Marco Promotions Fall Update
Friday, November 14th, 2008 | Marco Music | No Comments
Fall is a busy time for Marco Music with lots of records competing to be in their optimum position when the holiday shopping season rolls around in late November. Among the season’s highly anticipated releases is the second album from Big Machine’s Taylor Swift. The debut single from that album, “Love Story,” has been rocketing up the charts and is poised to hit #1 across the board in the next few weeks.
After a few weeks of significant difficulty with the Music Row chart, we are very pleased with the brand new and improved chart system at Music Row (courtesy of AristoWorks), which has made reporting much easier for our friends at radio, and which will undoubtedly result in greater ease of information flow between us and radio and our record clients.
Patty Loveless continues to turn heads with her new album “Sleepless Nights- The traditional country soul of Patty Loveless.” This stunning collection of classic country covers has critics scrambling for superlatives, and radio stations have been embracing her version of George Jones’ classic “Why Baby Why.”
In other news, if you’ve ever wanted to try your hand as a record exec, Valory Music Co. is asking fans to take part in producing newcomer Justin Moore’s debut album. The 10-week promotion allows fans to help pick the songs that will be on the record. A widget has been placed on Justin’s social networking sites (Myspace, iLike, Facebook, Digital Rodeo, etc…) where fans can listen to his new music and give their feedback. There will be two new songs placed on the widget each week for fans to vote on, so after the promotion ends, the 10 songs with the most votes will make it onto his album. Fans will also be able to create their own personalized 10-song playlist, which can earn them a chance to win a trip to Justin’s Album Premiere Listening Party early next year in Nashville. Check out his myspace page to get started.
Have a great fall season!
Rick
Club Connection Venue Tour!
Wednesday, October 15th, 2008 | Uncategorized | No Comments
AristoMedia’s Marco Club Connection wants to remind you that Country Dance Clubs are still going strong long after the days of “Achy Breaky Heart” have passed!
As usual, we have a lot planned for this month! We are excited to bring you new music, our first ever venue tour and special bar promotions sponsored by Piedmont Distillers.
First, the big news is that our first ever Club Connection Venue Tour kicked off a couple weeks ago in Knoxville, TN! The idea behind this tour is for us at Club Connection to build a more personal relationship with our club owners, DJs and Dance Instructors, as well as to shoot footage of patrons enjoying our music. Each weekend through December I’ll be visiting different clubs and conventions, so be sure to read our blog to catch up on our recent trips to Cotton Eyed Joe and Kickers Country Club and to stay up-to-date on future club visits.
Now, on to some of our artists…
Over the past couple weeks Matt Stillwell has been up and down the East Coast visiting radio stations and promoting his new single “Shine.” While Stillwell is focusing on his radio tour, Club Connection has been busy organizing 35 individual ‘Shine Parties,’ sponsored by Piedmont Distillers and Catdaddy Carolina Moonshine. These parties will be held around the country over the Thanksgiving holiday weekend.
Charlie Allen’s newest single, “Why Ask Why,” is quickly starting to pick up steam. After only a few weeks of promotion, the single is getting play in over a hundred clubs and dance halls across the nation! Last week we also sent out a line dance written by Ginny Allen that is beginning to draw attention within the dance community.
Club Connection is also proud to announce the remixed single of “Livin’ The Good Life” by Daniel Smith. This new version is being mastered and duplicated as we speak and will be sent out to clubs early next week. For a sneak preview, stop by our myspace page.
Up-Coming Releases
Two weeks ago I stopped into the Rutledge here in Nashville for a River County CD release party. I was standing in line and soon realized the band had shipped 45 of their most loyal fans down from Indianapolis to be present for the event. The excitement and energy surrounding this performance was infectious! I ended up meeting the band and seeing firsthand what compelled so many wonderful people to support this young group. I was eager to work with them and am now proud to announce that Club Connection will be releasing River County’s new single “We’re All Here” later this month!
