Artist News Daily (3/6/07)

Tim McGraw will perform new single “Last Dollar” and other hits on Good Morning America on Wednesday, March 14. Let It Go, his first studio album in almost three years, is due out March 27...

Radio, FCC Reach Settlement

Sarah Gilbert Skates – 03/05/2007

Major radio broadcast companies Clear Channel, CBS Radio, Entercom and Citadel have tentatively agreed to settle payola accusations by paying $12.5 million and providing 8,400 half-hour segments of free airtime for independent record labels and local artists. The separate settlements are not finalized and, by complying, the broadcasters are not admitting any wrongdoing. In addition to the free airtime, the agreement with the American Association of Independent Music includes a set of "rules of engagement'' dictating how record company representatives and radio programmers interact, including setting spending limits on gifts, recording all items of value supplied by those companies, hiring independent compliance officers, and establishing a "payola hot line" employees can use when the guidelines are not being followed.

CRS Attendance On The Rise

Sarah Gilbert Skates – 03/05/2007

Brooks & Dunn Honored with Humanitarian Award

Sarah Gilbert Skates – 03/05/2007

Sony BMG CRS Showcase at The Stage

03/05/2007

Nashville's hot honky tonk The Stage was rockin' Wednesday night with performances by three new Sony BMG acts, RCA's Catherine Britt, Columbia Nashville band Cole Deggs & The Lonesome and RCA Nashville's Jake Owen. Pictured (L-R): 1st row: Tom Baldrica, VP Marketing, Sony BMG Nashville; Owen; Sony BMG Nashville Chairman Joe Galante; Columbia Nashville artist Ashley Monroe; Tim Bowen, COO Sony BMG Music Entertainment; BNA Nashville artist Blaine Larsen. 2nd row: Butch Waugh, Exec. VP Sony BMG Nashville; Britt; Jimmy Wallace and David Wallace, Cole Deggs & The Lonesome. 3rd row: Paul Barnabee, VP Finance & Sales Sony BMG Nashville; Brian Hayes, Shade Deggs and Cole Deggs, Cole Deggs & The Lonesome. Photo: Tony Phipps

Big Machine CRS Showcase at the Renaissance Hotel

03/05/2007

Big Machine Records made a lot of noise when their roster played for an enthusiastic crowd at the Renaissance Hotel during CRS-38. Pictured (L-R): Back row: Dusty Drake, Taylor Swift, John Zarling, Jack Purcell, Jayme Austin, Danielle Peck, Erik Powell, Mandy McCormack, Sunny Sweeney, and Chris Borchetta. Front row: Jack Ingram, Scott Borchetta, Rick Barker, and Bobby Young.

Jeffrey Steele Hosts BMI’s WCRS Live!

03/05/2007

BMI welcomed CRS attendees to Nashville on March 1 with WCRS Live!, an intimate, in-the-round showcase hosted by Jeffrey Steele. Songwriter/artists Sarah Buxton (“Stupid Boy”), Pat Green (“Wave on Wave”), Mac Davis (“Texas in My Rearview Mirror”) and Steele himself (“What Hurts the Most”) treated the audience to acoustic performances of country radio’s contemporary hits and perennial favorites. Pictured (L-R): BMI’s Dan Spears, Green, Davis, Buxton, Steele and BMI’s Jody Williams. Photo: Jerry Bailey

Gretchen Wilson Commended for 5 Million

03/05/2007

Sony BMG Chairman Joe Galante, Exec. VP Butch Waugh and Marketing VP Tom Baldrica surprised Gretchen Wilson with a plaque celebrating sales of five million units of her debut album Here For The Party during the ASCAP KCRS Guitar Pull, a part of CRS-38. Pictured (L-R): Waugh, Here For The Party co-producer John Rich, ASCAP Sr. VP Connie Bradley, Galante, Wilson, and Baldrica. Photo: Karen Will Rogers

Chapter 244—CRS 38 Final Wrap-up

The finale of CRS-38 was a blizzard of musical memories.

Let’s start with the New Faces Show (3/2). For the first time in recent memory, no clear-cut winner emerged. Everyone rocked hard, and everyone seemed scared to death...

Scorchers Benefit For Baggs

I’m in!” said Andy York to Warner Hodges, who had phoned his fellow Jason & the Scorchers guitarist in soliciting his participation in a benefit for drummer Perry Baggs, who needs a kidney.

Of course longtime...