Author Archive: David M Ross
David M. Ross has been covering Nashville's music industry for over 25 years. dross@musicrow.com
2010 Sales Wrap; Top Albums, Artists and Songs
In the year’s top selling digital song, “California Gurls” Snoop Dog says, “Katy I’m all up on ya, cause you’re representing California.” This writer says to Taylor, Lady A, Ke$ha and ZBB, “To brag I’m not bashful, cause you’re cranking it loud for Nashville.”
OK, with lines like that, perhaps this writer’s rap career will remain a well kept secret. But Nielsen SoundScan’s Year-End U.S. shows that Nashville music did not play second fiddle in 2010.
Category: Featured, Sales/Marketing
2010 Sales Wrap: Country Slide Continues
Today is an especially robust data day for Nielsen SoundScan watchers since the week ending 1/2/2011 closes the door on 2010…but simply stated the industry overall continued its decline,
Category: Featured, Sales/Marketing
Toyota Adds Pandora
The Pandora “pandemic” may soon be rolling into a car near you! Ford previously announced it would offer Pandora in connection with its SYNC platform. Today, at CES in Las Vegas, Toyota revealed it will also roll with Pandora using its Entune multimedia system. The Toyota system will also reportedly engage users with other apps […]
Smartphones Becoming Dominant
According to market research company Nielsen (1/3/11), the Apple iPhone operating system remains the top mobile OS in the US enjoying a 28.6% market share. Closely following the Cupertino giant is Google’s Android system with 25.8%. Blackberry, once the top dog in the mobile platform race, slides from 33% in June 2010 to 26.1% in […]
Category: Featured
ACM Reveals Newcomer Nominees
The Academy of Country Music continues to refine its hybrid voting which polls both fans and industry professionals. For the organization’s 46th Annual Country Music Awards—slated for April 3, 2011—Newcomer categories will again be opened up to fan voting through VoteACM.com and GACtv.com/ACM. This is the third year that ACM and Great American Country have […]
Category: Artist, Awards, Featured, Organizations
Rockhouse Aligns Live Marketing Channels
Rockhouse Live has been announced as a new division and proprietary technology platform for technology-based entertainment agency, Rockhouse Partners. the Nashville-based firm’s new offering is intended to help live entertainment properties sell more tickets. According to Rockhouse, “The new division will act as an entertainment marketing agency and leverage a technology product that includes a […]
Category: Featured, Sales/Marketing, Touring
Publisher Terrell Tye Passes
Nashville music industry veteran Terrell Tye, 58, passed away peacefully on Christmas morning at 7 a.m. She is survived by her loving sons Josh and Zack Allen and brother Dowell Tye. Tye was also the former wife of Grand Ole Opry member Hal Ketchum. Terrell Tye was a partner in Forerunner music, an innovative publishing […]
Category: Featured, Publishing
Do Twitter Followers Equal Sales?
Billboard’s Antony Bruno does an excellent job peering under the hood at Soulja Boy’s recent Nov. 30 album release which managed to shift 13,000 units, a surprisingly modest debut considering the artist has 2.5 million Twitter followers. Does this mean that Twitter’s ability to influence and drive sales is becoming less important? What about for […]
Category: Artist, Featured, Sales/Marketing
Country ’10 Sales Fall Short
Nielsen SoundScan handicappers are now melancholy with the realization that country will not achieve flat sales compared with 2009. With two 2010 sales weeks remaining—one leading into the holiday and one after,
Category: Artist, Featured, Label, Organizations, Sales/Marketing
SoundExchange Reports Record Distributions, New Rates
SoundExchange reports its distributions to rights holders increased 55% in 2009 to $156 million. Total revenues rose 20% to 204.2 million. SoundExchange is a non-profit performance rights organization that collects statutory royalties from satellite radio (such as SIRIUS XM), Internet radio (like Pandora), cable TV music channels and similar platforms for streaming sound recordings on […]
Category: Artist, Featured, Publishing, Radio
Hough’s Video Banned… Really?
Who can beat Celebrity Taste-makers when it comes to discerning between the jealous and the zealous? Their snarky wit is discerning and head turning. So when LA Times blog Ministry of Gossip asked the musical question, is Julianne Hough’s new video “Is That So Wrong” deserving of being “kinda banned” by CMT, as the young […]
