HOLLYWOOD, Calif. /Music Industry Newswire/ — The winners are in! Chop Shop’s Alexandra Patsavas, Live Nation’s Creighton Burke and Universal Music & Video Distribution’s Jim Urie won by a landslide in the 2009 Best of the Biz List from NARIP (National Association of Record Industry Professionals), which recognizes excellence and high professional standards in our business. NARIP’s list identifies top-level executive talent and know-how in major areas of the record and music industries.

This year NARIP’s poll generated nearly five times as many votes as last year. Several individuals stand out because they won by such wide margins in their respective categories and deserve additional applause for this:
* Alexandra Patsavas, Best Music Supervisor
* Creighton Burke, Best Concert Promoter Executive
* Jim Urie, Best Traditional Record Distribution Executive
* Josh Rabinowitz, Top Music-Ad Agency Executive
* Rick Rubin, Best Music Producer.

NARIP congratulates all the nominees and winners. A toast to excellence! And the awards go to:

Top Artist Manager (6 nominees)
Ian Montone (34.6-percent of the vote)
Irving Azoff
Jim Guerinot

Best Source for Music Business News (6 nominees)
Billboard (50.6-percent of the vote)
Digital Music News
Allaccess .com

Best Concert Promotion Company (6 nominees)
Live Nation (49-percent of the vote)
Goldenvoice
AEG

Best Concert Promoter Executive (7 nominees)
Creighton Burke of Live Nation (30.7-percent of the vote)
Bill Silva, Bill Silva Presents
Paul Tollett, Goldenvoice

Top Consultant / Strategist (5 nominees)
Ann Jones, Music Today (40.5-percent of the vote)
Eugene Foley, Foley Entertainment
Thomas A. White

Best Digital Distribution Company (6 nominees)
iTunes (51.2-percent of the vote)
IRIS Distribution
Independent Distribution Collective

Best Traditional Distribution Executive (6 nominees)
Jim Urie, Universal Music & Video Distribution (37.3-percent of the vote)
Bob Frank, KOCH Distribution
Steffen Franz, Independent Distribution Collective

Best Traditional Distribution Company (5 nominees)
Universal Music & Video Distribution (48.3-percent of the vote)
KOCH Distribution
Fontana Distribution

Top Marketing Professional, Online or Traditional (8 nominees)
Liz Heller, Buzztone (16.8-percent of the vote)
Jackie Wilgar, Live Nation
Allison McGregor, CAA

Top Music Business Attorney (6 nominees)
Don Passman (28.4-percent of the vote)
Dina LaPolt
Jeffrey T. Light

Top Music Business Writer / Journalist (7 nominees)
Carrie Borzillo-Vrenna, RollingStone .com / Suicide Girls (20.8-percent of the vote)
Jon Pareles, New York Times
Susan Butler, Billboard

Top Music Producer (6 nominees)
Rick Rubin (39.7-percent of the vote)
Mark Ronson
Timbaland

Top Music Publishing Company (6 nominees)
EMI Music Publishing (29.4-percent of the vote)
Cherry Lane Music Publishing
Bug Music

Top Music Publishing Executive (7 nominees)
Big John Platt, EMI Music Publishing 28-percent of the vote)
Martin Bandier, Sony/ATV
Richard Stumpf, Cherry Lane

Top Music Supervisor (9 nominees)
Alexandra Pastavas (30.4-percent of the vote)
P.J. Bloom, Neophonic
Gary Calamar

Top New Media Executive (5 nominees)
Tie between Bryn Boughton, IRIS Distribution/BlinkerActive and Heather Luttrell, IndieClick, both (28.8-percent of the vote)
Ethan Kaplan, Warner Bros. Records
Richard Conlon, BMI

Top Publicist (7 nominees)
Christopher Buttner, PRThatRocks .com (21.7-percent of the vote)
Alexandra Greenberg, Mitch Schneider Organization
Angelica Cob-Baehler, Virgin Records

