Tag Archive for: featured-2

Swift, Chesney Score Year’s Top Tours

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It’s no secret Taylor Swift and Kenny Chesney had two of the biggest tours of 2011, and just-released year-end numbers show exactly how big.

Swift’s box office receipts totaled $97.3 million, and Chesney’s were $84.6 million, according to Billboard Boxscore, which tracked data from ticket sales between Nov. 1, 2010 and Nov. 8, 2011.

U2’s record-breaking 360 tour wrapped its final leg in 2011, raking in $293.3 million at the box office, and moving almost 3 million tickets, to become the year’s biggest outing, according to the report. Since launching in 2009 it brought in more than $736,000,000, and more than 7 million fans, all-time highs for the touring industry.

Country Stars Unlikely To Mimic Comic Sales Model

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Comedian Louis C.K. recently earned over $1 million selling a DRM-free comedy special, direct-to-fans from his website for $5. And once again the process gives rise to questions about new business models, piracy and online marketing. Digital Music News publisher Paul Resnikoff offered an insightful overview, “Perhaps the error is to link these accomplishments with developing artists, because creating stardom is now an entirely different game. Heading into this, C.K. had major television exposure, access to shows like Fallon, and an audience that wanted more. That doesn’t diminish the accomplishment, but definitely changes the perspective. Because in the end, Louis’ challenge was less about building fans, and more about satisfying and monetizing the ones he already has.”

Louis C.K. hired a team to tape and create a video of two performances at the Beacon Theater in Manhattan and then distribute the video directly via a website built for that purpose. According to various reports, within 12 hours, over 50,000 fans had downloaded the video, enough to cover all costs. It took 12 days to reach sales of $1 million.

In a note on his website the artist explained, “The experiment was: if I put out a brand new standup special at a drastically low price ($5) and make it as easy as possible to buy, download and enjoy, free of any restrictions, will everyone just go and steal it? Will they pay for it?”

In a subsequent note (12/13) C.K. detailed costs and revenues for the project pointing out what would have happened if a large company had funded the project.

“…they would have charged you about $20 for the video. They would have given you an encrypted and regionally restricted video of limited value, and they would have owned your private information for their own use. They would have withheld international availability indefinitely. This way, you only paid $5, you can use the video any way you want, and you can watch it in Dublin, whatever the city is in Belgium, or Dubai. I got paid nice, and I still own the video (as do you). You never have to join anything, and you never have to hear from us again.”

Most recently, on Dec. 21 a note appeared on the web site expressing the comedian’s intention to divide the million dollars into four pieces including charities, his production costs, staff and himself.

Will Country Artists Follow This Path?

Is there a lesson or anything new going on here for the music industry?  You could answer, “Maybe” to both questions. But with respect to country music we have yet to see an established star dump the label and go direct. Perhaps that’s because inside the Music City format, record sales don’t really mean much for most superstar artists. The real money is earned filling arenas and (for a select few) stadiums. The secret behind accomplishing that task is getting strong support from country radio. Fans don’t follow album sales on SoundScan each week, but they do listen on the airwaves to hear their favorite artists. Can you name a single country artist routinely filling 12,000 seats and up who isn’t getting country radio exposure?

Good managers know where an artist’s bread is buttered and they know who grooms the thoroughbred promotion teams in the race for country radio airplay. Yes, the major labels. So sure, there may be a dozen or so country music artists that could easily make money mirroring the Louis C.K. DTF experiment. But eschewing a major label might also result in short term gain and long term career suicide. Major label support in this format is only about one thing, radio dominance for the country audience. Until that changes, don’t look for artists to fool around with a paltry million dollars at the risk of losing $50 million at the box office.

Charlie Cook On Air; Christmas Thoughts

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This is the best time of the year. Without question, people are nicer to each other. I love that people wear goofy Christmas ornaments on their clothes. I have also discovered that I like Christmas music more than I realized and have been listening a lot this year. Maybe the music is getting better. Maybe I am getting soft. Whatever.

As you read this I will either be heading to the Pittsburgh airport to fly to LA, be on the plane, or if you read this at 4:30 AM/ET Saturday, be getting off the plane to find my way to my home in Southern California. This for my 50 hour visit home.

As long a day as today will be, I will have come into contact with hundreds of people doing the same thing: rushing toward family and friends excited about seeing them for the first time in maybe the entire year, or rekindling a relationship during the holidays.

