multi-week No. 1. The second and current song, “Big Green Tractor” also seems to be harvesting good response from both radio listeners and consumers. “Big Green Tractor” sold 15,949 downloads for the week ended 6/14/2009, a 48% increase over the previous week.
“Throughout his career Aldean has been one of the top selling artists that we distribute,” explains RED Distribution President Bob Morelli. “But the strength of sales, both physical and digital from Wide Open have been nothing short of tremendous. He has firmly cemented his place among country’s biggest stars.”
ShortNotes: Rack-N-Roll, Joe Moscheo, and Edgar Bronfman Jr.
/by Sarah SkatesThe Rack-N-Roll team on the 10th hole at the 2009 Audio Masters Golf Tournament, serving margaritas and an audio blast from the 80s. Pictured (L-R): Tom Burns, Ashley Dennis, Ian Wolczyk, Rob Dennis and Holly Keim
The Rack-N-Roll Audio crew has been busy this summer. They have been on the road recording live performances ranging from arena shows like 3 Doors Down tourmates Theory of a Deadman to artists at Bonnaroo. Rentals have been hopping as well, with recent projects including Creed, Bob Rock/American Bang, and Matt Serletic/Gloriana. Rack-N-Roll’s studio, The Spank Factory, has recently hosted clients such as Mindy Smith, The Dirt Drifters and Mark McKinney who is signed to Rack’s label, Super Loud Music. McKinney, currently on his fifth consecutive Top 10 in Texas, will release his sophomore album, Middle America, in August.
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Joe Moscheo is retiring from MCS America on June 30 to pursue other interests/projects, and opportunities. In an email to MusicRow and others, he says, “I thank all of you for your loyalty to me over the years, and for your support, and to MCS for giving me this opportunity for the past 7 and 1/2 years. It has been a pleasure to serve you and to work with you.”
Janice Bane will continue to serve as General Manager of MCS, and she can be reached at (615) 250-4600 or janice.bane@mcsamerica.net.
Moscheo can be contacted at jomoskayo@comcast.net, (615) 513-2353 and www.joemoscheo.net
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In a recent interview with London’s Financial Times, Warner Music Group head Edgar Bronfman Jr. discusses his relocation from New York to London, and the ongoing possibility of a merger with EMI. Bronfman explains that the move is more about his family than his job, saying that he will split time between the two cities, and the presence in England should help his oversight of international business.
He also discusses the $1.1 bn in new bonds Warner received in May to repay bank debt coming due in 2011. The bond issue reignited speculation about a possible merger with EMI. When asked about that, Bronfman told the FT: “We’d like to achieve a happy medium where the bond market doesn’t feel we’re going to go crazy with acquisitions, which we certainly won’t, but the company has the flexibility to do acquisitions which are attractive for both equity and debt holders.”
Among other topics: Bronfman and his private equity backers have changed Warner’s business model fundamentally, but will continue refining it. On the digital front, he says WMG’s Atlantic label is the first in the US to generate more than half its revenues from online and mobile sources. Bronfman also points out that Warner is “more selective” about digital partners following its early willingness to work with numerous new companies which lead to many writedowns. He says WMG’s reduced A&R budget has led to “gained market share because we focused the A&R budget on the artists we believed in.” The music company’s 21% US market share last year was its highest in a decade.
Republic Nashville Details Promo Team
/by bossrossRepublic Nashville, the latest new imprint to sit under the Big Machine umbrella has announced its promo team. Bobby Young Dir. of National Promotion unveiled the identities of this highly anticipated group. Jimmy Harnen is President of this new label and will report to CEO Scott Borchetta. The label’s roster now includes Sunny Sweeney and duo Fast Ryde.
Big Loud Extreme Partnership
/by Sarah SkatesCMT Awards Spike Sales
/by Sarah SkatesBrad Paisley, a three time trophy winner that night, received one of the biggest sales jumps. He had significant digital track increases for “Waitin’ On A Woman” (+72%) and “Start A Band” (+56%). Digital and physical sales of his album Play increased 52%, bringing its total sales to 244,603.
Award winners seeing a single sales spike: Rascal Flatts’ “Every Day” (+51%), Sugarland’s “All I Want To Do” (+35%), Zac Brown Band’s “Chicken Fried” (+31%) and Alan Jackson’s “Country Boy” (+31%).
Performers on the show saw increased album sales (physical and digital):
Darius Rucker (Learn To Live) increased 44% to 717,115
Trace Adkins (American Man Greatest Hits Volume II) increased 43% to 639,071
Toby Keith (That Don’t Make Me A Bad Guy) increased 37% to 397,629
Sugarland (“Love On The Inside”) increased 30% to 1,660,684
Also getting an up in album sales were Lady Antebellum (27%), Jason Aldean (25%), Dierks Bentley (16%), Kellie Pickler (14%), Taylor Swift (10%) Rascal Flatts (9%), Keith Urban (9%) and Paisley as mentioned above.
