Acoustic Sets Added to CMA Nightly Concerts

Sarah Skates – 05/29/2008

The CMA Music Festival has added acoustic performances by Luke Bryan, Jason Michael Carroll, Jennifer Hanson, Jamey Johnson, Jake Owen, Stacey, John Stephan, Ashton Shepherd, Chuck Wicks, and Darryl Worley to the Nightly Concerts on the Vault Concert Stage at LP Field. Jack Ingram has also been added to the Friday night line-up for a full-band set. The Nightly Concerts open with pre-show activities on Thurs., June 5 at 7:30 PM.

Artists currently scheduled to appear at LP Field include (in alphabetical order):

Thursday, June 5 - Luke Bryan, Jennifer Hanson, Jewel, Montgomery Gentry, Kellie Pickler, Sugarland and Taylor Swift
Friday, June 6 - Faith Hill, Jack Ingram, Lady Antebellum, Miranda Lambert, Jake Owen, Ashton Shepherd, Josh Turner and Carrie Underwood
Saturday, June 7 - Trace Adkins, Rodney Atkins, Jason Michael Carroll, Alan Jackson, Jamey Johnson, Little Big Town, Craig Morgan, Kenny Rogers, and Darryl Worley
Sunday, June 8 - Bucky Covington, Billy Ray Cyrus, Sara Evans, James Otto, Phil Stacey, John Stephan, Randy Travis, Chuck Wicks, and Dwight Yoakam

LifeNotes Thursday (5/29/08)

Gibson Chairman/CEO Henry Juszkiewicz's son Zachary Arns Juszkiewicz died in a car accident over the weekend. Zach, 19, was a student at Clemson University. Visitation will be tonight (5/29) from 5-7 PM at Woodlawn...

Opry Gets New Stage Design

05/28/2008

Keith Urban visited the Tuesday Night Opry earlier this month, performing in front of its newly-designed set. The Opry's famed barn backdrop now features more than two dozen panels which, with newly enhanced lighting, can produce a three-dimensional appearance. Additional enhancements include new faces for on-stage band pieces with accompanying lighting elements. Upcoming Opry shows are set to include new Opry member Carrie Underwood, Montgomery Gentry, The Oak Ridge Boys, Luke Bryan, Dwight Yoakam and The Charlie Daniels Band, among many others.

Photo: Chris Hollo, Hollo Photograhics, Inc.

Musical Chairs Thursday (5/29/08)

Kris Lamb has been promoted from Manager to Director, West Coast Regional Promotion at Lyric Street Records. He will remain based in Phoenix. The Belmont graduate and Scottsdale, AZ native got his start in the...

Industry News Thursday (5/29/08)

Members of the American Federation of Television and Radio Artists ratified the National Sound Recordings Code last week. The contract covers royalty artists and session singers, giving an immediate rate boost for session singers, with...

TV Drives Digital Sales Percentage

David M. Ross – 05/28/2008

Country sales were positively impacted this week by several factors including the ACM Awards, a debut from Dancing With The Stars’ Julianne Hough and the American Idol TV finale which included a performance from Carrie Underwood. The Country Top 75 jumped about 20% week over week according to data from Nielsen Soundscan. Hough’s No. 1 country debut scanned a solid 67,230 units, 13% of which were digital album downloads. Ms. Underwood, who enjoyed performance slots on both AI and ACM saw CD sales leap 58%, also with a 13% digital share. Other artists sporting chunky percentage sales increases due to ACM exposure included: Rodney Atkins (73%), Sugarland (72%), Miranda Lambert (52%), Garth Brooks (33%), Brooks & Dunn (19%), Lady Antebellum (17%), George Strait (14%), Eagles (14%) and Taylor Swift (10%). Percentage increase can be misleading when viewed in real terms, i.e. Swift had a lower percentage increase, but was the No. 2 selling country CD for the week (32,612 units).

