BILLBOARD COUNTRY UPDATE APRIL 13, 2020 | PAGE 4 OF 19 ON THE CHARTS JIM ASKER [email protected] Bulletin SamHunt’s Southside Rules Top Country YOURAlbu DAILYms; BrettENTERTAINMENT Young ‘Catc NEWSh UPDATE’-es Fifth AirplayMARCH 16, 2021 Page 1 of 17 Leader; Travis Denning Makes History INSIDE International Creators Gather For Sam Hunt’s second studio full-length, and first in over five years, Southside sales (up 21%) in the tracking week. On Country Airplay, it hops 18-15 (11.9 mil- (MCA Nashville/Universal Music Group Nashville), debuts at No. 1 on Billboard’s lion audience impressions, up 16%). Top Country• So You Albums Want to chart dated April 18. In its first‘Justice week (ending April 9), itat Spotify’ Protests earnedSell 46,000Your Publishing equivalent album units, including 16,000 in album sales, ac- TRY TO ‘CATCH’ UP WITH YOUNG Brett Youngachieves his fifth consecutive cordingRights? to Nielsen A Veteran Music/MRC Data. andBY total LARS Country BRANDLE Airplay No. 1 as “Catch” (Big Machine Label Group) ascends Southsideof the Business marks SaysHunt’s second No. 1 on the 2-1, increasing 13% to 36.6 million impressions. chart andTake fourth a Beat top 10. It follows freshman LP Young’s first of six chart entries, “Sleep With- Montevallo, which arrived at theSpotify summit faced in No the- music on Monday (March 15) as the banner outof #JusticeAtSpotify. You,” reached No. 2 in December 2016. He • Jim Catino, vember 2014 and reigned for ninecreators weeks. To around date, the globe gathered to protest the “Spotify hasfollowed long withmistreated the multiweek music No. workers, 1s “In Case but theYou MontevalloLongtime has earned Sony 3.9 million units, with 1.4 Didn’t Know” (two weeks, June 2017), “Like I Loved millionMusic in album Nashville sales. streaming giant’s royalties model. pandemic hasYou” put (three, the exploitationJanuary 2018), into “Mercy” stark (two, relief,” August MontevalloA&R Head, has spent to 267 weeks onThe the Sweden-basedlist, tying tech firm and its rivals have comments UMAW2018) and organizer “Here Tonight” and artist (two, AprilMary 2019). Regala- Luke BryanDepart’s Crash in June My Party as thecome sixth-longest- under increasing scrutiny in recent months for do, Pitchfork“Catch” reports completes. his longest journey to No. 1, running titles in the chart’s 56-year history. having taken 46 weeks to reach the apex. It out- • Joe Conyers III their top-heavy remuneration systems, despite re- “The company has tripled in value during the pan- On the all-genre Billboard 200, Southside ar- paces the 30-week climb of “Here Tonight.” to Head NFT porting billions in revenue each quarter. demic, while failing to increase its payment rates to rives at No. 5, awarding Hunt his second top 10 On Hot Country Songs, “Catch” pushes 7-5 for Platform for Crypto. HUNT YOUNG after the No. 3-peaking MontevalloThose. concerns were at the heart of a U.K. par- artists by evena new a fraction high. of a penny. Musicians all over com: Exclusive Hunt first released the EPX2C liamentary, which debuted inquiry , announced late last year to the world are unemployed right now while the tech and peakedEvent Designerat No. 5 on Top Countryexamine Albums what ineconomic August 2014. impact Following music streaming COMBS is ‘DOES’ giantsIT AGAIN dominating Luke Combs the’ “Does industry to Me” take (River in billions. House/Columbia Music MontevalloBobby, Between Garza the Pines: havingAcoustic on Mixtape artists, started record at labels its No. and 7 high “the in sustainabilityNashville), featuring work Eric is labor, Church and, ascends we are 11-8 asking on Country to be paid Airplay, fairly up 10%for to November 2015. 24.7 million in audience. The song is Combs’ eighth straight career-opening in Austin, in a of the wider music industry.” More than 150 pieces of that labor.” Montevallo produced five singles, four of which hit the pinnacle of Country top 10, following a record run of seven consecutive out-of-the-gate, properly Pandemic: ‘I Don’t written evidence were submitted into the “economics The UMAW announced its Justice At Spotify Airplay:Think... “Leave We’re the Night On,” “Take Your Time,” “House Party” and “Make promoted No. 1 singles. of music streaming” inquiry, and published in January. campaign in October of last year, along with a mission You MissFull-Tilt Me.” in“Break July’ Up in a Small Town” peaked at No. 2. Church adds his 15th Country Airplay top 10. Hunt co-penned all 12 songs onOn Southside Monday, including, the U.S.