Grace Potter at World Cafe Live in Philadelphia

The 12th Annual NON-COMMvention, hosted by Philly pubradio station WXPN, is well underway.

Grace Potter and the Nocturnals kicked things off with a Wednesday night performance at World Cafe Live, adjacent to the XPN studios.

Attendance is strong, with radio station and music industry executives selling out both the main and overflow hotels. A full slate of meetings and performances continues through Saturday afternoon.

Updates will occur on TheTop22.com in the coming days.

Walk Up registration is still available. Learn more by navigating from our NON-COMMvention home page.

The Top 22 and Next 22 Songs at both Commercial AAA and Alternative Rock Radio, thanks to Mediabase. See who’s up and who’s down here…

Polica

Poliça is the newbie with perhaps the most buzz — thanks not only to support from Twin Cities Non-Comm station The Current, but also thanks to a few shout outs from Justin Vernon of Bon Iver.

It’s good to have friends in high places. Keep up your stamina, because the band will close things out Friday night with a set that starts at 12:05 a.m.

JD McPherson

JD McPherson traveled from his hometown of Broken Arrow, Oklahoma to an all-analog studio in Chicago to record a throwback rock and roll album that sounds like it came directly from Memphis’ Sun Studios.

The first single, North Side Gal, is killer. And the Killer would agree. Thursday night upstairs.

While Rebecca Ferguson was schooled in music, a career in the field seemed remote after the birth of her second child.

Rebecca Ferguson

But a somewhat shaky audition on the U.K.’s X-Factor was deemed just good enough to bring her back. Subsequent performances solidified, and Ferguson ultimately placed second in the competition.

She wrote every song on Heaven, which debuted overseas last fall, and comes out May 29 domestically. She performs Friday Evening upstairs. Update: Rebecca Ferguson has canceled. She will be replaced on the schedule by Megan Reilly.

Strong buzz precedes Dry the River as they come to the NON-COMMvention in support of their debut album Shallow Bed.

Dry the River

Formed in 2009, the band started building that buzz by releasing low-fi videos that were passed and linked around the web. The BBC took notice of the band’s early EPs.

They then headed stateside to record with Peter Katis, the producer who’s indie rock credentials include The National and Interpol. Get back from dinner in time for their 8pm set on Friday.

Sons of Fathers

David Beck and Paul Cauthen lead Sons of Fathers, a band reviewers liken to The Byrds, The Eagles, The Everly Brothers, and Crosby Stills and Nash.

Okay, we get it — harmonies. But the comparisons end there.

The Austin Texas duo will be part of the Saturday event in Penn Park.

The Top 22 Selling CDs at the Coalition of Independent Music Stores for the Week Ending 5-6-12

The Top 22 Selling Vinyl Albums and Singles at the Coalition of Independent Music Stores for the Week Ending 5-6-12

Download the Top 200 CDs and Top 50 Vinyl Charts here.

Rob Giles. Photo: Catie Laffoon

Rob Giles kind of does it all. Really.

The producer/writer/performer can perhaps add “workaholic” to his resume. Known primarily for his work with his L.A. based band The Rescues, Rob has also worked with Christopher Guest and Harry Shearer, Kina Grannis, and recently had one of his songs covered by Joe Cocker.

Rob is currently supporting his solo album, When We Were Happy, released earlier this year. The album is radio-ready, and should also ad to his numerous television and film placements.

While The Rescues recorded for Universal Republic, Rob’s solo album is self-released — and it’s not likely to be the only time we’ll come across his work in 2012.

The Rescues are putting the finishing touches on a new disc, and Rob is working on a project described as modern rock with Andy Summers of The Police.

Check out Keep Calm, Carry On, from When We Were Happy.

Rob Giles – Keep Calm, Carry On by TheTop22

And learn more about Rob on his site.

Artist Spotlight is sponsored content in association with A Taste of Triple A.

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Commercial Radio was already entering slash and burn mode before the recession hit.

Consolidation was driving out the researchers, marketers, programmers, and talent. Once the recession hit, things got considerably worse, and radio company leaders all but abandoned radio’s killer apps such as localism for a generic, sound-alike approach — positioning itself as a “reach” medium.

The results were predictable.

Commercial radio was up fractionally last year to $14.1 billion in revenue — well below pre-recession levels, according to the NAB. Even this week, radio companies are reporting first quarters that trailed last year’s numbers.

Contrast that with cable television, which poured millions into the development of creative programming directed at specialized audiences.

Again, the results were predictable.

