July 2018 - Nashville Music Line

Scotty McCreery, Cledus T Judd

Sneak peek at August’s ‘Inside Track on Music Row’

Zach Stone to host ‘Country Fix’
Cledus T. Judd is back with new song parody
Scotty McCreery shares wedding video with fans
Michael Ray’s shoes helping animals in need

You’ll read more than forty music news items in the August 2018 edition of my column, Inside Track on Music Row, when it is posted at Nashville Music Guide. The column is the longest-running Country music column in America. Scroll down for a sneak peek at just a few of the items in the August column.

Meanwhile here is a link to my July 2018 ‘Inside track’ column posted at Nashville Music Guide, complete with photos and graphics. Thank you NMG editor Amanda Andrews! You always make the column look SO good.

Zach Stone to host ‘Country Fix’

Jetpack Artist Ventures’ flagship recording artist, Zach Stone, will host ‘Country Fix‘ on Heartland-TV in late July and again in early August. Stone makes a guest appearance in Episode 208 and Episode 209 slated to air the weeks of July 30, 2018 and August 6, 2018. Stone makes a guest appearance in Episode 209 slated to air the week of August 6, 2018. (Check listings for air dates/times here.)

The ‘Country Fix’ audience, country music fans and the media have applauded Stone’s work time and time again. His ‘Four Letter Word’ music video aired as a ‘Country Fix’ exclusive premiere earlier this year. Hosted by up-and-coming and established country music artists, ‘Country Fix’ is a half-hour program that airs on Heartland-TV. The segments feature new music video releases, interviews, news segments and in-depth coverage of happenings in the country music scene. In addition to Heartland-TV, “Country Fix” airs internationally on Keep It Country (UK), Country TV (NZ) and Cayman 27 (Cayman Islands). More about Zach at his website at Facebook and Instagram.

Cledus T. Judd is back with new song parody

Six years after hanging up his overalls, Cledus T. Judd is “strate outta retarment” and funnier than ever with ‘My Weight’s Goin’ Up Down.’ It’s a parody of Morgan Wallen’s #1 Country single ‘Up Down’ featuring Florida Georgia Line. In the music video, Cledus scarfs down fried chicken, hot dogs, burgers, ice cream, sweet tea and more, while the kids are forced to eat mystery health food. He saved on casting enlisting the same kids – including his daughter – to star in several scenes.

The song is currently available at iTunes, Spotify, Amazon and all download and streaming services. Cledus walked away from writing, touring and releasing music in 2012. The life of stardom had a downside for him, as constant partying led to drug addiction. He credits the birth of his daughter, now 14, for leading him to a clean life and a dedication to spending more time with his family. More at Facebook.

Scotty McCreery shares wedding video with fans

Continue reading “Scotty McCreery, Cledus T Judd”

Our Summer NAMM top picks

Four great music finds you should check out

Oz Guitar Works Tau-6 headless guitar
ZT ‘Lunchbox’ Amplifiers
OZZtosh gleaming aluminum guitars
WalkaBout drums: replace your cajon?

A musician at a NAMM show is like a kid turned loose for a day in a candy store. Wherever you look, there’s something that makes your mouth water. That’s true if you are a seasoned visitor or a first-time newbie.

Now the dust has settled on Summer NAMM 2018, presented by the National Association of Music Merchants, we can look back at some of the ideas and products that really stood out. NAMM’s ‘Make Music Experience’ sets aside a day each year for ‘prosumers’ to get an all-day, all access pass at a very affordable price. (See previous posts here at NashvilleMusicLine.com.)

Through the eyes and ears of a newbie

I returned this year (my 28th NAMM) for the full three-day show. But on the final day, the ‘Make Music Experience’ day, I brought along Storm, a NAMM newbie, to experience the vibe through her eyes and ears. Storm is an up-and-coming alternative songwriter, artist and musician. Here are some of the outstanding products we were able to try out.

Let’s start with Storm’s report, in her own words, about two items that caught her attention…

“I can hardly believe when I got the opportunity to attend Summer NAMM, I was so excited,” said Storm. “As an artist walking down the rows of guitars and other gear, I felt like a kid in a candy store. NAMM did not disappoint. There were so many amazing booths, but in particular a couple of products stood out to me.”

Oz Guitar Works Tau-6 headless guitar

Storm tries out the Oz Tau-6 headless guitar

The first was Oz Guitar Works Tau-6 headless guitar. The Tau-6 is a compact, yet sturdy, headless guitar that is, as a NAMM goer said, “effortless” to play. It features a wood neck and aluminum body, modular removeable pick-ups, steel nuts, dual stereo jack outputs, and a clean sheet design. William ‘Oz’ Anderson was a very chill dude and took the time to answer questions and show his guitars.

