Digital Summit Shares Masnick Keynote

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masnickmikeOne of the highlights from the recent 2009 Leadership Music Digital Summit was the keynote address from Michael Masnick titled, “How Trent Reznor and NIN Represent The Future of the Music Industry and How Others Are Making It Work As Well.” Masnick is well know for his work with Floor64 and frequent posting to award-winning technology blog Techdirt.

The keynote is captured on video so it can be viewed with sound and an ability to view the slide show as well. Masnick begins by outlining some of Reznor’s genius via a simple equation:

CWF + RTB = $$$$$

(connect with fans plus a reason to buy= DOLLARS)

This is a fascinating look at unorthodox ways to win using new models…

40th Annual GMA Dove Awards

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doveThe GMA held its 40th Annual Dove Awards last night (4/23), at the Grand Ole Opry House in Nashville with singer/songwriter Brandon Heath and worship band Casting Crowns earning the most awards.  Steven Curtis Chapman was honored as Artist of the Year and Tenth Avenue North received the Dove Award for New Artist which for the first time were voted on by both the gospel/Christian music industry and its fans. Televised live on the Gospel Music Channel, this year’s Dove Awards featured more than 75 artists, songwriters and producers receiving Dove trophies, including 38 out of the 43 award categories featuring different recipients. Among the nights major awards were:

Artist of the Year
Steven Curtis Chapman

New Artist of the Year
Tenth Avenue North

Songwriter of the Year
Steven Curtis Chapman

Song of the Year
“Give Me Your Eyes”; written by Brandon Heath and Jason Ingram

Male Vocalist of the Year
Brandon Heath

Female Vocalist of the Year
Natalie Grant

Group of the Year
Casting Crowns

Producer of the Year
Bernie Herms

Country Recorded Song
“I Wish”; from the album How You Live Deluxe Edition; recorded by Point of Grace; written by Cindy Morgan and Phil Madeira

Country Album
Around the Bend; recorded by Randy Travis; produced by Kyle Lehning

A complete list of all winners is available here.

“Bluebird On the Mountain” Lineup Unveiled

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bluebirdThe Bluebird Cafe’s “Bluebird On the Mountain” concert series is set to begin Saturday, May 16 at 7:00 PM with pop songstress Kim Carnes leading a a stellar lineup of singer/songwriters. The concerts are held in the beautiful country setting of Vanderbilt’s Dyer Observatory. Cost of admission is $399 per vehicle, with up to eight people per vehicle. Series passes and single concert tickets ($95.00) are available at Ticketmaster: www.ticketmaster.com/artist/964527. The full schedule of “Bluebird On the Mountain” concerts follows:

Saturday, May 16, 7:00 PM — Kim Carnes, Peter Cooper, Greg Barnhill & Tim
Nichols with Billy Panda, Tim Lauer & Dave Ellingson

Saturday, June 20, 8:00 PM — Al Anderson, Bob DiPiero, Karyn Rochelle

Saturday, July 18, 8:00 PM — Danny Flowers, James House, Jude Johnstone

Saturday, August 22, 8:00 PM — Dave Berg, Rivers Rutherford, Victoria Shaw

Saturday, September 26, 8:00 PM — Thom Schuyler, Fred Knobloch, Don Schlitz &

Saturday, October 10, 8:00 PM  — Kim Richey, Don Henry and TBA

SOLID Rocks For Musicians On Call

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solid1Members of Nashville music industry organization, SOLID (Society of Leaders in Development), rocked out for a good cause recently. SOLID’s  2nd Annual Karaoke/Rock Band Challenge, held March 25 at 12th & Porter, raised $500 dollars for Musicians On Call, a nonprofit organization that brings live and recorded music to the bedsides of patients in healthcare facilities. Following the karaoke challenge segment of the evening, Music Row businesses competed head to head for the title of Rock Band champion. The team from Flood, Bumstead, McCarthy and McCready (Justin Bullock, Jeff Jones, Ben Ewen & Adam Broman) won the title and received their own Wii Rock Band, compliments of CMT. “We wanted to add another aspect to this event and make it a little more relevant to our members,” said event coordinator Jon Romero. “By adding Rock Band we got more people to participate. For more information visit www.solidnashville.com.

solid-photo

(l-r) Jon Romero, SOLID Committee Chair; SOLID VP Katie Pope; Katy Brown, Musicians On Call; SOLID President Alicia Warwick; and Master of Ceremonies Big Fella

Swift Leads Country Twitterers

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These are the photos used for the artist's Twitter accounts

These are the photos used for the artist's Twitter accounts

Updated: The Kenny Chesney, cUnderwood83 and SugarlandFans feeds discussed below are not authentic.

