Artist Co-Writes on the Decline? Artist Co-Writes on the Decline? 3 Allan Debuts, Shelton and by Sarah Skates Gokey Ride Wk
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page 1 Wednesday,Wednesday, MarchMarch 17,17, 20102010 Table of Contents 1 Artist Co-Writes On The Decline? Artist Co-Writes On The Decline? 3 Allan Debuts, Shelton and by Sarah Skates Gokey Ride Wk. 2 Slide 4 DISClaimer 6 Warner/Bertelsmann Joint Artists co-writing their own material million units by recording his own Bid for EMI? has been a growing Music Row trend, material, but his latest, “It’s Just That 6 Shelton Sells Out Ryman but a look at the current country radio Way,” is from the pens of his longtime singles chart indicates the trend may be producer/collaborator Keith Stegall, Respect Intellectual Property: MusicRow transmissions in email and reversing. with Vicky McGehee and Kylie file form plus online passwords, are According to research conducted by Sackley. Lambert picked Tom Douglas intended for the sole use of active subscribers only and protected under ASCAP’s Ralph Murphy, 50 percent of and Allen Shamblin’s “The House That the copyright laws of the United States. Resending or sharing of such intellectual the No. 1 country hits in 2008 were Built Me,” as the follow-up to her first property to unauthorized individuals written or co-written by the artist. In No. 1 single. and/or groups is expressly forbidden. MusicRow Publications, Inc. reserves 2009, the number of what he calls “It caught my attention; seeing those the right to cancel, without refund, the “inside jobs” accelerated to 61 percent. three major acts,” says account of any subscriber found to be in violation of this policy. As the first quarter of 2010 comes to Green Hills Music Group Music Row Communications, LLC a close, a handful of artists who are Pres. Woody Bomar of 1231 17th Ave. S., Nashville, TN 37212 known for solid songwriting skills have the latest radio chart. “I 615-321-3617 www.musicrow.com cut and released outside material. Lady hope this is a trend. It Happy Antebellum, Alan Jackson and may be an indication Saint Miranda Lambert—acclaimed artists that people are looking Patrick’s who usually write and record their own for the greatest song hits—looked beyond their own catalogs and not just the greatest Day for their latest singles. Lady A turned to song in their catalog.” Woody Bomar songwriters Cary Barlow, Hillary Numerous other artists Lindsey and Shane Stevens for their who sometimes nab a writing credit— fond remembrance of youth, “American and an extra income stream to Honey.” Jackson may have sold 50-plus compensate for dwindling sales—also ©2010, MusicRow Communications, LLC—ALL RIGHTS RESERVED [email protected] page 2 Wednesday, March 17, 2010 turned to outside writers for their current Superstars like Martina McBride and Tim McGraw hits. Are they realizing that a quality song have built powerhouse careers out of finding and cutting trumps these other perks? superior songs from Nashville’s first-rate tunesmiths, and “I think our chart has been watered they are sticking to that winning formula with their new down by mediocre artist co-writes for the singles. last couple of years,” says Universal Music “If you’ve written a hit, great,” Higdon continues. “If Publishing Nashville Exec. VP/GM Pat not, find a hit. The artists who do that are the real career- Higdon. “Some artists may have realized type of artists that we have had in the format in the past, that they aren’t really songwriters at this Pat Higdon and hopefully will have in the future.” point in their careers, and they’ve turned to Nashville’s top songwriters for material. Easton Corbin Artist Access is a great example of a young artist who really hadn’t Obviously an artist can’t record a song they’ve never jumped into the game trying to be a songwriter—and heard, so publishers say access to the artist is key to maybe he’ll become a writer down the road—but he has getting songs cut. “When you’re pitching songs you want been very wise letting his label find great songs for him. to get as close to the artist as you can,” explains Bomar. That’s a trend we hoped for and maybe it is happening “You want to go through as few filters as possible. If you now. It is too early to tell.” can get directly to the artist and play it for them, that is absolutely the first choice. The second choice would probably be the producer; if it is a producer who is very involved and passionate about finding songs. Managers can also be very influential in what gets recorded. Another option would be the A&R people who work with the artists at their labels.” Higdon says label A&R departments used to facilitate pitch sessions with the artists, but not these days. With so