Music Industry News

[ACcountryFan]

As all of you know i'm a big lover of classic country music too...i found this interview by legend George Jones that was conducted by Billboard and it talks about his take on the country music industry specifically...i'm biased of course and agree with everything he says

NASHVILLE (Billboard) - Few topics get George Jones, who has been called everything from "the greatest living country singer" to "the Rolls-Royce of country singers," riled up like contemporary country music. In fact, he disputes that it's country music at all.

"It's great to have young people loving country music, but they don't even know that that's not real country," Jones says. "Why in the hell do they call the stuff country? Why don't you find them another name and let us country (artists) have our chart? No, they have to have it to walk on. They use country music as a steppingstone."

To call Jones a hardcore traditionalist is an understatement. And at 75 years old, he's also a living legend. On October 24, Bandit Records will release a new album by Jones, "Kickin' Out the Footlights ... Again." Subtitled "Jones Sings Haggard, Haggard Sings Jones," the album features fellow legend Merle Haggard singing five of Jones' songs and vice versa. The pair also do four duets.

"I'm still traditional, and I can't like anything else. I don't know why," Jones says. "I can appreciate talent, and I can appreciate a good song, but to me they don't write the songs nowadays like they used to. Think back on the big songs that Hank Williams, Jim Reeves and Ray Price had. You don't hear that type of song anymore, or at least I'm not hearing it."

Jones admits it's a matter of personal taste, but it's nothing personal. "I love a lot of the people in the business. Dierks Bentley is a very good friend, Kenny Chesney is, I guess, my best friend -- he calls me 'Daddy' and I call him 'my son,"' Jones says. "I love a lot of the new artists, and what's amazing to me is I have so many tell me, 'I wish to hell they'd let me go in and cut a good traditional country song.' I understand what they're up against, they have to do what they're told nowadays."

Things weren't always that way, according to Jones. "Used to be it was a wide-open business. If they liked your singing, they signed you," he says. "You didn't have to be cute and go get your teeth fixed and all this crap. They just brought you in the studio and recorded you, and if you didn't have a hit the first time or two, they had plenty of time, and so did I. They gave you a chance to get two or three hits."

There's a new criteria for star-making in Nashville, by Jones' way of thinking. "There's a lot of great singers in this town today that people won't even talk to because they don't look like what they're looking for," he says. "Hell, nobody used to care what you looked like. I couldn't have won a beauty contest if I bought it. Nobody held that against me."

I found that interview on George's web-site

GEORGE JONES

[Pamela]

Jerry, that's great - George tellin it like it is!

I was never a big country music fan, but I can still appreciate what he's saying. I feel the same way about rock music; they don't make it like they used to! In fact, when I look back at the time honored tradition of protest music back in the 60s and then what happened to the DixChix for making one statement, well..... yeah, things have changed a LOT. And they will continue to change, for the better or for the worse, depending on individual perspectives.

Here's an article about Barry and Rod's take on the "classics."

CRITIC'S NOTEBOOK
Music for the rocker
Rod Stewart and Barry Manilow rework rock history into something lulling and safe.
By Ann Powers, Times Staff Writer

In the flush of youth, Rod Stewart and Barry Manilow would have laughed to think their careers would ever be linked. Back then — the early 1970s — Stewart was a rock kingpin strutting his rooster haircut in the Faces and scoring solo hits including "Maggie May." Manilow, though a year younger than Stewart, was acting like rock never happened, arranging Andrews Sisters songs for Bette Midler and stepping toward easy-listening superstardom.

Stewart surfed the wave of a counterculture going mainstream; Manilow aimed at a Middle America that viewed rock as a rip in the continuum from Nat King Cole to the Carpenters. But years gone by make friends of former ideological adversaries. Today, Stewart and Manilow are united in rewriting the musical — and, by extension, cultural — history of rock.

Their latest releases share much beyond the tinted coifs, bad suit jackets and knowing smiles the singers wear in their cover portraits. Both are selling massively to the one demographic that still prefers albums over ringtones. (Manilow even promoted his on Mom's home-inside-the-home, the QVC Channel.) Pop tycoon Clive Davis co-produced Manilow's for Arista, the label he founded in 1974, and Stewart's for J, his post-Arista gig. Each takes its star into the classic-rock era after big scores with collections of pre-rock standards, and each focuses on ballads: rock's isolation tank for pre-rock sentimentality. Neither contains a note that could cause uncertainty or discomfort. And both have titles asserting that the music within is "great."

Stewart and Manilow both have been singled out as enemies of "quality" rock — the British lad after he moved to California in 1975 and "sold out," the pop maestro since he had his first hit, 1974's tear-stained love letter "Mandy." These new efforts recast the rock era in a light that favors their own values. And they don't need critical validation — as "songbooks," they are canonizing works, passing down an official list that millions of listeners will preserve.

Stewart's "Still the Same ... Great Rock Classics of Our Time" is the odder duck. Most of its picks are from the mid-1970s — the time of rock's gentrification, when suave players such as David Gates of Bread (whose "Everything I Own" Stewart delivers) polished its grit to suit the leisure-suit set. Soft-rock icons the Eagles and Cat Stevens are presented as cut from the same cloth as iconoclasts Bob Dylan and Van Morrison; in fact, Stewart renders poppy efforts by those undisputed greats indistinguishable from the work of their imitators. The result is a portrait of rock that eliminates its more challenging subversions.

This move means to resolve the conflict that's long haunted Stewart. Originally, Stewart was the voice of the common counterculture, an ordinary kid caught up in social change and trying to sort out its meaning for the working class. Then, detractors say, he got cheap, just another airplay chaser selling sex and romantic clichés. His "Great American Songbook" series resurrected sales this decade by removing him from rock altogether but didn't solve the problem of his damaged rocker rep.

"Still the Same" attempts to level the hierarchies that led to Stewart's mixed reputation. Play only the first 10 seconds of each track and you'll recognize every hit: They've been chosen for that earworm quality, their riffs or chord progressions made iconic by repeated airplay. Their moderate tempos and arching melodies follow the most reliable blueprint for pop drama, building steadily, verse by verse, toward a chorus that unifies all of the music's impulses. Studio greats including guitarist Greg Leisz, bassist Leland Sklar and drummer Kenny Aronoff breathe them into shape.

Gone are the rough edges — Badfinger leader Pete Ham's sob of a vocal in "Day After Day," the hyper tone of Dylan's "If Not for You." Those qualities are what rock brought to pop — the bursting seam of the amateur's voice as it reached for the stars. Pre-rock pop celebrated individuality but valued the entertainer's savvy over the maverick's nerve. Stewart, far from his freaky days but still hoping to maintain his rocker cred, is making a case for considering rock within the value system of pop.

"Still the Same" won't make many year-end critics' polls; it's far too bland and calculated a product. But it's perfect for a generation reconsidering its own ideals. The counterculture Stewart rode in on seems so distant, given the baby-boomer conservatives running things. In that light, Stewart's crafty assertion that rock be viewed as part of pop, not something working against it, offers a strange kind of comfort.

Manilow's take on the '60s

Manilow might have done exactly the same thing — it's easy to imagine him singing many of the songs Stewart tackled — but, in fact, he makes a bolder assertion. With "The Greatest Songs of the Sixties," he allows fans to imagine a pop world almost completely untainted by rock. There's some reality to his vision: Even during the Summer of Love, the Billboard charts were full of bright, pretty music free of rock's troubling sexiness and implied (if not outright) violence. It's that lineage Manilow celebrates.