Top Radio Promotion Executive (6 nominees)
Howard Rosen, Howard Rosen Promotion (33.2-percent of the vote)
Chris Lopes, Interscope Records
Bill Burrs, RCA Records

Top Record Company President or CEO (7 nominees)
Jimmy Iovine, Interscope Records (33.5-percent of the vote)
Doug Morris, Universal Music Group
Ken Cmar, Wonderdrug Records

Top Retailer (7 nominees)
ITunes (44-percent of the vote)
Amazon
Amoeba

Top Sales Executive (6 nominees)
Amy Zaret, Warner Bros. Records (25.9-percent of the vote)
Ron Spaulding, Fontana
Dave Stein

Top Auditor / CPA (6 nominees)
Fred Wolinsky (22.6-percent of the vote)
Matt Jones
Matt Hurewitz

Top Royalty Tracker / Collector (5 nominees)
Jon R. Hichborn, Records On The Wall (38.8-percent of the vote)
Eric Palmquist, Walt Disney Music Company
Julia Burzan, AMRA

Best music business conference or event (9 nominees)
SXSW (41.3-percent of the vote)
MIDEM
Tie between CMJ and Billboard Film & TV

Best music or record industry association(s) (3 nominees)
Association of Independent Music Publishers (49.6-percent of the vote)
California Copyright Conference
Recording Academy

Top Music-Brand Executive (7 nominees)
Steffan Franz & Greg Gordon, epiphyterecords .com (21.7-percent of the vote)
Del Bryant, BMI
Bryn Boughton, BlinkerActive

Top Brand-Music Executive (6 nominees)
Chad Vogelsong, JVC (24.7-percent of the vote)
Dante Piacenta, Elias Arts
Ember Harker, Creative Metaphor Design

Top Music-Ad Agency Executive (5 nominees)
Josh Rabinowitz, Grey (34.1-percent of the vote)
Ryan Fitch, Saatchi & Saatchi
Paul Greco, Young & Rubicam

Top Music-Friendly Brand (6 nominees)
Apple (66.8-percent of the vote – wow!)
Volkswagen
Target

Top Music-Brand Firm (8 nominees)
Cornerstone (30-percent of the vote)
Rock River Music
ACME

For more information, visit:

www.narip.com

Send2Press(R) is the originating wire service for this story, Copr. 2009.

[tags]NARIP, Tess Taylor, Best in the Biz awards, National Association of Record Industry Professionals[/tags]

El Cajon, Calif. — Taylor Guitars, one of the world’s premier manufacturers of acoustic and electric guitars, was amongst 1,200 businesses recognized by the California Integrated Waste Management Board as part of its Waste Reduction Awards Program (WRAP). Awarded in the category of “Manufacturer – Musical”, the WRAP awards acknowledge California businesses that show considerable commitment and reduction in the amount of waste produced annually, as well as recognize innovative uses for previously discarded materials, employee education and recycled product procurement.

“These businesses are aggressively tackling waste reduction through innovative business practices,” said Board Chair Margo Reid Brown. “Having exceeded our 50 percent waste diversion mandate, California is looking for resourceful approaches to divert the remaining materials going to landfills. Businesses like these, who create opportunities for waste diversion, will be at the forefront of a more sustainable California.”

Notable achievements by the company in 2007 include:

* 35 tons of cardboard or 95% of the company’s total volume was recycled. The other 7 tons were reused in various ways throughout the factory.

* Over 20,000 pounds of paper was recycled in 2007. Other recycled and reused materials included plastic wrap, used printer toners, electronic equipment and grass trimmings.

* All oil and coolant products used in the factory and in manufacturing were recycled.

* Scrap wood and sawdust was converted into particleboard and mulch leading to its 100% reuse.

* Select pieces of scrap wood were donated to a local woodworking association to be transformed into toys for orphans in Tijuana, Mexico.

