Jimmy Kimmel (L) appears at Nashville’s CMA Theater via hologram from Hollywood, California next to Hunter Hayes (R). Photo: ABC

A few months after HologramUSA’s 2014 launch, Sr. VP of Sales, David Nussbaum, worked out a deal with Jimmy Kimmel Live! Co-Executive Producer, Doug DeLuca, to pair its technology during CMA Awards week on the ABC broadcast. This year Hunter Hayes took center stage before his holographic one-man band—playing every instrument and singing—on his latest single, “Yesterday’s Song.”

Nussbaum gave MusicRow a behind-the-scenes look at the technology and its future in live events. HologramUSA was founded by Greek billionaire Alki David and a European partner who had control over the decades old patented technology. It is part of FOTV Media Networks, which plans to go public on the Nasdaq later this fall.

HologramUSA has gone on to announce, but yet to deliver on, deals with estates of many entertainers like Patsy Cline and Tammy Wynette.

– – –

How have the Kimmel events progressed over the past three years?

Jimmy Kimmel’s producers originally thought it would be cool to beam Jimmy in real time from his studio in Hollywood, while he was doing his monologue in front of his studio audience, to the CMA Theater in Nashville. The folks in Nashville saw him as if he was really there and we had a reverse feed going back to him, so Jimmy could hear, see and interact with the audience whether it be in there or anywhere around the world.

Florida Georgia Line hologram on Jimmy Kimmel Live! in 2014. Photo: ABC/Randy Holmes

Then we beamed Florida Georgia Line from the CMA Theater back to Hollywood. Never had that been done before, where we had sent one person one way, and an entire musical group in another direction. Last year we sent The Band Perry back in real time, performing from Nashville on Kimmel’s outside, 40-foot stage in Hollywood, and we did a fun multiplicity thing with Guillermo. This year we took that idea and made it less silly.

It was always an idea of mine to have a really talented, single performer perform live with their holograms. All the stars aligned, Hunter was in to the idea, so we filmed him playing four different ways during the same song with our special hologram technique. Then my editors put all the images together, added depth and shadows, to create an entire band of Hunter Hayes’. I appreciate everyone at Kimmel for giving us the opportunity.

Hunter Hayes Hologram. Photo: ABC

How did the audio work for the Hunter[s] performance?

I don’t know exactly how the producers did it. I’m not a producer, but I believe they replaced the track with a layered individual performance but each instrument was played separately as we filmed.

Outside of TV, how else has hologram technology been applied?

A lot of people know of this technology because of what we’re able to do bringing the dead back to life to perform posthumously. But not many people know about the ability to beam anyone from anywhere and even multiply them.

We also sent the actor Jack Black form Los Angeles to Madrid, live via hologram so he could be at a press junket for that he couldn’t be at because he was filming a movie. A journalist would sit down with his live hologram every ten minutes over the course of two hours. So he was able to promote it in real time to Europe without ever leaving Los Angeles. He did print and video—some TV shows like the Extra’s and Access Hollywood’s of Spain all ran it.

Live concerts is the future of this technology. It makes a lot of sense as a new way for people to experience live entertainment. For example, I can bring anybody back with the approval of the estate of the late icons. Name an artist, if the estate sees value in it, we would create a hologram that can live in residency, as a museum piece or go on a real hologram concert tour.

Do you rotoscope old footage for deceased stars, or draft new CGI images?

We feel the best way to create a hologram is to work with the estate for video and picture references to use CGI and other digital methods to recreate the person from head to toe. The estate has a number of approvals along the way to make it all as authentic as possible. We don’t use any voiceovers or impersonators. There are also ways to get creative and match their voices, which is what happened when Tupac’s hologram played Coachella a number of years ago when he said “What the f— is up Coachella.” Coachella was not a thing before he passed, so obviously the producers behind that got creative.

What is the status on the hologram projects you’ve already announced?

Four days before Kimmel [this year, Oct. 29], we brought the late star Jenni Rivera back to life for 70,000 people at the Day of the Dead festival in California. I worked with her family and Universal Music, who owns the rights to the music. They have already announced doing this again in March and the idea is to tour her hologram.

HologramUSA is partners with 19 estates spanning music and entertainment. Many are in pre-production now. I don’t think you’ll have to wait much longer for the first one to come out—probably as early as spring-summer 2017. We’re researching how long people will want to watch a hologram and if they want to see a real band behind a hologram, etc. We want the first hologram concert to be right, so when the first one takes place it will be more than anyone imagined.

Are living artists approaching you to record and store their polygons for use at a later date?

Yes. Some of the biggest stars in the world have walked through our studio in Beverly Hills. We’ve partnered with many of them on legacy holograms, where we film them, while they are alive, singing their hits. When the time comes—not even if they’ve passed, but if someone in their band is sick or they wanted to retire.

What is the cost of stunts like these? The Kimmel event this year was clearly sponsored by Crown Royal.