He even enlists the Association, the choral group whose 1967 hit "Windy" turned hippie femininity into something worthy of a Good Housekeeping seal, for a medley blending that hit with the group's "Cherish," from the previous year. The pairing produces a marvelous sonic wreck, a hyper-arranged mishmash that merges a painfully sad song with a demonically perky one, ultimately eliminating coherent feeling altogether.

But then, that's partly what Manilow is about — his own songs explode with grandiosity, ending up more expressive of the idea of passion than of any particular feeling. On "Greatest Songs," he highlights classics that turn feeling into show. Under his flashy hand, what a show it is.

His most brazen move may be reclaiming "Blue Velvet," a No. 1 single for velvet tux man Bobby Vinton in 1963. Ever since David Lynch released his film of the same name in 1986, that song has symbolized Middle America's sordid subconscious; it's difficult to hear it without visualizing the victimized mother, played by Isabella Rossellini, who sang it in the film. But for Manilow, it's just a song: a vehicle that can be emptied of those associations. This is the pure idea of the pop standard, emphasizing craft and lineage over rock's zeal and exploratory weirdness.

Manilow finds much personality in pop, though as usual with this consummate showman, it's hard to know if he's really feeling it. He mimics Dean Martin, whom he venerates, and pays tribute to his own list of greats: Burt Bacharach and Hal David, Herb Alpert, Dionne Warwick, the Paul half of Lennon/McCartney. His voice is as plebeian as ever, a hearty bellow when the choruses rise and a creature of winks and nudges when the mood is spicy. His primary tone is almost tongue-tied, as if that clear voice can only reach for emotion, not grab its essence.

Manilow's flat affect works as a sort of democratizing force; like his old friend Karen Carpenter, he turns being facile into facility. The common touch implies that this star could be you.

Rock of the 1960s expressed democracy differently: Its story was one of oddballs encouraging each other to vent. The ongoing success of Manilow and Stewart reminds us that nonconformist ideals aren't often maintained. It's easy to be a freak when you're young and pretty; when things start sagging, one is encouraged to go classic. And apparently that's true in pop as well as in life.

©CalendarLive.com

[ACcountryFan]

Pamela!! One of the things i've personally not liked about rock music was the loud guitars and this idea that there's nothing in the world but sex and drugs or striking out against the "establishment" and it was typically the conservative establishment being struck out against. I studied the music history and as you said, a lot of the '60s music were pop protest songs. I think the core rock music fan just can't appreciate lyric and melody and are more into rough, driving music with no other point than be a basis for a dance record or a party record. After reading that article you brought over it pretty much sums up why easy-listening singers are not liked in the rock world...because their music is "lulling and safe". But that also brings up the question of why do people want to praise and speak good of music that promotes the opposite of lulling and safe, etc etc.

My idea of an un-safe song is when the lyrics tend to be too liberal in verse and it's being pushed upon listeners who have no clue but because their "favorite" sung a song, then it must be true. To me, those are un-safe songs

However, Ann Powers, the one who wrote that article, takes things a bit too serious but perhaps that is me being a country fan, always on the defensive since my music as it should still sound was never embraced by the mainstream but this fake country music was exposed to the masses and sounds basically like rock music, fooling an entire generation, and bringing in a bunch of people who had no country bone in their body but were seduced by tight asses and bulging belt buckles.

[Pamela]

Pamela!! One of the things i've personally not liked about rock music was the loud guitars and this idea that there's nothing in the world but sex and drugs or striking out against the "establishment" and it was typically the conservative establishment being struck out against.

Oh but Jerry....so many rock songs are about so much more than that! U2 in particular creates lots of music that touches the social conscience, not to mention, a boat load of songs about the universal subject - Love!

Here's an article about the Country Music Awards that aired last night.

The CMA Awards at 40: Celebrating a Growth Spurt
Brooks & Dunn, Brad Paisley And Randy Scruggs Are The Toast of the Country
By J. Freedom du Lac
Washington Post Staff Writer
Tuesday, November 7, 2006

NASHVILLE, Nov. 6 -- To walk along lower Broadway here is to be bombarded by the lachrymose sound of steel guitars pouring out of the honky-tonks that line the bustling, touristy boulevard. But don't be fooled by the doleful din: These are joyous, auspicious times in Music City.

While the music industry continues to struggle (overall album sales are down by about 5 percent this year), sales of country albums have spiked by nearly 10 percent over last year, according to Nielsen SoundScan. Country artists continue to be a major force on the touring circuit, too, with Kenny Chesney, George Strait and power couple Tim McGraw and Faith Hill responsible for three of the top 10 box-office totals in the first half of 2006.

Thus, there was a triumphal tone at the Country Music Association Awards Monday night, when the industry convened to toast its success (double bourbon, neat, please) while honoring some of its stars -- led by Kix Brooks and Ronnie Dunn, who won the single of the year award for "Believe," an inspirational story-song that also won the top songwriting award. The veteran hillbillies won for video of the year, too, as well as their usual best vocal duo award. (They've lost just once since 1992.) Brad Paisley's "Time Well Wasted" was the surprise winner for album of the year. Paisley also won for musical event of the year for "When I Get Where I'm Going," with Dolly Parton.

Guitarist Randy Scruggs was named musician of the year.

As if they didn't get enough camera time in their acceptance speeches, Brooks & Dunn opened the festivities by performing and served as hosts, proffering back-pats, redneck humor and odd exclamations. Dunn also accepted the male vocalist award on behalf of Keith Urban, who is in alcohol rehab.

"Yaa-oo-hoo," Dunn yelped at one point, apropos of nothing. Or perhaps he was just cheering for the genre in general. Said Mike Dungan, president and CEO of Capitol Nashville and head of the CMA board: "Country is in a good spot right now."

The show was broadcast live from the Gaylord Entertainment Center, in the shadow of the Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum and just a boot-scoot from Music Row. The perfect place, Brooks declared, for a showcase of "the greatest music on the face of the Earth."

It's worth noting that much of that music sounded pitchy in the live performances, with artists from Chesney -- who was named entertainer of the year -- to Martina McBride wandering off-key. Also: One of the genre's greatest bands -- the Dixie Chicks -- wasn't included, despite having recorded one of the best and best-selling albums of the year, "Taking the Long Way." Winner of 10 previous CMAs, the trio didn't receive any nominations this year, thanks to those now-infamous remarks about President Bush, which rankled country's core constituency and its establishment. But enough about the singers non grata.

"We're trying to promote and expose great country music to as many people as possible," said Tammy Genovese, the CMA's chief operating officer, earlier in the month. "Other genres just aren't where we are right now. I don't know why, and I don't care."

Read the rest at Washington Post

[ACcountryFan]

Oh but Jerry....so many rock songs are about so much more than that! U2 in particular creates lots of music that touches the social conscience, not to mention, a boat load of songs about the universal subject - Love!

Oh but Pamela...isn't Bono a far out liberal? You know i'm joking with you. I blame the political season on that reference

Here's a slightly different view of the awards show. I felt the ABC recap was a bit harsh and that 'hillbilly' reference ruined all credibility for me. Who but snobs and ignorant people even use the hillbilly term anymore!?

CMA Winners
Biggest show ever

By Neil Haislop

NASHVILLE, TN Wednesday Nov.8.2006 -- The milestone 40th Annual CMA Awards show at the Gaylord Entertainment center in Nashville was the biggest CMA awards show ever staged in music city just by the sheer numbers of fans and music industry folks able to pour into the show. The show, broadcast on ABC TV had great performances and record breaking wins.

Brooks&Dunn had an enormous presence, not only because they served as host, but also because the won big. Brooks & Dunn took home the most wins, including Music Video, and Single and song of the Year for "Believe," and their unprecedented fourteenth Vocal Duo of the Year Award. These three Awards bring Brooks & Dunn's overall CMA Awards tally to 18, tying Vince Gill's record for most wins. "It's really good to win," Kix Brooks said backstage. "We are prepared every year to clap for someone else. We are surprised that voters aren't tired of seeing us win every year."

