Industry Ink Thursday (1/12/12)

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FUNL/Flying Island artist Ty Herndon appeared at the Country Music Hall of Fame’s Ford Theater in front of a live audience recently to perform some of his hits, including “Living In The Moment” and “What Mattered Most." The event was broadcast on WSM-AM and host Bill Cody debuted Herndon's new single, “Stones.” The follow-up to his 2010 Grammy-nominated album, Journey On, is slated for release early this year.

••• Ebie McFarland’s Essential Broadcast Media is now handling independent publicity for superstar Ronnie Dunn. The company’s other clients include Eric Church, Randy Houser, Rodney Atkins, Colt Ford, Darius Rucker and many more.

••• The $499 CRS regular registration rate expires Friday, Jan. 27. The $99 Unemployment Rate will end on this date as well for advance registration, but will be available for in-person registration at the event. Beginning Jan. 28 registration increases to the $599 On-Site Rate. CRS 2012 runs Feb. 22-24 in downtown Nashville. Contact Kristen McRary at (615) 327-4487 or [email protected] for registration materials.

••• Jamie Nehasil has exited his post as VP Strategic Partnerships for 220 Entertainment/Black Fuel Music. His 15-year career in Personal Management/Networking Consulting includes eight years as Director of Marketing and Music at Tri Star Sports and Entertainment working with Niki Taylor, Mat Kearney, Britney Spears, Jamie Lynn Spears, and Titans coach Jeff Fisher. He can be reached at (615) 594-3911 or [email protected].

••• The 10th Annual Nashville SongWriters Festival will be held June 1-3, 2012 on Music Row.

Pictured at the Tiny Firefly Music launch party. (L-R): Britney Monroe (songwriter), Misha Williams (Publishing Asst. TKO Artist Management), Angie Griffith (Tiny Firefly Music), Bridgette Orten (The Tennessean) Photo: Ray Hailey

••• Tiny Firefly Music celebrated its launch Sunday night (1/8) at Belcourt Taps & Tapas. The songplugging and publishing outfit is the brainchild of Angie Griffith. Reach her at [email protected] or www.tinyfireflymusic.com.

••• Brandy Reed of RPR Media has a new email address [email protected]. She is working with 598 Recordings, The Damn Quails and the Mike McClure Band.

••• Music Row’s Fresh Salon has relocated to the ground floor of The Rhythm condominiums on Demonbreun. Stylists include owner Rosemary Darby, Debbie Dover-Hall, Julee Bellar, Brian O’Conner, Eric Wright, Roger Tison and Derrick Lachney. Reach them at (615) 739-5614 or freshsalon.net.

Rascal Flatts Debuts New Music

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Rascal Flatts and Big Machine Records will release a new single, titled “Banjo”, for airplay impact beginning January 17. The song will serve as the first single off the band’s forthcoming album due out this spring.

In fall 2010 the band’s release Nothing Like This (Big Machine Records) became its sixth consecutive album to debut at No. 1, making Rascal Flatts one of only four country artists to achieve this status.

The band will kick-off its winter Thaw Out 2012 Tour Thursday, January 12 at the Charleston Civic Center Coliseum in West Virginia with Sara Evans and Hunter Hayes.

 

Photo Monday (1/9/12)

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(L-R) Producer Scott Hendricks, Dave Barnes, Razor & Tie's Beka Tischker, ASCAP's Marc Driskill and Ryan Beuschel. Photo Credit: Ed Rode

ASCAP celebrated Christian singer/songwriter Dave Barnes and the success of his song “God Gave Me You,” recorded by Warner Music Nashville artist Blake Shelton, with a No. 1 Party at last week (1/6). The song topped Billboard’s Hot Country Songs chart for three weeks, and also earned Barnes his first Grammy nomination for Best Country Song. Barnes is signed to the label Razor & Tie and his No Gang Music is administered worldwide by Razor & Tie Music Publishing.

