Country Radio Seminar (CRS) 2014

The 2014 Country Radio Seminar (CRS) was held February. 19 - 21, 2014, in downtown Nashville, Tenn. Registration was available for $599.

CRS 2014 Collage CLICK to ENLARGE

About: CRS is an annual convention designed to educate and promote the exchange of ideas and business practices in the Country music industry, with specific emphasis on issues relevant to Country radio. Like CRS on Facebook and follow CRS on Twitter (Hashtag #CRS2014).

Basically all these Radio People come to Nashville, and artists, labels, vendors and people who want to sell something to these people, whose job it is to sell to you, get together and talk about how to “evolve, educate, promote and  exchange ideas, and business practices which keep the Country Format dominant and vital...More comment at cmchatlive.com

Tracy Lawrence was presented with the “Independent Artist of the Year” award at the 2014 MusicRow CountryBreakout Awards on Tuesday, February 18 in Nashville, TN. The annual awards event held each year at the start of CRS (Country Radio Seminar) week recognizes artists who earned the most airplay on the MusicRow CountryBreakout chart during the preceding year.

Carrie Underwood:
CRS Artist Humanitarian Award 19 Feb 2014

Vegi ... Humani: All around 'tarian Carrie Underwood posed with her CRS Artist Humanitarian Award backstage at Country on Weds morning (Feb 19). Underwood was celebrated for her many good works, from tornado relief to supporting the Red Cross.

Carrie Underwood accepting the 2014 Artist Humanitarian Award >> YouTube

Miranda Lambert received a plaque during CRS, celebrating all 4 of her albums having gone platinum!

Fittingly it was announced on Feb 20th that her fifth studio album FOUR THE RECORD has a name: 'Platinum'! "Automatic," the lead-in to "Platinum," has already proven to be a blockbuster success, debuting at No.26 on Billboard Country Airplay - Twitter

In November 2013 FOUR THE RECORD migrated from the country chart to the Billboard Catalog Chart at No.38. 

Despite just eight weeks in the Top 40, this album stuck around the Billboard 200 for an even 100 weeks. Her previous two Catalog albums, "Crazy Ex-Girlfriend" and "Revolution", both hit the Catalog top ten.

In 2001 with financial help from her father Miranda showcased her songwriting skills by releasing an independent CD, “Miranda Lambert”. Two of the album's tracks, "Texas Pride" and "Somebody Else," entered the Texas music charts

Her first studio album “Kerosene” (Epic Nashville) was released March 15, 2005 followed by “Crazy Ex-Girlfriend” (Columbia Nashville) released May 1, 2007 and third set “Revolution” (Columbia Nashville) dropped on September 29, 2009.

“Four The Record” released Nov 1, 2011 debuted at No.1 on the Billboard Country Chart and #3 on Billboard 200 selling 133,223 copies.

Lambert's previous best sales start on the Billboard 200 was with "Revolution's" 65,875 copies bow at No. 8 in 2009. Her highest charting album, until then was the No. 6 arrival of "Crazy Ex-Girlfriend" in 2007.

As of the published Billboard Country Chart in Aug 24, 2013 “Four The Record” was #24 on the chart selling 3,334 copies having sold a total of 887,802 copies at retail.

"Four The Record" was officially certified platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) who logged the milestone on January 10, 2014 (* This could be for 1-million units shipped to retail rather than hard retail sales) .

Last Nielsen Data published Aug 2013:

CRAZY EX GIRLFRIEND  - 1,282,590 copies sold 1xp

REVOLUTION - 1,634,539 copies sold 1xp

An unconfirmed track listing for Miranda’a 5th album PLATINUM shows:

"All The Whiskey You Can Drink" (Miranda Lambert / Lori McKenna)

"Another Sunday In The South" (Jessi Alexander / Miranda Lambert / Ashley Monroe)

"Automatic" (Nicolle Galyon / Natalie Hemby / Miranda Lambert)

"Babies Making Babies” (Nicolle Galyon / Natalie Hemby / Jimmy Robbins)

"Bathroom Sink" (Miranda Lambert)