Ronnie Dunn also picked up his first Song of the Year Award with 2004 Song of the Year winner Craig Wiseman for "Believe," a song about hope and redemption with a Gospel feel. "It's an amazing song and I am blown away by it," Wiseman said backstage after praising his co-writer. "Every time I hear it it's like I hear it for the first time." The duo, who took their third turn as hosts of the CMA Awards, opened the show with "Building Bridges" with Vince Gill and Sheryl Crow, which was nominated for Musical Event of the Year.

BRAD PAISLEY picked up two Awards, including Musical Event of the Year for "When I Get Where I'm Going" featuring Dolly Parton and Album of the Year for Time Well Wasted. Paisley performed "She's Everything," from Time Well Wasted.

CARRIE UNDERWOOD had said before the show that if she only one award last she most wanted The Horizon award because, she said, "You only have one shot at that award when you're new." So, she was understandably happy about taking the award she wanted, ""Thank you so much! It took so many people to make this have this year be as successful as it was. Thank you country radio, thank you fans. To Arista, thank you American Idol, thank you fans, thank you, thank you, you don't know how much this means to me. Thank you God, thank you mom and dad," Carrie exclaimed. At that point Carrie thought that was her big win of the night, until she blew past some of the biggest female artists in country music to take Female Vocalist of the Year as well.

Carrie was nearly overcome with emotion as she accepted the second award, "Oh my gosh! You guys, two years ago I sitting home watching these awards watching everybody win and having the best night of their lives and this is the best night of my life!"

KENNY CHESNEY was extremely pleased to accept his second CMA Entertainer of the Year award. "The relationship that I have with all of the people back there in the back is unbelievable," Chesney said from the stage. Backstage, Chesney could not say enough about his fans. "To see those people come hear the songs I sing ­ it's bigger than anything I have ever dreamed." Chesney performed current single "You Save Me" from his double-Platinum album The Road and the Radio.

KEITH URBAN, in absentia, won his third consecutive Male Vocalist of the Year Award, matching George Strait who won in 1996 through 1998. In the event that he won this award, he gave his friend, Ronnie Dunn a letter to read as he accepted the award on Keith's behalf. "I'm pained not being here tonight," Urban wrote. "I thank you from the bottom of my heart and I look forward to coming home and seeing you soon."

RASCAL FLATTS MADE IT FOUR VOCAL GROUP WINS IN A ROW The trio of talented men of Rascal Flatts had accomplished so much on the charts, in record sales and tour, that this was the one category where the outcome was a surprise to nobody including their competition. "We've had an amazing year," lead singer Gary LeVox said. "Thank you to God for giving us a stage to perform on every night." BRAD PAISLEY PICKED UP TWO AWARDS Brad Paisley collected two wins for Musical Event of the Year, with Dolly for "When I Get Where I'm Going."

There's more things to view where that came from...

CMA

There was no mention of George Strait's HALL OF FAME honor, or the other inductee's either though! That is the biggest award the country format bestow's upon a country singer. It is given to honor dedication and or longevity in the business.

[Pamela]

That is weird they didn't even mention the Hall of Fame honorees - lame!

Here's a article about the local adult contemporary radio station in Raleigh - they switched to Christmas music on November 1!!  Actually, this means Clay will probably be played now, and hopefully his Christmas music will start charting on the holiday rankings.  You might want to start tracking Merry Christmas With Love at Amazon if you haven't already Jerry!

This song's for yule
Matt Ehlers, Staff Writer

So Sunny 93.9 FM is back at it, having pulled its annual switch to full-time Christmas music. This year the station dumped its soft-rock sound on Nov. 1, the earliest it ever has.

What will you hear when you tune in? The most-played holiday chestnuts are:

1. "Do You Hear What I Hear?" Bing Crosby.

2. "Silver Bells," Martina McBride.

3. "Sleigh Ride," Johnny Mathis.

If those aren't your cup of Christmas tea, maybe you'll find something else to hum along with as we roll out our version of Christmas music by-the-numbers.

* Songs included on the album "Christmas on Death Row," which features Nate Dogg and Snoop Dogg's version of "Santa Claus Goes to the Ghetto": 16.

* According to Snoop, the Day of Christmas in which "my homeboy gave to me, a sack of that crazy glue and told me to smoke it up slowly": The first.

* Years "The Andy Williams Show," with its famous Christmas specials, lasted on NBC: 9.

* As of Dec. 3, years Williams has been alive: 79.

* Number of gigs he's playing in Branson, Mo., this December: 16.

* According to The American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers, "The Christmas Song" claims this spot on the list of the most performed ASCAP holiday songs of the 21st century: 1.

* Times the word "Christmas" is mentioned in the lyrics of the aforementioned tune as sung by Nat "King" Cole, right, (also known as "Chestnuts Roasting on an Open Fire"): 1.*

* Times you'll hear the phrase "holiday chestnut" this season: 1,283.

* Number of actual Americans who have roasted actual chestnuts over an actual fire: approximately 0.

*If you don't count his repeat of the line at the song's end.

News Observer

I like Martina, I really do. She was great on the CMAs the other night. But seriously, Clay and Kim Locke's version of Silver Bells is better!  IMHO!

[Pamela]

Mary J. Blige Wins 9 Billboard Awards
Dec 5, 6:36 AM EST

Mary J. Blige won big at this year's Billboard Music Awards as her chart-topping comeback album "The Breakthrough" landed the R&B diva a leading nine honors.

Among the awards the 35-year-old singer claimed Monday night were R&B/Hip-Hop artist of the year, female R&B artist of the year and R&B/Hip-Hop album of the year.

"The Breakthrough" shot to No. 1 after it debuted on the Billboard charts in December 2005 and has sold 2.6 million copies since.

Blige, in white go-go boots and a sparkly mini-dress, rocked the full house by belting out a medley of her "Enough Crying" and "Take me as I am" during the two-hour show aired live from the MGM Grand in Las Vegas.

Blige said she's already reached the pinnacle of her career by enduring personal struggles that once led her to sing hopefully about having "no more drama" in her life.

"I've realized if I don't (love) myself, nobody will. Nobody is going to love me more than I do," Blige told reporters after the show.

Chris Brown, a 17-year-old lothario who calls his music "Hip-Hop with a swagger," won new artist of the year, male of artist of the year and artist of the year awards.

"I'm 17. That's crazy, it's mind-boggling," said Brown. "My mom, she still keeps me humble. She tells me to take out the trash, ya know, clean my room."

Newcomers Rihanna and idol-turned-country star Carrie Underwood also walked away with high honors.

The 18-year-old from Barbados edged out Blige and Beyonce for the top songstress honor.

"I really can't feel my legs, this is phenomenal," said Rihanna as she accepted the award for best female artist of the year award. "That was a really tough category."

Janet Jackson opened the show with a nod to the old and the new. Sporting a short bob haircut and a belly-baring white turtleneck sweater that offered no chance of wardrobe malfunction, Jackson performed her 1980s classic, "The Pleasure Principle," mixed into "So Excited," a single from her 2006 comeback album, "20 Y.O."

The telecast did not, however, feature Tinseltown's duo du jour — heiress Paris Hilton and mom-gone-wild Britney Spears.


After their recent binge of late-night partying, it was reported that the new best friends would be co-hosting the show. But neither appeared and the show went on without a host, a lineup of presenters filling in to move things along.