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(L-R) Republic Nashville National Director of Promotion Matthew Hargis, Republic Nashville Resource Manager Megan Knutson, Big Machine Records VP of Promotion Jack Purcell, BMLG President and CEO Scott Borchetta, Valory Music Co. VP of Promotion George Briner, Thomas Rhett, WSIX's Jon Anthony, Republic Nashville President Jimmy Harnen, Valory Music Co. National Promotion Director JoJamie Hahr, Valory Music Co. Label Coordinator Brooke Yancey and Republic Nashville Southeast Promotion Director Stacy Blythe.

Last Thursday (1/5), WSIX Nashville Program Director Jon Anthony stopped by the Big Machine Label Group office to meet Thomas Rhett, Valory Music Co.’s newest artist.

Waters Changing Course At Sony Music Nashville

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Chris Waters

The regional promotion manager shuffle continues with the announcement that Chris Waters has moved to another regional post under the Columbia/BNA banner. Waters was previously working the SW Region for Arista Nashville, which he assumed in August 31 following the company’s restructuring.

Waters’ move follows the elevation of RJ Meacham to Columbia/BNA National Promo Director after Buffy Cooper departure for Morris Management. Rounding out the Arista promotion staff is Renee Leymon, who recently joined the imprint for a regional gig. Waters originally joined Sony Music Nashville in 2008 as a regional promotion manager under the standalone BNA imprint. Reach out to him here.

CountryBreakout No. 1 Song

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It’s a new year, and change is in the air. New projects, new possibilities, a new No. 1 song… wait a second, I’m being told that last part isn’t true.

Okay, not everything changes when the year rolls forward, but that’s not necessarily a bad thing. Especially if you’re Luke Bryan, whose “I Don’t Want This Night To End” has spent two weeks at the top of MusicRow’s CountryBreakout Chart with the first edition of 2012. Understandably, Bryan also might not want 2011 to end, considering it was one of the biggest of his career. His “Country Girl (Shake It For Me)” became a huge radio hit, he participated in one of the most successful CMT On Tour events ever, and held a special six city “Farm Tour” to raise scholarship funds for local students. But 2012 is already looking up, because he’ll join Jason Aldean and guest Lauren Alaina on Aldean’s massive My Kinda Party Tour starting January 20, in Greenville, SC.

Check out the “I Don’t Want This Night To End” video here, and get more information on Bryan’s tour dates here.

Weekly Chart Report (1/06/12)

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Cimsound Records Recording Artist Ricky Fugitt recently stopped by KVWF/100.5 the Wolf in Wichita to promote his upcoming shows and debut new single "One More Day"(L-R): Cimsound’s Jeff Parker, Fugitt, KVWF MD/Mornings Colby Ericson

SPIN ZONE
That seemed like a quick holiday break, right? Regardless, it’s out with the old and in with the new on the first CountryBreakout Chart of 2012.

Spins for new singles like Blake Shelton’s “Drink On It” (debuting at No. 33), Lady Antebellum’s “Dancin’ Away With My Heart” (No. 22), and Miranda Lambert’s “Over You” (No. 32) are way up—over 600 spins gained versus the previous chart for all three, in fact. Equally impressive are Taylor Swift’s “Ours” (No. 14), Eli Young Band’s “Even If It Breaks Your Heart” (debuting at No. 44), Keith Urban’s “You Gonna Fly” (No. 7), and Tim McGraw’s “Better Than I Used To Be” (No. 28) which all experienced spin increases of 400 or more.

So it’s an explosive chart situation this week, save for the top two positions. Luke Bryan’s “I Don’t Want This Night To End” closed out 2011 in the No. 1 spot, and opens 2012 on top. Just over 100 spins behind in dogged pursuit is The Band Perry’s “All Your Life,” now at 21 weeks young but still showing plenty of health after a 99 spin gain. Dierks Bentley’s “Home” is still moving at No. 3, followed by Martina McBride’s “I’m Gonna Love You Through It” at No. 4 and Kenny Chesney’s “Reality” at No. 5.