Performers who had digital track sales bumps for the songs performed on the Awards:
Trace Adkins (“You’re Gonna Miss This”) increased 83%
Lady Antebellum (“Lookin’ For A Good Time”) increased 65%
Darius Rucker (“Alright”) increased 59%
Toby Keith (“God Love Her”) increased 44%
Taylor Swift (“You Belong With Me”) increased 32%
The B-52s, Rascal Flatts, Dierks Bentley, Keith Urban, Kellie Pickler, Brad Paisley and Jason Aldean also saw single increases in the 10-30 % range, following performances.
In addition, each of the six acts who performed on the Nationwide Insurance side stage experienced post-show sales increases. The secondary stage featured up-and-coming artists Jason Michael Carroll, Carter Twins, Eric Church, Eli Young Band, Gloriana and Joey + Rory.
Hargis Returns to BBR/Stoney Creek
/by Sarah SkatesThe Broken Bow Records/Stoney Creek Records promotion team is headed by Carson James, SVP of Promotion.
Hargis will be based in Nashville and can be reached at 615-429-2600 and shelley@stoneycreekrecords.com.
Get Out For A Good Cause This Week
/by Sarah Skates——————–
The 3rd Annual Alex LeVasseur Memorial Skate & Music Festival will be Sun., June 28 from 2-9 PM. The free, family-friendly event will be at Jim Warren Park in Franklin. There will be skate demos, live music, local food vendors, airbrush tattoos, game booths, silent auction items and giveaways, and much more. Performers this year include Jeffrey Steele, LoCash Cowboys, Ricky Young & Red White Blue, and Pearl Heart. Money raised will go to the Alex LeVasseur Fund and the Memorial Scholarship Program, which works in conjunction with Sixth Avenue skate park in Nashville to help overlooked and underprivileged youth by creating programs to keep them motivated in school and life through skating. LeVasseur is the late son of Steele, and the event was founded in his memory.
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A benefit for the NSAI legislative fund will be held tomorrow night, Thurs., June 25, at the Bluebird Cafe. The 9 PM set features hitmakers Karen Staley (“Let’s Go To Vegas,” Faith Hill; “The Keeper Of The Stars,” Tracy Byrd); Danny Mark Wells (“These Days,” Rascal Flatts; “Check Yes Or No,” George Strait), and friends. For reservations go to www.bluebirdcafe.com or call (615) 383-1461.
Restructuring Of Gaylord Entertainment’s Top Execs.
/by Sarah SkatesGaylord Entertainment Company announced today (6/24) several key changes to its leadership team, effective immediately. As part of its continuing efforts to streamline the organization, Gaylord announced that John Caparella, currently Chief Operating Officer, will leave the company. David Kloeppel, currently Chief Financial Officer and President, will take on an expanded role and will now oversee all Gaylord’s operations in addition to sales, marketing, development, and information technology. Mark Fioravanti, currently Treasurer, is being promoted to Chief Financial Officer.
“During his tenure as chief operating officer, John played an important role working with our management team in building our unique culture and developing our Gaylord Hotels brand into a world class destination for convention and leisure guests,” said Colin V. Reed, Gaylord Entertainment chairman and chief executive officer. “We wish him the best of luck in his future endeavors.”
Mr. Reed continued, “John’s departure has given us an opportunity to move forward with our ongoing effort to streamline our management structure while taking advantage of the strength of our existing executives. In his eight years at Gaylord, Dave has played an instrumental role in defining the strategic vision for the Company and has built a deep understanding of our group-centric business model. In a short period of time during a very difficult economic environment, Dave led the charge in several areas of our business that helped the Company maintain its strong margins and preserve revenue. Under Dave’s guidance, we were able to take quick action on our cost-cutting initiatives, and shift the focus of our sales team to fill the occupancy gaps vacated by cancellations, which delivered impressive margins last quarter. I am confident Dave will continue to make significant contributions to the business as he now takes on the expanded role of managing the Company’s operations.”
“I have great confidence in Mark, who has played a pivotal role in shaping the financial profile of the Company and has diligently managed our balance sheet and capital expenditures. Of note, Mark was able to lead the charge on extending the maturities of our credit facilities, a significant undertaking in the current tough lending environment.”
Country Stars In Starring Roles
/by Sarah Skates––––––––––––––––––
Tim McGraw has a significant role in an upcoming film starring Sandra Bullock. The movie is based on the bestselling novel by Michael Lewis called The Blind Side: Evolution of the Game, which chronicles the life of Ole Miss football player Michael Oher who comes from a hardscrabble background but is helped by an affluent family. McGraw, who will play “Sean Tuohy” in the Nov. 20 release, has been on location in Atlanta recently. He is always searching for new roles he told Women’s Wear Daily. “It’s like finding songs,” he said of the script reading. “You have to have a strong feeling for the role, and of course it has to match up with the time available. But acting makes you better at everything else creative you’re doing. It’s another outlet.” In the article, McGraw also noted that he, Faith and family will be moving into a new home in the Nashville area this fall.
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Willie Nelson has appeared in several movies and was recently honored by the 2009 Maui Film Festival, held June 17-21 in Kahului. The Maverick Award celebrates Nelson’s willingness to speak his mind, stand up for his convictions, and fight to protect the freedom of artistic and political expression. His new album American Classic, a collection of standards, will be released Aug. 25.