Cool West/Hot East ... Weird Summer of 2010

Jimmy Carter in Wisconsin.

Never thought of the music business as having to be weather-dependent, but the concert part sure is. This summer has seen it all! And not just the weather!

The greatest story involved the Nashville-based King of Leon getting crapped on by pigeons at the Verizon Amphitheatre in St Louis. Google it if you didn't get the story; it is amazing.

Then you have the dozens of people killed and hundreds injured at a German techno concert as they were stampeding. The concert was called Love...

The mud in Wisconsin for the Country Thunder and the blasting heat for the Louisville Hullaballou or whatever they called that one. The summer of 2010 has been a weather headache for most ... add economic uncertainty and it's not an easy time.

Music Row seems to be in a rebooting mode at most labels. Getting ready for a fall boom at a few and a famine at some others. Heads rolling that cause heads to spin.

The Rascal Flatts add for Big Machine is a win-win. Scott continues to make chicken salad out of chicken **** in these very odd times. I'll take a small label with Flatts, Swift and Reba any day.

Country music to me is more interesting than Hollywood at this moment. Mel Gibson and Lindsay Lohan are boring me to death. Check out the People and tabloids about Carrie's storybook wedding and another story involving a Country singer and a dentist's wife == that makes good Summer reading.

The sales are nothing to write home about but the consensus has everything picking up in the fourth quarter with big stars releasing new CDs.

Their remains an air of arrogance in some quarters. Do you really get the feeling that radio and the labels are in touch with their audiences? I don't.

The hardcore fans ... yes, they have a bead on them. Radio wants to knee-jerk react to research. A VERY dangerous move.

How many times have you seen bosses with no clue get some research and go nuts? They have no gut, no clue so they take the first voodoo science project they find and go insane.

Alan Jackson may not have dreamed this up, but I credit him with it. Try going into the parking lot of a Country show and see who the fans are! Duh. I know few are doing that.

Go to a concert of, say, a Paul McCartney or the other extreme, Justin Bieber, and see the difference. Add the Elvis Costello crowd or a Kings Of Leon. Three parallel universes.

The point is: Country probably can't be all things to all people. The Southern metros are going more urban ... more all the time. Life is not standing still. Change is all around.

I find it impossible to believe that more voicetracking and out-o- town syndicated morning shows is the answer to the lack of local talent and the lack of ideas.

The economy and corporate debt leads the decisions in the real world. Where does this come out? The debt can never be paid.

Go out on a sales call ... Have any of you actually spent time with a sponsor and seen their dilemma? They are having a hard time reaching the customer. The Internet, radio, broadcast TV, cable, direct mail, etc. ... they don't know what to do. They can't do everything. Theatre ads ...how do you get your message to these people?

The one huge way is so easy for MUSIC ROW ... so clean out your ears.

PR costs little to nothing. Viral ads ... videos ... buzz ... publicity events ... TV appearances ... it's not paid advertising, but it gets the job done. You have to give the fans something to talk about.

Paul McCartney's PBS special this week was great. You go back and try to figure out how four Brits took over our country. Timing and GREAT on-the-street marketing combined with TV and then RADIO ... .some things don't change ... they adapt and evolve.

Stars who don't tweet and do social media are just signing an early death warrant. Stars who hide behind their gated homes may not have those homes forever.

Better get out and beat the street ... be interesting ... do something interesting.

Faith got great PR, doing the Paul PBS show this week ... Aaron Tippin got talked about by hooking up with a B29 and the CAF (Google that, too, if you missed it)....

Bottom line: Get in touch with the folks ... It might amaze you ... .might depress you ... but you have to get out and LIVE!