However you look back on the year, take a second to remember a GOOD thing that happened to YOU in 2011. I know that we all have challenges and they are the issues that need attention, but please take a second and remember a good day. A new friend. A good memory that will make you smile for just a minute.

Many of our friends and family are experiencing a Christmas season without a job for the first time in their careers. Some are on their second Christmas without work. This can be a cruel business. We chose to work in radio or records for a multitude of reasons. Changing jobs every few years was not necessarily one of them.

My first job in radio came a few days after the Christmas holidays in, well, many years ago. I remember saying to my family that this was a great Christmas gift, to get the job of my dreams and to start on January 2. The job of my dreams paid $2.10 an hour. But I worked 10 hours of overtime every week to make $110.00 a week

Each Christmas I think back on how excited I was to get that job and to start on what has been, besides my beautiful daughters Jacki and Izzy, the most rewarding part of my life. This year I look back and say thanks again for all of the friends I have worked with in radio and records.

I may be shallower than you but I can count on one hand the friends I have that are not in our business. I would have a few fingers left over, by the way. I am tied to all of you in radio and records at every level.

So however tough it is this Christmas for many who started the year as programmers, disc jockeys, record reps or the other job titles that make up Country Music/Radio and are now looking for their next opportunity, thank God that you have your friends and family and remember the feeling you had going into that first job.

Merry Christmas and let’s all hope for a Happy 2012.

Nashville Musicians To Rock Super Bowl Village

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Darius Rucker and Dierks Bentley

Music City will be well-represented at festivities surrounding the Feb. 5 Super Bowl in Indianapolis.

Numerous free concerts will take place at the Super Bowl Village from Jan. 27-Feb. 4. The line-up features Darius Rucker and Dierks Bentley from the country set, and Will Hoge, Six Pence None The Richer and Here Come The Mummies from Nashville’s pop/rock scene.

Other performers include Fitz & the Tantrums, Fuel, Patti LaBelle, LMFAO, Edwin McCain, Bret Michaels, and O.A.R.

Organizers told the Indianapolis Star that there is a good chance of snow and ice for the outdoor concerts, but cold conditions will be combated with radiant heat panels and hot air being blown in.

 

Weak Release Schedule Blamed For Lagging Sales

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The 2011 albums race is almost over, with scarcely two weeks remaining to be tallied. Are we going to fall behind last year? “Most assuredly.” The question is simply, “By how much?”

A quick glance at the above chart shows the format currently down 1.9% with total YTD country album sales of 39.811 million. That leaves us two weeks to add the 3.91 million needed to equal last year. However, this week country albums sold a tepid 1.605 million compared to the same week last year that scanned 1.966 million (down about 18.4%). In 2010 the last two weeks sold 2.319 million and 820k respectively. If we simply add those two weeks (3.139 million) and then reduce it by 18.4% our rough guess would be to add another 2.56 million to the year’s tally. Doing the math shows 2011 country album sales off about 3% or about 1.5 million units.

Why couldn’t we surpass last year? “Weak release schedule.”

This week’s details show Lady Antebellum in the No. 1 position on the country album chart shifting over 81k units to push their RTD sales (release-to-date) over the blessed one million, Platinum mark. Congrats to the feisty trio and Mr. Haywood who we hear is planning nuptials (with Warner Music VP Marketing/Brand Management Kelli Cashiola) which would place wedding bands on each member’s hands.

Scotty McCreery follows in the No. 2 spot with over 66k units placing him only a few more weeks away from earning Platinum status. Who would have thought, when he first appeared on the Idol stage as a Josh Turner carbon copy that fans would embrace him so strongly. But the youngster has truly stepped up and seems to be comfortably wearing his newfound fame.

The other eight artists in the Top 10 inlcude Jason (No. 3), Taylor (No. 4 & 6), Luke (No. 7), The Band Perry (No. 8), Miranda Lambert (No. 9) and ZBB (No. 10).

Toby Keith fills the missing No. 5 spot on the Top 10 country album list driven by his plastic fantastic “Red Solo Cup,” which was the top-selling digital country track again this week (over 86k downloads). The “Cup” has now passed the 500k sales mark and is surely headed to Platinum… (Hey, is that Bob Saporiti as Santa in the song’s holiday video version?)