Country crossover Carrie Underwood's "Some Hearts" won both country album and album of the year. The "American Idol" winner was named female country artist of the year.

Atlanta rapper T.I. took home rap artist of the year and rap album of the year for his fourth solo album, "King," which debuted at No. 1 on the Billboard albums chart in March.

Canadian rockers Nickelback's "All the Right Reasons," won rock album of the year and artist-duo/group of the year. The band closed the show jamming to "Looking for some Touch," with Kid Rock and ZZ Top.

Gwen Stefani and Black Eyed Peas lead singer Fergie, both with solo efforts this year, also performed.

Las Vegas natives The Killers backed out of a performance because bandmember Brandon Flowers was ill, the group said.

Crooner Tony Bennett was honored with the Billboard Century Award, a lifetime achievement award.

Bennett timed his release of "Duets: An American Classic" — featuring Bono, Stevie Wonder, Paul McCartney, Barbra Streisand and other musical big-timers — to his 80th birthday. The September release has become the best-selling album of his 50-plus-year recording career.

The Billboard Awards are given to the year's chart-topping artists. Winners are determined by the magazine's year-end chart listings, which are based on record sales and airplay.

———

On the Net:

Billboard Music Awards: http://www.billboard.com/bbcom/index.jsp

MSN Entertainment

I like Mary J. Blige.  Girl can sang.  Some of the artists that performed though,  just ...no. 

Let's see, they had James Blunt in the Rock category, and NO category for pop artists at all, just pop single of the year, and the winner of artist of the year was a 17 year old kid.

Yikes.

[Pamela]

Teen Music Takes Back Seat to Adult Fare
Dec 8, 3:59 PM EST

Just a few years ago, when teens dominated the pop charts, to be a singer of a more senior age — say, about 30 — was something to be downplayed or outright omitted on one's musical resume.

Indeed, as the likes of 'N Sync, Britney Spears and Christina Aguilera posted hit after hit and sold millions and millions of albums, the most coveted part of a performer's act seemed to be his or her youth.

But these days, Justin Timberlake has graduated from `N Sync to sexy adult club tracks, Aguilera is a married woman singing mature ballads and it no longer seems necessary to shave a few years off your age. While teen acts like JoJo, Rihanna and Chris Brown are still creating hits, they are no longer ruling the marketplace. Most of this year's top-selling artists were in their 20s or 30s, like Gnarls Barkley, Mary J. Blige, James Blunt, Nelly Furtado and Shakira. And oldsters like 60-year-old Barry Manilow and 65-year-old Bob Dylan also had strong sales.

"There has been more product that was clearly adult for the last five to ten years," says Sean Ross, vice president of music and programming at Edison Media Research, which tracks radio trends.

"Thirty-five-year olds are going to a point where rap is O.K. and 18-year-olds want more mellow music. ... It's more like there's nothing galvanizing in the center and that lets everybody see what's in the fringes."

Still, there may be the rumblings of a teen craze on the horizon. The year's biggest-selling album was the soundtrack to the Disney TV movie "High School Musical," although it was aimed at the tween set. And a graduate from that film, Vanessa Hudgens, is having some success on radio with her solo debut.

In addition, while there have been no monster albums from teens this year, there have been other radio successes with acts like 16-year-old singer Paula DeAnda ("Doing Too Much"), 15-year-old rappers Jibbs ("Chain Hang Low"), and 15-year-old JoJo, whose ballad "Too Little Too Late," was a top five Billboard pop hit.

"I think a lot of times it's been older people, but now the teenage group, the younger group, it's very youthful now," said DeAnda.

"There's hot new artists out there. ... It's a real big year for us."

"I think it's kind of happening," JoJo said of a possible teen resurgence on the charts. "But I don't think it's in the same way that it happened maybe seven years ago with the boy bands and Britney Spears and Christina Aguilera."

Back then, acts like Spears and Aguilera made blockbuster albums that sold millions of copies apiece during a music-industry boom.

But as the acts grew older along with the teens that once worshipped them, the craze began to fade, along with the decline of the music industry with the advent of Internet downloading.

"Teen stuff continues to sell, it's always going to sell, (but) it's not a craze like it (was)," says Rick Krim, executive vice president of music and talent relations at VH1. "I think a lot of the teen music tends to be disposable, and it's not the kind of music that stays with you for your lifetime."

A recent survey from the Recording Industry Association of America showed that from 1996 to 2005, the number of 15- to 19-year-olds purchasing music declined from 17.2 percent of music buyers to 11.9 percent. The percentage of buyers in the age groups between 20 and 44 either declined very slightly or remained about steady, but the biggest leap was in the over-45 group: They now represent 25.5 percent of music buyers, up from 15.1 percent in 1996.

Even though Manilow and Dylan had No. 1 debuts with their albums this year, it's not as if pop is no longer a music that appeals to the youth. After all, one of its biggest sensations, Beyonce, is a certified veteran at age 25.

But her boyfriend, 37-year-old Jay-Z, had one of the biggest sales debuts of the year with his album, "Kingdom Come." On it, he talks about being mature and seasoned and even has a song, "30 Something," bragging about his elder status.

"When you're 50-years-old, you still love hip-hop but you just can't relate to the music any more because the people making it as they grow, they're still trying to cater to a younger audience," he told The Associated Press in a recent interview. "I just felt it was very important for me to make a grown-up album and that's the tone of it, the whole album."'

Jay-Z isn't ruling out selling to the kids either. And it seems that these days, there's less of a distinction between the MTV set and the VH1 set.

"(Certain acts) start off appealing adult, but just because it's really great music ... it's appealing to other demos," said Krim, noting the success of acts like Blunt and the rock group Keane.

Daniel Powter, 36, had one of the year's biggest hits with "Bad Day," a sing-a-long piano track that first got popular when it was used as the sendoff song on "American Idol."

Powter credited his life experience for helping him to finally make a hit like "Bad Day."

"I think I've put a foundation in. I couldn't have written the music when I was 18," he told The AP earlier this year.

"I don't want to lie about how old I am. I still feel good. I still feel great. I love to play music."

MSN.com

[HavinaClayAffair]

Interesting read about digital sales, ringtones and CD sales as the industry looks at it...I guess all I can say..is BUY those Clay Aiken ringtones!!!!!!!!!!!!!


http://www.iht.com/articles/2006/12/10/yourmoney/music.php

Music companies make up for lower CD sales with singles and ringtones
By Jeff Leeds Published: December 10, 2006

NEW YORK: "Konvicted," the new CD from Akon, promised to be one of the year's big sellers when it appeared in record stores last month. Buoyed by two of the hottest singles in the country, Akon, a silky-voiced R&B singer, also had the most-viewed page among major-label acts on MySpace.com.

Sure enough, the album opened big, but in a way that reflects the transitional state of the record business. "Konvicted" sold more than 283,000 copies in its first week, enough to reach at No.2 on the Billboard chart. On top of that, the album's two singles sold more than 244,000 copies combined that week at digital music services like iTunes. And a week later, snippets of the same songs captured two of the top three spots on a new chart tracking sales of ringtones, combining to sell 269,000.

As a recording that has sold modestly, but in an array of forms, Akon's music illustrates the new definition of a hit in pop music: Instead of racking up sales of a half-million CDs or more in the first week, it arrives with solid sales from multiple sources. And it serves as an example of the business model the retrenching music industry is embracing as sales of the CD, its mainstay product for two decades, slowly decay.

The hope is that the success of Akon and others will put the industry back on track after a slide in overall sales in five of the past six years. But nearing the end of the holiday shopping season, which typically accounts for a third or more of the industry's annual sales, many are not sure whether to be cheered or disenchanted by the new order of business.