Annually, Taylor Guitars reviews its processes to look for ways to eliminate, reduce and reuse waste. One of the most notable and technologically advanced innovations was made in the early 1990’s, when Bob Taylor, president and co-founder of Taylor Guitars sought to eliminate harmful toxins from the process of spraying finish on guitars. After two years of research and development, a proprietary UV-curable finish was created. Shortly thereafter, a robotic arm was installed to hold the guitar as it passes through four coats of the UV-curable spray, eliminating all human contact in the spraying process. The guitar, which is negatively charged, creates an increased rate of transfer of spray to body, translating to less finish waste and a reduction in the levels of volatile organic compounds. For this innovation, Taylor Guitars was recognized by the County of San Diego for its commitment to the environment.

Outside of the factory, and in line with the company’s passion to produce the most esthetically and musically pleasing guitars in the world, the company is equally committed to procuring wood that is responsibly harvested. In 2007, the company joined the Greenpeace MusicWoods Coalition which is committed to FSC certification of Sitka spruce, an Alaskan forested wood that is becoming scarce due to heavy use in the construction industry.

For additional information, please visit www.taylorguitars.com.
[tags]Taylor Guitars, California Waste Reduction Award[/tags]

LOS ANGELES, Calif. — Former TV anchor, author, and celebrity presenter Kelly Lange will give the Best Pop Campaign Award to Dee Dee Phelps for her 2007 promotion of “Vinyl Highway, Singing as Dick and Dee Dee” (ISBN: 978-1-934321-75-1). The award will be presented at the 13th annual Book Publicists of Southern California Awards Dinner on Thursday, October 18th, 8 p.m. at the Sportsmen’s Lodge in Studio City, California.

Dee Dee was chosen to receive this award for her innovative publicity campaign which included over 50 radio interviews, including AM, FM and Internet radio, posting vintage videos and author video trailers on web video sites and creative use of her blog and website (www.dickanddeedee.com).

Her author readings included behind-the-scenes stories of Sixties rock and roll touring. She recently appeared at the Hollywood Book Festival and used portions of the talk for her video book trailer.

Vinyl Highway recently won honorable mention in Writer’s Digest 15th International Book Awards.

BOOK SUMMARY
Title: Vinyl Highway, Singing as Dick and Dee Dee
Author: Dee Dee Phelps
Category: Memoir-Narrative Non Fiction
ISBN: 978-1-934321-75-1
Publisher: Altergate Publishing
Distributor: IPG (800-888-4741)
Publication Date: September 2007
Price: $16.95 US

[tags]Author Singer Dee Dee Phelps, Vinyl Highway, Singing as Dick and Dee Dee, Book Publicists of Southern California Awards Dinner, Best Pop Campaign Award[/tags]

Nuendo forms audio post platform for six-time Oscar nominated production

HAMBURG, Germany — The Oscar winning film The Queen featured Nuendo throughout its post production processes, with all editing, rerecording and premixing done on Steinberg’s Nuendo Media Production System software. The audio for The Queen, which was nominated for six Academy Awards, was transferred through several studios all using Nuendo as their primary audio post platform.

Post production was carried out at three of London’s premiere post facilities, PD Sound Design, Clarity Post and De Lane Lea. Supervising Sound Editor on The Queen was Paul Davies, founder of PD Sound Design. “We used Nuendo for sound FX, sound design and dialog editing, as well as ADR editing, and it behaved excellently throughout the production,” he commented. “Integration with other equipment was also very straightforward and transparent,” he added.

The flexibility of Nuendo as a post production platform also played a crucial role in the final mixing of The Queen, a worldwide commercial and critical triumph. The entire project was taken from PD Sound Design to Clarity Post in London, for pre-mixing on Clarity’s Nuendo-based systems. Clarity’s co-founder Richard Davey explains why Nuendo plays a vital role in Clarity’s business: “We’ve been using Nuendo since version 1, and it just suits us very well. It’s incredibly flexible,” he commented.