In addition to the Shelton and EYB debuts, there are a plethora of new songs appearing this week. Kellie Pickler’s “100 Proof” makes a fine showing at No. 56, and so do Josh Turner’s “Time Is Love” at No. 64 and Josh Thompson’s “Comin’ Around” at No. 69.

Frozen Playlists: KBCN, KBCR, KFTX, KKAJ, KREK, KSED, KTWI, KVVP, KYKX, WAXX, WCMS, WKBQ, WYVY

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Joining the CountryBreakout reporting panel for new reports this week are WXXK in Lebanon, New Hampshire, under the programming guidance of Justin Tyler. Reach him here. Also coming aboard is our first ever Internet radio outlet Renegade Radio Nashville, with the steady hand of Captain Jack (formerly of WKMK/Monmouth) steering the ship.

”Car radios, table top stereos, and much more will give Internet radio an edge in the market, and aside from that, Renegade Radio Nashville pledges to be a true outlet for up and coming Country artists,” says the Captain. Reach him here.

Departing the panel after its recent flip to classic country is Clear Channel’s KTWI/Omaha, as well as Harrison, Ark. station KBCN which flipped to ESPN sports talk at year’s end.

Upcoming Singles
January 9
Canaan Smith/We Got Us/Mercury
Blake Shelton/Drink On It/Warner Bros./WMN
Josh Turner/Time Is Love/MCA
Miranda Lambert/Over You/RCA
Kaleb McIntire/Redneck In All Of Us/Rockin’ Country Doc
Candy Coburn/Don’t Walk Away/Loma Jean

January 17
Ronnie Dunn/Let The Cowboy Rock/Arista
Bryan Cole/Love Doesn’t Live Here/Perfect Vision
Clay Walker/Like We Never Said Goodbye/Curb
Jana Kramer/Why Ya Wanna/Elektra/W.A.R.
Rascal Flatts/Banjo/Big Machine
Dustin Lynch/Cowboys and Angels/Broken Bow
Kelly Parkes/Don’t Make Me/Edge

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New On The Chart—Debuting This Week
Artist/song/label — chart pos.
Blake Shelton/Drink On It/Warner Bros./WMN — 33
Eli Young Band/Even If It Breaks Your Heart/Republic Nashville — 44
Kellie Pickler/100 Proof/19/BNA — 56
Josh Turner/Time Is Love/MCA — 64
Josh Thompson/Comin’ Around/RCA — 69
The Farm/Home Sweet Home/All In/Elektra/New Revolution — 71
Sawyer Brown/Travelin’ Band — 73
Jackie Arredondo/Rockin’ the Trailer/Gold Voice — 74
Jesse Keith Whitley/Saving Amy/Octabrook — 75
Tim Culpepper/Ghost/HonkyTone Records — 76
Craig Campbell/When I Get It/Bigger Picture — 77
Stealing Angels/Little Blue Sky/Skyville — 79
Guy Penrod/More Power To You/Servant Records — 80

Greatest Spin Increase
Artist/song/label — spin+
Blake Shelton/Drink On It/Warner Bros./WMN — 723
Lady Antebellum/Dancin’ Away With My Heart/Capitol — 655
Miranda Lambert/Over You/RCA — 645
Taylor Swift/Ours/Big Machine — 493
Eli Young Band/Even If It Breaks Your Heart/Republic Nashville — 457

Most Added
Artist/song/label — New Adds
Blake Shelton/Drink On It/Warner Bros./WMN — 51
Miranda Lambert/Over You/RCA — 44
Eli Young Band/Even If It Breaks Your Heart/Republic Nashville — 41
Lady Antebellum/Dancin’ Away With My Heart/Capitol — 32
Ronnie Dunn/Let The Cowboy Rock/Arista — 25
Kellie Pickler/100 Proof/19/BNA — 24
Josh Turner/Time Is Love/MCA — 23
Tim McGraw/Better Than I Used To Be/Curb — 21
Brantley Gilbert/You Don’t Know Her Like I Do/Valory — 19
Taylor Swift/Ours/Big Machine — 10