With some sales still to be tabulated, album sales are down 4.6 percent this year, according to Nielsen SoundScan data. Sales at digital-music services like iTunes continue to rise, but the pace of the increase has slowed compared with last year. Still, if every 10 individual tracks sold online are counted as albums, overall recorded music sales are off only by about 0.7 percent this year. While that is a far cry from last year's 4 percent drop, it represents a decline from early summer, when overall sales were running ahead of last year.


 All of that indicates how sales of individual song downloads are eroding the underpinnings of the CD and remixing the industry's economics. More and more, it is looking toward sales of bite-size units — individual songs typically sell for 99 cents — instead of full albums that may sell for $15 at record shops. Barring a late surge in CD sales, more digital tracks than CDs will be sold in the United States for the first time this year.

Sales of digital singles and ringtones now represent "more than a Band-Aid," said Steve Rifkind, president of the SRC record label, which released Akon's album in partnership with the Universal Records unit of Vivendi. But, he said, "it's not going to offset people taking music" through illicit file-sharing online or copying CDs for friends.

The fortunes of big record companies are still overwhelmingly tied to CD sales, and the picture there is mixed. EMI Group in Britain, the third-biggest of the four major record corporations, said in reporting its half-year results in November that recorded-music sales had declined more than 5 percent, though a drop in CD sales and net prices had been "slightly" offset by digital revenue. But Warner Music Group, the fourth-biggest company, said overall recorded-music sales for its full fiscal year rose almost 3 percent to $3 billion, and that digital revenue had more than offset the drop in CDs.

The problem is, digital song sales are not fueling a recovery as quickly as some thought — in fact, sales have been sputtering. After rising 150 percent last year, sales of digital downloads have increased by less than half as much this year. Some executives argue that early adopters of iPods and similar devices may have dabbled with paid downloads enough to drive sales initially, but now tend to fill them with music from their existing CD collections' or copy it from friends rather that purchase new songs.

Still, investors appear to be valuing the big music corporations more highly than they did amid the first years of the slide. Doug Morris, chairman of the industry's biggest player, Vivendi's Universal Music Group, said "the big picture of digital music trumps the fears of piracy — that's why the companies are becoming more valuable."

Analysts, though, note that shifting toward a mostly digital — and potentially more profitable — business remains a very tough road. Richard Greenfield, an analyst who tracks music sales at Pali Research, projects the industry to be flat over all for the next two years.

The overall decline has been spurred by a series of factors: illicit file-sharing online, CD burning, high prices and competition from products like DVDs and video games. Many retailers and music executives also attribute the industry's sluggishness to a dearth of high-wattage talent.

The industry has "a lot of bands that people care about for five minutes and then move on," said Joe Nardone Jr., owner of the Gallery of Sound chain based in Pennsylvania, which includes 10 stores.

Consumer fickleness has become evident on the Billboard charts, where the old-fashioned blockbuster album appears to be a dying breed. More titles have come and gone from the No.1 spot on the magazine's national album sales chart this year than any year since the industry began computerized tracking of sales in 1991. Analysts say that is a reflection of lackluster staying power even among in-demand titles.

Most recently, "Kingdom Come," the hotly anticipated CD from the briefly retired rap superstar Jay-Z, sold a healthy 680,000 copies in its first week, but slid 79 percent in its second week on the charts. In recent weeks, acts including Diddy, Danity Kane and Ludacris briefly held sway at No.1 before plummeting. Back in July, Johnny Cash reached the top spot for the first time in 37 years with a posthumous CD, despite selling just 88,000 copies, the lowest total for a No.1 debut in SoundScan history.


 As a result, music executives are taking a far more expansive view of how to carve out a piece of the music economy, which by some estimates encompasses up to $75 billion, including recording sales, music publishing, concert ticket and merchandise sales and other sources.

There has also been a scramble to squeeze revenue from other unconventional sources, including amateur videos posted to YouTube that incorporate copyrighted songs. Universal threatened to withhold its huge music catalog from Microsoft's new digital- music service unless it received a royalty of more than $1 on each sale of the technology giant's Zune portable music player.

But as album sales drop, the major labels are still adopting strategies to squeeze more revenue from each title. Indeed, the industry now regularly sees acts with towering singles generate more money from downloads or ringtone sales than from their comparatively slow-selling CDs.

Rifkind, the label executive, said, "I find myself, when I'm signing a record deal now, asking, 'can this sell as a ringtone?'"

But ringtones, which have been projected to generate $600 million in U.S. sales this year, are only part of the puzzle.

Many executives are now betting that even more money can be generated with a wider array of individual products tied to the same recording, especially in digitally advanced markets. In Asia, where sales of music to mobile phones outpace CD sales in certain markets, labels may offer more than 400 different items in connection with a specific album, including ringback tones, snippets of music that play to a caller while they wait for their call to go through, or "color call" tones, which are background songs that play while a caller talks on the phone.

To show the promise of digital sales for individual albums, Warner Music executives provided internal cost analysis data from a successful hip-hop record released in the past 12 months. The information was disclosed on condition that the artist would not be identified for publication.

According to the data, sales of the CD still accounted for roughly 74 percent of the U.S. revenue earned by the company, or roughly $17 million. But sales of an array of individual digital products added almost $6 million. About two-thirds came from ringtones of hit singles, but the figure also included roughly $330,000 from mobile phone games related to the artist and $94,000 in sales of cellphone "wallpaper," or screen backgrounds.

But the industry as a whole still remains uncertain, and in the meantime must try to promote digital sales at the same time it attempts to preserve the CD and brick-and-mortar retail shops.

Nardone said the industry must consider lowering CD prices to allow retailers to compete with Apple's industry-leading iTunes service, where full- length digital albums typically sell for $9.99, which is less than the wholesale cost he pays for labels' CDs. He said sales at his chain are running about 9 percent behind last year. "Everybody's still hoping for the best," he said. "But the best ain't what it used to be."

Lora

[ACcountryFan]

Country music legend George Jones was one of several country artists testifying Monday (Dec. 11) at an FCC hearing in Nashville. The hearing, one of six such regional affairs scheduled around the U.S., is exploring the subject of media ownership. Specifically, the artists targeted the impact that increasingly conglomerated radio has on shrinking country playlists. Others testifying included John Rich, Cowboy Troy, Naomi Judd, Porter Wagoner and Dobie Gray. Referring to current country radio, Jones said, "You know sugar is sweet, but too much can kill you." He added, "When my life and my income and my profession are affected by media consolidation, we don't need to make a move any further in the wrong direction. Please don't make it any rougher for recording artists like me or tomorrow's rising stars." Judd noted there is a "pitiful disconnect" between the country audience and mainstream country radio. "I humbly submit that if my music is good enough for the Grand Ole Opry, it's good enough for the radio," said Cowboy Troy. John Rich spoke of such major markets and New York and Los Angeles losing country stations and added, "One guy can affect what 30 million people get to hear. That's censorship."

BRAVO! TELL IT LIKE IT IS!

CMT

[HavinaClayAffair]

Most played artists and songs on the radio in 2006:

http://sev.prnewswire.com/entertainment/20061221/LATH01721122006-1.html

Mediabase Announces 2006 Radio Airplay Leaders


LOS ANGELES, Dec. 21 /PRNewswire/ -- Mediabase, the radio industry's leading airplay monitoring service, has released its year-end charts featuring the most played songs, artists and record labels of 2006. Here is a list of the winners at each radio format, along with the top 20 most played artists, and leading record labels, by format. For a complete list, including the top songs played at Christian, Latin, and Canadian stations, please visit http://www.mediabasemusic.com/.