When I asked Oz about his inspiration for the Tau-6 he replied, “I wanted to make a guitar that sounded and played better but took a minimalistic view. Keep the essential, chop the rest.” Making this guitar did not come without it’s challenges. Oz states that some of his biggest challenges were making the aluminum body affordable and making the petite body attractive. Continue reading “Our Summer NAMM top picks”

Y’all Show: daily podcast for the South

‘Preshias Country’ featured every Wednesday

Hey, Y’all! Here’s a podcast you should check out. Titled the Y’all Show, it is a syndicated radio show covering the people and culture of the 16 Southern states. Hosted by Yall.com publisher Jon Rawl, the show covers news, sports, opinion, food, business, music, movies, storytelling, and more, Monday through Friday.

Every Wednesday, around 9:30 a.m., Jon calls me and we chat on-air about all things Nashville. I bring him up to date on what’s happening in music here, and we talk about the singers and songwriters – ‘the girls and boys who make the noise on Sixteenth Avenue.’

We also ask listeners a country music question of the day, taken from my book, ‘I Know Country.’ You can check out an archive of recent shows, including the Wednesday editions with my weekly music feature, here.

Jon Rawl is a long-time friend of mine from way back. A busy guy, in addition to his daily radio show/podcast, he’s also the publisher of Y’all magazine and president of CRM Sports.

Tell us what you think of Y’All Radio

I hope you – er, I mean y’all – will check out the podcasts, and maybe contact me or Jon to let us know what you think of the show. I know Jon would be interested to hear any suggestions you might have for future topics about ‘everything Southern.’

And of course, you might want to download your own e-book copy of ‘I Know Country.’ This is a direct link to the book’s Amazon page.

Preshias Harris is a music journalist and music career development consultant with the emphasis on new and aspiring artists and songwriters. Her book, ‘The College of Songology 101: The Singer/Songwriter’s Need to Know Reference Handbook’ is available at www.collegeofsongology.com Follow her blog at www.nashvillemusicline.com

For Dustin Collins, ‘It’s Been Awhile’

New album follows Number One hit

Music is a way of life for Dustin Collins. Growing up in a family where music was always present, it was a natural progression for Dustin to focus on a musical career. His music-savvy parents weren’t quite so sure, but, as he told me during our interview, he knew he had to be involved some way with music for the rest of his life.

Coming off a Number One hit, this Kentucky boy is back with a new album, due out in August. IT’S BEEN AWHILE was produced and mixed by Bill McDermott and mastered by Noah Gordon. Dustin invests much of his time touring throughout the Midwest and his home state of Kentucky, including a slot on Aaron Watson’s Vaquero Tour, as well as opening for Chris Janson, Granger Smith, Kane Brown, The Kentucky Headhunters and many more.

He took time away from a hectic tour schedule to sit down with me and talk about his music. Knowing he shares my love for Kentucky basketball, the first thing I asked him was, “Does your blood run Kentucky blue?” With a wide grin, he replied, “You betcha life it does!” I knew it was going to be a great interview!

This is one of a series of interviews with emerging artists in which I ask about their creative process and approach to the music industry.

Touring Road Warrior

Preshias Harris: You are quite a road warrior. You’ve driven hundreds of thousands of miles playing everything from honky tonks to fairs and festivals. What are the pros and cons of touring like that?

Dustin Collins: Money! [laughs] That’s the ‘pro.’ And the ‘con!’ The pro is, you make enough money to stay on the road. The con is, you don’t make enough money to pay your car insurance. It is what it is. But I love it. I’d rather be on the road. I sleep better in my bunk than I do in my bed. I love getting out to meet new people, to see new people, play my songs for people who never heard of ‘em. It’s what I’ve always wanted to do, so I love being out there. So anytime we get a chance to take a road trip, all my guys are the same. They’re like, “Let’s Go!” By week two, they’re like, “Let’s go back home!”

PH: ‘Cold Dead Hands’ was your first Number One. Can you remember where you were when you heard the news? Continue reading “For Dustin Collins, ‘It’s Been Awhile’”

Song downloads plunge, streaming rockets

How does that affect your wallet?

Song downloads are on a steep slide that shows no sign of easing up. Meanwhile, streaming figures just keep rising. So, if you’re an artist or a songwriter, it’s no big deal if streaming is picking up the slack from downloads, right? Uh, not really. Raw figures don’t tell the full story as far as your potential income is concerned.

First the figures from Nielsen Music: During the first half of 2018, song download sales were down 27.4% to 223.1 million from 307.2 million for the first half of 2017. Album downloads also fell 21.7% to 27.5 million units, down from 35.1 for the same period last year.

Meanwhile, streams jumped 41.6% to 403.4 billion, January-June 2018, a gain of 118.6 billion (a half-year record) compared with the first half of 2017. As Digital Music News pointed out in a story posted July 10, 2018, not so long ago, paid downloads were greater than one billion annually. Now, Drake’s album ‘Scorpion’ chalked up more than one billion streams in a single week.

