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Music Row gears up for CRS

When big events like the Country Radio Seminar occur, Music Row begins to buzz with various activities and talk about the celebrities.  The Country Radio Seminar is an annual convention designed to educate and promote the exchange of ideas in the country music industry.  This year marks the event’s 40th anniversary and it promises to be another great year for attendance.

Among the buzz this year is Gerry House’s induction into the CountrGerry House y Music DJ Hall of Fame.  House is without a doubt one of the most well known country radio personalities of all time and has been honored many times during his long career as a spinner of vinyl (and now polycarbonate, or make that digits!).  He began that career in the small Tennessee town of Maryville at WBCR.  In 1975, he stared at WSIX-AM in Nashville then moved over to the FM side in the early ’80s.  In 1985, he moved his show to the granddaddy of Country Music Radio, WSM and then to KLAC in Los Angeles.  Ultimately, as life often does, he came almost full circle returning to WSIX-FM.  In 2008, the Gerry House and the House Foundation morning show on WSIX won “Personality of the Year” awards from the Country Music Association, the Academy of Country Music and Radio & Records.  House also received the National Association of Broadcasters’ Marconi Award and Leadership Music’s Dale Franklin Award. Also an accomplished songwriter, House wrote “The Big One” (George Strait), “Little Rock” (Reba McEntire) and “On The Side Of Angels” (LeAnn Rimes).   House is joined by the induction Cleveland Ohio’s Chuck Collier, a 30-year veteran of country music radio.  On the programming side of the equation, Bob McKay and Moon Mullins are the Country Music Radio Hall of Fame inductees.   Merle Haggard will receive the Career Achievement Award and Shelia Shipley Biddy will be presented the President’s Award.

The Country Music DJ and Radio Hall of Fame events unofficially mark the beginning of CRS each year.  The Hall of Fame Cocktail Party begins at 5:30 p.m. Tuesday evening. The Dinner and Induction Ceremony follows at 6 p.m.   The remainder of scheduled events for CRS are as follows:

Wednesday, March 4

Wednesday’s events kick off at 9 a.m. with the Opening Ceremonies and Award Presentation.  The keynote address, delivered by marketing expert Seth Godin, will follow at 10 a.m. in the Performance Hall, with the Sylvia Hutton Motivational Speaker/Life Coach panel at 11:15 a.m.  This year’s speaker will be former No. 1 country artist-turn motivational coach Sylvia Hutton.

New label Golden Music will sponsor Wednesday’s luncheon, featuring performances by Benton Blount and Williams Riley.  The previously scheduled morning Artist Radio Taping Session (sponsored by SESAC) will now be combined with the afternoon A.R.T.S. panel.  As a result, the afternoon session will be extended by one hour (2:30 p.m. – 4:50 p.m.).

Performers at ASCAP’s KCRS Live! will include artists and songwriters Jimmy Wayne, Kelley Lovelace, Ashley Gorley and Jonathan Singleton.  The popular Music City JamTM (7:30 p.m. – 9:30 p.m. in the Performance Hall) will be hosted this year by Tim McGraw and sponsored by the Academy of Country Music. 

Additionally, two educational panels will be featured Wednesday afternoon: “Country Radio As Seen Through The PPM Lens,” sponsored by Arbitron, and “Back to the Future: 1969-2049.”

Thursday, March 5:

Designated as Music Industry Town Meeting Day, single day registration for Thursday’s activities may be purchased on-site for $265.  The day’s agenda includes the return of the Tech Track and Small Market Track panels.  Tech Track panels include “Spinning a Web” and “40 New Media Ideas.”  Small Market panels include “Come Hell or High Water: Disaster Preparedness,” “You’re a PD, Now What?” and “Champagne Production on a Beer Budget.”  Sixteen panels will be offered in all during the day between 9 a.m. and 4 p.m.

Thursday’s events begin at 9 a.m. with The Country Music Association revealing the results of its 2008 Country Music Consumer Segmentation Study, conducted by Leo Burnett Co. and Starcom MediaVest Group.  Sony Music Nashville’s luncheon (noon – 1:50 p.m.) will feature performances by Miranda Lambert and Jake Owen.  At 4:10 p.m. Bobby Pinson, PauMiranda Lambert l Overstreet, Josh Turner and Jamey Johnson will perform during WCRS Live! (sponsored by BMI and Country Aircheck).

