The Eagles release new album and slated to appear on CMT Awards

After almost thirty years, my favorite band of all time, The Eagles, have recorded a new album entitled Long Road out of Eden, which features the single "How Long." The song is climbing the Billboard country chart and currently resides at No. 26. The new single was originally written and recorded by J.D. Souther in 1972 on his self-titled album, Long Road is scheduled for release on October 30, 2007, exclusively through Wal-Mart and online at musictoday.com. To quote another seventies powerhouse band, Led Zepplin, it's been a long time, been a long time. . . .

In connection with the success of the band's single on country music radio, The Eagles are slated to perform during the 41st Annual Country Music Association Awards airing Wednesday, November 7 on ABC at 7 p.m. CST. The awards show, back in Nashville after a controversial hiatus in New York. The band is also premiering at the new Nokia Theater L.A. Live with the Dixie Chicks on October 18 and 20.

The Eagles’ country-flavored rock style has always appealed to country audiences, as witnessed by the fact that one of their notable hits, "Lyin' Eyes" reached No. 8 on the country charts in 1975. Don Henley has recorded in Nashville, and was nominated for a CMA award in 1992 for his duet with Trisha Yearwood on the song "Walkaway Joe." In addition, a 1994 tribute album, "Common Thread: The Songs of The Eagles," won CMA album of the year.

The Eagles in their various configurations have sold more than 120 million albums worldwide, earning five No. 1 U.S. singles and four Grammy Awards. Their "Greatest Hits 1971-1975" is the best-selling album of all time, exceeding sales of 29 million units. In 1999, RIAA honored the album as the The Best Selling Album of the Century. Their album, Hotel California, has sold over 16 million units since its release in 1976.

The Eagles currently consists of Don Henley, Joe Walsh, Glenn Frey and Timothy B. Schmit, who replaced Randy Meisner after the blockbuster Hotel California album. Other past members of the band include Bernie Leadon, one of the original members from 1971–1975, and Don Felder, from 1974–1980.

New independent label on Music Row

Florida businessmen, David Lowman, Bobby Land, and William Whitacre have announced the establishment of Radiance Records, a new independent country record label.

Lowman’s music industry experience includes fifteen years as a recording and performing artist. Land grew up in Tennessee, graduated from Belmont University, and was signed as an artist with Hickory Records in Nashville before going on to become a producer. William Whitacre is an entertainment attorney based at Universal Studios in Orlando. His client list includes film, television, and record producers, artists, and Internet/multimedia clients. Whitacre launched Cheetah Records and has produced films starring Ernest Borgnine, Mickey Rooney, and Danny Glover.

Mr. Lowman is serving as Radiance’s president, alongside music business veteran Billy Holland, who will be the general manager. Land will act as vice president of the label.

Holland’s background includes development and management of sales territories for Fortune 500 and Global 1,000 companies including Simplex/Tyco and Minolta Corp. Most recently, Holland was Executive Vice President of Cupit Records.

“I am thrilled and excited to be part of Radiance Records. I look forward to many great things to come,” Holland said.

The first act signed to the new label is BlackHawk, a country music band from the 80’s known for such hits as "Goodbye Says It All" and "Postmarked Birmingham." The group includes original members Henry Paul and Dave Robbins. They have just completed work on their new album with Nashville-based producer Dale Oliver which is set for release in 2008.

Lowman and Land formed Radiance Records to take advantage of current opportunities for independent labels. Lowman noted ,"We feel the time is right for another aggressive independent label to make its mark in the country music format. We’re really excited to be involved with Country music, and especially thrilled to be starting off with a proven hit-maker act like BlackHawk."

The label’s offices are located at 38 Music Square East, Nashville, TN 37203. The telephone number is 615-255-8404. For more information about Radiance Nashville, please visit www.RadianceNashville.com.

The new paradigm of music has arrived!

Law on the Row used to be a periodic newsletter in the physical world that I would send to my clients and mailing list. In the first edition of Law on the Row, published September 9, 1999, I published an article on digital downloading entitled “To MP3 or not to MP3? The catalyst for a paradigm shift in the recording industry.” That article was a harbinger of the paradigm which is still melding in the music industry even now. The focus of this blog is where are we now?

There is a lot of discussion on the web and in the print press these days about the overall health of the music industry, including an article entitled “What’s the future of the music industry” published just last week in the New York Times. The article points out the Nielson statistics for albums sales which indicate that sales have fallen 18% from 2000 to 2006. Certainly, everyone in the music industry appreciates the downturn in sales, however, as the article also points outs, sales in other industries are also proportionately down , such as new cars which have declined 22% over the same time period. Also, downturns in the music industry are certainly not atypical, and the digital download phenomenon is not the culprit of our current downturn.