A thumbnail summary of key metrics: YTD country albums down 13.9%; YTD total sales down 11%; the percentage of country album digital sales has risen from 4.9% in 2007 to 7% YTD 2008. Top three selling country albums for 2008 YTD are Taylor Swift, Garth Brooks —Ultimate Hits and Carrie Underwood—Carnival Ride. Also noteworthy: Idol David Cook sold about 942,000 digital tracks this week across several titles—his “Time of My Life” scanned 236,000. David Archuleta scanned a total of 358,000 tracks led by “Imagine” which was downloaded 71,178 times.

The week’s Top 3 selling Country CDs: Julianne Hough (67,230), Taylor Swift (32,612) and Toby Keith—35 Biggest Hits (32,483).

Lala Offers 10-cent Streams

Sarah Skates – 05/28/2008

Lala.com users can soon purchase unlimited streaming access to songs for ten cents each. After the song is paid for, the buyer can access it from any internet connection. Lala, now in its beta version, has a catalog of about five million songs, including content from all four majors and many independents. The company also lets users upload their digital collections for internet-based access. Lala plans to sell MP3s separately.

Lala could be the first company to try this approach to selling digital music. The model is a combination of offerings from other outlets like Imeem and Last.fm that have free streaming music, and paid subscription platforms with similar on-demand music access. The beta version is up now at next.lala.com.

Doyle Joins HFA Board

Sarah Skates – 05/28/2008

Bob Doyle

Bob Doyle, owner and President of Major Bob Music, has been added to the Harry Fox Agency’s (HFA) Board of Directors. The music rights licensing organization selects its board from members of the National Music Publishers’ Association’s board, and also added Dave Johnson of Warner/Chappell, Dean Kay of Demi Music Corp. and Evan Medow of Secret Sauce Music.

As a publisher, Doyle’s companies are responsible for hits with Garth Brooks, Carrie Underwood, Rascal Flatts, and Kenny Chesney, to name a few. Doyle also heads artist management firm Bob Doyle & Associates which includes long time client Garth Brooks.

CMA Plans Festival After Hours

Sarah Skates – 05/27/2008

CMA Music Festival-goers can party the night away at 16 clubs and bars participating in After Hours presented by CMT, Thursday through Sunday, June 5-8, in Downtown Nashville. The free and open CMA After Hours Kick-Off Concerts will be at 11:30 PM at Hard Rock Cafe Nashville's Outdoor Stage with The Clark Brothers (Thurs.); Whiskey Falls (Fri.); and Mark Wills (Sat.).

Hard Rock Cafe Nashville's Stub Hub Songwriters in the Round will return to the Festival’s After Hours lineup for the second year. Broadcast live on XM channel 16, the shows start at midnight inside the Hard Rock Cafe Nashville, June 5-7. Proceeds benefit Musicians On Call, a nonprofit organization that brings music healthcare patients. Tickets, $15, are available through Ticketalternative.com or 877-725-8849.
Songwriters in the Round (list subject to change):
Thursday, June 5: Jessi Alexander, Dave Berg, Luke Laird, Jon Randall
Friday, June 6: Marv Green, Brett James, Bobby Pinson, Rivers Rutherford
Saturday, June 7: Rodney Clawson, Ashley Gorley, Lee Thomas Miller, Tim Nichols

Google Lobbies For White Space Devices

David M Ross – 05/27/2008

Google has a plan to use the soon to be vacant “white space” between TV channels to power a new generation of short range, high bandwidth wireless devices. G co-founder Larry Page was in Washington last week (5/22) lobbying for support for the plan which is also said to offer increased speed and range for Internet connections. The plan has been criticized by makers and users of wireless microphones plus some broadcasters who fear the new devices would create interference. Page told a Washington think Tank at the Federal Communications Commission, "I am totally confident that if we have rules that say you can use the spectrum under conditions that you cause no interference, that those devices will get produced. And, in fact, hundreds of millions of dollars will be invested in making those devices non-interfering." National Association of Broadcasters Executive Vice President Dennis Wharton responded, "Given the numerous device failures that have resulted during FCC testing, it seems a little disingenuous for Mr. Page to simply dismiss the interference concerns. Jeopardizing the future of digital television with an unproven technology would be unwise and unwarranted."