Looking at the industry overall, album sales are up 1.3% YTD with Michael Bublé’s Christmas ringing the Yuletide bells—loudly. Bublé fans scooped up another 450k units of the holiday set this past week giving the album an eight week sales total of almost 2 million, a figure it will undoubtedly pass next week.

A big giant HAPPY HOLIDAYS to all our readers and especially those that follow our weekly sales discussions. Thank you for reading, for sending me those occasional snarky emails and for being part of the fun. Hopefully next year we can jump into positive sales territory. And wouldn’t it be nice if Nielsen SoundScan placed a TEA (track equivalent albums) chart under the tree?

Be safe, hug your friends and family and tune in next Wed. for our next installment…

 

Read comments on this article from industry veteran Joe Galante here.

Digitally Thinking: Albums Sales, Ringtones and stretchy silicon

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>>> Sometimes a great tech idea is so easy to understand that everyone wants to join the party. TouchFire, a stretchy silicon keyboard that sits atop the iPad’s horizontal on-screen keyboard is such a concept. Seattle-based software designer Steve Isaac put the idea on Kickstarter and raised over $200k, more than 20 times what he had hoped. The first run of the product will go to Kickstarter backers. “It sure makes us feel very good about the potential for this project and the demand for this project,” Isaac told AP.

>>> Digital Music News writes that reports of the death of ringtones have been greatly exaggerated. In fact the online industry news outlet quotes Gartner Research who says that ringtone revenues are still four times larger than the combined revenues from all the subscription services such as Spotify, Rhapsody, Rdio, MOG and all others. The worldwide online music revenue numbers play out with subscription services getting 8.4% of the pie; download services earning 57.3% and ringtones grabbing 34.3%. Total worldwide online music revenue for 2011 equals about $6.34 billion.

>>The Nielsen SoundScan music sales reports come out on Wed. mornings and measure the week which ends the previous Sunday. If you are simply unable to wait, you can click over to HitsDailyDouble.com and view its Album Sales Chart which is usually ‘final’ early Tuesday. Although the numbers may not be precisely the same as SS, they are usually close. With that in mind, it appears that tomorrow’s SS report will show the largest single week country album sales of the year. According to HDD, Lady A’s Own The Night is the highest selling country album with over 80k units. Scotty McCreery follows with about 67,000 units. Jason Aldean‘s My Kinda Party and Taylor Swift’s World Tour Live offering are in the next two positions with around 48,000 each. Stay tuned… we’ll have a complete report tomorrow, including how close we are to reaching last year’s sales totals.

Hays Joins Franklin Theatre

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New Franklin Theater Director Dan Hays.

The Board of Directors of the Heritage Foundation of Franklin and Williamson County today announced that Dan Hays will become the new Director for the Franklin Theatre. Hays previously headed the International Bluegrass Music Association (IBMA) since 1990 and is expected to initially split his time between the two entities until early 2012 when a new IBMA leader is in place.

The Franklin Theatre recently enjoyed an $8 million renovation. Since its re-opening, the 300 seat venue has hosted a diverse musical lineup including Sheryl Crow, Michael McDonald, The Judds, Keb’ Mo’ and Sam Bush, plus sold out every show in its Franklin Theatre Live concert series.

Heritage Foundation President Cyril Stewart said the four-month executive search process was purposely intensive. “We owed it to our community to be very deliberate about finding the right person to lead the Franklin Theatre,” Stewart said. “We feel strongly that Dan Hays is the ideal choice and the theatre will build on its already phenomenal trajectory under his leadership.”

Heritage Foundation Executive Director Mary Pearce said, “Dan has tremendous nonprofit management experience and a wealth of contacts in the music industry. He has proven his dedication to music and truly understands and appreciates the fabric of this community and all the Franklin Theatre is and can be.”

During Hay’s IBMA tenure, the organization developed from an association in its infancy to an influential music industry player. IBMA Board Chair Stan Zdonik said, “IBMA will sorely miss Dan. In his 21 years, IBMA has grown into a multifaceted resource for the bluegrass community. He approached the work of the organization with vigor and integrity and we were all the better for it. Speaking for the IBMA Board, we wish Dan all the best in his new position.”

“I am honored and look forward to joining the extraordinary staff at the Franklin Theatre,” Hays said. “This intimate historic Theatre is bursting with promise and is a vibrant cultural asset for our community and the talents we present.”

For more information on the Franklin Theater originally built in 1937 visit www.franklintheatre.com.