Friday, March 6:
Friday is Radio Sales Day.  Single day registration, including entrance to the New Faces of Country Music Show®, is available for $370 on-site.  Friday’s events will kick-off with the Managers’ Breakfast at 8 a.m., followed by CRS-40’s second research study, which will present findings from the Edison Research / CRB National Country P1 Study 2009 at 10 a.m. 

Panels during the day will focus on important topics that affect the Country Radio format, such as consumer habits, promotional and research ideas, voicetracking and tools to increase sales.  Prominent sales panels include “20 Ideas Even a PD Would Love,” “PPM!  Selling the Country Format,” “What’s NTR Got To Do With It?” “Creative Closing” and “A Car Dealer Tells All About Advertising.”  More than a dozen panels will be offered during Friday’s activities.

Friday’s luncheon, sponsored by Capitol Nashville, will feature performances from Darius Rucker and Little Big Town.  Also during lunch, Operation Troop Aid, a non-profit charity organization, will send 500 care packages from CRS-40 to deployed U.S. troops.  Packages will contain phone cards, MP3s, beef jerky, trail mix, hand wipes, hand sanitizer, cookies, candy, granola bars, toiletry items and thank you letters.  At 4:10 p.m., Barbara Mandrell will interview Kix Brooks during the Life of a Legend series.

One of Country Radio Seminar’s most popular events, The New Faces of Country Music Show and Dinner (sponsored by R&R and CMA) starts at 6:30 p.m. with performances from Lady Antebellum, James Otto, Kellie Pickler, Chuck Wicks and The Zac Brown Band.  CRS-40 will then Julianne Hough officially close with the unique 40th Anniversary Jam: A Musical Thanks to Radio, to be held at Cadillac Ranch and sponsored by DigitalRodeo.com.  Artists will cover their favorite radio hits from the last 40 years, featuring performances by Emerson Drive, Andy Griggs, Julianne Hough, Jamie O’Neal, James Otto, Blake Shelton, Jimmy Wayne, Chuck Wicks, Mark Wills and Darryl Worley, among others.

A new CRS documentary can be seen during the three-day seminar at the Renaissance and Hilton hotels in downtown Nashville.  The film, produced by Art Vuolo and titled WCRS-TV, chronicles various CRS highlights over the last 21 years.

CRS-40 will be held March 4-6, 2009 at the Nashville Convention Center in Nashville, Tenn. 

About CRB:
Detailed seminar information and a full agenda can be found online at www.CRB.org.  On-site registration is still available for $699 and may be purchased at the Convention Center.  The Country Radio Broadcasters, Inc.®, the event sponsor, is a 501(c)3 non-profit organization founded in 1969 to bring radio broadcasters from around the world together with the Country Music Industry to ensure vitality and promote growth in the Country Radio format. 

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WSM’s “Bluegrass Underground” moves to Saturdays

Beginning this Saturday, Feb. 14, legendary radio station 650 AM WSM will move its acclaimed Bluegrass Underground series to a new time slot. The program will now broadcast on WSM every Saturday night from 5 p.m. – 6 p.m. CST and stream worldwide at www.WSMonline.com.

WSM A performance by Nashville bluegrass band, The Steeldrivers, will be featured on the first show broadcast at the new time slot.

“Having Bluegrass Underground as a part of the weekly WSM broadcast schedule enhances the diversity of our programming, which no other Nashville radio station can stake claim to,” says WSM program director Joe Limardi.

It is the perfect lead-in to our ‘crown jewel’ of programming, the Saturday Night WSM Grand Ole Opry.”

WSM’s first official broadcast day was October 5, 1925. The Nashville-based station is the radio home for the Grand Ole Opry, which has been broadcast live over the airwaves on WSM since its inception.  The 50,000 watt, low frequency station can be picked up in 38 states on 650 AM and heard worldwide at www.WSMonline.com.