San Diego natives are familiar with our up-and-coming projects from Married by Elvis. Mike Brown from InCahoots Dance Club is eager to get his hands on the new dance remixes of “Sin City” and “My Inlaws Are Outlawed.” Keep your eyes and ears out for these exciting releases.
Abby Abbondanza, former lead singer of The PovertyNeck Hillbillies, will be releasing his new full-length album Promised Land to clubs later this month. Club Connection has felt the buzz and is looking forward to the response from this energetic frontman’s debut release!
The Christian music video world is a-buzz, and AristoMedia’s Christian Music Video rep is here to tell you all about it…
Wednesday, October 1st, 2008 | AristoVision | No Comments
The Christian music video world is a-buzz, and AristoMedia’s Christian Music Video rep is here to tell you all about it…
Hi all! My name is Rachel and we have a lot to cover, so let’s get started!
We here at AristoVision had a lot on our plate this month, and let me tell you…it was delicious. Projects from INO Records, Cross Movement Records, Soldier Sound Records and God Glorified Music kept me on my toes all month long. Thanks to our many wonderful programmers, we received great support with all of these videos & saw placement from as much as 71% of our outlets in only two rounds of promotion!
Highlights from September include Stellar, Dove, and YGEA award winner (and Soldier Sound recording artist) Pettidee stopping by our office to make calls to the programmers who are supporting his video “All Alone.” It was shot while doing ministry work in Africa and continues to push boundaries and break barriers while shedding light on important issues in Darfur.
Meanwhile, gospel newcomer Kevin LeVar broke into the Top 20 on Gospel Music Channel’s Top Spins video countdown with his inspiring video “You Are Not Alone.” Kevin also made it into the Top 3 in the Soul category. The song was inspired by the Virginia Tech tragedy and can be found on his recent “Let’s Come Together” album, released earlier this month following a tremendous CD release party in Washington D.C.
MercyMe’s “You Reign” and Addison Road’s “All That Matters” (both on INO Records) kept people dancing in the streets, as WTLW in Lima, OH used the videos in a high school football rally. WTLW set up a helicopter and a large van with a drop down screen to make the videos available to more than 500 students at each game. The kids loved it!
So there you are boys and girls - your September AristoVision recap! For more details and regular updates, visit www.aristovision.blogspot.com. Enjoy God’s blessings and eat your vegetables!
- Rachel
Going Global with Digital Rodeo
Monday, September 15th, 2008 | Uncategorized | No Comments
DigitalRodeo.com is one of the fastest growing online destinations in country music today. In the last few months, this popular social networking site has made a conscious effort to reach out to the global marketplace, as evidenced by their involvement in the annual Global Events (held during the week of the CMA Music Festival), and their extensive coverage of the recent Canadian CMA Awards.
I sat down last week with Digital Rodeo executives Robert Reynolds and John Pyne to get their thoughts on the global country music scene and Digital Rodeo’s role in the marketplace.
~Ryan
RM: For those who might not be familiar yet with DigitalRodeo.com, explain exactly what your site is…
RR: Well, DigitalRodeo.com is an all-access, online, country music lifestyle community. There’s plenty of similar sites that are just music news outlets, but Digital Rodeo is more interactive. We’re a community that can speak to one another and collaborate on their passion for this music. We’ve kinda become a hotspot for the unsigned artists, the indie artists. We’re recognized even within the industry as a pretty remarkable collection of up and coming artists, and I think in a world where we’re gonna see the menu selection get bigger and broader, it won’t just be what major labels serve us anymore. We’re living in a world where you can go out and find the music you love and you can discover it, like… like shopping for your next favorite shirt – you can go out and find your next favorite band!
RM: What has your experience been with the global country music market as a member of the Mavericks? Are international fans noticeably different than they were ten or fifteen years ago?
RR: I think the global community has always been hungry for American music, and there’s always been a desire to seek out and find that American country sound. When they had tools like CMT readily available people tuned in to it, but it went away and so I think for many years it became hard for them to find the music they wanted.