Just to build a hologram projection stage for a day, it would cost $100,000+ just for the tech. Permanent installations at a venue may be between $500,000 to $1 million. To bring somebody back as a hologram can cost from hundreds of thousands to low seven figures. It really just depends on the hologram and how long it will run, every minute of animation has a value to it.

Hunter Hayes hologram at Nashville’s CMA Theater. Photo: ABC

Kenny Chesney, Brett Eldredge and Cole Swindell all have albums debuting in the Top 5 in the country albums sales rankings this week. Recent CMA Pinnacle Award winner Chesney’s Cosmic Hallelujah took the crowning spot, with 89K total consumption and 79.5K album-only.

On the Top 200, Chesney comes in at No. 2, but still outsold Jeezy‘s Trap or Die 3, which moved 73K album-only. Trap or Die 3 earned 89.5K in total consumption to take the No. 1 spot.

Eldredge’s Glow debuts at No. 2, with 14K sold. Following stellar performances at last week’s CMA Awards, Keith Urban’s Ripcord lands at No. 3 with 13K, followed by Male Vocalist of the Year winner Chris Stapleton, whose Traveller album lands at No. 4 with 12K sold. Swindell’s Down Home Sessions III debut rounds out the Top 5 with 11K sold.

Overall album sales are down 14 percent year to date, while overall digital album sales are down 18.9 percent. Country album sales have declined 9.4 percent year to date, while country digital sales are down 16.1 percent.

After the 50th Annual CMA Awards, several artists saw sales increases (Increases in total consumption/album only):

Alan Jackson, Precious Memories 462%/ 516%
Maren Morris, Hero 229% / 410%
Thomas Rhett, Tangled Up 187%/ 373%
Brothers Osborne, Pawn Shop 103%/ 187%
Tim McGraw, Damn Country Music 113%/ 113%
Eric Church, Mr. Misunderstood 86%/ 160%
Dierks Bentley, Black 83%/ 168%
Keith Urban, Ripcord 69%/ 93%
Carrie Underwood, Storyteller 57%/ 100%

Keith Urban

Urban’s “Blue Ain’t Your Color” is at the top of the country digital track sales rankings, with 54K (381K RTD). Little Big Town’s “Better Man” lands at No. 2, with 47K. Chesney’s “Setting The World On Fire” (featuring Pink) lands at 3, with 38K (496K RTD). McGraw’s “Humble and Kind,” which earned Song of the Year at the recent 50th CMA Awards, lands at No. 4 with 29K (and 950K RTD). Florida Georgia Line (with McGraw) takes the No. 5 spot with “May We All,” a song they performed with McGraw at the CMA Awards. The track moved 28K this week (281K RTD).

The top country debut is from The Voice contestant Josh Halverson. “Whiskey and You” debuts at No. 16, selling 11.4K.

Overall digital track sales have declined 24.7 percent, while country digital track sales have declined 22.7 percent.

Several tracks saw sales increases after last week’s CMA Awards, including:

Maren Morris, “My Church” 879%
Keith Whitley, “Don’t Close Your Eyes” 837%
George Strait, “Troubadour” 570%
Tim McGraw, “Humble and Kind” 432%
Alan Jackson, “Remember When” 393%
Thomas Rhett, “Die A Happy Man” 305%
Chris Stapleton, “Whiskey and You” 208%
Brothers Osborne, “21 Summer” 184%
Randy Travis, “Forever and Ever, Amen” 175%
Brothers Osborne, “Stay A Little Longer” 148%
Little Big Town, “Better Man” 138%

Information courtesy Nielsen Soundscan.

Garth Brooks wins Entertainer of the Year at “The 50th Annual CMA Awards,” live Wednesday, Nov. 2 at Bridgestone Arena in Nashville and broadcast on the ABC Television Network.

The Country Music Association’s 50th Annual Awards spectacle was an adept blending of star power, tradition, progression, and of course, music.

For a show 50 years in the making, the evening’s first eight minutes paid homage to a good portion of the major stars the genre has produced in the past five decades. Vince Gill, who hosted the CMAs from 1992-2003, paid tribute to Merle Haggard by performing “Mama Tried” with Haggard’s son Ben. Brad Paisley and Roy Clark teamed for Buck Owens‘ “I’ve Got A Tiger By The Tail,” while Carrie Underwood performed Tammy Wynette‘s classic “Stand By Your Man.” Charley Pride joined Paisley for “Kiss An Angel Good Morning,” followed by Alabama‘s rendition of “Mountain Music.” Charlie Daniels lent a blazing fiddle performance to “The Devil Went Down To Georgia,” followed by Reba (“Fancy”), Dwight Yoakam (“Guitars, Cadillacs”), Clint Black (“Killing Time”), Ricky Skaggs (“Country Boy”), and Alan Jackson (“Don’t Rock The Jukebox”).

And those were just the stars onstage…the audience was brimming with prior and current CMA winners, including Lorrie Morgan, Loretta Lynn, Lee Greenwood, and more.