I have always believed, as I still do, that people are essentially honest and want to pay for things they enjoy. I believe that people do not mind paying for something of value, including music! The success of iTunes, emusic.com, and all of the Russian download sites are indicators of the validity of my belief. Yes, there is illegal activity. Inevitably there will be people who abuse the system and will seek to get something for nothing. But the average person just wants value.
I support the artists and songwriter’s rights to be paid for their time. I even believe that a record label should recieve financial remuneration, even profit, for the marketing, promotion and distribution efforts involved. The simple fact is that people will not work if they do not get paid. If people stop getting paid for music, music as an industry will cease to exist.

Returning to the idea of value for effort, the author the NYT article reminisces about the historical “single,” an idea which deserves some consideration. I remember going to a record store and looking at all of the singles displayed on the wall and picking one or two of my favorites. The beauty of that system was that you got value for your money — you selected the music you for which you were paying. In contract, with the industry’s current “record album” paradigm, you have to pay for 8–9 songs for which you don’t care. Credit digital downloading for bringing back the “single” paradigm.

But again, people want value even for this paradigm. Most people I talk to insist that 99 cents for a single may be too much money. Most people feel that somthing along the lines of 25–40 cents is an appropriate price point. So, in essence, in considering everyone’s interest, including the songwriter, publisher, distributor (and/or record label) and artist, the question become how much are people willing to pay for a digital single to compensate the varying parties for their considerable effort.

The second component, in my opinion, of value for my money is DRM-free music. People want their music to be free of any restrictions. Any form of digital rights management has to be incorporated into this new paradigm. Finally, selection is imperative. People want variety. Apple has only around 500,000 or so songs in their current catalog. This may seem sufficient until you realize that peer-to-peer networks generate catalogs in the millions!

So, how will the new paradigm work? The Electronic Frontier Foundation proposes voluntary collective licensing, which is to say that “the music industry forms a collecting society, which then offers file-sharing music fans the opportunity to "get legit" in exchange for a reasonable regular payment, say $5 per month.” This is, of course, similar to the current method of collecting performance royalties by such giants as BMI, ASCAP and SESAC, as well as a multitude of foreign performance rights organizations.

The collective licensing system is certainly a valid model, however, there are some disadvantages to consider: first, with the risk of overgeneralizing, I note that these models typically favor, again, the players with the most power, i.e., the mega-conglomerates – not the independent artists and songwriters. Secondly, the subscription method favors the supplier, not the demand. Like most consumers, I personally do not like the “subscription-based” model. I don’t like being obligated to a monthly fee, even if I can cancel it. I want an ad hoc pay-as-you-go system — more like iTunes and less like eMusic.

My personal prediction of how the new music paradigm might shake out is dependent upon the efficiency of search engines and indices on the Internet. As the online community of music lovers grows, so does the online community of music providers. Independent producers can sieze the day in many ways. Myspace.com is evidence of this phenomenon. but as anyone will tell you, the old addage of “build a better mousetrap” does not apply in the online world. It less like looking for needle in a haystack and more like trying to find a dime on the ocean floor.
There are certainly headways being made in this arena: take the free Internet radio service, Pandora, as an example. At this innovative site, people find new music similar to the music being played by Pandora’s web-based radio that is based on their selection of favorite music. Another innovative search site is LivePlasma, which displays a graphical sytem of color-coded bubbles that are more or less related to your favorite artists. As more of these types of search engines become available and intergrated into the Web, it will be easier for independent artists and producers to get their music heard. For a much more detailed analysis of this idea, read Chris Anderson’s important book, The Long Tail. Once that happens, the paradigm shift from major labels to independents will be complete.

Eddie Haskell Sues SAG!

Althought not particularly related to Music Row or the music industry in general, I find this little tidbit of news interesting, if not a bit entertaining, and I wanted to share it.

The Associated Press reported yesterday that Ken Osmond, the actor who portrayed Eddie Haskell in the sitcom "Leave It to Beaver," has filed suit agaisnt the Screen Actors Guild.

The class-action lawsuit was filed Tuesday in Los Angeles County Superior Court on behalf of over 30,000 actors. It accuses SAG of unjust enrichment and violations of California's business code, and alleges that the union is sitting on $8.1 million that it collected from foreign royalties and should distribute to actors.

The suit alleges that since 1996, SAG collected foreign royalties for use of TV and movie productions in the form of levies for video rentals, private copying, cable transmissions, among other things, for which it has not accounted. It further contends that the guild has collected more than $8 million but paid out only about $250,000.

Osmond played the contrite and smug Eddie Haskell on "Leave It To Beaver" in the 1950s and 1960s. After that, he worked as a Los Angeles police officer, but has since retired.