ACAs Boost Track Sales

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The American Country Awards, which aired December 5 on Fox, had plenty of outstanding musical moments. In addition to format superstars like Toby Keith, newer faces like Pistol Annies and Thompson Square also had the big platform to expose them to new audiences. Tracking the show’s effect on music sales isn’t clear-cut because the show aired the week after Black Friday and the opening of holiday shopping season.

According to Nielsen SoundScan data from the week ending Dec. 11, album sales were up nearly 16% across the board, likely due to increased holiday spending.

Fletcher Foster

MusicRow spoke with one of ACA’s producers, industry vet Fletcher Foster, who says the show’s impact can be more directly felt with regard to individual tracks, rather than in albums. “I went specifically back to tracks people performed on the show to see if there was a correlation,” says Foster. “You saw the huge sales from Toby. From the tracks standpoint, everybody who performed did well.”

According to SoundScan, digital sales of ACA show closer (and Artist of the Decade) Toby Keith’s “Red Solo Cup” were up 90% for a total of 96k units. Other performers also experienced increased digital track activity: Pistol Annies’ “Hell On Heels” was up 168% to more than 15k units, with very little radio support. Following Chris Young’s performance of “Voices,” the track had a 211% jump. Similarly, Thompson Square performed “Are You Gonna Kiss Me Or Not” on the telecast and it experienced a 140% sales increase despite it not being the current single.

One aspect in which the ACA show stands out from the rest is its commitment to giving new artists a chance to play. Last year The Band Perry had one of its first big performances on the show, right on the cusp of that group’s chart dominance. This year the group returned with a triumphant and memorable run through “All Your Life.”

“We wanted to be the show that can help break acts,” explains Foster. “Last year we had The Band Perry, and they’d just gotten a Grammy nomination the week before. This year Eli Young Band, Pistol Annies, some really cool acts, got opportunities they maybe wouldn’t get on other shows. As long as you can have those acts that really drive viewership [like Blake Shelton], then you can have some fun and really develop other acts too.”

It’s a trend the show’s producers plan to maintain, to hopefully serve as a bridge in the space between the CMA Awards and the Grammys. With the ACA ratings improved over last year’s inaugural show, network home Fox is pleased with the results and Foster feels optimistic about its future.

“We’ve found more of a balance to give people a really great platform to have their talent exposed,” says Foster. “We’ll look at it again next year, but Fox was really happy—not just with ratings—but the balance of awards and performers.”

And importantly, country music seems to have found an ally in Fox. Its presence can be felt through music heavy shows like American Idol, and the network may have access to a younger-skewing demographic still eager to seek and discover new music.

“It’s definitely a record-buying music-driven network,” remarks Foster. “They have brought music to the forefront and hopefully we can take advantage of that for country.”

Brad Paisley, Zac Brown Eye Oscar Noms

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Songs written by Zac Brown and Brad Paisley are among a pool of potential Oscar nominees for Best Original Song.

Brown, Wyatt Durrette, Drew Pearson and Anne Preven penned “Where the River Goes” for the Footloose soundtrack. Brown also recorded the song for the project.

Paisley teamed with British pop star Robbie Williams to write and record “Collision of Worlds” for the Cars 2 soundtrack.

There are 39 contenders vying for the final nominations for Best Original Song, which will be determined by voting members of the music branch in Los Angeles on Jan. 5. More on that process from the LA Times. Nominees will be revealed Jan. 24 and the Oscars will be presented Feb. 26.

“Where The River Goes” also recently scored a Grammy nomination for Best Song Written For Visual Media. The Grammys will air live Feb. 12 on CBS.

Country Stars Make Latest “Forbes” List

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Taylor Swift and Carrie Underwood on the red carpet at the BMI Country Awards this fall.

Taylor Swift and Carrie Underwood represent Nashville on Forbes’ new list of Top-Earning Women in Music.

Swift came in second place on the all-genre list with an estimated $45 million in earnings between May 2010 and May 2011. Lady Gaga scored the top spot with $90 million. Underwood raked in $20 million, securing the No. 7 spot. Pop starlet Katy Perry rounded out the top three with $44 million.

Contributing to the totals are album sales, touring, publishing royalties, endorsement deals and more.

Forbes methodology: Pretax income earned from May 2010 to May 2011, before subtracting agent and manager fees. Compiled with the help of data from Pollstar, RIAA, interviews with lawyers, managers, concert promoters, agents and, in some cases, the musicians themselves.