The medley ended in one of the most touching moments of the evening, as Randy Travis was brought to the stage to take part in an all-star performance of his signature “Forever and Ever, Amen.” Travis, still recovering from a stroke he suffered in 2013, provided the final “Amen” at the end of the song, to the delight of the crowd.

Maren Morris wins New Artist of the Year at “The 50th Annual CMA Awards,” live Wednesday, Nov. 2 at Bridgestone Arena in Nashville and broadcast on the ABC Television Network.

Throughout the evening, video clips highlighted past CMA award winners from across the decades, while country’s brightest stars teamed for unique performances, such as George Strait and Alan Jackson’s collaboration on “Remember When” and “Troubadour.”

In the hours leading up to the awards, it was confirmed that pop superstar Beyonce would perform during the event. She was joined onstage by The Dixie Chicks for a mashup of “Daddy’s Lessons,” from Beyonce’s album Lemonade, and The Dixie Chicks’ “Long Time Gone.” The Chicks may not be ready to make nice, but they were ready to give the CMA event one of its most talked-about moments.

Several of country’s top female vocalists, including Reba, Jennifer Nettles, Carrie Underwood, Kacey Musgraves and Martina McBride teamed to pay tribute to Dolly Parton. The ladies’ illustrious harmonies earned a standing ovation from the crowd.

Beyoncé and The Dixie Chicks perform “Daddy Lessons” and “Long Time Gone” at “The 50th Annual CMA Awards,” live Wednesday, Nov. 2 at Bridgestone Arena in Nashville and broadcast on the ABC Television Network. Photo: CMA

Parton accepted the Willie Nelson Lifetime Achievement Award with her signature wit. “This is an absolute high,” Parton quipped, before plugging her upcoming Christmas movie Christmas of Many Colors: Circle of Love, which airs on NBC on Nov. 30.

Kenny Chesney was honored with the Pinnacle Award, presented by Peyton Manning.

Awards co-host Underwood took home her fourth Female Vocalist of the Year honor, after a foot-stomping, pyro-laced performance of “Dirty Laundry.” The performance was heightened further by an all-female backing band, which included Lindsay Ell, Lindi Ortega, Rachel Loy, Elizabeth Chan,Orianthi and trio Runaway June.

Chris Stapleton was the evening’s only double winner, taking home both Male Vocalist of the Year and Video of the Year for “Fire Away.” He later shared the stage with Dwight Yoakam for a tribute to Willie Nelson with “Seven Spanish Angels.”

Perhaps the biggest surprise winner of the evening was Brothers Osborne winning Vocal Duo of the Year over Florida Georgia Line, who had taken the trophy each year since 2013.

Maren Morris took home the evening’s New Artist of the Year honor, fresh off a soulful, rousing performance of “My Church,” backed by The McCrary Sisters and the Preservation Hall Jazz Band. The performance was a big alert to country music fans that this newcomer has the vocal chops and onstage charisma (not to mention the songwriting skills) that could translate well as a future headliner.

Lori McKenna wins Song of the Year for “Humble and Kind” at “The 50th Annual CMA Awards,” live Wednesday, Nov. 2 at Bridgestone Arena in Nashville and broadcast on the ABC Television Network. Photo: CMA

Songwriter Lori McKenna was honored with Song of the Year for “Humble and Kind.” Tim McGraw later performed the heart-warming song surrounded by students from Christ Presbyterian Academy in Nashville. Interestingly, the past two times that the Song of the Year category was won by a solo writer, they were also female writers–Kimberly Perry won in 2011 for her solo write of “If I Die Young,” and Jennifer Nettles won in 2008 for “Stay.” Prior to that was Alan Jackson’s win for penning “Where Were You (When The World Stopped Turning)” in 2002.

Eric Church featured vocals from the soulful Rhiannon Giddens during his rendition of “Kill A Word.” Church’s Album of the Year win for Mr. Misunderstood was a full-circle moment, seeing that Church announced the album’s surprise arrival last year during the CMA Awards. Church and his team always put Church’s fans first, and in staying true to that tradition, made loyal fans the first to receive copies of Mr. Misunderstood upon its surprise release.

Garth Brooks emerged the winner of a hotly contested Entertainer race this year, edging out Luke Bryan, Chris Stapleton, Carrie Underwood and Keith Urban to win. Brooks’ last win in the Entertainer category was in 1997; this marks his fourth CMA Entertainer of the Year honor. Taylor Swift made an appearance to honor Brooks with the award.

Earlier in the evening, Brooks and country superstar wife Trisha Yearwood treated the crowd to a medley of country classics, including “Golden Ring,” “Don’t It Make My Brown Eyes Blue,” “Louisiana Woman, Mississippi Man,” “Rose Garden,” and “Don’t Close Your Eyes.”

“We are so dang lucky to be part of this thing called country music,” Brooks told the crowd. Amen.

Click here for a recap of the evening’s winners.

Alan Jackson and George Strait perform “Remember When” and “Troubadour” at “The 50th Annual CMA Awards,” live Wednesday, Nov. 2 at Bridgestone Arena in Nashville and broadcast on the ABC Television Network. Photo: CMA