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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 AirplayJUNE 30, 2020 Page 1 of 30 Leader; Travis Denning Makes History INSIDE Thievery Corporations: Don Henley 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),on debuts How at No. 1 on Billboard Giant’s lion audience Online impressions, up 16%). Platforms Top Country• Meet The Albums Queer chart dated April 18. In its first week (ending April 9), it earnedCreatives 46,000 Bringing equivalent album units, including 16,000 in album sales, ac- TRY TO ‘CATCH’ UP WITH YOUNG Brett Youngachieves his fifth consecutive cordingYour toFavorite Nielsen Artists’ Music/MRC Data. Rip Off Creatorsand total Country Airplay No. 1— as “Catch”And (Big Machine How Label Group) ascends SouthsideVision marks To Life Hunt’s second No. 1 on the 2-1, increasing 13% to 36.6 million impressions. chart and fourth top 10. It follows freshman LP Congress Can HelpYoung’s first of six chart entries, “Sleep With- Montevallo• Inside, whichthe Virtual arrived at the summit in No - out You,” reached No. 2 in December 2016. He BET Awards: How vember 2014 and reigned for nine weeks. To date, BY ROBERT LEVINE followed with the multiweek No. 1s “In Case You MontevalloThey Pulled has earned It Off 3.9 & million units, with 1.4 Didn’t Know” (two weeks, June 2017), “Like I Loved millionWhy inIt albumMight sales.Change You” (three, January 2018), “Mercy” (two, August Montevallothe Future has of spentAward 267 weeks on the list, tying 2018) and “Here Tonight” (two, April 2019). Luke BryanShows’s Crash My Party as theThe sixth-longest- Eagles have twice postponed their Hotel Cali- community —“Catch” songwriters, completes musicians, his longest music journey publish to No. 1,- running titles in the chart’s 56-year history. having taken 46 weeks to reach the apex. It out- • Canceled US Music fornia tour during the coronavirus pandemic, most ers — all of whom are now unfortunately known as On the all-genre Billboard 200, Southside ar- paces the 30-week climb of “Here Tonight.” Festivals Threaten to recently until October 2021. But on June 2, Don content providers,” Henley said, reading testimony rives at No. 5, awarding Hunt his second top 10 On Hot Country Songs, “Catch” pushes 7-5 for Slow Momentum for HUNT YOUNG after the No. 3-peaking MontevalloHenley. — the band’s co-founder, drummer, and singer that he hada written new high. himself. Speaking calmly, in Rising Latin Acts Hunt first released the EPX2C —, which delivered debuted a special live-via-video performance for a a jacket and tie, Henley explained why the law — and peaked• Organizer at No. of5 on Top Countryparticularly Albums important in August audience: 2014. Following The Senate COMBS Judiciary ‘DOES’ originallyIT AGAIN Luke designed Combs to’ “Does allow to telecomMe” (River companies House/Columbia to MontevalloChris, BetweenJanson’s the Pines: SubcommitteeAcoustic Mixtape on started Intellectual at its No. Property. 7 high in Nashville), featuringinvest Eric in Church building, ascends out high-speed 11-8 on Country broadband Airplay, upwithout 10% to NovemberWeekend 2015. Concert The occasion was the third in a series of hearings24.7 million in audience.worrying The about song legal is Combs’ liability eighth — hasstraight not career-openingonly enabled 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 Says All Required about the 1998 Digital Millennium Copyright Act piracy, but also become “negotiating leverage to pay Airplay:Coronavirus “Leave the Night On,” “Take Your Time,” “House Party” and “Make promoted No. 1 singles. (DMCA), which gives online platforms that feature license fees that are well below market.” The el- YouPrecautions Miss Me.” “Break Were Up in in a Small Town” peaked at No. 2. Church adds his 15th Country Airplay top 10. Hunt co-pennedPlace all 12 songsuser-uploaded on Southside, including content, “Body such as Like YouTube, a Back a ‘safe ephant in the room? YouTube. (YouTube often points Road,” which was released in 2017.harbor’ The smashfrom liability hit ruled for Country copyright Airplay infringement, for THAT TOOKas QUITEout the‘A FEW’ aggregate MONTHS amount Travis itDenning pays out shatters to the the music record for three• India weeks Bans and theTikTok, airplay-, streaming-long as they and sales-basedrespond promptly Hot Country to takedown Songs thenotices. most weeks businessit has taken — to $3 penetrate