RM: Do you think country music is becoming more popular in global markets?
RR: I’d like to say that country music is becoming more popular, but I can’t honestly say whether it is or not, simply because country music has always been tremendously popular overseas. Depending on what part of the world you are talking about, the international fans have always been incredibly passionate. The popularity grows, I think, when we increase access to it. We tend to think of it as a “boom,” as if there is something big happening to shift the trends, but really I think it’s just because we’re giving them the opportunity to get it.
RM: What makes DigitalRodeo.com appeal to global country music fans in particular?
RR: I think it’s just the fact that they can reach out and connect directly with so many people – country music fans. And not only that, but there’s a certain element of control that they have over when and what and how their music gets out there…
JP: …And I think it goes both ways. The country fan in Bangkok has a much more direct pipeline to Nashville, now. They can discover new music and meet new people that they’d never know about otherwise. The access is just always there, always on, whenever they choose to interact.
RM: What has the response been from the international fans on the site?
RR: One of the things that we’ve enjoyed seeing is the eclectic range of countries that have responded. It goes far deeper than our friends in Canada, the folks Down Under and the incredible UK audience I’ve come to know and love. It goes deeper than that, and deeper than continental Europe. People visit our site from just about everywhere you can imagine. It’s really becoming harder to find a place on the planet that you can’t reach, and that’s a pretty compelling fact. I wish I would’ve had this tool 10 or 15 years ago.
RM: Robert, DigitalRodeo.com sponsored and you hosted one of the international events leading into this year’s CMA Music Festival, the 2008 Global Showcase. Tell me about that event.
RR: The Global Showcase is one of two showcase events that kind of kick off the week of the CMA Music Fest each year for the past several years. A lot of great international acts get booked at these things, and I was reminded once again of the passion that our international friends have for Nashville and for American music.
Sometimes it’s hard to call it “Americana” when somebody who’s creating it comes from Europe, or Australia, for example. I think it’s really just a roots music that, at this point in our cultural existence, has started to blend in with each other. So we get these musicians that come over and I’m reminded that I live in the city that holds the key to a lot of their dreams - I’m blown away by it. There are a lot of places around the world that feature country music and have a great appreciation for it, but Nashville is still the epicenter of all things country music.
JP: There’s some great talent around the world, and sometimes we get caught in this bubble in Nashville and forget that somewhere halfway around the world someone is really tearin’ it up, making some really cool country music that may be shaped by Nashville to some extent, but has a unique take on it, and you can see and hear some of that at these showcases.
RM: Any particular performers that grabbed your attention?
RR: There were a couple acts that did jump out, in fact. Tracy Killeen, from Australia, was one that I thought really stood out from the second night’s showcase. I saw a couple of artists that were just on the CCMA awards… Johnny Reid, Jessie Farrell. I mean, we’re talkin some serious talent here!
RM: What do you see Nashville’s role being in the future of global country music’s popularity?
RR: I think we would be kidding ourselves if we didn’t admit to being a little behind the technological curve, if you will. We’re certainly catching up when it comes to the distribution of country music. Nashville will always play a significant role in the creation, distribution and promotion of it – I don’t see that changing. I think the thing that is changing is the tools that we use to get that music out to the world. Some of that change will come by force and some will come because we anticipate it and accept it readily. Now and again there’s going to be people that get left in the wake of change, and I’d like to think that Digital Rodeo is going to be creating some of that wake.
RM: I’ve noticed quite a few promotions and contests DigitalRodeo.com has been running on the site for the fans. Have labels begun to show more interest in the global community?
JP: I think that if the labels are smart they’ll realize there’s an enormous untapped market, or at least underdeveloped market, in place that hasn’t seen enough energy or attention given to promoting music to an audience that craves it, and they’re starting to realize that if they don’t address the audience’s access to it, they’re going to miss out.