Bluegrass Underground Each Bluegrass Underground show is taped live in the Volcano Room, a naturally formed amphitheater located 333 feet below ground at Cumberland Caverns in McMinnville, Tennessee. Since it began in August 2008, the show has featured performances by The Infamous Stringdusters, Tim O’Brien, The Steeldrivers, The Grascals and Cadillac Sky

“WSM is synonymous with the original American music form called bluegrass, and Cumberland Caverns is one of the world’s most unique show caves,” says Bluegrass Underground creator and producer Todd Mayo. “We are proud to broadcast our show from such a magical location as The Volcano Room, and we think our new time slot on legendary 650 WSM provides a great platform for this genre, particularly on the station that’s always been a friend to bluegrass music.”

The unique venue also has surprisingly pleasant acoustics, according to Bluegrass Underground recording engineer Phil Harris. “The sound in here is phenomenal,” he says. “It has a really nice, warm sound, unlike a lot of other man-made things that you encounter. The room is fantastic!”

Upcoming performers scheduled to be on the show include The Travelin’ McCourys with Ronnie Bowman (Mar. 14), Steep Canyon Rangers [April 18] and CherryHolmes [June 27].

Visit Bluegrass Underground for tickets and more information.

 

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Nothing left to lose – the ongoing war on copyrights

Kris Kristofferson and Fred Foster once penned one of my favorite lyrics in the song Me and Bobby McGee, i.e., “freedom’s just another word for nothing left to lose.”  The sentiment is perhaps appropriate for the ongoing war that is being waged against copyright laws as we know them.  The latest battle in this war was fired by the esteemed Lawrence Lessig, famous lawyer and copyright scholar, in his new book Remix: Making Art & Commerce Thrive in the Hybrid Economy.  If Lessig has his way, the songwriter and music publisher will, indeed, have nothing left to lose.

Remix Lawrence Lessig The main goal of the book is the demolishment of existing copyright laws, which Lessig has described as Byzantine.  He believes our current copyright laws are futile, costly and culturally stifling. The “hybrid economy” is described by Lessig as one in which a “sharing economy” coexists with a “commercial economy.”  See this very humorous interview by Stephen Colbert.  He gives examples such as YouTube, Flikr and Wikipedia, which rely on user-generated “remixes” of information, images and sound to illustrate his point.  This “hybrid economy,” in Lessig-speak, is identical to what he calls a “Read/Write (RW)” culture — as opposed to “Read/Only (RO)” — i.e., a culture in which consumers are allowed to “create art as readily as they consume it.”  Thus, the “remix” to which he refers is the concept of taking another persons copyrighted work and “making something new” or “building on top of it.”  This is what us less-published copyright lawyers like to refer to as a derivative work!  And that is the crux of Lessig’s problem:  the copyright law DOES in fact make provision for this type of creative endeavor, provided that the creator of the derivative work gains the permission of the copyright owner.  This is that with which Lessig seeks to do away.

In the Colbert interview, Lessig drolly points out that 70% of our kids are sharing files illegally and that the “outdated” copyright laws are “turning them in to criminals.”  This reminds me just a bit of what my Daddy used to tell me: just because everybody’s doing it doesn’t make it right!   Or, as Colbert blithely responded, “isn’t that like saying arson laws are turning our kids into arsonists?”  The obvious conclusion is that perhaps the law is simply not the problem.

Colbert then comically crosses out Lessig’s name on the cover of his his advance copy of Lessig’s book, draws a picture of Snoopy inside, and then questions Lessig as to whether the book was now his (Colber’t’s) work of art, to which Lessig says “that’s great,” we “jointly” own the copyright.  That’s a point to which Lessig’s publisher, Penguin Press, would surely not acquiesce.  In the final retort to Lessig, Colbert makes the point that he likes the current system, and I quote, “the system works for me.”  I might add that the system seems to be working extremely well for Lawrence Lessig as well.  Lessig is making a fortune exploiting the very system he criticizes as antiquated – the very essence of free speech, I suppose, but in the final analysis, a bit disingenuous.

While I do admire Professor Lessig for working toward a solution to a perceived problem, it’s very difficult to believe that tearing down the entire system of copyright laws in order to accommodate a large percentage of prepubescent teenagers who are too cheap to pay for their music is the appropriately measured response we need in this instance.   Call me crazy.