Tags: Entertainment Industry, Entertainment Law

UMG to move off of Music Row

Luke Lewis, Chairman of Universal Music Group here on Music Row, announced yesterday that by February of next year the company will be relocated to the new SunTrust Plaza at 401 Commerce Street in downtown Nashville, right next door to the famous Ryman Auditorium.
UMG follows other Nashville labels that relocated to locations in Nashville other than Music Row: Lyric Street Records, located on Demonbreun, and Capital Records, located on West End.
Reactions of other Music Row residents to the exodus of this powerhouse are reported as being mixed in the Tennessean article entitled Universal will leave Music Row for downtown. Harold Bradley, president of the musician union, is credited with the formation of Music Row in 1954 together with his brother Owen. Mr. Bradley describes the move as "sad news" and as "breaking the ranks." He remembers a Music Row where walk-about traffic was the way business was done.
Mr. Bradley knows first hand that the country music industry has always been a tight-knit community, somewhat segregated from the "suits" downtown. Not that we aren't an integral component of Nashville's business community, but we always did business differently - in a more lay-back fashion. The standard line when making an appointment was, do you want my morning slot or my afternoon slot?
But the country music industry has changed tremendously over the last ten years or so. Nashville is no longer a handshake town. It's a subisidiiary town. No longer are most of the major decisions about potential artists made on Music Row - the chances are they are made in New York, Japan or Germany. Perhaps this trend to move off the Row is just a reflection of how business is done these days. So, I agree with Harold, it is sad.

Law on the Row

SpiralFrog continues to expand catalog

The New York-based online music site, SpiralFrog is continuing to grow its catalog of freely downloadable songs. SpiralFrog describes itself as "a Web-based advertising-supported music experience that combines music discovery tools with free and legal downloads of audio and video content."

Music Row's own Frances Preston (see my earlier blog regarding her recent award) sits on SpiralFrog's Board of Directors.

In the past several months alone, SpiralFrog has inked deals with the likes of Universal Music Publishing (8/30/07) and more recently INgrooves, a subsidiary of Isolation Network, Inc. (9/12/07), a digital media distribution and publishing company.

The aggressive expansion gives SpiralFrog subscribers free access to approximately 900,000 songs and videos. Although free, the music has severe limitations, namely, it cannot be played on either the iPod or the Zune, cannot be played on an Apple computer, cannot be burned to a CD, and can only be transferred to up to two of the Windows DRM-approved devices. Finally, NO MP3 format!

This business model proves once again that many executives in the fledgling online music industry do not understand how the consumer wants to use their music. The music must be unfettered! The average consumer is more than happy, in my humble opinion, to pay a fair price (no, not 99 cents Apple!) to purchase and download a song provided that it is not restricted in any way.

While I'm on the subject of restrictions, I might point out that music downloaded to iTunes often falls into this category. The popular software from Apples is quirky, buggy and bloated. Again, if I purchase music, I want it unfettered. I don't want to be locked in to a really bad piece of programming such as iTunes.

Until a company finds a business model that really provides such unfettered access, they will not succeed. The closest solution I've found so far is eMusic.com. All music downloaded from eMusic is MP3 and DRM-free. Of course, because of its business model, eMusic is unable to ink licensing arrangements with most major distributors.

I'd really like your comments and opinions on ths issue.

Preston receives Dale Franklin Award from Leadership Music

The Schermerhorn Symphony Center is indeed one of the new crown jewels of Nashville, Tennessee. Last night, I sat in the Sympony Hall while Leadership Music honored another one of Nashville's crown jewels, Francis Williams Preston. Ms. Preston was honored with Leadership Music's Dale Franklin Award, named for the first executive director of Leadership Music. The award was created in 2004 "to recognize a music industry leader who exemplifies the highest quality of leadership and leading by example."

Serving as the president of BMI, a performance rights organization headquartered on Music Row in Nashville, Preston has influenced and nurtured the careers of thousands of songwriters, performers and publishers in all genres during her five-decade reign. Fortune magazine once identified Preston as "one of the true powerhouses of the pop music business."

The gala was attended by literally hundreds of music industry dignitaries as well as friends and family of Preston. Vince Gill served as a delightful emcee, introducing star-studded musical performances by Sam Moore, Sheryl Crow, Mandessa, Gary Morris, Randy Owens, and a special surprise performance by her grandson, Taylor Preston. There were also video presentations from Vice President Al Gore, Kris Kristofferson, Dolly Parton, Michael Bolton and others. Preston was presented with letters from senators and congressmen on both sides of the aisle, as well as a letter from President George Bush. Among the highlights of the evening was a moving performance of the classic "You are so beautiful" by Sam Moore and a performance of the musical composition "Sittin' on the Dock of the Bay" by one of its writers, Steve Cropper. The latter composition is the 7th largest grossing song in BMI's catalog. Net proceeds from the evening will benefit the Frances Williams Preston Laboratories at Vanderbilt.