many other avenues leading to the artist, has the effectiveness of A&R waned? Most major producers have their own connections, and some see little need to go through the record company when they are on the song search. There are also financial incentives that come into play from a label perspective. With mechanical royalties on the decline, singles and the performance income they yield are more important than ever. Because of this Higdon thinks labels are reluctant to Warner Music Nashville recently celebrated Blake Shelton’s latest No. 1 “Hillbilly pass along songs that aren’t what they consider Bone.” (L-R): WMN Pres. John Esposito, Danielle Taylor, Kristen Williams, April radio friendly. Bomar adds, “Because of controlled Johnson, George Meeker, VP Promotion Bob Reeves, Brooks Quigley and Sr. VP Promotions Chris Stacey. composition clauses in recording contracts, if ©2010, MusicRow Communications, LLC—ALL RIGHTS RESERVED [email protected] page 3 Wednesday, March 17, 2010 Danny Gokey performed at the 3rd Annual The Country Music Hall of Fame & Museum’s Songwriter Westin Davis has signed a Jeffrey Steele & Friends benefit concert, “Brenda Lee: Dynamite” exhibit runs through June publishing deal with Magic Mustang in memory of Jeffrey’s son, Alex.Steele and features artifacts and multimedia from Lee’s Music. (L-R): Davis and Magic Mustang’s co-wrote two tracks on Danny’s debut career. (L-R): Liz Thiels, Kyle Young, Brenda Lee, Creative Dir. Juli Newton-Griffith. album, My Best Days. (L-R): Gokey and Kay Smith and Judi Turner. Photo: L Wenner Premiere Radio Networks’ Robin Rhodes. the artist is a writer on the song, the labels don’t have to Allan Debuts, Shelton & Gokey pay as high of a royalty rate on mechanicals.” “I think a lot of artists, especially newer artists, have Ride Wk. 2 Slide relied on hearing songs from one or two sources, instead by David M. Ross of spending time with really good songwriters and publishers Gary Allan fired up bar code to see what else is out there,” Higdon explains. “I’ve readers and mouse clickers been doing this for 30-something years, and never have nationwide to scan almost there been fewer superstars in our building [listening to 65,000 albums with the debut songs] than there have been in the last three or four of Get Off On The Pain this week years.” according to Nielsen Soundscan. “It’s the job of a great songplugger to go out and Week no. 2 for Blake Shelton find the artist,” he continues, recalling his own pitching (28.5k) and Danny Gokey (24.5k) session in Kenny Rogers’ car at the height of the star’s saw album sales for both artists drop an average of popularity. “You can get there if you’re confident about 62%. Corbin Easton debuted last week with 43k, and what you do, if you work your connections properly, and dropped a less steep 49% this week.(A second week you’ve got the goods and people know you’ve got the drop of about 60% is quite usual for country artists.) goods. You can get close to the inner circle.” Shelton's six pak project is charting new waters due to ©2010, MusicRow Communications, LLC—ALL RIGHTS RESERVED [email protected] page 4 Wednesday, March 17, 2010 its lower retail price, however, it seems to have reacted—at least in week two—without exception. Country sales lagged this week, compared with last week, but 2010 album sales compared with 2009 are up a strong 18%. (This compares favorably with the overall all genre industry which is down 8%.) Country's good fortune is being driven by Lady A's newest, the debuts above, plus strong sellers from Zac Brown Band, Taylor Swift and Carrie Underwood. The YTD digital stats show that online adoption is rapidly growing among country consumers. For example, purchases of digital country albums YTD comparing 2010 and 2009 are up 59%. Digital albums now make up 15.2% of 2010 country album purchases. During 2009 they were 11.3%. Curb Music held a writing retreat at Blackberry Farm in Walland, TN March 7-9 for Lady A continues to rule country's digital upcoming recording projects. (L-R): Curb’s Brian Davis, Tammi Kidd and Drew tracks list with "Need You Now" pinned solidly in Alexander; Broken Bow’s Blake Wise; Curb’s Bobby Tomberlin; Stroudavarious’ the top spot totaling almost 134k downloads this Darryl Worley; Republic Nashville’s Sunny Sweeney; Curb’s Tiffany Goss and Lee week. The uber trio's "American Honey" also Brice; and BMI’s Mark Mason. holds the No. 3 spot (36k) and "I Run To You" (13k) is No. 18. Taylor Swift's "Today Was A Fairytale" (47k) holds No. 2, plus Swift has tracks Day with “Water.” This guy is on a winning streak with sprinkled throughout the Top 100 in No.s 9, 19, 31, 33, one-word titles—“Then,” “Celebrity,” “Alcohol,” “Ticks” 52, 71, 74, 89, 95, 97 and 99.