So Drake probably doesn’t need to be too worried about the decline of downloads. But for artists who are not up in the same stratosphere as Drake, this is not good news as revenue from streams is nowhere near that of downloads. And even that isn’t very much. Single track downloads that cost 99c earn the artist around 11c on iTunes, Google Play and Amazon.

‘Fractions of one cent’

When it comes to getting paid for streaming, you receive mere fractions of one cent per stream from the major streaming services. These include Napster, YouTube, Pandora, Apple Music, Tidal, Google Play, Deezer and Spotify. In July 2017, Digital Music News posted a report titled ‘What Streaming Music Services Pay,’ available here. (Note: these figures may have changed since that report was posted.)

See the Digital Music News report for full details, but they note that Napster tops the pay-per-stream list with $0.0167 per stream for unsigned artists. Signed artists received $0.0190. In comparison, Apple Music pays unsigned artists $0.0064 per stream and signed artists $0.0073 per stream.

Meanwhile, YouTube is still the lowest payer and not improving. In 2015, an unsigned artist would earn $1,260.00 after 70,000 plays. In 2017, that artist would need to score 2.4 mullion plays to earn the same amount. However, YouTube should be seen by an artist as a promotional and marketing tool, rather than a revenue stream. (See previous post here at Nashville Music Line: ‘How to build community with YouTube.’) Continue reading “Song downloads plunge, streaming rockets”

Music Row One Sheet Early July 2018

Nashville Music News Roundup

Scroll down to read these Music Row One Sheet news items

Larry Gatlin wants his stolen GRAMMY® back
Do you have unclaimed royalties out there?
Summer NAMM attendance up 5%
US/UK country pop duo take the ‘Top Down’
Garth’s ‘All Day Long’ most-added at Country Radio

Scroll down to read these Music Row One Sheet news items

Larry Gatlin wants his stolen GRAMMY® back

Have you seen Larry Gatlin’s GRAMMY®? If you know where it is, Larry wants to talk to you. In 1977, Larry Gatlin, eldest of the Gatlin Brothers, took home a GRAMMY® Award for ‘Best Country Song’ thanks to his self-penned classic hit, ‘Broken Lady.’

In an exclusive interview with The Tennessean, Gatlin reveals his prized award was actually stolen from the Gatlin Bros. Music City restaurant in the Mall of America in the 1990s. Now, two decades later, he’s on a mission to get it back. The country legend is promising a monetary reward for the safe return of his golden gramophone, and he won’t notify authorities.

“I’ll give you a written statement that I won’t prosecute you,” Gatlin tells The Tennessean’s Cindy Watts. “You can just say you bought it at a pawn shop.” The possessor of Gatlin’s gold can email assistant@absolutepublicity.com to make arrangements to return the trophy and receive the reward.

Do you have unclaimed royalties out there?

If your recordings are out there on any of the digital platforms, it’s possible (it’s likely!) that you are owed money. Okay, it’s probably not a LOT of money, but it is legally yours and you should be able to claim it.

You might want to check out SoundExchange that collects and distributes digital performance royalties on behalf of rights owners and licensees. So far, SoundExchange has paid out about $5 billion in royalties from recordings played on digital radio including Pandora’s free tier and SiriusXM. Continue reading “Music Row One Sheet Early July 2018”

How to build community with YouTube

Official Artist Channels ‘pull it all together’

YouTube wants artists and musicians to build a home on their platform. And they’re telling you how to do it.

YouTube made a concerted effort to reach music creators with PowerPoint presentations at both Music Biz 2018 and Summer NAMM in recent weeks. The company is aware that both music creators and music listeners/viewers are increasingly seeing YouTube as a go-to music platform. In the presentation titled ‘Creating a Home for Music on YouTube,’ the company showed how artists and songwriters can effectively showcase their work and connect and engage with fans.

Benefits of your own Official Artist Channel

The key, according to YouTube’s Nathan Sheppard*, is building and maintaining your Official Artist Channel (OAC). Most music creators probably have some kind of presence on YouTube, perhaps even their own channel. But YouTube believes that your OAC can be your prime marketing tool – if you take advantage of all its possibilities.

Among the benefits of a fully-functioning OAC:

‘Direct to Fan’ features: Your OAC unites your full body of work under one banner. Your fans and followers now have a single place to subscribe.
Attribution: Visitors will see a music note icon next your name (or your OAC name) so they know everything posted here comes officially from you.
Search optimization: When visitors search for any of your output on YouTube, your OAC shows up at the top.

The parts of an OAC

As Nathan pointed out, an OAC isn’t a new channel. It is a new layout that can be used on any channel that is owned and operated by you the artist, your management or your record label. He showed the ‘parts’ of an OAC: Continue reading “How to build community with YouTube”