  Most Played Songs on Radio

  Overall:       Mary J. Blige/Be Without You (Geffen)
  Top 40:       Natasha Bedingfield/Unwritten (Epic)
  Rhythmic:     Cassie/Me & U (Next Selection/Bad Boy/Atlantic)
  Urban:        Mary J. Blige/Be Without You (Geffen)
  Urban AC:     Anthony Hamilton/Can't Let Go (So So Def/Arista/Zomba)
  Country:      Rascal Flatts/What Hurts the Most (Lyric Street)
  Smooth Jazz:  Paul Brown/Winelight (GRP/VMG)
  AC:           James Blunt/You're Beautiful (Custard/Atlantic)
  Hot AC:       Fray/Over My Head (Cable Car) (Epic)
  Rock:         Shinedown/Save Me (Atlantic)
  Active Rock:  Three Days Grace/Animal I Have Become (Jive/Zomba)
  Alternative:  Red Hot Chili Peppers/Dani California (Warner Bros.)
  Triple A:     Jack Johnson/Upside Down (Brushfire/Universal Republic)

  Most Played Artists on Radio

 Rank     Artist                Radio Spins
 1.     Kelly Clarkson               901206
 2.     Nickelback                   890971
 3.     Chris Brown                  787836
 4.     Sean Paul                    657014
 5.     Rihanna                      655341
 6.     Ne-Yo                        641350
 7.     Pussycat Dolls               635741
 8.     Mariah Carey                 601178
 9.     Mary J. Blige                577652
 10.    Rascal Flatts                540244
 11.    Keith Urban                  508882
 12.    Beyonce                      486228
 13.    Fall Out Boy                 427847
 14.    Natasha Bedingfield          426402
 15.    Fray                         418892
 16.    Kenny Chesney                417321
 17.    Green Day                    406787
 18.    Justin Timberlake            397654
 19.    All- American Rejects        393447
 20.    Rob Thomas                   390938

  Radio Airplay Leaders by Label

  Overall:      Island Def Jam
  Top 40:       Island Def Jam
  Rhythmic:     Atlantic
  Urban:        Atlantic
  Urban AC:     RCA Music Group
  Country:      Arista Nashville
  Smooth Jazz:  Rendezvous
  AC:           RCA Music Group
  Hot AC:       Island Def Jam
  Rock:         Universal Republic
  Active Rock:  Universal Republic
  Alternative:  Interscope
  Triple A:     Columbia


In 1987, Mediabase introduced and innovated the concept of monitored airplay and today, the company provides vital airplay information to nearly 1,700 affiliate radio stations and every major broadcast group and provides research to every major record label in North America. In addition, Mediabase monitors more than 1,800 radio stations in 175 U.S. and Canadian markets.

Premiere Radio Networks, Inc., a subsidiary of Clear Channel Communications, syndicates 70 radio programs and services to more than 5,000 radio affiliations and reaches over 190 million listeners weekly. Premiere Radio is the number one radio network in the country and features the following personalities: Rush Limbaugh, Jim Rome, Casey Kasem, Ryan Seacrest, Glenn Beck, Bob (Kevoian) & Tom (Griswold), Delilah, Steve Harvey, Blair Garner, George Noory, Maria Bartiromo, Ty Pennington, Whoopi Goldberg, John Boy and Billy, Matt Drudge, Art Bell, Donald Trump, Big Tigger, Bob Costas and others. Premiere is based in Sherman Oaks, California, with 13 offices nationwide.

Website: http://www.mediabasemusic.com/

Lora

[HavinaClayAffair]

http://fmqb.com/Article.asp?id=328662

FQMB News

Study: Digital Music Consumers Are More Involved Music Fans
 
January 4, 2007

A new study from the Digital Media Association (DiMA) finds that digital music consumers are more involved and passionate music fans. The organization surveyed over 1000 consumers, finding that 60 percent are listening to more music since they began using an online music service, including Internet radio and digital music download services.

The majority of those surveyed found that listening to music online has allowed them to discover new artists and try out more music than before. Over 60 percent said they have discovered "some new artists," with 25 percent saying they found "a lot of new artists." Additionally, over 35 percent said they now talk about music more than before, and more than 75 percent have recommended an online service to someone else. Also 15 percent of online music fans say they are now attending more concerts.

"These findings demonstrate that real music fans – and today’s music tastemakers – are online,” said DiMA Executive Director Jonathan Potter. “This makes the 2006 holiday sales jump in music devices and sound recordings exponentially more important to artists, songwriters, producers and music publishers, as online music’s impact extends way beyond immediate revenues. Consumers of innovative online music services are reviving the music economy as they enjoy more music and more new music in every way possible, and most importantly, as they introduce their friends to the music and online services they enjoy.”
 
DiMA also found that roughly half of digital music fans spend over $200 each year on music, with 30 percent spending over $300. "Prior to the digital age, someone who purchased six CDs per year – valued at just over $100 – was considered a significant music consumer,” said Potter. “Online music consumers’ spending habits, combined with what they are doing to promote and expand music enjoyment, is great for the entire music industry – artists, songwriters and producers."
 
The full study can be found at digmedia.org.

 

Lora

We have often said that Clay was helping to keep the technological side of sales strong...seems we weren't so far from the truth.

[HavinaClayAffair]

Also from FMB News:

http://fmqb.com/Article.asp?id=328033

Sony BMG Licenses Songs For Podcasts
 
January 3, 2007

Though major labels have not become too involved in the world of podcasting just yet, Sony BMG has announced a new deal that may pave the way for greater usage of songs by artists signed to the big four. An agreement between Sony BMG, Ford, Chrysler and Rock River Communications will place between six and eight tunes from Sony BMG artists in a new podcast initiative.

According to the Wall Street Journal, the label will be paid a flat fee by Ford and Chrysler for its involvement in the podcast, which will include ads from the automakers. Rock River, which creates specialized CD for retailers such as The Gap, will oversee the project.

The Chrysler podcasts are titled "Chrysler Music Legends" and focus on just one artist per podcast, with Johnny Cash and Journey among those already profiled. The podcast is available from Chrysler's Web site, as well as iTunes. The Ford podcast will launch later in January.

Adam Block, SVP/GM of Sony BMG's Legacy Recordings, describes the podcasts as "essentially a movie trailer for our projects." Digital media strategist Ted Cohen, formerly of EMI, told the WSJ that "protecting" major label artists' songs from appearing in podcasts has backfired as a strategy. "We've protected them so well nobody knows they exist," he joked.


 

Lora

[HavinaClayAffair]

Another one of interest: (at least to me )

http://fmqb.com/Article.asp?id=327557

New York Radio Gets "Fresh" New Station
 
January 2, 2007

This morning at 5 a.m., CBS Radio flipped WNEW/New York City, launching Fresh 102.7. The soft music station targets women 25-44 and will be highly focused on the 30 to 40-year-old woman with an emphasis on songs released in the last decade. The programming will include artists like John Mayer, James Blunt, Alicia Keys, Marc Anthony, The Fray and Dido.

"Over the past year, the New York market has markedly changed, creating a host of opportunities," said station VP/GM Maire Mason. "More than ever we solicited input from potential listeners, and have heard first hand that this is the station they've been looking for. We firmly believe this is the right time and appropriate implementation of a current adult contemporary format in the market."

PD Rick Martini added, "The music will be what drives Fresh 102.7, and the on-air presentation will be subtle yet unique. As we evolve, talent will be integrated into the station's presentation without taking anything away from the music. We are excited to be making this move and taking the chance to own the modern-day soft music position."

The station is currently running jockless.


 

Pamela: How do you feel about moving to New York? Could be right up your alley??

Lora

[Pamela]

Lora, couldn't I do that job from Podunk, NC?  No?  Too bad....