Frances Preston is truly a gifted and wonderful person who has helped so many people in the music industry. Coming up through the "good ole boy" ranks of the country music industry in the late 50's, Preston blazed a path as the first female executive in Tennessee. But perhaps more important than that, Preston stands gracefully as an icon that this business should be about relationships, not money. She is indeed deserving of the honors she has received, which includes an induction into the Country Music Hall of Fame.

The Oak Ridge Boys' Duane Allen perhaps summed it up well when he said, "She made [the Nashville songwriters] internationally known. I would hate to think what the music industry would be without her. . . ."

Frances Preston is truly a Nashville matriarch.

Preston joins previous Dale Franklin Leadership Award winners Emmylou Harris (2006), radio personality Gerry House (2005) and producer/label executive Tony Brown (2004).

Congratulations Frances.

Nashville Symphony Names New Conductor

The Nashville Symphony Orchestra announced this month that it entered into a five-year contract with Giancarlo Guerrero, who will serve as their music director beginning in 2009. Guerrero will be the 8th conductor in the history of the Symphony, replacing the late Kenneth Schermerhorn, who led the Nashville Symphony for 22 years and was critically instrumental in building the beautiful new symphony hall that bears his name. Guerro is the first to conduct the orchestra since Schermerhorn's death.

Guerrero is a 38-year-old Costa Rican-American and current music director of the Eugene Symphony in Oregon. The Nicaragua-born Guerrero received a bachelor's degree in percussion from Baylor University in Texas and a master's degree in conducting from Northwestern University. Prior to the Eugene Symphony, he was the associate conductor with the Minnesota Orchestra and music director of the Tachira Symphony Orchestra in Venezuela. As a guest conductor, Guerrero has appeared with orchestras all across the U.S., including, for example, the Baltimore Symphony, the Cleveland Orchestra, the Philadelphia Orchestra and the L.A. Philharmonic. In June 2004, Mr. Guerrero was awarded the Helen M. Thompson Award by the American Symphony Orchestra League, which recognizes outstanding achievement among young conductors nationwide.

Leornard Slatkin remains the orchestra's music adviser through the 2008-09 season.

Gibson Guitar Counterfeits Seized

Gibson Guitar Corp., located in Nashville, Tennessee, was cooperated with authorities in Oakdale, New York to successfully capture the owner of a music store owner who was selling fake versions of the legendary Gibson guitar at his Montauk Highway shop.
The police seized 15 fake Gibsons from the store and another 18 guitars from his home. Bernard Musumeci surrendered to the police on September 18th, was arrested and charged with second-degree trademark counterfeiting and was released on bail pending arraignment.
The arrest came after a two-month investigation by the authorities who worked closely with authorities at the Gibson company. Once alerted to the possibility of counterfeits, an undercover security expert from Gibson was used to determine whether guitars from the store were, indeed, counterfeit.
The original Gibson Guitar and Mandolin Company was founded in 1894 in Kalamazoo, Mich., by shoe clerk and musician Orville Gibson. The company shifted operations to Nashville between 1974 and 1984. Gibson now produces what many consider the world's most recognizable guitars, including the famous Les Paul model and the Flying V. The company is also the parent company of Baldwin, Epiphone, Wurlitzer, Slingerland, Kramer and other well-known brands associated with various musical instruments.
Gibson guitars is an industry leader in its fight against fake Gibsons and aggressively pursues of counterfeitors. See their page regarding how to spot a counterfeit.

Savarino's Cucina

After reading a Tennessean article in which Al Bunetta of Oh Boy Records is quoted as recommending this beautiful little Sicilian eatery in Hillsboro Village, I decided to try the place. I'm never one to miss a good Italian meal! Much to my surprise, I bumped into Al there having lunch with Jonah Rabinowitz, executive director of the W.O. Smith Music School. I shouldn't be surprised to find Al there, since there is a sandwich on the menu bearing his name. As he told me, "that better than winning a Grammy!" Al should certainly know, since he took home the coveted award in 1987 in the Best Contemporary Folk Recording category for his work on the Tribute to Steve Gooman. Although I didn't try it, Al's namesake sandwich sounded tasty. I do highly recommend the stuffed pepper and/or the lasagna, however, which I believe has to be the best in Nashville. Don't even get me started on the pastries! This is Italian cooking at it's finest! Located at 2121 Belcourt.