Here are several good critiques of Lessig’s work and ideas here for further exploration of this issue:

The Future of Copyright, by Lawrence B. Solum (download PDF from this page)

Lessig’s call for a “simple blanket license” in Remix, by Adam Thierer

Copyright in the Digital Age, by Mark A. Fischer

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ASCAP songwriters to perform at CRS-40’s KCRS Live! showcase

Country Radio Broadcasters, Inc. today announced the lineup for this year’s KCRS Live! event during the radio industry event, CRS-40, scheduled for March 4 – 6, 2009 at the Nashville Convention Center.  The ASCAP-sponsored KCRS Live! event will Wednesday, March 4 from 5-6:20 p.m.

The event almost always features some of Nashville’s top songwriting talent.  ASCAP writers and artists scheduled to perform this year include the following:

Jimmy Wayne Jimmy Wayne – Jimmy Wayne’s “Do You Believe Me Now,” the title track from his first new album in five years (Do You Believe Me Now), was worth the wait.  The much anticipated release was a Top 5 debut on the Billboard Country Album chart, while the single went all the way to No. 1.  The follow-up single, “I Will,” is headed in the same direction.  His first release was a Top 10 success, garnering a string of hits on the Billboard Country chart, including “Stay Gone,” “I Love You This Much,” “Paper Angels” and “You Are,” all co-written by Wayne.  He is scheduled to perform on the “American Saturday Night” tour with Brad Paisley in the summer and fall of this year.

Kelley Lovelace – Franklin, Tennessee resident and graduate of Belmont University, Kelley Lovelace is no stranger to hit songs, havingKelley-Lovelace-(No-Hat) written several that were recorded by artists such as Brad Paisley, Carrie Underwood, Montgomery Gentry, Jason Aldean, Terri Clark, Joe Nichols, Jason Michael Carroll, Kristy Lee Cook, Tracy Byrd and many others.  Fifteen of those songs turned into Top 20 Billboard hits, and 10 of them reached the No. 1 position.  His credits include “Ticks,” “He Didn’t Have to Be,” “The World,” “Online,” (Brad Paisley), “The Impossible,” (Joe Nichols) and “I Just Wanna Be Mad” and “Girls Lie Too” (Terri Clark).

Ashley Gorley – Danville, Kentucky native and Belmont University  graduate Ashley Gorley scored his first No. 1 with Carrie Underwood’s 2006 hit “Don’t Forget To Remember Me.”  In 2008, Carrie brought him his second No. 1 with “All-American Girl.”  His third chart-topper came only a few weeks later with Trace Adkins’ No. 1Ashley Gorley smash, “You’re Gonna Miss This.” 2009 began with yet another No. 1 hit, the Brad Paisley / Keith Urban duet “Start A Band.”  Gorley has already won three ASCAP Awards and been nominated for two Grammys and a CMA Award.  His most recent single is Darius Rucker’s “It Won’t Be Like This For Long.”

Jonathan Singleton – Music Row’s “Breakthrough Songwriter of the Year” in 2008, Jonathan Singleton announced his presence in Nashville with the 2007 Gary Allan smash “Watching Airplanes,” a song that earned him an ACM nomination for Single of the Year.  The Jackson, Tenn. native is also a performer, recently playing gigs opening for artists like Joe Nichols, Phil Vassar, Jonathon Singleton Carrie Underwood, Jason Michael Carroll, Blake Shelton and Eric Church.  Singleton also wrote the latest Billy Currington single “Don’t,” and was featured in a recent “Legends and Lyrics” episode on PBS.

“We look forward to KCRS Live! every year.  It gives ASCAP an opportunity to showcase some of our best songwriter/artists to radio in a more intimate setting,” said Connie Bradley, ASCAP Sr. VP.

“For years, KCRS Live! has showcased some of Nashville’s finest songwriters at Country Radio Seminar.  This year looks to be no different, and we are grateful to have ASCAP once again sponsoring this event,” added CRB Executive Director Ed Salamon.

More information about the event can be found at www.crb.org.

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Barbara Mandrell and Kix Brooks slated for CRS-40 Panel

Country Radio Broadcasters, Inc.® has announced the CRS-40 “Life Of A Legend” panel will feature an interview session of country music legend Barbara Mandrell by host Kix Brooks.