[Date: 4/23/09] Ashton Kutcher (username: aplusk) has the most Twitter followers, 1,356,958. However, since social networks are like ocean tides moving in and out, one can expect these totals to change. MusicRow, decided to research which country music artists have the highest number of followers and found some surprising results, not the least of which is that the publication’s own Twitter feed is among the Top 20 in country music. Also no surprise is the enormous lead which Taylor Swift enjoys in this area. (In fact, the No. 2 entry on our list is a Swift wannabe.) Ms. Swift communicates all throughout the day, sharing her feelings with her fans with tweets such as, “wandering around an arena. By myself, looking like a lost child.” or “Kellie just got here. She just watched my dress rehearsal and is recommending the perfect pairs of shoes to go with each of my outfits. :)”

Artists use Twitter in different ways. But sometimes the feeds are unauthorized and not really from the artists. For example a feed labeled KennyChesney has 5,487 followers, with no tweets, but is not really from the artist. cunderwood83 with over 10,000 followers (listed below) is also unauthorized and not from the artist.

Log in to Twitter.com/username and read some of the tweets for yourself to see how artists are linking up with fans.

The numbers and ranking below were culled from data on Twittercounter.com and should be considered approximate. If your artist is missing, please send in their data and we’ll add them to this list. CountryMusic is the username for the CMA.

Overall Rank     Username     Followers
86        taylorswift13 304,804
267      tayswift 46,622
1029    LeannRimes 12,794
1048    KeithUrban 12,531
1151    cUnderwood83 10,838
1712    RascalFlatts 8,101
1713    Willie Nelson 8,100
1995    MartinaMcBride 7,150
2457    CountryMusic 5,913
2880    JulianneHough 5,137
4066    FaithHill 3,885
3849    Sugarlandmusic 3849
4352    SugarlandFans* 3,541
4433    MusicRow 3,523
4506    DierksBentley 3,485
4607    JohnRich 3,385
* According to BigMachine Records, Taylorswift13 is the official username for Taylor Swift.
* cunderwood83 according to the label is not authorized.
* SugarlandFans according to the label is not authorized.

Dierks Down Under

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dierksCapitol artist Dierks Bentley is prepping this week for his first-ever Australian tour with superstar duo Brooks & Dunn beginning May 1 in Perth and continuing on to Melbourne, Sydney and Brisbane through May 9. Bentley will flank both ends of his Australian tour with stops in Los Angeles to perform his current single, “Sideways,” on The Ellen DeGeneres Show on April 28 and The Bonnie Hunt Show on May 14, followed by a trip to New York for a performance on Late Night with Jimmy Fallon.

“I’ve heard that Australia has some hard-core country music fans, so I am looking forward to getting down there and playing for them,” Bentley said. “You can’t go to Australia without exploring the local culture in the pubs, so I’d be lying if I said that I wasn’t equally as excited about that.”

Bentley’s second single “Sideways” is currently climbing toward the Top 10 after six weeks on the chart. The video for the track premiered last week on iTunes and went straight into heavy rotation on both CMT and GAC. To listen to “Sideways,” click here.

Paradigm Acquires Third Coast

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paradigmHollywood talent agency Paradigm, continuing its expansion into music, announced today (4/23) that it had bought Nashville-based Christian music booking firm Third Coast Artists Agency. The deal is the latest move by Beverly Hills-based Paradigm to increase its presence in the music sector through a series of low-key acquisitions. In the last five years, Paradigm has acquired Monterey Peninsula Artists and Little Big Man Booking, specialty talent boutiques with a niche in music. The move comes as a merger between rival talent agencies William Morris, which has a strong music department, and Endeavor moves closer. Co-founded in 1999 by Mike Snider and his wife, Lisa, Third Coast Artists Agency’s Christian music clients include MercyMe, Natalie Grant and Hawk Nelson. The firm’s 10 employees and 30 artists will move into Paradigm’s Nashville offices just off Music Row, which currently house a major part of Paradigm’s music business, alongside the agency’s offices in New York and Monterey. Financial terms were not disclosed. Music clients at Paradigm include Coldplay, the Black Eyed Peas and Toby Keith.