New Neilsen data shows that cable, forever a backwater in the media world, has caught up to its broadcast counterparts. In 2011, cable collectively billed $21 billion, just shy of the broadcast networks’ $21.1 billion. (Note that TV’s total haul, which includes syndication, etc. is almost $72 billion, more than all other platforms conbined.)

For longtime watchers, it’s an amazing milestone for cable to catch the big 5 broadcasters.

But perhaps more amazing is the growth that came during the recession. In 2007, cable pulled in $14.8 billion — so we’re looking at nearly 50% revenue growth while facing the worst economic headwinds in the history of the medium.

Over the same period, broadcast television slimmed by just shy of $2 billion. So cable not only poached broadcast dollars, but more importantly, it grew the business.

Radio stagnates while cable experiences massive growth. Same recession for both.

Cable did it by investing in the product — something commercial radio simply has not done.

Any excuse to run a picture of Grace Potter. This from the New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Fest last week.

Grace Potter and the Nocturnals will kick off the 12th Annual NON-COMMvention for early arrivals Wednesday night, May 16 at 10pm. The band last week hit Jazz and Heritage fest…

Willie Nelson will perform Friday at Noon, along with Norah Jones and Brandi Carlile. Here’s what looks like iPhone footage from backstage as he records with Kris Kristofferson…

Norah Jones hit Good Morning America to perform Happy Pills and the title track to her new CD Little Broken Hearts…

John Mayer is still in voice-rest mode, but he’ll speak with David Dye for World Cafe Friday afternoon. Here’s the clip for Shadow Days…

The Black Keys

Two charts — AAA and Alternative — that tell us not only who’s getting the most spins, but who’s got the most ears. Check them here…

Michael “Iron Man” Burks died Sunday in Atlanta of an apparent heart attack. He was 54.

Burks was returning from a European tour to Atlanta’s Hartsfield-Jackson Airport when he collapsed.

Burks earned the nickname “Iron Man” from his intense, hours-long performances. The Arkansas native self-released his debut in ‘97 and recorded for Alligator since 2001.

Learn more about Michael at our sister-site TheBluesMobile.com, including this exclusive archive interview.

On a lighter note, The New York Times recently published two interesting articles on breakthrough businesses that are directly helping musicians in a Web 2.0 world.

First, they profiled Kickstarter, a company we’ve written about before. The Times noted Kickstarter’s benchmark — having funded 50,000 projects to the tune of $200 million. $38 million of that went to music projects. All in just three years – amazing. Check out their very cool graphic presentation of the crowdsourced projects.

Also worth reading is a profile of Jeff Price and his company Tunecore. Jeff ran spinArt Records, but moved into digital delivery, helping countless bands get their stuff on the major download sites. Tunecore currently delivers 4% of all digital downloads. And they do it for an artist-friendly fee.

Check the story here.

Chart by Harvard Business Review

Researchers from MIT, Carnegie Mellon, and the Georgia Institute of Technology asked nearly 1500 Twitter users to rank more than 43,000 tweets.

They found, to no one’s surprise, that a most aren’t worth reading. But finding that only about a third are worth reading was a bit of a surprise.

Better, the team, in an article published for Harvard Business Review, the team categorized different types of tweets — eight different subsets.

The team flagged three specific ways to better your chances for getting read:

* No insider language — be clear
* Beware of hastag overuse
* Don’t retweet conversations (Hello!)

None of the above are rocket science, but it’s interesting to see some proof that hastags, as suspected by many, are often confusing or problematic for some.

The best types of Tweets?
* “Random Thoughts” that are funny or exciting
* “Self Promotion” — particularly if they provide useful links
* Questions to Followers
* Information sharing

The Worst?

* Opinions/Complaints
* “Me Now” (answering the unasked question about what you’re doing)
* Conversations
* “Presence Maintenance” (ex. Hello, world!)

See more in the Harvard Business Review and this excellent larger infographic.

You can also download the actual study, but it’s pretty mind-numbing in researcher-speak.

Nashville songwriter Melanie Rose Dyer has been penning songs for others, including Tom Rush, for more than 20 years.

But only now has she moved in front of the mic to record some of those songs herself. The debut Americana-styled album is called The Long Way Around.

When you spend as much time as Dyer has on the songwriting scene, you make some incredible connections — and she called in some of those friends to make the album.

They include Grammy award winning session leader Glen Duncan, Jack Pearson (Allman Brothers), Mike Durham (Dave Matthews Band), Jim Horn (The Beatles, Beach Boys), Marc Prentice (Hootie and the Blowfish), Charles Judge (Stevie Nicks, Keith Urban) and Shaun Murphy (the female voice of Little Feat, Eric Clapton, and Bob Seger), who lends back-up vocals on four songs.

It’s an amazing group that come together over the three years it took to record the set.