RR: One thing about Digital Rodeo is that the labels sanction everything we do, in relation to the artists. This isn’t a site that’s cobbled together from random materials, so the reality has been that we’ve had to be patient, so that over time the labels have learned they can trust us. We’re there for the good of their artists. It’s a mutual relationship, so I think to follow up on John’s point, they’ve been more willing as time goes by to look into certain unique opportunities that a site like Digital Rodeo can offer, both domestically and globally.
RM: Thanks for your time, fellas. As always, it’s been a pleasure!
50 Reasons to Reflect: Charlie Daniels’ 50 Years Making Good Ol’ American Music
Friday, August 29th, 2008 | Charlie Daniels | 1 Comment
How many artists can truly be called an American icon?
Charlie Daniels can. A man that is just as passionate about his charity work and support of the American troops as he is his own music, Daniels celebrates a half-century in the music business this year. In no particular order, here are 50 reasons to reflect on a remarkable 50 years of accomplishments.
#50 – Thirty-one years of Volunteer Jams! After the first concert in 1974, Charlie says, “We should do this once in a while.” (There was a three-year break in the 1980s when no Jams were held).
#49 – In the sixties, Nashville often overlooks Charlie’s talent as a session player. That is, until he records on Bob Dylan’s 1969 masterpiece, Nashville Skyline.
#48 – The Rockets, Charlie’s first professional band, form in 1958.
#47 – His first solo album, Charlie Daniels, releases in 1970. The Charlie Daniels Band is born the same year.
#46 – Artists such as Stevie Ray Vaughan, Tammy Wynette, Little Richard, Kris Kristofferson, James Brown, the Allman Bros., Willie Nelson and Ted Nugent are just a few of the performers that play the Volunteer Jam in its first decade.
#45 – “A redneck lookin’ joint called the Dew Drop Inn” – lyric from Daniels’ talking blues classic ‘Uneasy Rider’ off 1973’s Honey in the Rock album.
#44 – Charlie’s charity partnership with Habitat for Humanity.
#43 – The Charlie Daniels museum opens in Nashville in 2001.
#42 – The Urban Cowboy soundtrack just wouldn’t be the same without “The Devil Went Down to Georgia”!
#41 – Charlie was a performer at the first Farm Aid concert in 1985.
#40 – Charlie Daniels: Playboy Award winner!
#39 - “I keep my Christmas lights on / on my front porch all year long / and I know all the words to every Charlie Daniels song.” -Gretchen Wilson lyric.
#38 – Honored by the Pentagon with the Secretary of Defense Medal for Exceptional Public Service in 2007 for his support of military personnel.
#37 – Charlie Daniels – the author! Charlie’s third book, a collection of essays called ‘Growing Up Country: What Makes Country Life Country,’ comes out in 2007. It features contributions from Dolly Parton, Carrie Underwood, Toby Keith, Jimmy Carter and Clint Black, among others.
#36 – Elvis Presley cuts Daniels’ “It Hurts Me” in 1963 and releases it as the B-side to “Kissin’ Cousins.”
#35 – Awarded the Dove award in 1994 by the Gospel Music Association for Best Country Album of the Year for The Door, Charlie’s first Christian album.
#34 – Charlie plays the Super Bowl XXXIX pre-game show with Gretchen Wilson, Earth, Wind & Fire and the Black-Eyed Peas in 2005.
#33 – Christmas For Kids benefit shows at the Ryman Auditorium in Nashville.
#32 – He’s the voice of Sirius radio’s “Road Dog Trucking Show,” channel 147!
#31 – Charlie releases “This Ain’t No Rag, It’s A Flag,” in response to Sept. 11. Demand for the single crashes his website, www.charliedaniels.com.
#30 – Forms Operation Heartstrings in 2005 to help soldiers overseas battle depression and loneliness by organizing donations of musical instruments and equipment.
#29 – In 2005, Charlie performs for more than 15,000 troops at performances in Kyrgyzstan, Uzbekistan, Afghanistan, Kuwait and Iraq. Daniels sometimes played three shows a day for the American troops.
