Academy of Country Music to Announce Nominees for the 47th Annual Academy of Country Music Awards Via First-Ever Digital Press Conference
January 24th, 2012
ENCINO, Calif., Jan. 23, 2012 /PRNewswire via COMTEX/ –
WHAT: The first-ever ACM digital press conference, hosted by the Academy of Country Music, CBS Television and dick clark productions via ACM social media channels, to announce the nominees for the 47th ANNUAL ACADEMY OF COUNTRY MUSIC AWARDS, Country Music’s Party of the Year® to be broadcast LIVE from the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas Sunday, April 1, 2012 at 8:00 PM live ET/delayed PT on the CBS Television Network.
WHO: Superstar and Academy of Country Music Awards co-host REBA will participate leading up to the event, with more VIP SURPRISE GUESTS to announce categories via videos posted in real time to fans and media simultaneously. The press conference will culminate with country music FANS announcing the nominees for Entertainer of the Year (see below).
WHEN: Thursday, January 26th, 2012
6:30 AM PST Nominations announced via social media followed by a press release posted on the Academy's newly
www.ACMcountry.com ALL DAY Nominee reaction videos will be posted throughout the day!
Kellie Pickler Releases New Album, ParamountSong X-Writer/Vocalist Has Cut No. One
January 20th, 2012
It’s always nice to see talent move up in this business, and we are pleased to see Don Poythress, who used to co-write and sing on demos for ParamountSong, credited with co-writing one of the songs on Kelly Picklers upcoming album release. It’s like we always say, some of the best up and coming talent in Nashville works to turn out the demos we record for songwriters and lyricists around the world.
These days, Don writes for peermusic (they don’t capitalize it either), one of America’s largest independent music publishers. He co-writes with some of the best on a wide variety of songs including Country and Christian. The artists who’ve recorded his songs could be listed as a who’s who of Country and Christian music. For the Pickler album, he co-wrote a tune called “Where’s Tammy Wynette.” Talk about an idea! How many of us would have thought of that? The song is the first cut on the album.
Release date for the work is January 24. Our congratulations to Don, and may he have many more!
Megaupload Shut Down by U.S. Prosecutors; Kim Dotcom, Three Others Arrested
January 19th, 2012
As the controversy rages over SOPA and PIPA, federal prosecutors have taken down a huge piracy site. After all, folks, stealing music and movies, like stealing anything else, is illegal and should be prosecuted.
Billboard.biz reports that “MegaUpload, one of the worlds largest file-sharing sites, was shut down Thursday, and its founder and several company executives were charged with violating piracy laws, federal prosecutors said.An indictment accuses Megaupload.com of costing copyright holders more than $500 million in lost revenue from pirated films and other content. The indictment was unsealed one day after websites including Wikipedia and Craigslist shut down in protest of two congressional proposals intended to thwart online piracy. The Justice Department said in a statement said that Kim Dotcom, formerly known as Kim Schmitz, and three others were arrested Thursday in New Zealand at the request of U.S. officials. Two other defendants are at large.”
Of course these clods were reachable because their servers are in the U.S. But hundreds of creative content pirates are in other countries, and so the new bills in Congress are needed to get at them.
via Megaupload Shut Down by U.S. Prosecutors; Kim Dotcom, Three Others Arrested | Billboard.biz.
Blackout Sites Include Google, Wikipedia, WordPress in Protest Against Anti-Piracy Bills
January 18th, 2012
So Piracy — or stealing songs, videos and anything a thief can get his hands on is OK? The gall of these Internet companies. They make their livings mostly on the creativity of others. But they’d rather sacrifice the providers of their content than go to the trouble of protecting that content against vandals!
They claim it’s a free speech issue. What? Since when is stealing someones very living a matter of free speech? As Billboard puts it,
“Numerous Internet companies engaged in a “blackout” protest Wednesday against two anti-piracy bills, SOPA and its counterpart in the Senate, the PROTECT IP Act PIPA. The bills are supported by the RIAA, MPAA and countless other creative and business organizations. A handful of leading Internet sites are showing that fear is a great motivator. The logo on Googles home page is covered by a black rectangle. Following the link takes the reader to an “End Piracy, Not Liberty” page with information on the bills and an online petition.”*
Songwriters, you need to be aware that your greatest fear of stealing your songs is not from somebody stealing your lyrics or compositions and selling them. It’s the download thieves who steal songs after they’ve been recorded and you finally have some hope of getting paid for your work. Your congressmen and senators need to know how you feel about legalized stealing… from YOU!
Paisley Starts Tour With Sold-Out First Weekend
January 17th, 2012
Brad Paisley’s Virtual Reality World Tour 2012 completed its first weekend by playing three sold-out shows before a total of over 39,000 fans, with stops in Grand Rapids, Milwaukee and St. Paul.
On Saturday afternoon 1/14, Paisley performed before an intimate crowd at the Fitzgerald Theater in St. Paul on Prairie Home Companion with Garrison Keillor. He sat in with Guy’s All Star Shoe Band, performed in a Guy Noir Skit and performed two of his own songs along with “Life’s Railway to Heaven” with Keillor. Paisley tweeted following Prairie Home Companion, “It’s surreal opposites day. Intimate live radio with pal Garrison Keillor at Prairie Home Companion, then over to the arena for my big circus.”