The album is not only worth a listen for radio programmers, but music supervisors should also take note.

The First Time in Forever is the first emphasis track from the album…

01 First Time In Forever by Melanie R Dyer

Learn more about Melanie on her site.

Artist Spotlight is sponsored content in association with A Taste of Triple A.

The Top 22 Selling CDs at the Coalition of Independent Music Stores for the Week Ending 4-29-12

The Top 22 Selling Vinyl Albums and Singles for the Week Ending 4-29-12

Download The Top 200 CDs and Top 50 Vinyl Charts here.

We’ll be honest, overall, the 2012 batch of Webby Award winners left us a little underwhelmed. Lots of usual suspects – TED, BBC, NASA (100 Best Planets in the Galaxy!), ESPN. NPR nominated but not much in terms of wins. They’re all great, but we’ve seen the movie.

And Pinterest, sorry, we don’t get it.

In past years, the Webby Awards turned us on to a host of innovative or otherwise “oh wow” designs, ideas, and functions. Much less so this year.

Perhaps that’s predictable — maybe the web has come of age and there are simply fewer “new” things that can be done. It’s also possible that the number of highly functional, off-the-shelf templates are saving everyone money, but leaving us wanting in terms of design. Everything sort of looks the same.

That said, there were some great things that happened on the web in 2012. The Webby’s honored Louis C.K. as their Person of the Year for his $5 direct-to-fan concert download. Bjork was named Artist of the Year for her Biophilia album, which had apps that accompanied the songs.

Notable for their creativity were the Muppets and a guy in New York who leaves money around the city for people to find. And then there’s a hilarious homage to the late Kim Jong-Il.

Radio? Well, they eliminated the radio/podcast category this year. Thanks.

A roundup of categories that relate to the media and music biz, plus other winners — and that’s where the real creativity comes out…

Music

Pitchfork (Webby Award Winner)
Pandora (People’s Voice Winner)

Best Visual Design Aesthetic

Kinetic Fanzine Vol. 1 (Webby Award Winner)
Google Music (People’s Voice Winner)

Television

HBO Connect (Webby Award Winner)
Hulu (People’s Voice Winner)

Celebrity/Fan

MTV O Music Awards (Webby Award Winner)
Team Coco (People’s Voice Winner)

Weird

I Found Money Today (Webby Award Winner)
Kim Jong-Il Looking at Things (People’s Voice Winner)

Other Winners

The Muppets Mahna Mahna
VW Beetle
The United States Holocaust Memorial Museum (Cultural Institution Winner)
Foodily (Food and Beverage)
The Work of Robert Jaso (Self Promotion/Portfolio)

Alabama Shakes

Thanks to our partner, Mediabase, we deliver The Top 22 (and Next 22) songs at the AAA and Alternative Rock radio formats. See them here.

JD McPherson

JD McPherson’s throwback sound is gonna be a crowdpleaser. Check out North Side Gal…

Veterans Nada Surf shot a mini movie for the semi-autobiographical When I Was Young…

Nada Surf – When I Was Young (official video) from City Slang on Vimeo.

And Philadelphia’s The War on Drugs stopped by Letterman to perform a song that, to our ears, owes a lot to U2’s Bad…

Vevo, the joint venture between Sony Music, Universal Music, and Abu Dhabi Media, launched an “upfront” last week, attempting to attract advertisers with new, original content.

It’s an interesting idea, as several new media companies are now imitating the television upfront process.

While garnering a lot of press with the announcement, what may have gone unreported are the amazing numbers the company has been putting up.

Globally, the service racks up 250 million visits per month, and forecasts 36 billion views this year. In short, it dominates music video, and one has to wonder how much better it would do if the Warner Group participated in Vevo.

Read more about the original content slate in AdAge.

Last week we reported numbers out of the NAB that an HD Radio-equipped car is sold every fifteen seconds.

Now comes a JD Power and Associates report from more than 17,000 vehicle owners this past March. The survey was an “Emerging Technologies” study seeking to gauge consumer interest in various options.

There was good news for HD Radio, as 70% of those surveyed said they’d pay extra for HD Radio. Learn more in MediaPost’s Marketing Daily.

Marshall Crenshaw’s Kickstarter Project has been funded.

As previously reported, the singer-songwriter aims to release six EPs over a two year period thanks to the crowdsourced funding model.

It looked a bit scary for the project, with Crenshaw sitting at $23,000 of the $32,000 goal with one day to go. But he must have had a few major donors sandbagged as he ultimately came in at nearly $34,000. With $200 of that coming from us, we’re looking forward to our beer with Marshall at a future show.

See more about his project.