#28 – “The Devil Went Down to Georgia” goes #1 on the Country charts and wins a Grammy for ‘Best Country Vocal’ in 1979.
#27 – Charlie releases his first album of duets in 2007, featuring Bonnie Bramlett, Vince Gill, Gretchen Wilson, Dolly Parton, Darius Rucker, Brenda Lee, Brad Paisley, and more!
#26 - Inducted into the Grand Ole Opry January 19, 2008. “There is no way I can express what it means to me,” Daniels says. “I pursued my dream in music and by the goodness of God have been able to have a wonderful career, which has spanned fifty years.”
#25 – 17 albums released to date on Charlie’s own label, Blue Hat Records.
#24 – “A proud American… and a fair to middlin’ golfer, too!” – former President Gerald Ford.
#23 – The Charlie Daniels catalog has sold over 20 million units!
#22 – Recording sessions with legendary artists Bob Dylan, Flatt & Scruggs, Leonard Cohen and Ringo Starr, to name just a few.
#21 – Over 4 million broadcasts of “The Devil Went Down to Georgia” (source: BMI).
#20 – Presented with the Career Achievement Award by the Country Radio Broadcasters at the Country Radio Seminar in 2008.
#19 – Volunteer Jam still going strong, this year featuring Shooter Jennings and .38 Special. The Jam began its tradition as a traveling tour in 1999.
#18 – Performs in 2008 at the christening ceremonies for the USS New York, a naval ship constructed with more than seven tons of steel recovered from the World Trade Center after Sept. 11.
#17 – Charlie’s music crosses all boundaries, spawning numerous hits and awards in Rock, Pop, Country and Christian music genres.
#16 – Presented the Pioneer Award by the Academy of Country Music in 1998. Former presidents Jimmy Carter and Gerald Ford issue congratulatory statements.
#15 – The Charlie Daniels Donruss trading card!
#14 – Eighteen years of performances for American troops in 10 different countries, including Germany, Afghanistan, Cuba, South Korea and Iraq.
#13 – Records on Ringo Starr’s 1970 album, Beaucoups of Blues.
#12 – Performs at Jimmy Carter’s inauguration in January 1977.
#11 - Charlie’s 1990 album Simple Man goes to #2 on the Country charts, his third consecutive decade with at least one Top Ten hit.
#10 – Charlie Daniels Band voted Touring Band of the Year twice by the Academy of Country Music.
#9 – Toured Europe with Leonard Cohen in 1969!
#8 – Charlie’s children’s album, By the Light of the Moon: Campfire Songs and Cowboy Tunes.
#7 – “Few individuals have symbolized the South in popular culture as directly and indelibly as Charlie Daniels.” – quote from the Encyclopedia of Southern Culture.
#6 – Honored with the 2007 AMVETS Silver Helmet Award for four decades of service to American troops at home and abroad.
#5 – Charlie’s signature “bullrider” cowboy hat!
#4 – Charlie not only beat the Devil, he beat Cancer, too. (Charlie had prostate surgery in 2001).
#3 – “Let there be harmony, let there be fun and 12 notes of music to make us all one.” – Charlie Daniels.
#2 – Daniels’ triple-platinum album Million Mile Reflections was a reference to over one million miles logged on the road performing for fans by 1980!
#1 – 50 albums, 50 years… and counting!!!
Welcome to the AristoBlog…
Friday, August 29th, 2008 | Uncategorized | No Comments
Thanks for stopping by! We decided to start this little project in order to keep our readers informed about some of the latest happenings in our clients’ careers. From time to time we’ll wax poetic on industry issues, post artist Q&A’s and probe the inner recesses of The AristoMedia Group’s collective mind. (Don’t worry, it won’t take long! - HA!)
But seriously, we thought a blog would be a more creative way to “push the envelope,” “think outside the box” and whatever other cliche you can think to insert here. So, in an effort to keep our publics informed and our sanity intact, here we go…
Ryan