Steinberg’s Senior Product Manager for Nuendo, Lars Baumann, commented: “The scalability and efficiency of Nuendo have played a vital role in this production, powering almost all aspects of post on this outstanding film. From editing and sound design to premixing and playback through an analogue console for final mixing, Nuendo has again been able to show the outstanding qualities that have seen it form the backbone of so many top-flight post facilities.”

Final mixing on The Queen took place at London’s famous De Lane Lea studios, with Clarity’s custom Nuendo system playing out through Euphonix MADI converters into the venerable Harrison console at De Lane Lea’s Studio 2. As well as its six Oscar(R) nominations, The Queen was nominated for 10 BAFTA awards (winning Best Film) and four Golden Globes, winning twice for Best Actress and Best Screenplay.

PD Sound Design and Clarity Post have been working very closely on a number of other feature productions, with seamless transfer between Nuendo systems ensuring a flexible, fluid yet powerful workflow throughout. Steinberg’s website features two interviews with Paul Davies and Richard Davey about their work with Nuendo. For more details, please see www.steinberg.net.

About Steinberg Media Technologies GmbH
Steinberg is known the world over for its professional media solutions. The company has been developing, manufacturing and selling software products for musicians and producers in the music, film, post production, and multimedia industries since 1984. Steinberg products are used by Grammy(R) and Oscar(R) award winning composers, engineers, and producers.

[tags]Nuendo Media Production System, PD Sound Design, Clarity Post, Richard Davey, Steinberg Media Technologies[/tags]
Movie poster from The Queen is Copr. © Miramax, all rights reserved.

Web-Based Royalty Processing Service Nominated for Best In Category of Digital Music & Marketing Innovations, B2B Solutions

SAN DIEGO, Calif. — RoyaltyShare, a premier provider of digital royalty solutions to the entertainment industry, today announced it has been selected as a finalist for the POPKOMM Innovation in Music and Entertainment Award (IMEA) 2006 in the category of Digital Music & Marketing Innovations, B2B Solutions. In its third year, the annual IMEA Awards recognize the best new business ideas and brightest entrepreneurs in the worldwide music, media and entertainment technology sectors.

RoyaltyShare was selected as a finalist in the Digital Music & Marketing Innovations category for its suite of Web-based services designed to simplify the increasingly complex task of managing data from digital sales channels and calculating accurate royalties for recording artists and music publishers. The industry-leading royalty service enables record labels to fulfill their royalty obligations, reduce their costs, and focus on their core competencies of A&R and marketing.

“As revenue from digital distribution continues to grow, record labels will need to adopt an IT infrastructure that can handle the increasing volume of transactions and the increasing complexity of modern revenue sharing arrangements,” said Bob Kohn, Chairman and CEO of RoyaltyShare. “We are proud that POPKOMM is recognizing RoyaltyShare as an innovator whose solution is helping to level the playing field for independent labels to thrive in the burgeoning digital age.”

Winners of the POPKOMM Innovation in Music and Entertainment Award will be announced on Wednesday September 20th in Berlin at the European Music and Media Night Party taking place at the E-Werk nightclub.

About POPKOMM
POPKOMM is one of Europe’s leading music, media and entertainment industry conventions and trade shows. After moving from Cologne in 2004, Popkomm has established itself in Berlin, covering many aspects of the music industry and its associated sectors such as mobile entertainment, the live sector, consumer electronics and fashion.

About RoyaltyShare
RoyaltyShare is the worldwide leader in Web-based royalty processing and reporting solutions for the global entertainment industry. RoyaltyShare provides a suite of on-demand services dedicated to simplifying the increasingly complex and necessary task of managing sales and distribution information, calculating royalties, and generating Web-accessible royalty reports. RoyaltyShare’s centralized revenue data processing solution supports digital, physical, subscription, mobile and other sources of revenue. Its state-of-the-art system and dedicated 24/7 royalty support team enables music labels, distributors and publishers to accurately manage royalty reporting obligations anytime, anywhere.

For more information,
please visit www.royaltyshare.com .

SOURCE: RoyaltyShare
[tags]RoyaltyShare, IMEA Awards, POPKOMM [/tags]