On Deck—Soon To Be Charting
Artist/song/label — spins
Uncle Kracker/My Hometown/Top Dog/Atlantic — 137
Coy Taylor/Fall For You — 135
Mark Cooke/Any Way The Wind Blows/CVR — 133
Steve Holy/Until The Rain Stops/Curb — 128
JB & the Moonshine Band/Love Don’t Let You Decide/Average Joe’s — 125

Before the holiday break, Gloriana played the Dallas Bull in Tampa. The group’s current single “(Kissed You) Good Night” just hit No. 48 on MusicRow’s CountryBreakout Chart. (L-R): Tom Gossin, Jenny Dean of WFUS/Tampa, Rachel Reinert, Ryan Nelson of WFUS/Tampa, Mike Gossin

Charlie Cook On Air: Resolutions

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Let’s see, which New Year’s resolution should I break first? I made three: Lose weight, work an extra hour every day, and quit swearing so much. Well, I’ll be damned if I didn’t leave work early Wednesday to go to the all you can eat buffet.

Seriously, we all put unrealistic expectations on ourselves and each other only to disappoint every one. Radio and records rewards hard work. There are abundant examples of people in the business that work a little harder than the average bear and their efforts have paid off.

Mike McVay is the hardest working human I know. It has been both a burden and a pleasure to work for and with him for all these years. I know how hard he works and I see how it has paid off for him. He is at the top of his game today.

Scott Borchetta has benefited from his hard work in Nashville. We look at Scott today and say, wow how fortunate he is to have Taylor in his camp. Don’t forget the chances he took early on with his label or how hard he worked at MCA in the old days.

Mike Dungan is one of the smartest executives in Nashville but, along with playing hard, works very hard. Mike saw around the next turn and put together the label of the year. Yeah Lady Antebellum is his lead-off batter but his lineup is deep and Mike is the architect of that team.

Bob Pittman has decided to spend his efforts in support of the merits of radio in the traditional format. That is going to take a lot of work on his part. We who work in radio are fortunate to have Bob as our spokesman because he is tireless and brilliant.

Artists like Jason, Brad, the Flatts, Kenny and Miranda are continuously on the road. New acts like The Band Perry, Chris Young and Thompson Square get up every day knowing that it is worth the hard work to make a name for themselves so they can soon be in the first group of artists.

I enjoy working hard. I appreciate that I work for a great company and would not want it any other way. Wait, let me check my Mega Millions ticket from last night…

Okay, as I was saying, I love working with others dedicated to the radio business and as we kick off 2012 I tell those people, it is going to be tough this year. If you still have a job, you are working harder than you have in the past years. Most likely you have picked up an extra duty or two to replace the co-worker who moved on.

I was talking to a friend of mine the other day who has been out of work for about 6 months and he said that the only thing he has from 2011 is a used calendar. That is glass half empty. I told him that the number one New Year’s resolution each year is SPEND MORE TIME WITH THE FAMILY. There you go.

Hey, he is ahead of the game. A recent study found that only 12% of those making New Year’s resolutions actually kept them.

According to Wikipedia, a study in 2007 by Richard Wisemen from the University of Bristol showed that 78% of those who set New Year resolutions fail, and those who succeed have 5 traits in common. Men achieved their goal 22% more often when they engaged in goal setting, (a system where small measurable goals are being set; such as, a pound a week, instead of saying “lose weight”), while women succeeded 10% more when they made their goals public and got support from their friends.

As we all (pick one) — 1. Rush into 2. Ease into 3. Are pushed into — 2012 remember to keep your wits about you. If you’re in the record business there is not going to be a huge increase in the number of CDs sold this year. The model is still broken but GREAT music does reach the consumer and every year a Brantley Gilbert or a JaneDear Girls come along that lifts our hopes.