billion inthe 2019.) Country Airplay top 10 as “After chart forDozens a then-record More 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 - According to Henley, as well as most organizations of Henley has been outspoken about creators’ rights FloridaChinese Georgia Apps Line Amid’s “Meant to Be” (50 weeks atop the latter list in 2017-18). lion in radio reach. “Downtown’sBorder Standoff Dead,” which iscreators also on theand new rights set, holders,reached Nos. it also 14 andgives 15 such onlineThe song surpassesfor longer two tracks than somethat took of today’s50 weeks online each to platforms enter the top have 10: on Hot Country Songs and Countryplatforms Airplay, an respectively, unfair advantage in June 2018. in negotiations. “Kin- Easton Corbin’sbeen “A Girl around Like You,” — he which helped reached form No.the 10Recording in January Artists 2018 be - folks” led Country Airplay on Feb.“As 29, becominga 55-year Hunt’sveteran seventh of the No. music 1. It hitindustry, fore Ipeaking was at No.Coalition 6 that February, two decades and Aaron ago —Watson and he’s “Outtafollows Style,” the issues which No. 3 on Hot Country Songs. invited by the chairman of this Senate subcommitachieved- its No.as 10 closelyhigh in December as some industry 2017. lawyers. When former Latest single “Hard to Forget” jumps 17-9 on Hot Country Songs. It’s his “After” is Denning’s second Country Airplay entry. “David Ashley Parker tee to come here and testify on behalf of the music (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 Page 3 of 30 IN BRIEF register of copyrights Maria Pallante gullible kids who make the pilgrimage to community was a direct result of the labels was removed from her job in 2016, Henley the music Meccas, in search of The Dream. being organized and the artists not having objected. A young, unproven artist has little or no a coalition to represent their voices. So, a Weeks after he testified, Henley spoke bargaining power, and so is automatically at group of artists and artist representatives with Billboard over email to expand on his a disadvantage. But to be fair, it’s a business mobilized and formed the Recording Artists views about why the DMCA is “a relic of a that involves a tremendous amount of risk Coalition (RAC). Thanks to the many artists MySpace era in a TikTok world.” For Hen- for all parties involved, including the record who spoke up, and the support of Congress- ley, “this is a matter of principle,” as he said labels and the managers. But the creators, man Howard Berman, sound recordings in his testimony. “The system is antiquated the artists, risk everything. They get one, were stricken from the definition of ‘work and badly broken, and the creative commu- maybe two, shots at the brass ring. The for hire’ in the Work Made for Hire and nity is paying a very steep price.” odds are long; careers are, for the most part, Copyright Corrections Act of 2000. The only How did you first become so inter- relatively short. reason that recording artists can now regain ested in copyright and issues of creators’ The first issue you were known for be- control of their copyrights from the labels in rights? ing active on was the effort by the labels the U.S. as Congress intended is because the I started getting “schooled” in these to have recordings considered “works RAC organized and artists spoke up. matters about 49 years ago, at the inception for hire” — which I think was the origin RAC went on to do additional work, but of the Eagles. Like most musical artists of of the Recording Artists Coalition. How without the same level of success. A few the Boomer generation, we were naive in important was the coalition in stopping years later, a group of us went to Sacramento terms of the legal and financial aspects of that? And you learn anything from it? to testify about Section 2855 of the Califor- the business. So, lacking sound counsel, we In 1999, the lobbying group for the major nia Labor Code — the so-called ‘seven- year made the classic rookie mistakes. We, along labels, the RIAA, buried a fundamental statute.’ But it was an exercise in futility. with most of our peers, were more focused change to the Copyright Act in a completely This time, the RIAA and its lobbyists had al- on the music, the scene, and the socio- unrelated bill, the Satellite Home Viewer ready done their maneuvering to amend the political issues that had spilled over from Improvement Act of 1999.