Barbara Mandrell The “Life Of A Legend” panel, sponsored by ABC Radio Networks, takes place Friday, March 6, 2009 at 4:10 p.m.  This panel is the climax of the seminar, and is always highly regarded as one of the most engaging and memorable events of CRS week.   Brooks (half of superstar country duo Brooks & Dunn and host of American Country Countdown) will interview Mandrell as she reflects on her legendary career in country music. Mandrell earned her first No. 1 single with 1978’s “Sleeping Single in a Double Bed,” followed by “(If Loving You Is Wrong) I Don’t Want to Be Right.”  Mandrell went on to score four more No. 1’s: “Years,” “I Was Country When Country Wasn’t Cool,” “Till You’re Gone” and “One of a Kind Pair of Fools.”  A member of the Grand Ole Opry, Mandrell also starred in her own television series (“Barbara Mandrell and the Mandrell Sisters”) and won both the CMA “Entertainer of the Year” and “Female Vocalist of the Year” Awards twice. “Barbara and the CRS grew up together, and it is particularly appropriate to feature her this year at CRS on the convention’s 40th Anniversary, the same year that marks her 40th anniversary with Columbia Records,” says CRB Executive Director Ed Salamon. “Barbara Mandrell is a legend in every sense of the word.  She has won countless awards, entertained millions with her television show and influenced so many of today’s artists.” This is the fourth year for the “Life of a Legend” panel.  Previous years’ lineups included: Gerry House interviewing Kenny Rogers (CRS-37), Eddie Stubbs interviewing Ronnie Milsap {CRS-38} and Norro Wilson and Ronnie Gilley interviewing George Jones (CRS-39). CRS-40 is scheduled for March 4-6, 2009 at the Nashville Convention Center.  Complete information, including registration, may be obtained by contacting CRB, Inc. at 615.327.4487 or by visiting www.crb.org.  Technorati Tags: Barbara Mandrell,Country Radio Broadcasters,CRS-40,Nashville,Entertainment

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Local 257 elects Pomeroy to replace Bradley

OUT WITH THE OLD

After over 18 years of service to the organization, Harold Bradley is no longer president of Nashville’s Local 257 chapter of the American Federation of Musicians.  Dave Pomeroy was elected president last week by a vote of 675 to 449.  Out of it’s 2620 members, 1165 votes were cast in this election, which is more than double the number of votes cast in the 2005 election.

This is most certainly the end of an era for Harold Bradley, for whom Harold I have a great deal of respect and admiration.  He began his long services as president of Local 257 on January 1, 1991 and later became the International Vice President serving the AFM’s International Executive Board, a position he will likely retain until 2010.  He received the AFM’s Lifetime Achievement Award in 2006, the same year he was inducted into the Country Music Hall of Fame.  Bradley was also the first president of the Nashville chapter of NARAS and continues to serve as a member of the Grammy organization’s Board of Governors.

Harold and his brother, Owen, built Nashville’s earliest recording facility, Castle Recording Studio, in the early 40’s. As the architect of the Nashville Sound, Harold was part of Nashville’s original “Nashville Cats,” the A-Team, which included such notables as Boots Randolph, Floyd Cramer, Hargus “Pig” Robbins, Buddy Harman and The Jordanaires.

He is one of the most recorded guitarist in the world, and has been pickin’ on country albums for over 60 years, including work on such classics as Bobby Helms’ Jingle Bell Rock, Brenda Lee’s I’m Sorry, Roy Orbison’s Only the Lonely, Patsy Cline’s Crazy, Roger Miller’s King of the Road, Tammy Wynette’s Stand By Your Man, Eddy Arnold’s Make the World Go Away, and Loretta Lynn’s Coal Miner’s Daughter, just to name a few.

Harold Bradley will always be considered a formidable force in Nashville’s music industry.

IN WITH THE NEW

Bradley’s replacement, Dave Pomeroy, is a well known and seasoned musician as well, having played electric and acoustic bass on more than 500 albums during his 34 years in the music industry.  Dave has played with artists including Emmylou Harris, Alan Jackson, Elton John, Peter Frampton and Chet Atkins, including work on 6 Grammy-winning projects.  Dave is also an independent producer and has produced numerous projects which can be found on website.