I thought this was very interesting, but I'm not sure why. 

Report: MTV likely to cancel 'Total Request Live' due to falling ratings
UPI News Service, 01/14/2007

A source close to MTV says the cable network probably will cancel its U.S. series, "Total Request Live," due to falling ratings.

The New York Daily News reported that with ratings from "TRL" dropping again last year, MTV is eyeing a possible cancellation of the live series and then marketing the once-popular show in another way.

"The ratings are at an all-time low, around 300,000 viewers," the source said. "The show is going to be canceled and rebranded."

Official Nielsen data has "TRL's" ratings at 393,000, a far cry from the nearly 600,000 viewers it drew in back in 2001.

The possible cancellation of the live series comes less than a week after MTV President Michael Wolf stepped down from his post.

The Daily News said that while some linked Wolf's departure last Thursday to the struggles facing the network, the former exec has maintained the move was his own decision.

©Reality TV World

[ACcountryFan]

Barry Takes Manhattan
   
by Chuck Taylor
 
Having topped the Billboard charts twice in 2006 with his blockbuster albums "The Greatest Songs of the Fifties" and "The Greatest Songs of the Sixties," Barry Manilow brought a modified version of his Emmy-award winning Las Vegas show "Music and Passion" to the arena at Madison Square Garden for three sold-out nights on Jan. 16, 17 and 18th.

Backstage, Manilow was presented with a plaque commemorating the platinum sales status of his No. 1 debut "The Greatest Songs of the Fifties" and the gold status of "The Greatest Songs of the Sixties."

Next up, the AC staple will be recording "The Greatest Songs of the Seventies."

R&R

Once you get to R&R you will have to search for that story...even though i quoted the whole thing. Barry did a '70s album in 1996 called "Summer of '78". I predict this new CD will of course include lots more years than just 1978...i'm interested in knowing which 1970's songs he will do. I think i remember him saying he would NOT re-record any of his songs, since that would be too obvious. On his current CD of '60s songs, he does a fine job on "Raindrops Keep Falling On My Head" so i would imagine he will stick with the ballad/mid-tempo '70s pop songs...side-stepping rock. Probably lots of John Denver and The Carpenters songs...maybe Neil Sedaka?? Wouldn't it be interesting if Barry tackles "Solitaire" or something by Elton John? The possibilites are endless and with the covers being Manilow-ized, they'd feel like new recordings.

[HavinaClayAffair]

Here is a story about a man named Clive, about his people and his Divas and his moneymakers..and NO mention of CLay on the label..


hmmmmmmmmmmmmm,

what do ya think?

http://www.calendarlive.com/music/cl-ca-davis14jan14,0,644717.story?coll=cl-music-features

January 14, 2007 E-mail story   Print   Most E-Mailed


THE MUSIC INDUSTRY TITANS
Hands on, hands off
Joplin, Manilow, Alicia Keys, Kelly Clarkson. Clive Davis still rocks the pop world, knowing when to handpick a song -- and when to step aside.
 
   
R&B Coup
(Fred Prouser / Reuters)

Company cornerstones
(Courtesy Clive Davis)

Inspiring Artista Records)

Know the difference
(Beatrice de Gea / LAT) 
 
 

By Robert Hilburn, Special to The Times


CLIVE DAVIS, whose discoveries stretch from Janis Joplin to Alicia Keys, is sitting in his favorite bungalow at the Beverly Hills Hotel, amused to hear what a rival record company chief once said privately about the "American Idol" phenomenon that Davis helps propel: "If 'American Idol' really is the future of the record business, I don't want to be part of this business anymore."

Davis, whose labels release the "Idol" CDs, is too diplomatic to take a pot shot at the executive, who's been fired since that remark two years ago — though the dismissal apparently didn't have anything to do with the man's view of "American Idol" as shallow and depressing.

 
Still, it's a popular belief, inside the industry and out, that "American Idol," which begins its sixth season Tuesday, is the antithesis of the creative daring that produced such pop-rock icons as the Beatles, Prince and U2. That's why many pop observers were surprised when the uncompromising rock group Pearl Jam signed with Davis in 2004, becoming, in effect, roster mates of the "Idol" gang.

"I'm well aware that all the success of 'American Idol' puts a taint with some people on my other history, which began with Janis Joplin, Bruce Springsteen and Carlos Santana," the bespectacled Davis says, looking sharp in his nicely tailored slacks and sweater.

"But a discerning person recognizes that when you are running a company, you're dealing with a mixture of commerce and art. The important thing is to know when you are dealing with art and when you are dealing with commerce, and I know that difference."

He's been famously hands-on in picking songs for singers such as Whitney Houston ("Saving All My Love for You") and Kelly Clarkson ("Since U Been Gone"), seeming to find as much enthusiasm for those who interpret songs as those who write them. And when a Pearl Jam arrives on his doorstep, he easily steps back.

"They write their own songs and … I told them, of course, I'd respect what they do," he says. "The whole conversation took two minutes.

"Ninety percent of the artists I sign are pretty much self-contained, and I would never interfere with them. Take Alicia. She's such a brilliant writer that it would never occur to me to give her someone else's song to record."

Davis' skill in mining hits from a wide range of artists — spanning Aretha Franklin, the Grateful Dead, Kenny G, "Idol" stars and more — has given him what some consider to be the most impressive history of any record executive. In an industry obsessed by youth, few top-level executives have been able to repeat their success after leaving one label, but this New Yorker has triumphed with three labels over four decades. At 73, he's still listening for the ever-shifting sound of a hit — and finding it.

As chairman and chief executive of BMG U.S., he heads a recording empire that includes approximately 170 artists, 500 employees and generates about $1 billion a year in sales. That roster includes such stars as Usher, Justin Timberlake, Christina Aguilera, Dave Matthews Band and the Foo Fighters.

Oddly, it may have been an advantage for Davis not to have grown up a huge rock fan. Where many rock-minded executives look down on traditional pop, Davis, whose early love was Broadway musicals, respects the craft involved in mainstream pop, and that's left him open to a variety of artists others might have turned away, along with projects like "American Idol."

He and his staff haven't turned all the "Idol" favorites into stars, but some have emerged as bestsellers, notably Clarkson and Carrie Underwood.

"The mistake people make about 'American Idol' is that they think the show itself is enough to make anyone a bestseller, so there is no creativity involved," Davis, a guest judge on the TV program, says in his deliberate, thorough way. "But the show's exposure is only worth about 350,000 to 500,000 record sales for an artist.

"To go beyond that, you have to have hit songs to get on the radio."

read the rest- there is plenty MORE where that came from, including Jennifer Hudson mentions..but NO CLAY!

Lora

[Pamela]

I can't read the rest of the article, as it's now moved to the archives.  But, if Kelly and Jennifer Hudson were the only two Idol people mentioned, I'm not surprised Clay wasn't in there too.  Kelly is widely considered to be the most successful Idol winner in terms of pop sales, and Jennifer is riding the fame wave due to her star turn in Dreamgirls, with the Golden Globe and Oscar noms.

Was Carrie mentioned?  She has won more awards than Kelly, and is on track to surpass her in sales as well, if she hasn't already.  Was Taylor mentioned, or Daughtry?  I think it's pretty evident from that article that he lumps all the Idol singers in together under the "commerce" category.  Cash cows.  Moooooooooo.

Anyway, I found this article about the DCX winning all those Grammys, but I'm posting it because of what it says about radio, not to start a discussion about the socio-political implications of a comment they made three years ago.  We can discuss that if you want, but somewhere other than here!