"Girls" (Nicolle Galyon / Natalie Hemby / Jimmy Robbins)

"Holding On To You" (Jessi Alexander / Miranda Lambert / Ashley Monroe)

"Platinum" (Nicolle Galyon / Natalie Hemby / Miranda Lambert)

"Something Bad" (Chris DeStefano / Brett James / Priscilla Renea)

"Trailblazer" (Natalie Hemby /Miranda Lambert)

"Two Rings Shy" (Brandy Clark / Miranda Lambert / Heather Little)

CRS 2014 Research & Reports

Research: Meet The Millennials..The annual CRS Research Study this year was Edison Research’s “Understanding Country Radio’s Next Generation Of Listeners”  / Enter The Millennials (born 1980-2000) / Opry At CRS/ Team UMG Lunch At The Ryman/ Keynote; Opening Ceremonies/ The Road To Here: Little Big Town’s Perseverance

Read all about these CRS events in Issue 2 (Feb 20, 2014) of Country Aircheck:

Click here to download (PDF File)

CRS Daily Buzz: Weather Permitting: Sony Floats On (Heavy rain, wind and tornado sirens greeted a boat full of country's top artists during a Nashville dinner cruise for radio tastemakers last week in Nashville. "If you're not with someone you wish to die with, you might want to switch tables right now," emcee Gerry House implored before an unfazed Brad Paisley opened the night), Team UMG Part 2 / Country Radio In Diary Markets (young adults are driving that growth) /  Social Do’s & Don’ts

Read all about these events in Issue 3 (Feb 21, 2014) of Country Aircheck:

Click here to download (PDF File)  

From Little Big Town to Luke Bryan, Universal Music Group’s lunchtime showcase at the Ryman Auditorium gave attendees more than two hours of entertainment from 17 different acts this afternoon (Feb. 19). The event at the historic Ryman in Nashville was part of Country Radio Seminar week. Read more at Country Weekly

Brett Eldredge, Cassadee Pope, Thomas Rhett Offer Glimpse of Country Music's Future at CRS 2014 New Faces Show - Billboard Report

Thomas Rhett, Cassadee Pope, Tyler Farr,
Brett Eldredge- Charlie Worsham - CRS New Faces 2014

(AllAccess) Three Days In Nashville: Day Two highlights - Day Three highlights

The 2014 Country Radio Seminar/Country Aircheck Award Winners - HERE

Photos:

CRS Photos - Select the drop down menu and CLICK APPLY and select the pages

Photos CRS 2014 - Getty Images

CRS Video: CRS Link

Vince Gill accepting Artist Career Achievement Award >> YouTube

CRS 2014 - Perseverance - Little Big Town >> YouTube

11 Reasons Why Social Media Could Save The Radio Business >> YouTube

CRS In Action: Nielsen Helps Attendees Understand 'Who Moved My Listener?'....Stephanie Friedman of Nielsen Entertainment shared streaming data compiled by her company that measured who streams the most, what devices are utilized the heaviest and a comparison of airplay figures to streaming usage. The data presented featured on-demand usage services such as SPOTIFY, YOUTUBE AND RDIO; radio station streams were not included.

Streaming music continues to grow rapidly, up 40% since 2012, with 18-34-year-olds the primary suspects. 50,000 songs are streamed per week in 2013 -- and two billion streams per week.....Read more

(Billboard Biz) Country Radio Seminar: Strong Genre, Challenged Medium.......Extracts: A lot of money was spent during last week’s Country Radio Seminar by record labels that were looking to influence decision makers at radio, which remains the top medium for exposing the genre to country’s most loyal fans. In one of the most obvious promotions, Darius Rucker offered an upbeat assessment of the medium’s nostalgic bliss with his performance of his recent hit “Radio” (No.4, Country Airplay). “All we needed was a radio,” Rucker sings in the song, which recalls terrestrial sound as a primary social connector in the pre-digital era. But radio’s ability to maintain that position in the not-so-distant future was called into question at several CRS panels....consumers born between 1980 and 2000 — whose quick adaptation of the smartphone is changing their media usage in drastic ways from older generations. 

Read the FULL article (Click HERE and ZOOM)