Patience And Hard Work

Songs come and go and people come and go in the crazy music business. I know it had to feel good for Jake Owen's new project, "American Love to debut this week," at #1 on the album chart. He has worked very hard to replant the flag and the hard work paid off.

Hard work for Hillary Scott and her family's Love Remains project. Top 10 on the Pop chart and they have done in store signings and everything else. Again hard work paying off.

You see stories of multi-million dollar paydays for Blake Shelton on The Voice. The chairman of NBC called him a "pillar" of the show at recent bi-annual media events in Hollywood. Taking a chance and having that Country character dip into the deep end of the primetime pool has been a Powerball kind of payoff.

NBC had no record of success in that world when Blake said yes to this foreign import. In return he gets a younger audience and a new relationship. NBC loves him and I think Blake has learned to tolerate Southern California's energy and lifestyle. The show has not hurt his musical output and if anything, it's even better.

He has weathered the personal relationship storm and come out on the other side. Nothing is easy in a life of show business.

The new kid on the Row list is as long as it's been in a while. Look at the full Top 50. New and very new acts are on the rise. Look at Chris Lane, Tucker Beathard and Drake White climb toward the top. Ladies on the rise, too ... Miranda, Maren, Kelsea, Carrie ... the balance may still be off, but the female voices are being heard. Even the groups are starting to reappear.

The song titles and subjects? Two with a boot, two girls, several drinking, love and Summer. The usual. Vice, fix and lipstick titles are a bit of a departure from the norm.

Working hard in the radio world often is not enough. The ins-and-out notices seem to be heavy this week. That time of year the bosses trying to fix things going into the Fall. Never easy for the veterans getting the bad news ... the artists losing their deals. The songwriters trying to get that first cut and still wondering how they are going to get paid enough to do this as a living.

The royalty situation for the songwriter is simply wrong. Not sure why more is not being done to correct that wrong.

The Olympic flame will extinguish politics for a few weeks. That constant spew is exhausting.

As the Olympics begin in Rio, keep an eye out for whatever the next big thing is technically ... 4,500 hours of broadcasting in two weeks. The apps will be tested, as will the Internet. The engineering gang will deploy many new gadgets this week. The Opening and Closing events are spectaculars! The CMA nominations aren't far off. Fall isn't far off ... This has been a fast and very hot Summer. Five million for the CMA Fest show doesn't sound that grand. Doing it live one night with highlights from other nights sure would feel more like a must-see event." Live" is the thing again and MTV knows it. You will start seeing more as MTV reinvents again. CMA live on the ABC app live nightly. then live on the network and app the final night ... just an idea.