Reflections on the Dixie Chicks and the Grammy Awards

The Dixie Chicks' sweep of the top awards at Sunday night's Grammy Awards celebration has generated a great discussion here on About Top 40 / Pop. I would like to add a few more observations that have come to my mind since the event.

I can certainly understand the feelings of many pop fans who think they've been a bit cheated in having the music industry give its top awards to music with such little radio airplay. However, I think the backlash against radio is part of the point of the awards. Those who actually make the records, artists, producers, and engineers, are the people who vote for Grammy Awards. Unlike many other awards in performing arts, journalists, music industry executives, promotional personnel, radio personnel, etc. are excluded from voting. This was an award granted by the Dixie Chicks' peers celebrating the group standing up to, in part, the increasingly corporate world of radio.

Radio playlists are increasingly dominated by the whims of corporate executives with less and less impact from individual station program directors. This means, particularly in the case of country radio, political points of view of corporate executives can have a huge impact. Just as it may not make sense to fans that music they've heard very little of should win major awards, it also makes little sense that radio stations should refuse to play music from an album that debuts at #1 on the chart from sales to music fans and is the 6th best selling album of the year. For the record, country radio didn't like the last country album that won the Grammy for Album of the Year either. It was the soundtrack for O Brother, Where Art Thou?

Some of you raised questions of how the Grammys could give the Country Album of the Year award to the Dixie Chicks when the Country Music Association didn't even nominate the album. The simple answer is the impact of voting corporate personnel in the Country Music Associaton vs. the dominace of artists and producers in selecting the Grammys. Also, at the Grammys, voting members of the Recording Academy may vote in multiple genres. For more on Grammy selection, check out the guide to How Grammy Award Winners are Selected.

I suspect that many of the artists selecting their peers the Dixie Chicks voted for them to honor the group's standing up to and overcoming a nightmare they hope they never have to experience themselves. It's very very rare that one comment generates the vehemence of the backlash the Dixie Chicks experienced. Loss in record sales and concert ticket sales is one thing, ongoing death threats and condemnation from the President of the United States is quite another. Arguably, Kanye West's comment about George W. Bush hating black people was significantly more pointed than what Natalie Maines of the Dixie Chicks had to say, but the backlash was much milder, in part because the corporate powers in Kanye's musical community did not turn on him with attempts to manipulate mass opinions of fans in the way the country music corporate powers turned on the Dixie Chicks.

I can make arguments for other nominees having the artistic edge over the Dixie Chicks' Taking the Long Way, although it is a very good album, but I can understand and honor the choice made by the artists in the recording industry. I do hope this victory sends a message that corporate manipulation does not rule the choices of an event like the Grammy Awards and many of us prefer an open sea of ideas and opinions expressed through our popular music.

About Top 40

[ACcountryFan]

Just as it may not make sense to fans that music they've heard very little of should win major awards, it also makes little sense that radio stations should refuse to play music from an album that debuts at #1 on the chart from sales to music fans and is the 6th best selling album of the year. For the record, country radio didn't like the last country album that won the Grammy for Album of the Year either. It was the soundtrack for O Brother, Where Art Thou?

For those who don't follow country radio closely as i do at times, that statement was never more true. Country radio HATED that soundtrack and the movie...it won many awards from nearly all of the music awards without even a drop of noticeable airplay on Top-40 country stations. The bluegrass factor killed it on mainstream country radio whose programmers, for commercial reasons {?} never played any song...well, now that i think about it, the commercial factor wasn't the reason because it was #1 for months on the country album chart...so it was selling in the multi-millions...it was simply a case of image verses public demand. I think country radio didn't want to attatch itself to a "hillbilly" or a back-woods movie/soundtrack no matter how successful and it just shows you how country radio routinely shoots themselves in the foot all for image reasons. Instead of embracing it and gathering in some listeners to country radio they tossed it aside as a negative image enhancer and this is suppose to be country radio...it doesn't get anymore countrier than Bluegrass for pete's sake

[Pamela]

Jerry, I have that Oh Brother CD, and I love it!  I'm a big bluegrass fan...but then I was raised up in the mountains of East TN. 

I'll bet Doc Watson is the only artist I've seen in concert more times than Clay. 

Anyway, I found this article at Forbes.com and I thought it was interesting.

Music's Top Moneymakers 2006
Lacey Rose, 01.24.07, 11:08 AM ET

The news out of the once-glamorous record business is mostly grim these days, as it has been since the advent of the original Napster--headlines tend to highlight sales declines, a lack of new superstars and executive beheadings.

But for some music stars, though, things aren't that rough--even if you're not selling records, tapes, CDs or downloads, there are plenty of ways to make money. The 10 acts on the Forbes list of music's top moneymakers made a collective $973 million in 2006. That's down slightly from last year's total of $994 million. But you won't hear these stars complaining.

Least likely to gripe: The Rolling Stones, who top our list for the second year in a row. The aging (or is it timeless?) rockers generated $150.6 million over the course of the year, thanks in large part to their “A Bigger Bang” tour. Like so many of the acts on our list, the Stones earned the vast majority of their money--in this case, $138.5 million--on the road.

To determine which acts made Forbes’ list of 2006’s biggest moneymakers in music--in which we look at the cash they generated, rather than what flows into their bank accounts--we turned to concert trade magazine Pollstar, which calculates the North American tour grosses, and Nielsen SoundScan, which tracks U.S. album and digital sales. A big caveat: The list does not include music and ticket sales from the rest of the world. But figure that most of the top acts on this list do as well proportionately across the globe as they do in the U.S. Also not included: revenue from sponsorship, merchandise sales and mobile sales.

As in past years, music's biggest stars make most of their money when they're on stage, not in a recording studio. Much of that has to do with the strange economic incentive system in the music business--acts keep most of the money made on tour, while record labels keep most of any money made from record music sales.

“Conventional media tends to still look at album sales as a true barometer of what’s popular and what’s not, but it’s not really all that indicative of who's selling concert tickets, and the artists know that it’s also not indicative of who's making the most money,” says Pollstar editor Gary Bongiovanni.

Case in point: Barbra Streisand, who landed fifth on our list despite album sales that totaled less than $4 million. To put that into perspective, the showbiz legend can generate more than that with just one concert. With an average concert ticket priced at nearly $300, Streisand’s 20 U.S. shows garnered $92.5 million at the box office last year.

Unfortunately for the newer acts, touring money isn't as easy to make. For starters, a band with just an album or two will find it hard to put on a decent show. And their fans, who tend to be younger, can't or won't shell out for Streisand-priced tickets.

Take Rascal Flatts. The country group was last year's top-selling act when it came to album and digital track sales. But fans paid an average of just $46.17 per ticket to see them live. So even after a 72-show tour, the trio grossed $43.6 million--less than half of Streisand’s 20-show total.

Very aware of the industry’s troubles, record companies like Warner Music Group (nyse: WMG - news - people ), EMI Music Group and Vivendi Universal's (nyse: V - news - people ) Universal Music Group, have been busy brainstorming about new revenue streams. Among the ideas batted around is for record companies to “share” acts touring revenue with them, as EMI has done with both Robbie Williams and Korn.

But according to Pollstar’s Bongiovanni, who responds with a chuckle, “The only people that are talking about that are the record companies.”

Forbes.com

What they say about Clay:

Clay Aiken
Age: 28

Season: 2

Finished: 2nd

Total Album Sales: 4.6 million (Nielsen SoundScan)

Stats: Grossed an estimated $28 million as a tour headliner, according to Pollstar. His 2004 bestseller, Learning to Sing: Hearing the Music in Your Life, sold over 92,000 hardcover copies. His 2004 Christmas album, Merry Christmas with Love, was the fastest-selling holiday album SoundsScan has ever tracked.