I believe that the glass is half full. Now, it is teetering right on the edge of the desk, but it is half full.

I do want to mention too that I saw three GREAT shows since we last chatted. Lady Antebellum played the Coliseum in Morgantown and were fabulous.

Jim Brickman played his Christmas show at the Clay Center in Charleston, WV. An A+ evening.

And I saw Bill Anderson play the Wheeling Jamboree in December. Bill has been doing this a long time and his showmanship and professionalism were apparent. I don’t remember enjoying an evening more.

Happy New Year.

SiriusXM Adds 1.7M Subscribers in 2011

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Sirius XM Radio (NASDAQ: SIRI) announced yesterday it ended the year with nearly 21.9 million subscribers, reporting approximately 540,000 net new subscribers in the fourth quarter and approximately 1,700,000 for the full year 2011.

“Based on preliminary subscriber data, we are very pleased to announce that SiriusXM exceeded its subscriber guidance for the year. Our subscriber growth accelerated in 2011 as net additions grew approximately 20%, delivering our best year for net additions since the merger and demonstrating the strong continuing demand for our unmatched audio content,” said Mel Karmazin, Chief Executive Officer, SiriusXM.

SiriusXM broadcasts more than 135 satellite radio channels of commercial-free music, and premier sports, news, talk, entertainment, traffic, weather, and data services to its subscribers.

Arista Adds Renee Leymon

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Renee Leymon

Arista Nashville has tapped Renee Leymon to serve as Regional Promotion Director. She’s in the role now and reporting to Lesly Tyson, Vice President, National Promotion for Arista Nashville.

Leymon began her music career over nineteen years ago at Arista Nashville as the receptionist and A&R assistant. She spent the next twelve years at Lyric Street rising to Sr. Director, National Promotion. Most recently Leymon worked in radio promotion at Bigger Picture Group, LLC / New Revolution.

In welcoming Leymon, Tyson praised, “Renee’ is the perfect addition to the Arista Nashville team. She is a powerhouse promotion person with incredible experience in this format and amazing relationships in the industry. I am thrilled to have her back at Arista where her career began.”

“I’m so thankful AND blessed to be given this opportunity by Lesly Tyson and Gary Overton,” shares Leymon. “And, I’m grateful for all the folks I’ve learned so much from and worked with the past several years.” She continues, “And, now I’m back home again!”

In related news, before joining Arista Leymon and Laurie Smith had met with many record company and college executives regarding the launch of Promo 1on1. An important announcement about Promo 1on1 and Leymon’s replacement in the project is forthcoming.

Miranda McDonald Joins MCA Promo Team

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Miranda McDonald

Miranda (Williams) McDonald has been named director of regional promotion-Southwest for MCA Nashville. She most recently held a similar post at The Valory Music Co.

McDonald fills the vacancy left by EJ Bernas’ recent move to Tin Roof Corporation.

Royce Risser, senior vice president of promotion, Universal Music Group Nashville announced her hiring. “We couldn’t be more thrilled to have Miranda join MCA Nashville,” he says. “Her reputation is killer, her passion for the music is obvious, and her interpersonal skills are second to none. If you know her, you know that she is going to fit right in here. If you don’t know her, well, you will soon.”

She’ll handle promotion for the roster which includes Gary Allan, Vince Gill, Mallary Hope, Josh Kelley, Kip Moore, David Nail, Randy Rogers Band, George Strait, Josh Turner and Lee Ann Womack.

“I am so happy to be joining the MCA/Universal Family as the Southwest Director of Regional Promotion,” McDonald says. “I’ve been a fan of their roster and staff from afar, so it feels great to be part of the team.”

McDonald’s career also includes four years at CMT Radio. The Newcastle, Wyoming native has one daughter, Charlie.