“It fits strategically into our music business, which is an important, growing and profitable area,” said Paradigm Chairman Sam Gores. “We’re very committed to taking the great platform we already have and building on that by tapping into Christian music. And this allows us to expand in Nashville, which is a very important market.”

CMA Songwriters Series Returns to NYC

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joesReturning to Joe’s Pub for the fifth year, the CMA Songwriters Series remains one of New York City’s most popular nights of music. Showcasing some of Nashville’s finest songwriters, the series is back for another show on Thursday, May 21. Host Bob DiPiero (“If You Ever Stop Loving Me,” “Blue Clear Sky,” “Take Me As I Am”); will welcome fellow hit writers including Dean Dillon (“The Chair,” “Unwound,” “Ocean Front Property”); Scotty Emerick (“I Love This Bar,” “Good As I Once Was,” “Beer For My Horses”); and Valory Music Company artist Jimmy Wayne (“Stay Gone,” “I Love You This Much,” “Paper Angels”).

Tickets for the May 21 CMA Songwriters Series at Joe’s Pub are $25 each. For information about Joe’s Pub or to order tickets, visit www.joespub.com or call (212) 967-7555 between the hours of 9:00 AM and 8:00 PM/CT. Joe’s Pub is located at 425 Lafayette St. in New York City.

Hall of Fame Re-elects Steve Turner, Vince Gill

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halloffamelogoAt the Country Music Hall of Fame® and Museum’s recent quarterly board meeting, cultural arts activist Steve Turner, founder of Butler’s Run LLC, was tapped for a second term as Chairman; and Hall of Fame member Vince Gill was re-elected to an eighth consecutive term as President. New trustees, elected for three-year terms, include Creative Artists Agency talent agent Rod Essig; Vector Management President Ken Levitan; and Flood, Bumstead, McCready & McCarthy President Mary Ann McCready.  Trustees Keel Hunt (Secretary) and Turner were re-elected. New officers include Mark Bloom, Senior VP-investments, UBS Financial Services; and renowned record producer Tony Brown, Tony Brown Enterprises. Country Music Hall of Fame member Frances Preston was named trustee emeritus. Preston joins Trustees Emeriti Nelson Andrews, Jim Foglesong, Richard Frank, Emmylou Harris, Bruce Hinton, Kenneth Roberts, Chairman Emeritus E. W. “Bud” Wendell and Janice Wendell.

Remaining trustees include David Conrad, J. William Denny, Randy Goodman, John Grady, Henry Juszkiewicz, Ernie Williams (Treasurer) and Tim Wipperman.  The new officers join re-elected board members Al Giombetti (Executive VP); and VPs Earl Bentz, Connie Bradley, Mike Dungan, Francis Guess, Lon Helton, Kevin Lavender, Don Light, Steve Lynn, Donna Nicely, David M. Ross, Troy Tomlinson and Jody Williams.

CMA Chief Executive Officer Tammy Genovese remains as an ex-officio member. Chris Horsnell and Mike Milom of Milom Joyce Horsnell Crow PLC continue as the not-for-profit educational organization’s legal counsel.

Chicks With Hits Celebrate Tammy Brown

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Songplugger’s collective The Chicks With Hits recently held a luncheon in honor of longtime Music Row executive Tammy Brown to celebrate her recent cancer free status after a year long battle with leukemia. Brown is a former employee of ole Songs and Sony Music. The Chicks released balloons containing prayers and well wishes for Brown’s future.

chicks

(l-r) (front) Robin Palmer, Tammy Brown, (second row) Kim Jones, Whitney Daane, Janie West, Ree Guyer Buchanan, (third row) Shawn Heflin, Celia Froehlig, Judy Harris, Lisa Johnson, (back) Melanie Howard, Debbie Zavitson.