-based “Body Like Union a Back of Musicians and statement and a petition that had been signed by more Road,”• Avett which Brothers, was released in 2017.Allied The Workers smash hit took ruled a Countrymore hands-on Airplay for approach THAT when TOOK QUITEthan ‘A 6,000 FEW’ people. MONTHS Travis Denning shatters the record for three Billyweeks Strings and the and airplay-, streaming-it led a worldwide and sales-based demonstration Hot Country on Songs the doorstepsthe most of weeks it has“Spotify taken tois penetratethe most thedominant Country platform Airplay top on 10 the as “After chartMore for a then-record Announced 34 frames. It now ranks second only to Bebe Rexha and a Few” (Mercury Nashville) climbs 12-10 in its 57th week, up 4% to 21.4 mil - Spotify offices. music streaming market,” the UMAW Floridafor Bonnaroo’s Georgia Line New’s “Meant to Be” (50 weeks atop the latter list in 2017-18). lion in radio reach. stated at the “Downtown’sConcert Series Dead,” which is alsoAmong on the its new demands, set, reached the UnionNos. 14 is and calling 15 forThe a 1 centsong surpassestime. two“The tracks company that took behind 50 weeks the streamingeach to enter platform the top 10: on Hot Country Songs and Countryper Airplay,stream royaltyrespectively, rate, in greater June 2018. transparency “Kin- Easton from Corbin’scontinues “A Girl Like to You,” accrue which value, reached yet music No. 10 workers in January every 2018- be- folks”• led2021 Country Grammys Airplay on Feb.Spotify, 29, becoming and an end Hunt’s to lawsuitsseventh No. targeting 1. It hit artists.fore peaking at No.where 6 that see February, little more and Aaron than penniesWatson ’sin “Outta compensation Style,” which Suffer Steep Fall No. 3 on Hot Country Songs. Artists and music industry professionalsachieved gathered its No.for 10 high the workin December they make.” 2017. Latestin single Ratings “Hard to Forget” jumps 17-9 on Hot Country Songs. It’s his “After” is Denning’s second Country Airplay entry. “David Ashley Parker in 31 cities, including 10 in the United States, under (continued) eighth top 10, having corralled 8.2 million U.S. streams (up 96%) and 5,000 in From Powder Springs” traveled to No. 32 in September 2018. ETHAN MICHAEL YOUNG: VIA MARTIN/NHLI GETTY HUNT: IMAGES. IMAGES MILLER/GETTY NO LOVE LOST “It’s a safe bet that Blxst “Bound to cash in will be even bigger than he is now” on his immense talent in 2021” OVER 150 MILLION STREAMS "OVERRATED" IMPACTING RADIO NOW “Primed to be LA’s next superstar” “One of the more intriguing young acts “It’s time for Blxst to shine” to deserve recognition in LA” IN PROUD PARTNERSHIP WITH Red Bull Records_04_031321.indd 1 3/3/21 6:19 PM Page 3 of 17 IN BRIEF Spotify declined to comment on the ily driven by folks who realize that catalogs protests. So You Want are tremendous assets, and also by writers’ Writing for The Guardian last month, representatives who have seen the money Charlatans frontman Tim Burgess added his to Sell Your they make plummet over the past few years voice to calls for a new business model. (especially if COVID-19 or an artists’ age In an opinion piece under the title “Even Publishing Rights? interrupted touring plans) and hope to make before Covid, music was broken. Let’s use some nice fees for “helping” them sell their this moment to hit reset,” Burgess wrote, “If A Veteran of the songs. A lot of the encouragement to sell a whole generation of musicians goes to the (and make money off of the sale) begins with wall, no one wins. And let me tell you, when Business Says the assertion to songwriters that “folks are we fix it there’ll be quite a lineup willing to offering insane amounts for catalogs” and play at the party to celebrate.” Take a Beat “you should sell ASAP because Biden might Later, Soundcloud revealed it would raise the capital gains tax.” adopt a “user-centric” payment system, BY RANDALL WIXEN Let’s have a closer look. In fact, even a where royalty payments to artists are calcu- 25-times net earnings multiple on a catalog lated on the number of fans streaming, not started Wixen Music Publishing in sale might not be insane. The passage of the the number of streams. 1978, long before music publishing Music Modernization Act (MMA) is going to became a “sexy” business to investors significantly change a lot of things, including and bankers, and have dedicated my how performing rights organizations like Ientire professional life to protecting song- ASCAP and BMI function, which presently writers, careers and legacies. Over more operate under government consent decrees. than 40 years I’ve never had anyone say to As part of that, the two big PROs now have me, “I sure am glad I sold my publishing the rates that they can charge broadcasters when I did. It was the best thing I ever did.” who publicly perform music, each deter- But I couldn’t begin to estimate the num- mined by a single judge.