Pomeroy issued the following statement after winning the election:

"I am humbled to be elected to the office President by the members of Local 257. Thanks to everyone who voted and all those who volunteered to help my campaign.

On behalf of all members past and present, I thank Harold Bradley for his many years of dedication and service to this Local and the AFM. I am honored to be carrying on the historic tradition of leading Local 257 as we move into a rapidly changing future.

We have one of the most dynamic, versatile, and innovative music communities on earth, and I look forward to representing the best interests of all Nashville musicians, both here at home and around the world."

Pomeroy will begin his three-year term effective January 1, 2009.

In the same election, Craig Krampf defeated Billy Linneman for Secretary-Treasurer by a vote of 570 to 539.  Re-elected to the Executive Board were Bruce Bouton, Bobby Ogdin, Andy Reiss, Laura Ross, and Denis Solee, who were joined by new members Duncan Mullins and Jimmy Capps.

THE CONTROVERY

There is much controversy surrounding the election, which is viewed by some as “revolutionary.”  The scuttlebutt is that a riff has been developing since 2001 between the leadership of the AFM’s International Executive Board and AFM members who were also members of the Recording Musicians Association, the local chapter of which Pomeroy is president.   The RMA, a player conference sanctioned by the AFM, is a 1400-member organization of studio musicians with chapters in Los Angeles, New York and Nashville,  It is arguably one of the most active conferences in the AFM.

Bradley and Linneman, for better or worse, threw their support behind resolution put forth by Thomas F. Lee, the IEB President, and passed by the IEB in Las Vegas in June 2008, which threatened to “de-conference” the RMA at its September conference.

Lee’s opposition to the RMA derived from stemmed from his promotion of a deal which eliminated so-called backend new usage “buyouts” of musical scores used in video games, something which the AFM was reluctant to do in the past.  Read more about his in this Variety article.

The lines of battle were thusly drawn, and the Local 257 uprising has been building ever since, with tempers flaring on both sides of the disagreement.  (A detailed, though somewhat biased, historical trail can found on the “Sounds” blog).  As a result of the June vote, Pomeroy and over 150 other local members of the AFM presented a resolution at the executive board meeting of Local 257 calling on the members to censor Bradley for his support of the anti-RMA resolution, which Bradley described as “ridiculous” and to which he responded:

This resolution, submitted by RMA President David Pomeroy, is intended to influence my vote! I will continue to vote my conscience (based on the facts before me), and I resent this attempt to force me to vote otherwise.

This statement appeared in an open letter to Local 257 in the July-September 2008 edition of the Nashville Musician, the Local’s newsletter.  This exchange ultimately led to the controversial election of last week.

The waves of discontent were also felt in Los Angeles, where RMA member Vince Trombetta was elected as Local 47’s president earlier this month, also in an apparent backlash against Tom Lee’s anti-RMA leanings.

The principals of democracy are certainly at work in the AFM, just as they were in the presidential elections this year!

SUMMARY

I know Dave Pomeroy and I  believe he will be a caring and effective leader for the AFM.  I congratulate him and wish him the best in the new endeavor, knowing full well that he has some difficult struggles ahead in leading the opposition.

I also know and respect Harold Bradley.  Harold is a Nash
ville icon who has been an effective leader of Local 257 for almost two decades.  I believe he wanted what he thought was best for the musicians and I know that he always had the musicians’ interests at heart.  I thank him for his service to the industry.

But no one is perfect.  While I do not intend to take either side in this debate, I will note that perhaps it was indeed time for a revolution.  There is no doubt now that new leadership is the order of the day. Nashville’s musicians are the backbone of our industry and they deserve adequate compensation and representation.  The majority of them now feel that Dave will do that and I commend their choice.  While no one really likes it when it comes, change is often a good thing.   I hope that at least in the Local 257, egos can deflate to normal and tempests can subside, and harmony can once again return to the organization that is at the heart of Music City.

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PassAlong Networks gets cash infusion

Word is spreading on the Internet about PassAlong Networks, Inc.’s recent infusion of investment capital.  PassAlong is a digital music distribution and sharing service aptly headquartered in Franklin, Tennessee.  According to VentureWire, the company plans to close a $30 million funding round later this month.

PassAlong, also known as the Tennessee Pacific Group, LLC, was founded in 2002 by former Microsoft executive, Dave Jaworski and, Scott Lewis, an independent entrepreneurDave Jaworskier.  Mr. Jaworski’s blog, Can’t Stop the Music, can be found here.  The company raised $40 million in start up monies from angel investors – an unusually substantial amount from individual investors – and also raised another $10 million in investment capital in April 2007.

Music veteran Jeff Skillen recently went to work for the company as their VP of Entertainment Relations.

PassAlong has a patent pending on its media service engine architecture, which is designed to work across all operating systems and platforms and is device-independent.  It launched its first digital music download store on e-Bay in September 2004

The company has digital music catalog agreements with all four major record labels: Warner Music Group, Universal Music Group, EMI, and Sony/BMG.  The PassAlong catalog includes nearly 3 million songs, including not only catalog from the majors, but also nearly 2 million independent songs in MP3 format.  Most of its music is either DRM or MP3, and the company became certified by Microsoft PlayforSure in December 2004.

The music-sharing services gets its name from the fact that it allows consumers to recommend music to friends with links to song clips sent through email and instant messaging services from AOL, MSN and Yahoo. PassAlong

PassAlong Network Inc.’s portfolio of other products, many of  which are interactive, includes:

StoreBlocks, an online platform of tools and templates for building digital music/media stores, including PassAlong’s library of songs from the four major labels and MP3 files from independent artists.  This system currently powers 120 digital music stores, including Proctor and Gamble’s Julie’s Jukebox;

OnTour, is an award-winning family of concert notification applications, widgets and websites;

freedomMP3, is a “non-DRM” solution, providing protection technology and media tracking services designed to safeguard artists’ rights without hindering consumer rights via interoperability;.

Skylocker is a media storage and market-management platform;

Speakerheart a subsidiary of PassAlong, is an exciting independent-artist publishing and promotion system; and

Connected Consumer, a series of platforms and services aimed at enhancing the connected consumer experience.

Look for this exciting company to go places on the web.

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Reba and Borchetta team up again

Valory Music Co., the independent label formed last year as a subsidiary to Scott Borchetta and Toby Keith’s Big Machine Records, has added another huge feather to their proverbial cap:  Reba McIntire.  The announcement appears today on Valory Music’s website.

brown05.tif A multimedia entertainer, Reba sold more than 55 million albums, won two Grammy awards and starred in the popular sitcom Reba!  She has for a long time been signed with MCA Nashville, a division of Universal Music Group, where she met Borchetta, who at the time was Senior VP of Promotion.

McEntire and Borchetta worked closely together at MCA Nashville creating a strategy that dominated airplay, sales and touring at a time when few other female artists were doing it.  During their collaboration, Reba and Borchetta had 14 number 1 hits and sold over 22 million records, giving MCA Nashville the title “Label of the Decade” for the 1990’s.

Valory Music was formed last year when Borchetta surprised the music community by announcing a similar high-profile deal with Jewel to produce a country record.  At that time, Borchetta stated that the objective of Valory Music was “to continue the momentum that has been achieved with Big Machine by not only replicating our current culture and our recent successes, but also by taking everything that we’ve learned over the last two years and pouring it into this exciting new venture. We continually re-engineer what we think we know and we feel like we’ve identified an incredible opportunity with the simultaneous availability of some incredible artists and record executives. . . .”

Together, Big Machine and Valory are two of the most successful independent projects in town, selling records for a stable of artists that includes the aforementioned Jewel, Taylor Swift, Trisha Yearwood, and Emerson Drive.

McEntire is expected to release a single with Valory Music next spring, with a complete album coming in the summer of 2009.

Law on the Row goes mobile!

For those reLORiPhoneaders sporting new iPhones, Blackberrys, Windows Mobile smartphones or even for those diehard Palm fans who own Treos, Law on the Row is extremely pleased to announce that it is going mobile!  The new mobile version loads faster on smaller devices with more limited web browsers.  Just type in the following URL on your mobile device:  http://lawontherow.mofuse.mobi.  You enjoy the same great content, without some of the photos and links.  It’s a great way to keep up with articles on the road.  Enjoy!

By the way, for fellow bloggers, you can create your own mobile website using your RSS feed at www.mofuse.com.

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